Nic Shaykos RSS http://nic.shaykos.com Nics RSS FEED en-us The vuvuzela http://nic.shaykos.com/Blog.php?Day=2010-06-14 After 6 months off, I come back to blog about something that has the world up by storm, the Vuvuzela. Don’t know what it is, it’s a 130 dB annoying buzzing sound that you hear at every world cup game this year. The South Africans play this thing till no end in sight. The talk is that they are so annoying they ought to be banned. Well I just want to say that is a bunch of hogwash. This is the way they enjoy the game. Its not my thing, but its their thing. If you don’t like it, turn the sound down, or wear earplugs.
 
They aren’t hurting anyone. The argument seems to be. “They’re so loud we must ban them cause we can go deaf.” It’s true they are loud. 130 dB is a lot. Remember it’s a logarithmic scale, so something 130 dB is 10 times as loud as 120 dB. ...]]> 2010-06-14 What Obama Needs http://nic.shaykos.com/Blog.php?Day=2010-01-24 People on the right are arguing that Scott Brown won because Obama is trying to jam healthcare and other leftist policies down America’s throat and the American people are saying no thanks. People on the left are saying that Scott Brown won because the White House has a message problem, and that is the reason that Americans aren’t buying what they are selling.
 
The people aren’t buying Obama because Obama has been a loser. He has passed nothing. The economy is showing mixed messages at best. Only due to a malfunction in the bomb in jihadist underpants was a tragic terrorist adverted. Now, I am not blaming Obama for the terrorist problem, but it was a failure. The only thing Obama did win? The Nobel Peace Prize, which did not count because it did not pass the laugh test.
 
If you’re to be a successful leader, you have to have successes. ...]]> 2010-01-24 Domino’s New Pizza http://nic.shaykos.com/Blog.php?Day=2010-01-17 When I order Pizza, it’s from Domino’s. Why? Well because its cheap and its at the end of my block. Plus, the domino’s near my place runs all kinds of local specials, such as a 1 topping large for $5.99, which just ended. The thing I get most often is the 3 medium 1 topping for $5.55 each, which they have all the time when a friend is over.
 
I used to tell pizza while the pizza is good, it’s not great. I don’t expect great, because I pay under $6 for a stinking pizza. Frankly, I think Papa John’s pizza stinks and it cost a lot more. Other places around here though have better pizzas for over $10, but its that, over $10.
 
Well Domino’s Pizza is still cheap, and now its great. They put this amazing topping over the crust, and it’s some of the best pizza I have ever had. It’s like going to McDonalds and getting a Sit-Down restaurant quality burger. ...]]> 2010-01-17 Rush and Robinson http://nic.shaykos.com/Blog.php?Day=2010-01-15 First off, I want to say that my heart goes out to the people of Haiti and I pray for the those who are close to death even now, the friends and family of those who have died, for restoration to even what horrible lifestyle Haitians had before the Earthquake and lastly I pray that good comes from this and lives will be won over for Christ.
 
Rush Limbaugh out to be ashamed for suggesting to people not to send aid to Haiti via the White House because all it will do is make Obama look good and the money won’t get to the Haitians but rather stay in the coffers of the White House. This accusation is baseless, mean-spirited and in horribly poor taste in the midst of this tragedy.
 
It is well within ones right to suggest the government ought not to be spending money on foreign aid, even in a situation as dire as this. I don’t agree, I think Obama is doing the obvious right thing here and I approve of it. ...]]> 2010-01-15 Bill Plaschke’s Bad Writing http://nic.shaykos.com/Blog.php?Day=2009-12-16 Bill Plaschke is a sports Writer for the LA Times. His recent Op-ed is “The Tiger Woods story grows bigger, and juicier”  Basically, is a horrible conjecture that Tiger Woods has been using HGH because he looks big. And why does Plaschke come to this idea. Because of Woods adultery, of course. The man believes we are now free to question if Woods is a cheater in Golf because he is a cheater on his wife. He claims that a while back he saw woods from the back and he looked a lot like the cheater Barry Bonds. Yet, at the time he could not write about it because the story was not believable. Not that this has come out, it is believeable.
 
Woods used a doctor who is involved in the HGH business after an injury and claims that everyone who deals with these kind of doctors ends up being found guilty. ...]]> 2009-12-16 The Proper Role of the US Police Force http://nic.shaykos.com/Blog.php?Day=2009-12-11 The Neoconservative argues that the United States must be there for nations who are being tormented by evil people. The US needs to be a world police force so to speak. Isolationists such as Ron Paul argue that the US has no business being involved in any of these things.  They do not fall upon the classic left-right paradigm that operates in America today, contrary to popular belive because of the vast Neoconservative strain in the George W. Bush White House.
 
