Monthly Archives: June 2003

A Funny Commercial

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Are you feeling stiff after a long day at work? Joint pain getting you down? You might think about taking this guy up on his advice.

I’m not endorsing Osteo Bi-Flex, but I thought the commercial was wonderful…so wonderful that I thought it was on par with many of the $2 million spots that air during the Super Bowl. The writers started with a well-known character, attached their product to it in a meaningful way, and ran with the idea…complete with the cliché scenes that are circulated incessantly through all of the drug and supplement commercials:

  • Yoga.
  • Kids playing.
  • Squatting while gardening.

It was a good laugh for me.

(First spotted on USA Network.)

Kamehameha I – A Profile

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Oil portrait of Kamehameha the GreatTomorrow is King Kamehameha Day, a state holiday in honor of the first monarch of the unified Hawaiian Islands. Kamehameha was well-loved by his people, because he was fair in just in his rule of the new kingdom. However, even though Kamehameha was a great man, it should be noted that, like everybody else, he had many undesirable character traits.

With the exception of Kaua’i and Ni’ihau, all of the major Hawaiian Islands were added to the kingdom by overthrowing the chiefs of the island, often in a surprise attack. Kamehameha was entrusted with the war god Kuka’ilimoku, and soon after led a revolt against the chief of Hawai’i, Kiwala’o, to begin acquiring land.

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Nuclear Deterrence

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According to Reuters, North Korea claims the reason it’s building nuclear weapons is to have a deterrent allowing the country to reduce the size of its conventional military forces, thereby allowing more money to be injected into the struggling economy.

Call me crazy, but I don’t expect the million-man army to suddenly disappear if the United States gives in. I don’t particularly relish the idea of metal containers full of radioactive material pointed at my home and only half an ocean away.

I often wonder if there’s a way to spread cultural and political tolerance beyond its current boundaries. Biblically, I’m not expecting world peace anytime soon, but it’s still something I long for. It feels like we’re in the middle of Cold War II. It’s very frustrating that we need sites like this. (I do not, however, believe we need the Patriot Act.)