Seven Hills Curmudgeon

Keyboards are dumb

2010-02-06T16:50:00.002-05:00

Why do keyboards have stupid shit like Scroll Lock and Pause Break on them, but not useful keys like 'Copy' and 'Paste'?

Mac keyboards aren't any smarter...the Home and End keys do not go to the beginning and end of a line respectively. Instead, you have to hit two keys (Command + Left/Right Arrow) to accomplish this very simple, very fucking obvious task. Why? Stupid.

And Caps Lock should be banished to some kind of two-handed, three key shortcut. Nobody needs to write anything in all caps. At the very least, if you are going to put it on its own key, move it far, far away from the rest of the keys. Heck...put it where Pause Break is...

So....yeah...

2009-12-10T10:33:00.001-05:00

...I'd really like to be employed again soon...

A Post From Windows Live Writer

2009-03-21T12:38:00.001-04:00

So, I’m trying out this new Windows Live Writer blogginator thing. Let’s see how it goes. Here’s a picture of Hawaii:

Goodbye and Good Riddance, Bush

2009-01-20T13:29:00.001-05:00

Fucker.

Obamowned

2008-11-05T09:47:00.002-05:00

So this country finally shook off 8 years of neo-conservative stupid last night. I watched the whole thing on both the computer and TV until after 1am. Something I never do on election night.

I don't know if this result is a good thing or not. Nobody can really know that, at least not for a few years. But I know it is a different thing.

I was born in 1971, and in the span of my short life, we have gone from a country where a black person had zero chance of becoming President, to having it come to pass. America is a crazy animal, unlike anything else in the world, really. We have the most diverse population on earth...racially, religiously, economically speaking. We have been (at least until the neo-conservatives took over) the most innovative and hard working nation on earth. And yet, with all that diversity and creativity, we're also maddeningly resistant to change. And when you get down to it, we kind of hate each other at times (especially every 4 years).

But last night we sobered up a bit. I am not convinced that it was an endorsement of Obama's message (though that is certainly a possibility) as it was a repudiation against the Republican party for going so far astray over the last 8 years. The Republican party of today resembles little of the party it was under Goldwater, who's conservative principles have all but been abandoned by the party. The party's problems didn't start in the last 8 years, however. The seeds were sewn by the patron saint of the GOP, Ronald Reagan, when he courted the religious right. He - and they - signed a deal with the devil and only now are paying the price, having gained so very little for either of their causes along the way.

So now we have largely cast off the big spending, big government, imperialist Republicans and are left with the Democrats...a party that is no stranger to any of those same faults. The question now is, can Barack Obama demonstrate the strength of character and conviction to be able to not only fend off a Republican minority sure to try to sabotage his every move, but also to stand up to his own party when they inevitably try to bring their own brand of stupid to the dinner table?

My only hope going forward is that the answer to that question is, 'yes he can.'

Yeah, yeah, I never post. Whatever

2008-10-10T23:36:00.004-04:00

So, I made a funny pic. It is an homage to the terrorist hunting permit stickers that showed up after 9/11. I thought this was appropriate given the economic terror that has hit this country.

Of course, I don't encourage anyone to actually go out and hunt a CEO. Because that would be bad?

XBox360 Wiimote???

2008-04-10T21:45:00.003-04:00

So, apparently there is rampant speculation that MS will be coming out with a knock-off of the Wiimote. Well, I don't have any problem with them coming out with motion controls. As an owner of a Wii, I can honestly say that - at the very least for certain genre's of games - the motion controls are some of the most intuitive and fun controls I have ever used. But my concern is that MS will rush this through and fuck it up. The PS3's motion controls were rushed and generally disliked by both developers and gamers, so making the same mistakes would be costly.

I've thought some about how I would approach bringing motion control to the 360. First, the 360's controller is incredibly comfortable. Easily the best of the three current generation consoles, with the caveat that the Wii nunchuk is on par. In fact, both have a similar palm profile. Look at the following images (which will hopefully not be borked or goatse'd):

Not the best images to tell, but you can see they have the same sort of elegant, curvy form-factor. These things just nestle into your palms so nicely. The wiimote itself suffers from the same sort of comfort issues that A/V remotes are plagued with...a rectangle being pointed forward isn't comfortable in the hand. But, the nunchuck is very nice.

Anyway, back to the 360 controller. If I were to try to convert it into a motion controller, I would take some of the best aspects of the current 360 controller and combine them with the best of the wii's controller(s). First, split the unit into two parts like the Wii. Obviously, this gives you two distinct sets of gyros to work with to implement left and right motion 'sticks'. Second, carry over the 360's buttons, triggers and analog sticks. I don't think the Wii controller has the 360's pressure trigger and button sensitivity, so we definitely want to keep those from 360. The 360's analog sticks, with their concave tops, are really good, so we keep those. One thing we steal from the wii for the analog sticks is the octagonal base frame. This makes it easier for you to find the 8 absolute directional positions. Unlike the Wii, we keep the two part untethered. The D-pad would definitely need to be better than the 360's, which is pretty bad. Just make the guts like every other D-pad on the market instead of the weird internal arrangement they have now (google for more info).

So, I went ahead and used Google Sketchup to quickly draw up some mock-ups. I am, however, not great with 3D modeling tools, so I wasn't able to put in the nice curvy shape of the nunchuck/360 palm rests, but hopefully you will get the gist. Here are the images:

As you can see, the shoulder buttons and triggers of the 360 are retained. Also, on the right controller, the offset analog stick is also retained. Notice that both units have a base. This would be where you could connect batteries and also store gyros or whatever. They also make a convenient resting base. A friend of mine also suggested making the base have a rounded bottom so the controller could be rested on a knee or whatever and used like a flight control stick.

Anyway, this is my thinking of how I would go about it. Guess we'll have to see how MS goes.

Speaking of baseball....

2008-04-03T18:31:00.002-04:00

So, I haven't blogged about baseball in a very long time. Honestly, I have gotten to a point where I just don't expect much from the team as far as the post-season is concerned. Even last year, when we had the best hitting team in FSU history, I just never really believed that we'd get to Omaha,(and we didn't). So, I didn't bother blogging.

At the start of this season, my feelings hadn't changed. But, over the course of the season I am slowly starting to get optimistic. This will probably come to bite me in the ass with a giant chomp of disappointment later on, but oh well. Right now this team - while flawed, especially in fielding - seems like maybe it has the mythical 'IT factor.'

They are prone to lapses and getting themselves in a hole, but it just doesn't seem to bother them...they just keep fighting. The first I saw of this was the first game against UGa. They got way down early in the game before the game was postponed because of rain, but the next day during the continuation, they just keep fighting and fighting. They were dug too deep to pull out a win, but the fight was there. This has been a recurring theme so far, vs Wake, vs UF, vs JU.

The team is again hitting well and we may have settled into having the best pitching staff I have seen in a long time. With the condensed scheduled, all teams needed to be able to find 5 true starters, and I think we have actually done that with Fairel, Parker, Villanueva, Strauss and McGee. We still probably need to get more guys as strong relief, but I think that will get settled before the end of regular season with Gast coming off injury and other guys getting work. Buster Posey is a legitimate, albeit unconventional, closer.

The glaring weakness has been in the fielding, where we're really just not very good. This month will be a real test of fire for the team as we play arguably the best teams we have on the schedule in UVa, UNC and Miami. Making fielding errors against these teams will be costly, so the fielding is going to be under a lot of pressure. I hope they respond with as much fight as they have shown so far this year.

What is this, a fucking BBQ blog?

2008-04-03T18:18:00.002-04:00

OK, so there are two updates to make. First, Wilson's BBQ is kaput. Not real surprising considering the BBQ wasn't out of this world spectacular, and because the location is shitty.

Second, I think I have a new #1 in the form of Shane's rib shack. The ribs are better than Mr. T's simple because they don't drown them in sauce. As far as inherent tenderness and flavor, they are on par, but that sauce issue is important. Moreover, Shane's has ridiculously good Brunswick Stew. Definitely the best I have ever had. It is thick, meaty and flavorful. I have, on several occasions now, gone there before baseball games to pick up dinner in the form of a pint of the Brunswick Stew. That pint is filling for a meal, and way cheaper than buying food at the stadium.

