In today’s world of mass merchandising, big box stores and Al Gore’s Internet putting out the next holiday’s wares before the other one is even over, it begs to question?
Which is worse? Easter or Christmas?
Let us know…
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Robert Forto is a musher training for his first Iditarod under the Team Ineka banner and the host of the popular radio shows, Mush! You Huskies and Dog Works Radio Shows
Its been a cold winter in Alaska. I may still be a cheechako because to me -30 out in the dog yard is might cold on the ole’ fingers. In Anchorage they are saying that it has been the coldest January on record. So cold that they are not letting the kids out to play at school recess.
That’s right folks, I have said it before and I will say it again–we do things different in Alaska. We raise our kids to be a wee bit heartier than you folks do down in the Lower 48. We let them outside to play, at school no doubt, for recess when it is well below zero. They may all be dressed like “Randy” from the movie A Christmas Story, but at least they are outside.
But it was even colder Saturday at Jim’s River, Alaska where an amateur weather station measured a temperature of -79 F, one degree above the all-time U.S. low temperature record of -80.
Wait. There is more to this story. As soon as the station hit -79 degrees it stopped transmitting. Meaning it is entirely possible it went below that. Al Gore’s (well not Al, personally) band of Global Warming nut jobs wondered if the data outage was some sort of government conspiracy, especially after the NOAA’s National Weather Service said that the data was inadmissible anyway because it was “amateur.”
Read more about this supposed conspiracy on the Watt’s Up Blog.
I guess if the National Weather Service really wanted to do their job they could have sent someone out there to Jim’s with one of those fancy-dancy old school thermometers and taken a reading themselves. Heck, maybe they could have even sent Al Roper.
What am I saying. It was too dang cold. Even for Alaska. But at least for now -80 F will stand and probably will for a while because today most of us are just too lazy, sitting around in our Snuggies watching American Idol on the tube while history is being made right in front of our eyes.
Isn’t that an inconvenient truth?
I am participating in a blog challenge this month. It is 30 Days About Me from the blog Daily Dose of Toni.
Each day we share just a little sliver of our lives so that you, rabid reader, can learn a little about what makes us tick. In days past I have shared my favorite quote, a picture that makes me happy, and even my most treasured item.
Today’s topic is: Something I hate.
There aren’t too many things that I hate except the overreach of government, paying taxes and I guess possibly death.
But let’s not get all worked up into a lather and fuss about things that we ultimately have no control over what-so-ever.
So in the spirit of keeping things light and airy I guess the one thing that makes my skin crawl is those ever-present CAPTCHA codes you see on websites, blogs, TicketMaster, heck even my dog training site has one on our contact page.
Hmmmm. Maybe that makes me a hypocrite?
I mean, really, seriously do we need those things everywhere on the web?
I guess your argument is valid if you want to rid the world of spammers. Well, I got news for you my fine feathered friends, If Al Gore wanted there to be no spammers on the web when he invented it he would have joined the Libertarian party with their free love and passivity.
Back to my rant: I hate ’em on blogs especially, other sites not so much, but when I’m trying to comment and I hit send, and then I gotta wait a couple seconds for the CAPTCHA to load, put it in, and hit send AGAIN.
I guess one way around it is I could set my blog to private so only my family (whom I can count on both hands, by the way) is the only one aloud to read my musings.
Heck even Facebook puts up these speed bumps when I try to post links. Come on Mark, I thought we were pals! I mean, come on! I have 4708 friends on the site and I update at least 20 times a day. I have even paid for an ad for my dog businesses–on more than one occasion.
I thought after more than four years on the site you would trust me by now? I guess not.
Well, I guess there is nothing that we can really do on this vile subject. At least not today.
But dare I say–Death to the CAPTCHA codes! It will make life a better place.
Follow my news and updates on Twitter, my whereabouts on Foursquare and relationship status on Facebook. Or send me a telegram.
Well, that’s it. Either Big Brother is watching me, or I am updating my viewing habits on iPhone apps like Into_Now too much, or I can finally quote my favorite movie scene of all time:
The other day I got a large packet in the mail from none other than Mr. Nielsen himself. Yep, that guy! The guy that wants to know what you are watching on T.V. and report back to him.
Why do they want this you ask?
So they can keep shows like Murder She Wrote and American Idol on FOREVER even though no SANE person in the world would ever get passed one episode.
By dancing with the devil (otherwise known as Mr. Neilsen) we are forced to acknowledge that C.B.S. really is the “nations #1 network.”
How can it be when most of the nation is watching repeats of Family Guy on Cartoon Network and shows that get paid by the all important baby-boomer generation.
That’s right. It all comes down to money and what they call DEMOGRAPHICS. No, that is not a high school class that is taught by Bill Clinton. It is a way to measure people by an age group by what they spend (at least in the case of Mr. Nielsen) at Super Walmart.
How do they know what we spend?
It works this way:
But wait there is more! Mr. Neilsen sent me something else in that packet. CASH. yep, that’s right. Cold-Hard-Cash.
Two good ole’ American George Washington Dollar Bills so crisp they are sure to glide easily into one of those vending machines at the laundry mat.
I am not going to spend them however. I am going to scribble some signature on them and hang them up in my dog training school like a lot of folks do for the first dollar they earn. Sorry to say my first dollar was in the form of a check!
So, at least I know now that all the rumors are true; Al Gore and his Big Brother DO watch our every move and also know that I must change my viewing habits on T.V. especially if they send me one of those set top boxes.