Thank God for YouTube!

I know this is most likely a big deal only to me, but here goes:

It was late at night in 1983. I could get WMSE in after 10 pm. The DJ previewed that he was going to play some Femmes, Talk Talk, Dead Kennedy's and Psych. Furs. I set my take player to record, and listened to my headphones. Needless to say I fell asleep. I listened to the tape next day, and this song was on it. Never heard it before. Never knew what it was called, but I thought it was called "Love Lost Forever". I looked at Mainstream, at the mall, in the old catalog book, but nothing. All I had was this old tape that I have broken and fixed numerous times and still have. I was researching for tonight's "Lost Video" post and all a sudden, that song popped in my head. So I said WTF, and typed in "Love Lost Forever". What pops up is "Love Lasts Forever" By a UK band called Kissing the Pink. Ill be damned if it isnt the same damn song, and I have had the name wrong for 25 Freakin years. Thanks to Youtube, and ebay i'll soon have the CD! Here is my 25 year lost, wrong name song:

Bonus Video

Frozen Ghost released a couple more songs, but this was my personal favorite, called End of the Line. Very cheezy 80's images and clothes, but the song is still cool to me!

Fridays lost video

Back in the 80's Mrs Al Gore formed the PMRC and wanted to censor music, hence the Parental Advisory sticker that came on all our albums. A band called Frozen Ghost came out with a song called "Should I See" which protested that group and a similar ruling in Canada where the band was from. Cool song which still resonates today.

So sportsfans, how did you spend your Friday evening?

Friday night posed a real dilemma for Brewers and Packer fans with both of them playing at the same time. So how did you manage it?
A) Watched the Brewers on TV and listened to the Packers on radio
B) Watched the Packers on TV and listened to the Brewers on radio
C) Watched the Packers on TV turned down the sound and listened on the radio
D) Watched the Brewers on TV, turned down the sound and listened on the radio
C) Go out to the bar to pick up chicks
D) Go out to the bar to pick up guys
E) Belched, scratched your butt and was in bed by 9 O'Clock

What age is an adult? The alcohol debate

Please pardon a duplicate post, its one I posted on DK, but thought it may make good discussion, especially since many of you are parents.

College students and other groups across America have long lobbied for the national drinking age to be lowered from 21 to 18. Now, a group of college professors, many from very esteemed universities, have joined forces in this campaign with their group, Amethyst Initiative.

Every state in the Union has the legal age for the purchase and consumption of alcohol set at age 21, which was done in large part for individual states to receive federal funding for roadways. This was done in the 1980's, and has been controversial ever since.

The Amethyst Initiative is not only challenging the 21 and over law, but is doing so in a very broad, legitimate, and convincing manner, and not with your usual college age party types, but with those who educate them.

Not to be out-done, the very vocal, and somewhat radical MADD (mothers against drunk driving) is speaking out against any data or statistics brought forth by the proponents of lowering the legal age. MADD is also calling upon its members and supporters to write to their Representatives, as well as the College Professors, to urge they reconsider this action. (letter to members below):

An estimated 25,000 lives have been saved by the 21 Minimum Legal Drinking Age (MLDA), which is why we were gravely concerned to learn that the college and university presidents and representatives listed below have added their names to a misguided initiative aimed at attacking the minimum drinking age of 21.

We are not alone in our concern. The public strongly disagrees with efforts to lower the drinking age. According to new survey released by Nationwide Insurance this week:

• 78 percent of adults support 21 as the minimum drinking age
• 72 percent of adults think lowering the drinking age would make alcohol more accessible to kids
• Nearly half believe it would increase binge drinking among teens
• More than half say they are less likely to vote for a state representative who supports lowering the legal limit or send their children to colleges or universities with “party school” reputations

Contact the college and university presidents who have signed on to this initiative and request they remove their signatures and support the 21 Minimum Legal Drinking Age.

We must work together to find a responsible solution to the underage drinking problem, one that does not jeopardize a law that has saved nearly 25,000 lives since going into effect. Solutions include: enforcing the drinking age, tightening alcohol policy, working within the college community to ensure the environment supports the above and working with parents to talk to their children well before peer pressure begins, around fourth grade.

