90) Political Time 2

The Republican and Democratic National Conventions are over, and I must admit that I did not watch them.  But I have heard references to the 2 keynote speakers (besides the candidates themselves) in the media recently and decided to check them out for myself.  What I watched was interesting and entertaining enough for me to dedicate my second non-partisan exploration of politics blog post to linking you to these two speeches.

Clint Eastwood speaks for the Republicans and his speech is just over 11 minutes.  Bill Clinton speaks for the Democrats and his speech is just over 49 minutes.  I do not wish for you to watch all of Clinton's, but watch 11 minutes of both so that you can get a feel for what the different parties (not necessarily the candidates) stand for in the upcoming election.



Clint Eastwood at the 2012 Republican Convention:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=933hKyKNPFQ


Bill Clinton at the 2012 Democratic Convention:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i5knEXDsrL4

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89) Political Time 1

The last few elections I have taken more of an active interest in educating myself so that I could at least on some level feel like an informed voter. And while there are a number of things that annoy me as it pertains to politics, I think the most annoying is when uninformed people push their thoughts/beliefs onto other people, and then get angry when you disagree or present evidence that disproves their thoughts/beliefs. So, heading into the upcoming election my mission is one of learning to inform myself.

A few caveats:
* Doing this is difficult. It is hard to find information on really what is at stake by voting one way or the other.
* My goal is to uncover facts, or help lead others to uncover facts. My goal is not to project my opinions onto anyone.
* I admit at the beginning that my knowledge and resources are limited, so any guidance by fellow readers is encouraged.

To begin, I found a website that allows you to score your stance on major issues. Once you submit, the website shows you how major political figures feel about the same issues. The most helpful aspect of this site is the descriptions of the issues. If you click on the statement you are asked to either support or oppose, there is a detailed description of that each answer represents. This helps in actually determining how you feel about a particular issue. Having one place to see the major issues will help individuals understand that a president should not be chosen on how he/she feels about one issue. Going through this quiz is the first step to understanding how you really feel, and how you should cast your vote.

More to come...

http://www.ontheissues.org/Quiz/Quiz2010.asp#sec1

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88) Wednesday Morning Story

A quick story for a Wednesday morning. A year ago Liz and I went to California to visit friends and family for a long weekend. Our friend works on the set of Hell's Kitchen and was able to get us in for one of the tapings of Season 11. We've been watching this year in order to see ourselves on TV. The pictures below were taken from this week's episode. You can see Gordon Ramsey clearly in the first picture. If you look just above his sous chef you may see in the background a blurry couple eating dinner and watching the chefs. That blurry couple is me and Liz. I know it isn't much, but it is our moment in the spotlight.

87) XXX Olympics

Every four years we get to watch the Olympics. Honestly I have not paid much attention the last 30 years, but this year was different. Maybe it was the extensive coverage that caused me to watch more than I have before, or maybe it was because outside it was 100+ degrees every day over the last few weeks. Following are snippets I remember from all Olympics I've watched over the years: * I remember watching the 1984 Olympics with my mom in the game room. She introduced me to BBQ flavored Ruffles dipped in sour cream. Sounds like a strange combination, but we ate almost a bag of chips and 1 container of sour cream per night. Specifically, I remember watching men's volleyball. * In college, I guess maybe 2002, I discovered Curling. I thought it was the most ridiculous sport ever. And then I watched it for almost 2 hours, really impressed with Canada's overall broom speed and precision. * I remember watching the Winter Olympics in 2006 at Tiffany's house during band practice. Any time Apollo Ono competed we had to shut everything down and watch. We would watch his events, his interviews, his stretching, his walking around the arena multiple times because Tiffany had the biggest crush on the guy. * In elementary school our history teacher showed us the long jump during class. When they announced the distance of the gold medal jump he took us outside and put tape on the concrete of exactly how long that was. I remember seeing how many jumps it took me to make it from 1 piece of tape to the next. I don't remember how many jumps it took. * This year I watched Water Polo with Stephen, Nick and Haddiebug. I have decided that I do not care for Water Polo. It is too much of the same thing and lasts too long. I respect their athleticism, just can't get into the competition. * Watching Water Polo with L. and Dee. Same as previous bullet, except it was more fun listening to L. and Dee trying to understand the sport. * Anytime I turned the TV on and looked through the guide I saw several channels airing XXX Olympics. And for a quick second I wondered/hoped they were airing several channels of porn Olympics. * We watched the dancing with a bouncy ball event. Not sure what this is called, or why it is an event, but we watched it. I must admit, the women could do some cool things with the bouncy ball, but I feel that this is more of a circus routine and not an olympic event. It isn't fair to jugglers that they allow this event in, but not juggling. * We also watched the dancing with a hula hoop event. Same as previous event. * Usain Bolt is a freak of nature. We watched him sprint in the 100m and 200m, but missed the 4X 100m relay. That sounded like the best event of 2012. * I watched at least 30 minutes of the Women's US Soccer gold medal game. We have an awesome team, and they are fun to watch. * I feel like the story trying to come out of these Olympics was USA verse China. And throughout the games, the top two medal winning countries were USA and China. I don't think it matters much to me if we are the most medal winning country in the competition. I like all of the athletes and I want them all to do well. I like good, wholesome competition, and I feel like the Olympics take out Fandom from the equation for me more so than other sports, which makes it less stressful to watch. That being said, the US won the most medals and we took home the most gold. While watching, I felt like US Women dominated everything, and so I found the following graphics which illustrate how the medals are broken out. Sure enough, US Women dominated the games, and that gave me a great sense of pride. In this time in human history I have the good fortune to live in the country with the greatest women in the world. It doesn't get any better than that!

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I have decided to document the strange things I hear while sitting within my cube. I will call it CubeJoy...