I'm not a coffee drinker...

but if I were, I would drink it from this mug:

Folly Beach, SC...

A little graffiti on the way to the Morris Island Lighthouse on Folly Beach, SC:

Charleston SC...

So for about the last week or so I've been on vacation in Charleston SC...Actually, on the Isle of Palms, but pretty much Charleston...I didn't have internet access, so I wasn't able to update this place on a daily basis as originally planned, so I'm adding a few pics here and there of my trip...We had a lot of fun there, as always, and we're already looking forward to going back! Vacation always goes by too fast...Back to Knox Vegas next week...

On the beach in Isle of Palms, SC...

On board the USS Laffey...

Amazing...Built by Bath Iron Works in Maine as an Allen M. Sumner-class destroyer, the USS Laffey is 376 feet 6 inches in length and was commissioned on February 8, 1944...While operating off Okinawa on April 16, 1945, the Laffey was hit by a massive air strike of 22 Japanese bombers and suicide kamikazes...Five kamikazes and three bombs struck her, while two bombs scored near misses to kill 32 and wound 71 of her 336 man crew, who in their heroism shot down 11 attackers, while managing to keep her afloat...All within about a 90 minute time span...Also known as "The ship that would not die." Amazing...

USS Yorktown...

USS Clamagore and a pic of the inside...

Patriot's Point...

This is another favorite of mine...The place never changes, but I love visiting...Lots of very cool WW2 history here: USS Yorktown, USS Laffey, USS Clamagore and the USS Ingham...

Ft. Sumter SC...

I've been here a time or two in the past, but each time it's like I've never visited before...I always find something new...Very cool place to visit and loaded with history, which I love:

FYI: My Blog email address changed...

Just in case anyone cared? haha...

You can find the new one inside my profile...

College of Charleston:

Morris Island Lighthouse...On Folly Beach, SC:

3 days and counting!

I can smell the salt water in the air already! Can't wait!

The Large Hadron Collider

I still don't know what to think of this thing:

The original iPod...

Back in 1979, a guy by the name of Kane Kramer came up with the original drawing and concept for the iPod...He was 23 at the time...His design could only hold about 3 1/2 minutes of music and due to lack of funding, the project was set aside...Unfortunately, his patent expired in 1998 and he was unable to renew it...You know the rest:

Evan Tanner...

Found these videos of Evan Tanner on YouTube recently...Pretty insightful and interesting stuff that he talks about...And definitely shows a glimpse of what makes/made him such an interesting person...Still makes me sad that he's no longer here:

Picture of the day...

Well, not really picture of the day, since I don't really do that here...BUT! I still thought I'd post up a photo for the heck of it:

Price gouging...

Gas prices have once again gotten insanely high...Never were really all that cheap for the last year or so, but they were at least coming down...With all of the speculation of Hurricane Ike, plus the media playing into the whole mind game which caused people to panic, gas prices have gone up again...waaaay up! In my area, they went up almost a $1.70 for regular within 24 hours! Crazy! What's even weirder is the fact that oil is still just barely $100 a barrel...Doesn't make since, but it totally seems like the oil companies and private gas station owners are taking full advantage of this situation:

Pentagon memorial...

I don't recall ever seeing this...Pretty amazing tribute:

Ben Stein...

Recently wrote this...I tend to agree...I especially like the part about God and the Bible...What do YOU think?

"I am a Jew, and every single one of my ancestors was Jewish. And it does not bother me even a little bit when people call those beautiful lit up, bejeweled trees Christmas trees. I don’t feel threatened. I don’t feel discriminated against. That’s what they are: Christmas trees.

It doesn’t bother me a bit when people say, “Merry Christmas” to me. I don’t think they are slighting me or getting ready to put me in a ghetto. In fact, I kind of like it. It shows that we are all brothers and sisters celebrating this happy time of year. It doesn’t bother me at all that there is a manger scene on display at a key intersection near my beach house in Malibu. If people want a crche, it’s just as fine with me as is the Menorah a few hundred yards away.

I don’t like getting pushed around for being a Jew, and I don’t think Christians like getting pushed around for being Christians. I think people who believe in God are sick and tired of getting pushed around, period. I have no idea where the concept came from that America is an explicitly atheist country. I can’t find it in the Constitution and I don’t like it being shoved down my throat.

Or maybe I can put it another way: where did the idea come from that we should worship Nick and Jessica and we aren’t allowed to worship God as we understand Him? I guess that’s a sign that I’m getting old, too. But there are a lot of us who are wondering where Nick and Jessica came from and where the America we knew went to.

In light of the many jokes we send to one another for a laugh, this is a little different: This is not intended to be a joke; it’s not funny, it’s intended to get you thinking.

Billy Graham’s daughter was interviewed on the Early Show and Jane Clayson asked her “How could God let something like this happen?” (regarding Katrina) Anne Graham gave an extremely profound and insightful response.
She said, “I believe God is deeply saddened by this, just as we are, but for years we’ve been telling God to get out of our schools, to get out of our government and to get out of our lives. And being the gentleman He is, I believe He has calmly backed out. How can we expect God to give us His blessing and His protection if we demand He leave us alone?”

In light of recent events…terrorists attack, school shootings, etc. I think it started when Madeleine Murray O’Hare (she was murdered, her body found recently) complained she didn’t want prayer in our schools, and we said OK.
Then someone said you better not read the Bible in school. The Bible says thou shalt not kill, thou shalt not steal, and love your neighbor as yourself. And we said OK.

Then Dr. Benjamin Spock said we shouldn’t spank our children when they misbehave because their little personalities would be warped and we might damage their self-esteem (Dr. Spock’s son committed suicide). We said an expert should know what he’s talking about. And we said OK.

Now we’re asking ourselves why our children have no conscience, why they don’t know right from wrong, and why it doesn’t bother them to kill strangers, their classmates, and themselves.

Probably, if we think about it long and hard enough, we can figure it out. I think it has a great deal to do with “WE REAP WHAT WE SOW.”

Funny how simple it is for people to trash God and then wonder why the world’s going to hell. Funny how we believe what the newspapers say, but question what the Bible says. Funny how you can send ‘jokes’ through e-mail and they spread like wildfire but when you start sending messages regarding the Lord, people think twice about sharing. Funny how lewd, crude, vulgar and obscene articles pass freely through cyberspace, but public discussion of God is suppressed in the school and workplace.

Are you laughing?"

Price gouging at its best!

Mine...

Pic quality isn't that great, but it's hanging over the door in my office...I'm going to have a better pic of it next week...Just wanted to share for now...




http://multipolarprojects.blogspot.com/

Evan Tanner...

Makes me sad that this man died yesterday...In the end I hope that he found the treasure that he was looking for...




"The important part, I feel, what I'm going to enjoy the most, is just getting far out, away from civilization, into the quiet of the desert, and standing under the cobalt blue night skies filled with the countless stars. I want to stand under that sky again, that most of us will never have the chance to see in our lifetimes. It is a sky that can only be seen far out in the wilds, far away from the noise, and all the drowning lights of the city. It is a crisp and clean, pure and shimmering. It is a pilgrimage that each of us should take at least once in our lives, a pilgrimage to worship beneath god's sky." - Evan Tanner, August 10, 2008.