The Denver Nuggets

A few weeks ago, I met a friend of mine (let's call him lazyj - you might know him from jaxed) at a relatively popular joint downtown for a little dinner.  While talking, the NBA came up, as it always does, and within the NBA, the Denver Nuggets. 

 

My friend's opinion:

 

"The Nuggets have no chance to win the Northwest if Camby gets hurt.  If it gets hurt it's over."

 

Well, Nuggets fans, where is your God now?!

 

DENVER (AP) -- The Denver Nuggets suffered another major setback Wednesday when they learned center Marcus Camby , the NBA's leading rebounder, will be out indefinitely with a broken right pinkie.

Camby will need surgery on the finger, after which a timeline for his return will be set.

Yahoo props.

 

Damn. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bring Back Television

Sigh.

 

The pathetic state of network programming in 2005 has really chaffed my hide.  If you look, you can find out how I feel about it here, or here. 

 

But you really want to know what to watch?  Here's the list.

 

Buffy, The Vampire Slayer. Lesbians, vampires, and kung-fu.  Perfect.

Star Trek - The Next Generation - Seasons 1-5.  After that things got a little out of hand.

The Twilight Zone/Night Gallery (original versions).  Classics, all.  Why can't anyone make scary shows anymore?  Also, it must be said:  Rod Sterling was a stud.

Soap/WKRP In Cincinnati/Barney Miller - Quite simply, three of the funniest shows to every grace the small screen.  "As God as my witness, I thought turkeys could fly."  Stunningly funny.

 

I'm pretty sure that all of these are available via The Man on DVD.

There are more that I know I'm forgetting, but I don't want anyone to feel left out.  Feel free to leave your selections in the comments.

 

You'll notice that I didn't include the rough 'em up, shoot 'em up stuff on my list.  That's ok.  Instead, I'll post this:

 

Mr. T. vs Everything

 

...for all you A-Team fans.

 

"I pity the fool."  Heh.

Feelin' Secure?

So, yeah, I've been on a brief hiatus.  A combination of slow news weeks, Christmas, birthdays, and family visits have done me in.

But I'm back.

 

And I decided, for your tinfoil hat pleasure, I'd gift you this holiday season with this non-revelation.

 

NEW YORK - The National Security Agency's Internet site has been placing files on visitors' computers that can track their Web surfing activity despite strict federal rules banning most of them.

Really?

These files, known as "cookies," disappeared after a privacy activist complained and The Associated Press made inquiries this week, and agency officials acknowledged Wednesday they had made a mistake. Nonetheless, the issue raises questions about privacy at a spy agency already on the defensive amid reports of a secretive eavesdropping program in the United States.

You don't say. 

The Bush administration has come under fire recently over reports it authorized NSA to secretly spy on e-mail and phone calls without court orders.  Since The New York Times disclosed the domestic spying program earlier this month, President Bush has stressed that his executive order allowing the eavesdropping was limited to people with known links to al-Qaida.  But on its Web site Friday, the Times reported that the NSA, with help from American telecommunications companies, obtained broader access to streams of domestic and international communications.

 

Story via Yahoo.

 

Wow.  I can't believe that such a thing would happen.

 

Listen up, people.  Anyone who thinks that they are private when they surf is a fool.  Perhaps even a damn fool.  I kind of expect (not necessarily ACCEPT, ha) that pretty much everyone in the government who gives a hoot about what people say on their blogs has read this at some point.  I've seen the server and hit reports.

 

So.  With this in mind, I'd like to say this:

 

I know you're out there. 

You have my file already.

Read all you like.  I have very little to hide.

 

Now.  Where did I bury that cash?  Kidding.  KIDDING.

 

 

 

I Heart Lifehacker

Ah, Lifehacker.

 

Obviously, the Hack has what could only be described as unconditional love for us all.  And I love it back.  Why?  Well, quite simply, because they post hints like this. 

The biggest shortcoming in Gmail's user interface is that damnable dropdown menu item to delete messages. I don't know about you, but I delete messages a LOT and I need a convenient button to do so.

Happily programmer Anthony Lieuallen provides a choice of Firefox extension OR Greasemonkey user script which adds a delete button to your Gmail.

Link to the info is here.

I delete a LOT of mail.  Unfortunately, my gmail addy is all clogged up with junk at the moment.  I am in the process, though, of cleaning a lot of that up using labels and filters.  If you need a gmail invite, let me know.  Gmail has also added a bunch of happy new features.  Check it out.

 

Lifehacker.  Sigh.  I really, really like that website.

 

Short, Shameful Confession No. 1029

Man, I can really dig on some old Janet Jackson tunes.

 

I'm not kidding.  I've been listening to her old stuff (pre-1996) for the last hour.

Fighing The Man

It's just looks catchy, doesn't it?

Welcome, internet, to The Consumerist, the latest title from Gawker Media. The Consumerist loves to shop, and is reconciled to utilities, but hates paying for shoddy products, inhumane customer support, and half-assed service.

Each week The Consumerist will guide you through the delinquencies of retail and service organizations. The Consumerist will highlight the persistent, shameless boners of modern consumerism — and the latest hot deals, discounts, and freebies around.

Join us. You'll tell us when you've been royally screwed by yet another company, and we'll channel your rage. Together we will storm the revolving doors of faceless corporations to call them naughty words for genitals, and they will begin to fear us.

The Consumerist. Capitalism is broken. We'll help you fix it.

Heh.  I smell a permalink, and soon.  We'll see.

The Consumerist.

Go man go.

Oh, No. NOOOOOOO!

Dear God, please make it stop.

 

Wilmer Valderrama will star as motorcycle cop Ponch in Warner Bros . Pictures' big-screen version of cult late 70's classic series "CHiPs" says The Hollywood Reporter .

You mean... CHiPS, the Movie?

.

.

.

.

.

 

That's it.  I'm boycotting Hollywood, except for Peter Jackson.  Of course.

 

 

Beat Down

Ever took a really, really good beatin'?

 

From the police?

 

I have.  Here's the story.

 

Several years ago, I was working as a clerk in a law firm in Washington, D.C.  The Washington Redskins were going to the Super Bowl that year.

The city was excited.  Everyone was partying like it was... well, 1999 or something.  I know that you can forgive the Prince reference.

 

So, my roommates and I went to a friend's to attend a Super Bowl party in Georgetown.  All of my roomies and my roomies friends quickly went from completely sober, to mind-bendingly, stunningly, shockingly sloshed.  We were young, and the Redskins were winning.  But, as I recall, I was just as shockingly sober, as I didn't feel particularly well.

 

The game ended.  The 'Skins won.

 

On the streets of Washington, chaos ensued.

 

The world is full of tremendous parties.  I understand very few gatherings are like (former) New Orleans, or Rio, during Marti Gras.  I remember being in Mexico during Spring Break in 1989, and in some ways, I think that I *still* haven't recover from the massive throng of humanity.  And I know that everyone can think of other examples.

 

However, all that being said, those were NOTHING like the streets of Georgetown the day the the Washington Redskins won the Super Bowl.

 

The street were all roped off.  TV stations were on rooftops with cameras, which will be important later in the story.  There was almost a full-blown riot going on underneath this woman's ritzy Georgetown apartment.  So, naturally, she wanted to go down and join the revelry.

