Incredible Christians & the death of Twitter

Mean Christians, originally uploaded by Jacob Krejci.

As seen on my bible belt group on flickr.

This is in Gatlinburg, TN. I started this group to document these sorts of in-your-face preaching that is prevalent here in the south.

I haven't blogged lately because I have been incredibly busy with my new job, and also, no laptop to be had, (hence the flickr blogpost)

I also wanted to blog about the death of Twitter. Well, twitter is alive and strong, but I can no longer contribute, as my new cell phone from work has had text messaging disabled. was it Cinderella or Motley Crue who had the song "You don't know what you've got 'till its gone"?

Anyway, It was a non-essential segment to my every day life, that I miss dearly. -Twitter and the ability to text my wife.

Not a very big deal, but adjusting is, just plain weird.


First disposable income purchase: Macbook

This DJ

Headphones, originally uploaded by Chris1051.

Friday is my last day, I have to return the company vehicle and the printer. And then worry about how I am going to get a ride home.

Next Tuesday is a new job. I feel bad of course for leaving but people do this every day.

I have so much I have to do - hence, the twitter-esque feel of my recent blog posts.

Things will cool off soon hopefully.

107

107, originally uploaded by Chris1051.

I cant answer to the accuracy of the thermometer, or the calibration status or certificate, but there is a shielded probe underneath the sign.

Heat wave, day 20

No rain. 20 straight days of temperatures higher than 95 F (35 C) and some days as high as 105 (40.5 C)

everything is dead around me. Please make it stop.

LA Hip Hop

I am considering buying this track. I was looking at some last.fm scrobbles I had lately. I long ago bought the Phaycyde album "Bizarre Ride II" and never bought the second album labcabincalifornia.

I do remember this single, it must have been 1995 - the second album came out. I am going to give it a listen.

... OK I bought it, $10 you cant beat it. Back in 1995 it was more than that at record shops.

Compact digital excursion

Wolf Creek Dam, originally uploaded by Chris1051.

took the compact digital out today as I knew I would be passing by some interesting stuff. (Wolf Creek Dam and some really funny religious signs)

Uploaded majority to flickr.

New Flickr Group

Warning?, originally uploaded by Chris1051.

I see so much of this stuff I decided to start a new flickr group.

To further document bible belt tackiness.

Scared

Scared, originally uploaded by Chris1051.

Just thought I would mini-photoblog about something tonight before bed. I was revisiting some of my flickr photos (which need to be cleaned up BTW) and this one made me laugh.

That girl in the red shirt offered to take a photo of me and Daniella. She took the one called "Rope" Have a look at that kid in the Orange shirt. He is scared. You gotta love the facial expressions of those two kids on the right though.

Forecast discussion 20070806 -1910Z

000
FXUS64 KOHX 061910
AFDOHX

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE NASHVILLE TN
210 PM CDT MON AUG 6 2007

.DISCUSSION...
SFC ANALYSIS SHOWS SFC RIDGE CENTERED OVER THE GULF COAST WITH A
STATIONARY FRONT LOCATED OVER NE/IA/NRN IL. SATELLITE IMAGES INDICATE
A LARGE UPPER RIDGE CENTERED FROM THE LOWER PLAINS TO THE
TENNESSEE VALLEY. ONLY A FEW ISOLATED PATCHES OF WEAK CONVECTION
NOTED ON RADAR.

MODELS INDICATE THAT THE H5 RIDGE WILL REMAIN IN PLACE OVER THE
LOWER PLAINS AND TENNESSEE VALLEY THROUGH FRI. AN H5 SHORTWAVE IS
EXPECTED TO MOVE SEWD ACROSS THE GREAT LAKES ON FRI. AS A RESULT...
THE UPPER PATTERN AMPLIFIES WITH A TROUGH POSITION SETTING UP OVER THE
EAST COAST BY SUN AS THE H5 RIDGE RETROGRADES WITH THE CENTER OF
THE RIDGE LOCATED OVER THE CNTRL PLAINS BY MON AFTN. A WEAK FRONT
SWEEPS SEWD ACROSS THE MIDSTATE LATE FRI WITH A LITTLE BIT OF
RELIEF FROM THE OPPRESSIVE HEAT THIS WEEKEND.

MORE BAD NEWS...CPC 6-10 DAY AND 8-14 DAY PROGS CONTINUE TO
INDICATE ABOVE NORMAL TEMPS AND BELOW NORMAL PRECIP. SO UNLESS
THERE IS A NICE WET LITTLE TROPICAL STORM IN OUR FUTURE
(PLEASE NO HURRICANES) THE DOG DAYS OF AUGUST ARE HERE TO STAY.

MOS TEMPS WERE FAILY CLOSE WITH MOS POPS ALSO IN GOOD AGREEMENT.

