Intellectual Poison

Unless you have a 15 1/2 month old who doesn't know the difference and then it's really not so much of a big deal either way. But I can safely say that it was damned nice to wake up this morning, look at the clock and say "Ah, another hour, sweet!"

With an extra big thanks to my dear lovely wife for allowing me the opportunity to sleep mostly unmolested by our fantastic little monkey boy. Who, as an aside, this morning was crawling around in bed restlessly and, when I opened my eyes to look at him, he locked onto my eyes did his insane little happy grin (and then tried to headbutt me). It's hard to be upset with him when he's just so darned adorable.
Tags: an hour back, fallback, toddler

Warning, this link is to a BBC article about a man getting arrested because a dog was sodomizeing him along the side of a road, do not click it if that thought makes you want to run from the run screaming like someone set fire to your hair, you have been warned.
"The defendant mumbled something about the dog having taken a liking to him."

And let it be a warning to all you folks who are planning on getting tanked up tonight. Don't pass out on the side of the road or you may wake up being some dog's girlfriend. Well now he's got a year to try and piece together where his night went so wrong as to end up with him getting rogered along the side of a public road by a dog. Wow, that's a messed up way to wake up!
Tags: public intoxication, beastiliaty

Personally, I can't imagine why anyone would want to avoid getting slimy and slimed and dirty carving a pumpkin not to mention the smell of cut pumpkin in the house! Its great fun really, as long as you have decent tools to work with, bad tools can give you even odds of a trip to the emergency room with a nice slash.

But if you're squeamish or just don't like messes, then perhaps you could make yourself a nice pumpkin over here at the online Pumpkin Carving station. Don't forget to click done or you won't see your creation with a candle inside it and that's like getting candy and eating the wrapped and not the candy. via.
Tags: halloween, pumpkin carving, emergency room

There are idiots everywhere. Its a fundamental reality of existence that there will be incredibly stupid and annoying people somewhere near you at pretty much all times.

Sadly the internet, once the domain of the educated and rational, has become yet another place where you are occasionally forced to interact with complete and utter fucking morons.

One of the places that happens more often than not is that great flea market in cyberspace, Ebay. I've been buying and selling on Ebay for years now and generally do not run into the nutters there very often. I chose the auctions I will bid on very carefully and make sure that my own auctions have plenty of disclaimers to give me an out if someone proves to be a PITA to deal with. In fact, I left I think my third negative feedback since starting to use Ebay about four years ago. A seller who intentionally posted the wrong picture and wrong description of the item and then feigned ignorance afterwards. I wouldn't have known better except that another person emailed me and said he'd made the same "mistake" with them. So I waited 90 days from the end of the auction and left him negative feedback today. With some luck I won't get smacked back with retaliatory negative feedback but I've prepared for it if it does happen, I'll deal.

Which brings us to a situation that my lovely wife is having to deal with. She's used Ebay in the past but not very much and has started to use the auction site to sell some things. The first couple of auctions went perfectly, good bidding, good communication, quick payments and everyone was happy.

But one of the most recent auctions has, through no fault of her own, been a real pain in the ass. The buyer is apparently incapable of reading an email as she sent a request to find out about the shipping and insurance. After writing back to her with the information she had requested, the buyer wrote back in ALL CAPS screaming that the package had better have been sent and had better have been insured and had better get there in time. Which, if she'd bothered to read the email she was replying to, was exactly what the email my wife sent her said. Verifying the shipping, the estimated delivery time and the insurance. But no, this moron hit reply and went into attack mode.

When my wife wrote her back to let her know that the information she asked for was already contained in the previous email and that her response was way over the top, the idiot buyer wrote back to insult my wife a couple of times and then let her know that she was going to give her negative feedback because that's what she deserved.

I've heard stories about asshole buyers using the threat of negative feedback to try and force sellers into giving them crap for free. I don't know if this idiot is doing that but I'm of a mind to report her to Ebay for abusive communication and just raw dumbass stupidity.
Tags: Ebay, moron, buyer, Ebayer

I saw a sad story on the news this morning about a young woman who was walking to school when a boy came up behind her, shot her in the back and then shot himself. They'd dated a little bit and, upon breaking up, she transferred to another school, ostensibly because she recognized that the dude was pretty well unbalanced.