What brings this issue up is what Obama said yesterday when receiving the Nobel Peace Prize. An award that Obama did not deserve, yet Obama gave one of the best speeches of his Presidency. I believe Obama is spot on in terms of his position. Read what Obama said here:
 
We must begin by acknowledging the hard truth that we will not eradicate violent conflict in our lifetimes. ...]]> 2009-12-11 Bowling Embarrassment http://nic.shaykos.com/Blog.php?Day=2009-12-08 I was driving home from small group today and right before I got to the Little River Turnpike I decided I wanted to go bowling. Being from Cleveland I love to bowl more than most people. There are lanes off the Little River Turnpike exit in Annandale where its $1.99 a game, a good deal after 9 PM. Most people think its odd to bowl by yourself, but its something an independent introvert such as myself loves to do.
 
I don’t have to talk to anyone, I can just bowl and bowl and bowl. I bowled 3 games, as I typically do. Since I am not really breaking, I usually break a good sweat and it’s a real challenge to myself. Some people give me odd looks with this big footed guy bowling by himself. On top of that, my bowling style is one I was suggest no one use, imagine your grandma trying to squat a little like a baseball catcher from the closer dots. The ball also goes slower than all but the most weak girls and children under 16. ...]]> 2009-12-08 The Sands of Time are Sinking http://nic.shaykos.com/Blog.php?Day=2009-10-23 Last night I went to what I told my roommate was a surprise party for my Pastor, Mark Dever’s 15th anniversary of being associate pastor at Capitol Hill Baptist Church. What I saw was something much greater, which was a tribute to him and more importantly God and the work he is doing through Mark Dever and the Capitol Hill Baptist Church.
 
Those who follow Evangelical Christian leaders today know who Mark Dever is. He is known as the expert on the Church in many Christian circles today, creator of the IX Marks which describe 9 things a church must have to be a healthy, Biblical Church. Of course, the number 9 is clearly arbitrary, and Pastor Mark would tell you that himself. If you really want to narrow the 9 Marks down to 1 essential point, it is this: Preach the Word. Really, through a proper handling of the Word of God, all of the other necessary callings of the church take care of themselves. ...]]> 2009-10-23 Limbaugh De-Nied http://nic.shaykos.com/Blog.php?Day=2009-10-15 Sadly, Rush Limbaugh has been dropped as a minority partner in an effort to buy the St. Louis Rams due to the bloodrage by Al Sharpton and the NFLPA. Everything that happened was within the rights of the actors that did them. Limbaugh was, as he did, able to be a part of a group to attempt to buy the St. Louis Rams. Sharpton and his Allies were able to protest the idea of him buying a team, and they succeeded when the pressure they applied made the decision easy for the owners to reject Limbaugh as a fellow owner.
 
That said, it really is a sad thing. The main difference between Limbaugh and your average NFL owner is not their politics but rather their public awareness. The idea that we aren’t going to allow someone a football team because they say controversial things is a sad thing. When Sharpton  made his racist claims about Limbaugh, he should have been laughed out of the room. ...]]> 2009-10-15 Obama Going to Copenhagen http://nic.shaykos.com/Blog.php?Day=2009-10-01 Obama is going to Denmark in order to try to pull the 2016 to the United States, specifically Chicago. Why is anyone upset he is doing this? The Olympics bring in millions upon millions. While politicians often wrongly state that they “created jobs.” Obama in this case could claim partial credit. With Chicago as the site, and with the President from Chicago, and with the President being as popular as he is worldwide, to not go would be foolish. There has been debate if this is being done as political cover if we don’t get the games or if he is going cause he believes he can actually move the needle.
 
I think it’s the ladder but I really don’t care. The inTrade markets say that Chicago is about a 60% chance of getting the games. While I don’t agree with Obama on most of what he is doing, I am sick of Republicans who attack the President on these kinds of issues. ...]]> 2009-10-01 Plaxico Burress Raw Deal http://nic.shaykos.com/Blog.php?Day=2009-09-22 Plaxico Burress started a 2 year prison sentence today. Sadly, justice is not blind because Plaxico Burress got a raw deal as he was sentenced two years for a crime that would typically have been given very little, if any prison time. Burress had a gun which he ought not to of had. This was discovered after his firearm discharged in his own pocket and he injured himself. The NY authorities decided to make an example of Burress in terms of their strict gun ban.  So, instead of the typical light sentence to someone who did not intend to hurt anyone in his crime, the book was thrown at him. He had no prior record and this helped him none. Sure, the sentence was correct in the letter of the law, but not within the spirit of the law.
 
