On a lighter note...

If I had a monkey, I would borrow my wife's sewing machine and make my monkey a little monkey suit. Then if anyone said "Thats not a real monkey, it's just a monkey suit, I can see the zipper", I could say "I bet you fifty dollars it is a real monkey" and when they said "that seems like a reasonable bet, you are on", my monkey would take off the monkey suit and they would have to pay me fifty dollars.

Referendummy

You have all watched my involvement in local politics from back in the Davis days of fighting for our neighborhood school to be built as promised. That was the motivation for creating this blog back in 2004. It was a place to express my frustration with the lack of foresight that our elected and appointed officials were operating with or without.

It has been a while since i was very involved in much going on. Part of that was due to having 3 young kids, part of that was moving to a new community and getting perspective on what is occuring in our community and local government.

Now I have placed the gloves back on. Save Disc Golf will be our rallying cry! I am far too tired of the story already to go into detail about all that has occured in the last 20 years and the culmination of that last Tuesday night. You can read the history of the council meeting and the commentary on Lon Glazner's Blog. We are launching a referendum drive if the council does not take some immediate official action on the things they are promising under the table.

So we simply are going to need you! If you are a Chico registered voter we are going to need your signature or need your assistance in gathering the ~8000 signatures we need. Here are some more details on the upcoming whirlwind process.

And here is a response to someone who was frustrated that Disc Golf supportors keep saying that the "Council decision has removed families from Bidwell Park..."

It all still continues to boggle the mind...

Mark, I also don't believe Lon is implying that they have "banned" families from the park. We all know there are many alternative family activities in the park. But consider the following theoretical scenario:

Let's imagine that our family has a tradition of every saturday morning going to the Farmer's Market and then heading up to the HWY 32 courses for disc golf and a lovely picnic. My kids are young, but i still get beat by the little weasels. They love the competition and challenge of trying to get their discs to the tone poles. In fact it has really assisted in their athletic and coordination development.

Now since the council vote we are forced with a choice. We could go to Sherwood Forest, but my kids play there often and are looking for something a little more challenging and different. We could also drive to another city and play and picnic there.

The net result is the council decision has "Removed" our family from being able to continue our saturday morning tradition. We are well aware that the council did not create "family detectors" that zap us as we enter the park. They just made a decision that forces us to go elsewhere, thus removing our activity.

Instead we are having to drive to O-town, stopping at their donut shop and then never making it to disc golf because the donuts cause such a ruckus with my kids. My wife is upset that i stopped the car at a donut shop and now we are not talking. This all leads the kids on to a path of self-destruction that ultimately leads to prison for all three of my kids.

Brian

PS: This is a theoretical situation. My wife and i have never been in a fight.

the tale of two very different men....

In the wake of the Disc Golf Fiasco, i have been thinking a lot about integrity.

What is it that drives someone to live a life of full integrity? Is it an internal force, or an external force? Perhaps it comes down to the simple, yet complex reality of self-esteem. A confidence in who you are that leads to you knowing that mistakes and failures in judgment do not necessarily decrease your value as a human and leading you to pursue truth rather than to deception.

Here are two very contrasting news stories, which do you relate to?:

By STAFF REPORTER

Published: Today

A WOMAN is divorcing her husband after he told her it was an "iPhone glitch" that sent pictures of his genitals to another woman.

The man's wife, "Susan", consulted Apple after finding a close up and erotic image of her husband in his sent emails folder.

When she confronted her shocked husband he blamed the message on his phone.

But Susan, understandably a little dubious, decided to ask for advice on an Apple help forum.

She explained the situation saying: "When I approached him about this he admitted that he took the picture but says that he never sent it to anyone.

‘ I think your marriage has a glitch ’

"He claims that he went to the Genius Bar at the local Apple store and they told him that it is an iPhone glitch: that photos sometimes automatically attach themselves to an e-mail address and appear in the sent folder, even though no e-mail was ever sent."

She asked her online helpers for information on the alleged glitch, saying her marriage depended on it.

But she found that the issue has never previously been reported on Apple's support forums.

Instead, she was offered advice on her ailing marriage.

"It's a glitch, but only happens if the pic is sufficiently raunchy," one user said.

"I think your marriage has a glitch," added another.

Susan said she was working on divorce proceedings and thanked everyone for their input.

AND ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE EQUATION:

Wed Nov 19, 2008 3:50 pm EST

J.P. Hayes is as honest as we like to think we are

By Jay Busbee

The true test of a man's character is what he does when no one is watching. John Wooden said that, or maybe it was Spider-Man. Whatever, it still holds true; being noble and upstanding is easy enough when you've got people watching, but when you're alone with yourself, when you could do the wrong thing (or avoid the right thing) and get away with it, well -- that's when you find out what kind of person you are.

By that standard, then, J.P. Hayes is among the best that sports has to offer. He played a nonconforming ball for a single hole of the second stage of Q School last weekend. He realized it more than a day after the "violation," called it on himself, and thus disqualified himself from Q School ... with some severe, career-altering effects down the line.

