Monthly Archives: September 2007

Scrappleface has a clean, new, newspapery look.

He must be sliding in the polls back home or something.

Because I don’t watch local news, I didn’t realize the anti-circus bunny theft was in Spokane. Until I read about it on an Australian’s blog. Weird world we live in.

On Slashdot a guy asks what he can use to replace his Thinkpad because he doesn’t want to support China give the situation in Burma. Well, I think there was one actual computer suggestion.

The best line:

You do realize Lenovo is selling the Thinkpads now because… *drumroll* they were the company that made them all along?

The government is getting a bit hot under the collar, killing protesters.

In case, you too, were wondering. Ah yes, another one of Britian’s colonies.

It has been argued by some people that the policy of partition always led to Civil War. It certainly did in India and Cyprus and Palestine and Ireland. This was no bad thing for Britain. It kept them busy and instead of fighting us they fought each other. This meant that it was no longer necessary to have a policy about them.

Lileks is on the front page of MSN (don’t go there, the horror), which means his site was hammered into the ground, which means my morning is incomplete. *shakes fist*

Why there won’t be meaningful illegal immigration reform. This is New Jersey, imagine what it would be like in Southern California.

How much that change in your pocket is really worth.

Nickel’s are where the money’s at.

Amazon’s new MP3 service is up, mostly cheaper than iTunes and DRM free.

The flaw would be that the music preview doesn’t work for me and they don’t have the ratings by song, yet. I want to know what the most popular songs on an album are!

The one large small portion of your life that hasn’t been taxed just might be, come November 1st.

A history or media and blogs. If you’ve been around a while, it’s nothing new, but it’s organized well.

A mathmatical discovery leads to parallel universes. Which, if you think about all those quantum level decisions, is a lot of universes. Of course, in some other universe I understand all that math.

It’s a distant universe.

It also brings up a lot of questions about the nature of personality and reality.

“Um”s and “er”s are helpful for listeners. Speaking out loud brings my brain to a halt which leads to trouble when I finish whatever I have stored in RAM which leads to, uh, pauses as I figure out what I am going to say next.

No one will make over $97,000. They will get their money through non-taxable means.

“It’s in bad shape. There is no hard-and-fast rule about how long a house can sit on the side of the freeway,” Caltrans spokeswoman Maria Raptis said.

Why isn’t there a rule about such things? I’m calling my state congressman now to make sure they get something on the books before it becomes an issue here.

It’s The Hobbit’s 70th Birthday. You should probably dress up as Bilbo for work.

Yeah, I’m just linking this because it has a Yes, Prime Minister reference. Which, perhaps to my detriment, has formed my picture of governmental workings. That does not make the point any less valid, however.

The show we used to watch in like, 2nd or 3rd grade. I wasn’t sure I hadn’t dreamed it up.

The theme song. Oy.

Ordinary World as done by Paul Anka.

Uhura is cast in the upcoming horror that will be Star Trek XI. Check out the clip at the bottom.

Also, this.

/please, oh please, let it be decent

California court admits it shouldn’t jump in the middle of a policy debate. I’m impressed.

Interesting Instapundit interview with Laura Ingraham concerning her new book. It really highlights the difference in left and right thinking on how to change the culture.

Syria, North Korea: No really, it’s cement.

Israel: Okay, we’re bombing it.

How to not be the first against the wall when the robots rise up.

For this, Google can be as evil as they want with their video ads and their firewall in China and the like.

This is why Wii is outselling everything else 3-to-1. You aren’t going to see these folks playing Halo 3.

“Microsoft has just published a patent application for advertising triggered by sequences of user actions, which describes how to interrupt game playing, music listening, and photo viewing with pop-up ads (‘the components may be integrated directly into the operating system’).

Of course you would want Macgyver in an emergency. Those other guys would just get you blown up, Macgyver would actually help you escape.

Normally, when a package shipped by UPS hits Hodgkins, IL, it’s 3 days away from me. For no apparent reason I won’t get this specific package for 6 days. Is Monday a shipping holiday of some sort? Can I get, and pay less for, this uber-slow delivery when I ship something?

Why do drugs when you can just think about 10 dimensions.

Yes, that will cut down on the stabbings.

I blame Canada.

Just on principle. Plus, it would keep the president from dissolving the government.

It’s hard to argue with a platform like that.

The fan on my uber-hip, 1gHz, Ubuntu, Gateway laptop just died. While I admit it makes for a quieter computing experience, any bets on how long before the heat fries everything? Just when I got it all set up nice and everything.

Yes, I did try giving it a whack to see if that would start it back up. It didn’t. I think it’s really broke.

