Do We Need A Playoff ?

Tell me again that the Pac-10 is over-rated?

Holiday Bowl
*No.15 Oregon 42
No.13 Oklahoma St. 31

Sun Bowl
*No.24 Oregon St. 3
No.18 Pittsburgh 0

Las Vegas Bowl
*Arizona 31
No. 16 BYU 21

Emerald Bowl
*Cal. 24
Miami (Fla.) 17

Rose Bowl
*No.5 USC 38
No.6 Penn St. 24

That's right, the "over-rated" and "weak" Pac-10 went 5-0 in the recent bowl season, defeating traditional powers from those "superior" conferences.
(Please... don't bring up Vince Young and Texas from three or four years ago. USC is Tyson - Texas is Buster Douglas. The 'Horns got in a lucky shot - that's all.)

Dopamine

The lack or overabundance of Dopamine has been linked to psychosis, ADHD, and hyper-sexuality.
Kind of sounds like problems that are common in the hood.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dopamine

If these dopamine receptors are in a constant search for the feeling of pleasure - maybe the real cause of crime and violence should be addressed from a chemical dependence stand point.
No, not illegal drugs, but the "drugs" that our own bodies produce.
Maybe these random acts of violence can be traced back to one's addiction to drama and excitement.
How many people do you know who always return to their old ways or their old neighborhood? Maybe they're addicted.
Maybe one's childhood adrenaline addiction (caused by always feeling a threat of danger) are more to blame than one's circumstance.
Maybe this is why so many children (who are from this type of environment) who participate in a structured athletics program seem to do better than those without. Could it be that their need for the rush of adrenaline is satiated by these activities?
If not sports - what?
Gang activity?
The military?
Crack?
Meth?
What would fill the void left in the receptors of those who are conditioned to always feel a rush?

Maybe the adrenalin (or Dopamine) rush is the unconscious reward many are seeking in carrying out these acts?
(Hat tip ; cnulan)

17 Plates

"Dijja eat?"
That's the most common form of "Hello" I hear here in the South.
Since being here, I've eaten;
Smothered (smoked, grilled, baked) 'coon (raccoon) - It may be the worst tasting meat(?) ever. The people were just offering me some of their dinner - or is it supper - and I didn't wish to be rude. It takes a loaf of bread and a bottle of Tabasco just to get one piece down.
Boudin - Basically, rice in a condom.
Frog Legs - Not terrible. Kind of tastes like chicken.
Alligator Tail - Kind of tastes like frog legs.
Hog Head Cheese - I almost threw-up just thinking about it. Seeing a big pig head in some one's sink isn't really appetizing.
Chitterlings - My parents had jobs - we always had meat. Never the scraps.
Black Bird Gumbo - No not crows - but how would I know?
Fish Head Gumbo - ?
Bologna Gumbo - Huh?
Gumbo Gumbo - People put anything in a pot of roux and call it a gumbo. I just bless my food and say 'thank you" and hope for the best.
Cray Fish (Craw fish, Craw dads) - It's not bad. Some people suck the juice from the heads.
But I've been offered squirrel, neutra-rat and opossum.
Some things were even beyond my faith in the blessing of food.

But every holiday, I get several plates of food delivered to my house from those of whom I've helped-out over the past year.
This Christmas I received 17 platters of food from different families. I have to put names on the plates so that I can return the right plate to the right person.
Holiday Spode, Fiesta Ware, Noritake, Lenox, Wedgwood and so on. My kitchen looks like a sample sale for dinner ware.

When someone asks what I had for dinner on Christmas or New Years (The custom here is to eat black eye peas and cabbage - for luck and prosperity in the coming year) - I have to answer "Everything".

Steatopygia?

Steatopygia : a large concentration of fat around the buttocks.
http://news.softpedia.com/news/what-is-Steatopygia-51231.shtml
Some woman say that she is not that pretty.
What? She has a head?

(Hat-tip -Denmark Vessy)
(Photo; Nicole Austin)

Math Remediation

The Math Chique passed this information on to me.

It seems that our schools are failing in the areas that will rule our future economy.

http://www.rsvh.addr.com/lwved/id16.htm

Maybe city-college is the answer for many.

