Interesting Google search results

Hey now!
Go to google, and do a search on the word failure.
You'll find an interesting result at the top of the list, at least
until somebody tells google to fix it.

News from the Land of the Fat and the Home of the Lame

The following are quotes from he 2006 Shape of the Nation -- jointly conducted by the American Heart Association and the National Association for Sport and Physical Education, a nonprofit organization dedicated.

"The percentage of students who attend a daily physical education class has dropped from 42 percent in 1991 to 28 percent in 2003, the report says."

"The number of kids considered overweight has more than tripled since 1980, according to the Centers for Disease Control. Among those between ages 6 to 19, over 9 million kids -- 16 percent -- are considered overweight."

"Modern life has also made Americans more sedentary. "Technology has created many time and labor saving products. Some examples include cars, elevators, computers, dishwashers, and televisions. Cars are used to run short distance errands instead of people walking or riding a bicycle," the CDC says."

Critics contend that the very legislation meant to bolster national academic standards -- the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 -- may be a culprit in the diminishing P.E. curriculum, unintentionally sapping schools of time and resources for exercise as educators focus more and more on test scores and rigorous academic coursework.

The NCLB Act is President Bush's centerpiece education law that, among other things, requires virtually all students to test at their grade level for math and reading. Schools that do not measure up to the standards two years in a row have to provide more tutoring or let students transfer to better schools.

A national study by the Center on Public Education published earlier this year on the implementation of the No Child Left Behind law found that 71 percent of the districts surveyed had elementary schools that cut back on instructional time for a subject (i.e Physical Education) to make room for more reading and math -- the primary focus of the law.

So what does this all mean? Kids are growing up with weight related health problems. Is the potential benefit of kids that read and do math more worth the health risk? In my opinion, no. It's ridiculous in our country that car manufactures are now making cars to accomodate fatter people, as well as airlines and other modes of transportation having to contend with this. Cars are becoming wheelchairs for the masses.

Why my heart is breaking in Asbury Park

The following is text from a post I made this morning on an Asbury Park message board;
"You know, we spend so much time here talking about preservation and
real estate, but I think that there are bigger fish to fry in the
fabric of Asbury.
I'm going to describe to you why my heart is breaking in Asbury.
When I got home from work last night,I was approached yet again by
the same prostitute that thinks I was pulling over for her, but I was
merely parking in front of my home. About 15 feet away, her menacing
pimp who follows her everywhere was leaning against a telephone pole,
watching with an agitated look on his face. This women was clearly
drugged out, with traces of a black eye marring her face.
I am really getting sick of dealing with this. I've tried contacting
the police, but they have stated that the police dept is understaffed,
there are many other problems plaguing our city, and that prostitution
is a misdemenor, so the jail is basically like a revolving door, and
each time one of them gets busted, they learn a little more about how
they can keep doing what they do. I've also heard that the Asbury
Court is big on giving people a second chance, but does that mean a
second, and third and so on? What really bugs me about this is that
it's a vicious cycle...the prostitutes are probably funding their drug
habits with their work, and the drug dealers partially stay in
business because of this.
Later last night, I was working at the Baronet, which I take great
pride in. After we were finished, I had a nice conversation with Jen
at Asbury Lanes, and when I walked out to my car, there was a black
Range Rover parked next to it. Inside this SUV was that same
prostitute, giving a guy a blow job, right in front of the Baronet.
What a wonderful sight to end my evening with.
This morning, I went for a dog walk in Library Square Park, which
would be a lovely place to be, but it's not. During our walk, I was
approached by an agitated man who was clearly "playing with himself",
and he asked me if I could spare any money, and when I said no he
muttered "fuck you" under his breath. I then observed him going to the
center of the park. On the benches were a number of people who
appeared to be making drug deals, so he walked over, sat down, made
his deal and off he went. If I had my cell phone with me, I would've
called the police, and by the time I was out of the park those people
were already on their way. I've seen this behavior over and over.
What a nice way to start my day.
I have a life. I don't need to spend my spare time calling the police.
I have a job to get to, and a life to live. But I can't look the other
way. I moved to Asbury in hopes of a life with a shorter commute, and
I love living near the ocean.
As I drive to work each morning, I pass thru town after town that
isn't plagued with these problems, and as time goes on, I begin to
wonder how much longer I want to stay here. I lived in Allenhurst for
10 years, and the only bad thing that ever happened to me there was 2
of my bicycles were stolen, only to be later seen in Asbury by my
friends, but never retrieved.
This is why my heart is breaking.
I truly believe we are facing a crisis here in Asbury. How will the
potential new residents of all the new condos deal with this problem?
Will they want to deal with it at all? If I was a potential condo
buyer driving into Asbury at the moment, and got waved down by a
prostitute, or observed some obvious drug dealing, I'd have some
serious second thoughts.
Nowhere have I seen any plans to truly combat these problems, just
excuses for why they exist.
Thanks for listening.

