The Zombieslayer

After writing a few doomsday pieces on overpopulation, I was thinking I need to mention some stuff I like.

The Slow Food movement. Although not a formal member, I follow a lot of the philosophy of it. Eat organic, heirloom foods. Eat traditional and local food. Don’t eat fast food.

Walking everywhere. If it’s not raining or snowing, why drive to the supermarket if you can walk there? I have no problem walking home carrying a gallon of milk in one hand and a bag of groceries in the other. Neither does my wife or my son. There’s a reason we’re in good shape, and it has nothing to do with genetics and everything to do with our attitudes about wasting resources.

Donald Driver, Aaron Rodgers, Aaron Kampman, and Charles Woodson - my favorite Packers. Driver because of his commitment to excellence (no, the Raiders can’t use that any more because they’re a joke and it has become just as stupid as certain corporate slogans). Rodgers because he has been humble through the whole Brett Favre thing and proved it with his abilities instead of his mouth. Kampman because he simply works harder than anyone else. And Woodson because he’s like Deion Sanders but without the ego. Yes, I still root for Favre to succeed, unless he’s playing the Packers.*

Nightwish and Opeth - the two most talented bands out there today. Both from Scandinavia (by the four country, not three country definition). I’m thinking when it comes to music right now, Scandinavia is where it’s at. Most of my fave bands now are from there.

I’m currently reading Watership Down. Loved the movie. Now finally bought the book.

Our apartment.  We live downtown so we can walk everywhere.  I religiously go to the Farmers’ Market every Sunday morning and stock up on fruits and veggies.  Instead of centering the food around meat, it’s pretty even now.

One of the things I’m really loving are heirloom tomatoes.  I love slicing them up and salting the slices.  Very few things taste better than fresh heirloom tomatoes and salt.

We even go vegetarian one or two days a week.  With apartment living, our costs are way down.  Meat is expensive and cutting it out one or two days a week saves a lot.  Plus, we have yet to break $50 for our electric bill.  Yet another thing to love about living in a small apartment instead of a big house.

So tell me, what are you liking now?

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* I got money on both the Packers and the Vikings to win it all.

People complain about Favre being a prima donna. So what? So was General Patton, one of my other heroes. As a Sound Engineer (recording only), I’ve worked with musicians who never even released a CD and still had bigger egos than Brett Favre.

Prima donnas and divas don’t bother me as long as they treat me with respect. If they don’t, I simply refuse to work with them.

Anyone remember two football players named Jim Brown and Franco Harris? Yes, this was years ago, but if you’ve followed football for awhile, Jim Brown used to have the rushing title and some fans thought it will never be broken.

Well, Franco Harris comes along and gets really close.  Jim Brown goes in front of the TV camera and announces that if Harris breaks his record, Brown will make a comeback, despite being in his 40s (which pretty much never happens as a Running Back).

A bit more recently, there was Dan Marino, one of the greatest NFL players never to wear a Super Bowl ring (in the Super Bowl era).  Marino had almost every record in the books - most TDs,  most Yards, most Attempts, most Completions.  That is, until Brett Favre came along and broke all of them.

Before Favre broke them, Marino joked to the TV camera to at least let him keep one record as you (Brett Favre) at least have a Super Bowl ring.  The thing is, was he really joking? I didn’t think so either.

Sports players generally like their records.  With the exception of Wallie Payton who had the rushing title at one point, but he cared more about his team winning the big one.  That was the type of person Wallie was though, a man who while dying of liver disease got a possible transplant and rejected it because he felt he only got the liver because he was a famous and loved celebrity.  He died shortly after that.

Brett Favre says he doesn’t care about those records.  I call BS.  And I’ll tell you the four records he cares about most - longest starting streak for a QB, which he’ll probably die having, most TDs, most Yards, and most Wins.

Let’s now look at reality.  There’s this guy named Peyton Manning who throws the football pretty dang well.  Unlike Favre, Manning had the luxury of playing for the same team his entire career, playing in back of a solid Offensive Line his entire career, and up until recently, having a Hall of Famer (possibly the best possession Wide Receiver to EVER play the game) as his primary receiver.