This whole idea of using a single person to make an example of absurd. Burress is no more guilty that the countless other who did the same crime. ...]]> 2009-09-22 Racist! http://nic.shaykos.com/Blog.php?Day=2009-09-17

Do you disagree with healthcare? Racist! How about the rising level of debt the US is taking on? Racist! You hold up a sign on the National Mall? Well if it’s not for one of those anti-war rallies, you’re clearly a racist. Joe “You Lie!” Wilson? If you don’t think he is a racist, you are a racist too! Jimmy Carter says you’re a racist. Paul Krugman says you a racist. According to many on the left, the only logical reason a person would oppose the President’s agenda is because they have racist tendencies.

Let me be clear, there still is racism in America today. There are people who did not vote for President Obama not because they opposed his policies but rather because they opposed his skin color. There are people today who are enraged that a black man occupies the White House today. Yet, the vast majority of people who oppose the President’s policies do so without race being a factor. ...]]> 2009-09-17 Remembering 9/11/01 http://nic.shaykos.com/Blog.php?Day=2009-09-11 On September 11th, 2001 my life changed. I knew no one in the attacks. In fact, I never heard of the World Trade Center buildings until the day of those attacks. It was a normal day for me, I was in the 11th grade, and line most school age children, I was in school. It was the second class of the day, English, which always was my least favorite. It was taught by Ms. Dobson, a crazy African-American woman who claimed to be a Christian, but I don’t think she was. It was from her I first heard the wisdom, “Men want a lady in the street and a freak in the bed.” Usher would repeat that line later. The next year, Dobson was fired for hitting a parent. Point is, this lady was a bit crazy. In fact, our great school librarian, Ms. Stone, was going from room to room and saying we need to turn on the news now.
 
This happened in schools all over America. It did not happen the way it did in most places in Ms. ...]]> 2009-09-11 Bob McDonnell Thesis Problem: Family Values is the Real Issue http://nic.shaykos.com/Blog.php?Day=2009-09-01 The issue of what Bob McDonnell wrote in his thesis at Regents University in 1989 has been drawing heat over the past few days. What Bob McDonnell wrote was odd in 1989, and it is radical in 2009. McDonnell claims his views have evolved, and I am sure they have, to some degree. Still, let’s consider the source. This was a thesis done at Regents University, a Conservative Christian university. The Chancellor of the University is none other than Pat Robinson himself
What people fail to notice is how the Christian worldview of women in the workplace and the worlds view have diverged over the last 50 years. I would point to things such as the council of biblical manhood and womenhood as a Christian response to feminism. They don’t believe that the advances of feminism as a whole have been a good thing. I agree with them. ...]]> 2009-09-01 Ted Kennedy: A Lion Passes Away http://nic.shaykos.com/Blog.php?Day=2009-08-26 I commented to my friend the other day how sad it was that Ted Kennedy was being talked about as if he was already dead. Well, now the great Ted Kennedy has passed. While I disagreed with Ted Kennedy just about always politically, he was a man who is to be admired. Kennedy ran for the Presidency in 1980, but he was always suited to be a U.S. Senator. Conservatives often liked to joke about Ted Kennedy, myself included, but that was all in good fun in my case because he really was a great man. Much maligned, but to me the education bill was a great example of bipartisan legislation. If we had more people like Ted Kennedy in the Senate, we could get a lot more done.
 
People a lot smarter and with a lot more to say on Kennedy will have a lot more to say on the man. I suggest you read a healthy dose of these columns. The passing of Kennedy is the end of an era and its always a good idea to read about great minds such as Kennedy. ...]]> 2009-08-26 Obama's healthcare horror http://nic.shaykos.com/Blog.php?Day=2009-08-12 Camille Pagila is someone you ought to read. You know why? Cause she thinks for herself. She is a feminist, yet she will call the left out for hyprocracy when they are wrong. In reading tons of articles on healthcare, I feel like I am reading the same article over and over. When I read Krugman, its still like, clearly only a racist could oppose universal health care. If I read Kristol, its, the is the worst bill ever and if it passes we will become a 3rd world country. Thus, reading the Pagilla article today was so refreshing. For the 2nd time I want to repost part of her article here:

Obama's Healthcare Horror:

Aug. 12, 2009 | Buyer's remorse? Not me. At the North American summit in Guadalajara this week, President Obama resumed the role he is best at -- representing the U.S. with dignity and authority abroad. This is why I, for one, voted for Obama and continue to support him. The damage done to U.S. ...]]> 2009-08-12 No Astroturf http://nic.shaykos.com/Blog.php?Day=2009-08-08 The left keeps labeling the movement on the right to oppose universal health care as Astroturf (unless they call those people racist, read this Krugman article to get a taste). Astroturf is a fake grass surface that was poplar in sports stadiums in the 1970s and 1980s. The left used the term to call the grassroots movement on the right as fake. They are clearly wrong in this description.
 

