This Crazy Neighborhood
So the Lincoln Police dropped by my apartment complex again today... For those of you who don't know, the cops have been here several times in the past couple of months. First, there was a loud party across the street who decided to break parked car windows at around 4:30am one morning. Then, the lady right next to me in the complex had her apartment broken into. Granted, she should have closed the window, but still...
Today, an officer knocked on the door (I swear, you can always tell when a cop is at the door just by the way they knock...) and asked me about one of the previous tenants. All I knew was that he moved out a couple of weeks ago and a college-aged guy and his girlfriend moved in yesterday. And that I remembered where he worked, at least as of a couple of months ago. All I found out was this guy was a "person of interest" for some reason. Then the cop went up and talked to the new tenants. How's that for a "welcome to our (crime infested) neighborhood!" greeting?
I'm glad I'm moving out in a couple of days...
Creationism Museum?
First, read the article.
Now, laugh hysterically.
At best, creationism science or theories are nothing more than oxymorons. Taking creation theology and calling it science is a dangerous thing...
No further comment...
Marriage
This is mostly in response to a post on Erin's blog... Partly as an interesting "quest for knowledge" as I delved more into the subject...
According to the Centers for Disease Control (yes, they keep the "official" marriage stats!) the divorce rate is approximately 40-50%. Oddly enough, the trends I saw have indicated slightly higher (probably statistically irrelevant) divorce rates under Bush...
While the CDC doesn't have stats concerning religion and marriage, other studies have shown that there is little--if any--difference in divorce rates among those who consider themselves "religious" and those who "don't." Click here for more info.
Quite the contrary, some studies show that the more "conservative" religions may actually have higher divorce rates than more "liberal" religions and those who consider themselves "agnostic" and/or "atheist." Any significantly lower divorce rates among religions are generally attributed to the religion not allowing divorce, individuals not willing to divorce no matter what, or other sociological factors. Oddly enough, poor people may have lower divorce rates than average, likely due to their inability to afford lawyers. Also interesting is the suggestion by some studies that liberals and agnostics/atheists may have lower divorce rates than average!
Also interesting to note is that the divorce rate for homosexual couples is significantly lower than heterosexual couples--in states that allow same-sex marriages, of course. Studies have also shown that separation rates are rather lower for long-term same-sex couples...
New apartment!
Toya came to Lincoln on Wednesday, and we found a new apartment! Very shortly, I will be moving to a much better apartment. Electric stove (I hate gas...stoves), bigger kitchen and bathroom, big dishwasher, garbage disposal, new carpet, off-street parking... It's nice! And fairly cheap! And to top it off, the landlord(s) seem to be "Pretty Decent People."
Or maybe I should have said, "And to top it off, Matt might be moving in next door!"
On second thought...nah. Heh heh heh...
(-;
A Saga Completed
So... To add my little voice to the thousands--if not millions--of "WOW! JUST SAW STAR WARS!!!!!1!!1!...1" blog posts that are bound to be tallying up even as I type right now...
Saw Star Wars Episode III in Omaha tonight. What can I say? It's brilliant, thrilling, dark, and woefully tragic. Yet it's also dumbfounding, dull, and overly humorous at the same time. I find it impossible to summarize at this point--it's way too early in the morning for that. Perhaps later. Maybe after seeing it a couple of times I'll be able to come to a more definitive conclusion... It certainly has caused the greatest response in me that I can recall a movie ever having...
Village Pointe is an awesome theatre, by the way...
Rape is no laughing matter
Sorry, but I have to get this off my chest. Recently, a student at North Platte Community College was raped in her dorm room. It is definitely an unusual case, but many people have been quick to judge this girl as a promiscuous whore who "asked for it." I'm a little peeved.
First, here's the story.
Here's my response in the "TalkBack" section below:
People, have any of you who are quick to judge the victim taken a step back and actually read what you have typed?
Firstly, I highly doubt any of us were present at the time of the alleged attack. Unless any of us have been to court to listen to the case firsthand, it is highly unlikely we are seeing the complete story. Not that I am accusing the Bulletin of shoddy reporting, but one would be dangerously naïve--or even willfully ignorant--if they believed the media reported all the facts, with flawless accuracy, all the time. Furthermore, how many of us can say we have investigated the incident, interviewed witnesses, and seen all the evidence?
