Wordless Wednesday – moon ring

This submission is part of all that wacky, wacky Wordless Wednesday fun.

The greatest thing ever

One of the greatest things on the planet showed up in my mailbox today – the Retro-Bit RetroGen.

What is a RetroGen? Only a portable Sega Genesis. That puts it solidly in the running for “The Greatest Thing Ever” award.

The pitiful photo above is one I tried to take of the RetroBit running Sonic The Hedgehog 3. I took about a dozen photos and they all came out fuzzy and horrible. So I got frustrated, scaled one down to nothing, wrote “suck” on it and then posted the photo here.

Fortunately, the system is a heck of a lot better than the photo. I bought the RetroGen for about $50 (with shipping) from Video Game Central. That’s cheap considering what a great system this is.

I had originally set out to buy a Sega Genesis Nomad but was deterred by the expense of the things (around $100 easy) and the fact those things simply suck down batteries – 6 “AA” batteries last less than two hours in that thing.

The RetroGen is a lot cheaper, it’s licensed by Sega and has a built-in battery that lasts up to six hours and is recharged through a USB port. The 2.8” screen on the unit is more than adequate and I’m even getting used to the control pad (it doesn’t feel a thing like the one on my Sega Genesis). The only two complaints I have about this unit is that the absolutely huge cartridge slot does get in the way (leading to a bit of discomfort) and the tiny speaker in this system is terrible.

Still, those slight negatives don’t detract much from this fine unit. The ability to take classic Genesis games on the road is too great for words and the unit is pretty solid. The emulation has been very good so far. It takes both Genesis and Mega Drive carts and can be switched between NTSC and PAL display formats.

And this unit is built on the Firecore emulation engine. All that means is this – there are still Genesis games being developed on the Firecore platform and this unit can run them with a special cartridge and mini SD card (apparently). I’m not too excited about this as this unit comes with 20 built in games and they all stink.

The exciting thing, of course, is that I can take that beloved Sega Genesis library of mine on the road. And for $50? That’s a steal. Want one? Get it by clicking here.

Casinos – just what we need in Arkansas

Michael Wasserman needs to stay in Texas and keep the hell out of my state.

Who is Michael Wasserman? He’s this fellow who keeps trying to get the voters of my beloved Arkansas to grant him a monopoly so he can build casinos all over the damned place.

He tried to get proposals on ballots back in 2006 and 2009 that would allow his company – and only his company – to set up casinos in Arkansas. Neither proposal made it to the ballot.

Now he’s back with a new proposal that would allow him to put up his sleazy little casinos in Boone, Crittenden, Garland, Jefferson, Miller, Pulaski and Sebastian counties. In other words, he wants voters to allow him to set up some mini Pottersvilles and lining his Longhorn pockets with our cash.

To hell with Wasserman and greedy little gnats like him.

I’ll admit up front that I hate casinos. In my mind, the only good casino is one that is empty, on fire and not covered by insurance. I don’t want them in Arkansas any more than I want the two current state-sanctioned gambling dens in Arkansas – Oaklawn (horse racing and a bunch of things that look like casino games but aren’t classified as such) in Hot Springs and Southland Greyhound Park (which has more of those casino lookalike games) in West Memphis. If you want to throw your money away, go blow it at one of those two filthy eyesores or (better yet) send it to me.

Yes, I’m simply opposed to casinos as I don’t want to live within 200 miles of one of the nasty things. However, my objection to Wasserman goes beyond moral concerns – as much as I detest casinos, the idea of giving someone a state-sanctioned monopoly so he can run one is simply ludicrous.

Why should Wasserman have the right to operate a profitable business when no one else can? If we’re going to let him show up in Arkansas and open one, how can we exclude the next guy or the one after that? How can we – as Arkansans – possibly allow a situation to exist where a guy can build a business that is absolutely free of competition?

If the people of this state won’t casinos, then let’s allow the things. Don’t just allow one guy to come in, build seven of them and not let anyone else compete. The way I see it, we either allow casinos or we don’t – monopolies are nasty and we ought not have them sanctioned by state law.

And, yes, that means that Oaklawn and Southland ought to be forced out of existence or forced to deal with the prospect of (gasp!) having to deal with competitors for a change.

