Defense Department calls South Florida peace groups `threats'

By Robert Nolin and Sean Gardiner (South Florida Sun-Sentinel)
Staff Writers

December 15, 2005

South Florida's anti-war activists are few in number. Many are retirees, veterans or students. They carry puppets, wave placards or hand out pamphlets to potential military recruits.

But these activities have been labeled a "threat" by the Defense Department. Local peace-mongers, like many around the country, have come under surveillance by the Pentagon.

"I'm disabled, I'm 59 and if I'm a credible threat to the government of the United States, then either the government is terribly paranoid or terribly weak," said Rich Hersh of Boca Raton, whose group, the Truth Project, has come under federal scrutiny.

The military's domestic surveillance was disclosed this week in a report on NBC Nightly News, which obtained a 400-page Department of Defense document outlining the surveillance of peace groups. Acting on a complaint from the Truth Project, Florida Sen. Bill Nelson posted a letter Wednesday to Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, demanding an accounting.

"I am very concerned that the military's apparent expansion of domestic intelligence gathering could lead to unprecedented invasions of privacy of lawful citizens simply for exercising their right of free speech," the Democratic senator wrote, citing the NBC report as well as "other major media services" as the source for his concern.

The Defense Department's chief spokesman, Gregory Hicks, initially promised to make a statement. By Wednesday night, however, none had been issued.

Word of the military surveillance spread quickly Wednesday among the area's various anti-war groups.

"It's a major buzz," said Ray Del Papa of Fort Lauderdale, with the Broward Anti-War Coalition. South Florida's dedicated peace activists, who arguably number fewer than 500, greeted the news with dismay, anger and even pride. No one was surprised.

"We suspected for a long time that the group was being watched, but we don't really care. We have nothing to hide," said Hersh, whose group counts about eight members, most over 50 and many who are Quakers.

"I always felt this was going to happen," said Del Papa, 52. "You have paranoid leadership, and they're afraid of everything."

Del Papa said his group, which for two years has organized monthly, then weekly, protests outside the federal courthouse in downtown Fort Lauderdale, has attracted government agents to meetings in private homes. Though the agents were disguised as anarchists, Del Papa said their footwear gave them away: Nike or Reebok running shoes, which to anarchists represent corporate greed.

"No anarchist is going to wear Nikes or Reeboks to a protest," Del Papa said.

The Truth Project, which gathers in the Quaker Meeting House in Lake Worth, engages in "counter-recruiting" efforts at Palm Beach County high schools. With the permission of school officials, members distribute materials to students to counteract claims by military recruiters.

"We're not in there to disturb the school or anything like that," Hersh said. "To see us as a threat is kind of ludicrous."

Michael Foley, associate professor of politics at Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C., said the USA Patriot Act, passed by Congress shortly after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, made it possible for the military to engage in domestic surveillance. The practice hearkens to the 1960s and 1970s, when the government monitored many peaceful protest groups.

Foley, who specializes in internal security and politics, said spying on groups like the Truth Project can be an inefficient use of government time and money. "There's a lot of retirees, a lot of older people who are involved in protesting," he said. "There's not much alarming here. What do you expect Quakers to do?"

Stephen Zunes of the University of San Francisco said government surveillance could -- intentionally or otherwise -- deter people from expressing their views. "It's intimidating to those who want to exercise their constitutional rights," said Zunes, a professor of politics and expert on nonviolent social movements.

The Defense Department monitored a protest last April during the Air & Sea Show in Fort Lauderdale, the NBC report said, but labeled the 15 or so protesters as a "US group exercising constitutional rights."

One of that rally's organizers, Peter Ackerman, a Fort Lauderdale Quaker, was saddened to learn of the surveillance. "We become the enemy, we become the suspicious, we become the guilty," he said. "This is a good indication that the government cannot be trusted with the powers that the Patriot Act grants."

Domestic surveillance is conducted by federal, state and local authorities, said Howard Simon, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Florida. "We're going to have to fight this at all levels," he said.

Marie Zwicker of Lake Worth, a member of the Truth Project, said her group will continue to invite the public to their meetings, despite the chance of government surveillance. "I guess they view us as a credible threat because we tell the truth," she said.

Copyright © 2005, South Florida Sun-Sentinel

Stop the Patriot Act

I recieved this from Moveon.org and thought I'd pass it along:

A bipartisan group of senators have agreed to fight the Patriot Act—by filibuster if necessary. The law currently goes too far in curtailing our civil liberties and they're fighting back. The Senate will vote as soon as Thursday. This is the time to act.

This is a huge moment. Senators from both parties are standing together to protect privacy and liberty in a time of war—and they're ready to go all the way. It's important to support them and to show those who are still on the fence how important this issue is to you. Will you help us reach 250,000 signatures on our petition by Thursday so we can deliver them in time for the vote?

http://political.moveon.org/patriotact/?id=6528-6382269-2r7sgT6ts2HHAK.BNy7LZw&t=2

If this filibuster holds, Congress could vote to temporarily extend the Patriot Act as it stands—allowing time for a new, better version that addresses the big problems in the law. This would be a huge victory for those of us who believe that liberty is non-negotiable.

The tide is turning in Congress. Leaders in Washington are beginning to demand accountability from the Bush administration on everything from Iraq to the use of torture. Now it looks like President Bush's plan to pass a new and more dangerous version of the Patriot Act is also in trouble.¹

In 2001, only one senator voted against the Patriot Act. Since then, people from all across the political spectrum have come to realize that the Patriot Act strikes a blow to the fundamental rights, liberties, and privacy of all Americans. Protecting freedom is something that all of us—progressives and conservatives, Democrats and Republicans—can agree on.

That's why a bipartisan group of senators, including Republicans Larry Craig, John Sununu, Lisa Murkowski and Democrats Russ Feingold, Dick Durbin and Ken Salazar, have been working to fix the Patriot Act. They have vowed to fight the most egregious provisions and filibuster reauthorization if necessary. We need to show them that we have their backs.

The Patriot Act that the president wants them to pass now goes too far and doesn't protect the privacy of innocent Americans. It doesn't address some of the biggest problems in the law. For example:²

• The government can obtain your private records, like medical, library, school, and other records—without showing any connection between your activities and and a suspected foreign terrorist.
  
  
• Some 30,000 National Security Letters ("NSLs") are issued each year to obtain private records,³ and the recipients of those NSLs are under a gag order that is almost impossible to overturn. But the Patriot Act does nothing to address these abusive powers.
  
  The government is allowed to get
  "sneak and peek" search warrants to search a home or business and doesn't have to tell the owner of the premises for a month.
  
  This power can be used in cases that don't have anything to do with terrorism.

Right now, the Patriot Act is just bad law about to get worse—and leaders in the Washington are actually willing to try to block it. We can't let our only chance to fix it slip away without a fight.

Hundreds of thousands of signatures on a petition like this will show the Senate how serious Americans are about protecting their constitutional freedoms. Will you sign the petition and show your support for filibustering a Patriot Act that doesn't include privacy protections?

http://political.moveon.org/patriotact/?id=6528-6382269-2r7sgT6ts2HHAK.BNy7LZw&t=3

Together, we can make sure we're safe—and our freedom is safe, too.

Thanks for all you do,
–Eli, Nita, Ben, Jennifer and the MoveOn.org Political Action Team

  Tuesday, December 13th, 2005

Sources:
1. ACLU: Reform the Patriot Act
http://action.aclu.org/reformthepatriotact/

2. ACLU: Summary of Patriot Reauthorization Act Conference Report
http://action.aclu.org/reformthepatriotact/patriotdraft.html

3. "The FBI's Secret Scrutiny," Washington Post, November 6, 2005
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=1263

Windowblinds 5

Just got my hands on this program and thought I'd share my first reactions to it.

Simply awesome... That really says it all. I'm using the VistaXP visual style made by Kol and the effects that have been used are simply cool. Hopefully you notice the transparent taskbar and the new start button that goes above the top of the taskbar. Those are the kind of things windowblinds 5 is capable of. It basically allows the artists that make visual styles to do just about everything they want.

Here's some features of Windowblinds 5, straight from the site:

*Excellent application compatibility. Because Stardock has had years to tune WindowBlinds for compatibility, WindowBlinds has excellent compatibility. How good? Ask Microsoft, Nintendo, nVidia, ATI, and many others who have licensed WindowBlinds to release additional visual styles.

* Top Notch Performance. WindowBlinds uses the graphics acceleration features of today's video cards to accelerate visual styles.

* Tight Integration. WindowBlinds 5 doesn't need to any dedicated process in order to run, it runs as a native Windows XP extension.

* Native. WindowBlinds DOES NOT "skin over" the existing user interface. It works by extending the existing painting calls with newer, faster, more feature rich ones.

* WindowBlinds skins virtually every aspect of the Windows GUI that one can imagine. And in fact, the enhanced visual styles used by WindowBlinds can skin things previously not thought to be skinnable such as logon/logoff dialogs, the "please wait" dialog, backgrounds in the Control Panel and other special folders, and more.

* WindowBlinds also comes with clean and easy configuration dialog. Users can still control their WindowBlinds enhanced visual styles from the display properties dialog, but the WindowBlinds configuration makes it easy to manage dozens of skins, sort them by category, and configure it to their liking.

* WindowBlinds comes with tons of configuration options for users.

