Intellectual Poison

Techdirt: Junk-Mail Firm Straps GPS Devices To People Handing Out Pamphlets. The idea is that the company will be able to track pretty much every step their worker-bees take in the course of their day.

And, as you might expect, the worker-bees absolutely freaking hate it. Their morale drops through the floor, they feel like Big Brother is sitting on their shoulder.

While this may have seemed like a good idea in the boardroom, implementing it in reality means that people will feel like cattle and be completely disinclined to work for you at all.

Tags: GPS tracking, bad idea, people are not cattle, Big Brother

Today's new word is inspired by the near never-ending drivel spewing forth from Tony Snow's fetid maw. And so today's new word is....

Slimformation - passing on just enough information to get by but not really enough to know anything of value.

And also,

Mislimformation - passing on just enough bad information to be plausibly deniable. They've stopped even trying to do this since they are just out and out lying (see Tony Snow's recent lies about George Bush never having said we should "Stay the course" in Iraq despite the literally hundreds of instances it can be found online).

I suppose there might also be a version called slimeformation but that gets a little hard to parse.

As always, all the new words of the day can be found at the IP Fictionarium.

Tags: slimformation, fictionarium, new words, inventing language, NWotD

I cannot tell a lie, I absolutely love Krinkle Cut Potato Chips and most especially the Salt & Fresh Ground Pepper chips.

They are spicy but not too spicy, salty but not too salty and they have a superb texture that makes full bags become empty with rather surprising speed.

And no, I was not and will not be compensated for this post. Although I do have a pal who's a distributor and occasionally kicks down a cool shirt or a free bag. But I haven't seen him in several months.

I just like the chips. Alot!

Tags: Kettle Chips, delicious, non-compensated review

There's never a shortage of bad news to report on but maybe its sensible to try and balance out the bad with some good?

In WTF? News, a Richmond mother is in jail (and should rot there) for torturing her 8 year old boy to death. The investigators said that they had never seen something as horrible as what she'd done to her own child. The abuse had been occuring for a very, very long time and raises serious questions about anyone who knew the child and why they did not notify authorities. It makes me deeply, deeply sad to think about what a horrible life that little boy had and that his mother deserves nothing but a dark hole to rot out the rest of her life in.

Also in WTF? News, a San Francisco cop has been arrested in Cambodia for sexual assault on a minor. Somehow he has committed what is being called suicide while in his prison cell by shooting himself not once but twice in the mouth. Which makes me wonder just how in the hell someone shoots themselves twice in the mouth. Methinks I smell a rat. Not that he's any great loss, he went traveling to have sex with children.

In Alabama, a brother got revenge on his brother after an argument about a girl by, this is where it gets freakin' insane, raping his mother. The mother was passed out on the couch and came to while her son was raping her. I'm sure he will enjoy prison.

In good news, Reese Witherspoon and Ryan Phillipe are getting divorced. Why is this good? Because Reese is a stunningly beautiful and seemingly down-to-earth lady with alot of class. Ryan has always struck me as a pretentious dinkwad. And yes, that does get really shallow but I've always had a thing for Reese and am much happier now that she's "available" again, even if there was little to no chance no matter what and I'm happily married with two kids of my own.

In other good news, the Patriots stomping of the Vikings last night secured my first win in the football this season. And that means I swept the football for the weekend, both fantasy teams won and I took home the prize money from the pool and that totally kicks ass!

I also carved one helluva cool pumpkin last night, check it out in my Flickr window up on right. Hell yeah, that was me!

Oh yes, I almost forgot, another Good News bit, the most annoying talentless jackass in American, Kevin Federline, is about to have his New York show cancelled due to an utter lack of interest. But at least he's got his WWE (or whatever its called this week) player hater status to fall back on. He's becoming a regular on the show and yes, the crowd thoroughly hates his scrawny dumbass.

Tags: good news, bad news, WTF?, sin

If You Can’t Tell Whether Something Is An Ad, That’s Deception

Tags: advertising, deception, bad play

Cheney: Iraq Violence Linked to Election and that it is his opinion that the stepped up attacks are the result of the terrorists trying to influence the elections. Just like Chicken Little bleating about the sky falling.

This is the same Cheney Little who proclaimed the resistance to be in its last throes 17 months ago. And yet, this October has seen more than a hundred US deaths (they don't publicly report the incredibly scary numbers of Iraqi civilians deaths but figure its probably close to 100 times the US casualty rate, maybe 200).

The between-the-lines commentary is that voting Democrat will immediately empower the terrorists to attack the US more boldly and with more deadly results. Because you know, its only fat, white Republican kid-touchers who can properly defend America from those durned turrists.

Fear is a bad leadership technique, Dicky-boy. And it makes you look like an idiot when your proclamations are demonstrably false. Your beliefs are abhorrent and you are a miserable excuse for a leader.

Also, I just saw a bit in the news that Bush says the Democrats don't have a plan for Iraq, which is ironic because he's the asshat who attacked the country without the first consideration for an exit plan and the invasion was based on demonstrable falsehoods. They are grasping at straws, propping those straws up and then blowing them and saying "Look how tough we are". Do not buy their limp rhetoric, do not buy into their culture of fear, do not buy into the Republican spin-machine.

The Republican party is the party of greed, pedophilia and covering their own asses while stuffing their pockets full of yours and my money. I hear some people saying the Democrats are no better than the Republicans and that may be true. But here's the thing, one poison snake is currently injecting its poison into all aspects of our lives and one potentially poison snake is not. Why would you continue to support the party that is actively dismantling your rights and freedoms?

Tags: fear machine, Cheney Little, spin, Iraq, Bush, Republican, greed

Rockstar's New 'Hot Coffee'? Boy on Boy 'Bully' Smooches. Rockstar knows how to stir up controversy, that's for sure. With the new game, Bully, they've incorporated the ability for your male character to approach and make out with other boys. Its not hidden in the game, its not secret at all.

I bet this has Jack Thompson crapping himself with fury.

But the game itself has zero interest for me. I just don't really have any desire to try and play it, regardless of hot boy on boy action.

Tags: Rockstar, Bully, videogame, Hot Coffee, controversy

We made our annual trip out to the pumpkin patch north of Santa Cruz yesterday afternoon. I knew this one was going to be alot of fun because Grady is as mobile as can be and he was off and running from the moment he got down out of the car.

He pulled the wagons, played duck, duck, goose with the pumpkins, crawled into a hay cave and really just had a ball. Sully wasn't as into it but that's to be expected since he's a wee sprite still. But we all had a great time really. And we got six pumpkins to carve up, two big'uns, three mediums and one small.

Tonight there shall be pumpkin carnage a'plenty! I'm still not decided on what designs I'll go with, perhaps I'll do a search and see what kind of fabulousness I can find online and work from there.

What are you carving your pumpkins to be this year?

Oh yeah, the photo with this post was done in-camera with the Color Accent feature that lets you choose a single color and the rest are greyed out. It makes for a very cool effect, I think.

The stream of news from my old company, which I have dubbed EgoCo for brevity and accuracy, continues to amaze, astound and stun. The fake name is, of course, to keep my ass out of trouble by not naming the real company or its officers because the biatch in charge over there would certainly try to go after me if she could.