Wasserman will, apparently, start his “Let Me Rape You, Arkansas” tour soon by trying to get enough signatures on petitions to put his self-serving proposal on the ballot. I do hope Wasserman and his flunkies get a chilly reception from my fellow Arkansans.

Looking for real estate news?

No, I’m not out trying to sell anything.

Nope.

I don’t talk about my “day job” a whole lot around here, but I make my living as a public relations guy for the Arkansas Realtors Association. One of the things I do there is maintain our blog, The Arkansas Realtor.

So consider this an invitation to head over for a visit and sign up for our free digesting service by filling out the light blue subscription form in the right sidebar on that blog. You’ll get the latest in Arkansas real estate news as well as discussion of national trends, issues that impact consumers, etc.

The digests come out every two weeks and I do hope a good number of people subscribe. At the very least, I hope some of you folks will pay The Arkansas Realtor a visit and find something useful over there.

Music Monday – U2’s ‘Pride (In the name of Love)’

Come join Music Monday and share your songs with us. One simple rule, leave ONLY the actual post link here. You can grab this code at LJL Please note these links are STRICTLY for Music Monday participants only. All others will be deleted without prejudice.





PS: Because of spamming purposes, the linky will be closed on Thursday of each week at midnight, Malaysian Time. Thank you!

Pervert alert!

Now, folks, there’s a photo that demands attention, isn’t it?

It makes you curious – makes you wonder what it’s all about.

Just admit it – you want to find out all about the pervert. You want to know about what identified the particular individual as a pervert and what right minded people are doing about it.

Well, you can read all about the pervert (and his weird, trick sweatpants) by clicking here and heading over to the blog I maintain for my employer. The story is well worth reading. I promise.

Ding f’in dong!

Well, it’s official – U.S. Rep. Vic Snyder (D-Ark.) has called it quits.

That’s right, after virtually ignoring a heck of a lot of voters in his district for years, Snyder won’t seek reelection this year. Perhaps his voters in Little Rock will miss his rambling, mustache-mumbling speeches and “what the hell is he thinking?” voting record, but I feel relatively certain that some of us in the more “unsophisticated” parts of his district won’t miss the man one bit.

Yes, the Second District does include Pulaski County, which touts the highest population in the state as it includes Little Rock, our capitol city – but the man rarely showed signs there were some voters rushing around in other parts of his district. While Snyder may have been a darling with the alleged elite in Little Rock (well, as elite as a group can be in Arkansas, at least), I’ve wondered one thing since the man lurched his way into Congress in 1996 – what does he have to offer us yokels in Saline, Conway, Faulkner, Perry, Van Buren, White and Yell counties?

Not a whole lot, apparently. A poll released Thursday showed that Snyder was trailing Republican challenger Tim Griffin by quite a bit and was headed for trouble after carrying water for the Democrats in the health care reform debate.

So Snyder is out of the race and I can’t say I’m stunned. He was about to face some angry voters in this year’s election cycle and he knew it.

Oddly, this can’t come as great news to Griffin as he’s got money and public outrage on his side while Snyder had, well, some well-connected friends in Little Rock. If the Democrats come up with a strong candidate then we might be looking at a horserace in the 2nd District instead of the butt whipping we hoped to see Griffin (or anyone, for that matter) inflict on Snyder.

Whatever the result, at least Snyder will be gone and that’s good news. We’ll be better represented by just about any Democrat, Republican, Libertarian, Green or Constitutionalist who can manage to get enough support to actually win the office. Hell, we’d be better represented by a rat terrier, a Folger’s coffee can or a sock monkey when you get down to it.

Music Monday – The Last Men

A great band that gigged around New York for awhile, recorded a single and then vanished. What? What happened? Were the Last Men too far ahead of the times, too cool or too disturbing? Who knows? The band did release “The Word” and “Jimmy Igo,” so enjoy!

Come join Music Monday and share your songs with us. One simple rule, leave ONLY the actual post link here. You can grab this code at LJL Please note these links are STRICTLY for Music Monday participants only. All others will be deleted without prejudice.





PS: Because of spamming purposes, the linky will be closed on Thursday of each week at midnight, Malaysian Time. Thank you!

Tell me Thursday – Brenda spends a day at the office

Yesterday, I posted the photo over to the left as my “Wordless Wednesday” entry.

