Holli's gets a new sign from faithful customer

    Holli's Sweet Tooth candy store and ice cream parlor in Oxford had it's sign stolen about six weeks ago. It was an unusual sign, and just the kind of thing that a few college students are wont to steal.
    Earlier today I walked by the store and saw an older man putting up the Holli's sign. "Did you recover the sign or is that a new one?" I asked.
    That's when I learned that the store hadn't purchased a new sign, nor had they recovered the old one. Instead, one of their young customers had asked her grandfather to make the store a new sign because she missed the old one. Based on the wording of the sign, I assume this young girl's name is Piper Clark, and her grandfather's name is "Pappy."
    But what a wonderful story about a little girl caring about others, a grandfather caring for his granddaughter, and Holli's now having their sign back. There is good news in this world if you look for it!

Voting in Pencil?

I went to vote in the Oxford school bond election this morning. I voted "yes," and am fairly certain the bond will pass. The vote was taken on paper ballots. I couldn't help but notice that most of the ballot booths were only equipped with No. 2 pencils. Mississippi law requires that ballots be marked only with pen or indelible pencil. Numerous court cases have thrown out ballots cast with pencil.

Oh well, perhaps I'm the only one who noticed!

I just installed Google Picasa

I just installed Google Picasa 3 on my computer. I couldn't decide between Flickr and Picasa and decided to go with Picasa.

For starters I had to download a web album program to my computer. I've tried to use these before and have not been impressed. The Picasa program located every photo on my computer in just a few minutes, and displayed large thumbnails that I could actually see. When I clicked on them, they opened in a flash, and I could do a quick-and-dirty photo edit if I wanted. I was able to throw away a lot of out-of-focus and junk photos with ease with this program.

I paid $5 to get 20 GB of storage on Google. If I need to I'll pay $15 more to get 80 GB. My goal is to make sure all the photos and videos we've taken over the years get onto the ether, so that if my computer crases we'll have a backup. I already have everything on a removable disk, but you never know.

When I get everything uploaded I'll post a link and the world can snoop through my snapshots.

I have more respect for bloggers

I must say I have more respect for people who manage to post interesting blog posts on a regular basis. I'm going to have to work on getting in the habit. I'm now living in Oxford, Miss., so there is plenty to write about. It's just a matter of writing it!

I wrote earlier about all the hotel deals that are being offered. I got one Hilton certificate that is good at virtually any Hilton in the world for staying four nights. I also got a free Hyatt night plus 9,000 AA miles for staying three nights at Hyatt Place hotels. The 9,000 AA miles will convert into 18,000 Hilton points, which is one-half of one night at a top European hotel. Some of these hotels cost $800 a night or more, so a free night is nothing to sneeze at. At the Paris Hilton a few years ago on a Diamond stay, the entire family ate the $50 breakfast each morning for free. My wife and I enjoyed a free glass of $25 champagne each night. It's a pretty nice bonus on top of the room.

Currently my wife is earning Delta miles with Marriott, with 5,000 Skymiles per stay, up to a maximum of 60,000 miles. It looks like she's only going to make it to 45,000 miles, at which time she'll probably return to the Hilton-Hampton family for most places she visits (not all, though!) I keep telling her she's got to check into a different hotel every night that she's on the road, but she won't do that. As a result she has three-night stays for which she only gets one credit. What a waste!

Stay tuned for the next big thing!

Mississippi here I come

You might presume from the name of this blog that I live in Mississippi. Not true. But soon I will be moving back, to Oxford. I'm from Holly Springs, so Oxford is close enough. Looking forward to the City Grocery and walks through town. Not looking forward to the process of moving.

I guess some of those horror stories about drugs were true

A northern California man drank some mushroom tea with his friend. He then discovered that his friend had turned into the devil and ripped out his heart while IT WAS STILL BEATING. This is about as gross at it gets.

