tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-51152782012-01-28T18:45:13.636-05:00The Knight ShiftChristopher Knight, personal blog, news, politics, history, entertainment, movies, television, Christianity, religion, Internet, technology, computers, video games, education, books, science fiction, Star Wars, Harry Potter, The Lord of the Rings, other stuffChris Knighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07772661137673181295noreply@blogger.comBlogger44741100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5115278.post-20119633376121813812012-01-27T08:18:00.001-05:002012-01-27T08:22:10.397-05:00A thought from this morning's meditationsI follow Christ not so that I might flee from death. I follow Christ so that I might chase after life!And there is more difference between the two than night and day.Chris Knighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07772661137673181295noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5115278.post-11291100293219861182012-01-26T19:40:00.001-05:002012-01-26T19:40:49.797-05:00Finally finished BATMAN: ARKHAM CITY
I'd had Batman: Arkham City, the follow-up to 2009's mega-hit Batman: Arkham Asylum, since its release date back in October. Hadn't devoted much time into it though until this past week. Guess I'm still trying to distract myself from Mom's passing (now four weeks ago) and since anything Batman is best enjoyed in the dark of night, that's when I've been playing it.There are still some Chris Knighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07772661137673181295noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5115278.post-68203262668446428162012-01-26T14:11:00.000-05:002012-01-26T14:11:11.103-05:00Bev Perdue, AKA "Worst Governor EVER", won't seek re-election
The news out of Raleigh today - which will no doubt be enjoyed by many across the Tarheel State - is that Bev Perdue, known on this blog as the WORST governor that North Carolina has EVER had, will not seek re-election to a second term.Kinda historic, given that since our governors have had the ability to run for re-election since the late 1970s, that all of North Carolina's governors since haveChris Knighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07772661137673181295noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5115278.post-34373106802413907762012-01-26T13:51:00.000-05:002012-01-26T13:51:29.254-05:00Newt Gingrich promises permanent Moon base by 2020That's if he's elected President, 'course (and if he wins re-election in 2016).Read about Gingrich's plans for a lunar establishment here.I just couldn't resist having some fun with this...
"To the MOON, Alice!!"Chris Knighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07772661137673181295noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5115278.post-18759848358845446502012-01-26T13:20:00.000-05:002012-01-26T13:21:28.077-05:00Nicol Williamson - the greatest Merlin in film history - has passed away"There are other worlds. This one is done with me."
The sad word came yesterday that Nicol Williamson, the legendary British actor who will forever be best remembered as giving us the finest portrayal of Merlin EVER, in the 1981 film Excalibur, passed away last month at the age of 75.Williamson brought his considerable talent to bear whether he was on screen or the stage. At one point he was Chris Knighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07772661137673181295noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5115278.post-29551820028171747772012-01-25T02:40:00.000-05:002012-01-25T02:40:17.138-05:00The Eagles are come upon usSomething I noticed yesterday evening...Here's a photograph from northern Europe of some of the Aurora Borealis resulting from the massive discharge of solar particles hitting the Earth this week:Looks rather like a great big bird of prey, doesn't it?Compare that to this painting by Ted Nasmith, titled The Eagles of Manwë:"...And out of the west there would come at times a great cloud in the Chris Knighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07772661137673181295noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5115278.post-26173239740578892532012-01-23T23:16:00.000-05:002012-01-23T23:16:33.891-05:00Massive coronal ejection en route to EarthThe largest ejection of charged particles from the Sun since 2005 is currently speeding toward Earth at 5 million miles per hour. It's due to hit us sometime tomorrow.In recent months I have made it known that for the past number of years, I have been observing a correlation between this kind of solar activity and an increase in significant seismic activity. You can read about them here and Chris Knighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07772661137673181295noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5115278.post-23530008717181824972012-01-23T22:34:00.000-05:002012-01-23T22:34:31.412-05:00RAGE and RARE: A proposal for two new lawsIn recent days I have been mulling over a notion for two related bits of possible legislation, and I would like to submit them for discussion.It seems to me that there are some people in this land who refuse to acknowledge the right of others to seek after and call out to God as best they can, in sincere and dignified manner. I do not believe that the Founding Fathers possibly had "freedom of Chris Knighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07772661137673181295noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5115278.post-20170920241750941572012-01-23T15:26:00.000-05:002012-01-23T15:26:37.681-05:00Chris watches THE ARTIST and loses his mind over its beauty and brilliance!
The Artist is the best picture that came out in 2011. Nothing else comes close. I found myself thinking that yesterday as we were watching it (at the Carousel Grande Cinema 15 in Greensboro) and the more and more that I've thought about it since the more resolute I am in that belief.They just don't make movies like this anymore, folks. And I do not mean anything about how director Michel Chris Knighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07772661137673181295noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5115278.post-10875118731896290012012-01-21T16:42:00.000-05:002012-01-21T16:42:33.362-05:00America: Welcome to the urinocracyI am officially coining a new word: "urinocracy".It's the best term that I can come up with to describe what this country has become, after observing what is going on with the Republican primaries this election season. Then it occurred to me that this really is what the United States has devolved into.What is a "urinocracy"?Urinocracy (noun): Government of, by, for and determined by adults who Chris Knighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07772661137673181295noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5115278.post-77856837483192182932012-01-19T19:11:00.001-05:002012-01-19T19:11:16.250-05:00For those enduring hardship...Today's trial is tomorrow's testimony!Chris Knighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07772661137673181295noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5115278.post-48753672562747578922012-01-19T17:22:00.000-05:002012-01-19T17:22:01.714-05:00It's dogs barking "Imperial March" from the Star Wars movies!!This is a "teaser" for Volkswagen's commercial during this year's Super Bowl. Yes, Super Bowl commercials now have teasers for them. And even so this is already the greatest Super Bowl commercial in the history of anything...Chris Knighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07772661137673181295noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5115278.post-59119548808301129092012-01-18T06:36:00.000-05:002012-01-18T06:48:52.862-05:00Mom: So beautiful...Three weeks later, and I still find myself checking the floor to make sure the tubing from her oxygen machine isn't being tread upon.Three weeks later, and there are times when I could swear that I'm hearing her call my name.
