The Scarlet Arachnid

Just  bunch of random thoughts today.

Two and a half men will not be the same without Charlie Sheen no matter  how nuts the man is.

When did shooting off fireworks go from just on the night of July 4 and spread to the whole weekend around the holiday?  Speaking of 4th of July strangeness.  I like a good grilled hot dog as the next guy but do we really need 2 different hot dog eating contest (men and women divisions this year at Nathens) on TV?

Why can we not move the Brewers back to the American League?  It would let us go back to a balance schedule in both leagues.  Then we good go back to a 154 game season and finish it before November.  Oh and  raise the mound back up to were it was before 1969.

I do not watch pro-football or much pro-basketball but with both in lock outs what is Vegas going to do about all the people who want to bet on something? Oh did anyone in either sports notice what happened to pro-hockey with its lockout? Oh wait its hockey no one noticed it anyway. (Sorry Davey)

Why can't Girl Scout cookies be sold year round?

How does a fake TV President have so many people following him? @Pres_Bartlett   Speaking of Twitter I am @jmilb10053 if anyone cares.

Not much happening this week.  Baseball is done.  Summer is in full swing.  The boys are going to the pool 3 days a week.  We are looking forward to the next 2 weekends.  The weekend of the 4th will be going to watch the Southwest Pony League allstar teams play in the 7th Annual Firecraker  in Cynthiana.    The weekend after is the Wallace Family Reunion at Mike Miller Park in Draffenville.   Mom says she has the building at the park for the whole afternoon this year.  So we are going to have E's birthday party there as well.

So I have been enjoying a slow week.  The next 2 will be back to the normal fast grind.  End of the month at work followed by lots of travelling.  I hope everyone has a great week.

Oh yeah go watch E's first trip to the batting cage.  http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=2143999281233

Closing Ceremony Today

It is the end of another baseball season. It is a bittersweet day.  We had another great year.  The boys both had a lot of fun.  I got to spend a lot of time on the ball fields and Beth did a lot of team mom stuff.  I know the boys and I get the best out of this deal.  Beth has become a great league supporter.  The boys have some wonderful friends that I hope they will keep for the rest of their lives.  I have found an outlet for my pent up frustration at work.  I even got voted on next years board for the league.  I do think I have ever won an election to anything even with as much as I love politics.

No all-stars this summer.  Gman was asked the be on the select team but Beth and I decided that it was not the best situation for him or us.  Both the boys are ready for pool time with at the B&G Club and a relaxing summer.  It will also give us more chances to drive down for a quick weekend in West Ky.  I know I will miss the baseball more than the boys will.  I am hopping to keep up with where the league teams go to play so we can go cheer on  are Southwest Pony Teams.

Sad news from this week was also from the league.  We lost a father of 5 kids (3 play in the league) to an unexpected death. Gman has played against the 9 year the last 3 years.    Mellwood Robinson passed away Wednesday.  The league is helping with setting up a fund for Melinda and the kids. Asking for all of your prayers for them.  The contact information for the fund is below.

 Citizens Commerce National Bank
c/o Jeff Kincaid
Payable to: The Mellwood Robinson Fund
P.O. Box 1028
Versailles, Ky. 40383

Any additional Donation Information e-mail: jkincaid@citizenscommerce.com 

The league really has became a great place for us.  I hope I can help it in the future.

We won so why am I sad.

Doing a lot of internal thoughts and kicking myself this week.  Gman won his first tournament game on Monday.  This should be a great thing especially for the up down season the Orioles had. I have had a terrible week thinking about the game.  We won because we intentionally walked a good hitter to get to a bad hitter.  As a baseball move we made the right call.  The next batter struck out.  We won woohoo.  I made 2 kids cry and a friend so mad he could barely contain himself.  

I am glad we have joined a league that is competitive and teaches kids about winning and losing.  I am glad that our league has very close in talent on the teams, this leads to very good games.  The look on the kids faces after the game hurt me.  There is a time and place for playing hard ball tactics in baseball and I am not sure it is with 9 and 10 year olds.  I then think that if it was any other kids in the league would I have hesitated to do the same move. The answer to that is no.  I hesitate  talking with other coaches on my team because who was at bat and who the next kid was.  If we were playing any other team in the league or any other coach I would have walked the batter before the one we walked as well to get to the bad hitter.  I got mad when another team did it to us and had thought I would never do it.  It comes to winning the game and I agree with the other coaches and decide that the win means more than letting the kids play.  I could not stop myself for saying yes lets walk him.  

