Has it been a while? Yes, yes it has. So it should say something that I’m coming out of the woodworks to write again. It should indicate that I’m pretty stoked about something and think it’s worth mentioning.

The big news? Tesla’s regular production on their roadster begins today. The timing is perfect, with oil hitting record-high prices and global warming becoming a greater threat. Tesla represents a fueling force in the paradigm shift that needs to happen for people to progress technologically. It’s what I love to see.

Their full press release on the production can be found here.

There’s a really popular trend right now of bombarding Pres. Bush with criticisms for a lot of reasons, but particularly for the current conflict in Iraq. I can’t attest that his reasons for entry were flawless or that we “should” or “should not” be there (that’s so grey, in spite of what a lot of hard-headed and self-important protestors think). Basically, I feel that I, along with most Americans (both for and against the war) are not perfectly informed and therefore, I have a hard time picking sides, though I do dislike the whiney liberal media. Anyway, on to my point.

In listening to the news, we are quick to hear about the rising death toll in Iraq. Interestingly enough, though, it still loses out to the number of fatalities caused by drunk driving in the United States by a ratio of about 17 to 1 (according to MADD and DoD Reports, comparing fatalities of 2005 to both causes). 17 to 1. 17 to 1. That’s in favor of drunk driving. There aren’t 17 reports against drunk driving for every report of some legislator fighting Bush’s Iraq policy. In fact, I’d wager that the number is quite inverse.

There are some big differences, too. Those who serve in our military do so with a commitment to laying their life on the line in the defense of our nation. Those killed by drunk driving accidents are often on their way home from the store, taking kids to a school play, going to see a movie, etc. They never chose to have their life unnecessarily endangered. How is that fair?

So what I don’t get is why we can spend so much energy slamming Bush for his foreign policy while we let 15 more people die here for every one that loses a life in Iraq and we do relatively nothing about it. Why? I guess it’s a weak and easy strategy to heave blame on someone else so we don’t have to feel guilt for our own misdeeds. Plus, if we really cracked down on alcohol misuse, we wouldn’t have those hilarious commercials. I mean, talking frogs. That’s good stuff. That’s worth 16,000 citizens a year.

Before any of you avid thegoont readers out there go crazy and throw down $1+ million for Britney Spears’ recently shorn hair, I encourage you to watch the following Sarah McLachlan video to see what she did with $150,000. It’s really impressive what she did and really sad what people want (opening bid: $1Million) for the memoir and publicity of the controversy of an under talented white trash, ex-Mickey-Mouse-club pop star.

What’s really hard for me is that it doesn’t seem we’ve actually even heard anything from Britney that made her famous, ie. her music. Her fame now is riding the wake of her prior fame mixed with a spiral of controversy that reporters just eat right up.

To be fair, the aforementioned site does plan on donating a “portion of the proceeds” to various charities, but who knows what that means? Anyway, I wonder what someone will give me for my facial trimmings this morning. I could start “buythegoontsfacialhairfromthismorning.com.” Opening bid? $20. Not much, but hey, it’s residual!

I already posted regarding electric vehicles earlier, but I just watched the YouTube video (see below) that made me love them even more. Apparently (and I recognize this may be a big PR stunt) the execs take small salaries and dividends so they can plug more money into R&D to make electric cars more viable. Go Tesla.

You ever wonder how somebody somehow landed in the position they’re in? You know, the type of person that you simply know just happened to have the right connection because they have no other reason of being there.

I hate Kelly’s episodes of the Office, an otherwise extraordinary sitcom. I don’t know who she was dating, how much she paid, or who she’s related to, somebody needs to get rid of her.

Kelly’s social interactions between characters and love-triangle-plot-developing moments are awkward (and not intentionally) at best. How can you do that to people who have the chemistry of Krasinsky and Fischer? Why oh why cruel world?? Why do you do this to me?? Get her off the show!

OK. I hate those ads. Unfortunately, I had to sit through multiple instances of various Vegas ads while watching the BYU-Oregon game (go Cougs!). Not only do these commercials imply that the Vegas-goer spent his time gambling and fornicating and doing all other kinds of things that, by the very nature of the implication, bring shame (why else would you not want people knowing about what you did?), it condones the following actions to hide your guilt:

• Lying (Like the guy getting his brain examined because he “forgot what happened for an entire week”)
• Blackmail (The lawn services guy threatening to tell people about what his client did in Vegas)
• Secret-keeping within a marriage (a common thread through each commercial)

I hope America as a whole hasn’t honestly sunk to such a level as to accept the messages of these commercials as the norm.

I was taking advantage of late mornings at the in-laws’ and watching Spongebob this morning (a guilty pleasure) and I saw a commercial blatantly targeting children. No surprise. However, this commercial wasn’t for magic pens, it was for a joke service. That’s right, all you have to do is send a text saying “Joke 5″ to ###### and you get only the most hilarious jokes delivered right to your phone!

Then, the fine print: By sending the text message, you are enrolling in a joke-a-day program at a flat rate of $9.95/joke. There’s no warning of needing to be 18 (because aren’t they entering into a contract?) or consulting parents before doing it. And with all the goofy parents who give their 8-year-olds cell phones now, I’m sure these guys are just raking it in. How is there not a lawsuit against this company already? Has anyone else seen this?

Though I’ve been written off as a conspiracy theorist for it (sandwich-board signs and protests, here I come!), I really think there may be something behind the proactive suppression of electronic vehicle technology. It’s not that such technology is impossible or does not exist, but it certainly is not being made available on a mainstream scale, even though there are a lot of people out there who would drive one. This is a topic I could go on with for hours, but for time and space’s sake, I’ll just give some good links to chew on.

Plug-In Cars

Who Killed the Electric Car?

Tesla Roadster (my new drool-over car)

OK, not really. He’s just a comedian. However, he is the first show I’ve seen where I didn’t feel just a little ripped off for the ticket price. The long and short of it - he’s an amazing act.

I’ve been exposed to a good amount of Brian Regan (the CD, DVD, and anything I could find online), so I was kind of scared I’d hit repeat material. At least 90% of the show was brand new to me and very, very funny.

As an added bonus, my wife and I stuck around afterwards to see if we could get an autograph. He was one of the nicest guys you could ever expect to meet and spent about 20 minutes in the cold to take pictures, sign autographs, answer questions, and shake hands with a group of fans.

Seriously, if you get a chance to go you should. Seriously.

Brian Regan

My Brian Regan Site

I’m not sure if it’s a cure to all my forms of laziness, but Blog Desk has just helped me in finding a cure for at least one. You (singular) may notice that I have not posted in a while. This is mostly because if I don’t have something practically screaming at me to do something, it just doesn’t happen. Plus then I have to go through the inconvenience of typing my URL into my browser, clicking login, trying 3 passwords before I remember which one I use on TheGoont, and so forth. Do I look like I’m made of seconds? I don’t have that kind of time. OK, really, it’s not so much a time issue as a lack of desire. But BlogDesk throws it in my face! I love it! And here ya go, my first BlogDesk post!

If interested, check it out: BlogDesk