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You can get Short Circuit for $4.99?!? That's AWESOME! Of course, knowing my luck in movies, it'll be on all next month on HBO or something.
Also, Amazon might finally not lose lots of money on my Amazon Prime account. I just ordered tons of stuff... glasses for the kitchen since they all seemed to have disappeared recently... movies... silverware since most of them have also disappeared... napkin holder. It said it's all shipping in one package. ?? Yeah, we'll see. One shipment from one warehouse, definitely, but one package would be hard to believe.
I watched the debate in Philadelphia tonight between Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. I thought I liked Obama better even though almost everyone who they interviewed after the debate said Clinton did better. They had a focus group of college students, and talked to them after the debate, and they said Hillary did better. I would have to disagree that she did better. But I can't say any of them did bad. I just felt like Barack was more comfortable up there, actually making eye contact with the person he was talking with. Debates are funny though. The first person who talks loses. If it's a debate between two people of the same party, you'll hear "Well, I agree with most of the points blah makes, but here's where we can approve on that." Basically, whoever gets in the last word. They'll never 100% agree. You'll never hear Obama say "Wow, I think Hillary has a great way to fix the blah problem in this country and I have nothing to add." You'll never hear short answers. You'll never hear an answer directly related to the question asked. I just laugh. I'm voting for Nader anyway... |
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Actually, some intern working for his campaign in Delaware County, PA, who's never met him, etc, telling me that in order to vote for Barack Obama during the Primary on April 22nd or whenever it is, I have to register as Democratic, instead of whatever I'm listed as (Independent or Other I think they said)... (Actually, I specifically remember I put "Unaffiliated" thinking no one would bug me, but it's a swing position, so everyone bugs you. Oh well, better to not lie to everyone than just say I have no affiliations to imaginary parties :) Not to offend anyone, I just don't take politics very seriously...) So, they said I would have to "register as democrat" in order to "vote for Obama" because that's what every unaffiliated person does, but that I could "change back later".
First off, I don't get that rule. If everyone knows which way you're voting, what the hell's the point of voting, other than getting off the couch and heading to the polling station. Oh, yeah, there they can hand you fliers and tell you that you've picked the wrong side like a jackass. I agree with the whole voting thing and democracy, but I like to not be bugged. I know there's an election coming up in November (who hasn't seen Hilary and Barack on TV in the past year?).
Oh yeah, so, chances are I'll vote democratic, but I'm not voting at the primary, if I have to change my affiliation. I picked that for a reason. Make people think they have to work for my vote. I'd rather not even have to care about politics, but there's just a lot of crap wrong with the world, and my little vote can make a difference! Unless I pick the wrong guy... (or girl) |
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Me: i'm gonna have to ditch my yahoo im account
Me: you have to get me on AIM or google talk
Jared (on AIM): hello
Me: for some reason i thought you only had a yahoo account
Jared: nope, i have gmail, yahoo, aim
Me: i have no one else on my friend's list in yahoo :P
Jared: hahaha
Jared: you're my only yahoo account too!!
Me: good, i can get rid of that account
Me: hahaahah
Me: man, we shoulda just said something years ago |
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| Tonight, my brother Scott and I were watching Transformers on Demand and there was an Amber Alert on the Emergency Broadcast System. Haven't seen anything on any websites and we went right back to watching the movie since we can't help. It happened at 7pm, I got to Scott's house at around quarter of, and we were watching the Sixers and playing with Danny and Megan. The alert didn't come on until 9pm. Plus it happened about 7 or 8 miles from us. Two kids, a 3 year old girl and a 6 year old boy, in a car when it was stolen. I don't want to be prying and definitely not scrutinizing, but I hope that the criminals stole the car for just the car, and do the right thing, and not anything stupid. We discussed it for a few minutes, hoping for the best, after the alert stopped. What else can we do? |
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I found it hilarious when I read this:
As news of the hostage-taking spread, candidates from across the political spectrum put aside rivalries. Democrat Barack Obama, who has been trading sharp barbs with the New York senator, called Clinton to offer support.
Republican Mitt Romney, who has also been taking shots at Clinton, asked his staff to lock all his field offices and be on alert for suspicious individuals. "Our thoughts and prayers are with those involved in the situation in New Hampshire," Romney said in a statement early in the day.
First, it's like every other candidate wishes something like this would happen to another candidate so they can get good publicity out of showing their support, while the candidate it happened to appears weak. I can imagine Obama getting off the phone with the PR rep or an advisor, saying "call Hillary and offer your support". Then he gets off the phone with Hillary and immediately calls all of the local media. Or his PR advisor.
And the next thing that made me laugh was Mitt Romney locking his offices and looking out for suspicious people. When I first read that, I was like "Who the f@#$ is Mitt Romney?!"
I told Kate that I alternate the party I vote for every four years, so this year I'm going Republican. |
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I had this weird dream after I fell asleep watching the replay of the Phillies game last night. It was around 12 midnight when I finally zonked out. If you've never watched a Phillies game, you still might have heard of Harry Kalas. He's the Phillies' TV and radio voice. Well, he's getting old, and his vision is fading, as well as his memory. Sometimes he'll botch calls like if a ball is caught at the wall or if it goes out and the guy there tries to catch it but it's obviously way out of reach of him, he'll report the opposite of what happened. This dream was along those lines. Basically, it was a ground ball up the third base line with nobody on base, and Harry Kalas reported it as a two run homer. I was like "WTF?".
