Behemoth Droppings

Well, I’m at it again. I figured it’s time to fix some issues my site has been having, so I did. The major issue that I fixed is that now whenever you type in the characters for an emoticon, it will now display the image. You no longer have to go to the popup and select the one you want. If, however, you try one and it doesn’t display, then let me know and I will go in and add the code for it (yes, I have to modify the code myself because the blog software I use is very basic)

Happy 2006 everyone. 2005 was an awesome year for me and Leslie. In 2005 I got a new position at Kroger, we bought a house, and also got our puppy Belle. I really hope that 2006 is as good as 2005 was! Anyway, Happy New Year. And make sure to check out my picture gallery and video section. I have added a lot of new stuff. You may have to hit ‘refresh’ on your browser to see the new stuff.

A Mercer County Courthouse won a major victory in court, where the ACLU tried to have another set of Ten Commandments removed on the premise of ‘seperation of church and state’ (which DOESN’T exist, by the way)! All I know is that whenever the ACLU is stopped in their attack on Christianity, it puts a smile on my face.

Scientists at the University of Louisville have made a huge breakthrough in stem cell research. They have found adult cells in mice that can be used to make other cells such as brain or pancreotic cells. What exactly does that mean? Well, it means that if it works in humans, then there will be no need to destroy embryos to get a few cells. These cells could be taken from an adult person and used to cure a disease they might have. I have always been against embryonic stem cell research. I would rather have diabetes for the rest of my life, than have to think of the countless lives destroyed just to better my own. However, this is completely different. No lives have to be destroyed. What’s better, is that the cells could come straight from the patient’s body. While I’m no scientist or doctor, I could only imagine that the risk of the patient’s body rejecting the new cells would be greatly reduced if they come from that person to begin with. I’ll definitely be checking into this more in the future, and I’ll keep everyone up to date on it.

I just got back from watching The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, and it was AMAZING. C.S. Lewis would have been proud of Disney’s work. I have never seen a movie be truer to the book than this one. The girl who played Lucy did a wonderful job, and they couldn’t have picked a better person to play Mr. Tumnus. Do yourself a favor, and go watch this movie.

I just came across the coolest “map” ever. It’s called Google Earth. I’m sure you remember when the tera images, or whatever it was, came out and you could see satalite imagery of the Earth. Some people could even make out their houses. Now, imagine this with the whole Earth, and with roads, cities, towns, boundaries, hospitals, diners, buildings, and other landmarks marked so you could identify what you were looking at. Now, put in the ability to get directions and search for places, and you have Google Earth. You should definitely take a look at it. I was able to find the place where our house is now (it was just a dirt road when the picture was taken), our old apartment, places I visited in Wales, and we even found our honeymoon hotel on Naseau.

All I have to say is “I told you so”. I’ve been saying for a while now that the smartest thing the Reds could do is trade Sean Casey. Now before you get too upset, hear me out. I, too, am a Casey fan. He is a great guy and a good leader. Nobody can deny that. But….he isn’t worth the money the Reds are paying him. Not when they have Adam Dunn who can move to first, letting them play all 4 of their big hitters. Now, somebody is going to argue that we didn’t get a decent trade for him. True, the pitcher the Reds got is mediocre at best, but his salary last year was $1.5 million. Casey was set to make somthing like $8.5 million this year. OK, so send that pitcher down to Triple A and use the $7 million you free’d up to buy a good pitcher. So you end up with a good pitcher, and one to develop for the future, for the price of an overpaid first-basemen. For once, it looks like the Reds made the correct decision. Plus, Casey gets to go back home to Pittsburg. A couple more moves like this and the Reds could be competing for a division championship.