I do not know what part of this I feel worse about.  The kids will get over it but I am not sure either will ever trust me again.  The friend says we will be ok but it will take time.  Do I feel bad just because of who we were playing?   I know it would not have bothered me at all it was not that team, coach, and kids.  Any kid on that team is like they were on my team.  

Well I feel like a heel. 

Rand Paul and Freedom of assembly

 I am starting off with a link to Salon about Rand Paul. I make no bones about not liking my Senators.  I find both of the them self serving and unable to represent me.  This audio clip from another of my least favorite person's (Sean Hannity) radio show gives me another example of why I thought we would never elect this idiot to the Senate.  I was wrong and we did elect him.  The clip is bad in what he says but it is worse when I apply my on bias (hi Keefer) to what I think he is meaning.

First, he is not saying that people are not allowed to say what they think about the government but they should be deported or put in prison for listening to what others are saying.  The Freedom of Assembly allows us to gather and to talk about anything as long as we do it peacefully.  This includes the crazy people who protest at funerals to the KKK who protested against them this past weekend to Greenpeace and Sierra Club in front of whale ships and loggers to Tea Party rallies talking about a 2nd Amendment to our problems to preachers in a pulpit talking about social issues and race.  We have the right to do this without the government tracking us, deporting us, or imprisoning us.  I find the clip very telling about the Senator and his libertarian ideals.  Government tracking and jailing people because of where they go and listen does not fit with the ideas he tries to project.

Secondly, my bias now comes out in 2 ways.  The first is with whom he is speaking.  Sean Hannity has made it a point link President Obama to his former Pastor Jeremiah Wright.  The pointed use in the clip on religious speech that people listen too made me think of the connection Hannity keeps making toward the President as being anti-American because he sit in Rev Wright's church for years.  Hannity does not mention it in the clip but my knowledge of his past programs made a fast jump to that.  If I can do it so can other listeners of Hannity's program.  The second point of bias comes from knowing a little about Rand.  The Aqua Budda issue helped  to get him elected last year because it was a question about his religious beliefs.  Now in this clip he is singling out religious speech as a problem.  He makes a point not to mean just Islam but all religions.  As a Christian this scares me as much as an American losing my right to freely assemble does.  He does not address the other types of assembly (KKK, Phelps family, Greenpeace, Sierra Club, Tea Party).  He is saying we need to monitor the speech of people on religion.  This a jump that I made after listening to the clip a few times.

I am not going to take the time to get into the idea of deportation and the implied ideas there.  I will close with we need to start listening to each other, our pastors and even Hannity and Rand.  We need to listen and then use our good judgement as for what is true and best.

Just thinking today. I know its hard to believe but the steam has been rolling out of the ears all morning. I had to do my CE for my insurance licsense. I have to remind myself that some insurance can be helpful. I can not stop thinking that insurance is just another form of legalized gambling. The house, ie the insurance company, is going to win and we are going to lose. If we don't use it then the company keeps all the money. If we do use it then they lose some but the still have gotten the rake, earlier premiums. I am just working on life and casuality not my health CE. This is a broken system going back to a bunch of drunks in a bar called Lloyds in old London town. They were betting on if a ship would make it to China and back. We need to find a better way to limit risk in out society. Thanks all for letting me rant.

Happy birthday Gman

Just a fast post this morning.  My oldest turned 10 this morning. The day of his birth started very early and ended very late.  Beth did a wonderful job.  Gman spent his first couple of days in the NICU but has not slowed down since.  He is a great kid and I hope he has a great day, including cupcakes for his class today.

I do not want to be old.

In 10 days my oldest kid will be in double digits in age.  Gman turns 10 this year.  I know lots of friends and family that started younger and have older kids but it just kind of hit me today.

I was reading an article about why the Millenniums went out to the streets to celebrate the death of Osama Bin Laden.   The article states they went to the street to party as much as to be patriotic.  I then remembered the sights and sounds I saw coming from the Phillies game when the announcement was made.  The vibrant but refined response in the stadium as the news spread.  Older crowd at the game some with younger kids etc.  I found that I fit in the baseball crowd much more than the people in the streets.  I have no problem with the celebration but it is not how I responded.

I now see the generation gap.  I want to think of myself as a young person.  My aches and pains tell me that I am not that young.  My kids remind me I am not that young.   Gman was a baby and I was working as the General Manager at a Hampton Inn.  Now he is going to be 10 and I am taking over another office as the boss.  I hope the 10 years of age will help me to a better job.

I hope everyone is having a good week.  I am worried and praying for everyone down home with all of the flooding and storms.  I have seen a lot of the pictures and hope everyone is safe and sound.  Things can be replaced but you can not be so remember to be careful.

