Which color is best for a tabby cat?

My friend Tricia asked me to share my opinion on tabby cats recently, so I figured I should get that done before too long. In particular, she wanted to know which color tabby I thought was best. First I had to do some research on tabbies. I'd heard about them, and seen them, but I didn't really know what made a tabby a tabby.

So I learned that tabbies aren't a breed of cats. Instead they are a category that ignores color or breed. Basically, if you have a cat with stripes or dots or swirls, you're looking at a tabby cat. (Tabbies also typically have an M pattern on their faces.)

So how does color factor into this? It doesn't really change the way tabbies are defined, so it is really just a matter of preference. I've personally always been a fan of black cats, but how would you know that you had a black tabby? The patterns would fade into the black.

There are also several difference patterns that are recognized with tabbies-mackeral, classic, spotted, and ticked. Mackerals have vertical stripes. Look for whirled patterns or bullseyes on Classic tabbies. Spotted tabbies have spots obviously, and Ticked tabbies have a 'sale-and-pepper' appearance.

Now that I've babbled about information for a while, let me just say that orange tabbies are the best. They are the color I typically associate with tabbies, so that makes a big difference in my opinion. However, I also like the idea of orange cats. They may not be as cool as black cats, but they are still cute.



My friend's kitten, Jayne



Buses aren't as bad as I remember.

Before I get started, I want to mention that I'm not talking about school buses or chartered trips. I'm thinking specifically about taking a trip someplace and using the bus to get there.

My first bike ride was when I was in 7th grade. My Mom decided to send me on a bus to visit my best friend down in Virginia. In a car, the trip would have taken about 7 hours depending on traffic and all the unexpected things that pop up from time to time.

I was glad for the chance to take the trip. Sure I was young, but I wanted to see my friend, and I was more than willing to make the trip even if it was going to take 26 hours to get there.

(This is a little disconnected from the trip I was going to write about. Let me finish my positive thoughts and then I'll turn around and complain about bus stations.)

Anyway, those younger bus trips were not back to back and I got to spend a week with my best friend and really enjoy my time in Virginia. However, that didn't make either trip enjoyable. A bus is not a comfortable place to sleep at night, and big city bus stations are not nearly as nice as airport terminals. At the airport, someone keeps track of most of your stuff for you, but at the bus terminal, you have to you have to carry everything with you. (This is not fun, especially in the bathrooms.)

Anyway, I recently took an unexpected trip on the bus from Kearney, Nebraska to my new home in Fairplay, Colorado. It wasn't too bad. I left at 2 am and was able to sleep comfortably most of the night and even got a few things done. I was not as impressed with the last part of the trip. The second bus was a mess and made me wish I was on a regular bus.

OK, now let me complain about bus terminals. I don't know why I expected the terminal to have a wifi signal, but I did. I didn't find one that I could access, so I ended up dragging all my stuff down 7 or 8 blocks of Denver trying to find a place to pick up a signal. I did finally manage to find one, but it was not fun dragging my bags all over the city. I'm pretty sure I wasn't the first person to be stuck there for 6 hours waiting for a transfer to happen.

So, for the most part taking the bus isn't as bad as I remember, but there's still a long way to go.

I still believe that one man can make a difference

One of my favorite shows growing up was Knight Rider. I know it was corny, but I wasn't the only one that learned about suspension of thanks to a talking crime-fighting car. Why do I bring this up? Am I going to get all 80's TV nostalgic on you? No, I bring it up for the closing line of the introduction to the show. In the opening montage we learn every week about the main character Michael Knight. More importantly we learn that he is working to prove that "one man can make a difference."

Do I believe that somewhat cliched TV message? I certianly do. I think that it is individuals that cause change-much more than groups. If nothing else, any powerful, world-changing group started with one person with an idea to change the world.

This is important because that one person can make a change for good or for bad. It's all a matter of what they are trying to do. It's a hard fact, but what we do with our lives has a lasting impact on more than just us. Every action and interaction has a lasting impact. So why not do your best to make the world a better place?

