Recent discoveries in deep space...

It took some time but astronomers have finally found an earth like planet circling another star. The planet which orbits a star they have called Gliese 581 (not very imaginative people those astronomers) is located a mere eleven light years away. Just around the block in astronomical terms. (If you left now traveling at the speed of light you would get there around 2121 C.E. or A.D. for those of you who still base your calendars on the birth and death of Christ.) It is a little strange to us here at The Crazy that scientists who can't think up a decent name for a planet have got a pretty nifty name for the orbit that is favorable to liquid water, and therefore favorable to life. They call that orbit the Goldilocks zone, (not too hot, not too cold) Earth orbits in the Goldilocks Zone of our sun. Gliese 581 has a planet which orbits around it at the perfect distance to support liquid water. Actually as Gliese 581 (what a mouthful) is a Red Dwarf and therefor cooler than our sun, planet G of Gliese 581 orbits much closer than our earth to our sun, (A full orbit is 39 days, which means of course that a year on Gliese 581 G is only a little over a month long.)
But Astronomers say that the planet which always has one side pointed toward it's sun would be cold on one side, hot on the other, and perfect in between. (Could you imagine living on a planet where it was shirtsleeve weather forever?) Astronomers have also found 5 other planets orbiting Gliese 581 which they have named e,b,c,d and f, (those clever Astronomers and their wacky alphabet) Planet G orbits in between planet c and d. (Which seems to show that these Astronomers are not only unimaginative but dyslexic as well.) Just a quick note to let you know what's going on in the cosmos. Ciao for now.

Yay the war is over....

Just a quick note to let those of you who might not know it, but World War I will officially end on Sunday, Oct 3rd 2010. Sure they signed the Armistice Treaty at 5:00 AM on November 11, 1918, which was to officially end the war at 11:00 A.M. that very day. (Although on the Western Front shelling continued an hour or so after that time.)
But the treaty of Versailles called for reparations, and Germany was made to pay for the damage done by the war, (about 15 billion dollars in today's money) which they will officially do on Sunday. The final payment of about 41 million dollars will go to private individuals, pension funds, and corporations which hold debenture bonds. It is important to note that one of the main reasons Adolph Hitler rose to power was his belief that reparations for World War I were destroying Germany. It's also important to note that World War II reparations were paid in machinery, goods, and German labor, (German prisoners of war were sent to work all over the world, including the Unites States where they were called Military Labor Force Units.) and also about 3 Billion Deutchmarks to the World Jewish Congress, and another 450 Million Duetchmarks to Isreal. Most of Germany's reparations for World War II were paid by 1953. So on Sunday be sure to raise a glass and celebrate the end of one of the Worlds most deadly wars. That's about it today, Ciao for now.

Getting older...

Well, today is my (Kenton's)birthday, I am fifty two, no fifty three years old. Or as of this writing, 464,586 hours old. That's 636 months, or 19,358 days. Which seems a real short time to have been on this earth. According to statistics I have spent about 17 of those years sleeping, so I have only been physically conscious and using my body for about thirty six years. I started thinking of strange little things like, how much time have I spent on the toilet. Or how much time have I spent eating, or having sex, (way too little of that by the way) Going the other way, how much time have I spent in meaningful pursuits, learning, or teaching, caring for others. How much time have I spent being selfish or self centered (sadly more than I care to admit.) If I have showered 3 times a week at 10 minutes a shower I have spent 167 hours in the shower.
Waaaayyy too much time watching television, (I really don't even want to calculate that one.) Many Many Many hours in front of a computer, (right now for example). One thing I am sure of, I enjoy this life, and wish to continue enjoying it as long as nature and time and tide allow. So though I am getting older, that fact that I am HERE to get older is definitely a good thing. So if you see me today taking my creaking old body down the street, with it's sagging flesh and graying hair, it's bad eyes and hairy ears, wish me a happy birthday, because that's what I'm having, I assure you. Ciao for now.

Been a while....

We were looking at the blog and realized we hadn't had an entry since Sept 9th. So even though we haven't a thing that's interesting to write about we thought we would make an entry, so here goes. The last eight days have been pretty hectic around here, we have been finishing up on the gardening, draining and putting the pool away, and generally trying to winterize our existence. We also fought a major war with the downstairs toilet, it seems to have it's own opinion as to when it should work. We have tried a sewer snake, liquid plumber, and draining it and reaching into the tank to see if we can figure out whats wrong. All of us here have given it a pep talk as we flushed it, we keep asking each other questions like "Who are you talking to in there?"
and the answer is always, "I'm trying to pep talk the toilet." Needless to say the toilet isn't listening, and just goes on flushing or not flushing at it's own whim.
So if you visit us and are using our facilities, you may be a casualty in the great toilet war of 2010. (Just want to point out that Wolfie has written above the bathroom door "Abandon all hope." which was written above the gates of hell according to Dante Alighieri in his Inferno.} No, we don't think our bathroom is the doorway to hell. (Some of us here don't believe in hell.) But there may be just a little bit of purgatory in there. Just a quick note to fill some of our time, and waste some of yours, ciao for now.

Our house....

If anybody knows us personally they know that Wolfie (House mother Lisa) is the main cook here, not that I cannot cook, surely I can, but there is a tendency to make a mess, for example not too many months ago I decided to make some bread, (It turned out like tasty leather.) But Lisa described the resultant mess as "The white tornado meets the Pillsbury dough boy." So obviously cooking doesn't simply involve mixing ingredients and baking or frying, (Or Broiling, or boiling, or scalding, or grilling.) But also cleaning up the mess. And that is the reason I don't get to do much of the cooking, (which is actually a good thing as Lisa is a consummate cook.) Those of you who know us know the famous Super Bowl Chili of 1996. No seriously, people still talk about a meal she made over 14 years ago. Only five of us were there to eat it, but we all remember it, and can describe the different levels of heat it brought to our palate, It wasn't painfully hot, but the heat started at the lips and slowly worked it's way back down the throat. She had spent three days making it, adding different pre browned meats, cooking down vegetable juice slowly to enrich it. Four different kinds of hot peppers, and onions and green peppers also. It had chili beans and various spices, but this was certainly one of those times when the whole was much greater than the sum of the parts. She believes that she will never be able to make a chili like that again as there was no real recipe, but those of us who know her wouldn't be surprised if she pulled it off again. She will certainly have opportunity as Football season is beginning again, and those special days will be filled with good food and good friends as always. That's about it for now. I am getting hungry, I'll try not to make a mess this time. Ciao for now.

On burning the Koran...

Recently a church in South Florida has decided to burn the Koran on Sept 11th as a protest to the extremist Muslim cause. And although we at the Crazy condone free speech, we disapprove of this action. Sure he has the right to burn the Koran, or the bible or the flag, but doing so will incite riots and violence in places where American lives are at risk. It is our sincere hope that someone also throws a bible on the fire to get the point across to those idiots (about 40 or so attend the church) what they are starting, (although doing so might get you killed as the Pastor has armed himself due to death threats.) If however someone does attempt to kill this guy our only hope is that no one else gets hurt in the crossfire. It's obvious to us here at The Crazy that doing something so hateful will only lead to more violence and bloodshed. Let's face it, burning the Koran is not going to endear us to any one of the dozen or so extremist Muslim organizations, and they are certainly not going to understand that the right to burn the Koran is guaranteed by our constitution. They will simply see it as the work of the devil, and assume the great Satan is at it again.
We should also point out that NOT burning the Koran won't make much difference either. They will still hate us. And we will still have to deal with them someday. Fortunately these extremist Muslims hate each other as much as they hate us, so maybe we will get lucky and they will kill each other off. Here's hoping. So what is the upside to burning the Koran, well, anyone? Point made we think, no one here can think of any upside to burning the Koran other than keeping warm on a cold day. Anyway just our opinion, ciao for now.

Weather changes....

After a couple of days of miserable humid hot weather here in the Upper Peninsula, we are now getting the first signs of fall weather, it's cooler today (thank god, or mother nature or whoever the hell handles these things.) Looking forward to cool fall nights listening to the wind trying to make it's way into the house. Some of us here at The Crazy thrive on this weather while others dread the coming snow. (That's what happens when a Mediterranean woman marries a man of Finnish descent.) Chances are the posts here will be a little sparse for a while but once the snow flies we may be back to doing this daily again. On another note NASA has recently discovered some new planets in another solar system, (actually a whole bunch of new planets) some of them a little over a light year away. (or 5.87849981 × 10 to the 12th power miles for those of you who prefer the British-American system of Units.) Needless to say no one alive today will ever see those planets up close unless a major breakthrough in space travel happens soon. Still, it's interesting to wonder if there is other life here in the neighborhood and what sort of life it is. Just a quick note for anybody who still might be reading this blog, and if not, well... it keeps us in the practice of writing anyway. Ciao for now.

No Athiests in fox holes...

Someone recently mentioned the old axiom that there are no atheists in foxholes. So we decided to research that statement and find out. The answer may surprise you, but not only are there plenty of atheists in foxholes, some people who went into those foxholes believing in god came out non-believers. For example Shy David's grandfather was a Calvinistic Methodist when he entered the war and when he returned he forbade his family practicing any religion at home, (those were different times folks) his exact quote was "Either God is a bastard, or God isn't there at all." Many of the returning veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan are atheists, or at least agnostic. And just to prove the point the Freedom from religion foundation recently (1999)erected an Atheists in Foxholes monument in Lake Hypatia Alabama, It is dedicated to the many atheists who gave their lives in defense of their country. The organization has more that 16000 members who fight religious intrusion on the constitutional right to freedom of religion. Or freedom from religion in this case. We at The Crazy would like to point out that we have no problem with any true religion practicing in this country, but when a religion begins to attempt to control our government we are offended. For example in 1954 during the communist scare a Chaplain from Chicago began putting the words "under god" in the pledge of allegiance, claiming that if Lincoln can use those words in the Gettysburg address that we can use it in the pledge of allegiance, (one problem with this idea is that President Lincoln's hand written copy of the speech does not contain the words "under god" although many believed he did say them on the podium.) Sadly the pledge of allegiance still contains the words. Although a student in Florida refused to say the pledge recently and was removed from the classroom, (illegally we might add) and had to go to court to be reinstated. In 2005 the House attempted to pass a bill which would make it illegal to attempt to change the pledge of allegiance, (which would have violated the 1st and 14th amendments to the constitution) but fortunately the Senate did not vote on it which killed the bill. But we ramble, the point to all of this is that yes there are atheists in foxholes, but unfortunately there seem to be no atheists in government, which is a shame. Just making a point, ciao for now.

