Steps in San Simeon

Steps in San Simeon © Copyright 2004 Mojoey

Steps leading from the lower camp to the upper camp at a California State Park in San Simeon.

Unspoiled and view from my truck are from the same campground.

GameBoy

GameBoy © Copyright 2004 Mojoey

A very common sight these days.

A view of Seine from the Musée de’Orsay

Seine from the Musée de’Orsay © Copyright 2004 Mojoey

A beautiful day in Paris. This shot came together while enjoying some sun on the outside terrace at the Musée de’Orsay.

I have another shot from the same spot here.

Fishing Derby, El Dorado Park

Fishing Derby © Copyright 2004 Mojoey

My son and niece love to fish. We do the early morning fishing derby a few times a year. This one was at El Dorado Park in in Long Beach. Fishing derby's make for great fun, and I get to take pictures too.

Keep Out

Keep Out © Copyright 2004 Mojoey

I should have taken this as a warning. Keep out! This warning was on the side of a local resturant. I ate lunch with friend, and then regretted it. The company was good, but the meal was gross

Unspoiled

Unspoiled © Copyright 2004 Mojoey

'Hobbit' remains found on remote island

'Hobbit' Skeleton Could Rewrite Prehistory

I love this story! I had to pull my wife (Florence) to the screen to get her to read about Floresiensis, she was sure I was lying. Who would write a story like ths? It sounds like fiction. The Isle of Flores was full of little harry people, hunting Oliphant’s, fighting evil lizards, and living in holes in the ground! We have found middle earth and it's not in New Zealand.

Happy Accident

Happy Accident© Copyright 2004 Mojoey

I claim this picture in the name of a computer crash. I was working in Photoshop doing some color correction work on a series of overexposed pictures, when my computer crashed. When I rebooted, this file was on my hard drive. It looks like a combination of the last six or seven pictures I was working on. Being color blind, I cannot really see all the nueaces, but I like it anyway.

Carson Ugly # 11 - Project 1202

Carson Ugly # 11 © Copyright 2004 Mojoey

In carson, paper is in short supply. They write their project plans on the walls of their projects. Of course, this project is finished. Nice, right?

Is this real?

Rat Neurons in a Dish Play Flight Simulator

Random surfing over my lunch break: Can a puddle of rat brains fly a F-22 simulator? Don’t ask me how I found this; it was a Zen internet thing. Now, is this real? I hope so, because if it is a joke it should be real. Can you imagine the possibilities? Peoplesoft upgrades! A puddle of brains loaded into your head to give you better language skills, or in my case better spelling skills. Imagine upgrades to speak Russian, to learning engineering, or to just raise your IQ from that 92 to a 105. Wow, you could be twenty five and get a ten years experience accounting upgrade! That would be better than an MBA right? Or, you could be a democrat and get a common sense upgrade to Republican. The more I think about it, the more I like it.

Why Deep Thoughts?

I keep gettings asked this question. I also keep being told "Dude, you are so arrogant, I mean, Deep Thoughts, really...". I figured it's best if I finally tell everyone why I use the title "Deep Thoughts". I like Jack Handy (I though it was obvious).

There, now you know. so shut the f--- up.

"The difference between a man and a boy is, a boy wants to grow up to be a fireman, but a man wants to grow up to be a giant monster fireman." -Jack Handy

oh, oh, try this one, Deep Thought, not by Jack Handy. Now that you have got me started, you are going to regret it.

oh, and passthebread, don't follow the links, its humor, you won't get it.

Nutball Alert - The Fat Acceptance Weblog

Big Fat Blog: The Fat Acceptance Weblog

Ok, for those of you who don't know me, I am fat, not just fat, but, let’s just say VERY FAT, or more accurately, I am 150 pounds overweight. I just want to make sure everyone understands this before I launch into my next nutball triad.

I stumbled across this site while researching gastric bypass surgery. I had just about convinced myself that there was no way I’m going under the knife, when I found a link to this blog post. Intrigued by the heavy sarcasm that I found, I went to the main page and looked around. I could not figure out if this was fat people talking about how hard it is to be fat, or if it weas fat people talking about how good it was to be fat. I went the FAQ and found this:

What is Big Fat Blog?

Big Fat Blog is a blog which links to and gives opinions on articles dealing with fat, as a general rule. There are hundreds of articles out there that perpetuate the “fat=bad” and Big Fat Blog really tries to offer up a fat-positive opinion.

Reading further….

Why don’t you post weight loss links and articles?

Well, technically, we do post them from time to time but offer up criticism. Big Fat Blog does not promote weight loss….

After reading through this POS blog, I was left with realization that these people are self deluded nutballs. They actually think being fat is ok, and they go to great lengths to promote the idea. Being fat is not ok, being fat kills you. It might not happen today, it might not happen tomorrow, but sure enough, it’s going to happen.

