5 Points for 8/5

5 Points for 8/5 (well, 8/9 now)

1. Minnesota Bridge Collapse- Obviously the biggest story of the week. It's sad that it takes such a big tragedy to raise any issues, not just with bridge safety, but with anything else. If there are deficiencies with something, shouldn't there be steps taken to minimize its potential damage, and haggle over costs when you absolutely have to? I'm sure there are a lot of things the government is spending on that doesn't even need to exist. Obviously thoughts and prayers go out to the victims and their families, and hopefully the eight missing can be found soon.

2. South Korean Missionaries in Afghanistan- Their church has apologized for sending missionaries to Afghanistan and has suspended missionary operations until further notice, as they have now put South Korea under massive amounts of emotional stress. While one has to be safe when going to dangerous parts of the world, there is no need to indefinitely suspend missionary operations and apologize to the government for fulfilling their goal. Religion can be a big and saving part of human life, and to go and try to help those in need, whether physically or spiritually is a good deed, and one that should not be apologized for.

3. Rupert Murdoch Acquires Wall Street Journal- At least the partnership fits; Fox News has a conservative slant, as does the editorial board for WSJ. Is anybody else concerned that Murdoch will compromise the journalistic integrity of the Wall Street Journal? The New York Post, for one, is not known for having high quality articles. Nor is Fox News very newsworthy, either.

4. John Roberts Suffers a Seizure on vacation- Apparently it was nothing, but once a person has suffered two seizures (he had another one in 1993) the risk of getting another one goes up drastically. Let's hope, for his sake and the country's, that he doesn't fall into that category.

5. Cardinals gain ground in NL Central, then go 1-5 against two last place teams- Story of the season; just can't get anything done. They took three out of four against the first place Brewers to get to within six games of first place, and while the Cubs and Brewers are playing top level teams, the Cardinals falter against two of the worst teams in the league. At least we got Joel Piniero, right?

My Points for 8/5 (now 8/9)

1. Car- I'm not a bad driver. I just have trouble in tight spaces. Such as the back lots for the houses along Forsyth. My back right door has a huge dent from trying to maneuver around the corner of a house when trying to get out. It's ugly, but at least it's only cosmetic and doesn't affect the functionality of the car itself.

2. The Simpsons Movie- The plot was a little lacking for a feature film, especially at the end, but it was still servicable. The main point, getting laughs from the audience, was very effective. One weird thing was seeing a tw0-dimensional film/The Simpsons on the big screen, since we're so accustomed to 3-D/seeing them on TV. However, this was worth waiting the eighteen years for.

3. Orgo- Going swimmingly. Still not where I'd like to be, but much better than last summer, and that in itself is more than I can ask for.

4. Gas Prices- So a few weeks back I heard a report on KMOX while gas prices were at 2.90 or so that gas prices were going to continue to rise through Labor Day. I go out that morning and I see prices at 2.83 or so. Despite a few fluctuations, gas prices have now come down to 2.53 as of this morning. I must say that I'm enjoying this little "break" (although I yearn for the days when I used to believe that gas prices were stuck on 99 cents, or even at 79 cents before prices started rising after that). It does kind of suck to see prices this low and quickly fill up that night, and then come out the next morning and see that the price has dropped. I was never good at game theory.

5. Fresh Prince of Bel-Air- Now my new (old) favorite show. I can't believe I crack up so much watching it; Will Smith's got major talent. I love how the show portrays a rich family, but the props are obviously fake and cheap, kind of like the cheap furniture that's made to look elegant. And Ashley's kind of hot.