Superfriends makes me scratch my head . . .

Today's post is about one of my favorite cartoons as a kid, The Challenge of the Superfriends. This is where the superfriends battle the Legion of Doom in various and sundry adventures. The particular episode this week was a variation on ST-TOS "Arena" where some advanced being brought five superfriends and five LOD members to a planet, where, the superior collective would be determined. In the first test, Batman and the Joker competed to be the first to navigate a maze. Joker barely misses falling in a pit, which was carefully carved out in a rectangle from the cement floor. So, Joker, in this cement maze, conveniently finds palm fronds which he covers the pit. Batman, a superhero with no real superpowers other than his intellect, fails to ignore the palm fronds on the otherwise cement floor and falls in the pit. Mmmhuh. In another improbable contest, the Scarecrow (whose superpower{s} I have yet to ascertain) and Apache Chief have to find and defeat a two-headed snake. OK. Apache Chief's power is that he can grow to fifty feet tall. He fails to use this, his only superpower, and loses the contest. Mmmhuh. All is well, however, because Superman, Wonder Woman and Batman, despite his fuckup, win their contest and the match.

WTF?

Our creepy homeland security chief, Michael Chernoff or whatever, was on the television commenting on the British terrorism incidents. He said something like - "I don't see there being any credible threat to the homeland." WTF? What is this, Nazi Germany? Next thing, the police will be stopping me as I'm walking my dog at 1 a.m. and asking for my papers?

This reallly is a scary place we live in. I think to myself, well, I don't win the lottery, I don't win big when I go to the casino, but, those are the odds. Sometimes the odds work in your favor, as when I am NOT the person who happens to be in the wrong place at the wrong time and, as a result, get the police busting through your door at 1 a.m. Seriously, in this day and age, how easy is it for the police, in the name of "homeland security" to totally fuck your life up? Pretty easy.

Students have no, and I mean no rights

I remember back in my days of mandatory school. I'm not talking about college or law school, where they didn't care if you went to class or what you wore. Elementary school and junior high were, for me, a place where teachers had unquestioned authority. Part of it was my conformity to the system and part of it was knowing that if my parents found out I sassed a teacher, well, I'd be in a world of hurt. High school was the same for the most part, at least until I was a senior. Then, perhaps an unwritten rule gave us freedom to skip class, wander the halls during class, etc. However, if a teacher told me to get back to class, I would.

This brings us to the case recently decided by the Supreme Court, where the justices, by a 5 to 4 decision, upheld the rights of a school to regulate activities of students with regards to speech. The question that I have, that I haven't had answered to my satisfaction, was whether this student was at a "school sponsored event." In a wonderful column, James Kilpatrick dissects this most ill decided opinion. He seems to think that this was not a school sponsored event. If not, it opens up the door to teacher regulation of student behavior anytime.

However, whether on school time or not, I think that the Court overturned the Tinker case, where a previous court upheld the wearing of black armbands to protest the Vietname war. As the court stated here the test seems to be whether, in the opinion of the teacher or administrator, the action of the student upsets good order and discipline. In this case, the court said the "Bong Hits for Jesus" was determined by the principal to advocate drug use. It follows, using the court's logic, that advocating drug use upsets good order and discipline in a school. This means that the administrator was well within their rights to suspend this student.

The court leaves it to the teachers and administrators, then, to be the decider as to what is disruptive to good order and discipline . As long as there is a rational basis for the teacher's decision it will be upheld. If we believe Kilpatrick, then a student can be spanked down anywhere, for anything, depending on the mood of the teacher or administrator (and presumably their political affiliation) So, if you have cool teachers, you are okay. However, if you have a bunch of hard assess, well, you better not even speak ill (even at the mall) of our chimpanzee in the white house you you gonna get a suspending.

College World Series and Star Wars

Watched the last part of "Revenge of the Sith" when I got home. I will never cease to be amazed at the full circle of the films. I'm watching Ewan McGregor and I'm seeing Alec Guiness. McGregor must have lived and breathed the first Star Wars. It is effortless to see the change from Obi-Wan in Revenge to Obi-Wan in Star Wars. i loved seeing the young (well, I know it wasn't him but they got a pretty damn good representation of when he was younger) Peter Cushing as Moff Tarkin. That always puzzled me - in the first Star Wars, it seemed that Tarkin was over Vader - when, as the Emperor's apprentice, it seems Vader should have busted him in his head. Ida know.

Well. A rematch in the CWS. I don't know who to pull for. I want LSU to still be the last team to win back-to-back. But, I want the traditional baseball power conference (Pac 10) to win rather than the ACC.

I hate Prairie Home Companion

One of the little tortures of being with M for all those years was that, every weekend, I was subjected to the torture that is the Prairie Home Companion radio show. I cannot put my finger on it, but I hated, hated, hated that show. I hated the god awful "update from Lake Woebegone" worst of all.