So Manning has numbers.  Big ones.  In fact, numbers so big that they threaten Favre’s records.

So Favre had to come back.  The longer he plays, the more he pads those magical numbers.  Manning has 117 wins.  Favre has 169.  One more year and Manning collapses before eclipsing that record.

Favre threw 464 TDs.  Manning 333.  The thing is, Manning throws a lot of TDs every year and at this rate, Manning would break that record in five years.  One more year, Manning may break his back first.

Favre threw for 65127 yards.  Manning 45628.  Keep in mind Manning is seven years younger than Favre.  Favre may have to play two more years to keep this one out of reach.

As for consecutive starts, nobody will break that one in Favre’s lifetime.  That’s one of four.

Two more years, and nobody breaks the other three.

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I knew all along Favre was coming back to the Vikings. I said it in early July, and put my money where my mouth is. I put money on both the Packers and the Vikings to win the Super Bowl. The Packers because they’re my favorite team, the Vikings because they’ve completed the puzzle.  Even when Favre said he was not going to come out of retirement, I knew he was.  Those records are in the back of his mind, and he’s not getting any younger.  I had no doubt my money was safe.

No, Brett Favre is no longer an elite QB. However, he’s a HUGE upgrade over what they had. The Vikings have the best player in the NFL today with Adrian Peterson, plus a dominant Defensive Line. Opposing teams simply load the box against the Vikings and do everything they can to stop Adrian Peterson because they know the Vikings’ QBs are jokes. Now that Favre is on the team, they stick 8 men in the box and Favre will burn them, especially with Berrian who’s a speedster.

Image from http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:BrettFavre.jpg

I saw several “world peace” bumper stickers this morning and I was just thinking how silly and sheltered these people who have them on their cars must be.  World peace isn’t going to happen.  They might as well ask to grow wings and fly.

It isn’t going to happen simply because resources are finite.  There are already nations in this world that are close to running out of ground water.  Yes, completely running out.  We’ve already fought the first of the oil wars.  Just imagine what happens when nations run out of water.

The problem is simply there are too many people.  And no, it’s not because resources aren’t distributed fairly.  The last thing I want is some socialist crap where my stuff is taken from me by gunpoint (that’s what socialism is) to take care of people who have chronic bad luck, or are lazy or stupid.  People breed like resources are infinite and we’re sprawling like crazy, destroying everything in our path.

Nor do I want my money going to the war machine, as it is already happening because once again, resources are finite.  Like it or not, that’s the cause of most wars - fighting for resources.  The thing is, it’s only going to get worse.

So what can we do? Support global family planning.  Like it or not, if you truly want world peace, you got to have limited population growth.  Now this is a blog post in itself but statistics have shown that the best way to support family planning is to increase the education level and freedom of women.  At first I thought that was weird but then gave it some thought and it makes sense.

Deer hunters should know better

I hunt.  I hear upper-middle class white people from the suburbs all the time decry hunting, saying how “evil” it is.  The logical response from hunters usually involves that since mankind killed off the natural predators, we have the responsibility of controlling their population.  If we don’t, deer will over breed, then you will see the results of deer overpopulation.

You think humans are any different? There are no predators for humans.  When a shark or mountain lion kills one of our own, it’s so rare it makes the papers.  Humans have become the only real predator for humans.

Now, I am not pro-killing nor pro-war.  There’s a peaceful way to control the population - use birth control.  That’s all I ask.

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UPDATE: Yes, you’re probably wondering my take on Brett Favre signing with the Vikings. I thought I already answered that in Vegas, where I put big money on both the Packers or the Vikings to win the Super Bowl. If either team wins, I’m taking Mrs. Z on a cruise.

Now go Packers and go Vikings! One of you teams needs to win the SB so I can take Mrs. Z on a cruise.

