Conspiracy Theories are a Cop-Out

Jesse Ventura has officially let me down. I used to admire the guy a little bit. Pro wrestler that successfully became an action "star" and managed to springboard that into a real political office. I mean, I was never a fan or anything, but it was pretty impressive. He didn't really do anything in office to back that up, but that's not that important.
However, he killed that today during his appearance on the Opie and Anthony show (O&A). He apparently is a gigantic 9/11 conspiracy theorist. And I just don't have any respect for conspiracists. Their entire argument is based completely on speculation and a lack of facts. Every time a "fact" is presented it's quickly shot down by concrete scientific evidence. "Look at that round hole in the Pentagon! No way a 757 caused that! It was a missile!" Sure, until the fire department shows up and says that they in fact cut that big round hole to gain access to the buildings. "Why was Bush allowed to just sit in a school where all the terrorist knew he was for 7 minutes?!" Because they had locked down the area and had fighters scrambled and blanketing the air around them.
It may be because I'm an engineer and live a painfully anal life based solely on facts and evidence. Or maybe I just like to use common sense. But if you've gone almost 10 years and still don't have any real proof of your theory you may want to consider the fact that it's wrong. If it was true you would have something more than just conjecture and guessing to back you up.
Whatever.
Getting back to more important news...
I'm on a big fat craving week so far this week. This loaf of garlic bread I picked up from Stop & Shop was just so buttery and delicious I couldn't stop eating it sunday and monday nights. Tonight I made a beef and bean burrito that was loaded with delicious sharp cheddar and sour cream. I don't normally go on fat kicks like this and I'm not sure what's triggering this one. And who cares! If my body wants some extra delicious fat who am I to deny it?! I may have to hit the gime a bit extra to compensate and that's a chore I'm more than willing to undertake.
Last but of course not least are the mighty Chicago Blackhawks. Surprising everyone they've advanced all the way to the Western Conference Finals against heated division rival Detroit. Unfortunately things aren't going as well as I'd hoped through 1.66666667 games. We lost game 1 and find ourselves down 2-1 after 2 periods in game 2. The good news is the play of our kids. I've talked about them before and they continue to impress me. Patrick Kane is seemingly getting niftier and slipperier in every game. It's creepy how well he knifes through traffic at times. More impressive has been Kris Versteeg. He brings some serious offensive skills and some good hard physical play. He bring a kind of sneaky offensive skill to his game. He doesn't look like he's doing much until he's suddenly past everyone and ripping off a great shot. Next minute he's forechecking hard in the corner; throwing his body around and disrupting plays. So regardless of how this series ends I see some really great years ahead. Here's to hoping we can prolong this season another few weeks and provide for more June hockey in the years to come!!
PEACE!!

Swine Flu; Load of Hogwash?

So it's been what, 3 weeks since the fear-mongering media first uttered swine flu? And how has their eminent world-wide pandemic turned out so far? 2 total deaths in the USA; both immunocompromised people. An infant and a woman who had just undergone a C-section. Worldwide deaths are a fraction of what we see every year during the normal flu season. Even the CDC has started to back-pedal and admit that things aren't nearly as bad as they were initially yelling about.
As Hayley can attest, I'm getting really really pissed about shit like this. Every year of so there is a new disease that's about to become the next Black Plague and Spanish Flu wrapped up in one. Bird Flu. West Nile Disease. EEE (eastern equine encephalitis). SARS. And while they weren't good, none of them came even close to living up to the hype the media gave them.
The first question that you might have is why people would over-hype this kinda stuff. The media obviously has something to gain. They realize that no one watches the news much any more so they result to blatant teasing and fear mongering to scare you into watching. "Oh dear God! A common household item could kill me tonight?! I have to tune in at 10pm to find out what it could be and if I have any!!" But now, what does the CDC have to gain by crying wolf at every turn? As you may have noticed, gov't cash. Various disease fighting groups were giving quite a lofty sum of money to help fight the upcoming pandemic. Flu vaccine companies were flooded with orders and hence money. So everyone seems to have something to gain. Except the rest of us.
I've officially started to ignore the CDC and their warnings. They've cried wolf too many times for me to pay attention. And I know that I"m not the only one. So if we ever actually run into a pandemic that does deserve our attention many people are going to be grossly unprepared. And that's what's really going to hurt us. Those of us that became desensitized and took no action are going to be great vehicles for the pathogen to spread. I truly hope that day never comes, but I'm pretty sure it's going to be inevitable. Damn shame it will be.