You make a list of the worst states to get drunk in and don't mention Utah? The complaints you make against Pennsylvania are especially true about Utah. Hell, the only reason I go to Wyoming is to get good beer and fireworks. Look up something called the "Zion Curtain". I bet you don't have anything close to that in Pennsylvania, or anyplace else where alcohol laws are driven by logic instead of legislators thinking it's their role to act as the populace's fathers.
I read this story yesterday and I've been thinking about it ever since. This is not because I'm a Browns fan, a Josh Gordon fan, or because I'm a football fan. This is because there's a situation that I've been following ever since the media started reporting it.
In recent years several states, including my own, have been implementing policies that require beneficiaries of certain public assistance programs, most prominently welfare, to undergo drug screening in order to get on and stay on public assistance. The ethics of such requirements has been in debate, but the Josh Gordon situation brings up an even more troubling question. Does drug testing even work? Do the mechanisms that are in place to deliver and test a sample even work in giving consistent reliable results? Does drug testing give consistent, reliable, and accurate results? Can the results of drug testing be trusted? If a multi-billion dollar sports league has systemic problems with a system that it has and currently is spending millions of dollars to set up, run, and maintain, do states suffer from similar problems, or perhaps even worse ones?
Controversial execution botched in Oklahoma Like most liberals, I don't like the concept of the death penalty. There are too many questions about the true guilt of suspects, evident disparities in how different races are sentences, and whether suspects have available to them adequate legal representation. However, if we are going to put prisoners to death, we need to do so in a way that does not constitute cruel and inhumane conduct. For this reason, I can no longer support executing prisoners via lethal injection due to the inability for states to obtain Sodium thiopental, a fast acting anesthetic that was typically used for lethal injection before the manufacturer decided to stop providing the drug to states for the purposes of execution. Ending lethal injection does not stop a state's perceived need to execute it's prisoners, and if a state is going to execute their prisoners it need to be done in a way that is safe, effective, and humane. For that reason, if a state is going to execute it's prisoners, I would support doing to via firing squad, as was recently proposed in the state of Utah. Yes, I'd rather that we not execute people, but if we are going to do it we need to do it right. Not right in a moral context, but right in the method that we utilize.
There's an article on Vice Magazine about the anti-gay laws that were recently passed in Nigeria. The article, by Oscar Rickett, asserts that the convoluted, illogical, and often redundant laws against homosexuality in Nigeria may be a smokescreen drawing attention away from systemic problems inside the Nigerian government. These problems include power shortages, economic inequality, piracy, militant terrotism, and ethnic strife. Rickett says in his article: With all these issues going unaddressed, the one thing Jonathan could guarantee support on was bashing homosexuality. This article piqued my interest. With all the attention that was being brought to Nigeria, and other African countries, over their anti-gay laws, none of that attention included talk about the other problems that people are encountering in their country. It makes me rethink the coverage of such issues in the media. It also makes me rethink the actions of my local officials.
When the Occupy movement started flaring up, I retweeted many tweets sent out by Occupy protesters as well as the people who supported them. At that time I received complaints from people about my twitter barrage. For that I was sorry.
On Friday, a federal court judge struck down Utah's Amendment Three, making gay marriage legal in the state of Utah. I found out about this news on Twitter, and immediately started barraging twitter with message spreading the news and spreading the support for gay marriage in Utah. If I offended anybody with my Twitter barrage, I want you to know I apologize for nothing.
Late on Tuesday a story started circulating that has touched many people. It is the story of a man who died alone and unable to contact anyone after an accident in the Utah desert. Sadly this story is all to common. There are many people who have died similar deaths in the Utah desert. Many of the people could have gotten the help they so desperately needed if they weren't stuck in the bottom of a narrow piece of rock.
We have waited far too long to deal with situations like this. Too many people have died due to something that can be easily fixed. The time has come. We have the technology, the materials, and the manpower to put an end to people dying cold and alone in the narrow rock formations that fill many parts of Utah. Today, in memory of all that have died in the Utah desert, I am proposing that we fill all of the narrow rock formations in Utah with concrete.