I turned on CNN after waking up this morning, and caught a majority of "In The footsteps of Bin Laden", which is an interesting, two-sided show. It ended with me feeling rather informed about where bin Laden might be, why he "hates America", why al Qaeda was formed, and all this other stuff that will cause the FBI and CIA to beeline to this website and flag it as "terroristic". Anyway, it was over, and Anderson Cooper is on the screen, informing me of the next time the show will be on. Of course, the bad part of it was, he was basically calling bin Laden a slew of names that I wouldn't say around my neices or nephews. So, I realized I didn't like news shows telling me what to think of these people. If they realized that intelligent people watch their shows, then they should assume that most people can come to their own conclusions, and they just need all the facts in order to do this, and that's why we watch the news. Telling us that Osama bin Laden is evil is not a fact, that's an opinion. It might be a widespread opinion, but it's an opinion, and one that most people would find to be "right", which doesn't necessarily make it fact.
I bought "Munich" with my limited funds, and I've watched it three times. It's a good flick. Anyway, there's this part where the dude who plays the Incredible Hulk is in Germany trying to find answers, and he comes across this German frauline, and she's a Philosopher. She comments from a work entitled "The Philosophy of Right" I think, by some philosoph. I immediately became intrigued. I haven't researched it, but I'm sure it's a real work. Now I have to read it. Because what's right to someone is completely wrong to someone else, and therefore couldn't possibly be recorded in history books as "fact". Of course, we record it as fact, and therefore it's propaganda.
Yes, the show "In the Footsteps of Bin Laden" is also propaganda. But there are a lot of facts in it, but we see just the facts about al Qaeda attacking US interests, and the US retaliating and weakening al Qaeda interests like their safe harbor in Afghanistan, the Taliban. Facts that try to sculpt a conclusion, in this case that al Qaeda is doing what they do just because they felt like it... with no motivation. The show brushes aside the fact that the US has held military posts in Saudi Arabia, Islam's holy land, for many years. This would be like going and taking a dump on an altar in a church. Because of oil, of course. They may be right. All they want is for the US to leave their land, which may be impossible without an alternative source of fuel. It just so happens that the biggest source of oil also happens to be a desert filled with people of another religion, and that religion's holy land. They'd drill for oil under Rome or Jerusalem if they knew there was a well there.
Oh well. Time for coffee. I'm not on bin Laden's side here, just saying that propaganda sucks, we are smart people, most of the time, and we don't need opinions of news reporters to shape our own opinions. It's weird how the two topics of this post intermingle. I like to watch a sporting event where the announcer is rooting for the same team I am, but I can't watch a news show where they are rooting for or against anyone. I don't know... does that seem weird? |
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It only takes me about 5 minutes of watching CNN to hate it and pretty much every news show. First, there's the incidents in Lebonon which I'm OK with watching. But then, they talk about Mel Gibson's anti-Semitist remarks, which he apologized for, leave it alone, and his DUI. Then they say his blood alcohol level was .12, and in California, the legal limit is .08. From my "alcohol" class in college (I did actually take an alcohol class... hoo boy, there's a good story to do with that too), they said that .08 is like drinking two beers and hitting the road. So .12, from math, is only 1 more beer. It's the law, and he rightfully got a DUI because of that, and that's not my issue. I know I get buzzed if it's been a while and I drink three beers in an hour or so, but comon... people are still pretty much capable of anything, and in some cases more capable of other things, after three beers. I speak of course of Beirut (AKA beer pong). CNN brought it up like it was a huge deal, and that Mel Gibson is now a lesser person, like "We can all now laugh at Mel Gibson when on coffee break." I'm not particularly fond of Mel, I'm more attacking peoples' attitudes towards someone who makes a mistake then I am defending Mr. Gibson. Give it up, Perfecty O'Perfect.
Sometimes I love TV though. Yesterday on Comcast SportsNet, on the show Daily News Live, was Charles Barkley. He's a great interview. Comcast should release that interview on DVD, and any other interview with him. He was my favorite player growing up. In fact, in third grade, I guess for my 9th birthday, I invited him to my party. I was the talk of the whole school, since I told one person that Charles Barkley might show up. I had hookups, since my Dad went to school with John Nash, then GM of the Sixers. Sir Charles couldn't make it, I'm afraid to say, but in the side door of the house, my brother noticed the door had been held open by something. We never use it but it's on the street, so easily accessible to delivery trucks and whatnot. To help you further imagine, the house is on a corner, but the front door is not on the street that the address is listed as, that door is the side door. Anyway, he checked it and it was a box addressed to me!! Charles Barkley, via John Nash, had sent me an personal autographed Sixers basketball ("To Jason Charles Barkely"), a note from Charles, and a bunch of assorted Sixers stickers. I don't know what happened to the rest, but the basketball is currently on top of our Philadelphia sports dedicated entertainment center, along with a Chase Utley bobblehead, a Donovan McNabb bobblehead, an Allen Iverson bobblehead, and I think Peter Forsberg represents the Flyers. I'd have to go check, but I'm too comfy. Anyway, I wish I'd kept the note. Oh well. Some of the stickers made their way onto various spots around the house, like the insides of closet doors (because who ever paints there!?). Definitely an exciting time, and now Charles Barkley will be inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame! That thing just shot up in value, but you don't ever, ever sell it because it's Charles Barkley for Pete's sake!! Oh, and it's to me... another "Jason" just wouldn't get the same satisfaction out of it.
The only channel I watch regularly now is the History Channel. I love Modern Marvels, Mega Disasters, and their special on the American Revolution, among a ton of other shows. I will watch Mail Call... hell, I watch anything on that channel. I used to be a Discovery / Learning Channel guy, and the History Channel is from the same blood, but I just find that THC has more of the stuff I'm interested in... all the time. And their paid programming doesn't kick on until 4am, which is huge for me during my time off :) |
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I'm just about the sickest mofo in the world. I took off from work on Thursday and Friday of last week, but still, 4 days of rest and under the blankets, and 2 days with no smoking, I still feel like crap. Fever, congestion, dizziness, coughing, aches, pains, chills, and sneezing. This, I determined, was not sick enough to miss more work! Imagine what I felt on Thursday, then. It was the same symptoms, just magnified and multiplied. Excuse some crazy talk later in the post, I'm a bit hallucinogenic and think I'm writing this on a black notepad in black ink and storing it in a pouch I've sewn onto my back. Using Slim-Jim.