Strong and convincing words, but are they even close to resembling accuracy?

Both sides of the issue share very compelling and conflicting statistics. However, even though I am the mother of a child killed by an underage drunk driver, I simply cannot support the efforts of MADD. Researching their data leaves me with a bad taste in my mouth. Its faulty, and certainly played to the hysteria of all victims of drunk driving. I believe they fluff the numbers, calling any and all accidents in which ANY of those involved in an incident had consumed alcohol, an alcohol related crash. For example, a passenger of a car is intoxicated, and is struck by another unrelated, sober driver/vehicle. This is automatically classified as an alcohol related crash. Is this really true? If I as a sober driver hit someone with an intoxicated passenger, how on earth can it be called an alcohol related crash? These incidents are most certainly counted in MADD's statistics.

On the other hand, I simply cannot support the idea of lowering the drinking age to include 18 year old high school students. I have raised three sons, and understand that most young people of this age, ages 18 to 20, are not the most responsible in their every day lives, let alone throwing alcohol into the mix. This tends to create reckless behavior, one which continues to kills scores of young men from 16 to 20.

What are your thoughts? Are you among MADD's 78% in favor of keeping the legal age for alcohol at 21?

I love you David Loring...don't drink and drive...Visit David's website ://david-robyn-loring.memory-of.com

TV Commercials that promote stereotypes.....and your paying for it

Have you noticed the anti-drunk driving TV commercial sponsored by the Department of Transportation? Have you noticed the drinking drivers depicted in these commercials? My question is this: Why are all the drivers characterized as white adult males?

"Just sign at the bottom..."

How many times have you gone to a repair shop, hospital or doctor's office, store, etc, and the clerk behind the counter hands you a document and says "Just sign at the bottom."? Do you go ahead and sign or actually read the document before signing?

Any of you irregulars ever ran for or held local office?

I am considering a run for local office next spring, and have to file papers in December. Have any of you irregulars ever ran for or help public office? Is now a good time for me to start to get organized? Any advice would be helpful!

Are you SERIOUS?? IT's ONLY Wednesday??

How can it only be Wednesday,
this week has seemed to last
for a month, and a very bad one at that.
(OK, this is my venting rant, not a cry
for sympathy- by the way)

The past weekend brought on a horrible
chest cold for myself and now my youngest, we're a mess and miserable.
OK, that managable.

Monday night,
one of my brother in laws had a massive stroke, he passed away last night.

My mom called and one of her closest
friends took a turn for the worst, she has serious, vicious cancer and her days are very numbered.
I feel like that frog, trying to get to the end of the week, or with him, just trying to get on top of things and get to the top and end of the week.
How are you guys surviving?
Friends at work have been wonderful and very supportive, they keep trying to
hug me, which is not ok, I will lose it at 1st squeeze. Give me a week, I may be able to handle it then...
I NEED A VACATION FROM LIFE!!!!
Don't worry, my vacations from anything are very short, so I'm hoping to be almost myself by next week, I have important stuff to do,
WE NEED A GET-TOGETHER and SOON!!!!
So, thanks for listening/reading my attempt at letting out some steam,
I do feel better.

On another note, the input has been coming in for our next outing.
If you do not see something in your email box in the next day or 2 from me,
please email me direct if interested in our next time together
lizardmom@wi.net
And if you doget it, if there are opinion questions, please answer them :)
Thanks guys, this was very theraputic!!

IFL Update

We have two slots left for teams in the Irregular Football League. Give it a try.... It's fun and easy... even Orbs could do it!

Another Time Waster

The directions will come up when you open the link.

BTW...I suck.

”Reaction Test”

A very Different lawsuit

In keeping with our Irregular tradition comes a lawsuit out of New York. It seems this guy is suing Columbia University because their Women's Studies demonizes men. The article itself is an interesting read, but you've got to go through the comments. They're too funny.

My favorite was: "Women's studies? They teach cleaning and ironing at Columbia?"

Now girls, don't get in a twist and start pulling my feathers out.......