More craziness from the far right.

We at The Crazy are decidedly liberal, not just liberal, but dyed in the wool, left leaning, (yes the term is dyed in the wool, not died in the wool) freedom loving, what you do in your own home is your business liberals. Recently we've been reading in the news that our President may be a Muslim, even though he was sworn in on a bible, not the Koran as many right wing idiots state. And we agree that if he were a Muslim and lied to get into office that would be wrong, but he didn't. His religious affiliations have been open and honest from the start. He has stated simply that he attended the Trinity United Church of Christ but has since resigned. No doubt due to the Reverend Wright controversy. Which makes him unaffiliated. Much the same as Abraham Lincoln, Thomas Jefferson, Andrew Johnson,Ulysses Grant, and Rutherford Hayes.
12 of our presidents have been Episcopalian, (the largest percentage) followed by Presbyterian, (8 of these), 4 Unitarians, 4 Methodists (Although George W. Bush listed himself first as an Episcopalian he later converted to Unitarianism.) 3 Disciples of Christ (Ronald Reagan was among these, and also listed himself as a Presbyterian.) 2 Dutch Reformed, 2 Quakers, 1 Roman Catholic and a partridge in a pear tree. (Sorry couldn't resist) The Quakers by the way were Herbert Hoover and Richard Nixon which sort of explains a little something now doesn't it. There were four Baptists, (Clinton being one of them) and one Congregationalist, (Calvin Coolidge) whatever that is. Sadly, there is no Atheist on the list. (Although some thought Lincoln was at the time.) So what is our point, only this, if a man was running for President, who fully believed in our constitution, (as Obama obviously does) and was also an honest and forthright man of the people, and was a Muslim or (god help us) an Atheist, we at The Crazy would vote for him. Religious affiliation should not even be part of the election process, but sadly it is. As long as a persons faith does not interfere with his ability to obey the laws of our country and doesn't contradict the principles of our Constitution we at The Crazy don't care what his religion or lack of religion is, we would vote for him. By the way the Roman Catholic was Kennedy if your interested. Oh and if all the 'he' we have been talking about were 'she' we would vote for her too. That's about it from the left leaning loons at The Crazy. Have a good week. Ciao for now.

Something else that is immortal besides Henrietta Lacks.

In our frantic effort to fight the forces of boredom and sleeplessness that overtakes us often here at the crazy, (brought about today by a wrong number phone call at 5:30 AM this morning.) we spent another couple of hours trying to find something interesting to write about on todays blog, and just when we were about to give up we stumbled upon this little tidbit. It seems there is a creature living on this planet that is immortal. No, we are not kidding. It's called the turritopsis nuetricula, and it's actually a species of jellyfish found in the worlds oceans. It was originally found in the Caribbean but has spread worldwide due to it's peculiar habit of reverting back to it's polyp state (it's first stage of life)every so often. This amazing sea creature will keep returning to it's early stage of life over and over again. The samples kept in labs have done so 100% of the time. So this little sea creature is born, mates, (making hundreds of children in each mating) and then reverts back to it's childhood to start all over again. If not for natural predators that devour it, turritopsis nuetricula would have long ago taken over the oceans. We at the crazy find this fascinating, but would like to point out that if we had the opportunity to revert back to our teenage years again we would pass. Although the mating part would be cool. Ciao for now.

Celestial show tonight...

If you are lucky enough to have clear skies after about 11:00 P.M. tonight, you'll get to see some of nature doing what she does best, the Perseid Meteor shower will be coming soon to a sky near you. The shower is debris from the passage of the Swift-Tuttle comet, (which last passed this way in 1992.)so look to the skies tonight and tomorrow morning and you may see up to 60 meteors an hour burning up in our atmosphere. For best viewing look to the northeast after midnight tonight. Also remember that this shower is actually passing by our planet from about July 23rd through August 22nd, so if you don't see it tonight or tomorrow you may get to view at least some of it later in the month. The debris from Swift-Tuttle will be traveling about 37 miles per second and will burn up in the atmosphere leaving beautiful trails of light and if a large enough piece comes down making an exploding type noise. The chances of a piece of the Perseid being large enough to make it to earth (and becoming a meteorite) are slim, but one or two may make it. The shuttle astronauts have a 1 in 300 chance of being hit by earth based space debris, but the Perseid only alters that by less than 15%. (After all compared to the vastness of space astronauts are very very small, imagine putting an ant in a football field and throwing 1000 rocks into the field, the chances of an astronaut getting hit by one of these meteors is less likely than the chance of one of your rocks hitting the ant.) So fellow travelers, enjoy one of natures best shows, it comes around once a year, and there are no curtain calls. Ciao for now.

Freedom of what religion?

We were recently asked how we felt about the plans to build a mosque near the ground zero site in New York City. First of all we should point out that the plan is to build a Muslim Civic Center with an area for daily prayer. So it isn't exactly a mosque. The arguments against building it are mostly from the extreme right, they feel that building a mosque so close to ground zero would be insulting to those who died there.
We couldn't disagree more, the assholes who flew the planes into the Twin Towers were not true Muslims, the crime they committed is forbidden by the Quran, in Chapter 17:34, when a Muslim is in a foreign country he is bound by the laws of that country, those guys are not getting their 72 virgins in heaven folks. So not building the Mosque due to the builders being Muslim would be much the same as not building a church near the Olympic Village in Altanta where Eric Rudolph (a self professed Christian) planted a bomb that killed one and injured 150 in 1996. Some people of course state that the Quran requires Muslims to kill infidels. Something mainstream Muslims would simply not do. It should be pointed out that Dueteronomy chapter 13 advocates destroying any city found to be worshiping other gods. It advocates not only killing the people of the city, utterly destroying it, but also says you should kill the livestock, (poor cows never worshiped anybody.)
and take all the plunder from the city and burn it in the center of town. The point is this. Our founding fathers made it clear that the government of the United States can not and should not dictate to religion in this country. Any religion. So lets show the world exactly how much we cherish our freedom and let the Muslim community build the Mosque in New York. It won't change any of the extremist Muslims mind about America, but it will prove to the rest of the world how we feel about our freedoms. Thats about it, sorry to pontificate, ciao for now.

Solar Tsunami...

Anyone who has read the news for the last couple of days knows that there was a Coronal Mass Ejection from the sun early this week, and if you know that you also know that we will get a decent chance to view the Aurora Borealis tonight. (Also last night and the night before.) Tonight will most probably be the last chance for a while unless the sun decides to fire another salvo at us. The Coronal Ejections were directed right at the Earth and took about two and half days to get here. (They obviously don't travel at the speed of light as it takes about 8 minutes for the light from the sun to reach earth.) There were two coronal events which caused the geomagnetic storm to be ejected towards earth, in reading the blogs about this we were surprised to learn that many people are frightened (some to the point of prayer) but we have to point out that these were hardly the worst solar flares in recent history. In 2003 a solar flare destroyed two satellites and cut power to about 20.000 customers in Sweden. (This flare is much weaker than that one was.) So if you are worried about getting killed by this event don't be, if you are worried about possible power outages or cell phone disruption it's possible, but not likely. There is a chance you will not see any northern lights if you venture outside and look north, but it is worth the effort to try. So for a couple hours after sunset tonight, (and before moonrise for the best chance to view) You might want to head up to someplace high and dark and look to the north. The sun is waking up after an 11 year sleep folks, and we can expect it to stretch and yawn a little. It's just possible that over the next ten years or so we may get to see some of the wildest Aurora's in our lifetimes. Oh and for those of you who are still worried, remember that the Astronauts aboard the international space station who have a shielded room in which to hide in the event of a particularly strong solar flare, have not done so as the Solar Flare is not at levels harmful to biological life. (But don't be surprised if your compass spins a bit.) Just another interesting day on planet earth. Ciao for now.

Fox news caught lying again...

Going to get a little political here, allow us a moment to rant about lies in the news. For example Fox news in a number of recent stories has stated that President Obama has refused foreign help in cleaning up the gulf oil disaster, Specifically statements have been made by Greta Van Sustern, Sarah Palin, and during an interview with Republican Representative Charles Djou from Hawaii he stated "It’s important that we take help from whomever and wherever they’re willing to offer it. … So why are we not waiving the Jones Act to allow international help to come in? … Why we’re not waiving it here … is baffling." Now let me tell you why this is a lie, currently there are Vessels from 13 countries helping to clean up the Gulf oil debacle. All of them working without the waiving of the Jones act. Why? Because the Gulf Disaster is in international waters, the Jones act only applies to United States Territorial Waters, therefore we do not need to waive the Jones Act to clean up the spill. Another example of the extreme right attempting to undermine or belittle the Obama Presidency. The number of vessels currently cleaning up the oil inside U.S. Territorial waters is huge. They are the local fisherman who's livelihood has been threatened by the spill. B.P. Oil is paying them to clean up the spill. There is no doubt that the oil spill will cause some businesses to fail. There is no doubt that the spill will require years of effort to fix. And B.P. is far from perfect in their handling of the spill. But when the extreme right says that the Obama administration is not doing everything it can to help clean up the spill, they are lying. Another example of Fox news extremist views. We hope you will pardon our foray into political theater, we now resume our regularly scheduled inanity. Ciao for now.