Mixed martial arts fighter Wyatt faces murder charge in Northern California
Court testimony outlines events leading to slaying

Where were these girls when I was in school

Heterosexual partnerships need not apply at FedEx

    Federal Express had decided to offer health insurance to homosexual domestic partners of employees. Here's the story.

Memphis-based FedEx to offer insurance to same-sex domestic partners in 2012

    The FedEx decision is tailored to benefit homosexuals only. Heterosexuals living in sin, shacked up, or whatever you want to call it don't get the benefit. So all the things people like me predicted are happening: Gays aren't just getting equal rights, but special rights. If FedEx wants to reduce health coverage to its married workers in order to provide benefits to gay partners, it ought to go the final step and make the coverage available to shacked-up straights.
    In fact, why not go one further. Why not just allow all employees to add one additional adult living with them to their coverage. This furthers the cause of universal health coverage and gets rid of special rights for gays.
    But true equality isn't the goal of these folks. They want rights above and beyond what heterosexuals have. And now they have them.

Finding the right blog template

    I've been trying to adjust the template I use for my blog. For some reason, all the official Blogger templates are incredibly narrow. I finally found a three-column template, and now for the next few days I will be fiddling around with it trying to make it look right.
    Why won't these people just give us what we want -- a wide, three-column blog template -- instead of making us work our butts off!

Discriminate and save on dinner

    In order to promote "racial reconcilliation," a dozen Jackson restaurants are offering discounts to patrons who dine with a member of another race, reports Jerry Mitchell on his Clarion-Ledger blog, Eat cheap today in Jackson and improve race relations, too.
    Of course, by its very nature, this promotion discriminates against those who wish to dine with a person of the same race. Would it be legal to offer discounts only to those people who dine with members of the same race? I think not. So how can it possibly be legal to offer discounts only to those who dine with members of other races.
    I would suggest that these restaurateurs get out of the business of social engineering and let their patrons dine with whomever they please. If these people want to do a service to humanity, they can just lower the prices for everyone.

In times of crisis, only PC minds need offer their help

    The United States government believed Washington University professor Jonathan Katz was one of the five most qualified scientists in the country to help find a solution to the massive oil rig spill in the Gulf of Mexico. So the government asked him to serve on a board with four other scientists to help craft a solution to the problem.
    Then they found that he had made blog postings where he expressed opposition to the homosexual agenda, and voiced his support for the notion that people should be judged based on their ability and the content of their character, not the color of their skin.
    Katz was immediately kicked off the panel. Apparently the government just can't brook the thought of someone who is not not properly PC helping to solve one of our nation's most serious problems. The Obama administration would rather have several million extra barrels of oil pollute the environment than it would have a non-PC person solve the problem for the nation.

    Pogo is famous for saying, "We have met the enemy and he is us." Not really. The enemy is the left-wing nuts who threw a needed and highly qualified scientist off a board for failing to kowtow to the liberal othodoxy. We have met the enemy and it is them.

For more information, click here: Local Professor dumped by White House because of his beliefs

Those who deal face the wheel

    This item is from the Biloxi Sun Herald. Many of the comments that ran with this story were negative. Personally, I think having everyone go after a single person -- getting all officers on the same page -- makes good sense. Maybe they could bring in Dawg the Bounty Hunter!
    The Wheel of Drug Enforcement Justice in Picayune spins with a little more pizzazz after receiving national attention and an international award.
    The International Narcotics Enforcement Officers Association has given a commendation for innovation to the Picayune Police Department.

    The wheel has pictures of eight suspected drug dealers. When the wheel stops, police make an all-out effort to find the pictured suspect. From 32 spins since July 2009, police have taken 29 suspects into custody.
    The promotion has been featured on MSNBC cable news and police said TNA Wrestling has offered to sponsor some spins by wrestlers who appear on Spike TV.
    The promotion has drawn criticism over whether police were leaving suspects on the street until the wheel lands on their pictures.
    Police Chief Jim Luke said looking for wanted persons is an ongoing job, but “there is no arguing with results.
    “The award “makes a very strong statement that the world has noticed the efforts in the fight against illegal drugs in Picayune, Miss.”
    The award was presented to Detective Mike Odom. Also honored were Detective Thomas Clark, Capt. Jeremy Magri, and Deputy Chiefs Bryan Dawsey and David Ervin.