* WindowBlinds 5 skins support per-pixel alpha blending on nearly all controls including the title bars, borders, menus, and other major elements. That means no "jaggies", semi-transparent elements, and just plain cooler looking user interfaces. And best of all, it does this using DirectX acceleration so for most users, it actually increases performance over standard Windows.

* and much more...

Check out Windowblinds 5 if you're into desktop customization.

Lost in the Spirit

I've actually been meaning to write this for the last few weeks, but, something has been on my mind.

I'm genually sick of Christmas. Not the celebration involved in it, but, the over commercialism that comes with it. To me, it has gotten to the point where Christmas is not so much about CHRIST as it is about the MASS quantities of gifts you may get this year.

Lost in the shuffle of all of this is Thanksgiving. Fall is my favorite time of year... you got football going on, my birthday comes around, the weather gets nicer, and Thankgiving is the cherry on top of my entire fall. It's about family, it's about recognizing what's good in the world, and giving thanks for those things. Of course, it's also about relaxation... laying around eating turkey sandwiches and watching football. Here in Nebraska the biggest game of the year comes around, the matchup between Nebraska and Colorado. I love this holiday.

So, the last thing I want is it to be treated like it's just being skipped over. For example, I work in a grocery store... you know that they were actually putting out the Christmas candy out on Halloween night? Halloween night!!!! Christmas decorations were up the next day. And it wasn't just my store, it was Target, Wal-Mart, Shop-Ko, Southpointe Mall, Westfield Mall, ect. The city of Lincoln was ready for Christmas. About the only non-visible area is downtown where the Huskers still have a hold on the decor. All of this comes down to commercialization. Greed. Excuse me if I'm wrong, but isn't greed a deadly sin? How ironic is it that a deadly sin gets wrapped up in the birth of Christ?

Don't get me wrong, I do get the Christmas spirit... just after the fourth Thursday in November. I grew up Catholic... we have something called Advent that builds up week-by-week to Christmas (not sure if prodestant religions have this, sorry). And, even though my religious beliefs are in flux at the time, mainly because of how my schedule is structured, I still hold a firm belief in God. So, in a way, I feel it's like a slap in the face to the religion the way corperate America goes about things.

Who knows? Maybe I'm a little overboard talking like this. But, I'm sure many of you have been just a little annoyed at the sight of animated light up reigndeer on store shelves in early November.

Y'all B.E.Z.

Random Ramblings

Well, looks as if I can't resist watching the Sonics. Got the game on now. Guess when you root for a team for about 13 years or so, it's hard to shake it. Don't worry, I'm still watching the Bulls, who won in OT after trailing Charlotte by 25 at one point.

Anyway, not much going on with me. I'm to the point where I've totally blown off my Microsoft Applications II class. I'm having a hard time with it. Not so much because of the subject matter, but, because I tend to shut off from school mode as soon as I hit the door. I'm finding that I'm better off in the classroom when it comes to actually doing something. So, I'll have to wait a couple weeks since I'm dealing with grants and you need a curtain amount of credit hours with those... but when the time comes, I'll drop the class and take an incomplete and take the class another time.

As far as flash goes, I'm starting to get a "shell" or basic framework put together that I can use on flash pages. As far as understanding how to use the program, that's all coming together gradually.

Other than that, there's not too much going on here. So, I'm going to get back to this Sonics/Clippers game. Go Sonics!

B.E.Z.

Emergency petition to stop Alito

This morning, with his administration growing weaker by the day, President Bush caved to pressure from the radical fringe of the Republican Party and nominated Samuel Alito to replace Sandra Day O'Connor on the Supreme Court. Alito is a notoriously right-wing judge on the Third Circuit Court of Appeals. He has consistently ruled to strip basic protections from workers, women, minorities and the disabled in favor of unchecked power for corporations and special interests.

That's why today we're joining the fight with an emergency petition to the Senate, calling on them to stand up for ordinary Americans and reject Alito's nomination. We're aiming to gather a quarter million signatures and comments in the next 48 hours.

Can you sign today?
Sign here

Bush's ploy to woo the far-right could reshape the High Court for decades to come—but we don't have to let that happen. The president's rock-bottom approval ratings and the scandals engulfing virtually every Republican leader have broken the spell of the right-wing spin machine. If we all speak up, together we have the power to stop this radical nominee.

Only hours after the nomination, the battle lines are already clear. Leading progressive groups that specialize in protecting the Court (including People For the American Way and the Alliance for Justice) have already launched an emergency campaign to defeat Alito's nomination-a step they did not take with either John Roberts or Harriet Miers.

The far-right, on the other hand, is thrilled. Organizations who vigorously opposed Harriet Miers for not being conservative enough are "elated," and far-right leaders from Pat Robertson to Trent Lott are singing Alito's praise.

Judge Samuel Alito is widely known as "Scalito" because he so closely follows the far-right judicial philosophy of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia.
Here's a summary of just some of the core protections that Alito would threaten:

Basic Rights for Working Families
As a judge on the Appeals Court, Alito issued a ruling to gut the Family and Medical Leave Act, which guarantees most workers up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave to care for a loved one in an emergency. The Supreme Court effectively overturned that ruling in 2003—but if Alito were on the Supreme Court he would pose a grave threat to the basic rights of working families.

Civil Rights (in the workplace and beyond)
In separate cases, Alito wrote dissenting opinions that would have made it essentially impossible to prove employment discrimination based on race or disability. He was overruled and harshly criticized by his colleagues, but if he were on the Supreme Court he could turn back the clock on decades of progress in securing civil rights for minorities and the disabled.

A Woman's Right to Choose
Alito's judicial record and published views make him widely regarded as a sure vote to overturn Roe v. Wade. The extremist anti-abortion group Operation Rescue (who opposed Harriet Miers) responded to Alito's nomination today by saying: "Roe's days are numbered...We are trusting that we are now on the fast-track to derailing Roe v. Wade as the law of the land." If Alito were on the Supreme Court, reproductive freedom would be in serious jeopardy.

Privacy and Civil Liberties
In one significant case, Alito wrote a dissenting oppinion that would have allowed an unauthorized strip search of a woman and her 10 year-old daughter, in their own home, without a warrant. Again, Alito was outvoted and strongly criticized by his fellow judges, but if he were to join Thomas and Scalia on the Supreme Court he would pose a grave threat to civil liberties and individual freedoms.

Democrats in Washington are already speaking out. Here are few highlights:

"If confirmed, Alito could very well fundamentally alter the balance of the court and push it dangerously to the right, placing at risk decades of American progress in safeguarding our fundamental rights and freedoms."
–Sen. Ted Kennedy

"It's sad that [Bush] felt he had to pick a nominee likely to divide America."
–Sen Charles Schumer

"Has the right wing now forced a weakened President to nominate a divisive justice in the mold of Antonin Scalia?"
–Sen. John Kerry

"President Bush has...made a selection to appease the far right-wing of the Republican Party."
–Sen. Barak Obama

"Last week after Harriet Miers withdrew her nomination, I asked the President: Who was in charge? Today, the President answered: the radical conservative right is in charge of this Administration."
–House Minority Leader Rep. Nancy Pelosi

"I look forward to...learning why those who want to pack the Court with judicial activists are so much more enthusiastic about him than they were about Harriet Miers."
–Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid

If we can gather 250,000 signatures in the next 48 hours, it will make a powerful first impression in the media, and the Senate. We can show that ordinary Americans will not let a failing president sacrifice the Supreme Court, and all the rights it protects, in a political game.

No one knows how this nomination will end, but the Supreme Court is the last chance at justice for millions of Americans, and we all have a stake in this fight.

Please sign today:
Sign here

Thanks for all you do.

–Ben, Joan, Wes, Tanya and the MoveOn.org Political Action Team
Monday, October 31st 2005

Congrats Sandra!!!!

This is a good friend of mine Sandra and her new husband Louie from Canada. They just got married on October the 8th and I wish them the best.

May you two recieve all the happiness in the world.

Much love Sandra

Barkley supports the NBA dress code

It appears that Charles Barkley, one of my favorite opinionated people, supports the NBA’s new dress code. The dress code has not fallen into favor with many NBA players, including Marcus Camby, Stephen Jackson, and Allen Iverson. Iverson even went as far to say, “If you put a suit on a murderer, he’s still a murderer.”

While A.I. may have a point on that matter, Barkley had some even better points on Wednesday’s “Tonight Show with Jay Leno”.

"Young black kids dress like NBA players," he said. "Unfortunately, they don't get paid like NBA players. So when they go out in the real world, what they wear is held against them.

"See, these players make $10 to $15 million a year, so nobody cares how they dress. But regular black kids go out into the real world and how they dress is held against them.

"If a well-dressed white kid and a black kid wearing a do-rag and throwback jersey came to me in a job interview, I'd hire the white kid," he said. "That's reality. That's the No. 1 reason I support the dress code.

"From the NBA perspective, they've got a product to sell. They've got to make it as attractive as possible to fans, viewers and corporate sponsors.

"Dr. J [Julius Erving] told me years ago that we, the players, are the caretakers of the game. I think too many players today have lost sight of that."

He hears that Marcus Camby of the Denver Nuggets wants a stipend to buy clothes to adhere to the dress code, and Barkley cringes.

"Guys like that have lost perspective," he said. "What's he make, $8 million a year? It's like when Latrell Sprewell said he needed more than $14 million a year so that he could feed his family. Give me a break."

