Not So Fast

So, you’re playing a video game and just getting too wound up. Luckily, there’s a new game for you. Why you wouldn’t just turn on Food Network or something is beyond me.

So I was forced to watch CNN while I was shuffling along at the gym last night. Forced because the TV in front of the only available treadmill was on CNN and the channel buttons were missing so I couldn’t change it after my neighbors left. And I remembered why I watch SciFi channel instead of the news on TV. Cause it makes me mad and I start talking out loud to the TV, even in public. I had to get a little sarcastic with it, matter of fact.

One of the little segments was talking about the history of the Hezbollah, Anderson Cooper, I think. The Hezbollah has killed over 800 people since 1980, but they provide free health care and help people rebuild their houses after Israel knocks them down because the Hezbollah did something stupid again. Oh, well then, they are quite the upstanding organization. Practically Mother Theresa. So Freaking What? Their purpose for existence is still to destroy Israel and kill/kidnap civilians to create terror. Buying Lebanonese love with good works doesn’t mitigate that, at all.

Now, if the Hezbollah would disavow terrorism, condemn suicide bombers, stop paying suicide bombers, stop launching rockets at Israel and become a purely political party, then great, go for it. But don’t be acting like you’re helping the Lebonese people out of the kindness of your hearts. You’re buying their support. And don’t be reporting it like it all balances out somehow. Sure, they cause the trouble, but they help fix it! La-tee-fricking-da.

I would have thought that automakers were already trying to make alternative energy cars that weren’t hideously ugly—failing, but trying—but I guess I could be wrong.

via Instapundit

Gosh, it’s slow on the internets today.

Sometimes the ridiculousness of politics isn’t funny.

Iran’s upset we aren’t paying enough attention to it right now. North Korea ought to be along any day now to join in the complaining. Look guys, it’s summer. We got shark attacks, heat waves, and now Lebanon, our news attention span is spread thin. Get back to us in, say, October.

Colbert vs. Morning News Shows.

via Huffington Post

For some reason, here in rugged northern Idaho we don’t have a lot of blackouts or emergencies or even much potential for them, but it’s always good to be prepared.

The carpet can tell your age, sex, and weight. Freaky.

There is a woeful lack of explanation in this article on global warming destroying the national parks. Like why is the temperature rising twice as fast on the western half of the country? How can global warming hurt Death Valley? Do they even have national parks on the East Coast?

Anybody have $35 million I could borrow? And by “borrow” I mean “have”.

UPDATE: Um, could you make it $70 million? Thanks.

Somehow Kerry knows the Hezbollah would not have attacked Israel, were he president.

Apparently he has access to the alternate timeline universes. That’s the most plausible explanation I can come up with, anyway.

I wonder if George Bush has a goatee in that universe?

Rube Goldberg thingy in HL2. Someone has too much time on their hands, but it’s still cool.

via MAKE

Mark Steyn

Suppose this were true — that terrorists blew up Oz honeymooners and Scandinavian stoners in Balinese nightclubs because of “the Palestinian question.” Doesn’t this suggest that these people are, at a certain level, nuts?

The good news is our lives are so comfortable that we have nothing better to worry about than that summer is hot. The bad news is our lives are so comfortable we have nothing better to worry about than that summer is hot.

This article makes a few important points concerning the effect of Saddam’s fall.

While the success of Iraq’s democracy hangs in the balance from an operational perspective, the strategic advantages created by the invasion of Iraq are working very favorably for the US in the current Israeli-Lebanon crisis in very tangible ways.

…

The leading Arab League states, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, and Egypt, call Hezbollah’s actions “inappropriate and irresponsible.” This lessens the urgency of calls from the international community, whether the G8, UN, or EU, for a ceasefire. That lessened urgency creates something very precious indeed: a moment in time and space wherein Israel has the most fleeting of opportunities for decisive action against Hezbollah, an avowed foe, a terrorist organization, and a constant threat to the security of its populace.

Decisive action is what has traditionally been missing from the wars of the Middle East. Land changes hands, blows are exchanged, and peace eventually is negotiated. But the underlying dynamic never changes because the sides are rarely faced with a decisive defeat, the only condition that can force the most avowed of men to abandon the ideas they hold dear.

Mark Steyn.

James Lileks.

