Friday, May 13, 2005
Ignorance, chili and stuff to think about
I just read the Associated Press headline that the new Holocaust Memorial in Berlin was vandalized. The memorial was designed by an American and just opened on Thursday, and a day later some moron goes and defaces it. I never fully understood the level of hate some people have. It is beyond me to feel this passionately negative about something. It is sad, really.
Also on the Associated Press today is the story about the woman who found that finger in her bowl of Wendy’s chili. When a restaurant (and I use that term loosely) needs to issue this statement, “Wendy's had said all the employees at the San Jose store were found to have all their fingers, and no suppliers of Wendy's ingredients have reported any hand or finger injuries,” its another sad state of affairs. Apparently she planted it there and the finger came from a dude that her husband worked with who lost the finger in an industrial accident months ago. So this shady lady had a severed finger for months? Well, that’s quite disgusting. As with the Holocaust Memorial defacing, if people would harvest this negativity and turn it to the positive, the world would be a better place don’t you think? Think of all the business they lost, not that I am feeling sorry for a corporation, but Wendy’s had to lay off a shit load of employees after this claim. I think you can agree that the last thing anyone wants is more unemployment.
About a week or so ago, the FBI made headlines stating they wanted to exhume the body of Emmett Till. For those not in the know about Till, he was the black child who was murdered in Mississippi in 1955 for whistling at a white woman. This is a fascinating case because, among other reasons, it happened only fifty years ago. I like to think that in some ways we have come along way. The FBI believes that if they do a proper autopsy on the body they will be able to determine if the Till murderers (now dead) had accomplices who may still be alive. The men who were charged with the murder by the way were acquitted by an all-white jury and then confessed to the murder in an interview in LOOK magazine just a few months later. You can read that excellent article by visiting: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/till/sfeature/sf_look.html.
Also in the news are idiots paying as much as $500 for tickets to the exclusive premiere of Star Wars Episode 3. Don’t get me wrong, I am as big a Star Wars geek as the next guy, and I will go see it opening weekend, but why pay $500 for a ticket to see it a week early? Same logic applies to people who “must” have the latest technology as it comes out rather than wait six months when the price bottoms out. If you read a previous post I did about me getting an iPod, you’ll see I believe in waiting out the fever and getting cool stuff after the buzz dies down. You could say I am intentionally a year behind in what’s cool but the fact is that with a mortgage and a baby, I can’t afford to be hip anymore. Excuse me while I go listen to Guns-N-Roses and long for the days of high school and no responsibility. My biggest concern then was where I was getting a keg from for the party this weekend.
Rhetorical Questions to think about over the weekend:
1. Will the new Will Ferrell movie tank?
2. Will Keith Richards make it through another tour before his heart kicks out?
3. Does anyone (but me) care that there is no hockey?
4. Is the runaway bride really a space alien trying to make her way back to Area 51 before her mother ship returned to its home planet? Before you answer, take another look at those eyes.
5. Did Paula Abdul sleep with that Clarke guy? Does anyone care? She should totally take the power back in this matter and say ‘yeah, I did him, and he wasn’t any good and he had a small wiener.” Watch Mr. Clarke shut up real fast.
Also on the Associated Press today is the story about the woman who found that finger in her bowl of Wendy’s chili. When a restaurant (and I use that term loosely) needs to issue this statement, “Wendy's had said all the employees at the San Jose store were found to have all their fingers, and no suppliers of Wendy's ingredients have reported any hand or finger injuries,” its another sad state of affairs. Apparently she planted it there and the finger came from a dude that her husband worked with who lost the finger in an industrial accident months ago. So this shady lady had a severed finger for months? Well, that’s quite disgusting. As with the Holocaust Memorial defacing, if people would harvest this negativity and turn it to the positive, the world would be a better place don’t you think? Think of all the business they lost, not that I am feeling sorry for a corporation, but Wendy’s had to lay off a shit load of employees after this claim. I think you can agree that the last thing anyone wants is more unemployment.
About a week or so ago, the FBI made headlines stating they wanted to exhume the body of Emmett Till. For those not in the know about Till, he was the black child who was murdered in Mississippi in 1955 for whistling at a white woman. This is a fascinating case because, among other reasons, it happened only fifty years ago. I like to think that in some ways we have come along way. The FBI believes that if they do a proper autopsy on the body they will be able to determine if the Till murderers (now dead) had accomplices who may still be alive. The men who were charged with the murder by the way were acquitted by an all-white jury and then confessed to the murder in an interview in LOOK magazine just a few months later. You can read that excellent article by visiting: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/till/sfeature/sf_look.html.
Also in the news are idiots paying as much as $500 for tickets to the exclusive premiere of Star Wars Episode 3. Don’t get me wrong, I am as big a Star Wars geek as the next guy, and I will go see it opening weekend, but why pay $500 for a ticket to see it a week early? Same logic applies to people who “must” have the latest technology as it comes out rather than wait six months when the price bottoms out. If you read a previous post I did about me getting an iPod, you’ll see I believe in waiting out the fever and getting cool stuff after the buzz dies down. You could say I am intentionally a year behind in what’s cool but the fact is that with a mortgage and a baby, I can’t afford to be hip anymore. Excuse me while I go listen to Guns-N-Roses and long for the days of high school and no responsibility. My biggest concern then was where I was getting a keg from for the party this weekend.
Rhetorical Questions to think about over the weekend:
1. Will the new Will Ferrell movie tank?
2. Will Keith Richards make it through another tour before his heart kicks out?
3. Does anyone (but me) care that there is no hockey?
4. Is the runaway bride really a space alien trying to make her way back to Area 51 before her mother ship returned to its home planet? Before you answer, take another look at those eyes.
5. Did Paula Abdul sleep with that Clarke guy? Does anyone care? She should totally take the power back in this matter and say ‘yeah, I did him, and he wasn’t any good and he had a small wiener.” Watch Mr. Clarke shut up real fast.
