Roll Over, Play Dead

Should a country based on our principles be focused on "everyman"?

Is the enforcement of laws always for public safety, or does it often constitute a formality?

Comment on those questions.

More to follow, stay tuned.

Why drink alone?  Invite the Virtual Bartender.

This one speaks for itself:  Anheuser-Busch Pulls ‘Water’ Drinking Game

Went back to listen to "Live For Today" by 3 Doors Down and ended up listening to "Here By Me."

http://www.3doorsdown.com/media.asp

Listen.

A trooper gets hit by a car on the highway, flips into the air and lands in the middle of the road.  He nearly gets hit by two more approaching cars, but still somehow manages to live.  Insane.
http://www.thatvideosite.com/view/879.html

Another crazy video…this time an officer following a vehicle gets sprayed by some goons shooting out of their rear window while driving away.  Even scary than the movies cause it’s real:
http://www.big-boys.com/articles/texasshootout.html

*WARNING*
This next video could be one of the most graphic things you’ve ever seen.  There are no blood and guts, but it’s just as bad.  You’ve been warned.

A deputy pulls over some crazed idiot who grabs a rifle and opens fire.  Deputy gets hit multiple times but still returns fire.  Assailant walks up to him and point-blank pulls the trigger while aiming at the deputy’s head.  The screams are chilling.  The deputy was just 22 years old, survived by a wife and a 22 month old baby.
http://www.policeone.com/lodvids/v7p2high.wmv

Sure…police choose their line of work, but it doesn’t mean we shouldn’t thank them every once in a while.

The USF club tennis team has been a blast, and this past weekend was no exception.  We went up to Gainesville for the annual Gatorbowl Tennis Tournament on Friday night, and with matches starting at 9 am on Saturday, it was a long but fun weekend.  We lost in the first round to FIU, I believe it was…but that wasn’t the end of the road.  Dropping down into the consolation bracket, we played Univ of Kentucky, Alabama, and another school I can’t remember, beating them all.  We finished up at 9 pm on Saturday and went to a party that one of the UF guys was hosting at his house. 

Without a doubt, craziness ensued but a good time was had by all.

Sunday morning it was a little tough to wake up, but we managed to beat one of UF’s teams to put us in the consolation finals, where we drew another UF team.  Three hours and a little racket tossing later we won the bracket.  Not too bad, considering there were 21 mens teams from around the southeast who showed up.  Needless to say I’m a little sore today, as we played the equivalent of 12 matches over 2 days, 8 of which were on Saturday.  The next tournament is in Daytona on clay, then I believe we head down to Miami for a tournament hosted by UM.

then today is surely one of them.

Read the article at the link below.

This essay on the relationship between disasters, authority, and our understanding of human nature went to press as Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast. The excerpt below is followed by a postscript, available only on the Web, that specifically addresses the disaster in New Orleans. Originally from a forthcoming issue of Harper’s Magazine, October 2005.

http://www.harpers.org/TheUsesOfDisaster.html

One of my coworkers here was having some trouble getting a CD to play on his computer so he asked me to take a look at it and see if I could fix the prob.  A few settings later had him up and running again.  The CD he was listening to, though, is the main point of this story:  it sounded rather amazing…the guitar by itself is enough, but the lyrics and his vocals are unique as well.  Turns out a couple people here have seen him in concert, where the show is supposed to be even better.

So far I’ve only seen evidence of one album, put together in 1997 (review of the album here), but I’m told there’s at least one more.  Until I can get ahold of that, listen to Sam Pacetti’s Solitary Travel here.  Many of the songs are instrumental, though you should absolutely listen to "The Lion & the Child" as well as "Saturday’s Revival."

You may hear references to the south, as well as to Florida and some of its attractions, which can be attributed to his residence in St. Augustine.  Keep in mind he cut that album at the age of 22.

If this is what acoustic folk with a touch of bluegrass sounds like, sign me up.

I saw Tift on one of those Hillsborough County public TV deals late one night while they were doing a women’s music special and had her video "Good Hearted Man" playing.  Good guitar, beautiful voice, what else do you need?  A mix of Sheryl Crow and Sarah McLachlin, I think we’ll see more of her soon (be sure to listen to "Plainest Thing," then compare the reverbs and echoes to McLachlin’s "Full of Grace."

See a few videos and listen to her CD at http://www.tiftmerritt.com.  Click the top right  photo and it’ll take you to a screen where you can select your…um…selection.

Came across this (musical) artist while browsing another web designer’s site checking out their porfolio…

Bryan Ingram is pretty good, but it seems as though he’s only released one album with 3 songs on it.  Fortunately, you can listen to all 3 songs by visiting http://www.24-7media.de/ingram/, then clicking on the graphic.  Select "Music" from the nav bar, then you’ll be able to select the songs on the right.  Kinda reminds me of Bryan Adams, but maybe it’s just the name.