There's a bit of anger in the Muslim world because there's a drawing of "Muhammad" depicting him (sin) as a terrorist (more sin). Yes, it's bad to depict Muhammad in any way. I've seen multiple spellings so I have no idea how to spell it. Anyway, I plead ignorance if I ever drew him, or drew him in a way that is demeaning. But, Islam is a non-bull@#%t Religion. I've seen many depictions of Jesus, and some demeaning (the movie "Dogma" comes to mind), but Christians don't take to the streets and risk their own lives over it. Who cares? We don't mind what other people think. We can think that Kevin Smith is going to hell because of his "Buddy Christ", but other than that, what good does it do to complain about it? Nothing. You'll save other people from going to hell if you complain. I say, F#@%@ them, more room for me when I get to Heaven ;-)
The Steelers are good. That's all I have to say about that. (Other than they played every game away and won straight through, considering that at week 12 they were 7-5 and hardly considered to make the playoffs in the first place, and beat Indianapolis to get there). Mad props to Pittsburgh.
Kodie and I watched the game, and at half time, as I was getting my next load of laundry ready, I figured out how to stop smoking for good. Nyquil. First off, it's f!@#$ing disgusting. Ever taste that 5#%2? It's nasty because they want you to take it quick. Nyquil's better when you don't taste it, I learned. Just shoot it down like Grey Goose vodka (Freedom Vodka, as Kate's friends in Manayunk called it). I ended up waking up at 4am, then decided that I wasn't going to be in work by 6 (even though I could have left by now), and took another shot. I figure, when I'm quitting smoking, I won't be able to fall asleep because of withdrawal and "nic-fitting". So, why not take care of that problem? The hardest part about quitting smoking is doing things that you used to do while smoking. Since I always sleep when I'm smoking, this might take care of some of that. Or something. WTF? Wait. Oh, yeah, so it's hard to fall asleep when you're quitting smoking, so I just need something to help me in that department. The other stuff, like driving and smoking, or playing video games and smoking, or doing everything else I do and smoking... that sh@#%'s gotta stop. So, I figure, I'll just find something else to do. Like, drink coffee. But, that will just keep me awake, while the NyQuil is trying to put me to sleep. Obvious solution: coffee flavored NyQuil. That would be the bomb.
I may have more in a bit. |
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Reading the paper today, I learned that the Flyers acquired Petr Nedved from the Coyotes! They traded Dennis Seidenberg (who needs Germans on the team, anyway?). They should have traded Chris Turnover... er... Therien. He's made one good play all year. Before any Germans go all anti-German on me, I'm 50% German, it was a joke :) It's my better half.
Then I came across this mountain of useless information. "Pa. milk production climbed 4.5 percent in 2005". Obviously someone thinks it's important. It's like, 4.5 percent. If that's important, then it would be just as important to note that my facial hair has grown 4.5 percent in the last 4 hours. Or that I've put a steady 4.5 percent of full, actual work in the time I've been here today. Plus it's MILK. I could see Oil production raising 4.5 percent being news. If that's news then so is "Hair gel production rose 4.5 percent in 2005."
It may show my complete lack of business knowledge, but that's not anything I'm trying to hide! I know how to buy stuff and pay bills, that's all I really need to know :)
In other news, nothing interesting happened today. It's Friday. If "slacking off at work on Friday" made news, then everyone would be in the paper, and we wouldn't have to deal with reading about the output ability of Pennsylvania's cows over the last year.
I thought I'd throw this in here... a few weeks ago I watched the news on local TV for the first time in literally 3 years. It went like this: "Death, Robbery, Death, Accident, Traffic, Death, Murder, WAY TOO HAPPY WEATHERMAN". I'm like "HOLY S@#$%#@ That guy is WAY too happy following all that bad news." The mood swing, if I had let it happen, would have been big enough to cause a heart attack. |
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Standard means ONE, I say. This is based on the Government wanting an open standard document format so that if the software maker of the software that they are using for documents (word processor documents, spreadsheet docs, etc) goes out of business, they aren't screwed. They can just move to another software provider that will be able to read and save the same types of documents. There's an article on MacWorld detailing how Microsoft believes two standards is better.
I just read through most of how every website defines the word "Standard", and pretty much every definition uses it as a singular term. "A basis for comparison", "established or widely recognized as a model of authority or excellence", "a recommended practice", etc. This goes against logic.
It's ignorant. Microsoft wants to just say "Hey, we can't go implementing OpenDocument now. We're supposed to release the new office in like 2 years", while other office software providers already have solutions out there. OpenOffice being the one I use.
It's STUPID!! A standard is supposed to make things EASIER on people. In software, it makes it so you only need ONE program to be able to read any document your pal or coworker may send you. It's bad enough already. Someone can send you a PDF, or a Word document, or an image. You have to have the program to be able to read it. With one standard (I shouldn't even have to say "one" standard), you just have a program that provides an acceptable implementation of that standard, the one you like, and then you can create and send documents that you authored with the program to other people with their favorite program that reads that document type. It's idiotic.
Of course, Microsoft will be the only one providing an implementation of their OpenXML document format. And you'll have to pay a huge amount just to be able to use it. And, of course, they'll have proprietary plugins, like their VBA (Visual Basic for Applications) that provide scripting of that document, and to read that document in another program even implementing the OpenXML document type will be impossible, because it will still have proprietary technology in it. Sure, Microsoft will implement a standard, but it will be by their terms, and they will own it. Good. I'm not sure who owns the Metric System, but I'm sure that's where Microsoft got their idea from. |
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From a Philly.com article (registration required)
"My constituents, and actually most Americans, think that somebody rigs these prices. That in the process, somebody's getting ripped off, and they think it's them," said Energy Committee Chairman Pete Dominici (R., N.M.), setting the stage for the nearly four-hour grilling.