I'm not crazy enough to think that a smile and a kind word will fix all of the problems in the world, but I do think that I can make a difference in someone's life and that can have a bigger impact.

It's a hard habit to unbreak

Well, it's been almost a month since I posted anything new on my blog. It's a strange thing because there was a long time after I got into the flow of writing that I was posting something every day. I was really enjoying it. Then I started working on This or That and I started to slow down a little bit. Then one thing led to another and it's been a month since my last post.

I've thought about writing for a while. I want to get back to my Top Twelve X-men, and start some other fun things. I really want to get some work done on my Single-Post project where I write about topics that I've only tagged once in my posts. I think that will really help me flex my creative muscles in my writing.

OK, this is the second day on this one post. That's how bad off I am. I guess I should be happy that I got around to working two days in a row, but a month ago, I would have gotten this done in one day. That's basically what I'm getting at I guess. We talk about breaking bad habits and how hard it is, but what about getting into a positive habit?

Well, I'm finding it to be pretty hard. Some days are better than others. (Sorry, I'm not trying to make this sound like an A.A. meeting.) My biggest goal is to try to keep writing at least some each day. I'll be doing this not just for you, but also for my own piece of mind. Writing is a process that I enjoy more than I realized, and I like to think I can at least express myself clearly. It seems like some people enjoy what I'm writing about too.

So, hopefully, I'll get back on track soon. I've actually written my #7 for the Top Twelve X-men. I just need to add in the pictures of a certain Cajun. (Yeah, that kind of gives it away.) I'll be working hard to continue with the writing process.

For anyone cares, I'd love some suggestions on another top 12 list. I've still got some ideas, but I'd love some suggestions. Also, don't forget the Single-Post project. Look at all the tags with 1 post and let me know which one you'd like me to write about. I'm going to do them all, (theoretically) but I'd love to have some suggestions on what to do first.

Welcome to Modern Life!

Well, here we are again with another Single-Post Project post. It wasn't all that long ago that I wrote about the modern world and there are plenty of other topics I could tackle, but at the moment, this topic just stood out.

I think part of the attraction is the fact that the modern lifestyle has so much to offer. I can meet and connect with people all over the world. I can talk to them in real time or we can message back and forth. We can connect via video or audio or text in a way that would have been called Science Fiction twenty years ago. However, it's all real, and we have it right here in our own little handheld devices as well.

I just got thinking how so much of what we currently have looks like something out of Star Trek. (I watched a few shows about it.) You know, Star Trek's communicators are like low-tech cell phone, and things like that. So what about those tricorders that could do body scans and all sorts of other strange things. I'm really just wondering if there's a tricorder app out there. (OK, I looked it up and if you have an Android phone, you can download a tricorder app.)

So, yes, we are doing all sorts of new and exciting things thanks to our ever improving technology, but does it really make our lives any better? There was a time that I was addicted to Facebook. Then I started connecting with random people on Tumblr and that's where I spend most of my time. I'm not sure where I'll end up next.

I had a similar situation with my cell phone. I've had a cell phone for a long time and when it was time to replace my phone earlier this year, I decided that rather than try to find a suitable replacement for my old LG Chocolate, I would invest in one of those new-fangled smart phones. I wasn't excited about it, and I didn't really expect it to change the way I used my phone, but now I'm complaining that my phone isn't smart enough.

Technology is changing at a rapid pace and who knows what the future might hold. I doubt I'll ever see a flying car, but I'm sure that what we do find in the future will amaze us. I look forward to seeing what is in our future even if I'm worried that we may not really be ready for it.

So much for 'of the people, by the people, and for the people'

Well, it looks like this shut down might just happen. Won't it be wonderful to have our Federal government closed down for a while? We won't have to worry about listening to all the political jargon or any of the hateful comments from either side of the political fence. Oh wait, that's not what will happen with the shut down at all is it?

No, if there is a shut down later today, you can expect a huge increase in political jargon and name calling and instead there will just be a huge decrease in what the government normally does for us. That seems like a fair trade doesn't it? I don't think so either.

