The following topic will become very important very anyone accessing the Internet. I’m talking about Net Netrality. This is a highly debated topic. There are many websites out there tackling this issue and different defintions. Here is the best one, http://www.google.com/help/netneutrality.html

Basically, it means that if Net Neutrality is not kept, I will be paying AT&T to use Netscape to only look at CPV’s (cat peing videos). Or in otherwords, the ISP providers can dictate what programs we use and what content we see. This is called censorship, or dictatorship or communism.. and all kinds of things, but mainly breaking the First Amendment. It’s unconstitutional, and should not be allowed.

If you are reading this you must do at least one thing if you only do this… sign the petition on this link http://www.savetheinternet.com/I’m considering starting a blog devoted to this and I think I will. I really didn’t know much about this before, but I’m learning fast and I recognize how important of an issue this is for everyone, not just techy nerds like me. This will affect what my kid sees, what my friends and family are able to see, heck it could mean that people could no longer read my blog (as if anybody actually does).

Also check out where your legislators stand on this issue at http://www.savetheinternet.com/ thankfully my representative, Sen. Byron L. Dorgan (D-ND)is for this and he said the following: “It’s essential that we preserve Internet freedom. The open architecture which now exists, and which allows everyone fair access to any site on the Internet, without gatekeepers, must be preserved. That is what our bill would do — preserve Internet freedom, which is at the very core of what makes the Internet so important, and something that enriches the lives of millions of Americans.”

Net Neutrality is very important!

The following topic will become very important very anyone accessing the Internet. I’m talking about Net Netrality. This is a highly debated topic. There are many websites out there tackling this issue and different defintions. Here is the best one, http://www.google.com/help/netneutrality.html

Basically, it means that if Net Neutrality is not kept, I will be paying AT&T to use Netscape to only look at CPV’s (cat peing videos). Or in otherwords, the ISP providers can dictate what programs we use and what content we see. This is called censorship, or dictatorship or communism.. and all kinds of things, but mainly breaking the First Amendment. It’s unconstitutional, and should not be allowed.

If you are reading this you must do at least one thing if you only do this… sign the petition on this link. http://www.savetheinternet.com/
I’m considering starting a blog devoted to this and I think I will. I really didn’t know much about this before, but I’m learning fast and I recognize how important of an issue this is for everyone, not just techy nerds like me. This will affect what my kid sees, what my friends and family are able to see, heck it could mean that people could no longer read my blog (as if anybody actually does).

Also check out where your legislators stand on this issue at http://www.savetheinternet.com/ thankfully Sen. Byron L. Dorgan (D-ND)is for this and he said the following: “It’s essential that we preserve Internet freedom. The open architecture which now exists, and which allows everyone fair access to any site on the Internet, without gatekeepers, must be preserved. That is what our bill would do — preserve Internet freedom, which is at the very core of what makes the Internet so important, and something that enriches the lives of millions of Americans.”

Inspiration to write

While searching Wikipedia.org, I looked up Pierz, Minnesota, my hometown. The entry was not complete, at least that’s what I felt. So, I added to it, I tried to be as accurate as possible. The following is what was there prior to my addition and I will also indicate what I added. I am sure I will add more, but that will come later.

Pierz, Minnesota
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Pierz is a city in Morrison County, Minnesota, United States. The population was 1,277 at the 2000 census.

[edit]
Geography
According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 3.5 km² (1.4 mi²), all land.

[edit]
Demographics
As of the census2 of 2000, there were 1,277 people, 512 households, and 321 families residing in the city. The population density was 365.2/km² (945.8/mi²). There were 522 housing units at an average density of 149.3/km² (386.6/mi²). The racial makeup of the city was 98.67% White, 0.39% Native American, and 0.94% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 0.08% of the population.

There were 512 households out of which 28.7% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 48.8% were married couples living together, 11.9% had a female householder with no husband present, and 37.3% were non-families. 33.0% of all households were made up of individuals and 22.5% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.29 and the average family size was 2.91.

In the city the population was spread out with 23.6% under the age of 18, 8.2% from 18 to 24, 22.9% from 25 to 44, 15.2% from 45 to 64, and 30.1% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 41 years. For every 100 females there were 79.4 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 72.1 males.

The median income for a household in the city was $27,292, and the median income for a family was $34,167. Males had a median income of $29,107 versus $21,250 for females. The per capita income for the city was $14,638. About 6.0% of families and 13.6% of the population were below the poverty line, including 12.7% of those under age 18 and 20.8% of those age 65 or over.

—– Here is what I added.

Pierz is also home to the Father Pierz School of Religion. Father Pierz was a Minnesota pioneer and early missionary. He is responsible in a large part for the German migration to Central MN in the mid 1800’s and his relationship with the Native Americans was unmatched. The city of Pierz, MN is named in his honor.

Father Pierz School of Religion was established by the four parishes in Pierz, Buckman, Lastrup and Harding to offer religious instruction to students attending public school. Hoffman has been a fixture at FPSR since Pioneer Elementary opened in 1991. It is located at 80 South Edward Street in the rear of Holy Trinity School Gym.

