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Entertainment Humor Random Videos

Johnny Carson Memory

Just thought I’d share this with you guys, it’s random and funny.  I remember watching Johnny Carson as a child, wish someone like him was around now.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yiaHZW4GAyM[/youtube]

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News Politics Random

Oops, That’s Not Funny

Fantastic work by the people over at Married To The Sea.

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My News Random Technology Things I Love Videos

Nokia N95-3

So I have a new phone, a Nokia N95-3.  It’s absolutely amazing.

nokia-n95-red

One service I’ve been loving is Qik.com.  Live, interactive streaming video from my phone to the net.  People can write in questions or comments which then immediately show up on my phone.

You can view my random videos at http://www.qik.com/beaupedia.

 
In less happy technological news, my beautiful 22″ LCD monitor burned up last week, hence the lack of blog updates.  I am currently working on a 15″ widescreen Acer I bought tonight at Wal-Mart, it’s so tiny!
 
On a related note, is it terribly unethical to “rent” monitors and then return them once your real monitor is repaired, even if you despise the company?  I’m tempted to do this, especially considering how snotty the Manager was with me when I asked her if I’d have any problems if the monitor was damaged, considering one corner of the box was crushed pretty badly. 
 
They had offered me a 2 year service plan on my monitor which I declined, when did Wal-Mart start offering those anyway?  I haven’t shopped there in a couple years.  When I asked about the crushed corner of the box for some sort of reassurance that they’d take it back if it was damaged, she said “Well, that’s why those service plans are a good idea.” in a very condescending tone.
 
As though I need a service plan to take care of damage that happened before I purchased the product.  Either way it wasn’t damaged and I have 15 days(or 30…or 45…she wasn’t sure, have I mentioned I hate Wal-Mart?) to return it.
 
I think I’ll be alright.  My monitor may still be under warranty, if not, I believe they can have it sent off for repair.  We shall see.
Categories
Entertainment Random

The Up Series

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For the last day or so I’ve been watching a fascinating documentary series called the Up Series. It started in 1964 when fourteen children were interviewed at the age of seven. Every seven years since 1964 the participants are interviewed and a new installment of the documentary is released. It’s fascinating to watch as they grow older by seven years, have careers(or not), families, etc.

I just finished 28 Up and it was bittersweet. It definitely has me evaluating my own life. I need to get moving with my goals! Seeing the wasted potential by some of the participants(at least at age 28) definitely shook me a bit.

I highly recommend watching the series. All installments(49 Up was the most recent) are available through Netflix, and all but one of them are available to view online.

I cannot imagine having to wait seven years to continue the story; I’m already getting apprehensive about finishing the series as it is now. Agh! 56 Up will not be available until 2011 or 2012! Watching them all in quick succession has allowed me to remember all of the details from 7 years old to 28 years old. It’s really very moving, but in some bizarre way I almost feel guilty for peeking in on these ordinary people’s lives.

All in all, it’s a fascinating project and experiment and I highly recommend it. Five stars.

PS  If you’re on Netflix, let me know.  I would love to take more advantage of the Social aspects of it.

Categories
Humor Random Videos

Charlie Bit My Finger!

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_OBlgSz8sSM[/youtube]

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Random

Corporate America. . .You Make Me Sick

So someone in my life was recently offered a relatively meaningless promotion at Blockbuster.  He gets a $.25/hr raise and is now a “4 Star” something or other.  In Blockbuster’s eyes this is basically a step up from scrubbing the bathroom floor with a toothbrush.

In and of itself getting this “promotion” isn’t bad as he’s only been there since September of last year.  The sickening part is that he just found out that if he accepts this promotion, he will no longer be able to take a lunch break.  He’ll be allowed a break here and there, but he will not be allowed to leave the store at all during his entire shift.  What is this?  Some kind of sick joke?

I wish I were a billionaire that had a lot of money invested in this company.  I’d send some threatening letter and pretend to have some sort of impact.  It’s just a joke, and I hope he finds another job.  He’s a fantastic worker for them, hence the promotion.  It’s like a promotion that comes with a complimentary kick in the crotch.

As if Netflix weren’t slaughtering you badly enough, you go and pull crap like this.  Not to mention you refuse to hire Full Time employees, since providing benefits would be too much trouble.  Good job Blockbuster, you deserve what’s so obviously inevitable.

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My News Random

New Job

Well, I survived my second day at my new job as a Store Manager.  It was no ordinary second day however.  Today had we had to conduct a full store inventory.  Thankfully my team(myself and 3 people), a District Manager, and 4 other Managers conducted the inventory.  Even with 9 people I still didn’t get out until 1AM.  I am salary, so no OT for me.  The good news is that even though the previous Store Manager apparently didn’t do a very good job we actually ended up in the positive in our inventory.  No net losses!  Woohoo!

Well, that’s the update on my life.  Oh, and I’m listening to Cher.  YAY stereotypes!

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Categories
News Random

Martin Luther King Jr. – 40 Years Later

NBC’s Nightly News with Brian Williams did this fantastic piece on the end of Martin Luther King Jr’s life.  Take a minute to watch it, it’s great.

The Last Days of MLK

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Cats Random

Awwwww

 

foto5.jpg (JPEG Image, 500x332 pixels)

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Random Videos

An Amazing Gift

MLKPoster

This was a gift I received recently. The white box at the bottom has the text of his “I Have A Dream” speech. I was speechless when I unwrapped it. I think this was the only gift I’ve ever received that made me cry.

