Random Thinking

Yesterday was the NYC Buddy Walk and since we knew that there would be a few special guests Michel and I went into Manhattan. Stephanie and her gang had come in from Pennsylvania and two very special guests, Leah and Angela had come all the way in from Minnesota. We met them at the cross roads of the universe, Times Square. If you look closely, you can see from the bad hair and the umbrellas in the picture that the weather was not good for a walk. From left to right in the picture - Michel, Megan, Stephanie, Angela, and Leah.

We all ended up going to a nice Italian restaurant instead of going to Central Park for the walk. Mikey, our little flirt, insisted on sitting next to Angela. He and Angela mostly ate Sponge Bob crackers while Leah, Michel, and I had pasta. It was great to get a chance to talk to Leah and spend time with her and Angela. Stephanie and her gang sat at a separate table so we didn’t get to talk to them as much. Mikey spent most of the meal throwing kisses at Angela and gently stroking her arm (although he did punch her a couple of times but boys do that when they like a girl).

Mikey lasted about an hour before he started to melt down. An hour sitting in a restaurant is a long time for Mikey so it must have been the company. Finally he started shouting and trying to push his way out of his seat and then he knocked the bread dish off of the table next to us. I took Mikey right outside. Michel told me that the couple at the next table were very understanding and very nice about the whole thing. And the restaurant staff was also very nice. Being the parent of a child on the spectrum means you get used to the behaviors but we always worry that other people may not be as understanding.

Today Michel was talking to Mikey about the trip into the city. She asked him about Angela and he got a big smile on his face. Michel asked him how pretty she was and said, “Is she this pretty?” holding her hands a little bit apart. Mikey immediately threw his arms wide open to show just how beautiful he thinks she is. You can see from the picture above just how right he is!

In the debate the other night, John McCain stated an unusual statistic. He said that North Koreans are three inches shorter on average than South Koreans. He attributed the difference to the repressive North Korean regime and the better nutrition available to the South Koreans. Senator McCain was off a little bit… the actual difference is two inches but his point is well made.

But what would Senator McCain think of this… the average American (looking at only native born Americans of non-Hispanic and non-Asian origin) is shorter than the average European. In fact, the average American is two inches shorter than the average person from the Netherlands! Historically, Americans have been the tallest people in the world. But that is no longer the case. Dr. John Komlos, whose scientific journal originally published the Korean figures said this:

“Of course, a similar argument could be leveled against the U.S. as it is not doing as well as its Western European counterparts,” he wrote. “Of course there are many other indicators that the U.S. health care and diet are not as good as in Western Europe. Western Europeans live longer.”

Perhaps it is time for the US to look at our health care system. Don’t we owe it to our children?

A lesson for all of us, perhaps?

30 Seconds to Mars is an American rock band from Los Angeles, California, featuring actor Jared Leto as the lead vocalist, guitarist and songwriter. The group was originally formed as a family project with Leto and his brother, Shannon. Tomo Miličević was later added to the group as a guitarist. Leto is most famous for his portrayal of heroin addict Harry Goldfarb in Darren Aronofsky’s Requiem for a Dream.

The group has had two albums with their second, A Beautiful Lie, being hugely successful. The album has gone platinum selling over 1 million copies in the US. The song Attack, made Billboard’s Top 25 Modern Rock Tracks. It was only a minor hit on rock radio and the album did not experience success until the release of “The Kill”.

Attack
I won’t suffer, be broken, get tired, or wasted
Surrender to nothing, or give up what I
Started and stopped it, from end to beginning
A new day is coming, and I am finally free

Run away, run away, I’ll attack
Run away, run away, go chase yourself
Run away, run away, now I’ll attack
I’ll attack, I’ll aa-WHOOOAAAAAAAAA

I would have kept you, forever, but we had to sever
It ended for both of us, faster than a
Kill off this thinking, it’s starting to sink in
I’m losing control now, and without you I can finally see

Run away, run away, I’ll attack
Run away, run away, go chase yourself
Run away, run away, now I’ll attack
I’ll attack, I’ll aa-WHOOOAAAAAAAAA

Your promises, they look like lies
Your honesty, like a back that hides a knife (knife)
I promise you (promise you)
I promise you (promise you)
And I am finally free

Run away, run away, I’ll attack
Run away, run away, go chase yourself
Run away, run away, now I’ll attack
I’ll attack, I’ll attack, I will attack

