Vladi Wizard's Musings

I am not one that watches much episodic television, especially on network television. I don ’ t watch Lost, or any of those competition “ reality ” shows, or mystery or suspense fictional shows, such as 24. However, there are quite a few people that are big fans of 24, especially people in the upper echelons of the government, who see this fictional show as a great way to promote and prove national policies , especially during the previous administration. What I am speaking of is the hard on that the right has for torture. Back when I was in college, and majoring in the liberal ar ts (ah ha!), I learned that the entertainment industry (movies, plays, TV , etc) are primarily a reflection of society. We look into the little silver boob tube and see ourselves, though through the lens of the writer/director, to let us see things as they want to show us. However, with the current on-goings about our policies on “ enhanced interrogation ” techniques, (which are, let ’ s

Wow. And, double wow! Last year was, what I thought, a fluke when The Wizard's Lair took the silver in the Bondage Awards 'Best Free Bondage Website'. But, this year, with the number of people that had been nominated, I thought I would be lucky if we broke the Top Ten. And, truth be known, I was increasingly skeptical of even making that threshold. Indeed, I was so skeptical of our chances, that I really did not advertise the contest as I did last year. And, reading from those running the contest that there were more people nominated, and more people voting this year, and that The Wizard's Lair was at the bottom of a very long list, I thought that our chances were slim and none. Imagine my surprise when I was sent a number of congratulatory emails about not just placing, but taking the silver again. Well, I was even skeptical then, so went to the website to look for myself. Oh my goodness. Had a couple emails from my "Henchmen" contributors who

Been a while since my last blog, and for that I apologize. I think I was too caught up in the political circus, as well as with the 'normality' of my everyday life to take the time needed to blab and blog. Thus.... It probably is not a great surprise to many of you that read what I write that I am a fairly liberal person. But, I am really not as far left as many will think. I like to think that I am a "left of center" moderate progressive, in that I have many 'Republican' views to balance out my 'Democrat' views. Indeed, as reading a number of blogs and op-eds of late, I am wondering why I am not an out and out Republican, because I lean towards most, if not all, of their core values (and not talking of the far-right fundamentalist 'Christian' talking points) of the standard GOP platform. Let me be more specific and take on the top (?) six points: Smaller Government, Lower Taxes, Less Regulation, Individual Liberty, Rule of Law, and Civic

I am re-entering this log. After all the time I spent on it, it really frustrates me to no end that Yahoo kept buggering it up. I think because it did not like me copying in a definition of heroism from another website, so instead of doing that I will just pop in a couple links (since they all say basically the same time... I am sure that you will get the idea). * snipping out of first two paragraphs of definition and explaination of why I did this re-do. Basically, thanks to the comments by The Manipulator and Jaime S * http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hero http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/heroism I still think, even with the broadening of the field of what a hero is, that the term is way over used and given too freely to describe people, especially in regards to 1c (above). Yes, we like to think that motherhood is an admirable achievement, but we too often forget that just because a child comes from a woman’s womb, that woman is not automatically a great parent. It is often s

Been a while since I popped anything of any ‘importance’ in my blog here. Of course, some people would say that to this point, I never have! Anyway, thought that while sitting at work, I may as well get onto the keyboard and hammer these keys a bit, if for no other reason then to let people know that I am still the outspoken and opinionated cuss that I am. I have been thinking, for some time now, about the word “hero” and how over used it is. I really haven’t done much on that, because it seems to have been settling down, since attention has been being pulled away from the Iraq/Afghanistan conflicts, to the political and economic theatre that we find ourselves in at this time. I suppose, in that regards, presidential candidate, Senator John S McCain is often called a hero, because of his service to his country as a naval aviator, and his subsequent time spent as a POW in the Hanoi Hilton during the Viet Nam conflict. I am not one to say anything about such service, b

Seems of late I have been reading quite a bit about the failure of some pay sites within the community are closing down. Some are putting the blame on peer-to-peer sites in general, while others are placing the blame on The Wizard ’ s Lair in particular. Now, without knowing the financial specifics of each and every website that is closing down and/or losing money, how can anyone place any blame on any one thing in particular, or even accuse a single website, it ’ s webmaster, and it ’ s contributors for contributing to the financial decline of these sites? When I look around, I see that everyone is feeling the financial pinch, influenced largely by the (ever) rising cost of fuel, which has a cascading effect on everything from car sales, to food costs. People all over are doing everything that they can to save money, from driving less, to canceling vacations, and to eliminating discretionary expenses, of which would include memberships to websites. Is anyone looking at pointing to

By George Carlin The paradox of our time in history is that we have taller buildings but shorter tempers, wider Freeways ,but narrower viewpoints. We spend more, but have less, we buy more, but enjoy less. We have bigger houses and smaller families, more conveniences, but less time. We have more degrees but less sense, more knowledge, but less judgment, more experts, yet more problems, more medicine, but less wellness. We drink too much, smoke too much, spend too recklessly, laugh too little, drive too fast, get too angry, stay up too late, get up too tired, read too little, watch TV too much, and pray too seldom. We have multiplied our possessions, but reduced our values. We talk too much, love too seldom, and hate too often. We've learned how to make a living, but not a life. We've added years to life not life to years. We've been all the way to the moon and back, but have trouble crossing the street to meet a new neighbor. We conquered outer space but not inner space We&

By George Carlin The paradox of our time in history is that we have taller buildings but shorter tempers, wider Freeways ,but narrower viewpoints. We spend more, but have less, we buy more, but enjoy less. We have bigger houses and smaller families, more conveniences, but less time. We have more degrees but less sense, more knowledge, but less judgment, more experts, yet more problems, more medicine, but less wellness. We drink too much, smoke too much, spend too recklessly, laugh too little, drive too fast, get too angry, stay up too late, get up too tired, read too little, watch TV too much, and pray too seldom. We have multiplied our possessions, but reduced our values. We talk too much, love too seldom, and hate too often. We've learned how to make a living, but not a life. We've added years to life not life to years. We've been all the way to the moon and back, but have trouble crossing the street to meet a new neighbor. We conquered outer space but not inner space We

The Zen of Sarcasm 1. Do not walk behind me, for I may not lead. Do not walk ahead of me, for I may not follow. Do not walk beside me either. Just pretty much leave me alone. 2. The journey of a thousand miles begins with a broken fan belt and leaky tire. 3. It's always darkest before dawn. So if you're going to steal your neighbor's newspaper, that's the time to do it. 4. Don't be irreplaceable. If you can't be replaced, you can't be promoted. 5. Always remember that you're unique. Just like everyone else. 6. Never test the depth of the water with both feet. 7. If you think nobody cares if you're alive, try missing a couple of car payments. 8. Before you criticize someone, you should walk a mile in their shoes. That way, when you criticize them, you're a mile away and you have their shoes. 9. If at first you don't succeed, skydiving is probably not for you. 10. Give a man a fish and he will eat for a day. Teach him how