Three weeks later, and there hasn't been a night yet that I haven't woken up at 3 in the morning to check on her.Three weeks later and I still keep wanting to read the comicChris Knighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07772661137673181295noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5115278.post-49114652727089402132012-01-17T19:54:00.000-05:002012-01-17T19:54:02.433-05:00Movies from alternate realities
Imagine if, five decades before James Cameron set to work on it, it had been Howard Hawks instead who gave us Avatar... starring William Shatner, Natalie Wood, John Wayne, Deborah Kerr and Yul Brynner?It would probably look just like the poster on the right. And that's just one of the many very kewl "what-if?" scenarios that artist Peter Stults has come up with in "Movies from an Alternate Chris Knighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07772661137673181295noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5115278.post-6181453358525673552012-01-15T22:59:00.002-05:002012-01-15T22:59:58.218-05:00iPad fun with Zoe and Wally (AKA the girlfriend's cats)This evening Kristen and I were hanging out in one room of her apartment when we heard her cats Zoe and Wally meowing outside the door. I had an idea so I grabbed my iPad, turned on the camera and slid it partly outside under the door. The results? Hilarity!!Chris Knighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07772661137673181295noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5115278.post-70381377599728565282012-01-14T12:40:00.000-05:002012-01-14T12:40:28.881-05:00Happy 40th anniversary to SANFORD AND SON!It was forty years ago today, on January 14th 1972, that Sanford and Son starring Redd Foxx and Demond Wilson, premiered. In the four decades since then Sanford and Son has come to be regarded as one of the funniest - and finest - television series ever.You know you want it: here's the classic opening titles, with that theme composed by Quincy Jones...But why stop there? YouTube is hosting fullChris Knighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07772661137673181295noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5115278.post-65209646965633178342012-01-13T17:33:00.000-05:002012-01-13T17:43:13.093-05:00Tired of negative political ads? So am I (and I'm gonna do something about it...)Four years ago I made a solemn vow to myself, and I have kept to it. Not only that but my conscience has rested much better because of it...I pledged to not vote for any candidate for public office who runs even a single negative campaign ad against an opponent.I'm telling y'all right now that the ballot I cast in 2008 had a lot of wide open empty spaces. But the candidates that I didn't vote Chris Knighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07772661137673181295noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5115278.post-50695599152581312002012-01-12T15:55:00.000-05:002012-01-12T16:19:16.752-05:00Review of STAR WARS: DARTH PLAGUEIS: Luceno's latest well worth seven year wait!
"Did you ever hear the Tragedy of Darth Plagueis the Wise? It's a Sith legend. Darth Plagueis was a Dark Lord of the Sith, so powerful and so wise that he could use the Force to influence the midi-chlorians to create life. He had such a knowledge of the dark side that he could even stop the ones he cared about from dying."-- Supreme Chancellor Palpatine,talking to Anakin SkywalkerStar Wars Chris Knighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07772661137673181295noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5115278.post-26370705502642581932012-01-12T14:09:00.000-05:002012-01-12T14:09:08.206-05:00Obama's recess appointments: I smell hypocrisySo it's coming out that a bunch of Republicans, including senators Orrin Hatch and Mitch McConnell, are expressing concern about President Obama making recess appointments when the Senate was not in session. Former U.S. Attorney General Ed Meese is saying that Obama is committing "a breathtaking violation of the separation of powers."Oh please...The Justice Department headed by Eric Holder is Chris Knighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07772661137673181295noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5115278.post-72221443144041546592012-01-12T13:45:00.001-05:002012-01-12T13:45:55.385-05:00The end of general-purpose computing?It's a bit of a long read, but Corey Doctorow has published an exceptionally well-written piece at Boing Boing about the direction that general-purpose computers are going in regard to SOPA (the "Stop Online Piracy Act") and other dubious legislation. Doctorow recounts the history of digital rights management measures, how they have all ultimately failed and will continue to fail, and how it is Chris Knighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07772661137673181295noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5115278.post-9982558326732432142012-01-12T05:25:00.000-05:002012-01-12T05:25:21.655-05:00Dude's BRILLIANT poem about why following Christ means rejecting religionWow.Just... wow."So for religion, I hate it. In fact I literally resent it. Because when Jesus said 'It is finished', I believe He meant it."I can think of any number of people who I would love to tie down and make them watch this video. This dude, well... he gets what it means to follow Christ.Legalists, don't watch this if you hate squirming!Chris Knighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07772661137673181295noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5115278.post-63540080525789748102012-01-09T23:45:00.000-05:002012-01-10T00:05:11.875-05:00I need to laugh. Heck, we ALL need to laugh...Trying to move forward on some things, after the events of the past few weeks. Our family is still dealing with Mom's passing, and all of the matters pertaining to that.I'm gonna try to resume blogging in earnest during the next few days, 'cuz a lot of y'all have been sending some really nice compliments and condolences, and apparently this lil' site is a pleasurable pastime for more people thanChris Knighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07772661137673181295noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5115278.post-43243390817568963242012-01-07T15:37:00.001-05:002012-01-07T15:41:50.233-05:00Popcorn Sutton's Tennessee White Whiskey: Where to buy it!!This has been one of the crazier past few days in this blog's history. Ever since Discovery Channel aired the final episode of its hit series Moonshiners a few nights ago the traffic to The Knight Shift has been ginormous! Seems that all the writing I've been doing over the years about Marvin "Popcorn" Sutton has put me on the radar of likker lovers across the Intertubes. Since the MoonshinersChris Knighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07772661137673181295noreply@blogger.com14tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5115278.post-63593797645749863332012-01-06T13:46:00.000-05:002012-01-06T13:46:34.275-05:00Separated at birth?Something I noticed a short while ago...On the left is Paul Krugman, columnist for The New York Times. On the right is The Most Interesting Man in the World, spokesman for Dos Equis beer.Chris Knighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07772661137673181295noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5115278.post-11757941480393109362012-01-04T15:58:00.000-05:002012-01-04T16:08:33.726-05:00Watch MOONSHINERS on Discovery Channel tonight! So sayeth Popcorn Sutton's widow!Recent events in my personal life have kept me from watching Discovery Channel's new hit series Moonshiners, but many have told me that it's a most excellent reality series about those free souls who make likker in true Appalachian style!I shall however be tuned in tonight (as well as having my DVR set to record) as I have just received word straight from Pam Sutton, the lovely and vivacious Chris Knighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07772661137673181295noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5115278.post-52711308872944009022012-01-03T21:42:00.000-05:002012-01-03T21:42:29.664-05:00We can go no further on this side of Jordan...The array of flowers that were placed atop Mom's casket. The two pink ones are meant to represent her two children...The teddy bear that my sister Anita placed inside Mom's casket on the morning of the funeral. I enclosed a letter: the last piece of writing that I ever did for my mother.The casket at the graveside, immediately following the service...
