July 30, 2002
Hall of Famers Oppose Strike
I couldn't agree more. Both the players and the owners come off sounding like millionaire nattering nabobs of negativity every time the talk in public. Just shut up, play ball, and come to some compromise that keeps everybody fat dumb and happy. How hard can it be?
Permalink | Comments (0)July 29, 2002
#631,314 with a bullet
Famous James was playing around with Alexa and for reasons known only to him, he included this site in his comparison. I've improved quite a bit since my last look, when I was at about 3,000,000 in April.
I have no idea why - I've done nothing to increase the appeal of this site.
Permalink | Comments (2)Earth to Moonchick...
From: MoOnChiK8969@aol.com | This is Spam | Add to Address Book
Date: Sun, 28 Jul 2002 11:37:49 EDT
Subject: Your Fan
To: chrisodva@yahoo.com
Hey Chris!
Your one of the Greatest Actors I Know! I think Ur So hot and Have the most cutest Smile I've ever seen! HI My Name is Erica. I first saw u in Batman Forever I thought U were Really cute and was amazing! U Must love ur fans Its really hard to believe that u actually read em..But thats good n e wayZ ! There is so many Cute and talented actors in HollyWood, But Ur My favorite! I Hope U can E-mail me PLease..? LuV Ya Lots 4 ever
*~Erica*~
Earth to Monchick, Earth to Moonchick, over....
By the way, I googled my Yahoo address again, the only place it shows up is this web site.
Permalink | Comments (2)July 27, 2002
UFO's over DC?
Resident reports seeing F-16's chasing blue streak of light. Air Force confirms that 2 jets were scrambled in response to a radar reading - but it vanished before visual contact was established. Of course, they assure us this was routine.
Permalink | Comments (0)Blogathon 2002
Several of the sites linked on the right are blogging for 24 consecutive hours to raise money for worthwhile causes. Drop in and say hello to:
Permalink | Comments (0)Rethinking The Unthinkable
This week's Washington Post Magazine has a very interesting article about the cold war, the US nuclear missile buildup, the doctrine of mutual assured destruction, and the National Park Service's plan to preserve one missile silo in South Dakota as a museum to that critical time in our history. One intersting thing that I learned from the article, Kennedy knew before his first State of the Union address that the missile gap with the USSR did not exist. However, since he had run on a pro-defense platform, he went ahead and authorized 1000 Minuteman missiles anyway.
The idea of having enough firepower to destry the world 1000 times, just because your enemy can do it 750 times, seems patently stupid doesn't it? But it did work. Also, it's absolutley amazing that we spent 30 years on high alert with thousands of nuclear warheads pointing at the Soviets, and they were in the same state, and not once did anybody accidently lob a missile at the other country.
M father was USAF, Strategic Air Command. I grew up very aware of the Soviet threat, and spent most of life living in locations that were assumed to be on the Soviet primary target list.
Just remember, in case of attack, proceed in an orderly manner to the hallway nearest your classroom, and assume a kneeling position, head againt the wall, and use your math book to protect your head. This is not a drill, I repeat, this is not a drill.
July 24, 2002
Your odds of dying
The National safety Council has released a report calculating your odds of dying in a whole bunch of different ways. A few picked out just for fun...
Lifetime odd of dying:
via motor vehilce - 1 in 81
via Complications, misadventures of surgical, medical care - 1 in 1092
via a fall - 1 in 217
via Venomous snakes, lizards, and spiders - 1 in 704,688
in a bathtub - 1 in 10,455
The odds for death by firearm were screwy. They seem to have several different catagories, with no explination. Homocides were listed seperate, so I'm not sure what the gun deaths were suppossed to be. No matter how the liberals spin it, driving to work each morning is still far more dangerous than owning a gun.
State Farm Recognizes Homeschooling
Ryan let me know that he noticed in his State Farm "stuff" that they give their "good student" discounts to homeschooled teenageers too. We found a couple of mentions in other articles on the web, nothing authoritative though so I didn't bother to link them here, and nothing on Statefarm.com. If your a State Farm customer and (God help you!) have teenagers of driving age, talk to your agent, and don't take no for an answer.
Permalink | Comments (0)Mark Kotsay Rules
About 6 weeks ago my son (8 years old) sent a fan letter to his favorite baseball player, San Diego Padre Mark Kotsay, complete with a baseball card to autograph and a self addressed stamp envelope to help ease the financial burden of fan relations on the team. After a couple of weeks of checking the mail, he got discouraged. I tried to tell him to give it time, as I was fairly sure Kotsay would reply. How much fan mail can he get? He's not Barry Bonds!