I personally agree with everything Barkley has to say on this matter. Years ago, Barkley had a commercial where he declared that he is not a role model. Obviously, he has seen the light on this issue. While he was right in saying that parents should be role models, kids do look up to athletes and celebrities and will often imitate what they do. Therefore, they hold the responsibility to not only dress right, but also act right off the court.

When I look at the incidents with Kobe Bryant, Jayson Williams, and Ron Artest, I often wonder what the public thinks of NBA players. I love the NBA, I love the game, and I know that 99% of these guys are not looking for trouble and are all around good guys. Still, people do judge. They see a young black man in a do-rag, a t-shit, jeans, and a few chains and the instant thought on most people’s brains is “thug”.

Allen Iverson has made his money off that image. If he wants to, he can still make his commercials in that image if he likes. But here’s a thought: I work in a grocery store, make $7.25 an hour, and I have to wear a shirt and tie to work. Why shouldn’t a professional athlete who makes millions a year have to? Either way, we’re both showing up to work.

B.E.Z.

I can't even predict myself sometimes

OK, here I am, I'm this big Cowboys fan like I was as a kid, and I'm rootin' hard for the Cowboys as they play the Eagles... a game the 'Boys won in blowout fashion. Only a few days later, I happen to catch Real Training Camp: Seattle Sonics on NBA TV and suddenly I'm back into my old Northwest mode, like the teams I rooted for when I lived in Florida no longer existed.

Sometimes, I wish I didn't live all over the country so that I could settle down on one set of teams. Not that it's that big of a deal, but, it would save me a lot of money on apparel.

This time, like other times, I say I'll stick with my teams. I even wore my Washington Huskies hat this past Saturday... the Huskies came in to Saturday at 1-4 and were 16 point underdogs to Oregon. Oregon eventually kicked the Huskies ass to send them to 1-5 going into their meeting with the almost invincible USC Trojans. YAAAAYE!!! But, this is an example of the dedication I have for this at this point in time.

All this from the same person that committed to stop smoking cold turkey when he was 17 that sent him into a week long bout with shakes and migranes. I guess if I can make it through that, then a third consecutive dismal Huskies football season is nothing right? Of course, since the Seahawks are whoopin ass.

B.E.Z.

Just some notes

Thought I would drop a line since I didn’t have much to say yesterday.

Again, I’ve gone back to basics with the page again. I’m in the process of learning Flash and from that process I’m hoping to build a Flash page. It’s one of those things where I felt like because of what I’m doing in the meantime that I didn’t really want to try to update another page at the same time. I’m also looking into how to imbed this blog into a Flash application, since this is a big part of my page.

There’s also a slight possibility that I could end up getting my own domain since I’ll need something that gives me a lot of space to work with and that lets me play around with PHP. There’s basically no way to not pay for anything like that.

Other than all of that stuff, I’ve been working a little and watching basically every sport on the planet. I watched a good chunk of the Braves 18-inning affair with the Astros the other day. Once it got to the point of being flat out redundant, I changed channels over and watched what I really wanted to see anyway, the Cowboys/Eagles game. The later of the two games was far more enjoyable as the Cowboys rolled over the Eagles 33-10, while the Braves eventually lost on an 18th inning walk off homerun to end their season.

Other than that, there’s not a whole lot more going on. Stay tuned…

B.E.Z.

Back to Basics

I figured since I’m starting the process of building my page in Flash, I’d go back to something basic for the time being. So, I’m back to one of the better templates that Blogger offers.

There’s nothing else to report right now. I’m tired, so, I think I’m going back to bed.

B.E.Z.

Remembering Ivan

Found this Article on Hurricane Ivan and thought I'd share it with y'all...

PENSACOLA, Florida (AP) - Northwestern Florida marked the first anniversary of Hurricane Ivan with prayers and a multimedia theatrical remembrance Friday while tending to thousands who fled an even greater catastrophe.

Hurricane Katrina evacuees from Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama are in shelters, hotels and private homes in a region where hundreds of Ivan victims still remain in temporary quarters, including government travel trailers and mobile homes.

Ivan ranks as the United States` fourth-costliest hurricane, causing about $13 billion in damage, behind Hurricanes Katrina, Andrew in 1992 and Charley last year. It caused flooding and wind damage across the Southeast. Ivan killed 25 people in the United States - 14 in Florida - while 32 more U.S. deaths were indirectly attributed to the storm.

At Navarre Beach, about 25 miles east of Pensacola, restaurant owner Cheryl Rudzki said that after seeing what Katrina did, she`s no longer complaining about losing her home to Ivan and then getting battered again in July by Hurricane Dennis.

"My problems don`t seem like much compared to what`s happening there," she said. "I lost a house, but at least I have a place to go to. I still have a community. I can`t imagine losing everything."

Ivan`s center made landfall Sept. 16, 2004, at Gulf Shores, Alabama, just west of the Florida border with 120 mph winds and a storm surge of 10 to 15 feet. It was the third of four hurricanes that struck Florida last year - a record for the state.

An ecumenical service at Pensacola`s Olive Baptist Church was broadcast live, while "Hurricane Monologues" debuted Thursday night for a four-day run. Part of the show`s proceeds will go to Katrina relief. The production features 19 monologues accompanied by music, photos, video, and lighting effects.

Reminders of Ivan still scar the landscape, including piles of debris, gutted homes, empty lots where buildings once stood, eroded beaches and twisted road signs.

Something less depressing

I've been talking about Hurricane Katrina so much the last couple weeks that I've gotten away from tell y'all what I've been doing.

Mostly, I've been working on my final projects in my Photoshop and Web Design classes. Both projects are web sites designed in Photoshop. In Photoshop, I'm making a page on Nas. So far, it's coming out pretty good. This is my first attempt in making a page entirely in Photoshop. The second page is simply a page for the fantasy football league I'm in. This will actually be a combo of Photoshop and Dreamweaver, much like this page.

Other than that, there's not a whole lot going on. Mostly working anymore. I'm currently in a long streach without a day off. Fortunately, my break from classes is coming soon.

B.E.Z.

We Live in Paradise

This is an email I recieved from my father in the wake of Hurricane Katrina:

We live in Paradise. I have lived in a little trailer park just south and east (toward the Gulf) from the Hiway 90 bridge that they showed from Biloxi to Ocean Springs (the one with all but the raised portion missing) and even at or below poverty level it was a great place to be young! It was only about the height of a Gator belly above mean high tide so if it is still there it would have been covered with about 20 feet of water or more. Luckily I now live just at the very highest possible Category 5 high water mark so flooding/tidal surge is of little concern.

Most (not all) of the folks that were caught had no way of leaving and there was NOT enough time to bring in ships, busses, trains, or even cattle trucks to get many of them out. I have heard complaints that the Navy should have had ships there, including the Hospital Ship, waiting to help. Whoever posted that has never been in the position that I have of riding out a typhoon/hurricane at sea. Even on an eight hundred foot, 105 foot beam, 42 foot draft a category two storm is dangerous, a category 4 or 5 is deadly not to mention how the flat bottom amphibious and high superstructure hospital ships would ride.

People live where they have roots, find work, enjoy playing, or where they are just trapped by economic situation. It is the people of New Orleans and the Mississippi Coast that keep a large percentage of the country in oil. They work the Rigs out in the Gulf and the refineries along the coast. Most of the rice eaten in the U.S. comes out of that area as well as many other products. Every body wants to believe the worst won't happen and many say they "put themselves in the hand of god". Sometimes their faith is all they have and this time for many it was not enough.

The one oil rig that washed up on the coast would have easily supplied enough oil to make gas for everyone of my riding companions for the rest of the time we own our Pacific Coasts. We will face fuel shortages possibly worse than other parts of the country because our gas supplies come in the Inter-coastal Waterway by barge and much of it is impassable now. In many ways we are partially isolated even by road with much of I-10 traffic cut or drastically reduced by this storm and previous storms.

Just so much can be done to maintain a city in such a location but the Army Corps of Engineers have spent billions of tax money attempting to maintain the vital lifeline that is The River. If it was possible to pump oil, refine gas, grow rice, and throw a month long party, and live "The Big Easy" in Ames, Iowa or Lincoln, Nebraska maybe things would be different but that is not human nature nor they way that nature laid out things.

Shunkmanitu
Ikce Wicasa (Lakota)

JUST SOME NOTES: About the ships, my father had 20+ years experience in the US Navy, so, I repect his knowledge there. Lastly, National Geographic reported that during Hurricane Ivan in 2004, there were waves of at least 90 feet in the Gulf of Mexico. They say "at least" because the insterments measuring the waves were of course broken by the time the eye got near.

Thoughts on Katrina

And I thought Ivan was bad.

I caught myself complaining to myself about having to get up and go to class this morning. Then, the thought occurred that, at least I have a warm bed to be in. At least I got a home, food in my fridge, and electricity to run that fridge. At that point, I counted my blessings.

I've found myself completely glued to the TV watching CNN, the Weather Channel, or whatever other news source I could find to catch a unique angle of this disaster down on the gulf coast. Even ESPN's Sportscenter had it's report on the aftermath of Katrina and it wasn't just about how the Saints don't have a home. But still, I'm glued. For many reasons. As you know, I grew up on the gulf coast. I've been through Gulfport, Biloxi, and New Orleans. I saw my first NBA game in Mobile. There's a lot of memories attached to the area. 14 years worth.