I'm not asking Washington to do everything for me, but I would at least like some mild form of promise that those politicians would be a little more faithful in the trust that the American people have placed in them. Most of the American people have much bigger concerns than what seems to be so important right now. At this point, I can't even tell what's so darn important that it gets in the way of keeping the basic operation of our country alive.

As I was thinking about writing this post, I thought of the words in the title that I snagged from the Gettysburg Address given by Abraham Lincoln. Why can't our politicians remember that this is a "of the people, by the people, and for the people" rather than a chance for elected officials to flex their political muscle? That's all I'm going to say about the subject for now.

Well, just one more thing...Dear Washington, please start thinking about the American people for just a minute instead of your own agendas and egos. (That goes for both sides of the party political machine.)

How smart are computers getting?

I've been doing a lot of writing, not only for this opinion blog, but also a creative writing blog and as a contributing writer for This or That. Well the other day, one of the writers for This or That posted an article about lessons he learned playing rock-paper-scissors with his computer. (Follow this link to try it out for yourself)

I tried it and I have to warn you that the computer cheats, a lot. OK, it doesn't actually cheat, but it uses it's superior computing powers to review all of your past moves and uses your paterns against you. It's so not fair, but you can click on a button to see into the computers brain and watch it review your move history. Let's say your last four moves were rock, paper, paper, scissors. The computer reviews all your moves to see if you've ever followed that pattern before. If so, it looks to see what you threw after that pattern and moves accordingly. If not, it will look for the pattern of paper, paper, scissors. This computer model isn't far off from what we go through when we decide which of the three to throw when we play, but we don't have such an extensive and exact memory.

So how did I do? After two hundred rounds I basically broke even. I managed to win, lose and draw about a third of the time for each. It wasn't easy to reach this mark either. I had to continually change my thinking. If I didn't change my strategy, and conciously think about my strategy, I didn't stand a chance. It was by having a pattern, but keeping it random that I was able to keep the computer from beating me. If you've got some time, it's a good exercise to try and outsmart the computer.

See if you can do better than I did, and leave a comment below to let me know how you did.

Moving at the speed of the internet.

Sometimes it's hard to see just how much technology has taken over our modern life. I've adjusted to my current home in the middle of nowhere in terms of extremely limited cell service, but I'm still adjusting to the less-than-wonderful internet service we recieve from a certain satellite company I won't name right here. Anyway, there was a fairly big storm that passed through our part of New York State and I was without internet service for over 16 hours. (As far as I can tell, the service at home is still down. I'm currently writing this at work.)

That wasn't all though, we were also having trouble with the land line phone not working so I had quite a bit of trouble getting in touch with my sister about her plans for the weekend. So, it's no big deal to be without a decent cell phone or land line or internet, right? Well, There were a few other things I was trying to sort out, but it still shouldn't have seemed that that big a deal, but it was.

Technology has definitely taken over our lives and makes if difficult for us to face a simpler existence. I often think about what it would be like to go back in time and enjoy the world a little bit more, but then I realize that I might miss something on Facebook or Tumblr. There are definitley times that I realized just how dependent I've become on my technology.

So with all of that, will I make a change? Maybe, maybe not. It really depends on so many things. First off, I've really enjoyed writing and blogging so I can't completely give up on the technology, especially since I get paid for some of the writing that I'm doing. (Let me take a moment to shamelessly plug my writing on This or That)

Well, that's my two cents on the matter. Feel free to comment below, and share your own perspective on the matter.

DC's latest animated release-Superman/Shazam!

I didn't have high hopes for this animated special. I've seen a lot of the DC animated comic book movies, and they've been decent. A few of them have even been good, but I was extremely impressed with this DVD. Of course, I should add that this DVD will still disappoint you with what it isn't, but we'll get to that in a minute.

