Rocking Rockland County This Weekend!

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This Year's Freshmen . . .Makes You Feel Old, Doesn't It?

Taken from Beloit College Mindset List

If this makes you feel old, just remember culture changes way faster than we age.


NEW BELOIT COLLEGE MINDSET LIST LOOKS AT ENTERING COLLEGE STUDENTS, GROWING UP WITH NO SOVIET UNION, ONE GERMANY AND BAR CODES

Beloit, Wis. - A rite of autumn is under way with the arrival of first-year students at thousands of colleges and universities for registration. Most 18-year-old students entering the class of 2010 this fall were born in 1988. They grew up with a mouse in one hand and a computer screen as part of their worldview. They learned to surf the internet as they learned to read. While they were still in their cribs, the 20th century started to close as the Berlin Wall came down, the Soviet bloc disintegrated, and frequent traditional wars in Latin America gave way to the uncontrolled terrors of the Middle East.

Each August since 1998, as faculty prepare for the academic year, Beloit College in Wisconsin has released the Beloit College Mindset List. A creation of Beloit’s Keefer Professor of the Humanities Tom McBride and Public Affairs Director Ron Nief, it looks at the cultural touchstones that have shaped the lives of today’s first-year students.

According to McBride, this year’s entering students form “a generation that has always been ‘connected’ and is used to things happening in ‘real time,’ like live satellite coverage of revolutions and wars, instant messaging and movies on demand. They expect solutions for every problem, from baldness to diseased organs. To the chagrin of teachers and parents, they’ve developed their own generational means of communication.”

The Beloit College Mindset List is used by educators and clergy and by the military and business in their efforts to connect with the new generation. Beloit creates the list to share with its faculty in anticipation of the first-year seminars and orientation. “It is an important reminder to faculty, some of whom are only a Ph.D. older than their students, that what we call ‘hardening of the references’ can set in quickly,” according to Nief. "It is meant to be thought-provoking and fun, yet accurate. It often provides the base for good opening seminar discussions as faculty and students address the challenges of examining important issues from differing perspectives."

BELOIT COLLEGE'S MINDSET LIST® FOR THE CLASS OF 2010

Members of the class of 2010, entering college this fall, were mostly born in 1988. For them: Billy Carter, Lucille Ball, Gilda Radner, Billy Martin, Andy Gibb, and Secretariat have always been dead.

1. The Soviet Union has never existed and therefore is about as scary as the student union.

2. They have known only two presidents.

3. For most of their lives, major U.S. airlines have been bankrupt.

4. Manuel Noriega has always been in jail in the U.S.

5. They have grown up getting lost in "big boxes."

6. There has always been only one Germany.

7. They have never heard anyone actually "ring it up" on a cash register.

8. They are wireless, yet always connected.

9. A stained blue dress is as famous to their generation as a third-rate burglary was to their parents'.

10. Thanks to pervasive headphones in the back seat, parents have always been able to speak freely in the front.

11. A coffee has always taken longer to make than a milkshake.

12. Smoking has never been permitted on U.S. airlines.

13. Faux fur has always been a necessary element of style.

14. The Moral Majority has never needed an organization.

15. They have never had to distinguish between the St. Louis Cardinals baseball and football teams.

16. DNA fingerprinting has always been admissible evidence in court.

17. They grew up pushing their own miniature shopping carts in the supermarket.

18. They grew up with and have outgrown faxing as a means of communication.

19. "Google" has always been a verb.

20. Text messaging is their email.

21. Milli Vanilli has never had anything to say.

22. Mr. Rogers, not Walter Cronkite, has always been the most trusted man in America.

23. Bar codes have always been on everything, from library cards and snail mail to retail items.

24. Madden has always been a game, not a Superbowl-winning coach.

25. Phantom of the Opera has always been on Broadway.

26. "Boogers" candy has always been a favorite for grossing out parents.

27. There has never been a "skyhook" in the NBA.

28. Carbon copies are oddities found in their grandparents' attics.

29. Computerized player pianos have always been tinkling in the lobby.

30. Non-denominational mega-churches have always been the fastest growing religious organizations in the U.S.

31. They grew up in mini-vans.

32. Reality shows have always been on television.

33. They have no idea why we needed to ask "...can we all get along?"

34. They have always known that "In the criminal justice system the people have been represented by two separate yet equally important groups."

