Order in the Court!
I have seven television channels to choose from, thanks to network TV and the one antenna that I sometimes twist around for better reception. There are a couple of odd-balls that I click past -- Spanish language or home shopping, and maybe some religious things. Basically I have FOX, which I leave all fuzzy because I only watch animated programs there. Next is NBC (Conan and an occasional Law and Order)... PBS where I guiltily watch lots of good stuff... ABC for news and Good Morning America ... CBS (Letterman and an occasional drama)... then there's WB, or whatever they're calling it now (Saturday morning cartoons and miscellany) ... then UPN, or whatever they're calling THAT one now (for more miscellany).

Even with that slim set of choices, I am struck with the number of courtroom shows that are on. There are probably even more on cable. Judge Joe, Judge Alex, Judges Tom, Dick, and Harry... People's Court, Divorce Court, Texas Justice, etc. I was able to stomach a bit of the People's Court with Judge Milian, before Judge Judy took over her time slot. I suppose these programs are cheap and easy to make. All you need is a little courtroom set, and some judge with a particular "style." Then it's like a weird gameshow, and no one has to think up questions or silly stunts for people to do. Let's just watch a couple of people fight over who is responsible for the damage at the car wash, or why they want their deposit back, or whatever. A great many of the cases are about someone who makes a loan (typically to a boy or girlfriend). Later, the "loan" becomes a "gift" but nothing is in writing so the judge gets to chew out whoever is the more shiftless of the pair. Oh well, maybe there's a lesson here and there for people... that will hopefully keep their own asses out of a courtroom.

"Oh the humanity!"
I watched an interesting program about the Hindenburg Disaster last evening. (Spoiler Warning - I'm going to give away the surprise conclusion) According to the NASA hydrogen expert who became interested in the question, the problem wasn't all of the hydrogen in the thing. Hydrogen doesn't burn like that and is certainly not red and orange when it goes up in flames. The real culprit was a coating they used, which was essentially the same as rocket fuel. Good ol' Adolph Hitler thought he had a real propaganda tool in the sleek ultra-modern airship, but he lost out. Also hydrogen has been getting a bad rap all these years, because it really would be a useful and environmentally friendly (and they claim safe) energy source for transportation.

In other news: a plane flew into a tall building in New York. It was a bit surprising that such a thing could happen again. It was even more surprising that the building didn't collapse, which is what usually happens when a plane hits a building. Oh well, I'm sure they'll investigate thoroughly. I've always found that interesting in all of the crashes of airliners that we've seen through the years -- the black box recordings and all of that, the crash sites with the pieces of the airliners and all. Investigators meticulously putting the pieces together. It's horrible but necessary.

Oh well, it took years to uncover the truth about the Hindenburg (it turns out the Nazis actually knew what caused the fire but covered it up). Fortunately, those days are long gone.

Pain in the Neck
Something is wrong with my neck. About a week ago I woke up feeling fine. I turned over on my air mattress and this weird pain shot up (or down) the right side of my neck. Ouch! So I suffered through that and worked it out as well as I could. It subsided as the days passed. Then this morning I have an almost identical pain on the left side. It's very distracting.

Since I am a freelancer I take care of my own medical coverage... which means I hope against hope that nothing happens to me. I brush and floss so I can avoid the dentist as long as possible. My glasses don't help me see anything anymore. Such things as neck pains are handled with variations on yoga techniques. I'm sitting on an ergonomic chair. At least it might have been ergonomically sound until one of the wheels fell off. The threads were stripped so I couldn't reattach it. I tried some self-repair using socks (it wasn't pretty), and then my brother suggested taking the other three wheels off. At least it sits on the floor, but it's a little low.

So I sleep on the floor and sit on a broken chair all day and squint to see better. The evidence seems to indicate that there's probably something wrong with my brain too -- doesn't seem like a proper way for a grown man to behave.

Black
It's odd... I was going to make a graphic like this because of the "Torture Bill" that passed last week. It seemed like a cause for mourning that we no longer consider the Geneva Conventions to be applicable to us. That strikes me as being very, very bad.

Now a much more visible evil has struck once again... to the Amish, of all people. They don't normally figure very largely in my life, but they have been coming up in conversations lately. One of the creators of the animation I am writing (see previous post) says that the concept is modelled after them. It's a small thing, but adds a little to the sadness over the events. And now that the Amish are being talked about and interviewed, it is clear how innocent they really are. If any community of people is actually close to God...

Meanwhile, we have hypocrisy right out there for all to see. One of our Congressmen was caught with his pants down. There's nothing new in that, just another irony in that he was behind legislation to combat the very thing that brought him down. It happens all the time. Here in New Mexico some guy pushed through some "tough" legislation against drunk driving. I guess he went downtown to celebrate with his buds, and guess what he was busted for that night. Yup, DUI.

It makes you wonder. I have often thought that hypocrisy must be built on the notion that as long as you save other people from doing it, it supercedes your own tendencies toward that very sin, and somehow balances everything out. It balances nothing of course, and it's just a matter of time until the artificial construct topples of its own weight.