For regular readers, most know that I live in a very multi ethnic neighborhood.  With every continent represented (except antartica).  My newest neighbors I guessed were muslim based upon the woman's attire.  I met her over the weekend.  Her son (he looks about 2) loves cats and was chasing some of ours.  She appologized, and I told her dont worry.  They are more afriad of him than their own shadow!  Perhaps they will get use to him in time and let him pet them...

"Here's my strategy on the Cold War: We win, they lose." "The most terrifying words in the English language are: I'm from the government and I'm here to help." "The trouble with our liberal friends is not that they're ignorant: It's just that they know so much that isn't so." "Of the four wars in my lifetime none came about because the U.S. was too strong." "I have wondered at times about what the Ten Commandment's would have looked like if Moses had run them through the U...

When you blog in a community like Joeuser, and people read you, they form opinions of who you are and how you tick.  None of which can be true as some have shown us to be frauds.  Yet the ones that are at least semi sincere, and are not trying to be Hercules or WOnder Woman, will reveal parts of themselves in their writing.  Both in their blogs and in their comments. So when someone changes their writing nuances, it is noticed.  At least by some.  That does not mean t...

Is it live?  Or just an hallucination?  Can we play again?

Just got off the phone with manopeace and he is Dead in the water.  Seems everytime he tries to get to joe User (or Stardock, Political Machine, etc.), he gets a page starting to load, and then a Page cannot be Displayed.  As I have not had any abnormal problems, and it appears that not many else are, does Stardock belong to a blacklisting site that may have blacklisted his site due to high spam content? (Beleive it or not, the State of VA was on one of those lists at one time!&nbs...

Dabe has done her penance, and while I dont think she is not going to slip up and do the foulmouth thing again, I do think she has learned a lesson.  One I hope she will carry for at least awhile. For all that know me, you know full well I am a dyed in the wool conservative and have less than 1% of beliefs in common with Dabe.  And yes, I have made fun of her.  But she seems to have learned part of the lesson, if not the whole lesson, and I think she will bite her tongue if you...

A long, long time ago... I can still remember How that JoeUser used to make me smile. And I knew if I had my chance That I could make those bloggers dance And, maybe, they’d be happy for a while. But October made me shiver With every twitter JU delivered. Bad news on the doorstep; JU couldn’t take one more step. I can’t remember if I cried When I read about Mason's ride, But something touched me deep inside The day the Joeuser died. So bye-bye, Free IceCream Ride. Drove my G...

When I hit 10k, I was astounded and really proud!  It was an accomplishment for me! Now, I just hit 100k.  Joining an elite group of people that includes Brad, and 2 ladies! I dont expect to advance much beyond this.  But I did reach a mile stone!  And given the people on JU, I am appreciative of that. I am content where I am.  I am happy with my participation numbers.  And I thank everyone for letting me share with you. And for your interaction with me. ...

I have been reading Brian Herbert and Kevin Anderson's books about the Butlerian Jihad (I always wondered about the title, and am now glad they wrote it and I am reading them).  Jihad is a unique word.  Christians had Crusades, Hindus and Buddhist don't have any equivalent, and indeed the Crusades are not quite the same. Jihad is a powerful word!  Islam gave us this word.  And it can be bad, but then it can also be a cleansing action (read Brian and Kevin). But Jihad al...

I recently posted a Tale of 2 states, sent to me by a friend.  I asked his permission to post it, and he said ok, but to not mention him.  SO I cleaned it up and posted it.  I had thought I had attributed it to anonymous at the end, but upon looking back on it, I see that line was deleted.  So some got the impression that I had written it.  I did not say I did. Then some accused me of avoiding it.  SOme people spend all day haunting the forums, but as I have stat...

Sorry if my Darth Vader imitation is off by a bit.  I cant seem to get the nuance down at times. Recently, 2 people have called me fatherly, or father like.  One I think was done in a spirit of good natured ribbing, and the other in the heat of debate.  For the life of me, I don't see how any one can say I am fatherly, father like, or paternal.  I never had one! My father left me when I was 4.  I saw him once in my life after that.  I probably would not have r...

My sister had a birthday yesterday!  I will not embarrass her with the age as I intend to send a link to this for her.  But let me tell you about her. She was born of my stepfather and mother.  In fact, I had to sleep with my stepfather as he would not wake form anything and my mother was in the hospital in a difficult labor (this was the X0s - no birthing rooms!).  So about 2am, on October 14th in the year of our lord 19xx, I got a call.  I woke my step father and to...

Before I begin, let me thank all the great citizens of JU Land that welcomed me back, even the ones who scolded me for not telling anyone I was going on vacation.  It just means you missed me! For those who don't know, I took a couple of weeks off to what was originally intended to be, a Wedding.  And a vacation (if you are going to California for a Wedding, might as well make it a vacation too!).  We spent the first weekend in LA, where the weather was seasonable.  M...

My Wife and I had planned on taking a couple of weeks vacation to go to her Nephew's wedding in California since last March.  So we did.  Instead of writing a "see you later" or "I am done" article, I debated if I was going to say anything at all.  I will admit, that I did drop hints, and at least one person picked up on them, and I did tell one person What was going on.  But he kept it to himself. I decided at the last moment to just go and not announce.  I have seen...

I have had this bike for about 25 years.  I bought it when I worked for a major retailer that was trying to become the first in their niche market to pass a Billion Dollars in Annual sales.  So they had a great sale!  It is not a great bike.  A Schwinn 12 speed.  Not what you would call a racing caliber bike. Back in High School, I bought a Peugeot 10 speed that had bent front Forks.  I straightened them out, and got a $250 bike for $29!  I also learned all ...