One Sad Pup

Fuck it

2011-02-19T01:34:00.000-05:00

This pup ...

will always be alone
Will never be worthy of anyone's love
will never get married
...should just be done with it all.

Oh the drama people insist on imposing. Roflmao X-D

2010-02-04T22:38:00.006-05:00

Oh the drama MC. :-p
I'm getting used to it, though I'm not sure how patient I can be about your place.
The local wild life is not something I care to hang around. And I'm not so sure I can be patient waiting for you kick out that critter either.
And it may be underwater, but at some point ya just have to learn to walk away.

Speaking of walking away. It's been about half a month since I found out the 'big news'. Funny that even though I was happy to hear it(really!), and even said/commented so, that the wall is now blocked.
Apparently wishing someone well isn't appreciated.
Or is it that pettiness still runs deep?
Maybe jealousy? The competitive streak was always an issue for you.
Probably just immaturity considering that's how it was ended. (Just one call, then no communication whatsoever.)

Meh. I really don't care. I honestly have no hard feelings, that part was probably the best thing that could have happened to me. Before it happened I never realized what an anchor the relationship was to my success or happiness.
I just thought it was funny seeing as you've extolled how you've moved on and thrown away the key, yet you still feel the need to keep pushing. lol
So much for remaining friends. :-p

But as it stands my rule I learned from the relationship is that one-way friendships are not worth my time.
Neither on Facebook nor otherwise.

Yarf! *Chews on rawhide*

Good quote. People with blind faith should pay attention here...

2008-09-26T14:05:00.004-04:00

"If you would be a real seeker after truth, it is necessary that at least once in your life you doubt, as far as possible, all things."
- Rene Descartes

Article(s):

[The Quotations Page] Rene Descartes

Yarf! *Chews on rawhide*

Surprised they also use 'loonies'?

2008-05-14T14:15:00.005-04:00

FTA: "Walsh is not doing well today, nine years after she was fired. She worked at various jobs after her dismissal, but is now on disability and has a brain tumour. It's not malignant, but it still must be removed, Guiste said. "She's just been in very poor health — for a toonie," he said."

"She's just been in very poor health — for a toonie,"
NOTE TO GUSTE:
Being fired DID NOT cause her brain tumor. PERIOD.
Cancer is caused by the right combination of random gene mutations.
Being Fired from a crappy job will not cause gene mutations.

Additionally, apparently that Tim Horton's supplies police with free coffee.
Now that may not be against the law, but it DEFINITELY creates a conflict of interest.
Especially since the arresting officer admitted to accepting free coffee.
Now who's to say that his acceptance of this gift didn't effect his judgment or his perception of the case at hand when arresting the lady?

Come on, common sense people.
Use it!

Article(s):

CBCNews.ca: Appeal Court to hear case of woman fired from Tim Hortons in toonie tussle

Yarf! *Chews on rawhide*

FYI, in Latin "Volvo" means "I roll".

2008-05-02T18:01:00.003-04:00

I call bullshit on this "promise"...

Volvo Promises An Injury-Proof Car by 2020

Since normally you'd want to avoid rolling your car or truck, I tend to avoid a vehicle brands that advertise that in their NAME of all things.

But that aside, lets see what's wrong with this promise by Volvo...

"Injury-Proof" - It takes VERY LITTLE to constitute an injury, and humans are squishy and easy to damage. During collisions, things break and glass often flies about the cabin. Expose any of that to the soft sensitive areas on a person and you've got an injury. (Safety glass + eye = eye injury.)
So unless this car will not be transporting humans AT ALL, it'll NEVER be injury PROOF.
"[Volvo] car by 2020" - Giving the benefit of the doubt on the "injury-proof" part, is anyone even going to even be driving cars come 2020? Let alone Volvo cars?
With gas prices going through the roof, and Volvo not being known for their fuel-efficiency/hybrid/alternate-fuel vehicles, I'd be SURPRISED (at least with the market outlook NOW) if Volvo vehicles don't go the way of the Edsel or Dalorean by 2020.

Article(s):

[WIRED Blog Network] Volvo Promises An Injury-Proof Car by 2020

ARFARF! *Chases car down street*

Puppy Vs. Robot!

2008-01-27T13:22:00.001-05:00

Yarf! *Chews on rawhide*

Blind faith = RETARDED.

2007-11-18T01:40:00.001-05:00

I think is sad that people who claim to be religious and so full of faith, themselves have so little faith in each other and mankind in general that they'll credit a mythical deity for anything & everything good that happens in life.

Like this PostSecret emailer...

It's SCIENTISTS & ENGINEERS that are the ones who give us the tools to take care of ourselves. Or in the specific case of that PostSecret submitter, the biochemists, doctors and physicians.

And if I were to submit a secret like that, I would be quite irked if such a thickheaded response were posted in response.

Stupid people like that need to start having more faith in mankind and it's true professionals, instead of some fallible religion.
I mean, go ahead and spend your spare time however you please, but seriously. Give credit where credit is due. (And in cases such as the above, it's not due to an omnipresent omnipotent entity.)

Articles:

[PostSecret]

Hilarious

2007-10-12T08:45:00.001-04:00

Articles:

OhGizmo.com Fake UFO Terrorizes The Public

Yarf! *Chews on rawhide*

WTF OMFG ASS-HAT BUSH SHENANIGANS!

2007-06-20T17:10:00.000-04:00

Bush is nothing more than a goddamn ignorant sorry excuse for a sapien.
Yes sapien. Even the chimps think he's dumber than the feces that they fling about.

"Destroying human life in the hopes of saving human life is not ethical, and it is not the only option before us,"

DESTROYING HUMAN LIFE IS NOT THE TOPIC OF DISCUSSION HERE.
STEM CELL RESEARCH IS NOT ABOUT DESTROYING LIVES! It's not even about destroying ONE life. It's about SAVING MILLIONS of lives.

Anyone who says that stem cell research is wrong or evil is just plain ignorant, and doesn't know what the hell they are talking about.

In fact the EXACT SAME research that he has just vetoed funding for could help find OTHER methods of cultivating stem cells other than fetal stem cells.
He just vetoed the research funding that could help scientists cultivate BONE MARROW stem cell lines, or blood cell stem cell lines, or PLACENTAL OR UMBILICAL CORD stem cells! Use of THOSE items isn't debated by the ignorant religious 'lifers' as being 'murder', but DUMB-ASS-DUBYA just vetoed those.

He hasn't changed since his C- college years. If he would ACTUALLY READ, study the issues before him more and at least ATTEMPT to use his brain he'd see what a FUCKING MORON he's being.

Going on his same logic of banning all stem cell research because SOME stem cells can be obtained from discarded blastocysts, would mean that we should BAN all things political because of how bad he fucked up as a president (even those he's only ONE president).
Or we should ban all cars and automotive research because someone ran down a cat with a SUV.
Or we should stop all flying, no matter the reason, because of 9/11.

God damn it, Bush you son of a bitch!
Rest your born-again bible-thumping ego and THINK WITH YOUR BRAIN for once Bush.

Where's a Darwin or a J.W. Boothe when you need one?
Jesus!

Articles:

[CNN.com] Bush vetoes bill aimed at promoting stem cell research

GAH! *Nearly shits a brick*

Hypocrites and double-standards.

2007-05-04T11:14:00.000-04:00

It's people like Charles Bebee who annoy me off and more & more convince me that Libertarian-ism is the way to go.
That individual freedoms should be held in higher regard than any laws that are placed to protect any single 'group of people'.

If you're no up to the challenge of reading the wnbc article, basically Bebee is an MADD (Mothers Against Drunk Driving) "Top Cop" award winner who was just recently (as of 2007-05-02) charged with DUI (driving under the influence).
Honestly no one should really be surprised by this article. There are plenty of officers out there who take their legal responsibility lightly and more often than not tend to break those same laws they are employed to uphold and protect.

Personally I see this article as more of an example of the judgment of organizations such as MADD.
While their intentions may initially be good, it seems more and more now-a-days that MADD and other orgs only exist to push their social, moral and political agenda on the rest of the world.
This is especially apparent when the MEMBERS of such organizations don't live up to the guidelines that they strictly expect the rest of us to live by.
Be it the Catholic church with their pushing of death penalty, right-to-life, and anti-evolution politics, while protecting their own pedophile statutory raping priests.
Or Peta funding fire-bombing terrorists, and looking down upon any non-vegan person in society that uses any products which may contain animal byproducts, while their own higher-up members such as Senior Vice President MaryBeth Sweetland use insulin (which is produced by genetically engineering animals to produce this poly-peptide hormone).
Or even Republicans who push anti-abortion laws and condemn other pro-choice advocates and then go on to defend their or their family member's use of such services. Additionally Republicans who claim a reverence for ALL forms of life when touting their pro-choice agenda, but then show a lack of respect for MATURED life by supporting death penalties and war efforts in which none of their loved ones are involved.
These "You must live this way, while I don't have to" mindsets appear in many organizations today, and frankly disgust me.

Even those pro-double-standard individuals who say "This group can speak/joke about this topic, while that group can't", annoy me to no end.
Such as the "cracker/n-word" debate, the "Islamic anti-Mohammad-images activists vs Free Speech Political-commentary Comics" etc.

Why do people get so upset and fixated on the words/images themselves when they should be in fact considering the CONTEXT in which it was used.
It's not the Gun used in the murder that is the source of the evil, it's the Hatred & intolerance of the Murderer that is the true source.

While the world may not be black and white, but in fact contains full gradients, no one should wholeheartedly expect of others what they aren't willing or capable of living up to themselves.
Doing or expecting so is probably one of the GREATEST EVILS in the world today.
I can only hope that anyone who takes the time to read my blog-rants, uses them as as much of a source of introspective self-betterment as I do in their creation.

Don't press your personal agenda on others, but first and foremost PERMANENTLY apply it to yourself. Basically, Stop being such hypocritical dicks, people.
That's the way to make the world a better place, not by passing MORE and MORE liberty restrictive laws, that will only need to be repealed later on as opinions and views change and evolve with society.

Gah!

Articles:

[wnbc.com] MADD Award Winner Charged With DUI

Mrfff! *Takes a nap*

War on Idiocy

2007-05-02T12:48:00.000-04:00

F'n Bush.
What a complete enemy to the American people.
Seriously, this guy NEEDS to be impeached. If not for the good of the American people then for his own good.

His own people get indited for illegal wiretapping, everyone explains why it is a VERY BAD thing, but now he's trying to make it LEGAL.