The text of his magnificent speech:

 


I am happy to join with you today in what will go down in history as the greatest demonstration for freedom in the history of our nation.Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand today, signed the Emancipation Proclamation. This momentous decree came as a great beacon light of hope to millions of Negro slaves who had been seared in the flames of withering injustice. It came as a joyous daybreak to end the long night of their captivity.

 

But one hundred years later, the Negro still is not free. One hundred years later, the life of the Negro is still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination. One hundred years later, the Negro lives on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity. One hundred years later, the Negro is still languished in the corners of American society and finds himself an exile in his own land. And so we’ve come here today to dramatize a shameful condition.

In a sense we’ve come to our nation’s capital to cash a check. When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir. This note was a promise that all men, yes, black men as well as white men, would be guaranteed the “unalienable Rights” of “Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” It is obvious today that America has defaulted on this promissory note, insofar as her citizens of color are concerned. Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, America has given the Negro people a bad check, a check which has come back marked “insufficient funds.”

But we refuse to believe that the bank of justice is bankrupt. We refuse to believe that there are insufficient funds in the great vaults of opportunity of this nation. And so, we’ve come to cash this check, a check that will give us upon demand the riches of freedom and the security of justice.

We have also come to this hallowed spot to remind America of the fierce urgency of Now. This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism. Now is the time to make real the promises of democracy. Now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice. Now is the time to lift our nation from the quicksands of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood. Now is the time to make justice a reality for all of God’s children.

It would be fatal for the nation to overlook the urgency of the moment. This sweltering summer of the Negro’s legitimate discontent will not pass until there is an invigorating autumn of freedom and equality. Nineteen sixty-three is not an end, but a beginning. And those who hope that the Negro needed to blow off steam and will now be content will have a rude awakening if the nation returns to business as usual. And there will be neither rest nor tranquility in America until the Negro is granted his citizenship rights. The whirlwinds of revolt will continue to shake the foundations of our nation until the bright day of justice emerges.

But there is something that I must say to my people, who stand on the warm threshold which leads into the palace of justice: In the process of gaining our rightful place, we must not be guilty of wrongful deeds. Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred. We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline. We must not allow our creative protest to degenerate into physical violence. Again and again, we must rise to the majestic heights of meeting physical force with soul force.

The marvelous new militancy which has engulfed the Negro community must not lead us to a distrust of all white people, for many of our white brothers, as evidenced by their presence here today, have come to realize that their destiny is tied up with our destiny. And they have come to realize that their freedom is inextricably bound to our freedom.

We cannot walk alone.

And as we walk, we must make the pledge that we shall always march ahead.

We cannot turn back.

There are those who are asking the devotees of civil rights, “When will you be satisfied?” We can never be satisfied as long as the Negro is the victim of the unspeakable horrors of police brutality. We can never be satisfied as long as our bodies, heavy with the fatigue of travel, cannot gain lodging in the motels of the highways and the hotels of the cities. *We cannot be satisfied as long as the negro’s basic mobility is from a smaller ghetto to a larger one. We can never be satisfied as long as our children are stripped of their self-hood and robbed of their dignity by a sign stating: “For Whites Only.”* We cannot be satisfied as long as a Negro in Mississippi cannot vote and a Negro in New York believes he has nothing for which to vote. No, no, we are not satisfied, and we will not be satisfied until “justice rolls down like waters, and righteousness like a mighty stream.”

I am not unmindful that some of you have come here out of great trials and tribulations. Some of you have come fresh from narrow jail cells. And some of you have come from areas where your quest — quest for freedom left you battered by the storms of persecution and staggered by the winds of police brutality. You have been the veterans of creative suffering. Continue to work with the faith that unearned suffering is redemptive. Go back to Mississippi, go back to Alabama, go back to South Carolina, go back to Georgia, go back to Louisiana, go back to the slums and ghettos of our northern cities, knowing that somehow this situation can and will be changed.

Let us not wallow in the valley of despair, I say to you today, my friends.

And so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.

I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.”

I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia, the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.

I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.

I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the
color of their skin but
by the content of their character.

I have a dream today!

I have a dream that one day, down in Alabama, with its vicious racists, with its governor having his lips dripping with the words of “interposition” and “nullification” — one day right there in Alabama little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers.

I have a dream today!

I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, and every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight; “and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed and all flesh shall see it together.”

This is our hope, and this is the faith that I go back to the South with.

With this faith, we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith, we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith, we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day.

And this will be the day — this will be the day when all of God’s children will be able to sing with new meaning:

My country ’tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing.

Land where my fathers died, land of the Pilgrim’s pride,

From every mountainside, let freedom ring!

And if America is to be a great nation, this must become true.

And so let freedom ring from the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire.

Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of New York.

Let freedom ring from the heightening Alleghenies of Pennsylvania.

Let freedom ring from the snow-capped Rockies of Colorado.

Let freedom ring from the curvaceous slopes of California.

But not only that:

Let freedom ring from Stone Mountain of Georgia.

Let freedom ring from Lookout Mountain of Tennessee.

Let freedom ring from every hill and molehill of Mississippi.

From every mountainside, let freedom ring.

And when this happens, when we allow freedom ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God’s children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual:

Free at last! Free at last!

Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!