"The Senate Energy and Commerce committees called in five oil-industry captains to explain their combined third-quarter profit of $32.8 billion and what are expected to be industrywide annual profits approaching $100 billion. Those profits came from American consumers who paid more than $3 a gallon for gasoline this fall and face record home-heating costs this winter."
And their defense...
"Hoping to fend off a potential windfall-profits tax, leaders of the five major U.S. oil companies denied before two Senate committees yesterday that they gouged consumers while earning recent record profits."
"One by one, the executives recounted how hurricanes disrupted oil production and pipeline activity in the Gulf of Mexico and damaged oil refineries along the Gulf Coast. And they noted that even before Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, a tight global market for oil supplies, caused partly by China's surging demand, had driven up gasoline prices around the world."
Pretty much all you need to know. So, they raise the prices in tough times because they CAN raise the prices in tough times. If they raised the prices and didn't earn record profits, then you'd know it was costing them the same ratio to make gasoline as before the tough times and during the tough times. But since they raised the prices and earned record profits, you know it cost them the same to make gasoline before and during the tough times. Maybe not the same, but definitely not at the same ratio at which they charged. I hope the good guys win. |
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| Read about it here. It's stupid that a game is considered responsible for that action. I played that game, and beat it. It's all about how you interpret the game that depends on your possible fate later down the road. Sure, I would go on rampages with a sniper rifle from the very top of a parking garage and take out passerbys and cops, but what was I thinking about when I was doing it? Using a controller to aim at what seemed to be heads on a digital person. Mostly, I would try to drive around as fast as I can without crashing, that was where I had the most fun. This guy probably imagined killing cops. So where is the problem? Not in the video game, I say. Afterall, it's just a video game. It doesn't make someone violent. Years of abuse does or an aggressive attitude does. I can't imagine someone playing Doom 3 and thinking it's real, but I also can't imagine someone playing GTA III and thinking it's real. The overall concensus is that it's not, which is why they're allowed to be released to the masses in the first place. It's the sinister few that might ruin it for everyone. |
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Props out to NATO of NATO Computer Solutions up there in Canada for these two. Buy a computer from him, tell him I sent you. It's Canadian money which is practically glorified Monopoly money. You can get a good deal up there.
Three Texas surgeons were playing golf together and discussing surgeries they had performed. One of them said, "I'm the best surgeon in Texas. A concert pianist lost 7 fingers in an accident. I reattached them, and 8 months later he performed a private concert for the Queen of England."
One of the others said "That's nothing. A young man lost both arms and legs in an accident. I reattached them, and 2 years later he won a gold medal in field events in the Olympics."
The third surgeon said, "You guys are amateurs. Several years ago a cowboy who was high on cocaine and alcohol rode a horsehead-on into a train traveling 80 miles an hour. All I had left to work with was the horse's ass and a cowboy hat. Now he's president of the United States.
That's a riot.
Donald Rumsfeld is giving the President his daily briefing. He concludes by saying: "Yesterday, 3 Brazilian soldiers were killed."
"OH NO!" the President exclaims. "That's terrible!"
His staff sits stunned at this display of emotion, nervously watching as the President sits, head in hands.
Finally, President Bush looks up and asks, "How many is a brazillion?"
Quality. |
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This quote comes from Sony BMG CEO Andrew Lack. It's in this article. The article talks about how the music industry wants to raise the prices for songs on iTunes, and Steve Jobs fires back about how that's greedy, and it will turn people back to piracy. The market isn't big enough to raise prices yet, one analyst conjectures. Anyway, here's the quote:
"I'm not making any money on this," he said. "I've got one revenue stream that a proctologist would have a hard time analyzing. It's not pretty."
That's classic. |
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I predict a huge upsurge in satellite radio sales. I don't know what makes me so sure (registration required).
"[Howard] Stern is due to move next year to Sirius Satellite Radio, which is free of FCC policing."
I don't listen to the guy, but I know at least 3 of my brothers do. Even if I had the opportunity to listen to radio, I just listened to WMMR. I can't stand Stern, honestly. But I know he's loved by millions. Everyone will have satellite radio.
This reminds me of a joke by the late, great Mitch Hedburg, talking about doing an interview on satellite radio.
"... The host told me you can curse on satellite radio. I said 'Of course you can curse, cause no one is there to hear it! You can curse in the woods too.'"
This will no longer be the case, millions will hear, and will be free of FCC policing. |
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I ran across an article that called Google's new "Desktop Search" for Windows a "Mini Operating System". I posted a reply. When I think "Mini-OS", I certainly don't think of a program written to run on an operating system. When I think "Mini-OS", I'll tell you what I think: Embedded Linux. That's "mini" and that's an "OS".
So what does an operating system do exactly? The first and foremost job of an OS is to interface with the hardware; let you save files on disk, use your monitor, your modem, your attached peripherals like printers, digital cameras, webcams, and anything else. This includes interfacing with your network card and implementing the TCP/IP stack so you can connect to the internet. Also, it includes a "platform" for writing software, an Application Programming Interface (API). Lately, operating systems have included all types of goodies, like integrated search (Mac OS X) and widgets (Mac OS X). This is simply "value added" stuff. Since an operating system might come with these things built into them, it does not change the definition of an operating system. Even if adding "Mini" to the front of it makes your observations less serious, you still have "OS" at the end, invalidating your generalization. How about call it a "program". That's what I call it. A program that happens to search your files and have plugins for stuff like weather. I don't even use it and I know that it's not an operating system.
One comment came from Google.
--- "We're really trying to make this into a platform"
---- Nikhil Bhatla, product manager for Google Desktop.