GW should sit his boy down on his knee and read the constitution to him.
Or maybe congress should put on a puppet-show for Dubya.
maybe then he'll understand that the American people have rights given provided to them by the constitution that we're not going to allow him to subvert.
He's already trying to continue subverting the will of the American people by Veto-ing any bill that presents a plan for exit from the life/money-pit that is Iraq.

F'in A!
One president gets impeached for questionable morals in regards to his OWN personal life, but what's it going to take to impeach this bastard and his questionable morals in regards to the lives of American troops?!?!

Articles:

[NYTimes.com] Spying on Americans

RErrrr! *Strains to pop out a 2 ton brick*

What a corrupt and bull-headed administration.

2007-04-26T10:51:00.000-04:00

"Those matters are covered by executive privilege," said State Department spokesman Sean McCormack"

Has Mr McCormack never heard of checks and balances?
Last I checked, the US government was democratic, not a dictatorship. And giving ANYONE carte blanche to do whatever he/she pleases under the the protection of an umbrella "executive privilege" would basically be giving the president power to make his administration just that, a dictatorship. Those in power MUST be able to be questioned and held accountable for their actions.

"There is a difference between oversight and over-reaching," said White House spokeswoman Dana Perino."

If I were given the opportunity to respond directly to Perino's comment, I'd ask him why he considers investigations into a government deception that led to the eventual death of thousands of US troops, and a wasting of millions (if not billions) of US tax-payer's dollars as "over-reaching"

"Bush has vowed to oppose any attempt to compel sworn congressional testimony from White House aides in the investigation of the ousted prosecutors."

Of all the administrations I've seen occupy the white house (which I'll be the first to admit, is limited) Bush's has done the most and their best to seriously FUBAR the state of current affairs, and the United State's national image.

How can we trust an administration to rebuild in a timely fashion an entire nation that's going through a religious civil-war on the other side of the world, when that same administration can't even protect, aid or adequately assist, it's own people living here INSIDE the United States, in recovery from Hurricane Katrina or the 9/11 disaster!?!

For peat's sake! The twin towers site is still just a crater, SIX years later. And that was just TWO buildings that needed to be rebuilt, not an entire nation.
And Bush wants to stay in the Middle East longer, expecting that MORE troops will change the views and mindsets of a people who have been bickering and waring amongst themselves for centuries.
I'm sorry Mr. Bush, but pulling out of Iraq IS NOT going to endanger the American People, but causing entire nations of militant peoples to despise our country MAY JUST encourage them to take up arms against us.
You don't secure your home by walking up to and smacking the face of EVERY SINGLE person ANYWHERE that you think MAY at sometime consider breaking in. You secure your home by SECURING YOUR HOME, not by making sure no one WANTS to get in.

F'in idiot Bush is just trying to hide his mistakes and protect anyone who could embarrass him in order to maintain HIS status quo so that the next administration has to clean up his bloody mess.

Articles:

[Reuters] House committee subpoenas Rice on Iraq

[ABC News] Bush Vows to Veto Troop Withdrawal Plan

Thompson

2007-04-18T09:15:00.000-04:00

Thomp·son Pronunciation[thomp-son, thomp-]
–Proper noun
1. Thompson, Jack - American attorney, activist, self proclaimed Christian conservative and Republican.
–noun
2. Thompson - synonym for Ass. (As in Jack Ass[Thompson]).
3. Worlds biggest ass-hat & attempted morality rapist.

Just a little humor to set the mood.
So I was just doing a little reading on wiki today about a guy who's name I had noticed in the news over the past few years. I never really knew much about the guy but after reading his wiki page, I come to see that he's quite the jackass.
He's on a self initiated crusade against the entertainment industry, video games in particular, trying to hoodwink the courts into laying all the blame for some people's illegal activities on video games.
In 2003 he filed suit on behalf of the victims of two teenage stepbrothers who had pled guilty to reckless homicide, endangerment, and assault. He implyed that the game creators,console manufacturer, and retail stores were responsible since they should have informed the boys that "the game would cause copycat violence.".
WOULD cause copycat violence. ... let that sink in.
Bullshit detectors going off? Thought so.

Want more of his ass-hattery?
Apparently in Oct '06 he got his panties in a bunch about mortal combat (yet again), but this time sent the manufacturer (Midway games) a cease-and-decist letter demanding they stop producing the game, because the company was illegally profiting on his likeness... because it has a character customizing utility that allows users to create their own character, which let anyone create a character that looked like him.
WTF! Jack, sue Pentel and Bicc! Do it now! They are profiting from your lickness by manufacturing pencils and pens that allow anyone to create your likeness on paper!!! OMFG!1!!!a lsdkfjalksdf sue now.

Articles:

[Wikipedia] Jack Thompson (attorney) [23:29, 17 April 2007]

Yarf! *Chews on rawhide*

Strange

2007-02-09T09:37:00.000-05:00

How did the phrase "Crystal Clear" catch on?
I mean VERY FEW crystals are actually clear. Most have impurities that make them colored, or hazy. Like Amethyst, it's purple. Rose Quartz is pink. Sure the Crystal your grandma probably had in her cupboard is quite clear, but that's not really crystal, it's shaped, molded or cut glass. Sugar & salt aren't very clear either. And most diamonds are actually a shade of yellow. In fact, the diamonds that are the LEAST yellow and have the most clarity are the rarest, so are the most expensive.
And don't even get me started on Cristal... that poser.

Articles:

[Wikipedia.org] Crystal

Yarf! *Tilts head*

"Nice Treatment"

2007-01-24T11:11:00.000-05:00

[01-25-2007]
I got a spam email today with the subject:
"Your penis deserves nice treatment."

I have to say, it's nice to see that spammers are looking out for my penis. o_O

[01-26-2007]
I've never been so amused by spam email before.
Today's spam of choice had the subject "Mesmo Panda no best of SEXY!"
Now I don't want to offend any pandas reading this, but this "panda"'s name is DEFINITELY not "Mesmo".
And that makes me a SAAAD Panda! :-p

Yarf! *Tilts head, but is slightly depressed*

Mmmmm Tasty

2007-01-15T09:51:00.000-05:00

So I (like everyone else) hear from the Apple keynote, that they will be releasing a cell phone entitled the Apple iPhone.
The very next day I find out that my contract with Cingular will be up in April, at which point I will be eligible for a phone upgrade.

So I'm seriously thinking about getting the iPhone.
My only beef with the phone is that it only comes in 4GB & 8GB capacities.
I don't really have THAT much problem with the price.
I mean yes, $500 & $600 is quite pricey for a cell phone, but considering that I've been in the market for a while now for an iPod, a digital camera (better than my RAZR's VGA camera), then I think I can adequately justify the cost.
I just hope that Apple surprises everyone with a 40GB,60GB,80GB or larger version upon it's release. That would be the smart move by apple. Especially with the built-in accelerometer. They could EASILY include the larger drive with a safety "head parking" feature similar to what they use in their MacBooks to protect the hard drive from damage in the event of sudden movement.
The only thing I can see that would stop them would be that putting a spinning hard drive up to your head would likely result in you hearing a wirr or whine while talking to someone on the phone. Although the simple solution to that would be to park the head during calls.

One question I have that I'm going to need to look into before purchase would be how users are able to access the keypad during calls.
I'm sure Apple has already considered this problem (at least I hope so). If users can't access the keypad during calls, it would make the phone pretty much useless with any of the menu systems used today by automated answering systems.

Also I'd want to see the quality of the 2.0MP camera that is integrated into the phone.

Another thing I'd want to know is if the phone's Bluetooth can connect to other miscellaneous Bluetooth peripherals. I have a Socket Bluetooth GPS receiver that would be quite useful if I could use it in combination with the iPhone's wifi & Google Maps.

And how will the iPhone handle SIM cards. Cingular LOVES to use SIM cards, especially with it's smart phones. Apple though, loves seamless products, so I don't know how users are going to be able to insert a SIM card into the iPhone.

Ahh well.
Time will tell.

FYI, None of my questions were definitively answered in the NYTimes 'Ultimate iPhone FAQ' (1 or 2). (But another reason to drool, would be that they mention a FM radio in the FAQ2. :-D )

Articles:

[New York Times] The Ultimate iPhone FAQ

[New York Times] The Ultimate iPhone FAQ, Part 2

[NEWS PROVIDER]

[Wikipedia] Apple iPhone

Yarf! *Chews on rawhide*

"Affirmative Action" or "The road to hell is paved with good intentions."

2006-12-21T14:03:00.000-05:00

So I was just listening to NPR during lunch, and there was a report that the NAACP and ACLU were petitioning the (Michigan?) supreme court to allow affirmative action to be allowed in Michigan Colleges and University admissions.
I say that is BULLSHIT, and for many reasons.

1. Prop2 was Passed by a majority vote by Michigan voters.
2. There is a REASON we vote. Just because you may not like an amendment that passes doesn't mean you can force the laws how you like by using the courts. If the courts can overturn any voting outcome that someone dosen't like, then that'll mean that votes truly have no meaning. That anyone pushy enough to meddle with the laws via courts could alter the books to their liking.
3. The ACLU shouldn't even be against Prop2, since preferential treatment based on someone's race, NOT A CIVIL LIBERTY.
4. One of the arguments of the ACLU rep who was interviewed for the report was that students in educational institutions will gain from an (unnaturally) diverse student enrollment, which will result in better test scores.
BULLSHIT.

I graduated from a Michigan public university, and I'll testify right now that how well I did and how well I understood the material depended SOLELY on how much I applied myself and studied, and had NOTHING to do with diversity.
(FYI, I was in the minority as a showering social male in the Computer Science curriculum. The majority of other CS student's were unkempt, smelly guys or Asian/Indian, or a combination thereof.)

The race of the other students have NO bearing on how well I understood the material, or how well I did on tests & quizzes.
People have shown TIME and TIME AGAIN that how well someone can do in school does NOT depend on their RACE, so why (in the hell) would SOMEONE ELSE'S race effect how well someone does?!
It dosen't.

Having a diverse classroom isn't going to make it any easier for "little Johnny" to learn calculus. And even if Affirmative Action DID cause test scores to rise due to diversity, that alone should be a reason for the ACLU to oppose it. No one should be happy they are 'given a free ride' because of who else was in their class, or who they sat next to. That would mean that each student's scores and grades were artificially inflated by the 'diversity' of the classroom or student populous. Would you feel confident going into the workplace knowing that the only reason you may have passed was because of how many minority students were attending when you were enrolled?
Besides that, some majors are just naturally biased. Statistically speaking, males are MUCH more likely to enroll in Computer Science courses than females. So naturally, the majority of CS students are going to be male. Should the ACLU force CS departments to have a 50% female enrollment? Unfortunately there aren't an unlimited number of seats that are available so if the ACLU were to force departments to wait for enough females to enroll for a full count, then there would be huge number of male students that would be turned away.

