Tonight's broadcast will be very simple. Ted will introduce the show, and then for the next 40 minutes, he will read the names, and we will show the photographs, of all those killed in Iraq. But of course, nothing is simple.
There is so much that I want to say about tonight's broadcast, about how it was conceived, what our thinking was, why we are doing it. It seems that Ted and I have been doing nothing but talking to reporters and radio and television stations for days now. But in the end, I don't think it matters what we think. I think what's important is what all of you think. As I have said many times, whether you are for the war or against it, these men and women, whose pictures you will see tonight, have paid the ultimate price in our names. We think it is only fitting that for one night, we present their names. All I would hope is that all of you who watch, like all of us who are working on it, will take a moment at least to think about that sacrifice.
We're going to do something different, something that we think is important. Friday night, we will show you the pictures, and Ted will read the names, of the men and women from the armed forces who have been killed in combat in Iraq. That's it. That will be the whole broadcast. Nightline has been reporting on the casualties under the heading of "Line of Duty." But we realized that we seemed to just be giving numbers. So many killed in this incident, so many more in that attack. Whether you agree with the war or not, these men and women are serving, are putting their lives on the line, in our names. We think it is important to remember that those who have paid the ultimate price all have faces, and names, and loved ones. We thought about doing this on Memorial Day, but that's a time when most media outlets do stories about the military, and they are generally lost in the holiday crush of picnics and all. We didn't want this broadcast to get lost. Honestly, I don't know if people will watch this for thirty seconds, or ten minutes, or at all. That's not the point. We think this is important. These men and women have earned nothing less. One point, we are not going to include those killed in non-hostile incidents. There's no disrespect meant here, we just don't have enough time in this one broadcast. But they are no less deserving of our thoughts. I hope that you will join us for at least part of "The Fallen" on Friday.
I am swamped dealing with tomorrow night's broadcast. This has become far more controversial than I ever expected. But there is one important point. Because of time constraints, we had decided that we could only read the names of those killed in combat. This would have left out more than 200 other service members who were killed. None of us were happy with that. I received a phone call from the father of a soldier who was decorated for bravery, but was killed in a truck accident on his way back from the front. His father asked how could we possibly not include his son and the others? The answer is that we couldn't. We have been given extra time by ABC so that we can include all of those killed in Iraq. This means that Nightline will run 40 minutes tomorrow night. Whether it's for the entire broadcast, or just for twenty seconds, I hope that you will join us tomorrow night, and reflect in your own ways on the sacrifices made by these men and women.
The in-person and phone notifications are still being done, but if you read my website you deserve to know early: Yes, I'm taking the Flinn next year and going to Arizona State University.
And yeah, I know it hasn't been a huge secret because I've been leaning towards ASU most of the weekend and since last night I said I was going to ASU at the senior recognition thingy at the spring dance, but now it's official. The forms have been faxed. Michael has been notified. And now you too have been notified.
So there you have it. Now I have to pick an educator to honor... Decision time is here again! :)
Yes, let the sadness ensue. I really do wish I had gone to more church dances. They're always so great.
But major props go out to everyone at First Gilbert because we all did such an awesome job. Our dance was on such a higher plane than anything I've been to in Central East. Way to go for raising the bar!!!
OK, now it's time for the memories list:
Happy fun nap time
Matt catching us almost-asleep on the job
Shooting photos from the floor... and sleeping in between photos! YES!
Did you know KUPD plays TFK's "Rawkfist"? Not only that, but they played it 40 times last week. That ties it for second-most played song on their playlist reported to Radio & Records. Scary!
Oh, but hopefully they'll add Skillet's "Savior" now that it's been released to their format (active rock). And speaking if Skillet, who's re-releasing Collide on Lava Records next month, I think it's pretty pitiful how mainstream labels refuse to acknowledge that Christian labels exist and have good bands.
Observe Skillet's signing press release from Lava: "Already firmly established in the independent marketplace, Skillet are ready to conquer alternative and rock radio..."
And Switchfoot's Columbia-fied bio says, "The Beautiful Letdown comes three years after Switchfoot's third independently-released and critically acclaimed album Learning To Breathe."