And EgoCo fits quite nicely since the company is run not by a business plan but by the egocentric whims of the idiot in charge. Who's deathgrip on the reins of control is reminiscent of a pilot who can't let go of the stick even while the ground is approaching at 500 miles per hour and the co-pilot might be able to actually do something to save the plane.

Anyway, the news is coming fast and in most delectable fashion for an embittered ex-worker such as myself. From the failed conference effort to more recent insanity from the "executive" leadership.

First up, let's discuss the recently failed and incredibly lately canceled conference. Citing "communications issues" they dumped the conference the week that it was supposed to begin. The reality? The attendees signed up for the show were nearly all comps, that is, they were giveaways that brought in zero cash. And there were a little over a third of the number that they were shooting for. The problem with comp passes is that you can pretty well plan on half of those not showing up because they have no stake in the event. And a conference where the staff and speakers outnumber the attendees looks, well, stupid. Maybe not as stupid as canceling the event the week its supposed to start but pretty stupid and lame.

The problem with such a late cancellation is that the rooms blocked out at the hotel where the event was to be held have to be paid for and there are a whole bunch of other non-refundables involved. Not to mention speaker travel costs that have to reimbursed and the tremendous loss of credibility it incurs as well. Can you see my grin? All told, EgoCo dropped a crapload of money for no payback and the loss of an awful lot of their credibility.

Another story in the mix is that EgoCo's boss didn't want to pay one of the speakers back for some non-refundable travel expenses. And it wasn't very much money really (think less than $200), in the end the speaker got paid back but EgoCo lost any chance of EVER doing business with his company ever again. Nice, eh? Add them to a growing list of company's that have been shined by EgoCo.

Well, that stretched this out a bit more than I expected. I think, in the interest of not completely overwhelming readers, that I'll cut this one off here and start working on the next ridiculousness from EgoCo. Because it does get better and weirder and that's what they call a teaser!

Tags: EgoCo, failure, Schadenfreude, lost money

Africa’s World of Forced Labor, in a 6-Year-Old’s Eyes. I knew this was going to be painful to read and to have the forced realization of something I think we all know is happening. People all over the world are exploiting and forcing children to work in horrible conditions, with brutal masters and swift punishment for the slightest transgression.

This will ruin your day and there's just about nothing that can be done to completely stop it. The sole silver lining is that many African nations have adopted laws to start to curb the massive trade in children for forced labor. And there are more and more prosecutions for trafficking in children but I don't see how it could ever be enough if even a single child lives their life in what is basically slavery without even the chance at any kind of childhood.

Reading this article makes me feel sick to my stomach. And it makes me want to hold and hug my children as tightly as I possibly can.

I've probably already written about it here but am too lazy to go back and check.

The movie Undercover Brother is absolutely freaking hilarious and classic and I think I want a copy on DVD.

Even if Denise Richards is a skeezer who was Heather Locklear's pal just to get close to her husband so she could scoop on in when they broke up. Damn she makes a fine White She-Devil though! Damned fine!

And Doogie Howser is flipping perfect! The movie is money all the way through.

Tags: movie, Undercover Brother, classic, funny

SFGate: Daily Dish : Richie Checks Into Treatment Center to see why she can't gain any weight. It should be pretty simple really. You need to put food in your mouth, chew it, swallow it and keep it in your stomach until your body can digest it and make use of the calories to rebuild damaged tissue, cells and provide energy.

But no, she thinks she has a rare blood disorder that's keeping her from putting on weight. Since when did a madass coke habit qualify as a blood disorder?

Tags: anorexia, Nicole Richie, attention, starvation, bag of bones

I've got an old returned favorite food fetish that I felt like sharing.

Taqueria's sometimes have these scary vats of jalapenos with onions and carrots soaking in the juices as well. The best ones add a liberal dose of lime to the mix to punch it up just a bit more.

The jalapenos are too much for me and give me nasty heartburn. Nope, I'm a monster fan of the carrots. They take on enough flavor to let you know you're eating hot food but the lime and the spices are also incredibly flavorful and delicious. I feel a little guilty about picking through the tubs and taking just the carrots but I'd be wasting anything else if I took them too.

The ones I had today were about the spiciest I've ever had but I still couldn't help myself from chowing the whole thing.

So there's my latest return food fetish. What quirky food is lighting your fires these days?

I also dig on Tim's Wasabi potato chips and chicken nuggets with lots of Frank's Red Hot sauce on top too!

Tags: food fetish, jalapenos, carrots, spicy

And with that, the Cardinals are the World Baseball Champs!

Congratulations, Redbirds. Either team deserved the win but I'm pretty happy with the end result. It was a decent series.

The interesting thing about the end of the baseball season is that now Barry Bonds can file for free agency. It will be interesting to see what kind of interest he gets on the open market. There was some speculation that he may be frozen out as a means of keeping him from breaking the all-time home run record. But I don't see it happening. I do see his ego preventing him from accepting a reasonable deal that would pay him for production and not just for showing up. But he's already stated he won't sign an incentives-laden contract. So who knows where he goes.

I am kind of bummed that the baseball is over. It is definitely my favorite pro sport but hockey's not too bad of a substitute. The only problem is that basketball becomes far too prevalent for me because I just can't stand the game, nor do I have any interest in wanting to like it.
Tags: Cardinals, World Champs, winner, baseball

Some oldy and moldy Cheddar X to get to.

1. Where do you see your age?
This may sound strange but I see it just in front of my ears, there's a line that isn't a wrinkle but it also didn't used to be there.

2. Where do you feel your age?
In my hips sometimes. I've got genetically bad hips and they sometimes cramp. The worst is when they cramp when I'm riding my motorcycle, there's almost nothing that can be done to alleviate the pain except stopping and stretching. Which looks really stupid on the side of the highway.

3. Where do you hear your age?
Mostly in my ankles and knees, they pop and creak and groan when I run up the stairs.

4. Where do you smell your age?
When I catch a whiff of something that reminds me of Baltimore, like crabs slathered in Old Bay or that strange combination of spice scents from the McCormick factory down near the harbor.

5. What is your most vivid memory of childhood?
Playing Kiss Tag in the field next to my house with my neighbor and a girl I had a massive crush on when we were 8 or 9. I can still remember her pinning me and planting a big wet kiss on my lips. I was both excited and repulsed (wet kisses are kind of alien to a 9 nine year old, ya know?)

6. What was 'old' when you were a little kid?
I think 20 was about as high as I thought age could go.

7. Does that seem so old now?
Um no, 20 year olds are just kids.

That wasn't so bad! Want some cheese? Get to it and get yer own. But please swing on back through and leave a comment on the Cheddar X so others can read your post.

Tags: Cheddar X, questions, answers, aging

Matt Haughey, of MetaFilter fame, has an excellent idea to demonstrate the deep dislike for non-disclosed pay for coverage blogging. Add payperpost.com to your competitive ads filter in Google AdSense. That way they cannot display their ads on your blogs.

Nice!

Note, Payperpost is a system by which bloggers write reviews of products that are listed on the payperpost site and are compensated for doing so (supposedly). The main issue with this type of payola is that Payperpost doesn't require any sort of disclosure that the blogger is being compensated for their "opinion". And that makes it shady and thoroughly uncool, in my book. Other opinions vary from whatever to outrage to cool with it (my gut tells me that newer bloggers are more okay with this concept than longer time bloggers like myself).