It's possible that having a diverse student body would decrease the likelihood that bigoted or prejudicial ideas would be voiced on campus, but it DEFINITELY dosen't help student's learn.

The big problem I have with affirmative action is that it DOES give preferential treatment to minorities. It EXPLICITLY does this. Which is biased, and steps all over non-minorities' civil liberties. This means that the majority of the time, Affirmative Action is DOING exactly what it was put there to prevent. Prejudicial preferential treatment.

In Closing, I'll recap:
ALL DISCRIMINATION based on race, religion, gender etc is MORALLY WRONG.
Affirmative Action (aka "positive discrimination") is MORALLY WRONG.
The NAACP ("National Association for the Advancement of Colored People") is a PRO-prejudicial & PRO-discriminatory organization.

and finally...

How well students do in college depends on how much THAT student applies himself/herself, and had NOTHING to to with whoever else is enrolled at the time (let alone their race).

Articles:

[NPR] (I'll find it online sometime soon.)

Grrr! *Pisses on NAACP and the ACLU's pushy, meddling, prejudicial rep's shoes.*

Rut Roh!

2006-12-07T00:57:00.000-05:00

In keeping with the title of this blog,
I submit for your entertainment/pity...

One__________Sad__________Pup

Articles:

[Disjointed.org] fifty animals in casts

Whimper... :'-( *Ear droops*

A VERY Cynical Post

2006-12-04T15:39:00.000-05:00

(One) Definition for the "Cynic":

someone who is critical of the motives of others.

I was reminded of this while I got lunch today.
TB was nice enough to not print their "survey" on the back of the receipt. Instead they made the extra effort to print it on a separate piece of paper, and include it stealthily all ninja-like in with my napkins, either as a "SURPRISE! You could be this week's winner to be awarded $1000,... from this uber-cheap-ass fast food establishment, where it'll take a year for our employees to save up $3000 themselves, just for visiting this website or call (888) 731-9645 and take a survey, for which we either explicitly tell you the survey is anonymous or hope you don't notice you aren't given any form of receipt or ref number to claim any prize (and hence hope you don't realize that even IF we WERE to give away ANY money, we'd have no way of locating, let alone determine the identity of the winner). Enjoy your taco!",...

*letting all that sink in for a moment...*

... OR as a nice "Hope you enjoyed the taco, here's a surprise paper-cut while you dab the grease from your mouth."

Maybe it's just the cynic in me talking, but something tells me that no REAL person ever was awarded that prize.

If your bored, you can see this BS for yourself.
If you don't know of a valid TB store number, use 001738.
It's the one for Novi, MI on Grand River.

Fill the survey with whatever info you want (it doesn't matter anyways) and you'll note that at the end of the survey no contact information is collected, nor is a survey reference number given for you to tell if you were a winner.
Additionally, in the Official Sweepstakes Rules, under the Winner Selection section, they state "No one will know who the winner is until after the weekly random selection."
I think by " until after the weekly random selection." they actually mean "". (nothing)
Also, the WayBackMachine's archive of the winner's page is quite interesting.
Apparently Yum decided somewhere down the line that the winner's full last name was WAY too much information to be posting.
Also it seems that Yum decided it had the wrong date logged for all of these "winners", since most of the dates posted change from archive to archive.

Articles:

[Me, Myself & I] This post.

Whimper! *Sits patiently at door, waiting to go outside.*

toothpastefordinner.com

Wait'in on '08...but voting not(R) in the meantime.

2006-11-01T12:32:00.000-05:00

WTF.
Mirroring my previous post's title, Bush's ignorance must be absolute bliss for him, since it's agony for the rest of us. This story about Bush & Kerry annoyed me to no end. Bush is a f'in idiot.

Reading Kerry's comments to the college students, I totally understood his 'botched joke' being target at BUSH, and bush alone. I didn't see it as a comment about the soldiers at all. Bush though, in his infinite idiocy, WOULD be likely to misinterpret his words, and twist it to be a bash against the soldiers.
Personally I don't believe Kerry has anyone to apologize to, but should probably do some damage control and explain that it was intended towards Bush, and not the people in the military.
Bush on the other hand was the one who turned Kerry's joke into soldier-bashing political propaganda.
I think Bush should apologize for voicing remarks on a joke he obviously misinterpreted, and for any suffering he may have caused by his misinterpretation of a joke. The president, with the public spotlight so much on him, should know better than to try to explain the meaning in someone else's speech.
I mean, if he can't correctly interpret clear concise debate questions, then why the hell is does he think he'll be able to correctly interpret secondhand reports of a botched joke.

If ANYTHING good came of Dubya's idiocy in this issue, it was it lit a fire under me to vote anything BUT republican in this mid-term election. I was going to skip this election and not vote (especially since I just moved and would have to deal with driving back to my old town to vote since my registration won't transfer over until AFTER the election), but the Republicans obviously can't control their own party members from making retarded comments, plans, decisions so they NEED to lose control of Congress.

That being said, why can't we get rid of the partisan bullshit that seems prevalent in elections? The world IS NOT black and white, so why do people think politics should just be red and blue? Congressional Reps should make their vote decisions based upon their state’s general consensus on the ISSUE, not what "their party's" stance on the issue is. A state may have elected a republican, or democrat, but that doesn’t mean EVERY decision on EVERY issue will reflect that party’s statnce. Congressmen who vote on important issues, basing their vote ONLY on the party stance, and not the views of their representative state, should be kicked out of their position, since they obviously aren't doing their job (which is to represent the state’s views in which they were elected).

(FYI... I don't support the war, but DO support the troops. But I DEFINITELY don't support the idiot in the white house.)

Articles:

[voanews.com] President Bush and Senator Kerry Spar Over Iraq

Yarf! *Chews on rawhide*

Ignorance MUST be bliss.

2006-10-28T15:32:00.000-04:00

Maybe it's the cynic in me, but I'm not really surprised that there are people that are still THIS STUPID in the world.

Now I'll admit right now that I'm no medical professional.
I DO know people who ARE professionals in one medical field or another.
In fact I have a couple of friends who are full-blown, all-out doctors.
But even without all the medical knowledge, I know enough to know that this sort of procedure has LITTLE to NO medical benefits, and is outright STUPID to be performed or even CONSIDERED as it is in the above (linked) WEBPAGE.

On first glance at the URL, I thought, ok cool. A "Biomedical Engineering Magazine" article. Then I realised it was actually "Body Modification 'Ezine'".
First off, lets get the petty out of the way. It's a WEBPAGE, don't try to be f'in trendy and coin a new phrase "Ezine". Just admit what it actually is, a website. WIRED is a legit magazine, and they have a webpage with most of their mag's content posted, but they aren't so delusional as to try to pass their website off as a Web-Zine, let alone lemming along with all the trendy "alphabeters" ('I'-POD, 'E'-mail, 'X'-treme tortilla chips etc) and call it a "EZine".
... :-8

That aside, and after reading the article, it's exasperating to know that people STILL practice trepanning. WTF.
Aside that these people think it's safe, and safe to let a unlicensed NON-medical NON-professional layman perform this type of medical procedure (using 'procedure' loosely).
And these people think that this is going to "permanently increase one's consciousness". ... yeah... the only way this is increasing ANYONE's consciousness is by the sudden consciousness to what they just did. ...When the person realizes "why the fuck did I let this guy DRILL A HOLE, into my skull!?!"
I mean one small slip and it's a free lobotomy procedure in addition to the trepanning.

Ignorance MUST be bliss for these people.
I mean the guy even outright SAYS that the guy who performed it was NOT a medical professional.
And anyone with half a brain would have noticed the red-flags being thrown up by the guy. At least it would throw up some for me, noticing that the guy's friend put up tarps up EVERYWHERE to protect the room from bio-splatter, but the 'patient' just got a glorified shower-cap, face mask, and a piece of paper to cover his dirty t-shirt.
Nice.
Then again, maybe that was part of the 'patient's goal... To become 'one of those smart people with HALF A BRAIN' so that he can stop himself from doing such stupid shit in the future.

Lets see if I (with my total lack of medical study) can make my own list of risks of this insanity.
Risk of:

Infection (patient)
Infection (person performing it & those witnessing it)
Meningitis
Brain hemorrhaging
Future fear of any and all pencil-like objects
Brain damage / Accidental lobotomy
Blood clots
Increase risk of stroke
Scalpel/facial nerve damage
Epilepsy
Death
Risk of death post-procedure from mere bump to 'spot'
Lawsuit (from the 'patient's friends and/or family
State AND Federal prosecution (for MANY offenses, including performing a medical procedure without a license)

At least the guy admits after the fact that the benefits were not worth the risks.
(So who knows, maybe the guy now has half a brain after all. :-\ )

Don't get me wrong, people have the right to do to their own body what they please. You can pierce, implant, color, enlarge, tattoo, split, cut, slice, remove, lengthen, enhance, or modify till your heart's content, but you won't catch THIS sad pup letting ANYONE near me to perform a procedure that at one point in time could be performed by professional like Roy Underhill or Norm Abram.

Articles:

?! *Tilts head*

Seriously

2006-09-18T11:18:00.000-04:00

Seriously, WTF is wrong with people today? Some Evangelical Christians are just plain stupid.
They're trying to censor parts of a private exhibit on evolution saying they don't want young African Christians from being taught falsehoods.
What one-sided bigoted idiots.

Who are they to say what OTHER PEOPLE'S children are taught?
Exactly who do they think they are? If they get their way, I say a petition should be put together to censor Sunday school classes so young scientists, and/or any youth who want to grow up with a mind of their own, or the ability to think for themselves won't be taught "falsehoods".

So here's a note to all the 'fundies' out there;
Contrary to what you may have been taught, other people CAN think for themselves.
You're no better/wiser than ANYONE else.
Everyone had the right to raise their own children with the morals and beliefs that they deem appropriate.
So stop trying to impose your religious beliefs on others.
There are DOZENS of religions in the world, and the worst atrocities committed throughout history were nearly all done to impose religious beliefs on others.
Seriously people! Stop trying to meddle in other people's lives!
Go worship your (allegedly ascended) human idol or whatnot. Teach your OWN kids what ever you want.
But f'in STOP being so righteous about trying to change aspects of other people's lives!
F'in GET YOUR OWN LIFE! Stop trying to change everyone else’s.

On that note,
Dance monkeys, dance. (Mirror)

Articles:

[WIRED NEWS] Evolution Attack Goes Global

Grr! *Poops in a habit*

Libertarian. Yep that's me.