Sadly it did not prevent him from hunting her down and murdering her, reports say that he didn't say a word to her before shooting her either. That's cold and crazy and really, really sad.

Similarly sad but different is the dentist who was approached by a patient, asked "Do you remember me?", then pulled a gun out and shot him to death. Then the patient walked back to his car, got in and shot himself to death as well. I don't get it and maybe that's not necessarily a bad thing that I don't understand these mindsets.
Tags: teen, murder, suicide, rejection

Funny, did you know that Scooter is pronounced Scapegoat?

Top Cheney aide "Scooter" Libby indicted which is a good start but come on now, let's get to the real players and not the fringe scapegoats.
[Update: Not to misrepresent myself, Libby is the Vice President's top aide, the #2 to #2. Not a fringe scapegoat at all. An excellent first step in what will make Patrick Fitzgerald an international superstar or monkeyboy, I'm betting on superstar. As for the next indictment, my money's on Rove but it could be Cheney himself, it's hard to tell and that's what will make it the best reality television of all.]
Tags: indictment, Patrick Fitzgerald

I rather enjoy the satisfaction of doing some research and exploring as many options as possible before settling on some tickets to fly home for Thanksgiving this year.

This time, it paid off rather nicely. We've got two tickets home for the three of us on Jet Blue which will be a first for all of us. We did have to mess around with the length of days of our trip but I'm happy to do that if it saves us, oh, $300 or more. And it has so I'm happy.
Tags: Jet Blue, Thanksgiving

So Harriet Miers withdrew her nomination for the sweetest gig in the legal universe, a lifetime seat on the Supreme Court. Which is fine, she was unqualified and was nominated by Bush for personal reasons rather than that she was the best person for the position. Its probably all for the better since Halloween only comes once a year and she'd have to take off her Alice Cooper black eye makeup in a week or two. And then she probably looks like a scared hamster rather than an aging Goth princess.

And I love that the GOP was okay with her being an activist judge because she would have been actively pushing the GOP agenda and that's the kind of activist judge that the GOP approves of. Not them judges that let two men marry each other or let sick people smoke pot to help ease their medical problems. Nope, those are the evil kind of activist judges.

Anyway, I have no doubt that Bush's next nomination will make us wish we'd just let Harriet get appointed because the next one's gonna be a whopper. But any political setback for these charlatan crooks is a good thing for the country and the world. Heck, it might even be the staff member who's about to get indicted for leaking Valerie Plame's name to the press (most likely it'll be Libby, nobody knows him and he'll be a lovely little scapegoat to save the VP and the Turd Blossom).
Tags: supreme court, Harriet Miers, nomination, CIA, indictment

I'm all for the better team winning and I don't like one game eliminations but, that said, I don't really like seeing a sweep in the World Series. The Chicago White Sox swept the Houston Astros last night for their first World Series win in almost 90 years.

I've got no problems with the White Sox winning, I think they were the better team. But it pains me to see another team, the National League Champions, post such a quiet and sort of sad loss. Its the same feeling I had last year when the Red Sox rumbled over the Cardinals in four straight, they deserved better.

That and I would have liked to see Roger Clemens take the mound again in Game Five so he could be the goat. I like it when The Rocket is really The Goat. But I do feel bad for guys like Craig Biggio and Jeff Bagwell who've been Astros forever, play the game hard, play the game the way its supposed to be and this was their first chance at the crown. Its unlikely they'll get another and that's just kind of a bummer. I like it when the gamers get rewarded for playing the game the right way.