Well, Skillet and Switchfoot come from Christian labels, so you mainstream PR peeps need to just suck it up and deal! :)
7:49p » By the way, congratulations to Skillet/Saucepan for releasing their first single to mainstream this week and having it be the #2 Most Added on R&R's Active Rock chart. And I give them mucho props for re-releasing their first Christian release off of Collide, "Savior", and not picking some other song. :)
Wow, tonight was so awesome! You know, during Big Dismal's set I was kinda thinking, "Oh, these are all just songs on the CD I have. But hey, now I get to see them being played, so live music is kinda better."
But I later realized that live music is on such a higher plane. You connect. You worship. You do all that crazy headbanger-meets-Jessica-Simpson's-hand-motions stuff. OK, so I guess that last one is just me. But really, you can let loose and be immersed in the music. Woot for that.
And sometimes not only are you immersed in the music, but it kinda floods out your eardrums. Such was the case with Pillar, who I thought played altogether too loudly. Although this has a lot to do with the fact that I didn't know a lot of Pillar's lyrics ahead of time and subsequently found it harder to pick out the words from the instrumentals, Tina does concur with me on that fact that they were definitely the loudest band of the night.
The second loudest, while we're on the subject, was 12 Stones. And now that we're talking about them, let me just say that the psycho faces that Paul kept making were freaking me out! I was beginning to think that he must have been on something. But yay for their new songs.
And yay, woot, rock on, and all other such phrases for Skillet! Yeah, 'Saucepan' rocked me the mostest tonight. They are super-awesome on CD but even super-awesome-er live! Technically speaking, it was nice too since they weren't as eardrum-shatteringly loud as Pillar.
Plus, I just got into their songs the most. "A Little More" was probably the spiritual high point of the night for me. It was so cool because after getting so into the song, it was as if I saw things in a different light. Even though I had been watching John Cooper sing since they started their set, right after "A Little More" I noticed that his jeans weren't solid blue but rather had those artsy/fashionable/whatev white/faded splotches.
It was kinda symbolic of the whole connection-realization moment, and it set the tone for much of the rest of the concert. I started to praise more earnestly during songs, and I prayed more too. And "Savior" was also up there as a high point since it also rocked supermucho.
OK, well I need to go do math homework and pop a tape in the TV/VCR so I can tape the 12News @ 10 replay before I head off to sleep, so yeah... I'll leave you with a list of kinda-random extra moments from the night:
The accident near (Guess where!) the mini-stack
Turning around: the super-long and involved version
12News and The Edge being there
The supercool ticket-tearer lady
The tininess and coolness of Celebrity
Suuuuuper close seats!
Knee-watching possibilities... haha.
Seat switching for height alignment purposes... and then the guys changing spots! Haha.
The helpful security guy
The terrified kid who had his hat commandeered by and was surrounded by GRITS
GRITS playing Beyoncé and Outkast clips
The GRITS dude's bling-bling-rim belt buckle!
The GRITS guys' affinity for the guys sitting in front of us
Happy Easter, everybody! Well, today was Sunrise Service at FUMCG.
Youth band, well, we had our moments :), and I think my sermon was pretty well received. If you wanna read a copy, here it is:
Recently the Valley has had a few rainy days. Rain is something that doesn’t happen too often out here, and I’d like to use it as an example of sorts because it helps us understand the greatness of the hope that Easter has in store for us.
Consider how we talk about the rain. People generally say, “I hope it rains today,” when they have some reason to expect that it will rain. Maybe it’s cloudy. Maybe Sean McLaughlin had forecast some afternoon showers. Maybe it seems like it’s been just long enough since the last time the Valley caught a few raindrops. Anyway, it’s far less likely for people to say they’re hoping for rain on one of those days in the middle of the summer where the chance of precipitation is 0.0 percent. To walk out into the 110-degree heat and proclaim, “I hope it rains today,” would probably earn you a few laughs. A more common summer phrase would probably be, “I wish it would rain.”
That’s because, according to a dictionary definition, hope is “a wish or desire accompanied by confident expectation of its fulfillment,” whereas a wish is merely a desire or longing for something that needs no reasonable expectation.
