Intellectual Poison

With a sample size of more than 6000 and a response rate far in excess of 50% for legalization (and taxation) of marijuana, it really is time to legalize it as Peter Tosh sang so many years ago.

Now, I'm not a smoker anymore but I have been known to smoke the herb on occasion. While it won't expand your mind, neither does alcohol and marijuana is definitely safer from a health perspective.

Legalization of marijuana makes sense from many standpoints, not the least of which is economically. How many millions of Americans are in prison right now for smoking or selling dope? How much of a burden are they on an already over-taxed prison system? How much money could be instantly saved by releasing them?

And then there are the taxation aspects. How much money is generated by taxing alcohol sales?

Remember what happened when alcohol was prohibited for sale? It gave rise to gangsters and crime and people making gin in their bathtubs and, perhaps worst of all, flapper dresses. Legalizing marijuana removes the criminal interest, it eases the burden on the prison system, it makes good citizens of people that are going to smoke it regardless of the law, a huge amount of money will be generated by taxation and it could be regulated by the FDA (laced pot is a real and scary phenomenon).

It makes sense.

Besides, ask a cop if they want to arrest a drunk person or a stoned person and they will almost certainly tell you that a stoned person is much less hassle, much less likely to do something stupid (like grab for a gun or try to drive off).

Legalize marijuana and let's move those resourced on to more harmful societal problems like meth, crack, heroin and other hardcore and dangerous drugs. Nobody ever died from smoking too much dope, they just fall asleep.

Labels: legalization, marijuana

With two small kids in the house, the Disney Channel and Nickelodeon are on the tv fairly often (probably far too often but we're working on it). And I am forced to sit through some of the shows, the most annoying of which I exercise my parental authority and ban outright. But the thing that gets me is the marketing to kids.

There's a music CD that gets sold to kids called KidzBop which is children resinging popular songs. Which isn't so bad although some of the songs are rather adult in nature and its odd, to say the least, seeing a 12 year old girl singing about love and heartache.

But the creepy part is, in the commercial, when they show a 12ish year old vamping and shaking her non-existent boobs like a big girl. I get what they are trying to do and all but the advertisers are feeding inappropriate imagery to kids and giving pedophiles wank fodder.

But then, maybe I just read too much into everything. But I've got to do something with my mind while the (mostly) drivel is on.

Labels: sex sells, tv

Aside from losing power midway through the fights, UFC 95 was a good fun night of quality fights. The surprise knockout of Koschek was impressive, brutal and still might have been called a moment early.

Main event:
Diego Sanchez (19-2) vs. Joe Stevenson (29-9)
Prediction: Sanchez by TKO in Round 2.
Result: Sanchez by unanimous decision.

Undercard:
Dan Hardy (20–6) vs. Rory Markham (16-4)
Prediction: Hardy by unanimous decision
Result: Hardy by KO in Round 1.

Nate Marquardt (27-8-2) vs. Wilson Gouveia (12-5)
Prediction: Marquardt by TKO in Round 1
Result: Marquardt by TKO in Round 3

Demian Maia (9-0) vs. Chael Sonnen (21-9-1)
Prediction: Maia by submission in Round 2
Result: Maia by submission in Round 1

Josh Koscheck (12-3) vs. Paulo Thiago (7-0)
Prediction: Koscheck by TKO in Round 2
Result: Thiago by TKO in Round 1

Paul Kelly (8-1) Vs. Troy Mandaloniz (3-1)
Prediction: Kelly by TKO in Round 1
Result: Kelly by unanimous decision.

That puts me at a pretty solid 5 for 6 on the night with the upset coming in the Koscheck/Thiago fight. That uppercut followed by the thundering left was impressive in the extreme. Not sure if Kos was done but damn, nonetheless!

And, with all due respect, Joe Stevenson is a boring fighter to watch. I've seen him fight several times in the last few months and his game is tired. He needs to either improve his fighting or move on to a new promotion.