June and Tim had a tree fall on their house during the storms in Murray last week.  Mom and Lynn had to go the long way around to Dorothy's due to high water in Livingston county.  I got to see pictures of Cammie Jo and Erick going to their proms.  It is very hard to think they are both juniors this year.  I would try to find pictures from our wedding of them way back when but not sure its a good idea.  Cammie Jo was just a mess and now Erick may not be really happy about being made fun of.

Baseball is in full swing finally.  Gman's team keeps losing by 1 run and it is getting kinda old.  E's team is doing very well with a couple of wins and a couple of loses.  E is doing much better in his 2nd year at t-ball.  Gman just can't seem to stay in the batters box.  Got to get him hitting.

I put up a couple of new barn pictures on FB.  These are around the new office in Paris.  Mainly Bourbon and Harrison counties.  I need to link them back to this site as well.  Its been a while since I updated the pictures in the viewer.

Well lunch is almost over.  Fried bologna sandwich at a place in Paris.  It is kinda nice to be in a small town during the day again.

Spring Weather

With all of the bad weather we have been having this week I am take this chance to tell one of my favorite stories about Granddad  

Every spring, during the Quilt Show, a large part of my family would go camping and fishing on Lake Barkley.  I am not sure which was more important, the crappie run or getting Uncle Wayne out of Paducah during the show, but the fact both happened at the same time worked out well.  Not everyone would stay the whole time at the lake but for about a month 3-4 campers would be set up and anyone who had time off would go up to fish and relax.  I remember these trips fondly.  I was so happy that Gman got to go 1 time with me and Granddad to the camp and had a chance to fish a little.  But back to the story.

Spring weather in Kentucky usually means storms followed by hot and humid and the more storms.  One morning a large storm came up and kept us from fishing early in the day.  The storm gave way to sunshine and Granddad said lets go fishing.  He had put in a new brush pile a couple of bays over from the camp site and wanted to try it out after all the rain.  So off we went from Carmack Bay to Demumbers Bay.



View Larger Map

After a few hours fishing the weather took a turn for the worse.  We put on our rain gear and decided it was time to head to camp.  Just then it started to pour down.  Granddad took over driving the boat as we left the bay and entered the main lake.  The wind and rain was terrible.  I looked back over my shoulder at the sound behind us.  What I saw was just about the most frightening things in my life.  A tornado came out of no were near Willow Bay.  It hit the lake and did not stop.  It crossed over and headed toward Eddyville.  Granddad held me down in the boat as low as I could go.  We made it back to camp very wet and wind blown.

We later learned that the storm had hit Calvert City taking off part of the roof from the Church of Christ and damaging the screen at the Calvert Drive-In..  I will always remember the sight and sound of that tornado and Granddad keeping me as safe as he could.

Vivian thanks for reminding me to write down these stories.  I will try to do more of them.

Another round of thunderstorms and bad weather last night.  I hope everyone got through it ok. 

Week three at the new office is going better than week 1.  The office itself has been OK but my attitude was terrible the first week.  I hope the ladies in the office did not notice.  I have to keep reminding myself that I can only control my actions and not the actions of others.  I tell this the E almost everyday.  He has my temper. He gets mad at things he can not control.  I am trying to teach him to let it go and just worry about what he can control.  I need to keep this in my own mind.  It is tough for both of us but I can not be lazy with it while trying to teach him to do it now.  

E won his first game last night.  It was the make up game from Saturday.  Gman is 0-2 with the coaches costing them the first win.  The second game we only hit for 1 out of the 5 innings.  Got to get them all in the game early and we will get the win.  

Everyone have a great day. 

Opening Day

Opening Day at SWL Pony League is here and its rainy and cold.  T ball games have been cancelled and E is not real  happy.  Gman got his game in.  It was a true ABC Wide World of Sports moment.  The thrill victory and the agony of defeat for the Orioles.  Bottom of the 5th and 2 outs.  7 to 5 lead over the Diamondbacks. We get the strike out and think the game is over.  Blue says 2 mins to go play ball.

Needless to say Diamondbacks score 3 runs in the bottom of the 6th.  We have suffered out first lose of the season.  Coaches cost the boys their first win by not watching the clock.  They played great with a great effort on both sides.  Gman was a little rusty at third but did at least swing and had a stolen base.  No hits but he did swing and looked better at the plate.  

More later when I have time to think about it more.

I hope everyone had a better week than I did.

First week in the new office was ok but found out it was a temporary move not the promotion I thought it was.  So I am still just in limbo with the job situation.