The autographed card finally came back today. Unfortunately I was out out a meeting so I missed his excitement when it arrived. However, he was still beaming an hour later when I got home. Just in time too, I was starting to lose confidence myself! And Kotsay has solidified his favorite player status, at least for the rest of this season!
Permalink | Comments (2)July 23, 2002
New CombinationLock tune
CombinationLock has a new tune online. Download Trans Parent and enjoy!
For those of you in Atlanta, they are playing the Atlantis Music Conference, Aug 3 @11 PM, 10 High in Virginia Highlands.
Permalink | Comments (0)July 22, 2002
House Sellin' Blues
I doubt any of the really great bluesmen ever wrote a song by this name, most of them probably never made enough singing the blues to own a home. However, if we actually make it to the new house I may never leave. The stress is brutal, it's one of the worst things you can do to your marriage. Every house showing becomes a personal critique of our home. It's just impossible to not take it personally when strangers walk through your home and deem it not worthy of their money. Who knows what the truth is, it could be too expensive for them, the yard is too small, whatever. And of course, I decided to sell at the same time that two of the areas largest employers are imploding (Worldcom and AOHell).
I did get some good news today - the builder has been delayed by permit issues so I've got an extra month to sell this place. I hope I survive that long.
Permalink | Comments (1)
Why The Players Will Win
Alkthough I do have trouble feeling any sympathy for a union of multi-millionaires, this interesting article from Slate makes a pretty compelling case for why we should expect another baseball strike, and why the players will ultimately win the negotiations.
Permalink | Comments (0)July 19, 2002
Butch Walker - An Artist That Gets It
Famous James insisted that all his readers check out the new Butch Walker CD, so I did. The CD rocks (surprise 1), sort of a Blink 182 / Sum 41 vibe with songwriting aimed at listeners that are actually beyond the age of consent. He actually wrote music for SR-71 so I guess the sound is not a surprise. Give a listen, it's good stuff. I bought the CD from his online store, which shipped two hours later (surprise 2). Today I get another email from his domain, thanking me for buying his CD, and giving me a link to a MP3 of a song that did not make it onto the CD (surprise 3). The "bonus" song has hit written all over it, I can't even imagine why it wasn't included on the final cut of the CD. I love it when I find really cool music because of a link on a web site of some person I've never met. Actually, that is how I find most of my new music now.
Permalink | Comments (1)EFF Challenges Airlines ID rules
Finally! I've been wondering when somebody would stand up to this. Demanding "our papers" before traveling within the states violates everything our Constitution is suppossed to stand for. Also, its just plain stupid. I'm sure the terrorists would never think to get a fake ID.
Damn, I hope I don't get in any trouble for giving them the idea ;)
Permalink | Comments (3)July 18, 2002
Convicted Killer to be thrown off cliff in a sack
This would be a fitting end for the slimebag that abducted and killed Samantha Runnion.
Permalink | Comments (1)Life in a DoD School
With the exception of the first eight weeks of 10th grade, when I attended Woburn High in Woburn, MA, my entire K-12 life was spent either in DoD schools or public schools attended by an entire base of Air Force brats. This article is dead on.
I got a great education at taxpayer expense ;)
Seriously, I have nothing but the highest respect for anybody who volunteers for military service. It is very hard on a family, and even as a libertarian I have no problem with the Defense Department running its own schools on bases that are large enough for it to make sense, or remote enough that there really is no choice. I've been there, being the new kid in a school full of kids that grew up together sucks.
July 17, 2002
House still for sale
My house is still for sale, and we have a new agent. There is a blog there, a rather lengthy one that will serve as a lesson in how not to pick a real estate agent, and I will write it soon. However, for now I'm 30 days away from owning two houses, and two mortgages. I'm selling this and buying this:
Yes, I am under just a little stress these days!
Permalink | Comments (1)Minor Design Change
The site has gone back to a 2 column format. Opera, Mozilla, and IE all render CSS a little differently. My style sheet was validating, but I could not get it to look right in all three browsers with the 3 column format. Every minor change caused an overlap of the columns in one of the browsers. I didn't have enough margin for error in the spacing. If I shrunk widths I had to go to a uncomfortably small font. With two columns I can leave enough white space that the site looks good in all three browsers.
Let's face it, I'm not Zeldman
The beauty of CSS is that I was able to do all this in about 15 minutes.
Permalink | Comments (0)DC has plan to cut back on Transvestite Prostitutes
No joke, this is a real headline.
I guess even the famously liberal DC government has to tighten up the budget somewhere.
