Sadly, a local icon passed away yesterday afternoon.  Doris Demos of the world-renowned, if not Mid-TN renowned, Demos’ restaurant chain died in Murfreesboro:

“She was the heart and soul of Demos’, and she made the heart and soul the way she did with her kids, which was with discipline of the staff — and she did it with 100 percent love,” he said.Peter explained that his mother had been in good health her entire life, but suffered a massive stroke Tuesday night that caused hemorrhaging next to her brain stem. She died on Wednesday afternoon.

I started going to Demos’ shortly after they opened when I attended MTSU.  Mrs. Demos was an omnipresent fixture.  Everything was always outstanding – the food, the staff – everything.  Especially the price.

One night, and this is my only Doris Demos story, I ordered a steak that might have been a little too rare and did not feel so well afterwards.  In what was sure to be a sign of things to come, I left a negative comment card on the table.

Bright and early the very next morning, I got a personal phone call from Mrs. Demos inviting me to come back and that she would take care of everything.  And she did.   That’s been over 15 years ago as much as it pains me to say and to this day I still go there for a bowl of baked chicken and rice soup whenever I start feel a cold coming on.

Godspeed, Mrs. D and condolences to the family.   You are already missed.

Forgive the long post.  I’m not known for being particularly laconic.

Does idolizing someone require you to suspend rational thought?  If independent, rational thought is at the core of your principles, can you really ever have an idol?  Even if that idol inspired your radical libertarian way of thinking?  Because at some point have to accept as a creed of sorts that humans are deeply flawed, overemotional, and irrational on the inside and many will disappoint you at all turns, especially the ones you put on a pedestal.  How can they let you down if you didn’t hold them up in the first place? I assert that you probably hold someone in too much esteem because they have only revealed to you what they want you to see, and that you don’t truly know them.  If you still feel deep affection for someone despite who they actually are, and you are in full possession of your senses, then that is called love/friendship and is a whole different issue.

I started thinking about this a few months ago while researching Ayn Rand.  I was curious about what she thought about the infirm, the mentally ill, and the unborn.  I discovered to my dismay that her belief in the inalienable rights of the human individual does not extend to those who still have an umbilical cord attached, no matter which trimester.  She also believed that handicapped people shouldn’t be seen in public, especially by children.  So there’s a hole in her belief that she would never ask another man to give up his life for her.  And her belief that one should never initiate violence. But I guess that depends on your objectivist definition of “man”.  If his existence is an undue burden for you , and he has no ability to rationalize, then he is not a human, and therefore he is dispensable.

While I was deciding whether I was going to throw the baby out with the bathwater, I realized that my beliefs are not an all-or-nothing proposition.  Independent thought is an a-la-carte menu and I don’t have to dine exclusively at the table of Ayn Rand.  I can take from her table some very important ideas and accept that despite her brilliance she is still deeply flawed.  I also am freed from idolizing her.  Which is refreshing, because I dislike the idea of submitting myself to someone else’s ideas so completely.

All that being said, I found this video very interesting.

I think Penn’s problem is that he suspended his independent thought when it came to his idol. And when his idol disappointed him, it hit him like spit in the face.  Literally.  The sad thing is that Jillette is temporarily abandoning his own reason by thinking that perhaps his unhinged hero may have been correct .  But it jars a person when he gets yelled at by someone dear to them, and most deeply flawed human beings want to make things right when their world gets a crack in it.  Jillette can’t change Smothers, so instead he considers changing himself.

I just have to say, if I had to agree with someone on all core principles in order to even engage them in conversation, then my husband and I would never speak to one another.

I also believe Tommy Smothers is an ass, but I still like his yo yo tricks.

Thought you might like to know…

I learned two things this past week that challenged my assumptions.   First that Jack Kerouac was a conservative Catholic who supported the Vietnam war and was friends with William F. Buckley. I think I’ll read “On the Road” with that in mind now. My second surprise that the lead singer for Depeche Mode has a string of ex wives and three children.  Now I can hear “Behind the Wheel” without suffering all of the Brokeback Mountain images that used to come to mind.

Sometimes the strangest things make me feel good.

Anybody have any more welcome surprises?

Only 5 weeks removed and boy, do I miss the fiscal restraint of the Bush administration.

Like the lemming that I am, I admit to contributing an extra $20 to the pot that has already earned close to $100 million dollars in the 9 days since ‘Marley & Me’ was released.   At the screening I saw at Green Hills last night, the theater was so packed that the ushers were re-seating people to make room for everyone looking for a spot.

Sorry if we’re not licking the ‘Milk’ out of your saucer, Hollywood.

It is a testament to the nature of the American people that they would freely give up a hundred large for a mawkish send-up cynically and laboriously designed to pluck at your heart strings.

This is what makes our culture different from the Islamic ones.  We care more about our dogs than they care about their children.

I’m not going to go into any spoilers here like I usually would.  (more…)

I’ve been completely happy with my Zune until about 2 am this morning. That was roughly around the time that every first generation 30GB Zune in the world froze up with no foreseeable fix in sight outside of a hard reset.   Z2K9 – here we come!

An unidentified software bug has affected 30GB first generation versions of the Microsoft Zune digital media player.

The company appears baffled by the cause but on its website said it is aware of the problem and is working to correct it.

The problem is apparently a worldwide one with customers reporting their devices freeze when booted.