&&

.PRELIMINARY POINT TEMPS/POPS...
NASHVILLE 77 99 77 100 / 10 10 10 10
CLARKSVILLE 74 99 74 99 / 10 0 10 10
CROSSVILLE 70 92 71 93 / 10 10 10 10
COLUMBIA 76 99 75 100 / 10 10 10 10
LAWRENCEBURG 75 99 74 99 / 10 10 10 10
WAVERLY 75 99 74 99 / 10 0 10 10

&&

.OHX WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...
HEAT ADVISORY FROM 1 PM TUESDAY TO 7 PM CDT THURSDAY FOR
TNZ005>009-022>029-056>062-075-093>095.

&&

$$

JLM

No Relief in sight

000
FXUS64 KOHX 042028
AFDOHX

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE NASHVILLE TN
328 PM CDT SAT AUG 4 2007

.DISCUSSION...
UPPER HIGH CENTERED NEAR THE ARKLATEX REGION TODAY WHILE A WEAK NW
FLOW ALOFT PREVAILS OVER TN. DYNAMICS ARE WEAK BUT THERE IS JUST
ENOUGH INSTABILITY THIS AFTERNOON TO PRODUCE AN ISOL TSTM OR TWO.
ISOL ACTIVITY WILL AGAIN BE POSSIBLE ON SUNDAY AFTERNOON AS THE
PATTERN CHANGES LITTLE.

IT WILL BE QUITE HOT WITH THERMAL RIDGING SETTING UP FROM WESTERN TN
SOUTHEAST INTO AL. OTHER THAN THE 1ST PERIOD...MAV NUMBERS LOOK
GENERALLY OK WITH HIGHS IN THE MID/UPPER 90S. FOR PERIOD #1...THE
MAV CONTINUES TO COME IN TOO COOL. WILL THEREFORE TAKE THE OVER AND
GO WITH MID 70S FOR LOWS FOR BNA.

IN THE EXT FCST...UPPER RIDGING BUILDS EASTWARD AND BECOMES CENTERED
ACROSS TN BY TUES AFTERNOON. THICKNESSES APPEAR TO REACH THEIR
HIGHEST VALUES ON WED AND THU. IT WILL BE AT THAT TIME THAT WE COULD
SEE THE MERCURY APPROACH AND MAYBE EVEN SURPASS 100 DEGREES.

TEMPS ALOFT THROUGH THE EXT WILL BE WARM ENOUGH TO ESTABLISH A
RATHER STRONG CAP AND PREVENT MUCH...IF ANY CONVECTIVE DEVELOPMENT.
WILL THEREFORE KEEP THE EXT DRY.

THE UPPER RIDGE MAY RETREAT BACK TO THE WEST BY NEXT WEEKEND. THIS
MAY EQUATE TO MID 90S TEMPS AS OPPOSED TO UPPER 90S TO 100 DEGREE
TEMPS.

Velvet Ant Death

Velvet Ant Death #1, originally uploaded by Chris1051.

Background:

I came home from work today as usual, I sat on the porch and took off my boots. I slipped on my crocs and was about to step inside. I saw this bad-ass mean velvet ant trying to make its way in the house via the front door. Trying to crawl in. This thing had to be eliminated. They have a painful sting and if it was allowed to get in the house, and if Daniella saw it, she might be inclined to pick it up. So I grab the nearest thing I can find (a flip flop) and start beating it. It starts making a very weird sound. I continue to beat it for about 10 times. (its a very tough bug) I guess I injure it enough to where I can pick it up using my leatherman. I place it on the trunk of my car and the damn thing starts moving again. I run in and get my camera. The resulting set is what happened. The "ant" kept moving so I had to burn it. In the pictures you can actually see the stinger. File this under the "holy shit" file.

Info:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mutillidae

They are known for their extremely painful sting, the venom of which was jokingly stated to be powerful enough to kill a cow, hence the nickname "cow killers." Additionally, it has been stated cows occasionally would be stung while rolling in the sands of Florida. The resulting sting would fester, allowing the screw-worm fly to enter the wound. This would result in the death of the cow. The name hung on to the velvet ant even after the screw fly was eradicated in Florida in 1982. As with all Hymenoptera, only the females sting, and like all other wasps and bees (except honey bees), they can sting multiple times. If handled, they also have a structure called a stridulitrum on the metasoma which they use to produce a squeaking, chirping sound (more like a high pitched hum) to warn would-be predators.

The family can be recognized best in the female; they are the only wingless female wasps that have hair-lined grooves on the side of the metasoma (called "felt lines") and in which the segments of the mesosoma are all fused dorsally. Only one other vespoid family (Bradynobaenidae) has felt lines, but the females have a distinct pronotum and an elongated ant-like petiole. The earliest-known velvet ants are believed to be specimens from the Dominican Republic preserved in amber for some 25 to 40 million years.

www.whatsthatbug.com/velvet_ants.html

The Underground Peoplemover to the International Terminal

The Underground Peoplemover to the International Terminal, originally uploaded by Stuck in Customs.

Looking for something good in my photos to blog about but didn't have the patience to do so. So I looked in my contacts. SIC does excellent work and I hope in time I can be as half as talented.

