This photo has been circulating around the ‘Net for a year or more, but I first saw it last year on Joey Devilla’s site. It’s of a rather large lower back tattoo, or “tramp stamp”, of the apostle Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians (1 Corinthian:13.) While I’m certainly open to self expression and the rights of young women who choose to do this sort of thing to themselves, I have to say that this one seems, at least to me, way over the top. But it’s a Bible verse, you say? I’m sorry; this is just wrong on so many levels…

Of course, it immediately brings to mind two memorably funny scenes from The Wedding Crashers, the first when Vince Vaughn’s character says, upon spotting a tramp stamp at the wedding,  “Tattoo on the lower back… Might as well be a bullseye,” and the second when Vince Vaughn’s and Owen Wilson’s characters are placing bets on whether the reading at the wedding will be First Corinthians or Colossians 3:12.

May not be work safe depending on your work environment and office policy.

Looks like John Cox, one of my favorite cartoonists, is thinking about creating a graphic novel (that’s a highbrow comic for you book-of-the-monthers) featuring “Detective Frank Pound, world-weary crime fighter for The Burg.” I love John’s ‘toons and see this as a success waiting to be born.

He claims it’s just an idea he’s toying with, but if this first panel is any indication, he’s given it serious thought. He’s even begun character development: “Missy,” for example, “is a tragic story of re-animation and a soul gone bad. She’s a doll that’s come back from ‘the dead’ and she’s not happy about it.”

I’m telling you, I think John’s on to something! Anyway, here’s the first panel. Whaddaya think?

Back in 2004, mental floss magazine published an earth shattering issue containing a list aimed at answering the “25 most important questions in the history of universe,” an impressive achievement by any standard. I’m certain much collective noodling went into their selection, yet some of you are still losing sleep pondering these very timeless riddles and I feel compelled to help you achieve enlightenment.

For example, how often have you asked yourself, “Why does Hawaii have Interstate Highways?” And “Is it possible to own property on the moon?” Or “Can you actually sense weather with an injured body part?” Well, faithful readers, fret no more because the answers to these and 22 other universally important questions are answered once and for all here.

In The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams, the character Arthur Dent says, “This must be Thursday. I could never get the hang of Thursdays”. A few minutes later the planet Earth is destroyed.

Uh oh…

I knew our new liberals-in-power were planning another massive push for socialized medicine - one step at a time seems to be the new mantra. You’ve probably heard the radio and TV commercials bemoaning how millions of “children” are “forced” to seek medical treatment at hospital emergency rooms ‘cause they don’t have health insurance, and how we need to “help the children” by succumbing to another tax to pay for an insurance plan for them. I think it’s abundantly clear that the referenced “children” in the ads are those of the 12-20 million illegal immigrants choking our hospital system and that a new tax is the dim’s way of responding to the desperate cries of hospital administrators, many of whom have been forced to close their hospitals under the pressure of illegals using emergency rooms like free socialized medicine.

A tried and true method of levying taxes has always been to tie them to either helping an impoverished group, like poor children, or to attach them to a group that’s fairly easily vilified (usually “the rich”, or smokers or drinkers.) So I’m not at all surprised to learn that one such group being targeted to “save the children” is the cigar industry, including cigar smokers. They’re a minority, we don’t smoke the nasty ol’ things, so it’s no skin off our teeth if they get taxed, right?

When are we going to get mad - I mean really mad - about the failure of our elected officials to fix problems rather than just impose new taxes to finance their perpetual growth? Our hospitals (among other agencies) are being strangled by illegal aliens because they use emergency rooms as free doctor’s offices. Get rid of the problem, the illegal aliens! Don’t just levy another new tax on us to give illegals an insurance card so we (that’s us!) can pay for their health care. That’s just sticking another finger in yet another hole in our severely leaking dam to avoid actually doing the hard work of fixing the underlying problem.

I remember hearing Ted Kennedy on the Senate floor when the shamnesty bill was going down in flames shouting, “What are you going to do with them? Send them back where they came from?” Yes, Ted! Exactly!

Anyway, the first of what will undoubtedly be many proposed new taxes is upon us. Here’s some info from Michael you should think long and hard about. Then tell your elected officials, “No new taxes, dammit!”

“Currently before the United States Senate is a proposal to fund health insurance on the backs of tobacco products to the tune of $35 billion (that’s Billion with a B). Most egregious is the proposed tax rate on cigars of 53.1%, including a breathtaking 20,400% increase in the cap. This would make handmade cigars - a true mom-and-pop industry, a product enjoyed by choice an average 3 times per week - the single largest excise taxed item in the entire Internal Revenue Code… by a long shot.

This piece of legislation is called SCHIP (State Children’s Health Insurance Plan). Tonight this bill is being marked up in the Senate Finance Committee and is expected to come to the Senate floor for a vote as early as end of week. We urge you to call both of your U.S. Senators today and express your opposition to funding “SCHIP legislation” with punitive cigar taxes. As a constituent your voice will be heard.”

I was skimming Drumwaster this morning and came across this very apt analysis of Congress and thought I’d share it:

“Libtards and other anti-American types have made much hay over Bush’s very low approval ratings, now hovering around 25%. They have made repeated references to the loss of GOP control of Congress to point this out.

But what do they say about the fact that Congress has been suffering from approval ratings that are not [only] lower than Bush’s, but are SO low that they are the lowest approval ratings for Congress since Gallup started calling people up during dinner 34 years ago - a measly 14%. That’s one person in seven.

Those stupid liberals just can’t let Bush be number one at anything, can they?”

I couldn’t have boiled it down any more succinctly.