Baseball is actually how Shane's was introduced to me. The owner of the local franchise (yes, like Famous Dave's it is a chain) is a sponsor for the Animals this year and had a bunch of us come in for a free meal early this season. I was hooked immediately. This isn't some spiel to brown-nose an Animal sponsor either, the food there is really good. The only problem with the place is that it isn't located closer to home so I can have it for dinner more often.

So, I suppose a new BBQ ranking list is in order:

1) Shane's Rib Shack
2) Mr. T's
3) Jim & Milt's
4) Famous Dave's
5) Gerdie's

Stupid Christmas Season Mail Order Products. Part 3

2007-12-26T14:53:00.000-05:00

Today's installment focuses on Shamwow. This comes up not because the product is particularly stupid, but rather because of the incredibly piss poor quality of the commercial. When we saw this thing on TV, my fiancee and I both kept waiting for the Energizer Bunny to come rolling across the screen. The production value is that bad.

Then there is the name: Shamwow. All I think was how appropriately named the product is...it's a sham alright. More like shamwtf.

Attack of teh stupids!!!!

2007-12-23T22:02:00.000-05:00

Just read it. This country has completely lost its handle on common sense. Banning an old guy from a mall for life because he couldn't find his car? C'mon, they should be pretty impressed if the old guy can find his own ass, let alone his car.

Jesus.

Stupid Christmas Season Mail Order Products. Part 2

2007-12-07T22:07:00.000-05:00

Tonight's product is a Billy Mays joint called Mighty Putty. You can watch Billy do his infomercial thing on the web page. $20 plus $9 shipping.

The product itself isn't the usual craptastic fare you see in these ads, it is actually a neat product. It is basically an epoxy putty.

If you know anything about epoxy you know how awesome the stuff is. You have a compound that, by itself, is uninteresting. But, when you add a specific catalyst to the compound, you get a reaction leading to a new compound that can be ridiculously strong. Think of it kind of like cement. Dry Portland cement is just a useless powder, but add water to it and you have an amazing construction tool. Similarly, epoxies are used throughout industry as adhesives, coatings, fillers and so forth.

So, the problem with Mighty Putty isn't that it is a stupid product, it's that it is a product pitched to do things that, while possible, aren't necessarily appropriate. One suggested use is as a filler on a broken tile. Well, yeah, it will fill the missing tile piece, and it will be strong as hell, but your floor will look like a beat up car patched up with Bondo. You're really better off replacing the entire tile with a new one that won't look like ass.

Another suggested use is as a replacement for the missing portion of a cup handle. They tout it by saying you can 'mold it to any shape.' That's true, as that is the basic nature of a putty, but again we have an aesthetic problem. Your coffee cup is a Bondo masterpiece. Great. Why not just get a new coffee cup? They are made of fired clay, and are cheap. Oh and they don't look stupid. And of course we have no idea how the putty handles being washed, and we don't know if there is a possible health risk being used on a food container. I'll just get a new cup, thanks.

Still another suggestion is using the putty as an adhesive for shelving. While the stuff is certainly adequate as an adhesive, you can get a box of literally hundreds of perfectly adequate screws for less money that will do the same job. If you just need adhesive, there are also other options available that might be better, cleaner, cheaper and easier to use. Various Liquid Nails products, for instance.

They show the putty being used for various pipe leak fixes, which is really not a bad use of the product either. The problem there is that it is an ugly fix. As a stop-gap measure in an emergency, it'd be fine. But in the long run, you'd want to have a more professional fix done. Think about a home inspector seeing the sink drain putty fix they picture. Not good. They're gonna tell you to have it fixed right before you sell.

So, yeah, it'll do everything advertised, but in most cases, why would you want to? The real kicker here is that you can get essentially the same exact product from Lowes - Oatey Epoxy Putty - for under $5. If you honestly think you'll ever need something like this, just go to the hardware store and save yourself $25.

Stupid Christmas Season Mail Order Products. Part 1

2007-12-06T18:57:00.000-05:00

Well, it is that time of year again. No, not the Holiday season, the stupid-holiday-product season. Every year as far back as I can remember the TV air waves become inundated with commercials schlepping the most ridiculous crap imaginable. It begins, naturally, right around Black Friday, and persists until a day or two after New Years.

The hope of these TV shucksters, of course, is to take advantage of people who's judgment is impaired by eggnog flavored rum, those too lazy to put thought into gifts, and the stupid. The stupid above all, really. Invariably the commercials for these trinkets attempt to make the products seem like the best thing since sliced bread. In reality, they are usually only marginally better than sliced fingers. Your own sliced fingers. Sliced fingers on your good hand.

The sad thing is that these people will make money. A lot of money. Because there are a lot of stupid people on this planet. The crapola they sell is grossly overpriced for what it is. But even if they were only breaking even on the product, they've built in profit by charging your retarded ass $8 shipping and handling for something that only costs them maybe $2 to ship....and handle, whatever that means.

So, I thought I would chronicle the crap that I see this year and today I will start with Twin Draft Guard. OMG!!! WEATHER STRIPPING!!! ORGASM!!!!

This piece of shit is essentially a towel rolled up from two ends and slid under a door or window. It costs $19 + $8 shipping. Of course, the obligatory 'if you order right now we'll double the number of' spiel is there, so you get two of these glorified rolled up towels for that price. And, yeah, they also throw in the obligatory bonus 'free' unrelated product. In this case an 'over the door hanger'. They somehow come up with a value of $30 for this particular add-on. What a great deal! Three pieces of junk for a mere $27!

Wait a second. I can get 17 feet of good quality weather stripping at Lowes for $6. That's enough to seal the bottom of several doors. Even better, I can use it to seal the sides and top of the door as well, since air doesn't only come in from the bottom. The amazing Twin Draft Guard? Yeah it can only seal the bottom. And the weather stripping is permanently affixed to the door or window, so there is no chance of it coming flying out from underneath the door when you open it quickly. TDG isn't affixed, it is just slid under the door. A loose seal and physics will guarantee that you'll be re-setting it every time you open the door. Fun!

And a quick look at Lowes also turns up a comparable over the door hanger to the one in the commercial for a whopping $10. What?! Surely it has to be worth three times as much! The commercial says so! Right.

So going with Lowes and barely shopping, I have spent $16, compared to the $27 I would have spent on TDG had I been born without a brain. And I got more product and a better functioning product. Common sense for the win!

Hooray football!!!!

2007-08-31T09:47:00.000-04:00

And also, boooooo football!!!

College football started up in earnest last night, which is good. Anyone who doesn't love fall football is a gay terrorist communist Nazi Republican. Unfortunately, the 'feature' game of LSU @ MSU was, in a word, awful. Sylvester Croom's defense played very well. Hard hitting, tough and were in it to win the whole game. But they were on the field the whole game because their offense is terrible. It was as if they had no discernible offensive scheme and were just spinning the Jeff Bowden play-call wheel...which the same results. Their QB threw 6 INT's....you'd think after, say, the first three you might want to seriously consider...I dunno...calling safer pass plays. Maybe set your QB up with high % passes rather than the down field stuff.

Anyway. It is started, so that's good. But football should not be allowed on Labor Day, and especially not for FSU. Sick and fucking tired of these Labor Day games. They suck.

BBQ Update

2007-08-24T12:43:00.000-04:00

Today we went to Mr. T's BBQ on South Monroe. Easily the best ribs in town. Sauce was pretty good, although I wish they would serve the meat un-sauced and have sauce at the tables so you could put your own on. They put a LOT of sauce on. It'd also make it easier to try the different sauces they have, although that is limited to three choices I think.

The macaroni & cheese is excellent. Beans were OK, probably canned. Whatever. It is a bit pricey if you get sides and a drink. And I don't recommend getting the 'slice' of pie. It is good pie (I had the sweet potato pie) but its not a slice, its a little 3" pie that is too small. I was expecting a real slice of a real 10" pie. If you're with a group, buy a full pie and split it up.

I had the chicken/rib combo, and the chicken was really good as well but they chop it rather than leave it whole, which was odd. But skip the chicken and get the ribs.

Oh, and Tiny's BBQ...in keeping with the tradition of all great BBQ joints....burnt down. So I guess it is off the list. We'll just go ahead and put Mr. T's in its place.

Theme Week Continues.....sorta

2007-02-27T12:41:00.000-05:00

So we couldn't decide on a good theme for this week, so we have decided to go with 'view week'. In other words, places we think will have the best boobage to looka at while we eat.