That can be confusing. I'll have you know that Eclipse is called a platform. I don't boot my computer into the "Eclipse" OS, though. It's a Java editor. A very great one. What this person means is that they will be developing programs on top of it. Which is why Eclipse is called a platform, you can write PLUG-INS. Technology is so misunderstood.
I'm a stickler for technological phrases used in the right way. I'm sure doctors, architects, lawyers, and every other profession will get just as upset if you butcher their terminology. Like, if a man finds a person murdered in the alley, and calls the police and says "We have a grand theft auto here." I'm not the only one :)
Here's another thing about it. That site, "paidcontent.org", is apparently a pretty highly visited site, and one that is as qualified to interpret that Google quote as I am to interpret Shakespeare. They call Google Desktop a mini-OS. People who read that are going to just go ahead and agree, usually. Unless they study. And they'll make posts on their websites, and it's like that game we would play in 2nd grade. One person starts the chain by thinking of something to whisper, and it goes around til the last person, and the last person says what the message is. I don't care if it starts out as "An apple a day keeps the doctor away", it'll turn into something like "A quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog." Somehow. Let's just call into question every term that every past computer scientist has defined. I've run across at least 3 sites that refer to that post, and also call it a "Mini-OS".
This is another problem with the internet. If the facts are right, it's a beautiful filtering process, eventually making its way to everyone. But if it's wrong, it's like cancer. |
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As you may have heard, the Israeli Gaza pullout happened over the weekend. The last of the Israelis left in an armored bus with bulletproof windows and Stars of David (the Israeli flag) hanging out the windows. This is a beautiful act, giving people some land after you had rightfully claimed it through victory in war. So, some Palestinian says this : "We will not close our eyes, we will not rest until they leave all our land." Believe me, I have no hard feelings against any party involved, but this statement brings me to enough discomfort to post this entry. It is only by good deed and respect for a land's previous occupiers that a land is given back to them.
Let's rewind back to 1967. Well, before that, 1938. The good Jewish people are systematically hunted down and brought to Nazi Concentration camps from mainly Germany, Austria and Poland. 1945, after the war, the survivors flee to countries along the Mediterranean as well as their homes. 1967, a large group of people just decides to F@#%@#$ing invade Palestine, since the Bible said that area of the world was the Promised Land, their land. I remember learning about it in school. There was practically no resistence. The group, probably numbering around ten thousand, just marched through, taking city after city, until Palestine was theirs. That's bad-ASS.
Again, I stress I am not one sided in this manner, but, man, those Jewish settlers are AWESOME. So, now these other people... what're they called again.. oh yeah, the Palestinians (which is an awkward name, that would imply that they are from a land called Palestine, yet, there is no Palestine, because of some kickass Jews like The Hebrew Hammer on Comedy Central). I don't like calling "Jewish People" Jews. Yell at me if you're offended. Until they took over Palestine, they were probably called that, but now, the ones that live in Israel are called Israelis, which is definitely a lot cooler, and I can say without feeling like I'm being a giant A@#@hole.
Anyway, back to the story. Now, Palestinians suicide bomb Israel and just expect that they'll leave. As explained in the first paragraph, they took it over, forcefully, they now own it. They govern it, they have their leaders in place, etc. They aren't going anywhere, and I don't blame them. Just face it, "Palestinians", you got your asses WHOOPED back in 1967. Either make due with what the extremely nice and peace-seeking Israelis gave you, or STFU and form an army and try to take it back using real war tactics, not this stupid suicide bomb tactics. Oh, right, you know you'll get ROMPED again if you try to fight a real fight. |
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Here's a 2 for 1. These have nothing to do with each other, I am sick, so I don't feel like making new entries for each thing I have to say.
I feel for those Israelis in the Gaza strip who don't want to leave. I really do. The government just came up and said "Get the F%@#! out, BI%#@!ES!!!" Like those people who bought a house where a highway will be built many years later. Except, this is way different. If your house is needed because of a highway, you can probably find another house in the same town to buy. It would be like our government taking New Jersey, and telling those people to get out, and giving it to us Pennsylvanians. Alright, that's probably a somewhat invalid analogy, since, who would want New Jersey?! Just kidding. Point is, that sucks, and I feel for those poor Israelis.
Now to the fun part!! w00t! I bought 2 MORE video games the other day. They are both awesome. Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War is the first one I'll talk about. It adds some great gameplay elements to the traditional real time strategy (RTS) game. There are strategic locations that you have to control to gain resources. These are just points on the map, usually in a strategic location. You control them by having guys there to defend it, if it's your furthest point from your base that you control, or you leave it and go get another one. These give you resources to buy things like more units, buildings, vehicles, upgrades, etc. The other cool thing about it is the squads. You build a unit, which is in fact a squad, like a "Space Marine Squad" and it pumps out with 4 space marines. Then, you can reinforce the squad with more guys. You can also add a Sergeant and a hero (if you have heros left) to it. Next, you can upgrade up to 4 members of the squad's weapons. You can give them a flame thrower, heavy bolter gun, plasma rifle, or a rocket launcher. I can beat the computer with 3 fully upgraded squads and a few "Dreadnought" robots. The game is awesome.
Next game. Psychonauts!! Get this game. It's awesome. Check out Tim Schafer's news posts and practically everything on the website over at DoubleFine.com. There are a very high number of great and fun aspects to this game. The level of creativity in the level design and abilities that "Rasputin" gets and the story makes the whole game wreak of outstanding quality. It wreaks so much of quality that when I'm not playing it, I have to put it in a airsealed bag and spray the room with Lysol. When I am playing it, well, let's just say that you don't want to come in the room. I actually emailed Tim Schafer a few times now, and he's always written back. I keep them because he's a "celebrity" in the gaming world. You might have played "Grim Fandango"??? I did. He thought up that one. He's a genius. He has other games out there, but I'm sorry to say I've only played two of them. So, buy this game. It's out on PS2, XBox and PC. I bought it for PS2. I actually asked Tim what his beef with Nintendo was. Here's what he wrote back for those of you who can't buy the game because you only own a GameCube:
"Jason,
We here at Double Fine definitely have no beef with Nintendo! We love
Nintendo. We all would have been overjoyed to see Psychonauts on the
Gamecube. But it's just not up to us. The developer doesn't make such
decisions. The people with the money do, and in this case they decided
not to." |
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@#$!@#$!^!