I think I finally recognize the feeling a Christian has when confronted with an Atheist. I know the truth because I live it, they should know the truth but the are blinded by something else. In this case, something like vanity, stupidity, hubris, ignorance, or well…you name it, they are blinded by it.

The nutball thinking on this site goes something like this, I am fat and a good person, bad things don't happend to good people, therefore everything that criticizes my being fat must be wrong. and... I have a right as a good person to be fat, even if there is overwhelming evidence to the contrary. And, don’t you dare say otherwise...

Like I said - Nutball, Nutball, Nutball, fat nutball...

And just for the record, it SUCKS to be fat.

Carson Ugly # 10 - The Park

Carson Ugly #10 © Copyright 2004 Mojoey

Come, play in our park. when bored, climb the tower of commerce.

I love Carson, every block offers its own adventure.

The Carson Ugly series so far:

#1 - The Train Tracks
#2 - The Carson Can Man
#3 - The Gate
#4 - The Tree in a box
#5 - Wilmington Ave & 223rd
#6 - Political Postings
#7 - Fat woman sleeping on a bench
#8 - The Carson River
#9 - The Tarp Fence
#10 - The Park

What do I know about Suha Arafat? Nothing at all.

blogirish Suha Arafat and Malnourished Palestinian Children

So I am reading a new release about Arafat dying (at least it sounds like he is dying), and I think, "What do I know about his wife?", because she is mentioned prominently in the article. It turns out I know almost nothing. It is a good thing too; because finding out that Arafat was a rich fat cat, with a wife living the high life in Paris, would have pissed me off even more than I am at this murderer. I began to wonder why it is that Arafat is a billionaire if he had never held a real job? How do you get to be a billionaire as the head of a government, oh wait, it is not a government, he is the head of a terrorist organization that runs a want-to-be country, which has extorted millions from others. It all makes sense now, really it does.

Arafat’s wife, the pretty blond Christian that she is, lives off of a meager $100K per month in Paris, while the Palestinians suffer. I think that history will not be kind when Arafat dies. His corruption will be laid bare. The world will hold him to the same light of truth as Stalin, Hilter, and... well the list is pretty long so why go on.

Somebody compared me to Arafat today, I was deeply offended.

Single Handed Keyboards (for all you one armed typests)

Single Handed keyboards

I have this geeky/nerdy friend who shall go nameless. He has a keyboard fetish. Today, I shamelessly indulge this vapid fetish; your one handed keyboard is here, oh joy. I don’t want to know what you will be doing with your other hand!

Should I order you the left or right handed model for Christmas? (You know who "you" are)

Makes you hide - a Psycho Parody

Makes you hide

I saw this System of a Down parody and could not stop laughing. Whoever made it is a genius.

Richardguy.com upgrades his website

Richarguy.com has gone through a nifty upgrade. It looks great and is very trendy. Richard is one of my favorite reads because he has a unique view on the world around us, and, he has a very different sense of humor. Enjoy!

Arafat needs a doctor, how about King/Drew?

Arafat's condition worsens; doctors called

Let us be compassionate with our enemies. Arafat needs the best in medial care so he can prolong the death and suffering of the Palestinian and Israeli peoples. Bring Arafat to King/Drew in Los Angeles for treatment…. Survival is optional for most patients.

I find myself reading more poetry

Anne Sexton's Admonitions to a Special Person

I love the line from this poem which reads:

Watch out for intellect,
because it knows so much it knows nothing
and leaves you hanging upside down,
mouthing knowledge as your heart
falls out of your mouth.

It reminds me of so many people, and at times myself.

Have you ever wondered what a bimbos is?

A friend told me he blogs a lot, but almost never surfs. I thought, wow, that’s like visiting a bookstore but never reading a book (and then writing about books). Hmmm. Weird.

I surf the web (well actually I “surf” everything; I need to feed my brain). Surfing is an addiction I love because weird things interest me. Take bimbos, I've known a few in my day, yet I rarely think about them, however, because the are fringe personalities, I am fascinated, I must learn more. So, I was surprised to find a site dedicated to Bimbos. I would have never have found the site if I had not followed a random link off a book review related to physics. Of course, the link I followed to the book on physics came from a link from a website dedicated to frogs…. It goes on and on…..
Follow the link. It is work safe.


The link is worksafe. Follow it if you dare.

Ever wonder who has blown up a nuclear bomb?

Nuclear Explosions Database

Don't ask how I came across this site, but it is cool. I had no idea so many counties had exploded some many nuclear bombs. I was surprised to see how many bombs France had detonated since 1960. I knew France was a nuclear power, but I had no idea they were so active. No wonder Green Peace don’t like them.

Nutball Alert - Is the Harry Potter series evil?

Well.... If you believe this group of Christian Nutballs it is. Beware, this collection of "well research" papers will consume several hours of you time while leaving you feeling vacant and empty. The lack of deep analysis is astounding until you consider that anything that would bring joy to their lives is actually threatening and therefore evil. Harry Potter is fantasy at its very best. The books are written for children, yet adults are some of the biggest readers. Why is this? Could it be that the stores are compelling morality plays set in a realm of complete fantasy? Children have no more trouble discerning this than they can understanding that the Teen Titians are not going to ride to their rescue in a schoolyard fight.