Yesterday was the old stand by, the mall. Viewage was OK, but not really special. Today we went to Panera...or Poonera as we have dubbed it. But sadly, the view was not spectacular either.

Not sure where to for tomorrow, but with this weather there needs to be more flesh exposed! :)

Latin American Week, Part 4

2007-02-22T20:47:00.000-05:00

Day four brought us to Los Amigos, where the old Scales and Tails used to be. Pretty much comparable to La Fiesta, although probably a tad bit cheaper. I had the "#17" by which I mean the Mexican Chicken, which is about all I will eat at a Mexican joint. Chicken strips with rice, cheese sauce, pico de gallo and refried beans. The dish was a bit spicier than at La Fiesta, which is a good thing.

The nachos they had for the appetizer were much, much better than La Fiesta, but the salsa didn't have as much kick, so I guess it evened out.

All and all a decent joint if ya like Mexican.

Tomorrow we're getting free lunch at work, so I think Latin America week is officially over. So, I will sum up, top to bottom:

Black Bean Cafe
Las Brasas
Super Perros
Los Amigos

I forgot to check to see if they had maduros at Los Amigos, but I will rank the other three in order of maduros quality:

Super Perros
Las Brasas
Black Bean Cafe

All were good though.

Latin American Week, Part 3

2007-02-21T13:50:00.000-05:00

Today we went to Las Brasas on the parkway. This is a Peruvian place that also does some Cuban dishes. I had the Tacu Tacu, which is a rice based dish with white beans and topped with a thin steak. Not real spicey, which I was kinda hoping for, but still very tasty. I also got a side order of maduros, which were nearly as good as the ones from Super Perros. Some of the other dishes they had looked interesting, so we're probably gonna have to return there a few times to sample all the goods.

Latin American Week, Part 2

2007-02-20T12:45:00.000-05:00

Today we went to Super Perros, a Columbian hotdog place. It is definitely different fare, but quite tasty. I had the super perro, which is a hot dog with cheese, crushed potato chips, pineapple sauce, and also with mustard, ketchup, mayo and 'pink sauce', which I declined. I did ask for the pink sauce on the side to see what it was...tasted kinda like ketchup and mayo together. Anyway, the dog was good. I got an empenada on the side, as well as an order of maduros. The sides were excellent, and the maduros were the best I have had in town thus far.

Reasonably priced and tasty. On the down side, I got totally soaked when Howie tried to get up from the table and knocked Brian's cup of water over onto me. I'm still cold.

Latin American Week

2007-02-19T17:19:00.000-05:00

Yes the lunch boredom continues. Epic.

So we decided today that we would hit up the various Latin American offerings. Today, we went to the Black Bean Cafe, a Cuban joint. I had the arroz con pollo (cause that's just what I get when I get Cuban) and it was a load. I got the maduros (fried ripe plantains) as a side, cause I love them. I couldn't finish all the rice, but the whole meal was exceptional, and reasonably priced. It will be hard to top this place this week.

Word to the wise though, go with the dinner platters they have, rather than the sandwiches. You get a better overall value and a lot more food.

BBQ Denouement

2007-02-16T14:20:00.000-05:00

(French wordies, fuck yeah!)

OK, so we hit Gerdies and it was OK. Crap-ton of food for the money, but not spectacular grub. Actually, the meat was pretty good, but I didn't care for the sauce. The corn was garlic style like Wilson's, and pretty good. They aren't joking when they call it sweet tea either, diabetics be warned.

Final rankings:

1) Jim & Milt's
1a) Tiny's
1b) Famous Dave's
2) Gerdie's
3) Wilson's

You pretty much can't go wrong with those first three. I probably won't want BBQ for a good long while, although this week made me want to make MY BBQ ribs, which I haven't done in years.

Not sure what next week's theme will be, if any.

BBQ week update!

2007-02-16T09:51:00.000-05:00

Yesterday we hit Famous Dave's. Pretty good and cheaper than I was lead to expect. Portions weren't as large as Jim & Milt's but that isn't a horrible thing....at least not for your arteries. Food was good, and the cornbread muffins were excellent.

So, far, I'd rate the fare thusly

1) Jim & Milt's
1a) Tiny's
1b) Famous Dave's
2) Wilson's.

Not sure where or if we'll be BBQ'ing it up today. B-dawg wants to get a nooner, so...

EDIT: We're going to Gerdie's.

This laptop is totally comfy

2007-02-16T09:49:00.000-05:00

Cute overload, indeed.

Lunch Theme Weeks....With Reviews!

2007-02-14T15:32:00.000-05:00

So yeah, the lunchbunch have become bored with lunch and now we're doing thematic weeks.

Last week was pizza week. We hit Red Elephant, Decent Pizza, Mellow Mushroom and finally Barnaby's (no lunch on Monday). I'd rate them thusly:

1) Decent
2) Mellow
3) Elephant
4) Dog shit
5) Barnaby's

Decent Pizza is like Momo's...gigantic slices for cheap. They also have Bradley's sausage as an available topping, which wins. The crust is thin, with the outer edge being thick and doughy. I left the outer crust.

Mellow Mushroom is a bit more traditional, thicker crust. I think it is a whole wheat crust. Very tasty. A bit more expensive than Decent.

Red Elephant was like Barnaby's minus all the skeeze. Same crust (beer batter) and cut style. Tasted a little better to me, but I am not a huge fan of Barnaby's. The atmosphere was world's better than Barnaby's....meaning it has been cleaned in the last 20 years. It is a wait-staff place like Mellow Shroom, which means you have to tip, and the prices were pretty high for what ya got.

Barnaby's is stuck in the 70's, which is incidentally the last time the place was cleaned. Efficiency is definitely not something they specialize in there. You are supposed to pick a table first...each of which have a barely discernible, grimy number plate and if you are lucky, a paper menu and small pencil. You're supposed to bubble in on the paper menu what you want, then take it to the cashier to pay (and hope that somebody doesn't take your table in the mean time).

So, you get up to the counter and pay for your food and they ask for your name. Now, first of all, you can't get your drink at this counter or pay for it. Second, they asked your name and don't give a damn about the number of the table you chose...so why did you bother putting that on the menu to begin with? OK, so you're gonna be thirsty of course, so you have to head to the bar area and order your drink - and pay for it - separately from your food. Fine. Great. God help you if you wanted to pay with plastic.

So you get back to your dirty table, assuming it hasn't been pilfered, and you wait. They will eventually call your name over a loudspeaker stolen directly from Charlie Brown. If you can manage to understand what they say on that damn thing, get your ears checked. But wait...there's more insanity. If you ordered a pizza, you have to pick it up at yet another counter (we're up to three now). If you ordered anything else....yup, you guessed it...you go to a fourth counter.

Holy balls that place sucks.

This week is BBQ week.

On Monday we tried out Wilson's. It is a small mom & pop BBQ place that is a bit hard to get to because of a one-way street. The food is comparable to Sonny's in taste. Portions and price were OK, but nothing to get excited about. The best part of the meal was the corn on the cob. They must boil it in a garlic infused liquid and then sprinkle it with cajun seasoning. It is awesome.

Tuesday we drove way out to Tiny's. This place is all backwoods BBQ all the way. And it is awesome. The portions were hefty and the price very reasonable. You even get a complimentary dose of BBQ smoke perfume to take back with you to work. Highly recommend.

Today we hit Jim & Milt's. I got a combo platter with sliced pork and some ribs. I figured it would just have smaller portions of each, but the plate was loaded. It came with beans and a fried corn on the cob. Folks, I'll be dead by 40...if that. But I will have eaten well, and thus lived well. Everything was very good.

So far I have Jim & Milt's just slightly ahead of Tiny's. Tomorrow we're hitting a chain place; Famous Dave's. We'll see how that goes.

2007-02-12T14:23:00.000-05:00

I'm on yur couch, playin' yur gamez!!!

2007-01-15T11:01:00.000-05:00

This is a very addictive flash game: Tower Defense

They Deserved To Lose

2006-11-09T14:38:00.000-05:00

This pretty much sums it up. Like 1994, this really isn't about one party managing to sell a shiny new set of ideals to the country, but rather the country punishing the party in control for simply not doing the right thing.

