I really do love Texas. (If only we had the Rocky Mountains. *sigh*)

WILLisms.com has posted a new chart that shows that Texas was the only state to have a significant increase in jobs in 2008. During a dismal economic year, Texas added about 150,000 jobs (1.5%) to it’s job force, while California lost the same percentage, but by numbers, twice as many jobs.

Hmm. Let’s think about this for a minute.

Texas: Business friendly tax policy, no income tax (personal or corporate), carefully controlled spending. Texas: Economic success even in bad economic times.

California: Prohibitive corporate taxes, high income taxes, insane spending, budget deficits year after year. California: Economic failure.

Which plan do you think works? Which plan do you think the Obama administration is plunging into? Yeah. The wrong one.

A wise man learns from his mistakes. A wiser man learns from the mistakes of others.

Today, work-from-home-Friday, I’m posting someone else’s video. And it’s a real humdinger. Everyone who ever intends to vote in an American election should see this.

The Brits, quite famously, lost their right to own handguns about a decade ago. Since then, some estimates say gun crime has increased by as much as 40% (but, of course, this number is heavily disputed). Here on our side of the pond, we have just elected (and by proxy, appointed) the most vehemently anti-gun administration EVAR. (Pres. Obama, Att. Gen. Holder, Chf. of Stf. Emanuel, etc.)

Take it from the Brits. Be very careful what freedoms you allow your government to take away.

You may not understand this week’s white board quip. But if not, I’m willing to wager you’ve never listened to an actual 8-track.

I have an 8-track mind in a DVD world.

This week Microsoft rocked the world with the release of their Mac killing, do-it-yourself music software called “Songsmith.”

Now, if you know anyone who owns a Mac and has any talent at all, you’ve heard of Garage Band. It’s the Mac software that allows you to put together some really nice music mixes. You provide some vocals, and maybe a guitar riff here and there, and you can add very authentic sounding drum tracks, bass guitar, and maybe even a horn section. It’s very intuitive and has made hundreds, if not thousands, of teenagers wailing angst ridden songs actually sound pretty good.

Naturally, anything that’s really successful in the tech world is eventually copied by Microsoft and made into a pitiful mockery. That’s Songsmith.

You sing into your PC mic (no musical talent required), tweak a few settings (Do you want “rock” or “ballad”? “Bouncy” or “easy”?), then let Bill Gates carry you into the world of the rock superstar. Or… not.

In a matter of days, folks have taken the vocal tracks from some of rock’s iconic songs and turned them into the kind of schlock that I used to do with my Casio keyboard in the mid 80’s. (Click the link below.)

Some of my younger readers may never have heard the original version of any of these songs, so please find them and listen to them *before* you listen to these blasphemous mockeries.

Clicky clicky.

My favorite is the “Love Boat Lounge” remix of Roxanne.

When you’re planning a mission trip to Mexico (which I am) on which you will be responsible for several dozen teenagers (which I will be) stories like this have a deep impact.

Read Yon’s note, then follow his link to listen to the radio news piece. In a world as complex and interconnnected as ours, don’t take anything for granted.

Obamagasm – Conspicuous and unabashed worship showered on the newly elected President Bronco Bomber, particularly among Liberal media and black racists.

How long with the obamagasm last? If it’s more than a few days, I’m canceling my cable and putting my TV on the curb.

So, for the first time in my life, I listened to the inauguration live. It may be the last time.

I expected something magical, something historic, something messianic. Instead, a botched oath; a truly idiotic, hippie poem (I expected the crowd to snap their fingers in approval), and a dull speech with not at single quotable sound bite to be chiseled into the marble of history.

According to radio commentators on the scene, the crowd was confused. There was no energy. There were no applause points. And the applause after the speech, which was expected to last for several minutes, died off quickly and left a good 20 seconds of dead air. People were already starting to make their way out of the stands half-way through the poetry reading.

The only memorable bit was the completely disgusting, offensive, racist closing prayer that was almost as long as the inaugural address itself. Reverend Joseph E. Lowery prayed that, in the next few years, we will live in a country in which…

“Black will not be asked to get back. Brown can hang around. Yellow is mellow. The red man can get ahead, man. And white will embrace what is right.”

In other words, he looks forward to the day when blacks will not be forced to sit in the back of the bus (Dude. That hasn’t been done since before I was born!), Hispanics will not be deported (Regardless of whether they are breaking the law or not?!), Asians will… uh… calm down… I guess… (I don’t get it.), and Caucasians will do the right thing because everyone knows that white people are evil.

So that’s what I will remember about Bronco Bomber’s big day: Racism.

Nice.

I made a very short trip to my folk’s ranch this weekend. We only got to share two meals. But we did run through about $40 worth of ammunition. I delivered Mom’s Christmas present, a snub-nosed .357 revolver. Dad set up a really nice little gun range in a deep creek bed. Mom seemed to have a great time and she is a crack shot. I strongly recommend against showing up on the ranch with malicious intent.

While I was there, I got caught up on the family news and was really surprised (as I always am) to hear how many distant family members are following the blog (many of whom I have not seen in years if not decades).

Gee, no pressure there!!

So, again I find myself apologizing for my lax performance. I know you all must be thinking how rotten it was of me to do just a handful of Work-From-Home-Friday videos and then leave you all hanging for over a month. And I assure you, the wait is far from over. (Maybe it’s my way of getting back at the Universe for the cancellation of Firefly.)

Sadly, I am forced to make the difficult decisions, like spending my time raising up other people’s kids to be Godly men and women instead of filming myself in the shower with my clothes. It’s a tough choice!! But, and I know you may not agree, my fear of God is bigger than my fear of my second cousin whom I’ve not seen since before puberty.

Forgive me, dear readers. And, if you have grace enough, don’t give up on SYNS. There will come a day when my time will be own again and this blog shall rise from the ashes like a phoenix… in the shower… with its clothes on!!

Amen.

Why would someone name their dog Spot? If it’s because the dog has a spotted coat, that’s too easy. If it’s because the dog is not well house trained, that’s just icky.

Anyway, on to the quip!

I spilled spot remover on my dog and now he’s gone.
-Steven Wright

If you are afraid of spiders don’t click the link below.

If you are interested in graphic programming, especially in Flash graphic programming, especially browers based Flash graphic programming, then you should click the link regardless of how you feel about spiders.

Clicky!

Mover your mouse around. click. Even click and drag the little dude. Then try out the settings menu on the right. Really truly seriously amazing.