Victor Davis Hanson.

It’s a brilliant idea. I heart the internet.

/I still miss Joel

via Inoperable Terran

Scott, he’s so witty.

It looks like Bush loves babies until they grow up to be Senators. Now, with the November elections looming, many of us are asking, ‘Where do I go to get my backbone back?’�

Iranians? In North Korea? At the missile tests? That’s like a double dog dare.

Marvin available for purchase.

posted just for the HHGTTG ref. Cause that’s the kind of person I am.

He did it! I didn’t think he had it in him.

Interesting Slashdot replies to the whole Netflix-has-too-much-to-choose-from article yesterday.

That’s a big joystick.

And the discussion it will foster will be along the lines of, “left, left, GO LEFT!”
via MAKE.

A handy comparison chart of the new browsers.

Helen and Tony. Or more appropriately, Tony and Helen.

Need to know what the weather will be like in 2027? Japan will know. Guaranteed to be as accurate as your local weatherman.

So, Discovery landed safely. Good job, kids. So much for the BushRovian conspiracy to kill them all in order to better the poll numbers.

Didn’t everyone vote for Olmert cause he was the feel-good, non-violent type? Not that I have a problem with what he’s doing, I just thought it was interesting how circumstances alter everything.

Instapundit nails my objection to the paying-people-to-vote plan.

And I am willing to catagorically state that it is theologically unsound.

So, it’s not finished yet, but if I wait for that WordPress 3.5 will be out by then, and I’m tired of teh Kubrick, so here’s the new theme. So far.

Google, making the world a better place one complaint at a time.

Bush goes piratical.

I admit the iNike is cool. So, whoever out there is going to buy me that Macbook I have my eye on, could you pick me up one of those sets too. Size 10. Thanks.

Happy Birthday.

Whew. Lileks on Hugh Hewitt. And VDH. And Mark Steyn.

Beats me what’s up with the links. I tried to fix them 3 times. You’re on your own.

I ❤ The White House Grill. So does everyone else. You must eat there if you are ever driving through Post Falls.

We had it for lunch, I had to mention it. In case you were wondering. Yes, I’m just bragging.

A little overanxious about Iranian nukes, your boss, or government electromagnetic waves affecting your brain? Take a minute, look at the cute bunny, and relax. Awww.

This whole Hezbollah/Israel thing is starting to make me nervous.

Or, it’s all a plot to knock out Iran’s nukes. Yeah, that’s the ticket.

I would trade a perfectly decent—if near-sighted—eye for one that did slo-mo and instant replays.

Nike and iPod. Two great tastes that taste great together.

I’m sure someone will find it useful to have their shoes talking to their iPod.

Minimum wage goes up (in Pennsylvania) and the White House senior aides get a raise too. The world is in balance again.

I’m all for robots making life better and all, but I’m not following the thinking here.

Paul Johnson has the solution to the world’s energy problems.

The U.S. could consolidate its superpower status with a Global Nuclear Energy Supply System, which, in time, would not only solve the world’s energy problems but would also generate unimaginably vast export earnings, thereby providing a permanent solution to America’s balance-of-payments deficit.

That’ll go over well. The world whines about Starbucks and ICANN, imagine if we controlled the energy.

And are there still nuclear haters? Didn’t that go out of style with the fall of the Soviet Union?

UPDATE: Apparently the Anglicans and God are anti-nuke. I didn’t know. Must be in one of those minor prophet books nobody reads.

MPAA is catching on slightly faster than the RIAA. Assuming, of course, that this actually flies.

Free Slurpees tomorrow!

Lucky for us, internal Republican wrangling is keeping Congress from doing much.

Annual flu vaccine shortage scare begins.

Lawn mowing, front and back: 18:45. What a difference a lack of water makes.

Previous time.

By these standards I’m not obsessed with technology. Mostly because I don’t have enough.

Greg Gutfield lays it out.

Until you force Laurie David, Arianna and her pals out of their luxury jets, until you drive cars when only absolutely necessary, until you have solar panels fueling your houses’ addiction that also fuels your media and dietary addictions, you will be looked upon as the transparent hypocrites that you are. Maybe your level of uncontrollable rage is a function of your subconscious knowing you are more the problem than SUVs, second hand smoke and Ann Coulter combined.