I'm also glued to the TV because I truly feel sorry for these people involved. I was the same way with 9/11. I wanted to see every moment of everything happening so that maybe I could at least get a glimpse of the feeling that these people are feeling. Of course I really can't. I haven't lost my home, my business, any of my other belongings, and worse, my loved ones. But still, there's a little pain in this situation. My prayers and my thoughts are with everyone involved.

This makes getting up and going to class easier to say the least.

B.E.Z.

Please Pray

I'm sure most of you know that Hurricane Katrina is heading towards the New Orleans area. I don't care if you're Christian, Muslim, Jewish, Buddhist, simply monotheistic (as myself), or even atheist... please wish the folks well that have to deal with this storm.

I dealt with Hurricane Elena in 1985 and I remember the sounds of the wind and the discomfort from not having power and fresh water. It's not fun, but, it's the price you pay for living in an area like that.

Katrina could end up being the worst ever. There's talk of a 25-foot storm surge that would easily barrel over the levies that hold water out of New Orleans and spill it into the city itself. There's speculation that the French Quarter might not be much of anything when it's all said and done. The forecast is showing that there could even be a 20-foot storm surge in Mobile, AL... Mobile is about 140 miles east of New Orleans.

People are going to die in this storm. Let's hope that enough people heed the warning and get out or get to a good shelter so that they're as safe as possible.

B.E.Z.

Colors and more shoutcast

Just thought I'd drop some notes.

First, after having this layout critiqued, I'm taking the suggestion of giving each section a different color. I'm not sure if I'm actually going to use that idea on here. But, it would be a tricky but interesting process if I did. I think I will go ahead and script everything, just to see how things look.

Secondly, I finally got to test my shoutcast feed for myself today in class. Everything sounds great. Just noticed one small bug when it comes to crossfading. So, I'm going to fix that when I get home. Sounds like I just have to switch crossfading plug-ins and I'll be fine. But, again, things sound great. Nothing sounds fuzzy and the bass had a nice thump to it. Feel free to check that out.

Until next time...

B.E.Z.

I don't have to call this anything do I?

I'm trying to write this during a time where I have tension pain from hell. It's that nice tightness in the neck and shoulders that you get from a job where you're not necessarily overworked, but you are underpaid due to the amount of constant bullshit that goes on throughout the workshift. Simply put, the majority of people are stupid... stupid enough to not understand that, yes, they are stupid. Infact, to be more blunt about the subject, you could be one of those stupid people I'm talking about. But, there is hope for you. You can wake up tomorrow morning and realize that the world does not revolve around you. The day that happens, this will become a better place.

But, aside from the self-indulged "me first" monarchies that go on inside people's heads these days, I've just been doin some shit.

First, I've launched my own shoutcast feed. Huh? Internet radio, comprende? Feel free to listen in anytime, the link's on the side bar. Basically, I got tired of burning all of my music and haulin it to class everyday, so, I'm utilizing my school's internet access for my own enjoyment. But, it can spot 32 listeners total, so, you're all invited. Don't say I never gave yall shit.

Secondly, I forgot what else I was going to say. So, fuck it...

B.E.Z.

Just a little news...

First off, I've put yet another new layout up. My web design and Photoshop classes have made a monster of me. This layout started as a project where I was to make a layout in photoshop. I didn't have to slice it up, or code it, but I did anyway.

The other thing that's going on is that it appears that I'm going to get some work study and internship in my schooling. I was approached with an offer to help redesign a lady's business website and there is a possibility of getting paid for it. For this, I would have to learn PHP and how to work with the MySQL server, which is something we're going to be learning soon anyway. I've also could get paid for some of my projects that I do in Web Design I, where my instructor would use my projects as examples for future classes.

I also found out that my program does internships with a company called Digital INS, who produces business related websites here in Lincoln. So, I have a good idea where I'll be heading for my internships.

Anyway, hope the layout is friendly with everyone. I was hoping it was a little easier to find the navigation than the last one. If it would make you feel better if the site would extend down instead of it being constrained like it is now, drop me a note in the comments. Otherwise, enjoy.

B.E.Z.

NCAA bans use of Native American mascots

On August 5, the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) made a decision to ban Native American mascots by any member university, calling the names "hostile and abusive". One of those universities is Florida State who bares the nickname the Seminoles, named after the Seminole Tribe of Florida.

The following was on the Florida State university website in response to this decision:

STATEMENT FROM FSU PRESIDENT T.K. WETHERELL

Florida State University is stunned at the complete lack of appreciation for cultural diversity shown by the National Collegiate Athletic Association's executive committee, which announced today a policy banning schools using Native American names and symbols from hosting NCAA championship events. That the NCAA would now label our close bond with the Seminole Tribe of Florida as culturally "hostile and abusive" is both outrageous and insulting.

On June 17, the Tribal Council of the Seminole Tribe of Florida spoke unequivocally of its support for Florida State University in its use of the Seminole name and related symbols. Accordingly, I intend to pursue all legal avenues to ensure that this unacceptable decision is overturned, and that this university will forever be associated with the "unconquered" spirit of the Seminole Tribe of Florida.

National surveys have shown in recent years that an overwhelming majority of Native Americans are not offended by the use of Native American names and symbols. In making its decision, the executive committee has been swayed by a strident minority of activists who claim to speak for all Native Americans. It is unconscionable that the Seminole Tribe of Florida has been ignored.

The rules as we understand them would have us cover the Seminole name and symbol as if we were embarrassed, and any committee that would think that is a proper and respectful treatment of Native Americans should be ashamed.

I have a problem with this view. First of all, what about the Seminoles that live outside of Florida, for instance in Oklahoma? How do they feel about this? What is comes down to is that if these names offend anybody, then they should be removed.

We had a similar issue with the confederate flag flying over public buildings throughout the South. People took up issue with this because of the racial condentation involved with the flag. Even though the states involved said that this was nothing more than saying "We're proud to be southern", a lot of people did not see it this way, therefore the flag was removed in most places.

The only problem I have with the NCAA policy is that it only applies to postseason tournaments. This is where FSU and universities using names like them could have some manuverability in the court system.

Still, this was a bold step in the right direction by the NCAA.

B.E.Z.

Review: Staind - Chapter V

Platinum sales. Palatial homes. Fred Durst's cell-phone number. Is nothing enough to lift the heavy air of angst that hangs over Staind? "I've mastered feeling nothing/ I'm dead inside/ Why don't I care?" sings frontman and walking existential crisis Aaron Lewis by way of response on "Run Away," the opening track of the group's fifth album. And so the mood is set--again. The rest of the band offers its agreement through brooding torrents of noise and dense minor-key melodies. With the exception of the tantalizingly melodic "Devil" and tender love song "Everything Changes," the acoustic guitars have largely been set aside on Chapter V, leaving Staind to pummel away at its troubles and hoping that people still have time to listen to self-pitying grown men moan about their dysfunctional childhoods. "Falling is easy/ It's getting back up that becomes a problem," Lewis sings on "Falling."

Overall, it's a fairly solid album.

Yup, changed layouts again

This is my second layout change in the past week.

Simply put, I had some free time in class, I saw another layout much like this one and decided to make one similar to it. I'm also in love with the color orange right now... partially because it's 95 degrees out right now and partially because I have this sudden love for the Texas Longhorns. More than anything, I'm rooting for Texas because Husker fans can't stand it and that's all the reasoning I need.

But, not much more to say. Y'all b.e.z.

New Design Complete

As you can see, I have the new layout up. I'm not going to say too much about the layout as you can read all about it under Projects -> Web Design.

However, I'm proud of this layout. I never really realized how easy building a site like this could be. All I needed was a couple of programs and here we are. For once, there was very little scripting of my own done.

One last note, HIT THE MESSAGE BOARDS UP AND CHAT!!!! Thank you.

B.E.Z.

Changes Coming

I got to thinking about this page over the last couple of days. For those of you that have been visiting this page over the last couple of years, you might remember that this page used to be "Skoo's Web Jawn". Well, I thought about that idea a little bit, got creative with it and decided to bring it back.

I came into my Web Design class today with this idea and started playing around in Photoshop and came up with the banner you see above. Next thing you know, I'm being asked to make a webpage from Photoshop and I figured that if I'm going to do something like this, I'm going to put it to use. Also, I'm already working with the banner at the time, why not make my new layout now? So, I am and it can possibly be done by Friday or at least by Monday.

One of the major changes I'll be doing is going back to a splash page (basically an intro page) with a pop-up window for the main content.

Another thing I'm thinking about doing is moving over to Movable Type for my blogging service. In saying that, if it's possible I'd like to have more people posting on here to supply something of a "guest column" format to the page. Just sounds like a fun idea.

Looking good

Came to the time where my Web Design class takes a 15 minute break and switches rooms. At that time, my instructor wanted to pull me to the side. I'm like "ok, what's up?" Turns out that he feels I'm way ahead of what the class is teaching (which I agree) and that h just hopes that I don't get bored. So, in other words, I'm practically teeing off on this class.

So, just so y'all know what's up, I left a screen shot of what I've done so far above this post.

Anyway, that's it. B.E.Z.

Hockey's Back!!!

The National Hockey League's Board of Governors has ratified the terms of the Collective Bargaining Agreement negotiated with the NHL Players' Association, ending a 310-day work stoppage, signaling a new era of cooperation and partnership, and ensuring the League will resume play for the 2005-06 season.

