A little something

Well, I have a post I'd like to make, but it's in response to a giant work of crap so that'll take me a few days to finish before I can actually post it.

In the meantime, for those of you who like music, but can't stand the radio because of the repetitiveness of the songs and the commercials, then I'd suggest checking out Pandora Radio. This is an online "radio" station that allows you to search for a specific song/artist/genre then it finds music that either fits in that category or that is similar to the artist/song you searched for. Best thing is, if you don't like a song you can tell it to never play it again. If you find that a certain song is being played too frequently you can just tell it not to play that song for a month.

Well, I hope you guys can utilize this site. I like it.

Only down side is, you have to create an account. However, I haven't seen anything negative come from doing so. I just find that kind of stuff annoying. (Although I can understand why it would be necessary for a site like this... since it remembers your likes and dislikes.)

9/11 Fact Sheet

When walking from one class to another I often times pass by an area of campus I like to call "Propaganda Ally." This is an area of campus that allows for people to exercise their right to free speech. Walking down this path can often be entertaining, and other times it can just be annoying.

Today, as I was walking to the student center from my first class, I was handed a pamphlet. It reads as follows: (Under each of the points I will be posting my comments in italics)

The Independent Thinkers
9/11 FACT SHEET
What occurred on September 11th, 2001 is a matter of facts, physics and unprecedented violations of national protocol by American officials themselves. Here are 10 points to consider. There are hundreds more.

1. No steel-framed building before or since 9/11 has ever collapsed due to fire.

Have any steel-framed buildings before or after 9/11 ever collapsed due to a freaking airplane crashing into it? I was under the impression that the planes crashing into the buildings was the cause of the collapse. After all, the two planes that crashed into the building weighed around 300,000 pounds. Do these "thinkers" really believe that an extra 300,000 pounds of weight crashing into a building at speeds around 466mph isn't going to affect the buildings' frames?

2. No official agency (FAA, FBI, or the airlines) has ever released a list of the 9/11 passengers. But within hours, the FBI released a list of the hijackers.

Isn't this the case in ALL incidents like this? I mean, I don't know who all was killed in the Columbine shootings. I can find the names of the shooters though. Furthermore, I'm glad the names of the victims are kept private, and I believe that they should remain private. If anyone of my family were to be killed in such a tragic manner, the last thing I'd want is some complete stranger from across the country tracking down my telephone number to tell me how sorry (or happy) he is about my loss.

3. On September 11th, 2001 the FAA successfully grounded all aircraft--an unprecedented operation. Yet it could not successfully scramble any jet fighters that day--a normal procedure occurring over 100 times a year.

I’m pretty much not going to comment on this one because I don’t really get what point it is that they’re trying to make.

4. Building 7, a 47-story skyscraper and part of the World Trade Center complex, was not struck by a plane but collapsed in 6.5 seconds at 5:20 p.m. on September 11th, in the exact manner of a controlled demolition.

From my understanding, Building 7 was across the street from the twin towers. Building 7 took on severe damage from debris that fell from the towers. So, you’re telling me that if a building were to take on gashes in the walls that went from the 8th to 18th floor (that’s 10 stories of damage) that there’s no possible way that it would collapse? True, this building wasn’t hit by a plane, but it did take on its fair share of damage.

5. There was no visible airplane debris where flight 93 supposedly crashed in Pennsylvania--only a smoking hole in the ground, much like a bomb crater.

Supposedly? Only a smoking hole? Hmm… that’s odd. If there was “only a smoking hole in the ground” then what was it exactly that Somerset County Coroner Wally Miller identified at the crash site to be the bodies of the passengers? I guess he just supposedly found the passengers' bodies. Oh, and I guess some aliens teleported the flight data recorder 25 feet below the crater. Since there was no airplane debris… alien interference seems to be the only logical explanation as to how that got there.

6. Office fires burn at low temperatures of 600-800 dF. Steel melts at 2750 dF. Jet fuel is an ordinary hydrocarbon; its maximal burning temperature is 1200dF in open air. Neither jet fuel nor the burning contents of the buildings could have caused the towers' steel structure to buckle or fail.

Hmm… I wonder if the 300,000 pounds of exploding metal slamming into the building at 466 mph could have weakened the steel structure and caused the buildings to collapse. Then again, I’m sure the engineers and architects that worked on the towers worked that kind of weight and force into their schematics, so the plane crashing into the buildings probably had nothing to do with the collapse.

7. Tests have shown that cell-phone calls cannot be made at altitudes over 4000 to 8000 feet, as cell towers are located on the ground. Commercial airplanes fly at 30,000 feet and above. No passenger could have successfully placed a call for help by cell phone from an airborne plane on 9/11, as reported.

Dang, I didn’t realize the towers were 30,000 feet tall. And I thought the towers were 1,368 feet and 1,362 feet tall. But I must be wrong, because 1,368 and 1,362 are both less than 4000-8000. And if you can’t get what I’m hinting at here… if it’s true that cell phones won’t work at altitudes over 4000-8000 feet, and the towers were 1362-1368 feet, and the plane had to drop its altitude all the way down to the 1,300s then I’m confused with how it would be impossible for someone to make a call.