I could replace it for $50! Or $15 on Ebay. Is it worth it? Really?

Anyone got an old laptop they want to get rid of?

UPDATE: Not to worry, everyone! A little elective surgery cleared out a dust bunny the size of Toledo that completely jammed up the fan. Phew. Tragedy averted.

416GB of love on a flash drive.

I’d just like to know what kind of astrogation program their using. You know, for when I build my FTL starship.

I’m linking to this because it has the phrase, “well, I’m not sure there’s a homeland-security color code for “Gaily Insouciant,”” in it.

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.

Someone go see it and tell me if it will utterly destroy my opinion of the franchise.

Someone has done all the thinking for you. It’s one of those “why didn’t I think of that” ideas.

Of course, all it does is delay the day of reckoning. Although the chance for variety is intriguing.

You know that really awesome book of Greek Myths you read when you were a kid? No, not this one, the other one. Yeah, you can download the audio here.

See the hairism in this Fark thread. (Not for the easily offended, it is Fark after all)

So Fred Thomson is running for president. I’m ambivalent about him so far, he hasn’t said anything to really rile me up, he seems like a typical Republican and it would be nice to have an engaging president who can work a press conference. And I think he can beat Hillary. Please God, let someone beat Hillary. The vote is still, however, over a year away giving him plenty of time to disappoint me.

Remember reading about the Industrial Revolution? Remember reading about the standards of living before and after the Industrial Revolution? The earth was healthier then. People weren’t, but that’s not important. The poor of the world are used to that lifestyle, why not take advantage of that? It’s for the environment!

Climate Care celebrates the fact that it encourages the Indian poor to use their own bodies rather than machines to irrigate the land. Its website declares: ‘Sometimes the best source of renewable energy is the human body itself. With some lateral thinking, and some simple materials, energy solutions can often be found which replace fossil fuels with muscle-power.’

Spaceport America.

It’s Bob Newhart’s birthday. Lileks has the goods. One can only assume they’re laughing at some sort of physical comedy, as Bob Newhart was known for.

I’m going to try this next week. See if anyone notices.

A Top 15 greatest science fiction books of all time.

I just don’t like the blatantly political books, 1984, Brave New World, Fahrenheit 451, Slaughterhouse 5. Not that they aren’t good books, just they’re barely science fiction.

If you want preach at people, do it like Battlefield Earth. 1 page of libertarianism and 999 pages of fighting aliens. I’m not saying Battlefield Earth is great literature, though it is an entertaining book, just that it has a good ratio of preaching to story.

Interview with Christopher Hitchens about Iraq. I love how he compliments whomever he is about to vehemently disagree with. Also, he is excellent at not being interrupted.

How the Nazis improved football.

Real football, not that commie pinko European football.

You can build one for the same price as a Macbook.

Granted the Tories aren’t in power, but when the government is paying for your health care, they get to make up whatever crazy rules they want. And what can you do about it? Wait for the other party to win, I guess.

“It is inconsistent with the concept of the responsible citizen to imagine that it is realistic for citizens, having paid their taxes, to expect that the state will underwrite the health implications of any lifestyle decision they choose to make,” the report states.

I’m thinking a responsible citizen wouldn’t be expecting the government to pay for their health care and therefore it’s none of the governments darn business what kind of lifestyle they determine they want to live.

A couple of interesting opinion pieces on Larry Craig and hypocrisy.

Columnist that made fun of Bush for falling off a Segway, falls off a Segway. And breaks three ribs.

I’d just like to announce to the world that I love Invader Zim. I realize it went off the air years ago, but I felt now was the time to announce it.

Just Zim and Gir. The rest of the characters I don’t care about. Well, Professor Membrane is okay. Also, it has an awesome theme song.

I listened to Virgin Radio Xtreme (geez, I hate any psuedo-hip variation on extreme, but that’s beside the point) while working on my computer last night and just now, I turned it back on and it’s obviously prerecorded because I noticed I’m within a couple songs of where I started last night and their going in the same order.

Lucky for me it’s a decent show.

This is why I don’t tell stories. They need more drama.

Will my internet connection work? Will I hear the same songs again next time I tune in? Will Virgin Radio sue me for defamation? And if they do and lose will the judge award me a ticket on Virgin Galactic in lieu of a cash award? Stay tuned for answers to these questions and more… I’ll work on it.

At least I didn’t post any pictures of my cats

…who are doing fine, btw.

Winning the lottery ain’t what it used to be.

I’m still pretty sure I could get by with $48.6 meeellion dollars. I’m willing to try if someone wants to give me $50 million as an experiment.