Both parties should learn an important lesson from this and the 1994 election: you are there to serve the people of America. Not special interest groups, not your big-money campaign contributors, and most especially not yourselves.

I have little faith that either party will take the lesson to heart, but for now I am grateful for the blessed gridlock we will enjoy for the next two years.

Welcome back gridlock!!!

2006-11-08T16:37:00.000-05:00

I have missed you so.

Now, Democrats, don't fuck it up.

2006-10-19T19:06:00.000-04:00

Layoffs are bad, m'k.

So far I have been spared, but who knows for how long.

Craig Fucking Christ!

2006-09-24T18:15:00.000-04:00

Sweetener of the gods

2006-09-21T15:17:00.000-04:00

I think I will have to try this stuff out if I can find it. My mom would love it for cooking if it does a better job than that crappy Splenda...crap.

White And Nerdy

2006-09-18T17:59:00.000-04:00

One of Wierd Al's best!

Amazing Race 10

2006-09-17T22:08:00.000-04:00

Well, they certainly got an interesting group of contestants this time. I'm secretly rooting for the Kentucky hicks...they have to have an aerodyamic advantage with so few teeth...or something.

I do wish they'd get rid of the non-elimination rounds, and just make the first three shows non-elimination, but without the penalties. That way you could sorta get to know the people so you can have a more well-informed hatred for the various contestants.

Jonathan Coulton

2006-07-07T10:16:00.000-04:00

Funny songs.

My favorites so far are 'Code Monkey' and 'Re: Your Brains'. The 'Camp Bachelor Alma Mater' is pretty slick too.

This is MY house!

2006-06-29T20:56:00.000-04:00

Futbol is exciting but...

2006-06-11T14:09:00.000-04:00

...it will never catch on with the U.S. audience unless they change a few things.

Offsides. In Football, offsides is a defensive penalty designed to keep the defense from stopping the offense from scoring too much. In soccer, offsides is a penalty that rewards the defense for being basically lazy, and prevents scoring. In baketball - a sport very analogous to soccer - they have no such rule. If you get behind the last line of the defense and score they put that on the highlight reels on ESPN...they don't penalze you for it.
The clock. Americans have a cultural identification with watching the clock run down to zero to see the end of a game. In soccer, the clock just keeps on going for who knows how long. If there are stoppages in play, just stop the damn clock. It isn't that hard...we have the technology...
Officiating. With one referee (and two linesmen who only handle offsides and calling out of bounds) a LOT of crap that goes on simply gets missed. Worse, half the time the idiot isn't even remotely in position to make a call, and ends up either making no call or the wrong one. They should go with 3-5 officials, more like basketball, and they would get considerably better officiated games (and a lot less dirty play).
Pansy-asses. I have now watched two World Cup games, and I have seen more flopping dicks than at a nudist beach for retirees. These guys fall down and are 'injured' more than punters in Football. And, because of the officiating, they more often than not get the calls...even when they've not been touched. Meanwhile, guys will get creamed for real and no calls are made.

Photos From the 2006 ACC Tournament

2006-05-27T23:34:00.000-04:00

Hooray for hippies!!!!

2006-05-18T09:46:00.000-04:00

BJ & Tyler...goofy as they are...won the Amazing race. Thankfully, the boring Frat Girls didn't. I'd have been cool with Ray and Yolanda winning.

Al Gore Makes With The Funny

2006-05-15T07:41:00.000-04:00

Live, from New York...

Badgered

2006-05-10T14:01:00.000-04:00

Cute.

The Evolution of Dance

2006-05-10T10:58:00.000-04:00

Good stuff.

Great Costume!

2006-05-07T15:23:00.000-04:00

Well...the dog, not so much the kid.

How to tell if a law is bad

2006-04-26T11:03:00.000-04:00

When the ACLU, The Cato Institute and Christian Fundamentalist all agree to oppose it. That's when.

Good for New Hampshire, a state that understands liberty.

Now if we could just get the rest of the country to wake the fuck up.

Some people have no sense of humor.

2006-04-23T09:49:00.000-04:00

I love office-filling pranks.

Heh

2006-04-20T15:52:00.000-04:00

Best Choreography EVAR!!!

2006-03-31T16:25:00.000-05:00

Finnish music video from the 80's. You do the math.

Priceless indeed

2006-03-07T22:50:00.000-05:00

I TOLD YOU I WAS MOTHERFUCKING HARDCORE, BITCH!!!

2006-03-06T13:22:00.000-05:00

Ready?! OK!!

*splat*

Duke Sucks

2006-03-02T10:32:00.000-05:00

Very satisfying win, and I am damned proud of our team.

A couple of pictures from the game that I particularly like.

The Divorce Song

2006-02-21T20:18:00.000-05:00

Amusing.

Um.....

2006-02-21T20:11:00.000-05:00

If it moves, they will tax it

2006-02-21T10:53:00.000-05:00

Complete and utter bullshit. As if I needed more reasons not to go to Texas, Michigan, New Jersey, New York, and soon Virginia.

American government at every level has turned to shit.

Hydraulic-hybrid Ford F-150

2006-02-20T20:39:00.000-05:00

This is a pretty cool sounding technology. I would certainly be interested in buying into it, cause I like the F-150's a lot. If they could get this tech working, then it would elliminate the reason why I don't have a big truck like that: gas mileage.

Of course, with Ford struggling financially, who knows if it will ever see the light of day.

Still, I like the idea of the technology. It sounds a lot simpler than the electric hybrids (I am all about the K.I.S.S. principle), and of course gets rid of the toxic chemicals involved in the battery systems of those cars. I would hope they also have it so that the car's electrical system is not charged from the combustion engine. That is one of the huge inefficiencies of current standard gas powered vehicles.

Don't make me angry....

2006-02-20T20:10:00.000-05:00

Hang up the phone and drive!

2006-02-18T22:13:00.000-05:00

Gross.

Renovations

2006-02-17T13:47:00.000-05:00

As you can see, I have changed the template I use for this blog. The old one was too narrow to display picture goodness without the pictures overlapping, or rather underlapping, thesidebar. So this one works better. Since it is wider, the text will be a bit harder to read, but I will come up with something for that. The color scheme is Garnet&Gold now (GO NOLES!!!), though I have a few more changes I need to do on the stylesheet to make everything just so.

GANK!!!

2006-02-17T09:29:00.000-05:00

BEHOLD! The Olympic penis cozy

2006-02-14T11:58:00.000-05:00

Looks....warm.

Google: Do Evil

2006-02-14T08:55:00.000-05:00

This is a fantastic article on Google's immense mistake in getting into the DRM nasty business. The sheer stupidity of corporate America never ceases to amaze me.

I have a large DVD collection, but I haven't bought new ones at the pace I used to buy, largely because Hollywood has been putting out almost nothing but complete crap for the past decade or so. DRM on DVD's isn't as big an issue for me since I generally just watch them at home, but the few times I have wanted to watch a DVD on my computer, it has been a pain in the ass, and made the prospect of spending more money on DVD's in the future a considerably smaller value for me.

I haven't bought a music CD in years. The music industry is even worse than the movie industry when it comes to crappy product. And, in the case of music, I never listen to it at home on my stereo, when I do listen it is always on my computer. There is no way I am going haul around a bunch of CD's with my laptop. No, it'll be MP3's. And of course the RIAA doesn't like that.

Anyway, read the article.

Handy visual aid for Vice Presidential hunters

2006-02-13T21:35:00.000-05:00

Because the picture below wasn't bad enough, here's the video

2006-02-13T21:32:00.000-05:00

Enjoy! Or vomit, whichever.

Hi Chip!!!

2006-02-13T20:52:00.000-05:00

Welcome to my blog. :)

Is there anything funnier than a dog humping a stuffed animal?

2006-02-13T20:09:00.000-05:00

Probably not.

Fear The Gnome

2006-02-13T14:42:00.000-05:00

The Gnome is back in action this season, but off to a shakey start. He took the baseball team up to Auburn this weekend and the boys promptly lost the first game. But he rallied the troops and the Noles took the second game of the series. The final game of the series was cancelled because of cold weather, which really pissed off the Gnome who was totally amoped to take it to the Tigers for the series win. Witnesses reported hearing the Gnome say, 'I ain't got time to freeze,' which nobody really understood, cause he's ceramic.

