dang phishers

So, I have a post that has gotten some "comments" from a phisher that goes like this:

"I read over your blog, and i found it inquisitive, you may find My Blog interesting. So please Click Here To Read My Blog"

Whatever, dude. It's inquisitive, huh? Did it ask you questions? What did it ask you? Did you talk back to it? What other inanimate objects talk to you?

I'm not going to visit your "blog". I don't think it would be interesting.

quotes

So ... I think it is pretty safe to say that the "thrill of the blog" is lost on me. That having been said, I found a couple of good quotes today that I want to keep. This seems like a good enough place.

"I think there is a world market for maybe five computers." - Thomas Watson, chairman of IBM, 1943

The more I think about the physical portion of Schrödinger's theory, the more repulsive I find it...What Schrödinger writes about the visualizability of his theory 'is probably not quite right,' in other words it's crap.
--Heisenberg, writing to Pauli, 1926

The Day After

Yesterday I was pacing around Kroger when my eye caught a movie on the bargain bin. It is called "The Day After". It was a made-for-TV movie on ABC in 1983. I vividly remember this movie because it was filmed and set in Lawrence and Kansas City, KS. It depicts the unimaginable results of a nuclear exchange between the United States and the Soviet Union. After the film was shown on TV there was a panel discussion with real people like then Secretary of State George Shultz. It was frightening.

I picked up a copy for myself and for my dad. I knew he would appreciate the nostalgia. I watched my copy last night. OH MY GOD! It's unbelievable. Combine the devastation of Katrina, the Asian Tsunami and the earthquakes in Pakistan: that's a picnic compared to nuclear war and the aftermath. I remember thinking when I was a kid, watching it the first time, that if that ever really happened I would just want to go downtown and wait for the bomb to kill me. I wouldn't want to live through it. My sentiments on the matter are reinvigorated. The film is certainly dated. The Russians aren't (most likely) going to nuke us. But it was less scary when the Russians were the only bad guys with bombs.

It's worth the $9 purchase. To wet your appetite, check out:

http://www.lawrence.com/news/2003/nov/19/fallout_from/
http://www.museum.tv/archives/etv/D/htmlD/dayafterth/dayafter.htm

The best quote from these articles is this:

"The making of the film was to date the most worthwhile thing I ever got to do in my life," Meyer asserts. "Any movie that the President of the United States winds up saying changed his mind about the idea of a winnable nuclear war is not an insignificant achievement. The Reagan administration came in thinking about 'acceptable numbers' of nuclear casualties. (Reagan's memoirs reveal) what he had to say about the effects of what 'The Day After' had on his thinking.

"When he signed the Intermediate Range Weapons Agreement at Reykjavik (in 1986) with Gorbachev, I got a telegram from his administration that said, 'Don't think your movie didn't have any part of this, because it did.'"

The World Is Tilted - Issues 2006 - MSNBC.com

This is a fantastic article. Read every word and be afraid.

Phone Home

Former Canadian Minister Of Defence Asks Canadian Parliament To Hold Hearings On Relations With Alien "Et" Civilizations

Is this a real article? Did these people actually say these things? "UFOs, are as real as the airplanes that fly over your head." Holy cow.

Questions:

• Are these people completely crazy?
• Why are the ET's always qualified as 'ethical'?
• Do these people have a different tactic for dealing with 'unethical' ET's?
• What IS an ethical ET?
• Is it unethical for ET's to stick mind probes in our anuses (I'm setting up a joke there; feel free to have fun with it)?
• If it is unethical for other species to stick probes in our anuses, are we unethical in the way we deal with other species? That's not exactly a joke, what about how farmers run around sticking their whole arm up their cattle's anuses?
• The article includes the following sentence:
• Vancouver-based Institute for Cooperation in Space (ICIS), whose International Director headed a proposed 1977 Extraterrestrial Communication Study for the White House of former U.S. President Jimmy Carter, who himself has publicly reported a 1969 Close Encounter of the First Kind with a UFO, filed the original request for Canadian Parliament hearings.
• Who had the close encounter, the international director or Jimmy Carter?
• Wouldn't it explain a great many things if Jimmy Carter had been abducted and molested by aliens? I KNOW he has had plenty of things in his anus, including his head. A mind probe would surely fit up there as well.
• Are these people completely crazy?

Black Mountain

I was just searching for a free e-card. I Googled over to bluemountain.com. I didn't use their service, but I did leave this comment.

HA HA HA!!!

PAY for online cards! That's the best laugh of the day. That's awesome! I think I pooped myself I laughed so hard.

Well, I guess I'll just have to pay the money and join. No sense in using one of the million free services out there. Great business model. You must be very proud.

Discouraging

Today I was almost done with my run when the music player decided to play "The Long and Winding Road" by The Beatles followed by "World of Pain" by Cream.