Second, how many of us know what it is like to be raped? How many of us know the mind-numbing fear--of injury, death, pregnancy, STDs, or anything else--that paralyzes the victim? This can easily cause one to not cry out for help or mention there is a condom in the dresser. At that point, the victim’s main goal may have simply been not to get pregnant, let alone killed! How many people know how much courage it takes to overcome that fear and actually report the crime? Neither I nor any of you likely know these things!
Lastly, some may say her actions in the “frank” discussion before the incident made the rape “consensual.” I do not know about you, but I have certainly had a number of “frank” discussions with my friends, and none of us view those as an “offer” or “justification” to take things further!
Definitely, this is “(n)ot the classic rape case.” However, I am guessing you will find that rapes are very rarely “classic.” Until the court—and/or jury—decide otherwise, we should do the honorable thing and give this young woman support in her troubling time. Furthermore, we should rise above this petty bickering and actually try to have some good come of this. Namely, we should be trying to find out why people are driven to rape others, what can be done to prevent it, and what can be done to support the victims of any crime. It certainly does not speak highly of society to be treating the victim the way some have been. It most certainly will lead to more and more rapes going by without justice ever being achieved.
Not afraid to sign my name,
Nate Saathoff
NPHS, class of 2001
Student, University of Nebraska-Lincoln
natefrog21@hotmail.com
I swear, people have no compassion for their fellow human beings anymore. Maybe they never did...
Star Wars
The countdown to Episode III has begun...
Two tickets for a midnight showing are now mine! Muahahaha!
Only 27 more hours...
Rhetorical Question
Would you rather burn to death, or freeze to death? And why?
Nebraska's ban on same sex couples' rights axed!
This is great news for gay and lesbian couples! It's about time some common sense entered into this mess over making GLBT persons third-class citizens. Links below.
ACLU
Lambda Legal
Lincoln Journal Star: (1) (2)
Omaha World-Herald
Random musings
Banquet frozen chicken nugget dinners suck ass. Chicken nuggets are not meant to be made of dark meat...
Does anyone at all seem to remember food spoiling at astronomical rates when they were kids? It seems every day my parents threw spoiled food out of the fridge. Now I'm having a hard time getting food to spoil at all! I swear the shredded cheese I have should've gone bad weeks ago! And I've never seen tortillas last as long as mine have. As for the five remaining "Grade A Large Eggs," it seems like those have been around since Christmas! Maybe I'm losing it...
And finally, the freezer is not a microwave. I repeat, the freezer is not a microwave...
P.S.: Along a similar tangent, the piano is not a table. Bonus fake points to anyone who knows where that's from...
(Bad) Weather
Looks like another couple of good storm chasing days are brewing here in eastern Nebraska... Hopefully I'll get some good images, heh heh.
Updates (likely) to follow as needed...
Update:
05/11/2005, 00:54 CDT
Turned out to be a bust tonight. Saw a couple of brief wall clouds, cool cloud formations, and a brilliant sunset near Grand Island. Headed northeast toward Central City and gave up after encountering heavy rain, hail, and dwindling daylight. Paralleled some wall clouds and horrid dust storms--kicked up by downbursts--most of the way back to Lincoln. Turned out there were a few sporadic touchdowns several miles north--we just couldn't see a damn thing due to all the dust and a lack of lightning.
Addendum (postendum?) errr...
Spell checking is for the weak! hahahaha!
Trashed
Drunk and luvin it. I think. Dunno if I'll remember anything! ha!
Maybe i won't want to rember it. I seem to recall broken berr bottles on a garage roof... And I miss Toya. A lot. =(
But I do love my friends. Thanks for drivnin me home, Sheena. And thanks for everything else you guys do.
Now if y'all exucuse me... I think i'm gonna go pass out. ...As soon as the mosue and walls stop spinning everywhere...
Lincoln General Election
So it's general election time again... Without further ado, here are my fair and balanced recommendations for Lincoln City Council and Lincoln Board of Education.
Lincoln City Council
- Dan Marvin (D)
- Ken Svoboda (R)
- Terry Werner (D)
Lincoln Board of Education - District 3
Why do I like them? Click here. And ignore the part where I say all the city council candidates are incumbents. Marvin is not.
This is a big one for Lincoln Democrats. They have a very real chance of picking up another seat on the council. Marvin was only 258 votes behind Robin Eschliman...
