The Three day sleepy post

In the winter, when the temperature drops and the air becomes crisp and clear, when everything gets a little brighter, the constellation Orion stands ready, right over my house at about midnight. I can stand at the end of the driveway and stare up at the hunter in the sky, so clear, just awesome. It makes me feel small and "speck like", it makes me love the God that created such a beautiful thing, it makes me feel at peace with everything in the world. I've always been terrible at finding constellations, when they taught us in school about the dippers and the bear and casseopia and all the rest i could never find them at night, when i got frustrated my father would try to show me and i would tell him i saw what ever he was explaining to me, but the truth is, i did not. Later he made a telescope and took us away from the light pollution to see everything more clearly, and the stars were brilliant through that telescope ... i still could not see the pictures in the sky. Except for Orion. Maybe that's why i love it so, maybe because i've been able to see it everywhere i lived and so it's been the constant, the one thing i've always had. Most cultures think Orion is a hunter, there are some that see other things, a deer, the last Pharo, a canoe (?), a warrior ... my favorite is the Hungarians who have an "ancient Hungarian myth which states that Orion is also a great hunter and warrior, his name is Nimród and he's the mythological father of Hungarians" Seriously? So that's where the word Nimrod comes from, you thought it meant idiot when really it means father of all Hungarians. Hooray learning.

1. In personal news my wife's friend has suffered an unimaginable tragedy ... the kind of thing that would break most people, and i don't feel at liberty to give out a bunch of details, but if anyone can survive this it is my wife's friend and i love her for that (even though i barely know the woman) but please, if you believe, pray for strength for mothers everywhere; in Haiti, in the war torn regions of Asia and Africa and right next door.

In not-the-bikini-team Sweden news a weight watcher's weigh-in meeting was disrupted when the ladies got on a row of scales and the floor collapsed beneath them. I'm serious and you can come up with your own punch line for that. Don't worry, no one was hurt and they put the scales in the hallway and finished their weigh-in without further collapse. Authorities claim that they are investigating the cause of the cave in, i'm guessing that over loading is going to have something to do with it in the end.

In ... i don't know what news ... i don't even know what to say about this, here's the AP article "TACOMA, Wash. - A Washington state blood center is offering donors a deal: Give a pint of blood, get a pint of beer. Cascade Regional Blood Services in Tacoma says its "Give blood, get beer" promotion has worked so well that it's being expanded. The News Tribune of Tacoma reported Monday that donors who are at least 21 years old are given a coupon for a free pint of beer. Participating pubs and restaurants must wait at least four hours after the blood drive ends before donors can collect their free pint. Cascade's director of donor resources Dan Schmitt says it's a fun way to get more donors, and it's good for the participating businesses as well." I'll bet that less blood does wonders for your B.A.C. so, after i give blood and then drink my free beer and then drive home and kill someone or myself and everybody sues the blood mobile, do you think that they'll rethink this one?

Today we close with Yemen news, Friday the Yemeni military (with the help of US couterterrorism and intelligence) bombed a village 118 miles north of the capital, maybe. This information came from anonymous sources because they are forbidden to discuss any details with the media. So what does the headline read, (on page 9 section B) "Yemen: Six al-Qaida Militants Killed in Airstrike" really? You're not sure enough where the bombs went to talk about it but you're going to call it an "airstrike" and claim success? Well good job Yemen! Certainly we trained you in that, after you bomb a village with hundreds of people in it, act as if you have assassinated a few very bad people. Because the least messy way to accurately kill a single person is to decimate a population center that the person may or may not be it ... makes sense to me.