WHO WANTS TO BE A SUPERHERO? The winner is...

The final episode of Sci-Fi Channel's Who Wants To Be A Superhero? ran while I was at work, so I was just now able to catch it when it reran at 1 a.m. At the end of last week's show Major Victory was eliminated, leaving two finalists to win the coveted prize of being immortalized as a comic book made by Stan Lee (and being the star of an upcoming Sci-Fi Saturday night movie)...
Feedback

Fat Momma

And the winner is... Feedback! I was sort of hoping Fat Momma would have won though: in so many ways she's the most unique superhero I've ever seen (and that cover that was drawn for her comic book was awesome!). But I think Feedback is going to more than live up to the mantle that's been bestowed upon him. The show ended great: with all the hero wannabes (including Iron Enforcer, who did eventually "turn good" after being the Dark Enforcer for most of the show's run) congratulating Feedback and Stan "The Man" Lee himself coming out to give Feedback a victory embrace. I don't care how contrived this show may have been (I definitely don't think the challenges were staged with any outcomes in mind though), Who Wants To Be A Superhero? was the the most rollickin' fun show I saw during this summer season. Let's hope they make a second edition for next year!

(For more on the show and its cadre of heroes, click here for the official site.)

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Ernesto barely worth thinking about

As I write this Tropical Storm Ernesto is about to come ashore somewhere between Cape Fear and Oak Island on the south-eastern North Carolina coast. We've been getting rain here in Reidsville throughout the evening but we'll probably only really start getting the outer bands of Ernesto in the next little while. The Weather Channel and all the local news outlets are on the coast covering this thing... but this is certainly one of the most underwhelming weather stories I've ever lived through. A lot of rain and some wind gusts - nothing really sustained - is all we're really going to get. At most, this is going to be a medium-sized nuisance over the next day or so. Hurricane Bob in 1985 was a lot worse than this. Ernesto really pales in comparison to Fran.

But all the same, we are going to be getting some much-needed rain from this system. Although I will admit that deep down, part of me is wanting the adrenaline rush that comes with riding out a major hurricane. This season we've been very lucky. And don't get me wrong, hurricanes are something that cause a lot of devastation...

...but there's no feeling in the world quite like being someplace in the projected path of an oncoming hurricane: the hydro-thermal engine from Hell. Waiting out the really big storms is like looking down the barrel of God's shotgun.

It'll be ten years ago next week that we got hit by Fran. I'm gonna try to do a write-up about it sometime then.

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Y'all go visit Jennifer Olwin's blog!

It's like this: I really don't like tooting my own horn. But Jennifer Olwin - who I have never met in person but I've fast come to count her as a very dear friend and all-around terrific person - has a mighty fine thing to say about my blog in her most recent post. I just wanted to take the opportunity to say this: that ever since first finding her blog a few months ago, Jennifer has definitely become an inspiration for me to focus my own blog that much more on God and how He would have me publish my thoughts online. Anyone who has that kind of positive effect on me, I want to go out of my way to let other people know about that person. Between her and Lisa (who's got her own blog too for you to take a gander at) these two ladies are certainly keeping my online 'tude straight. So go check out her blog: I guarantee you'll come away from it that a lot more enlightened on things :-)

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Worst hypocrisy I've seen from the Bush White House in a very long time

U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales told the Iraqi government that he was visiting that country to do "what we can ... to help promote the rule of law and also help promote security in this country."

?!?!?!?????

Attorney General Gonzales is doing nothing about upholding the rule of law in this country, the United States of America. Why should we believe that he and the rest of this administration are going to do any better by Iraq?

And "promote security"...?! This from the man who is instrumental in letting thousands of illegals cross into America daily.

Sometimes I have to wonder if the Bush Administration might actually be trying to actively destroy American sovereignty. Either they are ignoring our own problems by outright design, or they really are the most incompetent administration to ever occupy the White House.

(The more I see this kind of stuff happening, the more I'm starting to long for the Clinton years as the "good old days".)

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eBay crippling homeschool parents with new policy

It's being reported on WorldNetDaily that online auction giant eBay has implemented a new policy that is unfairly targetting homeschooling families.

A new policy by Internet trading behemoth eBay that bans homeschool teachers' texts from its auctions is prompting a tirade of complaints from the company's faithful customers.

"Really the homeschooling community is a huge participant in eBay when you get to thinking about it," said one customer who was identified as ''angels*wings'' on an eBay blog. "We buy textbooks naturally but we also purchase items like microscopes, slides, globes, maps, manipulatives, educational games, reading books, supplies for our classrooms ... stickers, idea books, folders, sheet protectors, school supplies, software, educational movies, models, post cards ... the list is enormous."

The policy, which is inclusive of all teachers' texts, was made known recently as those who were auctioning various books watched as their postings were deleted.

Another homeschooler on the blog said she questioned eBay when her listings were cancelled.

"They told me that it fell under their heading of 'illegal, dangerous, offensive, or potentially infringing,'" she said. "What are they thinking? I have a mess of curriculum here that I can't sell, and needing money from it to buy curriculum for the new school year."

The response from the company was posted for others to see.

"As you may know, eBay does not permit items that are illegal, dangerous, offensive, or potentially infringing. Additionally, eBay has just recently made the decision to prohibit the sale of Teacher's Editions of textbooks and solutions manuals that are intended solely for use by teachers. Since eBay strives to be a level-playing field, all Teacher's Edition textbooks, manuals and guides will be covered under this policy. Unfortunately, home schooling Teacher's Editions are not exempt from this policy and this policy will apply to all grade levels."

The company continued that those products often contain "special answer keys, exams, teaching tips, and guides"...

So sales of textbooks for students can go on unimpeded. But sales of teacher's editions that would let a homeschooling parent check the work of her children are strictly a no-no.

This may be one of the dumbest things I've ever seen happen on the Internet. Does eBay really believe they should now be "playing nanny" for their customers? Are they really that worried that students might (shudder) go looking for answers to questions? It's like they've never even heard of Google.

The only people I know of who would really be hindered by this ridiculous policy are kids who memorize everything they read... and that's got to be a very low percentage of the children at that. Otherwise, eBay is not only doing homeschool parents a grave disservice, they are angering a considerably vast customer base.

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Abe Lincoln and a beaver want you to catch some ZZZs

So it's now 3 a.m., an unconscionably late hour to be up at. Ironically enough, a short while ago I was checking some web-mail and a banner ad for Rozerem appeared. It's a prescription sleep medicine and if you haven't seen the TV ad yet... well, this is just one plum weird commercial. A guy who can't sleep shuffles into his kitchen where Abe Lincoln and a talking beaver are sitting at the table with a chess set, telling the guy they've been waiting for him. In the background there's someone at the kitchen counter wearing a deep-sea diving suit. The tagline is something like "Your dreams miss you." For a pharmaceutical ad, it's certainly one of the most odd that I've ever seen... but I think it's strangely funny too. I mean, what kind of person is it that comes up with the idea of putting Abe Lincoln and a wise-cracking beaver together? Well if you want to see the ad here it is in Quicktime format (may have to upgrade to the latest version of the player though).

Awright, time for me to get in some sleep myself. See y'all on the flipside :-)

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One year ago tonight...

...I was making this post. Hard to believe it's been an entire year already since Katrina hit New Orleans.

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