Pierz was named for Father Francis Xavier Pierz. Father Pierz was a Slovenian born Indian priest who came to the area in the mid-1800’s to found schools and Catholic Churches in the central Minnesota area. Pierz was first a farming community when it was founded in 1865. The Herman Billig family was first to arrive. The Town was officially on 9 March 1869. It was incorporated on 12 January 1892, but with the name of Rich Prairie. On 15 August 1894, the people voted to change the name of the town to Pierz, for Father Pierz.

Every year Pierz celebrates Oktoberfest during the last weekend in August. There is a medallion search, with daily clues and where the winner gets a prize package from local businesses. There is also a parade and festival at the city park plus other events.

— This inspired me to think of more things to add, such as Pierz sporting related material, such as how many times the high school athletic teams won state titles etc. I also thought about Fish Lake, (which was not on Wikipedia – so I will have to add that once I find some information on it). It’s also home to Maurice Faust, a local author of a few historic books and another unknown author my dad, whose birthday always falls on Oktoberfest weekend. Since dad doesn’t read my blog, I can safely state that for a birthday idea (doesn’t mean it will happen) I will take his book he wrote “Up in the woods, early times” and do some more with it and get it printed professionally. He doesn’t have that much, but I do have some of his original writings that have not been typed, so maybe that will add to it. I will also add some photos and stuff. I’m just not sure how much I can get done before his birthday, so I think I might need some help with this. It might acutally turn out to be something pretty cool. It will take a lot work, but it will be worth it.

ND State Fair

On Saturday, we (Jen, Madeline and I) went to the North Dakota State Fair. It was also my first trip to the Metropolitan area of Minot, ND. (I’m being fecious, since Minot is not that big, (from Wikipedia.org: Minot is a city located in north central North Dakota in the United States. With 36,567 people, Minot is the fourth largest city in the state. The city is the county seat of Ward CountyGR6 and the trading center of a large portion of northern North Dakota, southwestern Manitoba, and southeastern Saskatchewan. Minot is also known as the Magic City. Minot was founded in 1886.)

I’m not sure what’s so “Magic” about Minot, maybe it was the magical masturbating bear, they used to have. This is true, at least according to the Big Dogz on KJ108.

Anyway, the fair was hot and there were a lot of people. The best part was probably the “Bunny Barn” since it was nice and cool in there and the rabbits were cute. Jen thought the one was dead, but it was just sleeping. I guess that’s how the French Lops are, they are much more calm, most other rabbits are one second away from having a coronary if you disturb them.

We lost some money to the “carnies” and didn’t win a damn thing. We didn’t go on any rides. We got some stuff from the commercial booths, such as some miracle ring cleaner and glass cleaner and an accupressure thingy.

We were going to go and see Steve Miller, but at $30 a ticket and 90 degree temps with a 2 and half year old, we decided to skip it and buy the greatest hits cd instead later. That’s much cheaper and besides if we went to see the band, we wouldn’t have been able to get that close anyway. We did hear them start as we were leaving. It’s a good thing we left when we did too, since a couple were mugged that night. Just think, a mugging in Minot, geez.

Well, I’m not sure if I am going back to the ND State Fair, unless they have something really cool, like PJ or something (which is highly unlikely). Maybe we will check out the Minnesota State Fair.

Clerks II

One of the best movies of the summer will come out this Friday. I am eagerly awating when I get to see it.

I never saw the original on the big screen and actually in 1994 when it was released, I never even heard of it, I actually didn’t see it until many years later when I was in college. I wonder if I would have liked it as much, had I seen it in 1994. I think I would have liked but not as much, since I can relate more to the characters now that I am older.

The plot of the original is this: A day in the lives of two convenience clerks named Dante and Randal as they annoy customers, discuss movies, and play hockey on the store roof.

Some other information about the movie:
Trivia: The anti-smoking sentiment in the film represented Kevin Smith’s own viewpoint when he wrote the screenplay. Silent Bob doesn’t inhale when he puffs on his cigarette because of this. After filming this movie, he became a two-pack-a-day smoker. (more)

Goofs: Plot holes: The Administer of Fines states that the little girl was sold cigarettes at 4 that afternoon. This is impossible because the sale occurred before the hockey game, which was at 2 p.m., and Dante and Randal were at the wake at 4 p.m. (Director admitted this in DVD commentary).

I must note that this info is from IMDB.com and for more information on this and the new movie visit www.imdb.com and search for Clerks and Clerks II, there are quotes and much more.

Now, I hope I am not disappointed with this new movie by Kevin Smith, as was Joel Siegel (what a jackass) this pathetic excuse for a critic walked out on the screening of Clerks II, which recieved a standing ovation at the Cannes film festival. This is the first time Siegel has walked out of a movie in 30 years or so, according to what I read on Kevin Smith’s website. So the point is, don’t read what idiot critics have to say, they wouldn’t know a good movie if they saw one. The best ideas have always recieved poor reviews at first, as an example, FedEx was a college term paper that recieved a C. Hmmm… another example of stupidity on someone’s part. I could go on and on about stupidity but that is digressing too far from this topic. So quit wasting time reading my blog and watch Clerks II.