2006-03-09T10:30:00.000-05:00

The more and more I read about Libertarianism, or the Libertarian political party, the more I find myself agreeing with the party's views, and the views of the DFC.

[From Wikipedia]
"A libertarian is a person who believes in the Non-Coercion Principle and libertarian goals"

I do believe, that I would consider myself a Libertarian.
(Or at least a democratic Libertarian.)

Articles:

Yarf! *Chews on rawhide*

Penn & Teller

2006-02-16T21:07:00.000-05:00

Penn & Teller are two famous comedians/magicians. I have TONS of respect for them now that I've seen a few of their "Bullshit!" Showtime Episodes.
Penn & Teller have brought back a bit of my faith in celebrities having common sense.

Who is my NUMBER ONE annoyance, and pretty much ruined my faith in celebs having any common sense? Who do I credit for me losing pretty much any respect for anything celebrities say?
Not Paris Hilton.
Not even Mis 'is tuna fish,..or chicken?' Jessica Simpson.
Nope, it's the flaming scientologist loony Tom Cruise.
Just listening to him now a days, he sounds like a textbook brainwashing case for scientology.
But that's a subject for another post all together.

Penn & Teller.
Mindful, intelligent guys who make VERY good points on their show "Bullshit!".
Here's an episode for ya, (Brought to you from our good friends at Google Video).
Enjoy!

Articles:

[Google Video] Bullshit!: Profanity

Yarf! *Chews on rawhide*

SHHHHH! It's a SECRET!

2006-02-15T15:54:00.000-05:00

Ok.
Here's something that kinda annoys me...
Why do people insist on calling passwords: "SECRET passwords"

Like seriously...who has a password that ISN'T secret.
That's the point of passwords...to be SECRET.

Also, why do people say "DNS server" when DNS is an acronym for
Domain Name Server. It's like saying Domain Name Server server.

I guess the same could be said for "SCUBA gear". You really only have to say: "I'm putting on my SCUBA, not SCUBA gear.
"Put on your Self-Contained Underwater Breathing Aparatus gear."
It all just sounds funny because it's redundant.
*sigh*

Yet another phrase from the offices of
The office of redundant offices of redundant redundundandancy...offices.

Articles:

[One Sad Pup] SHHHHH! It's a SECRET!

Yarf! *Chews on rawhide*

More RIAA bullshit

2006-02-15T11:02:00.000-05:00

So, the money grubbing companies of the RIAA are again trying to vye for more legal fuel to power their law machine. The same law machine that tries to siphon money out of innocent consumer's pockets. Fucking greed.

This time they are trying to say that AFTER you've BOUGHT your CD, you can't rip it for personal use on your audio device.
Seriously! WTF.
CD player sales are nearly nil in comparison to digital media sales.
How the Fuck are consumers supposed to listen to OUR legally purchased property? HMM?
What's more infuriating is that they testi-fied (testi, because all that can come out of these dick-suckers mouths are the balls of the artists they are employed by, and the politicians they have to do 'favors' for to get THEIR laws enacted), ...
...ahem....they testified last year in front of the SUPREME COURT the following:
"The record companies, my clients, have said, for some time now, and it's been on their website for some time now, that it's perfectly lawful to take a CD that you've purchased, upload it onto your computer, put it onto your iPod."

..yeah.
And now they are taking that back.
So apparently it's ok to lie in court in order to get your way, then later say the EXACT OPPOSITE to screw consumers.

Whatever happened to THE CUSTOMER IS ALWAYS RIGHT?

Again people,
BOYCOTT THE RIAA & THEIR ARTISTS.

Articles:

[Electronic Frontier Foundation] [02-15-2006] RIAA Says Ripping CDs to Your iPod is NOT Fair Use

Sploit! *Makes another personal review of the RIAA and their products*

Boo!

2006-01-30T12:53:00.000-05:00

This is too cute.
I know this isn't news, but I thought I'd share.
This is "Boo" he's a character in the online web-comic "Megatokyo".
The site has had a great following and so has had a online store (MegaGear) up for a while now.

This "Boo Plushie" is one of their new additions, and I really like it.

Hidden birthday present hint! Hint, Hint! ^_^

(Note the strap-on wings. Nice attention to detail.)

If you are confused, the "Boo" is a conscience sidekick character to "Seraphim". Seraphim is the main MegaTokyo character (Piro's) conscience incarnate.
It was in MegaTokyo comic #79 in which Boo made his first appearance. (#79 will also humorously explain the strap-on wings. ...well, kinda.)

Articles/Links:

Yarf! *Chews on rawhide*

Well No Kidding.

2006-01-26T13:10:00.000-05:00

Bush is reported by CNN as commenting on the legality of the NSA's surveillance by saying, "There's no doubt in my mind it is legal."

(Ok...I know that just sounded like the beginning of a middle school rumor; "My friend's sister's cousin's co-worker's daughter heard from a classmate that..." :-p :-/ )

Anyways,
Is anyone really surprised that this is Bush's response?
If he said otherwise, he'd immediately be a hypocrite.
(Although I’m surprised he was smart enough to realize it.)

Yet another story that falls in my "Duh" category.

Articles:

[CNN.com] Bush: 'No doubt' NSA surveillance is legal

Yarf! *Chews on rawhide*

Bin Ladin: "Truce, please."

2006-01-19T12:08:00.000-05:00

A Bloomberg article reports that Osamma Bin Ladin is requesting a 'long term truce' between al-Qaeda and the US.

ehh, too little info at this point to comment.

Articles:

[Bloomberg] Bin Laden Offers U.S. `Truce' Linked to Iraq, According to Tape

Yarf! *Chews on rawhide*

330mpg car! Well, kinda car....kinda fish.

2006-01-19T10:30:00.000-05:00

It's no mini cooper,
but I'd get one.

Under $20,000 ~330mpg, 2 seater coup, diesel engine (meaning probably compatible with bio-diesel).
Yeah, definately worth it.

Articles:

[ACCELERATED | COMPOSITES]: Aptera
Aptera Specs

Yarf! *Chews on rawhide*

The Fundies - Reloaded

2006-01-18T09:49:00.000-05:00

They just won't give up, will they?
This just goes to show that putting all you belief in religious based ideas, is a dead-end for you mind, and will not open you up to new ideas and cultures.
The creationist ‘fundies’ (fundamentalists) tried altering their creationist idea, and re-branding it "Intelligent Design". Then they tried to hoist it on taxpayer-funded schools. It didn't work.

So, so now they AGAIN re-branded it and tried again in another state.
Failed AGAIN.
Creationism = "Intelligent Design" = "Philosophy of Design."
Religion != Science and does not belong in public schools.

What part of "Separation of church and state" DON'T they understand?!

Man…*sigh*
These religious fanatics sure are putting the MENTAL in fundamentalists!

Articles:

Yawn! *Bored of this*

Dumb

2006-01-06T12:00:00.000-05:00

Dumb people should not be given power.
Or at least the should be REQUIRED to consult a knowledgeable person before ruining other people's lives with their stupidity, or face WORSE charges than those they attempt to pass.

When I say "dumb" I'm referring to whatever uneducated school administrator filed the charges on behalf of the school. Just because the student LINKS to their system, doesn’t mean HE should be held responsible for the insecurities of their system or it's instability. Whoever set it up should be reviewed and/or canned.
Not the student.

Ignorance is NO excuse for stupidity, especially for the people working in A SCHOOL.
Laziness is no excuse for ignorance.

I
HATE
DUMB
PEOPLE.

Articles:

[WKYC] Student accused of trying to crash school's computer system

Yarf! *Chews on rawhide*

Zen Style. Nice.

2006-01-03T15:54:00.000-05:00

A new watch.
A new STYLISH watch.
Want it.
Mmmm Tasty.

Articles:

[Nooka]: Zen-H

Yarf! *Chews on rawhide*

Bitch-Slap to I.D. & Common Sense rolling in the points.

2005-12-20T11:51:00.000-05:00

Here's two separate thoughts I had today while following the ID story reported on NPR.
(Sorry, I can't link to the 'to be decided' NPR story that was posted because NPR used the same url for the 'barred' story.)

[Post BEFORE the decision]
Intelligent Design is a (Christian) RELIGIOUS belief. So just considering THAT fact, it can no more be taught in schools, than schools can make kids pray.
If you were a Jewish, Hindu, Muslim etc parent, would you want your kids spoon-fed a CHRISTIAN belief in school?
Nope.
I'm not Jewish, Hindu, Muslim etc, but I still believe they have rights, and saying that ID should be taught in public schools is not only tarnishing Science (And will confuse kids as to what SCIENCE is), but it would be an establishment of a religion.
So that said, it really doesn’t matter what the court's decision is, because if they screw it up this time, ID will be removed from the classroom in the future.
But IMHO, they should get it right, NOW and kick I.D. out of public schools and put the arrogant Christian fundies in their place (which is not in public school classrooms).

[Post AFTER the decision.]
KICK ASS!
+1 for Common Sense.
I'm quite happy about the decision. :-)

And good for Pennsylvania! They fired/barred the school board members who lied to get ID into the classroom.
Good job! Yet another +1 for Common Sense.

[Post LONG AFTER the decision. (12-07-2006,1:16am)]
A great video on the subject:
"Ken Miller presentation debunking the Intelligent Design movement. This is after he testified in court hearings to keep ID out of the school system. January 3, 2006."

After watching this video in it's entirety, Ken Miller is now my hero. :-p

Article(s):

[NPR] 'Intelligent Design' Barred from Dover, Pa. Schools

[Wikipedia.org]: Ken Miller

Yarf! *Pants happily.* :-3

Ever seen a bush chasing it's own tail?

2005-12-19T14:02:00.000-05:00

NPR is reporting on Bush defending his "anti-terror" tactics HERE.

My favorite part of the article is this quote:
"The president said he would continue the program "for so long as the nation faces the continuing threat of an enemy that wants to kill American citizens," and added it included safeguards to protect civil liberties."

My opinion of what Bush says?
Well... It's that currently the greatest "enemy that wants to kill American citizens" is George W. Bush himself.

Yes, I said enemy. I consider anyone who: starts a war on the basis of lies, blatantly misleads the public, and sends citizens to their deaths with a blatant disregard for their lives as an ENEMY to the American people.

So folks, it looks like we're screwed. As long as he's in office he'll continue to waste our tax-dollars sending our American troops to their possible deaths in Iraq.