It should be noted that this isn't the original Gnome, who is now retired and living comfortably mooching off of Shane Robinson's parents. So, in reality, this Gnome is like the second Darrin on Bewitched. The audience will only care for the first episode or two after the change and then get back to the more important business of staring at Elizabeth Montgomery's tits.

The HDTV Saga

2006-02-08T13:17:00.000-05:00

So, last week I went to Sam's Club with a friend and noticed they had a Vizeo 50" plasma HD monitor there for $2488. Pretty awesome price, and the picture looked pretty good. I almost threw down right then and there, but I wasn't driving, and I also figured I should do some due dilligence on the AVS forum board to see if the set was any good. Turns out the AVS guys like it.

So, that same day I figured I'd stop by Best Buy to see what sort of deals they were running, since it was right before the Super Bowl and those places always run sales at that time. That is when I saw a Samsung 40" flat-panel LCD HDTV that looked really sweet, and on sale from $3100 down to $2400.

So, I go home and figure I'll research that one too and then decide. Samsung also gets good reviews. Now, my desire is to eventually own an SED set when those come out and come down in price, so I figure if I get a 40" LCD, it'll be perfect as a bedroom set when I get the bigger SED later on, whereas the 50" plasma would be too big for the bedroom, and would be kind of a waste to buy. The Samsung also had a bit more bells and whistles than the Vizeo.

So, I go back to Best Buy and ask if they have the Samsung in stock. Nope. Knowing that Circuit City always mirrors the same sales as BB, I go there. Out of stock. I then go to Sears, cause they carry the same TV, but I wasn't sure if they'd price match the BB/CC sale. Turns out they do price match. That's the good news. The bad news is that they too were out of stock.

So, I decide I may as well get the Vizeo and head back to Sams.....and the sumbitch isn't in stock.

So now I'm totally jonesing for HDTV and can't get my fix. I go online and look to see which stores have the damn Samsung in stock....this is like Wednesday or something. Nobody within 300 miles or so has it. So I am bummed. Friday I check again and there are two stores, a CC in Albany and a BB in Valdosta that have the Samsung in stock.

Well Friday is opening day for FSU baseball and I leave work - with printed directions to get to both stores - and head off ot the game, intending to leave early and drive up to one of them. Well, the weather turns to shit and traffic is nuts, so by the time I get up to Bannerman it is almost 7pm. I'm thinking that heading off to a town I am not familiar with, during a nasty storm, late at night is not a bright idea, so I turn on Bannerman to head home.

The next morning I'm up early and head off. I get to Thomasville to gas up and realize that one of the stores is in Albany. Up to then I had thought both were in Valdosta. So, I go off towards Albany, which I know a little bit better since I used to make the trip through there all the time going between Tallahassee and Columbus when I used to live up there.

I get to the store around 9:30am, and it doesn't open til 10, so I go wander around the Home Depot next door for a while. The CC opens up and I head in. This place is a fucking palace compared to the CC in Tallahassee. It is easily three times the size, CLEAN, and well organized with the flat panel displayed all mouted up along the wall in one corner. I see my baby on the wall and ask the redshirt if they have it in stock. SCORE!!!

I hand over the plastic precious metal and also pick up a DVI-to-HDMI cable and an extra component video cable, since this TV has more inputs than the old Toshiba 40". No more switching the component cables between the XBox and DVD player, yay!!!

The selling of my soul completed, I bring the car around to have it put in and make my escape. They bring it out and we try lifting it into the back of the Tribble. Won't go. FUCK! We take the top of the box off and the damn thing has about a foot of packaging styrofoam between the top of the TV and the top of the box. Top of the box gets its ass left behind. Sorry bitch, this ain't the Rangers and you can't say hooah.

I drive the precious home and arrive just in time to see Jennifer and Sam getting back from the store with beer. Lots of beer. For Jennifer's birthday party. We still have 90% of that beer left, in case you're thirsty. Anyway, I get the TV into the house and start setting it up.

First things first this bitch has an ATSC tuner built in. So I wanna see if it will pick up the local HD feeds. Well, I could pick up the CBS feed, barely. Damn. Oh well, time for baseball, so I head off to the game. I get back from the game and we start getting ready for Jennifer's party. I just hook up the Xbox to the new TV and that's it. We have an MVP NCAA baseball tourney during the party and the thing just looks fucking amazing. I had bought an amplified antenna and an articulated wall mount on my way back form the game, as well as a new fancypants remote to replace the stupid Sony brick I had bought a few years ago. The antenna didn't do shit. It was actually worse reception when the thing was turned on then when it was off. Lame. I figured I'd try connecting the cable line stright to the TV and see how that went. Not too good. It got the channels, but everything was sorta F'd up. Hard to explain exactly, but trust me it was not a positive experience. I thought that maybe the cable box that I had would be able to work with the TV, but it only has composite and s-video out, and neither of those supports HD signals, so I got nothing.

Sunday, the big game day. I know now that I need an HD cable box, and call Comcast. Needless to say, they are closed, so no HD Super Bowl for me. I go to the FSU baseball game and my friend Josh invites me over to his place to watch the game there and we go, cause they always have more food than God. It was fun, and filling.

Monday morning I take the old crappy cable box down to comcast and trade it in for a shiney new HD box...with DVR, cause Jennifer kept complaining and it was only 5 bucks more. I get that home that night and hook it up. Damn, that is a nice picture in HD. SD programming looks like shit though. Oh well. HD is like crack, you gotta have it. We watched the CBS line-up in HD that night and it is teh hotness. That night I had also decided to take the wall mount out and start getting the TV ready for the wall. This is a 'universal' articulated mount. $350 bucks of heavy steel....that unfortunately, didn't really fit the TV, despite what the blueshirt at BB said. One of horizontal cross braces ran right across where you have to connect the power cable to the back of the TV. One of the verticle braces ran right over the A/V panel on the back, which kinda makes it hard to plug inputs into the thing. Feh.

So, yesterday I returned the wallmount and the antenna to BB. I then go online to look for some alternative mounting options. One thing I find is a nice little cabinet at Haverty's that has room for the TV and the A/V components. It's also only about $200 more than that stupid wall mount and antenna cost me. I need a place to put the components...they are currently on an old shitty microwave cart. I'd like something better. Anyway, I go with Jennifer to look at the cabinet at the store after work. We are helped by this absolutely FABULOUS salesman. And by fabulous, I mean break out the marshmellows, chocolate and graham crackers cause we're gonna roast up some smores over this flaming homo. He was a nice guy though. Jennifer didn't care for the cabinet, so that sorta put the end to that. My only issue with the cabinet is that it didn't have any media storage. All my DVD's are in a closet right now, which stinks, so I'm not overly upset at not getting that cabinet.

So, as it stands, I still have no permanent home for my TV or the components. I need to find something soon cause I want to get rid of the old TV and get the new one up and connected to the sound system. Hopefully something will come up.

Gopher Broke

2006-01-26T11:23:00.000-05:00

Amusing little short.

Popozow

2006-01-26T11:12:00.000-05:00

Lipton does Federline.

Fear Of Women

2006-01-26T11:09:00.000-05:00

"May our loins be fruitful in the bellies of our women."

Wheeeeeee!

2005-12-23T22:18:00.000-05:00

Bye Bye Diebold!!!

2005-12-19T10:34:00.000-05:00

I'm glad Sancho took the chance to test the crappy product Diebold puts out. I will feel much more secure in my votes in 06.

This is pretty awesome...

2005-12-15T18:35:00.000-05:00

From representative John Dingell (D-MI), a poem in response the the truly absurd HR579 'protecting' Christmas from whatever imaginary attack it is that the completely-out-of-touch-with-reality Bill O'Reilly sees.

'Twas the week before Christmas and all through the House,
no bills were passed `bout which Fox News could grouse.
Tax cuts for the wealthy were passed with great cheer,
so vacations in St. Barts soon should be near.

Katrina kids were all nestled snug in motel beds,
while visions of school and home danced in their heads.
In Iraq, our soldiers need supplies and a plan,
and nuclear weapons are being built in Iran.

Gas prices shot up, consumer confidence fell.
Americans feared we were in a fast track to ..... well.
Wait, we need a distraction, something divisive and wily,
a fabrication straight from the mouth of O'Reilly.

We will pretend Christmas is under attack,
hold a vote to save it, then pat ourselves on the back.
Silent Night, First Noel, Away in the Manger,
Wake up Congress, they're in no danger.