The Superfriends

OK, let me get this straight. In an episode of the Superfriends, we learned that Lex Luthor and Superman were friends back in Smallville. Lex Luthor's lab was on fire, and Superman PUTS THE FIRE OUT and SAVES HIS LIFE, but in the course of putting the fire out, Superman's breath blew chemicals onto Luthor and made him bald. So . . . the reason Lex Luthor hates Superman with a passion is because he turned him bald. Mmmm. Hey, Lex, meet Jean-Luc Picard. He's bald and he'll kick your ass.

College World Series

The super regionals are set.

North Carolina v. South Carolina
Ole Miss v. Arizona State
Rice v. Texas A&M
Mississippi State v. Clemson
Michigan v. Oregon State
Cal Fullerton v. UCLA
Wichita State v. Cal-Irvine
Oklahoma State v. Louisville

It goes without saying that there are more teams who are not traditional baseball programs this year. Neverthless, I maintain my position that experience and seasoning counts for more, particularly the farther you go. For that reason, I am going to say Cal Fullerton and Rice in the finals.

MLB draft is tomorrow. We'll see how high LSU recruits go. I still think that a major college program prepares you for the show better than the minors.

The changed face of college baseball

There once was a time, years ago, when one could predict the winner of the college world series. The winner would most likely come out of this group: USC, Cal State Fullerton, Arizona State, Texas, LSU, Rice, Miami, and Stanford. Not any more. Regionals started today and several number one seeds lost. Let's see, San Diego lost, Arkansas lost, Florida State lost, and Texas is on the verge of losing, I think captain obvious would say that college baseball has achieved parity. However, winning regionals is one thing - let's see how the super regionals and CWS pans out. It takes a mature, experienced and, most of all, deep team to win it all. If Texas makes it out of the regionals, my money's on them. If not, I'd say Fullerton or Rice. I'd like for Vandy to win it all, because they are such a classy team and coach, but I don't think they are seasoned enough. It took LSU five CWS trips before they won it all.

Eddie Murphy, tic-tacs and Klingons

I like it when an actor (or writer or whoever) ties two unrelated movies together. In The Golden Child, one of mine and Rog's favorite moments is when Eddie Murphy is tied up and the thug (played by Randall "Tex" Cobb) emphasizes what his boss says by putting his face inches from Eddie's and says "Yeeesss" as he breathes on Eddie. Eddie makes a wonderful face and says "In my pocket, I got a whole thing of tic-tacs - take as many as you want - please!"

In Shrek, for some reason, Donkey (voice by Eddie Murphy) is subjected to Shrek's breath, to which he replies something about having tic-tacs and Shrek being welcome to them.

BabelCon is getting better and better. Freakin' Robert O'Reilly (Gowron) is going to be there! I'd crawl across ground glass to go to see him. Anyway, on the BabelCon site, there is a link to a group in La. who do Klingon role play. That is so cool! I sent stuff to join up. Looking forward to getting/making a uniform.

Weekend Musings

Memorial Day Weekend has come and gone. I have nothing but fond memories of my service in the Army. My two army buddies, Dan and Roger, are as good as they come.

M mentioned, a couple of days ago, that "we have to go to Mississippi" I don't know if she realized the first time she brought it up, but I am not going to Mississippi ever again. I have wasted too many days on that bullshit. If she wants to go, she can go. I ain't going.

Reason number 233 why I am strange. I liked Armageddon and Independence Day.

LSU baseball is over. The consensus seems to be to give Manieri a couple of years, recruit his own guys, and then see how he does. I just hope they realize that the SEC isn't what it was when Bertman won those five world series trophies. I just hope the draft doesn't hurt us too bad.

People die on me.

I had a hearing last week. The investigator talked to the respondent on Wednesday, the day before the hearing, and he said he would be there. He wasn't. Come to find out, he wasn't there because he died. That makes the fourth person against whom I have had a hearing that has died on me.

SEC baseball tournament started. LSU not in it. There is hope for the future. Already one upset. No. 8 Tennessee beat No. 1 seed Vanderbilt. Goes to show how strong the SEC is top to bottom. Hopefully it will season the teams for the College World Series.

I wasn't able to send mail for the longest time. So, before I called tech support, I checked out the self-help stuff and, lo and behold, it got fixed. Hopefully no more problems.

Since I am not going to be "family planning" on the cell phone with Michell, I got me a new plan. And a new toy. I got a Palm Treo. So far I like it. Now, I'm working my way through the DVD set for Drew Carey Show. I do love the "Five O'Clock World" credit song, more than the others.

What a wonderful week

Monday morning. Bomb threat at work. Some yahoo emailed it in. We stood around for three hours and then they said ok, you need to go home, so the IT folks can check it out. Tuesday morning. Another bomb threat. Again, standing around again. Finally, we are told to go home again. IT is checking it out. Wednesday morning. The third bomb threat. This time, they let us go back to work. Wouldn't you think that anybody who claims to be competent in computers this day would be able to cacth this slime? Then again, we are dealing with STATE workers. Our IT are thorougly incompetent, would be reasonable to hope others, like from the AG, would be any better?

Had a hearing Thursday morning. Appeal of license denial. Upheld.

Friday. Finally watched Bill Maher's show. It's worth paying for HBO to get that.