8. 9/11 was immediately declared an "act of war" by President Bush. The rubble from Ground Zero was carted away and the steel sold off without examination.

Umm… if we were to blow up some buildings of equal value/importance in another country… wouldn’t it be an act of war? Who wouldn’t have viewed it as an act of war? What, it was an accident? It wasn’t an actual attack?
Furthermore, what exactly needed to be examined? Also, did these people want the government to put police tape around the entire crash site until a full investigation was complete? Yeah, that’s practical. However, I would love to have seen the results of the investigation… “Well Sarge, it appears a giant flying device crashed into both towers.”

9. Enormous profits were made by insiders of plummeting stock prices of the two airlines involved in 9/11--American and United. Federal law protects their identities.

Hell yeah, and it should. Imagine what would happen if the entire population of America new the names of those who profited from the crashes. I don’t understand why this type of information should be made public. Someone is always going to profit from something bad. That doesn’t make the profiters evil people. They just had the better luck.

10. Accepting victims' compensation barred 9/11 families from further discovery through litigation.

And I’m leaving this alone because, again, I don’t understand what they’re trying to say here.

After going through this pamphlet, I find it humorous that this group calls themselves “thinkers.” It’s a lack of thought that produces this kind of nonsense.

You Should Quit Smoking

After my first class of the day I decided to go to the 7-11 to buy a pack of cigarettes since I smoked the last one I had last night.

After buying the pack I decided to go next door to Toxic Hell... I mean Taco Bell to eat something for lunch. Once I finished consuming my meal I walked over to the trash can to throw away my debris. (One thing I left out at this point, I had pulled out my pack of cigarettes and was holding it in my left hand.)

At that point this lady behind me said "You should throw away that pack of cigarettes while you're at it."

I suppressed a laugh while I responded with "It's a brand new pack. I'm not throwing it away."

This woman then proceeded with telling me that she was serious, and that I really should throw the pack away. She went on to tell me how if I continue smoking then I'll get wrinkles and by the time I'm 50 I'll look like I'm 65.

At this point I'm slightly annoyed... as I always am every time some anti-smoker informs me of information I'm very well aware of.

The woman then said "Besides, if you don't quit smoking then you won't be able to run a marathon with me."

???

With that comment I laughed and said "I won't be running any marathon whether I smoke or not."

She inquired as to why. I then told her that I can't run because of a genetic disorder that gives me arthritic type symptoms so runing a marathon would be the equivalent to torture.

She then asked if smoking helped my condition. I laughed and told her "No" as I continued on walking. She continued saying something but I didn't hear her, nor do I really care what she was saying.

That was the end of that interaction.

Ok...

For any non-smoker who may be reading this... Don't annoy smokers by telling them that smoking's bad for them.

I mean seriously, do people think that we (smokers) think cigarettes are packed full of vitamins and minerals? Do they think we believe tobacco smoke contains some sort of ancient magic that will protect us from all harm?

I just don't get it. I wouldn't go to a bar and tell everyone within that they shouldn't drive home after their night of fun. Everyone in that bar is well aware that driving drunk is not only illegal, but potentially fatal for them and everyone they pass on the road. What purpose would it serve for me to stick my nose in their business to inform them of information they already know about?

With all that being said, I have decided to attempt to form a student organization on campus for smokers. I've got to figure out a name (I'm thinking Smokers United... but am definitely not set on that), get an adviser (a staff member), and a certain number of members. So, I guess I'm going to be putting fliers up on campus for people to contact me if they'd be interested in this group. We'll see what happens.

Yeah... so...

Hello to everyone who may happen to randomly check this in the next few days. I'm debating whether or not I should attempt to revive this blog... or if I should just make a new one and start over.

I don't really like the idea of starting over, but since this one seems to have died I'm thinking it would be a good idea.

Let me know what you think.

I'm thinking of actually continuing to blog (whether on this current one or on a new one) because I have time between classes to make posts.

I let this one die for a few reasons.
1) I became a WoW addict and have spent way too much time on that.
2) I became tired of coming up with new things to say
3) I kind of went into a "blah" type of mood for a while and didn't feel like writing about the various things taking place in my life
4) I felt as if my life became very boring and didn't think anyone would want to read anything about what was going on.

I think I'm now ready to start anew. A lot has happened in the past few months. Some of which I am not going to blog about (although I would really like to) because of who may accidentally run across this page. (You never know who's going to Google your name.)

One thing that I will mention is that I have been working at a BBQ joint. That has been an experience. I started at the beginning of summer and my last day will be the 12th of this month. That's about all the detail I'm going to go into on that in public.

Ok, so I'll stop rambling now. I would like to assure everyone (or anyone who might actually still check here) that my future posts will not be as boring and non-descriptive as what I just wrote above.

Hope everyone is doing well and I look forward to writing again.

More to come...