Congratulations White Sox, you deserve your World Series Crown and accolades. Bummer that one of the most viewed shots of the win is some random fan kissing Ozzie Guillen, the White Sox manager, on the lips. Woops! [Update: I read on a message board that this "well-wisher" is actually one of his children giving him the kiss. Which makes alot more sense.]
Tags: baseball, World Series, Chiacgo, White Sox, Houston, Astros, Red Sox, Cardinals

This highly political post was moved over to IP Politik and can be found directly here. I'm trying to break off the political fury from the rest of Intellectual Poison as I know it taints the generally light hearted tone of the blog. I'll try to keep pushing the politicalfilter stuff over there.
Tags: torture, crooked politics, above the law, God

Yes, that is my son standing inside a toilet bowl. No, we did not put him there to take this picture. He climbed in there all by himself and then realized that he did not yet possess the knowledge on how to extricate himself from the porcelain goddess that enthralls him so.

Which is why he has parents who will get around to helping hit out after having a good laugh and snapping a few pictures. The joy this boy brings into our lives is really beyond any measure. I especially love it when he gets excited and flaps his arms while running into my arms, he's giggling, smiling and just so full of happiness that it just about kills me. He's so sweet, except when he's sleeping and then he's got a serious long term grudge against my kidneys.

I wonder what the new baby is going to be like?
Tags: baby, potty training, cute

I'm quite pleased to have finally hit the big time where I come up as a hit for Bare Ass Beatings Done on Live Cam. Thanks, oh fetishite Yahoo-monkey! And good luck in your search for your own personal Holy Grail. Dang, I just checked the link and IP is not only #9 but is also #10 on the list. I gotta be more careful with my posts!
Tags: referall, search

Yep, just took a peek out the window and I am vindicated, validated and will be staying dry today. As well as keeping my skin intact.

I choose to drive the Escape today because there was a good chance of rain. And that chance has become a reality. So its nice to know that my Suzuki is sitting in the garage, dry and comfy, and I won't have to do the sphincter-clencher ride home on the first rain of the season slick roads.

Oh yes, the first real rain of the season is among the most dangerous days to be out on a motorcycle. The reason is because all spring, summer and fall long, cars with slow leaks in their oil, transmission or cooling systems leak their various fluids onto the ground. Those fluids get down into the asphalt without too much worry and don't pose much danger as such. Until the first rains come by and force the oils and goo out of the asphalt and back on to the top of the road. And that's how first rain roads become so incredibly dangerous. They can be as slippery as ice and they look almost exactly like normal roadways.

So yes, I'm quite pleased to have chosen the four wheel cage today rather than my motorcycle. Now if I hadn't forgotten a jacket, I'd be set.

Tags: first, rain, motorcycle

From an email to a friend who was feeling down...
There's something wonderful about each and every day and something special in each and every moment. The trick is finding it but the really important thing is to be looking for it in the first place.
Tags: inspiration

Someone's got a sense of humor. iBelieve, do you?
Tags: iPod, spoof

The more I think about it, the more last night's televised Town Hall Meeting pisses me off. It pisses me off that the Governor of California was too chicken to appear on stage with two other representatives. It pisses me off that the only person there to refute whatever garbage he chose to spew was Randy Shandobil, the moderator (who was pretty quickly labelled as a "dick" by my wife for his heavy-handed moderation techniques). It pisses me off that he was allowed to ignore pointed questions and turn the event into a campaign stop for his re-election campaign.

So, instead of a cool tough nickname like the Governator, I propose he be nicknamed what he really is, a(n) girliemanasshat afraid to stand next to and actually have to interact with the other side.

Governor GirliemanAsshat.

Please quit blaming other people for your fuckups, resign your post and go back to making bad movies. And maybe, someday, all of this retardness you're trying to force on California will seem like another unbelievable stupid plot from another of your movies that you can't stop quoting.
Note, its not my intent to piss off any feminists or those who disagree with the use of a female tag as a perjorative. The reason I went with Girlieman is because the Governor himself uses this term all the time to belittle the Democrats or anyone else he disagrees with. Just making sure. But Governor Asshat works just fine for him too.
Tags: governor, girlieman, Schwarzenegger

Pentagon Announces 2000th US Military Death in Iraq- Wikinews. Staff Sgt. George T. Alexander, Jr. was the unlucky 2000th US soldier killed in the never-ending clusterfuck that is Iraq. Peace to you and your family, Mr. Alexander. I wish I could say that your death wasn't in vain but it is my feeling that the entire fiasco that is the war in Iraq is in vain. It was undertaken without proper planning, without heeding the advice of top military experts and without an exit strategy. Your death was avoidable, as have many others. We are led by a man who says God speaks to him and told him to invade Iraq. You, the soldiers laboring in Iraq, have my deepest sympathies for having a complete and utter buffoon as a boss, one who doesn't seem to care that he's sacrificed 2000 sons and daughters of the United States for his pet war.