Permalink | Comments (0)Homeschoolers are largest group in school choice debate
Isabel over at The Homeschool Revolution thinks this is good news. I disagree. I cringe every time an article talks about how "mainstream" homeschooling has become. I prefer to be thought of as an inconsequential fringe group of wackos. A small group of wackos is no threat to the status quo. A mainstream movement is a huge threat.
This kind of attention can only lead to increased government efforts to regulate and control homschooling. That is a very bad thing.
Permalink | Comments (3)July 14, 2002
CD review: Phil Lee - You Should Have Known Me Then
The back of the CD describes Phil's music as a unique blend of roots country and rock and roll. That's not a good enough description. Phil is a folksy bluesman that could have easily played a set at Woodstock. His songs evoke memories of the Rolling Stones, back when they actually played the blues, mixed with some Bob Dylan on an acoustic guitar, with a little delta blues thrown in just for the hell of it.
This is good stuff. I can't take it out of the CD player in my car. I find myself playing the song "Three Faces in the Window" over and over again. It's a simple acoustic piece on guitar, with Phil singing about being in some snazzy expensive restaurant when he notices the faces in the window of a hungry man and his children. It's a very powerful piece of songwriting.
This is my favorite album year to date. Buy it, you can thank me later ;)
Permalink | Comments (0)July 12, 2002
Dead Web Sites
I'll bet there a bunch of these sites out there. Digitrends - News & Information for Interactive Marketers. Last update? July 12th, 2001.
Happy Anniversary guys! It's been one year since your last post. I guess the site is doomed to sit there until their prepaid hosting contract expires, or their domain expires.
Permalink | Comments (0)July 11, 2002
News Flash: ODonnellWeb reader donates to worthy cause
This is very cool. Somebody who linked over to Why We Homeschool from here sent them $25 to support their efforts. Whoever you are, let me my add my thanks to accolades you've already received from Laura at Why We Homeschool.
(No permalinks, and the archives don't seem to be working. The letter is about 1/3 of the way down the page.)
Permalink | Comments (0)July 10, 2002
All-Star Thoughts
I fell asleep in the 7th inning, so I missed all the excitement surrounding the unnatural end of the game. However, I don't have any real problem with them calling it. It is an exhibition game after all. They could have handled to announcement better though, maybe decided in the 10th that the game would only last 12 innings, or something like that. It is fitting though that Selig got booed at home. Its too bad baseball doesn't have a commissioner like Bart Giamatti. Selig is an idiot.
The coolest thing about the game last night was watching the pre-game with my 8 year old son. He correctly identified every one of the 30 greatest moments they honored, and in several cases added additional info for me that the announcers didn't give us. He was totally excited to see Warren Spahn on the field. Breck may be the only 8 year old in America that even knows who Warren Spahn is! And when I checked on him in bed at 10:30 PM as I headed upstairs for the night, he was still awake, reading "The Science of Hitting" with the All Star Game on the radio.
Maybe the union and the owners should sit down with my son for 90 minutes, so they will undertand what that are doing to the future of the game if they lose fans like him.
Permalink | Comments (2)July 09, 2002
More on Vouchers
I disagree with her belief that this is a death sentence for homeschoolers. In many states, there is no way for a homeschooler to be a "private" school so the vouchers would not be applicable. If your paying tuition to a charter school and letting somebody else dictate the curriculum, then you aren't really homeschooling, even if the location is your kitchen table. Further, homeschoolers tend to avoid entanglement with the government anyway, and many, myself included, would run screaming from anything resembling "free" money for education from the government.
Permalink | Comments (0)Would you get the smallpox vaccine?
The US Govt is readying a smallpox vaccine program for emergency and healthcare workers - the people most likely to be exposed to somebody that is infected.
In other news, our friend Osama is reportedly gearing up for a Sept 11 encore.
This raises several questions. Are these two events related? Does the government have reason to suspect there is an active effort to use smallpox as a weapon against us?
And, given the opportunity in the near furture, would you get the vaccine?
Permalink | Comments (0)July 08, 2002
Which bug spray works for you?
Yet another study shows that bug sprays with DEET work best, and that Avon Skin-So-Soft doesn't work at all. So, how come the Avon stuff works well for me? I think maybe body chemistry mixed with Skin So Soft produces something effective. Actually, I think body chemistry may have a lot to do with who gets biten by mosquitos and who doesn't. All I know is that I rarely get a mosquito bite, and the only thing I ever use on myself, or the kids, is the Avon stuff that contains 0% DEET.
