We are the children of the Eighties. We are not the first "lost generation" nor today's "lost generation." In fact, we think we know just where we stand--or are discovering it as we speak. We are the ones who played with Lego Building Blocks when they were just building blocks and gave Malibu Barbie crewcuts with safety scissors that never really cut. We collected Garbage Pail Kids and My Little Ponies and Hot Wheels and He-Man action figures and thought She-Ra looked just like I would when
I was a woman. Big Wheels and bicycles with streamers were the way to go, and sidewalk chalk was all you needed to build a city.
Imagination was the key. It made the Ewok Treehouse big enough for you to be Luke (or Lea) and the kitchen table and an old sheet dark enough to be a tent in the forest. Your world was your backyard and it was all you needed. With your pink portable tape player, Debbie Gibson sang backup to you and everyone wanted a skirt like the Material Girl and a glove like
Michael Jackson's. Today, we are the ones who sing along with Bruce Springsteen and the Bangles perfectly and have no idea why. We recite lines with the Ghostbusters and still look to The Goonies for a great adventure. We flip through TV stations and stop at the A-Team and Knight Rider and Fame and laugh with The Cosby Show and Family Ties and Punky Brewster and "What you talkin' 'bout Willis?" We hold strong affections for the Muppets and The Gummy Bears and why did they take the Smurfs off the air? After school specials were only about cigarettes and step-families, the Polka Dot Door was nothing like Barney, and aren't the Power Rangers just Voltron reincarnated? We are the ones who still (secretly) read Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys, the Bobbsey Twins, Beverly Cleary and Judy Blume, Richard Scarry and the Electric Company. Friendship bracelets were ties you couldn't break and friendship pins went on shoes--preferably hightop velcro Reeboks. And pegged jeans were in, as were Units belts and layered socks and jean jackts and jams and charm mecklaces and sideponytails and just tails. Rave was a girl's best friend; braces with colored rubber bands made you cool. The backdoor was always open and Mom served only red Kool-aid to the neighborhood kids. Entertainment was cheap and lasted for hours. All you needed to be a princess was high heels and an apron; the Sit 'n' Spin made you dizzy but never made you stop. Pogoballs were dangerous weapons and Chinese Jump Ropes mever failed to trip someone. In your Underoos you were Wonder Woman or Spider Man or R2D2 and in your treehouse you were king.
In the Eighties, nothing was wrong. Did you know the President was shot? Star Wars was not only a movie. Did you ever play in a bomb shelter? Did you see the Challenger explode or feed the homeless man?
We forgot Vietnam and watched Tianenman Square on CNN and bought pieces of the Berlin Wall at the store. AIDS was not the number one killer in the United States. We didn't start the fire, Billy Joel. In the Eighties, we redefined the American Dream, and those years defined us. We are the generation between strife and facing strife and not turning our backs. The Eighties may have been (scratch that) The Eighties may have made us idealistic, but it's that idealism that will push us and be passed on the our children--the first children of the twenty-first century.
Never forget: we are the children of the Eighties. If this is familiar, you are one of us...pass it on to all the others...
Monday, January 25, 1999
Matthew Chapters Five and Six
v18.
"...But I promise you that not even a period or a comma will ever disappear from the [Mosaic] Law."
v19.
"If you reject even the least important command in the Law and teach others to do the same, you will be the least important person in the kingdom of heaven.
But if you obey and teach others its command, you will have an important place in the kingdom."
Our Father in heaven,
help us to honor
your name.
Come and set up
your kingdom,
so that everyone on earth
will obey you
as you are obeyed in heaven.
Give us our food for today.
Forgive us for doing wrong
as we forgive others.
Keep us from being tempted
and protect us from evil
"...But I promise you that not even a period or a comma will ever disappear from the [Mosaic] Law."
v19.
"If you reject even the least important command in the Law and teach others to do the same, you will be the least important person in the kingdom of heaven.
But if you obey and teach others its command, you will have an important place in the kingdom."
Our Father in heaven,
help us to honor
your name.
Come and set up
your kingdom,
so that everyone on earth
will obey you
as you are obeyed in heaven.
Give us our food for today.
Forgive us for doing wrong
as we forgive others.
