Large Hadron Collider Live Web Cams

One inside the facility and one exterior view. Cool!

http://www.cyriak.co.uk/lhc/lhc-webcams.html

Rule by Monty Python

Who knows...I may end up voting Palin after all!

Amusement or Obsession? The Spread of Video Poker in Kenosha (and Racine)

By Lisa Loring and John Nordquist

We decided to do this article after reading in a Racine paper about an alderman who is trying to enforce a Racine ordinance prohibiting Poker games at gas stations and convenience stores. We had long noticed a similar issue in Kenosha, so we decided to write about it to get a handle on what the public thought about it. The following is the article we wrote for the Daily Kenoshan, its certainly relevant for both cities.

By Lisa Loring and John Nordquist

KENOSHA, WI - From bars to gas stations, restaurants and convenience stores, video poker machines seem to have appeared out of nowhere. Officially for amusement only, since state gaming laws prohibit gambling except in licensed Class B establishments, the proliferation of these video poker games and the scores of addicted gamers, are a violation that apparently falls below the radar of law enforcement.

A casual visit to MIAN'S Gas, a convenience store gas station located at 50th Avenue and 60th Street, will find a number of elderly patrons stting at one of their 4 gaming machines shoving dollar bills into the slot in hopes of winning 3 7's, or a good poker hand. At Miraz Restaurant on 75th and Sheridan, patrons who are not there to eat sit at the video-poker and winners are pulled aside by the management. In one restaurant near Milwaukee, we stood for ten minutes waiting to pay for our dinner while management and staff stood intently as a patron worked a video slot machine.

Video poker machines may be legal in Class B establishments like taverns with proper permits, but State of Wisconsin statutes prohibit gaming in other establishments and businesses. Under a state law, which was changed in 2003, it is not a criminal offense for establishments with Class B liquor licenses to have five video poker machines or fewer. Violation of this law is a misdemeanor. Class B establishments are places where alcohol is both sold and consumed, such as restaurants or taverns.

According to the state website, The Wisconsin Department of Revenue has sole jurisdiction over Class B establishments’ poker machines. According to statutes, it is a criminal offense to have video poker machines at locations that do not have a Class B liquor license, such as gas stations and convenience stores. State Law describes gaming machines as:

A contrivance which for a consideration affords the player an opportunity to obtain something of value, the award of which is determined by chance, even though accompanied by some skill and whether or not the prize is automatically paid by the machine.

While a gambling place is described as:

Any building or tent, any vehicle (whether self-propelled or not) or any room within any of them, one of whose principal uses is any of the following: making and settling bets; receiving, holding, recording or forwarding bets or offers to bet; conducting lotteries; or playing gambling machines.

A person may be accused of operating a commercial gaming establishment and be charged with a Class I Felony if they:

(a) Participates in the earnings of or for gain operates or permits the operation of a gambling place; or
(b) For gain, receives, records or forwards a bet or offer to bet or, with intent to receive, record or forward a bet or offer to bet, possesses facilities to do so; or
(c) For gain, becomes a custodian of anything of value bet or offered to be be

A person in violation of these state laws may be required to forfeit not more than $500 if 1 gaming machine was in use.. If the violation involves 2 video gambling machines, the forfeiture is $1000, for operating 3 machines the forfeited sum would be not more than $1,000. For 3 machines it is $1500, for 4 it is $2000, and for 5 machines it is $2500. As far as other establishments offering poker games and other gambling devices,such as convenience stores and gas stations, local law enforcement agencies have jurisdiction. It would then be up to the District Attorney to bring about charges and prosecute the cases. Local law doesn't differ. According Kenosha's local ordinance on gambling - 11.04 GAMBLING

A. Forbidden. No person shall keep any gambling resort, or keep or use any article or device for gambling purposes, or permit any person to gamble, bet or play for money or gain, with or by means of any such article or device, in any room or place under his control; nor shall any person gamble, bet or play for money or gain with or by means of any such article or device.
No person shall bet or wager any money or other thing of value upon the result of any trick, contested skill, speed or bets of endurance of man or beast, or upon the result of any political nomination, appointment or election.
B. Seizure. The members of the Police Department are hereby authorized to seize and hold all gambling articles and devices found by them, and dispose of the same in accordance with the directions of the court.
C. This Section is not violated by activities and the devices authorized under the provisions of Chapter 563 of the Wisconsin Statutes - Regulation of Bingo.

