Climbing The Ladder Of Success

If you ever have the chance to visit Gatlinburg, Tennessee, be sure to ride the ski lift at the top of the Smoky Mountains at Ober Gatlinburg. These five pictures are the view you will have climbing the mountain. See if you can find the Grassy Knoll Institute Logo.

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Lost Update - Time Passages

Lost Update - Season V - 02/04/2009

It was late in December
The sky turned to snow
All round the day was going down slow
Night like a river beginning to flow
I felt the beat of my mind
Go drifting into time passages
Years go falling in the fading light
Time passages
Buy me a ticket on the last plane home tonight

The above song lyrics was penned by Al Stewart, and aptly named Time Passages. As usual with my Lost updates, the lyrics and songs I select are an integral part of my Lost theory and what is really happening on the show.

Just what is the Grassy Knoll Institutes Lost theory….I've been waiting a long time to tell you.....
Although it appears the survivors of Oceanic flight 815 are on a tropical island, they are being deceived. There is no island. The survivors are in a virtual reality laboratory. All the castaways are interconnected to one another sharing each others thoughts, memories, and feelings. While in this virtual reality laboratory, a battery of physical and mental experiments are performed on them. And who is running these experiments? As Juliet stated, the Aliens of course.

Tonight's episode was all about convergence. (Found on Wikipedia: In mathematics, convergence describes limiting behavior, particularly of an infinite sequence or series, toward some limit. To assert convergence is to claim the existence of such a limit, which may be itself unknown. For any fixed standard of accuracy, however, you can always be sure to be within that limit, provided you have gone far enough.) (Sounds a whole lot like the gibberish Daniel Faraday spews under his breath doesn't it?)

Off the island, Ben (He who always lies) is rounding up the Oceanic six preparing them to return to the island. Ben already had Locke, (Dead and in the casket) and Jack and Sayid, and Hurley was on ice in the county jail lockup. Ben lied (of course) to get Kate motivated to leave, as he was behind the lawsuit to take Aaron away from her. They are on their way back to the island. Convergence.

While on the island, of course, the Others are already there. But wait! Not just the Others, but a younger version of the Others, except for Richard of course. And remember the flaming arrows shot at the castaways on the beach? They are also there. My guess is that they are the inhabitants of the Black Rock ship. Convergence.

Speaking of the castaways. They encounter themselves from several months ago. Reminded me of the Austin Powers movie where he went back and forth in time and met himself. (No, I'm austin Powers from ten minutes ago!) Locke also recognized the Hatch light as they were walking through the jungle. If you recall, Locke blew up the hatch several months ago and is now reliving it, or perhaps just observing the past. Convergence.

Wait, there's still more. The ill-fated French expedition washes ashore. Danielle is young and pregnant, and they pick up a passenger. Jin. Except he and the French are 16 years in the past. Convergence.

Don't forget about Desmond and Penny who are as I type on their way back to the Lost island. You know Walt will make an appearance soon. Convergence.

Tonight's episode was all about convergence. Wait a minute, didn't I just print that a few minutes ago? Or am I going to print that in the future? Or am I typing this right now? Ask Desmond, he knows!

Tidbits from tonight's episode:

*Claire's mother was used as a ploy to get Kate to react. Jack blurted out Aaron, who she did not know about. That will come back to haunt him.

*Ben always lies. You can insert this every week.

*Juliet and Sawyer are getting cozy. Just as I predicted.

*The nose bleeds. Charlotte and Miles have them, and then Juliet at the end of the show. Why only them?

The virtual reality tie in... Tonight's episode is a continuation from the season opener. The castaways are on a time journey, jumping from one loop to another. One moment they are in the past, or at least what they perceive is the past. The next moment they are in the future, or at least what they perceive is the future. and the next, back to the present, or at least what they perceive to be the present.

As I preached several years ago, all the castaways are interconnected sharing the same virtual reality experience. (Sounds like a ride at universal Theme park) As stated previously, when oddities occur, Jacks father on the island, Hurley talking to his dead pal, Kate seeing a horse, etc, reality is bleeding through and some are close to consciousness thus severing the link.

As in virtual reality video games, reset the game, start fresh with new parameters and choose from all the characters who you want to be. The rest of Time Passages by Al Stewart is below. The lyrics will bring my point home.