So based on previous DVDs put out by DC, I was expecting to see the entire length of this disc devoted to Superman and Captain Marvel fighting with Black Adam, but about half an hour in, I was very disappointed to see that the story was coming to an end. Before I move on to the rest of the disc, let me tell you that the main reason I was disappointed was because the quality of story and art was so high that I didn't want the story to end at that point. Let's talk for a minute about what's happening in the story.

So the basic storyline is that Billy Batson is just a kid trying to survive alone on the streets. He's lost his parents and he ran away from foster care. He's trying to make it the best he can. Somehow he still has a positive attitude about the world and is even willing to stand up for a homeless man who is getting robbed by a group of kids. (Being a foot shorter than the shortest of the trio means he doesn't last very long.) Billy is also meeting with Clark Kent, who is doing a story on the foster care situation in the city. At the same time, Black Adam has made his 5000 year voyage back to earth after being exiled, and want to kill Billy because of what will happen next. (Billy gains super powers based off the ancient gods and is the replacement for Black Adam.) Super powered fisticuffs ensues, but you'll have to see the DVD to see what happens next.

The story ends and you realize two things: first the story was way too short, and second there's still a lot of time left. That's OK, the rest of the disc is going to blow your mind. There is an assortment of short features of a variety of DC heroes. It's a great idea even if the DVD is mislabeled. (It should have been called DC Showcase or something like that.) So what else do you get? The Spectre, The Green Arrow (with Black Canary cameo) and Jonah Hex all get short story treatment. Each special is done with it's own temporal and emotional treatment. The Spectre feels like an old film noir detective story, Jonah Hex has a wild west feel, and Green Arrow is more of a modern adventure.

If you have any interest in comic books and characters, you will want to watch this DVD even if you don't follow DC very much. It will be worth your time.

Should we just give up on equality?

 So I just finished reading an article that titled "Why Rich Parents Don't Matter." (see the article here:
http://finance.yahoo.com/family-home/article/111917/why-rich-parents-dont-matter?mod=family-kids_parents)
I thought I was going to read about how smart kids will always out perform no matter the background, or perhaps an article that says that all the extra help money can buy doesn't make that much difference. Instead I read an article that basically says that it doesn't matter if we remove the class-side of the equation because some kids are genetically predisposed to being smart.

What is the point of saying this? Why do we need someone to tell us that education won't ever be completely fair? That's not a new revelation. So rather than trying to make things better, we should be content to leave things the way they are? That doesn't make any sense at all. Our education system should be giving every student a chance to reach their full potential. I doubt we can do much about the financial concerns, but that doesn't mean we should dismiss them as being something not worth our time and effort.

In case you haven't figured it out I disagree with the title of this article and its final conclusion, but look it over and decide for yourself. Then feel free to leave a comment below.

Bring back that mammoth!

Wait, what was that? Bring back the mammoth? Do you mean that horrible Syfy movie with the monster with all the tentacles that look like tails? No? Well that's something to be thankful for then. Bring back the woolly mammoth? What would the woolly mammoth do in our day and age?

Well, in case you haven't seen it, a group of Japanese scientists have declared that within the next 5 years they will bring the woolly mammoth back from extinction. (see the article here: http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20110117/wl_asia_afp/japansciencemammoth_20110117104445)  So what is their evil plan? They want to take an egg cell from an elephant and suck the genetic material out of it and replace it with some DNA from a sample from a woolly mammoth. I can understand how the science works, but I can't understand following through on the process.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not an anti-woolly-mammoth type of person. I just don't think the scientists have thought beyond creating the mammoth. Will we just make them to study and put in zoos or will we try to create a setting for them to live in? Where will we put them? Our ecosystems are fragile enough without adding the woolly mammoth to the mix.

Let's consider the options. Can we let the mammoths live with elephants in the jungles? They aren't designed for that kind of climate. I guess we could place them in Siberia or Alaska, but what would that do to those locations? We certainly can't dump them on the polar ice caps. They are shrinking way too fast to provide them with a stable home. I guess the best option is to keep them in captivity, but it hardly seems worthwhile to bring a species out of "retirement" just to lock them away.