The final resting place of Mom's earthly Chris Knighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07772661137673181295noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5115278.post-86020160839947646192012-01-03T19:44:00.001-05:002012-01-03T19:44:37.488-05:00Southern hospitalityA representative sample of all the food that friends and family brought to our house last week following Mom's death. I swear, we had enough fried chicken alone to run the Colonel out of business!
Chris Knighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07772661137673181295noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5115278.post-24446829602126116742012-01-02T20:34:00.000-05:002012-01-02T20:34:13.738-05:00Mom's memorial video from the funeral serviceThree days ago we laid Mom's body to rest. I keep saying "Mom's body" because that wasn't Mom at all, not really. Everything that made Ruby Knight the wonderful, amazing and deeply beautiful woman that she was, God brought into His presence last Wednesday morning and out of that room at the hospice. All that we did two days later was to commit her earthly remains to the cemetery. It was as Chris Knighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07772661137673181295noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5115278.post-24256577972980891012012-01-01T22:24:00.001-05:002012-01-01T22:25:35.321-05:00"Every one I know goes away in the end..."Maybe the greatest music video ever made. Filmed shortly before June's passing and Johnny's a few months later. Trent Reznor wrote the song, but Cash made it all his own.And also the song most on my mind this night.Here is Johnny Cash's cover of "Hurt"...Chris Knighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07772661137673181295noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5115278.post-66153070603952338922012-01-01T12:38:00.001-05:002012-01-01T12:38:24.046-05:00It's a new year!Here's praying that 2012 will be a better one for each of us.Chris Knighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07772661137673181295noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5115278.post-30749799075326704062011-12-28T09:13:00.002-05:002011-12-29T01:40:37.350-05:00Mom is goneAt 8:26 a.m. this morning, my mother, Ruby Roberts Knight, went Home.Thank you to everyone who has been keeping our family in thoughts and prayers.I'm going to be away for awhile. Will try to return to this blog sometime soon.EDIT 1:21 a.m. 12/29/2011: This has been the longest day that I can remember, from Tuesday evening on through the phone call early yesterday morning asking me to return toChris Knighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07772661137673181295noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5115278.post-61281468547228857912011-12-26T20:13:00.000-05:002011-12-26T20:13:15.244-05:00Our first Christmas togetherStill on my traditional holiday break but I couldn't resist sharing this photo from yesterday of Kristen and I on our first Christmas as boyfriend/girlfriend! :-)
Incidentally, plans had to be changed and so we weren't able to watch this year's Doctor Who Christmas special, "The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe" together. But since we'll be together again tomorrow (for our six-month Chris Knighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07772661137673181295noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5115278.post-27063418061746501182011-12-24T08:45:00.000-05:002011-12-24T08:47:12.348-05:00Merry Christmas 2011!Since the Muppets have roared back in style, here's this immortal rendition of them singing "The Twelve Days of Christmas" with John Denver!I think that's like thirty years old, but timeless as ever. I figured it would be good to depart from blogging for the time being with something we could all smile about.Longtime readers know that there is a tradition on The Knight Shift but last year there Chris Knighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07772661137673181295noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5115278.post-70865128442687691572011-12-23T01:03:00.000-05:002011-12-23T01:03:56.000-05:00"Peace on Earth" and "Good Will to Men"The 1939 classic and still heartbreaking animated short, "Peace on Earth"...The 1955 "remake" produced by none other than William Hana and Joseph Barbera, "Good Will to Men"...Chris Knighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07772661137673181295noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5115278.post-4223584781773865132011-12-23T00:30:00.000-05:002011-12-23T00:30:40.381-05:00Do the Georgia mountains harbor Mayan ruins?
Found this curious lil' article by one Richard Thornton at Examiner.com, as it was cited a number of times throughout this past day. If there's anything of merit to this thesis, there exists the possibility that the Maya civilization once stretched from the Yucatan as far north as Blairsville, Georgia!From the article...Archaeological zone 9UN367 at Track Rock Gap, near Georgia’s highest Chris Knighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07772661137673181295noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5115278.post-53157630122341752092011-12-22T14:54:00.000-05:002011-12-22T14:54:17.723-05:00First trailer for Ridley Scott's PROMETHEUSDid you know that next year will be thirty years since Blade Runner: the last time that Ridley Scott gave us a science-fiction movie?Based on this much-awaited first trailer for Prometheus, I'm praying that it won't be another thirty years before Scott delves into the genre again!So if you don't know already, Prometheus is sort-of a prequel to Ridley's 1979 Alien (and by extension also a prequel Chris Knighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07772661137673181295noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5115278.post-59971059101861405822011-12-21T20:52:00.002-05:002011-12-21T20:52:55.968-05:00Time for some classic Christmas musicChris Knighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07772661137673181295noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5115278.post-4257481151151643112011-12-21T06:24:00.000-05:002011-12-21T06:24:06.966-05:00Looks at the first THE HOBBIT trailer, my Precious!It was ten years ago this week that The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring came out and last night on the way out of town for the evening I had that movie's score soundtrack playin' good and epicly loud from my car's stereo... and I found myself thinking then "I wonder when we'll see that first trailer for The Hobbit?".Lookee what was already several hours online when I got home a few Chris Knighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07772661137673181295noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5115278.post-65134876625765097032011-12-20T07:45:00.000-05:002011-12-20T07:48:54.249-05:00Iraq: Well, THAT didn't take long...I hate to say "I told you so" buuuuuuut...For quite a long time now and most recently five days ago, I have argued that going to war in Iraq would have disastrous long-term consequences and chief among those is that without a "strongman" to hold that country together, Iraq will tear itself apart into sectarian strife. The classic model for my thesis is Yugoslavia: a "nation" that much like Iraq Chris Knighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07772661137673181295noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5115278.post-40055462384871747152011-12-19T14:25:00.000-05:002011-12-19T14:25:11.558-05:00THE DARK KNIGHT RISES first real trailer is out right now!!"When Gotham is ashes, you have my permission to die."