Stupid ass music companies and MICROSOFT. Yes, Microsoft had something to do with this, believe it or not. These are copy protected CDs that allow you to copy the songs to your hard drive, but guess what... only in Windows Media format. And as you may know, Microsoft is to music as Microsoft is to secure operating systems. They can't be good at one thing, they have to take over the whole world and suck at everything. Ok, but enough about Microsoft.
One guy says : "Apple's the leader in digital music. It doesn't make sense to release too many copy-protected CDs if they're incompatible with iPods. But Apple could also be at risk if these CDs keep selling well."
Apple will never be at risk. There are 30 million iPods out there. They have 67% of the market share, and they support all non-proprietary music formats (mp3, essentially) and their own. They would never support Windows Media because MS would never let them. And not a lot of people are going to give up their iPods for a stupid portable CD player. I had one, they are so not convenient at all compared to an iPod.
But then a record exec at Sony BMG tells how to work around it!
"Sony BMG, a joint venture between Japan's Sony Corp. and Germany's Bertelsmann, said users can get the music onto iPods by transferring files to a PC, burning them to a CD, ripping those and transferring them into iTunes."
That's the same way to get iTunes bought music stripped of the DRM. Or to download a certain program that I know of thanks to Zatko. It'll only take a few months or shorter before someone hacks this format and there's a program out there to rip these cds directly into Apple Lossless format :) |
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Here are a few reasons why you can't blame Mozilla for its SpreadFireFox.com site getting hacked.
1) They didn't write the server software that it uses to publish the website with. The software that they use doesn't actually have a security hole. It was PHP that had the security hole, a server side scripting language.
2) They don't write server software. They write browser software. Yet still, ZDNet writes
"The hack is an embarrassment to Mozilla, which uses security as the main selling point for the Firefox Web browser."
That's a joke, right? An insecure server software that you didn't write is on the opposite end of the spectrum as a secure web browser that you are proud of writing. Please.
3) It's some server admin's fault, not Mozilla. Whoever was supposed to keep the server software up to date obviously didn't do their job. This shouldn't reflect on the quality and security of Mozilla's web browser.
4) Microsoft claims to be on a "Secure Computing Initiative" for their operating systems, and yet you can still hack the f*#^% out of them.
5) Here's an analogy (since I love to use analogies): A car company, who stresses their cars are the safest, has an accident on the assembly line, causing a worker to die. Sure, they're not the safest place to work, but if the industry says their cars are the safest, does this make them not the safest? It absolutely is their problem, and a big one, but it doesn't take away from the safety of their cars in the least bit. People who believe this... well, I feel sorry for them. It's public image, but the public is stupid.
I will continue to make love to their web browser, as sexy as it is. |
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I've recently become enlightened to the fact that there are actually interesting websites out there on the internet. Out of all this time I've spent browsing the internet since its inception, I was sure that I've visited everything. However, I recently came across 2 fascinating sites (well, not exactly sites).
In high school, I had heard of Nirvana. It wasn't until after Kurt Cobain's death that I really got into them. My music phases post talks about this a bit. I listened to "In Utero" for a long time, on the walk to and from school, in a tape walkman I had probably stolen off of one of my brothers. I wouldn't say I became obsessed with the band, just the music, but I would buy a few magazines that had Kurt in it. I probably don't have them any more. I remember that day back in 1994, in April, at Jim's house, our friend called and said Kurt Cobain had died, rather, had killed himself. I was like "Who's Kurt Cobain?". No lie. Apparently, if you read more and more into this story, it soon ends up not looking like a suicide, but more of a homicide. I found a site, In Defence Of Kurt Cobain (that's how they spell "Defense", they must be a Brit). There are tons of facts there, leaning towards the author's implication that Courtney Love murdered Kurt. Form your own conclusion.
On to the next one. We all know of the events on September 11, 2001. What everyone doesn't know is exactly every piece of information that was available. Until you watch this movie called Loose Change. Search the internet for a downloadable version of it. The movie is pretty good, but can seem a little bit far fetched. It opens with the perfect disclaimer, "For Your Consideration". It simply points out that most of the world was given enough evidence to make the conclusion that al Qaeda attacked us on September 11th. But there is more. Take it as entertainment, or let it convince you. I find that the picture it paints is too shocking for me to believe it, but the evidence, or lack thereof, is there.
I might try to find other interesting stuff and post it here every week, but we'll see how long that holds up. |
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As you may know, I take the trolley and the El into work everyday. Trolley to 69th Street, then 69th to work. You may have heard that there were subway bombings yesterday in London, and that had caused alert levels to rise here in the lovely USA, but only for rail lines (which I think is dumb, but that's another story for another time, like in 10 minutes). However, I fear nothing, so I continue to go to work on the train. Call this whatever you want (courage, heroism, Godlike symptoms), I'm a stud.
Mainly, this courage comes from my lack of fear from dying or losing a leg or something, but also it comes from necessity for a paycheck. You might ask, what good is a paycheck if you're dead? Well, I'm sure that no one who has received a paycheck posthumously can answer that question, so why would you be asking me it? Like I know? Are you racist against dead people?! Ok, don't make me play the dead card on your ass. I'll have civil rights all over it.
So now that I've covered my utter lack of fear from anything (except bugs flying down or up my shirt), let's ponder why it's dumber than Kodie to raise threat alerts here in the United States. These also happen to be more reasons that I'm not afraid of an attack.