Blogger.com sucks

I’m a little p’od. I just finished writing a long blog about the sequel to one of th greatest movies of all time (well maybe not, but it is funny) of course I am talking about Clerks. Just as I finished and clicked publish Blogger.com crashed and I was experiencing problems and even tried to copy what I had written to the clipboard at the last second to no avail.

Oh well, that’s my only complaint with blogger.com so far. I just was mad about that, otherwise it’s a great website, now watch and see how they delete my blog after writing about them in a negative manner. In the legal mumbo jumbo that everyone gets when you open an account and click “I accept” or whatever, there is probbably a statement like this: “If you write negative comments in your blog, we can delete your account, seize all of your assets and take your first born,” or something like that.

Well, now I am going to rewrite my blog about Clerks II.

Nicknames and Mascots

I just finished watching two videos regarding Indian or Native American mascots, nicknames and logos. Obviously these were propaganda videos that were in support of eliminating the use of Indian nicknames, mascots, etc.

I can see the arguments of both sides for and against the elimination. However, I will state that I am not in support of changing the University of North Dakota Fighting Sioux nickname, since more than three-fourths of the Native Americans in this state feel the same way.

A small minority of Native Americans do not support the use of a nickname or logo. I’m not going to be arrogant and say they should feel respected, even though the nickname and logo are used with respect. A larger population of Native Americans don’t care, they have bigger issues to deal with.

The videos that I watched did provide a little more insight into the issue for me. The one video was about UND and the other was focused on the Fighting Illini and I could see many similiarities.

In the case of the Fighting Illini, the tradition was started by the band director (more than 70 years ago) as a stunt and this tradition of a white guy or gal dancing around in native costume is a little too much. They should nix that. However, the use of the name and the logo are another issue.

At UND the logo was designed by a Native American and it is not a cartoon, it is a very professionally looking representation of native Americans.

As for the Washington Redskins, I’m not sure how I feel about that. The Cleveland Indians is another team logo that probably should be changed. The name can stay, but the cartoon image should probably be altered. Even the Twins have changed their logo many times.

I could on and on about this but I think I’ve said enough for now.

Hot, hot summer

For the first time in years, the temperature in Grand Forks almost hit 100 and like an idiot, I was outside working hard hauling dirt around. I drank plenty of water to keep hydrated. I also had access to my new “beer fridge” in my garage (of course that worked against keeping me from becoming dehydrated) oh well.

I was sort of hoping it would hit 100, since whats the difference between 98 and 100 anyway? As a kid, I remember sitting outside in 100 plus degree temps painting and the paint would dry as fast as the brush hit the wood. I also remember how good the air conditioning felt. I don’t know what we would do without air conditioners.

At least with the dry spell I don’t have to cut my grass as much. If doesn’t rain soon, I won’t have to cut it at all until next year, that is if it doesn’t die off completely.

I am sure I can get it to rain if I start working on assembling Madeline’s playground set. I bought it over a year ago and now the area that we want to set it up at is almost ready. I was busy hauling the dirt to the area during the hot, hot summer weather. Although, I feel that was better than the alternative of working inside the house and trying to organize things.

That’s about all I have say about this topic.

PJ in St. Paul

Last Monday, I went to see my favorite band, Pearl Jam perform at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, Minn. This was the third or fourth time I have seen them, I’m pretty sure it’s the third time, since the first time I was supposed to see them, my grandmother passed away. Jen and I were going to travel to Wisconsin to see PJ but sadly our plans had to change.

The first time I saw them was in Fargo with Jen. That was a great concert. I don’t remember who opened. Since we are in the Ten Club we had great seats The next time I saw them was at the MTS Centre in Winnipeg, Manitoba also with Jen. That was an awesome concert and we had fricking awesome seats. I could see up Eddie’s nose. The opening band were the Supersuckers, and Eddie came out in a Mexican Wrestling mask to perform one song with them.

Now, in St. Paul I’m not even sure Eddie was on stage, it could have been anybody, since I was way in the back, the last frickin row mind you, but still people wanted to be behind us and were sneaking on the floor. I probably paid the most for these seats and they were not fan club seats. This time, Luke went with me. Jen would have had to come with me if I had Ten Club seats, since her name is on the membership.

I did see Tom Petty at this concert, since they put him on the big jumbo tron screens. This was also the first concert where PJ was not the main act. I guess Eddie performed one song with Tom Petty but I didn’t get to see that, since we left early. This was however the first time I have heard PJ live performing new material and it sounded great, although the accoustics of the Xcel center suck. The bootlegs I bought sound much better with my iPod.

Well that’s all I have to say about that. Can’t wait until I get to see PJ again. Hope it won’t be too long. I wish had the time and money to travel around with the Jamily to catch a few shows instead of just one every other year or so.