Click here to visit the official site for The Dark Knight Rises and watch Bane unleash unholy terror on Gotham City.Chris Knighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07772661137673181295noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5115278.post-44507865302995778732011-12-18T22:36:00.000-05:002011-12-18T22:53:56.988-05:00North Korean tyrant Kim Jong-Il has diedBreaking news right now...And in related news..."Generalissimo Francisco Franco is STILL dead!"Chris Knighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07772661137673181295noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5115278.post-72784548409154217972011-12-18T16:26:00.000-05:002011-12-18T16:26:11.768-05:00Vaclav Havel, a true leader among men, has passed away
Vaclav Havel, who was born poor, became a pundit, then turned playwright, wound up a political prisoner, and ended up president of the newly-free Czech Republic following the Velvet Revolution that precipitated the fall of the Soviet Empire, has passed away at the age of 75.Havel lived the kind of life that would have been hard to believe, had it not really happened. Yet for all of it he Chris Knighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07772661137673181295noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5115278.post-39403352095516177852011-12-17T10:17:00.000-05:002011-12-17T10:17:14.790-05:00A response to a challenge on baptismA few days ago the following e-mail arrived..."Chris you are WRONG. Baptism is required for salvation! Acts 2:38 has Peter commanding that we be baptized FOR THE REMISSION OF SINS. Mark 16:16 commands baptism and without it we are damned."There was more to it but that's the heartmeat of this individual's contention. I don't know what precipitated this correspondence. Maybe it was the "Chris Knighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07772661137673181295noreply@blogger.com25tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5115278.post-45269181872504757522011-12-16T19:44:00.000-05:002011-12-16T19:44:18.638-05:00MAD TV presents: TERMINATOR 3: THE GREATEST ACTION STORY EVER TOLDY'know, the sad thing is: this sketch from Fox's MAD TV is soooooo much better than the actual Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines and Terminator: Salvation, combined!I think this was first broadcast before Christmas 1998. Arnold Schwarzenegger's Cyberdyne Systems Model 101 Terminator is sent back in time to protect Jesus of Nazareth in... The Greatest Action Story Ever Told!
Chris Knighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07772661137673181295noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5115278.post-80863085246672741952011-12-16T12:48:00.000-05:002011-12-16T12:48:07.253-05:00Christopher Hitchens has passed away. And some words for more than a few fellow Christians...
The sad news broke early this morning that Christopher Hitchens, the celebrated, provocative and brilliant journalist/essayist, has passed away at the age of 62 following a battle for the past year and a half with cancer of the esophagus.Even when I disagreed with Hitchens - and those times were numerous - I had to have grudging respect for the man, because it can't be said that he lacked Chris Knighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07772661137673181295noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5115278.post-28691718571671327382011-12-15T19:23:00.000-05:002011-12-15T19:23:10.895-05:00New poster for THE HUNGER GAMES movie adaptationI know practically nothing about The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins, apart from this book being everywhere when I go into any of the local bookstores. In fact, the synopsis for the upcoming film adaptation - which I just read a short while ago - is all that I know about it at all...Every year in the ruins of what was once North America, the evil Capitol of the nation of Panem forces each of itsChris Knighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07772661137673181295noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5115278.post-1308493802498595772011-12-15T13:49:00.000-05:002011-12-15T14:35:08.748-05:00The Iraq War is officially overOn this day, the Iraq War has officially drawn to a close. It began in March of 2003, lasting nearly nine years (more than twice as long as the United States took to fight and win World War II across both the Pacific and European theaters).The Iraq war cost our own country nearly one trillion dollars. It also cost the lives of more than 4,500 American military personnel and more than 100,000 Chris Knighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07772661137673181295noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5115278.post-66333350161127975542011-12-10T10:16:00.001-05:002011-12-10T10:23:55.790-05:00Time for... THE LOBO PARAMILITARY CHRISTMAS SPECIAL!This was posted on the blog a number of years ago, minus an embeddable video. That's since been fixed and hey, it is too good not to share once again!It's The Lobo Paramilitary Christmas Special! Adapted from the eponymous one-shot special published in the early Nineties, DC Comics' resident badass and intergalactic bounty hunter Lobo (one of Superman's more colorful enemies) is hired by the Chris Knighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07772661137673181295noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5115278.post-38249616297953795502011-12-10T09:51:00.001-05:002011-12-10T10:03:20.098-05:00Newt Gingrich: The GOP's John Kerry in waitingI once met Newt Gingrich. He's a strong writer and speaker. I think he's got a very good mind for history. I also happen to share many of the views that he holds.Nonetheless, I've got to say it...Newt Gingrich is poised to become for the Republican Party in 2012 what John Kerry was for the Democrat Party in 2004.Meaning that if Gingrich is the GOP's nominee for President, that will most likelyChris Knighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07772661137673181295noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5115278.post-25325061721628679702011-12-10T09:18:00.001-05:002011-12-10T09:32:49.628-05:0017-year old creates cancer-destroying nanoparticle (and wins lots of $$$ to boot!)Angela Zhang (left) is probably like the vast majority of other teenagers in most respects. But how many other teens out there are also developing radical new therapies for cancer that might very well lead to a veritable cure?That's what Zhang has been doing for the past two years, spending over a thousand hours researching and creating a microscopic means of destroying tumors. And for her Chris Knighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07772661137673181295noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5115278.post-67212098224692281372011-12-09T13:39:00.001-05:002011-12-09T14:18:25.423-05:00One reader's tale of incompetence at the Internal Revenue ServiceWay, waaaaay back when this blog was just getting started, I posted an essay titled "People who should be shot when the revolution comes". It was a tongue-in-cheek (kinda) piece about who in our society should be the first ones to be thrown against the wall if and when the citizens of this country finally get their fill and overthrow those who have gotten too uppity for anyone's good.That this Chris Knighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07772661137673181295noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5115278.post-2029676291797643022011-12-08T22:47:00.001-05:002011-12-08T23:02:56.076-05:00Has the Dan Cooper skyjacking case finally been solved?!Two weeks after the fortieth anniversary of his dastardly deed, it looks like the mystery of Dan Cooper might have been cracked at last.And if true, it means that Cooper did survive his crazy stunt after all!
