Voltaire Had One, Too

I'm a not a pessimist by nature.

It was learned after many difficult (what are they called, again)? Oh yeah, Life Lessons.

When I was twelve, my brother went to an AC/DC concert. I still don't understand how he got permission to do that. Come to think of it, Chris, I hope you didn't and you get grounded - twenty years after the fact.

Anyway, Chris came home and said the concert was unbelievable. Said since he and his friends were so close to the stage, Angus Young invited him (just him) onto the stage to sing a song. I had seen the tickets with my own eyes and knew they were close to the stage. But, I had never been to a concert before so how was I supposed to know random kids didn't get called out to belt out a few tunes on the open mic?

Several summers before that, we lived by the Blanco River. We waited what we thought was a reasonable amount of time after a flood to go swimming. The water was no longer muddy so we figured it might be safe enough. So, to test the current, Chris convinced me to jump in. Surely my older brother's got my back, right?

I got sucked up like Styrofoam in a toilet bowl. Not that quick a learner, huh Neil?

Voltaire wisely wrote, "Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities." Think he had an older brother?

Chris, I hope Mom and Dad haven't heard that story before and you get your allowance taken away.

So now, I don't believe anything unless I see it, feel it, and break it in two to examine it. Then I still have my doubts. Anytime somebody tells me an a story about "a friend of theirs", I can find the exact story on snopes.com in 2.5 seconds.

P.T. Barnum, one may be born every minute, but they grow up. With a vengeance.

Urban legends have been in my mind today. I guess the space shuttle brings to mind Armstrong's Moon Walk, what some people think is the biggest hoax since the Warren Commission. Somewhere, Kubick is rolling on the ground in tears. I know what you're thinking (Uh, Neil, um, Kubrick kinda like, um, died, several years ago).

Allegedly, I respond.

In a related but separate matter, have you seen the "Buzz Log" on Yahoo's page? Apparently, the guys there let on-line readers know what the most popular searches have been the past week. If you haven't consulted the oracle that is Yahoo's search engine, you may be missing out on what everybody else in the world, but you, already knows.

Granted, most of the time they are legitimate newsworthy items. But come on, all of America suddenly had "Good Times" nostalgia last week?

Please.