Pulp Adventure! Thrilling Tales of the Gold Monkey

Hello all,
Well, I've not been on my blog for some time and it's because I've been too blasted busy. I decided to stop for a moment and make a quick post and explain why. I've been keeping busy on the game I've been running, "Pulp Adventure! Thrilling Tales of the Gold Monkey", on RPOL.net and I've been having a lot of fun with it.

It's a text-post game that takes place in 1925 Miami, during the Prohibition. We have over a dozen players in the game and I hope they are having as much fun as I am. It's a little slow at the moment and I hope it will be picking up again soon. And we will be developing the game with a little more action soon as it splits up into three scenarios.

So, if you are interested in checking out the action, stop by and see what all the excitement is all about.

Amber: The Stars Over Kolvir

Hello all,

I finally found a cool Amber Diceless RPOL game to join.

The Stars Over Kolvir is the game and I'm trying a new character for a change. Here are details about my character Kerryl Sawall, Lord of Hawthorne. I'm excited about how things are going and I expect it to only get better. It's a blast.

The GM and players are pretty cool and the plot twists are keeping everyone off balance and on their guard. It's great to be back into the game!

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all!

Cal

State and Local politics

Hello all,
There are some things regarding elections that restore my faith in humanity and others that show me that people haven't a clue about what they are voting on.

Ohio Issues 1,2,3,4,5 went exactly as I anticipated and hoped. Issue 1 passed and 2-5 failed, all by a nearly 70-30 percentage. I'm glad that Ohioans saw through that voter manipulation plan by outside forces, and backed by the pocketbook of the likes of MoveOn.org and combined Union groups. Under the guise of fighting corruption, the people behind 2-5 were planning to replace what we have, by an even more corrupt group who wouldn't be accountable to the voters of Ohio.

That is how "I" saw it and fortunately that is how the vast majority of Ohioans saw it too. And that was good. Ohioans restored my faith in the democratic process.

Now to local politics. I am very saddened and disappointed by the election results in our little community of Jamestown, Ohio.

I, like many others feel that we pay a lot on property taxes, and there is no end to the growth. I 'see' that. I 'understand' that. I 'agree' with that. I 'know' that.

Having said that all that, one must remember an important and unquestionable and undeniable fact of life.

Local agencies depend upon the passing of local levies. And the community's very survival depends on that as well.

Regarding 'all' local levies, I look at them very closely; I want to understand the need and the impact of the levies. And nearly 100% of the time I vote 'for' the levy. We should 'always' support our: Police, Fire Department, Hospitals, and most importantly our Schools.

Our Greeneview School system is run very well. The administrators care about the children and the community. A lot! If anyone doesn't believe that, give me proof. Because I won't take their word for it, I know better. They've had to make difficult decisions and they haven't been afraid to make cuts, as painful as they always are. And the levies have forced them to make painful decisions over the decade or so.

Unfortunately this levy failure may result in some school layoffs. Not all positions, classes, and functions are 'state mandated' and as such are not required to function. However, if you ask anyone in the school system if they could do without 'any' of these things, they will tell you 'certainly not!'. Any thing that isn't state mandated is vulnerable to cuts and it is uncertain how much the school will need to cut to meet its budget. People would have to double up on their responsibilities to cover these other positions and some services will suffer greatly. That would be unfortunate.

The folks that voted against the school levy (or 'any' levy in Jamestown), I have to refer to them as knuckleheads.

What these knuckleheads in our community don't understand, is that the entire staff at Greeneview spends a lot of their own money to cover items that the school can't afford, so that they can make sure that everything they need is available. They don't get many perks that most in the private sector businesses get and take for granted. Even if the levy passed, they would still be purchasing these needed items, but what 'would' happen is that the needed staff may not be there to take care of the children of the community.

And if some of the knuckleheads 'ever' use the excuse that 'I don't have any kids, so I see no reason to pay for school levies', I hope they enjoy a community that will continue to worsen financially from this reasoning. I've heard that before and these people are severely short sighted.

We need bright young minds to be educated, so that they will get excellent jobs, live in the community, and contribute to society by paying more taxes to support others. Then, these knuckelheads will enjoy what the community provides. Because without future generations of thriving tax payers, these knuckleheads will enjoy poverty and poor community services. And good luck to them all. They will need it. Then it's too late to do anything about it.

I can understand voting against a school levy, when there is mismanagement. The Dayton City School system was an excellent example of that a few years ago. But that is 'far' from the case in Greeneview. So, there is no reason to vote against a levy when our school's administrators asks for one. They don't do it lightly and without a serious need. The price of materials continue to increase. Salaries need to increase as the level of inflation does. And we need teachers that are fairly paid and well trained.