One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church

I have, for a long while, maintained a fascination with the Catholic Church. In high school and college I enjoyed an occasional trip to a Catholic mass. I loved going to Midnight Mass on Christmas Eve. A couple of weeks ago Mary and I went down to Germantown in Nashville for Octoberfest. Before consuming a gallon or so of beer, we entered the Catholic church there and sat for a while. A really nice guy explained some of the statues to us. He explained that a depiction of a saint can be identified by the articles that he/she carries. For instance, Saint Peter (the Apostle and first Pope) often holds a key and a book. The key is the 'key to the church' that he posesses as the first Pope and the book represents the fact that he wrote a book that is accepted in the Holy Cannon.

When we were in London a few weeks ago I saw the saints on Westminster Abbey

and thought that I would like to know who each of them is. I just started doing some digging. It is so fascinating. Check out this article on Saint Peter. What do you think of the titles, "the first pope, Prince of the Apostles, and founder, with St. Paul, of the see of Rome." Does that make you bristle? I love it!

Check out Saint Paul. What do you think about him going "... to Jerusalem to see Peter and pay his homage to the head of the Church."

How about this article. Check out the section titled "A Saint for the 21st Century". I really like this language. I particularly like:
"Each generation needs to hear God saying "this is what I care about" - "this is what I find important". One of the ways God does this is through the persons God calls to sainthood."

Isn't that true? How ironic that protestants often criticizes the Catholic Church as being archaic. When, in fact, that is so relevant. I feel like we get too stuck in the first century that we refuse to listen to what God is saying today. He's still talking, isn't He!?!

This WikiPedia article, I think, is a bit cheeky about the Great Schism, but is an interesting read as well.

Rest of Loughborough

OK, so ... didn't update during the week in Loughborough so much. Credit can be divided in the following ways:

• I am a lazy blogger; but you already knew that.


• Adcock's monopoly of the computer until the wee hours of the morning.


• Mark's 'coincidental' hard drive meltdown while we were there. :(

The odds of me completing a proper blog are ... 0%. Deal. Maybe the best way to see my experience is to check out my Snapfish collection. Maybe I'll get on there and add captions like Tiffany did ... probably not. Do the Snapfish pictures stay up there forever? How does all that work? If you aren't a Snapfish member, then you have to go through all that registration crud. It won't kill you.

Here's the link

16.10.2005

Church. Lunch. Hung out with Loughborough folks. Practiced (frantically) for skits. Evening church. First skit. Snacks. Dinner. Meeting. Bed

Church was good, very traditional. Bart did a great job leading singing. They say they have a hard time leading singing, though they enjoy singing once it gets started.

Lunch was a potluck. I think the American stereotype is that English food is bland. I thoroughly disagree. Think about English food that we frequently eat. Fish and chips are good. I LOVE shepherd’s pie. Of course, I can’t wait for a good Guinness in a proper pub. :)

Loughborough folks are very friendly. The congregation is not that big. Not sure how many, but certainly less than one hundred. All age groups hang out and interact with each other.

Skit practice was hectic but fun. I think I shocked a few folks by actually getting serious and keeping people on task. The funniest thing of the whole trip happened today. Can’t explain it yet. Will have to in person.

The rest … non-eventful. G’night.

• Hangin’ out at the church for lunch. Notice the kid trying to pelt me with the ball. It's in the upper left hand corner of the picture, coming for my head.
  
  


• More hangin’ out at the church for lunch.
  
  


• Aw! My dumb picture hosting company doesn’t do video. I did one just for Katie.
  
  

England Part I

I am going to make a small attempt to record the adventures of the intrepid group from Otter Creek that travelled to Loughborough, England to help with a Holiday Bible Camp (like VBS). We are fortunate enough to stay at a house that has internet access, so I am going to try to blog / post a few pictures as I go. You’ll have to get with us when we get back to see all the pictures in their proper quality. Let’s see how this thing works.

It is 20.06 local time. We have been awake for about 30 hours or so ... I think. We are all pretty exhausted. I hope we all get a good nights rest so we can hit the ground running tomorrow. Today’s pictures are of our travels from Nashville, through Chicago to London and finally to Loughborough.

Um ... so this doesn't take up tons of visual space, I'm just going to post the links with small descriptions. Click the images to open a new window and a larger picture.

14-15.10.2005

• London near King's Cross Station
  
  


• Sheep on the English countryside
  
  


• Loughborough
  
  


• Phil at an old church in Loughborough. He is standing on a sidewalk that is made of former tombstones.
  
  


• Others at the same church
  
  


• Lesley talking with Mark at the entrance of the Loughborough church.
  
  

Welcome Back Me

So ... I haven't blogged in a long time as many of you have pointed out. >:|

I would say that the biggest culprit is the fact that, in my little crackerbox, rat hole of an apartment, I do not have cable or internet access. When I move (probably December) I will have these things turned on. I tend to blog late at night instead of sleeping. Until then, here's a really outdated description of a trip to LA. I'm two days from leaving for England. I'll probably get pictures of that up ... next year.

enjoy.

PDC

I spent September 11th through the 16th in Los Angeles attending the Microsoft Professional Developer Conference. It was AMAZING!!! Computer programmer heaven. I took a few pictures with my phone. They're not the best quality, but they convey the message on the web. Here's the highlights:

I had a layover in Pheonix that started here ...




... and, 20 minutes later, ended here.