Why do people believe weird things? I think it is to take the focus off the real problem. The fundamentalists at The Cutting Edge are focused on what will happen when Jesus returns and not focusing on anything thing else. They are good people, no really, they are good people… or not, it seems to me the qualify as total nutballs. When they stand outside of libraries yelling at children for reading Harry Potter, they are cross the line to become total nutballs. What every happened to feed to poor, teaching peace, or setting an example?

Some selected reading:

HARRY POTTER -- REALITY OR JUST FANTASY? OR BOTH?!

This one is different; the logic goes something like this. Harry Potter is fantasy, some occultists practice witchcraft, therefore Harry Potter is reality. Oh, and we are all going to hell.

HARRY POTTER CONDITIONING KIDS TO LOVE MAGICK, WITCHES, AND TO ADOPT THE VALUES AND ATTITUDES OF THE 'COMING GREAT ONE'!

This one is weird. The argument goes something like this. Harry Potter is a tool of the devil, Children are programmed by the Harry Potter books to accept Satan, Therefore, the New World Order is close at hand. ....And that’s bad because?

My favorite quote from this article is "Since mathematics were created by God, the pagan worships them, believing they contain inherent power." Nuf said.

Paster Brad, what the hell is going on?

Pallets on two trucks

Pallets © Copyright 2004 Mojoey

I see truckloads of these every day; they are the ubiquitous tools of industry.

Carson Ugly # 9 - The Tarp Fence

Carson Ugly # 9 © Copyright 2004 Mojoey

I see fewer of these every day, but there are still several hundred. I don't understand why somebody would think this is effective nor do I understand their estedic. I would hate to think what the inside of their houses look like.

My goal for the Carson Ugly project is 20 pictures but it is such a target rich enviornment that I may end up doing more.

Band Flyers

Band Flyers © Copyright 2004 Mojoey

This is one of my favorite shots. It looks like a few years worth of band flyers built up on a telephone pole. Berkeley, where I shot this, had these every 90 feet.

This is also my Photo Friday submission for October 22, 2004.

Carson Ugly # 8 - The Carson River

Carson Ugly #8 © Copyright 2004 Mojoey

I don't actually know if it is a river or a canal off the ocean from the Port of Long Beach, but I do know that it smells like an open sewer and flows slowly through the heart of Carson. I drive over it once or twice a day with the window up and the vents closed. It is a nasty thing and totally fitting for the ugliest city in the country. When I shot this at lunchtime today, one single sickly mud hen was diving on what I presume to be food of some sort. No other animal life was evident, except me and the odd trucker.

Oh… I love the fact that taggers can claim it as their own. You go "byone".

How evil are you?

How evil are you?

Contrary to what a few friends think, I come up Neutral! Ha!

oops, I fall down go boom.

Castro Breaks Leg in public Fall

Castro took a header a public event in Cuba yesterday breaking his arm and leg. I would normally pay not notice to this, but just the day before NPR commentators were reporting that Cuban doctors were predicting Castro could live until he reached the ripe old age of 140! It seems Castro might be human after all.

Cathedral Notre-Dame in Charte

Charte © Copyright 2004 Mojoey

This is a picture of the stained class inside the Cathedral Notre-Dame in Charte. The Cathedral is a UNeSCO World heritage site and a must see on any trip to France. I particullarly like the self guided tour, I can linger and admire at my own pace.

This is also my Theme Thursday submission. Wish me luck.

Koi Pond

Koi Pond © Copyright 2004 Mojoey

This is another example of why I like Koi, the fish are so colorful and visually interesting. I shot this at noon so the colors are kind of washed out, but still pretty. I've collected over 20 Koi ponds so, each is unique. I've tried to start my own Koi pond, but the Herons seem always find my young fish and devour the $100 morsels.

I passed my Econ midterm exam!

Its 9:15 on a Wednesday night and I'm still at Pepperdine University reviewing the results from last week’s midterm. I passed with a B! The Professor was very generious with his grading or I'm sure it would have been a good solid D (In Grad School a D is a bad thing). I am absolutely sure my next profession will not be in Economics, it is way to hard and all theory. I can’t believe how badly I did on a few concepts, like cross price elasticity, but what the heck; I’m going to pass the class. I was worried for a little while there.

Review - Green Day's American Idiot

I just picked up Green Day’s American Idiot and can honestly say that I love it. This Album picks up where the last album left off. Each song is better than the last. I listened to it straight through several times before I ripped it for my iPod. My favorites songs are the ballad “Give me Novocain”, and the hard driving "American Idiot". I hope Green Day keeps putting out good music for years to come, they rock.

A Friend asks, where do nutballs fit in?