 

Of course, I volunteered to go down with her.  What can I say?  She was embarrassingly drunk, and completely attractive.  It was my duty.

 

Down we went.  It was an amazing sight, indeed, made even more amazing by the fact that we were in the thick of it.  The Washington D.C. police were out in force.  There weren't going to be cars on fire THIS year.  I had no problem with this.  Unfortunately, my female buddy wasn't so pleased with the showing of Washington's Finest, and said something to one of the officers.  This would be defined as Major Mistake No. 1, as she was almost immediately singled out and dragged over the rope partition in the middle of the street.

 

Major Mistake No. 2:  In response to the affront, I asked the officer for his badge number.  Three times.  Angrily.

 

You can guess the response.  Pulled over the rope partition, into the middle of the street, and the full-blown beating by at least two policemen commenced.

 

Time now for an important Public Service Announcement:  if you are being beaten in the middle of the streets by cops, BE SURE TO COVER YOUR HEAD.  I cannot stress how important this is.  I fought back, but I did cover my head as I laid there on the ground in the middle of M Street, being beaten to a pulp by two of the District's Finest (or Worst, as the case may be), and I strongly suspect this action saved me serious, serious injury.  As it was, though, was not good.  I was definitively and thoroughly beat up as I was dragged into a police car and accused of assaulting a police officer.  I told them, "Not only did you beat me in the street, and not only were there thousands of witnesses and TV cameras all over the place, but I work for a law firm.  I'm going to sue the hell out of you."

 

Several hours later, I was released. 

 

I went home, sat in the bathtub for an hour and plotted my revenge.

 

And the final response?

 

I went to my firm and made some inquiries.  They told me this, which I will never forget:

 

"You have no way of winning a case in this city, at this time, and if you try to file administrative actions with anyone against those cops, then the D.C. police department will harass you until the day you die.  Move out of the District and to Virginia or Maryland as soon as you possibly can."

 

So I moved.

 

But that has haunted me ever since.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bizzare

Heh.

Ok, so has anyone had a problem that they absolutely, positively, couldn't explain?
I do.  It's called severe, nasty sleeplessness.

It started out several years ago.  College, I think.  Personally, I think that it began with a problem with an old girlfriend.  It was funny, I was all pretty much ok, and then, out of nowhere, I just... stopped sleeping.  At first, it was just a little passing joke - something that I thought that I could get over.  Then, it became much more serious.  There were weeks at a time where sleeping was just not an option.  And it always happened at the same two times of year:

1.  Christmas holidays.
2.  Early spring.

However, I am not one of those people that tries to ignore those types of problems.  I read books, I worked hard, I tried to do new things.

And with that, after a while, the problem somewhat went away.

But I had to deal with it again, twice.  And, as some of you might guess, I'm presently dealing with it again now, as it's 5:12am in Denver, and I've been wide awake since 12am.  That would make it more than a week since I've gotten more that three hours of sleep.

Events and such can sometime cause this kind of situation.  Also, desperation.  Like several friends have often said, "It's not that I'm crazy for not sleeping at night.  It's just that the voices in my head are always louder when the lights are out."  Ha ha.  But there is a nugget of truth in that statement.

Depression, loneliness, and such are nasty things.  They will keep you awake.  They will convince you to do things that aren't the best for you.  They will break you and help you to destroy your own life if you aren't careful.

So, with this in mind, I will tell you all a secret; something that I've thought carefully, and quite a bit, about, in the last several days.  One of those things in the Post Secret type of mindset, so why I'm posting it as a basically non-anonymous person, I have no idea.  But I think that I need to get it off my chest.

When I was a sophomore in college, I met what I thought was the love of my life.  We got pregnant, and had an abortion.  And, in all honesty, I have not been the same ever since. 

That is not a license for all of the anti-abortion types to start hatin' on me or this blog, nor is it an invitation that all pro-choice types (of which, I am one) to start coming out and high-fiving me.  My blog is pretty politics neutral.  It's just the way that it is.  But to be honest, I have not been the same person since that girl, that I loved dearly, had that abortion.  That's all.

So.

In the meantime, I'm going to try to get some serious, serious help and figure out why, after all these years, I still occasionally can't sleep at night, and why, after all of these years, I still dream about that situation, and when I don't dream about it, I just... lie awake.

Ok.  That's all I've got, laid out for the world to see.  Jennifer, if you are out there, I'm sorry, sincerely, and I still miss you.

This post, though, is for Tim R.  Rest in peace, brother.  Your friends and family lost you too soon.

Tomorrow Is A Big Day... For Post Secret

Wanna freak the hell out of someone you love?

 

Buy them this.

 

I went and took a look at the Post Secret site again today.  Still freaks me out.

 

I won't post another secret today.  Yet.

 

 

Milestones

So, today, I passed over 2000 page views and 1000 distinct hits.

 

I would like to say thank you, thank you very much.  Things that I can promise to you in the future:

 

More stories.  Damn, I have a lot of them.

 

More culture posts.

 

More geek posts.

 

Probably not a lot of political posts, because poltics just makes me all verklempt.

 

More current event posts.

 

And more links than ever.  Expect a lot of permalink love.

 

Thanks guys!

 

 

 

 

 

Black Friday Is Coming

Be ready.

 

Controversial web site BF2005.com lists shopping deals rumored to be available on "black Friday," the day after Thanksgiving:

 

 

Via Lifehacker. 

 

This is one of those rare times that I actually knew about something before it showed up in another blog or news site.  Go visit and check it out.

 

Out of Town

Well, I've been working out of town for the last few days, hence, no new posts.

 

I haven't even had a lot of time to listen to my iPod.

 

However, I did have time to find this little nugget, thanks to my homegirl back back at home:

 

Leather Pants

 

Enjoy, people.  And make sure that you look at the Q and A.  It's worth the time.

 

I'll be back soon, with tales of frivolity and such from our West Coast.  I think.

Veteran's Day

Veteran's Day.  The day that we use to celebrate and remember the sacrifices of our soldiers of World War I.  Hm.  Schools are open, traffic is still heavy, and I'm at work. 

Yeah, we're remembering.  Let me refresh some memories here.

Austria–Hungary was created in the "Ausgleich of 1867" after Austria was defeated by Prussia. As agreed in 1867, the Habsburgs would be Emperors of Austria Empire. With the formation of the Dual Monarchy, Franz Josef became leader of a nation with sixteen ethnic groups and five major religions speaking no fewer than nine languages.

In large measure because of the vast disparities that existed within the Empire, Austrians and Hungarians always viewed growing Slavic nationalism with deep suspicion and concern. Thus the Austro-Hungarian government grew worried with the near-doubling in size of neighbouring Serbia's territory as a result of the Balkan Wars of 1912–1913. Serbia, for its part, made no qualms about the fact that it viewed all of Southern Austria–Hungary as part of a future Great South Slavic Union. This view had also garnered considerable support in Russia. Many in the Austrian leadership, not least Habsburg Emperor Franz Joseph, and Conrad von Hötzendorf, worried that Serbian nationalist agitation in the southern provinces of the Empire would lead to further unrest among the Austro-Hungarian Empire's other disparate ethnic groups. The Austro-Hungarian government worried that a nationalist Russia would back Serbia to annex Slavic areas of Austria–Hungary. The feeling was that it was better to destroy Serbia before they were given the opportunity to launch a campaign.