It was basically like programmer summer camp




13,000 programmers took over the LA Convention Center




There were about 150 classes




Fantastic breakfasts and dinners were provided for us




Amazing new technologies that you guys probably could care less about like LINQ, WPF, WCF, and WWF ... no, not World Wildlife Foundation or World Wrestling Federation, it's Windows Workflow Foundation. These are the things I should be playing with instead of writing on this silly blog.




LA turned out to be a lot better than I had expected. LA is beautiful. Southern California is beautiful. I really expected LA to be trashy, brown smog, dangerous, gangs, etc. etc.. I am sure that is there, but I didn't run into it. LA was sunny, 75 degrees, much more 'normal' than I expected.




Granted, I didn't get out a whole lot because I spent considerably more of my time in the convention center in class than I planned. I skipped only two sessions; one to catch the plane home and one to go running. The convention center and my hotel were very close to Dodger's Stadium, so I ran out to it, did a lap around it, and returned. That was a lot of fun. Most of the run was through a Hispanic neighborhood. At the time, I thought nothing of it. I felt perfectly safe. A little, middle aged guy even waved at me ... and he wasn't the only one.

I went out to dinner two nights with the fellas. We went to Sunset Strip in Hollywood both times. Loved it. It's a lot like Green Hills. It was insane real estate prices for old houses that, quite frankly, weren't that spectacular. I can imagine multi-million dollar celebrities living there and going to the grocery store and Best Buy and ... almost being normal.

On our way to ... somewhere ... we walked by the Whiskey a Go Go. Awesome! I wanted to go in but was overruled by the rest of the gang. That's where Guns 'n Roses got their start. It's holy ground to me.




I was RIGHT THERE hob-nobbing with rediculously smart folks; folks who WROTE parts of Windows or Host Integration Server. Bill Gates was there. He did a spoof of Napoleon Dynamite with the actual actor who played Napoleon. It was hilarious!

Bill rented out the Universal Studios theme park for us one night. All the food and drinks were free ... as they were at the convention center all week.

Bush Bashing Fizzles - Yahoo! News

Bush Bashing Fizzles - Yahoo! News

This guy is, maybe, a little over-zealous with his finger pointing, but it's a fun little blurb.

A year after his famous article appeared in the New York Times in July 2003 accusing Bush of "twisting" intelligence, the Senate Intelligence Committee, in a bipartisan report, concluded that [Joseph] Wilson lied when he said his wife had nothing to do with his dispatch to Niger and Chairman Pat Roberts said that his report bolstered rather than refuted the case that Saddam Hussein's Iraq sought to buy uranium in Africa.

Miracle?

So, last night at church this dude, Don Finto (check him out here http://www.calebcompany.com) talked about Messianic Jews and miraculous conversions. Most of y'all that read this blog were there. What do you think of that? I think many 'Conservative American Christians' find it hard to believe that in the modern world there are things like people being dead for a few days and coming back to life or visions of God or understanding strange languages or things like that. At the end a member got up and basically said that the reason we find that so shocking is because our faith is so weak. You know, I agree. I think it is actually a MORE LOGICAL statement to say that it isn't God that decided to stop doing miracles after the first century, it's US that decided to stop believing that He could.

Senator Idunno

I really like Tucker Carlson. I used to watch him with Bill Press in 'The Spin Room' on CNN during the 2000 election. This was back in my uber-political junkie phase. I just read this article that sites a recent study that revealed, "the greatest consumer of online pornography are children between the ages of 12 and 17." Ok, that's a bad thing. So, Tucker conducted an interview with a Senator sponsoring a bill to tax internet pornography as a way to discourage underage consumption. the topic itself is not the issue. I certainly agree with the spirit of the Senator's attempt. The part that absolutely flabbergasts me is how amazingly inept the person is. She cannot complete an argument, make a point or defend her position AT ALL. If you were to sum up the conversation, it would be something like this:

Carlson: I don't think this a going to be a successful deterrent because of [fact, fact, fact].

Stanebow: Well, I have several things to say about that. Firstly, [illogical rambling on a single point that does not address any of the mentioned facts]. Do it for the children.

Behold my favorite examples (underlines are mine):

CARLSON: As I understand it, this will tax monthly memberships to porn sites. I don’t think most children have monthly memberships, because most kids don’t have credit cards. So, how is this going to protect kids?

DEBBIE STABENOW, MICHIGAN SENATOR AND BILL CO-SPONSOR: First of all, it does three things. It would require that children have to verify that they’re at least 18 years of age, in other words, not be children, to get onto adult pornography sites. Pornography sites right now, I should mention, according to a study done by the Third Way, an independent group, says that the fastest-growing consumers on pornography sites are children ages 12 to 17. It’s really astounding. It’s very concerning to me as a parent, as well as a senator.

Tucker goes on to talk about how most of the porn that these kids are getting IS FREE!!! or labeled as 'art'. Debbie (bless her heart) doesn't even get it.

CARLSON: OK. But, at some point, somebody is going to need to make a hard determination.

