Winding Down…
Posted in General February 28th, 2008 by Kevin

Obviously, I haven’t posted much here realistisches online casinobaccarat online spielenslotmaschine spielenautomatic video pokerjack black online spielenonline casino und poker portalcasino online vergleichrealistisches internet kasinoechte kasinospielekostenloses spiel onlineparty casinokostenloses online kasinocasino on net comrealistisches online kasinoonline blackjackonline baccarat spielenblack jackcasino bestonline video slotsmulti rouletteroulette onlinespielinternet gamblingonline spiele automatenonline casino gamejack black downloadwww online casinocasino playblackjack online spieleslot maschineslot machine spielencasino net pokerblack jack spielwinners online casinobeste casino onlinespiel automat,online spiel automat,online spielautomatslotmachine spielencasino online guidecasino online roulettepoker spielelive poker turniereplay free 7 card stud5card draw pokerparty poker reload bonustexas holdem poker gamespoker game netpoker im internetpoker umsonst online spielenstrip poker spielenstrip poker gratis spielen7 card stud poker lately. This trend, unfortunately, is permanent, as I will be closingrent a car bulgaria down the blog portion of szuping.com shortly. For now, I’m leaving the site up as I plan its successor.

I want to thank everyone who took the time to read, those who took the time to respond, and most especially those who took the time to disagree. I’m very proud to have been wrong many times on this site, and to have been exposed to different and better ideas as a result.

Thanks,

Kevin

Unique baby names?
Posted in Parenting, General January 28th, 2008 by Kevin

There have been 104 girls born in Georgia since 1990 named “Unique”.

5,507 female Abigails (and three boys!)
1,328 female Claires (and three boys!)
6,771 male Benjamins (and three girls!)

And then there are these:

Deeply Inappropriate Names:
1 girl named Penisha
1 girl named Insashable
14 girls named Lolita (I’m sorry, but Nabakov killed that name forever and it should be banned)
1 girl named Fetishia
1 girl named Blimish (first name Hester?)
14 girls named Latrina
1 girl named Shitrina

Odd but Kind of Cute Names:
1 girl named Laconzila (a giant, lazy lizard?)
1 girl named Twinkles
3 girls named Sparkles
1 boy named Blondie (what’s this poor kid supposed to do when his hair starts turning brown?)
2 girls and 1 boy named Vegas
1 boy named Trouble

Car Names:
2 girls named Ferrari
2 girls named Corvette
2 girls named Toyota
1 boy named Camaro (Do you think he has a mullet?)

Born to be a Geek Names:
1 boy named Samwise

Bad Use of Brand Names:
3 girls named Toshiba
12 girls and 1 boy named Wachovia Do they at least get their ATM fees waived?
1 boy named Teflon
20 girls named Ikea
2 girls named Nokia
10 boys named Courvoisier

Just Plain Weird:
1 girl named 99D

Good luck with those names, kids.

Weird Endorsement…
Posted in Politics, General January 25th, 2008 by Kevin

Check out this news story about an endorsement Hillary Clinton picked up:

She was followed by Richland County Councilwoman Bernice Scott, who bluntly told the audience “this race is not about race or gender.”

Scott said the decision should come down to which candidate can “feed the sheep.”

“Sen. Clinton has a record that can feed everybody. And we need to be fed,” she said.

Now, I’m not completely ignorant, and I recognize that this is a reference to John’s accounting of a conversation between Jesus and Peter. Still, does it not evoke an odd image of what their expectations are for a president?

Truth is Stranger than a Bad Soap Opera…
Posted in Parenting, General January 23rd, 2008 by Kevin

Interesting story:

All of Taiwan’s newspapers on Tuesday reported how Tran Thi Kham, 40, was recently reunited with her father Tsai Han-chao, 77, who could hardly believe what had happened: ‘I can only say: This is fate.’

The story goes back to 1967 when Tsai, then a 36-year-old businessman, took a business trip to Hong Kong and fell in love with Ah Hua, a Vietnamese girl working as a shop assistant at a Hong Kong department store.

Though already married, Tsai fell in love with Ah Hua and gave her his photo and a gold ring. The affair was short-lived as Tsai returned to Taiwan and Ah Hua returned to North Vietnam to care for her sick mother.

