The Fourth Annual Popcorn Sutton Summer Jam is this weekend!

If you are in the neighborhood of western North Carolina this weekend, you won't find much more good times than at the Fourth Annual Popcorn Sutton Summer Jam.  And if you aren't in the neighborhood and have some time, you should come anyway!

Since its humble beginnings as one evening at a Maggie Valley restaurant three years ago, it has grown into a two-day event bringing people from all walks of life together to celebrate the life and art of late moonshiner Marvin "Popcorn" Sutton.  With lots of live country and bluegrass music, food, local crafts and a plethora of colorful characters walking about (some no doubt dressed as Popcorn himself), the Popcorn Sutton Summer Jam is a rollickin' fun festival honoring the man and the Appalachian culture he was proud to represent.  Bring along your lawn chair and get ready to enjoy the show!

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Roads? Where this LEGO model is going we don't need... roads.

Here's the latest entry in the "Things we don't really need but are lusting for badly" files...

1-Point-21 jigawatts of LEGO awesome!

Going on sale worldwide tomorrow at LEGO Stores, toy and other retailers as well as LEGO's online store is this: The DeLorean Time Machine.  The fourth model to be designed, supported and approved for official production via LEGO CUUSOO, this minifig-scale replica of Doctor Emmett "Doc" Brown's famous heavy-customized DeLorean from Back to the Future comes complete with options for builders to trick it out for whatever form it appeared throughout the film trilogy (it even includes Mr. Fusion and the OUTATIME and barcode license plates).  Unique decal-ed bricks have the Flux Capacitor and the Destination/Present Time LED display.  The doors swing up gull-wing style and the wheels swivel into air mode!

And yes, it even has minifigs of Marty McFly (with skateboard) and Doc Brown!  Incidentally, CUUSOO designers who see their ideas on the store shelves get 1% of the profit, and the two guys who collaborated on this model are donating their cut to the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Research.

LEGO's Back to the Future DeLorean Time Machine has a retail price of $34.99/€34,99 and streets on August 1st, both at brick-and-mortar stores and online at the LEGO Shop.  Go get it.  You know you want to.

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It's the shifty-eyed Tammy Tuesday!

Zoinks!!  This week's Tammy Tuesday feature went down to the wire!  It's 11:56 p.m. when I'm finally able to getting to post it.

Well, don't let it be said that I'm not the Hardest Working Man in the Blogosphere(tm)!  Here's a low-angle shot of Tammy, leering at the camera over the top of her doggie bed...

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A startling message on a church sign

While driving through Virginia over the weekend there was a church sign that caught my eye.  It was much like any other found outside places of worship throughout the Bible Belt of America: usually the name of the church, some other info (website address, etc.) and then lots of space for some timely text or witty remark.  I think one of my all-time favorites has to be "SOMEONE CALL 911, THIS CHURCH IS ON FIRE!"  And I'd be horribly negligent as a blogger if I didn't note one nearby congregation's humorous reaction to all the precipitation we've had lately: "WHOEVER IS PRAYING FOR RAIN: PLEASE STOP".

When you think about it, church signs were Twitter before we ever had the Internet.  And even today they convey their messages much better... and with far fewer than 140 characters.

But here's what was emblazoned on this particular church's outdoor sign:

A COUNTRY OF SHEEP BREEDS A GOVERNMENT OF WOLVES

Living in this region, it's not unheard of for a church sign to read something about current events or a quick comment on the culture.  Last year a number of signs depicted support for Amendment 1 (which defined marriage as being between one man and one woman) here in North Carolina.  I can't say that I've personally seen any overtly partisan messages on a church sign in this area, and I like to think that most people prefer it that way. 

This message was not at all partisan.  It didn't seem directed at any burning cultural issue or controversy, either.  But it was something that to the very best of my knowledge I have never seen before on a church sign: implication... or accusation... that government has become a feral and ravenous beast loosed upon the land.  The fault of which is an indifferent and ignorant people.

That's the meaning I took away from it.  Most readers of this blog will understand how I could be sympathetic toward it.  This church is located on U.S. 220 between Martinsville and Roanoke: a fairly significant roadway.  And maybe, just perhaps, many other motorists will spot the sign and feel led to sincerely consider its message.

That being said: I haven't been able to shake how startled I was to read that message.  The most surprising church sign that I've seen until now was probably "GOD HAVE MERCY ON AMERICA", when many signs around the Fourth of July were reading "GOD BLESS AMERICA".

Nothing nebulous about this church sign though.  "A government of wolves".  Brought about by "a country of sheep".

A succinct paraphrase could very well be: "Think for yourself and don't trust the government".  Because if you don't think for yourself, there are plenty of others more than willing to think for you.

I like that.  It jibes with the notion that government in this country derives from the people, and the people have responsibilities toward ensuring that government does not become an animal unto itself.  But I digress...

Here's what's been going through my thoughts since the weekend:

This was a message from one church, out of... how many thousands upon thousands of churches across America?

If that might be the sentiment of one church (and this sort of thing tends to have input from the laity as well as the parson in charge), there may be others... many others even... likewise beginning to question temporal force with a brazen boldness.  Churches whose congregants are challenging the faith we've placed in politics.  A people at last daring to reassert the minds entrusted them by God.

