Troofers

So I met my first truther the other day. If you're not familiar with truthers they are people who believe that, in some form or fashion, the US government was either responsible for or complicit in the 9/11 attacks. The theories range from the-government-planned-and-orchestrated-the-killing-of-3,000-people-so-we-could-go-to-war type to the knew-about-it-but-did-nothing flavor.

I find it quite delusional and seriously fail to see how any rational person could buy into it. I just find it unbelievable that the government (and not the shapeless formless blob that people envision when they here the word "government" but the entity that runs this country that is made up of you know, people) would be able to make such a leap as to kill 3,000 of it's own innocent citizens but then leave well enough alone the handful of people who have "exposed" their grand scheme.

What I had read about but hadn't experienced is what it's like to talk/debate/argue with a truther in real life, face to face, mano a wacko. If you haven't read Bill Whittle's Seeing the Unseen Part 1 & Part 2 then stop what you are doing and go read it. He mentions the same thing I discovered... a truther will not disprove you, they won't even try. They bring up something... the towers where brought down in a controlled demolition. You counter... the WTC towers were an order of magnitude larger than any other building that has ever been drought down under controlled demolition, and those took months to rig not two days. Instead of offering some type of quasi-logic to disprove that they just simply move on "oh well, what about the fact that no plane parts where found on the Pentagon lawn?!?!" It doesn't matter what you say to them or what mind blowing logic like "the picture they show of no plane parts on the Pentagon lawn is 1 of about 4 while there are hundreds that show plane parts all over the place" they will simply move on. It can be quite a frustrating experience. The funny thing about it was he wasn't even an American. He was from an unnamed European country. Go figure.

So anyway after a couple of those back and forths I simply gave up and went to bed confident in the fact that I am not a retard and he is quite contently crazy under the guise of "asking questions."

Bandwagon

... I'll jump on it too.



1. Started your own blog. Yup.
2. Slept under the stars. Uh huh.
3. Played in a band. I actually opened for Hootie & the Blowfish once.
4. Visited Hawaii. Lived there for quite a few years of my life.
5. Watched a meteor shower. Nope
6. Given more than you can afford to charity. After Katrina
7. Been to Disneyland. Nope
8. Climbed a mountain. Several
9. Held a praying mantis. Yup
10. Sang a solo. Nope
11. Bungee jumped. Nope
12. Visited Paris. Been there but never got off the plane.
13. Watched a lightning storm at sea. Nope
14. Taught yourself an art from scratch. Several
15. Adopted a child. Nope
16. Had food poisoning. Nope
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty. Nope
18. Grown your own vegetables. My mom has had a vegetable garden for as long as I can remember
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France. Nope
20. Slept on an overnight train. Nope
21. Had a pillow fight. Yup with rocks in the pillowcases.
22. Hitch hiked. Nope
23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill. Of course
24. Built a snow fort. Yup
25. Held a lamb. Nope
26. Gone skinny dipping. Yuppers
27. Run a Marathon. Half marathon once
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice. Nope
29. Seen a total eclipse. Sure have
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset. Many times
31. Hit a home run. Once when I was a kid
32. Been on a cruise. Nope
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person. Sure have
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors. I lived in the same town my dad was born in for a while.
35. Seen an Amish community. Nope
36. Taught yourself a new language. Kind of
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied. Not possible
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person. Nope
39. Gone rock (wall) climbing. Yuppers
40. Seen Michelangelo's David. Nope
41. Sung karaoke. No way
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt. Nope
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant. Yes
44. Visited Africa. Egypt is part of Africa
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight. Many times
46. Been transported in an ambulance. Nope
47. Had your portrait painted / drawn. Nope
48. Gone deep sea fishing. Many times
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person. Nope
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris. See #12
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling. Dove a lot when I was in high school
52. Kissed in the rain. Nope
53. Played in the mud. Of course
54. Gone to a drive-in theater. Once to see Ratatouille
55. Been in a movie. Came close once
56. Visited the Great Wall of China. Nope
57. Started a business. Always wanted to
58. Taken a martial arts class. Three lessons because I won them
59. Visited Russia. Was scheduled to once but it got cancelled
60. Served at a soup kitchen. Nope
61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies. No but I've eaten a lot
62. Gone whale watching. Not on purpose but I have seen them while out diving
63. Got flowers for no reason. No
64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma. Many times
65. Gone sky diving. Nope
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp. Nope
67. Bounced a check. Yes
68. Flown in a helicopter. Many times
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy. I had a really cool Millennium Falcon but my mom gave it to a charity.
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial. At about 2 am once. Lucky I wasn't mugged
71. Eaten Caviar. Nope
72. Pieced a quilt. I used to help my grandmother with hers when I was a kid
73. Stood in Times Square. Nope
74. Toured the Everglades. Nope
75. Been fired from a job. Nope
76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London. Nope
77. Broken a bone. Three
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle. Nope
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person. Nope
80. Published a book. I have about three half written ones
81. Visited the Vatican. Nope
82. Bought a brand new car. Once and I'll never do it again
83. Walked in Jerusalem. Been to Israel but not Jerusalem
84. Had your picture in the newspaper. Once when I was about 8
85. Read the entire Bible. Several times
86. Visited the White House. See #70
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating. Several times
88. Had chickenpox. Yup, still have a scar from it
89. Saved someone’s life. Nope
90. Sat on a jury. Nope
91. Met someone famous. Several
92. Joined a book club. Those things are stupid
93. Lost a loved one. Not a close one
94. Had a baby. Three
95. Seen the Alamo in person. Many times, I used to live in SA
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake. Nope
97. Been involved in a law suit. Not unless you count a divorce
98. Owned a cell phone. Several
99. Been stung by a bee. Once when I was about 6 hours away from civilization, lucky I'm not allergic
100. Read an entire book in one day. A few

Went For A Walk Today...

... and here's what I found.

Jupiter, Venus, Luna

The new camera came in!