I understand the curiosity of the scientists, but I guess I want a plan before humanity embarks on such a project. What do you think about this idea? Comment below.

More political mudslinging (and it isn't even election season yet)

The very recent shooting this weekend in Arizona was a very jarring experience for the country. I just participated in a Presidentially requested moment of silence at the school I'm subbing at. There are still lots of questions about what exactly happened, how many people were injured and/or killed and the biggest question is if Representative Gabrielle Giffords will recover and when. These are important concerns and I don't have a problem with these issues. I'm hoping for a swift recovery for all those who were injured and peace and strength to get through this difficult time.

My issue is that we already have people blaming the attack on different political parties. This should not be a time to promote your political agenda. Instead, it should be a time for our country to come together. There may be a connection between Tea Party ads that targeted specific Democratic candidates, but that doesn't mean that the shooter made that connection. Let's at least wait until we know all of the details before we start the 2012 Campaign season. I'm still recovering from 2010.

If it's not your money then just back off.

380 million dollars split between two winners. We know who the first winner is. He had to sit through a press conference and have his face splashed all over national television. Now everyone knows who they are and exactly how much money they have. I would not want that to be me. (Not that it even could be. I don't play along with the lottery. I'd rather have the money I have than hope for money I don't have much chance of winning.)

So why hasn't the second winner shown up yet? I doubt they're going to walk away from all that money, but it is hard to think about all the attention that will be coming their way. After you get past the big press conference, everyone in the world will know. Your family, your friends, and all the people that think you owe them something from the days you knew them. There will probably be lots of people you don't even know that will come out of the woodworks too. It's no wonder that whoever has the other winning ticket hasn't said anything yet, but there are still people making public appeals to this anonymous stranger to step forward.

Now for an interesting question: why not just take the money and avoid all the press? Wouldn't that be much easier? Well, most people don't realize it, but your lottery ticket has a nice little message on the back that informs you that if you win you are legally obligated to let the lottery use you to show how easy it is to win. So you have to play along.

I'm still waiting for the episode on CSI or NCIS where the lotto winner is attacked/abucted for the money. Maybe it was already on and I just missed it. Anyway, it you're the person with the ticket and your reading this, then do whatever you want. I don't feel the need to tell you what to do. You've got plenty of your own problems to worry about.

What is wrong with editting Huck Finn?

I'm sure you've heard about the latest edition of a certain Mark Twain classic. You know, the one that has had certain offensive words removed from it. It's been all over the news and internet, and a lot of people are upset about it. In case you couldn't tell already, I'm one of those upset people.

I can understand why someone would choose to make this edit happen. By eliminating the 'n' word he hopes to keep the book from being banned in various schools across the country. This Twain scholar is hoping to get Twain read by more people. I just have several problems with his approach to the problem.

First, I want you to think about why Twain wrote. He wanted to open the minds of the people who read his work. He wanted to speak about specific issues of his time and world. Twain also wanted to record the words and stories of the people he encountered. He did not use the 'n' word out of spite or prejudice. He was reflecting the language of his time.

Next, let's consider history. A very famous quote by George Santayana. "Those who cannot remember the past, are condemned to repeat it." Why are we trying to deny this was a part of our history. I know it's bad, but if you want to complain about it, go watch Eternal Sunshine of a Spotless Mind again. Ignoring the problem doesn't make it go away.

One more point point before I wrap this up: Mark Twain would have ridiculed anyone who tried to mess with his work. Not only ridiculed but publicly humiliated over and over again. Twain was a man who knew how to use words to his advantage. I couldn't find a Twain quote that would work well with my rant, but I can hear one of the many Mark Twain impersonators (check out Hal Holbrook is one of the best and has done an annual show for 56 years) saying something like, "In my day, a man could write a book, and if another man didn't like it, he didn't have to read it."

Anyway, that's my opinion. It won't change the fact that the book is getting published right now. Maybe it will convince people to read the book that wouldn't have otherwise.

Will Arnold ever be President of the United States of America?

