Jasonisms

My hastily written poem about the pagan origins of Christmas: T'was the night before Christmas and I had a thought of the rituals of Christians and the treasures they bought The fire was lit, the Yule log was a aflame a pagan tradition they made their same Children and the elderly were all snug in their beds dreaming of presents, pies and wondrous spreads. But did they know, the Christmas Tree alight the pagan holidays they practiced all this night? The Solstice of winter, the darkest of days pagans have called for uncountable days. The Yule Log we know, all evening will light the Teutons and Celts to challenge this night. Mistletoe hangs o'er, blessing the kiss a tradition began by the Norse Frigga's Wish. Once the bane of strong heroes called the green plant now sings, it's curse annulled. An evergreen tree, a star alit on the dome to ward away evil in a pagan family's home The fir stays green throughout the year to remind t

Took Rufus and my friend's dog, Charlie, to the dog park at Cherry Creek State Park today for some fun in the sun (and snow). Granted, they had more fun than I did as I can't stand being cold or snow-covered.

So, first "music television" played music videos and gave us music news (yes, I'm old enough to remember that). Then, they gave us crappy reality TV shows and Jackass and Cribs. Then, Pimp My Ride . Then they gave up MTV2 and 3, both promising music videos and neither really delivering on that promise. Sure, we'd get indie music vids, or midnight blocks, or music no one wanted to listen to, but always during "off" hours. Recently, I've noticed MTV playing a lot of movies instead of anything related to videos or music. Is it still"M"TV, then?

Why is global destruction the only place where we wait to react? Safety is constantly being regulated for the individual or the subgroup, but when a global disaster might be in the cards, all the naysayers are urging caution. "Hope for the best and prepare for the worst," is a motto used in many industries and by many leaders and yet, we are not preparing for the worst, just hoping for the best. Why? Because of money. Corporations don't want to spend money, governments don't want to tax and people would rather buy PS3s than prepare for catastrophic events. It's sad, really. Like a gun or a condom, I'd rather have it and not need it than need it and not have it. The same with a stable future. I'd rather have it, or be prepared for it, than pray for it at night and watch people suffer for the lack of it.

First they came for the communists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a communist; Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a trade unionist; Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—because I was not a Jew; Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak out for me. - attributed to Pastor Martin Niemöller (1892–1984)

Late November 2009 : http://foxyurl.com/N40 Gotta love the RCC and other staunch christians. Hate a group, lobby against them. When that fails, threaten to cease Jesus' mission by stopping social services. When that's not enough, pledge to ignore the laws of man. My message to the RCC and other staunch christians: if you don't like the way we do things, feel free to leave. And Now : http://foxyurl.com/N3Z Well, is seems as though the District of Columbia called their bluff and the Archdiocese caved. Seems as though losing lucrative government contracts is more important to the Washington Archdiocese than standing by their threat. Ha ha ha ...

re: http://cbs4denver.com/local/toy.drive.boys.2.1377305.html So, I'm watching the news and they're talking about a "Girls and Boys Club" Toy Drive to help out needy families. I'm all about helping out those in need, but when the 16 year old girl they interviewed says she and her siblings don't always get toys for Christmas because her family cannot afford to buy presents for all 10 children, I have a hard time wanting to donate. If you cannot afford to raise 10 children, don't ask for donations so your kids can all enjoy Christmas morning. As far as I'm concerned that's unethical of the families. These toy drives are for the truly needy, not the ones who don't know how to buy condoms.

Re: http://foxyurl.com/N1R and http://foxyurl.com/N1V Not only does Uncle Sam have nearly un-restricted access to "shoot first and ask questions later" via the Patriot Act, but now companies you and I pay--companies that are in service to us --are selling our private information: where we web surf, our GPS locations, what our shopping habits are, what we like to watch and who we associate with, to the government without having first committed a crime. There is no due process or reasonable suspicion; no checks and balances between the agents of the executive and the judicial. The Constitution prohibits the government from invading the privacy of us citizens, but when organizations we pay are doing it for them, is there a conflict of interest? Is there no more privacy? Can not an average citizen expect a modicum of privacy anymore? Should there be a law forcing these companies to disclose what information and who they're selling it to, so we as consumers can make mor

Did some shooting with the Denver Digital Photographers Meetup group. Check it out in my Picasa Album. See it here .

