Thursday Throw Down

Economic Perspective:
2,000 (years) x 365 = 730,000 (days)
$900,000,000,000 / 730,000 = $1,232,876.71 per day since Jesus was born (not adjusted for inflation).

Best web-phenomenon term:
FaceBook Fits - coined by Elizabeth in reference to certain types of status updates.

Compelling solution to fiscal crisis:
Lawerence Lindsey on The Daily Show

Best Political Cartoon of the Week:
Party of Fiscal Responsibility

L O S T Prediction:
Miles is the son of Dr. Edgar Hallowax the guy from the Dharma Initiative instructional films.

Weekend Plans:
Allison has class on Saturday so I might take the boys to see the Red Bull Snowscraper competition on the Lower Eastside. Should be TOTALLY RADICAL DUDE!

It's Friday!

Whew the weekend is almost here.
Here's a way to help your day go by a lot faster.

Beyond Belief

Sometimes you read a news story that is so hard to believe that you have to re-read it just to be sure you understand what's going on. That happened to me recently when I read about the story of Dymond Milburn of Galveston, Texas.

Here is a brief glimpse at what happened to this twelve year old girl:

It was a little before 8 at night when the breaker went out at Emily Milburn's home in Galveston. She was busy preparing her children for school the next day, so she asked her 12-year-old daughter, Dymond, to pop outside and turn the switch back on.

As Dymond headed toward the breaker, a blue van drove up and three men jumped out rushing toward her. One of them grabbed her saying, "You're a prostitute. You're coming with me."

Dymond grabbed onto a tree and started screaming, "Daddy, Daddy, Daddy." One of the men covered her mouth. Two of the men beat her about the face and throat.

As it turned out, the three men were plain-clothed Galveston police officers who had been called to the area regarding three white prostitutes soliciting a white man and a black drug dealer.

The story goes on and gets worse.

Dymond (who is black) ended up in the hospital for a few days with bruises on her throat, black eyes, and a punctured ear drum. Three weeks after that the police showed up at her school (remember she is 12) and arrested her (they arrested her dad as well) for assaulting an officer of the Peace.

This all went to trail and the judge threw declared a mistrial on the very first day. This happened two years ago and according to reports Dymond still suffers nightmares from this episode. The officers have been cleared of all wrong doing and were said to have been following proper procedures.

You can read the full article from the Houston Press.

I wonder what would have happened if the father had come out with his shotgun a blazing in efforts to protect his daughter from being taken by three unidentified men? Texas has some of the most liberal self-defense statutes in the nation, but it's clear in this case it was a really good thing the dad didn't come out with his shotgun. If he had I am sure both he and Dymond would be dead or even accused of murder.

It's hard for me to believe this has been allowed to be unresovled for more than two years. The injustice of it is really disturbing.

Caught in a Vulnerable Position

As I have said before we have had a little bit of a mouse problem the past few months. When I am up late, it's not uncommon to see them (yes more than one) running to and fro in the kitchen. Usually they come out when it's late so Allison and the kids don't have to interact with them...until last night.

Here's the scene, Levi is stalling big time about going to bed. He has already been put in his bed and tucked in twice. Allison and I are in the living room happily on our computers and we can hear him "sneaking out" of his room to go into the bathroom (convenient excuse to get out of bed). We both look at each other and roll our eyes and Allison (her turn) starts to get up to put him back in bed for the third time.

All of a sudden we hear the following:

(clap...clap....clap)
(screaming....clap....crying....clap)
D A D D Y!

I jump out of my chair and run down the hall, to discover Levi standing at the toilet with his PJ's around is knees screaming "THERE'S A MOUSE!" Which then I turn to see a little brown mouse run out of the bathroom and into the hall.

Tearing down the hall a few steps behind me was Allison, who upon practically running into the mouse, had her "Momfiercness" kick in and she grabbed the closest thing she could think of to capture the mouse (a mixing bowl). For Allison this is no small feat, because she has been known to stay awake all night at Camp Shiloh feeling "phantom mice" running accross the bed due to being traumatized at the thought of a mouse in our cabin.

The mouse escaped, but the ensuing processing discussion we had with Levi is something I will never forget. It was hilarious, precious, and unforgetable. In some ways I am thankful that the mouse created the opportunity for Allison and I to have this lasting memory.

However, mouse is still dead come 9:30 am when the exterminator gets here!

400th Post!

I'm back!