I live in a town of 100,00 that has no city college. The percentage of Blacks with an associates degree or higher is just 6.7%. But the local refineries now require such a certificate for their 100k+ yr. jobs.

My hometown (was about 100k when I was in school now about 3ook) has a city college with close to 20,000 students. The percentage of Blacks with an associates degree or more was 68%.

Seeing that many children graduate with skills that are less than those of fifty years ago - it seems that No Child left many behind.

Fat And Happy

A British article asserts that a woman who is a size 14 is probably the happiest size woman.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-1102572/Happiness-having-size-14-figure.html
Nicole Richie (size 00 - yes, that's a size) often seems morose.

Little Raven seems happy and livin' large!

Even the Queen gets love in Hollywood.

I'm not into the bigger-is-better thing (Pam Greir at any point in her life would be my ideal). But I do find some big girls attractive. It's more of a personality thing.

Camryn Manheim, Kim Coles and the Queen just seem nice. And in turn - attractive.

Mo'Nique, Star Jones, Rosanne Barr and Rosie seem bitter. And in turn - disgusting!

The ten hottest big girls;

http://listverse.com/entertainment/top-10-hottest-plus-sized-celebrities/

I never heard of most of them.

Media Terrorist ?

Just a cursory glance at any newspaper, local or cable news program or the Internet could lead one to fear white people.
- Don't have a child with a white woman, they'll kill them.
- Don't let white people invest your money, they'll lose it all.
- Don't marry a white man, they'll go on killing sprees and kill their families and themselves.
- Don't marry a white woman, they'll fall from cruise ships or disappear.
- Don't let white people be fans of winning (or losing) teams, they'll riot.
- Don't elect a white president, they'll find a reason to start a war. They'll even create reasons why we should hate those of whom we have never met (making it easier to accept their extermination or oppression).

Really? Can we expect the country to fall apart (or thrive) solely because we now have a Black president?
Haven't homes recently become affordable for more people?
Hasn't the stock market been trading (at about 200 points one way or the other) around 8500 for the past three months?
Isn't gas cheaper now than before 911?
Like Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz - the power to change has always been in each (all) of us.

News, weather and sports have been replaced by hyperbole, conjecture and opinion.
Reporting the news has been replaced by sensationalized stories that create fear and anxiety. Even many bloggers create many problems where there were few.
Terror : the systematic use of terror especially as a means of coercion. Miriam-Webster Online

But I still have hope.
We are a country that seems to love the Underdog.
We are a country that believes (hopes) that right will always win in the end.
If one has never felt like an underdog - they probably weren't trying hard enough. (Or were too selfish, or too small minded.)
If your goal was to make a million - your new goal should be two.
If your goal was to be the smartest man in the world - your new goal should be to teach the world.
If you wanted to be the richest man in the world - your new goal should be to save the world.
(This is why Bill Gates and Warren Buffet now give away BILLIONS!)
As we slay our giants, new battles arise.
"The Underdog" is the great person's constant state of being.

Why do so many worry about problems that won't effect them or that they have no means to rectify?
The stress is going to kill you.
Or someone who is too stressed is going to kill you.

Que Pasa ?

Russian academic Igor Panarin predicts that the US will fall and be divided into parts of other empires. Maybe it's time to learn a new language.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123051100709638419.html

Merry Christmas.

Merry Christmas!
If you took the time to read any of the SENG report that I linked to on my "Too Smart" post - you may have noticed that the Biblical account of Jesus sounds like he shares the same traits as many hyper-intelligent guys.

If Sampson were alive today, he would be on Prozac to control his mood swings.
Mary and Joseph would be on the Maury Povich show.
The Disciples would have their homes raided by ATF and their children taken away.
The US would be bombing most of the Old Testament kingdoms.
The Prophets would be called bigots.
And someone pretending to be Jesus would have a multi-million dollar congregation and a television show.

It amazes me when I hear so many spiritual all-stars always telling me what God told them personally.
Really?
Read the Bible.
"And God said to Abram (or Abraham)" is only mentioned about twelve times... over a period of about 150 years!
These new ministers must be really important for God to tell them something that often.

All the pomp and tradition aside - I hope you had a Merry Christmas.