Blogroll update

I announced my adding of the Daily Jalapeno a few days ago, but I had also added a few others and I just added a new one today. The old ones are Absolute Moral Authority and Is This Thing On?

The new one is Reflections From A Murky Pond. To be honest I don’t really know the blogger who runs the place but he does happen upon my little sanctuary on the net and even comments from time to time. So, hey, least I could do is give the guy some blogroll goodness. Besides! I totally dig his Micheal Vick post with the awesomely photoshopped picture.

Oh, and I promise this is related, I don’t comment on the whole Micheal Vick issue personally. Why? Because to do so would involve a lot of typing and a lot of anger. Stuff I am not prepared to write because it would probably be unfit to publish due to the amount of language that would go in to it.

Japan’s Internets can beat up your internets

Seriously! These guys send data at hyperspeed.

No wonder those guys over there are way in to the digital and gaming age. They can play online and do all sorts of stuff with no lag whatsoever. If I ever move to another country…thats the one I’m gonna pick. In case you were wondering just how fast their internet is compared to the U.S. internet:

Broadband service here is eight to 30 times as fast as in the United States — and considerably cheaper.

And if that statement wasn’t a kick in the nuts here’s how the article takes a shot at American internet while it’s been crippled and down on it’s side groaning.

The speed advantage allows the Japanese to watch broadcast-quality, full-screen television over the Internet, an experience that mocks the grainy, wallet-size images Americans endure.

It’s like the interwebs of America just cried out in pain. Owwwwww.

News – New Orleans, The Murder Board, and how the Storm blew the lid off of it all.

That’s pretty much the story here.

What is the murder board you may ask? Well, if you haven’t clicked the link I’ll go ahead and shed the light on that little tidbit. A local church in New Orleans began keeping track of the murders committed within the city has been keeping tabs on the ascending crime rate. The Pastor had been typing the list out on the computer but apparently the number of murders committed had risen so quickly he was forced to fill in the rest of the board by hand with permanent marker.

How bad is it there?

In the first 28 days of this month alone, the city witnessed 26 killings, according to the New Orleans Police Department. So far in 2007, police say 136 people have been killed. That puts the city on pace for roughly 200 slayings this year

Holy crap. 26 killings in the first 28 days of August? That’s pretty close to almost a single murder committed per day and I think thats probably the highest rate for any city in the US right now. Also, as of last year the city managed to gain the reputation of having almost 70 people murdered per 100,000 people. Big gap, but when you look at how many people live in New Orleans still…it’s kinda staggering.

Here’s the keypoint to the story though:

Scharf said the widespread notion that Hurricane Katrina somehow caused the murder rate to spike in New Orleans is not the full story. “Before the hurricane, the murder rate was ascending. The wheels were coming off at that point,” he said.

Ah, so the storm didn’t cause the rise in crime it merely uncovered the shroud that the local governments had placed over the whole thing. If you had listened to the news outlets for the past two years you would have thought that New Orleans was the most wonderful city in the country and that we should spend every dollar we have to save that place. I’ll admit the place has it’s pretty parts, but I’ve walked the streets of that place and I can honestly say that it isn’t anywhere close to heaven.

Speaking from personal experience I can say that the city has always suffered from a massive crime problem. I went on a school trip to play at the Superdome during my high school years around New Years (This all happened many years ago, back in the 90’s) and there was a party where our school groups were supposed to hang out for New Years. How did that night end? Well, two girls were mugged and we had to evacuate the building because people across the street got in to a gunfight and someone had gotten shot.

And this was years before anyone would utter the words “Hurricane Katrina”. The city was already spiraling the drain long before FEMA ever set foot in to that place. The city was already in disarray long before President Bush was ever in office, and it was surely near collapse long before the levees began to break. The storm revealed the corruption, crime, and decadence in which New Orleans had fallen too, but don’t tell the democrats that.

They practically ran the place, so who do you think let it get that way?

News – Mother Teresa and her Faith

There is a debate going on about it.

Now, I don’t really care for Bill Donahue because he has an affinity of shooting himself in the foot when it comes to debating things but I have to say that he handled this one rather well. On this episode of Hardball he is arguing with Christopher Hitchens who has repeatedly written books that take great pride in attacking Christianity. Hitchens is a conceited Atheist with a poor attitude that takes great pleasure in watching people of faith go through doubtful times.

Hitchens, in the video, seems almost gleeful that Mother Teresa had experienced a peiod in her life where she questioned her faith. Could you blame her? She had to see people suffering day in and day out and I imagine that the stress of the horrors she witnessed was a lot to bear. However, despite her memoirs shedding light upon her own personal thoughts does anyone really think it should be a “joyous” experience for Hitchens to find out that a woman of faith had trouble believing at times?

I have had doubts before, and I have had times when my faith has been bolstered. As a normal human being I can’t comprehend the way in which God works so there are moments when it’s hard to believe. However, thats what faith is all about….trying to believe in that which we cannot see but know must be there.

Hitchens thinks that the church should apologize for “holding the woman hostage” and that her memoirs show that she was ready to give up on her faith.

I think Hitchens (who actually wrote a book attacking Mother Teresa) just wants to find reasons not to believe. It’s kinda like how the devil works really. The Devil can’t go back to heaven and because of his jealousy and rage he wants to drag as many people down to hell with him. The same can be said for Christopher Hitchens, and because he feels anger and rage towards the Christian faith he wants to hinder and sabotage as many peoples faiths as he can. Kinda like being chained to the train to hell and reaching out and grabbing people and pulling them as you helplessly soar towards your eternal torment.

Misery loves company and all that.

Here’s the video if you want to watch:

Lazy no news day – Here’s a bunch of videos from Family Guy