A blonde, wanting to earn some money, decides to hire herself out as a handyman-type and begins canvassing a wealthy neighborhood. She goes to the front door of the first house and asks the owner if he has any odd jobs for her to do.

“Well, you can paint my porch. How much will you charge?”

The blonde replies, “How about 50 dollars?” The man agrees and tells her that the paint and ladders are in the garage.

The man’s wife, inside the house, hears the conversation and asks her husband, “Does she realize that the porch goes all the way around the house?”

The man replies, “She should, she was standing on it.”

A short time later, the blonde comes to the door to collect her money.

“You’re finished already?” the man asks.

“Yes,” the blonde answers, “and I had paint left over, so I gave it two coats.”

Impressed, the man reaches in his pocket for the $50.

“And by the way,” the blonde adds, “that’s not a Porch, it’s a Ferrari…”

This caught my eye over at Beancounters. It’s perhaps a little morbid, yet interesting. Give it a try.

$4165.00The Cadaver Calculator - Find out how much your body is worth.

And don’t be thinking about cashing me in, ya’ hear?

I found this WSJ article interesting. It highlights what some call a growing trend where buyers acquire multi-million dollar yachts for the purpose of reselling them for a profit, often a huge one if reports are to be believed. Here’s what WSJ’s Robert Frank had to say about it:

Rich Buyers Sell Unfinished Boats, Reaping Millions in Profits

Terry Taylor, a Florida car dealer, has purchased five yachts since 2001. But don’t expect to see him anchoring off the coast of Cannes this week. Mr. Taylor is boatless, having sold all of his yachts to other buyers for huge profits.

“I wouldn’t feel too bad for Terry,” jokes Felix Sabates, a partner in Trinity Yachts of Gulfport, Miss., which built Mr. Taylor’s boats. “He’s probably made more money off those boats than we did.”

Mr. Taylor is part of a new breed of wealthy boat buyers: yacht flippers, who sell their costly purchases often without taking them on a single cruise. … more

I dabbled in the practice a few years ago and, while I made a little money, it wasn’t enough to make me want to press my luck. I’ve always been somewhat of a risk taker, but these days some things are just too rich for my blood.

It was a much needed and enjoyable vacation with wifey’s sister and b-i-l to Carmel and then on to Yosemite National Park. Both were firsts for Ray, and Cindy had never visited Yosemite.

We stayed at Carmel’s Vagabond’s House Inn, an old favorite of ours, and in adjoining cabins at the Evergreen Lodge just outside the park at Yosemite. As always, the park was magnificent and majestic. But I doubt we’ll ever visit again during summer - it was hot and crowded! Our previous visits have been in May when it’s been much cooler with fewer people, the falls have been more impressive and the overall experience has been much more pleasant. Perhaps a winter visit is in our near future.

This being a new experience for Cindy and Ray, we concentrated on Yosemite Valley and took the usual “postcard” photos. When Dawn and I next visit the park, we’ll do more hiking and focus more on photography. And I’ll have to be in better shape! This trip made me painfully aware of just how out of shape I’ve become over the past year. Hiking with camera gear used to be routine; this time it was work! Note to self: Hit the gym!

On our next to last day in the park, while sipping Irish coffees on the veranda at the Ahwanee Lodge, we were treated to a valley thunderstorm, complete with hail! Children ran to play in the rain while their parents ran to get them out of it. It was short and delightful! And we enjoyed a special treat on our last day, just as we were leaving the park. A deer was enjoying dinner in Cook’s Meadow and worked her way to within six feet of us as though we were old friends. The grass was deep, but I was able to grab several images of her as she feasted.

I’ll post more photos once I’m caught up at the office and have some time to look through them. It was a wonderful vacation and we feel rejuvenated and ready to resume our regular routines — at least until our next get-away.

This from Michael D…

Two brothers, Simon and Garth, had a dog called Walter. They loved to take him to their Uncle Charlie’s mansion.

But one day they were surprised to find the mansion gates locked. Fortunately, Uncle Charlie’s tall Chauffeur saw them and approached the gates. Walter began barking, making a huge noise. Neighbors leaned out of their mansion windows and asked what the hubbub was.

One replied: “Simon and Garth’s uncle’s big Chauffeur’s’ troubled Walter.”

Yup, you’ll have to think about it for a minute… it’ll come…

My wife had occasion yesterday to call Dell Computer and was connected to “Roy”, a pleasant chap with a noticeable Indian accent. A polite query confirmed that she was indeed speaking to a Dell call center representative in India. I’m sure you’ve experienced the same thing with increasing regularity.

I’ve often wondered how it is that India is able to provide call center services at such a competitively low cost. They have to be cutting corners somewhere, right?

So when my cousin Mike sent the following series of photos taken in India, it all became crystal clear…

We’ll be vacationing in Carmel and Yosemite National Park with Dawn’s sister and b-i-l so, unless I find a hot-spot on Half Dome, I doubt I’ll be posting until our return. In the meantime, explore the archives and see if you missed anything, maybe write some pithy comments…

Today’s “fly-by” shows the new Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter. The first production flight was December 15, 2006 and it is expected to be in full deployment by 2014. Its huge engine produces 43,000 pounds of thrust giving it supersonic capability, yet it’s capable of a short takeoff using only 400 feet of runway at a take off speed of just 80 m.p.h. If that’s not enough, it’s a hover craft capable of vertical takeoff and landing! All that and stealth, too!

You might also enjoy this video report on the progress of the F-35 program for the first quarter of 2007. These are exciting times in military aviation history!

Stephen sent this with the comment, “When I saw this, I immediately thought of you…”

Thanks Stephen. I think.