STABENOW: Not at all. We’re talking about somebody who says, I’m selling pornography. I have a pornography site. I’m signing up as a business. And, right now, we know that children ages 12 to 17 are the fastest consumers of those sites.

CARLSON: Right. But I support keeping online porn away from children. Very much including my own. However, here’s the problem, it seems to me. As soon as you tax it, then you give website operators a real incentive not to declare themselves pornographers, right? You have an incentive for these people wanting to escape the tax to call themselves artists and to call porn art. So, at some point, you are going to have to decide. You’re going to have to regulate this even more. And somebody from the government is going to have to decide what is porn and what is not. Are you prepared for that?

STABENOW: Well, first of all, child pornography is already illegal.

ROFL!!! WHAT IS SHE TALKING ABOUT!?! Tucker makes this home run argument, he exposes a loop hole in her thinking that is big enough to drive a mack truck through, and she doesn't even address it!

I wish this woman success. She's doing something, I guess, and her heart is in the right place. This article is just an shocking reminder that sometimes our leaders aren't exactly the sharpest tools in the shed.

Here's the article: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/8742696

You can't make this stuff up

As the saying goes, sometimes truth is stranger than fiction:

Tempest in a "teapot"? Cult followers arrested - Asia-Pacific - MSNBC.com

John "Playa" McCain

OK. I'm not the biggest John McCain fan. Sometimes he pi$$es me off when he screws up what the party is trying to do. Other times, I respect him for it. Right here, I like that he can have a sense of humor.

WorldNetDaily: McCain on sexy film: 'I work with boobs every day'

Chinese Nukes

Here's a pleasant bed time story for you.

"If the Americans draw their missiles and position-guided ammunition on to the target zone on China's territory, I think we will have to respond with nuclear weapons," said General Zhu Chenghu.

FT.com / World / Asia-Pacific - Top Chinese general warns US over attack

Holy Yesterday Batman!

My main computer is a few minutes from being thrown through a window. It is having some boot-up issues, so I am using another one at my desk. I was doing so good, too! I got here today at 7:30! That's about an hour and forty minutes earlier than usual. The past two mornings I have had to be at a dentist's office in Franklin at 8AM, I made it both times and thought that was a good precedence and if I could keep it up it would be good for me to start getting to work at a reasonable time. I didn't count on spending every minute of my 'extra' time trying to TURN ON my @#$@%#@#$ computer!

Since I can't do any actual WORK at this computer, I might as well do some heavy blogging. I've got lots to say anyway.

So ... yesterday was a big day. I got to work and did my usual routine. I checked work and personal email, checked the bank and then started reading news. Of course, the big headline was the London bombings. Now, before I tell you the story I am about to tell, I'll jump ahead and tell you that three of my best friends in Nashville are in England right now. So as I read this article, here's what I am thinking:

"Certainly this wasn't the french! They were pretty ticked about loosing the Olympics hosting, but there's no way they could be responsible for this. They're too cowardly to actually use weapons of any sort."

- btw, it is still entertaining to read about how upset the french are about loosing. Check it:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/8500436

"Wow. 30 people dead? {at the time} Multiple attacks? Oh, what do you know? Muslim extremists. Go figure."

- then ... after reading half the article, I finally had this thought:

"The girls are there!"

I sent a little email to our group asking them to keep the travelers in their thoughts. No big deal, whatever. But then I started thinking about it and reading more and I got pretty concerned. Several of us started exchanging emails. I dunno, maybe we got each other in a lather unnecessarily. We started trying to find ways of getting in touch with their parents to see if they are alright. One of Amanda's friends was talking to her brother, Katie tracked down LB's parents. I tried calling Mary's apartment to ask for her emergency contact, presuming they were either her parents or someone that could get us in touch. Turns out that they can't really give out any information. In fact, they couldn't even confirm to me that Mary lived there or not. So, instead I gave them my contact information and asked them to pass it along to Mary's emergency contact. They wouldn't even confirm to me that they would or would not do that. I, actually, think that is all a good idea and applaud them for protecting their tenants' privacy so well. Turns out that they did call Mary's folks, her dad called me last night. However, there were still some gems from the conversation with the apartment office. Thus follows snipits of that conversation:

Me: "You have a tenant that is vacationing in London. There have been attacks in London today.
I am attempting to get in contact with her parents."

Her: "Attacks?"

Me: "Yes. Terrorist attacks."

Her: "Oh." (As in, "Oh, You scared me for a moment, I thought it was something serious. But now
that you have cleared that up, I am less concerned.")

- I hear someone enter her office and start talking.

Her: "Can you please hold."

Me: "Sure."
- Apparently, somebody's noise complaint or late rent payment is more pressing.

... (blah blah, I give her my contact information.)

Me: "Mary's parents probably will not know me, please tell them that I am a friend from the ##### Church."

Her: "Was she on a mission trip?"

Me: "No. She is on vacation."
- thinking: "What the @#$@## does that matter?"

Her: "Oh, just curious. {hee hee}"


Now that I know that they are safe, I can blog about this and have a good humor. Yesterday, however, I wanted to crawl through the phone and beat the girl senseless.

Terror?