The six-year agreement, scheduled to run through September 15, 2011, may be reopened by the Players' Association following Year Four (2008-09). The Players' Association also has the option to extend the agreement for one year at the end of the scheduled term.

The Collective Bargaining Agreement includes a completely revamped economic system under which, during the first year, total player costs of the 30 NHL Clubs will not exceed 54% of League-wide revenue. The calibration of the percentage in future years of the Agreement will be linked to a percentage of League-wide revenue, and could rise to 57% if League-wide revenue exceeds $2.7 billion.

No Club payroll for the 2005-06 season will be less than $21.5 million and no payroll will exceed $39 million - including all salaries, signing bonuses and performance bonuses. Each individual player contract currently in existence will include a 24% reduction of NHL salary for every year of its term, and no individual player salary can exceed 20% of a Club's Upper Limit on payroll.

The economic system also includes provisions for enhanced revenue sharing.

Accounting of League-wide revenue will be monitored jointly by the NHL and NHLPA. In addition, the League and Players' Association have agreed to create several joint committees that will work together toward the advancement of the game in a variety of areas, including competition, broadcasting and marketing.

The new Agreement also creates, for the first time, a joint program dealing with the use of Performance-Enhancing Substances. Per the agreement, every NHL player will be subject to up to two "no notice" tests per year. The first positive test for performance-enhancing substances will result in a mandatory 20-game suspension without pay to the player. A second positive test would result in a 60-game suspension, and a third would result in permanent suspension; however, such a player would be eligible to apply for reinstatement after two years.

Other elements of the agreement:

COMPLIANCE BUYOUTS - Clubs may buy out player contracts at no charge toward the Club's Upper Limit from July 23, 2005 to July 29, 2005 at 5 p.m., ET. A player who is bought out may not rejoin his old club during the 2005-06 season.

CONTRACTS FOR 2004-05 - Contracts for the 2004-05 season have been eliminated.

ENHANCED REVENUE SHARING - Enhanced revenue sharing will see clubs eligible for subsidies if they rank in the bottom half of League revenues and operate in markets of 2.5 million TV households or fewer.

ENTRY DRAFT - The Entry Draft has been reduced to seven rounds from nine, beginning with 2005.

ENTRY-LEVEL SALARY - The entry-level salary limit is $850,000 for 2005 and 2006 draftees and reaches a high of $925,000 for 2011 draftees. Entry-level performance bonus categories and thresholds have been revised.

MINIMUM SALARY - The minimum salary has been increased from $185,000 under the previous agreement to $450,000 in 2005-06. It will rise to $500,000 in the final two years of the agreement.

OLYMPICS - NHL players will participate in the Olympic Winter Games in 2006 (Turin, Italy) and 2010 (Vancouver); no All-Star Game will be played in Olympic years.

RENEGOTIATION - Player contracts will not be re-negotiated, upward or downward, during their term.

SIGNING DEADLINE - Restricted free agents who do not sign contracts by December 1 of a given year will be ineligible to play in the League for the balance of that season.

TRADE DEADLINE - The trade deadline will be moved from the 26th day to the 40th day prior to the conclusion of the regular season. Presuming an April 18 conclusion to the 2005-06 regular season, the trading deadline would occur March 10.

TWO-WAY ARBITRATION - Eligibility rules for Player Salary Arbitration have been modified and Clubs will now have the ability to elect Salary Arbitration for eligible Players.

UNRESTRICTED FREE AGENCY - The age of unrestricted free agency remains 31 (with four accrued seasons of 40 or more games on an NHL Club's roster) for 2005-06. It will drop to 29 (with four accrued seasons) or eight accrued seasons - regardless of age - in 2006-07. The following season, the age drops to 28 (with four accrued seasons) or seven accrued seasons, and falls to 27 (with four accrued seasons) or seven accrued seasons in 2008-09.

WAIVER DRAFT - The Waiver Draft has been eliminated.

Story from coloradoavalanche.com

Oppose John Roberts

Respect to CHASE SwAyZe for posting this on the okayplayer.com boards:

In the past weeks, Republicans and Democrats have called on President Bush to nominate a moderate for the Supreme Court - someone who would honor the legacy of independent Justice Sandra Day O'Connor. But last night, President Bush nominated Judge John Roberts, a far-right lawyer and corporate lobbyist, to fill her post on the Supreme Court.

We've got to stop Roberts. He opposed clean air rules and worked to help coal companies strip-mine mountaintops. He worked with Ken Starr (yes, that Ken Starr), and tried to keep Congress from defending the Voting Rights Act. He wrote that Roe v. Wade should be "overruled," and as a lawyer argued (and won) the case that stopped some doctors from even discussing abortion.

Join our urgent petition to let our senators know we expect them to oppose John Roberts right now here

This is one of the most important domestic fights of President Bush's career. We can win - Americans overwhelmingly want a moderate judge. But to win, we need to get the word out early that Roberts is out of the mainstream.

After you've signed, please send this message on to your friends and colleagues. We need to fight back against the misinformation that the Bush administration is putting out.

John Roberts has little experience as a judge - he was only appointed in 2003. But he's got a lot of experience as a corporate lobbyist and lawyer, consistently favoring wealthy corporations over regular Americans.

Here's a list of some of the things that make Roberts the wrong pick for the Supreme Court:
Wrong on environmental protection: Roberts appears to want to limit the scope of the Endangered Species Act, and in papers he wrote while in law school he supported far-right legal theories about "takings" which would make it almost impossible for the government to enforce most environmental legislation.

Wrong on civil rights: Roberts worked to keep Congress from defending parts of the Voting Rights Act.

Wrong on human rights: As a appeals court judge, Roberts ruled that the Geneva Convention doesn't apply to some prisoners of war.

Wrong on our right to religious freedom: Roberts argued that schools should be able to impose religious speech on attendees.

Wrong on women's rights: Roberts wrote that "Roe v. Wade was wrongly decided and should be overruled." He also weighed in on behalf of Operation Rescue, a violent anti-abortion group, in a federal case.

President Bush could have chosen many fair-minded and independent jurists to replace Sandra Day O'Connor. Instead, he chose a corporate partisan loved by Bush's right-wing base but out of step with the rest of the country.

Tell your senators they need to stop John Roberts now here

Just some ol shullbit

Made a few minor changes. First, I took down the sports blog. I starting thinking about that it says "hip-hop · sports · life" at the top of this page. It would only make sense to include all of that content on one page. so, expect some of that.

That brings me to another thing... if anyone knows of a blogging service that works as well as Blogger, cost as much as Blogger (i.e. free.99), and allows you to post your own templates but catagorize your blogs, let me know.

Anyways, I also provided a link on the left column for copyright info and my XML feed. So, you can now incluse me in your news readers and your My Yahoo! page if you really like rading this page enough. Personaly, that might be a scary thought to me so if you do choose to do that, keep that to yourselves.

Speaking of pages. I've started building my page for my Web Design I class. Wrote the extreamly basic code for it on Friday (everyone was given the same code), made my banner and added a photo today. An image of the page is below.



It's nothing too major at this point. However, I doubt it'll be anything that becomes my page in the future. I'm fairly happy with what I have right now.

Anyway, there isn't too much to say for now.

B.E.Z.

The Foreign Exchange - Connected

Excuse me for sleeping on this album. If it wasn't for cdnow.com saving my preferences while I was browsing to see what's out, I wouldn't have even gave this disc a look.

As I didn't, I'm sure the majority of you that are reading this have not heard of The Foreign Exchange.

FE consists of Phonte from Little Brother fame (check out LB if you haven't done so either) and producer Nicolay. The two met on okayplayer.com, where many mc's and beatmakers like them often hang out online. The two started IM'ing each other, where Nicolay started sending over beats that Phonte would rap over and then send back (thus the group's name). Neither of them knew that the final product would be Connected.

Quite frankly, I'm tired of Hip-Hop for the most part. I'm finding myself in a state where I'm tired of the mainstream and the mixtapes aren't giving me enough of the underground artists I like. Connected is a breath of fresh air in times like these. With beats reminiscent of A Tribe Called Quest or Slum Village and Phonte's flows over those beats, the mixture seems to be a perfect marriage.

This is one of the few albums I can actually listen all the way through without skipping tracks. If you appreciate a change from the normal ignorance that is projected from radio station towers these days, check out Connected. You won't be disappointed.

For more info check out the official site and listen to some sound clips from the album.

Huey Freeman goes swimming

I was looking at the site and making a few minor changes while I was at it, and decided that I would click on the Boondocks link towards the bottom to see if they've updated their site.

They have.

Come to find out in viewing the site that on October 2nd, the series is going to be animated as part of Adult Swim on Cartoon Network. Aaron McGruder, the strip's creator, will executive produce the series. Regina King will be doing the voices of Huey and Riley Freeman while john Witherspoon will do the voice for Grandad Freeman. Other character voices will be done by Gary Anthony Williams, Jill Taley, and Cedric Yarbough.

For more info check out boondocks.net

And to read the strip and check out some other cool stuff, check out okayplayer.com

Random notes...

Just had some free time between my classes; three hour's worth to be exact. It's only supposed to be an hour and 40 minute break. But, being that this is the first day of classes, it's nothing but orientation today.

Anyway, just wanted to drop a few notes of things that have been going on around here.

First off, I can't believe that I didn't say anything concerning the approach and aftermath of Hurricane Dennis in the Pensacola area. So, how did things go down there? Well, my father rode out the storm, something that made me nervous up until Dennis' sudden turn northward into the Santa Rosa County area to the east of Pensacola. I'm still awaiting official word from my dad on how things went. I'm guessing electricity is a possible issue.