1) Coordinated attacks usually happen at the same time, hence the word "coordinated". By the time we heard of London's attacks it would have been too late already. Plus, there's like a huge time difference, so rush hour in the morning there is like sleepy time here. Rush hour in the evening there, if it's 5 o'clock, is lunch. My point is, terrorists would have suspected that the USA would have taken steps to prevent an attack here after hearing of the one in London. So they would have either coordinated an attack or just decided to attack one place.
2) Terrorists are not stupid. We probably insulted them bigtime by raising threat levels on only the public trans systems. Seriously, do you think, if attacks are only slightly coordinated, like 5-6 hours apart, that they would perform the same types of attacks? Meaning, bombs on subways?! Come on. I give them a little more credit than that.
That's not to discount the police or metro police who stand by the turnstyles everyday, looking for anything suspicious. But that brings up a question. They're always there. I thought the threat level was raised. Shouldn't they be "stepping up" security? They have the same amount. Oh well, I still feel safe. Plus, SEPTA has these signs, and has had them for as long as I've taken it, in their cars that say "Nothing can stop a train faster than a forgotten bag" or something like that. And it also warns to keep an eye out for this activity. I think it's brilliant. But, we're only Philly, what interest would al Qaeda have in us? I have no idea. |
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Yes!
If only I needed a car. I said it before, I would love to have one of the new Dodge Chargers. I haven't checked what cars are available at the employee discount, but I do seriously doubt that a car on the market for less than a month will suddenly go at employee rates.
[Moments later] Found it :
"Excluded from the program are the 2005 Chrysler 300, Dodge Magnum, Dodge Sprinter, Dodge Viper, Jeep Liberty Diesel, all 2006 models, and all SRT models."
From Philly.com. I don't know why they wouldn't explicitly mention the Charger, it's their best car. But it's included in the exclusion list, I guess. I kind of predicted that Chrysler/Dodge would be joining in :)
You can only imagine what an employee pays now. If anyone can get a car at that price, employees have one less perk, so I'd imagine they lowered the actual employee discount, so we are just getting the old employee discount, therefore not getting THE employee discount at all. Of course, they could have just given the big F YOU to their employees, saying that it's only a month sale and suck it up, b@#%^@tches. Those rat bastards. Business is F@%^%@#$!@ed up. |
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London was attacked today. Coming right after they had received the bid on the 2012 Olympics, a thought popped in my head. It wasn't a joke, per se, but it was lighthearted in times of non-lightheartedness. Oh well, I am an optimist, I don't stay mad at anyone, really. Honestly. Come up to me and kick me in the face, tomorrow I'll smile and say hi. Don't really do that though. So, it's nothing against anybody, it is just the way my mind works. Of course, I hate terrorism even more and feel bad for London that we weren't able to help extinguish the threat, and of course I realize that I am as susceptible to terroristic attacks as anyone, so I can't really explain any better why this thought popped in my head. Here's the thought:
"Perhaps al Qaeda wanted to host the Olympics in 2012?"
Pretty lighthearted and harmless, huh? I thought so, but excused the F out of it anyway when I posted it here.
[Update] Great. The US is raising the terror level for rail and metro. I take the trolley and the El into Center City. Like I said, I know I am as susceptible to these attacks as anyone. |
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| Also, GM extended theirs another month. Their sales rose 41% last month, who could blame them? I'm personally waiting for Dodge to join in, I want a Charger. Actually, that will never happen, I'm paying off my car still and it works well. It's almost 3 years paid for so I might as well just pay it off and never ever pay another car payment again. Until I need another one. Which is hopefully never. I love my car :) This weekend, I drove my Dad's car and my brother's Xterra. Then we got home and I drove my car, and it's just that familiar feeling, you know, like your favorite pair of boxers that you wear everyday. I'm only paying $[explitive deleted] a month for it, so I could probably bump it up a bit and pay it off a little early. I'll try my darn'dest. |
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Philly.com "Underage driver pleads guilty in fatal homicide".
That's very redundant of you. Registration Required. [Update: DOH! they fixed it! I swear it was that though!]
Another one I saw a while ago said "Once hot biotechs lure less money". If you read it quickly and have an unclean mind like me, you would laugh your butt off too. |
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Oh Boy. When the military comes on TV and says they can whoop a certain country, that's pretty much a telling sign that there are probably plans to attack them. Like, when a wrestler comes on TV and talks trash about another wrestler, it would be pretty pointless if they never end up fighting. You don't see our military coming on and saying "We could so kick Ireland's ass." Good thing too, it's still one of my top destinations for some kind of trip, among Germany as well. Anyway, of course we can beat them, but can we beat them before they launch all of their nukes at South Korea or Japan or even, heaven forbid, the USA. God help us.
[A few minutes later] OMG, I was looking for something in Google, and this (not safe for work) happened to be a result. I must say, it's brilliant. Absolutely brilliant. |
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My most read news provider is Reuters. Today, I noticed a bunch of articles worthy of a mention.
Rest in Peace, John Walton. Sure he was a multibillionaire (his family founded Wal-Mart, but he never worked there) but he died while flying an airplane because he was a thrill-seeker.
AMD is crying foul. The little guy speaks out. Now they just need energy and heat efficient processors. They are just as good otherwise. I'll continue to buy AMD, thanks.
Look out oil. France is going to try to make a fusion reactor. Read about fusion here. As you can tell, it's quite difficult and rather dangerous. So, the sheer fact that they are building an experimental one tells me that they are over the scientific hurdles and are just going to try it out. Read more on this website and this one. I look forward to that one.
Also check out their best pictures from the last 24 hours. I like browsing through them. |
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There was almost a ruling that cable lines used for high speed internet are open lines, and any company can provide internet access on them. I'm happy with my service provider, they keep raising the bar. I get 10Mbps, which is enough for browsing the web, streaming a video, playing a game, and streaming radio stations on 4 computers and still have room left over for more ;) Read the article.