I can't seem to do anything right this week. From one day to the next it was just a crappy week.  I keep trying to think of something anything to make it better but it is not working.  I am short tempered and just in a bad mood for the week.  So this post is not even helping me to let it out so I may stop it short.

I hope everyone has a good week next week as well.

Worst practice of the season

Second week of baseball.  The Orioles had our worst practice of the year.  I have to remind myself they are just 9 and 10.  We were looking good on last Tuesday and even in the cold Saturday.  Good hard work for both hours of practice.  Tonights could not have been any worse. 

We started out Ok in the batting cages but not as solid as Saturday.  We lost their attention early on but still got everyone at least a full bucket of balls.  No one was swinging hard with the cold coming in.  Bad habits during soft toss from even the good hitters.  Clay and Kaleb put in some solid work.  William and Gman did not.  Peyton and Caydon both showed that they remembered what we worked on Saturday.  Hunter and Marcus both can be much better.  No Jacob for the second weekday practice.  

During fielding hour we just fell apart.  Gloves not getting to the dirt.  Throws all over the infield.  Outfielders not backing each other up.  I think everyone of them had to run the pole at least one time tonight.  I made Kyle send Gman running because he had his hand in his pocket while standing in the field.  William had to run 2 times for building dirt piles.  Marcus, Peyton and Kaleb where the only ones who put in full effort tonight.

Part of this has to do with the cold.  Part is that it was an after school practice.  And a big part goes back to that they are 9 and 10 year olds.  Have I said lately I really do enjoy doing this. Very good kids and a very good league.

Looking like an infield of Jacob at first.  Eric and Peyton splitting time at second.  William and Kaleb as our 2 shortstops and two-thirds of our rotation.  Gman will be starting at third.  Clay is the catcher, back up firstbase and the third man in the rotation.  Peyton, Marcus, Hunter and Caydon are the outfielders.  We have not looked at a batting line up yet or had kids pitching to kids.  Hopefully we will be able to get a scrimmage in before the start of the season.

Next update will be on the E and Red Wings. 

Sorry no posts this week. I have been very much out of it since Sunday. Kidney stone was very painful and I am still feeling it in my lower back. Beth took a picture of the stone if anyone wishes to see it. Not sure why anyone would but its available.

Baseball has started with both boys getting to practice this week. Mom made it up for the weekend. The boys loved having her here. Baseball meeting on Saturday and Beth taking me to the hospital on Sunday did not give her much of a weekend. We have found a team mom for Gman's team, The Orioles, but are still looking for one for E's. Beth is so in charge with this it is amazing.

 Hope everyone has a great week.

 
 PS Remember the guy I am coaching with family in prayer. He has an uncle who they do not think is going to last the week.

March Madness

March is like a holiday in Kentucky. The reason for the celebration is basketball.  We get to root for our favorite college teams no matter which ones they are.  We get the greatest high school basketball tournament in the nation, both boys and girls.  And they all remind me of my grandparents.

My first basketball memory is of Granddad.  It is not about playing or even watching.  It was a curse word.  I never heard the man say many but the first one I remember ever heard him say was watching a basketball game. The 1978 mens national semi-final game University of Kentucky versus the University of Arkansas.  UK was not playing that well at half time and led by just 2 points.  The start of the 2nd half was when the word was said.  I would remember later that Joe B. Hall was the coach of Kentucky (Eddie Sutton ironically was coaching Arkansas).  The phrase I remember was "what the hell is Joe B doing?" Joe B had benched 3 of his starting five players and my Granddad was not pleased with the decision.  Come to find out Joe B was right and the final score was a 64-59 UK victory.  The next game was UK beating Duke for the national title.  I can not remember ever hearing another curse word come out of my Granddad's mouth.  I know he said them from time to time but not often and never as important.  

The basketball memory I keep coming back to with Mama Jo was about a spring break trip while in college.  There was an infamous trip taken in the early 90s by 5 very nice young men.  There was a discussion about getting our ears pierced before we left for the week.  3 of us did but I was one of the 2 who did not.  A week of much fun but very little sun (coldest week in Corpus Christi history I know it was) later and we drive back into Murray.  It was a night of the regional basketball tournament.  Scott and I decided to go see the games because we knew our friends and family would be there.  Sure enough we saw lots of people and were having a good time when I felt a tug on my ear.  "Well I see you were smart enough to not get it done" was what Mama Jo said.  How she knew we were even thinking about getting our ears pierced the week before was one of her secrets.  She always knew.  

There are so many more stories I need to write down before I start to forget them.  From trips to Oxford Mississippi to see the Cats play or going to  EKU to watch the Lady Marshalls complete an undefeated season.  I have these and many more basketball memories because of my wonderful grandparents.  