Articles:

[NPR] Bush Defends Anti-Terror Tactics in Press Session

Rerrm? *Tilts head at Bush chasing his own tail*

A Hepful Hand

2005-12-19T09:50:00.000-05:00

Want to watch a good video?
Check this out.
It's a poignant, social commentary about the bible. (Albeit by Pen & Teller)
Funny thing is, after watching that 29minutes video, I actually want to ACTULLY read the bible. Cover to cover like they say.

Articles:

[video.google.com] ”a hepful hand”

Yarf! *Chews on rawhide*

Kick the boorish dimwit out of the House!

2005-12-16T11:31:00.000-05:00

Ok.
I've had enough of Bush now.
He swore an oath to protect & uphold the constitution, and he only shows blatant disrespect for it.
If a vote goes around to impeach Bush, I'm 100% behind it.

Articles:

[capitolhillblue.com] Bush on the Constitution: 'It's just a goddamned piece of paper'

Grrr! *pissed*

Another "WTF" Entry

2005-12-15T13:22:00.000-05:00

*Slaps forehead*
Why are we paying tax dollars for this?
Seriously,...WTF?!

Articles:

[dailypress.com] Rep. Davis wants to protect symbols of Christmas

*silence* *Sigh*

Great Taste! Less Filling!

2005-12-13T09:34:00.000-05:00

Me Likey!

Mmmmmmmm

Oh so tasty.... :-p :-)

Articles:

[mobilityguru.com] Goodbye Sony VAIO T, Hello VAIO TX

Yarf! *Chews on rawhide*

RIAA: Still slimy, & still suing

2005-12-02T10:00:00.000-05:00

IMO, The RIAA is one of those cases where it was created out of good intentions, but has become nothing but a false face for recording companies to hide behind while they greedily attempt to force money out of innocent people.

Attacking individuals in a vigilante effort to gain monetary compensation for an ephemeral form of merchandise is just downright SLIMEY.
It also reveals the extent of their greed. The majority of the 'pirated' music out there will die with the technology that it is held on. Most people out there have NO CLUE on how to backup their files, yet alone the understanding that they would need to do it OFTEN to ensure their files are saved. And even this is not enough to ensure that the files are maintained. The majority of backups made by consumers (the target of the RIAA) would be made to writable CDs. And it's been proven that this form of media is not a reliable long-term backup media. Even under IDEAL conditions, after a few years MOST burnable CDs are no longer readable, being the victim of "CD-ROT".
So once a user's computer dies their music is usually dead and gone.
Which just brings to light another of the RIAA's greedy tactics.
They want to charge EVEN MORE for digital copies of their client's music.
I say, if they expect people to PAY for the electronic versions of the music, they should be REQUIRED to compensate the consumer by distributing a HARD-COPY of the music with every album purchased electronically. If the consumer is going to be paying REAL money for a electronic copy that has digital protection and will not last as long as the physical version, then the consumer should be entitled to a manufactured cd version as well. It costs NOTHING for music companies to make another copy of their electronic file, then slap some digital protection on it and charge REAL money for it. It's PURE PROFIT for them.
So why shouldn't they be required to send a HARD-COPY to the consumers who purchase the electronic versions of the music?

The argument has ALSO been made that the consumers are paying for the CONVIENENCE of using the internet to download the electric versions.
Well if this is so, then the money paid is going for the convenience, not for the content, and that would mean that the RIAA considers the CONVIENENCE worth the price, and not the music. Which means the RIAA would have NO stance for suing people who trade said 'worthless' content.

Basically it's plain old GREED that causes these lawsuits on individuals.
And I CAN'T WAIT to see the RIAA lose on the grounds that there is NO WAY they can prove without a REASONABLE DOUBT that someone else didn't use the lady in the linked article to download the SIX SONGS.

Six songs is NEVER worth THOUSANDS of dollars. I'd fight it too.
The RIAA can't prove that any profit was lost from their company for one individual downloading a mere SIX songs.

This lawsuit is 100% GREEDY RIAA dog-shit.
It's shit like this that strengthens my resolve to NEVER purchase a new CD from a RIAA artist again.
I'll buy USED CDs and support my local economy, but will NEVER buy a NEW CD again.

Hmm...
It's totally legal to buy and sell USED legally purchased copyrighted material...
I think there's an untapped market out there for a online retailer to resell USED copies of legally purchased electronic content as long as it's original and not copied, but MOVED from the seller to the buyer.
Meaning the retailer has only as many copies available in the 'store' as were bought by the store from a previous user. This would undoubtedly be a way to smack the RIAA in the face in that it would give users a LEGAL option to purchase USED electronic content at a rebated price over ORIGIANL electronic content.
Use their DMC files against them by offering a 'used' electronic file at a discounted price.
Meaning STORE buys purchased content from a user who doesn’t want it anymore at a price of 25% the current market value, then the STORE offers said content file to be purchased by a user at 50% current market value.
If the CMV stays static, the STORE makes a 25% profit on the file.
The original seller should not have any problem with cheaper content being available because if they did their job and implemented a digital copyright correctly, then the content will be marked that it is not original and so will not be as good quality. Such as all copies of the content sold at the STORE would have a the number of copies made maxed out in it’s DMC stamp, so the content would only be playable on a PC, and not downloadable to a device. This non-transferability to a portable device would give users an incentive to purchasing an original version.
Also the content bought & sold from the retailer will be deleted from the server on sale of all inventories so as to maintain the number of copies in circulation, and so would cause NO decrease in the value by flooding the market.

Another bonus for this would be that the consumer would have a means to liquidate their music investments if they decide to replace their PC hardware. It would cause a loss for the consumer in that they paid more for the file than they were selling it for, but such would still be preferable to total loss of purchased music property.

Of course said STORE would not deal in uncopyrighted file types, such as mp3s, wav, mid, etc.
As that could result in a flooding of the store of materials copied by the user. It’d be comparable to a physical reseller store buying ‘personally burned CDs or mix CDs’ from some for sale.

Play-lists though could be a possible content available. User only sees the title of play-list, creator & creation date, and purchases the list for a minimal price. And the user only gains the LIST of songs, but not the songs themselves, so to compile the actual content the user would have to turn to either the used content or the original songs.

Hmmm... An Electronic used content reseller… Interesting concept.
I think I may have a new pet project to add to my project list.

Articles:

[Arstechnica.com] First RIAA lawsuit heads to trial

Grrrr! *Pisses on RIAA*

I saw this one coming a MILE away.

2005-12-01T11:15:00.000-05:00

I won't add this to my live list, but I SOO called this one too.

Wired Magazine is running a story on its site with an interesting side article.
It states that scientist have made it possible for two mice to have genetically related children. Two MALE mice that is.

My freshmen or sophomore year at Tech I soo called this. I said that using cloning techniques, it will eventually be possible to two men to have a child faux-biologically.
I mean the difference between a male and a female is just ONE chromosome. And men carry BOTH the x AND the y.
It's basic biology. Women provide the egg, which provides an x, and the man provides the sperm, which could be either an x or a y. 50/50 chance. Women provide no determiner in the gender of the child. It's all determined by which sperm fertilizes the egg.
Knowing this, I was able to foresee this eventual result.

Now this is not to say that it won't eventually be possible for two WOMEN to have a genetically related child. In fact, I believe it definitely WILL using the SAME process, just coxing the stem cell to become a sperm cell.
This would be MUCH harder though, and could only result in a female child.
That is, unless at least one of the women doesn’t have an obscure genetic gender condition. (I forget the title, but it results in a YXX rather than XX.) In which case the parent wouldn't be 100% female to begin with.

Details & Science aside,
I soo totally called this one. Ha ha. :-p

Articles:

Yarf! *Chews on rawhide*

Bush loves to dick around.

2005-12-01T10:24:00.001-05:00

Bush
Bush is dicking around in Iraq, but lays out a screwed up plan to implement more fuel-efficient vehicles here in the US.
His plan targets 'light trucks' and SUV, which is fine and dandy, but it does nothing for the largest vehicles.

So people will still be driving their hummers and being pricks.
And not only do their hummers waste fuel; they also are a hazard to EVERY OTHER vehicle on the road.
They have Horrible blind spots, slow response times, and will utterly destroy another car if they hit. How are they NOT illegal!?
There's a Hummer dealership half a block from where I work. They have a 'driving course' in their parking lot. It consists of a asphalt track an angled roadway (45 degree), a pile of logs, and a bunch of boulders. WHO THE FUCK encounters BOULDERS and piles of logs on their daily routine?
"Oh sorry Hun, I'm late because I had to scale two BOULDERS and a fallen TREE. Oh! And the Civil Engineers who laid down the highway fucked up. It's now a half-pipe. Yeah, crazy huh? The asphalt, which is normally level, is now nearly VERTICAL."
Yeah...that's likely.

And conservatives LOVE to call anyone who opposes the Iraq war as "unpatriotic".
Whatever.
How is sending Americans to their death in another country "Patriotic"?
Especially since when we DO get out of there, they will most likely have even MORE of a grudge against us than they did before.
How is THAT fighting terrorism?!?
Huh bush?
Explain that.

Articles:

None

GRRRR! *Starts to foam at mouth*

Mmmmm

2005-11-30T15:00:00.000-05:00

If you ever want to make me happy, take me out to Buffalo Wild Wings.
I'm a BIG fan.

Especially of their Caribbean Jerk sauce. Mmmmm. :-)

Favorites there:
Popcorn Shrinp
Buffalo Wings (Tuesdays $0.35/wing)
Chicken Legs (Wendsday $0.50/leg)
Boneless Tenders (Thursday $0.50/nugget-of-chickeny-goodness)

Article:
[BWW]

Yarf! *Chews on rawhide*

What a coward! He shot her father in the BACK!

2005-11-22T10:26:00.002-05:00

Seriously.
What is wrong with people nowadays?
I can't believe this guy actually expected this to work out.
Well that explains why he'd want to marry a 14 year-old. Even though he was 18, he was immature and unable to deal with life's challenges with anything but violence.

I say give him the chair. Or better yet, put him in an inflatable dingy, and drop him in the center of the Pacific.
He obviously can't deal with society in a civilized manner, so lets take him out of it. Cause I definitely don't want to pay ANY part of the bill to keep that kid around. I mean if he isn't going to have respect for the lives of the rest of society, why should we have respect for his?

Article:
CNN Affidavit: Girl willingly left with parents' alleged killer

Grrr! *Wants to attack a squirrel*

Ah ha ha ha

2005-11-16T10:36:00.000-05:00

Did anyone EVER seriously think they would get control of it?
HA!

Article:
[cnn.com] Deal averts Internet showdown

Yarf! *Runs around wildly*

Wedding Bomber

2005-11-14T15:13:00.000-05:00

This is just SICK.
WTF is wrong with people!??!