We have talked about this many times after noticing poker machines spring up in local gas stations. This interest was heightened when a newspaper from another city discussed how some of their alderpersons were concerned about the increase in gambling, and were pushing for a crack down. We're not sure that this is a high priority, or if this ordinance is enforced often in Kenosha, but, an ordinance is in place for a reason. We have to wonder why new ordinances such as the new smoking ban would even be proposed if compliance with existing laws are being ignored.

Just to make you all smile

Please adopt Pinky!

Working

I just saw the musical Working last night put on by the DaVinci Players in Tucson. Based on the book by Studs Terkel and with music by Stephen Schwartz (Godspell, Pippin and Wicked), Working does not have a traditional story. It is a series of short monologues/scenes and songs about people's attitudes toward work.

First, the production was very good. Very strong cast. It was the first time I had been to this theater and the show worked well in the intimate setting (withsome of the most comfortable seats I have found in a theater!)

The characters and songs in the show include a teacher, assembly line workers, a money manager, a young entrepeneur, a firefighter, a mason, a housewife, a mill worker, and even a retiree. Some are very defined by their jobs, some love what they are doing and some are passing time until retirement. These well constructed vingettes capture little pieces of truth about life that can make you laugh, cry and think.

And the topic made for a great conversation starter since most people work (oh, did I mention they had a free opening night barbque afterwards? Kudos to this theater for a great event!)

I have been fortunate to have a good series of jobs that I enjoy. Getting rich, not quite. Having a ball working and some nice fringe benefits like lots of travel, you bet. My job is a combination of two things I really value and enjoy: learning and teaching. It also leaves enough time free at night for me to pursue other interests such as running and theater (I perform as well as attend). It's not perfect...no one likes writing NSF reports! But overall, there's a lot more good to say about it than bad.

So, what's your job? A passion or a way to make a living? Part of your identidy or just something you do to make money?

Might be a lost video?

Beck is a unique talent in music. From his first hit "Loser" through his multi hit album Odelay he was heard from alot. I lost track of Beck until I heard this song, kind of by accident. It's called "Think Im In Love" and its a catchy little tune. And no, I dont know why there is a guy standing behind Beck, or the reason for the couple of guys in dresses. Hope you enjoy.



"I think Im in love but it makes me kind of nervous to say so......"

Friday's Lost Video (80's)

Back in the 80's there was a band called Icehouse that had a pop hit with a song called Crazy, and another called Electric Blue. While that album kinda sucked, their first album called Icehouse here in the states or Flowers in the UK and Australia had this song on it called Walls. I know it's new wave-ish and a little out there, but so was I in in high school... Enjoy.

Friday Nights Lost Video (90's)

Tonights 90's song is "Here and Now" by Letters to Cleo. I know your going to ask (Just watch and you will know what I mean) so the lyrics are:

The comfort of a knowledge of a rise above the sky above
could never parallel the challenge of an acquisition in the here and now.

Enjoy!

More Martian Dust Devils

The Mars Phoenix Lander has finally spotted some dust devils!
The camera shot these four frames, 50 seconds between each frame, so you are seeing the movement over about two and a half minutes. It's about a kilometer away from the lander and meters in diameter. You may even notice some changes in the shadows in the different frames due to some clouds passing by. Another neat measurement is that they managed to record air pressure changes as they dust devils passed.

Dust devils have been seen before by other landers on Mars and were expected to be seen here based on evidence in images from orbiters. Remember that all other landers on Mars have landed near the equator...Phoenix landed up north of the arctic circle, so this is a different part of the planet.

Unfortunately, since it is so far north and the northern hemisphere of Mars is heading into winter, the nights are getting longer and colder. Soon the solar panels won't be able to recharge the batteries and Phoenix will go silent. We knew this would happen of course, and it already has exceeded its 90 day primary mission and met its major science objectives (and thrown a couple of new mysteries our way to boot).

HAVE YOU FORGOTTEN?

Dedicated to the 3000 who lost their lives, the Fire and Police Departments and citizens who risked their lives to save others, and to the troops still fighting the war on terrorism.