As for the next upcoming show, UFC 96 Jackson vs. Jardine, I'm just not overly interested in the main event. There are some good fights on the undercard but I don't see the event being a must-see. The Gonzaga/Carwin fight is the biggest draw to me. I will admit to looking forward to seeing Pete Sell lose again but that pretty much goes for the entire Serra camp, I want them to fail, fail and then fail some more.

Labels: mma, results, UFC

I've been using bit.ly to shorter URLs for use on Twitter for the last couple of weeks after Leo Laporte mentioned they have a solid tracking mechanism. And, being a number geek, I glommed right on and haven't deglommed.

Here's a rundown of URLs I've shortened recently.
Octuplets mother offered $1M porn contract
Saving Money: The 10 Most and Least Affordable Cities in the US
#247 Know When to Give Up
Carnival - The Big Picture - Boston.com
Initial Impressions from the Canon SX110
UFC 95 Predictions
A Short Tour of California Video
NWoTD - Asspersion
The Pornificator Goes to the Movies
The Nadya Suleman Octomom
Wife Swap: Stephen Fowler
NWoTD - Douchebattery
Facebook backtracks on terms of use after protests

I'm looking into a way to add my bit.ly shortened URLs to the blog automatically.

Labels: blog, web 2.0

Mironic - moronically ironic. As in, a student who should have failed the second grade being forced into third because her parents refused to sign the document to hold her back. If she's not ready for the third grade she needs to stay back.

Why yes, this does come from a real world example.

As always, all new words are cross posted to the Fictionarium.

Labels: nwotd

In a random conversation with a teacher yesterday I learned something about myself that is almost like a key to unlocking some better understanding about what makes me tick.

I have a pre-conceived set of expectations about the outcomes of pretty much every aspect of my life, when reality doesn't jibe with my expectations then I have a tendency to get frustrated, irritated and short.

What I need to learn how to do is to suspend my expectations and to recognize that what I want to happen is pretty unlikely to happen and in that recognition is the path to being much less frustrated and irritable.

I need to figure out if having this new knowledge about myself can help me to address outstanding issues with my wife, my kids, my dog, my neighborhood and my job. Because knowing something is important but using that knowledge to make direct improvements in your life is another thing entirely.

But this does go a ways towards explaining why I like video games so much, outcomes are, usually, much more controllable in the virtual environment. Reality is just so chock full of variables that literally anything can, and often does, happen.

Update: I've been continuing to do a little research and found some additional information. Now, I don't generally put too much stock in astrology and zodiac signs but... I am a Virgo and the Virgo characteristics hit pretty damned close to home. Most specifically, the strengths and weaknesses.
Virgo Greatest Strength: Your ability to focus your attention - though with my ADHD, this is diluted a bit.

Virgo Possible Weakness: Need for perfection gets in the way of enjoyment - oh man, does this ring true for me.

Labels: realizations, self awareness

I feel like a weight has been lifted, a curtain pulled back and sunshine is streaming into my previously dark life. This morning I finally obtained access to my Domains By Proxy account (cue the angels singing and release the doves) and, in ridiculously short order, canceled their "service" and saved myself a good chunk of money.

The hoops they had me jump through were exhaustive, repetitive and annoying.

But, once I found out that Domains by Proxy is a GoDaddy owned company, it all made sense. You see the CEO of GoDaddy is a guy by the name of Bob Parsons and Bob Parsons is a douchebag so it makes sense that any company he controls is going to behave in a distinctly douchebaggish manner.

But, also upon finding out that GoDaddy owned Domains by Proxy, it steeled my resolve to end the "service" once and for all as I have a pretty firm rule about giving money to reprehensible asshats like Bob Parsons.

In the end, once I had access, it was very easy to cancel the service and I'll never make the mistake of signing up for an internet company without making sure it isn't affiliated with GoDaddy.

Labels: annoyances, freedom

Santa Cruz and Watsonville are among the ten least affordable cities with less than 500,000 people. I guess that's why we're having such a damned hard time making ends meet.

Less affordable than Napa even. That's surprising, especially given the levels of gang violence, drug violence and general idiocy.

Maybe its time to start rethinking living in this area since it doesn't seem likely that we're going to get ahead anytime soon here.

