Does history repeat itself?

Genesis
4 But before they lay down, the men of the city, the men of Sodom, both young and old, all the people to the last man, surrounded the house. 5 And they called to Lot, “Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us, that we may know them.” 6 Lot went out to the men at the entrance, shut the door after him, 7 and said, “I beg you, my brothers, do not act so wickedly. 8 Behold, I have two daughters who have not known any man. Let me bring them out to you, and do to them as you please. Only do nothing to these men, for they have come under the shelter of my roof.” 9 But they said, “Stand back!” And they said, “This fellow came to sojourn, and he has become the judge! Now we will deal worse with you than with them.” Then they pressed hard against the man Lot, and drew near to break the door down. 10 But the men reached out their hands and brought Lot into the house with them and shut the door. 11 And they struck with blindness the men who were at the entrance of the house, both small and great, so that they wore themselves out groping for the door.

For the sake of argument let's assume history is as cyclical as we assume it to be. (An assumption based on an assumption, that's the ticket) How far away are we from a time such things are demanded in our own streets? It is already demanded in prisons. When prisoner leave we know that they don't leave what they've learned behind. What inference can we draw here? Namely, that we are on our own path to Sodom.

I merely ask the question as only time can provide the answer.

Of spiders and men

Along the wall of a section of cube farm I noticed a spider dangling from roof to wall. Amazing creatures, I though to myself. Yet, for all their amazing-ness I would not hesitate to smash the living breathe out of it should it perch it's head in view.
- Short thought by RC

Yeah, so it's England...so what?

The case of a lorry driver who waved to warn motorists of a speed trap is to be heard in the House of Lords.

The High Court previously ruled he was not guilty of obstructing officers in the execution of their duty.

Charles Glendinning, 55, of Yeovil, was prosecuted after police saw him giving his arm signal on the A303 at Tinkers Hill, Stoke Trister, in June 2005.

On Wednesday Lord Justice Scott Baker and Mr Justice Owen said the case raised issues fit for consideration.

The point is not whether he wins or lose. Even if he does win this time someone in the future will lose and every case from then on will be judged the same way. All they need is one win.

No, that's not really the important part. What then? Well, people are starting to see police as an occupying army, even the regular joes who are trying to go about their own business.

This doesn't bode well for the cops and it doesn't bode well for everyone else. Of course, this could all be turned around with a simple decision. No fines or any kind of monetary compensation from the enforcement of crimes shall go to any law enforcement officer or its employer. Where it goes someone else can decide, but I think it would definitely help cop vs. other relations.

The year 3000

A Futurama episode about the debate between the two candidates, John Jackson and Jack Johnson, for the president of the world could be substituted for own.

Johnson: [on TV] It's time someone had the courage to stand up and say: "I'm against those things that everybody hates".

[The other candidate is John Jackson.]

Jackson: [on TV] Now I respect my opponent. I think he's a good man but, quite frankly, I agree with everything he just said!

Fry: These are the candidates? They sound like clones. [He looks a little harder.] Wait a minute. They are clones!

Leela: Don't let their identical DNA fool you. They differ on some key issues.

Johnson: [on TV] I say your three cent titanium tax goes too far.

Jackson: [on TV] And I say your three cent titanium tax doesn't go too far enough!

Well, we may not have human clones just yet, but we're close as Joshua Frank points out:

"I believe we lost critical time in dealing with Iran because the White House chose to downplay the threats and to outsource the negotiations," Clinton told an audience at Princeton University on January 18. "I don't believe you face threats like Iran or North Korea by outsourcing it to others and standing on the sidelines … We cannot and should not – must not – permit Iran to build or acquire nuclear weapons," Clinton added. "In order to prevent that from occurring … we must move as quickly as feasible for sanctions in the United Nations."

In other words, the war has not gone far-far enough. Ah, to be young and also a robot.

Getting down with the sickness

Throw the Bum Out.
First step is to contrive a DV incident where your husband gets arrested. Provoke a fight, and hope he responds physically. You can even try asking him, directly or indirectly. "I bet you'd really like to slap me right now." Some men will oblige, although stupidly for sure. Anyway, you don't need to have been hit, pushed, slapped or punched to get him arrested. Call him into the bedroom to talk, and when he comes in the doorway, scream "stop harassing me and let me leave." When he says, "huh?" dart past him out the door, then call 911. Be sure to tell the dispatcher every detail of what happened, his past abuse, threats, and how afraid you are of him. They'll send two or three squad cars out to your house pronto.

If you attack him first, lose your balance, fall back and bump your head, even better. Now you have "evidence" of his assault.
When the officers arrive, tremble and cry, and say he lunged at you while threatening to kill you. No proof of this is available, of course, but that doesn't matter, only your word is needed.

After they remove him in handcuffs, start packing up his things and leave them on the front porch. The court will let him come by with a police officer to get his personal property, and it will go much faster if you've already put his stuff in big garbage bags.

If that doesn't scare men away from a state sanctioned marriage than I don't know what will.

The new face of the NBA?

LeBron James is copping out again, copping out on his responsibility as face (or co-face) of the league. The dunk contest wasn't beneath a young MJ, and it wasn't beneath a young Kobe, but LeBron won't risk it. Just like he won't risk a last-second shot. It's getting old.

He has ascended to this sort of MJ status -- Super Bowl commercials, appearances on national TV every week -- but has not entirely deserved it. He has never been in a playoff game, much less won a playoff game, yet he shares the league right now with Kobe. He's obviously an electric player, a triple-double waiting to happen, but he's almost basketball's Peyton Manning -- no storybook endings.

All right, what and who are the real future of basketball. Is it Lebron James or Kobe Bryant or somebody else? As this guy is haarping over the fact that nobody with any chops wants to be in the slam dunk contest he's missing the big picture, namely that the NBA is going international.

Watch the Suns play or any other team near the top of the rankings. The Pistons play like an international team, unselfish, cohesive, and not extremely exciting with high flying dunks and the like. Half the Spurs are from out of the country and there is even a Russian guy running the Jazz, a Spanish guy running the Grizzlies, and a Chinese guy sharing the headlines in Houston. Of course, you can't leave out Steve Nash, last years MVP and one of the top point guards in the league.

So where does that leave us. AND1 gives us so many dunks that after a while it just becomes another a "whatever" part of the game. Not much more exciting than a nice assist or sleak bank shot off the glass. Sure, it was a spectacle at first. Most of the best dunks have been done. All of the new ones are just new takes on old ideas.

Lastly, the dunk contest is like ice skating: all subjective. There's no scoreboard, just guys flashing up cardboard with numbers of what they think is cool. You might as well watch Michelle Kwan skate in circles.

So what does that leave us? Good fundamentals, high scoring, team work, and betting shooting are what's going to propel basketball into the future. Dunks will still be a highlight, but its time as a focal point is nearly over.

So who is the future? I think its hard to say as an American writing about what's soon to be an international game, but I think we can depend on guys like Yao Ming, Steve Nash, Tracy McGrady, and Pau Gasol to take the game to new levels and new continents. Either that or the game will desolve, an idea which I find implausible.

Sure, guys like Lebron and Kobe will make big splashes, but when a easily a billion people in a nation mostly of guys start making their prescence felt it will feel like a whole different game. Sorry Lebron, you're not the future.