Regarding the Police levy, I sincerely hope there aren't serious cuts in staffing and resources. The vote against it was rather disappointing, our local police deserve anything we can give them. And I feel the same about our fire department. I'd like to be certain that they have the resources they need to keep our community safe.

If I ever need the help of the police or fire department, I'd rather not discover that they can't spare anyone to stop by, because of the failed levies. I want my local brave police and firemen to be happy, well trained, well manned, and prepared to respond in case I 'ever' need them. To that end, I vote for their levies and encourage others to vote for them as well.

Cal

Blog spammers

Hello all,
I really haven't had much to say on this blog lately. And I figured that not much would happen here. What with emails, Yahoo Groups, Yahoo 360 sites, and everything else of more importance in real life, I keep pretty busy. I am hoping for dry weather again before winter sets in. I'd like to mow one more time, but it's too wet.

Politics are going on as usual, nothing interesting really going on. I'm trying to listen to Air America and I'm not that impressed with it. Everyone on Air America seems to be shrill and nasty. Except Al Franken, who seems to be bland and nasty. Stephanie Miller is the lefty version of Ann Coulter and both are quite attractive and bright women. I'd like to see them in a wrestling ring battling it out, pudding optional. But I am trying to listen with an open mind.

More catastrophes this year than usual. My heart goes out to those affected. I hope the economy holds out from the impact of them all. I suspect it will do just fine. If another hurricane rips through New Orleans, I hope more of them get out this time.

Same old stuff here at work. One project after another.

Waiting to win the lottery or retire. Who isn't?

But here I am again. Not to really say anything important, but to comment on a new phenomenon for me. Sure I get tons of spam email. I delete them, but they keep pouring in quicker than mail I 'want' to get. I get the occasional spam posting in my Yahoo groups, and I enjoy banning their sorry asses from my Yahoo groups and deleting their posts.

But this is a first for me. Blog spammers. On this blog, yes my only blog.

There have been two so far and I'm not expecting it to stop anytime soon. I'll just keep deleting them. I'm sure they are from the same a**hole and I really don't care about 'stay at home businesses' or anything like that. That means that they spend too much time online and really don't have a social life. And I sure as hell don't want some spammer 'acting' like a real person with so much time on their hands, they are posting to my blog about it. Spammers are an annoyance. And they are usually just forms of software sending out tons of stuff to anywhere it can and not really a person at all. In this case, I address the people writing the software.

Heck, I'd love to get some postings from some real people with real lives and some real ideas. But those are few and far between. And usually from a close personal friend to pays a quick visit to the blog. Thanks! I appreciate your visits!

But as for the bloody spammers out there, please sod off or piss off or f*** off! I'll delete them as quickly as I am notified by email that they are there. And I'll do it with glee. But I'd rather that the spammers just disappeared off the face of this planet. And I don't particularly care where they go.

Have a good day all!
Except the spammers, of course, you lot can have a sorry, rotten, miserable, and pathetic day!

Cal

Dr. Rice for 2008

Hello all,
I read an article in Yahoo that I don't expect to see on the nightly news. It floored me and increased my already high respect and regard for Dr. Rice. I hope she decides to run for President in 2008, against Hillary Clinton.

I can't fathom what it would have been like to live at that place and time as a black person. I can't comprehend what it was like, my life experiences didn't and couldn't prepare my mind to wrap itself around that. I can only guess that it would be terrifying to have lived through that experience. I can only feel sorrow for those who suffered through it or died during it. I have only admiration and respect for the spirit of those who survived through it all and can share their experiences.

We must never allow such events to happen again. Please...

I recall my father-in-law telling me of the time when the Klan marched through Greene County, Ohio and the Blacks and Catholics (and anyone else who was different from them) were in danger of what violence they would do. I recall as a child in the early 60's (I was born in 1953) when I delivered papers, I saw the Klan mentioned regularly on the front pages. And little was done to stop them. I never saw them, but I hear of their activities and I wondered how such people could be permitted to commit illegal acts against other citizens. And I felt bad for these people who were terrorized and killed. It shouldn't have happened. It should never happen again.

So, I look at the current political situation and try to put it in context. Because I can see the potential for similar events, where people need to band together for the protection of their family and neighbors.

And the government can't or won't raise a finger to help. Just like in the early 60's.

I can only interpret that the people who are fighting against our right to bear arms are arguing that these people, that Dr. Rice tells us of, 'shouldn't' have the right to defend themselves. Is this what they are saying? I would like to hear them argue their point.

It is the extreme left that wants to disarm us and make it impossible for law abiding citizens to defend themselves. It is a mystery to me, that it is the people who suffered the most during the civil rights movement, still support the very people who want to disarm all of us. I don't understand that and I suppose I never will.