TechCrunch does a pretty decent job of breaking it down.

Tags: payperpost, Google, AdSense, disclosure

Rumsfeld Agrees Terrorists Are Saying ‘We’ve Got an Election in Two Weeks in America…We Want to Change Horses Over There’ which is to say, the GOP is revving up the FUD machine to try and cow the populance into leaving them in power to bugger the works for another few years.

Why would the terrorists want a paradigm shift? Because they're tired of dealing with morons. Why would the Republicans fear a change? Because the current run of indictments will look like a drop in the bucket.

Keep grasping at your Fear Straws, GOP. It makes you look worse than you already do. And that's an accomplishment.

And Rummy also has said to back off and give him space to screw it up some more, there is no timetable, despite calls for one and despite Bush's admission that they are working on one. Nice to know the lines of communication are completely shutdown in our government. Maybe Rummy should use one of those internet tubes to get himself a clue, possibly from The Google.

Tags: Rumsfeld, fear, failure, Republican

With last night's win, the Cards inch closer to a Worl Series victory and SmudgeGate loses steam since its kind of rude to investigate the losing team. Don't count out the Tigers yet though because Justin Verlander is the real deal and throws some serious gas. But you know what they say about super hard throwing pitchers, it is, in some ways, easier to take them deep because they put so much more energy into the ball, its just a question of reversing its direction.

Its not over but its winding down.

And Bruce Bochy has agreed to become the SF Giants next manager. I'm not sure how I feel about that. He's a decent coach, for sure, but is he the right manager for the Giants. And the trickle down is that it likely means Barry Bonds will come back for one more year with the Giants. I hope they can sign Barry to an incentive-laden contract and jnot just a monster paycheck contract. Produce to earn, Barry, that'll win you some hearts and minds. Otherwise you'll come off like an aging greedhead with bad knees who's not an asset in the field anymore.

Also, check out this article at Slate about the physics of cheat balls. Its quite interesting to hear some player perspectives. Pine tar isn't seen as such an egregious cheat as vaseline or suntan lotion.

Tags: baseball, smudgegate, Cardinals, Tigers, Bruce Bochy, Giants

First Check Drink Check detects GHB and Ketamine in your cocktails. Just rub a couple of drops on the card and, if it turns dark blue then get the hell out of there, fast.

Its depressing that there exists a need for products like this.

But, on the other hand, its nice to know that there are some defenses against unscrupulous assholes who drug people to have sex with them. I wonder if these are admissable in court?

Tags: date rape, GHB, ketamine, drug test

Cheney confirms waterboarding and calls it a "no brainer". Which is to say, the Vice President of the United States is condoning the torture of POWs in direct conflict with every moral and ethical belief that our nation was founded upon.

Dick Cheney is an evil, vile disgusting excuse for a human being.

Torture is wrong. Torture is what the enemy does. For our "leaders" to condone it so publicly is shameful and he should be pilloried for it.

The American people need to send a crystal clear message that this is not a subject for debate, that we will not stand for the continued moral decay of our nation because these fools cannot do the job ethically.

Torture is Un-American. Condoning torture is Un-American and despicable.

Tags: torture, UnAmerican, Dick Cheney

Fried Coke a big hit at US state fairs. Yes, fried Coke.

This must have been a joke that someone took seriously. And then it won a prize for most creative food in the Texas state fair (you knew it was happening in the South, didn't you?).

Sorry, this is nasty. File it away with the deep fried Snickers bars and Twinkies.

What is the American fascination with deep frying everything? Maybe its the same fascination with SUVs and XXXXL jeans?

By the way, I successfully denied myself a trip to fast food yesterday. I had a short lunch and needed something and nearly went through the Wendy's drive through because I've been craving a burger. But I didn't, I ended up going to Safeway and getting a bowl of their chili, which was excellent. Not sure if it was better for me but I'm guessing it was. I'm now coming up on three months without any fast food of any kind and yeah, I'm kind of proud of that. (Yes, e, this is where you chime in and say its been 27 months or however long!).

Tags: deep fried, Coke, fried, Twinkies

Yes folks, its the Egg Cuber because only squares eat round eggs. Or something to that effect. Unfortunately, the Egg Cuber doesn't really make cubed eggs, it makes cubish eggs which look more like marshmallows than cubes. But its still pretty funny and marginally cool in a goofy sort of way.

I can actually think of several things I need in the kitchen before this one gets to the top of the list. A muddler is number one, gotta be able to make a quality mojito and making do with fake muddlers just doesn't really cut it.

Tags: egg cuber, eggs, gadget, kitchen, muddler

If an ad is memorable but still has no chance of getting me to purchase the product then would it still be considered a success?

I speak, of course, about the Lite Beer Man Law ads (YouTube) featuring Burt Reynolds, Jerome Bettis, some roided up wrestler guy and a bunch of other "stars" all sitting around a table debating various aspects of beer and beer culture. And then they decide on Man Laws as a result.

The problem? Lite beer is about as tasty as cold piss with bubbles. They could give it away and I'd still not drink the crap water.

But the commercials are funny and memorable, if more than a little condescending. I mean, do I really need Burt Reynolds and his sentient toupee telling me what I can and cannot do with my beer? I don't think so.

While I like the commercials, they fail because the product they are hawking is utterly outside the realm of possibility of my ever consuming intentionally. If they are shooting for brand awareness then the commercial is a success but brand awareness doesn't mean squat when it comes time to select some beers to drink. I'll stick with beer that actually tastes good, thanks.

Tags: badvertising, Man Rules, Lite Beer, Burt Reynolds, failure

I heard about the lamest white boy of all time showing up on the lamest fake sport of all time and supposedly getting slammed. Its fake, just like K-Fed and professional wrestling. But its a nice sentiment to think about the scrawny wanker getting manhandled.

Anyway, its not especially good but here's the YouTube - K-Fed Slam. I feel stupider for having watched a couple of minutes of it.

If only it were real. Actually, if only we didn't leave in a universe populated by such pathetic posers. Where idiots like Paris Hilton are useless wastes of space, K-Fed is in a class all by himself. He's annoying in ways that are really beyond comprehension. Has the fool done anything aside from screw The Brit (queen of easy cheese and cheetos and baby seats are for mortals)? I don't think so nor do I really care enough to find out anymore.

That a fool like K-Fed doesn't have to do anything at all and has more money than he'll ever be able to spend on hookers and blow is really just absolutely wrong. I do hope and expect that he'll punch out of this life in a really incredibly stupid way, like dropping a boombox into the hot tub he's floating in or maybe choking on a dorito.

Tags: wrestling, K-Fed, YouTube, slam

Limbaugh Accuses Fox of Acting in Ad and faking his Parkinson's disease for policial gain.

Which is, to say, Rush Limbaugh has not a single ethical cell in his entire rancid body. To say someone with a well known and well documented disease does not have it is shameful at best.

Especially given Rush's history with illegal pain medication. I'm sure his "dittoheads" all just keep nodding in time with his false proclamations, just like they always do. But this serves as yet another reason why GOP bitches like Rush and O'Reilly have no credibility outside their brainwashed listeners.