Is it still Mission Accomplished in Iraq, Mr. Bush? I highly doubt it. How many car bombs were set off at the same time today? The other day? Yeah, we're winning the peace over there, for sure.

At least we've captured Osama bin Laden and will be able to make him stand trial for his crimes. Oh wait, that's right, George W. Bush doesn't really care about Osama bin Laden even though he's the one directly responsible for the 9/11 attacks. But a little thing like reality never bothered Georgie. Keep patting yourself on the back, standing by your traitorous staff and keep handing out signed blank checks to Halliburton. Actually, please stop doing all of these things but you don't care what the people think or want. No matter how low your approval ratings sink.
Tags: war in Iraq, no WMD's, blood for oil, Bush, clusterfuck, Osama bin Laden

So we watched the majority of the town hall meeting last night that was supposed to have the Governor of California, the Democratic leader of California and a high ranking Union spokesperson on the same stage to discuss these propositions in the Governor's pet special election. Yes, the one where the Governor of California refused to share the stage with the other two, no, he got to wait backstage and then have the whole stage all to himself. Which meant that no one was there to refute his lies and obfuscations. It pretty much made the event a campaign event for him. Metered only by the barely contained hostility in the crowd with one question asker doing a bang up job of mocking him on live tv. To his credit though, Arnold didn't get angry at all, he responded with thanks which helps to diffuse the situation but didn't really contain the overwhelmingly negative tension in the room.

And Arnold used that stage to pimp himself again and again. He didn't answer questions, he pontificated, he went over his campaign points, he ignored pointed questions and talked about the things he wanted to.

Here's Arnold Schwarzenegger's reply to pretty much everything he was asked "I was sent to Sacramento to get it done and we're going to get it done." No mention of how, no mention of the steps to be taken, just his word that it will get done.

He has no answers, he only has one thing "Give me more power to do as I wish, to redraw districts, to cut budgets without any oversight whatsoever, to make it easy to fire teachers.

I heard absolutely nothing from the Governor that makes me have even the slightest inclination to support any of his propositions. I don't trust him at all, he's rude asshole governor and an embarrassment to the state.

But let's take a walk down through his pet propositions and diffuse them one by one, shall we? Tough, we shall.

Prop 74: Teacher Tenure
Basically this prop makes it easier to teachers to be fired. On the face of it, it seems to make sense to make it more difficult to achieve tenure but schools with shorter tenure actually score better than those with longer tenure tracks and there are already systems in place to remove bad teachers from the system.
No on Prop 74.


Prop 75: Union Dues
A complete waste of time, the Governor wants union members to explicitly approve or disapprove of the use of union dues for re-election campaigns. Add a check box on the union membership application form and its done. Move on. And why would the governor be interested in making it harder for union leaders to get re-elected? Oh, because that makes it easier to push unions around? Of course.
No on Prop 75.

Prop 76: The California Live Within Our Means Act
From BuyBlue, "Prop 76 would end the guarantees of minimum school funding for K-14 provided by Prop 98, and allow the Governor to declare a state of financial emergency. That declaration would allow him to amend the state budget as he saw fit It would limit state spending increases to a set percentage, and would authorize a massive reallocation of funding for education that is now guaranteed whenever the General Fund is in surplus."
Basically, Prop 76 is the powergrab of all powergrabs. This prop would give Schwarzenegger carte blanche to cut any programs he chooses to, this proposition cuts through all of the checks and balances in place and puts the state budget into one single person's control. One. That's not a democracy, that's a monarchy or dictatorship.
No, No, NO, NO, NO on Prop 76.