Rainy week

It has been a very spring like week in Kentucky.  Lots of rain and temperatures going from freezing to the mid-60s.  So lots of sneezing and coughing in the Milburn house.  E and I have the worse of it so far.   Hopefully the meds both boys are on will keep them for getting something worse.

Last week seemed to drag and be a lot less busy than normal. This week has been flying by.  Basketball, brass practice for Gman, and baseball getting started makes this a very busy time.  Basketball will winding down with its tournament next week.   E will be back on the Red Wings for year 2 of t ball.  Gman has moved up to Mustang which is the first year of real baseball in Pony Leagues.  He will be on the Orioles.  If you are looking for a baseball league in Lexington please come check out Southwest Pony.

I must say can barely wait for the season to start.  I know we get really busy for a while but it is as much fun for me as it is the boys.  Beth likes it also but she gets very stressed when the boys are playing.  She has the makings of a very big baseball mom.  She reminds me of the story when Mama Jo got a technical foul called on her during a basketball game.   She is so good at the park and with the league.

Everyone remember to pray for her and her grandmother who had a heart attach this week.  And remember to tell the people you love what you think of them.

Just a small post

Small post this week.  I was going to say not much going on but it has been a busy week.  Saturday had work for me, basketball games, pine wood derby and the blue and gold banquet.

A fast visit from Lynn and Granny on Saturday and Sunday made the boys weekend.  Not sure how but we ended up on Saturday night at Gatti Town to eat.  It may have not been to best idea but for once the pizza was fairly good.  I think it was because they were so busy they kept fresh pizza out the whole time.

Sunday saw the Board meeting for baseball.  I am helping coach Gman again this year.  I know I was not planning on it but the league needed coaches in his age group.  So just as a reminder we will be starting fund raisers again in about 3 weeks. It will be the coupon books this year instead of the Qudoba coupons.  As soon as Beth or I know more we will let all interested parties know.  Oh and before I forget adds for the yearbook and banners for the fields if anyone is interested email me.

I hope everyone had a beautiful spring day like we did in Lexington today.

2nd Post

The 40 hour work week.  Work place safety.  Vacation days.  Sick days. Most health insurance coverage.  Ending unlawful terminations.  Fair labor practices including equitable pay and hiring procedures.  Those are the easy ones.

These are some of the things that American workers have because we have had labor unions with the ability to collectively bargain with companies.  The main stay of unions is to push for a higher wage and better  benefits for its members.  This has historically led to better wages and benefits for all workers.

Some of the harder ones.  Civil rights.  Americans with Disability Act.  Overtime pay.  Child labor laws.  Meal breaks.  Price stability.  All of these have their roots in unions.

Unions are like all large organizations.  They are not perfect but they have produced a lot of positive results for workers and the nation as a whole.  They will need to change with changing times and the needs of their members.  But to allow them to be outlawed and removed from the nation will lead to a very slippery slope.

Would you want to work more for less money in a job where you were not safe from harm?

Kind of rambling I know but I did not want to write a big history.  Have a good night all

2 Blogs Today Bubba Weekend First

 I am going to post 2 times today. I actually had 2 different ideas pop into my head at the same time. Please laugh with me not at me.

 The first one was that I had not talked about our great Bubba weekend. I had a wonderful time seeing my brothers and their wives. I have said many times I am lucky to have Marc, Brian, Scott, and Gary in my life. Megan, Angie, Missy and Ellen make the four of them better, almost as much as Beth makes me better. We all as the saying goes married up. Beth has posted some of the pics on her FB, so please go look.

The thought I had was about what brought us together. The MSU/BSU now BCM was very good for all of us. People like Keith and Carol Inman, Morgan Owens, Tim and Jenny Green, and so many more helped to shape all of us. I want to encourage myself and everyone who reads this to support our local ministries and groups like that. They do make a difference in peoples lives.

My college years helped to shape me and I hope I can help shape others. Post 2 will be from home tonight with a little research. Thanks again everyone.

Bubba Weekend is here.

Just a short post.  It is Bubba weekend and I can't wait to see everyone.  I pray for everyone to have a safe trip in.

 I am thankful for friends and family who get to share the weekend with the Bubba kids.  For our kids this year they get Bonnie and Mike.  Mom and Lynn had them last year. E asked yesterday if Granny and Lynn were going to come up to stay at Grand-mommy and Papaws with him and Gman this weekend.  I had to tell him no but hopefully  they will be here next weekend for the Pine wood derby with the cub scouts.  It should be 2 good weekends.  

