It's a Monday, and in typical slacker/State employee fashion, I took the day off.
My birthday was yesterday, and I've always found it more difficult to celebrate a special day with a back to work Monday looming over the festivities...so I just took the "back to work" part out of the equation and had a very nice time.
Thanks to all the blogstreamers and their birthday wishes. Collconnect, Topaz and Lucy are always very generous. Thanks to Sherry, I've learned that "Boop boop, de doop" is actually code for "Va-va-va vooom!"
I hate to make lists like this, only because I know I will leave somebody out...believe me, it's not done intentionally.
I also noticed that my Birthday falls at the end of "National Clown Week". Smirk at the appropriatness of that if you want to, but I know that this is not something to take lightly, no siree!
Apparently, the whole thing began 35 years ago with a Presidential Proclaimation.
Yes, I'm a year older...a year more mature...so I will not make the obvious link between Presidents and Clowns.
I'll leave that to you.

I live about 8 miles north of Downtown Orlando.
Downtown Orlando is about 25 miles north of Walt Disney World.
I have friends and family living all over the country, and they invariably mention how lucky I am to be so "close" to the Magic Kingdom.
They seem puzzled when I tell them I haven't been to a Disney theme park in years.
When asked why, I usually put the blame on my busy schedule, or the traffic along Interstate 4. While both are good reasons, the truth of the matter is that I cannot afford to go.
According to today's Orlando Sentinel Walt Disney World is raising individual ticket prices to $67.
Wanna go to the Magic Kingdom? That'll be $67 (plus tax). Disney-MGM Studios? Another $67, please. Epcot? $67 USD...Animal Kingdom? You guessed it...another $67. That is the price per person, per day, per theme park variation. That doesn't include the costs to park, to eat, to snack, and the souveniers aren't free.
As I type this, I can hear thunder rumbling.
The usual afternoon summer thunderstorms are late today, but on the way.
Imagine yourself at the Magic Kindom.
If you are standing in line to get on a revamped Pirate Ride, the monsoon-like downpour will, at least, keep you from passing out from the heat and humidity. After a half hour or so, the rain passes and you can see mist rising from the concrete and asphalt as you snake your way into the faux Spanish-style building.
When you emerge 20 minutes later, you may remark to your traveling companion how "clean" everything is. Looking up, you notice a young man or woman in a neatly pressed white uniform holding a broom and dust pan at the end of a long stick. It is through the efforts of that person, and thousands like him, that Walt Disney World has become a World Class Tourist Destination, attracting people with plenty of Yen, Euros and Pounds to spend.
He, just like the people who helped you into and out of your pirate boat, is a Disney "cast member"...the theory being that everyone is part of the show, regardless of the job they actually do. They get free admission to Disney parks whenever they aren't working.
It's a good thing.
If your man with the broom was hired recently, he is making $6.80 an hour.
This means he would have to work 10 hours to buy a single day admission ticket...half a week, if he wants to bring a date. The Disney Company will say he's doing just fine, since the starting pay for a job with them is above the state of Florida's minimum wage of $6.15, which is well above the Federal minimum wage of $5.15 an hour. They will correctly point out that there are a lot of working people in the Orlando area making less than $7 an hour, who don't get free theme park admission.
Disney theme park attendance shows no sign of slacking...it was up 5% last year, and up 3% in the first quarter of this year.
Some locals claim Disney's pay scale acts to keep wages down across Central Florida, but Disney executives deny it, proudly pointing to their starting hourly wage and benefits. Yet, since the place opened in 1971, the "suites" at the Mouse Factory have known one important thing.
They don't really need to attract the locals like me anyway.

Call it an identy crisis...
I went from Gobshite (too jovial...too Irish...too scatalogical), to Mr. Tom (too dim-witted...too Fred Rogers, not that there's anything wrong with that...and too...I dunno...did I say dim-witted? How 'bout too under-edjumicated.)
So now, taking a lead from one of my favorite blogging pros, I've decided to settle on the name of T-Con....yep...T dash Con...(blogstream insists on 5 or more characters, so I had to do the dash.) As some of you know, it's really close to my real name...really, really close.
So, just call me T-Con...or TC for short, if you like.
Just please don't tell me the new name sounds like a bug spray (even though it does), or some secret government project, because I've already changed the towels and ordered new checks and stationary.
The one with puppies on it...
Damn...I hope they don't confuse me with this Puppy!
I really need to think this stuff through...
So, which is better?
Impulsiveness or procrastination.
Should we look before we leap, or is he who hesitates really lost?
No matter...T-Con it is, and T-Con it shall stay...
...for now.