Prop 77: Redistricting
Another end around attempt by the Governor to redraw the state more to his liking. More to his party's liking in another attempt to grab power. There's a system in place to draw districts and a back up system but the Governor wants a panel of retired judges (no mention of who selects them but I'm betting its the Governor himself) redrawing districts in some bullshit attempt at impartiality. Judges aren't impartial, just because they're judges doesn't mean they don't have serious political beliefs and leanings and affiliations. Those three judges would become enormously powerful instantly. Did I mention that there's already a system in place for redistricting that works fine and has substantially better checks and balances? Yeah, there is and it doesn't need to be changed.
No on Prop 77

Really the best guideline for how to vote is how much does Arnold Schwarzenegger want it? If he's for it then you can rest assured that it does not benefit you or me or anyone else you know. It benefits the Republican Party and Big Business, not California and Californians.

Vote against all the propositions the Governor wants and then vote against the Governor himself in the next election because we really can't afford many more years of his total assholery in office. He's a liar, a fraud and a disgusting excuse for a human being. He's blaming cops, firefighters, teachers and nurses for our problems and trying to take more from them instead of going after the real problems, the big companies raping the hell out of our state.
Tags: special election, Proposition 74, Proposition 75, Proposition 76, Proposition 77, Vote No on Arnold

Tourist Fined After Nude Swim in Holy Lake and a subsequent nude stroll back to her hotel past priests and old people who hadn't seen any boobs in forever and it darn near caused them to jab their eyes out. The tourist could be jailed for up to 3 months or given a fine for her au natural walk.

An Israeli couple were recently fined during their marriage ceremony for kissing. Yes, for kissing during their own marriage ceremony. Now that is fucked up. I mean, how dare they show affection for each during their wedding ceremony.

As an aside, why do they call it bathing nude when someone goes for a swim? Bathing involves soap, shampoo, scrubbing and getting clean. Swimming is just stroking around, enjoying the water.
Tags: repression, obscenity, warped norms

I love sites like the Gallery of the Absurd because they're funny in just the right way. They draw surreal cartoons of celebrities and pretty well skewer them with their own stupidity.

Like these two beauties that rip on The Brit and her Hub and larval Cheese Puff.

I need places like the Gallery of the Absurd and Girls are Pretty (top tier funny stuff) to remind me that the internets should be as much about play as they are about work. And you've gotta love a site that hates on Paris Hilton as much as I do.
Tags: satire, jabbing fun

Have you often wondered how much internet data mining/marketers make when they collect and resell your personal information?

I did and happened to come across a little breakdown in a copy of Real Simple. Its kind of amazing and then not so surprising. Let's see how much a bottom feeder can make off you. Numbers are from Pre-Emptive Media
Date of birth: $2
Address: $.50
Social Security Number: $8
Zip code: $.50
Marital status: $7.95
employment information:$13
Education history: $12
Published phone number:$.25
Unpublished phone number: $17.50
Cell-phone number: $10
Driver's license information: $3

So, on a good scoop, it looks like one of these buggers can make nearly $75 off you and the only way you'd know it is because you're getting alot more targeted junk mail and spam.

Can I just generate all new information everyday and sell my information again and again and again? It would provide me with an income and would screw up all those junk mail databases. That's what I call a win-win.
Tags: marketing, personal info, profit

He or she is just a little, little bean right now but that's alright, it'll give us time to get ready for a new baby. And I can't begin to relate just how much more real seeing the little bean inside my wife. Its little heart was fluttering up and down quickly, at a 167 a minute clip!

As happened last time, actually seeing the little bean really, really brings a whole new level of reality to the pregnancy. And a whole new level of excitement.

Yes, it also means I'm going to have bruised kidneys for the next few years now but maybe the new baby will be kicking me in the upper back instead of my kidneys? That would be fine by me or it would be even more fine if the new baby didn't feel the need to kick me while he/she sleeps altogether. That would be wonderful.Tags: ultrasound, new baby

The good gents over at the Mint had a link to this great little video of Bjork Bringing Some Smackdown on a reporter.