Thanks again the Bubba wives for putting up with us.  

OK I was trying not to be political tonight but this is a great video.

Glenn Beck

I usually try not to listen to Glenn Beck.  I do not avoid all conservative talk on radio or TV but I just can not stand Glenn.  I remember some of the stuff he use to do on the radio in Louisville and just assumed everyone thought he was an idiot.  The time in Louisville also is when he has admitted to be on heavy drugs.  I feel that explained a great deal of what he said and did.  Now he claims to be clean and sober.  He still seems very crazy.

I started looking a little harder at him this weekend.  I know the internet is not the most reliable source but this is on the web so do I really need footnotes?  Per Google search Glenn is a Mormon.  I think this brings a large light to his present TV and radio programs.  He is seeing the end of the world.  He is taking his religion, mixing in conspiracy theories, and his on personal addiction problems to come up with a world that is out to get him and his followers.  Here is a good article from Joanna Brooke, (who if you read the page is an award winning writer which I never will be).  

I will not make a judgement on his religion or his personal trials and tribulations.  I will go back to my first thought about Glenn and say I still think he is an idiot.

Egypt and the Army

Just a few thoughts on the change of power in Egypt as a follow up to my earlier post on the differences in the recent revolts in the middle east.  The role of the military was huge.  The Egyptian military sided with the revolting populace over the government.  What they do in the future is still uncertain.  The Tunisian military stayed on the side lines for their revolt until the dictator slipped out of the country.  Iran's military supported not the president and the failed elections but the ruling oligarchy. They ended the revolt at the order of the Mullahs not the president.

Why the Egyptian army supported the people over the government will be a large discussion topic in the near future.  I think that historically the difference between the actions of the military in each country will be very important.  Dictatorships have fallen before.  The main reason usually are external forces beyond the control of the military.  Here we have internal forces causing a popular uprising that was fairly peaceful.  The government could not put down the uprising or appease it without the military.  There were attempts by pro-government forces to end the uprising and they failed.  The military came into keep the peace between the sides very similar to Iran.  What are the major differences in the two?

My first thought is the the relationship between the Egyptian military and the U.S. military.  The 30 years of interaction and support from the U.S. must have influenced the actions there.  Did our military aid buy us enough leverage to keep the Egyptian military neutral and then even pro reform at the thought of losing that aid?  Or was it the enter action between our military and theirs that influenced them to believe the populace needs to give its consent to be governed?  I am usually very skeptical about good intentions.  I am the leaning toward the money and military aid over the good ideas.

The second thought springs out of the use of military aid.  The U.S. has given a both military and humanitarian aid to many countries for many years.  Dictatorships, juntas, democracies it did not matter as long as it was in the best interest of the U.S.  What has made the relationship with Egypt different  from others?  Panama, El Salvador, Columbia, and even Iran before its revolution all got aid and support.  Why has Egypt turned out differently?  Or has it?  Will the military willing give up power with free and open elections?   We will see in the future which way it goes.

The third idea deals with what role the internet had in the success of this revolution and future political changes.  The old school media is giving a large deal of credit to social media like twitter and Facebook for the uprising.  The Iranian uprising was also driven with the Green support on twitter.  I see the organizing and communication aspects very useful.  What about the ideas that are shared over the internet?  Information has always led to questioning and change.  The internet is going to bring about more of this in the future.  It makes me wonder how much control needs to be used on it.

Well trying to wrap this one up.  Please pray for all the people over there.

Bad Headache

I have had one of the worse headaches in months today.  Very light sensitive and felt like an ice pick behind my left eye.  So I  slept until about 3pm. I am not sure what caused it today but it stinks.   I hope it does not come back now that I am awake.  I feel so sorry for everyone who has migraine headaches if they are anyway close to this one.

We are less than 2 weeks away from Bubba Weekend.  Thanks again to the wifes it looks like it will be a fun weekend.  I wonder how much different this one will be with Brian not working on his Doctorate?  I really not sure when we became so laid back but these weekends have became soothing and restful.  At some point I can see us doing something wild and crazy on the weekend.  Sky diving anyone?

Keeping it short and taking more pain pills.  Good Night all

It's February but my mind is on baseball.

I know it is still the dead of winter.  The weather man is calling for snow and ice tonight.  Granny and Lynn are not going to make it up this weekend because of the weather.  The boys have basketball games tomorrow.  All I can think about is the sign ups start for baseball tomorrow at the Dicks at the Fayette Mall.   Southwest Pony League  will be there between 1pm and 5pm on both Saturday and Sunday.  So if you are in the Lexington area and want to join a great league please come and sign up.

