Category: Rev. Joe Dirt’s Ramblings

The unsolicited, unreasoned, uninformed, unapologetic opinions of Rev. Joe Dirt

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Bang, Bang…

As I have mentioned before, I do not live in the best part of Memphis.  It is not awful, but it has issues.  When I first took this job they had a requirement that I live in the city limits.  I chose this location because it was close to the office and fulfilled that requirement.  I really did not have a lot of good choices, especially for a rent I was willing to pay. They have since relaxed the requirement to living within the county, which IMHO is still onerous and unreasonable.  But hey a job is a job and inertia keeps me for moving.

The other night not too far from the abode there was a shooting.  It was not the first by far, but at least this time no one died.  The gun play was by two gentlemen fighting over a lady.  To my way of thinking this is silly beyond measure.  Obviously, the lady left one gentleman for another.   I would think that “winning” the lady would be punishment enough without putting a bullet into him.  I would bet an unreasonable sum of money that if she ran around on the first man, she will run around on the second.   And if she was the type of girl I could get back by shooting someone, I would be even more scared.   I’ve yet to see a female worth going to jail for.

And that is my story and I am sticking to it.

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How Can You Pass Up This Headline?

Couple badly injured after naked bodybuilder attack

Not the title on the article itself, but is was the title on Yahoo’s main news page that linked to this article?  Better than man bites dog!

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Rev. Joe’s Random Thought # 4,288

…yeah I know you did not ask!

If you are standing at the urinal holding “you know what” while talking on the cell phone, is that technically an obscene phone call?

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You Must Believe Me

After all the allegations of sexual improprieties and an affair Herman Cain’s presidential bid is in a bit of a pickle.  Herman Cain is flying back to Atlanta to have a “face to face” with wife.  The result of the discussion, he said, will help him to the decision to soldier on or call it a day.  For some reason during the meeting I just picture the song, You Must Believe Me, from Curtis Mayfield& The Impressions playing in the background.

You Must Believe Me Lyrics

You must believe me
No matter what the people might say
You must believe me
Darling it just didn’t happen that way
No, no it just didn’t happen that way
Continue reading “You Must Believe Me”

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She’s Alive… Beautiful… Finite… Hurting… Worth Dying for

I wish I had hope. It seems to me that greed and ignorance always win out over time.

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Teachers’ newest online worry: cyberbaiting

As if teaching in today’s environment is not hard enough!  It seems that any technology humans come up with, someone finds a way to pervert it.  I do know that the school system where my significant other teaches has a policy prohibiting teachers from interacting with students on social sites.  Apparently, it is for some very good reasons.

Below is a link to an article about cyberbaiting (why does that sound so nasty) at eSchool News

Teachers’ newest online worry: cyberbaiting

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99% or 1%

Like trite old saying, if you have to ask…it is a good bet you are not a 1%.
This is a little tool found on the Wall Street Journal site.

“The calculator above shows where your income stands on the wide range of the 99%. An annual salary above $506,000 puts you in the top 1%, while you need to make less than $2,500 a year to be in the bottom 1%. Where do you stand?”

 What Percentage are you in?

It can be argued that household wealth would be a better gauge than household income, but this does give a sense.

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Just another day in Memphis

Memphis has rails to trails project named The Greenline.  It runs from Shelby Farms, a county park, to the area known as Midtown.  It has become very popular with bikers, joggers, walkers and the occasional rollerblader.   Part of route of The Greenline goes by the Shelby County prison.

When I go to jog or bicycle I actually park in a prison parking lot.  Interesting enough the County police recently placed a mobile surveillance unit in the lot.  You know, one of those contraptions that flashes blue constantly and has cameras up on a stalk.  I can only surmise that there had been some issues with vehicles in the parking lot as it is well used by patrons of The Greenline, and visitors and employees of the prison.   Is stupidity or chutzpah to commit crimes right at the prison’s front gate?

By the time I get off work this time of year it is already dark.  Nevertheless, many evenings I will get a run in.  This particular night due the cold and the wind I had on a wind shell with a hood pulled around my head.  I had just started on the path, and was doing some fast walking to warm up before I started jogging.   I heard someone yell to my left Continue reading “Just another day in Memphis”

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Rev. Joe’s Random Thought # 8,584

…yeah I know you did not ask!

We start off life with time moving a snail’s pace.  We end life with it achieving hypersonic speeds, passing so quickly it all becomes a blur.

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And Another Thing I Do Not Understand

And another thing I do not understand is this.  Why do Evangelicals always quote scripture to you like that is the final authority on everything?  Obviously, if you are a non-believer, that is a logical argument of the dog chasing his own tail variety.

This branch of religion (Judaism, Christianity, and Islam) has it roots in nomads who could not figure out for 40 years how to cross the Sinai Desert to get from Egypt to Israel.  The distance is less than 500 kilometers.  The piece de resistance is that while they wandered for 40 years in this barren place, food rained down from the heavens upon them.  I can think of many places today that this would be a blessing indeed.  I’ve yet to see it though.

Once they finally figured where  the heck Israel was, they went on a genocidal tear to take the land from the inhabitants that were already there.

Then we get into Jesus, a religious figure with no historical record.  It just seems improbably to me that a personage of this import would not put at least a minor verifiable page into history.   All we really have is mythology.  This puts him in the same company as Zeus, Thor, and Shiva.

Put that hound on a trail that I can see, feel, smell or otherwise sense, then get back to me.