Over the past few weeks, I’m sure a lot of people have been hoping for rain. But very shortly, we’ll be entering that season where one can only wish for a downpour... because we all know how likely that is in the middle of June.
When we say that the Easter story gives us hope, we’re not just talking about something that we want. We’re talking about a promise that God has given us; something that we can be confident in and trust in. That hope, as Romans 8:21 tells us, is “that everything God made would be set free from ruin to have the freedom and glory that belong to God’s children” (NCV).
If we trust in God and His promises, we can confidently expect that because of Jesus’s death and resurrection we can be set free from the ruin that is sin and spend eternity with God. The hope that God offers us through Jesus’s resurrection is the hope of salvation.
In the 15th chapter of 1 Corinthians, Paul rebuts those who disbelieve that one day we too will rise from the dead. He writes in verses 16-19, “If the dead are not raised, Christ has not been raised either. 17 And if Christ has not been raised, then your faith has nothing to it; you are still guilty of your sins. 18 And those in Christ who have already died are lost. 19 If our hope in Christ is for this life only, we should be pitied more than anyone else in the world” (NCV).
Indeed, Easter reminds us of a hope that goes beyond this life. As we can see in 1 Corinthians, because Jesus rose from the dead on Easter morning, we can be freed from our sin and we too can be raised from the dead to new life.
In fact, Jesus is our only hope for eternal life. As Paul tells the Colossians in chapter 1, verse 27, “God decided to let his people know this rich and glorious secret which he has for all people. This secret is Christ himself, who is in you. He is our only hope for glory.” (NCV).
While many people put their trust in the things of this world and their own actions and expect to be saved because they did some good things throughout their lives, those people are trusting in a false hope. Our true hope for eternal life springs not from our own deeds, but rather from God’s justifying grace and mercy.
On Easter we come together to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus and we remember that because of Jesus, and Jesus alone, we have the hope of salvation. And we’re not just wishing. We can confidently expect that we can have eternal life if we put our trust in God and His promises.
When Mary Magdalene and the two disciples discovered Jesus’s empty tomb on that first Easter morning, they thought that someone had taken Him away. But no one had really taken anything; what we discover on Easter morning is that, through His resurrection, Jesus has given us the hope of salvation and eternal life. Amen.
Even though Paris Hilton wasn't a celebrity in the '90s, she still got a good two or three minutes of attention on the top 20 hour of E!'s 101 Reasons Why the '90s Ruled.
They seriously spent multiple minutes repeatedly speaking– with a distinct tone of disbelief– about how Paris Hilton "did not exist" in the '90s. (The announcer later explained that she really did exist physically, just not on the E! radar... which, of course, is just as bad if not worse not existing at all.)
But the funny thing is that the segment ends with the normal tagline, "No Paris Hilton... one more of the reasons why the '90s ruled." The announcer guy also contrasted the 2000s explosion of reality TV shows to the '90s original: "In the '90s, reality TV meant The Real World, another reason why the '90s ruled."
OK, now you know that that is not even the official E! position on Paris or reality TV. The announcer sounds all nostalgic, but you know E! would freak out if one day Paris Hilton and reality TV disappeared off the face of the earth.
Of course, since I think just about every E! show already references Paris Hilton, I'm sure we'd see a lot of special tribute shows devoted to her: True Hollywood Story: The Disappearance of Paris Hilton, E! News Live breaking news coverage of the disappearance of Paris HiltonCelebrities Uncensored Remembers Paris Hilton, Celebrities Uncensored Remembers Paris Hilton 2, ..., Celebrities Uncensored Remembers Paris Hilton 13, and (of course!)The 101 Greatest Paris Hilton Moments.
"Parking is rarely a problem for CHS students and faculty. Four on-campus parking lots with over 330 spaces available make driving to and from lunch and school a breeze for sophomores, juniors, seniors, faculty, and staff."