35. Young women's fashions have never been concerned with where the waist is.

36. They have rarely mailed anything using a stamp.

37. Brides have always worn white for a first, second, or third wedding.

38. Being techno-savvy has always been inversely proportional to age.

39. "So" as in "Sooooo New York," has always been a drawn-out adjective modifying a proper noun, which in turn modifies something else

40. Affluent troubled teens in Southern California have always been the subjects of television series.

41. They have always been able to watch wars and revolutions live on television.

42. Ken Burns has always been producing very long documentaries on PBS.

43. They are not aware that "flock of seagulls hair" has nothing to do with birds flying into it.

44. Retin-A has always made America look less wrinkled.

45. Green tea has always been marketed for health purposes.

46. Public school officials have always had the right to censor school newspapers.

47. Small white holiday lights have always been in style.

48. Most of them never had the chance to eat bad airline food.

49. They have always been searching for "Waldo."

50. The really rich have regularly expressed exuberance with outlandish birthday parties.

51. Michael Moore has always been showing up uninvited.

52. They never played the game of state license plates in the car.

53. They have always preferred going out in groups as opposed to dating.

54. There have always been live organ donors.

55. They have always had access to their own credit cards.

56. They have never put their money in a "Savings & Loan."

57. Sara Lee has always made underwear.

58. Bad behavior has always been getting captured on amateur videos.

59. Disneyland has always been in Europe and Asia.

60. They never saw Bernard Shaw on CNN.

61. Beach volleyball has always been a recognized sport.

62. Acura, Lexus, and Infiniti have always been luxury cars of choice.

63. Television stations have never concluded the broadcast day with the national anthem.

64. LoJack transmitters have always been finding lost cars.

65. Diane Sawyer has always been live in Prime Time.

66. Dolphin-free canned tuna has always been on sale.

67. Disposable contact lenses have always been available.

68. "Outing" has always been a threat.

69. Oh, The Places You'll Go by Dr. Seuss has always been the perfect graduation gift.

70. They have always "dissed" what they don't like.

71. The U.S. has always been studying global warming to confirm its existence.

72. Richard M. Daley has always been the Mayor of Chicago.

73. They grew up with virtual pets to feed, water, and play games with, lest they die.

74. Ringo Starr has always been clean and sober.

75. Professional athletes have always competed in the Olympics.

© 2006 Beloit College, Beloit, Wisconsin

The Kenneth Cole Ad That Stopped Me Cold

It read:



The $290 billion spent evicting one Iraqi dictator could have housed America's 3.5 million homeless...forever.

Are you putting us on?

--Kenneth Cole


'Nuff said!

"Our scientific power has outrun our spiritual power. We have guided missiles and misguided men. Our hope for creative living lies in our ability to reestablish the spiritual needs of our lives in personal character and social justice. Without this spiritual and moral reawakening we shall destroy ourselves in the misuse of our own instruments." --Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.

Another Part of Growing Up. . . .

I found the following on a site I frequent. I really identify with it. Let me say that again. I REALLY identify with this. Perhaps because I feeling like I have grown so much in the past year. I do not know who the author is, but when I find out I will give proper credit. In the meantime:


The nice guy, they say, finishes last. But in romantic relationships, the nice guy often isn't even in the running. The nice guy is the one that you consider your friend. The nice guy is the person that you can talk to about anything, you feel comfortable with, and feel you can trust. He is often the person you talk to about "guy" problems, the one you seek when things aren't going well in a relationship. The nice guy may have expressed an interest in dating you and, although you may have thought this to be a compliment, you weren't interested. After all, you are "just friends." The nice guy is the person who you trust and feel comfortable with, but don't see as "fun" or "challenging" or really all that "interesting," other than as a friend, of course.

As your friend, I never understood why you continued to pursue guys who mistreated you, or your attraction to guys who even I considered to be jerks. I never understood why you seemed to make the same choices and mistakes repeatedly. And as a friend, I never understood why you didn't appreciate the qualities that I had to offer. After all, you said you wanted a man who was caring, sensitive, strong and intelligent, who treated you with respect. Instead, you seemed most attracted to men who were emotionally distant or abusive, dishonest, and uncommunicative.

Something interesting started to happen as we both got older. You seemed to notice me more. You weren't interested in a relationship with me, but you seemed to appreciate me a little more. You still tend to be attracted to men who are unavailable or abusive to you, but you now seem to notice me. This is confusing to me since I have tried for so long to gain your attention. And now that I have your attention, I don't understand why. I haven't changed that much.