I have even talked Beth into letting me assistant coach Gman's team again this year.  After almost driving her nuts as the head coach for fall ball (and worrying myself crazy) I figured the coaching was finished.  One of the dads from the fall team is taking a team for spring and I get to be the assistant again instead of head coach.  I think it will work well.  I know I will be a lot less stressed and hopefully Gman will listen to him better than me.

What really got me excited about baseball was when the family got home tonight.  I was watching the movie The Rookie.  E and Gman both saw it and stopped to watch instead of doing what their mother told them to.  There was a great catch and E shouts "You're Out".  I love that they both love the game that I do.  Beth even stopped to watch (I think it was because of Dennis Quaid not the baseball).  It turned into a nice family movie night.

Everyone please enjoy the nice winter weather and remember baseball is on its way.

Egypt Tunisia and Iran uprisings

I tweeted earlier this week questioning the on going success of the Egyptian and Tunisian social uprising and the failed Iranian uprising of 2009.  I think Brian for some very thoughtful input.  I am not planning on this blog post to be a long winded history lesson.  I also know it will not be my answer to the question of what is the difference between the uprisings.  I am looking to find out what questions to ask not for the answers to those questions yet.

The Iranian uprising followed rigged elections in a state that is ran by an oligarchy  .  The Tunisian revolt was against economic and social oppression of a military dictatorship. The Egyptian revolt is against economic and social oppression by an elected party and President, which may have won a rigged election but it was years ago.  Egypt and Tunisia are majority Sunni while Iran is Shia.  Economic and social oppression seem to be a similarity.

Does the geography of the nations have any input for the success in the latter 2 and the failure of the first?  North Africa verses Persia? What about the colonial past of the 3 nations?  How does each nations recent history play into the outcome of the uprising?  Iran has been in a state of war or under the threat of war for over 20 years.  Egypt has been at peace since the Yom Kippur war with Israel in 1973.  Tunisia has been a dictatorship without major conflicts since it won its independence from France in 1957. It has only had 2 leaders since then until the recent revolt.

The military also seems to be a common thread in all three.  Iran's military helped keep the regime in power.  The Tunisia the military supported the Prime Minister over the president.  In Egypt, the military so far has said they will not fire upon the people but will keep the peace.  Has the recent past history of military use in each nation influenced how each handled the revolts? Is there a deeper meaning to the actions of each military?

All the nations are different.  All have their own problems.  All of them have enough in common to try to find out what has led to the fall of at least 1 dictatorship but not the other.

Please add questions and answers if you have any.   Brian brought up some really good questions when I first thought about this topic. So here is copy of those unedited.
  Jim Milburn

Why is Eygpts uprising working and Irans did not? Hmmm I need to think about this

Yesterday at 9:00am via Twitter ·  ·  ·  · @jmilb10053 on Twitter

• • 
    

    Brian McAdams 
    

    This seems to me to be a really important question. Wish CNN would be talking about it. I wonder it to. Your question sparked some random, not full formed ideas that are likely mutually exclusive. 1) Is the difference that Egypt needs the...See More

    
    

    Yesterday at 9:27am · 
  • 
    

    Brian McAdams 
    

    The US invasions of Iran and Afganistan, made Iran very powerful in the region. Shia Iran, stands pretty well alone in the world already, but Sunni Egypt has democratic Muslim examples like Indonesia and Turkey (and now Tunesia). Why worr...See More

    
    

    Yesterday at 9:40am · 
  • 
    

    Brian McAdams ‎"The US invastions of IRAQ and Afganistan...."
    

    Yesterday at 9:41am · 

New Phone? Rebuild the Desktop? Need to scratch the itch

Some people have a sweet tooth.  Some people like to shop.  We all get an itch sometimes that just has to be scratched.  Mine has been baseball cards in the past.  The feel of an old pack of baseball cards in my hands was as good of a rush as smoker gets from lighting up a cigarette.  I have wasted more money on that habit than I want to think about.  My present habit is my computer and tech stuff.

I tried to scratch the itch this weekend by reinstalling Windows on my SSD drive on the computer.  I followed a procedure I found at overclock.net.  It lets you have all your big files and program go to your 2nd hard drive instead of taking up space on the SSD.  It is working fine and was fun to do.  It did not scratch the itch.  I need to find something to take care of the itch.

The last time I had the itch this bad was when I finally broke down and bought my netbook.   I am very glad I got it.  It has been a very good purchase.  I enjoy having the mobility and it has enough power to do all the non-gaming computing I do.  It allows me to be on the net anywhere in the house and frees up the family room for the boys in the evenings.  It kept the itch in check for almost 6 months.  