10am and already getting my work for the day started. And I came in early too.

One solid hour of work before lunch break. Yes!

Stupid xerox* machine. (*not actually made by Xerox)

Getting better. 2.5 hours of uninterrupted work.

I want my FTL rocketpack.

And a friendly robot to help me.

via Instapundit

To attract current iPod users Microsoft is going to let you download for free any songs you’ve already bought from the iTunes Music Store. They’ll actually scan iTunes for purchased tracks and then automatically add those to your account.

Surprisingly cool move for Microsoft.

Living in Sudan is soooo bad that it can be compared to a Tracy Chapman song.

Having problems uploading some files to the internets. Tried off and on for 2 days. Call the nice people. They say try it one more time. It works. Doh! How does the compy know?

UPDATE: Why is bubble wrap so awesome?

FURTHER UPDATE: Do you suppose Diet Coke sales bumped up lately with the Diet Coke/Mentos videos flying around the internet?

You never know what you might find, like Apollo 12 capsule recovery film. It could use a soundtrack and some narration, but it’s still cool.

And maybe some special effects.

And a guest spot from Leonard Nimoy.

A lack of tornados in Nebraska this time.

Here’s an interesting article that actually gets to the heart of the trouble.

What’s with Americans and their flags? Especially in July?

Tim Blair lays it out.

Oooo!

Ahhh! (direct video link)

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed. That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, having its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.

The more I learn about history and politics the more it amazes me that the US exists at all. God bless us.

This guy’s damaged brain started to rewired itself after 20 years.

Wallis has complete amnesia about the two decades he spent barely conscious, but remembers his life before the injury. “He still thinks Ronald Reagan is president,” his father, Jerry, said in a statement, adding that until recently his son insisted he was 20 years old.

Yeah, weird.

Alaska embarassed by its duly elected representative again. Seriously guys, vote. him. out.

Laff.

Homestarrunner is back.

A car that can drive itself. Now all I need is a rocket pack and a moon colony.

Back when I was typing book reports on my parent’s Apple IIe, the cool kids were registering domain names.

Available only in Mexican candy and not for much longer. Explains a lot about that nasty tamarind stuff.

The ACLU says the government could possibly use brain scanning during terrorist interogations. The Tok’ra were unavailable for comment.

It’s for the children and it will fight terrorism. You can’t argue with that.

It’s a risky idea. I wouldn’t recommend it.

Chicago council member wants to stop restaurants from using trans-fats.

“I don’t know that this ought to be adopted. But I certainly don’t see anything wrong with bringing in experts. . . . This is designed to start a debate about whether or not these chains ought to do what Wendy’s did. Wendy’s took the dangerous cooking oil out of their process.”

And now Wendy’s is a bastion of healthy food. Mmm, Frosty’s.

via Fark

Props to Tom Petty for not suing the Red Hot Chili Peppers.

“If someone took my song note for note and stole it maliciously, then maybe (I’d sue). But I don’t believe in lawsuits much. I think there are enough frivolous law suits in this country without people fighting over pop songs.”

Spaulding has a new technologically advanced official basketball coming out with the new NBA season. I wonder if it can help my play even though I haven’t touched a basketball in months. After all, it has “revolutionary design and breakthrough materials”. If that doesn’t help, what will?

RIAA going for a folksy, hometown feel with the lawsuits.

With all the horror stories about Paypal you’d think people would be happy to have an alternative but I can see where it might be worrying to some that Google is taking over the world.

Jim Baen has died.

Obituary, on a hugely annoying background, here.

The topic of Coke Blak came up at lunch today and since we don’t have it around here, as near as we can tell, we made our own. The recipe:

1. Get a sixteen ounce cold cup
2. Fill with ice
3. Add ~10 oz Pepsi (unfortunately that’s all we have around here)
4. Add two shots espresso
5. Add one or two shot(s) half-and half (half-and-half makes everything better)
6. Stir.
7. Share and Enjoy.

The soda really brings out the bean flavor, which is nice. I believe further experimentation is required to find optimal ratios and soda choices, but it was a solid start.

UPDATE: Hummingbird on crack would be the physiological effect.

Orrin Hatch needs some time in the Total Perspective Vortex.

I was asked this afternoon by a large body of media: Is this the most important thing the Senate could be doing at this time? I can tell you: You’re darned right it is.