Or like Bill Frist declaring Terri Schiavo as being "alive" by examining a short ten minute clip of her laying in a hospital bed. At least Frist used to be a doctor at some point, before he became a walkin, talking joke.

If you listen to Rush Limbaugh then you are a fucking idiot. And if you agree with him then you're worse, you've handed over your decision making ability to a jackass who will say and do anything to keep his audience nodding along with him. You are sheep and you have been fleeced.

Rogers has Cards in hand / Smudge raises questions; lefty extends streak. I'm sure the Cards fans are ready to draw and quarter Kenny Rogers for what looked like pine tar on his palm in the first inning against the Cardinals the other day in Game Two of the World Series with the Tigers.

And, to be sure, I can fully understand their sentiment. Cheating in the World Series is among the worst offenses a player can commit within the confines of the sport. Look how strongly fans feel about performance enhancing drugs in the sport. Look how much of a hit Sammy Sosa's legacy took when he got caught using a corked bat (dumbass!) or when Rafael Palmiero tested positive for steroids after he swore up and down to the congressional committee that he was clean.

No matter the outcome, the Series is tainted now. But let's look at the game from a few more steps back. Rogers pitched 8 innings of 3 hit ball. Even if he did have pine tar on his hand in the first inning, it was gone by the second and he pretty well absolutely dominated the Cards. That doesn't dismiss the allegations of cheating but it should diminish them considerably. The smudge was there in the first and gone by the second and he rolled right through the Cards.

Now, it is possible that there was a pyschological effect of thinking Rogers was cheating and it may have helped him dominate the Cards. But that's neither here nor there. The reality is that the umpires should have swiftly stepped in to quell any allegations or to find out if Rogers was, in fact, cheating by using pine tar to add some extra bite to his curve ball. They didn't, Rogers kept going and the Cards ended up going down 3-1 to even the series.

Another thought I just had. Wasn't Bud Selig or some of the other high ranking MLB officials at the game? Why didn't they immediately call an investigation into the matter? Why not recover some of the balls Rogers pitched and see what they looked like? The inaction looks bad, smears the Series and further drags baseball into the cheating sports gutter. And that sucks.

Tags: baseball, smudge, smudgegate, cheating

Techdirt: 'No Harm No Foul' Becoming The Norm In Data Breach Lawsuits

When it becomes incumbent upon the victim to prove his financial loss and not upon the keeper of information to protect user's data from illegal disclosure and loss, then we are facing a very serious threat to our ability to seek compensation for wrongs committed with our information.

Having to prove that leaked data was used in a malicious fashion means that businesses can continue to be negligent about their security practices with little fear. Victims of identity theft have a helluva lot more important things to do, like trying to put their lives back together, than to sit in court and argue semantics of obsolete laws.

If a company contains personal information about me and they do not do everything in their power to secure that information from dissemination then that company should be held liable for negligence. Not doing so opens the door to widespread abuse.

Putting the burden of proof on the victim is wrong and unnecessary. Intent and negligence exist before damage occurs. Just because someone swerves to avoid you while driving drunk doesn't make them any less negligent or drunk.

Tags: security, data, slippery slope, lawsuit

This was more of the fun from Saturday when Grady found the tomato cages and thought they were a great toy. He looks like he's praying and stayed like this for about a minute. The video of him standing up in this and turning around and around is pretty funny too.

That kid is just an incredibly funny and inquisitive little guy, It was great fun to watch him work through how to get in and out of the cage. Great and amazing really. He's growing up so quickly that sometimes I just want to hold him and keep him just the way he is right now.

The Official Reality Dot Appreciation Page lets you play mind games with yourself. Check it out and see how quickly the dots disappear or how quickly you start seeing the green dot when there is no green dot.

I love stuff like this!

Tags: illusion, pink dots, green dots, persistence

The goverment has launched YoungFeds.org, a MySpace clone that I think should be called FedSpace. Since, come on now, you think MySpace is gonna sue them over a copyright infringement?

FedSpace will do about as well as the Wal-Mart clone, that is. Its already dead, nobody's told the family yet.

Tags: MySpace, FedSpace, clone,

Techdirt: Takedown Notice Process Working For YouTube and YouTube has been making good on removing copyrighted material from their site.

Funny thing though. I wanted to see the recent smackdown of Rich Franklin, the then-reigning middleweight champ of the UFC, by Anderson Silva. I checked YouTube and the one link to the fight had been removed due to copyright issues. And, as a lark, I thought I'd try Google's Video service. Sure enough, there it was and I got to see it happen.

Lots of muay thai knees to the body just took all the fight out of Franklin and he was pretty much a ragdoll by the end of the fight. And, upon further searching, I saw him do the exact same thing to another fighter before pounding him into jelly.

You'd think that Google Video would have blocked the UFC content as well. But not yet. Funny that.

NFL kickers, underdogs have their day. Let's see, a 62-yard field goal to beat the Eagles, a last minute field goal to beat the Chargers, a previously beaten-down team upsetting another pretty crappy team.

I have no shame in telling you that my football pickem is probably my worst one ever this week. But that's alright, I can't imagine any of the other players having any better weeks.

And I thoroughly trounced one team in my fantasy league thanks to Peyton Manning playing like he has in the past.

And the Sharks lost to the Wild which means the Wild are definitely one of the elite teams in the NHL.

And Kenny Rogers continued his dream post season with another convincing outing against the Cards last night. I thought that old dog's tank was bone dry but he's showing that he's got the stones to get it done. I still think the Cards are gonna win it all but the Tigers aren't going quietly, nosirreebob. And that's exactly how I'd want it to go. I hate sweeps in the World Series or otherwise lopsided victories. I like the gritty battles that let you see just who wants it more.

I am also looking forward to what the Giants do in the offseason. I hope they work hard to get alot younger!

Monday morning comes too quickly. But Sunday morning started at 3:30 am with Graydon trying to escape his crib and finding that his head didn't fit through the opening he'd created by knocking the crib side slide off its track.

And then, once the big boy was down, the little boy started up. So yeah. From about 3:30 til about 6 yesterday I was up and down and up and down. Reseting pacifiers and asking Sully to please, please, please go back to sleep.

Kids are the most wonderful gifts ever, but sometimes they can be quite trying and tiring.

And Graydon's crib? Repaired with some wood glue and a toothpick broken off in the hole to give the screw something to grab on to. He won't be escaping the same way again. But he's also getting ready to get moved into a big boy bed too.

PS Should I feel good or bad about getting out of Ikea for only $200 yesterday? I got a new desk, Graydon got a slick easel with a chalkboard on one side and my wife got new shelving for her shop. Not too bad a deal at all.

Tags: kids, sleep, deprived, sleep

Looks like that new VW turbo diesel's got some serious pickup.

I like clever and funny advertising like this. It makes its point without having to be deceptive or stupid and its easy to tell that they are going over the top with their claims.

Or like this one.
Which isn't going to get me to stop eating meat, not by a longshot but its one of the best PETA ads I've seen in a long time. And one of the easiest to look at too. The shock tactics from PETA don't work either and they are awful to look at. This one, at least, makes me consider the idea of going veggie. But only for a moment.

