"...You humans, when're you gonna learn that size doesn't matter? Just 'cause something's important, doesn't mean it's not very, very small...." - Frank the Pug, Men in Black


This week during lunch I attended a rally in support of a new bill against puppy mills in Ohio. My employer is a supporter of this, and encouraged us to attend. I went home and got my puppy to take him along - I figured he was a supporter also. :)

This was his first real interaction with other dogs since I've had him. He was so excited! More so, I think, than the other dogs. But then, to be fair he was the youngest guy out there.

Little did I know, lil' Kwali is a fighter! Every time he would 'greet' another dog, next thing I know he's throwin' dem 'bows! I guess they call them Boxers for a reason.

But what really tickled me was when a guy came by with his 120 lb (that's one-hundred twenty pounds) Great Dane. Mind you, this small horse was only 8 months old! So I guess I shouldn't say that the guy came by, but rather the dog came by dragging his master helplessly behind him.

The Great Dane bends down to greet Kwali. Kwali sniffs him and what not. Next thing I know, Kwali's all over his face! The Dane was kool about it tho - he had an expression on his face like, "...sigh...silly baby puppy..." But I was concerned - the Dane could literally have swallowed Kwali in one gulp.

To be honest, Kwali wasn't fighting anyone - just being really playful like puppies do. He was the life of the party, tho - everybody wanted to meet him & pet him and I kept overhearing folks say "that's a beautiful dog".

Uh, hello...I'm here, too. Can I get some love? :-)

"No need to worry
No need to cry
I’m your messiah and you’re the reason why
'Cause, I would die for you..." - I Would Die 4 U, Prince

Was I the only one that didn't know that Prince's "I Would Die 4 U" song was about Christ? I was chillin' today and having a nostalgic Prince jam session (music, old videos, etc), and started listening to the lyrics of this song like "what?" Then I looked up the lyrics, and it seems to me like this song is clearly about Christ dying for us. Wow! This was a like a mainstream radio song in 1984. Interesting...

"What is 'real'? If 'real' is what we can hear and taste and touch and see, then real is nothing more than electrical signals sent to our brain..." - Morpheus, The Matrix

I found this really kool article about scientists making a machine that can 'read thoughts' - well, sorta. Here's a little excerpt:

"...During calibration, the person imagines moving his left or right hand. The signals picked up by the electrodes are processed in a specially written computer program that filters out signals from thoughts not related to moving the object and homes in on the brain activity responsible for the imagination of movements. Once the person is in sync with the computer, he can imagine moving his hands or feet or rotating an object to trigger an action on the screen...."

So of course, this all made me think of the story of the Matrix, and Morpheus' quote above. In other words, if I can figure out what the electrical signal looks like that goes from nose to my brain when I smell a flower, why can't I duplicate that electrical signal, and make your brain think you're smelling a flower?

That's why The Matrix is so deep is cuz, why can't that actually happen? The reason the robots were able to create the Matrix for humans is cuz, according to the story, they had mapped every single part of the human brain - they knew exactly how it worked, and how to interface with it.

That's the same thing these typewriter guys are doing - today they're learning what part of the brain does the left hand, next the right, then all the fingers, then which part of the brain can see red, which sees blue, then they put all that 'eye' data together and they can display what you the person is looking at right onto the monitor!

So far, they're dealing with output [from the brain] only. But maybe one day they'll find a way to INPUT. That's where it gets kool, as well as scary. Imagine uploading your college textbook into your brain. But then again, also think of 'Total Recall' (w/Arnold Schwarzenegger) where they screw with your mind - not good.

If only we could all live another 100 years, and I bet we'd be there. Maybe my 4-year old nephew will be able to experience playing a video game using only his brain!

"I'm waiting for the Easter Wabbit. When he comes in looking so fwuffy and cute with his wittle basket of Easter eggs... BANG! Easter Wabbit stew. He he he he...." - Elmer Fudd

Well, another holiday is here, and even tho I don't get a day off from work for Easter, I still have time to reflect on the history of holidays. In my house, we ain't to big on holidays, cuz most of them have some kind of wack meaning or origen. Easter is another example. Of course, the death and resurrection of Christ is important, but Easter as a holiday observance is not.

Of course, every year I'm conflicted during Thanksgiving. I know the origin of that holiday is bad, too. But DANG! that's some good eatin'!!

"Whoever said you can't buy happiness forgot little puppies." - Gene Hill

When all else fails, post a Puppy Pic!