After the assassination of Franz Ferdinand, and nearly a month of debate, the government of Austria–Hungary sent a 10-point ultimatum to Serbia (July 23, 1914) — the so called July Ultimatum — to be unconditionally accepted within 48 hours. The ultimatum was the first of a series of diplomatic events known as the July Crisis which set off a chain reaction and a general war in Europe.

From Wikipedia, so use the appropriate caution.  I think this is generally correct, however.

 

I hate World War I.  It didn't solve any real problems, and was the impetus for the rise of fascism in Europe which led to some of the greatest atrocities seen in modern history before and during the second World War.  One might rationally argue that World War I was the most important event of the last two hundred years.  Tanks, trench warfare, mustard gas... yikes.  You want to know why terrorism now is all the rage?  In the 20th century, this is where it all began.  In spades.

 

And then there is this crap.  The freakin' Battle of the Somme.

 

The Battle of the Somme was planned as a joint French and British operation. The idea originally came from the French Commander-in-Chief, Joseph Joffre and was accepted by General Sir Douglas Haig, the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) commander, despite his preference for a large attack in Flanders. Although Joffre was concerned with territorial gain, it was also an attempt to destroy German manpower.

At first Joffre intended for to use mainly French soldiers but the German attack on Verdun in February 1916 turned the Somme offensive into a large-scale British diversionary attack. General Sir Douglas Haig now took over responsibility for the operation and with the help of General Sir Henry Rawlinson, came up with his own plan of attack. Haig's strategy was for a eight-day preliminary bombardment that he believed would completely destroy the German forward defences.

 

From Spartacus.

 

Let me tell you something.  In the first DAY of the Battle of the Somme, the British suffered 57,470 casualties.  That is not a joke or a misprint.

 

According to the British official history of the battle, total Allied casualties amounted to almost 630,000 and German around 660,000. British casualties reported by the Adjutant General were 419,654, of whom some 5% were missing at roll call but may have subsequently reported. Staggering figures, especially when taken alongside those at Verdun where fighting between French and German continued throughout 1916.

 

From 1914-1918.net.

 

The German Army never recovered from their staggering losses; nearly all of their best talent, meaning officers and highly trained solders, died there.

 

They say that the ground at the Somme bled for some time after both sides finally left the battlefield. 

This was for an advance of 12km.

 

Do not forget what people did for you. 

Do not let your children forget.

 

Thank you, Grandpa.

Independent Movies? Hell Yeah!

As per the usual, Boing Boing finds another gem.

 

Empire movie mag has compiled a list of what it considers to be the "50 Greatest Independent Films." The top ten includes Mean Streets, Sideways, The Usual Suspects, Sex, Lies, and Videotape, Night of the Living Dead, Monty Python's Life of Brian, Clerks, The Terminator, Donnie Darko, and Reservoir Dogs.

 

Follow the link.  Some interesting movies on that list.  I might have to watch Sex, Lies, and Videotape again this weekend.

Oh, I have the baby.  Ah, Andie McDowell can wait. 

 

Barely.

 

Hum.  This is as good a time as any to mention that if you are in Denver, or plan to be, or want to be somewhere else besides where you are, there is a truly hip film festival that just started here yesterday:  The Starz Denver International Film Festival.  I actually know people who traveled here to see this.  Come by, see a few flicks.  I plan to over the weekend. 

 

 

 

Email Thyself

Even though I've known about this for a while, I figured I'd blog this love from the Boing.

 

Forbes has a free service that lets you send an email to yourself and have it arrive in 1, 3, 5, 10, or 20 years. I'm going to have my daughter write one to herself. I'll write one to myself, too.

 

 

Lots of other blogs jumped on this topic, too.  I'll probably write one for my 'lil baby to look at sometime in the future myself.

 

Course, I can think of lots of other weird applications for this.

 

1.  Impromptu Wills.

2.  Suicide Notes.

3.  Predictions Of Future Apocalyptic Events.

 

Am I cynical?  Nah!

 

Whoa...!

This cannot be.

Cardinal Paul Poupard, head of the Pontifical Council for Culture, said the Genesis description of how God created the universe and Darwin's theory of evolution were "perfectly compatible" if the Bible were read correctly.

His statement was a clear attack on creationist campaigners in the US, who see evolution and the Genesis account as mutually exclusive.

Via The Australian. Mad props to Technorati.

Wait a minute.  Did I read about this last week?  Oh, no, not exactly.

 

Cardinal Paul Poupard, who heads the Pontifical Council for Culture ( search), made the comments at a news conference on a Vatican project to help end the "mutual prejudice" between religion and science that has long bedeviled the Roman Catholic Church and is part of the evolution debate in the United States.

 

Via Fark.

Ok.  Wait a second.  Who is this Cardinal Paul Poupard guy?  Hmm.  This bears watching; something is afoot.  Is one of the Big Culture Wars about to REALLY get started?

 

Best to buy duct tape, water, and plastic.

 

And Ramen.
 

Beat This!

I'm not sure that I've ever been more pleased with last ten songs played on my iPod.

 

Here's THE LIST.

 

Tribute - Tenacious D

The Love Cats - The Cure

Zombie - The Cranberries

Take It Slow - Long Beach Short Bus

You Got Me - The Roots

Keep It Rollin' - A Tribe Called Qwest

Hard To Handle - The Black Crowes

Pantala Naga Pampa - The Dave Matthews Band

Promises, Promises - Naked Eyes

Shape of My Heart - Sting

 

Observations:

1.  Did you notice how this set contains some of the best songs from these respective bands:  The Cure, Tenacious D, The Roots, and The Black Crowes?

2.  Sting was still relevant (and Queen Amidala was still a teenager - VERY troubling film, incidentally) in this list?

3.  The Love Cats.  Man, I love that song.

 

Put yours in the comments.

Ugly Bags Of Mostly Water

Fascinating.

 

Randell Mills, a Harvard University medic who also studied electrical engineering at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, claims to have built a prototype power source that generates up to 1,000 times more heat than conventional fuel. Independent scientists claim to have verified the experiments and Dr Mills says that his company, Blacklight Power, has tens of millions of dollars in investment lined up to bring the idea to market. And he claims to be just months away from unveiling his creation.

 

Found via Fark.  Again.

 

Oh, please, please please... PLEASE let this be true.  I had heard of something like this before (dammit, I can't find a link, but I'm pretty sure that I read about back in the 70's), but it's never been so important as it is now.  Hopefully they have this scientist under 24 hour survellience, before BIG OIL gets him.

 

Shout Out To A Friend

Hey, L,

 

I noticed that you have starteed a Cleanse.

 

I wish you luck.  I know what you mean, feeling nasty emotionally and physically.  Really, the last few days, I can't even describe how badly I've been feeling.  Probably stress has a lot to do with it.  But we're with you, babe.  You have friends.  And you know how to get a hold of us if you need to. 