Summer Saturdays are different, depending on where you live.
Yet, for those of us growing up in the United States, there has been one constant element contributing to the soundtrac of our lives; baseball on the radio.
As AM radio gave way to FM, which in turn has given way to satellite and the ubiqutous I-Pod, the old fasioned play-by-play cadence of the professional baseball announcer hasn't changed. We may not sit around the wooden Philco console radio as our parents or grandparents once did, hanging on every word, but the sound is still out there.
Maybe it's on in the car when you head to Home Depot, or echoing through a garage where you're waiting for an oil change. It may be that up in the mountains or out at the lake you can only get that one, powerful AM station from the city, and it is playing "the game" this afternoon.
Even if you're not a baseball fan, I think you know what I'm talking about.
Take any favorite summer vacation memory from your childhood, and listen closely back over the years. Isn't there a ballgame on the radio in there somewhere?
Tell me you don't remember the names of the announcers.*
Who could forget Mel Allen, Red Barber, Vin Scully, Jack Buck, Marty Brennaman and Joe Nuxhall, Harry Caray, Ernie Harwell, Russ Hodges, Bob Prince, Milo Hamilton, or the ones I grew up with; Byrum Saam, Bill Campbell, Harry Kalas and Richie Ashburn?

It all started exactly 85 years ago today.
In 1921, KDKA staff announcer Harold Arlin (not to be confused with the guy who wrote "Over the Rainbow"; that was Harold Arlen.) did the very first play-by-play baseball game from Forbes Field in Pittsburgh. The Pirates scored three runs in the 8th, beating the Phillies 8-5. Less than a year earlier, in November 1920, KDKA had been the first radio station to broadcast election results. Warren Harding beat James Cox without the need of a recount.
Today, that station is still in existance, calling itself the "Voice of Pittsburgh". It still covers elections and still carries the Pirates.
Arlin was more of an announcer than a sportscaster, and went on to do more political interviews while others became the "Voice of the Pirates". He died in 1986 at the age of 90.
So if you find yourself relaxing this summer, with a cold one in your hand and a baseball game coming from a cheap radio in the background, remember Harold Arlin, and raise your can up in salute to a true pioneer.
And if you're worried that today's new technology will eventually destroy play-by-play baseball as we know it, don't be.
A year ago, a poll was conducted to name the 20 best baseball announcers of all time. Most of the names chosen match those I named off the top of my head above.
Ironicly, the poll was conducted by XM Satellite Radio.



*--If I missed your favorite announcer, please let me know in the comments section. Thanks.

Say what you want about the current Administration, but you've got to admire their superior skill when it comes to naming stuff.
The Bushies have given us "No Child Left Behind", "Operation Iraqi Freedom" and the recently renewed "USA Patriot Act"(special kudos to the bright boy in the West Wing who put together the acronym. Did you know it stands for: "Uniting-and-Strengthing-America-by-Providing-Appropriate-Tools-Required-to Intercept-and-Obstruct-Terrorism"?)
Brilliant...just brilliant!
Earlier this week, the US House passed another acronym bill called DOPA (known to it's friends in Congress as HR-5319).
Ok, maybe not so brilliant this time.
This less impressive word game stands for the "Deleting Online Predators Act". We should be glad it was an act and not an initiative.
On the surface, going after online predators seems like a good idea.
These people (usually men) get on the internet and try to entice underage children to meet them somewhere. They're sort of like a virtual version of the creep in the van with the candy we've all been warned about since we could walk. Lately, the child victim often turns out to be a cop or a CBS film crew, but enough predators have been successful in their perverse pursuits to raise concern.
I'm not saying there isn't a problem.
The problem I have, is that I don't think you should be going after admittedly bad guys with an obviously bad law.
Republican Congressman Michael Fitzpatrick (PA) has crafted a piece of legislation that would ammend the Federal Communications Act of 1934, to block public school students from having access to what are named "social networking Web sites".
Obviously, the bill targets places like MySpace, but it also targets any site that allows people to post profiles (which may include personal information) or allows "communication among users". This means comments, instant messages or chat rooms. In short, DOPA would mandate Federal censorship of any web site that allows it's members to have identities, banning them from schools and libraries.
Sound familier?
It should, fellow Blogstreamers, since the Feds are talking about us.
The way this horibly vague bill is written, we are all on-line predators, and this web site should not be permitted to be seen by those under 18 or anyone in a school or library.
And before you think such a ridiculous piece of election year political posturing could never be taken seriously by our leaders in Congress, think again.
The bill passed 410 to 15, and is now in a Senate Committee.
The American Library Association is worried...and we should all be, as well.
Not just because it censors Blogstream and other sites that may be of great educational value to kids, but because it does nothing to protect those kids.
More importantly, the bill, if passed in its current form, would do absolutely nothing to stop an online predator. It would simply make things a little less convenient...unless he has a computer at home.