Run away, I’ll attack, I will attack
Run away, I’ll attack, I will attack

Run away (Run away), I’ll attack (I’ll attack)
I’ll aa-WHOOOAAAAAAAAA

Your promises
(promises, promises)
I promise you
(promise you)
I promise you
(promise you, promise you)
Written by Jared Leto

Do you remember the Miss Teen USA contest in 2007 when Miss South Carolina totally embarrassed herself? She was asked why Americans are unable to locate the U.S. on a map. She rambled on in pointless confusion:

“I personally believe that, U.S. Americans are unable to do so, because some… people out there in our nation that don’t have maps, and I believe that our education, like such as in South Africa and the Iraq, everywhere like such as, and I believe that they should… our education over here in the U.S., should help the U.S., er, should help South Africa and should help the Iraq and the Asian countries so we will be able to build up our future.., for our children… “

The GOP VP candidate, Governor Sarah Palin, showed that dear Miss South Carolina has nothing on her. In an interview with Katie Couric:

COURIC: Why isn’t it better, Governor Palin, to spend $700 billion helping middle-class families who are struggling with health care, housing, gas and groceries? Allow them to spend more, and put more money into the economy, instead of helping these big financial institutions that played a role in creating this mess?

PALIN: That’s why I say I, like every American I’m speaking with, were ill about this position that we have been put in. Where it is the taxpayers looking to bail out. But ultimately, what the bailout does is help those who are concerned about the health care reform that is needed to help shore up our economy. Um, helping, oh, it’s got to be about job creation, too. Shoring up our economy, and getting it back on the right track. So health care reform and reducing taxes and reining in spending has got to accompany tax reductions, and tax relief for Americans, and trade — we have got to see trade as opportunity, not as, uh, competitive, um, scary thing, but one in five jobs created in the trade sector today. We’ve got to look at that as more opportunity. All of those things under the umbrella of job creation.

She makes George W. Bush look erudite.

Update: Rod Dreher of The First Post says: She makes George W. Bush sound like Cicero.
The video:

Does John McCain think a good science education is important to America’s youth? Apparently not. McCain recently spoke to the Associated Press about Obama’s wasting the money of the hard working American taxpayer. Here is what he had to say:

“That’s nearly a million every day, every working day he’s been in Congress,” McCain said. “And when you look at some of the planetariums and other foolishness that he asked for, he shouldn’t be saying anything about Governor Palin.”

“Planetariums and other foolishness”? Does John McCain know that planetariums are a type of museum designed to teach and excite young people about astronomy? Doesn’t he realize that schools think so highly of planetariums that they plan trips to them so their students can learn about the wonders of the universe?

So what exactly was the money used for? Obama’s funding request states:

Adler Planetarium, to support replacement of its projector and related equipment, $3,000,000

One of its most popular attractions and teaching tools at the Adler Planetarium is the Sky Theater. The projection equipment in this theater is 40 years old, and is no longer supported with parts or service by the manufacturer. It has begun to fail, leaving the theater dark and groups of school students and other interested museum-goers without this very valuable and exciting learning experience.

So McCain thinks that replacing a broken projector at one of the most important planetariums in the country is foolishness?

On Sunday we went over to Michel’s brother’s house for a barbecue. We don’t get out enough and Mikey is always welcome there so it was nice to get out. Mikey played with his cousins and we got to have some adult conversation and I got to watch some of the Giant game. (Go Giants! 3-0!!!)

But for some reason there was an attack of mosquitoes just as we got there. I hate mosquitoes. They leave me itchy for days with big welts. Beth is the same way. And for some reason I decided to wear shorts on Sunday. I never wear shorts. It ended up that I couldn’t stay outside it was so bad. For some reason the mosquitoes loved my blood. Mikey wanted to stay outside so Michel stayed outside with him. When I went outside later, Mikey had two mosquitoes sitting on his forehead. And Monday was picture day at school so of course he has two perfect mosquito bites right above the bridge of his nose.

The amazing thing is we live only 20 minutes away and we never have any mosquitoes. I had survived the whole summer without a single bite. But it was worth the bites to go to the barbecue.