Thanks to the Republic of Seabrook for the find! And there are more neat ads to look at in the link above, check 'em out.
Tags: advertising, vw, PETA, funny

Artillery round melted for scrap kills two and critically wounds seven others.

Dude, its a bomb. You don't take an unexploded bomb and put it on a fire to melt it down. You get the hell away from it.

I'm sorry you're dead and even more so that another person died and seven other people's lives are permanently impacted by your stupidity or reckless need.

But wait, there's more!

Rush to marry ends in tragedy. In which the excited groom to be starts blasting with his gun to get his girl's attention, she gets tagged with a richochet and decides she's dead so he kills himself.

Whatever happened to the days of throwing pebbles against a girl's window when you wanted her attention? Now its all bang, bang, oh shit, I think I killed her so I should kill myself.

This is about as avoidable as it gets.

[Update: Phil left a comment about a teenage girl trying to commit suicide by getting in a high speed car wreck, regardless of the fact that the other car had zero to do with her distress (a girl in her class refused to have sex with her). The teenager survived, the woman she slammed into did not and now the teen is charged with murder. I'm sure there will be plenty of red-hot lesbian lovin' for her in prison. Very sad. The twist is that the teen was texting her friends as she was speeding towards the crash.]

Tags: Darwin Award, BOOM, artillery, avoidable

The Death Of Your Father: "Sigmund Freud called it 'the most poignant loss' of his life. Sean Connery termed it 'a shattering blow.' Norman Mailer likened it to 'having a hole in your tooth. It's a pain that can never be filled.' Each year, more than 1.5 million American boys and men lose their fathers to death. And like the three men mentioned above, most are unprepared.

Today is the anniversary of my father's passage from this world into the nebelous next. He died four years ago today. Like a big shining light that was shut off and can't be turned back on.

Its hard to have lost him. Heck, its hard to lose a friend, its almost impossible to lose a father.

But he should know that he's loved and missed by me, his other children, his wife, his ex-wife and all of his friends.

Four years is the blink of an eye in the bigger scheme of things and it feels like just yesterday to me. I can almost still here him making funny noises or playing around with a kazoo or making silly faces.

I love you, Dad! My only regret is that you never got a chance to meet my children, your grandchildren. But you did get to meet your other grandchildren and seeing how much love you had for them makes me wish all the more that you could share in some of the joy my own family gives me.

Tags: father, dad, passing, missed

Bush signs law authorizing harsh interrogation including sleep deprivation and induced hypothermia.

And really, what we're getting to is torture without calling it torture. Abusing someone in no position to defend themselves in the name of freedom.

And then Bush had the sheer audacity to say anyone who opposed it was for the terrorists.

Just like his other false dilemmas, "You are either for the Patriot Act or you are for terrorism" and "You are either with him on the war on terror or you are with the terrorists." It just doesn't work that way, Mr. Bush. And you know it.

You are a divider and a diminisher. You have done nothing but erode this nation's dignity and world standing. Your legacy should be one of deepest shame and what not to do.

Torture is not what the good guys do. But you already knew that, you deeply disturbed excuse for a man.

Tags: torture, Bush, bad guys, divider

CaptainNormal.org: People who live in glass houses...

"It's vile," said Rep. Mark Foley, R-West Palm Beach. "It's more sad than anything else, to see someone with such potential throw it all down the drain because of a sexual addiction." September 12, 1998 St. Petersburg Times.

It took eight years for Foley's personal bomb to go off and its threatening to severely cripple his party.

And I heard the page wasn't even really all that cute, either.

Tags: Mark Foley, sex crime, hypocrisy, self-fulfilling prophecy

I got a call from a couple of editor/marketing pals up near San Francisco yesterday and they were really excited to share a secret with me. The most best kind of secret too since it involved my old company, who's also screwed them as well.

The conference they'd had planned for this week? It was supposed to start tomorrow up in the city? Um, yeah, due to "major coordination issues", the conference plug was pulled either late last week or on Monday morning, a mere three days before the scheduled start. Ooopsy!

Why does this make me feel so good even though my ex-co-workers and friends are suffering as a result? Because its further vindication that a) they did not value what I did for the company highly enough and b) the boss needs someone to keep her from stepping in her own crap. Also, it makes me smile knowing that she just lost a heckuva lot more money on non-refundable deposits and room guarantees than she stole from me, ALOT more.

And, oh yeah, don't think the press doesn't notice these things. Because they do. And they lose a little or alot more faith in the stability and believability of a company when they resort to last minute cancellations like this.

Besides, at this point, I'd just about cheer her getting run over by a bus. Almost. I'm not that bitter. I don't wish her physical harm but I certainly have no problems wishing her deep financial harm since that's what she did to me.
Tags: conference, cancellation, schadenfreude, bad employer, exploiter

Since I got the flu a couple of weeks ago and the resurgence I had off it last week and over the weekend, my appetite really took a dive. And with all of the full body coughing going on, my body really took a beating.

I am, as you may be able to tell, feeling substantially improved but still have a little ways to go before I'm "healed".

But during this time I dropped to my lowest weight since before I started college. Not really by choice but funnily enough, the flu and coughing have helped to whittle down the little desk "bulge" I'd been starting to sport. Its still there to some degree but much reduced.

Kind of funny how being sick can have positive benefits as well. But I will happily relinquish my coughing workout regimen for my Bowflex again as soon as I can. I have had enough coughs to last me a year or two.

Tags: diet by flu, diet by flu, weight

Man allegedly fires crossbow at motorist while drunk, of course.

The crossbow bolt hit the man's rear window and bounced off but did shatter it in the process. And dude with the crossbow? Blew a 0.12 on the BAC and is gonna get some real trouble now because using a crossbow is considered a terroristic act in Arkansas. Ooops.

Maybe you should not drink and crossbow.
Tags: road rage, crossbow

Google bought internet sensation YouTube for the equivalent of $1.65 billion in stock options. And the resultant mashup has been named GooTube.

I would have gone with Youoogle personally, since its actually more correct. Its user created content delivered via Google.

GooTube sounds like a teenager's stupid nickname for his penis.

Tags: Google, bought, YouTube

I have just finished watching the most bizarre come from behind football victory I've ever seen. Not that the Bears shouldn't have won, it shouldn't have been close but, you know, six turnovers and almost no offensive scoring will tend to make a tight game.

Un-frickin-believable!

Go Bears!

They are the first team in history to come back from 20 down without scoring an offensive touchdown. And that is amazing!

PS. I am quite pleased that I do not have the misfortune to be a Cards fan even though I did spend several years in Tempe. Because they served it up!
Tags: football, Bears, come from behind,

The A's became the sixth major league team to let its manager go since the final days of the season. Dusty Baker (Chicago Cubs), Joe Girardi (Florida), Felipe Alou (San Francisco), Frank Robinson (Washington) and Buck Showalter (Texas) are not coming back next year.

Macha fired as Oakland's manager and its not really a surprise since all the hip ball clubs are firing managers these days. Except the ultra-square New Dork Spankees.