Because I write a great deal about nutball religious activities, a friend asked me if I believe nutball religious sects have a right to exist. I thought for a few minutes and answered “yes, of course, they may be nutballs and believe that cats or trees are gods but they are not hurting anyone.” I assert: let them have their nutball fun! After all, I just want to point a finger at them and laugh. Still, the question bothered me so I thought a bit longer and came up with one modifier, “in the case of a Jim Jones type self-destructive cult or a morally deprived baby blood drinking type coven, or a nutball group that espouses violence against others, especially other religions, well then I would have to say “Hell no”. Society should do everything possible to protect themselves from dangerous nutballs.

Nutball religious cults should not get a “get out of jail free card” just because of some metaphysical connection to a deity, an infamous historical figure, or an enlighten philosopher. Nutballers must operate by a certain moral standard to be considered legitimate. I would have to extend this concept to include major religions as well, which means that the violent fractions in Islam are a real problem. Islamic terrorists should be considered a nutball sect and treated as such by their mainstream counterparts.

Nutballs are everywhere. One must be on guard against nutballs and nutball (unscientific) thinking else they co-opt legitimate processes and turn them towards their own evil ends. The best example of this I can site recently is in the area of creation science, nutball Christian fundamentalists believe it wise to teach biblical science (I’m not even sure what that is), next to Darwin and Einstein in our public schools in an effort to gain equal time for their views. It’s a waste of young minds and clearly qualifies as socially destructive nutball behavior (it will make us all dumber). Nutball behavior is not limited to Christian sects, Islam has them too; just consider the theories currently floating around Islamic websites speculating that Israel was the mastermind behind the bombing of its own people in Taba, or that America orchestrated the 9/11 attacks as a way to justify killing Muslims. This is always nutball conspiracy theory wacko thinking, and is just plain wrong.

I’m very open minded, if something I write offends, please let me know. Every now and then I mistake a mainstream behavior for something more nutballish. For example, I was completely mystified to find out that beheading innocent people is actually condoned by Islam (as long as they can be classified properly as non-Muslim). Here I thought it just violent nutball extremists, and then I find out its mainstream. Hmmm, it makes one wonder, how peaceful is this supposed religion of peace anyway?

Christopher Walker - pictures of Bush Protesters

This is a very interesting photo essay containing 6 pictures of Bush protesters wearing clothing with a play on words type message like “Weapons of Mass Seduction”. It is worth a quick look.

Shakespeare and Company Bookshop, Paris

Shakespeare & Co. © Copyright 1999, 2004 Mojoey

This is a picture of my favorite English language bookstore in Paris, Shakespeare and Company Bookshop. I would have gone insane without it when I was living in France a few years ago. The person in the window on the right is my friend Richard, he swears he is not a nerd but… he is browsing the architecture section!

I’ve submitted this to the Thursday Challenge (I miss Theme Thursday) under the theme “Gate”. We’ll see how I do.

Photo Friday - The Weekly Photo Challenge

I've joined the Photo Friday challenge. Each week I will post a picture and submit to the criticism of the world. It should be fun right?

What is Photo Friday? Well to quote the site “Each week Photo Friday posts a photo assignment. Your mission is the creative interpretation of the week's theme. When you're done, post the picture you took to your website and submit your link to Photo Friday.

Photo Friday is about challenging our participants to be original and creative within the constraints of the week's theme. It's not a competition. Anyone with a camera and a place on the internet to post pictures can participate.”

I've been a fan of this site for about a year. Some of the contributors are amazing. My favorite is 35 degrees who operates out of Japan.

This weeks theme is "Unexpected". I submitted a picture from last week. My favorite from this week is tatendrang's entry.

Scott Mutters' Photo Montage

Scott Mutters' photos have always intrigued me. I had always thought he used a tool like Photoshop, and then I looked deeper I found he used classic montage techniques, which blew my mind. He is really very good. The American Museum of Photography has an exhibit of his work on display. The online catalog has a good overview of some his more recognizable work. It is worth a look.

Art Nudes

Warning ***NOT WORK SAFE***

What is the difference between art and pornography? It is hard to say really, but I know it when I see it (somebody famous said that right?). It holds true for me. Porno is boring, Artistic nudes are inspiring. This site is a great example of Artistic nude photography. I don't work in the medium, but if I did, I would be proud to post my pictures there.

Metacyber public Nudity

Warning *** NOT WORK SAFE.***

I found this site after following a link from a photo blogging site I follow. As with all things I seem to post about, I found it to be a bizarre expression of Art and sexuality. People photograph themselves naked with a paper bag over their head. It was not for the fact that most of the people are fugly, the site would be just another porn channel. However, not here, these people are not models, they are not pretty, and for the most part they are as about as appealing as watching surgery. I was hypnotized.

I am left with the question, is this ART? See for yourself at www.nudesmasked.com.