re: this article The separation of church and state is as old as this country and yet every time we turn around more and more christians are trying to push their religious icons on other's views. Why is that? Cannot the christian-Americans understand that this country is a "melting pot" of people and cultures and to respect all and r epresent all, the governments of this country cannot favor one over the other? If Denver is going to have Baby Hey'Zeus, then shouldn't there be a light-up Star of David or a Kwanza-man, or something? And maybe a nice blank spot for the atheists? Or, is the City and County of Denver stating that during the (let's be honest) retail season, only christians and christian idols are relevant? From my facebook page where the above comment was originally posted: Stacey Amen! I mean, ahem, well said! 54 minutes ago · Delete Very well-written article as well. 51 minutes ago · Delete Separation of church and state is not as old as this c

Saw this and loved it: Baron von Knifty I am more powerful than god because I can ignore him, but, by definition, god is forced to believe in me.

I have two friends, both of which are in technical/engineering type industries. These friends have met each other, but they only know each other through me. One friend, the guy, is reclusive and a social misfit. Most of my other friends have asked that I not bring him around too much. The other claims to be a social savant, but then throws a tantrum when you ask her why she didn't talk to anyone at the party, or clung to you or just the people she knows already. as she puts it: "I am really social with my friends, but not people I don't know." Which kind of puts the damper on gaining new friends, I would think. But the point of this post is to this: both friends are in rational/logical industries and they try to tackle their lives in rational ways (which I do as well) but when they enter a situation beyond the "rational" they're uncomfortable. For instance: 1. My female friend tries to rationalize everything, but when someone calls her on it, she

So, I've been seeing all these headlines about the 'sexually charged' show Adam Lambert put on at the AMAs recently. Heck, I don't even know when the AMAs were, so I have to say "recently." First, I had to look up who Adam Lambert was (thank you Google) and then I had to search over Hell and high water to find said offensive material. Apparently, ABC and Dick Clark Productions have had the video removed from all over the internet and where it wasn't removed from, my ISP has designated the site: illegal for my region, or some such. But, thankfully, I was able to see the show thanks to the private persons who put the video out there on their own servers. I won't mention where I saw it to save those people the drama that ensues when someone has a "copyright" on broadcasted media. Okay, so my take: not as bad as they're making it out to be. Was the show sexually charged? Sure. Not as much as you used to be able to see on MTV's vid

Seriously, what the hell? I remember cool cartoons as a kid: Transformers, GI: Joe, Thundercats, Voltron and Robotech. What happened? Now we have all these cartoons with no "edge." Too many squeaky childrens voices, too many feel good scenarios with less than desirable animation. Granted, when you go back and watch the older cartoons, the animation isn't that great, but now it's horrible.. Anywho, someone had to say it.

Google Chrome OS -- http://foxyurl.com/LSh Sarah Palin on Huffington -- http://foxyurl.com/LSi "Going Rogue" inconsistencies -- http://foxyurl.com/LSk

One - instead of trying something new, realizing it isn't the old, and swearing it of forever, give it a chance. For example, a friend of mine, a self proclaimed Photoshop wiz, recently tried GIMP on her new Apple computer. She grew frustrated because the menus weren't exactly what she was used to with Photoshop and she began criticize GIMP for not being what she was used to working with. First, it's not the program's fault you don't know how to work it. Second, if you don't want to pay for Photoshop, then learn to work it. She blamed the program for being slow, but it really wasn't designed to work on Mac, even though Mac OS might be written in Linux (which GIMP was designed for). Also, she was running 8 different programs in the background which could have been slowing GIMP down a bit (another complaint of hers). I told her to check with GIMP help for information, but she decided she'd rather scream and yell at GIMP (and by this point, me) ins

Seriously, if you're going to go on some sort of documentary show and put yourself out there as an expert in your field, don't wear a bolo. I don't care if you're a college professor, a writer who has studied a subject or "Wacko Bob" who was brought in to show the extreme opinions, bolos just make you look stupid.

...but for some reason I never quite do it, which is odd, because I have an opinion about just about everything. I can't tell you how many times I think "this is a bloggable thought" while driving, walking or reading something. Anywho, I was goofing around the interwebz and found this: http://foxyurl.com/4wC . Who knew there were that many communities for social networking? This doesn't include the gazillions of forums and message boards out there that allow networking within their "community."

Doors Open Denver

Solo Ride 9-18-09

Snow Dogs