We were wrong... but not entirely.

We recently did a blog entry about the Safe-link cell phone that the government is giving to people in need. And we reported that the users would get 200 free minutes with the phone. We regret to say we were in error, users of the phone will receive 71 minutes a month on the phone (in the state of Michigan, other states will give 68 minutes) Still a good thing for people too poor to afford one, especially for emergencies. That being said there is one thing in the news we thought we would mention, the Chevy Volt coming off the assembly line. The car will probably not cause any boom in the sales of electric cars (actually it's a hybrid of sorts) the batteries in the car will allow it to travel only 40 miles on the first charge, but after that the gas engine recharges the battery as you drive, it will go hundreds of miles while using very little gas, and not requiring you to plug it in for a recharge. And at a price of $41.000 it will be beyond the range of most of the people who would use it. That being said, kudos to the Chevy company for attempting this. It won't be long before the prices of these types of cars starts to come down, and any technology that gets us off the oil teat is a good one. Perhaps someday we at the Crazy will be able to afford to drive an electric or hybrid vehicle, (Perhaps a second or third hand car) but right now it is most definitely out of our price range. Well that's about it, a boring little news story to add a little blandness to your Sunday. Ciao for now.

About the free cell phone,..

Recently we were told about a free cell phone that was being given out by the U.S. government to people below the poverty level, or for people on food stamps, and we thought that was wrong. (It just seemed that giving someone free phone minutes every month is a waste of money.) After doing a bit of research we have changed our minds.
We assumed the money for this program was coming out of the tax payers pocket and thought they might be a little bit miffed about it. But it seems the money for this program has been paid for by we citizens since 1934. The U.S. government and the phone companies got together in 1934 and added a fee to any company phone services. All the phone companies have been taking this money since 1934 and using the funds to extend phone lines to remote farm lands and back country areas. But since the United States is almost entirely covered by cellular service the government decided that it would be cheaper to simply give cellular phones to these people rather than build phone lines. And they will give 200 free minutes a month to all users. The phone you receive will be a basic cell phone, with no extra add ons, No camera, no free texting, no email. Simply a phone for use when required and of course for emergencies. There will certainly be some people who will abuse this offer, (although the application seems to have a lot of safe guards) Anyway just a quick note see if we can appease the far right a bit. (Not likely)
Ciao for now.

We have writers block... big time... no really..

It's been a week and a day since we last posted here at The Crazy, we have been busy doing all the little things that are required in life. Laundry, Dishes, Cleaning, when we have a little spare time we have been watching a little television, (our shame is great, don't look at us!). Today was going to be lawn mowing day but the weather is not cooperating. Speaking of laundry, Anyone who has entered our basement knows how low the ceiling is, (I can barely stand upright between the floor joists.) The exit door to the basement is lower than that. So I guess the point I'm trying to make is that even though I am a fairly intelligent human being, I never seem to learn that I must duck when exiting the basement, I have clocked my head probably twenty times in the last five years, and not just a gentle tap mind you, we are talking a bell ringing vision blurring slam of skull against brick. I did it again today but as I was wearing my leather hat I was saved from the worst effects. It shames me to know that even a baboon would have learned to duck it's head by now. While I am seriously considering buying a helmet to do the laundry. Ok, going in a different direction here, we recently came across an article by a Russian scientist who thinks that time is slowing down, he bases his theory on the fact that deep space objects seem to be accelerating, (we are talking galaxies here folks) so he believes that this is an illusion brought about by time distortion. It is an interesting theory and could have some merit, the final outcome of this would of course be complete stoppage of time. At some point everything and everyone in the universe would just stop... my theory is that even if it were to happen we would never know, we would spend the rest of eternity caught in a moment, like a bug in amber. So everybody... start thinking about what you want to be doing for the rest of eternity and do it... now!
Still here? Oh well, maybe tomorrow. By the way, remember, this is just a theory, and there is no way to prove it's happening empirically. Have a good weekend everyone, remember to enjoy the smallest moments as they are the majority of our existence, except for sleeping of course which takes up 1/3 of our lives. That's about it, ciao for now.

Too busy to blog...

We at the Crazy have been too busy to update our blog lately. (As we imagine you may have noticed.) So we thought we would put forth a little something mid week to carry us through to the weekend. What to write about? Who knows? How about this, we recently read a news story that was on the main page of the Google news search engine. It was an article on the BP disaster. In the article the gentlemen who wrote it suggested that there is a huge methane bubble coming up through the ocean floor (under the gulf oil debacle) that will soon erupt and destroy all life on earth. Two things we would like to point out about that, firstly, Why is this actually on the news pages with serious news? (Not that the end of the world isn't serious, but c'mon folks this kind of thing should be on the back page of the enquirer.) And secondly, what!? huh?, who is this moron and why are they letting him write news stories. The guys name is Terrance Aym and he recently also predicted a financial collapse of the world economy and recently wrote an article called "Why is Vegas dying?" Needless to say this guy seems to have a bit of a gloom and doom thing going. So let us put your mind at ease, the recent false news stories about the gulf floor cracking and giant bubbles of methane coming to the surface and killing us all are untrue. (The methane beneath the gulf is buried beneath tons of solid rock and will not be escaping anytime soon.) Terrance Aym is a nut. Simple as that, and somehow he is making money off the poor idiots who are buying into his doomsday bullcrap, (selling articles to online news places, as if they are actual news.) Hey wait a minute, we can make money doing this? Why didn't somebody tell us? Let us give it some thought and we'll get back to you with our own doomsday scenario. Ciao for now.

Waking with something in my head....

Ok, woke up this morning with verses from the poem Gunga Din by Rudyard Kipling running around in my head. The line in the poem where the narrator is saying "He'll be squatting on the coals, giving drinks to poor damned souls, and I'll catch a swig in hell from Gunga Din." I haven't read that poem in almost 20 years, (maybe longer) and I'll be damned if I know why it showed up now. (Has it been bubbling around loosely in my brain for 20 years, just waiting for the right moment to vex me.) After I climbed out of bed more of the poem came unbidden to my memory, the last line of the poem which is the part most people remember, "though I've belted you and flayed you, by the living gawd that made you, You're a better man than I am Gunga Din." (Kipling spelled god that way, don't look at me.)I have supplied a link to the poem here. It's a short one, I recommend you read it, then maybe you too will wake up with this thing in your head. The human mind is a strange contraption. For example, the spot where your nerve endings go back through your eyeball has no rods or cones in it, which means there should be a big black spot in the middle of all of our vision, but our brain sees the area around the black spot and fills it in for us. Or when we see color for example, if you are looking at an object and it is blue, it is because the object is absorbing the light in the blue wavelength and reflecting all others. So we see blue. But think about this, what you see as blue, and what I see as blue could be completely different things, after all, we have been trained all of our lives that what we are looking at is blue. But I have know way of knowing what you are really seeing, our perceptions of the world could be completely different. And no matter how I try, I can't show you the world I am seeing. And you can't show me. We could trust that the make up of the human mind is standardized and therefore what we see could be standardized. But all we need do is look at a cloud, and some will see the face of Jesus, some a ducky and a horsey, it is simply a matter of perception and paradolia (mentioned in an earlier blog). The mind sees what it wants to see. And our brain interprets the world the way it was taught to do. For example, the air we breathe is made up of molecules that are moving constantly, (at about a thousand miles an hour) yet we don't see them, feel them, or taste them. Yet we need them to survive. The floors we are standing on, and the ceilings over our heads are made up of innumerable molecules that are constantly moving, protons and photons are passing back and forth to hold it together. In constant motion, yet we perceive none of it.
(Maybe that's for the best, imagine if you could see it and you were hung over.)
Sir Arthur Eddington (English astronomer 1882-1944) said it best, "Not only is the universe stranger than we imagine, it is stranger than we can imagine." (Italics mine) Or as the Greek philosopher Democritus said "Nothing exists, but atoms and empty space. All else is conjecture."
(Don't ask me how a man who died in 370 BCE (Before current era) knew about atoms.)
What's the point of all this? I don't really have a point, I'm just trying to get that Gunga Din thing out of my head. In the words of an unknown philosopher, "We thought we knew the answers, but it was the questions we had wrong" Just a little early morning philosophy to start the day. Entirely unrelated but also interesting is a quote a news reporter once said "A computer lets you make more mistakes faster than any invention in human history, with the possible exceptions of handguns and tequila" which isn't really philosophy, but it's funny. Ciao for now.

History is written by the winners...

We at the crazy love to read, pretty much anything we can get our hands on. (Although the reading of novels has declined recently. It is summer after all.) So in a bleary eyed, coffee slogging attempt to wake up this morning we stumbled across a couple of little known historical facts. These are things you won't find in your history books, (at least most history books.) For example we have all heard "Remember the Alamo." But a lot of us are unaware of the cause of the battle. You see Texas wanted to be independent of Mexico. (Understandable, as the Mexican government treated most Texans rather harshly.) But the main reason Texas wanted independence is because Mexico had just abolished slavery, and wanted Texas to do the same. And Texas wanted none of that as slave trade was profitable. We are not denigrating the fine men who fought and died for liberty. And Santa Anna would surely have overun Texas had the battle at the Alamo not taken place. But the Mexican Army freed the remaining slaves held at the Alamo after vanquishing the Texans. (Including a slave named Sam who was owned by James Bowie, and Colonel Travis Slave Joe.) We at the crazy do love our country, but don't agree with the phrase "Our country right or wrong." As all conquerors we took this nation by force.
The indigent people who resided here for centuries were simply moved, or wiped out.
Do we want to give it back to them, No, But reparations are being made and we at the crazy agree with them. Destroying the culture of the previous residents of this country will come with a cost. And that is a bill we should pay without question. As a civilization we are learning, we are less likely to destroy a culture when we stumble upon it. (Recently we discovered a tree dwelling tribe in the Papua New Guinea, and a few years ago another in the Amazon jungle, the local governments are doing everything they can to preserve the lifestyle of these people.) So maybe there is hope for us yet. (That is unless an advanced Alien race perhaps lands on Earth someday and decides we need to live like them.) Just a little non-revisionist history. We are Americans and as such we should take responsiblity for our failures as well as our successes. Have a good week, ciao for now.