FOUND Magazine

Found Art is one of my loves. I look for it with my camera every day. I've been a subscriber to this magazine for a couple of years now, and love it (when it's published). Found Art inspires me to looks past the pile of trash to look for the unique and inspirational. Enjoy!

Glory Hole

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.

Why strike a stone with an egg?

I love nutball religious sects. I tend to watch the ones I know best, Christian offshoots, Muslims extremests, and Wiccans. Every now and then, I'll read something on one of the classic nutball religious sects, like Jim Jones or the Branch Davidains, or something new, like Falun Gong. And so it is with this article, "What's wrong with Falun Gong". Hamish McDonald, a correspondent for The Age writes a compelling look at what a Falun Gong follower goes through when China targets them for re-education.

We tend to forget that China is nothing like a representative democracy. They still imprison people without probable cause and don't even understand the concept of due process. It's pretty scary to think that some of our American jobs are moving to China and are being build in forced labor camps by partially re-educated Falun Gong members. It sounds like fiction, but….

Hamish tells the compelling story of Tan Yiwen and her nightmarish ordeal at the hands of the Chinese Ministry of Public Security. What is notable is that China deceides what is a "real" religion and what is not. If you are a Christian, Buddist, or Muslim you are ok. However, if you belong to a nutball cult you are going to be in state sponsored brainwashing.

I won't go into why Falun Gong qualifies as "nutball". Suffice it to say they belive in some very weird stuff. Of course you can follow this link to their wesite a read all about it. China has posted a few offical pronouncement on their website. This one is the best. It denounces Falun Gong as being Anti-humanity, anti-science, and Anti-Society.

Please note: Falun Gong members, no hate mail or self-immolation please.

Why Muslims always blame the West

Husain Haqqani of the International Herald Tribune writes a well thought out article on why Muslims blame the West for their problems. He asserts that only economic development can turn the tide away from the failed “cult of the warrior” towards much needed intellectual rigor and economic growth.

Haqqani mentions a Pew Research Center opinion poll that states 86% of Pakistan's supports General Musharraf while 65% support Osama bin Laden. He interprets this to suggests that Muslims admire power as apposed to scholars or inventors. When Muslim leaders blame external forces for their past humiliation at the hands of others, it forces Muslims to channel their energy toward a simplistic "us vs. them" mindset. This eventually results are increased violence, resentment, and terrorism. It's an interesting theory presented in a way that does not bash the West too much (Although the article does poke around the issues related to America supporting strong military Muslim leaders). It’s worth a read.

I'm going to have to read more of Husain Haqqani.

Eyeview, Photoshop Art

Eyeview © Copyright 1999, 2004 Mojoey

A friend recently asked if I could show him my first Photoshop art piece. Well, here it is. I call it Eyeview. It is three photos combined together with some filter techniques. I don't have the recipe anymore so I can't describe how I did it, but it was fun. At the time Photoshop for window was kind of buggy and slow, so this took a long time to make. Source material fo1r this shot was a railway, a stump with some bushes, and a large ball. I've always like the outcome.

I prefer trying to making photographs now, but I do dabble in Photoshop from time to time. I’ll post a few more when I find them.

Angel at the fair

Angel at the fair © Copyright 2004 Mojoey

I can't remember when these angel art peices where everywhere in LA. It seems I would see them nearlly everplace I went. This one caught my eye at the L.A. County Fair. It has a beautiful but meanacing quality to it that I find appealing.

Houston, we have a nutball

Nutball © Copyright 2004 Mojoey

This kind of nutball is my white whale! I carry my camera every day on the off chance that somebody like this just might appear in front of me. This is nutball nirvana! The truck contained not only bumper stickers, but also hand written messages of love to the complete political spectrum! I blew up the picture in Photoshop and found references to Waco and Branch Davidians, the evil of the UN, Kerry as a pinko maggots, the “world government”, and bizarre references to killing in defense of the “Sovereign Christian Constitutional Republic”, and killing for the right to study the “Holy Bible”

On the other hand, he endorses George Bush for president.

Now you would think he would want people to read his bumper stickers. I mean, why put them on your car if you don’t want people to read them? I saw him drive by on the southbound 405 in Long Beach. I changed lanes and pulled up behind the truck with my camera at the ready. I snapped a couple of pictures before he noticed me in his side mirror. He sped off and changed lanes. Not one to be put off, I followed him. I finally caught up when he was pinned in by traffic and shot about 20 pictures. I noticed the panic look over his shoulder as flipped me the bird. As soon as traffic opened up, he sped off, at times splitting lanes. I am sure he thought I was from the liberal media or something, or god forbid, the ATF. I really did not matter, I was happy with my prize.

Enjoy!

Do Christians hate The Lord of the Rings?

I know I am going to incur the wrath of my friend Brad for pushing the Nutball Christian button again, but… a friend (yes I have more than one) sent me this link, and I just must pass it on. Be warned, the writer may just be a nutball. It is hard to tell, and in truth, my brain went blink-blink-stop about half way through the article. I had to manually restart it with some 18 year old Glenfiddich before I could put finger to keyboard. The basic story is that The Lord of The Rings is evil and Christians should boycott it. Ahem, like I said, nutball.