This proposal hold the potential to be an economic boon to depressed areas in Eastern and Southern Utah. This proposal will provide good, honest work to people who need it. Public works projects have worked before in kickstarting the American economy, and it can work today. By filling the narrow rock formations in Utah with concrete, we can not only save lives, we can help people start their lives anew.
There are those who would argue that such rock formations are treasures of nature that should not be changed by the hands of man. The people who argue such things are liberals who stand in the way of progress and the will of God. As it is said in Genesis 1:28, "...fill the earth and subdue it...". We also have inspiration from modern day to go forth with such a project. As Ronald Reagan once said, "Oh yes, please, fill it up. Fill it right to the brim. Thank you."
There are those who would say that the narrow rock formations in Utah should be preserved for future generations. I say that if we do not fill the narrow rock formations in Utah with concrete those future generations may not materialize. For the sake of the lives, memories, and futures of the people of this Earth, this work must be done and it must be done now. Thank you and God bless.
On Saturday, while the government shutdown was still going on, Utah Governor Gary Herbert moved to open the many national parks in Utah, authorizing $1.67 Million in state dollars to be spent toward that end. Tourists and locals alike flocked to Utah's national parks to experience all that the parks have to offer. Now reports are coming out about what many of the people who congregated to the parks did in the days when they thought no authority existed.
News reports stated that "throngs" were drawn to Utah's national parks. It now appears that "thongs" may be the more accurate way to describe the people that were being drawn. Multiple reports state that many of the overnight campers at Bryce, Arches, and Canyonlands National Parks were witnessed having sex in public. Similar accounts exists concerning activities at Zion's and Capital Reef but nothing formal has been reported.
Gordon Ranger, known in the area as Ranger Gord, pictured above, has filed several of the reports. One of his reports goes as follows.
"I've never seen that much naked flesh. You think that the kind of people who would engage in such behavior would be more svelte that that. But no. No."
It's not that Park Rangers weren't out in force in Utah during the government shutdown. There were many arrests made in Utah's national parks, but most of those arrests have to do with public intoxication, as well as other drug related offenses. It appears that people thought that, due to the government shutdown, that all of the government was shutdown, including police. While that wasn't the case, people thought it was so, and, like they say, when the cats at play the mice will play. Naked. In public. Ew.
ELECTION NOTICE
TO ALL QUALIFIED VOTERS OF
PRICE CITY, UTAH:
Take notice that on November 5, 2013, a municipal general election (the "Election") will be held in Price City, Utah (heretofore referred to as the "City"), at the polling places listed below. In conjunction therewith, a ballot proposition will be submitted to the qualified voters of the City as follows:
PROPOSITION NO. 7
PRICE CITY, UTAH
ZAPP TAX ELECTION
NOVEMBER 5, 2013
/s/ Leslie Barbara Knope
Carbon County Parks Department and Clerk
Shall Price City, Utah, be reauthorized to impose a one-tenth of one percent (0.1%) sales and use tax for the purpose of funding a monument to Zapp Brannigan in Price City?
FOR REAUTHORIZING THE IMPOSITION OF A ONE-TENTH OF ONE PERCENT (0.1%) ZAPP TAX
AGAINST REAUTHORIZING THE IMPOSITION OF A ONE-TENTH OF ONE PERCENT (0.1%) ZAPP TAX
To vote in favor of this tax, completely darken the oval in front of the words "FOR REAUTHORIZING THE IMPOSITION OF A ONE-TENTH OF ONE PERCENT (0.1%) ZAPP TAX". To vote against this tax, completely darken the oval in front of the words, "AGAINST REAUTHORIZING THE IMPOSITION OF A ONE-TENTH OF ONE PERCENT (0.1%) ZAPP TAX".