After being fairly consumed with this past election and frequently using this blog as a vehicle for expressing my thoughts, I decided to take a step back for a little bit. I enjoy politics and discussing current events and I view this blog as a way of engaging in the topics and stories I find interesting. But in stepping back for a bit I took some time to think about the usefulness and "contribution" blogging in this manner actually makes. It's not that I hope to achieve any sort of blog notoriety via my "jackassian" punditry or even looking to garner more comments for that matter. Rather I questioned whether adding my two-cents to topics that are already hyper analyzed and commented on is beneficial for me or society in general.

With all this reflecting I have come to the conclusion that thinking about myself or this blog in such a way might just be taking things a bit too seriously. So it's time to start blogging and stopping reflecting.

However I do have a little video whose subject matter I do take very seriously.

I find teaching your children to love Rock and Roll is absolutely critical if you wish to be considered a good parent. I have learned from Radio Lab that studying right before you go to bed aids in memory recall and neurological imprinting. So I figured 30 minutes before bed is the perfect time to get out the guitar and turn up the music (especially while Allison is in class).

Ah, it's tough being a good parent!

Yearbook Yourself

Yearbook Yourself:

J-Wild circa 1996

J-Wild aka "BIFF" circa 1994
(Hi, I play baseball and I am a jerk.)

Basically my dad circa 1970

In 1952 I was 6 feet tall

Really Bad Day at Work...

Soooo true!

And what makes this cartoon even sadder and more accurate to my life these days is that I bookmarked Fivethirtyeight.com a site that I had never heard of before. I NEED HELP!

Thunderstorm in NYC

We just had a huge thunderstorm blow through the city. These are three shots I was able to get out my window looking south towards Central Park and the Empire State Building. The large building in the foreground is part of the development that Beth and Brandon live in.

Way to Go I.S. 318

When your spouse goes through graduate school you begin to develop a vicarious understanding or interest in the particular course of study undertaken by that spouse. Since Allison is just a thesis away from completing her MA as a Literacy Specialist I have come to understand things about reading, coding, comprehension I never understood before. I also have come to intimately know how terrible No Child Left Behind has been for our schools and our children.

I have come to really comprehend how poor NCLB is because of what Allison has learned about education, policy, and how children learn. So my hat goes off to the 8th graders of I.S. 318 in the South Bronx who staged a peaceful protest against taking yet another three-hour meaningless practice test last week.

The entire 8th grade class handed in blank packets for a three-hour practice social studies test. As reported by Dan Brown in the Huffington Post, high-stakes testing is basically out of control. Teachers teach to the test and students are forced to learn what the test wants them to. Testing companies haul in millions of dollars under the auspices of accountability and there is nothing anyone can do about it. Until the students at a public school in the South Bronx took a stand.

"We've had a whole bunch of these diagnostic tests all year," Tatiana Nelson, 13, one of the protest leaders, said Tuesday outside the school. "They don't even count toward our grades. The school system's just treating us like test dummies for the companies that make the exams."

According to the petition, they are sick and tired of the "constant, excessive and stressful testing" that causes them to "lose valuable instructional time with our teachers." - NY Daily News

Perhaps these students can help us see that using testing as the sole means of evaluating education, intelligence, or progress has become an unhealthy fixation.

Where did I put that...

A little more than a year ago Allison, Levi, Zeke (in utero), and myself were in Spain visiting my mom. It was a glorious trip (which you can re-live here).

I was reflecting on the trip a couple of days ago, and remembered that I hadn't seen the keepsake I had gotten to remind me of my time in Spain. In Toledo I purchased a very nice and relatively expensive pocket knife. This was no ordinary pocket knife, for one it hardly fit in my pocket, and two it was made by real blade craftsmen. The knife was razor sharp and the handle was made from bull horn. It was, or is, awesome.

But I can't find it. Truth be told I have only given a cursory look in several places partly because I fear a serious turning over of my house might result in me coming to grips with it being lost forever.

The problem is I can't find another knife that my brother got for me from Morocco which makes me think that I put both knives away somewhere out Levi's reach and in a protected place. They weren't in my usual protected places but I still haven't given up hope.

Headlines You Can Wear?!

I cannot believe this. A few moments ago I was just checking the home page of CNN.com and noticed something different next to the list of headlines on the right of the page. Usually in their list of headlines there is a video camera icon indicating that a particular headline link would open into a video report.

