Wow, for the first time in my experience here I have officially been blacklisted. It is sort of fun you know. I have to admit however that I am at a loss as to why though. I simply commented that Sir Peter Maxwell really ought to fire the peasants he had produce his latest show as the production wasn't fitting to a man of his standing in society. I stopped back in to see what other constructive opinions there were in the thread only to find my post deleted, a trite, insipid, and dull-...

It happens again and again. Every time I see it I wince. I wonder why it is funny, I know it shouldn't be funny. But every time it still makes us laugh. Face it, we just love to see guys getting smacked in the jimmies. "The family jewels', "the boys", "the 'nads", and so on. We have a thousand names for them, and a thousand ways to hit 'em. Kicked, punched, head butted, baseballs, hockey pucks, bats, golf clubs, and just about anything else you can think of. And we continue to fin...

It happens again and again. Every time I see it I wince. I wonder why it is funny, I know it shouldn't be funny. But every time it still makes us laugh. Face it, we just love to see guys getting smacked in the jimmies. "The family jewels', "the boys", "the 'nads", and so on. We have a thousand names for them, and a thousand ways to hit 'em. Kicked, punched, head butted, baseballs, hockey pucks, bats, golf clubs, and just about anything else you can think of. And we continue to fin...

Today I received a surprise. This morning I was asked to become the teacher for a group of 7 year olds at church. Oh boy. I am not too sure how things are done in other churches, but when I tell folks how we do things they act like it is odd, so I will briefly explain for the sake of clarity. In our church we don't have a paid clergy, rather we have a lay clergy. All those in positions in the church, leadership, teaching, facilities management, material management, financial affairs,...

I mentioned it a few articles ago, but I am now working hard on my OB/Gyn rotation. I was really not looking forward to it, nor did I think I was going to have a good time. I tried to go into it with a good attitude though, and found a pleasant surprise. I am having a great time. Sure, it takes some getting used to. But it is so much fun. Kind, generous ladies let me come into the room, talk to them, and (with the physician there) let me learn how best to examine them. I get to lis...

As some of you know I am currently in my second year of medical school at Duke. We do things a bit different here, we cram the normal two years of classes into our first so we can get on the wards and clinics in our second year, rather than waiting for our third. This carries with it numerous advantages. We have a lot more time to think on what type of residency we want to apply to, and even have a year in which we can do research in that field (if we want to). I worked for a number of ...

Of course I would never pretend to actually be able to learn all about life in eight weeks. But starting today I have eight weeks to learn all I can about the miracle that is the creation and formation of a new life. Wow, eight weeks. Should be fast, could be fun. And I am scared. Today I began my eight week OB/Gyn rotation. Certainly I won't become an expert by any stretch of the imagination in that time. In fact I will probably have no choice but to learn just enough to do well o...

Our age is a curious thing. On the surface it seems like it should be really quite universal and absolute. After all, 25 years is 25 years, right? I am not so sure anymore. I am quickly coming up on my 28th birthday. That seems pretty straight forward. On that day I will have been alive for 10,227 days. Anyone with the same birth date as me will have been alive for the exact same amount of time. I mean, how much more objective can you get? So why is age so subjective? Grante...

Supernova-The Conclusion Finally the time came to pull Ganymede from its orbit around Jupiter and lock it in an artificial gravity well generated a safe distance from earth. The gravitational force of the moon would be nullified by the gravity well we had created, making it safe. Since most of the lead scientists were from America, it was decided the moon would be moved when it was night in the Western Hemisphere, making it a spectacle not to be missed. It was last night. I imag...

There are a lot of great blogs here. And a lot of folks talk a lot about their lives in their blogs. Up to this point I haven't really written much about myself. But as I feel I am starting to make some online friends here and become part of a community I don't much care for the idea of hiding behind the anonymity of my screen name. So I thought I would write a little about who I actually am and what makes me tick. Arrogant of me? Perhaps, but I don't mean it to be. Actually it is an e...

Supernova part VII I feel so cynical now. My cynicism has grown steadily over the years, corresponding to a loss of idealism. I was not a lone cynic through the course of the years, there were many of us. And when this “wonderful” idea was proposed we raised our collective voices in defiance to this plan. We were sure it was doomed to failure. Sadly, we were not possessed of clairvoyance sufficient to know how right we were. Perhaps we would not have relented so easily. Our p...

In my years of navigating the ofttimes murky waters of the net I have noticed an interesting phenomenon. It is one that can be seen at just about any forum, BB, Usenet group, IRC channel, and so on. In fact it only takes a quick glance over a random sampling of threads here at good old Joe User to see this phenomenon in action. And it is such a simple principle really. Anonymity breeds arrogance. It most certainly does. Hiding behind our screen names we have the power to construct f...

So, due to numerous posts in the last little bit I had the joy of watching my ranking rise from around 160 to an even 100 (at the time of this writing). I have had a bit more to say as of late, mostly my new "Song of the Day" articles, as well as posting some short fiction of my own, but also the occasional personal article. So I thought I would take a glance at the rest of the rankings. And I discovered something interesting. A lot of those who are ranked higher than me have a fair n...

Supernova part VI Our technology and that of the Goran were so evenly matched that, while battles were won, neither side scored any major victory. Nevertheless, twenty-five years of intergalactic warfare requires billions of lives. One could say I was fortunate. Not every young man can be sent off to battle, there would be no future population to enjoy the spoils of victory. I was selected due to a number of genetic “gifts” to be left behind. I am to ensure that there is a future ...

Supernova part V I never thought the Goran looked particularly menacing, tall, gangly beings with a tight coat of hair of various colors, faces almost feline. But the news mods painted them as the most horrible of beasts. I went to sleep every night for years paralyzed by the fear of awakening to see the felinesque visage of a Goran, muzzle wet with the warm lifeblood of my parents, grinning cruelly as he savored the prospect of more fresh meat. Each morning I awoke, whole and physi...