However, I do know that Pensacola as a whole is in pretty good shape and that the Perdido Key area (not too far from W. Pensacola) reported minimal damage and has been open to the public for the last two days. So, I'm expecting a good report from my dad when I get it.

Now, back to good ol' Lincoln. As I mentioned, I started classes again. I'm taking Web Design I and Photoshop II this quarter. This is the part of my course load that I've been looking to get into. I'm expecting to have a lot of fun with this as this is where I take what I do as a hobby (i.e. this page) and start to make a career out of it. Seriously, how many people can say they get paid for their hobbies? Exactly!!!

So, I'm expecting to start working on what could be some nice changes to the design of this page, not that there's anything wrong with what I have. But, I'm looking to take what I already know and improve on that, which should produce some interesting results. So, stay tuned.

That's all for now.

B.E.Z.

Just a lil news...

No real reason for me to post this pic except that I can't stand the Yankees and I'll take any chance to jump on any weakness they show... like this rather 'gay' moment here.

Anyway, I haven't posted anything for a while outside of my virus alert, so, I thought I'd fill y'all in.

First off, I'm proud to let you all know that with A's in Microsoft Applications and Pre-Production Techniques that I've landed on the dean's list for the first time. Consider the fact that a little over a year ago I was on academic suspension, this makes this feat something to talk about. I guess I should be proud either way, but, really I didn't expect it. I still really question if I even deserve it. Frankly, the Microsoft Applications course was what I like to call... pud. Meaning, extremely easy. But, I thought I was doing average in Pre-Production Techniques and would get an average grade. Thing about it is that I underestimated myself with my grades with the Winter quarter too. I thought I was doing average and came out with B's.

Mom was so proud of me that she insisted on getting me a gift for it. So, I told her I'd like a copy of NCAA Football '06 when it comes out in July. So, expect my grades to drop again. Kidding.

So, now, this is one of the few times I can remember looking forward to going to school. This is because I'll be taking Web Design I, in which we work with Dreamweaver, and Photoshop II. Finally, I'm getting to do the stuff I came to college for in the first place. I'll be taking what is a hobby for me and start making a little money with it.

Anyway, there's not much else going on. I've mostly been working or sleeping during my summer break. So, nothing else too thrilling.

Y'all B.E.Z.

Virus Alert

Over the past couple of days I've gotten a string of emails on my yahoo account posing as "official" yahoo emails. With the email comes an attachment... that attachment contains the W32.Mytob virus. The W32.Mytob virus is a mass-mailing worm that opens a back door and lowers security settings on the compromised computer. It affects Windows 2000, Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows Me, Windows NT, Windows Server 2003, and Windows XP. Looking at Symantec's website for recent virus threats, W32.Mytob has come up a lot over the past week and it appears that it's constantly changing letters after W32.Mytob (ex: W32.Mytob.ED@mm).

The sender of these particular emails have been using yahoo.com addresses. Official yahoo emails come as yahoo-inc.com.

For you yahoo mail users, here's an example of what a real email from yahoo would look like:

Notice that it's highlighted in blue and had the red yahoo "Y".

And here's how the fake emails with the virus look:

Notice it's not highlighted and there's no yahoo "Y". It also has the paperclip showing there's an attachment.

Now, I have two guess on why I'm getting these. 1. Someone's simply playing asshole and wants to send me a virus, or 2. the most likely option is that someone who has me in their address book has this virus which is why I would suggest scanning your computer now. It's a good idea to do so at least once a week anyway.

Web mail is a good way to keep viruses off your pc. But, if you use web mail or an email client (ex. Outlook or Thunderbird), never open attachments from strange sources.

Just lookin' out for yall.

B.E.Z.

Here we go again

It looks as if my hometown of Pensacola, FL could be in for another bout with a tropical cyclone.

Last September, Pensacola and the surrounding area had to deal with Hurricane Ivan (check the Sept 2004 archives). Ivan was by far the strongest storm to hit the Pensacola area on record. The storm did so much damage that even nine months later, there's still damage that has not been cleaned up.

The fear that the Pensacola area had was that another storm would come before all the cleanup efforts could be made and before the city could be rebuilt. The main concern is that some of the lingering debris would be swept up and tossed becoming a projectile moving at whatever the wind speed was.

Well, the fear may be dealt with. Enter Tropical Storm Arlene, a little pinwheel of hell spinning just to the south of the western tip of Cuba. The storm is expected to move north to a general area from Panama City, FL to New Orleans, LA... that puts the Pensacola area right in the center. The good news, however, is that the storm is only expected to strengthen minorly. Good news being that Pensacola is not ready for another hurricane.

Let's keep our fingers crossed.

Officially Summer

I'm finally done with classes. I've yet to find out what my grades are yet, since they're not posted on the college's website yet. However, I feel confident in how I've done.

I've also made sure my FAFSA (federal financial aid) is in order for 2005-06 so that my education remains as free as possible.

I'm really looking forward to my classes next quarter. I'm slated to take Photoshop II and Web Design I. I'm really excited about the web design. I'm hoping in the process of that class that I can learn some things to spice up this here page you're looking at now. So, don't be surprised if some changes come next month or so.

The only downside I'm experiencing is that I'm now in the middle of five consecutive work days. I love the money and all, but, I need a little time to vegetate you know? But, I did see I get three out of four days off during the middle of next week so I suppose I'll do my relaxing then.

The Boards are Being Improved!!!

I haven't seen the results yet, as the servers for proboards.com are currently updating as I type this. But, I understand there are a lot of new features coming to the message board, including:

1. File Attachments - this could either be a good thing or a bad thing, but, you now have the ability to post photos in your messages.

2. Backup Personal Messages - With this new feature, you now have the ability to download a ZIP file of all your personal messages from the board.

3. Faster Searching - This feature allows you to find that one post you've been looking for.

Then there's some other admin features being added that only I need to know about. But, it sounds like they're stepping in the right direction with this service, so, when it's back up feel free to take advantage of that.

B.E.Z.

Time Flies

Happy June everyone. It kind of shocked me this morning when I looked on the clock and noticed it said "6/1" it. Anyways, summer is coming soon in a lot of respects. We've already had the "unofficial start of summer" just the other day on Memorial Day. We obviously have the "scientific" start of summer on June 21st. Meanwhile for me, summer begins at approximately 2:50 pm Central Daylight Time next Wednesday the 8th. That's when I'm officially done with this quarter's classes.

I know in my Mircosoft Apps. class that I'm in good standing as I'm getting everything done. I can't say the say about my Pre-productions Techniques class. The problem I have without his class is it's just so damn boring to me. It's another one of those deals where the program is so broad that this class falls in one of the areas I'm not interested in. I constantly have to remind myself that everything ties into itself and that everything in here has a purpose when it comes to web design.

Still, this hasn't been enough motivation for me when it concerns this class. So, here I sit with three actual class days left and I still have some work to do. This means I'll probley be staying until 2:50pm for the first time in a while just to get stuff in. I just hope I don't get any of my classic migranes that also like to hamper me during this class time.

Anyways, hope everyone is looking forward to summer like I am.

B.E.Z.

It Takes a Village

Malcolm X (right) and grandson Malcolm Shabazz
I was doing a little browsing while I had some freetime in my first class this morning and came arcoss an article about Malcolm Shabazz (Malcolm X's grandson) that'll appear in the May 30th issue of Newsweek. Here's a little segment of that article:

"Malcolm X's grandson didn't get to see the celebrations in Harlem last week honoring his late grandfather's 80th birthday. Not the debut of the exhibit "Malcolm X: A Search for Truth" at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture. Not the dedication of the Malcolm X and Dr. Betty Shabazz Memorial and Education Center at the Audubon Ballroom, where his grandfather was gunned down 40 years ago. The 20-year-old has missed many a family event. But in this year of nostalgic reflection, which Malcolm X's family has dubbed "the Rebirth of the Legacy," Malcolm Shabazz is ready to make amends. "I've had a lot of time to sit in my cell and just think," says Shabazz, who is set to be released this summer from Clinton Correctional Facility in upstate New York. "I know I let a lot of people down. I know people expected more."

Shabazz has spent a third of his life behind bars, first for setting a fire that led to the death of his grandmother, and then for attempted robbery. But the African-American community is ready to forgive and embrace the prodigal son, a young man so haunted by family tragedy and the glare of inherited fame. High-profile friends and admirers of Shabazz's grandparents - including rap mogul Russell Simmons, former New York mayor David Dinkins and actor Denzel Washington - say they plan to support and keep tabs on the heir to one of the most significant figures in African-American history. Washington, who has portrayed the late civil-rights leader on stage and screen, says the reason is simple: Malcolm X's grandson is much too important to be forgotten. "I think we all just want to see him have a good life and get on track," the actor says. "There's a lot of pain that's been suffered by that family, and it's just time to see some healing and better times.""

For the entire article, check out Newsweek's website or the March 30th issue of the magiazine. Feel free to leave any comments.

Playin' with Opera

For those that don't know, there is another alturnative to Microsoft's Internet Explorer for browsing the web. Now, I'm a diehard Mozilla Firefox user, but, my curiosity got to me and I decided to play around with the much talked about Opera browser.

