Entry 84: "Olympic-of-the-Litter"

Yo!

Just wanna let everyone know "The Rant" episode FOUR is online now...

Let's see, what else is happening lately-- Hey, I have a complaint about something. Cable news organizations need to choose their words more carefully. I was breezing through channels last week, and I saw this terrifyingly worded bottom-of-the-screen news banner on CNN (this is the only clip I could find with that banner):



Of course, before I had enough time to dust off my Red Dawn DVD for survival tips on what to do if Russia invaded America's Georgia, my very improperly informed thoughts were dashed aside immediately by the realization that Russia had invaded Georgia, the COUNTRY. Not Georgia, the STATE. The point is, I really hope I wasn't the only American person who had no idea there was a country called Georgia before last week......

Oh, the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing are almost over! Also breaking news, cows fart methane gas, helping cause global warming!!!!

Seriously, Virginia (well, the people I've talked to) doesn't really seem to care a whole lot about the Olympics lately. At least not since 1996, when attending the opening ceremony was just a quick layover in Nashville away from really being there. I wonder why that is. People still genuinely care about this event; I'm reminded every time I call any one of my old friends back in California. But why don't we care as much in the Old Dominion state?

.......Is it something in the water?

Sure, there are a lot of exciting things happening over there these days; Michael Phelps became the God of Swimming...

Janos Baranya of Hungary pulled a Joe Theisman in weightlifting-- But in the arm, not leg (WARNING: it's equally disturbing)...

The U.S. Men's basketball team wipes Germany off the bottom of their shoes...

...and most importantly, the Brazilian Women's Beach Volleyball team looking at Misty May-Treanor & Kerri Walsh with oh-so-subtle jealous rage you can just barely make out in the HD clips, right before losing again to Misty & Kerri today... And did I mention the fact that this one is Women's Beach Volleyball?

...Just saying.

Look people, It's in America's nature to treat watching the Summer Olympics as water-cooler fodder to keep track of while we wait for the presidential election coverage to heat up as we get closer to November. But we're missing the big picture here! Finding resolutions for the laundry list of controversies surrounding these games! My BestFriendForever Wikipedia ran down the list as:

-Allegations that China violated its pledge to allow open media access
-Various alleged human rights violations
-Air pollution in both the city of Beijing and in neighbouring areas
-Proposed boycotts
-Warnings of the possibility that the Beijing Olympics could be targeted by terrorist groups
-A foiled sabotage attempt
-Potentially violent disruption from pro-Tibetan protesters
-Banning of ethnic Tibetans from working in Beijing for the duration of the games
-Criticisms of policies mandating the electronic surveillance of internationally owned hotels
-Displacement of residents & ticket adversities
-Manhandling of foreign journalists
-Alleged harassment, house arrests, forced disappearances, imprisonment, and torture of dissidents and protest applicants.

...and the list goes on... It's almost to the point there are as many different controversies surrounding China's Olympics as America's current Administration! Which is saying a lot!

Bottom Line: Here's a crazy idea! Aren't the Olympics generally supposed to represent the meeting and healthy competition of cultures? Think about how much better things would be if wars were fought in the form of international sports competitions that only even happen twice a decade, instead of what we're seeing right now in Georgia (I know, the COUNTRY; I get it!!!!)? We should be using these games to their full potential, by seeing who's, for example, the best shooter of arrows, not bullets, and try to settle international disputes that way. No loss of life, no bloodshed, no heartwrenching 3am-on-USA-Network paid advertisements to send only thirty cents a day to help young victims, stuck in these war-torn environments the world over.

I'm sure that would bring the movie Rollerball to real-life essentially (Um... hopefully the 1975 James Caan version, NOT the 2002 Chris Klein version), but you can't argue against that in favor of the alternative, as Ron Paul prophetically predicted back in 2002:



...But that's just me.

I expect to see/hear about far less bloodshed around the world as we get closer to the 2012 Summer Olympics in London! ...Or better yet, 2010's Winter Olympics in Canada... Eh?

By the way, don't forget the closing ceremony is this coming Sunday night, 8/24!

Later!
-D.

Entry 83: "Tectonic Boom"

Yo!

"Plate tectonics (from Greek τέκτων, tektōn "builder" or "mason") is a theory of geology that has been developed to explain the observed evidence for large scale motions of the Earth's lithosphere. The theory encompassed and superseded the older theory of continental drift from the first half of the 20th century and the concept of seafloor spreading developed during the 1960s.

"The outermost part of the Earth's interior is made up of two layers: above is the lithosphere, comprising the crust and the rigid uppermost part of the mantle. Below the lithosphere lies the asthenosphere. Although solid, the asthenosphere has relatively low viscosity and shear strength and can flow like a liquid on geological time scales. The deeper mantle below the asthenosphere is more rigid again. This is, however, not because of cooler temperatures but due to high pressure.

"The lithosphere is broken up into what are called tectonic plates —in the case of Earth, there are seven major and many minor plates. The lithospheric plates ride on the asthenosphere. These plates move in relation to one another at one of three types of plate boundaries: convergent or collision boundaries, divergent or spreading boundaries, and transform boundaries. Earthquakes, volcanic activity, mountain-building, and oceanic trench formation occur along plate boundaries. The lateral movement of the plates is typically at speeds of 50—100 millimeters-per-annus (Latin for 'year')."

This is how Wikipedia clarifies the science of earthquakes.

This is how Judge Judy Sheindlin reacts to it:



So okay, there was a pretty scary magnitude 5.8 or so earthquake that hit much of the west coast late Tuesday morning. Reports say it originated around Chino Hills, CA and was felt as far out as Las Vegas. But that clip of Judge Judy bailing did look sorta funny, in a "This would've looked hilarious if it was left in the final broadcast show"way, and of course not a "Holy crap, they must've been terrified; glad I wasn't there, but I would've done the same thing" way.

Look people, Bottom Line with this is, you ever notice how whenever these extreme weather cases pop up, they seem to play out more and more like The Day After Tomorrow in slow motion? This, the wildfires last year, Katrina, etcetera... I've said it before and I'll say it again. I can't begin to think of what'll possibly happen with these environmental disasters next, but I doubt it'll get better from here, sadly. I'm not sure how if at all, man's influence on global warming might have caused tectonic plates to shift, but I guess one bright side is it could've been worse. A LOT worse. Another bright side is there may be a new island forming off the nearest coast to Chino Hills as a result of the shift....

I think I read somewhere that earthquakes had something to do with helping create new land masses...

...But that's just me.

Later, I gotta do some research.

-D.