I must admit, it’s a big week around here. The college football season begins in a big way this weekend. I resolve, as usual, not to wind up like Arlo above. I know it’s all a big racket, and I’ve certainly been critical of big-time college sports in the strip over the years, but then, doggone it, my alma mater has a year like last year. It certainly was one of the most interesting seasons ever; even non-sports fans were watching the replays and talking about the end of the Auburn-Alabama game. It’s going to be another exciting year for us, I think, but there’ll never be another last year.
234 responses to “All in the Game”
With the distances involved and the fact that our galaxy is a bit of a backwater in the universe, added to the fact that we’ve only been listening for a little over fifty years, it seems a bit premature to rule that out.
Lily, just a second, Lily, I’ll Have to get with you later. There’s something that I have to do or I’ll have a really bad headache.
Sideburns–Thanks for the National Geographic link!
I’ve thought that we might be just a bit presumptuous to assume that all “life” is carbon-based “life as we know it” and that radio signals would be the standard form of communication. That said, I’m also not sure if the message from truly intelligent life would more closely resemble “So long, and thanks for all the fish” or “Send more Chuck Berry”.
Hmmph, so they had to start sending just when we started to listen? Sounds, um…”fishy” 😛 :p
Believe it or not there is a video, yes, a video of the girl firing the gun at the range. No, they cut it off before she shoots him although that is also on the video. Her father is making the video with his cell phone. The SO has announced that NO ONE will have any charges in relation to this incident. Meanwhile the search for intelligent life on this planet continues.
Ok, not to be gross, but I found a video showing the girl pulling the trigger after the gun was put on automatic. The instructor says alright and a couple of words that I can’t understand. I don’t think that he meant for her to pull the trigger yet but she does and the gun jumps in the direction of his head so fast that you can’t see it. The video ends there but does show other girls firing Uzis as part of the business web site. Those girls are all much older than 9.
I think the ultimate responsibility in this tragedy had to be the gun instructor. Regardless of what the parents wanted, he had the safety responsibility of not only the girl and himself, but everybody else on the range. The best solution (other than not allowing her to fire the gun, of course) would have been to use some type of firing bench that would have clamped the gun in place so it couldn’t have moved.
Ghost, on the link to the why I carry story, one of the comments by readers did make excellent sense. That was the one that included “because it’s Birmingham”. Too many young thugs running around with weapons and no fear of God, man or the law. For that matter, that is a large part of the problem worldwide, isn’t it?
Lily, the “bubble” around us that encompasses the volume of space we have “listened” to is about 54 light-years in diameter. Currently, the furthest detected galaxy from Earth is 13,100,000,000 light-years away. I’m just sayin’…
“Well, Ghost,” you may ask (hopefully not in a condescending tone of voice), “do you feel naked when you’re not packing a gun?” Why, no. No, I don’t. Unless I am actually naked at the time, of course.
But let’s put this in perspective. I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve been approached by people who thought I was a plain-clothes cop. (Well, maybe a retired cop, more recently.) In my work clothes, I might be mistaken for a Federal agent of some type. My casual clothes are usually cargo pants; an untucked, unbuttoned sports shirt over a black t-shirt; and a tan or black special operators cap. I am six two and 220 reasonably muscular pounds. I give the appearance of being alert and aware, and I keep my head on a swivel, a habit that helped keep me alive when I was flying airplanes for a living. In short, if I were in my right mind, I probably wouldn’t mess with me. But ah, there’s the rub. Not everyone is in their right mind, are they?
Also, human predators share a feature with animal predators…they focus their attention toward the weak, the young, the unaware…in short, the prey that appears most helpless and least likely to inflict injury on the predator while she goes about her predatory business. So rather than attempting to victimize big ol’ ugly me, a human predator would more likely turn toward some cute and petite young thing, like a certain Munchkin who hangs around here. Although if they did, I expect they’d get the surprise of their (likely shortened) life. And therein is the value of concealed carry and being trained and qualified to use your weapon safely and effectively…it makes it oh so much harder for predators to decide who is prey-worthy and who is actually higher on the food chain than they are.
And that is why, and that is why … I carry my Glock in my purse everywhere I go and practice at the gun range at lest once a month.
Could the Matrix be real?
http://www.jewishworldreview.com/0814/Government_Physicists_Think_We_May_Be_Living_in_a_2-D_Hologram.php3
OK, I see two possibilities.
One, we are all just part of a humongous “massively multiplayer online game” some creature is playing somewhere in the Universe.
Two, there are too many research scientists on the government payroll who don’t have to do anything that’s like actually useful.
I really liked the comment that they are “testing out experiments in a trailer in rural Illinois”. The poor man’s CERN Large Hadron Collider, perhaps? 🙂
I feel a disturbance in the force, as if a billion people just cried out “BS”.
Good morning Villagers…..
Jerry, I enjoy reading your little snippets 🙂
GR 😉 , you see just about everything in rural areas, even here in S IN.
Things I see on my way to work driving through the country…a three legged dog, a white horse that had black stripes painted on it, trailer park trash with a couch in the front yard, a dead doe, loose cattle and a beautiful sunrise. (I loved the black stripes 🙂 )
The acres and acres of corn here will be harvested early this year. Fall is my favorite season.
Have a festive Labor Day….I’m back to the hen house.
Jean 🙂
Gal 🙂 🙂 🙂
Good morning Ghost. Here’s something to start your holiday: http://photos.al.com/4558/gallery/labor_day_weekend_perdido_key/index.html#/0
Thanks, Mark. Nothing like three 96% (I did the math) naked sweet thangs to get my day (and my heart) started. 🙂
I hope everyone has a wonderful Labor Day, whether or not they have to labor today.
Debbe 😉 Need to wear your bikini as often as you can now, hon…summer is winding down. 🙂
They are all over the compass on TDS this morning…from David Bowie to jihadists.
Wonder what the jihadists make of Bowie? I doubt they were playing his music while they enjoyed their pool party at the U.S. Embassy residential compound in Libya they took over recently.
“Hope you enjoyed yourselves, guys. Don’t foget to turn out the lights when you leave.” (signed) The US Taxpayer
There has been some discussion here about the Microsoft support call scam. Here’s an article about it; http://www.forbes.com/sites/marcochiappetta/2014/08/25/scamming-fake-microsoft-support-scammers/
And Ghost, there were more than 3 of those ladies. If you check out the pics at the top, they are part of a gallery. Put your cursor on the photo and arrows will appear at the left and right sides. Click on them to see the next photo.
I see. And apparently Ms. Burrows (aka #5) was the happy winner of the “96% naked contest”. Her father must be so proud.
Good morning, Villagers. Back from the 15K Race this moring. . I had a blast, finished in under an hour and a half.
(1’21” 18 sec). I had my rooting section there, bless them!
If I answered the phone and found a Microsoft scammer, the conversation would get weird in a hurry (for the scammer) since I don’t have any Windows machines (all Apple here!). I’ve reviewed the missed calls on my caller ID and some of them check out as those scammers.
No Apple here or at The Office Is My Life. I have not a clue why anybody would want them, as the Microsoft stuff works just fine
Thanks for the link, Mark!