Windy with a chance of melting....

Another hot day here in the U.P. (Upper Peninsula of Michigan if someone other than the few people we know are reading this.) And again we here at the crazy are doing our best to deal with it. Kenton is hiding in the house sitting in front of the fan and trying not to melt. Wolfie is laying on her bed upstairs and eating a little, while playing solitaire on the computer. Connal is in his air conditioned room watching Angry Beavers on T.V. According to the weather report we are going to get a little wind today so perhaps we can all get outside before the rain hits. (Rain is forecast for this afternoon. About 20% chance around noon to a 100% chance around five. But meteorology is an inexact science so we aren't counting on it. (Our garden needs rain.)
Still, all in all it's been a decent weekend. Wolfie and me stood on the front step for a while and watched the Ishpeming fireworks display. We could see them first, then hear the boom, then hear the ooohs and aaaaahs of the crowd while the next one was launching. (They were about 2 miles distant.) If my math skills were better I could have timed the difference between the sight and the sound and told you exactly how far away they were, but as my math skills are sorely lacking, (and my brain is in the process of melting) it's not going to happen. Anyway so far it's been a good summer, we have suffered the scourge of the chipmunk in our garden, the birds have taken all the cherries as we did not protect the tree this year. (Ok, it was my job but I was busy and it slipped my mind.) Our yard is looking a little better than it did last year, and all the new peonies we planted look like they are coming up, next year they might bloom. Now if only we had money so we could do some things to our house. (I don't know? an indoor pool in the basement.) Actually just some more insulation in the living room would be good, and possibly some roof repair. It's budgeted in for late summer and if nothing goes wrong we should be able to get it done. Anyway that's about it, not much to talk about today, just another day in paradise. Everybody enjoy your summer, and we shall enjoy ours. (I wonder what chipmunk tastes like?) Ciao for now.

Happy 4th of July.... (er ok 3rd then.)

Here we are at the seminal event of the summer, the 4th of July in which we celebrate the signing of the Declaration of Independence. (Although in a letter that John Adams sent to his wife he mentions signing it on the 2nd of July, and many signed it on August 2.) When John Hancock signed it with huge letters he said, "There, I guess King George will be able to read that." Benjamin Franklin said, "We must all hang together, or assuredly we will all hang separately." Which was the truth, they were committing an act of treason against the King of England at the time. And of course Thomas Jefferson who insisted they place the right to bear arms as one of it's tennets later said "The strongest reason for the people to retain the right to keep and bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in government." We have included a link to the Declaration of Independence HERE. (We would also like to point out that although God is mentioned in the Declaration of Independence, Christ is not. As our founding fathers were not Christians in any sense of the word.) It should also be noted that neither God nor Christ are mentioned in the body of the Constitution either. (God is only mentioned in the date as in the Year of our lord.)
Our forefathers wanted the people of this nation to be free to practice any religion they chose or no religion at all if that's what they so pleased. Okay, we got that off our chests. Everybody have a happy 4th. Ciao for now.

Whoops, error, error, norman coordinate...

In our last blog we mentioned that our solar system is moving about 530,000 miles per second, that's per hour folks. Just thought I should correct that if anyone read it.
I also corrected in the post itself, but trust me it was wrong yesterday. Ciao for now

The longest day of the year and you missed it.

For anyone who's interested Jun 21st was the first official day of summer, also the longest day of the year with about fourteen and a half hours of sunshine. You might be interested in knowing that although it's warmer in the summer here in the northern hemisphere the planet is actually farther from the sun at this time of year. So we are about three million miles farther from the sun in the summer than in the winter. (the distance change is about 3% of the total distance and has almost no effect on earth's temperature) The reason we are warmer up north in the summer has to do with the tilt of the Earth's axis during this season. Also although the earth moves around the sun at about 67,000 miles per hour it moves faster in the winter than in the summer, why? because the path around the sun is elliptical not circular. (think egg shaped for those of you with math skills similar to my own.) I would tell you how fast we are moving around the sun at this particular date but in attempting to do so my brain would melt into a puddle of pink goo somewhat reminiscent of bubble gum on a hot sidewalk. Let's just say we are all speed demons and leave it at that. Scientists can easily tell us how fast we are traveling around the sun as we have a guidepost to measure it against. (The sun of course.) After that, measurement of our speed gets a bit iffy. We know our solar system is orbiting the center of our galaxy. (The good old Milky Way) Estimates put the speed at 560,000 miles per hour. (It takes about 230 Million years for our solar system to orbit the center of the milky way galaxy, so I think we can guess from these numbers that space is fricken huge.) Measuring the speed of our galaxy is a lot harder as we have no frame of reference, everything out there is moving, there is nothing standing still to measure against. But some genius scientists have used the Cosmological Background Radiation as a starting point and calculated we are traveling around 900,000 miles per hour. And moving toward the constellations Hydra and Centaurus. But the constellations Hydra and Centaurus are in our galaxy so it's a lot like saying that the passengers in a bus are moving toward the driver. Why don't we feel all this speed? Because we are so small. Infinitesimally, unequivocally tiny. ("A mote in god's eye." As Larry Niven once said.) All the grains of sand in all the beaches of the world are as nothing compared to innumerable stars and galaxies that spin over our heads (or beneath our feet depending on your point of reference.)Let me just close by saying this. The universe is a big place, so get over yourselves. Ciao for now.

And it didn't come to pass....

In one of our earlier posts we mentioned a number of end of the world predictions that didn't come true. (obviously, as we are all still here.)And the research department here at the crazy, (which works for free by the way.)stumbled across another series of predictions we would like to share with you. These predictions are not religious in nature but are extremely relevant in our daily lives. For example "Theoretically, television may be feasible, but I consider it an impossibility--a development which we should waste little time dreaming about." by the inventor of the cathode ray tube, Lee Deforest in 1926. Or how about this one, "I think there is a world market for maybe five computers." Thomas J. Watson, 1943, Chairman of the Board of IBM. (By the way we were recently asked what the letters IBM stand for and if anyone has forgotten it's International Business Machines.) Here is another computer prediction by Popular Mechanics in 1949 "Computers in the future may weigh no more than 1.5 tons." or how about a prediction in 1939 in The New York Times that said the problem of TV was that people had to glue their eyes to a screen, and that the average American wouldn't have time for it. Another interesting one by H.M. Warner of the Warner Brothers in 1927 who said "Who the hell wants to hear actors talk?" Ok, we'll give him that one. So we guess the lesson to be learned here is don't make predictions. Or if you do, don't tell anybody about them. Just a short note, ciao for now.

Once a week or so.

When we first started this blog we mentioned that we would be writing in it once a week, which was the original plan, then stuff happened (as it often does.) And we sporadically entered into it daily. But as you can plainly see it seems to have gone back to a once a week sort of thing. Although not many people are reading this we still get a cathartic and fulfilling sense of accomplishment from doing this. This week has been no exception, we've been busy, And real life has gotten in the way of working on the blog, hence the week long haitus from any entries. And that being said, we must tell you we have absolutely nothing to write about today. The right wing extremists and the left wing nutcases are still spouting the same old crap. We've noticed recently that even television shows that are decidedly liberal leaning have begun to bad mouth the president. We guess it was to be expected, many presidents throughout history have been the victim of bad press relations. Abraham Lincoln was called 'a grotesque baboon', a 'third-rate country lawyer who once split rails and now splits the Union', a 'coarse, vulgar joker', a dictator, an ape, and a buffoon'. One paper declared "that every act since the day he left Springfield was filled with deception." It's fairly clear that a lot of the press at the time was not pleased with Lincoln. And it could be argued that when John Wilkes Booth killed him in Ford's theater and shouted "as always to tyrants.", (or sic semper tyranis for those of you who read latin.)He may have gotten the idea from the November 7, 1863 issue of the Los Angeles Star which said "since his advent to high position, the tyrant has developed itself in his nature to an alarming extent.” So if you read a news story describing President Obama as an elitist or a tyrant, or a fool, or any other strongly worded opinion, just remember that it's not new or even original. Politicians in America have always been the victims of bad press at one time or another, and certainly the press would in some way be responsible were he to be assassinated. We would also like to point out that freedom of the press though guaranteed in the constitution has been infringed upon in the past. In 1918 for example congress passed the Alien and Sedition act which stated that anyone who dared to "utter, print, write, or publish any disloyal or abusive language" regarding the government, the armed forces, the Constitution of the United States, or its flag." Had committed a crime. It wasn't until 1921 that the sedition act was repealed. (After the supreme court declared it unconstitutional.) The government is capable of making errors in judgement, just as any person is. It is our hope that the constitutional guarantees will always be protected by one branch of the government or another. The checks and balances layed down by our revolutionary forefathers have so far proven effective. Just a quick history lesson for those who are interested. That's about it, ciao for now.

Graffitti is as old as walls...