What is happening is a fundamental mistake. Yes, there are web sites, ran by conservative organizations, that tell people where to go, what to say, how to act to make an impact. This does not make the movement fake, it just makes the movement smart. Partisan organizations all the time try to direct their membership to take action, that is just how it is done. Usually though, their efforts yield little results because the people do not care. ...]]> 2009-08-08 Rupert’s Big Bad Gamble http://nic.shaykos.com/Blog.php?Day=2009-08-06 Betting against Rupert Murdoch is usually a bad bet. The media mogul, well known conservative and head of Newscorp, which owns, among many things the Wall Street Journal and the FOX News Channel , is making a huge bet on internet news. He wants to charge for it. The media industry is dying. Newspaper subscriptions are going down by the day. More and more people get their news online, and the ones who don’t are dying by the day. On a typical day I read 15 political articles, and several are from Newscorp owned papers.
 
The fact is, the horse is out of the barn. Newspapers should have never had their content online for free. Now that it is, we expect it to be that way. The old business model is broken. The idea of paying for news just seems archaic. I love newspapers more than most my age, and I love good reporting. That said, people won’t pay for a slightly better product in order to have slightly better reports. ...]]> 2009-08-06 ObamaCARE, Barack problem like Bush’s Social Security Problem http://nic.shaykos.com/Blog.php?Day=2009-07-31 George W. Bush won the 2004 election with a “mandate.” He did in fact have a mandate, just because of how close the election of 2000 was. No one could argue with the result of this election. The Democrats liked to point out at the time that it was the narrowest victory in quite some time by an incumbent, and that is true. Still, Bush was a legit President.
 
So what did Bush want to do with his mandate? He wanted to fix social security. Any economist will tell you that social security is going bankrupt and something needs to be done about it. The exact date is goes bankrupt is unknown and there was debate at the time of this issue. It was clear that Bush wanted to “fix” social security and make that a major part of his legacy. ...]]> 2009-07-31 Death by Chocolate http://nic.shaykos.com/Blog.php?Day=2009-07-29 I did a photoshoot which I loved and I wanted to share this with the Blog. Its Death by Chocolate.
Very Messy Long Shot Vertical
]]> 2009-07-29 2009 Q2 Nicolas Shayko Awards Nominations http://nic.shaykos.com/Blog.php?Day=2009-07-24 Only 24 days late, the Nicolas Shayko Awards Q2 nominations are out. The new Q2 nominations are in bold, and the Q1 nominations follow. For those of you new to the site, the Nicolas Shayko Awards are a tradition that started in 1999 where I nominate what is important to me. The biggest award is the Person of the year. Most of the other awards are just cool to be able to look back and see what I was into. Hopefully you like all the links so you can better understand what I like.
Year of: The Ballpark, Unemployment
Person (Personal): Ian Talley (friend), James Smith (friend)
Check out what you ought not do with fireworks:

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, Kevin Tracy was pushing me to endorse Marco Rubio. I did not tell him, but at the time I thought the right thing to do would be to endorse Charlie Crist. I knew he was a Moderate Republican, but I figured his name ID was high enough that he would be an easy win. I believe that analysis is correct, Crist would be an easy win and we would have a Moderate Republican in the Senate.

 
Still, last week I was debating with a fellow conservative about how conservative a candidate to run balanced against how electable a guy is. I told him that I want to run the person furthest to the right that can win. In Rhode Island, that may even be a moderate liberal Republican. In Alabama, that is a solid conservative Republican.  So, I gave the Florida Senate Race another thought with that standard in mind. ...]]> 2009-06-16 We Cannot Have a Public Option in Healthcare Reform http://nic.shaykos.com/Blog.php?Day=2009-06-15 First off, I want to say that there are serious problems in Health Care today. Anyone who disagrees is not paying attention. That said, Obama is pushing for a horrible Public Option. Why is a public option horrible? Because it threatens Health Care as we know it. What will happen is that when a public option is made available, employers will have an outlet to not offer health care and thus people will be pushed to this public option. Once most people are on the public option, innovation shuts down as the government will makes fees so low that innovation is shot out of the system. The problem is that Democrats keep saying the “Health care is a right.” You know what, they are right, health care is a right. People are entitled to basic medicine regardless of their ability to pay for that medicine. But what they get wrong is that it is right for people to make money in medicine. ...]]> 2009-06-15