Baseball's winding down, the Tigers are gonna face the Cards or the Mets and then the season's done and the only sport I'll have on a daily basis is hockey since I absolutely cannot stand basketball. I don't mind playing it but best to be on my team unless you like dislocated hips and sprained ankles (sorry, I come from a contact sport background, deal with it).

But let's look at this list and see who deserved a canning.

Dusty? Hell yes, the most overrated manager in the modern history of the game.
Joe? Hell no, he kicked ass with a payroll of $15 million.
Felipe? Hell no, he's a baseball legend, 'nuff said.
Frank? Um, no. Any team would be quite fortunate to have him as a manager.
Buck? Meh, take him, leave him. I don't think it matters.

[Update: Maybe the Macha canning wasn't such a bad thing for the A's given the statements by his ex-players to the Chronicle. I give the players props for being pros during the season and their reasons seem reasonable but its hard to not be taken aback by the players pig-piling on the Slam Macha Train.]

Tags: baseball, manager, fired,

I've had some kind of resurgence of my flu from last week and ended up leaving work early on Friday as I was pretty well completely fogged over and all but useless (although I did field a call from an interested editor that lasted nearly a half hour and took every ounce of concentration I had).

And I've spent a good portion of the time since then laying down, trying to feel better and watching sports (among other things) on the stupid box.

First off, I wish the A's had won at least a game in the ALCS. They are a better team than a second round sweep by the Tigers. That said, I would have been happy with either team going to the big games. The Tigers look good although Magglio Ordonez looks like a reject from the Patridge Family with his goofy locks.

Secondly, I thought the Mets were going to be able to manhandle the Cards with their hefty bats lineup. It appears that Big Albert Pujols' bat is waking up again and the Cards took a 2-1 series lead. At this point, while I'd prefer the Mets, I think the Cards are going to romp in the next two games.

Thirdly, the San Jose Sharks are the real deal. They now stand at 4-1-0 in the league, they play strong hockey and the new additions to the team are already making their presences felt. Before the season began they were 15-1 favorites to win the Cup this year. I'd imagine that, if they keep playing the way they have, those odds are going to start coming down before long.

Fourthly, I watched a bunch of Ultimate Fighter episodes last night to catch up on the Comeback season. Its a pretty good show overall but some weeks they have about 55 minutes of show (with a whole crapload of commercials, I counted 4 and a half minutes on the commercial breaks) and then the "fight" that week is a quick submission or something else that ends it fast. Its hard to make sure each week is a good fight though. And, while I like Rich Franklin, he looks like he needs to eat more as his face is super bony and it was exceedingly lame of the UFC to allow him to come in and spy on the fighters so he could get a better idea of who he was going to have to fight. Not that I think anyone on the show could take Franklin or Matt Hughes (who is kind of jerk) and none of them are even close to Chuck Liddell's class. He would pretty well shred any of them.

And now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go and cough up a long so I could scrap off the festering mucus. Sounds like fun, doesn't it?

And yeah, if I don't start feeling substantially better today then I will likely go and see my doctor tomorrow to make sure I haven't got bronchitis or pneumonia.

Tags: sports, Tigers, Sharks, Athletics, UFC

You drive a white truck. Trust me on this.
You think its funny to swerve in front of motorcycles.
You laugh at other people getting hurt.
You dismiss things you don’t like as being “Gay”.
You insult people you love.
You vote Republican (not an automatic but its definitely a symptom)
You vote Republican this November given their recent track record.
You have a sticker on your car of Calvin peeing on your carmaker’s competitor.
You wonder why the women get all crazy about paternity tests on Maury or Ricki.
You don’t tip.

Tags: top ten, reasons, you might be an asshole

Poll: Democratic candidates open large lead in congressional races.

Its not like the Republicans have been doing themselves any favors with the scandals, indictments and other unethical behaviour. The American people are tired of political-blowhardery.

Its time to get some leaders who actually lead rather than smirk, posture and follow their own pre-written set of actions. Its time for leaders who actually do give a damn about all Americans, not just the ones with the biggest bank accounts. Its time for leaders who lead by example rather than by threat. Its time for leaders that actually uphold the Constitution rather than try to amend it for their own narrow little religious views.

Its time for a change. Next month we have the chance to effect that change. Please make sure you vote.

Techdirt examines some survey results that indicate that people are more concerned with being victimized online than they are about "real" world crimes like mugging, theft and burglary.

Not me. I am always well aware of what's going on around me. Attribute it to being a biker or whatever, but I'm pretty aware. You try splitting lanes on the highway and not paying attention and you'll find out damned quick what bumper tastes like.

But I've been doing alot of research lately on pedophiles and online predators and its pretty sobering stuff really. It also highlights the very different ways in which generations access the information age. Email is for old people, of which I am apparently one now because I prefer it to IM, SMS or MMS or any of the other thumb-typing messaging options.

Besides, email is like a paper trail, its alot easier to figure out where things went wrong or right with an out-box.

There's something pretty satisfying about not really worrying too much about malware and all the other nasty, nasty stuff out there. There's something nice about being in the margins and an unattractive target for coders with grudges which is kind of like icing. I do like my macs an awful lot. Though I must say that my iMac at work is kind of a piece of crap.

Anyway, I think I'll use the tail end of this post to announce a plan to do nothing but good news links next week. Call it a blog palate cleanser or whatever.

Also, really sad news about Cory Lidle's plane crashing into an apartment high-rise in New York. Stunning really.

Tags: crime, online, real life, Cory Lidle, plane crash, Apple iMac

New estimate puts death toll for Iraqi civilians at 600,000 / About 15,000 deaths a month since '03 invasion, researchers say. Which makes me wonder, how many Iraqi's are there? At this rate, won't we just kill off the entire country and then Dubya can declare a total victory while he rolls in a huge puddle of sweet, sweet crude oil?

The US death toll is around 2500 now. The Iraqi's have suffered 240 times as many deaths while we "liberate" their country. The figures range as high as nearly 800,000 and as low as 426,000. But no matter how you slice it, that's a pretty insane and ridiculous amount of death in the name of liberty and spreading democracy.

Especially when every single argument for going to war in Iraq has been exposed as either a lie, an exaggeration or just bullshit. So that's more than a half million dead because George Bush wanted to show his daddy what a big tough, warhawk president he is/was.

And what's going to cost him? His power, his base, his approvals and his party. Oh yeah, it also cost us an immeasurable amount of respect from the world body.

Staying the course now just seems like a petulant child who's dug his heels in regardless of reality. Staying the course now means we just keep pressing forward towards the precipice.

Real leaders evaluate and reconsider their actions. Fools like Dubya stick to their guns because its easier than thinking. Because we all know how much George likes to avoid the "T" word.

Um, yeah, sexy is not being able to see your ribs. Sexy is not looking like a skinny ten year old girl. Sexy isn't looking like a refugee or one of the kids from the Christian Health commercials. Sexy isn't this. At all.
I'm all for healthy looking models, not the mega-plush plus sized ones. Just normal, healthy, beautiful models. Maybe they should consider hiring fitness pros who look good, are healthy and don't look like they subsist on popcorn and cocaine.

This is just sad and sick. I bet that pendant in between her boob mounds weighs almost as much as she does. Soaking wet.

Tags: scrawny, model, ribs

Apparently this lady has never heard the phrase "You can't take it with you" because she's trying to take her whole family with her into the grave.