 

So hey, hon.  Just showin' a little love.  Ok?  Hang in there.  If you do, I will.  Promise.

Man, Are We Dumb

You know those ridiculous gasoline prices that we are presently paying?  You know... because of rising costs, hurricanes, and such?

 

Well, I'm here to tell you - consumers are DUMB.

 

IRVING, Texas - Exxon Mobil Corp. had a quarter for the record books. The world's largest publicly traded oil company said Thursday high oil and natural-gas prices helped its third-quarter profit surge almost 75 percent to $9.92 billion, the largest quarterly profit for a U.S. company ever, and it was the first to ring up more than $100 billion in quarterly sales.

 

Net income ballooned to $9.92 billion, or $1.58 per share, from $5.68 billion, or 88 cents per share, a year ago.

 

Via Yahoo.

 

Net income for a three month period:  9.92 BILLION DOLLARS.

 

Billion.  With a "B".

 

Hyperinflated profits make Baby Jesus cry.

 

 

Blogroll Addition

Maybe you noticed this, and maybe you didn't, but the newest permalink is the website Snopes, which are the Urban Legend Reference Pages. 

Why do this, you ask?  For all you people out there who get those goofy emails claiming this ridiculous statistic or that ridiculous picture or story.  You want to know if it's true?

Check Snopes.  It's a very non-partisan site that will be ready to either confirm or debunk whatever you got from that friend of a friend.

 

Consider it my public service of the week.

 

 

Can I Get That In Cash?

Here's a kind of cool thang that I dug up.

 

Inspired by Tristan Louis's research into the value of each link to Weblogs Inc, I've created this little applet using Technorati's API which computes and displays your blog's worth using the same link to dollar ratio as the AOL-Weblogs Inc deal.

 

Actually, I was a little surprised to find out that this here blog don't do too badly.  Maybe it's all the geek posts.

 

Time to write another story, though.  Soon.  I promise.

 

 

 

Well, I Used To Read Novels...

...unfortunately, I don't take the time to read them like I used to.

 

I do like to read, though - which is why I read, with considerable amusement, TIME's Best 100 Novels.

 

Stunningly, it's not a terrible list.

 

But I've only read twenty-four of them.  That ain't good.  Obviously, I need to join a book club.

More Geek Love For Ya'll

Is your hard drive full of virtual crap?  God knows mine is.

 

How about a Hard Drive Janitor?

If I let it, my hard drive would fill to capacity with crap I don't need. Throughout the course of one day I get my paws on all sorts of throwaway files: video, images and songs meant for a single viewing or listen, PDF's I have to print, software installers and big ol' zip files I extract and do whatever I need to with the contents. The end result is a bunch of stuff hogging space on my hard drive for no good reason.

I'm lazy and I don't want to have to clean up after myself every time I work with a set of files. Instead, I've scheduled a cleanup script that sweeps through my hard drive every evening while I sleep. My virtual janitor deletes any temporary file that's been sitting around for more than x days, like old garbage starting to stink. This way space on my hard drive is constantly recovered, and I don't have to worry about getting the dreaded "Low disk space" message at the critical moment I'm about to conceive my opus. Because you know if you were going to run out of disk space, that's when it would happen.

Via Lifehacker, of course.  Man, I love those guys.

 

Halloween And Movies

"Hey, do you want to see something REALLY scary?"
                                                       - Dan Aykroyd,  from Twilight Zone, The Movie

So, because it's Halloween, here are:

The Scariest Movies Of All Time

5.  Jaws.
Amazing that I didn't think of this movie before.  Zoinks.  Scared an entire generation of going into the ocean.  Mad props to that.
4.  The Exorcist.
Heh.  Raised the bar for horror then and for all time.  Subliminal messages.  Pea soup.  Catholics.  What could be better?
3.  The Thing.
Probably the best of the John Carpenter horror movies.  If you don't know about the walking head scene, then you don't know horror.  Amazing, without the CGI.
2.  Alien.
Yeah.  Haunted house combined with Sci-Fi.  Remember this tagline:  "In space, no one can hear you scream."  Brilliant.
1.  The Shining.
Wow.  Almost a perfectly scary movie.  The Big Wheel scene, "Here's Johnny!"  Blood in the hallway.  Amazing.  Scared me for years and I'm still not quite over it.

Leave yours in the comments, if you like.  Just for fun, you might want to check this out: The 100 Scariest Movie Scenes Of All Time.  Via  Retrocrush.

Memes - The Friday Music Edition

Here we go again!

 

Last 10 on the iPod Shuffle List

 

"Colors" - Ice-T

"Crazy For This Girl" - Evan and Jaron

"Beginnings" - Chicago

"Always and Forever" - Heatwave

"Strange Fruit" - Billie Holiday

"It's The End Of The World As We Know It" - REM

"F-Stop Blues" - Jack Johnson

"South Side" - Moby and Gwen Stefani

"Babylon" - David Gray

"Midnight Rider" - The Allman Brothers Band

 

Analyzing....analyzing....

 

I think that maybe I should maybe leave the house tonight.  Sounds like a fun evening.

 

Pile on, y'all!

Text Messaging

Classic Consumer Scams:

 

1.  Disposable Razor Blades.  They cost more than the razors, and parody has now become fact. 

2.  Pantyhose.  Women hate them.  Why do they exist?

3.  Text Messaging.  Why?  People who make them, pay for them, people that RECEIVE them pay for them.  More revenue for phone companies.

 

So what have I been getting all week?

Text messages. 

In fact, I got a text PARAGRAPH today.  Gak.

 

When the revolution comes, I expect Gillette, Hanes, and Verizon will be the first up against the wall.

Geek Storage

No, I don't mean a place to store your geek.  Everyone knows that's in their parents' basement with plenty of beer and pizza.

 

I mean this.

 

All that porn clogging up your hard drive and your 500Gb external already full? Well no worries, thanks to this brand new Maxtor OneTouch III that'll have up to 1 whopping terabyte of storage space.

 

Via Gizmodo.

 

Of course, you know you want one.  Personally, I want three.  Being out of a computer for a while made me frightened and verklempt;  I couldn't feel my legs, and I panicked.

 

If you know that reference, you get a no-prize.  But if you don't, go here.  Think "Refrigerator Johnny".  What a classic.

 

Dude, That's Hardcore

Ex SNL comedian Charles Rocket is dead.  This in itself is not surprising (see:  Belushi, Jon, Farley, Chris, et cetera)

This, however, is absolutely, positively the most hardcore thing that I've ever heard in my life.

 

Rocket, 56, whose real name was Charles Claverie, was found dead in a field near his home in Canterbury on October 7. His throat had been cut, the medical examiner said."An investigation determined there was no criminal aspect to this case," State Police Sgt. J. Paul Vance said Monday.

Via CNN.

 

Yeah, you read that right.  HOMEBOY SLIT HIS OWN THROAT.

Maybe he heard about this.

 

Yeah.  Rocky.  I kid not.

 

I expect the seventh seal to be broken shortly.

 

 

 

Hah!

Well, following my friend's lead (for some reason, I can't find the post where she said she quit!  C'mon, L, help me out), I quit smoking this weekend.

Haven't had a cigarette in more than 48 hours. 

