I discovered this stark and beautiful documentary about a year ago. At that time I had never heard of Borat. After I watched the intro to Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan, I was reminded of this film and I went back to enjoy it all over again. The cultural observation that I would like to make is that it would probably be easy to make a similar documentary about marginalized Americans relying on ingenuity and family to get along in life. American film makers would rather remake The Dukes of Hazzard. Ye Haw.

“The grain structure of film allows a softness that HD video tends not to have, posing more challenges, especially when it comes to capturing female faces.”

The story is that HD television is going to cast female celebrities in a harsh reality. I remember being shocked by the landscape of faces on the opening scenes of Absolute Power when I saw it in the theater. I can imagine the brief discussion that might have taken place if the woman acting in the scene with Gene Hackman asked director Clint Eastwood for a softer filter. Hopefully, the introduction of HDtv won’t mean networks start hiring pretty people instead of hard-nosed journalists for their news coverage.

Is the Rainout Policy for the ballfields of Scottsdale, Arizona really necessary? I mean, it only rains around 9 inches per year. To put that in perspective, it’s not unheard of for San Francisco to get 100 days of rain in a year.

It’s not surprising that major league baseball teams choose to hold their spring training in a climate like Arizona. If you are out on the West Coast getting rained on right now, maybe you should look into getting yourself some San Francisco Giants Tickets for this year’s Cactus League in sunny Arizona. The ticket broker who Sponsored this Post has built their reputation on customer service, dependability and great prices for the last 27 years.

What are the chances that Vince Vaughn will be attending some of these games? He is a sportsfan and a native of Scottsdale. If you see him, don’t drill a dodgeball at him, he doesn’t find that funny anymore.

Ten years after the Clean Air Act banned the sale of leaded fuel for use in on-road vehicles, the organization that puts car AND automobile in its acronym, just to be sure, is planning to stop using leaded fuels in most of its races.

This is a good thing. But why not take it a step further and stop using fuel altogether? I have drawn a blueprint for the next-gen NASCAR vehicle that will help George Bush with his efforts to wean us off our addiction to oil.

It’s actually powered by the driver’s feet. A crude estimate for the total fuel consumption for the NASCAR season using the present cars is 387,000 gallons.

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I got to try bull riding back in 1990 when I was attending college. Actually it was steer riding, but the mechanics are pretty much the same. I think it may have been the first and last time that the particular event was held. Steers don’t have the testosterone required to fuel a full on rage, but they are capable of getting somewhat annoyed.

One of contestants was a mature student. His strategy was to hold on and not let go. As the ride progressed he stayed in a seated position while moving from the top of the steer to the side and eventually to the bottom. Eventually, he was no longer on the steer. He got up from the arena floor and walked over to where the rest of the contestants were standing to tumultuous applause. He noticed a few moments after everyone else that the arse was out of his pants. He had to walk back to the center of the ring because his wallet was on the ground inside what used to be the back pocket of his pants. There were more applause.

My ride was less eventful. The way the event was being run, the guy who was on deck herded the next steer into the shute. The steers were a typical lot, varying in both size and vigor. I had been moving this smaller, docile guy away from the shute as my turn approached. As I climbed the gate to get ready for my ride, the next guy switched them around so that I ended up with the little guy. I ended up making a standing dismount 5-6 seconds into the ride. I think I was the only guy that night whose butt didn’t touch the sawdust. there was no prize for that.

The above personal story is NOTHING like the excitement that awaits spectators of the upcoming Professional Bull Riders World Finals in Las Vegas. PBR Tickets tickets are a hot commodity. A lot of PBR events take place in towns where PBR is the only show in town. With an event in Las Vegas, you could take the whole family for a getaway and the non-bull riding fans could enjoy a more run of the mill Vegas show.

If you are prone to moral outrage the way that I am, you should spend your spare time browsing Wikipedia on the lookout for reportable vandalism.

If you are an immoral smart-ass the way that I am (yes, it is possible to be both), you should find one of the other wiki’s on the net that exist for the explicit purpose of being outrageous and offensive. I know about a couple, but I won’t add a link because they have some objectionable content and I don’t want to be responsible for children finding those sites.

I would never consider adding anything innacurate to Wikipedia. I truly believe everything I have ever contributed.

Here is a paragraph featuring a couple of facts that seem out of context and are not properly cited. My apologies if they have already been removed. There is an ASSUME GOOD FAITH rule at Wikipedia and that’s why the above link is not vandalism.

Sometimes other sites have encouraged Wikipedia vandalism. This Onion article is priceless.

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I once worked at a place where I was responsible for monitoring and optimizing the humidity in a warehouse that housed $100,000 worth of coffee. I spent most of the summer emptying dehumidifiers twice daily and most of the winter filling humidifiers at least once per day. I am sure that it wasn’t just the coffee that benefited from my labor. Living and/or working in a dry indoor environment can lead to health problems like dry skin, cracked lips, sore throats and even sinus headaches. When I kept the humidity above 35% at work and at home, I didn’t suffer from these problems. Guidelines vary, but most groups recommend a range of indoor humidity of between 20 and 50 percent.

A furnace mounted humidifier is often the most effective way to humidify an entire building. If you have a smaller living space you might want to decide between the several different types of portable humidifiers. Humidifierinformation.com offers valuable information about all types of humidifiers.

In closing I offer you, the reader, the suggestion that you visit HumidifierInformation.com.

The man who insisted otherwise in a paper of record died in 1906 and is buried in Sleepy Hollow. He did not have any children, so he never had to contradict himself. The man who took his photograph died over 70 years ago, thus allowing me to put a Santa hat on him with impunity. I’m posting this information now because I want people to have 364 days to get used to the idea.

I actually was not aware that some television stations broadcast a video similar to this for three hours on Christmas Eve. My aunt and uncle own a convenience store and they used to have a video cassette of a fireplace on their rental shelves. Surprisingly, it got rented occasionally. If anyone is considering placing either a television or a computer monitor in an unused fireplace, make sure the flue is closed so that soot or even worse, precipitation doesn’t ruin your equipment.
You might have to play with url coding a bit to get a full screen version that loops. I just learned how to alter YouTube embed code so the video loops. I will try not to use that knowledge for evil.

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As I write this blog post, my belly is protruding uncomfortably from holiday excess. If you are reading this post with a similar condition, you might be considering some sort of fitness training in the New Year.

In pursuit of fitness women often fail to achieve the right balance of diet and exercise. The fitness blog that I am reviewing, NoExcusesGym.com weighs in on both topics.

I found tips on reducing your calorie intake during holiday feasts a few hours too late to save myself. I read on the blog that there a 71 million Americans trying to lose weight.

NoExcusesGym.com offers training advice including pdf charts for targeted exercise routines.

From personal experience, I can say that the most important thing a person can do as part of getting in better shape and getting closer to their ideal weight is to get a good scale and to weigh themselves EVERY DAY. I’ve heard people like Kirstie Alley lying about their weight over and over again. I think there is far too much denial and self delusion surrounding that statistic. If you know how much you weigh everyday you can adjust your diet and activity to keep yourself on track toward a goal. Don’t freak out over a few pounds mysteriously appearing, and don’t buy a pizza to celebrate a few extra pounds disappearing. 3-4 pounds is a normal margin of error/variability.