If you know me, you know that I have never really 'gotten over' the attacks of September, 11 2001. Whereas I despise country music, I like that one song with the chorus "have you forgotten?" No. I never have and I never will. Yesterday's attacks in London once again revived my rage. However, I discovered an interesting conundrum. To me, the fundamental problem are the radical, militant Muslims. I certainly do not believe that the problem is Islam, or that all Muslims are trouble. Muslims are not inherently militant or radical. But the radical militants are THE root of the problem.

Now, I'm about to say something that is a bit inflammatory. If you disagree with this coming statement, stick with me for a while.

The only way to end their terrorist ways is to kill or imprison every single one of them. That's right. 100% of them. Leave a single one out there and he will recruit more and / or strap a bomb to himself and go right for it. The argument that we should just leave them alone and they won't attack us is utter crap. According to their view of their religion, those that do not think and believe as they do are an enemy that deserves death. Do you think that Osama bin Laden would hesitate for one minute if he had the opportunity to reduce the entire Western world to a smoldering ash heap?

I would say that the majority of 21st century western thinkers find that particular line of thought to be abhorrent. To over generalize, we are tolerant of differences and understand that the guy next door probably isn't going to look or act like ourselves. Certainly, we value human life over our opinions and the inconvenience of differences.

Therein lies our simultaneous strength and weakness while fighting the radical militant Muslim. Genocide is unacceptable. We will not go to the Middle East and nuke the entire place. Though, I have to admit that idea has held a certain appeal, especially right after 9/11. It is our value of human life that is our difference from the radicals. And it is that difference that allows them to continue to live and do their work. Great Britain values the lives of innocent Arabs and is therefore rewarded with bombs that kill 50+ of her own innocent citizens. It is absolutely not a matter of COULD we obliterate them from this Earth. We certainly could do it. It would take about a half hour. It is a matter of us knowing that there is no feasible way and it is wrong, and therefore we SHOULD NOT do it. Thus, if it is impossible to win a 'war against terror' without destroying all terrorists, and we are unwilling to do the horror that it would take to actually destroy all the terrorists. We appear to be at a stalemate.

The exception to this is to introduce a true free market society to the region. THAT is why we are in Iraq. We are there to help a nation grow from a brutal dictatorship to a thriving economy of personal accountability. It is working, but it will take a looooooong time. Russia is still not there. There are tons of communists in Russia pining for the 'good old days'.

So! God bless Great Britain and be with her suffering. God bless hers and our troops and the heroic work that they do. God bless the Iraqi merchant who opened his first shop a few months ago. And God visit his wrath upon those that would willingly and intentionally kill innocents.

Journal

About two years ago, Microsoft gave me a really, really nice leather journal. I have hauled it to meetings all over this campus. I LOVE it. When I first got it, I thought it would be really nice to have one just like it (sans the Microsoft logo) to take to church and write notes upon.

I really thought about that. I have sat through literally thousands of sermons, Bible studies, classes, chapels, etc. I have spent a good percentage of my life at these things. I couldn't tell you about two of them. They're gone. The only way to keep all of that is to write it down. Hence, the little journal looked perfect.

Two years ago, the manufacturer didn't sell their wares online. In fact, no one did! I couldn't even find it on eBay. And I never have been able to find another nice leather journal that I liked as well. So I procrastinated. Well, just the other day I tried again. Lo and behold they have an online store now! I ordered my journal. It is sitting on my desk right now. I LOVE it! I can't wait to use it. I think I want to go to a nice office supply store and buy a nice pen to go with it. Come sit by me at church and check it out.

It's friggin' hot here.

It's ridiculous in Nashville these days. It's in the 80's and the humidity is enough to choke a horse. Sunday I ran three miles outside and it felt like 50. No joke, I lost 2 pounds (of sweat) from the time I went outside to the time I came in. I ran inside on a treadmill today.

Tonight I stopped by the townhouse on the way home from church to check on progress. None. I was roaming around when I heard this hissing sound. Turns out I got a nail in a tire. That's probably going to keep happening. So I raced home (1.5 miles, nice) and changed clothes so I could put on the spare. This is a side note, but the spare shouldn't be a spare, it should be a fifth wheel that gets rotated in and out with the rest of them. Nope. I must have neglected that the last three times I got new tires because I don't even remember ever getting BFGoodrich tires for this vehicle, ever. But I digress. This simple process, in the dark, rendered me profusely sweaty. As in, my hair and shirt were soaked. I had to go inside and take a complete shower.

Vegas isn't this way. I agree with folks who say, "It's a dry heat." I LOVE it out there. 115 degrees with zero humidity is wonderful. I can walk from one end of the strip to the other, or traverse a dessert all day, the whole while feeling perfectly comfortable. The Nashville Rainforest, however, is miserable. What's Kansas City like?

Selling the spirit - Hardball with Chris Matthews - MSNBC.com

Selling the spirit - Hardball with Chris Matthews - MSNBC.com

How cool is this? I didn't know that the 'Christian Industry' had such a presence in Nash-Vegas. That's pretty sweet. I think I could handle working for a church-oriented business.