Keep us from being tempted
and protect us from evil
Quotes and Excerpts
"Five years after permitting law-abiding citizens to carry guns, 10 states found that their murder rates had dropped by an average of 15 percent, rape by 9 percent, and robberies by 11 percent. The likelihood of a mass shooting in those states dropped from nearly 75 percent to zero.
Concealed-carry laws help deter crime in two ways. They keep criminals off balance because they cannot be sure which of their intended victims is armed, and they save lives when an armed citizen is able to subdue a criminal before the police arrive. In Jacksonville, Fla., recently, a criminal brandished a gun in a restaurant and threatened to start shooting people at the count of 10 unless the cash register were opened. At the count of 8, two armed citizens with handgun permits stood up and shot him.
Not only do concealed-carry laws deter crime, they do not increase suicide rates, swell accidental shootings or result in citizens turning their guns on police officers -- all dangers that opponents of concelaed-carry laws cite. By contrast, several police officers have had their lives saved by permit holding citizens. In Pearl Miss., an assistant principal was able to subdue the young murderer who opened fire at a high school because he carried a gun in his car. It's hard to be enthusiastic about a weapon of death, but facts are facts: Guns save lives."
Mona Charen, The Gazette, July 13, 1998, p. N7
Concealed-carry laws help deter crime in two ways. They keep criminals off balance because they cannot be sure which of their intended victims is armed, and they save lives when an armed citizen is able to subdue a criminal before the police arrive. In Jacksonville, Fla., recently, a criminal brandished a gun in a restaurant and threatened to start shooting people at the count of 10 unless the cash register were opened. At the count of 8, two armed citizens with handgun permits stood up and shot him.
Not only do concealed-carry laws deter crime, they do not increase suicide rates, swell accidental shootings or result in citizens turning their guns on police officers -- all dangers that opponents of concelaed-carry laws cite. By contrast, several police officers have had their lives saved by permit holding citizens. In Pearl Miss., an assistant principal was able to subdue the young murderer who opened fire at a high school because he carried a gun in his car. It's hard to be enthusiastic about a weapon of death, but facts are facts: Guns save lives."
Mona Charen, The Gazette, July 13, 1998, p. N7
Sunday, January 17, 1999
I no longer work at COX COMM extended offtopic explanation
>Well, those of you who work at TCA probably already know, but for those
>of you who don't, I won't be coming back in to work Monday.
>Which is good, because I've apparently got plans with Derrick and Louis
>anyways.. ;)
>
>For those of you who don't know, I got terminated from my position at
>TCA, and so I don't have to repeat this for everyone individually when
>you will ask me in person or whatever, I'm going to explain it for you
>why I got removed from (the) office.
>
>TCA users have a relatively serious problem with Netbus, which most of
>you are familiar with. In case you aren't familiar with it, it's a
>virus which allows intruders from the internet to basically have full
>control over your computer, including listening to your microphone,
>opening your cd drive, your entire file system, as well as numerous
>other juvenile pranks.
>
>Cursory scans of our users show that at anywhere from times one out of
>every fifty users up to one out of every hundred are infected with
>netbus or back orifice (a virus of the same kind).
>
>I was working on writing a program which would go in and remove this
>virus from a computer, and I was testing out on our users computers.
>One of the users in Longview (one of our service areas) had a trap set
>up on his computer where it looked like he was infected, but when the
>program came in to remove the virus, it would actually be a message to
>the intruder stating his ip would be reported to the ISP.
>
>Well, just that happened, and while I talked with the individual upon
>which my program intruded and explained the situation to him (for which
>he was grateful that something was being done like that), he had
>already talked to someone else and the news filtered up all the way to
>the TCA legal department.
>
>And then of course I came in a couple days later and was told to clean
>out my cubicle after a short talk with Jenell (our office manager) and
>Tracy (one of the new NOC support staff). I cleaned out the cubicle
>under the supervision of Tracy.
>
>To TCA staff: I don't hold any hard feelings towards you guys. You
>don't have to panic, even though I know passwords upon hidden passwords
>to get in, I won't, because I knew you guys didn't want me to get
>canned (that's what I'm told anyways...).
>
>On the other hand, I would like to take a aluminum baseball bat to this
>anonymous legal team who demands my blood for my first offense in four
>years of loyal service to the Internet Tyler/TCA organisation.
>
>So this is my temporary new email address, guys, until I get another
>job where they issue me an email address, or I get my website back
>online.