I crused the rest of his site. He (Eric Berger) hates everyone. There are ample links to why Mormons, Jehovah’s Witnesses, Freemasons, Muslims, Wiccans, and Catholics, readers of Harry Potter and the Da Vinci Code, and those who celebrate Halloween, are all going wrong (from his perspective) and will end up in burning in hell. My personal favorite article, is his rant on “One Wife”, which says Christians who get divorced, must not remarry because it would be a sin. Hmmm, nuttier by the second. Jimmy, where is the cool aid served?

Mossad v Al-Qaeda

I think the Mossad might be pretty damn good at hunting down and killing terrorists, history is replete with examples. If I were in Al-Qaeda, or if I supported Al-Qaeda, or was a friend of somebody who knew somebody who is in Al-Qaeda, I might not sleep to well from here on out. The Mossad will hunt them down, and then dispense a little justice. After all, the Mossad has 33 dead Israelis to avenge. Somebody will pay.

And now for something completely different...

A funny thing happened while eating lunch today. I went to a steakhouse after the lunch rush for a good meal and to get some time to review for my economics midterm (which is tonight, and I’m totally stressed over it). I asked for a seat in the back of the restaurant in a quit section, the staff complied. Two pretty and young women were in the next both, one Asian, one white and blond. I watched as one of them, the Asian, got up from her side of the table and moved to sit next to the blond. I’m now looking at the back of two heads about four feet away and between both of them. It’s like I’m looking over both their shoulders, but from the middle instead of to the side. I’m watching because the whole exchange looks too intimate, like I’ve interrupted a lovers tiff or something, and I’m starting to feel that my quit spot is not so optimal. After a few minutes, the Asian woman pulls a simulated vagina from a bag and puts it on the table. I cannot believe what I’m seeing. I’m looking at the back of two very pretty heads and a vagina. The vagina is staring me right in the forehead. I can see right into the vagina all the way up to the uterus. I start to wonder, is this vagina sex toy? It is mounted as if it could be served for dinner. What the hell is going on?

About this time, my server interrupted to take my order. The exchange took a few minutes. When I looked up, the Asian girl had inserted her fingers into the vagina and was rotating her wrist and pointing to the blond girl to show her the technique. Now I’m thinking, “Ok, this is different, I’m watching two women "do" a vagina model over lunch, this is odd”. This goes on for a few minutes, the blond girl trades places with the Asian and moves up over the vagina to get better leverage, at one point her hand gets stuck and I witness the Asian pulling the model from the other side to help free the blongs hand. I’m choking back laughter, and not studying at all, even though I have my books in front of me. I can’t bring myself to say anything, the staff studiously ignores the situation as they deliver my lunch. The two vagina molesters never even glance my way.

Fully 15 minutes into this encounter, I see the Asian woman reach into a bag and pull out a medical instrument. It’s an IUD (I think). She shows the blond how to prep it, and then delivers the IUD into the uterus via the vaginal opening. They both clap and do a little back slapping before they start talking loudly about how to sell this process to doctors. I hear the Asian say “The male doctors are usually so embarrassed by this demonstration that they just come at you with a pen asking where to sign. Make sure and wear something shear and sexy.”

I eventually finish my meal, and then leave as quickly as I can. They repeated the process, including each of the women getting a hand stuck in the vagina. It was like watching a train wreck; I could not take my eyes off it. I’m going to fail my econ midterm for sure.

Metropolitain at Night, Paris

Metropolitain at Night © Copyright 2004 Mojoey

I try to capture the mood of the places I visit when I shoot photos. Paris always seemed alive with lovers by day and with busy families by night. The Metopolitian entrances are for the most part quite dull, but a few are spectacular.

View from the Musée de’Orsay

View from the Musée de’Orsay © Copyright 2004 Mojoey

The view from the observation deck of the cafe inside the Musée de’Orsay is breathtaking. It is one of my favorite spots to visit when in Paris. The museum itself is one of the finests on the planet.

I’ll post a few more pictures from this spot in the days ahead.

I found it!

The source of many a Christian fundamentalist's nutball eyesore signage is www.jesusiscoming.com. The site is a crack up, it actually has a Christian dictionary that defines AMEN and GOD, amoung other hard to understand terms. Of course, it is full of the obligatory tract oriented "If you want to be saved click here", and the "if you want to donate money, send it here" links. My favorite section is "How to become a christian".

I was reading the testimonials when I saw one that read, "I saw your bumper sticker on the back of a car in the parking lot. I felt the Lord speaking tom me so I went to the website and followed the steps to be a Christian." Right.....

