Reality is a Prayer

My heartfelt prayers to the survivors of the Virginia Tech victims.

Cho Seung-Hui's Plays

This is the title of an article generated by AOL news yesterday. This article and these plays will give you insight into the mind of Cho Seung. Very, very, very sad to be sure. And Dark.

Let God's love shine. Darkness will sting-but, Love is strong enough to heal.

Has anyone made a connection between the moralistic debate between the Imus flap and the Virginia Tech incident? Do politically correct attitudes do more to divide and alienate than to heal?
It is certainly something to consider...

Finally, please remember, it takes a person to kill. A gun is a mindless object. Perhaps if others on campus had been armed, the outcome may have been more favorable.

-- Let's hope the News Networks report this unfortunate occurrence responsibly. Watch 'em close all and keep their feet to the fire...

Iran... fuzzy, warm, humane, and Nuclear?

> Library of Congress, Country Studies, Iran

So, world? Do we have a new best friend now? Ahmadinejad has demonstrated his humane benevolence. What a nice guy? NRM, why are you quoting a Chinese news source? Hey, they got the facts straight, we were watching CNN and FOX television earlier. Okay? Big deal. Besides, this was the most recent news agency to have posted the story when I googled it minutes ago.

How do we at NRM feel? First happy relief. Those British service personnel hardly deserved captivity. And, come on? Do any of you out there believe that British ship was actually in Iranian territorial waters? We all know this is an Iranian PR ploy. Second, We at NRM will be watching to see how the spin plays out in the American, British, and world media outlets over the next few days. Finally, we know this is selfish, maybe the price we're paying at the pump will drop again. We have the technology people, let's use it. A little R&D please? Alternate fuel sources, please? Let's make it happen private industry. We will all be dead, and like the dinosaur, creating oil for those alive another fifty million years from now if we wait on the U.S. government to act.

Special report: A struggle for nuclear power, New Scientist Magazine

So, good news today people of the planet Earth. The war of Armageddon had been postponed indefinitely due to successful political posturing. Will Ahmadinejad, and Iran's other extremists Leaders get to play in the Nuclear sandbox now? Tune in next time...

Hey, That's not Dr. Strangelove...

Background on Iran's suspected WMD Programs, Iran Watch

Capitalist Lego Society America

Hey, did ya hear about those two elementary school teachers in Seattle...?

No I'm not setting you up for a punch line. And no, this isn't some new teacher sex scandal.

Apparently legos reinforce notions eight year olds have about ownership and private property.
You know th' story by now.

Teachers at a Seattle day care center decided to ban LEGO building blocks — those colorful little bricks kids use to build such creations as robots, monster trucks, space ships and vast futuristic cities. The Hilltop Children's Center bills itself as a nationally recognized, non-profit, non-religious facility. So why did the teachers toss the LEGOs?

We'll let them explain: "We agreed that we want to take part in shaping the children's understandings from a perspective of social justice. So we decided to take the LEGOs out of the classroom. The children were building their assumptions about ownership and the social power it conveys — assumptions that mirrored those of a class-based, capitalist society — a society that we teachers believe to be unjust and oppressive."

After months of what the teachers called "social justice exploration" — they let the LEGOs back in — but kids were only allowed to build "public structures" of standard sizes in a village dedicated to what they called "collectivity and consensus."

—FOX News Channel's Martin Hill contributed to this report.

Thank Stalin for Progressive Education... look at what those eight year olds were working on before their teacher's came in and forced central planning on them...

A Strange Story of Sugar, Spice, and Stumpy Wooden Legs...

I remember when I was a very young boy, we had this painting of two young girls who were posed sitting together and reading a book. I am sure it was a pleasant picture. And I am pretty sure my mom was the one responsible for its hanging there on the
wall in our house.

Anyhow, that painting used to totally freak me out. I mean, I was
totally in horrible awe of the thing. I found it frightening,
disturbing and aversive. See, the girls in the picture had on these
woolen knee socks. The problem was I never realized these fine young
femmes were sporting knee socks. The color of the socks was dark
brownish, and the girls' legs were brownish, tan. Unfortunately, the
color and texture caused me to perceive not knee socks- but rather,
wooden legs. Imagine how morbid such perception was to my imaginative,
child's mind. I had nightmares about poor, crippled girls for years.

I still have major issues with mediocre painters. A bit more skill and I
would have seen knee socks. It would have spared me years of trauma.

You Win

Welcome to the first post... NRM... join us... I was thinking I was the only one.
Now we've found one another.




Imagine, an environment where advertising existed everywhere. Pervading all media outlets, electronic and print. Ads on signs. Advertisements on the sides of buses, cars, vans, and on the sides of buildings. Imagine a world where people even walked around wearing clothing which sported ads and corporate logos in the name of fashion. A place where people even tattooed ads onto their bodies. What? Such a place need not be imagined? Oh right, that's par for the course in contemporary American society.

Is it so bad?

Maybe we could take our marketing know how to new realms of possibility.

Let's advertise to the dead, or at least to those who might find themselves visiting a recently departed loved one. It might be kind of cool.

I created this drawing about a year ago. It's still one of my favorites.
Yes, I am VeryTerry...