A Glimpse into an Iranian Future where “Pizza” is Illegal

Today Pizza... tomorrow, the anchovie!Ripley’s believe it or not presented in their Sunday Comics a picture of the authoritarian leader of Iran along with a couple of ‘words’ that he has ‘outlawed.”

One of these words is ‘Pizza’…. seemingly, the most harmless of words to the untrained western eye. However, as any good Islamo-Fascist knows… it is an insideous carrier of western ‘culture’ and ‘decadence.’ hmmmm… I guess they got some bad anchovies in their last…er… “flat-bread-covered-with-sauce-and-meat-meal”…assuming that Iranians are still allowed to make them!

Wikipedia does a great job in defining the problem with cultures that censor ideas and words:

“Censorship is the authoritarian control of speech and other forms of human expression….The visible motive of censorship is often to stabilize or improve the society that the government would have control over….and most formally involves the suppression of ideas by criminalizing or regulating expression.”

Unfortunately, the world has witnessed censorship that started with the removal of words, ideas, then books and finally people.

It still happens in the world today, sometimes innocently enough… but it is a warning.

Burning Books don't stop ideasThe world continues to be a dangerous place… and we can give into it … or we can resist.

Interesting Blogs:

IRANIAN RESISTANCE

Speaking Truth to kooks

Moderate View with links to both sides

Gateway Pundit

 

Until next time….

 

Roger Freberg

 

 

Forget USC or UCLA…. Cal Poly SLO is NUMBER ONE !!! huh?

In the old SPARTAN’s saying,” the best soldiers come from the toughest schools”… they weren’t talking about Cal Poly San Luis Obispo…. although they like to pretend they’re better than anybody. Believe me… I’ve heard it all.

The local spin doctors continue to massage the message… The local paper the Telegram Tribune in bold headlines screamed:

“Living in SLO and going to Cal Poly is a great time; it’s so fulfilling that the university ranked 15th among the ‘happiest’ in a Princeton Review survey”

Hey, wait a minute!… what does that really mean? Should we really care how ‘happy’ a student is? Real happiness comes later with a great start in a career that a good school gives you! 

The TRIBUNE rejoiced in Cal Poly being compared to more prestigious universities… although, regrettably, in but one of the more ‘warm and fuzzy” categories:

“Poly students say they are so content, in fact, that a just-released survey from the Princeton Review has ranked them 15th “happiest” of 115,000 students surveyed at 361 schools.”

When Cal Poly Students get ‘happy’, it costs the city $500,000…..

Is Your kid in this mess? I know... they're just trying to have fun, right?          

Well, as they said in ‘Animal House’: “being fat, drunk and stupid is no way to go through life ,boy’… or words to that effect. Unfortunately, the article doesn’t say anything about Cal Poly San Luis Obispo’s academic rigor. ( not to slight Cal Poly Pomona… which has to be better as they are ‘hell and gone from Cartagena, Angel!’)

LINK to only one Cal Poly Incident…. just young people working to express themselves.

Anyway, back to the ‘Tribune article, some typical student comments:

“I’m going to stretch out my time here,” said 20-year-old Wood…”I’m hoping for five or six years.”

“School is hard. That doesn’t contribute to the happiness factor,” said Taylor Gilmore

Have you told Mom and Dad yet, dude? Maybe they were thinking about shedding some unwanted pounds earlier than you intended. Sounds like ‘Failure to Launch… the prequel.’

Okay, I have trashed Cal Pooey San Luis Obispo enough for the moment… and it is true that I do have little respect for some of the folks there… but, the question any thinking parent should ask,”Do you want your child to go to a college (often on your own nickel)… just because it might make him/her happy?” I guess this would be okay if their future didn’t matter… oh yeah… I forgot… they’re going to move back home when they eventually graduate… work — after all — is so hard.

A little to many Palunas?Well, here we see a typical Cal Poly coed at a party… and we wonder why it takes the average student roughly 6.5 YEARS to graduate?? Hey, is that your daughter?

Over the years, Cal Poly has made academic claims… in fact, all too many claims have proven to be less that truthful. Who can forget the infamous ‘Dinosaur DNA’ fiasco? Often times you will hear a lot of well meaning folks call themselves  number one in a lot of areas… but the truth is often very sobering… 

It is said that Cal Poly often refers to themselves as the ‘conservative’ alternative to Berkeley (definitely not the faculty or their administration)…. where’s the ‘conservative’? And why did President Baker recieve the infamous ‘Sheldon Award” from U.S. News and World Report?

….read on.

Continue reading “Forget USC or UCLA…. Cal Poly SLO is NUMBER ONE !!! huh?”

U.S.C. Trojan Football Greets Nebraska’s Cornhuskers!

