Archives for category: News

It contained hidden messages and gang signs!  (Of course the intelligentsia of Chicago along with city clerk Susana Mendoza, spotted the snafu before thousands of this image was put onto stickers.)  So, his art was replaced by a runner-up.

What’s this world coming to?  Kids with evil intentions trying to promote gang propaganda!!!  Thank Tebow it was stopped by the smarter, more chaste and altruistic adults of this good country.

You have to read the article, or watch the video.

http://news.yahoo.com/video/chicagocbs2-15750637/boy-s-sticker-design-nixed-replaced-by-runner-up-28238572.html

http://www.stltoday.com/news/national/chicago-art-contest-gets-sticky/article_1094993c-8569-55f2-9b38-2edf83069bec.html

Personally, I think most people in Chicago are gang members.  Chicago was the criminal hotspot for the likes of Al Capone and his cronies in the 20’s.  I believe that most of the people living in Chicago now are descendants of Al Capone and likely have gangster blood in them.

I can't believe the gang references!

Being colored, I’m a natural gang expert.  So let me break the picture down for you.  When I look, I see more than gang signs.  I see the devil.

  • The use of the color red around the border of the entire image.  Red is the color of the Bloods gang, based in L.A.  This is obviously a shout out to those gang members on the west coast.  The symbolization here is that the Bloods are surrounding (or controlling) the city of Chicago.  A sly nod to the future expansion of the Blood organization.
  • Another reference to the Bloods and Crips is the color blue in the policeman hat and the red in the fireman hat.  This was NO coincidence.  The hats are facing off at one other, just like the B & C’s.  (This could mean the Crips will also be widening their territory here.)
  • The 2 blue and 1 white stripe in the heart image is the Argentinian flag colors.  This is a shout out to the barra bravas, the dangerous gangs that control the sport of football in Argentina.  Another gang that is probably planting seeds in the fine city of Chicago.
  • The 6 pointed star in the image is the star used by the Folk Nation, a hard Chicago gang.  The fact that the star is red in color also indicates bloodshed.  The 4 stars indicate the 4 leaders of the Folk Nation that control Chicago’s mean streets.
  • The color yellow, which is heavily used in the entire picture, is the same color used by the Latin Kings, another notorious Chicago gang.  Do you see where I’m going here?
  • The words “Chicago’s Heroes” is an anagram for “Hogies Croches”.  It is well-known that Chicago has great hogies sandwiches.  There are also many croches in Chicago.  The term Hogies Croches lends itself to a phallic reference of the majority of gang members being male.
  • Lastly, the different colored hands means that gangs are now accepting applications for new members of different ethnicities.  Hence the gang signs in the hand gestures.

It’s a shame what kids come up with these days.  It’s a good thing the gang experts of Chicago’s finest have caught the error of this young 15-year old’s ways.  It’s a good thing that so much manpower is put towards protecting the innocent.  We need it.

To learn more about what you can do to protect yourself from gangs, read the info below.  As a word of advice, don’t wear or use gang colors…such as green, yellow, red, or blue.  Cheers!

Barra Bravas

Latin_Kings

Bloods

Crips

Folk Nation

Should I teach Gavin about the middle finger?  Before his friends teach him?  On Sunday, I watched the Super Bowl along with the halftime show featuring Madonna.  I enjoyed it as much as anyone without HD TV can.  (We used to have HD Cable, but I couldn’t justify $120 for 3 hours of TV a month.  So, we now have basic cable…18 channels.  I think.)

Madonna sang some of her classic songs and her contortionists wriggled and twisted themselves around her.  LMFAO made their appearance.  Then there was M.I.A. (who sang the catchy “Paper Planes” song…) onscreen doing her thing and suddenly flicks everyone off!  (I thought she was looking directly at me when she threw up the middle finger and let’s just say she and I “had a moment”.  For a second, I thought it was a proposition.)  The thing is that it never registered in my brain as offensive or disrespectful.  In fact, it wasn’t until I read about her now infamous left hand salute that I realized that it was a big deal.  But, to who?

Correct me if I’m wrong, but a middle finger is just like the other fingers, only a little longer.  If given the choice to be offended by either a Janet Jackson areola or M.I.A. finger during Superbowl, I’ll pick Janet anytime…which reminds me that I should start taping these saucy halftime shows.

Gavin’s not old enough to understand what offensive gestures are.  (An example would be picking someone else’s nose, which is why his fingers are constantly scavenging my nostrils.  If it was anyone else, I’d fly off the handle.  Maybe not for Lindsay Lohan, though.  I digress.)  In this instance, I got off explanation free.  But, it got me wondering how to approach this 4 years from now, when Gavin sees something like this, the media is up in arms (and bans middle fingers in the U.S.A. to “protect our ignorance innocence children”) and he wonders why.