In Vietnam, Ah Hua gave birth to a girl, Tran Thi Kham, but died when Tran was two months old, leaving behind only a photo of Tran Tsai and a gold ring.

Tran was raised by Ah Hua’s elder sister. When Tran got married at 21, the aunt told Tran about her father. In 2004 Tran, leaving behind an abusive husband and two grown children, came to work in Taiwan and to search for her father.

Tran brought with her Tsai’s photo and the gold ring but did not know where to start her search. But as if arranged by fate, her first employer - unknown to her at the time - was her father Tsai, who had applied for a foreign maid to care for his paralysed wife.

Tran cared for Mrs Tsai for seven months until she died, never knowing Tsai was her father and Tsai’s six children were her half-brothers and sisters.

Neglect…
Posted in General January 7th, 2008 by Kevin

Sorry for the lack of updates. We’re currently working on getting the new house ready to move in, then we’ll be moving, then we’ll be getting the old house ready for sale. I’m thinking updates will be few and far between until February.

Parking Meters…
Posted in Home Park, Politics, General December 21st, 2007 by Kevin

Apparently, they’re being stolen from downtown Atlanta at an alarming rate, with 500 missing this year alone. However, the police don’t care, and they’re not investigating.

Although the meters don’t contain much money, it costs about $500 to replace each one.

Despite the thefts, little is being done to catch the thieves because city officials do not file police reports on the stolen meters.

Police say thefts that are not reported are not investigated.

The City of Atlanta is having a problem with lawlessness, and ignoring thefts like this only encourages the lawlessness to grow.

We bought a house…
Posted in Home Park, Parenting, General December 21st, 2007 by Kevin

in East Cobb. I love Home Park, but the crime issue just made it too hard to overlook some of the other smaller problems that otherwise I’d have been happy to deal with. Now we have more space, a much, much bigger yard, great schools, and a very quiet street. Not sure when we’ll get around to actually moving, as there are several family issues factoring into that decision and they need to get settled somewhat.

Plus, we’ve got lots to do to get the place ready, including new carpets, some upgraded wiring, stuff like that. I’ll be working on that with any free time I have for the next several weeks.

I’m excited, but daunted by all the work that needs to be done.

Construction Noise…
Posted in Home Park, General December 18th, 2007 by Kevin

I remember all the construction noise we experienced back when we lived near Piedmont Park, and it can definitely be annoying. This, however, is not the right approach to the problem. Good grief. You know, in the current market I’d welcome a little construction noise. Poor folks in Miami wish the builders would get back to work on some of those half-built condos that are standing around waiting for the wrecking ball.

I have a cold…
Posted in Cigars, General December 18th, 2007 by Kevin

Or the flu. Or something miserable, I don’t know. But it’s like the 4th time this year and I’m sick of being sick. It turns out my problem is probably that I don’t drink enough. I keep trying to drink more, but it’s hard to be health concious!

Real Genius…
Posted in General December 18th, 2007 by Kevin

He was decent in “The Doors”, but Val Kilmer has never quite been as brilliant as he was in “Real Genius”, in my opinion. And now, there’s going to be a sequel, and Val Kilmer is on board. This should be fun!

R.I.P. Tom Murphy…
Posted in Politics, Cigars, General December 18th, 2007 by Kevin

The most powerful politician in Georgia, the longest serving State Speaker in America, and friend to both Atlanta and Bremen, has passed away. There was a lot not to like about the Speaker, but you can’t avoid his legacy if you live in Georgia.

My Wife has Dry Ear Wax…
Posted in General December 11th, 2007 by Kevin

She just evolved that way, I guess.

Maybe my kids will have half-dry earwax? I dunno.

The importance of education…
Posted in Home Park, Parenting, General December 11th, 2007 by Kevin

As we looked for homes recently, one of the very important factors that we considered in choosing a house was the public schools. Elementary schools were our top priority, given the age of our children, but we also wanted to make sure there was a good path all the way to high school. We finally decided on Cobb County, but when we were looking in Fulton County, where the top-rated high school is Northview, there were several houses in the Northview district that we liked.

Turns out the Northview high school kids really are high achievers.