In the spirit of TurnItIn.com, let's do a side-by-side comparison:
Dear Web Traveler:
Chandler High School has offered classes in secondary education since 1918. The staff takes pride in the school's tradition of excellence in academics, athletics, and service to the community. Chandler High School has won two national awards for excellence in education from the U.S. Department of Education and six awards from the Arizona Department of Education. It has been named in the top 100 schools by Money Magazine and was recently named the top CLEP school in the nation by Educational Testing Services of Princeton, New Jersey. Chandler High School offers a comprehensive program ranging from International Baccalaureate through special education services and career pathways programs that help students choose courses of study for graduation and their futures. Chandler's teachers and students continue to win awards in competitions in academics, athletics, vocational areas, and fine arts. Welcome aboard our web site. Please feel free to browse.
Sincerely,
Terry Williams
Principal
Dear Web Traveller:
Chandler High School has offered classes in secondary education since 1918. The school's staff takes pride in its tradition of excellence in academics, athletics, and service to the community. Chandler High School has won two national awards for Excellence in Education from the U.S. Department of Education and six awards from the Arizona Department of Education. It has been named in the top 100 schools by Money Magazine and was recently named the top CLEP school in the nation by Educational Testing Services of Princeton, New Jersey. Chandler High school offers a comprehensive program ranging from International Baccalaureate through special education services and career pathways programs that help students choose courses of study for graduation and their futures. Chandler's teachers and students continue to win awards in competitions ranging from academics to vocational areas and on through the arts. Welcome aboard our web site. Please feel free to browse.
Wow, I don't know what to make of this. (Well I kinda do, but just play along with my faux shock for a while.) If this is what I think it is, Mr. Williams copied over 90% of someone else's work and signed his name to it.
Oh, alas and alack! What contemptuous plagiarism! What a bad example our principal has set! Oh, how our principal has violated such a sacred principle!
OK, faux shock has ended. It's pretty unshocking, really, but being faux-shocked sure was fun! :)
I did some happy new tech thingies today (and one a while ago) that I'm kinda proud of. Let me elaborate:
I downloaded Tweak UI from Microsoft so I can set up Internet Explorer to have lots of address bar search options. Like now when I type "D health" into the address bar, it takes me directly to the Dictionary.com definition for health, and so on and so forth. Woot for that.
Also, I registered some books that I got from Barnes and Noble tonight on BookCrossing. Woot.
Oh, and a while back, I reformatted the comments pages to look more like the main site... fyi.
And tonight, I added a new field to my Songs blog, so that if I was able to find a legal download of a song I like, I can link it in the blog. If a song is available, the music note in the blog will be a link. (Hint: "Pearls to Swine" has a link! :))
Hehehe, I was randomly surfing yesterday and reading about leet, and I found a link to H4x0r Economist. It depicts a leet-speaking Alan Greenspan interacting with world leaders and the economy.
One of the more mildy-worded strips is depicted at right.
The Anderson/Vogl live stage show The three-way tango Following the leader The waving The thank yous The promises of autographs next week The Andersons and Vogls jammin' to Cher! Yucky, but funny!
Priya describing her Safety Ed group's listing of important characteristics in the opposite sex: "Intelligence didn't even make the list. They wanted to write 'well-endowed,' but they didn't know how to spell it."
Nash says we shouldn't restate our theses in our conclusions. Shehran says he was told to. Funniness ensues: Nash: "That was a long time ago... when we needed you to have closure." Shehran: "No! Chris told me to do it in second hour!"
That Jake Byrd guy on Kimmel "Why doesn't the FCC arrest Africa?" The song he wrote for Michael Jackson: "Sleepovers Are Not a Crime" You know, I watch Jimmy Kimmel Live way too often. I now get all excited when recurring features and topics come up, like unnecessary bleeping and trashing The View. I should really learn to turn the TV off after Nightline.
"At In-N-Out®, I have a policy for my fries, it's called: 'No Fry Left Behind!' Naturally, like program that inspires it, it doesnt do much.... But it sure sounds nice!" –Sam Nelson Hahaha! Sam, that is so awesome!
Anderson on tape delay: "I'm calling my lawyer, Star Jones." and tonight's other 360 funniness Don't worry, Priya. I taped the good stuff since I'm guessing you didn't have a chance to see it.
');