For purposes of this Election, the polling places for the Election shall be as follows:
Voting Districts- Precincts #4, #10, #12, #15, #19, #20, #21, #28, #29, #31, #34, #44, #45, #47, #50, #53, #59, #65, #70, #72, #89, #90, #99, #105, #106, #108, #112, #116, #118, #119, #122, #127, #130, #BBS2007, #TBWABB2008, #ITWGY2009, are consolidated to: D.O.O.P. Headquaters, 760 DOOP Plaza, North Price, Utah
The polls will be open from 7:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m.
There will be no special registration of voters for the Election; all persons registered to vote in the general election of the City shall be considered registered to vote in this Election and the official register last made or revised shall constitute the register for this Election. The Carbon County Parks and Recreation and Clerk will make available at the polling places, a registration list or copy thereof listing all registered voters entitled to use such polling place.
Voting will be allowed to take place at the times, places, and manner as provided by the Utah Election Code, Title 20A, Utah Code Annotated 1953, as amended. For information about alternate times and forms of voting (including by absentee ballot), voters may contact the office of the Chris Traeger, Carbon County Auditor, at 120 E. Main, Price, Utah 84501.
NOTICE is given that on October 21, 2013, at 12:00 noon, in the Carbon County Parks Department and Clerk's office, the County Deputy Director of the Parks Department and Clerk conducted a test of the voting and/or counting devices, as applicable, to be used for the general election. Any interested person may witness the testing procedure.
NOTICE is further given that on November 13, 2013, that being no sooner than seven (7) days nor later than fourteen (14) days after the Election, the City Council will meet at its regular meeting place at 5:30 p.m. to canvass the returns and declare the results of the Election.
/s/ Leslie Barbara Knope
Carbon County Parks Department and Clerk
Published in R.C.O.A.: The Four Stars Blog on October 16, 2013 CE
The Plan Of Nintendo Rumble Salvation Rumors have been flying recently about Nintendo’s plans for a possible DS 2. After digging around in a 2005 patent filing, a diagram has been found that could possibly be a schematic for a rumble system for a handheld console. Now this diagram may be too complicated for people with limited knowledge of electronics and the trade of electrical engineering. So, after asking several electricians for a more approachable way to explain this, the following diagram has been produced.
Apparently the whole rumbling system begins even before the player plays a game. However, due to a “Veil of Failness”, not much is known for certain about this aspect of this rumbling process. When the player starts to play the game the player must meet a certain number of parameters to achieve even a small level of rumbling glory. All can achieve rumbling glory, but only a select few can achieve the full glory that is Perfect Rumbling.
After several more steps, including the possibility of being saved after the character you portray unfortunately dies, there are three levels of rumbling glory that can be attained. The first is the previously mentioned Perfect Rumbling, which is hard to achieve and may never be realized by most gamers. The second is Acceptable Rumbling, which is all right, but given the awesomeness of Perfect Rumbling, Acceptable Rumbling is barely acceptable. The final is Fail Rumbling, which feels like nothing more than a slight tapping and actually makes more noise than movement. Fail Rumbling is reserved for the worst of the worst, the baddest of the bad, the most failtastic of the fail. You’d have to be a pretty fucked up player to achieve Fail Rumbling.
As a Nintendo DS 2 has yet to be announced or even acknowledged by Nintendo, it is unknown where, when, and how this new rumbling system will be implemented. It is also unknown if the rumbling system mentioned in this story will actually be like this when gamers encounter it. I guess we’ll just see whose system of lemming like belief is correct.
Dear God Why?
Another Reason To Avoid UAE, other than the whole being a searing desert thing. On February 22nd, the United Arab Emirates banned the importation and sale of the PS3 title Heavy Rain. In a statement on this ban, UAE Culture and Communications Minister Farooq Aziz said the following:
“The reason the Culture and Communications Ministry has banned the video game Heavy Rain is not the fully nude woman you can view at about three hours in. Nor is it the naked man ass you can view at about ten minutes in. Nor is it that you can make the playable characters urinate on a frequent basis. The CACM banned Heavy Rain because of Quantic Dream’s flagrant and grotesque depiction of women as humans.
