Do not mess with a good thing NASCAR

I do not know where NASCAR thinks they are helping the sport when we read from Fox Sports the following piece of information that will help reduce cost (supposedly):

 

When the truck series first debuted, the series was able to limit expenses by having teams pit once at halfway under a competition caution and have fewer men over the wall.

A similar plan could be in the works that would bring trucks down pit road according to the order on the track. Teams would be allowed to pit and the trucks would then return to the track in the same order, similar to a TV time out in football or basketball.

One of the things that attracts me to NASCAR is the high speed chess match that takes place each week.  Do we pit now, do we wait to pit, do we take two or four tires?  All of these effect the results.  Do just do a competition caution would increase the yawn factor about 75%.  So much can be gained or lost in the pits.  No NASCAR, do not do it.  I realize it is the TRUCKS and that is a testing ground of sorts, but leave this stuff to your minor leagues or the ARCA Remax series.

Do not listen to the soundbytes and talking heads...

 

Listen to what the man says himself. It is amazing what you hear versus what he said.

From the Dept. of taking back what was not yours to give in the first place....

GREENFIELD, Calif. — Police have arrested a Greenfield man for allegedly arranging to sell his 14-year-old daughter into marriage in exchange for $16,000, 100 cases of beer and several cases of meat.
Police say they only learned of the deal after 36-year-old Marcelino de Jesus Martinez went to them to get his daughter back because payment wasn't made as promised.

FOXNews.com - Man Allegedly Tries to Sell Daughter Into Marriage for Cash, Beer and Meat - Local News | News Articles | National News | US News
I thought that we had passed the era when woman were slaves about 1000 years ago or so.   Lock this guy up and throw away the key (providing that he is guilty - hard not to be when he admits he did something wrong so he can get his money back).

Finding Osama Bin Laden

Twitter Hack

From Mashable.com comes:

 

Twitter is being blindsided today by a new wave of attacks, this time involving the takeover of the accounts of prominent users. Barack Obama, Britney Spears, CNN’s Rick Sanchez, Fox News, and Facebook’s official accounts are amongst those that have been targeted thus far, with each sending out an obviously fake message ranging from explicit comments to ads for online scams. Here’s what the Fox News account looked like earlier today:

 

 

I wonder why they did not go after my account.  Maybe cause I just am not important enough.

 

Isaiah 1:16-17“wash and make yourselves clean. Take your evil deeds out of my sight! Stop doing wrong, learn to do right! Seek justice, encourage the oppressed. Defend the cause of the fatherless, plead the case of the widow.” Brought to you by BibleGateway.com. Copyright (C) NIV. All Rights Reserved.

Time to track Santa

Thanks to the trackers at NORADSanta, we are able to know where Santa is on his trip this year....

Enjoy, stay safe and do not light a fire and burn Santa up, use the Video Yule log.

What Can We Learn From A Genealogy

New Sermon Notes posted.  It is from this past weekend.  I listened to it from their MP3 downloads page as I was in Children's church at the time.  Pastor Bob talks about the genealogies of Christ and just what we can learn from them.

From the 'Maybe Darwin was right' department

 

From WBZ-TV

Man Burns Home Melting Ice With Blowtorch

NEW BEDFORD (AP) ―

New Bedford fire officials say a homeowner using a blowtorch to melt ice on his back porch set the home on fire causing up to $30,000 in damage.
Fire Capt. Scott Kruger tells The Standard-Times of New Bedford that no one was injured during Monday's incident at the three-story home.

I do not have anything to add

Divorces are down because of the economy!

From Fox Business News web site:

 

SAN FRANCISCO--The recession and economic turmoil is creating a new class of casualties: Married couples who can't afford to get divorced. In these tough times many people are finding it's cheaper to stay together, even when they can't stand each other.

"The reason that the economy has such an enormous impact on divorce is that most people in the middle-income brackets are getting by on whatever income they have. They're just getting by," said Bonnie Booden, a family law and divorce attorney in Phoenix.

I guess there is something good to be said about this bad economy. 

I'm Watching you dad

Just how big is Santa's sleigh

If you are not on Twitter... this just in from NoradSanta... on Twitter

noradsanta Santa's sleigh is 75 cc long, 40 cc wide. 1 cc = 1 Candy Cane

Well is that the large or small Candy Canes.....
I am glad to see that NORAD Santa is upgrading its stuff, Annie used to love to check out the page with me each hour.

All your computers belong to us...

Your Computer is Under Investigation - F-Secure Weblog : News from the Lab

Interesting little program. Have not seen prank viruses (assume it does nothing else) like this one in a long time.

Out of Town goes out

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — They survived when Barnes & Noble took over the Harvard Coop, and even when the Tasty, a 16-stool diner with a fanatical following, gave way to an Abercrombie & Fitch.

CJ Gunther for The New York Times

The newsstand’s fate is big news on Harvard Square. The Cambridge city manager is seeking another news vendor for the 431-square-foot kiosk.

But when word spread this week that Out of Town News, the landmark newsstand just outside Harvard’s gates, might close, the legions who love Harvard Square went numb.