Permalink | Comments (1)Vouchers are bad
Homeschoolers know that "govt aid" of any kind always comes with strings attached. If parents can use public money to put their child in a private school, somewhere in the fine print the parents and the school are sacrificing freedom. Now, Cathy Cuthbert weighs in on vouchers and far more eloquently says what I just said above. A couple of choice quotes from her article:
Vouchers have nothing to do with improving public schools and everything to do with controlling and thereby destroying private education.
And in reference to the Supreme Court decision allowing random drug tests in school:
And Earls serves not to protect schoolchildren from the big, bad drug monster, but to habituate the nation’s citizenry to the kind of self-administered humiliation required for total control. If you are not sure about this, reread 1984.
Reblogged from Homeschooling Revolution
Permalink | Comments (0)July 07, 2002
Mr. Fake Chris O'Donnell
Apparently, I'm a fake. Read below - particularly the second email she sent.
Date: Sat, 06 Jul 2002 20:00:30 +0800
From: "Oli Hou"
To: chrisodva@yahoo.com
Subject: is this my fantasy?
dear Mr.Chris O'donnell,
I couldn't even imagine a celebrity making a site and air his feelings
and living.
it's absolutely my pleasure to send e-mail to you.
hello,my name is Snowy.i'm from Hong Kong(so my english is
inferior,cannot be more inferior). i'm a 16-year-old girl.
there're tons of things i want to tell you,but there's so little time
for me,and i always write english with wrong grammer.
firstly,let's talk about that when did i begin to be your big fan.i was
fascinated by your charm since i watched "Batman &
Robin".then i began to watch your movies such as "the bachelor" and "in
war & love".both of'em are great movies!
i like you (it's a little bit mushy for me to use words such as
"love",even i want to use)not only because of you're good-
looking.Leonardo is also very handsome,but i like you more than
him.there's one thing that you have and he don't have.
it's your carefulness on your fans,it's the first time i see a movie
star letting fans e-mail and atually read them.i'm
absolutely appreciate this virtue of you.it's worth for everyone to
imitate,you know.of cause there're so many other
reasons make me become your fan,but they've been written by other fans
in your site.
last week i read a book written by Dale Carnegie called "How to Win
Friends and Influence People".and i realize that you
have most of the virtue that i observed from the book.so now you're not
only win friends,and also win fans!
YOU WIN!!!!!!am i correct?^_____^
finally,if you have read this letter,i hope you can give me a reply.and
i want to keep touch with you.i also welcome if you can point out any
mistakes of the grammer that i've made.thank you.
yours sincerely,
Snowy
Followed a few minutes later by:
dear Mr.fake-Chris O'donnell,
there's one more thing i want to clarify.the letter i've sent previous
is not for you,it's for the famous actor chris o'donell.
however,if you know the ways to contact him,please tell me.thank you.
---------snowy
She might want to re-read Dale Carnegie. Her second email would not influence me to help her, even if I could :)
July 05, 2002
Music, and more music
I've added a page that lists the inventory of my 200 capacity CD player. Actually, this was part of a previous version of the site, I just finally got around to updating it and adding the link back to the home page. Over time, I hope to add some commentary on each album. At the moment, the commentary is lightly populated, at best. Now, if I can just find a way to automatically create Amazon links for each entry...
Ted Williams Dead at 83
Ted reportedly told a friend that all he wanted in life was to walk down the street and have people say "There goes the greatest hitter that ever lived."
Permalink | Comments (1)Strike Three
I haven't paid much attention to the talk of a baseball strike. I'm a Red Sox fan. The Red Sox look to be a real World Series contender this year. The New England Patriots are the Super Bowl Champions. Both the Bruins and Celtics made the playoffs. The stars seem to be aligning, this could be THE year that the curse is finally conquered.
In other words, a strike the cancels the playoffs and World Series is inevitable.
Columnist Charles Krauthhammer says that this is the final straw. If the MLB players go out on strike, he is done. No more games, no more caring about major league baseball. His rant has a bit of a populist tone to it. However, even I, rabid libertarian that I am, have a hard time feeling sympathy for the players. The average salary is over $2 million annual. I'm a grown adult with a family to support, yet I still dream at night about being a rookie pitcher called up in Sept to pitch a critical game for the Red Sox. I've been having that dream since I was 7 or 8.
The labor battles in baseball are basically an argument between the millionaire players and billionaire owners about how to divide up a very large pie. There is plenty of blame to go around. Nobody is holding a gun to the owners head and forcing them to pay deadbeats like Jose Offerman $6 mill a year to hit .220, fail to put down sacrifice bunts when needed, and muff ground balls at 2nd base that a little leaguer could handle. The playes come off sounding like whiners. After all, they are making millions to play baseball. The average joe is going to have a hard time feeling sympathy for players.