“The United Arab Emirates hardline interpretation of the holy Qur’an dictates that we treat all females as objects with no more rights and privileges than a fern. The UAE CACM also insists that all media that is imported conforms to our interpretation of the Islamic faith, the one and only true faith as revealed to the prophet Mohammed, praise be unto him.
“Quantic Dream’s depiction of its female characters with realistic emotions and realistic drives and desires offends us deeply as it runs in conflict with our preferred depiction of women. That being emotionless vessels for our male heirs and unworthy female subjects. Untill Quantic Dream conforms to that standard, Heavy Rain will not be permitted in our country. That, or until they bribe me.” In other news, the state of Utah has also banned Heavy Rain for similar reasons as the United Arab Emirates.
On Friday, Dead or Alive Paradise director Yoshinori Ueda stated that his upcoming game is not softcore porn. As a result, ,many pre-orders for this game on Amazon.com have been cancelled, resulting in the game moving from 14th most popular to 2,456,744th.
Heavy Rain First Impressions I bought Heavy Rain on the day it was released. The first thing I needed to do upon putting Heavy Rain into my PS3 and starting it up was to download an update. If this was a 360 game and I was dealing with Live, this process would have taken just a couple of minutes. Unfortunately this was a PS3 game and I was dealing with PSN.
The first time I tried to download this update the download started but stopped and didn’t get started again for seemingly no reason at all. The second time it stalled before even starting the download for, again, seemingly no reason at all. The third time the download started and kept on going, but the speed at which it was downloading was unacceptable. I was able to watch an entire episode of The Dish in the time it took to download the update. Once the update was downloaded the next thing to do was install Heavy Rain to the PS3’s hard drive. Unlike other games where they give you a progress bar or Old Snake to look at, Heavy Rain actually gives you something to do. Included in the package with Heavy Rain is this square piece of paper. During the installation process, you are given instructions on how to turn this piece of paper into this. By the time you are finished crafting this piece of origami, the installation should be complete. This whole process, infuriating at first and somewhat rewarding at the end, took about an hour. An hour I could have spent playing the game. Let’s just hope the actual playing of Heavy Rain offers more rewards than just a paper artform to put next to my Modern Warfare 2 night vision goggles.
Shawn I remember happier times with my dad. In the backyard playing helicopter and airplane with him and my brother. Watching him draw buildings that people could live and play in. Even him comforting me as I mourned the loss of my pet bird are things that I look back on fondly now.
After the accident that took my brother away, my dad never seemingly got up. He looks depressed, isn’t maintaining himself the way he used to, and even walks around like he doesn’t quite have a handle on how to do so fluidly. He doesn’t even eat well, not that the microwaved chicken is anything to salivate over.
I know he means well, I can see the remorse for his failings in his eyes as he tucks me in at night. Perhaps one day he will pick himself up and find a way out of this perpetual downpour. At least then he might shave off that short scruffily beard he’s grown.
Heavy Rain Second Impressions Video games tend to follow a similar basic structure: Level, level, boss, level, level, bigger boss, level, level, bigger boss, level, boss, bigger boss, final boss. Nearly every video game does this. Mario, Metroid, Mega Man, Zelda, Metal Gear, Final Fantasy, World of Warcraft, and on and on and on. Before its release, Heavy Rain was talked about not being a video game. I don’t know why this is because Heavy Rain follows basic video game structure, it’s just presented differently. Inner monologue, dialog between characters, fight scene, discovery of a plot point, discussion of the plot point, fight scene, character development, plot development, fight scene. I’m not saying that this is a bad thing. This kind of basic video game structure can produce a challenging and compelling video game experience, if it is done well. Heavy Rain appears to be utilizing this structure very well, so far…
For those of you who did not listen to Orange Lounge Radio, on Sunday I set out to craft an e-mail to ilicit a response from the two main candidates running for Congress in my district. I attempted to do so in a way that would not offend they who I do not respect, and hopefully get a response from them. I sent e-mails to Jason Chaffetz and Bennion Spencer. On Wednesday, I recieved a response from Mr. Chaffetz. I have posted it, and my reply to it here. Note: Some names have been changed to protect the red.
