The World Around You

Will Saletan is an excellent columnist, especially in the way he constructs an argument. I found this recent column particularly convincing.

I agree that we should not be using the results from Google Trends for a particular geographic region to define the standards of that community. The internet is a community unto itself and that is the community someone is operating in when they are online. It has very little relation to their geographic community and the two should not be treated as equals.

Sexual hypocrisy and the Internet. - By William Saletan - Slate Magazine

One of my first comedic obsessions…who I still quote to this day…George Carlin, passed away today. Another sad loss.

George Carlin mourned as a counterculture hero | TuscaloosaNews.com

This is the most incredible photo I’ve ever seen of a tornado touching down….
A Remarkable Photo From Tornado Country - The Lede - Breaking News - New York Times Blog

Alright, the headline made me laugh…but the explanation had me rolling on the floor…

Rev. Adelir Antonio de Carli lifted off from the port city of Paranagua on Sunday afternoon, wearing a helmet, thermal suit and a parachute.

He was reported missing about eight hours later after losing contact with port authority officials, according to the treasurer of his Sao Cristovao parish, Denise Gallas.

Gallas said by telephone that the priest wanted to break a 19-hour record for the most hours flying with balloons to raise money for a spiritual rest-stop for truckers in Paranagua, Brazil’s second-largest port for agricultural products.

Nation & World | Brazil priest vanishes on balloon flight | Seattle Times Newspaper

I was having a pretty good day…

1. Purdue’s mens basketball team defeated the #11 Wisconsin Badgers in a great game this afternoon on ESPN.
2. Their archrivals, the Indiana Hoosiers lost to a depleted UConn team, AT HOME, ending a 29 game home winning streak.
3. Senator Barack Obama (the candidate I have endorsed for president) won the South Carolina primary by a very large margin.

Yet, around the same time I found out that Obama had a big win, I also found out my best friend’s mother had her colon punctured during a colonoscopy and is in extremely poor condition.

Life will throw you a curveball…especially when the going seems good.

There is a good piece on the success of Alabama bloggers in the Birmingham News today. Check it out.

Birmingham, Alabama bloggers aim for online careers- al.com

Now here’s a parent I can respect: Dad sells son’s 90-dollar video game online for more than 9000 - Yahoo! News

It’s getting to the point that you can’t drive on any Interstate in Louisiana because you might get vaporized somewhere along the way. A similar situation occurred on I-10 right before Thanksgiving and shut down a stretch of I-10 for almost two weeks. Thank goodness no one was killed in that explosion. This time the folks driving their vehicles on the interstate were not as fortunate.

La. interstate shut down due to pipeline fire, Ala. man killed - NewsFlash - al.com

I’m not surprised…

A study has found that college students at the University of Texas drink more during football games involving their institution than they do during New Year’s Eve or the last day of classes.

But it does confirm that law enforcement, and the general public, need to be more vigilant on gamedays and especially on big gamedays.

Study Links College Football Games to Heavy Drinking

Well we finally know what happened to the good Rev. Gary Aldridge, thanks to the Montgomery Advertiser, but I was out of town over the weekend and found it throughSmokingGun.com. I think we can all understand why they wanted to keep it quiet now. The worst of the rumors have been confirmed true.

An Alabama minister who died in June of “accidental mechanical asphyxia” was found hogtied and wearing two complete wet suits, including a face mask, diving gloves and slippers, rubberized underwear, and a head mask, according to an autopsy report. Investigators determined that Rev. Gary Aldridge’s death was not caused by foul play and that the 51-year-old pastor of Montgomery’s Thorington Road Baptist Church was alone in his home at the time he died (while apparently in the midst of some autoerotic undertaking). While the Montgomery Advertiser, which first obtained the autopsy records, reported on Aldridge’s two wet suits, the family newspaper chose not to mention what police discovered inside the minister’s rubber briefs. Aldridge served as the church’s pastor for 16 years. Immediately following his death, church officials issued a press release asking community members to “please refrain from speculation” about what led to Aldridge’s demise, adding that, “we will begin the healing process under the strong arm of our Savior, Jesus Christ.”

UPDATE: Dr. Taylor has an interesting post on this as well. I strongly disagree with one of his points however. It was the police and the mayor who misled the public about the nature of the crime. The local media had tried desperately to find some confirmation for the rumors that everyone heard, but no one would release the concrete information or even go “off the record” to confirm the rumors. If anyone is at fault for misleading the public, it’s the mayor, the police department and the district attorneys office.