This time of year, we see Christmas everywhere we go,
From churches to homes to schools and, yes, even Costco.
What we have is an attempt to divide and destroy
when this is the season to unite us with joy.

At Christmastime, we're taught to unite.
We don't need a made-up reason to fight.
So on O'Reilly, on Hannity, on Coulter and those right-wing blogs.
You should sit back and relax, have a few egg nogs.

'Tis the holiday season; enjoy it a pinch.
With all our real problems, do we really need another Grinch?
So to my friends and my colleagues, I say with delight,
a Merry Christmas to all, and to Bill O'Reilly, happy holidays.
Ho, ho, ho. Merry Christmas."

Dance across the world!

2005-12-11T15:21:00.000-05:00

Or at least something that sorta kinda resembles dancing. Sorta.

Not really though.

I'm not sure this is what JK Rowling had in mind...

2005-11-29T17:36:00.000-05:00

But woah, go Fluer!

And of course, the French dude doesn't know what to do...

Tree And Me

2005-11-22T20:44:00.000-05:00

Cute.

Well executed Halloween costumes

2005-11-15T09:04:00.000-05:00

Vin Diesel

2005-11-12T19:37:00.000-05:00

1) Vin Diesel once walked down the street with a massive erection. There were no survivors.

2) If you rearrange the letters in Vin Diesel it reveals his credo: "I End Lives."

3) There is no theory of evolution, just a list of creatures Vin Diesel allows to live.

4) When Vin Diesel goes to donate blood, he declines the syringe, and instead requests a hand gun and a bucket.

5) Helicopters were invented after someone witnessed Vin Diesel pivoting while aroused.

6) There is no "I" in team. There are two "I"s in Vin Diesel. Fuck you, team.

7) In an average living room there are 1,242 objects Vin Diesel could use to kill you, including the room itself.

8) Vin Diesel can win a game of Monopoly without owning any property.

9) Vin Diesel has always been able to find Waldo, except for one time. He found himself stumped on the last page of Where's Waldo Now?, not being able to find the Waldo without a shoe. He threw the book down and screamed, "This is BULLSHIT!" They're all wearing shoes." He then proceeded to eat the book and exclaim, "IF I CAN'T FIND WALDO, THEN NO ONE CAN!" The book he ate belonged to a child that he had borrowed it from. The child began to cry and Vin ate him for good measure. The incident has since been refered to as Christmas.

10) Vin Diesel is the reason why Waldo is hiding.

11) Vin Diesel once beat Super Mario Bros 3 without even touching his Nintendo controller. He just yelled at his TV in between bites of his "Filet of Child" sandwich, and the game beat itself out of fear.

12) Vin Diesel is the only man to ever defeat a brick wall in a game of tennis.

13) Vin Diesel has two speeds: walk and kill.

14) When Vin Diesel jumps into a body of water, he doesn't get wet. The water gets Vin instead.

15) Vin Diesel can set ants on fire with a magnifying glass. At night.

16) When Vin Diesel was born, the nurse said, "Holy crap! That's Vin Diesel!" Then she had had sex with him. At that point, she was the third girl he had slept with.

17) If you were to lock Vin Diesel in a room with a guitar, a year later you would have the greatest album ever, it would sweep the Grammy's. When asked why he doesn't do this Vin replied "Because Grammy's are for queers." then he ate a knife to show the seriousness of his response.

18) Vin Diesel played Russian Roulete with a fully loaded gun and won.

19) Vin Diesel was the hunter who shot Bambi's Mother. He then wore her carcass like it was a coat while he made his rounds at the local children's hospital.

20) Vin Diesel coined the phrase, "I could eat a Horse" after he ate every last unicorn in existence.

21) It takes 14 puppeteers to make Vin Diesel smile, but only 2 to make him destroy an orphanage.

22) Vin Diesel is not lactose intolerant, he just refuses to put up with lactose's shit.

23) On his birthday, Vin Diesel randomly selects one lucky child to be thrown into the sun.

24) When Vin Diesel does a pushup, he isn't lifting himself up, he's pushing the Earth down.

25) In fine print at on the last page of the Guiness Book of World Records it notes that all world records are held by Vin Diesel, and those listed in the book are simply the closest anyone has ever come to matching him.

26) Vin Diesel can divide by zero.

27) Vin Diesel's hair is too afraid of him to grow.

28) Magnetic compasses do not point toward true North - they point in the direction of Vin Diesel. He just likes to sit on a lawn chair and shout, "Jackets are for pussies!" at the Acrtic researchers.

29) You are what you eat. That is why Vin Diesel's diet consists entirely of bricks, steel, and the tears of small children.

30) During a stay at Neverland Ranch in the 80's, Vin Diesel was awoken by Michael Jackson who was trying to sneak into his bed. Vin punched Jackson so hard that he knocked the black right off of him.

I think they mean 'misunderestimate'...

2005-11-11T08:05:00.000-05:00

Awesome A Capella Nintendo Theme Medley

2005-11-07T13:45:00.000-05:00

This is a pretty cool performance. Enjoy.

Holy Shit!!!

2005-10-28T11:31:00.000-04:00

Wow.

Hot Dog!!

2005-10-22T22:52:00.000-04:00

That's some funny shit.

OK This Is Pretty Stupid

2005-10-18T09:06:00.000-04:00

No clue why you'd want to put TWO engines into a crappy ass VW GTI, but whatever. The bitch asplodes. Best part is the choice of music they used at the end.

Vikings Rawk!!!

2005-10-18T08:59:00.000-04:00

No. Fucking. Clue.

Big Ad

2005-10-11T08:42:00.000-04:00

(Accept the security dialog). Pretty damn funny.

Now Comes The Hard Part

2005-09-28T13:48:00.000-04:00

Indictments are nice, but convictions are better. Hopefully this will be the first in a long line of indictments for the crooked sons of bitches we have in Washington.

This country will be better off with more politicians in jail.

Pretty Teh Awesome!

2005-09-28T08:37:00.000-04:00

This thing is pretty cool. I've seen another vehicle protype with a similar tilting principle, and also three wheeled, but inverted with one unpowered wheel in front and two powered wheels in back. I tend to think this guy's approach is better as it gives more forward stability, which is important for turning.

I'd love to see stuff like this get mass produced, but Big Auto doesn't care about things like innovation, safety, fuel efficiency, convenience, affordability....

Oh well.

Gee, Ya Think?

2005-09-26T07:19:00.000-04:00

$600 sho' is a lot of money...for me to poop on!

Actually, 600 bucks is almost enough to fill up your car's tank with gas. For a week.

Bush Finally Accepts Fault For Something

2005-09-13T13:11:00.000-04:00

Its a start. Now lets see if he'll accept fault for all of his other fuckups.

Probably not.

Of course, it took the prodding of the media, the outrage of the nation, and of course dismal polling results to get him to this point. Now it is up to the public to keep the pressure on this asshat and finally hold him accountable for the unbelievable level of incompetence, cronyism and outright corruption he has wrought on this country.

He has managed to make Bill Clinton look like a decent president.

How the FUCK do you make Bill Clinton look good!? Jesus.

Heh

2005-08-23T18:51:00.000-04:00

Crunch! Crunch! Crunch!

2005-08-23T13:00:00.000-04:00

Holy crap. I know I'd have been gettin' my stomp on them sumbitches.

Nobody Loves You Like Your Momma, But Who's Lovin' Your Momma?

2005-08-14T17:47:00.000-04:00

I am! I am!

We ARE God

2005-08-12T09:25:00.000-04:00

You want to know why religious fundamentalists hate science so much? It is because little by little we have attained 'powers' once only attributed to the supernatural. We are cracking the codes of the universe, slowly but surely, and making the religious concept of God obsolete as a byproduct.

Think about it, if we were to somehow go back in time with the technology we have now...one thousand, two thousand...ten thousand years ago...we would be as gods to the people we met.

Mark McHale

2005-08-05T09:38:00.000-04:00

Mark McHale is FSU's new offensive line coach. We got to listen to him speak last night at a College Avenue Seminoles meeting. He's a good speaker, and seemed like a straight shooter. I left there feeling a lot more confident in Bowden's choice for the position and for the future of the team.

