Friday, May 30, 2008

New dog fashion trend

Our beagle, Bailey, wearing the latest fashion in dogwear—dried frog on collar. We have no idea how it got there. Idgit dawg! He'd glance down at it from time to time. It finally fell off.

"When pride comes, then comes disgrace"

(Proverbs 11:2)

Last evening, I received an email from someone I know containing the tract on the right (click for larger version). Here is the response I sent to him and the other recipients:

Subject: Re: Fwd: I Am Proud To Be White~And I'm NOT A Racist....
From: xxxxxx
Date: 5/29/2008 9:49 PM
To: xxxxxx
Cc: xxxxxx, xxxxxx, xxxxxx, xxxxxx, xxxxxx, xxxxxx

Xxxxx,

We are all Americans, but if you want to qualify it by race or ancestry, you and I are European-Americans, not simply "Americans."

I have never heard a racial slur used against a white person except on TV. No racial slur, such as "cracker," has ever been used against me, and I don't plan on using one against anyone else. Life is too short. Why bother insulting anybody, for any reason?

Regarding, "You say that whites commit a lot of violence against you," depending on what "a lot" means, I have never heard any racial minority use this argument. I think most people understand that violent crime is largely intraracial, e.g., for the most part whites kill whites, Hispanics kill Hispanics, and blacks kill blacks.

There are no "Black-only Colleges" in the U.S.; however, there are historically black colleges and predominantly black colleges. All have non-black students.

Whites don't have days, months, organizations, TV stations, etc. that identify themselves as being "white" in some way because _all_ of our days, months, organizations, TV stations, etc. are essentially white. That's what it means to live in a culture dominated by our, the white race. I'm sure the same is true in other, non-white cultures. For example, I doubt whether Liberia has a Black History Month or the equivalent of the NAACP. It would make no sense. Think about it.

Nobody thinks that "only whites can be racists." That's absurd. Every race has members that are racist against other races.

The U.S. has had a "white"-dominated culture for the past few hundred years. (For several _thousand_ years before that, it had an exclusively Indian culture.) There are institutions, programs, and social graces that specifically benefit non-whites because these people have been trod upon for so long by our culture. There are certainly inexcusable excesses, but I think it's pretty easy to understand the motivation within our still-white-dominated society to accommodate these people in a few mostly symbolic ways. I mean, if you really feel threatened by Black History Month, you need to find a hobby. :-)

Xxxx

Tuesday, May 20, 2008

Big. Ugly. Watch.

I was looking to replace my current, Timex Expedition watch, whose metal body has started to corrode after less than a year (dang, where's that receipt?). I wanted a similar watch but with a plastic body. I haven't found the ideal watch yet, but in the process I found this godawful thing yesterday at a reduced price at Ross.



It's a Nike Hammer watch. The low-contrast black-on-red display makes it sometimes difficult to read, the back light does so barely, the rubber watch band makes my wrist sweat, and the alarm is almost inaudible. But I like it!

I was earlier tempted by a black Pulsar. I have a feeling that its curved, thin metal body will not corrode. A bit too dressy, though. (UPDATE: Found a used Pulsar for $29.99 on eBay. I bet I win the auction.) So here are my requirements: analog, second hand (for EMS—taking pulse and respiration), date, simple and easy to read face, will not corrode.