Well, I'm not the kind to live in the past
The years run too short and the days too fast
The things you lean on
Are the things that don't last
Well, it's just now
And then my line gets cast into these
Time passages
There's something back here that you left behind
Oh, time passages
Buy me a ticket on the last plane home tonight

Hear the echoes and feel yourself starting to turn
Don't know why you should feel
That there's something to learn
It's just a game that you play

Until next week, Get Lost!

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Halfway To Horny

Where Catholic Priests Go For Their Final Vows

Lets hope the Boy scouts Of America aren't camping at the next exit.

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Hey Donkey

Being a veteran of trade shows, I am quite familiar with the setup and mechanics of the ones I attend. Except for one show I was asked to attend and fill in for a colleague of mine.

Usually, I know what hall the show is located in and the name of the company I will be assisting, the personnel in the booth, and the booth row and booth number. That wasn't the case for this show.

All I knew is the that it was located in the Nashville convention center and I was to be there Friday and Saturday. I asked my colleague how was I going to find where I needed to go.

He said he knew the first name of the contact, (Mike) but not the company name he was exhibiting under because they went under several names. However, he said I wouldn't have any problem finding the booth. He said to walk into the show and listen for a man that sounded like Shrek!

Shrek! WTF? I asked, "That's it! That's how I'm supposed to find the booth? By listening for a man that sounded like the Disney cartoon character Shrek?" He assured me that I would have no problem.

My flight to Nashville was uneventful and I checked into my hotel and went to find Shrek in the convention center. Thankfully, this trade show was a small one, only about 300 vendors and about 600 booths lined up in 10 rows. (Some shows have thousands of vendors and thousands of booths)

I decided to start at the first row and work my way around the show. I walked up the aisle slowly listening to the people talking hoping to hone in on the Shrek voice. No luck in row one. None in row two or three either. As I turned the corner of row four, I heard a man talking very loud. With an accent. A Scottish accent. I heard him say, "Hey donkey, that's not where that goes." A few seconds later I came face to face with Shrek. He was talking up a storm and he sounded exactly like Shrek. And looked a lot like him as well. A blockhead, big ogre type shoulders, tall, round stick out ears, just sans the green coloring. Give him a club and he could double as Shrek.

I started laughing out loud. Shrek, (Mike) turned around and stopped what he was doing for a moment and sized me up. He then said, "Oh, look at the funny man. Who are you supposed to be?" I told him I was Patrick and was here to help him. He said, "Oh, that's just great!" I told him, "Just don't call me donkey there Shrek!"

My colleague forgot to tell me that Mike (Shrek) didn't like to be compared to the cartoon character. Mike clammed up for a moment, gave me one of those upset looks that Shrek did and folded his arms and just stared at me. I couldn't help it. I said, "Hey look, it's Cameron Diaz!" (Princess Fiona, Shrek's love interest) All weekend long I called him Shrek. After a while, he got used to it.

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Lost Update - Fly Like An Eagle

lost Update - Season V - 01/28/2009

Time keeps on slippin, slippin, slippin,
Into the future.
Time keeps on slippin, slippin, slippin,
Into the future.

I want to fly like an eagle to the sea.
Fly like an eagle, Let my spirit carry me.
I want to fly like an eagle till I'm free.
Oh, lord, through the revolution.

In the 1950's the United States military tested hydrogen bombs on deserted islands to measure radiation fallout, destruction, and half life of radiation. In 1969, a new TV drama series titled The New People debuted. It was written by Rod Serling, creator of the Twilight zone.

The premise of The New People series was…. A group of young American college students plane crash lands on a deserted island. The students are a diverse bunch, from every walk of life and every field of study. The New People find out that the island they are on is called Bomano island and is targeted as a nuclear bomb test island. The New People decide to form their own government in hopes of righting what was wrong in the real world. The unknown question was whether the United States would ever continue its tests and detonate a nuclear bomb on the island.

What the hell does this have to do with tonight's Lost episode? For the answer, we have to go back to the past. How befitting. In My Lost update from June of 2006 titled If I Could Turn Back Time, this storyline is discussed in greater detail. And now tonight, on Lost, it's happening all over again.

The year is 1954. Location, a mysterious island. The players, a group of diverse people on the island, the U.S. military, and a hydrogen bomb. Richard Alpert, leader of the "Others" reveals the hydrogen bomb testing alluding to the Rod Serling tie in. That was a major tie in and to me, a major clue of what is really happening on Lost and how my theory relates to tonight's episode.