Trojans Meet Cornhuskers!

 

Saturday, September 16th, the Cornhuskers from Nebraska come to Los Angeles to meet the Trojans of U.S.C.

We have family from Nebraska (Omaha)and graduates from UN. My grandfather (Harold Hjersted) and his brother lived in a little town called “Rulo” population 32 about 70 miles from Lincoln or ‘Cornhusker Central’. Rulo was actually a big town before they moved the railroad across the Mississippi in the late 1800’s… then it dried up.

Hard to fnid places to eat in Rulo

I was a bit surprised to find this picture of one of the few places to eat in the area of Rulo, Nebraska. I haven’t been there since around 1990 or so… but I do remember that they’re next to the river and serve up great fried catfish! YUM!

Notice the flag streamers atop the restaurant?… in common language, when folks put these on their business (gas stations, etc.) it usually means, “I’m dying here! Buy something quick…. before I close!” Sorry to say, Rulo population 32 old folks is not long for this world. It’s a quiet and beautiful place.

Anyway, we’ll be heading to the game this Saturday dressed in the obligatory cardinal and gold! It’s going to be especially fun bringing a wife who loves football.

In any event, it looks like the faithful from all sides are beating the drums:

Nebraska’s BULLhorns:

Nebraska Team Briming with confidence
Real Football 365
NCAA football — Nebraska

Trojan Faithfull:

Recruiting Catch-up
How Nebraska Stacks Up
Tribute to Troy

Others:

Week 3 Picks
Chuck’s Top 25
IRISH-TROJAN Blog (what the hell is that?)
Kevins Picks

FIGHT ON! TROJANS!

Roger Freberg

Happy 34th Wedding Anniversary, Sweetheart……. Fight on!

 

Laura in Trojan Suit and Happy    

Now, most men will recognize that Laura (my wife) is NOT wearing a soccer uniform… which, of course, makes her look all the more facinating, alluring and provocative.

What she is wearing is a USC Trojan Football Uniform and sipping a diet Pepsi at Federico’s in Buelton, California. We were returning home from a USC-UCLA game a couple of year’s ago. Trojans won.

How could you not love a woman who loves football? I think back to our first date… I was being recruited and recieved tickets to a previous rivalry game (1969) and ,since I had no money, asking a girl to a footall game served many purposes… especially financial. Little did I know it was the ‘perfect’ date for her.

Today we have been married 34 years with three adult children in whom we are proud…. and we go to football games together… what could be better?

So, boys, want to be happy for the rest of your life… find a girl who loves football…

Happy anniversary ,hun.

 

Roger Freberg

Others celebrating anniversaries:

9th Wedding Anniversary
1st Anniversary
a Military anniversary
Remembering their 8th anniverasary despite work
another 8th anniversary alone
a day late… but 7 years!

Tinkerbelle’s annoyed with wedding… but marriage is good
19 years and all is well?
sooooon to be married
2 years and happy

UPDATE: My bride has sweetly blogged about me… unbeknownst to me!

 

 

A Tribute to the… er… ah… “Testicle Tree”

the fabled fruit of the Testicle tree... banned in BostonLiving in California, most of the folks here are very familiar with the fruit of the “Testicle Tree”. In fact, you can’t visit a family home anywhere in the West where there isn’t a ‘secret family recipe’ that incorporates … er… Avocado.

If you subscribe to the NEW SCIENTIST, they include in the September issue a story about the history of the greatest fruit on earth… the Avocado.

I leave the reading of some of the stories to you …. but I found two most amusing:

First, it appears that the “Spanish Monks” viewed the Avocado ( ‘ahuacacuauhiti’ in Aztec) as a ‘promoter of lust’ and banned the tree from it’s monastery grounds! After some mispronunciations of the Aztec name over time… “Avocado” is the name that has evolved down to us today.

The second story is worthy of P.T. Barnum. It appears an enterprising man shipped Avocados into the United States … unfortunately, they began rippening all too quickly in his warehouse… panicked… he then circulated the story to all the newspapers that the ‘rumor’ that avocados raised sexual potency was completely false. His warehouse was quickly emptied.

Funny how some promises will get folks to do almost anything…. even things on the internet and through email.

As for me, I have a simple recipe for my Avocado dip: 9 Avocados mashed, salsa, sour cream and seasoned Susie Q” to taste…. ahhhh… yes, dip with white corn chips. Add football and the liquid beverage of your choice… and the world is a better place!

Avocado recipes:

Hass
Que Pasa Baja
Quick Dip
Corn Salad
Avocados Stuffed with Crab Meat

Roger Freberg

Celebrating the AvocadoSoccer players have small avocados

PS.  Never Forget who brought us 911… and those who are defending us today