It’s a flag, it’s not like they’re burning down federal buildings. Lighten up, Francis.

I’m not a big fan of McCain, but he’s right about this.

So why has my party, the party of small government, lately adopted the practices of our opponents who believe the bigger the government the better? I’m afraid it’s because at times we value our incumbency more than our principles.

Okay, so these little strips tell you how long something has been open or whatever. It still doesn’t solve the problem of how long is too long. These strips will just lead to confusion. Who cares when I bought or opened it? Does it look or smell funny? No, then eat it. If I start throwing away food based on these arbitrary standards of days and weeks, I’d waste even more food those poor starving kids in Africa need, not to mention killing my grocery budget.

This rant is all Lilek’s fault.

Bush on the line item veto.

Special super-duper limited edition rerelease DVD of the Lord of the Rings movies.

Now, I love twinkies, they are the pinnacle of the Hostess snack cake pantheon, but Twinkie Lasagna is just plain wrong. They should be eaten as God intended, deep-fried.

It’s days like today that end up going horribly awry. I woke up before my alarm, a miracle. Actually had time to go for a run and could coast leisurely through my morning. The weather is beautiful, the sun is shining, birds are singing, I’m in a good mood, I have a tasty hot beverage, Get Fuzzy is especially funny, and all is generally well with the world, so something bad has to be coming. Like, “oh, by the way, you’re fired” or “your house just burned down” bad.

Also since I’m rambling here, what I hate, hate, hate about living in such a small town. At the grocery store the cashier said, “Didn’t I see you jogging this morning?” Argh. Yes, yes you did. Can I not even go out for a run without being noticed by a stranger that I will see an hour later? If being out at 5 freaking 30 in the morning doesn’t provide some privacy, what will? I ask you.

Mark Steyn.

You gotta hand it to these guys: “Redeployment” is ingenious. I’ll bet the focus-group consultants were delirious: “surrender,” “lose,”,”scram,” “scuttle ignominiously,” “head for the hills” all polled poorly, but “redeploy” surveyed well with all parts of the base, except the base in Okinawa, where they preferred “sayonara” — that’s “redeploy” in any language.

…

North Korea is a weak power: Its population is starving but it’s about to “test” the latest variation on its aptly named No Dong missile. I mean “test” in the sense that I test my new shotgun by firing it through your kitchen window.

So, for the first time since it came to Coeur d’Alene, I went downtown to watch the Ironmen finish last night. Not a pretty sight. I totally respect what they accomplished but boy, do they make it look hard and not fun at all.

I don’t need a computer that knows what kind of mood I’m in, I need a computer that knows which button I meant to click.

In my continuing series of incredibly untimely movie reviews, Howl’s Moving Castle, which I stayed up far too late last night watching and was almost late for church because I didn’t hear my alarm this morning. Luckily the cop had his radar pointed at Seltice and not Mullan.

I liked it. It was pretty. The animation was nice. But I couldn’t help but compare it to Spirited Away which I thought was much better. Howl’s Moving Castle lacked the bizarre, foreign-culture feel that made Spirited Away so good. And it seemed a bit rushed, everybody learned their lessons and lived happily ever in the last 10 minutes for no particular reason.

To sum up, Howl’s Moving Castle is good, but I’d recommend Spirited Away if you want to watch a Hayao Miyazaki work.

Norm Mineta resigned, which really wouldn’t matter to me at all except (long [for me], rambling, poorly-written personal story follows) …
Continue reading →

American’s have .86 fewer close friends than 20 years ago. Clearly, the social fabric of the country is falling apart.

It amazes me what Congresspeople will say on record. At least he apologized. And yes, it made me laugh cause I’m a bad person.

I’m going to protest, um, high gas prices and skip dinner tonight. I learned it from Saddam.

Shatner “singing” to Lucas. Seriously, LOL. I almost fell out of my chair.

via The Corner

So what does cause gas prices to jump every summer, coincidentally, when we switch over to boutique fuels?

Cool flash thingy on how the new missle defense works.

National Review has their summer reading list, so obviously you were wondering what I was going to read this summer. Here you go:

As soon as I finish Cryptonomicon by Neal Stephenson I have to begin The Confusion, since I previously finished Quicksilver, which, so far, was better than Cryptonomicon.