I’m in the boat where I’d rather the Worm learn these gestures from me (I’ve got a bag full of them.) rather than from someone else.  Will I teach him the middle finger?  Yes.  Why?  Because I want him to know how to use it correctly…like when someone cuts you off on the freeway, or when some kid tells him a momma joke, or when his boss tells him he’s gotta work on the weekend.  Correct usage is important.  Flipping the bird is an art.  Waving the one finger salute used to be meaningful.  It’s gone to s#!t due to abuse and overuse.  I’m going to make it rise to superpower status again, just like our country.

A middle finger means nothing unless the attached brain and body have some reason to throw it up.  Secondly, it has to be directed at someone or something.  M.I.A’s wagging finger meant nothing to me.  We’ve got no beef, (unless she hates my blog).  Maybe it was meant for someone in particular, but only she knows this.  And the people who are crying that their 5-year-old is now screwed up after seeing this during a “family show” is looking for someone to blame.  Your 5-year-old is screwed up because you smoke crack and burn cigarettes on your kid’s arms.

A wise man once told me, “Don’t fear the finger (unless there’s a booger on it).”  Ok I said that, but let’s pretend I’m wise.

Where was I going with this blog post?  Oh yeah, right here:

In my country, this is how we say 'Hi'

 

If you want to know some cool history about the middle finger, see link below:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-16916263

It’s Groundhog day!  And guess what else?  Gavin turned 10 months old today!  In the new custom of weather prediction California style, Gabrielino Gavin (Gabrielino was the only G named Indian Tribe in California…Come on, I had no other choice!) is going to tell us if we will be enduring 6 more weeks of frigid 60° temperatures.

We’re too far away for Pennsylvania to even think about Punxsutawney Phil.  And we don’t get any ice here other than the nice crescent-shaped ones found in our freezers.  So, I’ve taken the liberty of modifying the old groundhog weather device and replaced it with its west coast equivalent, Gabrielino Gavin!

Similarities between Phil and Gavin:

  1. Both walk on all fours
  2. Both have hair on their heads
  3. Both have two sharp front teeth
  4. Both have claws and scratch the crap out of your neck repeatedly, even if you scream in pain (Sorry, I’m just venting.)
  5. Both eat fruit, leaves, grass, dirt and insects

From the “town of the sandflies” to the “town of sand-als”, Gabrielino Gavin has seen his shadow on this very morning of February 2, 2012.

Winter will be upon us for 6 more weeks.  One should bundle up in a long-sleeved shirt or grow a mustache to stay warm in Southern California for a wee bit longer.  (Maybe think about wearing long pants too, if you own any.)

You heard me right, there’s a white woman home birth extravaganza and you’re invited!  Actually, no matter what color you are, you’re invited!  All you need for the extravaganza is a live pregnant woman, a house and a desire to deliver a baby in it!

Home-birth setup

Home Birth Setup!

Statistics show a growing concern about the hospital birthing procedures, and rightfully so.  In the great United States of America, we rank 50th in the entire world for maternal mortality.  Yep, that’s right.  Mothers dying while giving birth.  It’s not widely known, but the data speaks for itself.  (Maternal Mortality reference.)  The infant mortality rate in the U.S. is 46th in the world.  (C.I.A. reference.)  It’s pretty appalling, don’t you think?

I love my wife and I want to keep her around for a few more years.  We also plan on having a few more Gavins.  So, this article (see bottom of page) interests me, because it pertains to my wife and future children.

I despise some hospital birthing practices as I witnessed firsthand both the good and the bad sides of a hospital birth.  My own childbirth experience was beginning to turn into a science experiment before I had a “come to Tebow” talk with the staff. There were way too many interventions “being offered” to Steph in labor.  (But, that’s another story soon to be told.)  So, naturally I understand the desire of a home birth, especially if the mother and fetus are in good health.  (I would also be heavily in favor of a home birth for our next child.)  Apparently, white women are leading the charge toward more home births in the U.S.  There’s been an increase in out-of-hospital births by 29% between 2004 and 2009.  The major party working the non-traditional (I hate how the unconventional birthing practice in America has become the “traditional” method) birthing angle are, as the article title states, non-Hispanic white women.  They’ve accounted for 36% of the total increase in home births in that 6 year span.

Seeing as how I married a white woman, the chance for me getting our second baby home-birthed is better than average.  So, I feel pretty good about my odds.  (Obviously, this only makes sense from a statistical perspective…and in my own mind.)