Pointless terrorist violence.

Article:
Bomber Article

Yarf! *Chews on rawhide*

Ploice preferential treatment.

2005-11-10T13:34:00.000-05:00

WTF is with this?
Ok, I'm not one to trust "E!" for much of anything, but if this story is true then L.A.'s police are truly f'ed-up in the head.

Paris Hilton's boy hit-and-runs a comercial truck, and nearly a pedestrian as well, and NO ONE gets a ticket.
I seriously hope that the company that owns the truck files charges or sues their ass.

Article:
http://www.eonline.com/News/Items/0,1,17743,00.html

Grrr!

A good day.

2005-11-10T12:41:00.000-05:00

So today is a good day.
Why?
Because two GOOD news articles are out today:
(WikiNews) Vatican issues defense of evolution, rejects fundamentalist creationism
(USATODAY) 'Intelligent design' backers lose in Pennsylvania

If you pay attention to my blog, you'd know that I feel I.D. is a useless block of dung. I have recently found out that NewScientist believes so too. Or at least they share my view that I.D. is a wall on the common sense path.

The two above articles are, in my opinion, absolutely GREAT.

The WikiNews article is good because it shows that although The Vatican is not technically FOR evolution, but it definitely doesn’t back I.D. So it's at least a step in the right direction. The WikiNews article also outlines a good point. That religion and fundamentalism are actually two separate entities. Both religious, but the fundy one being devoid of common sense.

The USATODAY article is wonderful because it tells how Republican fundys are losing support, and also shows that most Americans have common sense. So it renews my faith in the ability of the American voters to think on their own, and not buy into the fundy I.D. Bullshit.

I.D. is NOT science, and so shouldn't be taught in Science classrooms.
IMO I.D. should not be taught in schools AT ALL. If it were, then we'd also have to teach the opinions of EVERY OTHER religion too, (or face mindless lawsuits, from other C.S. devoid fundy parents).

They don't teach FRENCH in a MATH class, so why confuse kids with religious I.D. bullshit in a SCIENCE class?

Well that's my opinion.
Put that in your mouth in chew it.

Articles:
WIKI
USA TODAY

Yarf! *Chews on rawhide*

Worship at the Church of C.S.

2005-10-20T12:52:00.000-04:00

Scientology is a crock.
I don't expect them to make any valuable contribution to society. I mean even the shakers contributed fine carpentry and woodmaking workmanship to the world, as well as some popular Church music ('Lord of the Dance'). So I don't expect the Co$ CULT to last very long at all.
Let their leader pass away into obscurity and the rest will most likely lose interest.

Besides, the fact that they may have originally been based on some noble beliefs, but they don't stand by their morals now-a-days. They use strong-arm tactics to snub any popular critics. (Though this shouldn't be surprising from a pseudo-religion that is based off of the idea of paying for knowledge.)

The Scientific community should SUE Scientology for tarnishing the image of science by the similar uses of the word "Science" in 'Scientology', and that they try to associate themselves with Science's SOLID image/name to give substance to the shaky (at BEST!) basis for their pyramid-scheme like cult/pseudo-religion.

As a Computer Scientist, I take offence to their associating themselves with anything to do with science.
Anything 'religious' is NOT scientific.
And there is NOTHING scientific about Scientology.

Scientologists should apply what they say they believe to the advancement of society.
Then they'd see that Scientology is really just a cancer on Common Science.

Everyone should FIRST bow down and study at the Church of COMMON SENCE.

*Grrr*

It's about time! (Pay-Per-View to Provide DVD After Viewing?)

2005-10-11T12:23:00.000-04:00

Pay-Per-View to Provide DVD After Viewing?: "Anonymous Coward writes to tell us that Comcast is entertaining an idea that would allow digital cable customers to purchase a pay-per-view movie for roughly $17 that would also include a hard copy in the mail a few days later. From the article: 'The only snafu in the entire idea is the fact that only 40% of Comcast cable subscribers have the required digital box at this point in time. But still, that is 40% of 21 million customers which is not too bad. DirecTV and Dish, are you listening?'"

:-(

2005-10-03T21:36:00.000-04:00

And now you know about my blog. Or at leat the OLD one.

How am I supposed to feel when you give the best part of yourself to other people.
Your heart.

Obvious

2005-09-30T19:34:00.000-04:00

Well NOOO SHIT.
A lot of countries out there censor their incoming netowrk traffic rather than trusting their citizens to have a brain and enough morals to not visit that shit. So intead they censor all of it, and to "be fair" they censor anything even slightls objectionable, that way there is no precedent to the REALLY bad shit.

And now they want control of the internet taken from the creating country and given to the UN?!? NOT GONNA HAPPEN.
The US created it. It's one of our great creations that we take pride in. With the ecological TreeHuggers, man can no longer clear a area of land for a huge monument or structure so things already build/created here in the US need to be protected because we can't replace them without someone bitching about hurting the enviroment. That's the reason We ARE NOT going to give control of it over to other countries for them to FUCK up.
If that were to happen, then I'd DEMAND control of these items be given to the UN as well, since they effect our lives as well.
China's Great Wall. - Becuase it's a popular symbol of china and EVERYONE can recognise it, and so everyone should be able to appreciate it and have a say in what happens to it.
The oil fields of the middle east - They are resources of the planet and should be shared equally amongst everyone.

Those are jsut THREE items that some of the whiney countries wou'dnt share themselves.

I think we should remind all the Whining countries that the internet was created by us and we COULD have made it a TAXABLE service taxing every BIT and BYTE of information that comes from foreign countries like they do for OUR imported/exported goods.
But we didn't. SO BE GLAD and
Stop Your Bitchin!

*Yarf*

Sandy vaginas - A HOLY-WAR over an ICE CREAM CONE LID.

2005-09-19T12:16:00.000-04:00

WTF?!
It's just a damn ice-cream cone lid. That's it.

Seriously, I'm sick of people being sandy vaginas over little things.
THERE ARE NO CONSPIRACIES IN THIS WORLD, PEOPLE.

GET OVER YOUSELVES PEOPLE, YOUR LIVES ARN'T AT ALL IMPORTANT ENOUGH TO WARRENT ANYBODY WASTING THEIR TIME TO CONSPIRE AGAINST YOU.
Religious reasons, of all reasons, are the LEAST IMPORTANT reasons for someone to waste their time.
But EVEN IF they were, even if someone had the time and money to spend on such endeavors, you think they would use a BURGERKING ICECREAM LID as their medium of choice!?!?
Seriously WTF?!
1. It's an ice-cream lid. THAT ALL. It's not a means of global religious domination.
2. Even if it were, 99.99999% of Burger King patrons either can't read Arabic, don't CARE, or even if they could & did care wouldn't have the political/economic/religious/monetary power or TIME to do anything such as what is being claimed. If they did have that type of time, money, and power they DEFINATELY wouldn't be eating at BURGERKING of all places.
But if that dude wants to waste his time and money on piddly squat things like that, I say he can go at it. The rest of humanity live in the REAL WORLD, and will continue on with our lives without another thought.
What would I say to the guy if I were to meet him?
"Nice job perpetuating the general consensus that your religion’s fanatics are a bunch of whiney little bitches with their priorities totally skewed, who obviously are out of touch with the rest of the world. Which is probably the reason they're whiney in the first place."

I've said it before, and I'll say it again.
The world would be a better place if some people took more naps when they got cranky.

Who knew?

2005-09-15T15:17:00.000-04:00

Apparently stupidity is hereditary. I guess that gives Paris an excuse for 50% of her genes. :-/

Read up!

Kids are dumb, and....

2005-09-13T09:19:00.000-04:00

I'm convinced that there HAS to be a direct inverse correlation between a person's IQ, and the distance between their pant's waist-band and their actual waist.

Story: 'Juvenile strikes officer at bus stop'

Think about it...
Old OLD people, are known for hiking their pants up to their nipples, and are also known for going senile.
Babies are by DEFINATION immature, and 99.9999999999+% of the time would rather run around naked (FAR from the waist-bands of their diapers).
Ghetto/Wigger/Rapper-Wannabe/Lemming Teens buy pants 10+ sizes to big and wear their pants around their thighs/knees/shins/ankles trying to be cool and the above (see link) happens.

Seriously...It's got to be true.

Nawlens. The greedy, lazy people piss me off.

2005-09-01T21:02:00.000-04:00

Ok...
So I feel for the people of Louisiana and New Orleans. It's gotta suck to lose your homes and the like, but the behavior of many of the people right now is just appalling.
Police are there TRYING TO HELP, but what do people do? They shoot at them.
Seriously. WTF.

THEN people are militant because they aren’t given relief right away.
YOUR WHOLE FUCKING TOWN IS FLODDED! YOU ARN’T THE ONLY ONE IN THIS SITUATION.
And what the fuck is with the sense of entitlement?!?!
You KNEW by living in New Orleans that you were at risk.
Everyone has known for DECADES if not CENTURIES that the town was BELOW SEA LEVEL.
And now the people who didn't evacuate when they heard of the F'IN HURICANE coming their way are angry because they're houses are flooded, and they aren't GIVEN RELIEF food and other goods that they don't need to pay for.
BE FUCKING GRATEFUL FOR THE RELIEF!
Don’t get me wrong, I know these people need to eat. That’s why I’m not against them looting the stores and taking what they need. BUT JUST WHAT THEY NEED.
The perishable foods are fine. They are going to go bad and spoil if they just sit there. I say go ahead and take them and put them to good use. Besides, you know FOR SURE that the stores in the area are going to claim insurance for their stock regardless of whether or not one single item was taken. Regardless if one DROP of water was in their store. So yeah, I don’t blame people at all for taking food or the like.
Other items like electronics and valuables and such are another matter. THERES NO ELECTRICTY SO WHY TAKE ELECTRONICS?!?!
I’ll tell you why.
F’in GREED.
Which brings me back to the people’s attitude towards the people trying to help them…
Drop the attitudes; you knew the risks of living in the area. You knew there was a HURICANE coming, you could have evacuated or prepared.
AND DROP THE ENTITLEMENT ATTITUDE.
These GREEDY ASSHOLES ARE REALLY PISSING ME OFF. (if you couldn’t tell)
Seriously, I don't think ONE PERSON of the Tsunami of South Asia was yelling at the PEOPLE WHO ARE FUCKING HELPING THEM!
Let alone to have the GAWL to SHOOT at them.
I'm running out of patience and my pity is getting shallower than the water on the roofs of these people's houses.