We all want peace, but we also want to protect our family and friends from violence.

She said: "If local authorities had had lists of registered weapons, she did not think her father and other blacks would have been able to defend themselves."

Think about that.

Cal

Please read:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20050512/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/rice_guns_1
Rice: Gun Rights Important As Free Speech

By BARRY SCHWEID, AP Diplomatic WriterWed May 11, 9:13 PM ET

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, recalling how her father took up arms to defend fellow blacks from racist whites in the segregated South, said Wednesday the constitutional right of Americans to own guns is as important as their rights to free speech and religion.

In an interview on CNN's "Larry King Live," Rice said she came to that view from personal experience. She said her father, a black minister, and his friends armed themselves to defended the black community in Birmingham, Ala., against the White Knight Riders in 1962 and 1963. She said if local authorities had had lists of registered weapons, she did not think her father and other blacks would have been able to defend themselves.

Birmingham, where Rice was born in 1954, was a focal point of racial tension. Four black girls were killed when a bomb exploded at a Birmingham church in 1963, a galvanizing moment in the fight for civil rights.

Rice said she favored background checks and controls at gun shows. However, she added, "we have to be very careful when we start abridging rights that the Founding Fathers thought very important."

Rice said the Founding Fathers understood "there might be circumstances that people like my father experienced in Birmingham, Ala., when, in fact, the police weren't going to protect you."
"I also don't think we get to pick and choose from the Constitution," she said in the interview, which was taped for airing Wednesday night. "The Second Amendment is as important as the First Amendment."

The First Amendment protects religious, press and speech freedoms as well as the rights to assemble and petition the government. The Second Amendment guarantees "a well-regulated militia" and "the right of the people to keep and bear arms." Gun-rights supporters and those who favor gun control disagree over whether the amendment guarantees individual gun ownership.

It's 05/05/05 soon to be 05:05:05 PM

Hello all.
It's been awhile. Keeping busy with many other projects and with household chores.
Well, it's 05/05/05. I doubt that the world will come to an end at 05:05:05 PM. But one never knows. *grin*
It's interesting when the numbers fit into place. So, I thought I'd post that bit of useless info onto the Blog.

I'll try to come up with something insightful and hopefully interesting soon.

Later!
Cal

MXC on Spike TV

I am hooked on MXC and I'm a member of a support group:
http://tv.groups.yahoo.com/group/MXC/

Our resident celebrity is known as "The Green Teabagger", a baseball player known as Brad Lesley (a former Cincinnati Red, my local team) or 'Animalsan'. He was a cast member of the very cool game show "Takeshi's Castle". Brad's page is: http://www.animalsan.com/

The MXC crew (was: Most Extreme Elimination Competition) bought the film and have redubbed and redone the clips into a different and hilarious show. The show is now called MXC!
The MXC site is on Spike TV:
http://www.spiketv.com/home/
More detail can be found on MXC at TVTome at:
http://www.tvtome.com/tvtome/servlet/ShowMainServlet/showid-19800/

The crew of MXC is a highly talented and imaginative group of writers and voice-over artists. The names of the characters and contestants are all made up. The 'hosts' of the show are Vic Romano (Victor Wilson) and Kenny Blankenship (Christopher Darga). The gent that starts the games is Captain Tenneal (John Cervenka). There is a chap that interviews the contestants and introduces the games, and his name is Guy LeDouche (John Cervenka). There are other LeDouche's that fill in for him occasionally. All female voices in the show are performed by 'everygirl' Mary Scheer and she has a fantastic range of voices.

And I enjoy portraying the Yahoo Group's "MXClusive field reporter, Cal LeDouche". Members of the Yahoo Group enjoy the zaniness of MXC and all the bizarre characters. Yes, it is a bit silly.

I really don't need 'help' to break free of this addiction. No patches, pills, hypnotism, implants, or gum. What I 'need' is for them to release the DVD set. That's all I ask.

Please?

Now, join me for the MXC cheer:
"Don't get eliminated!"

Game Selections for Ambercon

Hello all,
I have signed up for the games in Ambercon. Now, I wait to see which games I get.

My first choices are:
1-051 No Matter Where You Go, There You Are (Steed with a new untried Power)
2-036 Ashes of Time (Steed as a Chaos Lord)
3-006 Sins of the Father 2: You Did What?!
4-032 Cityscape, a Tales of the Regency Game
5-033 Remnant Population, a Tales of the Regency
6-028 Equalizer
7-059 The Web of the Spider Queen (Steed with Rover artifacts)

I am looking forward to trying some different ideas.