Latest news from my bad hair life

Greetings.
I just returned home from an interesting trip to Pittsburgh. I chose to drive (6 hrs) rather then fly due to all the recent terrorism bullshit troubling our world. The purpose of my trip was a video shoot for a project i'm working on, and we shot at WQED, which is the oldest PBS facility in the US.
As I walked thru the lobby, I noticed a display case featuring a few of my favorite documentaries, including "A Hot Dog Story" and "Sandwiches You'll Like", which were made by Rick Sebak. If you've never seen any of these, I highly recommend them as well as the other's he's done.
Anyhow, it turns out that not only is this the place where Rick does all his work, but he's also in the building and loves to meet his fans. The person I was working with offered to take me to meet Rick. Now, i'm not usually the star struck type, but I must admit that I felt a bit that way as we wandered thru the halls in search of him.
It was great to meet him, and he's exactly the same person who's voice you hear on the air...enthusiastic about the things he loves and excited to tell you about them. We had a nice talk, and he sent me on my way with his Ice Cream documentary, and a handshake and advice as to where to get one of his favorite hot dogs, so off I went to "The O".
All I can say is yum!
Another interesting fact about WQED is that it was the home of Mr. Rogers, and I got to see and touch the tree and castle used on his program. There was a little spot on the floor that they preserved. It was part of the original set...a painted roadway left there in his honor.
During my drive home, I got to experience how great it is to have Sirius Satellite radio in my car. Nice to be able to hear what you want no matter where you are. I listened in part to an interesting report on NPR about Walmart and it's effect on our economy. Walmart is killing the mom and pop's of our country, as well as many independent retailers. Even American manufacturers are at their will, giving preferential treatment to Walmart over the independents. Quite sad indeed. Earlier today, I read a news report that has Walmart lashing out at Democrats that are critical of them. You know what I say?
Fuck you Walmart. You are really in the biz of making your stockholders happy, not improving our country. You get most of your goods from other countries, who pay their workers incredibly low wages. Most of your employees don't get any form of health care, and you are slowly destroying the fabric of our nation.
It's not just Walmarts fault though, it's the shoppers too. Every time we take a trip to Walmart, we are giving them a little money for a small discount on an item that we could probably buy closer to home for a few cents more, and put that money into the pocket of an independent retailer, the kind that knows your name and knows what you like.
Not to be hypocritical, I don't shop at Walmart anymore, but I do go to Target sometimes...but that is an increasing rare event for me. I want to completely eliminate mega retailers from my shopping.
Ok, i'm done ranting now. Bye for now.

China Kills 50,000 dogs. Disgusting

It was just reported that China killed 50,000 dogs in an attempt to curb rabies, which they claim is rampant in their country. Officials actually grabbed dogs off the street as they were being walked, and beat them to death right in front of their owners. People were also offered about 50 cents if they killed them themselves. All because 3 people died of rabies. You can read more about this atrocity here, but please be aware that the pictures that accompany the article are pretty graphic.