The historical tradition of walking the plank actually has a unique sense of morality doesn't it? It's not murder in a strict letter of the law sense. It's a self-inflicted punishment. You simply have no choice whether or not to enter into it. Pirates traditionally believed their ships to be sovereign vessels under the rule of no country or man. But they willingly submitted themselves to their ship's captain and the code of the ship. They took it seriously. Stealing from others was ok. But, all stolen booty must be shared among your fellow shipmates at the penalty of death. There were "good" pirates. It's only if you believe in a different set of ethics that you view pirates in the barbarous sense that you do. In terms of avoiding hypocrisy, many pirates lead the way. It's fascinating, and makes you wonder if in God's eyes, we're simply "good" pirates. Decent people only in comparison to the rest of the lot. It's worth noting that in those days, if a King ever caught a pirate ship, he had no respect for their claimed sovereignty and held them guilty according to his laws.

Testimonial TV Ad Copy: My first car was a 1990 Hyundai Excel passed down from my mother. I drove that car into the ground. In 2003, I test drove a bunch of different replacements from a bunch of different manufacturers and decided on a 2003 Hyundai Sonata. A year later, my wife bought a used 2000 Hyundai Elantra. We're not Hyundai loyalists. We've just never found a better value for a car. an anti-loyalty campaign. what do you think?

While golfing the other day, I met a college student who told me he recently decided to major in journalism. He had just finished a couple of years of general education classes at a local Junior College and was heading up to a major Illinois school to continue his studies. I didn't know what to say. If there were any major I would try to veer my children away from right now, it would be journalism, simply for marketability sake. I'm not exactly sure what the future holds for journalism, but I just don't think there's going to be much money in it. I remember when I started college in 2000, my friends went into a wide field of studies, from psychology and medicine to business, communications and journalism. All of them seemed like decent decisions. What fields today do you think would be smart for newly entered collegiates to enter? And which would you plead them to stay away from?