http://www.shmeng.com/ Shmeng en-us http://www.shmeng.com/images/logo.gif http://www.shmeng.com/ webmaster@shmeng.com http://www.shmeng.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=857 Coming back from the burn, daylight lights the coppery-tinted windows of the skyscrapers and cityscape in a way that seems vastly foreign; a week in the desert, dust-soaked and beige-limned, the cleanliness of any urban landscape is alien, dystopic, and an alien distance in the past; like re-visiting the futuristic landscape of a 50's sci-fi drama after living in the neo-post-apocalypse for better than a week. Out on the playa, where the dust storms fly like Afhgani sand and the beat never ceases, just changes tones into the bizarre James Brown-techno-pulse from merengue, these creature comforts of showers and toilets are strange bliss. http://www.shmeng.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=856 I suppose this can be seen as a second installment or a sort of response to MJs child-rearing basics...Let me tell you a bit about my daughter. She is three years old, she has short blond hair and big blue eyes. She runs around with an imp of a grin and a banshee of a shriek. She loves Batman, The Doodlebops, ACDC, and classical music. She has a black cat named Bogie, with whom she plays catch. She is a precocious thing who is too smart for my own good. She also loves wearing her boots. They are brown with a strap and a sparkly buckle thing. Those boots kicked off the whole episode in question. http://www.shmeng.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=855 (On a personal note, I used to be a dancer. There was nothing filthy or degrading about it. Laws like these are WRONG... they take much needed work away from people who might otherwise have a very tough time trying to find a *respectable* job that pays as well. The sex industry does not harm anyone. Adult businesses cater to ADULTS, and as adults, we ought to have the freedom to decide what kind of entertainment we wish to take in. Nobody should be taking your hand as if you were a little child and keep you away from things that THEY see as *immoral*. You have the right to decide for youself what you see as immoral and what you see as harmless fun. http://www.shmeng.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=854 This is a story written my by thirteen year old daughter. She has been working on it in her mind since she was about 9 years old. I haven't helped her with this story in any way. Rogue has helped with a little proofreading. I have read stories from adults that weren't as well written as this. I thought it was something that the Shmeng community would enjoy, so I am posting it here. Meranda Jade http://www.shmeng.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=853 The people of Israel needed a leader, so we could not fault them for following Moses. They wandered in the wilderness for 40 years, then finally built a home. Once they had a home, they went about the business of actually living. Moses died. His machine kept rolling. http://www.shmeng.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=852 It had been a long time since the barn had been used as a barn, so long that it no longer breathed even a ghost of a breath of hay or livestock. The beams were beautifully varnished, and the walls were clean and white. Someone had installed an enormous, many-paned window in one wall. It stretched from the floor to the vaulted ceiling, and light from the summer moon flooded in and laid a shimmering grid on the worn wooden floor. Every door and window that could be opened was opened, and hints of grass-scented breeze stirred the slightly stuffy air in the open room. http://www.shmeng.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=851 So now the Jews are free from Egypt. They are wandering in the wilderness. They love Moses and, supposedly, the divine that set them free. Most of the people do not have any clue what really happened. Not only did Moses lie to Pharaoh, but to his own people. Though, honestly, most of them would be unable to actually handle what happened, their fragile little minds would break. Thus began a long standing tradition of governments not being honest with their people. http://www.shmeng.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=850 Everyone knows the next story: Noah and the flood. Read the books and they make us sound like we were punishing the wicked. I can see how it may be construed that way, but that was not what happened. It is difficult to be all-knowing. I know, I know, we've already covered the fact that we don't know everything. We put in place a spiritual conduit that allows the prayers of believers to reach us no matter where we were. http://www.shmeng.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=849 I looked down and adjusted my cleavage for the umpteenth time, then looked at the digital readout on the microwave. Five minutes of seven. Any time now. http://www.shmeng.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=848 Not many girls can claim that their best friend while growing up was a warship. I can. You see, my father was a diplomat on a Sun Descending class Corvette. Yeah, I know, they decomissioned all of those long ago, but we still fly her. Just because the fleet has a new kind of ship doesn't mean the old ones aren't worth having. My dad got her for a mint. Well, he bet a mint, I think. Daddy liked to gamble. You might say he got his mint and ate it too.