So how did this go down? So easily, you'll cringe:

On his 12th hole of the first round at Deerwood Country Club last Wednesday, Hayes' caddie reached into his golf bag, pulled out a ball and flipped it to Hayes, who missed the green with his tee shot. He then chipped on and marked his ball. It was then that Hayes realized the ball was not the same model Titleist with which he had started his round. That was in violation of the one-ball rule, which stipulates that a player must play the same model throughout a round.

Okay, so, two-stroke penalty, no big deal. He recovered well enough to put himself in position to finish in the top 20 and advance to the third and final round of Q School. The top 25 finishers in that round, plus ties, earn exempt status for the entire 2009 PGA season. So, breathe deep, think about how close you came to disaster, then tee it up for the next round.

Only, while Hayes was breathing deep, he realized something else -- not only did he play the wrong ball, he might have played a ball that wasn't even approved for play at all.

"It was a Titleist prototype, and somehow it had gotten into my bag," he said. "It had been four weeks since Titleist gave me some prototype balls and I tested them. I have no idea how or why it was still in there ... I called an official in Houston that night and said, 'I think I may have a problem. He said they'd call Titleist the next day. I pretty much knew at that point I was going to be disqualified."

Now, the easy move here would be to either do nothing or blame the caddy. Hayes rose above both those temptations, putting all the blame on himself and asserting that everybody else on the PGA in his shoes would have done the exact same thing. We'll never know, but let's hope so.

Also, Hayes already has more than $7 million in career earnings, so it's not like he'd consigned himself to another year working the counter at the Quik Stop. But still, knowing you're taking yourself out of the running for a year of career stability and wealth takes some serious situational ethics.

Would you do it?

Really?

Free our discs....

Do Something!

This holiday season I humbly urge you to think outside of the box... One less gift = lives changed forever in our world... It doesn't take much...




Want some perspective? Where do you stand? I am in the top 0.98% of the world in terms of income....


Here are just a few organizations I believe are worth supporting. There are many, many more, so please comment and add others.

International Justice Mission is a human rights agency that secures justice for victims of slavery, sexual exploitation and other forms of violent oppression. IJM lawyers, investigators and aftercare professionals work with local officials to ensure immediate victim rescue and aftercare, to prosecute perpetrators and to promote functioning public justice systems.

Blood:Water Mission exists to promote clean blood and clean water efforts in Africa, tangibly reducing the impact of the HIV/AIDS pandemic while addressing the underlying issues of poverty, injustice and oppression. Blood:Water Mission is building clean water wells, supporting medical facilities, and focusing on community and worldview transformation, both here in America and in Africa.

ENOUGH is a project of the Center for American Progress which aims to answer questions about what is really happening and offer a clear path to sustainable solutions. We were co-founded by CAP and the International Crisis Group in early 2007, setting out to establish a new paradigm for action.

Heifer Project:
This simple idea of giving families a source of food rather than short-term relief caught on and has continued for over 60 years. Today, millions of families in 128 countries have been given the gifts of self-reliance and hope.

Compassion International exists as a Christian child advocacy ministry that releases children from spiritual, economic, social and physical poverty and enables them to become responsible, fulfilled Christian adults.

Around the country and across the globe, the Save Darfur Coalition is inspiring action, raising awareness and speaking truth to power on behalf of the people of Darfur. Working with world leaders, we are demanding an end to the genocide, and our efforts are getting results.

As the ONE CAMPAIGN, we are raising public awareness about the issues of global poverty, hunger, disease and efforts to fight such problems in the world's poorest countries. As ONE, we are asking our leaders to do more to fight the emergency of global AIDS and extreme poverty. ONE believes that allocating more of the U.S. budget toward providing basic needs like health, education, clean water and food would transform the futures and hopes of an entire generation in the world's poorest countries.

World Vision is a humanitarian organization dedicated to working with children, families, and their communities worldwide to reach their full potential by tackling the causes of poverty and injustice.

Charity: water is a non-profit bringing clean and safe drinking water to people in developing nations. It’s hard to imagine what a billion people looks like really, but one in six might be easier. One in six people in our world don’t have access to the most basic of human needs. Something we can’t imagine going 12 hours without. We’re not offering grand solutions and billion dollar schemes, but instead, simple things that work. Things like freshwater wells, rainwater catchments and sand filters. For about $20 a person, we know how to help millions of people.

News from the future...

So I was waiting for a password reset email to arrive in my inbox, so i checked my spam folder to see if it was in there. I was shocked to discover that I was getting emails from the future.... from January 18, 2036 in fact..

Since I hold the keys to what the future holds. Here are a few of the things that i have learned:

1. Shoulder and knee surgery will still occur...so much for those magic Star Trek medical machines... We will also be still dealing with hernia patches.

2. Tooth whitening is still a concern for us.

3. Brazillian oceanfront property is cheap. Perhaps Global Warming and sea rise has cause an increase in property available in formally landlocked areas.

4. Dish Network is still a ripoff...

5. I will still be getting sent free cash from strangers or long lost family members in Nigeria.

6. Obama is still in leadership of some form and in 2036 will be starting in new leadership position... Supreme Galactic Emperor perhaps?