Some light reading for you

Jane's Information Group

I think this is kind of like 'Consumer Reports' and 'People Magazine' for the international intelligence community.

$200 Trillion

Do you have $200,000,000,000,000 just lying around? 'Cause I think this is a great idea and if a few of us get together we could do some very valuable good for this planet.

http://www.livescience.com/technology/050627_warming_solution.html

Fat & Happy

So, I haven't blogged in quite a while. I can't think of anything good. My title borrows from an Amanda phrase. I respect a woman that can confidently utter that phrase.

Last night we thought that blogging about SFBPC (sweaty-forehead-boy-pants-chic) would be funny ... but I think it's a had-to-be-there story. If you're confused, last night we had a waitress that had a sweaty forehead and wore boy jeans.

I'm happy. Life is good at the moment. I even have a few things that I could be all upset about if I wanted to. I live in a prison cell, I drive a Nissan P.O.S. that cost me another $400 today. But I am not even the least bit perturbed about that. Now, you jerks (you know who you are) are leaving town for a hundred million years. That has me bummed.

I don't even think I have anything funny to say. I think most of my humor is usually laced with of sarcasm. I got nothin' right now.

If you have a link on the right hand side of this site, chances are you are directly responsible for my positive mood.

Thanks.

The Guster of Oz

Song / Album / Artist

What You Wish For / Lost & Gone Forever / Guster

"... once had this dream, crashed down in oz
not black and white, but where the colors are ..."

Come Downstairs And Say Hello / Keep It Together / Guster

"Dorothy moves to click her ruby shoes
Right in tune with dark side of the moon ...

...

Voices calling from a yellow road
To come downstairs and say hello ..."

I have found after many years of intent listening to The Beatles that they have several themes of imagery that they reuse in many songs. The most obvious example being the use of the sun and rain (Here Comes the Sun, Sun King, I'll Follow the Sun, Rain, I Am The Walrus "... Standing in the English Rain"). The sun tends to represent hope or greatness. Rain is melancholy. Paul, in particular, uses birds, usually to describe fear or loneliness, (Blackbird, Bluebird, Free as a Bird "John never completed this song, Paul picked it back up", And Your Bird Can Sing). John even intentionally reuses their own lyrics or song titles (Glass Onion, How Do You Sleep?, All You Need is Love)

There are others. The sum of which weaves a cord or continuity to their collective works. It also gives a common lexicon of important keywords that can describe the purpose of the lyrics without a lot of verses.

Having been trained to find such continuity by The Beatles, I tend to pick up on these things in other bands. Thus, I caught in two Guster songs on two different albums (referenced above) that they must have a thing for The Wizard of Oz. Funny, that the two aforementioned songs are probably my favorites off each album. I wonder what their fascination is with The Wizard of Oz. They use it rather effectively. It tends to add a touch or surreal or dreaminess (stoned?) to the song.

I think I am really starting to dig Guster. If I can compare them to The Beatles, that's a lot in my book.

attitude

Do you think it matters a great deal when a developer is proud of what he creates? I do. Imagine, if you will, two developers who build exactly the same app (exactly the same code). They have exactly the same environment, manager, support structure, pay, home life, etc. etc. They are both exactly at the same level of competence and both understand the application to exactly the same depth. One truly believes that he wrote a compelling product. That it was well architected and is a very high quality reflection on his own abilities. The other thinks it is crap. He thinks the architecture is overcomplicated or too simple. He thinks the code is garbage. Now give these guys a year or two to support the app. I would imagine that the "happy" developer will be supporting a shiny, tip-top application whereas the "unhappy" developer will have an app with bugs introduced over that year. I even think he will understand less and less about it. I think attitude is a self-fulfilling prophesy.

I imagine that this applies to most other professions as well.

a short story

I haven't posted in a million years. I have been pretty busy. This short story to LB earlier pretty much sums up what has been going on with me lately:

A SHORT STORY


By Dan Norton


Once upon a time I left Blackstone and drove all over Nashville looking at dumpy, crack-town condos and far away houses. On the way home I stopped at Green Hills mall and watched Star Wars again. Despite the fact that I hate theatres and I will not have much reason to step in one again after Star Wars goes to DVD. I think watching Star Wars in a theatre is one of the most pure forms of enjoyment for me. Now I am going to go downtown and look at overpriced, "metrosexuals 'r us", ultra-modern lofts. Joy.



THE END


Appendix A: The lofts were just as I described them. They were $200K - $400K for 700 sq/ft apartments!!!

Parking for guests? Well, glad you asked because the answer is, "No. But they can park across the street. Hardly anyone has been mugged there today."

The big compelling reason to live in them was, "Hey! You're WALKING distance from the Tin Roof!"

To which I thought, "I couldn't imagine ANYTHING better than that ... except running my nether regions through a meat grinder."

Twin Towers II

Twin Towers model at MSNBC (David Shuster)

I casually clicked on this news article. When I saw the towers my heart leapt. When I read:

... for a brief moment today, we saw why so many people feel it is so important that newer, safer, stronger Twin Towers be built at Ground Zero.

