I know there will be others that disagree with me, but I haven't been this bored with a Super Bowl since <pick any> the Buffalo Bills lost four in a row during the early 90's.

While some will say the game was exciting when it came down to the final minutes of the final drive, I for one dislike the poor calls from the referees. Blatantly obvious missed calls which at this level of the game should never happen.

I would have preferred to see the game tied up leaving it up to the kickers and even sending it in to overtime; that would have a lot more exciting to me.

I will forget this Super Bowl in a few years, unable to remember who played in it or what the score might have been.

I got a call from your wife today. At first I thought it was you letting me know you were out of the hospital, but when I found it was her calling I knew the worst had happened.

I tried to contact you when I heard you were in the hospital, but they didnt have you on the list. I thought you had gotten better and gone home. I figured that I would get to see you again, sitting on your back porch, trimming bonsai and complaining about Obama. Ha-ha!

I got busy with work as we all seem to do and the moment to talk to you one last time slipped away. Those moments slipped away several times over the last eight days and I didn't know how bad things were. I think you knew then the cancer had won the last time I saw you, but you didnt say anything. I think you didnt want a long sappy good bye.

It's strange really. I've only known you for a few years but it feels like Ive known you for longer. Knowing you are gone now seems to have hit me harder than when my grandmother died, which is the strange part. Maybe it was because I still had so much to learn from you. You were a master of your art and every time I hung out at your house I learned something new about bonsai.

What was it you were trying to tell me before you left? I am tearing myself up inside thinking that you had one last lesson for me, but I was too damn busy to put a little more effort in contacting you. So many other things I wanted to say to you. So many thoughts and so few words.

After three deaths in New York with people falling on the tracks it makes me wonder why engineers can't come up with a bunch of sensors which will slow and stop the oncoming train. I mean serious? It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that sensors in the landing area would detect movement then send a signal to the train telling it to slow down. Then as they train comes in to the station, sensors on the front of the train would stop it completely if a person or object was detected.

I thought this was such a good idea I sent off an email tot he Mayor's office of NYC and I got a typical response back "thanks, we will take it under advisement".

 I understand that many of us are struggling but I was touched by a story and request for help posted tonight by Terence Weyenberg.

His car was about to be repossessed and he asked for immediate help to pay the bill to avoid it.  He received a loan from a friend but had to deplete the last $200 he had and has no cash on hand for luxuries like food.  I know we're a skeptical bunch, but I think it's legit, and maybe a few of you will want to throw $5-10 his way to buy him a meal.  Just a good deed for the day, a few dollars to a freethinking brother who could use a hand up.  

MONEY SENT TO THE PAYPAL CHIP IN ABOVE GOES DIRECTLY TO TERENCE ([email protected]) 

Hope is not lost on the younger generation...

This is a petition to save a small area in North Carolina called Linville Gorge. Maybe of you don't really know the area, but it is a 200 sq mi park which the government wants to do a controlled burn in, but they haven't weighed all the pros and cons.

There are over 200 homes in the gorge which would be put in jepordy along with endangered species of plants and wildlife.

The only reason the government wants to do the burn is that want to kill off some of the plants and trees which do not belong there. They wish to return the park to an oak and pine area, but they would be better off just going in and cutting down and removing the plants manually (as they have done for decades).

If you feel up to it, please click on the link and sign. Also feel free to post this link at an other sources. We need 499 more signatures!

www.change.org/petitions/stop-u-s-forest-service-proposal-to-burn-the-linville-gorge-wilderness-response-to-scoping-letter-file-code-1950

http://www.space.com/17762-newfound-comet-dazzling-2013-display-c2012s1.html

http://www.space.com/15108-comet-panstarrs-skywatching-countdown-2013.html

http://www.space.com/19188-comet-ison-brightest-ever-2013.html

With all the recent discussion on the right to bear arms in the US, coupled with my personal dissatisfaction with the way our governments are being run, I struck upon an idea.
What if, instead of a rebellion, per se, you just formed a government.
Obviously, you have no authority, no resources beyond what you bring in and convince others to donate. But you involve the people the way governments of today do not.
If you do it well, and the people support you enough, then eventually the support for your government will force the government to cede all authority. That's the nature of democracy.

This isn't an overnight revolution, and it isn't an easy one. You must know all you can about what the current situation is, and come up with real solutions. Solutions that make a practical sense which the population can easily understand and support.
You must have people willing to work for effectively nothing on a project which has a real chance of failure, and little obvious chance of success.

 Chris Hayes wishes you a Merry Christmas or a Happy War on Christmas, whichever you celebrate.

This picture is real. Notice the T-Rex? Proof positive that Jesus was real.