My nine-year-old daughter, Brenda SueCarol, wrote that last week when she spent the day at my office. Why? She wanted to spend the day at work with me (for some reason) and I didn’t object. I’m glad of that – she rather livened up the place.

I learned a few things from my daughter last week. For one thing, the kid can have fun anywhere. I’ve never thought of the office as much fun, frankly, but she found some ways to pass the time. She played on the Internet for awhile (of course), but got bored with that in a hurry.

What did she do to pass the time? Made snowflakes, drew a heck of a lot of pictures, spun around in a chair, ran in circles, ran around visiting with everyone who had some time to spare and sang to us over the intercom system.

She also told us one of the rooms in the building was haunted and wrote a two-page story about it. She took her place at the podium in the allegedly haunted room and read her story to a couple of us.

“How long has that ghost been here?” I asked her.

“For 250 years!”

“Brenda, the building is only a year old.”

“Y’all built around the ghost.”

Yeah, that’s my girl. She’s got an answer for everything.

And so it went. She had a great time going to lunch with my friend Dave and me, telling everyone that I was growing a head sideburn (which, evidently, is that strip of hair that circles a large bald spot) and generally having more fun than anyone’s had in that office (or probably ever will).

Another thing I learned about my daughter is that she has a weird energy reserve. She chattered and ran all over the place from the minute she woke up until we stepped in my car to make that 25 minute commute back home. Before we were even 10 minutes into that drive, she fell asleep in the car.

To be able to run all over the place like a wild child for about 10 hours and then fall straight to sleep when the fun is over must be a great thing. I’m looking forward to my daughter’s next visit and I hope everyone else in the office feels the same way.

This entry is part of the soon-to-be-famous “Tell Me Thursday” event.

Shanahan heads to Washington

Well, coaching mastermind Mike Shanahan went and found himself a new job.

Shanahan, of course, was tossed out of his job as the head coach of the Broncos before the season began. The ungrateful bastards in Denver who threw him out on his ear added insult to injury by replacing him with Josh McDaniels – a snot-nosed little punk who didn’t do a thing to earn the job but know the right people.

It didn’t take Shanahan long to find a job – he’s heading to the Washington Redskins. In other words, Denver is stuck with a head coach that’s barely old enough to shave, a no-name quarterback who would probably be panhandling for a living if he wasn't playing football and an angry fan base (you can count me among those irate fans) while Washington stands to benefit from the Broncos’ stupidity. There’s some justice there.

The news of Shanahan’s job was just the icing on the cake during a couple of months that had to be terrible for McDaniels. His team started out 6-0 (based largely on freakish, circus-like plays at the end of games -- who knew that wouldn't last?) then promptly lost 8 of its last 10 games. Two of those losses were to Kansas City (a terrible team this year) and Oakland (even worse) and Denver is out of the playoffs.

After that disastrous end, McDaniels was certainly sent off to his room without dinner. Fortunately, he quit sulking long enough to pull out his “business crayon” and write a statement congratulating Shanahan (you can see his fine penmanship (crayonmanship?) above). Good for him. The young whippersnapper showed a bit of maturity there. McDaniels might yet become a man.

The frustrating thing about all of this is that I pointed out months ago that the Broncos couldn’t have done much worse than McDaniels. He was obviously a terrible hire, so why on earth am I reading articles like this one in which people claim that the Broncos are worse off than they were a year ago? It was obvious that bringing in McDaniels and replacing quarterback Jay Cutler with an anonymous bum like Kyle Orton would result in disaster, so why is anyone surprised? Why in the hell was McDaniels hired in the first place? It makes absolutely no sense.

What is truly hysterical about this article is that the author points out that McDaniels lacks maturity and is too emotional. What did anyone expect? Denver hired a kid to coach its team, so it’s no shock that he’s prone to throwing tantrums and making terrible decisions. Good grief.

Good luck to Shanahan in Washington. It’s absolutely preposterous that he was run out of Denver, so I can’t help but wish him well somewhere else.

(Almost) Wordless Wednesday -- my daughter writes a note...

This post is part of the famed Wordless Wednesday event.

The wise optometrist tackles the issue of health care

My little brother is an optometrist, so you’d better believe he’s got an interest in the healthcare debate that’s raging across the country right now.