Gin: "So basically, 'nigga technology' is anything that doesn't plug into a printer. Does that [pocket text messenger] plug into a printer?"
Ed: "No."
Gin: "You know why?"
Ed: "Why?"
Gin: ".....Cuz niggas never have anything to print."

- Gin Rummy & Ed Wuncler III, Boondocks


It's official! The Boondocks Complete First Season DVD is due out in June 2006! And yes, it's uncut & uncensored. I finally get to hear the cussin', instead of all those [bleep] [bleep] bleeping sounds! yeah!

....I'm such a heathen......

"I think that if I'm going to be a secret agent, I should have a better name. I was thinking, "Toto Annihilation!..." - Lou the puppy in "Cats & Dogs"


We got a new puppy today!

To everyone out there in blogland, I'd like to introduce you to lil' Kwali!

And for those of you who remember Crunch & Mansa, I assure you that we're committed to this little guy. No plans to give lil' Kwali away.

You can be sure that more pics are on the way!

"...By the way, don't worry about any of them reading this letter, remember, THEY DON'T READ!!!..." - Anonymous


An email I received from a friend:

-----Original Message-----
From: XXXXX
Sent: Wednesday, April 05, 2006 7:15 AM
Subject: Fw: A STATEMENT READ ON NY RADIO/Our Spending

>>> STATEMENT ABOUT BLACK PEOPLE>>>

Not to make you all angry so early in the morning but any thoughts about thecomment below? This was apparently read on a New York radiostation.........I tried to look it up to see if there was any validity to itand to see if it was just something to get us riled up but I couldn't findanything......

Signed,
XXXXX

>>> -----Original Message-----
>>> Sent: Monday, March 20, 2006 10:40 AM
>>> Subject: Re: FW: A STATEMENT READ ON NY RADIO

http://thebwp.com/wire/DA.cfm?ArticleID=431

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>


My response:

From: Ricardo W
Date: Apr 5, 2006 9:20 AM
Subject: Re: Fw: A STATEMENT READ ON NY RADIO/Our Spending]]


I don't think there's really anything to prove here in terms of validity - it's more of an editorial, and yes it's meant to rile folks up, no matter if it was written by a white or black person. Whether or not the statistics are accurate is irrelevant - it's just meant to make you mad.

It's kinda funny, cuz i feel like these are the kind of unconfirmed and haphazard writings that make up the "critical thinking" literature of the part of our community that never reads books. this is the closest they come to reading anything with a little bit of knowledge in it. where would we be without email forwards???

i think back to folks i've seen whose first attempt at activism came when they received the email that Blacks were losing their voting rights in 2007. Or folks who tried to unify the community in order to save the US Postal Black Heritage stamps.

now what is we gon' do?

-Ricardo

"A poet can read. A poet can write. A poet is African in Africa, or Irish in Ireland, or French on the left bank of Paris, or white in Wisconsin. A poet writes in her own language. A poet writes of her own people, her own history, her own vision, her own room, her own house where she sits at her own table quietly placing one word after another word until she builds a line and a movement and an image and a meaning that somersaults all of these into the singing, the absolutely individual voice of the poet: at liberty. A poet is somebody free. A poet is someone at home. How should there be Black poets in America?..." - June Jordan

Did you know I used to be a bit of a poet back in college? Yeah, I wrote me a verse or two. I happend to come across this one online - I remember it was posted in a newsletter in college. Ahh, the memories:

Black Gold
by Ricardo Wilkins
Copyright 1997

This is a poem
About a woman
That other men wish they could know
And I feel

Life with this Queen couldn’t get any sweeter, like
Canine to master, I’m running to meet her, and
Blind men are weeping, for they cannot see
Her vision of shining black gold.

Sincerely and truly,
This is no joke
Your loveliness
Makes my mind’s mental eye choke
Looked around and found no crowns
On colorless women
So my mind gets flashbacks to black skin
And obsidian dreams

And it seems
That just hearing your name
Makes me take mental journeys
To African plains
And lovely savannas.
A vision so bright
She matches the stars
In an African night.

Black Woman, your beauty
Flows out through your smile
Like the waters that flow
Through the African Nile.
Black Woman, the name,
Yes, I hear it again,
And like violets in bloom I explode from within…
Ka-Boom!

And soon
I come off of my high
But if I couldn’t puff on Black woman I’d die
And no poem by poet
No scripture by scribe
No song dressed in rhythm
Has power to describe
The essence of sensual
Style of a Queen
A fluorescent expression
Of African dreams
Like pearls from an oyster
Like diamonds from coal
I know a true treasure
I call her black gold.