A little history, of course. Also, Brother Number One.

I find myself getting dumber so I’m planning on doing a quick refresher with Precalculus. Do I know how to have a good summer or what? Oh yeah.

And some fluff, Mercedes Lackey, Fred Saberhagen, and Jane Eyre.

And if I get that far I might try Harry Potter or The Dark Tower, just to see what the fuss is all about.

Technology for the gardening-impaired.

If you’re stealing money, or doing anything illegal actually, don’t write it down. Der.

via Fark 

Lileks says it so well.

I am not susceptible to disaster scenarios. I do not believe we have ten years to prevent the inevitable collapse of civilization. As long as I can remember I have been fed end-times scenarios – death by ice, death by fire, death by famine, death by smothering from heaps of clambering humans scrabbling for purchase on an overpopulated world, death by full-scale nuclear exchange, death by unstoppable global AIDS, death by a two-degree rise in temperatures, death by radon, death by alar, death by inadvertent Audi acceleration, death by juju. Doesn’t mean we won’t die of juju. But somehow we survive. The only thing I take away is a vague wistful wonder what it would be like to live in an era when things were generally so bad that the futurists spent their time assuring us it would be better. Say what you will about the past, but at least they had a future. All I’ve ever had, according to the experts, is a grim narrow window of heedless ignorance bliss followed by a dystopian irradiated world characterized by scarcity, mutation, and quite possibly intelligent chimps. You have no future. Oh, and don’t smoke!

Bah.

Yes, the venerable Senate, full of important people doing important things.

Stephen Hawking scaremongering in China.

He said he was afraid that Earth “might end up like Venus, at 250 degrees centigrade and raining sulfuric acid.”

I’m no brilliant astrophysicist, but wouldn’t Venus’s proximity to the sun be the leading cause of that sort of thing rather than the chlorofluorocarbons in my can of Aquanet?

Pete found this. It’s funny cause it’s true.

Except for the Folgers part. Don’t drink Folgers unless you are trapped in a third world country or your grandparent’s house. Not that there’s a lot of Folgers in third world countries, it’s mostly Nescafe there, from what I’ve seen. But that’s not important right now.

Arming packbots. So, can my Roomba get a 9mm or something? It’ll need it for the inevitable robot uprising.

A chart of everyone that has died of bird flu. Strangely enough, contact with sick birds seems to be the leading cause.

Looking out my back door.

Lawn mowing for time: 26:21. Front and back.

The Princess has Seersucker Day in the Senate covered for you.

Tattoos with UV ink. Look at it when you want to, invisible the rest of the time.

Living in Africa pretty much sucks.

Well, we know what Americans don’t want. And that would be Hillary.

My google-fu is weak today. All I want is a dorky little fan for my video card. I want to spend, like, $5. I don’t need a ducted watercooled monstrostity for $50. Is that too much to ask? Apparently so.

And what’s with the fan sounding like it’s grinding a knife edge after only 6 months, dear Chaintech?

UPDATE: In other news, I got a new mouse. Can you tell?

Further UPDATE: Can someone explain, in English, why time is related to the speed of light.

Iced tea, if left in the refrigerator under proper conditions for long enough turns highly viscous. Sorta frightening, but cool.

Hot Dog on a Stick is 60 years old. They have the coolest outfits ever.

Men and women are stereotypical in their fiction choices.

If you’re willing to use Yahoo! search you can support your favorite charity while doing it. You can even get a toolbar for Firefox or IE.

via Samizdata 

The senate sometimes amazes me. In a good way.

/yes, the link is satire, I’m talking about the underlying story but Scrappleface deserved the link so there you go.

So, listening to Mark Steyn on Hugh Hewitt and Quicktime just stops outputting audio, then crashes Firefox and pretty much causes me 10 minutes of annoyance. I will grant you that I was encoding mp3s and writing CDs at the same time on only 512M of RAM, but still, a-nnoying.

In a fatal car crash there’s one too many heads. Zaphod Beeblebrox wanted for questioning.

via Fark

On the other hand, I think the RIAA is doing us a favor by cutting back on the number of homemade music videos on YouTube.

Caffeine protects mice from lethal radiation. So have another cup of coffee, Mickey.