The news in Charlotte…

Comments: 0 - Date: October 21st, 2010 - Categories: Charlotte, I've noticed...

There are a few local stories that have caught my attention and that I would like to discuss further.

One story is about a local therapeutic riding center called Joshua’s Farm. In 2007, Joshua’s Farm was bought by another non-profit called LifeSpan. They sold the 23-acre complex and stables to LifeSpan for $10. I started to get queasy when I read that LifeSpan dismantled the program this month. They said it was losing too much money. In the article, they point out that the farm served fewer than 40 people and that lessons cost $123 to run, but the farm only charged $30 per lesson. The other part that makes me queasy? LifeSpan is considering selling the farm in order to pay off the debts. Look, I understand that people don’t like to lose money, but who gets into the non-profit game to make money? Change the model a bit. Apply for more grants. Do something. Don’t dismantle the program and sell the land! For chrissake people! I volunteered at a therapeutic riding center once and it’s amazing to see, especially for a horse lover like me. The kids really respond to the gentle giants. It’s often a second chance for the horse, too. Many of them are rescue horses or are too old to be ridden a lot. According to the article, the only other riding program is about 30 miles away. The comments are kind of heartbreaking, too. There are people whose children ride there and they noticed the difference in atmosphere when the farm was sold. Look, LifeSpan. Either return the $10 and give back the land or reinstate the program. It’s the right thing to do.

The other story that really pierces my heart is the story of missing 10-year-old Zahra Baker. She is missing and presumed dead. While the police in Hickory hope to find her alive, they are considering the investigation a homicide investigation. Her stepmother is what really churns your stomach. She left a fake ransom note for Zahra. Her daughter, Zahra’s stepsister, asked a judge not to release her mother. The daughter said that she is unstable and potentially dangerous. The article I linked to describes the stepmother’s Myspace page where she refers to 10-year-old cancer survivor Zahra as “The dark one.” Really? Really lady? She’s the dark one. The stepmom was found to be a flight risk (the day after Zahra was reported missing, she talked about wanting to move) and the judge raised her bond money. Zahra is deaf and has a prosthetic leg. According to the Hickory police, the leg is missing and the hearing aids were left in the house. Thinking about the situation makes me ill and my eyes tear up. I hope they find this girl alive. I hope they find out what happened. I hope she’s then placed into a better situation (based on media reports, it seems that the stepmother may have been abusive). If that is too much to hope for, I hope they find her body and that her mother and father can find closure.

There’s a lot going on…but those two stories are really getting to me.

The world is just awesome.

Comments: 0 - Date: December 19th, 2009 - Categories: I've noticed..., random

This is one of my favorite commercials of all time:

Over the past few weeks, there has been some science & nature news that is mind-blowing and, well, awesome.

  • There was an article on National Geographic online about a remote control submersible camera capturing an “elbowed” Magnapinna squid about a mile and a half below the surface. Look at how freaky this thing is:

    I would hate to run into that thing while water skiing. Luckily for me, that is pretty unlikely–they are very rarely seen. This video marks the first time one of these squids has been seen at an oil development, though, according to the article, scientists don’t think that has any scientific significance. What amazes me the most is that we’ve spent hundreds of years studying the ocean in one way or another and we have only barely brushed the surface.

  • BBC News has an article announcing that US scientists may have detected dark matter. The scientists can’t confirm it, but they’re expecting some upgraded equipment in 2010 and the new equipment should be able to give them a more definitive answer. It sounds like some sort of malicious force or something out of the Da Vinci Code, but it’s theorized that dark matter makes up around 90 percent of the universe. It is believed that it exerts gravitational forces, but it doesn’t emit detectable light or radiation. Interesting stuff.
  • This article also caught my eye, as I don’t often think of mountains as “enigmatic.” However, the Gamburstevs are in Antarctica and they are totally buried under the ice cap. An international team spent two months in 2008 ad 2009 surveying the mountains.I’m not sure I would have signed up for that expedition-two months in one of the harshest places on the planet just doesn’t appeal to me. However, what they’re finding about these mountains is pretty fascinating.

That’s all for now, but next time you’re reading a news site or a newspaper, don’t be so quick to ignore the science section. It has some pretty interesting stuff that showcase just how awesome our world is.

I vant to suck your blood…but there are some ground rules.

Comments: 0 - Date: December 7th, 2008 - Categories: editorial, I've noticed..., random, Television, Uncategorized

I feel I must preface this entire entry by saying that I haven’t read Twilight. Nor have I seen the movie. Though I’ve heard a lot about it. And I’m sure I’d like the books, but for now I’m going to rail against them for a bit. But, I won’t be picking on Twilight alone…I have some issues with a lot of new vampire-genre books, tv shows or movies. Vampire laws are different in every single one of them. This must stop. The viewer has to sit there and figure out what vampires can and can’t do in each different story and it’s exhausting. They can go outside in this, but not this. They can eat garlic in this, not that…see what I mean? I’m a helpful person by nature, so here are the new rules. Scriptwriters, authors, comic book writers and anyone else looking to make a vampire story–take heed.