For as long as I can remember, people have been talking about Arnold Schwarzenegger becoming President some day. The scary part of that discussion is that many of those people were serious about that possibility. Keep in mind that this was during the days when Arnold was playing the Terminator rather than having his face imprinted with CGI. He had moved past his days playing Hercules running around NYC and his self promoting video biography of his days from the body building circuit, but he was still just a big man with a funny accent.

These days Arnold has built some significant clout that could put him in position to run for office some day. He's married to a Kennedy, he's been the governor of California, and even though things didn't always go the way he planned in California, he did manage to keep the state in one piece in some pretty rough times.

So what's to keep the strong man from running say in 2012? There is the little detail of him not being an American citizen. At some point in the process of developing our system of government, the founding fathers decided that while foreigners were more than welcome to move to America, they certainly could not run for President. That makes sense to a certain extent, and what that means is that poor Arnold isn't eligible to be a part of that electoral race.

Is there a loophole? This is America, land of the loopholes. All Arnold needs is a Constitutional Amendment. That can either come through the Legislature or each state would have to have a vote on the matter, and if every state said yes, then it could happen.  If you think about the process, you can quickly determine that this would be a lengthy process. If there were a major push, and the majority of the country was behind it, the Amendment might get passed in 10 years. (Remember, you have to have state-wide petitions, each state would have to consider the proposition and have a vote on it before anything else would even be possible.)

So what about Arnold? As far as we know, he has no Presidential aspirations, but even if he did, he wouldn't be in any condition to run the country by the time he actually could. At 67, Schwarzenegger would be in his late 70s by the time he might be eligible to run for office. McCain had a hard enough time with the age issue during the last election, so I don't think that Arnold would make out any better on that front.

My money is on this answer being no, Arnold Schwarzenegger will never be the President of the United States of America. That's just my opinion. Feel free to comment on this topic below.

Best episodes to get started with Doctor Who.

So I thought I was going to take a break from Doctor Who for a little while after my Top Twelve Doctors list, but I received a request for some suggestions on where to get started with the show for newbies. I think that I will put together a listing of episodes for each Doctor (except the eighth, who only has one story to watch.)  What I want to do first, though, is to give you some general episodes that will give you the best perspective on the franchise as a while. So without more ado, here are a few suggestions of Doctor Who stories.

 Actually, I do want to mention  one more thing before I start. You will not be able to watch every episode of Doctor Who in order. You won't even be able to watch every episode. Back in the 1960's someone at BCC decided to free up tape and erased a large chunk of the work done by the first and second Doctor. I wish that wasn't the case, but it is. Some of the DVDs you can buy will have audio portions of the episodes with still pics from the production, but even that won't give you everything.

Where should you start? If you haven't seen anything to do with Doctor Who, I recommend starting at the beginning of the new run. Christopher Eccleston does a great job of helping new viewers figure out who the Doctor is and the kind of characters and enemies he encounters on a regular basis. The writers do a great job of giving the Doctor dialogue to explain the Doctor. Here's a quote to give you and example of who Eccleston's Doctor was:

"Do you know like we were sayin'? About the Earth revolving? It's like when you're a kid. The first time they tell you that the world's turning and you just can't quite believe it 'cause everything looks like it's standin' still. I can feel it. The turn of the Earth. The ground beneath our feet is spinnin' at 1,000 miles an hour and the entire planet is hurtling around the sun at 67,000 miles an hour, and I can feel it. We're fallin' through space, you and me, clinging to the skin of this tiny little world, and if we let go... That's who I am.
 So you want to learn about the other Doctors, but you really don't have the time to watch every episode you can get your hands on? Maybe you want to narrow down your choices before you begin. I have the perfect solution for you. Watch an anniversary special. During the original run of Doctor Who, it was tradition to have a special episode for anniversaries. There are two really great options. On one hand, you can watch the Three Doctors which celebrates the 10th anniversary of the show and bring the first three actors together in one adventure. Your other option is the Five Doctors which brings together Doctors 1-5.
Both of these are great stories and do a great job of getting you a feel for the different actors. You also get to meet some of the companions from the different eras. Hartnell, the original Doctor has a limited role in the Three Doctors due to failing health, and he is unable to appear in the Five Doctors having passed away shortly after the Three Doctors. Richard Hurdnell does a decent job as a replacement for Hartnell.