There are good reasons for wanting a home birth.  Control of the experience, no one forcing their agenda on you, privacy, intimacy, makes for good story, etc.  Having a home birth can be safer than a hospital birth, but make sure the mother-to-be is a low-risk pregnancy before you grab that leather strap and bottle of whiskey to hunker down in the trenches with your old lady.  And do your homework.  Guys need to understand the tools, tricks, and risks of the L&D trade before they have their own home birth extravaganza.  You can’t just toss back a beer and cheer from the couch.  You’ve got to be involved.  (You can be the hero that Enrique Iglesias sings about in that song…)

Anyhow, if you’ve made it this far into my article, you’ve either got a high tolerance for number crunching, or you’re serious about making sure your ball and chain gets the best that healthcare has to offer.  If you’re looking for the latter, you may want to move to Singapore.  Just kidding, you may want to man up and learn about what you can do to increase the odds of your family’s next successful birth.  Get informed.

Article I was reading:

CDC Home Births on the Rise

There’s tons of information out there on natural birthing methods.  Google it!

 

Major brain structures implicated in autism.

Image via Wikipedia

The article linked below is about the possibility of measuring brain patterns in babies to check for autism.  It’s an interesting idea.  What the scientists are saying is that there is a difference in the brain patterns of a normal baby making eye contact with you and an autistic baby making eye contact with you.  It goes along with one of the clinical signs of autism, which is lack of eye contact (and the non-verbal mannerisms or behavior that are associated).

Well, the study took 104 kids (6-10 month old) and measured their brain patterns.  The same study measured the same kids’ brain patterns at 3 years old.  Some of the autistic children were found to have different brain patterns than those of a normal, or undiagnosed child.

The good news is that doctors are looking for ways to diagnose autism earlier in children so that these cases can get special attention from an early age.  The bad news is that this study is small and that there was some unexplained brain behavior even in undiagnosed children.  Therefore, the study needs to be held on a larger scale and the data needs more accurate markers for interpretation to become definitive.

Anyhow, parents should be aware of how their children behave and note anything that seems unusual.  Consult a doctor or physician if anything seems out of the ordinary.  Please note that most cases of autism is diagnosed after the age of 2.

The link to the article I read:

http://news.yahoo.com/study-finds-early-signs-autism-baby-brains-170455953.html

I also remember reading a few daddy blogs with autistic kids.  Here are some links for the curious.  Here they are:

Baby body with a tattoo.

Image via Wikipedia

So, this mom allows her 10-year old child to get a tattoo of his brother who died after being struck by a car.  He wants to commemorate his dead brother with a tattoo.  What’s wrong with that?

Well, there are two things are wrong with that.

One: The law requiring that one must be 18 years of age before he/she can get a tattoo.

Two:  The Georgia authorities for putting this mother in jail.

So, the 10-year old kid already has a dead brother.  Now, he’s got a mother in jail.  Well, I don’t know what scars more, a tattoo or a child losing his mother (to the ridiculously inept and strict system)?  Yes, I absolutely know which is more scarring and it’s not ink!

I personally know people who were old enough to get tattoos and later had them removed.  Why?  Because they are different people now.  Some even stated that they had no idea that what they were doing was stupid.  (I’m not saying that getting a tattoo is stupid.  I’m saying that some people who get tattoos are not in their right mind.  Like the fact that I’ve got a tattoo of Spider-man shooting a web onto the crack of my a$$.  I thought it was a cool gift to myself at 30 years old, but I’d take it back if I could…)

What makes the age of 18 the age of sensibility for a person to decide to permanently mark his body?  (It’s not even permanent anymore, so what’s the big deal?)  I’m twice that age and I know I’m still not sensible!

Laws are hard and fast.  But, isn’t this case different?  Shouldn’t the laws be there for guidance of the public, not to define life as black or white?

I’d love to hear what you’ve got to say…

 

Read the article here:

http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/headlines/2012/01/georgia-mom-arrested-for-allowing-10-year-old-to-get-tattoo/

So, I think my kid is the cutest kid in the universe…blah, blah, blah.  Of course, now I have to put up or shut up.  So, I’m entering him in the

Cuties Clementine Cooperative “Cuties” Contest.

What a name!

To enter, you’ve got to send in a video of your kid doing something cute.  There are some rules, of course, and you can’t enter if you live in Puerto Rico.  (Pobrecito!)

The contest has already started (from 12/5/11 and ends 4/27/12)  and if you’re a stay-at-home dad like me, you’re probably also the one holding the video camera during baby’s waking hours.  So, do something with those videos NOW!

It sounds like fun and the contest could win you a $150,000 college education for your kid!  (Mine’s going to University of Florida just like his pop.  We’re going to share a dorm room.  I’m going to show him the cool things around campus.  It’ll be great!)

Here’s the link:

http://cutieskids.com/

By the way, I’ve got no affiliation with the company.  My dog Duncan and I just like to eat clementines in the winter time.

Great for teeth!