Now, I've only been playing around with the browser for a couple of hours, but, the first thing I noticed about it is how fast it loads up. Typically, it takes about 8 seconds or so for Firefox to load up on my computer and about the same with Internet Explorer. With Opera however, I've constantly counted no more than 3 seconds. That's a big deal when it comes to internet browsing since you're going to want to just get on and find what you want.

Opera also offers alot of the same features that can be found in Firefox, such as tabbed browsing and RSS (news feeds) support. Also, simular to the Mozilla suite that the Netscape browser is based off of, there's an embedded email client and IRC client. However, the email and IRC clienst seem to move more fluently in Opera.

Infact, things seem to more more fluently overall in Opera. From loading pages to switching options, everything seems to flow nicely.

The only problems I've found so far is that Opera doens't read some pages right. I've found problems with ESPN.com's front page aswell as my homegirl STL's page. Other than that, no problems. And my page works fine.

Opera can be found at opera.com and a full list of features can be found at opera.com/features/

Time to focus on me

I'm in another one of those long ass streaches where I either go to class for 6 hours or work for 8. This is the 11th day in a row so far and I'm looking at probley another week at least of this. It's actually to the point where there's times I feel sick I'm so tired. When I'm not feeling sick, it seems every muscle hurts.

It's too the point that my girl and I decided to part ways. It really wouldn't be fair to her if I couldn't give her the quality time the relationship needs, so, this is for the best.

Last night, after discussing all this with my girl, I crashed on the bed, trying to keep awake during the Sonics-Spurs game. Unfortunately, the apartment got really hot to me to the point where I was too uncomfortable to sleep, keeping me up to see my beloved Sonics lose.

So yeah, last night was great.

Well, it wasn't all a loss. Earlier in the evening, I went over to the M&N Sandwich Shop to enjoy some good food and good blues music. M&N specialized in making sandwiches with Italian meats like Italian sausages, pastrami, ect., as well as letting anybody who wants to play music on a given night come by and play. Pretty cool atmosphere.

Anyway, I gotta get some breakfast in me before I grind on off to class.

B.E.Z.

Ready to go home

Once again, I'm blogging in class. Funny how I'm always doing this here and not at home. Right now, I'm procrastinating with making an interactive PDF file. The end result of these things can be cool. It's just the process of doing all of this that I can't stand. All of this is more proof to me that web design is more my niche than anything else.

Anyways, there's more I wanna write today, but, can't do so until I get home. I'll get back in a minute on that...

B.E.Z.

Bananas are evil

I don't know what it is about these little yellow things, but, they do something to the minds of the human race when they go on sale. Case in point: bananas went on sale at my store for 19 cents a pound yesterday and people acted an ass as a result of all of this.

Here's some examples:

• 1. People, especially old people, like to stand 3 inches directly behind you so they can look over your shoulder while you stock the bananas. Why? Because they want to get the "best" bunch right as it comes out. As soon as they see that bunch they like, they cut through you, without saying "excuse me" or "pardon", or anything else of that sort.


• 2. People, especially middle aged women on their way home from work, like to cut in front of me when I'm stocking bananas. Something in their little minds tells them that the freshest bananas are in that particular spot that I'm working, nevermind there's another 10 feet of bananas on each side of me. I had one lady in particular do this TWICE to me. Again, no "excuse me" or nothing. Not only is this rude, but, possibly dangerous. Why dangerous? Because I work fast and there's a possibility of me elbowing someone right in the chops if they're not careful.


• 3. Another thing I've noticed is people that will search for the perfect bunch of bananas. I mean this to the point that they will pick a bunch up, check it for spots, see a spot, and put it down. They will repeat this process until they've found that one spotless bunch. Here's a message to you anal retentive people that do this: God didn't make you perfect, so, why would you ever expect a banana to be?

These are just a few of the things I have to put up with when bananas go on sale. During these times I just hope that one of them is poisoned for simply pulling the cheap crap that they do. I had one man ask me, "Why were the bananas 49 cents yesterday and 19 cents today?". I looked at him with this look of what-the-fuck on my face and answered, "because they're on sale today.". Duh!!!

Then, there's always the people that have to buy 5 bananas every time, so, they'll take a bunch of 6 and rip one off. Again, these things are 19 cents a pound. They literally ripped off 3 cents.

Anyway, this has been my tirade for May 6th.

B.E.Z.

Just a couple announcements

First off, I took out the tag board on both sections. I found that it was creating a pop-up window and that's nothing that anybody wants. So, if anyone has a good alternative to tagboard.com, please let me know and I'll bring the tag board back.

Lastly, please please please take advantage of the message boards. I'm still rather annoyed that nobody has signed up and used the things as of the time I'm writing this. Being that it was basically begged for to be brought back, I would expect that a couple of you would be using it. No more excuses or I'm taking it down again. Thanks.

That's it for the time being.

B.E.Z.

K... shit... I'm awake

Keep fallin alseep on this page. Last time I did anything on here I left yall a gross memory of my internal bleeding. Not going to do that today. I will however leave you with how my last two weeks have been.

I'M FUCKING TIRED!!!!

Today just happens to be my first day off in two weeks. Everyday it's either been work, class, or both. I got to the point where I skipped my one Friday class just to sleep in. Even with that I still felt dead. I didn't really wake up until I went to work for the day at 4pm. In any case, I made it... 13 days of hell are over and I'm going to vegetate with the NFL Draft today and the Sonics' first playoff game tonight. I'll have more on those soon on the sports blog.

Something else has happened in the last two weeks. Skoo has love in his life now. Wasn't sure I really wanted it, but, that's usually when shit happens, right? Anyway, her name is Jamie, she prefers I refer to her as Baby, and she's been a much needed joy in my life. I probley won't say too much about her and I on here because I refuse to let yall nosy bastids in on this avenue on my life very often. But, I will say she's my heart at this moment and that's all that really matters to me.

B.E.Z.

Sick and tired of being sick and tired

Been fighting allergies for the past week. Usually, I never have this problem, but, I understand this kind of thing can happen later in life. Anyways, the trees are budding here in Lincoln, so, I'm getting my ass kicked with allergies. It's too the point where I've sniffled so much that the inside of my nose has bled a little bit. Most of the time I like having the ability to smell, but, now is not one of those times since the only thing I smell is blood. Nasty huh?

So, now I have a headache from smelling blood to go on top of my usual micron from the stress that goes along with having work and classes six days a week. So, life is going fantastically well ((c) OutKast).

On another note, there's something that's really annoyed me. After the assumed excitement I received when I brought the message boards back, at this point there's still nothing posted. I'm very close to take the damn things back down if people don't use them, so, please post something.

B-E-Z

By request...

This is really her softer, gentler side

Just clownin' again... love ya Mo!

Prayers needed

I'm gonna keep this short. My mother has to go in for a heart cath tomorrow morning. Basically, this is a procedure done to check if there's something wrong in the arteries.

Any prayers would be appreciated.

~1~

Got cha!!!

Oh my God! Skoo's white!!!

I dunno... just felt like playin around. It's cold, rainy, sometimes even snowy... and I just don't feel like doin' anything. Anyway, holla people.

Finally recouped

Took me a minute, but, I think I've finally caught my breath from college. I finished up classes on Monday and didn't really do much most of the week because, well... I could. If for some reason you were wondering how that monkey business below worked out, nothing spectacular, but, I got a B on it. As far as I know, both of my classes came up with B's, so I'm pleased.

Anyways, not much going on around here for the time being. Just sitting around watching the Colorado College/Denver hockey game. Since there's no NHL this year (sigh), I've adopted Denver as my favorite hockey team. So far so good.

Of course I'm watching the NCAA tournament, as well. I'm glad I didn't take the time to fill out a bracket this year cause it would be shredded at this point. Kansas lost last night to Bucknell (wtf is Bucknell?), so, my local favorite is gone (since there's no Nebraska, but what's new?).

There is more than sports going on with me. My aunt is coming down from Kansas City on Tuesday and staying up until Saturday where I'll go back to KC with her and my mom. The following day we're supposed to go up to a town in Iowa (can't think of the name) where my Irish predecessors settled. It's a history lesson I've been waiting on for a while. Not exactly a glamorous time, but, more like an enlightening one. I'm supposed to return on Monday and then Wednesday, it's back to class again.

On another note, I've been thinking about doing some things with this page again. The first is expanding it back out to have both a sports and a music review blog. I may also bring back my designs page so you folks can see some of the things I'm doing on the side of this. The other thing may take some assistance. I'd like to create a background with a picture of myself on the right of everything, much like rapper Common's site. It would be my way of personalizing this piece. Dunno, thought I'd throw that out there.

Anyway, yall be good...

Monkey Shit

See this little guy? This is what I have to create a web page around for one of my classes. I don't actually have to build the site, just the storyboard for it. Not really anything that I couldn't handle. Anyway, Ive basically done as much as I feel like doing here in class being that I can take this project home with me and play around with it tonight.

In any case, I'll keep you folks updated on how it's coming. I only have two days to do this, so, it's not going to be much of anything special. But, as soon as I get Paint Shop Pro back (that's a whole other story), I'll show you folks some examples.

Stay tuned... I plan on venting later on today.

Respect Due

The US Congress and George Bush finally did something I like. Today, they collectively awarded the late Jackie Robinson with the Congressional Gold Metal, the highest civilian award.