 

Every now and then I hear news from back home in Massachusetts.  This was not good news to me. The New York Times reports that Out of Town News is going out of business.

I will have the Harvard Square of my teens and 20's to remember.  I spent many a few buck at the Out of Town.  In my comic reading days they always seemed to have the new stuff out first, and I had to have it.  Back then I liked getting an out of Massachusetts taste for news.  Since the Internet as we know it did not exist this was the only way possible.  It was the only place that you could get some off the wall, obscure publication also. If it was in print, the Out of Town had it.  And what a location.  In the middle of Harvard Square.  No. not on a corner, in the middle.

Out of Town, have not seen you in years, knowing that you will close makes me sad, but it is evolution.  Like they say in the article:

“Many people who are lamenting the loss of the kiosk,” Ms. Jillson said, “are certainly people who get up in the morning, turn on their laptop and get their news on the Internet.”

Nothing says Merry Christmas like..... superheros???

First a little Batman

 

Then a little X-Men thrown in for good measure:

 

And then a little more Batman to round out the festivities

 

..this time with a Christmas Carol

 

Matthew 1:20-21“But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, "Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.” Brought to you by BibleGateway.com. Copyright (C) NIV. All Rights Reserved.

What do wally-world and hell have in common

From the blog entry of the pastor of Destiny church: The Great Tribulation spoken of in scripture and Wal-Mart this time of year have something in common; they will bring out the best or worst in someone. The half hour in the supercenter parking lot made me thankful that I was a believer as surely Hell must be something akin to this. There's a reason people like me "DO" most of their shopping online and "DON'T" have Christian bumper stickers… :-)

 

We had crazy weather here in Oklahoma Sunday and Monday (and Tuesday too they say) and I can tell you, he is right.  But for every bad person I met many good.  Being a pallet mule (our name for the receiving people who unload the truck and haul the stuff out to the floor), I can tell you I have seen my share of people stop in front of me and think nothing of it.  Not something you want to do in front of a guy hauling two tons of dog food behind you. 

But I have also seen my share of people that step out of the way quickly and smile as I move by, as if to say thanks for bringing the stuff out here.  And the total strangers that when a small box drops will go out of there way to pick it up for me.

Pastor Mike, you have spoken at Grace and few times since I joined and was my sons youth pastor.  I love you, but maybe you need to look at the good sometimes.  That being said, yes, you nailed it on the parking lot!

 

Luke 1:46-47, 49“[Mary's Song] And Mary said: "My soul glorifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for the Mighty One has done great things for me— holy is his name.” Brought to you by BibleGateway.com. Copyright (C) NIV. All Rights Reserved.

Pizza can save your life!

A Florida pizza delivery man who was challenged by armed robbers in the city of Miramar got in first with his own weapon - a large pepperoni pizza.
Eric Lopez Devictoria, 40, flung the piping hot pizza at the gunman, then turned on his heels and ran.
He made a safe getaway, according to the Florida Sun-Sentinel, despite one shot being fired as he fled.
Police later arrested three teenage suspects, who have been charged with armed robbery

BBC NEWS | Americas | US man uses pizza in self-defence
You know, if they had put this in a movie, no one would have believed it (unless it was a Chuck Norris movie).  Hats off to a brave man. 

The real reason for the season

Luke 1:30-33“But the angel said to her, "Do not be afraid, Mary, you have found favor with God. You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever; his kingdom will never end.” Brought to you by BibleGateway.com. Copyright (C) NIV. All Rights Reserved.

For those who drink the Apple Kool-Aid

Mapple - The Simpsons
Uploaded by aarplane

As the sun sets on the Petty Empire

From NASCAR.COM

Yet in the ensuing months, economic reality intervened. A recession hit. Sponsorship dried up. And so began the long tumble toward Thursday, when Petty Enterprises announced that it is negotiating with Gillett-Evernham Motorsports to field its flagship No. 43 car, and Labonte announced that he had been released from all ties to the organization. It's another step toward the end of Petty Enterprises as the sport has always known it, the team that family patriarch Lee Petty founded in 1949.

 

"In over 15 years of racing in the Sprint Cup Series, I can't remember a time when the sport's landscape looks as it does today," Labonte said in a statement. "Saying that, Petty Enterprises and I had serious and very sincere discussions about what was best for myself and everyone involved at Petty Enterprises moving forward. These discussions culminated with us agreeing that moving in a separate direction will be the greatest way to reach our end goals. It was by no means an easy decision."

Meanwhile, Petty Enterprises said it is in "exclusive" negotiations with GEM, which fields three Sprint Cup entries, about a transaction that would essentially involve the Gillett organization absorbing Petty's No. 43 car, which has been without primary sponsorship since General Mills announced last year its intentions to move to Richard Childress Racing for 2009. A deal with GEM would theoretically secure a place in the sport's future for the No. 43 car and owner Richard Petty, who drove it to seven championships.

I for one, though I am new to the sport will miss Petty and their presence.  It is the likes of Kyle Petty and his devotion to Victory Junction Camp that showed me there was more to these guys than 'go fast, turn left'.  We will miss you all.  Mr. Labonte, may you find a great ride.

More Stupid Christmas Gifts

Got to love the global warming mug!