About 3 this morning I awakened hungry and thirsty. And although that's not too unusual, (As I get older it seems sleep is going to be a somewhat rare commodity.) I decided to use the time while eating a half of a peanut butter sandwich and some no fat milk, (Good lord, what have I come to.) to explore a little history. For some unknown reason a piece of graffiti I read once on a bathroom wall was bouncing around in my head. Written in a neat printed hand with magic marker were the words. "Time is natures way of keeping everything from happening at once." and underneath written hastily in black ball point, "Space is nature's way of keeping it from happening in the same place." I was pleased to find such mind expanding thoughts penned in such a lowly and dismal place. (A gas station restroom) But it got me thinking about graffiti in general. Wondering if there was any historical graffiti, and it appears there is, lots of it in fact. And it is pretty much the same sort of things found written on bathroom walls to this date. (Understand please that I don't see cave paintings as graffiti, to me graffiti requires that the artist does not have permission to write on the wall, where cave paintings are clearly ceremonial and were painted with permission from the entire clan.) The most famous Graffiti of all time is probably the one found all across Europe during world war II, which stated simply "Kilroy was here." No one knows who wrote it first but it seems obvious that many soldiers began writing it as the war raged on. The vikings had been scratching their names in walls a thousand years before kilroy. In a beautiful marble church in Istanbul (then Constantinople) a Viking traveler snuck into the church sometime in the 1st century and carved "Haldvan was here." into the marble banister. Earlier than that the people of Pompeii were carving onto bathroom and brothel walls up until 79 AD when Mount Vesuvius put an end to them, but also preserved that ancient graffiti so that we may read it today. One of my favorites is a piece of prose written by a frustrated man which says, "Whoever loves, go to hell. I want to break Venus's ribs with a club and deform her hips.If she can break my tender heart why can't I hit her over the head?"
We can only hope that carving that into the stone wall helped to vent his frustration so that vandalism was the only damage he did. A lot of the graffiti from Pompeii was of a sexual nature, such as, "One who buggers a fire burns his penis."
or "Virgula to her Tertius: You are one horny lad!" or "Celadus the Thracier makes the girls moan!" I've only included the PG carvings from Pompeii, there were many that were much more graphic and weren't suitable for a family friendly website. But if you are interested in reading them click here. So it seems that people are people no matter what century they lived in. That's about all, got work to do. Ciao for now.

Garbage day again... and again.

Another Thursday here at the crazy, (actually it's Thursday across the whole United States by now.) and we are again putting out the garbage. Kind of in a hurry today as we overslept. (Connal is on summer vacation so sleeping in is a possibility.) So garbage day was a little less ordinary as we had to hurry to put it out. (As this is being typed the garbage truck is out front picking up our weekly detritus.) Putting out the trash seems like a waste of time, someone needs to invent an atomizer or some such thing to destroy the trash, and at the same time create energy for the household.
But as such a thing is impossible with current technology, (and would put the Trash collector out of a job.) we stumbled to the curb, frightening our neighbors with our morning bed head. (The neighbor's dog took one look, yelped and ran to it's door scratching to get in.) It wasn't until we got back into the house that the reason became apparent. With the help of a spray bottle of water, a lion tamers whip, and an electric powered hairbrush we managed to get it under control. Well, anyway, the garbage is gone to the great garbage heap in the sky, (wouldn't that be terrifying)and the bedhead is under control for now at least, and a cup of freshly ground coffee is steaming before us. So even though it is now after noon our morning starts peacefully. Ciao for now.

Those clever birds...

In one of our earlier posts we were intrigued by a news story about the ability of crows to recognize the faces of researchers who were observing them. (It had to do with the researchers wearing Dick Cheney masks as they were running tests on them.)
Recently we came across an article from Cambridge University that has found that crows also have the ability to build and use tools for food collection. We are not kidding, it seems the crows, when met with a challenge to retrieve food from difficult to reach containers, have been stripping the leaves off of twigs to make them usable to get food. Not only do they build tools they make up to three different types of tools to use in retrieving food from one cache. (They make and use straight twigs, hooked twigs, and thorns in the tool making process.) Crows in Japan have recently been seen placing walnuts on a roadway when lights are red, and then after the cars have driven over them waiting for the light to change again to red and retrieving the walnuts for a quick snack. This behaviour may not be new. There is an Aesop's fable of a crow dropping rocks into a pitcher to raise the water level so it could drink. And of course the story of the death of Greek philosopher Aeschylus, who was killed by a turtle dropped by an eagle. Yes, we know an eagle is not a crow, but we thought we would mention in anyway. (Apparently Aeschylus was bald and the eagle thought his head was a rock.) So we at the crazy are happily looking forward to the day when the crows band together, build some sort of weapon, and kill Dick Cheney. Just a thought. Ciao for now.

And another week whizzes by....

Sitting down to write the post this morning we couldn't help but notice an entire week has gone by without us airing any of our insane rants or ramblings about anything at all. Actually the whole week is a bit of a blur. Between Doctor visits for yours truly and Connal missing his last day of school before summer due to vomiting it's been eventful to say the least. Connal being the stoic heroic fellow that he is never complains. While cleaning him up and setting up some programming on Netflix for him to watch we discussed his illness and as always he says "I'm fine." between vomiting. Somehow by two in the afternoon he was better, eating and drinking without losing anything. This morning he was downstairs on the computer before Mom and Dad got out of bed. His Father on the other hand is not doing quite as well, (and complains about it incessantly as Connal's mother will tell you.) It appears as if I had a severe allergic reaction to something. We know not what. The Doctor has prescribed antivert to help with the dizziness and make me as sleepy and grumpy as possible without actually letting me sleep. We are not sure if it was the allergic reaction that was the scariest or the ensuing panic attack, (At least that's what I'm being told.)which began with all the blood rushing out of my extremities and leaving me shivering under blankets like a 10 year old after a camp out horror story. This was followed by a rush of blood to my face and chest which left me looking like a cigar store Indian. (I hope if someone of Amerind descent reads this they accept that cigar store Indians are part of the culture I was raised on and not in any way meant to denigrate the proud original people of this country.)
So between the cycle of hot flashes and freezer pop extremities in which I assumed I was either going to die or burst into flame, I had an eventful evening. And through it all was Wolfie calming me down, getting me fluids when I was thirsty, getting me wool socks for my cold feet. Administering to me like the ghost of Florence Nightingale. Amazingly she also told me I was having an allergic reaction and a panic attack. Who needs a doctor? And that is pretty much it, a week of inactivity followed by a few days of intense drama. The family has survived of course, Connal is watching videos and feeling fine, Wolfie is sleeping a well earned sleep upstairs, and I am able to sit up for an extended period of time. Which I have used to update the blog and vent my spleen a little. (What does that mean exactly?) So it goes. And now I'm going to lay down on the couch for a while as I am feeling a little dizzy (dizzier than usual anyway.) Ciao for now.

What to do... what to do....

Ok, we have absolutely nothing to write about. A complete blank. Our brains are as empty as the pinata at a party full of fat kids. The news is again about the B.P. Oil spill, we keep reading about how Obama is failing in his dealing with it. What do they expect him to do? Take a sponge and try and mop it up himself? It just amazes us here at The Crazy how much in the news is opinion couched as news, and not just Fox news although they are the most blatant about it. We miss Walter Cronkite, the man brought some dignity to the news, and when he had an opinion about a story you would know it. He would end a news story with "and that's the way it is" and then the date. If he didn't say "and that's the way it is." it's because he was about to do an opinion piece. The man understood the difference between straight news and opinion. But he was the face people saw when the Cuban missile crises happened, also when President Kennedy was assassinated, (also Bobby Kennedy.) He was the main source of news about the Vietnam war and most people would not know he believed the war was wrong. He was there again when Apollo 11 landed on the moon, (he later mentioned he wishes he had been more professional during the broadcast as he smiled, rubbed his hands together and said "Whew boy!" during the broadcast.) He was the main voice Americans heard during the Watergate fiasco. He once pointed out that America was one of only seven nations worldwide that did not give free airtime to political candidates. Anyway we guess we have done enough for a day when we had nothing to write about. But in closing we would like to give a little nod to Walter Cronkite who died in 2009. And although this is decidedly an opinion piece we will end it with... And that's the way it is on May 31st 2010.

What was that?..........Zoom......whiz.....

Just a quick note to inform you of a recent speed record set by the United States Air Force. They have just successfully tested a new aircraft called the WaveRider. (The image is used with permission of the U.S.A.F.) It traveled at 6 times the speed of sound or about 5000 miles an hour. (So traveling from New York to California would take less than an hour.) It's called the WaveRider because it is designed to ride the shockwave it creates during flight. Just pointing out that America is still in the forefront of technology in many areas. What can be done with this new technology? Who knows, but it's cool isn't it? Ciao for now.

Too hot.... brain not work...

Wolfie and me are alike in many ways. We have similar interests in music, television, and reading, when it comes to books anyway. I however, am the newshound of the family. But there is one area where we are decidedly different. I come from Nordic stock, we Finlanders (people of Finnish descent for those of you who may not know) are from the north land. Wolfie's people however are Mediterranean, she likes the heat, seems to thrive on it, whereas I melt like an ice cube on a hot griddle. The hotter it gets, the dumber I get. The recent heat wave is good example of the differences in our genetic makeup. When the temperature reached the 90's my effectiveness as a human being quickly approached the null zone. And although neither of us achieved much in the way of work, she seemed to thrive on it. She spent the day in the hottest part of the house upstairs, where the heat intensified to Sauna(pronounced s ow na if you are of Finnish descent.) like levels of searing heat. Whenever I ascended into the steam bath we call the upstairs it was like a descent into hell. Can't breath, gulping air, dripping sweat. I would not have gone up there at all if it weren't for the Angel who was residing there. No I spent the day hiding in our air conditioned living room. Blankets blocking the doorways to upstairs and the kitchen to keep the cool in. Like some sort of cro-magnon video game freak I spent most of the day out of the light in vampiric fashion. Trying not to melt into a puddle of pink goo and watching as Wolfie would pass through my only slightly air conditioned domain on her way to the kitchen. She was thriving on the heat, I think she would cheerfully glide through hell itself with a smile on her face that would melt the devils heart. Where I long for snow... and stinging cold air, and wish that I could think, but my brain is not built for this heat. So if this heat wave lasts a while you know where I will be, sitting in my living room waiting for the cool dark to come. I don't want to suck your blood, but I might steal your ice. Ciao for now.