There was a Q&A potion, and of course someone asked a question insinuating that he would be the real play caller with Jeff Bowden as a figurehead (which is what everyone in the world suspects is the case). To his credit, McHale handled this question appropriately I thought. He said (rough quote) 'Jeff Bowden is the offensive coordinator, I am the offensive line coach, and Jeff Bowden will be calling plays.' He said it in a fairly forceful way too. If he had said it in a sort of *nudge nudge wink wink* way, I think that would have been bad for the program in general. When you do something like that and players see it, it sows a seed of dissent in their minds and they lose respect for the chain of command. Same thing for other coaches hearing that. And of course, if media and fans get ahold of it...well pretty soon you've got a whole field full of dissent, and that's not what you want to harvest. We've had enough infighting over the past few years, and I hope that stops now.

Someone also asked him if he would comment about what kinds of things were wrong with the offensive line last year, and again to his credit, he wouldn't answer. Everyone knows we had ..uh...issues last year on the line, but McHale didn't spend time bashing someone who wasn't there to defend himseld, and I respect that. He did seem pretty focused on moving forward and teaching his style of O-Line play with zone blocking schemes and whatnot, and he seemed very competent.

I asked him if we might see some spread offense this year and he jumped all over that, shooting it down. His point though was that with a beat up line and two redshirt freshmen QB's, we're probably going to be seeing a very simple offense. Spread offenses are not simple. I did talk to him a bit more about it after the meeting and he seemed pretty excited about the future once we've got a healthy deep line and more experienced QB's. His eyes lit up when talking about the atheletes he has to work with, which are clearly some of the best he's had to work with.

So, so far I like the guy. He's nice and he's funny, which I think will mesh in well with the staff and players we have.

Choose Durex!!!

2005-08-05T09:23:00.000-04:00

OH GOD!!!!

Heh.

Wedding Crashers

2005-07-24T12:38:00.000-04:00

Good flick. Go see it. As was pointed out by a friend, it was nice to see a movie that wasn't a remake, wasn't part of a franchise, wasn't obscenely big budget (OK, its possible the cast cost 'em a pretty penny, but if so they were completely worth it) and that was actually original and good.

A real rarity these days.

Now we'll probably see a whole slew of Wedding Crashers clone movies for the next year or two because that's what Hollywood does...fails to innovate.

Harry Potter And The Halfblood Prince

2005-07-18T12:52:00.000-04:00

OK, so I finished reading this last night. As with the previous 5 books, good stuff. Dumbledore gets whacked. But, of course, it isn't as simple as that.

Here's some stuff I have been thinking a little about. I'll re-read the book and see what else I come up with after reading it with foreknowledge.

* 'So I guess Snape really is a bad guy, what with killing Dumbledore and all?' No. Snape has long had opportunities to kill Dumbledore, but has not. Certainly, killing him sooner, especially after the discovery that Voldemort was still alive, would have been top priority if he had really been the bad guy. Rowling never lets anything 'easy' go in the books, so I think Snape-kills-Dumbledore=Snape-is-bad is just her way of keeping us reading. Remember also that Snape did not kill anyone else in the final battle, but rather skipped passed them. He could have also easily killed Harry, but did not, but that can be explained away by saying he was being true to Voldy's orders to leave Harry to him. I could be wrong about Snape, but we'll see.

* Was Dumbledore already dying? Throughout the last few books D had been showing signs of weakening, old-age, what have you. Obviously in this book he'd had a rather nasty problem with one of the Horcruxes, resulting in his withered hand. D is also around 150 years old, which is about the limit Rowling has publicly said that wizards lived without the aid of stuff like philosopher's stones and of course Horcruxes. Add in the potion he had to drink to get the Slytherin necklace Horcrux, and I think he was a goner no matter what.

* I think he KNEW he was going to die. Two possibilities, and both could be true simultaneously. One, he knew he was at the end of his lifespan. Two, he knew - especially after destroying the second Horcrux - that Voldemort's protections on his Horcuxes weren't just preventative, but lethal. I think he knew more about the necklace Horcruxes particular protections (and the fact that it took two people to overcome) than he let on.

* Dumbledore knew about Snape's unbreakable vow, and knew what that meant (and of course knew about the assassination plot). If Malfoy could not complete the task, as D believed he could not, then that would mean that Snape would have to complete it or die. Now, assuming the above that he knew he was already done for anyway, D would have been willing to 'sacrifice' himself dramatically to keep Snape from dying and thus allowing him to continue to work from the inside, which is invaluable.

* 'R.A.B' may be Sirius' brother Regulus. Regulus is the only character with the initials 'R.B.' we have met so far (still fact checking this), and also has an uncle named Alphard, whom he may get his middle initial from. Now, he is supposed to be dead. We knew that he was killed by another Death Eater while he was trying to leave the group. The questions are, WHY was he trying to leave the group, WHO was the Death Eater who killed him, and was his body ever recovered. The 'why' may be related to the Horcruxes, if in fact Regulus is RAB. The 'who' may be Snape. And if the body was never recovered, it would point to another reason why D trusted Snape (cause it would mean he didn't actually kill Regulus) and also imply that Regulus was another hidden source of information for D, because the Death Eaters would think him dead and gone. I will have to read back and see what the circumstances were regarding his death in order to rule one way or the other.

[edit] Thought of a negative for Regulus still being alive: the inheritance. Regulus would have been the closest living relative and this entitled to Grimmauld Place, I think.

* 'R.A.B.' may be: someone else. Insightful, I know. There are a few 'B' last names whom we do not know full names for. For instance, both Borgin and Burkes from the shop in Knockturn Alley. Both of these folks (assuming both still alive) would have chance to know about Horcruxes, since they deal in the Dark Arts.

[edit] Apparently, Burke's first name is Caractucus, so scratch him off.

[edit] OK, so I went back and re-read three chapters, one from OotP and two from HBP. I believe now without a doubt that R.A.B. is in fact Regulus. When I read the part in HBP28 when Harry discovers the locket next to D's body, I didn't read it correctly. Here's the passage:

The locket they had managed to steal so many hours before had fallen out of Dumbledore's pocket. It had opened, perhaps due to the force with which it hit the ground. And although he could not feel more shock or horror or sadness than he felt already, Harry knew as he picked it up. that there was something wrong...

He turned the locket over in his hands. This was neither as large as the locket he remembered seeing in the Pensieve, nor were there any markings upon it, no sign of the ornate S that was supposed to be Slytherin's mark.

When I first read that I thought by 'Pensieve' it refered to the basin in the cave, which was described as being like the Pensieve, but now I realize it referred to the Pensieve in D's office that they used to view memories, not the cave basin. Pretty stupid mistake, but J.K. may have been trying to lead the reader that way.

Now, here's where OotP chapter 6 comes in. In this chapter they are 'cleansing' Grimmauld Place, and one of the trinkets they find in the process is a locket! The text:

There was a musical box that emitted a faintly sinister, tinkling tune when wound, and they all found themselves becoming curiously weak and sleepy until Ginny had the sense to slam the lid shut; also a heavy locket that none of them could open, a number of ancient seals and, in a dusty box, an Order of Merlin, First Class, that had been awarded to Sirius's grandfather for "Services to the Ministry."

Note the mention of size. The locket recovered by Harry and D is small, unlike Slytherin's locket, but the one they found in Grimmauld Place was large, possibly the size of the Slyterin locket. The description in OotP isn't enough to confirm this, of course, but it certainly is a possibility.

Then we come to the note from R.A.B.:

To the Dark Lord. I know I will be dead long before you read this but I want you to know that it was I who discovered your secret. I have stolen the real Horcrux and intend to destroy it as soon as I can. I face death in the hope that when you meet your match, you will be mortal once more.

Here again I was fooled on first reading, thinking that someone had stolen the locket that Harry and D recovered and replaced it with another after Dumbledore dies. But I think that is wrong. I think that the Slytherin locket that was in the cave was stolen 15-16 years prior to Harry and D arriving...by Regulus. Again, my thinking was that the person switching the locket was still alive, but that doesn't have to be the case if the theft took place long ago and the thief was killed.

And now here's another quote from OotP chapter 6 that I think is key:

They [Sirius's parents] weren't alone either, there were quite a few people, before Voldemort showed his true colors, who thought he had the right idea about things....They got cold feet when they saw what he was prepared to do to get power, though. But I bet my parents thought Regulus was a right little hero for joining up at first.