Now, my brother is the bright one in the family. Want proof? He’s an optometrist who makes a good living by contributing something to society (good eyesight) while I’m a public relations guy who doesn’t contribute one damned thing. When he comes up with a good idea it’s worth hearing.

In a nutshell, my brother has noticed that we’ve been spending a lot of time talking about health insurance reform rather than true health care reform. The whole issue boils down to dollars and cents – the goal appears to be to both make health care more affordable and get insurance to people who need it.

Those two expenses – the costs of health care and insurance – are rather intertwined. There’s a school of thought out there that suggests that dropping health care costs will make insurance more affordable.

With that in mind, here’s my brother’s idea – simply pass legislation that will allow medical providers the option of offering a discount to people who pay for services up front. That’s a simple suggestion, to be sure, but it could well achieve quite a bit.

Could doctors already do that? Well, not really. Just ask a medical provider who’s tried to get away with charging two separate prices for identical procedures when Medicare is involved. If a doctor wants to collect, say, $100 for an office visit, he might charge $300 in hopes of collecting that much from Medicare or Medicaid. And you’d better believe there will be hell to pay if that Medicare patient or someone carrying private insurance is charged $300 while someone who is paying at the time of service is charged $100.

What happens? Everyone gets charged $300 and health care costs have magically risen. My brother’s suggestion, then, is to break that cycle by allowing doctors the freedom to discount their fees if they so choose.

What follows from that? You’d better believe that health insurance providers – both public and private – start figuring out how to pay up front in order to avoid paying higher costs after services are rendered and insurance forms are filed. In theory, then, health care costs have just dropped and insurance rates ought to drop, too (if, of course, competition among them is allowed and encouraged – that’s another discussion for another time, however).

The question, of course, is would doctors choose to offer a discount. My brother seems to think so – he’d rather accept, say, $50 for an office visit rather than charge $200 and deal with the headaches of filing a bunch of insurance forms. Other doctors would, hopefully, feel the same way.

There’s a good reason to think they might. If doctors like my brother charged $50 up front for a visit, you’d better believe they’d see their businesses boom while others charging $200 for the same thing would watch their patients vanish. That’s called competition – something we used to value here in the United States.

While such market-based solutions may seem quaint in this day and age where the government is invited to poke around in our private affairs, such an idea may gain some traction with the public. Who do you trust more to do something about increasing medical costs? Insurance companies, the federal government or physicians?

Seeing how I detest both Congress and the medical insurance industry, I’d be inclined to listen to what physicians have to say about health care costs. Oddly, it appears that group is rarely consulted in the current debate.

Music Monday -- Sly Fox

Yeah -- missing the 1980s a lot these days...

Sly Fox - Let's Go All The Way
Uploaded by hushhush112. - Watch more music videos, in HD!

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An achievable New Year’s resolution

Yes, it’s another year and we’ve got a slew of people running around making resolutions they’ll never keep.

Ah, but not me. No, The Hawg has made a New Year’s resolution that I am almost certain to keep. Am I going to exercise more, lose weight, give it my all at work or anything like that?

No. I’m going to take it easy on myself this year. I, then, hereby resolve to watch even more television that I did in 2009.

Now, there’s a resolution that will take some focus and dedication. I’m sure, however, that I will be able to watch more TV if I just put my mind to it. That won’t be overly easy, of course, as the television is generally own and I’m in front of it unless I’m at work or sleeping.

There are a couple of things I can do, however, to achieve my goal. For one thing, I could sleep in front of an active television set, couldn’t I? There’s one in the bedroom, after all, and I did fall into the habit of falling asleep in front of the television and waking up in time to watch a rerun of Gilligan’s Island back when I was in college.

I could certainly fall back into that habit with little effort. Sounds like a plan.

Also, I do have some vacation time coming. Why waste it on doing things that would get me out of the house? Heck, I could simply take a couple of weeks off and spend them in my living room in front of that huge, flat screen television set that we bought last year.

Yes, we’ll see people fall short of their resolutions right and left this year. I, however, will be a success story.

Go ahead an enjoy the Boogie Boys video I’ve posted below. Not only does it have some dandy television references, it is also a song that could have only been recorded in the 1980s – my favorite decade.