If people are giving you help, LET THEM. In fact, rather than just complain, get off your asses and HELP OUT AS WELL.
If every person sitting around complaining got up and started building dikes and bailing water, or helping in other ways (holstering your guns? Turning in the shooters?) then the Town would be MUCH better off.
When the Mississippi flooded, the people didn't just sit there complaining about what they didn't have anymore, but they rallied together and got shit done!
It's your town and your problem, get off oyur ass and help FIX THE PROBLEM rather than bitch, whine and SHOOT PEOLE while waiting for other people (police, volunteers, the military etc) to attempt to fix your problem for you.
GOD DAMN IT, STOP SHOOTING AT THE PEOPLE TRYING TO HELP YOU!!

MPAA & the Entertainment Industry: A bunch of greedy money grubbing hypocrites!

2005-08-12T20:58:00.000-04:00

So the MPAA has always been annoying to me. They get pissed off if you decide to backup your delicate legally paid for DVD movie. I can understand them being pissed if you share it, but they get their panties in a bunch when you just make a copy for your own protection. And now their England counterparts are being just as retarded, except they are movie execs bringing lawsuits again other movie execs.

Article HERE

<CYNICAL RANT ALERT>
It just annoys the hell out of me that their views are so skewed in their industry. They pay the main actors MILLIONS of dollars for one movie, and the actor gets residual benefits from any DVD/CD/merchandise sales, and the directors/producers/executives also take a large chunk of change out of that to line their wallets. Then when they hear about someone doing something that will have negligible effect on their income, they attack him/her FULL FORCE with lawsuits and legal action, not in an effort to do what's right, but rather to protect the flow of cash into their coughers. THEN they think it's fine to charge $15 dollars for a disk with mediocre media on it when it only costs them $0.25 to produce. ON TOP OF THAT they complain that piracy is hurting all the media industry workers who work hard to create it, only to have it pirated by someone on the internet, but they turn a blind eye to the fact that most of their workers make a meager income while the majority of the income from the aftermarket sales of the media goes to the actors/directors/producers. Now I know the A/D/P have a good deal of involvement in the making of these films, but NONE of it could have been done without the COUNTLESS people behind the scenes who get none of the larger dollar from these productions. Much of the aftermarket products that pull in the majority of income created by films today has very little to do with the film at all. For example, the Spiderman box-office movies were put out and were a hit. Good for them. The people who work to ensure those films were created should be compensated. But then after that, the merchandising comes in, and an even LARGER income flow is created. With the Spiderman movies, the much of the merchandise for sale afterwards had NOTHING to do with the movies. Spiderman was a poor struggling high school student then college student with no cash. HOW IS IT THEY ARE SELLING A "Spider-Copter" and "Spider-Boat". Spiderman had no speedboat or helicopter! But this nonsensical merchandise is put out there JUST to pull more money in for the Actor/Producers/Directors/Creators.
I'm near positive that Stan Lee never wrote a "Bat-Boat" into any of his intellectual property (comics). And in NO WAY does the Spiderman action figure look like the actor Tobey Maguire (Spiderman), and so should not entitle him to any likeness rights. I can't slap my nametag onto a lump of coal and say that there was some manufacturing issues that make it's likeness to me, somewhat flawed. I definitely can't go on to charge $10.95 to anyone who wants a hunk of coal (for whatever reasons). Even if I could, I definitely wouldn't then keep 99% of the profit to myself and not compensate everyone else who helped produce it (the diggers, taggers, packagers, then donate the majority to earth-saving causes since it IS a lump of coal. But the movie industry does this EVERY DAY, and then goes even further to KICK anyone who wants to share the creation. I admit that I've viewed pirated movies. I don't keep them, because they are ALWAYS of lower quality than the official versions. So any GOOD ones that I like and believe are actually deserving of the money I buy actual versions of. The crappy ones, I would just watch and then toss, knowing that the same thing will just be showed for free a month later on television (in a final death-throw attempt to create demand for the merchandise). But (back to the article way, WAY above) the European movie company is taking legal actions against a slightly similar concept to their 1979 movie. Now HOW IN THE HELL is a CURRENT DAY movie similar to one created over 30 years ago. The majority of the draw to this type of film today is for its special effects. Most of the dumb-ass moviegoers today don't pay attention to any deep plot (or obvious plot for that matter), subtext, political commentary, or controversial issues brought up in films. They just go for the Ohhhs and Ahhhs of the special effects. (Special FX, Which the animators and CG software developers & technicians are not being equally compensated for,...but that's another issue.) Most of the moviegoers go more for the effects than for the plot, and 70's affect CAN'T HOLD A CANDLE to the effects of today. The only reason the plaintiff execs are making a fuss is because they see other people making some money (granted not too much as the flick didn't do as good as it could have) and they want a piece of it. So they look for ANY SIMILARITY to whatever they have already done, no matter how insignificant, and try to exploit it.

Who wants to pay $8 for a ticket, and $10 to $15 for SNACKS (not a
meal) just to sit in a DIRTY theater where the employees don't do the job they used to do (but left up to a 5 second encouragement ad before the movie) and enforce silence and courtesy of other rude patrons/teens/children/CRYING BABIES, like they used to for a movie that is so chalk-full of blatant advertisements for products that the plot and any story-line fall by the wayside. Movie theaters are not worth the time.

Grrr.
If collecting DVDs wasn't a hobby of mine,
I'd boycott the movie industry all together.
I definitely won't be attending any movies in theaters any time soon,
I'm too sick of prying jujubes off the soles of my shoes.
</CYNICAL RANT ALERT>

Creation Vs Evolution....FIGHT!

2005-08-04T12:43:00.000-04:00

It bugs me.
Heavily religious people have always been strong in their faith. This is fine. Cool. Respectable even. What isn’t, is when they become stubborn in considering other ideas.
Such as science. Evolution has Hundreds upon hundreds of proven cases that support it.
Creationism has the bible. ...That’s it.

Creationists first said that God created EVERYTHING.
Then Darwin came along, and looking at the world and doing a little thinking came up with the idea that one species, through small changes from generation to generation, usually in order to better adapt to its environment, eventually changes into another seemingly totally different species.
Creationists hearing this were enraged. It was blasphemy....because it didn't support their religious belief that God created EVERYTHING.
So the idea didn't catch on for a while, then later with more and more evidence, the idea took hold. Then the Creationists, not wanting to be WRONG, alter their story.
Now they turn around and say it's "Intelligent Design".
That the evidence of evolution was put there.

Creationists: "Wheeww! We dodged a bullet there!"

What is "Creation Science"?
-A Oxymoron.
-A bad attempt to inject religion into science.
-A futile attempt by religious advocates at explaining away evolution and all the evidence that supports it.
What is it not?
-Supported by any evidence that doesn’t have a solid scientific explanation.
-Provable.
-Worth talking about anymore.

"DUMB ASS!" aka "A Simpson dumber than Homer"

2005-08-03T08:57:00.000-04:00

For the love of god.
I SOOO hope this guy sues her ass off for her malicious attack. It's about time that stupid people have to pay for their stupidity, and as their queen, she should be paying out the nose!

I love the quote from the article though:
“I was like: ‘Oh gosh, this is the last shot! I have to break it!’ so I ended up like losing my mind. I just started attacking him and he had welts all over his back.”

Hey dimwit...You can't lose what you don't have.

Ass-hat hypocrite in the White House.

2005-08-01T11:49:00.000-04:00

Bush is REALLY pissing me off.
He's in the white house being a warmonger saying he promoting
Democracy in the Middle East, yet he's not promoting it HERE. >He bypasses
congress to push HIS nominee into the U.N. He's such a hypocrite! If it's not pleasing to HIS agenda, he uses brute force to impose his way.

Where's the democracy now, Dubya!?!? Seriously!

...Yeah. I voted in BOTH elections, but I NEVER voted for HIM, now people get to see why he was a BAD choice.
What's really scary is that half the nation voted for him and so view him as a SMART guy. Just goes to prove that half the voting populous of our great nation are utter and complete MORONS.

TheBigPapi of the Fark comunity said it best with this post:

Dear President Bush,

More than half of the country disapproves of your administration. Your
people are very good at winning elections, but you are in the minority
when it comes to your politics. Enough with this popular mandate crap.
Yes, you have the right to make a recess appointment, against the
better judgment of the Senate. Fine. But don't dress it up like the
Senate was being obstructionist. It was doing its job.

And get off your high horse about stem cell research. Nothing makes me
angrier than a jackass who uses religion to destroy the quality of
life of others. You worship Reagan, you'd think the fact that he had
Alzheimer's would be enough for you to support finding a cure. But
hey, Jesus told you gay people would destroy the institution of
marriage and that won you an election, so why stop now?

Sincerely,
TheBigPapi"

Short Monday.

2005-07-25T16:34:00.000-04:00

So today's work was odd.
The monday meeting went well, but after that nothing got done.
Aparently just before the meeting, the transformer outside our building blew and our building was on battery power.
(That explains the flickering lights and network outages.)

so the boss came around and said we should probably go home because they wern't sure when the power would be fully restored, and that it could totally go off any second.
Also that we should leave before it comes all back on, otherwise we WOULD have to stay. Yeah... I have a cool boss.
Then RIGHT after she said that, one of the repairmen came around and said that we should all go because they were going to have to turn all the power off for the day, to repair the transformer.
So I'm out at 3:30! Woo Hoo!

Fun day!

And the world gets a little bit SMARTER.

2005-07-18T13:36:00.000-04:00

Keep it up people.
If the dumb people weed themselves out of the world population, it's inevitable that the global IQ will rise. :-p jk.
Another successful implementation of the </DUMB PEOPLE> tag. :-p

My favorite quote from the article:
"In my heart I believe that could have saved Jude's life, even if he didn't have one,"

Hilarious. X-D

Anatomy of the perfect nap

2005-07-18T13:14:00.000-04:00

The world MUST be getting better if the news for the day is SO SLOW that the biggest story to report on is napping. :-)

A small subnote:
I give absolutely NO credit to Dubya for this. No peace was brought by him, in fact he only brought war and more terrorists. Furthermore, Georgie’s nappy-naps all include teddy and footy pajamas, so obviously aren’t perfect. (Which may explain his crankiness towards the middle east.)

(Can you tell I'm NOT a Bush fan?)

Waive Bai, BYE!

2005-07-05T14:07:00.000-04:00

Marina Bai
Yet another name to add to the retarded people list.
Why? ...well for one, she makes her living as an astroLoger.
Not a science in ANY sense of the word.
And for two...read HERE.
And three, she doesn’t realize that even for her accusation to be proven in court she'd have to PROVE that the NASA test changed ANYTHING in the grand scheme of things.
Astrology by itself is an unprovable superstition. She'd have a better chance at proving that knocking on wood causes good luck.