A very pretty picture with a not so pretty story. Why is it that every time I am forced to use a public toilet I run into this scenario:

The place is deserted, I go in with the intention to get my business done as quickly as possible.
15 seconds later, it becomes Grand Central-fucking-Station. With shedloads of guys coming in demanding to use the toilet. It never fails. It happens this time all the time!

And another pet peeve of mine, is when I am taking a piss and some asshole decides to - while standing at the urinal, clear his throat getting boogers and lugeys from deep within the back of his throat, and bring them up and spit them out into the urinal. What would posses these disgusting men to do this? Why specifically at the urinal? I see this all the time. I wonder if its just a redneck thing. Its vile and disgusting. These men are of a different species. They are Troglodytes.

Late Morning

Me with glasses, originally uploaded by Chris1051.

Had a bit of time this morning to lounge and chill. Watched a few DVR'd episodes and then left the house at 12 PM Still managed to work for 9 hours today though.

A New Era

Illuminated by street lighting, originally uploaded by Chris1051.

I am the proud new owner of a Nikon D40. My first DSLR. I LOVE IT and will be taking some classes. This one, I was playing around with it. I still am using the point and shoot mode, but I want to use it to its full potential.

In this one, I set it up using a tripod, and canceled the flash. This was illuminated by street lighting only. Exposure was 6 seconds.

Served since childbirth

Its quite sad to see people waste their entire short precious lives worrying about whether or not they are going to go to heaven or whether they are going to be tortured forever in hell.

From the BBC:

TV evangelist Messner dies at 65
Former US TV evangelist Tammy Faye Messner has died aged 65 near Kansas City after a long battle with cancer.

Messner became a household name in the US in the 1980s as Tammy Faye Bakker, the wife of preacher Jim Bakker.

Her tearful nationally-televised pleas for money and souls helped turn the Praise The Lord (PTL) network into a multi-million dollar business.

Yes, thats it. God wants you to give till it hurts. I think its a good idea to yank all § 501 c. status of all churches. Force them to compete for money like any other business.

"She is now in heaven with her mother and grandmother and Jesus Christ, the one who she loves and has served from childbirth," he said.

hmm thats odd, someone "serving" Jesus since childbirth? I didn't know any child who could serve anyone as they are born. This says a lot about childhood indoctrination. What if she had been born in China, or in Afghanistan? It is a common belief of theists that you don't have any say in where you were born, so if there is an omniscient and omnipotent God out there and Christianity is right and Islam is wrong, why would he allow her (if she had been born) or anyone to be born into Afghanistan to Afghanistan parents? To live her life in a war-torn country - with a very low life expectancy?

Cause it makes God happy to see suffering? If not why doesn't he put a stop to it?


a famine stricken Sudanese child trying to reach food. Behind her is a vulture waiting for her to die so it can feed upon her.


a communist guerrilla being executed in a Saigon street during the Vietnam War

Disconnection Notice

Excellent track - purchased illegitimately through iTunes. I bought a few more too, Look at my last.fm page to see what I am listening to.

Funny Painting I found

Incredible painting. Very humorous.

Back Peddling

Bill Oreilly using his best defense, which is to talk over an opponent and not allow Richard Dawkins to speak or get a word in edgewise. Reichard Dawkins handed Bill Oreilly his ass and he was in full panic mode.

(note smart ass jokes, the talking over, and the refusal to address Richard Dawkins directly)

Natural Selection

Yukon_Territory, originally uploaded by Chris1051.

Anyone who denies Natural Selection (i.e. creationists) are doing so while Natural Selection is staring them in the face.

How many times do you hear about people getting flu shots annually because the influenza virus has mutated and adapted to our antibodies? How many times have you heard of a parent washing their poor kids' heads in an anti lice shampoo, only to have those lice be impervious to the chemical, due to Natural Selection? In only a few generations, these organisms have adapted and overcame.

Every single day, bacteria and single cell organisms become resistant to drugs and antibodies, this is a clear example of natural selection and evolution right in front of the creationists' noses.

Then of course you get these "Intelligent Design" People who claim "god" planted the seeds of life, and then put his feet up and watched evolution take place on Earth.

Bullcrapola IMO. Its just clear examples of back peddling and apologist crapola.

Too Much Bullshit

At home I use DSL. What at one point was AT & T that had been broken up by the government for being a monopoly, turning it into Bell South (Verizon, Bell Atlantic etc etc) and now has become A T & T again, forces us to have a land line so we can use DSL. I don't really mind this as my Sat box has to dial out each morning. Fine.

They said the Land line is $13 which is nothing at all, fine. What really gets me is the excessive BULLSHIT the govt tacks on. What the fuck is a "FCC authorized charge for network access"? What the fucking fuck!

Its not even really that much, ($24.37) but it pisses me off when I pay 47% of the actual cost of having a dialtone to BULLSHIT. Who gets this money?!?!