I nearly got a shiver.

I have been semi-following the recent events surrounding the redevelopment of Ground Zero. From what I understand, construction was about to begin a few weeks ago when Governor Pataki brought the whole thing to a grinding halt and issued an order to "redesign". Whoa! At the time I figured that meant it would take longer then my natural lifetime to have anything there but two big holes in the ground. But right now, this very moment, I feel excitement that one day I will go back to NY and see two huge towers dominating the southern skyline of the city.

I am not a New Yorker. I have no real dog in this hunt. But I am an American who was, and still is, deeply touched by the events of September 11, 2001. A few weeks after the attack I watched Mayor Giuliani make a plea that he had enough volunteers, enough food and enough blood. What he really needed were tourists. A few weeks after that, I emptied out my bank account and got on a plane. I saw the twisted metal and the holes in the ground. I walked all around it. That's my only trip to New York thus far. However, I sympathize with New Yorkers that believe the only reasonable plan is to erect two new Twin Towers. Anything else is less. It is cowardice. It is letting those @#$@%# win. It is unacceptable. I agree wholeheartedly with Donald Trump who says about the Freedom Tower:

The last thing we need in New York is a skeleton representing the World Trade Center. I think it's not an appropriate design.

I didn't like the design of the Freedom Tower, but I figured that was the speech of someone who lives hundreds of miles away from New York. I thought, if New Yorker's (for the most part) like it than so be it. It's their city, after all. But if there is a wellspring of New Yorkers who support rebuilding the Twin Towers, I salute you, I stand by you, I THANK you and I will prove it by coming there and spending more money ... well, I'll do that anyway, but you know what I mean.

New Twin Towers would be a tribute to the victims. It is the ultimate example of American resiliency. It is also the second biggest insult to the bastards that toppled the first ones. Of course, forcing them to live in a treacherous mountain region and survive on a diet of their own cooked feces while hunting them like wild animals and killing them is the ultimate insult, but we're already working on that one.

Cinco de Mayo (I hate the french almost as much as I hate hippies)

Angelica gave us a loverly history lesson on the true meaning of Cinco de Mayo.

I don't know. I'm sort of torn on this one. On one hand, good job for beating up the french. I'd certainly raise my margarita glass to toast you on that one. On the other hand, you beat up the french. Why is that noteworthy? It's like celebrating sleeping late. Is it because the war against the frogs began on 5 May and ended on the same day, thus making it the fifth or sixth quickest ass-whoopin' they received ... that year?

I certainly agree with Pennington's thoughts on the nazi's, so this is not an endorcement of the folks in the picture. However, I don't like frogs. If I ever, for some unholy reason, have to step foot on french soil I promise to wipe my shoes off in public before departing. Anyway, this is my favorite picture of paris:



btw, that picture comes from a pretty funny site.

Water

I ate sort-of a big dinner, and I ate it kind-of late. That's not the best combination in the world. After that I felt really, really thirsty. I think I drank at least 12 glasses of water in the past hour and a half. My mouth is telling me that I could drink more. I am now laying in bed exhausted. I can't sleep because I am full of water. If I move from side to side real fast I can hear it sloshing around. When I press on my belly it's so full it doesn't mush in. I think a fish could swim around in there all night and live. This is miserable.

Can't Help it Star Wars Ramblings

So ... I was looking at this:

http://msnbc.com/modules/starwars/map

and realized how unafraid Lucas is to kill off almost ALL of his important characters.

There are 33 squares on the map. Two of them represent organizations: Droid Army and Clone Army. While both of these incur thousands of fatalities, I will exclude them from this calculation. One of them has two people: Lars family. Two more are duplicates: Anakin Skywalker / Darth Vader and Senator Palpatine / The Emperor (imho, "The Emperor" just sounds cooler than "Emperor Palpatine", so kudos to these guys). Get rid of the duplicates and that leaves us with 30 "people".

Of those 30 there two for which, by the end of Episode VI, we do not know the fate: Lama Su and Jar Jar (maybe he gets offed in EpIII, but I doubt it). While Padme does not die on screen (I assume), Leia tells us she is dead. Also, we can assume that Bail Organa was on Alderaan when it blew in Episode IV, though the makers of this site neglected that point. There are 9 characters that we know survive all the way to the end credits of Episode VI. That leaves 19 characters on this map that get whacked on screen. There are a few that die in Episode III ... I hope I am not spoiling it for you if you don't know that. I am making the assumption that none of these people, er "retire" before Episode IV.

These aren't 'red shirts' either. Darth Vader, Obi-Wan, Yoda and Palpatine are, pretty much, the four most central characters of the whole deal. All dead. Besides these guys, the most powerful Jedi (Qui-gon, Mace)? Dead. Most beloved baddies (Boba Fett, Jabba)? Dead. Now ... how 'bout this one that I haven't thought about until now. 'Empire' is generally accepted as a fan favorite and the most dark of the OT (original trilogy). Besides a bunch of bumbling Imperial officers, that's the ONLY movie where a key character doesn't die. Interesting.