And now a little philosophy...

We at the crazy have our bad days, when it seems nothing goes right. When no matter how hard we try time and nature and the world at large seems to be working against us.
It's happened to all of us. We get overwhelmed by events, or loneliness, or illness. And these things all require our full attention. And we forget to pay attention to the important things in our lives. Sometimes we find that when the world get's out of hand, it helps to focus on something else. Ghandi knew this. He would often ask his aids, "Did you have a good bowel movement this morning?" Which on the surface seems silly, but there is a point to be made. A simple thing can make a huge difference in how we deal with the world. The next time the universe slaps you down, if the problem seems insurmountable, stop and take a step back, focus on something else. Something eternal perhaps like the stars, or something fleeting like a spring flower. And just maybe your mind will find a way around the problem. At the very least you will have a moments respite, which can never hurt. Spend some time focusing on loved ones, (that is always good advice). Or find a simple problem to fix (a dripping sink perhaps) and fix it. The hundred years or so of our lives are made up of small moments, and although the major catastrophies (or as wolfie calls them "cat ass trophies") of our lives pull our focus, it's the small day to day moments that really fill our hours. So be sure to notice them as they pass and, if you can, have a good bowel movement this morning. Ciao for now.

No wonder we've been feeling a little dizzy...

Feeling a little dizzy. You should. Even though you are sitting here reading this, (Mwah ha ha ha we know where you are!) you are also out on the end of what is called the Local arm, or Orion arm of the Milky Way Galaxy. Living in the suburbs of one of the larger galaxies known to exist. If you feel like you are moving sometimes when you are sitting still it might be because our Earth is moving through space at about 67,000 Miles per hour. But don't sweat the small stuff, because our Galaxy is moving through space at an estimated 1.3 Million miles per hour. If you are 30 years old you have traveled over 450 billion miles. Seems like we should be getting somewhere by now. But the distance between our galaxy and the nearest neighbor is about 25,000 light years away. (The Canus Major Dwarf galaxy, which our Galaxy is currently devouring.) Which means that if we were to survive until we reached that galaxy. (that's if any of it is left by the time we got there). We would be 150 Trillion years old (a very rough estimate). Of course our sun would long since have become a black dwarf. (No it won't supernova, it doesn't have enough mass. Although who knows what will happen in the ensuing 5 billion years.)Just thought we should point that out. Going to try to make it to the kitchen now to do the dishes. (Maybe hanging on to the furniture will help.) Good luck to all my fellow speed demons, hang on tight. Ciao for now.

Ah...... Freedom......

Recently Apple computers pulled all of it's advertising from the Fox network. They did this because they felt that Glenn Beck is going too far in his anti Obama rhetoric. And while Glenn Beck keeps saying that we are losing our freedoms, and becoming a communist, socialist, Marxist nation. (He better pick one soon though as they are pretty much mutually exclusive.) We just wanted to point out that Apple computer's business decision is in no way censorship. Glenn Beck can still spout his insane inanity from any pulpit that is willing to let him. This is after all a free country.
Glenn Beck is free to say as he pleases. Apple computer is free to advertise with whomever they wish. I am free to call Glenn Beck a psychotic rambling nitwit with a god complex. Our readers are free to call us empty headed left leaning liberal morons who wear our asses for hats. (We would tend to disagree with that assessment however.)
The constitution gives us that right, we would hope that we would all use that right for a higher purpose. But alas, America is full of Glenn Becks, and Rush Limbaughs, and Keith Olbermanns. (Although some of us here at the Crazy like Keith Olbermann.)
But next time someone spouts cow doody about our freedoms being taken away. Could you please ask them which specific ones and get back to us. Seriously. We would certainly hate to lose a freedom without knowing what it was. Oh by the way, the preceding statements were a political opinion held by some of us here at the crazy. O.. P.. I.. N.. I.. O.. N.. it would certainly be nice if Fox news would label the majority of their programming as such. Maybe a few people would understand their agenda. Ciao for now.

A long way gone.... and still going...

Just a quick mention of one of NASA's more successful endeavors. It seems that the Voyager 1 and 2 Spacecraft have reached the edge of our solar system and found some interesting discoveries. Also a mystery or two. For those of you who haven't kept up on the science behind the missions, (and we know who we are don't we.) Let's focus on Voyager 2 as she has recently done some unusual things. She was launched on August 20 1977. (The Bee Gees "How deep is your love." was on the charts, and Star Wars was breaking box office records across the country.) Her mission was to get a flyby of Saturn, but like many other NASA experiments she was an overachiever. She went on to do a flyby of Neptune, and Uranus. (Discovering ice geysers erupting from pinkish hued nitrogen ice that forms the polar ice caps on Triton, a moon of Neptune, also discovering the 1000 mile an hour winds that blew on that planet.) Since then she has been traveling toward the edge of our solar system, and here is where a bit of a mystery has occurred. Voyager 2 is currently about 8.6 billion miles from Earth. Traveling at 35000 miles an hour. She is traveling beneath the eliptic of the plane of the planets, while Voyager 1 is traveling above the eliptic. They are about 10 billion miles apart and not agreeing at all in what they are experiencing. The space where Voyager 2 is flying, is different than the space where Voyager 1 is flying. She has found an interstellar cloud that physics say should not exist. Solar winds are slower, the temperature is lower than expected, and as of April 22 she is starting to send back unintelligible bursts of data followed by normal transmissions. NASA officials are not sure what to make of it and what is happening with her we may never know. Voyager 1 is leaving our solar system, and still functioning normally, and as it leaves our suns influence may discover new things about our universe. If anything happens to either one we will never know what it was as it takes 13 hours to communicate with them, and another 13 hours for the data to get sent back home. (Communication at the speed of light.) Officially a part of humankind has left our solar system. The batteries on both craft will only last for about 800 years, so neither one will ever send information back about another solar system. They will be dead derelicts in space hundreds of thousands of years before that may happen. But we at the crazy just love that we are getting information from a craft launched over 32 years ago. And also a little comforted by the fact that long after we are dead a small part of us (humankind) will still be floating in deep space. So raise a glass to NASA and the voyager spacecraft. And think about the stars. Ciao for now.

Snow? Again......

Welcome to the U.P. on May 7, and guess what, snow in the forecast. Up to five inches expected. Spring is being put on hold for a little while, and mother nature is rinsing her hair. (And she has ice cold dandruff we guess.) So today (Friday) and tomorrow we can expect cold rainy/snowy days.
And then on Sunday sunny and fifty degrees or so the national weather service is saying. Our plans for the weekend haven't changed, however we may be spending more time indoors than out. (We are putting up a small pavilion over or near the fire pit to try to keep us dry but we can only guess how that will work.) If we are dry and comfortable we will be staying outside, if we are wet and miserable we will be coming inside. Only time will tell. In the meantime, Connal is feeling a little better. (less mucous than before.) And we are looking forward to having friends and family over for a while. Because life is best when shared with others. Just a quick note, ciao for now.

And another week nears an end...

Thursday morning at the crazy is usually about putting out the trash, we've mentioned it in an earlier blog entry. For some reason the first thing that pops up in the brain when the Thursday morning alarm rings is TRASH. The city recommends we have our trash out by 7:30 am on Thursday, but that is not only unlikely but downright unreasonable. Coffee first, peanut butter sandwich, then we peruse the morning news. Possibly look at the Fortean Times website. And then finally, when we can't put it off any longer. Trash. Garbage. Refuse. Rubbish. Litter. Junk. There are certainly a lot of names for it. It's amazing to us how much trash a household of three people can put out in a week. (Of course this week also involved a lot of work in the yard, the shed, and the garage. Oh and by the way, did you know the city won't take bags of grass or yard detritus, whats up with that? Oh hey another trash word detritus, that's a good one. How about Discard, Waste, Debris, and Scrap. What's interesting to us is how you could keep something for years let's say a lamp perhaps and call it a lamp. And then one day suddenly it's not a lamp anymore, it's drek.
(Ok, we cheated a little on that last one "drek" is a yiddish word for trash.) Well we got that off our chests, and sometime in between the beginning of this post and the end we managed to get the trash out, so the first Thursday chore of the day is done, now it's time for a little laundry. Don't get us started on that! Ciao for now.

The Sick House....

Haven't had much time to do the blog this week, Connal is home sick. If there was a market for mucous production we'd be rich. This is the kind of sick where he is chock full of energy, happy as can be, but too sick to send to school. (Other children in his SMI class might not handle a mucous intensive cold so well.) At any rate, we have been as busy as we can. Got called into Jury Duty yesterday, sat in the courtroom for about 3 hours but never even got to the jury box. But civic duty is done for the year and they assured me, "You won't be called again in 2010." Too bad, would have liked to mess with the judge and mention "jury nullification" which is the idea that even if the defendant committed the crime the jury can find him innocent due to the belief that the law is unjust. (Particularly interesting thought in tax and marijuana cases.) Spend a little time trying to get the fire pit ready for use this weekend, (if the burning ban is lifted by then.) Other than that, just trying to get things done around the house. Just a quick update, have a good Wednesday everyone. Ciao for now.

Cleaning out the collapsing shed...

Spent the last two days cleaning out the old shed in the yard, found some really old license plates.( 1920's or so.) Also a lot of garbage, consisting mostly of old car parts, paint cans, wooden window frames, glass, and tools made by cro-magnon men. (Ok, not really on the last one.) Also it seems a squirrel has been storing his food in there, pine cones, some acorns, (not a lot of them in this area) We would estimate about 40 lbs of pine cones and various edible dry goods. From what we've been reading, this is excessive for a two, three, ...okay maybe five pound "critter". Hazarding a guess, the squirrel in question should weigh about 180 lbs. We have decided to arm ourselves ( shovels, torches, pitchforks, weed beaters...it IS the 21st century!!) should it return and be peeved about it's stash. If it does return we would like to invite our friends over for some bonfire rotisserie. We'll let you know. Anyway, that's about it for now. Everybody keep an eye out for those killer squirrels. Ciao.