John Ed Ainsworth dies at 66

I missed the stories about the death of John Ed Ainsworth, the state land commissioner who ran on the platform of abolishing the office. I've always heard that there was a $10,000 bet involved on his ability to get elected to the obscure post because his name would appear first on the ballot. Maybe it's true, maybe not, but I've heard it so often that there must be a little something to it.
His obit from the Clarion-Ledger:
John Ed Ainsworth, the last person to serve as Mississippi's public land commissioner, has died.
Ainsworth, 66, has been credited with being a key figure in the reform of Mississippi's 16th Section lands.
He served as land commissioner from 1976 to 1980, all while calling for the abolishment of the post in an effort to make state government more efficient and effective.
The Legislature agreed with Ainsworth and did away with the post, folding its duties into the secretary of state's office in 1980.
Those who knew him said one of Ainsworth's main goals was to make 16th Section lands more profitable for the school districts that benefit from them.
Efforts he advocated included placing limits on the terms of leases and seeking competitive bids to make sure income was at least on par with private land.
"He was a visionary," Secretary of State Delbert Hosemann said. "He could see the possibilities."
Mississippi's 16th Section lands raised $77 million this year and its forestry value is more than $1 billion.
"He was a good man and a bona fide Mississippi character," former Secretary of State Dick Molpus said of Ainsworth, whom he had beat for the secretary of state's office in 1983.
As always, when Sid Salter wants to write a nice column about someone, he does it well. It can be found here: Ainsworth left legacy of service to his state.

Don't miss out on this summer's hotel promotions

   If you are doing any travel at all this summer, it's a great time to sign up for various hotel promotions.  All the major hotel chains are offering free nights and lots of frequent flyer miles.
   Hyatt is offering a Big Welcome Back promotion, where you get a free night certificate for every two stays (hint: never stay in the same hotel more than one night!). These must be used by August 31, 2010 but can be used at any Hyatt. The catch is that they can only be used on a standard room, so if all the standard rooms are booked, you can't use them. Hyatt is also offering instand platinum status, made good until 2012 with five stays. And they're offering 3,000 AA frequent flier miles per stay, with a 10,000 bonus after the fifth stay. So stay six nights at a Hyatt Place and get three free nights at an upscale Hyatt plus 25,000 American Airlines miles. Not a bad deal.
   Marriott is offering a free stay at a Cat 4 motel with every three stays. Plus you can sign up for 5,000 Delta miles per stay, starting with the second stay. Not nearly as good as the Hyatt offer, but a good deal.
   Bringing up the rear is Hilton, with one free stay per four nights. But the certificates are good anywhere and last longer. Hilton also has some frequent flyer offers, but I'll leave you to research those for yourself. The best way to research these things is to visit the hotel section of www.flyertalk.com.
   The best deal, even for Hilton members, is clearly with Hyatt. You can take the 25,000 AA miles and transfer them into the Hilton program for 50,000 Hilton points.  Six nights at most luxury European Hiltons costs 175-225,000 points, so five nights at the cheapest Hyatt Place hotels can put you one-fourth of the way to a luxury European vacation.
   Of course, you'll have to broaden your horizons a little to take advantage of the Hyatt offer.  Mississippi doesn't have even one of their hotels.

This is who I am

If you haven't seen this post of New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie telling a liberal reporter that he's not going to pretend high taxes aren't high taxes, big spenders aren't big spenders and so forth, you ought to. Gov. Fordice, we miss you!

Hello World!

I started this blog 30 months ago, posted for a week or so and then went on to other things. I decided recently I wanted to take another stab at blogging. Will I keep it up? That I can't say.