This retarded GREED-FULED attempt at using the US courts to line her Russian pockets is SOOOOO going down in flames.
I'm betting that she won't even get NEAR a court because NASA (A science based agency) won't bow down to a lawsuit brought by an ignorant superstition practioner, and the courts won't want to waste their time on this retarded case.

...If they DO though, I'll be pissed because it'll be a big fat waste of tax-dollars.

NASA should create it's next probe as a penetrating "bullet" probe, and target it at Bai, and then wave Bai, BYE!

Talk about bad timing.....fascism here we come.

2005-07-01T14:19:00.000-04:00

Oh...no...
Oh god, oh god, oh fucking no.
O'Connor's a swing vote that keeps right-to-lifer's in their place when they submit retarded cases in attempts to gain a precedent.
Now she decided to retire.

This will allow Dumb-ass Dubya to appoint her replacement. So now the swing vote for the court will most likely be a conservative republican.
(...That or the next sock-puppet that makes GeeOrge giggle with glee.)

God damn it.
Bush is going to f'in screw up America by allowing right-wingers to pass dumb-ass laws through the supreme court.

One World Market

2005-07-01T12:00:00.000-04:00

If you are ever in the Novi area, and like sushi, go to One World Market.
This little Japanese grocery store kicks ass when it comes to fresh sushi.
I've only been there twice, but the stuff is THE BEST so far.
Today's selection:
Half-size Michigan roll
(contains sushi rice, cucumber, avacado, spicy sauce, tuna, and nori)
Price: $3.20

Mmmmmmm

Sweetage!

2005-07-01T09:47:00.000-04:00

Kick ass.
I'm one payment away from debt freedom and monetary bliss.
Ok... well maybe not bliss, but definitely in a better standing budget-wise. I am now officially down to the triple-digits when it comes to my college debt.
And one more payment will clear my bill and let me start saving in my 401k and possibly even start financing one of these babies...

Sweetage!
And if I get it before December, I can get the recent graduate deal. Awesome!

USB 'thumb-up-it's-ASS' drive.

2005-06-29T10:50:00.000-04:00

So I've been using a "thumb" drive for about two years now.
Originally I had a crappy purple Lexar 32 or 64 (I forget which) drive that I used often. Then I traded up for a SanDisk 256. Which not only holds MUCH more, it also is designed better and is more "stylish" than the cheap purple plastic of the Lexar.
Now the only problem I ever really had was once my old Lexar just totally died on me and stopped working. Luckily it was still relatively new and the company replaced it (for free!) and was able to salvage all my data off the old defective drive (Also for free! :-D ).
But now with my new SanDisk drive that I’ve used for just about a year now, I've constantly run into Windows (XP & 2000 both) deciding to only save half the file.
I know enough not to just pull the drive without doing a "safe removal".
I do safe removals, but still I get files corrupted and lost data.
This especially sucks because I save important info on my drive such as tax information, subscription information, software keys, account passwords, banking information, account information all on the drive (encrypted, of course).
So I’ve gotten into the habit of copying the files to the drive, waiting 5 minutes AFTER it says it's finished, THEN doing a safe removal. Then still waiting a few more minutes before physically removing the drive.
After disconnecting the drive, I then reconnect it to confirm the data I've copied had saved successfully. THEN I'd still email myself a backup of the data to my gmail account to be sure I don't lose the info.
Fucking drive.

It really pisses me off too because once the file gets corrupted, I basically have to do a reformat of the drive, and recopy all my files back.
Also, I’ve noticed that MS Excel has a fluky bug with saving.
For example, you create a spreadsheet and save it to your hard drive. Then you cut and paste that drive to your USB thumb-drive. All that takes MAYBE 30 seconds.
Now if you took the EXACT SAME spreadsheet, and tried to save it directly to your thumb-drive, it takes like 3 to 4 minutes JUST TO SAVE. And half the time it doesn’t save correctly.
All other files & applications save successfully when saving directly, but not MS Excel.
It’s just another thing that pisses me off.

I really should work on my SmartCat so I don't have to use Excel for this shit. It'd save me a LOT of headaches.

What I'm more and more considering doing is getting an iPod and using that as an external hard drive to transfer and store my files, and put my IMPORTANT files on a thumb drive that is rarely used, in my file-safe.
But before I even think of getting an iPod, I have to deal with my Hiatt-monkey.
TAKE THE FREAKIN BANANA, MONKEY!

A Sandy Vagina over, of all things, A STICKER!

2005-06-28T13:18:00.000-04:00

So I have an Alienware computer. Specifically, it’s a laptop computer.
And when I bought it I opted for the 3-year warranty.
Good thing I did too because a couple of months after getting my laptop the video card went bad. (This laptop was Alienware's first laptop to include a mobile video card module that can be removed and replaced separate from the motherboard.)
So after calling them up and after they diagnosed that yes, the video card was defective; they told me they were sending a replacement. Well in the replacement FedEx box, there was the new card, a Fed-Ex sticker, and instructions to put the defective card in the FedEx box that the replacement came in, black-out any old shipping info on the old label, and affix the included shipping on top of the old label and return the package.
If I didn't follow these instructions, Alienware would charge me the price of the video card ($200 or so). So I followed those instructions to the letter, and sent the card back. No problem.
Since then my video card has gone bad two times and I've had it replaced in the EXACT same manner as before. No problem (with the exception of the fact the card went bad in the first place).... So...No problem WITH FedEx.
Well last week I call Alienware again, my video card fan is making its noise again, and I know from prior experience, that it's defective. The Alienware agent confirms it over the phone and they send me a new card. I got it yesterday.
I do EXACTLY the same with it that I had done the past THREE times, and put the old card in the box the new one came in, affix the included label on the new box (after blacking out the old label's shipping info) and drop it off at FedEx.
...
Here's where the shit hits the fan.
The FedEx lady I gave it to looks at the box, and says, "you can't use a courier box for a express shipment".
I'm like.... um.... It’s exactly the same box I received from my computer company, and they told me to put that label on that box and send it back to them.
She's like BLAH BLAH BLAH (Same as above), and I again, am like…
Ok...well there's nothing I can do. That's the box they sent my new video card in, with THAT label included inside, with explicit instructions to package my old card inside, black out the old label, and put the new label on the old and send it back.
...She's like..."Well I'm telling you, you can't use this box for this express shipment because this box has this (pointing) courier sticker on it.
I'm like...well I don't know what type of shipping THEY opted for when they ordered that label, but that is the EXACT SAME BOX that I picked up here yesterday, with an identical label on it, same format, same size, same style. With different addresses obviously, but the SAME type label. I don't know why there should be a problem now.
Then she pulls at the corner of the sticker, and rips it. Right through the return address! (WTF! tear MY label and jeopardize the shipping of the box because of YOUR issue with the package Alienware bought, and YOU shipped to ME!?)
...But again she goes on to tell me that next time I'm going to have to buy a new box because this one has a "Courier" sticker on it.
(WTF! It's a sticker! Most likely put there BY FedEx. Either them, or Alienware. NOT ME. Why should I have to buy a new box because of a STICKER!?!
So again....
I repeat to her that there's nothing I can do, because I was just following the instructions of Alienware on how to return the defective card. She needs to take it up with THEM. They supplied the box AND the label. (I'm just following their instructions so I don't get charged for the defective card.)
Finally she rolls her eyes, sighs loudly at me and says "fine", and I bolted out of there.
I so didn't want to deal with the lady's bitching at me about the fucking BOX & sticker. Bitch to the box on your own time.
So as I left I heard her pull the packaging-tape dispenser-roller, (you know that packaging tape sound it makes when you are unrolling it? That’s the sound I heard while leaving.).
I hope to god that it was her repairing the damage she caused to the shipping label, because if that package doesn’t get sent, I'LL get charged.

I should have stopped her when she was pulling at it, and fixed it then.
I also should have brought the instructions and shown her & made her sign it.
I didn't though because I've never had this type of trouble with FedEx before, so I didn't expect any problems.

Grrr.

Another Irk

2005-06-23T14:29:00.000-04:00

You know what bugs the hell out of me?
People who insist on damaging their car be being stupid.
There is a railroad track in between my work and apartment.
I work in Novi Michigan, and the train crossing I’m talking about is on 12 Mile between Novi Rd, and West Park drive.
Every time I go home, it never fails; there is ALWAYS someone ahead of me that nearly comes to a stop when crossing the tracks.
Why can't these people THINK?!?! If they did they'd realize that if they just drove over the tracks normally they would barley feel the tracks. It's the washboard effect. But nope, they go over them WAY SLOW and have their car/truck rock from side-to-side like crazy ruining their shocks and/or struts because they don't understand how to drive.

I had a girl the other day pass me going 10 MPH OVER the speed limit, so she could cut me off to get in front of me before the two lanes merged on 12-mile. Now, there was NO ONE behind me, so it's not like she was trying to stay ahead of a semi, or school bus or anything, THAT I may be able to let go, but she was just being a jerk.
On top of that she HAD TO have been driving with her knees, because she had both hands up over her head doing her hair.
THEN she proceeds to slam on her brakes and go over the tracks at like 2 miles per hour MAX.
Oh my god, she pissed me off.
I hate dumb drivers.

Cars should have mandatory state issued mini-cams & black boxes in the dash that can randomly take pics of the driver and record the driving statistics and report them to the police. People wouldn't be likely to drive like idiots then.
Then also maybe everyone's insurance would go down as well and wouldn't be inflated by the fucking ass-hat drivers.

GRRR.

Left-brain bitch slap.

2005-06-21T10:36:00.000-04:00

I just had a 'retarded' moment there...
While looking over my blog, for a second I thought to myself...
"What the heck are 'AMO Comments' and 'PMO Comments'?!?"
Then the left side of my brain bitch-slapped the right for being so retarded.

Right-Winger: Noun, synonym: Hypocrite

2005-06-15T14:55:00.000-04:00

Good to see the right-wingers are going to have to eat crow on this one.

What I don't get is why they will bitch and whine about the feeding tube/water deal and call it "still murder" when I'm willing to bet that the majority of them jumped on the bus condemning Assisted suicide years back.
They call it inhumane, but what other humane option is there now?
Pets have euthanasia, but humans apparently arent worth that sort of humane treatment.
Right-Winger: Noun, Synonym: hypocrite

Mmmmm Feathers!

"They have pre-wrapped sausages, but they don't have pre-wrapped CROW!"
"Well, can you blame 'em?"
"Yeah!"