Sign up list

After thinking about it, I am not sure if it will work using 'reply to all' for the get-together email 'sign up', as the original was sent using "BCC". So, we can try the open forum for it to be safe.

Here is what we still need...(a couple were claimed already!)
3 packs of brat or hot dog buns
2 packs hamburger buns
Condiments (minus onion - thats covered)
YOUR OWN BEVERAGES (just a reminder)
munchies
fruit/veggies
desserts
anything I may have missed
lawn chairs
bug spray

Now I know we're covered and everybody will have the same info
thanks again!!

LISA @ the Daily K - I tried emailing you but it came back, so I sent it thru your site to your partner(it didn't work using your link either :( ), and hope you both can make it.

CrawDaddy's 614 Greenfield Ave Milw.

Excellent food. Creole spicey and cajun good. A nice atmosphere albeit loud and noisy when the music started. The food was artistically aranged and plentiful, although the crawfish were a bit tough. As they aren't in season yet and were imported Chinese frozen crawfish, that is to be expected. Be prepared to drop a C note (or more depending on drinks and tip) for two people but a worthy evening out.

Do we need moreof this?

More mayhem during the conservative watch. Sex, drugs, and bribes in one very important agency.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20080911/pl_afp/usgovernmentoilcorruption_080911041026;_ylt=AiP3cLRTp5h1hNBa4aQVY.Ks0NUE

Dear Madame Zoltar

Hello childrens and welcome to the premier edition of Dear Madame Zoltar, a blog where I respond to your questions and comments submitted by email to madamezoltar@wi.rr.com or posted in the comment section below. I hope to do this every Wednesday, if there’s enough interest.


Today’s first question comes from Avenging Angel, who asks, “Will we ever get a decent Mayor in Racine?”

Dear Avenging: I have consulted my crystal ball concerning this. The short answer is, if you think we have it bad now, just wait . . .


The next query comes from Run Over in Racine, who wants to know, “Why aren’t traffic laws enforced in Racine unless there is an accident?”

Dear ROR: At first I thought this might have something to do with that pesky proactive/reactive thing with the RPD, but imagine my surprise when I called Police Chief Whalen to ask and he replied, “You mean we have to enforce those laws, too? Geez!”


Next, a comment from someone going by the name of BO’B: “You suck.”

Dear BO’B: Thank you for your interest in JT Irregulars.


Finally, I’d like to say something to OrbsCorbs, who submitted an email to me that is not fit to reprint here or anywhere else.

Dear OrbsCorbs: Have you ever considered therapy?


Thank you everyone for reading. Remember to keep those inquiries and comments coming. I have the answers to all of your questions, and I’m willing to sell them to you pretty darn cheap.

Have a psychic day!

That's Some Well Aged Beer

So you are a scientist out and you come across some amber. Inside the preserved amber, you discover some yeast that has been preserved for 45 million years or so. Cool! What is the first thing you think?

"I wonder if I can brew beer with that yeast?" The question was asked, the question was answered, and the answer is yes. Fossil Fuels Brewing Company is brewing beer with he 45 million year old yeast. Unfortunately, it looks like it is only being distributed in California so far (figures) but you can read all about it at the Washington Post.

Now there's science we can all get behind!

Wednesday Morning Grin

A man asked a waiter to take a bottle of Merlot to an unusually attractive woman sitting alone at a table in a cozy little restaurant.

So the waiter took the Merlot to the woman and said, 'This is from the gentleman who is seated over there.' And indicated the sender with a nod of his head. She stared at the wine coolly for a few seconds, not looking at the man, then decided to send a reply to him by a note. The waiter, who was lingering nearby for a response, took the note from her and conveyed it to the gentleman.

The note read:

'For me to accept this bottle, you need to have a Mercedes in your garage, a million dollars in the bank and 7 inches in your pants. '

After reading the note, the man decided to compose one of his own in return. He folded the note, handed it to the waiter and instructed him to deliver it to the lady.

It read:

'Just to let you know things aren't always what they appear to be, I have a Ferrari Maranello, BMW Z8, Mercedes CL600, and a Porsche Turbo in my several garages; I have beautiful homes in Aspen , Miami , and a 10,000 acre ranch in Louisiana. There is over twenty million dollars in my bank account and portfolio. But, not even for a woman as beautiful as you are, would I cut off three inches.

