January 2005 Archives

Saw this today on MSNBC. Apparently, more than a third of students in high school that were surveyed think that the government should have control over what newspapers print.

WHAT?

Isn't part of being a teenager being about rebellion and revolt and taking down the man? Since when have they turned around and wanted a bigger and sterner daddy to tell them what they can and can't say? I blame Hilary Duff and the Disney channel with their wholesome movies and family values...

I hereby call on the spirit of Russ Meyer to come down from his buxom leather-clad heaven and start setting torch to all things good and clean. I demand that the Lords of Acid start releasing their classics like "Darling Come Here and Fuck Me In The Rear". I order Lenny Bruce to ride a flaming black stallion out from the bowels of hell spewing epithets...

Seriously...

gah, what the fuck is this? Folks, those of you old enough to remember the Soviet Union remember what price the people who lived in the Eastern Bloc nations paid to speak their mind? Do you remember how people were shot, hung, and sent to Siberian gulags for writing words that their government did not approve of? Didn't we just send our military into two nations where people were oppressed by their leaders, WHERE PEOPLE DID NOT HAVE THE FREEDOM TO SPEAK?

And now, NOW, our children would have us enter freely into a world where our government would tell the press what it can and cannot say?

I said this before, and I'll say it again. We once lived in a world where rather than live under the yoke of Soviet rule, we were willing to blow up the world 100 times over. We promised those that would attack us and take away our freedoms that we would destroy them and ourselves before we would EVER subjigate ourselves...and now pfft...people are willingly putting the yoke and bridle on, and begging to be whipped.

It's enough to make me wish for days of the Cold War again, so at least what we stood for, what we fought far, stood out in sharp relief to the horror of lurking tyranny.

Dear Universe,
I realize you want me to listen to the band 'Bright Eyes', thanks for the 6 articles in 3 days and the highlighted link on iTunes. I got the message.

Thanks

I've been depressed lately, for reasons I can't really determine, but I have been, which is part of the reason why I've stayed away from my blog. When you're holed up in your own head, there's not much to say. I've also been very busy with the kids, and playing with the kids when I get home, and spending much less time in front of the computer. And I've been very busy at work. So anyway, here are some things that I've been thinking about:

• The Comcast DVR sucks. It's nice to be able to record the shows I'd like to watch, but it freezes in the middle of shows you're watching, sometimes, it won't record the whole show, only 10 minutes of a show. Sometimes it records the whole show, but try as you might, you can't watch past a certain point, or fast forward past that point. It's incredibly annoying, and I feel like this kind of stuff was just let through QA by Comcast because they're the big behemoth, and they're going to survive, even if this product offering sucks. Which it does.
• My second point, technology should just work. It really should. With proper maintenance, you should just be able to hit a button and have you car start. Your computer should just work. I do understand that the more moving parts something has, the harder it is to make sure that it will work all the time, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't make that our goal. It seems like we've all become accustomed to stuff failing and we're tired of complaining about it.
• The new Microsoft Anti-Spyware tool rocks. It's very very very good. If you have a legal copy of Windows, I suggest you grab it, and by legal, I mean that you didn't share your copy of Windows XP with your father-in-law and brother-in-law. Otherwise, stick with something like AdAware.
• I've hit my first weight loss plateau, which means my wife is bringing in cookies and other treats, and I'm indulging too much. And I need to exercise. A lot. (why did I have to choose the time between Christmas and Easter, and Girl Scout cookies days to lose weight? Because I want to be able to ride roller coasters without feeling like I'm going to suffocate and I want to set a good example for the kids)

Keeping in line with my sudden explosion in all things Indian, I finally got to catch a showing of Kumar's at No. 42 on BBC America. What an awesome show. Patrick Stewart was the main guest and he was incredible, the cast was incredible. The scenes with him in the Kumar's house were AWESOME. I couldn't stop laughing.

I love Patrick Stewart.

I'm watching Zee TV on Comcast at 3am this beautiful Friday morning, and it's amazing to me that even though I don't understand most of the Hindi, a soap opera is a soap opera, and it looks the same, sounds the same, IS the same. Just...I think in the Indian soap operas, the clothes are better, and the music is better.

Maybe that's just the tired talking.

Nation Split on Bush as Uniter or Divider.