Yikes.  I would hate to be working for me on Monday.  However, my intentions are good.  If you're out there smoking and want to quit, I suggest that you try this.  Stunningly, it seems to work.

More Geek For Your Dollar

No, this post is NOT going to be about the video iPod, strangely enough, even though I think those are awesome and I want one.

 

This about home FTP.  Via The Hack

If you've been following the the Lifehacker Home Server Series of articles, you know how to do things like reach your home computer from anywhere in the world thanks to dynamic DNS services. Gina wrote about how to set up a personal home web server, but in my experience the killer home server feature that hasn't been covered to date is how to set up a personal FTP server at home.

 

Damn, that's cool.  Once I get my home computer working again, I'm doing it. 

 

I've got a Linux drive.  It might be time to start using it again and bagging XP for the time being.  My blogging is beginning to suffer.

 

Finally!

Not all hope has been abandoned.

 

NEW YORK (AP) -- "The Simple Life" is over - at least on Fox. The network said Wednesday it has canceled the Paris Hilton-Nicole Richie reality series after the show's two stars no longer proved compatible.

 

 

Via Fark.

 

I'll tell you what:  I think that it's too late for me.  I'm seriously considering selling my television.  Were it not for these things:

 

1.  Sports

2.  The Cartoon Network

3.  Law and Order, and

4.  The Discovery Channel

 

I would have gotten the darn television out of my house YEARS ago.

 

 

 

Who Will Protect The Children?

Sigh.

 

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. - Students who attend homecoming dances on Saturday will be doing some heavy breathing — into Breathalyzers.

At Santa Barbara High School, officials will screen every third or fourth student who arrives and anyone who appears drunk, said Principal Paul Turnbull. Dos Pueblos High School administrators will use the Breathalyzer only if they suspect a problem, said Principal Quentin Panek.

"There's a lot of heavy drinking going on," said Penny Jenkins, executive director of the local nonprofit Council on Alcoholism and Drug Abuse. "Something's got to be done."

 

Thanks, Yahoo.

Teens partying with alcohol = old and busted.

Teens partying with this = the new hotness.

 

C'mon, it's HOMECOMING.

 

Personally, I say legalize all drugs and such.  I think that it's the libertarian in me.

 

Amazing Site For You

Huh.  This is one of the most remarkable things I have seen in the internet in a while. 

 

PostSecret is an ongoing community art project where people mail-in their secrets anonymously on one side of a homemade postcard.

 

Even though this is not really a stupid site, that's where I found this.

 

A lot of people that read this site know who I am for real, but in the spirit of that website, I'll tell you all a secret:

 

Even though I honestly don't like 99% of all people, I hate living alone.  The absurdity of that fact sometimes makes me sad.

 

Carry on.

What?! A Cure For Cancer?

Darn it.  What is Fark going to do about that "still no cure for cancer" cliche?

 

A vaccine shown to be 100% effective against two virus strains that cause most cervical cancer could be available within a year, say manufacturers.

 

Via, of course, Fark and the BBC.

I have this to say about this development, as I'll have you know, cervical cancer kills something like 275,000 women a year:

 

YIPPIE!  THERE IS MUCH REJOICING!

 

Now, science, get to friggin' work on breast cancer, colon cancer, and lung cancer.  Oh, and pancreatic, prostate, and the others, too.

Nicolas Cage = Geek

He named his kid after Superman.

 

Nicholas Cage's new son is named "Kal-El Cage."

 

Boing Boing, again.

 

Oddly, I kinda like that. 

But, of course, my geek level is off the charts.  Word.

 

Sir Memes A Lot

I haven't done this in a while, but it's Ipod Shuffle Friday!

 

The Last Ten Songs To Play On My iPod

 

Jamiroquai - Travelling Without Moving

The Smiths - How Soon Is Now

Sublime - Right Back

Brand New Heavies - Midnight At The Oasis

Ozzy Osbourne - No More Tears

Hi-Five - She's Playing Hard To Get

Stevie Wonder - I Wish

Shaggy - It Wasn't Me

Eminem (featuring Dido) - Stan

Guns N' Roses - Sweet Child Of Mine

 

Conclusions?  Either my musical tastes are diverse, or I can't make up my mind.

The smart bet is on the latter. 

 

Anyone who cares to leave their list toss 'em in the comments. Me, I've got another story to write.  I'll try something light-hearted for a change, instead of going through the past, darkly.

 

Crazy

Hum.  Here's an incomplete list of locations that have actually taken the time to look at my freakin' blog. 

 

Libson, Lisboa, Portugal

Muscavide, Lisboa, Portugal

Forbes Park, Passay, Phillipines

Cheltenham, Victoria, Austraila

Lindfield, New South Wales, Austraila

Savelborn, Diekirch, Luxemborg

 

Sorry, Ottawa and Toronto, you're actually on the same continent that I'm on and you don't count.  Love my northern neighbors, though.

But it does look like I'm going to have to start doing some posts in Portuguese.  Volte frequentemente, e traga o vinho.

Organize Thyself - Part Deux

Remember this post about Backpack?

 

Well, naturally, someone has decided to improve the application.  Figures.

 

As many of you know Backpack is a great productivity tool. What you might not know is that it can be hacked to do all sorts of neat things.My pal, and all around creative thinking dude, Taylor McKnight, has written up a list of tips and tricks for backpack.

More love via Lifehacker.
 

Geeks of the world, get there and thrive.

True Life Discussion Heard Today

Person #1:  I'm just a poor black man from Kansas City with a daughter that I love more than my own life.

Person #2:  Well, that's inspiring.  You could be a poor black man from Kansas City who sold his daughter to a ridiculously wealthy rare-books dealer who dabbles in the occult.

 

Heh.

 

Speaking of the occult, here's good news:  A revival of the Night Stalker plays tonight on ABC.

 

Man, I loved that show when I was a kid.  Gave me nightmares.  We all know how cool that is.  Now, if they'd bring this show back, then the culmination of my childhood fears would be complete.

Yes, Gillian's Island - The Movie

Oh, no.  NO.

 

Rob Schneider's in Australia this week and during an interview about the "Deuce Bigalow" sequel by the popular Sunday program, he dropped some interesting talk about a film adaptation of classic sitcom "Gilligan's Island".

 

Via Dark Horizons, your one stop location for all things movie.

I hear Adam Sandler is going to be in it.  Brilliant.  This dark, dark news (and yet another sign of the coming fall of Western Civilization) prompts me to write this:

 

Dear Hollywood:

 

Do you have any original ideas left?  You're bumming us out.

 

Love,

The Planet Earth

 

P.S.  I hear Clark has some good ideas.  You should give him a call.  Buh bye now.

Music, Again

I'm lifting you up, I'm letting you down,

I'm dancing 'till dawn, I'm fooling around.

I'm not giving up, I'm making your love,

this city's made us crazy and we must get out.

 

You know what?

 

I'm not even ashamed to say that I like Maroon 5.  Yeah, I'm prepared to take hell for that.  However, that's what we bloggers have to be willing to do.

 

My Not Quite Fiction

I seem to have a lot a new readers lately.  Let me point you to a few of my more popular autobiographical stories.

