I have written before about strings. We see them yet we don’t. They intersect each of us to others, crisscrossing the land.

I am sitting at MSP. Minneapolis Airport in Minnesota. Another day, another state and another city for the op log book.

But my heart is heavy. In Georgia my first cousin lies in ICU. Fighting the odds and the numbers. The doctors tell us its only a matter of time. More hours than days I’m told.

If it happens as they say this will be four people close to me that have gone to Fiddlers Green in a single month. The ties that bind are heartwrenching, and my soul is weary of this.

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Tags: Family, strings, Technorati

The Irish don’t know what they want and are prepared to fight to the death to get it

Sidney Littlewood

For a different tune how about a non Irish Band doing Irish music? The Orthodox Celts!

Tags: Ireland, irish, Orthodox Celts, Quote, Quote of the Day, Sidney Littlewood, Star of the County Down, Technorati

Yeah so I’m running behind. Give me a break its been a long day!

“When I get a very generous introduction like that, I explain that I’m emotionally moved, but on the other hand I’m Irish and the Irish are very emotionally moved. My mother is Irish and she cries during beer commercials.”

Former U.S. General Barry McCaffrey

And how about some music today from The Dubliners?

Tags: Barry McCaffrey, Irish Quote, Irish Rover, Quote, Quote of the Day, Technorati, The Dubliners

Before you go out tonight to celebrate the new year. before you sing that Auld Lang Syne raise your glass, toast your friends, kiss your love, and start your count down.

Remember those who are not seeing it.

Not the celebrities, the politicians, the journalists or others whom have held the public eye for years.

But rather The Fallen.

This is the most complete listing of the fallen soldiers, airmen, sailors and Marines that I could put together for the year 2010. If I missed one let me know so I may add it.

A handful I knew, some in passing, some from my time with their units, such as 3rd Brigade 2 Infantry Division. At least one is from my home in Georgia. At least one served in my own last unit, 5th Battallion 5th Air Defense Regiment, The Dragonslayers, though I do not know which battery he served with.

I am willing to bet that chances are good you know someone on this list, or may at least know of them, as well.

I challenge you, to think, as I thought:

While typing each name, each city, and comparing them with places I have worked, lived and been I could not help but ask myself: did I pass them on the street? Was I kind? Did I buy them a drink never knowing who they were? Did we walk past each other in a store, or perhaps drove past on the high way? Until my fingers touched keys to type out the names, and the places they called home, had we crossed paths before, even in passing?

Ships passing in the night, one to continue on, one that has stopped.

We who are left how shall we look again
Happily on the sun or feel the rain
Without remembering how they who went
Ungrudgingly and spent
Their lives for us loved, too, the sun and rain?
~Wilfred Wilson Gibson

They died, as they lived, for a belief, to the fullest, and for reasons that they can only call their own.

Raise your glass to them this night, and give them a moment of silence, and reflect on their sacrifice which brought this new year to the rest of us.

And here is to hoping I will not have to update this today as well

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Tags: 2010, 2011, Air Force, Airmen, Army, Casulty, Death, Marine's, Military, Navy, New Year, Operation Enduring Freedom, Operation Iraqi Freedom, Sailors, soldiers, Technorati

(I wrote a similar story at Techography a number of years ago. Unfortunately the database back up does not have it so we presume it must have been lost when our then hosts Database crashed back in 2003. I have done my best to recreate the story here. Sadly memories fade over time, even a memory as strong as I feel mine is. I hope I did the original story justice as it was well received at the time.- BS)

Lloyd C. Bain. My Great grandfather. Taken around 1976

My mothers grandfather was a big man, even by todays standards. Standing over 6ft 8 inches tall, the former bulldozer driver was a product of the North Georgia Mountains and the Depression. He once frightened one of my mothers suiters so badly by merely shaking his hand the boy would not speak to her until after they graduated and she had moved out. That was almost 4 years later. I recall his hands being the size of a dinner plate nearly, and though I was very small at the time, compared to even most adults, including my own father he was a mountain of a man.

He lived in Blue Ridge Georgia, until that faithful day in 1988 when he left this world, at the age of 97. It took 8 men to carry his coffin. He was a lean, strong, sturdy rock of a man. I miss him dearly. He was my mothers hero, and mine as well at a young age.

Today when a person speaks of hunting a Christmas tree they go to a farm, where numerous trees are gathered and bound, cut and leaned against a fence.

At home we went walking in the woods, looking for a suitable evergreen, be it pine, cedar or even hemlock.

And so it was on this particular day, the season of the last Christmas I would spend with my great grandfather of whose name I bear as my own middle, he summoned me to his side for us to capture a tree for the family.