I'd like to be that principled and say that I'll walk away, focus on some other sport, maybe stick to the minors leagues, but I'm won't. I'll bitch and moan, especially since the Red Sox look like a real World Series contender this year, but I'll be back, I know I will.
Permalink | Comments (0)July 04, 2002
Happy Independence Day
Even though I spend a lot of my online time time bitching about the US Government, or reading others bitch about the US Govt, I am truly thankful for the freedom we have in this country. My frustration is that others aren't as thankful, tend to take it for granted, and put it at risk. In the immortal words of Ben Franklin:
Those that would trade freedom for temporary security deserve neither
Sometime between the beer, barbecue, fireworks today, take a few seconds to think about the millions of people that have died over the years protecting this freedom, and those that are serving today, risking their lives so that we can continue to have the freedom to openly bitch about our government.
It's going to be 97 and humid in the DC area today, I'll be celebrating in front of the Playstation2 where its cool! And just in case anything really bad happens in DC today, I live 40 West of the city, and the wind is blowing out of the West. I should be safe from any fallout ;)
God Bless America
Permalink | Comments (1)July 03, 2002
US Army - The Video Game
The US Army is releasing a video game on July 4th. Some people are having a tizzy over this. My response? BFD.
The Army has to recruit new soldiers. Somebody has to defend my right to $1.25 a gallon gas and underpriced produce :) Seriously though - the military of every country is always recruiting, and it makes a lot of sense that the advertising efforts change with the times. I don't think today's 17 year old is going to get all stirred up over an Uncle Sam Needs You Poster in the school lunchroom.
The game is free. I'll probably download it. However, given that this is a product of the US Government, I expect that it will be PC'ed to death anyway.
Permalink | Comments (2)July 02, 2002
Must be the week for fan mail
I got more...I am impressed that she is smart enough to realize that "Chris" probably isn't a rock climber.
This message is not flagged. [ Flag Message - Mark as Unread ]
From: AMeriCAnSupRcHiQ@aol.com | This is Spam | Add to Address Book
Date: Tue, 2 Jul 2002 15:32:05 EDT
Subject: My Sister
To: chrisodva@yahoo.com
Dear Mr. Chris O'Donnell,
I am writing to you for my sister-though she doesn't know I'm doing
this. I was wondering if you would be able to send me an address (not e-mail)
or something so that I could contact you. This is because I would like to
receive an autographed picture of you. My sister is a rock climber and
an outdoorsy person. When she saw "Vertical Limit" she not only loved the
movie but thought you were something else-even if you don't really climb.
Anyway- I wanted to get her an autographed picture of you for he upcoming 21st birthday. So if you could respond as soon as your schedule allows I
would appreciate it. Thank you for taking time to read this!
Sincerely,
Julie
(e-mail: AmericanSUprchiq@aol.com)
July 1 in History
Yesterday (7/1) was the anniversary of federal income tax witholding from wages. It was started as a temporary measure in 1943 to raise money for WWII. That's right, 1943. FICA did not come from the Constitution, it is not a well established practice with centuries of history. Liberals( and most conservatives) now insist that the country would fall apart without the Feds taking 30+% of every one of my paychecks. Sadly, most of my fellow citizens can't even imagine how things would function without the long arm of the law reaching into their pocket every two weeks. Even sadder, ask your typical brain dead citizen in April how much they paid in taxes. Most of them will smile and tell you how they are getting $300 back.
Giving money to the government is like giving whiskey and the car keys to teenage boys. Nothing good can come of it.
For more info:
Americans For Fair Taxation
Flat Tax Home Page
July 01, 2002
Completely.Worthless.Website
After seeing a couple of TV ads for the National Grand Prix here in DC, I surfed over to the web site for more information.
Very.Big.Mistake.
This complete waste of bandwidth features 3 frames and totally worthless Flash animations on the home page. Oh, it also crashed Mozilla 1.0, and took an inordinately long time to respond on both Mozilla and IE 5.5. Who still designs with frames? And the site, beyond the usability and infomation architecture problems, is just plain ugly. Real ugly, or as they would say in Georgia, butt ugly.
I was looking for ticket info, I found prices, but the general admission tickets feature "access to the grounds but not to the grandstands." Thats it - no detail at all. Can I even see the race from "the grounds?" I was thinking about taking my son to the races for the day, but I can't get enough info from the web site to decide if the general admission ticket , and 1+ hour transit time each way, will be worth it.
Permalink | Comments (1)