I really do not know what will be the next itch scratcher.  I have been looking at some of the new Intel Cpus.  The new Sandy Bridges coming out look very cool.  I just do not want to a total rebuild again.  It has been less than 2 years and the desktop is still kicking butt.  I do not need to do a rebuild.  Beth will not let me mess with her laptop.  It really has been a good addition to the family's computer network.  I still can not see how she likes Vista as much as she does but hay.  

With the desktop and Beth's computer out that leaves the boy's.  It is running very well and does everything they need so far.  It needs a bigger hard drive and hooked up to the printer but neither of these will scratch the itch.  This leaves my Blackberry.

I really do not need a new phone.  My Blackberry works just as well now as it did 2 years ago.  It is just a 2G phone so it is not nearly fast as the new ones that are out there.  It does not have a touch screen but it has a great full keyboard.  I can use it with my netbook as a modem without having to pay for a tethering fee with ATT because it is an older phone and I have an unlimited data plan.  The email and apps work great.  The phone part does as well.  My battery life is almost a full day (as long as I am not on it constantly to check FB and twitter).

So with all of that said, anyone with a suggestion of how I can scratch the itch?

Thanks everyone and I hope you have a great week

Tonights Snow

Strange week so far. I really have not had a lot to write about this week. Nothing big or pressing. Doctors appointment went ok. Just some fluided on the knee and olds scars. So no surgery which is a good thing.  Dentist appointments on going. So far 2 finished with no cavities (now its the boys turns so not sure if that stat will hold). E's teeth falling out keeps from having them pulled this trip.

 Beth has finished Gmans science fair project. It is very interesting showing how much iron is in breakfast cerals. You actually see the iron bits when they were done. I will try to get pictures of it when he gets it back. Beth really gets into doing these and I am glad. I was terrible at them.

 Report cards came out. E got all pluses or better. Gman got all A's and B's so 2 straight honor roles. 2 B's so no princible list but getting close. Everyone have a good week.

President Obama's Full Speech at Tucson Memorial

I was going to show 2 videos but changed my mind after watching the President again.

Anyone who reads my post regularly know I am very vocal and liberal in my politics.  I have been trying to think about what has happened in Tuscon over the weekend and not be political about it. I am not sure how I will do that.  This post may not make a whole lot of sense and I know I will edit it a lot over the next few days.

I will  say I have been praying for everyone involved in the shooting.  I keep thinking about the shooter more than I wish.  I have prayed for him.  Prayed for his family.  Prayed for his attorney.  Prayed that he will come to trial.  Prayed for all the people who will be involved in the case into the future.  I hope that our nation will let them all be.  Let the system work.  I know it will not happen but I hope it does.

I will keep working on this post.  Thanks to all my friends and family for being my friends and family

Netflix after 6 months

We started using Netflix a few months back.  Beth and I decided to try it after we got the new BlueRay player for the TV in the bedroom.  The BlueRay player has built in WiFi that I have connected to the wireless router in the house.  I have written in the past about the tech stuff getting the Wii, BlueRay, and all the computers hooked up with the network and Netflix.  I want to write a little about the actual service from Netflix. 

Setting up an account was just as easy as most online web sights.  Name, address, age and a valid email address were the only things needed to make an account.  Payment options are limited to credit cards or paypal.  The plans range from just online streaming to having out 4 dvds at a time.  They will also ship BlueRay discs for and extra $2/month on any plan with disc rentals.   We are using the 1 disc at a time plan and I have not tried the BlueRay yet.  It usually takes 2 days between sending in an old movie and getting a new one in the mail.  The disc listing is very large and I have been able to find some old movies and mini series to watch again from years ago.  The online streaming list is much more limited but is still pretty good.  They have lots of old TV shows as well as movies on the lists here as well. 

My only problem with the service is the search and recommendation systems.  Having a chance to rate movies I have watched is nice but having to do it so the system will recommend new titles to me seems a little odd.  Why use this instead coming up with a better search system.  The search is not the best.  Fairly simple with a box at the top of the page.  It does not let you include or exclude items form your search. As an example you cannot search for just streaming titles and exclude disc only titles.  Or just search  for new arrivals instead of looking at the newly suggested for the user.  The new arrivals tab helps here some but it could be better with a search option inside the listings in the tab.   When you have more than one person watching movies the suggestions get very mixed together.  I would like an option to list the kids movies in a section just for them.  The boys would have their own list to choose from that would have very good parental controls.  

Over all I am happy with the choice we made.  I really like that it cost a lot less than having HBO on the cable bill.