Cinnamon Rolls rule...

Having our morning coffee and a cinnamon roll that Wolfie made for us this weekend. A good start to what will be a busy day. The list of things we need to do around here is endless, fortunately for us many of them require money and therefore have to be put off for a while, (first time being poor felt like a boon.) The sun is shining outside and luckily for us a few of the jobs require us to work out there. Of course there is the problem of our latent laziness to deal with. Oh yes, we are lazy, we admit it freely and without guilt. (Ok, a little bit of guilt, after all we all had mothers.) But we have agreed to help each other overcome our laziness and get to work. (Picture us in the garden singing "We shall overcome." in strident yet discordant voices.) But spending our time together joining in the fight against entropy (Ohhh that evil entropy!) sounds like a good time to us anyway. So if you happen to drive or walk by the house and see two aging hippie like folks toiling in the sun cheer us on but don't get in our way, work makes us cranky. Ciao for now.

Icky icky gooey sicky......

Another one of those nights, the sandman is in hiding, woke up at 4:30 AM, after going to sleep at about midnight. Rude awakening number one was stepping in a huge pile of cat vomit while going into the kitchen to get some water for coffee. (We swear two or three cats must have taken turns vomiting in the same pile to make it that big.) So after hopping across the kitchen to the paper towel rack (all the while flinging foul flecks of vomitous flak across the room and swearing like a drunken sailor with tourettes .) and then cleaning foot and floor and furniture. Finally managed to get the coffee brewing and sit down for the morning news. And was a little disappointed to find that South Park has succumbed to pressure from an Islamic organization called Revolution Muslim. It seems the organization was offended by Matt and Trey's portrayal of Muhammad on the show. (They had Muhammad speaking while hidden inside a U-Haul trailer so as not to make his image appear, they later showed Muhammad but wearing a bear suit, which eventually was revealed to be Santa Claus pretending to be Muhammad, or so the news story says.) But we will never know for sure because the episode won't be shown again. It is also not going to be placed for streaming on Comedy Centrals website. Ok gotta say not pleased about that, we did on image search on Google for Muhammad and found over a million hits with images of Muhammad. Here is our opinion. We think every newspaper and online web site in America should post a drawing of Muhammad (A respectful one please.) If the radical Muslims want to kill us all anyway might as well give em a reason. One thing we should not do however is succumb to threats. And clearly the South Park creators were threatened, (the Revolution Muslim organization called it a warning, claiming they were not threatening the South Park creators but just pointing out what 'probably' would happen to them if they ran the show again.) From what we have read of Matt and Trey they probably would have run the show anyway if Comedy Central had let them. And that is as it should be, America has a free press, and it should remain free. We have seen many things in the news that have offended us, but will not and can not abide someone telling a newspaper or online magazine what they can or can not print. Case in point... we are not allowed to post an image of Muhammad in this blog. The penalty for doing so would be the immediate cancellation of our blog. Can anyone recommend a blog posting site that will allow it?
Oh and one more important point, you will notice above that we state RADICAL Muslims are threatening to kill people over images of Muhammad. And that is true, but most Muslims in America while being offended by an image of Muhammad would simply cease support of any organization or magazine that printed the image. In other words if you are offended by a magazine or newspaper you are reading you can simply stop reading it. (Much as we at the Crazy have stopped listening to Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck, Michael Savage, and Fox news.) For example we were recently offended by a Garfield cartoon that we felt was too cruel to Poor Odie, but we have not started a fatwa on Jim Davis, although a Jihad is not out of the question. Just our opinion, we could be wrong. Ciao for now.

And back to the mundane...

Another week come and gone. We here at the crazy are gearing up for a working weekend, we hope for good weather. (The weather report says no rain until later saturday.) But the weather report didn't predict the snow we got earlier in the week either so we guess it's just a scattershot type of forecast. Brother Dan and me have been clearing out behind the garage, and in the shed which is due for demolition. (Too bad the city of Ishpeming doesn't allow us to use dynamite, KABOOM!! Shed gone, job done.) We noticed that the DNR is issuing burning permits for Marquette county, so it's just possible we will get to burn some of the brush and such that we collected behind the garage over the years. A few weekends ago we had some friends over and we watched an Ermine come into the yard and kill one of the chipmunks that lives under our garage. (You should have heard the little chipmunk screams!....... Aaaaalviiin!!!) The Ermine is probably a weasel by now, but we haven't seen it since, and we still have some chipmunks. The hunting range for Ermines/Weasels is over 40 acres so it's possible we may never see that one again. But still, looking forward to a weekend with the family, nothing better than that. Spring is here, summer is roaring down on us like a runaway Mack truck, so a lot of work to be done, followed by copious bundles of play. We'll let you know how the weekend goes. Everybody give yourselves a hug and a kiss on the head. (Stand on a chair if you have to.) Ciao for now.

Earthday is her birthday....

Just a quick note to point out that the light of my and Connal's life is having her birthday today.
Lisa is at once childlike and wise, she loves us unconditionally yet demands that we better ourselves as people. It always surprises me when she sees a new flower in our garden and makes a childlike expulsion of joy and amazement, and finds so much joy in such a simple thing. Somehow when she bounces out into the garden or the yard you can still see the little girl she once was as she stoops to pick a flower or stops to look at an interesting bug. We feel lucky to have her with us, and hope we get to spend a long and eventful life together. So when you read this hon, we love you. And hope you have a beautiful birthday.

A non smokers point of view....

On May 1st the state of Michigan is putting a new anti-smoking law into effect. The law states that smoking is banned in all public places including restaurants, bars, offices, retail businesses, basically all public places except casinos, (but only in some casinos, which seems kind of shady to us.) Actually the only real difference between current smoking laws and the new one is there is no smoking in bars. We have been hearing a lot of people complaining about not being allowed to smoke on public streets. THAT IS NOT TRUE. Smoking will not be allowed in Al fresco areas of restaurants, or in Bars. But smokers can still walk down a public street and smoke. Do we agree with the new smoking ban, not entirely, but it should be pointed out that many years ago most states made it illegal to drink alcohol on public streets, and there is no such thing as a second hand drunk. We at the crazy think that a private business owner should be allowed to do with their properties as they see fit. And believe that someone with the money and the courage to do so could effectively fight this law in court. Also we would like to point out that the fine for smoking is less than $100 dollars the first time someone is caught doing it. All that being said, it's going to be nice to walk into a bar (on the rare occasion that we do) and not be exposed to second hand smoke. We at the crazy believe that if someone wants to smoke there should be places around that they are allowed to do so. (Private clubs such as Augusta National have gotten around the law (concerning not allowing women to join) by proclaiming they are a private organization. If a bar owner closed his bar to the public and then allowed people to join what is then a private club (with a nominal fee of say 5 dollars a month.) and then gave out membership cards to it's patrons they may be able to circumvent the law. (The state however would try to pull their liquor license) If there are any lawyers reading this could you email me and let me know if this would be an effective way around the law. Just a thought, we'll be seeing you smokers on the streets. You non-smokers, we'll meet you at the bar. (Just kidding folks) Oh the main point of this article is that not allowing smoking in public buildings may not be particularly fair, but it really isn't taking away the freedom to smoke, just the freedom of where to smoke.
And just as we are not allowed to drink a beer on a public street, you are not allowed to smoke in a public building. And we are offended by this, drinkers of the world unite, let's change the archaic and meaningless law about public intoxication. (Again, just kidding folks.) What is the long term effect of not allowing smoking in bars going to be, only time will tell. Although in other states where these laws have been passed bar patronage temporarily dropped off and then picked back up again, with some owners reporting increased customer bases. And some bars closed their doors. Good luck to all you bar and restaurant owners. Ciao for now.

Beyond the moon.....

In a recent speech President Obama put forth our nations plans for future space exploration. Canceling the recent plans by the Bush administration to go back to the moon. We at the crazy couldn't agree more. Although the manned moon missions were wonderfully successful. Both in achieving the goals set down and in developing new technologies for humankind. (Womankind? Mankind? Don't want to offend anyone here.) (By the way, if you are one of those people who believe we never went to the moon, we have to ask how can you possibly be reading this post as obviously you are an ignoramus?) (Ok, there are some people we don't mind offending.) So kudos to President Obama and N.A.S.A. for putting us on the path to deep space exploration. We now have a reason to develop faster spacecraft, more advanced oxygen generation, and communication technologies. If we are ever to leave this planet and explore beyond our solar system this is the first step. (Actually the moon landing was the first step, a small staggery stumble of a first step, but a first step just the same.) We at the crazy find it amazing how many people think that space program is a waste of money all the while benefiting from the advances in Avionics, Telecommunications, Computers and Engineering that the moon missions provided.
So here we are on the edge of mans next step into space, let's make it a big one. Just our opinion, ciao for now.

The midnight marauder...