I got back early this week, but had so much crap to do.  Now looking for work.  The company I was working at got bought out and the entire team got laid off.  This has all happened before so it’s nothing new to me.  I can’t complain as we got a good severance package and I’m set for awhile at least.  I just don’t want to burn through my excess cash because that excess cash will be taking Mrs. Z on our next vacation.

While in Vegas, I won $2.60 in the slots.  Yes, that’s the extent of my gambling.  I play pennies or nickels just long enough to get the cocktail waitress to get me a free drink or two (always tip them well so they’ll come back fast, and be super polite with them.  That’s my tip to you).

As soon as I’m up, I pull out.  I don’t really gamble.  Well, I take that back.  Yes I do.  I gamble on sports.

Brett Favre will be on the Vikings, and he will kick ass if Childress realizes he has to limit Favre’s throws.   The Vikings have a better than average defense and the best player in the NFL in Adrian Peterson.  To win the Super Bowl, the Vikings need to be a run first, ball control, clock eating team and Favre needs to complete passes and move the chains.  Do that, and the Vikings have as good a shot as anyone.  I put money on them to win it all with 8-1 odds.

The Packers on the other hand need to be more aggressive offensively and need that 3-4 defense to work.  If not, it will be another long season.  I put money on my beloved Packers to win it all with 20-1 odds.

If either team wins the Super Bowl, Mrs. Z gets to go on the cruise of her choice.  So yes, I admit, I do gamble.

With me though, I’m not about the money.  I don’t care about losing a few bucks in the slots because I use the slots for the drinks so I could hit Vegas with a nice buzz.  I actually like Vegas.  It’s tacky and superficial but so what? I can’t be pretentious all the time.

My next vacation though will probably be hitting more states.  I’m at 27 now and got 23 more to go.  I’ve been to a lot of countries, but for me, the bigger priority right now is finishing up my own.  America still is beautiful, but each year it is getting more crowded and with the economy in the slumps, you’d notice a lot more garbage and a lot more taggings everywhere, which is really sad.

Anyways, I’m back.  I got to look for work but between errands and job searching, when I get some breaks, I’ll drop by your blogs.  Hope all is well.

When I was in high school, the wannabes loved to brag about how they listened to Bach, Vivaldi, and Mozart.  Jeez, put me to sleep.  I was listening to the good stuff - Tchaikovsky and Brahms.  I haven’t heard Brahms’ Fourth in years and revisiting and it’s every bit as good as I remember it.

I don’t know how it slipped past me, but now getting into a relatively obscure Extreme Metal band from the 80s called Bathory.  Named after the most evil person in history, folks who can’t stand lower budget production probably should skip this band.  However, I’m seeing past the bad production and straight into the music.  It’s quite good.

I’m loving Loreena McKinnett.  I had a friend back in ‘96 who heavily recommended her but never got a chance.  Now that I’m a member of eMusic.com, I got all her stuff she’s released on there.

I’m loving that my beloved Packers picked up Dom Capers as their Defensive Coordinator.  It’s about time we switched to the 3-4.  Our defense last year was porous, failed to make adjustments, and couldn’t generate any pressure on opposing Quarterbacks.  Plus, teams were running straight up the middle against us.  It was painful to watch.  A new DC and a new scheme may be just what the doctor ordered.

I’m loving Guinness beer.  I’ve been drinking one a night for over a week now for dinner.  It’s great beer.  It goes with everything.  Italian, Thai, stir fry, goes with it all.

I’m loving the food I cooked last night.  Had some people over and cooked eggplant with organic sausages, stewed tomatoes, lots of garlic and ginger, and zucchini squash all over pasta.  Turned out great.  Taking the leftovers to work tomorrow.

And I’m loving this joke:

A man goes to the doctor.  “Am I going to live to be a hundred?”

“Do you drink?,” the doctor asks.

“No.”

“Do you smoke?”

“No.”

“Do you chase loose women?”

“No.”

“Do you drive fast?”

“No.”

“Do you do any illegal drugs?”

“No.”

“Then why do you want to live to be a hundred?”