I saw a "Jesus is Coming" bumber sticker on the back of a car today, it was right after the asshat who was driving cut me off on PCH, then flipped me the bird. When he realized I was going to drive my truck up his ass, he threw his coke at me, called me an unchristian name, and made a panic turn across oncoming lanes. I watched his bible slide across his dashboard as he turned, its leather cover was cracked and worn. AMEN bro!

Superman is dead

CNN just came on with a news flash at 11:30; Christopher Reeves is dead at the age of 52. I was always a fan of Reeves, he was great as Superman, and an inspirational figure since his injury. He refused to give in; he always looked to the future with hope. His struggles gave us all hope. RIP Christopher Reeves.

I have some small measure of hope

Fat Bush hating bastard Michael Moore spoke to Milwaukee voters last Friday. He is trying every so hard to push Bush out of office with his propaganda piece, Fahrenheit 911. Where do I find hope you might ask? The last line of the small article says, "Outside, there was a large crowd protesting his presence". When he started his campaign of lies, few would speak against him. Now that he has been exposed as a man without a hint of objectivity, more and more people are standing up to protests.

I cannot wait for the election to be over and for Michael Moore to fade into the background once again.

Are voters stupid? ABC News thinks so.

Mark Halperin ABC Memo

So, it seems that both John Kerry and George Bush "distort the truth", but that George Bush is worse than John Kerry. Halperin said "the current Bush attacks on Kerry involve distortions and taking things out of context in a way that goes beyond what Kerry has done". Therefore, it is necessary to… what? Paint a biased picture to the American public? That is exactly what Halperin directed the editorial staff at ABC News to do. Apparently, American voters are too stupid to figure things out on their own.

We now have clear evidence of two focused attempts to influence the election through editorial bias, Rather at CBS, and Halperin at ABC. What does NBC have up its sleeve? The liberal press clearly does not want Bush to be our next President. We should all boycott the mainstream press, and we should all make up our own minds concerning the upcoming election..

I wonder if this story will even make it on to the evening news. I doubt it.

Drudge Broke the story:
Beautiful Atrocities has a nice piece on it

Pod People Have Landed

Pod People Have Landed © Copyright 2004 Mojoey

I was driving home last night after a late night study group meeting when I made two important discoveries. First, tequila does not help one understand Economics. Second, the pod people have landed.

Magnets

Magnets © Copyright 2004 Mojoey

Why like magnets? Because I can't walk by something like this without taking a picture.

Is Value

Is Value © Copyright 2004 Mojoey

I stare at the back end of trucks everyday. It is unavoidable when driving in LA. Most Trucks are blank; a few have words or pictures. I always try to decode the secret message. There is a message right?

Atheism And Unalienable Rights

Robert E. Meyer wrote and article for the American Daily on Atheism and Unalienable Rights. I found his article offensive to Atheists and juvenile in its reasoning. His basic argument goes something like this, Atheists are infidels, but they must believe in something, so they must believe the state grants “rights”. But, that leads to tyranny, and the eventual loss of “rights”, so “rights” must come from God and Atheists are just stupid.

Hmm, no, I don’t think so. Have you ever heard of John Locke, the Philosopher? Can you say philosophy? Locke put forth the idea of government with the consent of the governed, and that our natural “rights” are actually inalienable rights according to natural law. Natural law is the doctrine that just laws are immanent (meaning exists in our minds) and cannot be created by a Kennedy speech or a piece of paper. To make it simple for you Mr. Meyer, my inalienable rights as a human being exist in my mind just as much as God exists in your mind.

Now, I know this might be hard for you to understand Mr. Meyer, but history teaches us the Locke had more influence on the creation of our country and the philosophy of inalienable rights, than God did. The basic concept that Locke put forth, government with the consent of the governed is the foundation of our Republic. You do know about history, right?

There are several publications that can help you understand Lock’s concepts. However, I would recommend reading Locke’s The Second Treatise of Government; it is a good starting point. A great discussion of free will and inalienable rights can be found in Hegel’s Elements of Philosophy of Right, which is another pivotal work in the history of Philosophy and the development of the concept of rights.

Mr. Meyer, I have one other thing for you to consider. The United States Declaration of Independence actually reads, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness”. The framers of the declaration of Independence deliberately used "inalienable", which came directly from philosopher John Locke who developed the concept in his writings. The word "unalienable" was not used in the Delcaration of Independence, but is often mistaken for "inalienable" by the uneducated.

Your argument assumes Atheists remove God from the equation. I’ve got bad news for you, God is not in the equation. You put him there to justify your baseless attacks against your fellow Americans. It is easy to kick sand on the poor Atheists from your position of absolute moral superiority; it is another matter when you realize your whole argument is illogical and is based fallacious conjecture.

Ignorace is a conveinent excuse for bigotry and hatred.

Fifty-nine Deceits in Fahrenheit 911

David Kopel of the Independence Institute has written a great article summarizing the 59 Deceits of Michael Moore's Fahrenheit 911. The article goes through each problem point-by-point, leading the reader down the inexorable path of enlightenment; Moore is not being honest with America.