More after the jump

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Tags: Arvil Stanley, Blue Ridge, Christmas, Christmas past, Clayon Stanley, Ellijay, Family, Fannin County, ghosts, Gilmer County, Glenn Bain, Home, Lloyd Bain, North Georgia, South, Stories of Home, Technorati

Several years while I was still writing at our sister site of Techography, Calimus wrote an article entitled “Are Blog’s killing the Net?“

Having been writing online since the mid 1990′s we never coined a term such as “blogging” or even acknowledged that what we were doing was a “blog” until almost 2002. We just did what we always did, put technology, personal stories, and other whatnot online as a clearinghouse of information. It was fun, it was unique.

It’s not really that way anymore, however is it?

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Tags: Bad Example, Bloggers, Blogs, Facebook, Internet, Tech, Technorati, Web, Websites

We’re there folks!
The end of the week! 8 hours of indentured servitude for a 40 hour week paycheck fantasy that we work 55 hours to have!
It’s all over at the whistle!

Early to rise and early to bed makes a male healthy and wealthy and dead.

James Thurber

There’s football to watch this weekend, beer to drink, cigars to smoke and deer to hunt!

So get out there and live a little!

Tags: Friday, Garth Brooks, Huey Lewis, James Thurber, Quote, Quote of the Day, Technorati, TGIF, TGIF Edition, Thank God Its Friday, Weekend, Working for a Living

Here it is folks. The moment we have all be waiting for. Who will sing what? Will I end up singing Glory Glory? Or will v00d3w have to cough up a version of Rocky Top? In just a few hours, the answer will be known.

When I did my first video yesterday I wasn’t really satisfied with it.

While I am far from being the Ridley Scott of Internet video’s, I do take some pride in my work, and I want it to be at least semi enjoyable to watch. It is hard to come up with video’s however when most of your clips are having to be used over and over. Contrary to popular belief there is not a wealth of footage thats usable. Once you convert it loses some of the image, when when it gets converted again it loses so more, and it doesn’t take long to become a blur instead of a nice crisp video.

That said, I felt I had to do a better job on the video. The first one, just was not up to par with what I wanted.

So here is the new video, and I hope a good improvement upon the last.

Side note if anyone has some video footage from Tennessee games they would like to share, please drop me a line at staff -at- registeredevil.com

GO VOLS! BEAT GEORGIA!

Tags: Bulldogs, Dawgs, Go Vols, Go Volunteers!, Motivation, Registered Evil, Technorati, University of Georgia, University of Tennessee, Video

Given the amount of material I have posted here effectively bashing Georgia football, I thought Georgia Fans might be feeling a trifle under the weather.

I thought I would be nice and try to make it up to them with some motivational posters to help them with the upcoming game against my beloved Vols.

Keep Reading!

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Tags: Football, Go Dawgs!, Go Volunteers!, I think it's funny!, NCAA, SEC, Technorati, University of Georgia

I have just heard about this story, apparently the state of Georgia has been in courts for over 2 years fighting for the right to verify voters’ identity, as well as their citizenship.  This is awesome to me, here’s the whole story:

Ga. Voter Checks System OK’d

ATLANTA (AP) The Justice Department has given Georgia approval to again verify voters’ identity and citizenship, Secretary of State Brian Kemp announced on Monday. Federal officials have precleared a modified new program designed to confirm that prospective voters are U.S. citizens. The Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division had repeatedly rejected similar versions of the Georgia program.
It has been mired in legal challenges since 2008, which Republican supporters argue has opened the state’s elections up to possible fraud.Kemp, a Republican, had filed a lawsuit two months ago to push the voting check system through, arguing the Justice Department was “playing politics” by refusing to approve the initiative.On Monday, Kemp suggested that lawsuit had forced the Justice Department’s hand.“When we filed the lawsuit, I was criticized by some because they believed it would be too time-consuming and expensive,” Kemp said.

“After the litigation was filed, it took less than two months for the DOJ to consent to preclearance of the verification process.”
Both sides have now filed a joint request to dismiss the lawsuit.In their legal filing, Justice Department officials made clear that the state had modified its plan so that it finally passed muster with the federal Voting Rights Act.Officials with the Justice Department had no additional comment.  A spokesman for Kemp said Monday that the changes impact the pool of would-be voters the checks apply to.  The original proposal included first-time voter registration applicants who send in their forms by mail.  It also applied to already-registered voters who seek to change a key piece of identifying information, like a name, Matt Carrothers said.  The modified plan that won DOJ approval includes all first-time voter registration applicants, including those seeking to register in person. It eliminates those who’ve already registered but are seeking to make changes, Carrothers said.  The state checks new voters against information in databases held by the Georgia Department of Driver Services or Social Security Administration.Justice Department lawyers had earlier argued the program was flawed and subjected minority voters to heightened scrutiny.  Under the federal Voting Rights Act of 1965, Georgia and other states with a history of discriminatory voting practices must preclear any changes to election rules with the Justice Department or through the federal courts.  The program was implemented in 2007 and came under scrutiny in the 2008 election after it raised questions about the citizenship of some 4,500 would-be voters.  After a challenge was filed by voting rights groups in the weeks leading up to the 2008 elections, a federal three-judge panel said the state must seek Justice Department preclearance under the Voting Rights Act.  The Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division rejected the checks in May and October of last year.

(Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

-v00d3W

Tags: America, citizenship, Georgia, illegals, Registered Evil, Technorati, Voting

First off, let me set the stage here by saying I went to a county high school system, also known as a public school.

While not a drooling idiot, I do think my education was lacking. Don’t get me wrong, it was not the failure of my teachers. It was as much my fault as anyone else. However 30 to 45 kids in a classroom, battered text books, mice in the hallways, and trailers do not always make the best system available.

By some strange luck I managed to blackmail my way in to a position with the school newspaper staff. I wrote a rather scathing article on what I considered the hidden costs of public education as change after change was implemented in the middle of the year. Agenda’s, change in backpack regulations, attire, other suddenly “required’ items that could, of course, be purchased from the school for a novel sum.

At one point it was even speculated we would pay for our graduating diploma’s (mine has long since vanished in the years of travel. If anyone in Georgia reads this, forward it to me, will ya?)

Somethings , it seems haven’t changed, and some boundaries have never been more different.

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Tags: Catholic School, Education, Irony, Private School, Public School, Technorati

So as through a glass, and darkly
The age long strife I see
Where I fought in many guises,
Many names, but always me.

George S. Patton, Jr.

For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face

1 Corinthians 13

It was a good end to a Friday.

I bought groceries on the way home. Dropped them off at the house and called some old friend on my way to run a personal errand. My wife, bless her heart, inadvertently shattered my coffee press this past Monday and I sought to replace it.

While at the local coffee house I got myself a Red eye, a concoction that I became enamored with while stationed at Ft. Lewis, and had an excellent cigar with it while driving home.

While driving my mind wandered, questioning some decisions I had made this past week, as well as resolutions.

This time I hope to be bigger than I have been.

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Tags: Army, BloodSpite, Challenge, Education, Military, Overcome, Personal, Self, Technorati, Will

June 5th, 2009….ont of the happiest days of my life.  My wife and I moved in together about a month before this day, and soon after we were engaged, we learned that we were going to have a baby. 

This past weekend was our first anniversary, and we let her parents watch Gavin while we had a day to ourselves.  It started out with lunch at Zaxby’s, nothing fancy, but we needed a bite.  Then it was off to the hair salon, and we both got new hair cuts, (I was lookin a bit mangy as I have been growing out my buzz cut for just such a situation).  After that, we went to purchase our tickets for a movie we had been planning to see, and we were off to the nail salon.  My wife got her nails done, and her eyebrows waxed.  She was very excited about this.  After the nail salon, we saw a movie, then went to dinner. 

This is where it gets fun:

When I had proposed to her, I did it in the back, left hand side of Outback Steakhouse.  So we went back to the same Outback.  There we were, waiting to be brought back to our table, and the guy led us first to the left, and then to the back, and then right to the table in which I had proposed!!!

Needless to say, my wife cried, and we both reminisced, and had a great time. 

-v00d3W

Tags: America, anniversary, Home, Registered Evil, Stories of Home, Technorati

Another video posted back in 2008 at Techography. I’ve shared it here once again for the Memorial Day Weekend. Please enjoy and remember, always remember. -BS

Tags: 1st Marines, 3rd Battalion, Fallujah, Iraq, Technorati

Read not to contradict and confute, nor to find talk and discourse, but to weigh and consider.

Sir Francis Bacon

Tags: Quote, Quote of the Day, Sir Francis Bacon, Technorati

You thought we would miss Draw Mohammed day?

As if.

Just because I can’t draw a straight line with a ruler doesn’t mean we aint got some idea’s mind you.

And of course we had to throw in a little Registered Evil Style in aye?

So here ya go folks, our renditions of Draw Mohammed!

We hope ya’ll enjoy our little foray in to damnation, and we look forward to seeing you there!

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Tags: babes, Draw Mohammed Day, Drawing Mohammed, Funny, Mohammed, Technorati

I’ve been a Micheal Yon supporter.

I’ve helped raise money for his embeds over-sea’s.

I’ve had him linked here and at my other websites. I’ve endorsed him to people looking to get a ground level view of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

In short I was, and am still to some extent a fan.

But recent and past events have given me pause.

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Tags: Afghanistan, Iraq, Michael Yon, Milblog, Registered Evil, Technorati

When you understand that what you’re telling is just a story. It isn’t happening anymore. When you realize the story you’re telling is just words, when you can just crumble it up and throw your past in the trashcan, then we’ll figure out who you’re going to be.

Chuck Palahniuk

Tags: Chuck Palahniuk, Culture, Quote, Quote of the Day, Registered Evil, Technorati