Just send the bottle back.'

The conservative ticket.

I think I'm going to vote Rep all the way. I've been thinking about it. Going to call it the tequila theory. Basically you let someone drink as much as they want and let the hangovers make them gun shy. I can't even smell tequila without getting nauseous after a mispent period of my youth.

I figure if an autistic child is hitting themselves with a hammer and refuse to stop no matter how hard you plead, give em the hammer and they will eventually realize it feels better to not hit themselves. After eight years of soothsaying that liberals would make a mess of things if given the keys all the while making a mess of things themselves, maybe conservatives just haven't hit themselves in the head often enough, or hard enough.

Except for the Madam, no one I know can portend the future. Saying so and so will do such and such is so much crystal ball tripe. I can't even know what a McCain/Palin ticket will bring. I do know what the past has brung and as they say, if you don't remember the past, you're bound to repeat it. Obviously we aren't remembering the past, so it's time to give the boy his hammer and let him wail away. Eventually things will be so screwed up, they will stop. Unless they've become addicted to this sort of thing. Now that is a sad and scarey thought.

Don't mind me, I can't sleep.

Irregular Football League Week one Recap

Welcome to the week one recap of the IFL. This is Howard Cosell talking to you from beyond the grave, channelling through Madame Zoltar. Lets go to the highlights of week one:

Behind 23 points from RB Frank Gore, the Raging holsteins tipped the Half-Astrophysicists 131.80 to 91.46.

In the biggest blow out of the day the Potato Heads eyed one out and peeled the Bad Wolf 125.79 to 61.95

With a week high 35 points from RB Michael "The Burner" Turner, the Fighting Mongrels mauled KK Krunchers 125.33 to 85.01.

The Racine Irregulars suffered through losing all world QB Tom Brady and ended up being rolled over by Orbs Obliterators 117.38 to 84.39

And in the tightest game of the week, Fantasy Football veteran The Debate Team was almost given a time-out by homemomof2 but ended up winning by a score of 91.31 to84.97

The standings after week one are:
1. Raging holsteins 1-0-0
2. Potato Heads 1-0-0
3. Fighting Mongrels 1-0-0
4. Orbs Obliterators 1-0-0
5. The Debate Team 1-0-0
6. Half-Astrophysicists 0-1-0
7. KK Krunchers 0-1-0
8. homemomof2 0-1-0 .
9. Racine Irregulars
10. Bad Wolf 0-1-0

The schedule for the following week is:

Week 2: Sep 9 - Sep 15

Fighting Mongrels vs Half-Astrophysicists

KK Krunchers vs Bad Wolf

Racine Irregulars vs Raging holsteins

homemomof2 vs Orbs Obliterators

Potato Heads vs The Debate Team


For now, Im Howard Cosell saying good night and god bless.

Brett Favre Getting That Retirement Itch Again

"EAST RUTHERFORD, NJ—Although veteran Jets quarterback Brett Favre claims he still loves the game, dwindling enthusiasm and a desire to bow out while on top has him contemplating retirement again, Favre confirmed Monday."

http://www.theonion.com/content/news/brett_favre_getting_that

My Christmas wish

"Dear Santa,

All I want for Christmas is a REAL closing pitcher for the Milwaukee Brewer."

Solomon Torres went into the top of the 9th inning last night with a 2 run advantage against the Red. All he had to do was to get three outs. Instead, walking the first 2 batters he faced,he gave up three runs and peed away another one.

The Science of Science Fiction

I have been wanting to write a blog entry on this for a long time and probably will do a sequel at some point in the future with more of my own thoughts. For now, however, I want to point you to the most recent episode of Astronomy Cast where they dissect the Science of Science Fiction at Dragoncon. Panelists include Pamela Gay (of Astronomycast), Phil Plait (from Bad Astronomy) and Kevin Grazier (JPL and science advisor to Battlestar Galactica and Eureka).

The discussion includes the good, the bad and the ugly. All are Doctor Who fans and they talk a lot of BSG and Eureka of course. They also have an ineresting discussion of how scientists are protrayed in science fiction and how that can influence people's attitude toward science.