John McCain has gone crazy. He is now trying to pretend that he hasn’t been in Washington, DC for the last 20 years and that the economic problems we having are all Barack Obama’s fault. Think I’m kidding? This is what Senator McCain had to say on Wednesday:

We’ve heard a lot of words from Senator Obama over the course of this campaign. But maybe just this once he could spare us the lectures, and admit to his own poor judgment in contributing to these problems. The crisis on Wall Street started in the Washington culture of lobbying and influence peddling, and he was square in the middle of it.

Except that Senator Obama has refused to take money from lobbyists (unlike Senator McCain who has major lobbyists in position of power in his campaign) and has been in the Senate for less that three years (and not 22 years like Senator McCain). If anyone needs to admit his poor judgement it is Senator McCain.

And here’s Senator McCain talking about regulating the market during the last week:

- Deregulation: McCain issued a statement Monday morning saying that “we cannot tolerate a system that handicaps our markets and our banks.”

- Regulation: McCain’s campaign then put out an ad calling for “tougher rules on Wall Street.”

- Deregulation: This morning, on NBC’s Today Show, McCain said, “Of course, I don’t like excessive and unnecessary government regulation.”

- Regulation: Then, on CBS’s The Early Show, McCain said, “Do I believe in excess government regulation? Yes.”

- Both: On CNBC’s Squawk Box, McCain said, “We don’t want to burden average citizens with over-regulation and government bureaucracy…And I’m proud to be a Teddy Roosevelt Republican, who said, ‘unfettered capitalism leads to corruption,’ and we’ve got to fix this.”

The good thing is that the more John McCain speaks, the more the American people are seeing that he is clueless. Maybe it’s time to elect someone who actually worked hard and graduated from college as magna cum laude (Barack Obama) instead of a C student (George W. Bush) or third from the bottom of his class (John McCain).

Avast there, and shiver me timbers! And bring me a noggin of rum, now, won’t you, matey? Cause today is International Talk Like a Pirate Day!!!

Every year since 1995, Ol’ Chumbucket (John Baur) and Cap’n Slappy (Mark Summers) have been celebrating ITLAPD and thanks to the genius of Dave Barry, who thought it was a brilliant idea, the holiday has spread far and wide. So be sure to talk like a pirate at least once today or you’ll be swinging from the yard arm. Arrrrr matey!

In case you are wondering why pirates talk they way they do, according to Wikipedia:

Actor Robert Newton, who portrayed Long John Silver in the 1950 Disney film Treasure Island and then in the 1954 film Long John Silver, is the patron saint of Talk Like A Pirate Day. Newton was a native of Dorset, and it was his native West Country dialect, which he used in his portrayal of Long John Silver and Blackbeard, that has become the standard “pirate accent”. The peg legs, parrots, and treasure maps came from Robert Louis Stevenson’s novel Treasure Island (1883).

Who knows what pirates were actually like. Maybe accountants!

Update: According to a famous college professor at a big university in Minnesota, talking like a pirate on ITLAPD helps fend off global warming.

I know this group will not meet with Beth’s approval but I thought it was time for a change. Ivy is a New York City based band composed of Adam Schlesinger, Dominique Durand, and Andy Chase. The group was formed in 1994, when Adam and Andy convinced Dominique (who had moved to New York City from Paris in 1990) to write songs and sing in their group. The group is noted for rich, multi-layered, multi-instrumental songs and the soft singing of Dominique. Because Dominique is from Paris, the group has had some success in France.

The group has not had great commercial success but their songs have been in huge demand for film and TV. Their song “Worry About You” was used in the pilot of the TV show The 4400 (where I was first introduced to them) and was used as the theme of Steven King’s mini-series, Kingdom Hospital (Michel knows the song since she loves the show). “Edge of the Ocean” was used in several movies including Shallow Hal and Numb and several TV shows including Grey’s Anatomy, Alias, and Veronica Mars. “Edge of the Ocean” is probably their most successful song to date.

Edge of the Ocean
There’s a place I dream about
Where the sun never goes out.
And the sky is deep and blue.
Won’t you take me there with you.

Ohhh, we can begin again.
Shed our skin, let the sun shine in.
At the edge of the ocean
We can start over again.

There’s a world I’ve always known
Somewhere far away from home.
When I close my eyes I see
All the space and mystery.

Ohhh, we can begin again.
Shed our skin, let the sun shine in.
At the edge of the ocean
We can start over again.

Written by Ivy