A headline caught my eye that said "Crying 4-year-old found along highway." Then I noticed that it had the video camera icon next to it. And then another icon as well, this one was in the form of a t-shirt. I had no idea why a t-shirt icon would be there so I clicked on it. What appeared next has me so angry that I can hardly type this out. It was an order form for a t-shirt with that headline on it. Surely this is a joke, but nope it isn't. When you click "Get This Shirt," an order form pops up and there you can order your American Apparel t-shirt with that particular headline on it. They even have an extensive FAQ section regarding the ordering of the t-shirt.

Here are the list of the other headlines as of 4:07 p.m. est. that you can get as a t-shirt.

• Crying 4-year-old found along highway
• Teen too young for 'come hither' pose?
• Colossal squid has soccer-ball eyes

WHAT THE [censored] IS THE MATTER WITH THESE PEOPLE. They think that a story about a four year old looking for his lost dog along the side of a busy highway is perfect for a kitschy T-shirt!! The kid is ok but clearly not being supervised (by his uncle) very well. I am freaking irate and I hope you are too. Here is the link for the Contact Us page off of CNN.com. I hope you will take the time to write them to let them know how inappropriate and dumb this idea is.

Then you need to post, link, digg, comment, etc everywhere you can. Hopefully this shameless attempt to open a new revenue stream for Time Warner will blow up in their faces!

Confessions

1. David Cook was pretty good Tuesday night on American Idol. I take back my declaration that he is a poser. I still don't think he should win, one "Daughtry" is enough.
2. I RARELY listen to my voice-mail. I am better about checking my cell phone, but terrible about checking voice-mail from work and home. I don't know why but I have just stopped checking it.
3. I think FaceBook takes way too much time and is too complicated (read needy) to manage and keep up with.
   
4. I am finding it very difficult to stick with my moral convictions to stay in Social Security (ministers can opt out).
5. Allison and I had a little fight in front of the kids walking to school this morning. I felt bad for fighting with her, but even worse for doing it in front of Levi. He was upset and Allison and I felt terrible. Especially because the fight was lame to begin with. We all parted ways on good terms and we both apologized to him (and each other). One of many apologies we will make to our kids in the coming years for sure.
6. I don't know what I think about Satan. Sometimes I think he/she is a real entity, and other times I think he/she is just the personification of the inherent selfishness all humans carry with them. Most evil is caused by humans, and most tragedies seem to happen by chance. I have mixed feeling with regard to spiritual warfare. I have a real problem with how spiritual warfare is written about and marketed in Christian publishing circles.
7. I am a news and politics junkie. I know it's detrimental to my peace of mind, but sometimes I feel like ignoring the world isn't living in reality, just my own little kingdom.
   
8. I am always surprised to see how short I am (5' 6") when I see pictures of myself standing next to other people.
9. I haven't watched Sports Center in years. I don't really miss it. I feel like I am supposed to.
   
10. The time has finally come where my body no longer looks the way I want it to. The threshold has been reached and I either have to watch what I eat and exercise, or be weak and flabby. I made it 33 years without having to put much thought and effort into it. Now it's all work and guilt from here on out. Of course I could 'gluten binge' and drop some weight pretty quick.
11. My blog posts are too long and take forever to get to the point.
    

Tourists in Pictures

Tourists can be very funny especially when they are taking pictures around the city. Like trying to get the entire Empire State Building and themselves into a shot. Or taking their picture in front of the Apple Cube on 5th Ave. But no spot is more of a mystery to me than in front of the male statue by Fernando Botero that's in the Time Warner center. I took a picture of this couple taking their picture with the statue, and if you click on it you'll understand why I think it's an odd place to take a picture. And I know people take a picture in front of the guy just because of his shiny penis, because no-one takes a picture in front of the girl.

Although if the statue was smaller and her breasts could fit in the frame of a shot I bet they would. People can be so weird. If these statues were in a museum it would be no big deal. Put them in the public square and everyone wants a picture with a brass penis! Here's how they look from the ground.

The FDNY

There was a massive four alarm fire down the street from us today. A five story building was on fire and the roof collapsed, but no one was injured (that I am aware of). Levi and I ran down there to see the action and we stayed out in the cold (20 degrees) for about 45 minutes. It was so amazing to see the men and women of the FDNY descend on this fire and keep it under control. On top of that we saw them rescue families from the building on the second and fifth floors. Amazing stuff.