In the image above, you see one Lynn Doyle Cooper on the left and on the right, one of the sketches of Dan Cooper (or "D.B. Cooper" as he was erroneously referred to be by early press Chris Knighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07772661137673181295noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5115278.post-237926548583394492011-12-08T16:36:00.001-05:002011-12-08T17:19:04.528-05:00The one who voted against war with JapanYesterday was the seventieth anniversary of the Empire of Japan's sneak attack on Pearl Harbor: the event that catapulted the United States into World War II. On the following day President Franklin Roosevelt delivered the famous "Infamy Speech" before a Joint Session of Congress. Less than an hour after Roosevelt's address, Congress passed an official declaration of war against Japan.And it Chris Knighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07772661137673181295noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5115278.post-40219974732132959062011-12-07T22:48:00.001-05:002011-12-07T23:29:46.870-05:00George Burns presents CHRISTMAS CAROL II: THE SEQUEL!AMC has been doing multiple broadcasts of A Christmas Carol, the 1984 television movie adaptation with George C. Scott as Ebenezer Scrooge, for the past few nights. It's easily my favorite version of Charles Dickens' timeless potboiler (no really, he only wrote it to sell and pay some bills) although Patrick Stewart's one-man performance runs a very close second.But have you ever wondered what Chris Knighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07772661137673181295noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5115278.post-76613122456465553192011-12-07T16:16:00.001-05:002011-12-07T16:58:00.628-05:00Harry Morgan has passed away
The sad news is coming out this afternoon that Harry Morgan, the already prolific actor before finding eternal fame on two of television's most classic series - as Bill Gannon on Dragnet and then Col. Sherman Potter on M*A*S*H - has passed away at the age of 96.This guy shined in everything that he was in, during a career that stretched all the way back to 1942. The following year he appeared Chris Knighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07772661137673181295noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5115278.post-54558696689624674142011-12-07T11:41:00.001-05:002011-12-07T11:50:27.912-05:00Seventieth Anniversary of the Day of InfamyPerhaps the most iconic photograph from the attack on Pearl Harbor: the battleship U.S.S. Arizona suffers a hit to her magazine by a Japanese torpedo.1,177 sailors and officers perished aboard the Arizona. To this day, most of them are still there.Today, seventy years later, there are approximately six thousand who survived the Pearl Harbor attack who are still among us.Remembering them on this Chris Knighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07772661137673181295noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5115278.post-59097092399813074582011-12-05T21:15:00.001-05:002011-12-05T21:37:50.442-05:00MUSIC FROM THE TRANSFORMERS TRILOGY (Look! Real physical CD!)First things first: I have yet to hear any news about a CD release of the score from Transformers: Dark of the Moon, which was once again masterfully composed and orchestrated by Steve Jablonsky. A bunch of readers have been asking me about this for the past several months (and quite often more than once!). No word either on the rumored box set that would have Jablonsky's complete score from Chris Knighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07772661137673181295noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5115278.post-19360915493659707002011-12-05T20:42:00.001-05:002011-12-05T20:53:52.730-05:00Zoe and Wally are in the first ever I Can Has Cheezburger? daily calendar!Awright you're probably wondering: Chris who the heck are Zoe and Wally?!They're my girlfriend's two cats. And two years ago she submitted this wacky photo of the two of them laying on her futon to the popular humor site I Can Has Cheezburger?...Zoe is the black and white and orange one sitting at the far end, and Wally is the orange dude screaming (or whatever the heck he's doing). And they Chris Knighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07772661137673181295noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5115278.post-19443093102371257132011-12-05T15:26:00.001-05:002011-12-05T15:52:38.056-05:00Leaking roof could lead to revealing of the Ark of the CovenantThere's no way that I'm going to make a post about this and not include a pic from my all-time very most favorite motion picture...But if you thought that the Ark of the Covenant made its way to a warehouse in Area 51 (or a warehouse in Arlington, Virginia as one of my history professors said years before Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull), it's been the longstanding belief of Chris Knighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07772661137673181295noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5115278.post-35563102587914915832011-12-05T14:50:00.001-05:002011-12-05T14:52:24.311-05:00Star Wars cello battle!I am actually genuinely surprised that my good friend Brian (aka Darth Larry) had nothing to do with this, since he's a bigger Star Wars geek than even I am and also an accomplished cello player!Here's the video that has musicians and saga fans alike everywhere talking today...Thanks to Geoff Gentry for being the first among many to pass this along :-)Chris Knighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07772661137673181295noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5115278.post-65206672128955185642011-12-01T17:30:00.001-05:002011-12-01T19:49:59.629-05:00How The Salvation Army created modern musicSo it's December 1st and I'm finally allowing myself to enjoy the music of the holiday season! Not that I'm a grinch or anything. It's just... I've never liked how the Christmas stuff now seems to start coming out the day after Halloween (and lately even before then). It only "feels" like Seasons Greetings when it's after Thanksgiving, and maybe several days after that just for good measure. Chris Knighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07772661137673181295noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5115278.post-327763718618954032011-11-30T23:43:00.001-05:002011-12-01T00:04:06.833-05:00Look! VIDEO of me frying those Thanksgiving turkeys!When I first posted about this Thanksgiving's deep-fried turkey earlier this evening, I forgot to mention that for this past holiday's music to fry to, I chose to use Steve Jablonsky's soundtrack for Gears of War 3. Should have made a note of that earlier 'cuz hey, that kind of thing is important to my personal ritual of deep-frying turkey. Kristen and my friends that I was frying for all Chris Knighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07772661137673181295noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5115278.post-64409227274308570312011-11-30T19:00:00.001-05:002011-11-30T19:25:47.273-05:00Pics of this year's Thanksgiving fried turkey!As I have done (most) Thanksgivings since 2002, I deep-fried some turkey! Just now getting the pics up 'cuz my girlfriend Kristen stayed here for the holiday: our first Thanksgiving together! And she was the one taking the pics and I hadda wait until she got back home to pull them to her computer and send them to me. So for those who had wondered if I fried turkey this year: ohhhhh yeah!!In Chris Knighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07772661137673181295noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5115278.post-76506990724206557622011-11-30T17:06:00.001-05:002011-11-30T17:57:08.355-05:00So last night I finally got to watch the mid-season finale of THE WALKING DEAD...I didn't dare watch it until I went over to my girlfriend's place, 'cuz I've gotten her hooked onto this show and we've taken to enjoying it together. And since she was out of town when "Pretty Much Dead Already" - the last new episode until February - aired on Sunday night, we both held off on catching it until we could hook up again.So now that I've finally seen it, let me reiterate what I've Chris Knighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07772661137673181295noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5115278.post-87694352364973952892011-11-30T16:53:00.001-05:002011-11-30T20:49:00.461-05:00Fan-made BIOSHOCK movie trailer channels all the right vibes!Okay, I gotta ask: am I the only fan of BioShock who is not really all that jazzed about BioShock Infinite? Because unless that game solidly connects to classic BioShock, I just can't see counting this