Like I said: startling.  And refreshing.  And rife with a measure hope.

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Confirmed: John Williams is scoring STAR WARS EPISODE VII

News breaking now out of Star Wars Celebration Europe that John Williams will be returning to the galaxy far, far away and composing the score for Star Wars Episode VII.

John Williams.  Because when you get the band back together,
you positively can NOT do it without this guy.

In a pre-recorded video for the folks attending Celebration Europe, Williams said that he was "looking forward to drawing on some of his original themes and adding new material", according to IGN's report.

New Star Wars music composed by the master himself.  "This will be a day long remembered..."

Thanks to good friend of this blog Drew McOmber for the heads-up!

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Senator Burr calls defunding ObamaCare "dumbest idea" ever (this is leadership?)

Longtime readers of this blog know that I don't play the partisan game.  And I haven't bought into the "conservative/liberal" mentality for a very long time.  Regardless of affiliation, we should expect all of our elected officials to put the Constitution and liberty of the American people ahead of their political agendas.

Senator Richard Burr
(North Carolina): Part
of the problem in D.C.

That being said, North Carolina's Senator Richard Burr is now shown be a bitter disappointment.  Burr is choosing capitulation over leadership, and what is easy over what is right.

From the article at The Hill...

Blocking a government funding bill over ObamaCare is "the dumbest idea I've ever heard," Sen. Richard Burr (R-N.C.) said Thursday.

Burr argued stopping ObamaCare's funding is not going to be achievable as long as President Obama is in the White House, and that Republicans risked taking the blame if they forced the government to shut down over the issue.

"I think it's the dumbest idea I've ever heard," Burr told journalist Todd Zwilich on Thursday. "Listen, as long as Barack Obama is president the Affordable Care Act is gonna be law.

"I think some of these guys need to understand that you shut down the federal government, you better have a specific reason to do it that's achievable," Burr continued. "Defunding the Affordable Care Act is not achievable through shutting down the federal government."

Senator Burr, there are far more important things being threatened by ObamaCare than the federal government.  Implementation of the Affordable Care Act is going to cause a lot of private businesses - both large and small - to close up shop because they can't meet the requirements of this legislation.  You are also forgetting that ObamaCare is already compelling many companies and other organizations to choose between compromising their beliefs or paying exorbitant and unconscionable penalties to the government.

It would be better to have a shutdown of the federal government than to witness a shutdown of hundreds, even thousands of businesses which employ honest and hard-working Americans.  Employment is scarce already.  It will only plummet further if ObamaCare goes into full effect.

The Affordable Care Act should be fought, and fought, and fought again without yielding.  And a person who has sworn to uphold and defend the Constitution will fight ObamaCare, no matter the political cost or what the United States Supreme Court has ruled about it.  It wasn't the first time that the Supreme Court has erred terribly, and it won't be the last.  The ramifications of ObamaCare will haunt America for generations to come if it is not halted now.  A person of foresight and wisdom will do whatever he or she can to keep that from happening.  Surrendering to an evil thing... and ObamaCare is an evil thing... is not an act of leadership or wisdom.  It is, however, an act of cowardice.

Senator Burr is practically confessing that his loyalty is not to the citizens of North Carolina and all Americans, but to the federal government.  By his statements, Burr demonstrates that he gives a higher priority to the status quo of Washington politics than he does to the liberties, the opportunities and the posterity of we the people.

Burr is not an example of true leadership.  A true leader does what is right, regardless of popularity or politics.  A true leader is a person of conscience, not of convenience or "conventional wisdom".

And Burr is a very poor example of what Republicans profess to stand for.  If the GOP is the alleged party of smaller government, it cannot reconcile that claim with capitulating to the largest takeover of a private industry in American history.  One that will impede on our freedoms, will drive many into bankruptcy and will diminish the quality of health care in this country.  Between this and all the other kowtowing going on in Washington, it's little wonder that an increasing number of Americans see no significant difference between the Democrats and Republicans.  For all intents and purposes it is one-party rule pretending to be two.  And rolling over on ObamaCare - among many other concerns - is proving it.

If it comes down to choosing either the strength of the federal government or the freedom of the American people, I'll choose the American people every time.  So should the members of Congress, and each of their personal political consequence be damned.

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Hackers use wi-fi laptop to control EVERYTHING on a modern car

Remember that stunt Jeff Gordon pulled on an unsuspecting car salesman a few months ago?  The one where Gordon was disguised as any off-the-street Joe Shmoe and took a car for a test drive and terrified the crap out of that poor guy?

This is scarier...


Charlie Miller and Chris Valasek - two top-rate hackers out of Indiana -went into the guts of a Toyota Prius, jimmied-around with thirty-something on-board computer units and were able to take charge of dang nearly every function of the car.  Using a wireless laptop they can steer, put on the brakes, honk the horn, fake the speedometer reading, switch on the headlights and even tighten and loosen the seatbelts.

My dad has long proclaimed that "Cars only need gas, air and electricity to work: they don't need a computer!"  After watching this video, it's hard to argue with that.

Crash here to read more about this amazing hack, which was funded by the U.S. Defense Advance Research Projects Agency (the kind folks who brought us the Internet).

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