 

The Commuter Affair

 

Free Couch

 

The Day That Changed Everything

 

One day, I will figure out how to put categories on my blog and you'll be able to gather specific types of posts from a click, and there will be much rejoicing.  Right now, Blogger doesn't support it.  Darn.

The Day That Changed Everything

No, I'm not talking about 9/11.

 

Think about this: if you distilled your life down to it's most basic parts, down to quite simple moments in time, could you come up with a single moment that your whole life changed?

 

I can.  It happened this way.

 

1991.  I was living in Phoenix.  It was very, very hot that year.  Not as hot as the previous year, but still HOT.  I recall that one day that I actually fried an egg on the sidewalk.

 

I was working as a sales associate for a major appliance rental center who I choose not to name.  Basically, what sales associate meant was "Repo Man".  It was NOT a fun job, by any stretch of the imagination.  However, it was close to my apartment, and it was my very first job out of college, so I figured that I would stick with it for a while.

 

So, on an extremely plain and regular Tuesday afternoon, I was driving the work truck to a location to go pick up a renter's VCR.  From what I recalled, this particular person hadn't made a payment on the VCR for three weeks.  Three weeks was like a magic number for my boss back then; three weeks late, either they pay or we would pick up our rental merchandise.  So off I went.

 

When I got to person's house, I knocked on the door.  Mr So and So, I said, I'm here to pick up the VCR.

 

The guy came to the door looking surly.  I knew that look and really wanted no part of it.  In my friendliest, but most professional voice, I asked him if he was aware that his payments on the VCR were three weeks late.

 

Yes, he replied, looking me directly in the eye.

 

I then explained that I'd have to pick up the VCR unless he intended to pay on it.  I was starting to feel a bit nervous, even though I had done this exact thing before.  I asked him where the VCR was at this time, because I need to pick it up.  "Ok," he responded, "I'll get it."

 

He left the room, and returned with VCR in hand. 

I thanked him, and told him to stop by the store if he wanted it back, then turned my back.  Then I heard an audible *click*.  Uh oh.

When I turned back around, there was a gun to my head.

 

Let me attempt to describe the feeling conveyed by being in a strange person's house looking at a gun.  First of all, you are quite aware that the encounter can go, uh, poorly.  My life most certainly did NOT flash before my eyes, which is a feeling that I now find a touch strange.  The experience actually was quite similar to the feeling one gets when they have veered off a two lane highway, heading straight for a semi-dense forest, then finding yourself doing a 720 across the highway doing 65 mph in the middle of the night during a full moon in the middle of Central Texas, nowhere close to a populated town that possibly could send someone to save your butt before the car explodes. 

We're talking pee-scared here.

 

But, since I'm talking to you now, I can tell you this: I talked this gentleman out of shooting me.  And he gave me $50 to pay for his back rent.

 

This encounter, however, gave me the courage to:

1.  Get back into my truck and drive to my place of employment.

2.  Drop off the $50, my store keys, and resign.

3.  Go home, call my landlord and break my lease.

4.  Call a friend in Washington D.C., tell her that I would be there in two weeks, and that I hoped that she had room.

 

That was the day that changed everything.  I left Phoenix and was in Washington by September.

Montage A Google

This is pretty cool.  I can use a few cool things in my life right now.

 

Speaking of life, let me take this opportunity to speak to all of my East Texas friends (I went to school for a while in San Antonio, home El Mirador, and the best damn Tortilla Soup on the face of the planet):

 

Uh, leave now.  Thanks.

 

 

 

 

Lovely Rita, Meter Maid

Well, this should be good.  Not really.

 

MIAMI, Florida (CNN) -- Authorities in Texas and along the storm-shattered coast of Louisiana braced Wednesday for Hurricane Rita, as the powerful Category 4 storm picked up strength in the Gulf of Mexico.

 

Via CNN.

 

Oh, well, might as well get ready for the Supervolcano at Yellowstone to explode.  In case you were wondering, we have been forsaken.  You want the weekend (Friday/Saturday) plot?

1.  Gasoline price gouging.

2.  More looting in Texas, Louisana, anywere on the Gulf Coast.

3.  Inflation, again, in energy prices.

4.  Who knows what the hell else?!

 

Arrgh.  Perhaps it is time to crack each other's skulls open, and feast on the goo inside.

 

 

Regrets

Sigh.  Well, last night was certainly not one of greatest sleeping nights ever.  Why?  Regrets.  So, time to make a list.  These are the biggies:

 

My greatest regrets?

1.  Ever starting smoking.  Good Lord, what a mistake.  I hope that I can quit before I have a heart attack.

2.  Not attending Cornell University when I had the chance.

3.  Law school.  30k completely and totally wasted.

 

Interestingly, I don't regret the way that the whole ex thing turned out.  She taught me a lot, actually.  I would have preferred that it worked, but some things are not to be, I suppose.  Being the parent of a half-time child is quite easily one of the most difficult things that I've ever done.  I caught myself calling the ex this morning to tell her that the baby got me up at like 5 in the morning this morning, and almost immediately I wished that I hadn't called.  But I was tired and grumpy and wanted to complain to someone.  She seemed available.

 

I suppose the thing to say here is this:  try your best to live your life with as few regrets as possible, because one day, week, month, or year, you won't be able to sleep, and regrets will be the reason.

 

 

Short Fiction Time.

"Man lives in the sunlit world of what he believes to be reality.

But... there is, unseen by most, an underworld,

a place that is just as real, but not as brightly lit... a Darkside."

                                                                           - Tales From the Darkside

 

One of my boyz (let's call him ringloss) has been keeping me on my posting toes by sending me this short story that isn't in any way disturbing at all.

You'll love the ending.  I did.  But I've got a window seat already.  Ask me where to.  Heh.

 

Speaking of which, I'll be sending another piece of my wonderfully colorful autobiographical stories soon for your perusal.  You know that you love them.

Another Week, Another Google Story

More Googleness.

 

Tonight Google will announce (well, the embargo is tonight at 9 pm PST) that it is launching blog search, in two flavors, one for blogger.com, and another as a beta at google.com/blogsearch (not yet up, but will be soon...).

I spoke with Google about this, more soon, wanted to get this up in a timely manner...(too timely...as the service has yet to be pushed live....)

Via the Boing.

 

Apparently, it's live now.  As you might imagine, I'm extremely, EXTREMELY interested in how well that thing works.  I tried googling for my blog, and didn't find it right away.  Again, that address is:

http://blogsearch.google.com/

 

 

 

Geek Update - OpenOffice

Again, it's my personal responsibility to keep you, the reader, in the mix of all things geek.

 

With that in mind, I bring you (should pop to the download page, unless my html is that bad):

 

 

Try try.  Likey likey.  Free free.

 

Other good things, from their website:

 

OpenOffice.org Version 1 was the first product to deliver the benefits of open-source software to mass-market users, delivering essential everyday software tools completely free of charge. Translated into over 30 languages, available on all major computing platforms (Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X X11, GNU/Linux, Solaris), OpenOffice.org Version 1 is now in use by tens of millions of delighted users worldwide.