Just what is my theory….. It lies somewhere in the fifth dimension.
Although it appears the survivors of Oceanic flight 815 are on a tropical island, they are being deceived. There is no island. The survivors are in a virtual reality laboratory. All the castaways are interconnected to one another sharing each others thoughts, memories, and feelings. While in this virtual reality laboratory, a battery of physical and mental experiments are performed on them. And who is running these experiments? As Juliet stated, the Aliens of course.

Tonight's episode continues with the time shifting arc as the island phased in and out of time. Penny is pregnant and giving birth. A moment later their child (Charlie) is 4 years old. On the island, the castaways are also time shifting and Locke is determined to put an end to it. He replies to Sawyer, if you've just been what I went through, you would ask when the hell have I been.

We also learn a little more about Chuck Widmore. He was one of the original others under Richard Alpert. He snapped the neck of his comrade when they were captured when he was going to reveal the location of their camp.

OK, I know, where the hell is the virtual reality theory tie in? Tonight, we're going to look at Charles Widmore. In the 1950's, he was a soldier under the command of Richard. Charles was a lowly grunt and in the future, he is a very powerful and wealthy man. Everything that he wasn't on the island.

Widmore's virtual reality experiment was a simple one. Gave a man of common means unlimited wealth and power and study the changes in personality. Charles now has two paths to choose from. The classic good and evil path. It would appear that Widmore chose the evil path and built an empire with influence over governments and feared by many. Unlike when he was on the island. Case in point: Richard gives Widmore a command and when he doesn't oby immeditaely, Richard smacks the gun away from Widmore and scolds him in front of the group.

For the Oceanic six that escaped the island and now have to return. At first, it appeared that they were getting everything they wanted. Jack and Kate together, Sun becoming a powerful woman, Hurley safe and comfortable, and Sayid hooking up with the love of his life that he was searching for 7 years.

Returning to the island is sort of like resetting a video game. Getting a new life. All the wounds being healed. New supplies. New personalities. Another chance. For the returning six, they will be reset and absorbed back into the virtual reality connection with new parameters for them.

And one more thing before we get to the tidbits. John Locke, literally a broken man off the island, has ascended to his ultimate dream. He is the leader of his people. And that's all he ever wanted. Respect!

Tidbits from tonight's episode:
*The others were taught Latin to communicate in private. Latin is a dead language.

*Daniel Faraday's research was funded by Charles Widmore.

*The hydrogen bomb's name was Jughead, the title of tonight's episode.

*Richard is really old. He's always been on the island.

*The U.S. military have been involved with the Lost island since at least 1954.

Until next week, Get Lost!

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Consequences Not Wearing Thought Screen Helmet

Consequences Of Not Wearing A thought Screen Helmel

Just Saying...
Don't let this happen to you!!!
Make sure your thought screen helmet is properly constructed.
Do not skimp on the magical 3M velostat cloth.
Make sure your helmet covers your entire dome.
Wear it at all times.

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A Clockwork Orange Remake

I spied these two men riding the Ober Gatlinburg ski lift. My wife Patty told me to take their picture. So I did. A moment later, it reminded me of the characters in the Stanley Kubrick film, A Clockwork Orange. We laughed like idiots the rest of the way down the lift.

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Carrabba’s Italian Restaurant – Chicken Parmesan

Carrabba's Italian Grill

Youngstown, Ohio and the surrounding area's have many fine restaurants. Unfortunately Carrabba's is not one of them. It's not the worst either. The service was adequate, the seating OK, the cost affordable, but there was nothing outstanding about the place. Nothing that snapped, popped, or sizzled.

House Salad

We were seated quickly and our waiter brought us water and our menu's. A few minutes later, she took our dinner orders. This salad is the standard house salad. A little cheese, a tomato, a cucumber, a few croutons, and some lettuce. The salad tasted good, not great, but good.

Carrabba's Chicken Parmigiana

I ordered chicken parmigiana with a side order of rigatoni pasta. The proportion was generous, the chicken tender enough, the cheese plenty, but the sauce, well, again, it was adequate. Nothing outstanding about the meal including the price. What you see is about $23 dollars before tip.

The Grassy Knoll Diner scores 2.5 out of 5 shots and barely recommends Carrabba's Italian Restaurant for dinner.

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