Those are some basic suggestions. I'll have more specific episodes for each Doctor down the road.

Is a White Christmas worth it?

Once upon a time a man wrote a song that made Christmas what it is today. Well I guess there were plenty of other songs that added to the modern Christmas, but "White Christmas" is the song that set the standard for one important element of what we think Christmas should have-snow. Just think about any Christmas movie, especially those set in warm locations like California. What has to happen in order for the story to have a truly happy ending? That's right there has to be snow.

Now look at what is happening this year. The white Christmas that moved all the way down to Georgia is closing down a large part of the country. There have also been problems in Europe as well. Transportation problems existed on both sides of Christmas and there are plenty of people still waiting to see if the airlines can get the snow cleared up so they can get where they are going.

Don't get me wrong, I'm going to continue hoping for a white Christmas. That won't change, but I think it's time to stop making such a big deal about snow being a mandatory part of the Christmas season.  That's my opinion on the matter. What do you think? Leave a comment below.

"A Christmas Carol" by Charles Dickens (a book review)

Let's consider the life of Ebenezer Scrooge. Here we have a man who has dedicated his entire life to the system of capitalism, to the improvement of the British economy. You might even call him a captain of industry. Sure he has lots of issues keeping down his overhead by keeping heating costs down and reducing the size of his staff.

Poor Ebenezer also has issues with keeping up with the demands of the holidays. Everyone is looking for him to contribute to their charities in a time that charitable giving wasn't tax deductible. He also has family wanting more of his time than he has available. What's a poor rich man supposed to do?

That's probably the spin that would be put on a Christmas Carol if Charles Dickens had been writing his classic Christmas story today. Instead, we get Scrooge portrayed as a greedy selfish man who is only looking out for number one even at the expense of the poor Cratchet family.

Dickens uses a device that seems unoriginal to us, but was very intriguing to the Victorian-era people of England-a visit by a series of ghosts that spoke from the past, present, and future of Scrooge's life. There job is to teach Scrooge the true meaning of Christmas. You already know how the story goes, but it is worth checking out the way Dickens writes the tales. It is a quick read and depending on the copy you use, it will probably be less than 100 pages.  Check this tale out as a part of your Christmas tradition.

Christmas songs I'm already sick of hearing.

I'm not a scrooge, and I don't really hate  Christmas or Christmas music, but there are just some songs that either get overplayed or I just don't want to listen to at Christmas or any time. Here's a listing of some of the songs I'll be glad not to hear after Christmas.

Jingle Bells by Barking Dogs

I haven't even heard this song yet this year, and I've heard it too many times. I think it's an interesting concept, but it get's old after about five seconds. Why do people want to listen to this song? If your dog starts barking, you don't try to teach it to bark with the song. You tell them to shut up and go back to what you were doing. Why do we have a song that teaches dogs to bark whenever they want to?

Grandma Got Run Over By a Reindeer by Elmo and Patsy Shropshire

I will admit that I loved this song the first couple of years that I knew what I was listening to around Christmas time. It's a funny take on Santa and paints him as the bad guy, but it gets old fast especially when it seems to be everywhere you go. Here's a bigger issue with the song-what's the real story here? Isn't it much more likely that Granddad just made up the story about Grandma getting run over by a reindeer? What really happened to Grandma? Maybe Granddad ran her over because he couldn't see where he was driving or something even worse. How's that for a reason not to like this song?

Last Christmas I Gave You My Heart by Wham!