Star Wars movies

I am a big fan of all of the movies, but I probably like Empire and the original Star Wars better than the rest. It is the little touches that make them great, however. The way the ion cannon kicks some serious Empire ass in ESB. The way that, when a force field separates Darth Maul from Qui-Gon, Qui-Gon quietly meditates while Darth Maul paces like a big cat. My favorite moment, hardly a little one, is at the end of Sith. It is the scene when Kenobi has beaten Vader, and leaves him on the lava. As Kenobi starts to slowly makes his way up the hill, he picks up Vader's light saber. This would be the same light saber shown to us some twenty odd years earlier in the original Star Wars, when Kenobi gives it to Luke and says "this is your father's light saber."

Politics 1

If I were a Republican, the current crop of candidates would be seriously freaking me out. Judging by the debate at the Ronald Reagan Library, hoo boy, what a crew. My favorite was McCain going all nuclear on Bin Laden, saying how he'd follow him to the gates of hell; then he gives a pasted on Westworld smile. Are they all robots?

Air Conditioning

Going to be a long, hot summer here. Fleas are already starting to blossom. Isn't it funny. Here, I have a few fleas, but nothing bad. At M's house, there is a freaking infestation. Seriously, you go in one room and get fifty jumping on your ankle. Lets see, I have dogs, she has dogs. I have cats, she has cats. Why is her house so much worse?

Two words. Air Conditioning. I have it, she doesn't. Wait a minute, you say. She lives in south Louisiana and doesn't have air conditioning? Yep, you are right. That should have been a red flag twelve years ago, but I was stupid and I paid dearly for my sins. There are people who don't have air conditioning, I realize. They, however, are poor, live in a trailer, have no job, etc. M is none of these. She is quite well off, has a nice old house, and could easily afford the small additional expense of air conditioning. Why not, then? I. Don't. Know. As one of my friends told her - He said she is probably the only, and we mean only person of her socioeconomic status (i.e. rich person) in Louisiana that doesn't have air conditioning.

Animal cruelty no more

In a historic move, the Louisiana House Agriculture committee passed a bill to ban cockfighting. Louisiana was the only state where this is legal. Past bills didn't pass out of the committee, but they saw the winds of change. The only thing is it was passed with an effective date in 18 months. Other bills are pending to make it effective immediately. There is the chance that this bill will be amended to make it effective immediately as well. Poor, poor mouthbreathers. Now they'll have to enjoy their animal torture underground.

I knew it was over

After Hurricane Katrina, M's great uncle was going to have to evacuate New Orleans. She says to me, without any inkling of "this is a favor" or "I want to ask you something" but rather she says "Lewis can stay with you." Now I'm sorry, but my home is my castle, and for her to open it to a stranger without asking, well, that is beyond belief. While we were together since 1994, we never lived together. I had my house and she had hers. Never did I bring up the subject of marriage, and never did I want to. If she thought the relationship was to the point that what's mine is hers, then that's when it is ended. Perhaps I am too selfish, perhaps I am one of those persons that can never truly share a life with another, I don't know. I just know that our relationship could never evolve as those that are truly in love evolve. I have many friends, married friends and not, who have just such a relationship. I understand it and am happy for them, but I don't know if I could ever be one of those persons. Certainly not with M. It's over, never to be revisited. I wish her only the best.

Half Life 2

Shameless plug for one heck of a video game. The first Half LIfe was awesome - what a story line and what an execution! Now here comes Half Life 2 with terrific graphics, but also the little things: the way object react according to what their weight would be if it were real; picking up stuff; the views of the city, of the canal, of the ocean, bridges, beaches, and all. I didn't think games would get any more enjoyable than the head shots with the rifle in Gun, but it could. Using the gravity gun, which can pick up and hurl objects, with circular saw blades against zombies takes the cake.

Here is a gallery of my favorite video games (sometimes the old ones are pretty good)

Phantasmagoria 2
Shivers 2 (for the music alone)
Starflight and Starfleet-the war begins (two of the first games I played)
Gabriel Knight - the one with werewolves
Gun

Draft to remember

Wow. Four LSU players in the first round. That's stuff of Miami lore. We are going to miss them. IMHO, LaRon will be the hardest to replace. While he made his share of stuffs, I think his greatest contribution was keeping a 3-5 yard gain from turning into a 15-20 yard gain.

One reason I got HBO was so that I could see Bill Maher again. I'm glad I did. He has a pretty good little show.

What a Weekend

Boston swept the Yankees for the first time in 17 years. That would be 1990 and would be working for the State of La. at the eligibility determinations office for the Office of Family Support. Law school was still a distant dream. I was having fun, loved my work and was friends with an extraordinarily pretty girl named Stacey Johnson. She was tall, blond and was a golfer. In fact, I still have the set of clubs she sold me. We played several times, but it never went beyond golf dates. She showed up once with another dude but I couldn't tell if he was her boyfriend or not. Oh, back to the weekend. LSU took two out of three from MIssissippi State. For a team with a meager lineup we have, Coach Manieri is doing pretty good. We got shelled the first game 12-3 and came back to win two. That didn't seem to happen under Smoke Laval, the former coach. One only hopes the scrappiness will continue.