Ok, actually we're talking about the 5:00 am marauder, the other night our son Connal got up early in the morning, maybe about 4:30. I was awakened from a sound sleep as he came out of his bedroom shut the door to our bedroom and proceeded down the stairs. For those of you who don't know us Connal has cerebral palsy and is physically and mentally impaired, (which rarely slows him down.) He often gets up before us and usually will go downstairs and turn on the computer and find a game to play or some such thing. (We have shortcuts on the desktop to cartoon network, PBS, and a few online game sites.) I could hear him going downstairs and muttering to himself as he does. I distinctly heard him say "Dude" and "where is everybody." And then silence. No video game sounds, no movement in the living room. So assuming he was going into the kitchen I thought it best to get up and see if he was hungry before he began pouring himself some cereal and milk.
(He usually uses a little too much milk.) Came around the corner and found him standing in the middle of the kitchen with a look of mischief on his face and holding a big wooden meat mallet in his hands. Told him "I don't think you need that." and took it away from him, he said "Thanks"
Later on I asked him what it was for and he said. "Zombies." It seems we have a zombie infestation in our house. We have an old root cellar in the back yard and Connal once told us it is full of Zombie Spiders and Zombie Bears. (We are beginning to sense a theme here.) Connal has had a zombie fixation since he was old enough to say the word. Connal's favorite holiday is Halloween, and often in the middle of December will point at the large posable spider we keep above our front window all year round and say "I want more Halloween." which means he wants Halloween decorations. (Sometimes we indulge him.) Just thought I would mention it. Now besides the Sandman, The Bladder Fairy, The Hunger Gnome and Peanut Butter Akka, we have Zombies. (And not just regular zombies, zombie spiders and bears.) And thats about it. Ciao for now.

Spring is here.... again.

Strange weather for the Upper Peninsula, a very warm March, followed by a dry (so far) April.
Except for one normal snow storm we have had a lot of sunny warm days. It would be easy to blame it on Global Warming. (Or climate change if you prefer the less drastic sounding term.)
We at the crazy have done research, and more research on global warming. We have read all the articles we could find both for and against it. We have researched temperature change in the ocean. Migration pattern changes in birds. (Yes, a lot of species of birds are moving farther north earlier than ever before.) Compared winter glacier photos all over the world. And all of these things seem to point to global warming. But the thing that really tips the scales for us is the effect the weather change has had on commerce and travel. The ice road truckers of the north have had shorter and shorter seasons every year. Almost every ski resort in the country has complained that they just haven't had enough snow to open for a normal season every year. (The sale of snow makers has quadrupled in the last ten years.) So we here at the crazy believe global warming is happening, and we think it will have a negative effect on a lot of people. (although with human ingenuity being what it is there will be some people who figure out a way to profit from it.) Ok and now for the point. We don't yet believe their is enough evidence to support the idea that global warming is caused by man. (Don't get us wrong, we would love to see the reliance on fossil fuels stop. And the use of wind, water, solar, and any other renewable or recyclable energy sources be brought to the forefront.) Ok people don't grind your girdles, we don't say it's not possible man is a major contributor to global warming. Just in our opinion there is not enough evidence to support the theory yet. We will continue our research. And just want to point out that just because we aren't sure of our species effect on global climate, doesn't mean that man isn't having an effect. After all we could be wrong. Couldn't we. Ciao for now.

And the weather changes...

Yesterday here in the U.P. was cold with blowing snow, the day before was somewhat sunny and a high in the mid fifties. Now today will be sunny and a high near fifty. As they say about the weather up here, if you don't like it, wait five minutes it will change. Days like yesterday can really put a damper on our ability to get anything done. Needed to do laundry, get some dishes done, take care of some grocery shopping. (Got the shopping done, that's about it.) So how did we spend our day? Television. The shame is great. Watched our collection of the wonderful Firefly series. Then watched Dr Horrible's sing along blog. Then a recent fantasy movie the name of which escapes us at the moment. After some difficulty getting me out of the new recliner Lisa came up with a plan to allow me to avoid the chores I should have been doing, it works like this, if I can come up with three good excuses for not getting out of my chair I can avoid the chore. Ok, gotta admit I felt pretty lazy yesterday, too lazy to come up with good excuses. "It's a new chair and I gotta break it in." didn't work. How about "I'm not fat enough yet and I'm trying to attain critical mass." and finally went metaphysical. "The natural order is for things to entropy (fall into chaos) so who am I to try to fight nature." Ok, had to do some laundry yesterday, but managed to put the dishes off until today. Damn... Oh well, guess I should get to them. Ciao for now.

And in the creepy department...

It seems David Carradine of Kill Bill and Kung Fu fame gave an interview to Celebrity Ghost Stories four months before he died in which he stated the deceased husband of his soon to be wife was "hanging out in the closet in their bedroom." He described how angry the ghost seemed to be and how it was breaking glass constantly in the house. He mentioned one day going into the closet and finding one of the ex husbands tie's had been turned about so he could read Grateful Dead on the label. Four months later he is found dead hanging in a closet in Thailand. (Police keep waffling between accidental death, murder, or suicide.) A very strange coincidence to say the least. But most assuredly to be placed in the WHAT THE F*** place in your memory. (If they find a Grateful Dead tie in the closet be afraid.) At any rate a thai newspaper recently released photos of his death scene and people who have seen it point out that his hands are tied, which seems to me would be unlikely if this was an auto erotic asphyxiation. Or a suicide. So I think perhaps the police in Thailand should be looking at murder. Except the Police point out that the security video of the hotel shows no one else entered his room. I guess some mysteries will never be answered. Just a thought and another journey into the world of the crazy. Ciao for now.

Oh and by the way....

Happy Easter to those readers who are of the various Christian faiths allowed in a free society, we find it humorous that some Orthodox churches actually hold a procession going outside to look for the body of Christ and when they don't find it they shout "Christ has risen." But to each his own. Our main religious celebration involves Chocolate Easter bunnies and hard boiled eggs. (You see the chocolate Easter bunny represents our belief that Christ was a black man, and when they metaphysically ate of his flesh he was filled with chocolaty goodness. The hard boiled eggs represent our belief that at the last supper Judas said "Man it's so hot in here, I could hard boil eggs in my underwear." Ok actually that's not true, both the Easter bunny and the Colored eggs are ancient symbols of fertility, celebrated for thousands of years before anyone ever heard of Christ. The name Easter seems to have been derived from Eastre, the anglo saxon name of the tuetonic goddess of spring and fertility. Early Egyptians and Persians also colored eggs during the vernal equinox. The entire Easter holiday is based upon the idea of rebirth, as in the coming of spring after the winter sleep. Ancient religions celebrated the return of Persephone from the underworld to the light of day. Is it any wonder that the Christians chose these holidays to represent the rebirth of Christ. So again, Happy Easter to our Christian friends, and to you pagans out there Rejoice spring has come. Life begins anew. Ciao for now.

Pay attention people this is important...

We at the Crazy love our country, Land of the free, home of the brave. (Sometimes home of the morally bankrupt.) but all the same we feel the old U.S. of A. is a great place to live. Someone recently told us that we are losing our freedoms in this country. Really? Which specific freedom mentioned in the Bill of Rights have we lost. Let's see, freedom of religion and freedom of speech are both mentioned in article 1 of the bill of rights, and obviously free speech isn't gone or I couldn't write that I thought Karl Rove was an asinine weasel with the mental capacity of a recently deceased yak. (We know, were being too easy on him.) Freedom of Religion, any country that lets Scientology list itself as a religion has got to be free. Let's see, the right to bear arms, a lot of states have recently passed laws to allow the carrying of hand guns in public. (Just thought we should point out that in the states where these laws are passed the crime rate seems to be going down.) Ok, next, No soldier shall be quartered in any house without the consent of the owner. (Anybody reading this have a soldier quartering in your home without your permission? It's called trespassing, call the cops.) Unreasonable search and seizure. Cops can't come into your house, (or your car for that matter.) without a search warrant or probable cause. If you are growing pot plants in your window, and driving around smoking out of a hookah chances are they have probable cause to search your vehicle or house, but otherwise you can tell them to Sod off. (Or any other sort of ---- off sentence you prefer.) but please try to have some respect for the law as they have what can be a very dangerous job. Due process of Law, we still have the right to be represented by an attorney and to face our accuser if we are arrested for a crime. (Do not mix up attacks committed as an act of war with act's of domestic terrorism. Timothy McVeigh was a domestic terrorist, the masterminds behind 9/11 committed an act of war. We at the crazy don't care if they are tried in a civilian or a military court. But try em, and fry em and lets move on. (We told you are opinions would be colored by our emotions from time to time.) Amendments 5, 6, 7, and 8, all deal with legal rights and so far are the law of the land.
(Although it is a sad fact that the richer you are, the more likely it is that you shall be acquitted of a crime, although Berny Madoff may not see it that way.) So let's see, where are our freedoms being lost.... Well... anyone.... Can't see it. So at least at this point in time it appears that none of our freedoms have been taken away from us. We at the crazy love to hear your opinions, ideas or anger induced rants. So don't hesitate to send an email to Yuuperguy@sbcglobal.net and let us know your thoughts on this. Or if you simply want to call us names that's fine too, it's a free country.

Ok, we have had enough...

As much as we at the crazy enjoy a good conspiracy theory, and unusual and unsolved mysteries, we have to say we are fed up with this crazy 2012 stuff. We have all heard some nutcase spout the extremely insane falderall about the Mayan Calendar ending in 2012. So ok, let's settle this once and for all. In the Temple of Inscriptions in Palenque, there is a Mayan carving dated to Oct 21, 4772. Now if the Mayans believed that the world was going to end in 2012 why would they have carved that date into that rock. I'll tell you why, because the Mayan calendar doesn't end in 2012, that date was considered a change in cycle for the Mayans, one they would have celebrated had they been smart enough, or strong enough, or simply lucky enough to have survived to this time.
But the all wise all seeing Mayan civilization has been wiped from the face of the earth. So we here at the Crazy are preparing for the great cycle changing celebration of 2012. (The Mayans would have wanted it that way.) So break out your Naranjo's and prepare for celebration. (Oh by the way the Naranjo was a penis perforator used to cause the penis to bleed for the gods. Those Mayans were a wild and crazy bunch.) So stop the crazy 2012 stuff, please or we will come after you with our Naranjo's. And don't even get us started on that Niburu crap. Just had to get this out of our system, ciao for now.