Arkansas wins Liberty Bowl in overtime, stuns The Hawg

Well, it’s official – the Arkansas Razorbacks beat the East Carolina Pirates 20-17 to win the Liberty Bowl in overtime.

Yes, there have been a slew of bowls over the past few days. Rumor has it you’ve even got a national championship game in a few days.

We in the Natural State only gave a damn about one game and that was the Liberty Bowl (I know that’s true of a lot of us, at least). We’re just happy that Arkansas managed to win.

Frankly, I’m more than a bit amazed.

“But, The Hawg,” you might say. “Why are you amazed? Arkansas should have won that game.”

The only answer I can say is that Arkansas, historically, has been terrible in bowl games. Sure, the Hogs had some success in the old Southwest Conference, but the Razorbacks have found all sorts of odd ways to lose bowl games since joining the Southeastern Conference.

Hell, the Razorbacks lost to UNLV in the Las Vegas Bowl back in 2000, of all things. That was the worst bowl game loss in recent memory, but the Hogs have been decidedly underwhelming in a lot of bowls over the years.

Besides, East Carolina is a very good team. The Pirates won the Conference USA title and has offensive and defensive linemen that are both quick and ridiculously large.

At any rate, Arkansas’ win in the Liberty Bowl boiled down to one thing – the Pirates’ kicker was worse than the Razorbacks’. Arkansas tried to give the game away quite a few times, in fact, and the Hogs’ offense was terrible (you can credit the solid defense for at least 10 points due to grabbing a couple of interceptions).

Neither team could brag much about their kicking games. The Pirates missed four field goals and Alex Tejada – the kicker for the Razorbacks – managed to mess one up, too.

That’s the thing about Tejada – that kid folds faster than Superman on laundry day when he’s under any pressure at all. He’s been underwhelming in a number of games over the past three years, in fact.

Fortunately, he came through when he was needed the most when he kicked the game winning field goal in the Liberty Bowl. Good for him.

So congratulations to the Razorbacks. They didn’t look great tonight, but at least that got that victory and they managed to beat a good team, to boot.

Wordless Wednesdsay -- bring your daughter to work day (sort of)

This post is part of the esteemed Wordless Wednesday event. Click here to see the other entries (or submit something of your own).

It’s really hard to defend health insurance companies, isn’t it?

Like a lot of other Americans, I absolutely hate the idea of the federal government wandering in and taking over the nation’s health care system.

But I’ll be damned if the insurance companies don’t make us understand just why some people are claiming the health care system is broken and is in need of radical repair. Here’s the problem – health care insurance companies are simply brimming with some of the most impersonal and money-grubbing decision makers to be found anywhere. Indeed, it’s hard as hell to cozy up to them and argue – with a straight face – that they’re out to do little more than collect premiums and deny as many claims as possible.

It’s rather like being bullied by a mean, fat kid in school. Everyone hates the mean, fat kid who pushes people down, takes their lunch money and generally makes their lives hell. If a fatter, meaner kid shows up and promises to beat up the bully, then it’s no surprise that the newcomer has his share of fans.

Of course, it could be that the fatter, meaner kid will simply depose his rival and make everyone more miserable than they already are, but the hope is there that things will somehow improve. People might be better off with the original bully, but who the hell wants to rush and defend him?

Those of us who oppose the health care reform being shoved through Washington right now face the same dilemma. Sure, we can argue all day long about the erosion of freedoms, the questionable constitutionality of having the government force everyone to have some kind of insurance, etc.

But we’re really just defending a despicable bully. Yes, we may be better off letting that fat bastard continue to bilk the American population instead of letting the feds hang us out to dry, but that’s not the kind of argument that resonates with people, is it?

It’s hard not to understand why a lot of folks hate the health insurance industry as it is today. Let me tell you folks a story.

Last year I had the greatest health insurance plan on the planet. We’re talking about something that covered everything with no co-pays. A fairly high deductible was part of that package, but my company paid the deductible, meaning I had one hell of a benefit. Health care insurance that treats everything and costs absolutely nothing is more than appealing to a cat like me who has ulcerative colitis and spends a ton of cash on medication every month.

Ah, but that former plan is expensive. With businesses cutting back everywhere, the office started looking for less expensive alternatives to the plan we had.