upcoming game as part of the canon (no offense to Ken Levine). To me BioShock is and always will be about Rapture: that mysterious city on the floor of the northern Atlantic, envisioned by AndrewChris Knighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07772661137673181295noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5115278.post-70180737022514404822011-11-29T01:34:00.001-05:002011-11-29T01:40:42.176-05:00The last Lauryn photoHere it is: the post that I have somewhat dreaded having to make because it's going to plunge a lot of single guys out there into tears.Lauryn, my ravishingly beautiful cousin (okay, "second cousin" if we're going to be technical about it) who has served as The Knight Shift's official pin-up girl for the past few years, was married to her boyfriend Jason over the weekend! I'm so very happy for Chris Knighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07772661137673181295noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5115278.post-84188235541667619692011-11-24T23:10:00.001-05:002011-11-24T23:53:07.472-05:00Thanksgiving 2011: What I am thankful forFor the Thanksgiving last year, I did not make a post like this. That's because a year ago I was in the midst of what I've since realized was the longest, darkest and most spiritually trying period of my entire life. Last year at this time, feeling thankful seemed like the last thing that I could muster up.What a difference a year makes...If anybody had told me that twelve months from then, Chris Knighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07772661137673181295noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5115278.post-54557635758861576502011-11-24T08:39:00.001-05:002011-11-24T09:02:23.489-05:00Fortieth anniversary of Dan Cooper's skyjackingForty years ago tonight, a man calling himself Dan Cooper arrived at Portland International Airport and purchased a ticket for Northwest Orient Airlines Flight 305: a short flight to Seattle.Shortly after taking off, "Cooper" passed a note to the stewardess: "I have a bomb in my briefcase. I will use it if necessary. I want you to sit next to me. You are being hijacked."So began the tale of what Chris Knighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07772661137673181295noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5115278.post-2929628678923142222011-11-23T06:11:00.001-05:002011-11-23T06:22:07.846-05:00Department of Homeland Security issues turkey fryer safety warningJanet "Big Sister" Napolitano's Department of Homeland Security (okay let's be fair, it was George W. Bush's "brilliant" idea first) has decided that turkey fryers are a dire threat to national security. "Make sure the turkey is completely thawed before placing in a fryer", the DHS is warning in a new video.Hey, Janet Napolitano: I'm a hella lot safer with my turkey deep-fryer than anyone is Chris Knighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07772661137673181295noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5115278.post-6799801089731204402011-11-23T05:40:00.001-05:002011-11-23T05:41:49.272-05:00Charlotte TV station reports "Man Killed To Death"You mean there's another way to do it?!That's from WBTV-TV 3 in Charlotte, North Carolina.Tip o' the hat to Mark Childrey for finding this :-)Chris Knighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07772661137673181295noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5115278.post-14192128899681917862011-11-22T22:48:00.000-05:002011-11-22T22:49:22.819-05:0048th anniversary of the JFK assassinationHere's a rare photo from happier times, when Lee Harvey Oswald, Jack Ruby and "White Hat" were still a band...Fifteen years after first seeing that and it's still about the gosh-darned funniest Photoshop job that I've ever beheld :-)Chris Knighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07772661137673181295noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5115278.post-7808438626644089332011-11-21T17:12:00.001-05:002011-11-21T17:22:49.791-05:00Time for... THANKSGIVING WITH THE KRANZES!I have reposted stuff on this blog twice in the past, on rare occasions. But never three times. This deserves it though (and no doubt will be posted again in years to come).It's been two years since the last time I shared this YouTube video. And since this is the week of Thanksgiving (yes I've already begun preparing to deep-fry a bunch of turkey) and there are perhaps still a lot of people Chris Knighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07772661137673181295noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5115278.post-5075581088215709742011-11-21T09:44:00.001-05:002011-11-21T09:47:32.918-05:00Quote from yesterday evening"It's Shake 'n Bake and I helped!"Said aloud by me, at the end of the prologue from last night's The Walking Dead.Go watch it from your DVR or from iTunes or whatever if you wanna "get" that joke :-PChris Knighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07772661137673181295noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5115278.post-10477043746835166122011-11-20T00:08:00.001-05:002011-11-20T01:32:55.483-05:00A ponderance on the Church, Christ and Christian libertyThere are some who throughout the history of Christianity have claimed to be the "one true church": the only legitimate body of Christ that came into being at Pentecost in the days following the ascension of our Lord. I speak not of those who acknowledge parity with brethren of however peculiar perspective who yet profess Christ as Lord, but instead of those who deign to be the exclusive Chris Knighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07772661137673181295noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5115278.post-39214501876820477592011-11-19T18:41:00.001-05:002011-11-19T18:55:22.012-05:00Some classic listening for a Saturday nightFrom a time of much better music. Here is "November Rain" by Guns N' Roses...Yes, I have posted this before. Since it's November again and we're looking at a lot more rain in the next few days, it seemed appropriate.And also because this is one of the greatest songs in the history of anything, to say nothing about the masterpiece of its accompanying video.Chris Knighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07772661137673181295noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5115278.post-11444593007087742262011-11-18T21:16:00.001-05:002011-11-18T21:34:38.351-05:00First poster for THE EXPENDABLES 22010's The Expendables was twelve scoops of action insanity with sprinkles on top! Saw it at the theater with my good friend Steven and, it just all-out assaulted our eyedrums and earballs with high octane metal mayhem and madness. In short it was exactly the kind of movie that we used to dream of seeing happen back in the Eighties and Nineties... and then some!So if putting all that action Chris Knighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07772661137673181295noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5115278.post-22014989812970208152011-11-18T13:49:00.001-05:002011-11-18T13:58:23.389-05:00World's lightest solid materialCrazy buff for wild engineering that I be, this lil' news item just blows my mind...A team of researchers from the University of California at Irvine, HRL Laboratories and the California Institute of Technology have come up with a metal lattice material that is the lightest solid yet discovered. As you can see in the photo above, a sample of it can be perched atop a dandelion without damaging itChris Knighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07772661137673181295noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5115278.post-26555006030759216692011-11-16T20:41:00.001-05:002011-11-16T20:48:55.262-05:00An open letter to Ron Price, member of the Rockingham County Board of EducationDear Ron,Five years ago last week, on the night before the election that included the names of you, me and fourteen other individuals on the ballot for Board of Education, you were involved in an incident that continued to make headlines long after the polls had closed.In the many months following that incident, there were individuals who attempted to extract a measure of accountability from Chris Knighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07772661137673181295noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5115278.post-40326810459310480012011-11-16T16:41:00.001-05:002011-11-16T16:57:07.368-05:00Government redefined reality: Pizza is vegetable, Brillo pads are illegal gun silencersWhat is it about food that brings out more than the usual looniness from government? Remember when California tried to impose the "snack tax"? And before that it was President Reagan who