>
>(markalexanderhopkins@yahoo.com)
>of you who don't, I won't be coming back in to work Monday.
>Which is good, because I've apparently got plans with Derrick and Louis
>anyways.. ;)
>
>For those of you who don't know, I got terminated from my position at
>TCA, and so I don't have to repeat this for everyone individually when
>you will ask me in person or whatever, I'm going to explain it for you
>why I got removed from (the) office.
>
>TCA users have a relatively serious problem with Netbus, which most of
>you are familiar with. In case you aren't familiar with it, it's a
>virus which allows intruders from the internet to basically have full
>control over your computer, including listening to your microphone,
>opening your cd drive, your entire file system, as well as numerous
>other juvenile pranks.
>
>Cursory scans of our users show that at anywhere from times one out of
>every fifty users up to one out of every hundred are infected with
>netbus or back orifice (a virus of the same kind).
>
>I was working on writing a program which would go in and remove this
>virus from a computer, and I was testing out on our users computers.
>One of the users in Longview (one of our service areas) had a trap set
>up on his computer where it looked like he was infected, but when the
>program came in to remove the virus, it would actually be a message to
>the intruder stating his ip would be reported to the ISP.
>
>Well, just that happened, and while I talked with the individual upon
>which my program intruded and explained the situation to him (for which
>he was grateful that something was being done like that), he had
>already talked to someone else and the news filtered up all the way to
>the TCA legal department.
>
>And then of course I came in a couple days later and was told to clean
>out my cubicle after a short talk with Jenell (our office manager) and
>Tracy (one of the new NOC support staff). I cleaned out the cubicle
>under the supervision of Tracy.
>
>To TCA staff: I don't hold any hard feelings towards you guys. You
>don't have to panic, even though I know passwords upon hidden passwords
>to get in, I won't, because I knew you guys didn't want me to get
>canned (that's what I'm told anyways...).
>
>On the other hand, I would like to take a aluminum baseball bat to this
>anonymous legal team who demands my blood for my first offense in four
>years of loyal service to the Internet Tyler/TCA organisation.
>
>So this is my temporary new email address, guys, until I get another
>job where they issue me an email address, or I get my website back
>online.
>
>(markalexanderhopkins@yahoo.com)
I no longer work at COX COMM
>
> Hello.
>
> I'm sending this to you because you were in my address
> book, my apologies if you got two copies or you don't know
> me. (or maybe that's a good thing.. ;)
>
> This is just a not to let you know my email address has
> changed to markhopkins@mindless.com, I no longer have any
> addresses at the tyler.net domain. My rizzn.com
> addresses, however, should be functioning again soon.
>
>
> /markus --
> Under God - Indivisible - Prime
>
> "INTERRUPT TRANSMISSION"
> GHOST PLANET CODE V1.0:
> CHSg+++Zo-Mo++Br+++Bl+Ja++Lo++Me+Lg+ C2C*/+++
> Med "The Empire Strikes Brak" CP* "Hoodleehoo Hoodleehoo" "Scat
> Sandwich" U+ L+ W++ Sm19 Fi
> C+++++pc/NT
> "RESUME TRANSMISSION"
>
>
> - .m a r k.h o p k i n s
>
> http://www.rizzn.com - If you were cool, you'd be here.
> Hello.
>
> I'm sending this to you because you were in my address
> book, my apologies if you got two copies or you don't know
> me. (or maybe that's a good thing.. ;)
>
> This is just a not to let you know my email address has
> changed to markhopkins@mindless.com, I no longer have any
> addresses at the tyler.net domain. My rizzn.com
> addresses, however, should be functioning again soon.
>
>
> /markus --
> Under God - Indivisible - Prime
>
> "INTERRUPT TRANSMISSION"
> GHOST PLANET CODE V1.0:
> CHSg+++Zo-Mo++Br+++Bl+Ja++Lo++Me+Lg+ C2C*/+++
> Med "The Empire Strikes Brak" CP* "Hoodleehoo Hoodleehoo" "Scat
> Sandwich" U+ L+ W++ Sm19 Fi
> C+++++pc/NT
> "RESUME TRANSMISSION"
>
>
> - .m a r k.h o p k i n s
>
> http://www.rizzn.com - If you were cool, you'd be here.
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