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/2008/08/18/2008-08-18_feminist_columbia_university_demonizes_m.html

Favorite Olympic Moment?

Just trying to get some good conversation going here...here are a few of mine in no particular order.

Swimming: The US victory in the 4x100 meter relay and Phelps incredible finish in the 100 meter fly...wow!

South Korean Park Tae-hwan winning gold in the men's 400 meter freestyle after his embarassing fall into the pool moment in Athens in 2004...redemption stories are alwasy good.

Woman's gymnast Oksana Chusovitina winning silver in the vault at the age of 33 in a sport dominated by people almost 20 years her junior.

Anything Dara Torres did.

Usain Bolt and his amazing 100 meter dash.

I have been only a casual watcher of the Olympics so please add your favorites...I might go and watch a couple of the events streaming online if you post a good one!

Let's Play the Veepstakes

It's been a while since we have discussed politics here, so let's play the Veepstakes. We can't do worse than the pundits of Foxnews and CNN!

With the Democratic National Convention only a week away, it won't be long before we know the VP candidates. You can nominate for the Democrats, Republicans or both. You can also split your vote into who you think they should nominate and who you think they will nominate. If you want a primer, CNN has a handy rundown of what they consider the top contenders for the Democrats and Republicans. Of course, you can feel free to nominate others as well.

My favorite on the Democratic side is former Senator Sam Nunn of Georgia. He might be on the conservative side for the Democrats, but he sereved as Chair of the Senate Armed Services Committee and has the credentials on national security and foreing affairs Obama needs to shore up with his pick. He is also from the south and could help Obama pick up a state or two down there.

McCain is trickier. He still seems to need to shore up the conservative base, but needs to find a person who can do that without alienating swing voters, a delicate balancing act. I don't know as much about him, but from what I have read, Mark Sanford, governor of South Carolina, has a quirky style that might mesh well with someone who likes to bill himself as the Straight Talk Express. There is something to be said for a unified campaign as well.

Realistically, I don't expect Nunn to be the pick...he just hasn't been getting the press that Evan Byah has, so I think he would be who I think will be the Veep. McCain has really been keeping his cards close to the chest, so I really have no idea who he will nominate!

So get your guesses in!

Do You Have Auditory Synesthesia?

Synesthesia is one of one of those weird neurological phenomena (so weird the spell checker doesn't even recognize it) where senses get mixed up. You can see letters as colored or see music as colors.

Melissa Saenz and Christof Koch of Caltech have discovered a new form : auditory synesthesia. In auditory syenesthesia, moving patterns can cause people to hear sounds as they report in the journal Current Biology.

What's even more interesting is that you can test yourself by using the pattern of moving dots. Just got there and start the movie and see if you hear anything.

I tried it several times and heard something occasionally. However, it was always different and not reproducible so I think I was probably hearing background sounds around the house just from concentrating and listening carefully.

Their estimate is that about 1% of the population experiences this phenomena so there is a statistically significant chance that someone here will. So post your experiences and observations!

Romantic Sleigh Ride

Here's Another Crazy Site

Check either “Boy”, “Girl” or “Both” then you can type your name in and see which year it most popular.

”Baby Name Wizard”

Hurricane Fay

I will be checking in and out until this so-called hurriane (Fay) hits somewhere. I am not in the least bit worried about it. We had some bands today and while wet, no big deal.

I have everything a person cld need...food, water, wine, generator, gas, propane, grill, beer, more water...etc.....

See you later.

Glad it's FRIDAY and an INPUT BLOG!!

Updated: Please place your vote for which location you prefer

HAPPY FRIDAY EVERYBODY!!
YEAH! We made it thru another rough week,
when will the madness end??

Any big plans for the weekend, or just kicking back
and relaxing?
I'm doing the latter while also continuing the
dread and tedious recipe task that I keep stalling out on...

NOW FOR THE INPUT PORTION OF THE PROGRAM...
We need another get together, ideas anybody?
Something to do, somewhere to go,
who's interested??
SPEAK UP FOLKS!!!
We need another occasion to get the countdown timer going
once school starts (I know how the kids LOVE to see
the school-starting countdown timer!!)

The Dead Terrorist