Blake Thompson daht NetI'm just saying….

I remember my senior year in high school some goofy guy with a mullet singing about his heart might blow up and it would kill him. That was Billy Ray Cyrus. Around that time he had a daughter.

Now, years later, his daughter is arguably one of the biggest stars in the world. Miley Cyrus exploded on the scene as the character Hannah Montana. She quickly became Disney’s biggest money maker with a hit tv show, tons of cd’s sold, a movie, and a sold out tour. And now she’s crossing over in to being herself and performing as Miley Cyrus.

But she’s recently gotten into trouble with some pictures she took herself and somehow got onto the internet. They were a little racy. But then the famed photo shoot with Vanity Fair magazine and Annie Liebovitz that were pretty risque in nature, especially when held up against her image of Hannah Montana on Disney.

Some fault her. Some point fingers at her parents. Some say it’s just the industry she’s in and was inevitable. But she was in various states of undress holding a blanket or sheet to cover what were are not supposed to see. All over the place, people blasted her saying, “She’s only 15! She’s a child!”

Now while I completely agree that a 15 year old has no business what so ever in taking “sexy” pictures for a national magazine [or really at all], it’s really the world that most 15 year olds live in. I know that there are plenty of “regular/normal” 15 year old girls who would [sadly] love to have a photo shoot like Miley did w/ Leibowitz. Teen girls today and what our culture and media blitz them with all the time tells them that they need to grow up quickly and be more adult like in as many ways as they can.

And in turn, they try to mimic what they read, see, and watch. [Remember, MTV is watched by a TON of teens, both boys and girls]. And Miley is afforded more opportunities than most 15 year old girls. Now I would never allow my own daughters to do something like that if I could help it. But I have to wonder if Miley is just representative of a lot of other girls these days….? Fifteen years old today is not the same as fifteen years old when I was in school.

Oh, and now Hugh Hefner has offered Miley a full center spread in his magazine (Playboy) for when she turns 18.

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I first heard of drop.io on a podcast by Tony Steward and Who Are These Guys? podcast. It sounded cool. Basically a free service to be able to upload files of whatever kind for someone to be able to download. So, you have an audio file you want to share w/ a friend? Have a group of pictures? A document? Anything? Just upload it, create a url for it, and then share that URL w/ your friends.

But then I found a great review of it. A stinking great review by Ben Stewart. So here is his review. Make sure you go and give a little love to Ben.

Drop.io calls itself “simple private exchange.” Basically it is an easy way to share files online. On the surface it’s as simple as choosing a name for your “drop” (or using the random default name provided for you) and then choosing a file to upload to your “drop.” Then all you have to do is email anyone in the world the URL to your newly created “drop” and they have access to whatever file(s) you uploaded.

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However, Drop.io goes beyond simple file uploading. First of all, it allows you to configure some basic settings while creating your drop. If you want everything in your drop to stay private and you want more security than just the randomness of your chosen URL then you can set a password for your drop. With a password set, anyone who wants to view your drop must know the password to gain access. You can also select how long your drop should be available to the world. You can even select what you want other to be able to do with the contents of your drop. People can either view files, view and add files, or view, add and delete files.

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But it doesn’t stop there. Once your drop has been created you are asked if you want to Read the rest of this entry »

Popularity: 11% [?]

I’m not a huge fan of his. But this made me laugh.

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So right now I’m sitting at home with the three kids. Actually they are crawling on me [2 of them are] making it difficult to type. But the Lakers are getting beat (so?) and Rowan is asleep.

Pat is away on vacation today. So he’s letting the crazy folks run the asylum while he’s away. Things went well this morning though. D preached. Matthew played. Jason played. And I welcomed, announced, said bye, and ran ProPresenter. Things went pretty smooth. It’s good to know that things don’t fall apart if Pat’s not there. But it’s always good to have him there too.

Pat is away on vacation. I’ll get a Twitter update from him saying he’s riding bikes next to the beach or going snorkeling or listening to jazz music in Florida. I have to compare that to what the weather has been like here. Sun, then rain, then tornadoes. [I'd rather be snorkeling in Florida too!]

Today was the first Sunday since school is out for UMiss. There was a noticeable drop in attendance. I miss the college kids. We’ll see what difference it makes tonight.

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Nine years ago today I left a life of singleness behind.

My life has never been the same.

Now while I don’t sleep as late as I used to during those single days…I wouldn’t go back for anything. I’ve had nine great years with The Wife. Now everyday hasn’t been a cake walk. But there’s been something to learn from each day. I love this woman!

So we watched tornadoes on the tv again today in the area. And we’re about to go eat out together, just the two of us. And check out the gift from her that I’ll be wearing on my feet tonight! Think they’ll stand out?

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Tonight there is a LOW of 63 degrees.

How awesome is that?

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I’ve not put anything up here the last few days. I’ve sorta been out of pocket. There were a couple of tornadoes that came through here.

We’re still living with my dad in New Albany for the time being (hopefully we get our own place SOON!) Friday afternoon we were over in Oxford looking at a few houses and running some errands. As we were starting to leave, it got really dark and rainy in the middle of the afternoon. I stopped for some gas and it got heavy.

Driving across Highway 30 towards New Albany, I kept the radio on and would hear the National Weather Service give the updates of T-storm warnings and even a tornado warning. But it was about 10 miles behind us by that time. We drove through some really crazy looking lightning, but ended up getting ahead of the storm to where we could drive without the wipers on.

We got to my dads and it was still a dark sky. Rumbles of thunder. Cool lightning. But not much rain. But I knew it was coming. Soon after we got home it started getting bad. Then worse. Then it was raining sideways. I tried to get a radio tuned into a weather report, but then the power went out. Everyone was down in the basement. About 11 people and 3 dogs. Trees were going nuts outside, and my dad said that a huge tree across the street from the house was now laying across the road and into his yard. That’s why we had no power.

It disappeared. I could go out and see trees down and hear the weather sirens and emergency vehicle sirens everywhere. I called my mom because she could tell me what she saw on her tv. She said another was headed this way in a matter of minutes. So I moved a car out from under a tree then hunkered down again. Tornado #2 came by.

With no electricity,  we went to Tupelo to stay w/ my out-laws. But leaving town I could tell it had been pretty serious close by. There were state troopers and sheriff’s deputies everywhere. Traffic was bumper to bumper in town. And there were vehicles w/ flashing lights going everywhere.

But today, as I drove back across Highway 30 through Union County, I saw Read the rest of this entry »

Popularity: 4% [?]