Last night's performance by my little brother, Beaner, was a smashing success. I created 13 videos of them performing. (There is a problem with the download page. It'll be fixed tomorrow, but in the meantime, download a file, click back on "downloads" when you're done, click another category and go back to the one you want to download from, then it should be fine.) The songs that Beaner performs are all copyrighted 2005 Brendan Connell. You can't make out what he's singing anyway, but just don't be a @#%@^@$@ and steal his very creative, very good music. He put his heart and soul into the creation of every one of them, and puts his heart and soul into each one's performance. I also have 20 pictures for your viewing pleasure, including a few of me.
I knew this would catch up with me. Every $@#%@^ time when the train is about to leave, you hear the computer voice say "Doors are closing", at which point, anyone trying to get on the train goes into a mad rush for the door. Some people make it. Others don't. This one guy kicked the door of the car that I was in. Other people seem a bit less defeated. They look up at the ceiling, sigh, and sit there and wait for the next train. These are the most entertaining 5 seconds of my day. So, today, guess who's at the top of the stairs at 69th Street terminal when the conductor says "Watch the doors, watch the doors." Yes. Me. At that point, I stepped down the first step or two without looking, only to find the janitor @#%@#^^#! sweeping the stairs, taking up the whole width of that stairwell. So I go back up the two stairs, and go down the left side. At about the 3rd step down, the computer voice comes on "Doors are closing." @$%&@$!!!! I continue running down the stairs, in the dire hopes that someone's head gets caught in the automatic doors, rendering them incapable of closing. It's not a huge stairwell, maybe 15 stairs, but that seems like eternity when you have about 2 seconds to get to the doors. At the bottom of the stairs, I was so panicked. It took all of my strength and self control to not scream like a girl. I turn and look at the closest door to me. This couple was trying to get in, so they stopped the doors from closing, but I knew there would only be a small window for escape. The doors opened all the way and started closing right away. I would have dove, but by this point I was through without even letting the door hit me on the butt. I was so slick. Thank God I didn't scream like a girl. If I had and still made it, I would be getting some weird looks.
More site updates coming soon. |
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I don't feel like typing a lot, so this is a quick list of short, to the point, pieces of crap:
Tone Loc is playing tonight at Reeds in Blue Bell. I'm going and so are a bunch of my freak-show-seeking friends. I'm going to ask the bartender for a funky cold medina, then receive a fake laugh, as if that's the first time that particular bartender heard that particular joke on that particular night.
I thought about something that I used to think about when I was a kid. Could people join hands and connect around the world? Then, my new age, internet techy brain mangled it into this other thought. It would be cool if there were chained links from one webpage in one region to another webpage in the next region over, and the link on the next webpage linked to a region next to it, and so on and so forth.
Then, another idea popped in from this. You could probably send a search engine into an infinite loop if you could trick it into going around and around. This would involve changing the links and content on each linked page, but it wouldn't get anywhere except around the world an infinite amount of times. I guess that's getting somewhere, but it's not helping its cause in searching the web. Basically, one thread would be useless out of many threads of execution that make up a web spider's software. But, it would be neat.
I've been going to Barnaby's of America pretty much every Thursday for the past 2 weeks. It's not a false statement, but rather unnecessary to use "pretty much every Thursday" and "for the past 2 weeks". Oh well. More words == more chance someone will read something.
I've been listening to Candlebox on shuffle during my commute to and from work. They are good. Great. They rock and write good melodies, and they have good guitar. A while ago I got so into them that I even researched and found out that the lead singer has another band. I bought an autographed copy of their album. The new band is Kevin Martin and the HiWatts.
Wednesday I spent my commute to work listening to "Sexy and 17" by the Stray Cats. I listened to it 6 times straight, and then 3 or more on the way back. There are no words to describe that song, you basically just have to listen to it 100 times.
That ex-KKK member got 60 years for the murder of 3 people. He's like a million years old. Justice was not done in this case, even by the furthest stretch of the imagination. 40 years had passed. Way to go, Justice.
Some people think that guns should be banned, that the 2nd Amendment is old and for "militias", which are pretty much near extinction. That'll work like the Prohibition of Alcohol in the earlier part of last century, by all accounts of the quick run-through in my head. I think less things should be banned, but I can post a book on this topic.
Ahh, the critics. Read the comments:
"Contradictions in your post.. do you want to type or not? "I don't feel like typing a lot" ... and ... "but rather unnecessary to use "pretty much every Thursday" and "for the past 2 weeks". Oh well. More words""
Obviously not a soldier in the Battle of Logic. If not wanting to go to work meant not going to work, well, consider half of America on vacation. Or, want to be a millionaire? It takes a little more than wanting. This further justifies and explains my comments. Tune in next week.
[check back for more]
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There's like a thousand cops on the 13th street side of the Convention center. Apparently there's a protest or two today. I might have to go for a walk. I can see all the cops from my window, but that's all I can see. Unless there's a donut convention... I kid! There are also a few helicopters flying overhead. Start the revolution! Actually, it's just a skateboarder gathering and the people against bio weapons. Personally I love bio weapons. Just grab a slab of meat and chuck it at someone, you'll see what I mean. And skateboarding? Please, as if Tony Hawk's Pro Skateboarding video games aren't more fun than the real thing.
Read about the protests here.
[Update] Around 2:30 PM, the 13th street side of the convention center has cleared, but there are still random sirens and a helicopter or two floating around out there.
[Update] All is quiet on the Philly frontier. However, there was one casualty. An officer died of a heart attack on his way to assist in a scuffle between protesters and police. Rest in peace :( That sucks bigtime. |
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| If I am ever a vegetable, please confirm that I have irreveresible brain damage before the autopsy. Maybe even before you decide to pull the feeding tube. Sometime while I'm still alive, preferrably. |
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| July 2010 |
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