I think this is J.K. telling us right here that Regulus discovered how Voldy became immortal, and then she reiterates it more plainly in the note in HBP. Now, I think it is probably safe to say that Regulus knew about what Snape had reported to Voldy from what he overheard of the Prophecy given to D from Trelawny. Voldy would have been ticked,and obviously set things in motion with his minions to put an end to the Prophecy which ultimately lead to the slaying of Harry's parents.

I think, also, that the Slytherin locket Horcrux may already be destroyed, since that is what Regulus said he intended to do with it. I think Regulus knew enough about Horcruxes to know that, under 'regular' circumstances, the soul is split in TWO. I think he believed that having destroyed the Horcrux in the locket, that when Voldy went to meet his 'match' the first time, that he would be mortal and would die then. What he didn't know was that there was already at least one other Horcrux in existence (the Diary), and so of course Voldy didn't die properly.

The other possibility is that the locket he stole and stashed in Grimmauld place hadn't been properly destroyed before Regulus met his end. It is also possible that he DID know about the multiple Horcruxes and had started collecting them. We know Kreacher stashed stuff from the cleansing, it is possible that the Horcruxes may still be around, making it considerably easier on Harry to find them. Honestly, I have no idea how he'd find them otherwise.

* Is Harry a Horcrux? Originally, I thought this may be the case, assuming that it occured when Harry got his scar, but then I thought about the night Harry's parents were killed. The death curse was reflected off of Harry completely and back onto Voldy...who didn't die because he already had several Horcruxes created. Harry couldn't have become a Horcrux at that point because Horcruxes are created AFTER you have killed someone, and of course Harry was not killed. But, then we come to the scene at the end of GoF. Voldy had killed Cedric and then performed his ritual to rebuild his body. It is possible that at this point, Voldy created another Horcrux. After the ritual, Voldemort was able to touch Harry freely as you would expect he would be able to to with any of his Horcruxes. Of course, it could just be a separate side-effect of the restoration ritual and Harry may not be a Horcrux at all.

* Is Wormtail, or more precisely, Wormtail's silver hand a Horcrux? The problem with Harry being a Horcrux is that, well, Voldemort wants Harry dead. If you put part of your soul into Harry and then kill him, you kill part of yourself. Kinda dumb. Then we go back to my original assumption, that Harry became a Horcrux the night his parents were killed. I've said why I don't think that is the case. Wormtail then is another choice, not as an actual Horcrux, but rather as the bearer of one. It is possible that Voldy created the Horcrux in the form of Wormtail's new hand as both a twisted way of rewarding Wormtail for his service and sacrifice and also as a way of keeping the Horcrux safe. Safe? Remember, Wormtail has demonstrated an incredible knack for staying alive when he damn well shouldn't.

* What if Harry WAS a Horcrux? So, maybe I am wrong about Harry not being a Horcrux as a result of the night his parents were killed. It is possible he was, that Voldemort found out about it or figured it out, and that it is precisely this reason why he needed Harry for the restoration...to return a bit of his soul to him so he could be restored. This is tempting, but I still think not. The simple reason being that Voldemort knows the location of his other Horcruxes and could have simply retrieved one at will and used it instead, without all the hassle. No, I think the reason Harry was needed is because the ritual required a bit of Voldy's biggest enemy to succeed.

* What does Horcrux mean? Well, 'crux' is latin for cross. Obviously, the soul had been cut across. 'Hor' however may be tricker. It could mean 'time' (as in Hora, Spanish for hour) or it could be a derivative of 'horr', the lating root meaning 'sudder at' and also the base of words like horrible and horror. I think the later is more likely, and Rowling has taken liberties with the spelling of Latin and Greek roots before. Plus 'horrcrux' would look odd and be a bit too much of a giveaway. But then again, 'time cross' also makes some sense, when you think about what the Horcrux does...grant immortality, which makes time essentially meaningless. Of course, Rowling could mean both.

* Dumbledore was Secret Keeper for the Order. What does his death mean? Is Grimmauld Place now forever protected from discovery, or has that protection now been completely lost?

* What is the significance of Draco crying with Moaning Myrtle? I had speculated way back that Draco would eventually come over to the good side, probably as a result of some sort of betrayal or traumatic event. This seems particularly likely now, given the threat to his family by Voldemort. We also have the death scene where Draco was clearly at odds with himself, and was unable to carry through on the assassination. Now, Rowling being Rowling, it is possible that that is all too easy, and that he really is still a bad guy, and that the whole thing with Myrtle was part of the attempt to repair the cabinet. It is possible that the steps to repair it required some sort of interaction with a ghost...maybe even convincing her to perform a step that a mortal could not.

Great Mugshot

2005-07-14T17:30:00.000-04:00

"It's Not The Game, It's The Parents"

2005-07-08T09:40:00.000-04:00

This is now, has always been, and will always be the case. When I was a kid, before the days of home PC's and Console Game ubiquity, my friends and I played Army, Cowboys & Indians, Cops & Robbers, etc.

We shot, stabbed, and/or beat each other to death on a daily basis. To my knowledge, none of my childhoods friends, nor I, have grown up to become serial killers. Just normal folk. What we had was parents who were, you know, involved with us and who made sure to let us know what they thought was right and wrong.

Our society seems to have fallen in love with blaming the symptoms rather than blaming the disease. When someone gets shot, we start suing the gun manufacturers, even though they didn't pull the trigger. Somehow it is the gun's fault, and not the homicidal idiot who decided to use that particular weapon (instead of a knife, baseball bat, his hands, etc). But, there was a time when we didn't even have guns, and we were still very adept at killing each other without them.

So, back when I was a kid, there was still violent crime amongst the under 25 crowd. In fact, I believe the violent crime rate now is actually lower than when I was a kid (the Reagan years were bad). Yet the biggest video games of that period were stuff like PacMan. San Andreas PacMan is not.

When we see kids becoming violent, we have only one place to start looking for where things went wrong, and that is with the parents. Parents have become too accustomed to letting other people raise their kids (schools in particular), and too eager to have legislatures pass 'tough' laws that do absolutely nothing, rather that suck it up and take responsibility for the children they brought into the world.

Once Again, An Opportunity To Kill Two Birds With One Stone

2005-07-08T09:01:00.000-04:00

Her was have another illegal immigrant who wants to serve our country in the most dangerous job there is. A job a lot of Yellow Elephants don't seem to want to do themselves, unsurprisingly.

We've got an immigration problem, and we have a manpower problem in the military. There are those immigrants who have been living undocumented for years in the US, who love this country, and who are willing to die for it. Why is the obvious solution here so fucking hard for people to grasp?

Recipe Time: Salmon Something-or-other

2005-07-01T10:28:00.000-04:00

Sometimes I improvise meals. You might call it lack of foresight and preparation...maybe even laziness....but I call it genius. *cough*

So anyway, I had a salmon fillet defrosted, but really didn't plan on any particular way to cook it.

I decided I'd bake it in a sort of casserole-y way.

Ingredients:

Salmon fillet (any fish would work I spose)
3/4 of a bag of frozen veggies (I used broccoli)
2 cans of campbell's cream of shrimp soup
milk
garlic powder
ground black pepper
old bay seasoning
1 cup of goldfish crackers
1 cup sharp cheddar cheese, shredded
1 cup swiss cheese, shredded

Directions:

* pre-heat oven to 350

* In a fairly deep baking dish, put in the salmon fillet, skin side down (you may want to rub a little bit of oil on the skin so it doesn't stick to the pan...which would be a hell of a lot smarter than not doing it...which is what I did)

* Season to taste the top of the fillet with garlic, pepper and old bay

* Pour in the frozen veggies and distribute evenly

* In a separate bowl, empty the two cans of soup. Then add to that half a can's worth of milk into the bowl and mix in well with the soup.

* Pour about 3/4 of the soup over the salmon and veggies. Add more seasoning if you want.

* Add the swiss and cheddar over the top of everything evenly.

* Crush the goldfish (but don't turn it into powder, just broken fishies) and then sprinkle over the top of everything evenly.

* Pour the remaining soup over the top evenly.

* Bake that sumbitch for about 50 minutes.

* Eat.

I Give You...

2005-07-01T09:28:00.000-04:00

...the Badonkadonk mouse.

It makes the baby Jesus cry...and get hard.