sought to have ketchup officially deemed a vegetable.Now the squabbling between the Obama Administration and the Republican-held Congress has made it so that pizza is to be classified as a vegetable. The Chris Knighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07772661137673181295noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5115278.post-3023767968054632512011-11-16T13:08:00.001-05:002011-11-16T13:23:56.276-05:00William Shatner and State Farm make weird Thanksgiving safety videoOne week from today I'm gonna be up to my elbows in marinade, Cajun seasoning and all kinds of other good stuff as I prepare three... count 'em, three... turkeys for a hot fryin' bath in cottonseed oil. Yes it's that time of the year again, when Yours Truly goes bonkers for the deep-fried turkey! As has been done in years before, expect photos chronicling the art, and perhaps even a video or Chris Knighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07772661137673181295noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5115278.post-90556509343464750982011-11-15T08:14:00.001-05:002011-11-15T08:23:57.699-05:00Occupy Wall Street finally ends as police clear parkTwo months after it began with no clear mission, Occupy Wall Street was brought to a conclusion as New York's finest cleared out Zuccotti Park in the wee hours of the morning.Now all that's left is a "campsite" ridden with disease, drugs, rape and Lord knows what else.Might I make a suggestion for cleanup, courtesy of a certain Corporal Hicks...
"Nuke the site from orbit.It's the only way to be Chris Knighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07772661137673181295noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5115278.post-20900156104567832732011-11-14T23:40:00.001-05:002011-11-14T23:54:23.281-05:00HALO: COMBAT EVOLVED for the Atari 2600Tomorrow is the tenth anniversary of the release of Halo: Combat Evolved. Arguably the most influential video game of the past decade, the first installment of the Halo series drew in millions of loyal players with its combination of breathtaking beauty, tactical ability and mythology on a vast scale.Fittingly, tomorrow will herald the arrival of Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary in stores. It'sChris Knighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07772661137673181295noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5115278.post-70827896448957326032011-11-14T22:58:00.001-05:002011-11-14T23:10:58.149-05:00Strange things are afoot in the deserts of China...Bunches of e-mails, tweets and Facebook discussions today about some downright mystifying patterns that users of Google Earth have spotted carved into the floor of the Chinese desert.Gizmodo has been on top of this story since it first came to light and you can find pics of many more odd structures. Some readers have also pointed me toward SlashGear's discussion of the patterns. Some of these Chris Knighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07772661137673181295noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5115278.post-82507289330840355152011-11-13T22:38:00.001-05:002011-11-13T22:48:18.787-05:00THE WALKING DEAD tonight: They grow 'em ripe on Hershel's Farm, don't they?Y'know, I grew up on a farm. Saw a lot of sicko stuff, like that time the vet came to work on one of Dad's cows. He made an incision in its side and for some reason, Dad had to stick his arm into it, right up to his elbow, to do something with its stomach. One of its stomachs anyway, 'cuz a cow has four, but anyhoo...NOTHING I saw living and working on that farm however, compared to what the Chris Knighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07772661137673181295noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5115278.post-76482575708069121042011-11-13T19:31:00.001-05:002011-11-13T19:32:33.793-05:00See BS: Tiffany Network caught discriminating against Paul, BachmannIf CBS or any other "major media outlet" alleges that this is a matter of time constraint, then I'm gonna have to call it that I see B.S.Look, five years ago I was one of sixteen candidates for school board in my home county, and in the final week before the election we all took part (well, one of us declined to participate, but that's another story) in a public candidates forum. A "debate", if Chris Knighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07772661137673181295noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5115278.post-29887894563959170332011-11-11T12:14:00.001-05:002011-11-11T12:26:35.155-05:00Veterans Day is todayDo you want to know why Veterans Day is on this date?It was November the 11th, 1918, at the 11th hour, that the armistice took effect and the guns of the Western Front fell silent.World War I, the Great War, the "war to end all wars", had drawn to a close.Veterans Day - a day which has come to honor all American veterans - was originally a day set aside to honor the service of the millions of Chris Knighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07772661137673181295noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5115278.post-28118257467820709812011-11-10T20:09:00.001-05:002011-11-10T20:18:31.830-05:00First track from THE GREATEST MIRACLE scoreGood friend of this blog Mike Casteel sent this to me. It's from a movie called The Greatest Miracle, that I had not heard of until a short while ago and I had to do more than the usual amount of Google-ing to find its official website. From its synopsis...The Great Miracle is an inspiring story which illustrates hope and faith. The story revolves around the lives of three characters which are Chris Knighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07772661137673181295noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5115278.post-25760031425591363422011-11-10T14:28:00.001-05:002011-11-10T14:31:51.798-05:00iOS 5.0.1 has been releasedIf you've an Apple iOS device that's been plagued by battery problems from iOS 5, be of good cheer: iOS 5.0.1 is now available, and it's said to put those high-drain issues to bed!This is also the first time that iOS can be updated "over the air" via a Wi-Fi connection, which is what I just did with my iPad 2. It's by far the most straightforward process I've ever experienced in upgrading any Chris Knighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07772661137673181295noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5115278.post-6707803729913474512011-11-09T20:58:00.001-05:002011-11-09T20:58:56.891-05:00Darren Aronofsky's four horrifying anti-meth PSAsAnti-drug ads have sure come a long way from an egg dropped into a frying pan...Darren Aronofsky, the filmmaker behind Pi and Requiem for a Dream, has produced four public service announcements for the Meth Project, warning against meth abuse.Here's one of them...And that's not even the most disturbing example of Aronofsky's latest work.GeekTyrant has collected all four of them for your Chris Knighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07772661137673181295noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5115278.post-76088748660553514042011-11-09T15:05:00.000-05:002011-11-09T15:05:20.091-05:00Bil Keane, creator of FAMILY CIRCUS, has passed awayThe very sad news today is that Bil Keane, creator of the long-running comic strip Family Circus that has entertained readers for more than half a century, has died at the age of 89.Family Circus was one of the best examples of what comic strips could be in their finest form: entertainment for people of all ages. As Keane once said in an interview..."We are, in the comics, the last frontier of Chris Knighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07772661137673181295noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5115278.post-8846557891742411492011-11-09T14:40:00.000-05:002011-11-09T14:40:19.064-05:00Grinch Obama's heart grows three sizes in a hurry as "Christmas Tree Tax" is called offLate last night this blog joined numerous other outlets in reporting that the Obama Administration was set to impose a 15-cent tax on all freshly cut Christmas trees. You can read that initial post for more information, including some stuff I came across during a bit o' investigatin' (I'm still curious as to who the heck the people behind "Christmas Tree Promotion Now" are...)Looks like Obama Chris Knighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07772661137673181295noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5115278.post-12122571271849802562011-11-08T21:42:00.000-05:002011-11-09T14:41:37.311-05:00You're a mean one Mister Obama! President to impose "Christmas Tree Tax"This is not satire and it's not from The Onion. I already checked and it's true...