Gravely ill woman kills son, is freed, kills husband and has vowed to kill her second son if she's set free again.

Hmm, what do you say they let this lady run out the clock behind bars where she can't, you know, murder anyone else (aside from other prisoners)?

And there was a pretty brazen armed daylight robbery in my town yesterday. That bodes well, dontcha think?

Setting aside my general disdain of universals and universal theories, this is pretty sound advice overall.

'Dilbert's' 9-point financial plan worthy of economics Nobel

Advice from a comic strip? Sure, advice is what you make of it. Doesn't hurt that Marketwatch is also endorsing the idea. Anyway, here's nine steps to take to have a plan in place in case life jumps up and bites you one.

1. Make a will
2. Pay off your credit cards
3. Get term life insurance if you have a family to support
4. Fund your 401k to the maximum
5. Fund your IRA to the maximum
6. Buy a house if you want to live in a house and can afford it
7. Put six months worth of expenses in a money-market account
8. Take whatever money is left over and invest 70% in a stock index fund and 30% in a bond fund through any discount broker and never touch it until retirement
9.If any of this confuses you, or you have something special going on (retirement, college planning, tax issues), hire a fee-based financial planner, not one who charges a percentage of your portfolio"

I love number 6. Unless you're making really good money, buying just isn't really an option for people out here. And how long should it take to accumulate a six month stash of money while still putting money to 401K's, IRA's and life insurance in addition to whatever savings you may have set up for children.

Tags: plan, finances, Dilbert,

Woman charged with using infant as club; child critical. Words fail me here. I just cannot understand the lack of mental process this "mother" went through before deciding to swing her 4-week-old baby like a club.

Everytime I read a story like this I get a little more deeply saddened by the world. The same thing with "Christians" espousing their deep faith in one breath and then condemning and calling for the extermination of another people in another breath.

The easiest way to overcome a tyranny or a burgeoning tyranny is to vote in such massive and irrefutable numbers as to overwhelm the supposed dictators.

And to do that you've gotta make sure you're registered to vote. Go do that here, Rock the Vote.

The other thing is to vote against the damned charlatans in charge. Vote 'em out and then indict them, I say.

Tags: vote, overcome, tyranny,

Denny's Man on the Ethics Committee, specifically appointed by Dennis Hastert, the guy who is looking worse and wrose in the light of the ever-more-shameful scandal that was Mark Foley's career.

These "leaders" simply do not get the scope of the transgression their collegeague and party-mate engaged in. A grotesque deception of the dirtiest order, professing to be a samaritan, a protector of the innocent and a scourge to those with evil desires and then finding out that he's one of those same filthy bastards who prey on children.

It is not a partisan issue, it is not political manuevering, it is genuine outrage that one elected to represent his consitutent's interests was, quite obviously, serving his ownand abusing his position of power most eggregiously.

Dennis Hastert is a man without even a vestigal moral compass. Theis scandal has quite capably demonstrated that fact. Standing with an attempted pedophile and pronouncing no conflict of interest or even anything to really see at all is an excellent way to demonstrate how badly warped your sense of justice has been warped.

I hope and expect these upcoming elections will send a clear and powerful message that We the People will not stand for cover-ups for pedophiles in the House of Repsentatives. That the American people demand better of their "leaders" and that the continued "spin control" by the GOP to try and blame everyone else for their own party's absolute lack of ethical guidance is more than enough justification to sweep all of the bums right the hell out the door.

Did I not ask for a Tigers win, a Mets sweep and a Padres win?

Yeah, yeah I did.

I don't think I'm gonna disclose my football picks just yet though. I did only lose four games last weekend and was just a wee bit off the pace to win.

And the Sharks had their first shutout win of the year in their second game, that's awesome!

And the best thing about the Niners playing the Raiders tomorrow? One of them is going to get a win.

[Update: Does Joe Torre deserve to get fired for a bunch of underperforming,overpaid superstars? Yeah, probably. But I think King George should get rid of that RA-Rod guy too, maybe trade him to the Giants? Heck, the Giants should consider making an offer to Torre. That would make for an interesting personality clash between the manager and the entire city.]

Tags: sports, baseball, football, hockey

Stinky feet, annoying noise top IgNobel prize list including, and I quote, "Other winning research included a U.S. and Israeli team's discovery that hiccups could be cured with a finger up the rectum and a study into why woodpeckers do not get headaches."

Yes, folks that is correct. Cure your hiccups by sticking your finger in your bum.

Science is a wonderful thing and I think this is called applied science.

Tags: IgNobel, hiccups, rectum,

I've just gotten a late breaking news bulletin about superstar suspected-pedophile, self-confessed, wannabe-baby-beauty-queen-killer, dead-eyed John Mark Karr.

He scratched his ass earlier today and felt a pimple. He wondered briefly if it might be cancerous.

And that's the latest breakingest news about John Mark Karr.

Tags: John Mark Karr, breaking, news,

So, last night's Survivor was one of my favorite episodes of the new season so far. Lots of excitement, drama, some stupidity (dude, why would you take a stick and knock a bird's nest out of a tree?) combined with a 5 on 4 girls over the boys and the boys still thinking they got nothing to worry about. So much so that one dude yaps and orders and commands while sitting like a tribal chief. Guess who got voted out? Yeah, that dude. JP, the pro volleyball player who kind of is an ass. It was a fun episode to watch and I like it when the women band together and use their power. I hate it when they fold and do what the boys want.

After the show was over, I shut down the Tivo and unplugged its power to get it ready to install the add-on drive I got from WeaKnees.com. They had good instructions (though the fan install stuff was superfluous) and the install didn't take all that long to get done. And, once the Tivo had rebooted I checked the system information and, sure enough, our recording time had gone from up to 40 hours to up to 255 hours of recording.

Which means that I'll be able to save some shows for me now too! Not just Sesame Street and Bob the Builder anymore!

It's up to Maddux to save Dodgers' season which is all well and good. I like Greg Maddux but I hate the Dodgers and I like the Mets so, sorry, Master Maddux, I'm cheering against you tonight.

And I'm cheering for an A's sweep of the Twins, another loss for the Yankees and I wouldn't mind seeing the Padres win at least one from the Cards but its obvious they're overmatched by the arms and bats of the Cardinals who aren't even really hitting all that well yet.

It looks like Barry Bonds is going to run out his MLB clock with another team since he's already publicly stated he won't work for incentives and just wants a big fat check. Which is stupid of him because he's going to go to the AL, hit DH for some team and limp into the record books and that's nice and all but he could have and should have done it as a Giant. But the Barry's Giants era is over and its time to young up the team. Alot. No more Alou, no more Finley, time to bring in Todd Linden and some of the other young buck stars to give them a chance to shine. I do like the talk about the potential chance to land Alfonso Soriano, he's a young stud with big play action. I'd also love to see the Giants pick up Eric Byrnes but he's locked up for another year.

And the other big news in the Bay Area sports world is that the Sharks opened their season up last night with an overtime win against the Blues. That was hot!

The upcoming game between the Niners and Raiders promises to be a battle of the NFL worst. I'm picking the Niners to win it though because they are a team at least, the Raiders are a bunch of fractured factions and egos yapping at each other in a most ugly fashion.