This podcast (avaialble for free) is an entertaining hour long discussion on what they like and don't like in sci fi. And its fun hearing old friends. Pamela and I first crossed paths when she was an undergrad at Michigan State and I was a grad student (although I never was a TA in one of her classes!) Phil and I started emailing in about 1999 and met in person in 2001 and worked together on a couple of projects for many years. Hope to meet Kevin in January when I will be in his backyard.

Toward the end of the show, Pamela talks about seeing clips of the movie Armageddon for the first time...I was sitting right next to her at the time and will say that she understated her recation to them!

If you are into science fiction (and even if you are not) its a fun listen. If you like astronomy, check out their weekly show. It's targeted toward the interested beginner in astronomy and they cover a a very diverse range of topics. Heck, it's good enough I listen every week and I know most of it already!

36 hours until the end of the world

I'm not worried about micro black holes, I just found out worm holes are going to open up and we'll be invaded by creatures from another space/time continum. Oh lord, we're all agonna die.

Interestingly, I recently read a sci-fi about another race someplace in our unisverse that used the tattle tales that a CERN complex puts out (CERN starts upit's first experiment in less than 36 hours). They then went in and stomped the shit out of the upstart species on the foreign world (us this time).

Do I really think CERN will do us in? Nope. I think it will give us answers. I wonder if Vegas is giving odds?

Our Injustice System

This is a sad, but true story, the facts of which I've received second hand, but from a very reliable source. I've changed the victim's name, but all others are real.

Last year, a young woman named Lori was delivering food to an address in Racine. She had done his countless times before, but this was a first to this address. She always used her personal car, a small, standard shift vehicle that she bought from the guy who related this to me.

She knocked on the door, and Jeremy Frison, no stranger to our injustice system, answered the door. He said that he had to go get the money and stepped back into the doorway. Lori stepped just inside the door and leaned over to shoo his cats back into the house. Thats when Jeremy struck.

Jeremy pounced on her, began beating her, and dragged her into the house. For the next 10 minutes, a fierce life and death battle took place between him and Lori. Finally beaten into unconsiousness, Jeremy dragged her down the basement stairs and tied her up.

Jeremy then went back upstairs and proceeded outside to her car. We can only speculate that he intended to ditch the car somewhere, then return to do only God knows what.

Meanwhile, Lori awakens down in basement. Jeremy being no Boy Scout, she was able to untie herself and make it back outside. When she pulled open the door to her car, Jeremy was shocked to see her. So shocked that he ran off.

Lori was able to get to a gas station and call the Racine PD. It wasn't long before they found Jeremy roaming the neighborhood in a blood soaked shirt. He had in his possession Lori's work keys and her cell phone. DNA test would later confirm her blood on his shirt. The RPD also confirmed that the seond cell phone in his possession was the one that called in the food order.

Fast forward to today. After more than a year of delays, motions, and more delays, most of the more serious charges were dropped. At his allocution, his lawyer described how Jeremy was trying to turn his life around, blah, blah, blah, blah.

So, even though he was originally charged with:


943.32(1)(a) Robbery with Use of Force (Felony E)

940.30 False Imprisonment (Felony H)

961.41(3g)(e) Possession of THC (2nd+ Offense) (Felony I)

940.19(5) Aggravated Battery-Intend GreatBod. Harm (Felony E)

940.19(1) Battery (Misd. A)

All he did was plead to one charge. So what happened? Our brilliant Judge Allan B. Torhorst sentenced him to 5 years imprisonment plus 10 years probation.

My friend tells me that young Lori is of strong character. She actually called him a few days after the incident to thank him. He was incredulous. "What are you thanking me for?" was the question he posed to Lori. She explained that he had sold her the car and taught her how to drive with a stick shift. It seems Jeremy didn't know how to do that. Thats why he was in the car so long. Long enough for her to get out.

God does work in mysterious ways.

Large Hadron Collider Ready to Fire Up!

The new heavyweight champion of physics experiments is ready to fire up...the $10 billion (or so) Large Hadron Collider is buried underground under Geneva, Switzerland. This 27km (circumference) ring is lined with superconducting magnets and will accelerate protons to almost the speed of light before smacking them into each other. These collisions will recreate the conditions that existed fractions of a second after the Big Bang.