What is different about you? Are you tired of being mistreated? Are your priorities and values changing? Why are you interested in me now? Now that I am gaining your attention, I am noticing a change in me. I no longer feel as comfortable with you. I no longer trust you as I had before. And I have no idea why you are suddenly interested in me. It becomes really confusing when you show an interest in a relationship with me.

For one thing, I have been hurt by your rejection and taking me for granted. And secondly, I notice that I have lost some of my respect for you because of the choices you had made repeatedly in the past. And I find it interesting when you and your girlfriends discuss men and say that all the good ones are taken. This seems surprising to hear since many of the so-called "good ones" are nice guys that you were not interested in. You may also be surprised to know that another change for me is that, while I still find you interesting and attractive, I am no longer willing to take the risk of having a relationship with you.

In fact, I've found that I prefer relationships with "nice girls" who appreciate me, respect me, like me, and genuinely value the qualities that you found to be dull, boring, or uninteresting. We can be friends because I still do like you. But I doubt that we can be close friends because I no longer have the same respect for you, and I question whether you ever did respect me. But, we can still be friends.

Still Think I'm Paranoid Because of the Last Post. . .

Hi,

So I was wasting time at work and found this trailer at Apple.com. Scary, very scary.


America: Freedom to Fascism

The trailer requires Quicktime to watch. If you do not have it you can download it at Apple.com.


I think I'll be calling the Irish Consulate tomorrow to start the procedure to get my Irish passport. Thanks Dad for thinking ahead on that one!

First They Came For The Muslims. . .

Friends, will you speak up when I am taken away because I speak truth to power, because I don't buy our government's bullshit lies? I would for you, but by that time there may not be anyone left to speak up for you.

If you believe that that abuses and crimes of Nazi Germany can't happen here in the U.S., then you are fooling yourself. We have already sold our government to corporations. (Fascism is at basic sense "corporatism.") Citizens, yes CITIZENS, have been held indefinitely WITHOUT CHARGE. Our 1st Amendment Free Speech Rights have and are being stripped. (Remember the "Free Speech Zones" during the Republican Convention?) Our Fourth Amendment Rights against unreasonable search and seizure are being tossed out the door. (Has your phone line been tapped yet without a warrant? I bet mine has. And that's just the tip of the iceburg.)

If we continue down this course, I bet "detention camps" aren't that far down the road. (Actually, there is chatter on the Net that these have already been built. And I'm not even talking about the prison at Guantanamo Bay. Do a Google search on this topic and you'll be frightened by what you find) And since I am a vocal protester of the government, many times criticizing the Shrub and his crew on this blog, where I give my real name (how stupid of me), don't you think I'll be one of the early ones to go?

I really don't think I'm being a "paranoid, liberal ninny" here. Just a good student of history. . . something my Conservative father taught me to be. (And he is a Conversative in the true sense of the word, not these Neo-Con fuckheads that have co-opted the Republican party. If my dad was in office, he'd be for checks and balances (something this Republican Congress isn't doing) and more importantly, at least we'd have a balanced budget AND no deficit!)

Remember, those who don't learn from history are doomed to repeat it!!

Don't worry, I'll keep a bunk warm for you at camps for when you get there.

-Spider





They came for the Muslims, and I didn't speak up...
By Stephen Rohde

(Author's Note: The USA Patriot Act became law a little over one year ago.)



First they came for the Muslims, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Muslim.

Then they came for the immigrants, detaining them indefinitely solely on the certification of the attorney general, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't an immigrant.

Then they came to eavesdrop on suspects consulting with their attorneys, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a suspect.

Then they came to prosecute noncitizens before secret military commissions, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a noncitizen.

Then they came to enter homes and offices for unannounced "sneak and peak" searches, and I didn't speak up because I had nothing to hide.

Then they came to reinstate Cointelpro and resume the infiltration and surveillance of domestic religious and political groups, and I didn't speak up because I no longer participated in any groups.

Then they came to arrest American citizens and hold them indefinitely without any charges and without access to lawyers, and I didn't speak up because I would never be arrested.

Then they came to institute TIPS (Terrorism Information and Prevention System) recruiting citizens to spy on other citizens and I didn't speak up because I was afraid.

Then they came for anyone who objected to government policy because it only aided the terrorists and gave ammunition to America's enemies, and I didn't speak up ... because I didn't speak up.

Then they came for me, and by that time, no one was left to speak up.

Forum Column (from the Daily Journal, 11/20/02). Stephen Rohde is an attorney. He edited American Words of Freedom and was was president of the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California.