Many will know Jackie Robinson has the man who broke the color barrier in baseball during a time when baseball was king and racial equality was low. The continuous verbal abuse via ethnic slurs, physical threats, and even some death threats that Robinson withstood throughout his career is something that most human beings could not withstand and only higher signifies what Robinson meant to sports and American culture.

However, Robinson's influence was felt beyond the fences of the baseball diamond. He was one of the pioneers of the Civil Rights Movement often speaking with the likes of Dr. Martin Luther King. Though he was not alone in this fight, nobody could imagine the amount of courage it took to partake in the movement unless they were there themselves.

It's only right the man was respected in the way he was today.

Skoo Does the Oscars

Did you know the Oscars are on tonight? I damn near forgot.

Anyway, this year is no different than last year in the sense that I have not seen the majority of the films up for Best Picture. I've heard about The Aviator, mostly about how long it is. I couldn't tell you about what Finding Neverland is about. I've heard about the "twist" in Million Dollar Baby and am at least interested in seeing this movie. I have seen Ray and flat out loved it. Jamie Foxx finally got a staring role and thrived in it. Lastly, I have heard about Sideways. People have told me it's funny, but, I just haven't got around to seeing it yet.

Basically, I watch the Oscars to see what I should of seen this year.

I'm also rooting for Hotel Rwanda to win a lot of awards as that is a deep, deep film.

I'm also looking to see who Chris Rock clowns on.

Lastly, I wish everyone luck... Especially Jamie Foxx.

Bow Down!

Just taking a second to gloat a little bit.

Yesterday, the Washington Huskies clinched at least a share of the Pac-10 Basketball regular season title by knocking off Arizona in Seattle. If Washington goes on to sweep both Stanford and California next weekend, they will win their first regular season conference title in 20 years.

Another note: With the win over Arizona, Washington finished the year undefeated at home while extending their home winning streak to 22 games.

Go Dawgs!

I hate printing

I know that "hate" is a strong word for how I feel, but, that's how I feel. I'm like a cat in a filled bathtub when it comes to working press.

The only reason I'm in this press class is because I have to take it. Believe me, I tried to duck my way around it by taking other classes.

There has to be a reason for me to speak on this right? Yup. My press blew up today. Well, not like smoke and fire... Just a nasty paper jam that made the water in the machine go flying in every direction. Usually, the paper just sticks to the ink roller. Today, it made it's way all the way into the water reservoir, which basically turned that paper into pulp. Talk about a mess.

So, of course, me and my partner had to disassemble the machine to clean all the bits of paper from the rollers. This made clean-up take much longer than it usually should. It also reminded me why I hate working with any kind of large machinery. No matter what precautions you take to make sure everything goes right, something almost always goes wrong.

I just cross my fingers and hope that I pass that class.

Procrastinating again

Not really a whole lot to say. I'm supposed to make a rough for a newspaper layout for a class project that's due next week. Simply put, I'd rather do this than do that rough.

Sad part about it all is that it would only take about five minutes. On the other hand, the last time I procrastinated I saw my work picked out to be presented, so maybe the genius is really working. But, seriously, I'm just plain tired and therefore don't feel like doing any homework right now.

I'm not really looking forward to tomorrow morning. Mom is in KC for a couple days and will not be back until tomorrow afternoon. This means, I have to ride the bus to class. Really, I don't mind the bus. I just wish everything didn't have to go downtown before going where I want to go. The other thing I don't like is that I have to leave here at about 7 am. Compare this to the 8:30 am leave time that I usually have and you can see why I'm a little grumpy about the issue. I'm used to waking up at 7 much less leaving at that time.

I guess I'll live, right?

A Yak?

From the "Only in Nebraska" section (I knew I'd use that phrase again on here) I have this. Something I've found as of late is that small town newspapers often don't have many reporters. Infact, many times, these newspapers will rely on the citizens for their articles. This is one of those cases where I question the rationale of typing up such an article.

It appears Ronda Graff and her family had just seen their family dog run away. Sad I know. Well, it didn't take long for the family - and the community - to come up with suggestions for a replacement. Ronda's 4-year old son had a rather good suggestion - another small dog. Makes sense right? Apparently it didn't make much sense to Ronda and her husband.

Not only did they pass up another dog...

they also passed up a cow...

a goat...

an emu...

then this...

After months of discussion, my husband finally persuaded me that a yak would be the perfect animal. It just so happened that the yak's arrival came a mere week after the passing of our dog -- and it was not a smooth transition.

No, it wasn't. While on vacation, THEY LOST THE YAK!!!

I wish I was making this up, but look...

He called the owners of the yak and found out that, yes, the yak had been delivered and they were on their way to help with the search.

As we ventured out in the falling snow, looking for a yak we had never seen, my husband and I still maintained our sense of humor: We had just lost our fluffy, wandering dog and now we were looking for a fluffy, wandering yak.

You may be saying to yourself: It's a yak. How hard could it be to find a yak in Southwest Nebraska? This isn't the Alps.

This is where it gets tricking. Remember, we were gone when it was delivered, had never seen this yak and the closest we had been to a yak was in a lasagna dinner the year before.

Yak lasagna? What in the...

But seriously, what was wrong with having a small dog? And to think, there's more to this article. Before this, the only experience I've had with yaks was on Ren & Stimpy. This is taking it too far.

*sigh*

So, that's what that smell is...

This article is a few weeks old, but I had to share it with you. This is one of those things that makes me say, "only in Nebraska". But, I see they set cow poop on fire in other places as I've learned from this article. Yeah, flaming cow poop. The funny part about all this is that this made national news. Have a look.

Urban dwellers who enjoy dining on filet mignon at five-star restaurants would probably just as soon not know about David Dickinson's dilemma.

Bad for the appetite, you know.

But Dickinson, who makes his living in the cattle business, has an environmental problem on his hands that is vexing state officials: a 2,000-ton pile of burning cow manure.

Dickinson owns and manages Midwest Feeding Co. about 20 miles west of Lincoln, which takes in as many as 12,000 cows at a time from farmers and ranchers and fattens them for market.

Byproducts from the massive operation resulted in a dung pile measuring 100 feet long, 30 feet high and 50 feet wide that began burning about two months ago and continues to smolder despite Herculean attempts to douse it.

While city folks might have trouble imagining a dung pile of such proportions, they are common sites in rural states.

In July, crews fighting a blaze in a three-acre manure lagoon at a dairy farm in Washington smothered the flames with more of the same — a blanket of wet cow manure. More here.

And to think, I thought that smell was the Huskers football squad.

Woohoo!!!

Good news. That poster I finished for my printing class on Wednesday (see here) is apparently good enough for the program chair to want to use it around the college. This goes the one extra step of just being shown off at the open house to say, "this is what you can do here". In the beginning, I wanted it to just be good enough for the open house. It appears I outdid myself in this case. *golf clap*

Anyway, there isn't too much else going on right now. I finished my newsletter about my cat Hershey. That came out pretty good, especially considering I've only used Adobe InDesign once before. I also finished my billboard designs for Monday. Nothing too spectacular there, it was actually somewhat sarcastic.

Well, nothing more to say. Be good.

Finally, I'm branded

One of the things that has bothered me about my blog it that I've been working with templates and I had really nothing to distinguish my blog from any other.

Well, I'm still using a template... it's Douglas Bowman's Minima (white, duh!) template. But, I did make a few edits to get it to my specifications.

The other thing I did is I finally created a logo. Branding is something I've been learning a lot about in my classes as of late. Branding in short is logos and logotype. Finally, I had an idea of my own logo idea and it just all fell together for me about an hour ago and wahlah... I have what's at the top of this page. I was wanting something that I could change-up for different seasons and events, much like Google or tequila mockingbird, and I can do that with what I've created here. And yes, I already have ideas. For example baseball season is coming soon... Love: Braves "A" logo, Life: a baseball, and Happiness: that World Series trophy from '95. See what I'm getting at? I can have fun with it... and believe me, I will.

I've also made a couple more changes on here.

First, I've gone with a service called Haloscan for my commenting system. There was nothing wrong with what Blogger was offering, this is just a little more personalizable.

Second, I've gone with another service called BlogLinker that allows fellow bloggers to add their links (duh!). Basically, it's a way to boost traffic so that I don't have only about 5 people reading this thing religiously. That way, I don't feel like I'm doing this more than for my own self gratification even though that's really what blogs are about.

Lastly, I brought back the tag board from my old page and cleaned it off, so, you folks have a fresh litter box to play in.

Overall, I'd have to say I'm fairly happy with things right now. As always, leave your comments and enjoy.

Sad day for a hockey fan

Just found out that the NHL has finally canceled it's season. I do realize that 2/3 of American sports fans and even less of the entire scale of Americans care about hockey, but, I do. I'm a complete nut when it comes to the Colorado Avalanche. I'm religiously dislike the Detroit Red Wings and I'm going to miss trading barbs with a friend of mine in Canada who's a Wings fan come playoff time.

Thing about it all is this was highly expected. I think hockey fans everywhere saw this coming because both sides (the NHL team owners and the players) were not willing to budge from their agendas. It's unfortunate for the league and it's fans because this civil war could very well kill the league. And then what? College hockey is ok, but it just doesn't have the level of excitement to me that the Stanley Cup playoffs do.

On the other hand, baseball is coming right around the corner. My team, the Seattle Mariners, will report to spring training tomorrow. So, I will fill the hockey-less void. But, it's still going to be strange come June when there's no cup hoisted above somebody's head. Just strange.

Peace,
Skoo