The engineering that goes into this is really incredible. Each magnet must be at exactly the right position and the right strength to get the protons to move in a circle. You have to oscillate an electric field at exactly the right frequency to give the protons a kick each time they pass by to speed them up (if you mistime the kick, you slow them down instead!) Oh, and did I mention that all these magnets spread over the 27km ring must be cooled to almost absolute zero with liquid helium? With all these variables, it is very difficult to keep a beam going so don't be surprised if the first beams are short lived!

When these particles collide, that's where the discoveries are made. Several huge detectors have been built at collision points. These detectors will record millions of collisions per second and generate petabytes of data.

What will we discover? Well, hopefully the Higgs Boson. The Higgs Boson is what gives everything mass. We could find new supersymetric particles that are predicted by string theory. It's possible to create mini-black holes. And of course, who knows what else. Some people will ask what is this all good for, but they asked the same thing about the electron and it turned out to be kind of useful in the long run.

You can find some interesting pictures here and the vital stats here. And click below to watch physicist Brian Cox (made of awesomeness) give a 15 minute talk for the lay audience on the LHC.




Some people have raised concerns that it could create a black hole that devours the Earth or turn everything into a strangelet. Lots of smart people have done a lot of work to be sure this won't happen. The most compelling argument that it won't happen is that, well, it hasn't happened. Cosmic rays hit Earth's atmosphere every day, 24/7/365 with MILLIONS of times more energy than the collisions in the LHC. These collisions have been happening every day for 4.5 billion years and the Earth has been devoured by a black hole exactly zero times and turned into a strangelet exactly zero times. The same people claimed that the Relativisitic Heavy Ion Collider would do the same thing. It has been operating since 2000.

The LHC is an awe inspiring achievement. Thousands of people from dozens of countries, united by a common vision and thirst for knowledge. People overcoming huge obstacles including political, financial, engineering and design. Some people have dedicated over 20 years of their lives to see this become a reality. It takes vision, imagination, creativity, and extremely intelligent people to make this happen. Some say science is a cold heartless pursuit. The people who have worked on this show that nothing could be further from the truth.

Fermilab is hosting a pajama party to watch results from CERN as the first beam goes around at 1:30am CDT September 10th. If I still worked at Fermilab, I would be staying up all night with them to watch!

Best if used by Nov 2006

Man, I tell ya I need to read labels more often. I put together a disaster kit two years ago. Bought some pint jars of Miracle whip as I figured a small jar would get used and wouldn't go bad like a large jar in a disaster. I should have read the labels when I bought em as they were probably out of date then!

Long story short, rotating supplies and made chicken mac salad with a great BBQ'd chicken breast. I'm up to eight imodiums now and still not doing too well. Did I buy the miracle whip at Aldies? No. WalMart? No. Piggly Wiggly? YES!

I'll be reading labels from now on, that is for sure. And as a guy, I sometimes have shrugged my shoulders over the "best used by" thinking that the jar/can is sealed and isn't deformed. Well, I think I'm gonna be a little gun shy in the future. No, I didn't look at the label until this food poisoning hit me.

More Awesome Pics: Hurricanes From Space

The Boston Gl0be continues its excellent series the Big Picture. This week's appropriate theme is Hurricanes, as seen from orbit. Many of these were taken from the International Space Station or the Space Shuttle, but they throw in a few satellite based pictures as well. One image is of a beautiful low pressure system, not a hurricane. Here is one of my favorites.
This image shows the eyewall of Hurricane Isabel on September 15th, 2003. Isabel reached category 5 with max winds of 165mph. Fortunately, it weakened to a category 2 before hitting North Carolina. It still caused about $3.6 billion in damage.

The thing I love most about this image is the eyewall...it almost looks 3D. Click to embiggen and be sure to check out some of the other photos as well.

This weeks open blog and reminder

Happy Monday Everybody!!
Welcome this this weeks OPEN BLOG
What's on your mind??

ALSO, this is your friendly reminder to RSVP
to me by Wednesday so I can wrap up
the details for our get-together,thanks!