Does Rohde's text seem familiar? It should. He based it on one of the web's most widely-circulated texts about silence in the face of evil:

In Germany, the Nazis first came for the communists, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a communist. Then they came for the Jews, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Jew. Then they came for the trade unionists, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a trade unionist. Then they came for the Catholics, but I didn't speak up because I was a protestant. Then they came for me, and by that time there was no one left to speak for me.

That text appears in several slightly varying forms but is always attributed to the Lutheran pastor Martin Niemöeller (1892-1984), who was several times jailed by Hitler in the mid-thirties, then spent eight years in Sachenhausen and Dachau. He survived to become an important anti-nuclear pacifist. He was, from 1961-1968, President of the World Council of Churches. One source says that he frequently ended his speeches with that text, so the several variants may simply reflect transcriptions of those different events.

"I Only Have Eyes For You"

Because of the mini-heat wave last week, (if you can call 100+ temperatures mini) I have spent just about every night at my girlfriend’s apartment in Hoboken because she as air-conditioning and I don’t. While I love her dearly for this kindheartedness, it had increased the time of my daily commute. She would drop me off at the Path Train in Hoboken, which I then took to 33rd St. in Manhattan. There I'd transfer to the W Train which dropped me of right by my office in Astoria.

Thursday, as I was on the Path Train reading, a couple came in and stopped by the pole in between the two doors. The young lady was absolutely beautiful, though she did have a big teeth smile. She was someone that I knew was one of those girls that got looked over in high school; maybe looked a little too goofy for the guys to ask out. However, probably somewhere around 20-22 she grew into her body and left all those loser guys in the dust.

The point of this post is not to rave about how pretty she was. I am not writing with the purpose of making my girlfriend jealous. What really was significant was how this young woman looked at her man. Through the entire ride you could tell that he was the only person that she saw. The fact that she was so in love with this guy was so apparent from the look in her eyes. And that was perhaps the most beautiful thing of all.

Maybe they were new lovers. Hopefully, they had been together for quite awhile.

There was someone, once, to whom I looked at like that. I was so enthralled by her and everyone could see it. Her own mother told me that she saw my love for her daughter the first time I visited her hometown. While out with this girl one day, a complete stranger had even told me, "I hope someday I find someone who looks as me like you look at her."

Everyone could see the depth of my love for her. Everyone except her. ("Unrequited love is never romantic.")

Returning this story to my Thursday commute, I took the NJ Transit 12:15AM bus back to my girlfriend's apartment. Two rows behind me sat this gorgeous girl, and her boyfriend. I noticed her unique beauty as she was walking through the bus. (Again, I am not writing this to make my girlfriend jealous. She notices pretty women as well.) There's this comedian sitting in the back row. As he exits the bus, he tells the couple, "You (the girl) are quite gorgeous. (Turning to the guy) Make sure you hold on to her!"

You could feel the smile on their faces from that compliment as guy responded, "I will."

While I am still the kid rockstar (as you can tell from pictures of my gigs and funny posts), I think I've grown up enough to recognize a good thing when I see it. There's someone in my life that looks at me like that woman on the train looked at her man; like I used to look at that girl who never saw me. I've grown up enough to know that love like that does not come often in one's life.

I've grown up enough not to need a stranger to remind me to hold onto the good thing that has come into my life.

Too Funny, I Just Had to Share

Sometimes you just need a funny story/fart joke to make you laugh through the banality of work. This one was so funny, I had to share:


The HORROR


Hope you laugh as loud as I did!

Is It This Hot On The Sun?

Today, New York City will hit near record high temperatures. I think they are predicting 104 degrees F for Astoria, NY, where I work. What does that translates into Celsius, for my Canadian friends? I don't know, my brain is too hot to work out the math.


Fortunately for me, I have someone who loves me enough to let me sleep over in their air conditioned apartment and my office is often cold enough to hang meat. The heatwave is supposed to break Friday so I will be thankful when that happens.

So much has been going on in my life; so much I want to write about. Like my trip from Las Vegas to North Carolina and my trip to Chicago this past weekend. I am waiting to write about the cross country trip until I can get all my pictures together. And I'll write about Chicago by this weekend. Too much shit went down not to write about it.

This tired Spider is going to sign off now. I hope you are keeping cool wherever you are this summer. I'll be blogging soon.


Edited to Add: It hit 101 Degrees F this afternoon!!!!