If you are reading this, you know I think about Star Wars constantly and could blog about it until my fingers fall off, but I haven't because, "Who want's to hear that?" I thought this one was worthy because the thought was spawned by LB's hypothesis on another popular saga. I don't want to agree that either Hermione or Ron will die by the end of the last Harry Potter book, but ... oh man, I concede. It really could happen.

btw. If you are after some GREAT SW meat to tide you over until the big day, read all of this:

http://darthside.blogspot.com

I just read this snippet. That's GREAT!!!

I meditated in the carbon freezing chamber as Skywalker approached. Out of the steam strode Qui-gon Jinn, shimmering and insubstantial. "Anakin," he called. "The time has come to test him."

"He is only a boy."

"He is stronger than you think," Qui-gon pronounced, and vanished.

So...chalk one up for Qui-gon. The boy is strong. Stronger than I could have imagined.

... or how 'bout this one. RIOT!!!

"I've been waiting for this for a long time," he went on. "Gettin' a chance to talk, just you and me. You wanna know why?"

"Pray tell, Captain."

"I know who you are!" he shouted.

Though my masque betrayed nothing I was startled. Did Luke know about me? I knew the liar Obi-wan would never have told him the truth...but could this smuggler know to tell him? How could that be possible?

"You can't hide it from me any more!" Solo continued. "Your cruelty reveals everything, Lord Vader."

"So, you know the truth..." I said, suddenly afflicted with a pain in the control circuitry of my left leg.

"Yeah, I know alright," spat Solo. "You're my father!"

It took me a moment to absorb that. Then I shook my head and smiled behind my masque. "No Solo," I pronounced darkly. "I killed your father."

Solo winced as if I had struck him. "That's not true," he muttered. "That's impossible."

This is the very best one. He-larious!!!

Dear House of Ozzel,

I regret to inform you that your son has been killed in the line of duty.

He was an incompetent, yammering boob and he will be missed by none. I have allowed the men to pillage his personal belongings, which is why we have enclosed nothing but the sole remaining item: a torn advertisements page from a magazine of midget pornography. May it shock and disturb you, and may you think of it always when you remember your dearly departed son, the ninny.

Know also that his limitations as a sub-par military professional caused the deaths of many of the Emperor's loyal soldiers, whose funeral expenses will appear on your next tax assessment.

Sincerely,
D. Vader

Only 9 days, 5 hours, 32 minutes left!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

cmm pics

Oh yeah! I kick your ...

See more here

LB's Zingers Part I

Lara should be an author. She comes up with these zingers that make me laugh almost daily. I know that I have already started to forget some, so I have to write them down. Here's the best ones from the past couple of days. LB, can you think of any others that I liked?

In reference to adopting a dog, "They provide toys, food, crate, and vet care. You provide a face to lick."

Asking us to share a moment with her after a long day, "Can someone PLEASE meet me for a beer before bowling? Pretty please? With foam on top?"

On feeling a bit disheveled, "I combed my hair with a pork chop."


HA! These are priceless. Thanks.

Bright and Shiny

After watching Bubble Boy last night I decided to waste some time today looking at reviews. The movie struck me as one that tanked in the theatre. I don't know why I care enough to look. Here are some reviews from rottentomatoes.com:

I like these:

"Often terrible, yet strangely watchable."
-- Kim Morgan, OREGONIAN

"It's not good. It's a bizarre mix of cute and disgusting, innocent and evil. It's all wrong. So why was I laughing so much?"
-- Dave White, IFILM

"Bubble Boy's producers should never be allowed to SEE another film, let alone make one."
-- Tony Toscano, TALKING PICTURES (U.S.)

"Has a goofy and over-the-top way of making its point, but as long as you’re not stuck on it fitting a particular mould, it’s a fun - and meaningful - ride."
-- Brian Webster, APOLLO GUIDE


These I disagree with (--> is my comment):

--> Looks like somebody got offended. Poor wittle fella.
"Certainly the meanest-spirited film ever associated with the Disney hallmark."
-- Stephen Hunter, WASHINGTON POST

--> Well ... it wouldn't really be 'Bubble Boy' without the ... um ... BUBBLE!!! IDIOT!!!
"Someone like Tom Green or Carrot Top probably could have done a better job of reacting to Jimmy's issues and done it without a darn bubble in their way."
-- Ward Triplett III, KANSAS CITY STAR

--> Philip Martin is a Brianist.
"...the most anti-human movie to surface since Showgirls."
-- Philip Martin, ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE

Headlines - 5/3/2005

1. The editors of MSNBC.com would like to bring you the following grossly obvious, non-funny reports:
   • U.S. military report: Wars straining U.S. power
   • Africa worst place for mothers, children


2. Holy Cow! Ligers are real!
   • Liger, liger, burning bright


3. I've always thought the same thing
   • British geologist Dougal Dixon, in the book "The Future is Wild," creates a scenario millions of years from now in which humans become extinct and are replaced by an animal kingdom dominated by a giant land-based squid.

31 seconds too many

Official chip time was 2:00:30. So it's more like 13.1 = 2. I'm still happy with myself. My nipples are healing nicely. Thanks for asking, Corny.