"Last Christmas I gave you my heart, but the very next day you gave it away. So this year to save me some tears, I'll give it to someone special." That's the song. End it already. Actually there are verses, but after I hear the chorus 5000 times (yes this is hyperbole but not by much) I can't remember ever hearing any of them. This song just doesn't want to end, or stop complaining about how horrible it was that their heart was broken on Christmas. I'm sure people can relate to the song, but it doesn't make it any easier to listen to.

Blue Christmas by Elvis Presley

Don't take this the wrong way. Elvis is great. He is the King of Rock and Roll. I don't want to get into an argument about that, but I can't stand it when this song his the air. I think it has a lot to do with the death of my mother during 2009. It was hard to listen to Presley sing about having a blue Christmas just because some girl dumped him when I was facing that first Christmas without my mother. Elvis just didn't know enough about being blue when the song was done.

Wish you the merriest-Frank Sinatra

A while back I wrote a relatively short post stating that Bing Crosby was the voice of Christmas. (Check it out here: http://lockheed40.blogspot.com/2010/12/bing-crosby-is-voice-of-christmas.html) There's a reason, and this song is it. I've got nothing against Sinatra, but where "Last Christmas" at least has a reason to exist, this song is just a long-winded "Merry Christmas."

Instrumental versions of songs I want to hear someone sing

If you're going to play a Christmas song, then have the words in there. This complaint does not go for songs that don't have words. In that case, don't add words to songs that don't need them. It seems like a small problem, but I want the words to my favorite Christmas songs. If you want it to be instrumental, then play the "Carol of the Bells," or "Sleigh Ride." That will make everyone happy.

I could go on, but I think this will be enough for this year. Feel free to leave a comment on your opinion on the matter.

Will a national lottery save our economy?

One of the ideas to deal with the massive debt over our country that is floating around Washington these days is creating a national lottery. If it works at a state level, why can't it work on a national level? This could be just the thing to pull out country out of debt. Let's take a moment to look at state lotteries before we discuss a national lottery.

Gambling has been around for a long time. I'm not sure when it started. Maybe when Eve was pregnant Adam thought the kid would be a boy and he was so certain he made a wager with Eve about it. Regardless of how it started, gambling has been a part of our lives for most of our existence. It's easy to see the appeal of a wager on random events. There is a thrill in the uncertainty of it all. This is why Vegas and other casino cities exist and thrive. There is always someone willing to take a chance on the big money.

One day somebody had the brilliant idea of setting up a lottery for the state to raise funds. Why shouldn't the state get in on some of that gambling money? In order to sell the idea to the rest of the state the lottery was set up to help fund education. (I'm not sure how much money actually goes into education.) Lots of other states have gotten in on the idea since then.

Are there benefits that could come from a national lottery? Absolutely. Look at the amount of money that is spent on state lotteries. There is a lot of interest in the concept of the lottery. New York does a great job of selling lottery tickets with adds like "all you need is a dollar and a dream." A national lottery could take a chunk out of our national debt. It is also conceivable that over time we could even eliminate the national debt.

Would it be possible to set the lottery up? That is a different story. Any state that is already making pretty significant amounts of money on their own lotteries will not be interested in competition from a national lottery that will be capable of boasting much larger awards. Anyone who has a choice between the two will have many more incentives to buy a national ticket. If the concept ever gets moving, there will be lots of opposition.

Will there be disadvantages? There are lots of concerns about the lottery on any level. The first is that a lottery only takes money from poorer citizens. No one who has a million dollars in the bank is going to bother spending a dollar on a ticket for a chance at a million dollars. Anyone with that much money will find gambling options with better odds and bigger stakes. The people most likely to participate in a lottery are the people who can least afford to spend the money.

Also there is the expense of setting the system up. The estimates I have seen suggest that it would cost close to a billion dollars to set up a national lottery system. This would mean that every man woman and child in the US would have to buy four tickets just to cover the cost of starting the program (assuming that the government would be willing to sell a ticket for a dollar a pop.)

I don't see a national lottery as an effective method of removing our national debt. It will probably cause more problems than it solves. Here's to hoping someone comes up with a better idea before too long. Leave a thought below if you have any feed back.