Tags: sports, baseball, football, hockey

Columnuts - insane columnists like Nick Coleman who drives Rhodes crazy with his bad journalism.

This new word and many, many more are available over in the Fictionarium.

Tags: columnuts, fictionarium, new words, inventing language, NWotD

I've got to hand it to my mother for saving these from the trash. I got a package of three smaller packages of things she said reminded her of bonsai figures.
And some do. Some do not though, like the red pagoda. Or the set of progressively smaller houses, the bridges, the boats and all of the really cool little figures themselves. Geishas, fishermen, laborers (some with little bundles, some with empty baskets), a samurai or two, some beggars, a frog, some birds (not sure what kind, they look like flamingos).
All very small. And a really neat assortment of trees made of wire, coatings and some lost knowledge. They will bear some photographing as well.

The entire package of stuff is really just fantastic and that is really what I think. Hell yeah.

Mom, you get the two thumbs up prize of the week!

HeraldNet: Questions mount in scandal which is a pretty funny headline to start with. But the reality is that this is a pretty serious wagon-circling manuveur that's going to continue to sting and hurt the Grand Old Perverts party.

Anyway, I wanted to share a joke I just remembered.

Why doesn't Mark Foley use bookmarks to mark his place in his books?

He'd rather use bent over pages.

Thanks, that made me smile too.

The only low-powered upside to being sick has gotta be the horkage. When you cough and "produce" a green glob of lung goo, there's something satisfying about spitting those nasty blobs out.

And the shower is like mucus heaven. The steam, the heat and the water all combine to help clear out massive lung chunks. Sure, its not as much fun as not getting sick in the first place but it does feel good to discharge that nastiness. Of course, if I did happen to ride my motorcyle into work today and I coughed up a mouthful, there's nowhere to spit it so that kind of totally sucks

Why yes, I am feeling better.

Tags: flu, mucus, healing

When it rains around here the locals don't really tend to take it well. At least, not at first. And today we had our first decent commute in the rain. Combine that with an exploded transformer on the main surface street through town because the highway is a parking lot during the commute and you've got usually good natured Californians flipping each other off and making nasty faces at one another.

From my own end, I can't say as I was a positive force. I'd had to leave work early today to make sure I got to the animal hospital before they closed for the day. I'm glad I left early as there's no way I'd have made it if I left on time. Anyway, Nande was just a little more than thrilled to see when they brought her up. She had a shaved portion and a rather gnarly looking open wound where the foxtail had worked itself in and caused the infection. So much trouble for such a little bit of plant material. But at least it wasn't something really bad like turbo cancer.

An interesting wedding anniversary this time around, that is for sure. The celebration will have to wait until we're both healthy enough to celebrate as the flu I had may be making a guest appearance in my wife's lungs. Luckily the boys seems to have avoided getting the heavy beatdown version that I got. So that's nice.

And tomorrow I pretty well fully expect to be better. No more foghead. Which is good because its really hard to get any decent work done when you keep zoning out and sounds echo inside your skull.

And I'm glad it doesn't snow here because then I think we'd end up with fistfights at traffic lights or, more likely given the recent spikes in shooting violence, a blast-off by some tough guys. I wish it weren't going to rain the rest of the week because I really would like to ride to work instead of slog through the jam. Its such a waste of time, it just kills me. Maybe I'll use up some of our rollover minutes hours and call my mommy.

Plus the A's won Game Two, the Dodgers lost Game One and the Tigers got a reprieve on the sweep by the Spankees. And hockey's back again. That's cool!

Tags: rain, santa cruz, surgery,

To my dear wonderful wife who I love very deeply and very much I want to wish her a very Happy Anniversary.

And I was so very, very grateful to have her these last few days being sick and with the two little kids, I don't see how I would have managed to deal without her.

Let me get my strength back a bit and we can actually celebrate our third year together.

Tags: anniversary

I'm sure for most of you its Wednesday and you're about halfway through your week. But not for me. Today is my Monday since I've spent the last two days basically flat on my back, blowing my nose and groaning, alot.

But today I feel like I've come out of the flu coma and am back in the office trying to put thoughts and actions and other parts together to get something actually accomplished.

And I dropped Nande off at the vet's this morning. She's having a minor surgery today as she's got a foxtail embedded in her chest that has become infected and swelled up to the size of a big apple or a small grapefruit.

I am, quite naturally, worried about my dog and hope that everything turns out alright and she'll be back to her normal, goofy self soon. Our real fear was that it was a hernia or a really, really fast moving cancer so the foxtail, while a pain, is more of a relief than anything else.

And that's about all the update I can swing for now. We'll see how long I can go today. I realized this morning that I've had one meal in the last two and a half days. So maybe its time to get a little nutrition in me to see if that'll help stoke my fires some.

I've made the mistake of clicking through and catching Olbermann hard charging about all the extra aspects of this whole sordid and awful affair that is Mark Foley and his explicit emails to underage pages.

Things that are important and do bear recognition. Like why Dennis Hastert and the Republican leadership tried to sweep it under the rug. Why Foley gave $100K to the Republican party round about the time this took place?

And then there is the freakish irony of Foley's very, very public speech about someone preying on kids' life would be ruined. I don't get how you go from that wide open and public a face aligning yourself with the good guys in the fight against pedophilia.

And then you turn out to be one? Your life is about to become an open book, Mark Foley. Its possible you could face criminal charges stemming from this, either directly or in the subsequent investigation into your affairs. Its already been established that you're sloppy and kind of stupid sometimes. My money's on you having a few more skeletons in your closets come out into the public.

It must be hard to be a mouthpiece for the "Right" these days though. Such a relentless stream of really shitty news, indictments, bad news from the war front, etc. etc. etc. People like Tony Snow who seems to be doing the anti-Scottie Mac and is wasting away rather than porking up and sweating out. Matt Drudge, Bill O'Reilly, Rush and whoever else must just get tired of trying to figure out new ways to spin the same shit into something other than the shit it is.

And the options are getting thinner and thinner. Anyway, it will be interesting to see just how far this latest stain spreads across the face of the presiding party. How many more weeks until the elections?

Of course, at this point its entirely possible that they know they're going to get kicked out of power and are just trying to screw things up as much as possible to make it that much more difficult to put things back together again.

[Update: Oh yeah, the skeletons are coming fast and furious now (including some new excerpted transcripts that are really creepy to read). And the more pictures I see of this guy the more he totally skeeves me out. And no, that is not a good thing.]

Tags: Mark Foley, Republican, pedophile, Hastert, scorched earth

Foley's Exchange With Underage Page wherein the creep-factor goes clean off the scale.

Seriously warped is pretty much the only way to describe Mark Foley. And further news that GOP leaders tried to cover up his disgusting behaviour further demonstrates how completely unfit to lead these people truly are.

[Update: Sometimes the only way to spin bad news is with bad spin. At least that's what this looks like as Drudge is now blaming the pages for Egging Foley On. Yes, its a couple of teenagers fault that a Congressman wanted to have sex with them. Kids today, being all sexy and young. They should have known better than to be attractive to a poor alcoholic pedophile like Mark Foley. Those durned kids!]