Let’s not confuse “appears baffled” with “pantshittingly retarded”.

Quote one expert:

“I’ve never heard of a consumer electronic device fail en masse like this,” said Matt Rosoff, an analyst with Directions on Microsoft, a Seattle-based research firm that focuses on the software giant.

Rosoff estimated that as many as one million people may have been affected by the glitch, which disabled the original 30 gigabyte Zune players.

Never again, MicroStank.  This the Corvair of the Digital Age and unsafe at any speed.

Due to your complete inability to produce a media player untainted by the foul stench of your software failures, I will never buy one of these again and will likely choose a Mac or a Linux OS in the future for all future desktops or laptops.

Congratulations on another successful PR campaign, doucherags.  Z2K9, indeed.

Not one just to bitch and moan, I’m all about solutions:

A)  You can bite the bullet and trade these out for new models of the same size.

B)  Sub out the repair to local outlets like Best Buy.

C) Overnight the tiny screwdriver kit to remove the case to everyone responding on your website with directions for the hard reset.  Not even my eyeglass screwdriver is small enough to fit these screws.

D)  Eat the peanuts out of my crap.

The choice is yours.

Cranky gloats in the comments.  What can I say?  We didn’t listen!

Blank Zune templates after the jump.  Just do a “Save As” and  Photoshop your own idea of what a real frozen Zune screen should look like and I’ll post them (send to -b-dot-mcmurphy-at-yah00000!-dot-com).

Micro Soft On Quality Update: Allegedly this time freeing feature of the Zune will work itself out at the stroke of midnight.  In other words, “don’t just do something – sit there!”*

Yay.  Just in time for everybody to go home.

Another wonderful bit of tech advice from the people who never met a problem that powering down your system and restarting couldn’t fix.

(more…)

Mark my words.  Your vacation from history is never as long as you hope it will be.

Turn ya stereo up’n’shit.

Due to the dangerous health risks and rise in emergency room visits from the “My Friends” Drinking Game, Metro Health and Human Services has asked that Six Meat Buffet not have another live presidential debate thread.

Concerned citizens or bullying bureaucrats?

More importantly, does anyone think McCain’s going to do anything but bring a Nerf rocket launcher to a South Side of Chicago gunfight?

I’m voting early this weekend based solely on the performance tonight and then I’m done with this mess.  If McCain stinks up the hall like a nursing home again then I am walking right into that voting booth and leaving the choice for President blank.  Republicans need to admit that they have a problem and it’s not that they are too conservative.

My friends on the Right side of the aisle, in the future you might want to nominate someone whose main accomplishment includes something other than knowing how to take a beating.  We’ll file that under “foreshadowing”.

I know.  I don’t see “The Big Picture”.  As if this cinematic nightmare has not been rolling across my screen for the past two years.  It took eight long years of watching the people I voted for, showing no desire to lead whatsoever, to get me to this point.   But I’m here now and I doubt I’m alone.

So….Debate Thread?

The Madcap Live Laughs after the jump.  Might as well jump. (more…)

I have seen the future my children.  And it is blurry.

If I was Catholic, I’d be ashamed to have this zombie looking bastard as the head of my church heading into the week of Easter:

Pope Benedict XVI issued one of his strongest appeals for peace in Iraq on Sunday, days after the body of the kidnapped Chaldean Catholic archbishop was found near the northern city of Mosul.The pope also denounced the 5-year-long Iraq war, saying it had provoked the complete breakup of Iraqi civilian life.

“Enough with the slaughters. Enough with the violence. Enough with the hatred in Iraq!” Benedict said to applause at the end of his Palm Sunday Mass in St. Peter’s Square.

Seems appeasing Pope Pederast can’t differentiate between an army trying to quell violence and al Qaeda remnants recruiting the mentally retarded to suicide bomb coffee shops.

But what is the solution, oh Wise One?

“In his homily, Benedict urged the faithful to follow God with the innocence and purity of a child’s heart.“To recognize God, we must abandon the pride that dazzles us, that seeks to push us away from God,” he said. To find God, he said, “we must learn to see with a young heart, one which isn’t blocked by prejudice and dazzled by interests.”

But Benedict continued, “A young heart not polluted by the feverish feelings of the sinful hand moving up their tender legs. ‘Enough I say! Enough of this world that doesn’t understand that an 80 year old man is only as young as the boy that he feels. Enough of this world that is breaking the sacred bond between a priest and an altar boy. Enough of this world that….

Wait. What were we talking about again? “

On one hand, I am happy to see my tween son has a fashion sense. Me, I let my mother dress me until my freshman year – in college.

For the kid, wearing the brand names make him feel popular, which no doubt contributes to his self-confidence. I see it working and think that it’s great.

On the other hand, paying $30 for a $15 dollar shirt to enrich a porn-envelope pushing company which, in turn, sends dollars to the same commie plant that makes the cheaper brand sets off every red flag in my collection.

Am I overthinking this?

Straight talk.

Late on Tuesday evenings, before I turn in I enjoy watching The Real Housewives of Orange County.

It’s ok though because I live in ‘The OC’.

Right?

Right??

I must come clean. Perhaps the guilt that has been weighing me down for months could be lessened if I bare my soul to the Six Meat Buffet faithful.

Here goes…

Every Monday night, I watch The Hills.

Wait, it gets worse.

In the hour leading up to my guilty pleasure, Mrs TinyElvis insists that we watch I Love New York.