Arkansas Blue Cross and Blue Shield slimed its way into our office one day and promised to offer the same plan for a lot less money. Yes, it would be great! We were assured that all would be well with the company’s wonderful plan – we’d save money and everything would be covered just as it had always been.

I’ve got two prescriptions that I’m supposed to take until (I suppose) I drop dead or they jerk my colon out due to cancer or something equally vile. I refilled them and went to pick them up tonight. My pharmacist told me that Blue Cross – the company that promised us the moon, of course – had denied one of my medications and recommended some over-the-counter garbage. I'm actually surprised the wise folks at Blue Cross didn't suggest buying a bottle of Tums and hoping for the best.

There are two things fascinating about all of that. First of all, it appears that the Blue Cross rep who sold us her particular bill of goods was lying through her teeth. She was told what my medications were when we signed up (I’ve saved an email through which her company asked about some particular information about those drugs) and I was told all would be well under the wonderful Blue Cross plan. Unless things have changed dramatically since I quit practicing law 10 years ago, one can make the argument that she bound her company to the promise she made to me. I’ll take that up with her (very loudly, I imagine) in the morning.

Second, we’ve heard a lot about how one of the problems with the government running the health care industry is that the days in which medical decisions are between patients and their doctors will come to an end. When an insurance company interferes with that process the way they’re trying to do in my case, couldn’t we argue that those days are already dead and gone?

For folks wondering about the illustration at the top of this post, that’s BlueAnn Ewe – the cute and cuddly mascot of Arkansas Blue Cross and Blue Shield. BlueAnn Ewe. Like “Blue and you.” Get it? Yes, Arkansas Blue Cross has presented itself as our partner in good health by dreaming up a cutesy sheep.

Beware of companies that hide behind cute mascots. They tend to have a lot to hide.

At any rate, defending jackals like Blue Cross and Blue Shield is hard to do. Whether we wind up with the same rotten system we’ve got or some federal-run monstrosity, I figure most of us folks who work for a living are still going to take a beating. We’re ultimately just arguing over whether to substitute one misery causing bully with another – an uncomfortable situation that should be painfully familiar to anyone with presidential elections since 1988.

Music Monday -- “White Girl” by X

Christmas is over and that absolutely stinks. What better way to cheer up than listen to one of the finest songs from X (and, yes, that is Ray Manzarek from the Doors producing)? Enjoy!

X - White Girl

W.T. Morgan | MySpace Video

Come join Music Monday and share your songs with us. One simple rule, leave ONLY the actual post link here. You can grab this code at LJL Please note these links are STRICTLY for Music Monday participants only. All others will be deleted without prejudice.





PS: Because of spamming purposes, the linky will be closed on Thursday of each week at midnight, Malaysian Time. Thank you!

Tell me Thursday – the kids get ready for Christmas

For my Wordless Wednesday submission yesterday, I submitted the photo over there on the left.

Those are my kids – 13-year-old Michael and nine-year-old Brenda – posing in the sanctuary of Parkview United Methodist Church here in Benton, Ark. That photo, in fact, is the one we used for our Christmas card this year.

Yes, I’ve mentioned my kids time and time again on this blog. They’re not the subject of this post. Well, that’s kind of true. Let me explain.

Earlier this year we joined the aforementioned church. That’s a fairly big deal as I’ve spent most of my adult life going to church here and there. Finding a church where I feel comfortable is a significant event, indeed.

And I’m proud of our little Methodist church. The folks there spend a lot of time raising money for – and donating their time to – efforts that help people in this community that need it. Thanks to their efforts, a lot of families have been fed and more than a few people have received a helping hand when they’ve needed it most. And those efforts don’t stop after Christmas is over – people are in need all year round and the good people at Parkview stand ready to help out where they can.

That – in my view – is exactly what Christians ought to be doing.

At any rate, merry Christmas to all of you fine folks out there.

Oh, and make sure to click on the Yogi Yorgesson YouTube video below to really get into the Christmas spirit!

This post is part of the grand Tell Me Thursday event – a chance for Tell Me Wednesday participants to tell the story behind their posts. Click here to see the other entries or (better yet) submit something of your own.

Wordless Wednesday – Merry Christmas, Michael and Brenda…

This post is part of the famed Wordless Wednesday fun. Head on over and get involved!