Police say 17-year-olds Alex Platt, James Sung, Joseph Ferguson, Joseph Blank, and 18-year-olds Christopher and Matthew Davey, all students at Northview High School, confessed to breaking into more than 100 vehicles, mainly in subdivisions, between November 22-24th.

“Over the three day period, approximately 150 automobiles were targeted, approximately 100 of these automobiles were left unlocked,” said Gordon.

Gordon says too everything from GPS devices to golf clubs to stereo equipment.

“The merchandise that was taken - these six individuals would keep the high-end dollar items for themselves - but they would try to fence the other items on Ebay,” said Gordon…

…”They appear to be middle class, educated students. I didn’t notice anything out of the ordinary with these students other than they chose to facilitate their criminal behavior and they were subsequently arrested based on that behavior,” said Gordon.

Gordon says the six could be responsible for other similar thefts in metro Atlanta.

“They were very well organized. They were all acting together. They all had knowledge on break-in-type activities, on how to do it properly. The detectives are looking at every other break-in that we’ve had recently within our community and surrounding communities. I can only speak for the three days in which they have confessed to being in our area, but it very well can be likely that they have been involved in other activities,” said Gordon.

Nutcracker…
Posted in Parenting, General December 6th, 2007 by Kevin

Cathy took Abby to see the Nutcracker on Sunday. I took her last year and it was a beautiful production. This year, when Cathy got home she and Abby told me about a Panda falling off the stage. Turns out it was a pretty serious accident. We hope she gets better.

I do not think that word means what you think it means…
Posted in General December 3rd, 2007 by Kevin

Spirit Airlines is having a sale. They’re calling it the MILF sale. Well, if nothing else it ought to bring Google traffic!

I’d Like to Welcome Our Newest State…
Posted in Politics, General November 27th, 2007 by Kevin

But it probably won’t happen. Still, it would be great. I don’t think the US is the kind of place that should have a “commonwealth”, which is awfully close to being a colony. I’d love to see Puerto Rico brought in as our 51st state.

My State Senator…
Posted in Home Park, Politics, General November 27th, 2007 by Kevin

Got shackled last night, because he thinks “corporate interests” are taking over his beloved, broke Grady.

Did I mention that we’re moving?

No Time to be Glib…
Posted in Politics, Parenting, General November 27th, 2007 by Kevin

This story is ripe for mockery. I understand why opponents of FARC and fashionable leftist guerillas everywhere would like to point out some of the silliness: A young girl goes on a trip to Central America, gets visions of Che dancing in her head, does too many U2 sing-a-longs by the campfire, joins a rebel group and finds out that it’s not quite as glamorous or idealogically pure as she thought it would be. Now she’s sad, captive, and disillusioned.

Except she’s still there. By publishing the details of this diary I’m sure they have identified her to her captors and put her in very grave danger. This is someones daughter and her life is now at serious risk, if not already forfeit. That’s not worth scoring idealogical points. This information should not have been released until she was recovered.

Um, thanks for the tip…
Posted in Parenting, General November 20th, 2007 by Kevin

New mothers who want to lose weight need more sleep.

I’m betting there are a lot of mothers that would gladly GAIN weight if they could just get some sleep.

AIDS Revisions…
Posted in Politics, General November 20th, 2007 by Kevin

This is, of course, fantastic news: The UN agency that tracks AIDS admits it has grossly over-estimated the spread of the disease.

Having millions fewer people with a lethal contagious disease is good news. Some researchers, however, contend that persistent overestimates in the widely quoted U.N. reports have long skewed funding decisions and obscured potential lessons about how to slow the spread of HIV. Critics have also said that U.N. officials overstated the extent of the epidemic to help gather political and financial support for combating AIDS.

“There was a tendency toward alarmism, and that fit perhaps a certain fundraising agenda,” said Helen Epstein, author of “The Invisible Cure: Africa, the West, and the Fight Against AIDS.” “I hope these new numbers will help refocus the response in a more pragmatic way.”

I didn’t suspect this was going on, but it doesn’t surprise me that a UN agency would fiddle with the science and claim a global crisis in order to secure additional funding.

UPDATE: And counterpoint: The US is revising its AIDS figures, too. But the other direction.