  • FANGS. You have to have them. Otherwise you’re not really a vampire now, are you? You’re really kind of a zombie with higher cognitive functioning and the need for blood instead of brains. The retractable fangs in “True Blood” are fine…though Wolverine-esque and funny at times. But Twilight…grow some fangs. The fangs have to be the canine teeth, too. I’ve seen people do front teeth or molars. No. Canine teeth. It was good enough for Dracula.
  • DAYLIGHT. You can’t go out in it. I was on the fence for a while about making an exception for Blade the daywalker. But after a lot of soul-searching I decided that the “mother was bitten while I was born” story was too convenient and if you make an exception for one vampire (no matter how awesome) it leaves the door open. So a blanket no. The whole “Glittering” thing you’ve got going on is lame Twilight. Hang it up. You’re a creature of the night, so act like it. Deacon, no sunblock is strong enough to block all of the UV. I’m not saying they should combust the minute there’s sunlight. But they should burn. Maybe melt. But definitely burn. I don’t fully understand why sunlight makes them burn up, I’m sure in some cultures it has to do with the evil-light vs. dark thing and in other cultures it’s simply because they’re dead, but it has always made them burn up. So, let’s not deviate 200 years later.
  • VAMPIRE/HUMAN BABIES. Knock that shit off. I know that won’t be popular, so let me explain. I’m not saying you can’t date a vampire, I’m not saying you can’t marry a vampire…but you can’t get pregnant from a vampire. They’re dead. They appear alive, but really they only breathe out of habit. They’re very much dead. There’s just no way they can emit semen. I’m sorry. Being dead means thatnone of your systems work. Reproductive included. But, again–you can date, have sex and marry to your heart’s content. You can even adopt. But a male vampire can’t knock someone up and a female vampire can’t get knocked up.
  • ON BECOMING A VAMPIRE. It seems to me that if a vampire bites you, you’re a vampire. “30 Days of Night” got pretty choosey with this and “True Blood” has some weird process that involves draining blood, replenishing with vampire blood, being buried, then emerging a vampire. I’m sure at some point you have to spin around three times and spit to the East. They didn’t show that part. So let’s simplify that a bit. If a vampire bites you, you’re a vampire. You pass out and wake up a vampire. So, no more biting during sex, “True Blood” and “30 Days of Night,” next time you wipe out a village, you’ll make a village of vampires. So I guess you’ll have to feed, then stake.
  • WEAKNESSES. In “True Blood,” there’s a part in the Show where Vampire Bill explains to Sookie that a lot of weaknesses don’t exist, but vampires spread those rumors so that humans have, misconceptions. That makes a lot of sense. That being said, here are some vampire slayer methods and which ones stay and which ones go.
    • GARLIC: Lame. Let’s drop it. I’m not sure why it worked or what it was supposed to do, so let’s just leave it in the past.
    • SILVER: Stays. Its roots have something do with silver being pure and vampires being evil. I don’t really remember. But regardless, it stays.
    • MIRRORS: Vampires can see themselves in them. They can take pictures, too. I don’t see why not.
    • CROSSES: They don’t work. At least not on vampires. Besides, it’s the faith of the person holding the cross, not the actual cross. Plus, we live in a smaller world now and people worship all sorts of different faiths and it doesn’t seem fair that holding up a cross would repel a vampire, but then not a Star of David or something.
    • STAKES: Drive them through the heart. In the olden days they drove stakes through the hearts of people they believed to be vampires during the day, so that the body would be stuck to the ground when the sun set. In honor of the eastern european villagers, driving a stake through a vampire’s heart will indeed kill said vampire.
  • INVITATIONS: I don’t get why a vampire needs to be invited in to enter someone’s home. But there’s something poetic about it. So…it stays. Plus, if it weren’t a rule, that scene in Buffy the Vampire Slayer where Benny (played by David Arquette) is floating outside of Pike (Luke Perry)’s window and asks to come in, to which Pike says, “You’re floating! C’mon man, get away from here!” wouldn’t exist. And life would be tragic.
  • SUPERHUMAN STRENGTH: Speaking of Benny floating outside of Pike’s window…superhuman strength (i.e. super speed, strength, etc) stays. I mean, you’re the living dead, break the laws of physics.
  • MORPHING INTO ANIMALS: But don’t go overboard breaking the laws of physics. Vampires can’t turn into bats or any other animal. That’s just ridiculous.
And just a few loose ends..it doesn’t make complete sense, but I like the idea of vampires having an ancient language they can speak (like in 30 Days of Night). So if anyone wants to use that, go right ahead. Also, it makes sense that human-vampire relations would be strained. Don’t get too preachy drawing analogies between vampires and homosexuals or other minorities (I’m looking at you, True Blood). Also, it bothers me that no one ever asks the vampires about their histories. Some of these guys became vampires a long time ago and we could learn a lot from them.
So next time you’re writing something with vampires…keep these rules in mind and have fun!

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