President Barack Obama's administration is trying to impose a 15-cent "Christmas Tree tax" on all freshly-cut trees intended for Yuletide celebration. Fifteen cents on the sale of every tree to... get this now... "enhance the image of Christmas trees and the Christmas tree industry in the United States."Okay, twoChris Knighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07772661137673181295noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5115278.post-21725921772603970862011-11-08T12:23:00.001-05:002011-11-08T12:24:05.638-05:0085-year old grandma reels in 849 pounds of marlin!Very cool story from Down Under today...An 85-year-old Australian woman said she "didn't feel 85" when she reeled in a 849-pound marlin off the north coast of Queensland.Connie Laurie, a grandmother who said she has been fishing all her life, said she was on a fishing charter trip during the weekend off the coast of Cooktown when she caught, and then released, the hefty marlin, the Australian Chris Knighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07772661137673181295noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5115278.post-11166725820023098502011-11-08T01:10:00.000-05:002011-11-08T01:15:13.515-05:00"Smokin' Joe" Frazier has passed awayFormer heavyweight boxing champion Joe Frazier, better known to his many fans as "Smokin' Joe" Frazier, has passed away at the age of 67. His death comes just days after publicly disclosing that he was fighting liver cancer.Frazier will always be remembered as one of the greatest - some say the greatest - boxers in the sport. His 1971 bout with Mohammed Ali that saw Frazier keeping his belt Chris Knighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07772661137673181295noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5115278.post-34149467305594680432011-11-06T23:08:00.000-05:002011-11-06T23:08:06.361-05:00THE WALKING DEAD tonight made Chris go freaking bonkers!!!For the record, that was the MOST intense scene that I have personally witnessed from any television drama. If you saw it then you know what I'm talking about even if I don't say it: the walker down the well at Hershel's farm and how the gang uses Glenn as, ummm... bait.No kidding: I was screaming HARD and grabbing the sides of my head during that part. Kristen was hollerin' loud too! That wasChris Knighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07772661137673181295noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5115278.post-65974513157312801142011-11-05T10:52:00.000-04:002011-11-05T10:52:37.182-04:00THE DARK KNIGHT RISES orchestral score needs YOUR voice!In what has to be one of the coolest efforts at crowdsourcing ever, composer Hans Zimmer has put the word out that he needs our vocal talents for next summer's The Dark Knight Rises: Christopher Nolan's third and final Batman film.Want to contribute? All you gotta do is record yourself repeating the same crazy chant that's been heard in the teaser that came out a few months ago. As Zimmer puts Chris Knighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07772661137673181295noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5115278.post-32918270138607004632011-11-05T09:53:00.000-04:002011-11-05T09:53:20.066-04:00Andy Rooney has passed awayOnly a month after his final appearance on 60 Minutes, the sad news is coming out this morning that commentator/curmudgeon Andy Rooney has passed away at the age of 92.Whether you enjoyed his segments or not (and there were more than a few which were downright infuriating) it can't be denied that Rooney was one of the most accomplished performers of the very fine art of satire. The man had a wayChris Knighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07772661137673181295noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5115278.post-6429185192476889162011-11-04T15:45:00.000-04:002011-11-04T16:16:21.170-04:00German public TV airing "Patterns of Force" - AKA the Nazi episode of STAR TREK - for first time tonight
Forty-three years after it first aired on American television in 1968 as part of Star Trek's second season, "Patterns of Force", the episode that had Kirk, Spock and the crew of the Enterprise looking for a Starfleet historian and finding an alien civilization modeled after Nazi Germany instead, will be broadcast for the first time tonight on public television in Germany.Why hasn't "Patterns of Chris Knighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07772661137673181295noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5115278.post-15940761728829382512011-11-03T23:07:00.000-04:002011-11-03T23:07:09.540-04:00Airline "security" costs: $85 billion and 900,000 lost jobsIt can safely be said ten years after the creation of the Department of Homeland Security and the Transportation Security Administration that the federal government's efforts to make air travel "safer" constitute one ginormous cluster%#@&.Now we have an idea of the economic impact: $85 billion wasted and 900,000 jobs destroyed. From e-Travel Blackboard...
After a decade of enhanced aviation Chris Knighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07772661137673181295noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5115278.post-9457389574885658802011-11-03T20:23:00.000-04:002011-11-03T20:23:13.997-04:00Fifteen years ago today, I found GodI'd wondered throughout today if I should make a note of it on the blog. Finally I remembered what The Knight Shift is here for: to chronicle my thoughts and reflections, to document the occasional odd adventure (or misadventure), and more or less journal my growth through life's journey... including (more often than not) the mis-steps.Well, today is a big deal to me. Especially looking back onChris Knighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07772661137673181295noreply@blogger.com0