Mr. Chaffetz's Response
Date: Wed, 1 Oct 2008 07:35:30 -0600
From: jason@chaffetz.com To: redertainment@live.com Subject: Re: A Voter Looking For More Information About You
Thank you for the email. Honestly, I am not familiar with the proposed legislation. Please forward me the bill number, etc. so I can review it.
I am a voter living in the third congressional district, which you are running to represent. Unfortunately, I do not know much about you, and I do strive to be a well informed voter, which is why I am writing this e-mail to you today. I am curious as to what you feel are the main issues is this election and how you feel about them.
There is one issue I do want your opinion on. I am curious how you feel about the currently pending federal legislation that has to do with restricting Mature rated video games to minors. As an avid video game player, this issue is of great importance to me. While my opinion of you may not hinge on this issue, it will sway it heavily.
Thank you for reading my e-mail today, and, hopefully, your response.
Hunter Red
--
Jason Chaffetz
My Response To Mr. Chaffetz
Dear Jason,
First of all, thank you for your response. I also sent an message to your opponent, and the fact that you responded first is a big plus to me.
As far as your request for the bill number, there are actually three bills pending in the Congress that pertain to video games. These bills are: Video Game Decency Act of 2007 – H.R. 1531 Truth in Video Game Rating Act – S. 568 Children Protection from Video Game Violence & Sexual Content Act – H.R. 2958
There are also a number of states that have similar laws that are either passed, on judicial appeal, or have been struck down. One that particularity concerns me is California's “Ultra violent Video Games” - Assembly Bills 1792 & 1793. The reason this bill concerns me is that this is basically the same bill as Louisiana's HB 1381, which was stuck down in November 2006. I have already resigned myself to the fact that some sort of legislation will materialize to reign in the availability of violent video games to minors, but methods like this seem to not be productive. After all, how effective can a law be that is struck down? More info about legislation of this nature can be found here: http://www.gamecensorship.com/legislation.htm
Again, thank you for responding to me, and I hope to hear more from you in the future
Take your normal superhero origin story. Guy gets powers, guy realizes he has powers, guy goes out to save the world. Now factor this in: the guy has a score to settle.
Everybody wonders what it is that makes them who they are. The Hawk thought that question was securely answered. However a meeting with a boy in a hospital causes him to question everything. Why he is, who he is, what he is, and even if he is.
Eleven years after the events of Consequences Of Mayorust, The Hawk finds himself dealing with many of the same issues that many of us deal with: A less than satisfying job, co-workers of variant annoyance, and a romantic life is unhealthy at best. Thrust into all this is Madison Medina, a well meaning woman who's adversarial relationship with The Hawk morphs into a kind of friendship. Madison, in addition to learning more about herself and her abilities, help to reveal deeper problems inside the organization both she and The Hawk work for.
In every workplace there is a person. A person who doesn't talk to anyone, has walled themselves socially, and seems openly hostile to everyone. Every workplace has this person, even if you don't know of such a person, they're there. The Black Robin Christmas Carol is the story of one of these people. It delves into who this person is, why this person is, and how this person can change for the better.
There is a story. A story of pain, a story of loss, a story of unspeakable horrors, a story that has not been given it's proper attention. Some are ignoring this story. Some are unaware of this story. Some know of this story but are complicit in it's darkness. This is a story that must be told. Told so that the good can stop it and the bad can feel shame for it.
When I thought up thig blog, the name I first thought up was "Random Bullshit". Quickly I recognized that this name would put some people off. Then I thought of the name "Random Bull****". That seemed to be to much clutter. Then I was inspired with the name that dons this blog today.
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