The JackB

"When you're in jail, a good friend will be trying to bail you out. A best friend will be in the cell next to you saying, 'Damn, that was fun'." Groucho Marx

Archives for March 2007

I Am The Source of Evil In The JBlogosphere

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It has been a while since I last shared fan mail with my beloved 17 readers. And now I am pleased to present you with a fragment of one of the greatest testimonials that I have ever received.

Dear Jackass,

The reason that so many people hate the jblogosphere and the jibs is because of jerks like yourself. if you leaned how to be a mensch maybe your children wouldn’t be so bad and your wife would love you more. Why don’t you take Ezzie and go away…”

Hmm… I mulled over how to respond to this. I played around with printing the entire email, but it was missing something called grammar. That presented a problem because it was so poorly written that I didn’t think that people would be able to stomach it.

So while I sit here beaming with the pride I derived from your accolades let me share something with you. I am not sure that Serach would appreciate my taking Ezzie away. Not that it wouldn’t be good for him to be exposed to real sports teams. Ask Stacey about how much her life has improved since she left the burning river behind.

I wonder how many blogs there are in the Jblogosphere. I should Ask Shifra. I would guess that there are close to a thousand that are kind of involved in some capacity or another. But in terms of how many are actively updated I bet that the number would drop pretty dramatically.

I’d write more but I am late for a meeting of the Elders Of The Jblogosphere Meeting.

Iran ‘seizes’ 15 British sailors

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Things continue to stay heated with Iran. There may be some confusion about whose waters they were in, but on the other hand I still think that Iran is testing. It is a dangerous game they play.

Iran ‘seizes’ 15 British sailors

LONDON, England (CNN) — An Iranian naval patrol seized 15 British marines and sailors who had boarded a vessel suspected of smuggling cars off the coast of Iraq, military officials said.

The British government immediately demanded the safe return of its troops and summoned Tehran’s London ambassador to explain the incident.

The Royal Marines and ordinary naval officers were believed to have been apprehended by up to six ships from the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy who claimed they had violated Iranian waters.

British naval officials said the sailors, using small boarding craft, had completed an inspection of a merchant vessel in Iraqi waters when the Iranians arrived.

Commodore Nick Lambert, commander of the HMS Cornwall — the frigate from which the British patrol had been deployed — said the incident did not involve fighting or use of weapons.

“We’ve been assured from the scant communications that we’ve had from the Iranians at the tactical level that the 15 people are safely in their hands,” he said.

The British defense ministry said that it was pursuing the incident “at the highest level.”

There was no immediate comment from Iranian officials.

Lambert said the British sailors had been on a “normal, routine boarding” of a vessel that had aroused suspicions as it navigated the Shatt al-Arab, a disputed waterway that marks the border between Iraq and Iran on the shores of the Persian Gulf.

For more information click here.

The Lovers

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You are The Lovers

Motive, power, and action, arising from Inspiration and Impulse.

The Lovers represents intuition and inspiration. Very often a choice needs to be made.

Originally, this card was called just LOVE. And that’s actually more apt than "Lovers." Love follows in this sequence of growth and maturity. And, coming after the Emperor, who is about control, it is a radical change in perspective. LOVE is a force that makes you choose and decide for reasons you often can’t understand; it makes you surrender control to a higher power. And that is what this card is all about. Finding something or someone who is so much a part of yourself, so perfectly attuned to you and you to them, that you cannot, dare not resist. This card indicates that the you have or will come across a person, career, challenge or thing that you will fall in love with. You will know instinctively that you must have this, even if it means diverging from your chosen path. No matter the difficulties, without it you will never be complete.

What Tarot Card are You?
Take the Test to Find Out.

I Am Going To Die & Other Random Thoughts

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Earlier this week I had the pleasure of sitting through a parent/teacher conference for all of my children. It really was a pleasure to hear their teachers provide glowing reports. I am an honest parent. I know that my kids have their moments and I know that they are not always angels. But if you believe their teachers the bulk of their misbehavior comes out at home.

My son’s teacher had many good things to say, but one thing stuck out. She told us about how loyal he is. She said that he looks out for his friends and that he is sensitive to their needs. I was and am proud of everything else she said too, but the loyalty struck a chord with me. It is a trait that runs deep within my family. My siblings and I are fiercely loyal, especially to each other. So it is gratifying to see that the children have picked up on this.

The expression about being loyal to a fault is a good description of me. If we are tight I am going to be there to help you, even when you are playing the fool. The older I get the harder it becomes to maintain relationships. People get busy and grow less tolerant of the shortcomings of others, but I don’t let things fade. Others walk but I endure.

Strangely enough Amazing Grace is playing on iTunes. It is a version that is done with bagpipes. It makes me choke up a little and not just because I remember Scotty playing it for Spock. It reminds me a bit of the friends that I have lost. Sometimes I wonder if I am anomaly. Just short of 38 and I can say that I know a half dozen cancer victims not to mention those that were lost in automobile accidents etc.

And then there are a couple of friends who are in dire trouble now. Their situations are different. One is dying from a terminal illness and the other has a different issue that could end up being terminal as well. I find it terribly distressing and frustrating.

Blame it on my being male, but I so very much want to try and fix things. If I could lend them some strength I would do so. It is a reminder of the importance of health and to a certain extent my own mortality. When I think about those that have passed on at a young age it is a reminder that it could happen to me. I am going to die.

Sometimes I wonder about it. I am not afraid of death. I haven’t any reason to be afraid, at least not for myself. I am obviously concerned about the impact it would have on my loved ones. If I look at genetics I have every reason to be optimistic. Grandparents and great-grandparents who lived well into their nineties is a good sign. I have often said that I always figured that I would outlive most people. I am not gloating about it, just what I think will happen.

Sometimes I wonder if this blog will be something that I do for the rest of my life. Sometimes I think that it would be kind of neat to be able to look back at 100 years of my thoughts about life. And then sometimes I think that one day I will lose the urge and will walk away. I’ll set down my pen and never look back.

There won’t be any drama, no farewell tour, just silence.