Bailey Cross

I stayed home to watch the presidental inauguration. I wish that my grandmother had lived to see him sworn into office.

This is the meaning of our liberty and our creed — why men and women and children of every race and every faith can join in celebration across this magnificent Mall, and why a man whose father less than sixty years ago might not have been served at a local restaurant can now stand before you to take a most sacred oath.

Read the entire inauguration speech

My grandmother, Irene Bailey passed away on October 31st at the age of 96. I will miss her smile, sense of humour, laugh, charm, kindness, toughness and ability to make everyone feel at home.

This is her obituary from the Roboxo, North Carolina Courier:

“The funeral for Irene Luster Bailey, 96, formerly of 744 Haywood Bailey Rd., who died Friday, Oct. 31, 2008m at Person Memorial Hospital, was conducted at 2 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 4, in Prospect Hill Baptist Church by the Rev. Rodney Coleman and the Rev. George Harris Jr. Burial was in the church cemetery.

Mrs. Bailey was a native of Granville County and a member of Prospect Hill Baptist Church.

Surviving are two daughters, Vernadine Coleman of Leasburg and Emma Cross of Prince George, Va.; six grandchildren; seven great-grandchildren; and a great-great-grandchild.

Tonight we proved once more that the true strength of our nation comes not from the might of our arms or the scale of our wealth, but from the enduring power of our ideals: democracy, liberty, opportunity and unyielding hope

Happy 40th birthday Sis. Keep rockin!

It ain’t easy being a nerd but sometimes it very cool. Click on this neat animation and see an application of all of those nasty physics formulas that you learned in high school.

Read more at Jobe Makar’s website

This was a very special thanksgiving for me.   If things had been different last month, my father wouldn’t be alive today.  My Dad, Ernest Cross was involved in an terrible accident resulting in a multiple-fractored leg, 5 broken ribs, and a injured spine.  I’ll try not to give too detailed of a narrative on the accident as I’m a horrible writer but needless to say the farm tractor that he’s been using for the past 17 years almost got the best of him on Oct 2nd.

From what I can put together, my dad stopped the tractor to answer a call on his cell phone. The tractor accelerating forward and my dad ran to catch it. (My guess is that the tractor somehow slipped back into gear).  He grabbed for the steering wheel, lost his balance and large back tire snagged his leg and was pulled under. The entire weight of the tractor ran over his mid section. He then faced the scraper blade that was using to level the service road to his home.  The blade dragged him, rolling and tumbling for several feet until he was released.

My Dad could have easily died or been crippled if the tractor had veered just a few inches higher - crushing his neck instead of chest and back. His broken ribs could have punctured his lungs or other vital organs but they didn’t. He could have bleed to death but h was found by a neighbor returning home from an errand.

I’m so thankful that he is alive and recovering. Hoping that he will be able to walk again after his leg heals.

Read the article from the Progress Index

I wanted to share an article that I read today about a kid who attempted to hire a hit man to kill his Mom after she took away his Playstation and TV.Â

“Like many middle-class, suburban American parents, Shannan and Joey Troiano worried about their son’s behaviour and his bad grades at high school. And like many wayward teenagers, Cory Ryder was grounded for weeks at a time, had a PlayStation confiscated and was banned from watching TV.

Less typically, this 16-year-old was plotting to murder his parents by hiring a hitman, while his mother was organising a sting operation involving a police officer posing as a contract killer”

“Police say that Cory offered the undercover officer his stepfather’s new pickup truck as payment for killing his parents. “Two bullets is all it takes,” he is alleged to have said. ”

You can read the entire article at http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/article2789073.ece

A great shot of Reya, had to share it. Hope to see my friends in Austin soon!

Would you eat this? This is a Horned Turban Shell caught and prepared on Enoshima, Japan. I’ve been told that the best way to prepare it is to have it sliced and marinated rather than cooked in the shell over an open flame as shown below.  I have to admit that it was disturbingly fun, and a bit unsettling pulling the little guy out of his shell. Its body is nearly 4 inches in length. I tried to eat it in sections but the meat was a little bit too chewy to tear without making a fool of myself. The best approach was to eat the whole thing and chase with a suitable amount of the regional Enoshima micro-brew. A very fun experience that I will not soon forget.

More at http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/fe20070926at.html

Cool Hand Luke

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