Fire fighters have a well deserved hero status in our society. When you see how big a fire like this can get and then all the fire fighters rushing in to put it out, you can only just stand there in awe. That's exactly what Levi and I did. Below is a picture I took of the rescue from the second floor of the building and the one to the left is a guy who was getting ready to get into the building.

Butting Out

At what point do you decide that a situation involving a friend is none of your business, and the better thing to do is stay out of it?

Work

I love my job and where I work. But hate doing reimbursements.

An Uber-Post

Baby Update:
Still no baby, but it's going to be any moment now. The next post will be the announcement of his birth. In the meantime I leave you with an UBER-POST!

Honduras Mission:
If you are interested, here is a short video (QuickTime file) of our trip to Honduras. It's really just a preview of a larger movie that's to come in the future. I took all the pictures with my new to me (read used) digital camera with a 20mm - 200mm lens (Jeremy you will have to show me how to use it).

Music:
Wondering what the best album I've heard recently from a band you've never heard of is? It's a band called The Nobility (formerly known as JetPack) and their new album The Mezzanine. If you want to say "I've been listening to that band before they were big," you should definitely plunk down $9.99 for this album. It's really a fantastic album, and I highly recommend it to people who like Indie Rock, The Beatles, Sufjan Stevens, etc. But you don't have to take my word for it. If you are in Nashville check them out live, and it appears they are coming to NYC August 6th and I will definitely be there.

Let's get political:
Do you have a need to do some easy political activism today? Click on the previous link to help motivate our Senators to pass The Dream Act.

Nature Doesn't Love You:
You know those shows on Discovery called "Man vs. Wild" and "I Shouldn't Be Alive?" I love watching them, but every-time I do I seem to be pushed further and further into thinking that nature isn't as cute and cuddly as it's made out to be. The truth is, given just the slightest chance, nature would like to eat you for lunch (yes you should click the link).

The director of "Rescue Dawn" Werner Herzog is famous for portraying nature as an enemy or obstacle for his characters to overcome. "Rescue Dawn" is no exception. There is even a line in the movie that goes "...don't you get it, the jungle is the prison". Check out this video of Herzog discussing his feelings about the jungle. Warning, it's kind of intense, but I think he inadvertently articulates the crux of Romans 8:19-22.

Nature is often portrayed as this fragile thing that needs coddling and protecting by humans. I think that misrepresents the fundamental nature of nature! Nature is a powerful wild beast that couldn't care less if you were stranded in the woods on a zero degree night without coat. It would have no qualms about freezing you to death. And for most of human history people really struggled to live against the power of nature, and a lot of the world still does to some degree. Remember the short story by Jack London called To Build a Fire (taken it back to 8th grade English)? That story is a great example of nature's ruthlessness.

I realize this is hardly a profound thought, and I like another person I know am not nearly as articulate about this as a whole host of other people would be. However, I think it's a valuable frame of reference to have that our survival in nature depends on us maintaining a balance between both using and maintaining nature. We must use all of our expertise and technology to take advantage of everything that nature has to offer, without upsetting the environment that is conducive for us to survive. If we continue to alter the natural world in ways that force nature to adapt, then the ways that nature might change could prove to be existentially devastating to how we have grown accustomed to living. Which is pretty obvious right?

Nature can be wonderful and awe inspiring, but it doesn't need to be viewed as such. However nature does require us to respect it and if we don't then we stand to loose much more than nature does.

Playing Catch Up

Sorry it's been a little slow at the J-Wild blog this week. I have been swamped so here is a brain dump.

1. American Idol - Melinda Doolittle and Lakisha Jones are so much better than everyone else on this season it's amazing. The boys are terrible, save the beat box guy, and the curly hair dude.

2. LOST - Whew, finally a show to sink our teeth into!

3. The Four Unspeakable Truths about the Iraq war according to Jacob Weisberg are: The War was a mistake. The soldiers are victims as much as they are heros. The lives lost in Iraq are lives that have been wasted. America is going to, or already has lost this war. Even if you don't agree with his assessment it's worth reading. He also apologizes for his qualified support for the war.

4. On Joe's blog he explored what people meant when they said they were "supporting our troops". Great stuff was written in the comments, but what I keep coming back to is how much our government doesn't seem to be supporting our troops. They were sent to battle without proper armor, asked to return for tours again and again, and now it is appalling clear that the government is at best unprepared and worst negligent in taking care of the tens of thousands of wounded coming back to the United States.

5. I keep reflecting on this line from our staff devotional earlier this week. "Help me move from being created in your image, to living in your likeness."