The article ends with deceit #59; it alleges that Moore is working with Hezbollah, a known terrorist organization, to release Fahrenheit 911 in the Middle East. It is a shocking allegation, but not surprising give what we know of Moore’s “anything for a buck” reputation. Moore claims he is anti-bush. Moore is actually anti-America.

Kill your televison! Over my dead Tivo!

Kill your Television © Copyright 2004 Mojoey

I cannot help but get a chuckle of out this. A typical older Volvo in the parking lot of a bookstore, calling for the destruction of my television. There might have been a time when this good idea, but not since I bought TiVo. Now I am the master! TV is my slave.

Now, if only TiVo would quit suggesting "Queer Eye" to supplement my recording choices.

Do they actually think...

John 14:6 © Copyright 2004 Mojoey

Today while riding back from lunch with Candy Girl, I noticed a profusion of signs all proclaiming "JESUS, The Way, The Truth, The Life". Do the fundamentalist nutballs that posted this crap really think that their cryptic Christian message means anything to anyone? Does referencing a bible verse on the placard make it acceptable to paste this kind of eyesore at every intersection? Give it a break. Go feed the poor.

San Francisco skyline at night

SF skyline at night © Copyright 2004 Mojoey

A typical summer in San Francisco, it was 50 degrees and foggy, wind blowing from... well everywhere. I was huddled in my room at the Hilton trying to warm up after a chily dinner outdoors at the Union Square Cheesecake Factory. It had been 20 degrees warmer when we started dinner, but in the course of one hour, the weather became unbearable. The city looked great from 40 floors up. I took quite a few shots, but I could not seem to capture the golden glow of the city. This shot came close.

Eiffel Tower & Girl

Eiffel Tower © Copyright 2004 Mojoey

I took a few hundred pictures of the Eiffel Tower while in France but this is the only one I would put on my wall. I think it would have been nicer without the tourists at the left. I tried my best to remove them in Photoshop, but the results were poor. I followed the young girl with the dog around for a few minutes hunting for a good shot. This is the best.

Missing my son

Eating Contest © Copyright 2004 Mojoey

My son left for Japan in early August to be a teacher on the JET program and even through he has spent the last four years of his life at Berkeley; I still managed to see him quite often. Now two months have gone by and I miss him so. We have talked a few times, but there is no longer a jump in the car and go see him option. I really miss him.

This picture is from an ill-conceived eating contest held in July. My son is in the big cowboy hat at center screen. There was quite a crowd that night, but no real winner. I think everyone ended up tossing tacos that night.

On the upside, my family has a AoE tournament scheduled for tonight. I’m playing the Vikings and predict a horrible defeat for my team.

The first presidential debate

I watched the whole debate last night, even staying on for the news analysis after. What are my impressions? It was not debate. It was a bilateral press conference. The format was weak and should not be repeated. It did not foster open discussion of issues, it instead was another opportunity for political stump speeches. I heard nothing new. Bush said Kerry was inconsistent. Kerry said Bush did not know how to win the peace (Whatever that means). It was essentially a waste of my time.

Who won?
It was a tie. After all, who wins a press conference? Of course, CNN is spinning it a 20-point Kerry win. I sure didn’t get that from what I saw last night. If anything, Kerry was a more polished public speaker, while Bush looked a little pissed off at times.

Key issues:
Korean bilateral vrs multilateral talks: Kerry seems to be going against his “get the world involved” message by saying we should go it alone. This policy really does not make any sense.

War on Terror: Kerry thinks we are doing everything wrong. Bush thinks we are doing everything right. Neither is correct. Some middle ground seems more reasonable.

War in Iraq: Kerry thinks we are losing, Bush thinks we are winning. I think we should have gone after the terrorists rather than Iraq, but now that we are there, we need to see it through to the end.

OP-ED - John Kerry and the French

Last night John Kerry claimed that if he were president, he would bring our allies into the effort in Iraq. Of course, the French have another plan. They think Kerry is out of his mind. French Foreign Minister Michel Branier has said that no French troops will go to Iraq now or later. It does not matter what Kerry wants to do. The French (and the Germans) will not play ball. I don't know why this is not getting more press coverage. It seems significant to me that a presidential candidate key foreign policy point pure blue-sky fantasy.

Orgies are the way to ease social tensions, claims Antonin Scalia

Um.... This is strange. Reagan appointed Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, widely considered the most conservative voice on the bench, calls for sexual orgies as a way of relieving social tension. I wonder how the Bush camp will spin this? Bush often points to Scalia as the type of judge he wants to appoint to the Supreme Court. I wonder how close Bush and Scalia are. They both seem to be in very high stress jobs, stress can lead to tension...

A good friend joins the blogshere

Candy Girl has her blog up and running at www.diazingiber.blogspot.com. Candy Girl is a candy chef, and a damn good one at that. Her blog should be interesting to follow, especially given her diverse interests. I'm going to add it to my daily reading list.