A friend went to Uganda

One of the members of my forum went on a 2 week trip to Uganda.
It was a life experience for her.
I'd like to share her blog with you. She shares some pretty awesome thoughts and pictures.
Please take a look. To read the whole thing you have to start at the bottom and read up.

http://andriainuganda.blogspot.com/


ok, I did the link thing, but it didn't work..

I tinkered with it for you, hope you don't mind. You almost had it. Your "close/a" had to be at the end and the link needed to be continuous, not separated. It has to be exact to work. Code is a pain sometimes. You can click on the edit html tab if you like and see what I did for next time ---kkdither

Chad Ocho Cinco

Cincinnati Bengal wide receiver #85 Chad Javon Ocho Cinco had his name legally changed from his birth name (Chad Javon Johnson) to his present. This stemmed from a desire to be addressed as Ocho Cinco. Though his record on the field is impressive, his super jock egocentric attitude of himself is greater. From the Wikepedia "He has earned nationwide attention for his flamboyant attitude, which is often seen during his infamous end zone celebrations after catching touchdown passes. In a list released in August 2006 by Fox Sports listing the top 10 showboats in professional sports, Chad topped the list." This is the kind of attitude that is starting to give the NFL a pro-wrestling image. I really wouldn't be shedding any tears if he were to have a career ending injury this season and have to face life as Chad Eight Five. Wouldn't it be great if the Bengals changed Ocho Cino's number to 86? I wonder how fast he would go off and get his name changed again.

Be Honest: How Important is Race in Your Kenosha View?

By John Nordquist


Education “is the civil rights issue of this century,” John McCain said in his acceptance speech at the Republican National Convention. "Equal access to public education has been gained, but what is the value of access to a failing school? We need to shake up failed school bureaucracies with competition, empower parents with choice. Let’s remove barriers [...]"

This one statement is perhaps the most impacting and revealing than any other in defining where our country is and what has been accomplished in 232 years. It didn't matter that it came from McCain's mouth. It could very well have come from Obama, or George Bush, or anyone else and still accurately depict how far we have come and what struggle lie ahead of us as a nation.

The 19th Century struggle was to define America as a nation, to expand our borders, and to stake our claims. In the process, millions of our people were enslaved, millions died in genocidal death camps (reservations), and millions died in civil war as we tried to set the course of civil rights straight.

The 20th Century, coming of age with a 100 year old constitution, matured and tested, struggled to ensure that all people and all races were included and segregated.protected and not just the white male dominant majority population. Though our national creed included near holy mantras like "all men are created equal" and "e pluribus unum (out of many, one)," the shameful reality was an America with no equality among races and genders at all. Constitutionally, racism was illegal at the federal level, but state and local governments, as well as institutions like schools, hospitals, even churches, remained racially segregated. African-American's may have been freed from slavery in the 1860's, but in the 1960's they were still segregated from an affluent white America and excluded from the political process.

The idealism of the founding fathers that created a union of free peoples could not carry the hearts and minds of a racially diverse population. Jews could not be members in most country clubs. Indians died off on shrinking reservations. Blacks were denied education in public schools segregated in all facets of society.

In the 1950's, the great civil rights struggle went national, with President Eisenhower committing federal troops to force states to comply with equality law. By the 1960's, the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. inspired the mass movement to ensure that all racial barriers were removed from society, and over the next 40 years, government, business, media, and education moved with it.

Racism is not eradicated. Race is still a factor in many different facets of life. Disparities in income and education, crime statistics, and job opportunity are still evident, yet with each new generation of American born, equality is more a reality.

As we move into the 21st Century, we do so knowing that discrimination based on race, religion, gender, national origin, and any other designations that define our diversity, shall not be tolerated, and in fact, intentionally violating the civil rights of another based upon any of the above will result in criminal liability.

If anyone doubts that the great American struggle for civil rights has been won, they need to explain how Barack Obama, a racially mixed American, could stand at this moment just a breath away from becoming the leader of all Americans, capturing the hearts and hopes of half of the country and the respect of the rest.

Defining education of our children as the civil rights struggle of the 21st century is the quiet declaration of peace and victory in the struggle for equality of the 20th century.

In 1965 there were probably only a handful of Americans, perhaps idealistic followers of the Rev. Dr. Marin Luther King, who could look to the future and see an America where a black man could be nominated by a rulng party to be their candidate for President.