Yeah...

So, I've been more seriously working on losing some weight, and I'm down one notch on my belt. Woohoo.

Something I've been thinking about doing is getting people to sponsor my weight loss. The way it would work is I'd publish a set of weight loss goals and get people to pledge money to that goal if I reach it by a specific date. All of the money raised would be donated to the American Heart Association, or some other deserving health-related charity.

Anyone heard of a similar idea?

What do you all think?

Ben Edelman has done a fantastic job, hunting for and releasing the names of the primary investors in spyware.

The crucial thing here, for me, is that this makes it possible for people to now contact the board of directors for this VC firms and ask them to stop investing in this unsavory business.

At least, that's what I plan to do.

Some bastard tried to deface my website by putting links to his "rape porn" site. Rape porn makes me angry to begin with, but for some fucktard to be out trying to ENTICE people to come partake in his fetish makes me want to snap his neck.

I tried to track down the website owner to flame him, but he's done his best to protect his identity. Bastard.

So Apple announced their Mac Mini. I saw the email this morning and had to go change my shorts. I went to the website to read more about it, and I had to change my shorts again.

If they do anything else cool in the next day or two, I'm going to be out of underwear...

It's official...I can't watch Extreme Makeover: Home Edition without getting weepy. I just can't do it.

I got the following comment on my blog the other day:

TwelveFifteen no u kno wut fuck u leave IVERSON da fuck alone juss cause NIGGA is doing rite in his life does not mean all u lil bitch azz niggz and white trashs should be hating on him hes good in side and outside. he does not seem da type dat would walk aroung bitching and shit. 4 u need to get a life u kno wut they say "haters never get no where" and iz dat truth 4 real u suck n u can KISS MA BIG AZZZZZZ BITCH so fuck off

There's not enough red marker in the world to highlight why the grammar and spelling in this sentence are all wrong. I sat there for several minutes trying to decide if someone actually wrote that way or they just wrote that way to mess with me.

Can you picture this person in the working world?

so u iz responsble 4 all da damajuz 2 my clients dat u cuzed on monday da 16 th of juli. pay up sucka or be seein u in court. werd BITCH.

Somewhere, the English language is crying.

I think that the email appeal on CNN about Eddie Steeples is bogus. I looked at it again, and the email address of the appeal is the same as someone that comments here on the Rubberband Man commercials and I can't imagine that the commenter knows Eddie Steeples personally.

Plus, I haven't heard any other information about Eddie Steeples being in Thailand at the time of the tsunamis, and I haven't seen any other information on any other news sources. So I have no choice but to declare shenanigans.

If indeed he's missing, then I'm very sad. But if this was just a hoax, then I feel that the person who submitted the appeal to CNN should be very ashamed of themselves. A lot of people died tragically in that accident, and to add use a forum where people are desperately seeking loved ones to get a chuckle is just depraved.

UPDATE:
I received a note from reader Barbara and an email from the director of Marketing of Office Maxx and Eddie Steeples was indeed in Thailand at the time of the tsunami, but he is fine and well, and his family has spoken with him several times.

I wanted to pass that along, and take a moment to apologize to the unnamed reader on my website that I accused of posting a bogus appeal. If I offended you, I'm very sorry. It was not my intention. Thank you for bringing it to our attention, and I appreciate you being a reader.

Thanks...

So, I've been jumping up and down about Iron Chef America that's supposed to debut on January 16th. That's what they've been saying on the Food Network for weeks now ( I should now, I've been watching )...but it's on right now.

I mean, they're doing some "Battle of the Masters" like a dry run where two of the original Iron Chefs from Japan, Morimoto and Sakai are going up against three of the American "Iron Chefs": Wolfgang Puck, Bobby Flay, and Mario Batali. I'm not crazy about Bobby Flay or Wolfgang Puck. Flay has always come across as terribly petulant and rude (no big surprise in the cooking world, I know). Puck comes across like, well, Puck from Shakespeare. Like he's the magical embodiment of cooking...but I've never tried any of his food, so I can't speak any bad about him. I just don't get jazzed about him, like I do about Alton Brown or Giadi de Laurentiis.

Speaking of AB, he's the commentator for the American version, which is awesome.

Anyway, what a great show. What a great concept.