With Version 2, it gets even better:

• the first office suite to use the new OASIS OpenDocument format, the future-proof international standard for office software
• easier to install, with a whole new look and feel, matched to the type of computer in use
• more intuitive, more easy to use than ever, with a host of new usability features
• introducing a major new component, Base: an easy-to-use database manager with a fully integrated database
• more compatible with other software packages – now understands even obscure and rarely used features in major competitors

But the licence is still the same: you may download OpenOffice.org Version 2 completely free of any licence fees, use it for any purpose– private, educational, government and public administration, commercial – and pass on copies free of charge to family, friends, students, employees, etc.

How can you pass that up?

 

As soon as I get my freakin' computer fixed, I'm downloading.  I think that either old Betsy is about to either break completely or I need a new video card and some freakin' RAM.

 

 

 

 

No Wonder They're In Last Place.

Wait.  I just caught this.  Is it even possible that "Scrubs" is NOT on the NBC new fall schedule?

Is this some kind of a joke?!  That was one of the most reliably funny shows on television.

 

Course, why should I care?  I can watch this.

Or this.

Or this.

 

Or, maybe I'll read a book and drink a beer instead.

 

 

 

Science Fiction Cliches - The Master List

My oh, my, how I've been waiting for this.

 

Those of us who have read or seen a lot of science fiction have seen certain story elements pop up over and over and over. Some of these elements were actually pretty good ideas, and when handled well make for a pretty entertaining story, but have become hackneyed from overuse by the unimaginative. Others came into being through the deliberate effort to avoid another cliché. Still other ideas were lame from the get-go, and should have been dismissed from the author's thinking. 
Clichés are not in themselves necessarily bad, but their overuse shows that the writer has forgotten what separates the strong tale from the hollow: "the human heart in conflict with itself," as Faulkner said. Where there is this conflict, the tale stands; where the conflict is absent, the tale falls flat, and in neither case does it matter how many ships get blown up. 
The sophisticated reader (one who reads more than just SF) will note that some of these clichés are not found solely in SF, but in other genres as well, and of course the lampooning of cliches is a time-honored part of good comedy.

 

Snagged via Fark.

 

Notice, they have a specific category icon for those cliches that Star Trek has been guilty of.  Ain't that grand? 

Lord, I am a geek. So with that in mind, I'll link to this: Klingon Fairy Tales. Jus' cause I haven't linked them in a while. Show good writers some love.

 

 

Instalink Love

So I gots me this homegirl,

I don't know her well,

but I know it takes some kinda of guts

to jump into this Hell.

 

Sending some instalink love out to daughteire, whose got this blog which is presently detailing for the world her 10 day fast.  That's 10 days.  Lord.  I know she can write, that's for sure, and I know she supports FSM, which is all good.  Check out her blog.  I'm permlinking it today.  She's on day 8.

 

 

Free Couch

Yesterday, my friend ringloss over at jaXed asked me a question that had an immediate impact that makes me want to tell you a little story.  It was:

"Hey... do you want two free couches?"

Now, I haven't accepted yet, and I might not.  But as I told him, I have a soft spot in my heart for a free couch.  Here is why.

 

Many years ago, I was still a relatively young buck just making his way in Capitol Hill.  That's Denver, not DC.  Honestly, I was a little dejected.  I was living in a studio apartment at the time, and quite recently, my brother had moved into my studio and I had returned from my very first vision quest in Arizona (and a successful vision quest it was, too, as I actually and honestly saved my first life.  But that's a story for another time).

But, anyway, I was working in what was honestly a dead-end job for a company that I truly detested.  I was poor.  I was taking buses everywhere I went, and I was...blah.  It sucked.  So, I was arriving home from work, and I was thinking about how my poor brother was, at that time, sleeping on this completely uncomfortable couch that I had in my lil' hovel.  Let's say that I was just not happy.  Then, as I walked through the alley to the studio apartment that I STILL couldn't afford, I saw something. 

It was a couch.  Just sitting there, outside the back entrance to my apartment building.  The couch looked... well, it looked clean.  I saw no rips, or tears on my preliminary inspection.  No place to hide drugs, no cat hairs, no anything.  It was just a decent looking couch.  And it had a sign on it.  The sign said:

FREE COUCH.

That was it.  Just like that.

I went upstairs and walked in the door and said.  "Hm.  Hey, (insert bro's name here), there's a couch out back with sign on it that says, 'FREE COUCH'."

"FREE COUCH?" he replied.  "Let's go look at it."

So we went.  It was a fine couch.  We took it and moved it into my apartment.

As it turns out, that one couch was the most comfortable couch in my home.  Great for the sleepin'.  And that couch followed us for three different apartments.  No matter where we went, and who we lived with, that was always the MOST comfortable couch in the house.  It saw me through two girlfriends and a sordid affair.  I won't even discuss the dates and others who sat, laid down, or slept on that couch.  I came to love the couch.

After having the couch for damn near six years, I had to move from another apartment, and I couldn't take the couch.

I was heartbroken.

When my friend and I were taking the couch out back of my basement apartment, he asked,"Hey, just want to throw this in the dumpster?"

No, I said.  I went back into my apartment and grabbed a Sharpie and a piece of notebook paper.  On that notebook paper, I wrote:

FREE COUCH.

Gently I taped that paper to my favorite couch, and we gingerly sat that couch next to the apartment building.  Then we left for an hour, because I was beside myself.

When we returned, the couch was gone.

I had paid it back, and that made me happier than I could have believed possible, at least, for that moment.  Not paid it forward, as I doubt that giving away a couch qualified as something big and important enough.  I suppose it was possible.

So, needless to say, I am soft, very soft, on the Free Couch. 

Thank you, Humanity, at least for another week.

 

 

 

 

 

Tribes

Interesting.  Groups of people in New Orleans are forming tribes to survive.

When Tryphonas showed up at Johnny White's [bar] with his left ear split in two, Joseph Bellomy - a customer pressed into service as a bartender - put a wooden spoon between Tryphonas' teeth and used a needle and thread to sew it up. Military medics who later looked at Bellomy's handiwork decided to simply bandage the ear. "That's my savior," Tryphonas said, raising his beer in salute to the former Air Force medical assistant.

A few blocks away, a dozen people in three houses got together and divided the labor. One group went to the Mississippi River to haul water, one cooked, one washed the dishes. "We're the tribe of 12," 76-year-old Carolyn Krack said as she sat on the sidewalk with a cup of coffee, a packet of cigarettes and a box of pralines.

This link courtesy of the Boing.

What a great time to post this link on tribes.  Thank Ethan Watters for this one, supposedly in his book, but I can't confirm this, only support his words..

This bond is clearest in times of trouble. After
earthquakes (or the recent terrorist strikes), my
no different from what I'd feel for my  family.
Once I identified this in my own life, I began to
see tribes everywhere I looked: a house of
ex-sorority women in Philadelphia, a team of
ultimate-frisbee players in Boston and groups of
musicians in Austin, Texas.  Cities, I've come to
believe, aren't emotional wastelands where
fragile individuals with arrested development
mope around self-indulgently searching for  true
love. There are rich landscapes filled with urban tribes.

 I personally am a member of a few tribes that saved my behind right after I split with the ex.  Thank you Deb, and thank you, guys. 

