…yeah I know you did not ask!
Headline read: “What’s Behind Obama’s New Populist Tone?” My first thought was “cynicism”.
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.
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!
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?
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”
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.
Will Ferrell and Baby Jesus
Okay…I’m trying to understand a couple things that happened the other day.
I walked in a conference room at work. There were a group of folks gathered around a computer monitor. On the monitor was a YouTube clip from Talladega Nights, Will Farrell’s salute to NASCAR. There were 4, 5 or 6 folks watching the clip which was a scene where Farrell’s character, Ricky Bobby, is praying over a white trash dinner about to be served. He is praying to “Baby Jesus”. Shortly Ricky’s wife takes exception with his praying to Baby Jesus. Ricky’s partner pipes in about a partying Jesus.
There were several folks laughing heartily. One was nearly falling out of his chair. Let me be frank. I do not understand Will Ferrell’s popularity. In my universe he is the un-funniest man in America. That is the first thing I do not understand. Why is this man even working in show business.
I know for a fact that all of these folks but one would classify themselves as religious. A couple I would classify as seriously religious. Now I am an agnostic trending Continue reading “Will Ferrell and Baby Jesus”
Rev. Joe’s Random Thought # 9,610
…yeah I know you did not ask!
Was Wal-Mart the lead lemming or the Pied Piper in the plunge we all took over the cliff when we moved our manufacturing offshore?
Want to Live Forever?
I met a fairy today who said she would grant me one wish.
“I want to live forever,” I said.
“Sorry,” said the fairy, “I’m not allowed to grant wishes like that!”
“Fine,” I said, “then I want to die after the U.S. Congress gets their heads out of their asses.”
“You crafty bastard,” said the fairy.
Strategy Masquerading as a Tactic
We were sitting around the table the other night playing cards (well Phase 10 – which is almost a card game). For some reason the question came up as what the difference was between strategy and tactic. We hashed it around a while, and we came to a consensus.
A few days later I was listening to NPR and they were doing a story on Newt Gingrich. They said of an exchange he had with a reporter that it was “a strategy masquerading as a tactic’. He was turning the tables on the political press. The reporter asked him a long winded question that was essentially of the type “so how long since you stopped beating your wife.” Mr. Gingrich flipped it on the reporter and asked him when he was going to stop asking “gotcha” questions.
From the NPR print version of the story I heard By Attacking The Media, Gingrich Built A Following here is the actual exchange: Continue reading “Strategy Masquerading as a Tactic”