Execution Day

It's been in the news lately: Texas to Execute #500 as though it was some sort of crazy fire sale where only the first 500 customers will be given a toaster oven with purchase. Number 500 happens to be a woman, which I'm sure is driving up the media interest along with the "milestone" total.

From the article linked to above: Texas has carried out nearly 40 percent of the more than 1,300 executions in U.S. since the Supreme Court allowed capital punishment to resume in 1976. The state's standing stems from its size as the nation's second most populous state as well as its tradition of tough justice for killers.

I'm not particularly a pro-death penalty advocate, but I'm neither anti-DP, either. I wish for a time when we could value human life more than we do now; if that were the case, then there wouldn't be nearly the need for capital punishment. Until that time however, I would hope that the death penalty would be used almost exactly as how I would want abortions to happen: rarely and only with a good reason.

Pool Party Crasher

The Only Ink I Want On Me

Is if my ballpoint leaks in my shirt pocket.

You Should Get An Asian Inspired Tattoo

Mysterious and expressive, you like to show off, but you also like to keep some allure.

What Tattoo Should You Get?

And, as soon as I got a tattoo, you'd hear a whirring sound from my mother spinning in her grave. (she'd do the same if I bought a motorcycle or hooked back up with any of a specific few old girlfriends)  It would be my luck if I DID get an Asian inspired tattoo, it would say something like "Stupid Caucasian".

There's Something Fishy About This Sport

In 2010, Bethel University in McKenzie, Tennessee started offering athletic scholarships in competitive bass fishing.  The school is one of over 200 to have a competitive bass fishing team.

Bering Sea Bullies

I've been a fan of the Discovery Channel show Deadliest Catch since it first aired.  Here lately, though, it's started going the way of most reality shows with less focus on fishing and more about creating a good guy/bad guy dichotomy between the different boat captains and highlighting the dissension in the crews.  The producers of the show also seem to be "creating drama" where none needs to be; after all, as the show title says, it's one of the deadliest jobs in the world.

The show has slowly been losing my interest;  where I couldn't wait to watch it, I simply don't care now.  I won't go into all the drama that's happened over the last few shows but it was the last episode that's making me think I will probably start watching something else.  I'll try to explain why in as few words as I can.

Most of the captains are superstitious and have rituals they do.  That's fine, although when they pray to the "crab gods" I have to cringe a little bit.  (I'm not an expert on Greek or Roman mythology, but I don't recall any crab gods) One boat, the Northwestern, has a crew member bite the head off a fish that they use for bait.  I've never seen anyone really "forced" to do it and one of the part-owners, the head deck hand, will often do it.

Keith, the captain/owner of the Wizard, is more superstitious than most and that's saying something.  One of his deckhands (Freddy), while on another boat, once shaved his head in a Mohawk cut to change their luck when the pots were coming up empty or nearly so and afterwards they started catching more crab.  On the last episode, Freddy insisted a new hire (a "greenhorn") shave his head and the young man refused.  Freddy went ballistic, threatening the kid and it's easy to see the greenhorn's days are numbered on that boat. (see excerpt from the show)

It's been disturbing to me to see the majority of the comments on the show's Facebook page about the incident; most people are saying they would have done it, that you should "do what the captain says you should do".  What great little Nazis those people would have made!  Several idiots said the young man's refusal to get his head shaved was an indication of how far our society has fallen while others said he should have done it "for the good of the team".  I could rebut that on the post or in this one, but won't.  It's really too asinine to try to explain why and how wrong they are.

I've been around hazing a lot;  it started in junior high, when the eighth graders decided we younger ones had to be initiated into that level of school.  The same thing happened when we entered high school and also in football.  "Worms", the oil field term for "greenhorns" were also hazed during their first days on the job with practical jokes and the ritual of "doping" (a pipe lubricant) their privates. 

I've already written more than I should have on the subject, but I don't understand how tormenting or bullying someone makes them a part of a team.  After my jr. hi. initiation (being held down and punched in the chest with their knuckles, leaving a bruise that lasted for months) I swore I would never let it happen again....and it didn't.

People who like to haze or bully others all for the sake of supposed camaraderie or because of some asinine superstition are nothing short of psychopaths.