Anger

Today, I think that I'll do a post about anger.  It's necessary.

 

What would make me angry?

 

1.  New Orleans, Mississippi, and Alabama. 

I have, er, HAD family in Louisana and Mississippi.  Now, I simply, well, don't, from the looks of it.  The Louisana contigent got out and are now here in Denver, staying with my sister-in-law.  I offered assistance.  Fortunately, they have plenty of other family here, since my lil' apartment can't support a family of five.  Grrr. 

Now, for Mississippi, I hear from my mother that they all made it out.  Where, I'm not sure.  Grrrr.

 

2.  Fatherhood with a split family.  The ex is driving me crazy.  There is going to be a protracted court battle over my daughter, it looks like.  After asking around, I wasn't able to find an attorney, which at the time I thought might be ok, since legal fees will bankrupt me, which would finish the job that my ex has already started.  Grrrrrrr.  Worse, the constant arguing, screaming and crying have brought me mentally to my knees.  I'm sleeping five minutes a night.  Yes, I typed that right.  FIVE.  That's been going on for about a week and a half now.  Naturally, this is not good for ANY aspect of my life.  Sickness and depression have been a result.  Grrrrrrrrrr.

 

Fortunately for me, my parents have showed up to help out.   I have found an attorney, it looks like.  But it's amazing how stressful this is.  I've taken steps.  Maybe I'll post later about how I have made, hopefully, a permanent comeback. 

 

In the meantime, I'll just pose this question:  What would happen if Metallica had Gallagher as a lead singer? 

 

Thanks to the Stupid Site Hall of Fame.

Holy Freakin' Crap

New Orleans and the rest of the gulf coast is in big freakin' trouble.

The storm is blamed for at least 68 deaths and that toll is almost certain to rise. Mississippi officials said at least 55 people were killed there, including 30 who were killed in an apartment complex near the Biloxi beach. Alabama reported two deaths. The storm killed 11 people last week when it made its initial landfall in Florida.

While Louisiana officials have not yet confirmed any deaths there, New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin said there have been reports of bodies floating in the floodwaters.

You want to help?  Maybe try donating to the Red Cross.  But make no mistake; this is bad.  80% of New Orleans is underwater.  If you have family on the Gulf Coast in that area, and a deity that you make peace with, pray.  A lot.

 

I don't have anything else. 

 

Bargain Hunting - Geek Style

Been a while since I did any geek-chic, but I don't know how I missed this post.  More love from Lifehacker. 

 

I am cheap and I love a bargain. That's why I use coupon codes and rebates for just about everything that I buy online.

 

Homeboy then goes on to name a few sites, such as Ben's Bargains, and Fat Wallet that spiffly provide us poor uber-geek types with rebates, coupon codes, and such that are actually, *gasp* designed to save you money.  I know, I didn't believe it either.  But apparently it's true.

 

I suggest that you go there.

 

I also suggest that you not click this link.  Then, definitely don't click the "#" sign.  Lastly, don't click the words "squeee" or "famina".  Assuming that you *ahem* don't do any of those things, can you then tell me what that heck that is?!

 

Thanks to these guys.  Try 'em and I'll bet that you like 'em, kinda like bacon.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Armaggedon It

Sorry about that title, but I won't change it, and you can't make me.  Don't you know that I have no shame?

 

Haven't posted one of these in a while.

 

For your perusal:

 

Mass Detruction - The Photoshop Contest.

 

Via The Directory of Wonderful Things.

We Are Google. Join Us.

The Masters have struck again.

Instant messaging, a type of communication long dominated by chatty teens, has become the latest front in an escalating war among big Internet companies competing to make themselves indispensable to mainstream audiences.

Google Inc. plans to enter the fray today by launching Google Talk, its own version of a service that allows registered users to send instant messages or talk over the Web to other users.

The new test program will compete with more established services offered by America Online Inc., Microsoft Corp., Yahoo Inc. (Nasdaq: YHOO - news) and Skype Technologies SA.

Via Yahoo.  Hm.  Wonder how much longer I'll be linking to those guys.

 

Considering my previous posts on Google (here's another ) and the sheer beauty of Gmail, how freakin' long do you think it will take before I download that bad boy?

 

 

 

 

 

40 Years Old, Never Been Kissed

This weekend, I saw The 40 Year Old Virgin, a movie that I had no desire to see whatsoever.  I saw the commericals, featuring Steve Carell , and although I have previously enjoyed his work in the NBC show The Office, I figured, "Ah, I'm done with movies this year, dammit.  I'd rather stay home and play Starcraft and update my blog."  Yeah, people, I still occasionally play Starcraft.  So what?

Well.

Have I mentioned before that I am a fool?

This movie, also featuring supporting talent from Paul Rudd (think Chasing Amy), Catherine Keener, and a host of other painfully funny people who probably never knew that they were funny, was, quite simply, one of the funniest movies that I have seen in probably, oh, ten years.

Single men will like this movie.
Single women will like this movie.
Recently married men and women will like this movie.
Teenagers will like this movie too, 'cause there's a lot of cussin' in it.
Even parents that have been together for a while will like it, because it depicts a stunningly realistic portrayal of what modern single life can be like.  Many times I laughed out loud.  The writers were dead on in this flick.  I must have met them downtown, just before I hit on that girl in the high heels but after my buddies had bought a round in 1998 or therebouts.

Do not take your kids to see it.  But go to see it, especially if you fall in any of the above demographics.  It blows just about any comedy that you've seen since the eighties away.  Hollywood, watch and learn.  Make more movies like this.

Only One Reason Why Craigslist Is Awesome

Heh heh heh heh heh.

Single Blue Bike seeks somone to ride her into the sunset. I'm Debbie Schwinn , in my late 40's, and newly divorced. From a g-d-bastard.

For those of you not familiar with the List, go check them out.  Seriously.  To explain, these are free classified ads, personals, and etc. that exist for just about every major city an internet geek like myself can think of.  Well, scratch that.  I didn't see Perth on the list.

Definitely take a look at the Best of Craiglist.  Real life humanity at it's best and worst.  That stuff has me rollin'.

Intelligent Falling

Posted without comment.  Nope, no jokes.  It's just too damn easy.

Well, okay.  Here's one.  Okay.  Two.  Sorry, folks, park's closed.  The moose out front shoulda told ya.

The Top Five Albums In Hell

1.  Color Me Badd - The Best of Color Me Badd. 

2.  Milli Vanilli - Girl You Know It's True

3.  Britney Spears - Anything from her catalouge.  For God's sake, when will her 15 minutes be up?!

4.  Glass Tiger - Best of Glass Tiger

5.  Celine Dion - Take your pick.

 

Don't know why I had to say that.  I just had to.

What the *bleep!*

Ok.  So another teacher got busted for having an affair with her 13 year old student.

 

This in itself is not too surprising.  Try searching in Fark to find that out.

 

What is surprising is HOW SHE LOOKS.  Check out this post that I found through one of my fans (shouts out to Tbone).  By the way, I will be linking to jaxed in my blogroll.

 

All I gotta say is this:

Where the heck were those teachers when *I* was in school?!

 

Man.

 

Wow.

You should see what I just *didn't* post.  Man.  My head is spinning.