Nothing like a crazy little Icelandic waif going berserk to stir up some excitement. Her publicist (according to the video) said the reporter had been hassling and pestering Bjork for four days straight before Bjork slapped her around. I bet Bjork fights dirty too, fingernails, teeth, kidney punches, brass knuckles, the works.
Tags: Bjork, airport, assault

The winners of the last to breed and least likely to be any help around the house are Italian men! Why? They live at home longer than in other countries, did you know that 40 percent of Italian men between 30-34 still live at home? And when they do get married, they're useless in helping keep a house together.

Nice. The article doesn't go on to say that Italian men are also shameless flirts and will engage in a fun game of grab ass if you don't set firm boundaries. Oh, and don't forget the rampant chauvinism, now go make me some pie.

And yes, I have made a whole passel of generalizations about a country and the men there. I'm well aware that there are exceptions to the stereotypes. Just like I'm also well aware that the stereotypes exist for a reason.
Tags: new father, Italian, men, no help

Saved by someone's broken down Nissan this morning! How's that happen? Well, I was rolling towards Santa Cruz at a pretty decent clip and had some wanker in a pickup truck trying to sniff my tailpipe. So I gunned the engine, put some distance between us and then saw the po-po car that had been going southbound throw up a big cloud of dust and dirt as he flipped the u-turn.

You know that feeling of dread you get when you glance in your rear view mirror and there's a shiny new Chevy Caprice with the bubblegum machines on top? Yeah. Its worse when you know you're speeding by a good margin. I fully expected to see the flashers come on and spend the next hour or so getting a fat ticket.

But nope, the police car pulled in behind the pickup truck and didn't do anything except cruise.

And when we got to the top of the hill, I knew I was safe because traffic was backed up. Really backed up this morning. Its usually slow for the last three miles or so into town. But this morning it was backed up a good 12 miles out. And me being on my motorcycle, I slid right into the center lane and left the cop way, way behind me. I don't know if he was going to try and get me but I knew there was no chance he was getting me in the strangely safe and incredibly dangerous world of dead stopped traffic (DFS traffic if you're stuck in a car, dead eff stop traffic).

So yeah, saved by a traffic jam. Whodda thought?
Tags: traffic, commute, police, motorcycle, salvation

Sweet Clear Potty: See Results Instantly!
Sadly, the Babywunder Deluxe Clear Potty is sold out. From the ad "Never again will you need to do the finger dip-stick or slosh-n-listen test."
Tags: see-thru, potty, wrong

Religious quotes on your overpriced coffee. Not like it'll make any difference in my life because I don't go into Starbucks though this will make me all the more likely to continue not going in. I would avoid In'n'Out Burger if there were one nearby too, I don't need religious crap slapped on top of my fast food crap, thanks.

Folks, keep your religious beliefs to yourself. Same thing with your sexual preferences. I don't care that you're a Christian or bi-sexual but I also don't want to have my face rubbed in your beliefs and issues. Just like you don't really want to listen to yet another rant from me about why I think religion is a huge waste of time.

By the way, because I am asking, can someone explain why football players use perjoratives like "fag" and "queer" to knock down other people and then, the first chance they get, they sodomize rookie players in hazing rituals? McGill University cancelled their football program because the players signed an anti-hazing pledge and then went right ahead with their buggery of their new teammates. I don't get it. But I do know that the most ardent homophobe is usually hiding from themself.
Tags: coffee, Starbucks, religion, sodomy, McGill, homophobe, football

Did you know the words "tenure" and "neuter" have the exact same letters just arranged differently, obviously? Or that "deuces" can be rearranged to spell "seduce"?

Well, now you do then. I kind of like that neuter and tenure come from the same pool of letters, call it ironic word geek humor.
Tags: word geek, jumble

My commute to work is just about 17 miles one way, that's 34 miles back and forth five days a week for a total of 170 miles a week I commute.

When I drive the Escape it ends up costing about $6 a day to drive to and from work. That's around $30 a week and $120 a month.

Contrast that with the cost of riding the Suzuki to work. The motorcycle gets more than 40 miles a gallon, usually close to 45 or more. So that works out to about $2 a day to get to and from work. That's $10 a week and $40 a month compared to $120 a month in the Escape. Extend that out to a year and its pretty amazing, $480 a year to ride my bike to work or $1440 a year to drive the Escape.

Of course, the reality is that its a mixture of riding and driving in. But I make for damned sure I'm not driving just because I'm lazy. There are advantages and disadvantages to both. The bike is quicker, doesn't get bogged down in traffic jams and is, obviously, alot cheaper to run. But its also substantially more dangerous and its pretty unfun to ride a motorcycle in the rain. The Escape is comfortable, has a great stereo, can haul all kinds of stuff back and forth and doesn't require me to bring everything into my office with me every morning. But its also slow, does get stuck in traffic and is more expensive to run.

Actually, this might be an interesting breakdown. Riding to work costs me $10 a week and takes, on average, about 20 minutes each way to get into the office. That's 200 minutes a week commuting by bike. Or $.20 a minute and also $.06 a mile.

The Escape, by comparison, takes about 40 minutes, on average, to get to or from work. That's 400 minutes a week by $30 a week and that's $.13 a minute and $.18 a mile. So its cheaper timewise but three times the cost milewise.

And there's no way I can measure how much happier it makes me to not have to sit in traffic jams on the way home from work. Or the fact that I can peel off the highway and ride some more fun surface roads home.

I did just read about a new VW Golf that gets 48 mpg on the highway. No hybrid, just a small and effecient powerplant with twin turbos and a supercharger to make the absolute most of what's got. Maybe I should run the numbers and see how long it would take to make the Hybrid Escape a worthwhile purchase.
Tags: commute, mileage, Suzuki, Escape, Highway 1, economizing

White House shrugs off sinking Bush poll numbers. Because, you know, when the numbers aren't working for you then there just useless information and can safely be ignored. But for those of us who do give a damn about the numbers, his present approval rating stands at a rather pathetic 39% and as low as 37%. That means that nearly two thirds of the country disapproves of the way he's handling his duties.

Yeah, Bush doesn't get caught in weekly polls, or monthly polls or yearly polls or the fatheaded dipshit would realize that he's not acting in accordance with the wishes of the country. He's acting like a petulant fourth grader who didn't get his Lunchables.

But yeah, keep behaving like there are no repercusions for your assholery, Mr. Bush. When are those midterm elections again?
Tags: Bush, approval, rating, plummets, It's allgood

The folks over at ReminderBand would like you to know that you can order small batches of customized colored rubber wristbands with pretty much whatever you want them to say, up to 25 letters for only a buck each (but that's only when you buy a whole crapload of them).

Its hard to get a tight political statement into less than 25 words. There are the easy ones like "Buck Fush" or "Vote Kodo in '08" or "Mission Accomplisherated" or "Is Blood Oil?". My other choice "Wanna pet my goatse?" but there aren't all that many people who'd get it, which would be fine by me. I'm okay with only a few people thinking I'm genuinely funny while the rest of the world has no clue as to my underlying comedic genius.
Tags: rubber band, platitude, goatse

There was just a news story on about a young black kid who is accused of murdering a 22 year old rival and his 2 year old son. One of the relatives of the alleged killer said something that resonated with me and I'm going to paraquote here.

"Young black men, put the guns down, killing someone else for something they did doesn't end it, it makes his friends come back and kill some of us. No one wins, everyone loses. The killing affects alot more than just you and the one you killed. Stop the killing, put down the guns."

And she's right, retaliatory killings don't stop the violence, they escalate it and we wind up with a child shot to death in his father's arms, we end up with by-standers shot while doing nothing but existing, we have 16 year old girls shot in the head by their fiery tempered and easily set off teen fury boyfriends, we have asshole kids taking out their impotent frustrations on some ducks.

Stop the violence, break the cycle, put down the gun and maybe live long enough to find something worth living for instead of something worth killing for.
Tags: killing, murder, revenge, payback

NSFW but too cool to not click through and see unless naked women (or flash) bother you. Mise . 2005 . Reynald Drouhin. One thing that really struck me is how strikingly different the bodies are when clothed than when unclothed, well that and these women were photographed in the 80's. At least I hope they were, that's the only explanation I can imagine for the woman wearing the Blossom flower hat.
Tags: naked, beauty