Labels: affordability, money

I've had my new Canon SX110 for a week or so now and got a chance to use it on Monday as a secondary camera for Stage 2 of the Amgen Tour of California. I didn't really need it as my XTi is a superb, fast and quality camera.

But I wanted to see how it held up with its built-in 10x optical zooming, 9 mp sensor and AA batteries.

Utility - it isn't going to ever give my big camera a run for its money. It isn't fast enough, it isn't powerful enough and it doesn't have the versatility of interchangeable lenses. But it isn't meant to replace, just to supplement.

Size Matters - The SX110 is a good bit larger than the SD1100 IS it is replacing. The SX110 is not pocketable but is also a good bit harder to drop because it isn't as tiny as the SD was.

Zoom - the SX shines here as there really is just no comparison between a 3x optical zoom and a 10x optical zoom (note, digital zooming is a waste of time, it is, essentially, cropping in the camera). When I need to zoom in and it just keeps going and going, I feel vindicated in moving up in size to the SX. The zoom isn't particularly quick though so it is hard to use for action oriented photography with changing focus points.

Screen - Okay, I admit it, the screen is awesome. It is large and easy to see what you've just shot. But the lack of a viewfinder means that you have to use it so there is no easy way to save battery life by turning it off. Also, the dial to navigate image viewing is a nice idea but the implementation is a bit kludgy and I found myself accidentally clicking far too often.

Overall - The increased size of the SX110 combined with its use of disposable batteries is making it harder for me to carry and use without thoughts of having replacement batteries handy. Its larger size means it is not possible to just slip it into a pocket, it has to be carried or attached to a belt (for that awesome super dork look). I don't see any way to use it as a handlebar mounted vid-cam like the SD. It is a good camera to be sure but I don't think it really fits my particular set of needs.

Pros: Nice zoom, big screen.
Cons: Slow, eats batteries, larger profile makes it a drag to carry.
Grade: B-

Luckily, I have the solid warranty from Staples that allows me to return it for pretty much any reason within two years. And, with the SD1100 IS retailing for around $180, the new warranty will be less expensive (sub $200 is a much less expensive warranty) and I'll probably get a chunk of store credit out of the exchange. Unless there's a new model around the corner or maybe I'll consider moving up to the 790 or 700. Actually, in doing a little research, I'm thinking the SD890 IS is going to be the one for me. It uses the same batteries as the SD1100, has a a 5x zoom and is a little curvier so it should slip in and out of pockets more easily.

Labels: Canon, comparison, photography, review

Asspersion - a disparaging remark about someone's butt.

As always, all new words are sent over to the Fictionarium for posterity.

Labels: nwotd

Continuing my rather juvenile habit renaming of things with porn names here's the current top ten movies in America re-imagined as porn titles. (** Insert standard apology for being an offensive jackass here. **)

Friday the 13th - Pieday the 69th
He's Just Not That Into You - He's Just Using You
Taken - Jammed In
Coraline - Cockaline
Confessions of a Shopaholic - Confessions of a Nymphomaniac
Paul Blart: Mall Cop - Paul Splurt: Ball Slop
The Pink Panther 2 - The Pink Punter Spew
The International - The In Her Gashional
Slumdog Millionaire - Slamdog Butt in the Air
Push - Push (It In)

My favorite among the bunch? Slamdog Butt in the Air by a country mile (which is just a little more than a city mile due to the earth's curvature).

Labels: juvenility, movie, pornificator

Today's meme is based on the vowels in our alphabet. Take a current event, like Stephen Fowler or Nadya the Octomom (awesome job, 14) or even the current GOP "leadership" and describe them with a word that starts with each letter.

Stephen Fowler:
Arrogant
Elitist
Ignoramus
Obnoxious
Unconscionable

Nadya the Octomom:
Angelinesque
Exhausted
Idiotic
Ovatatory
Unrelenting

The Current GOP:
Asshats
Execrable
In-the-way
Obstructionist
Unwanted

Fun, huh? Now you try it. Leave a note in the comments with a link if you do give it a try.

Labels: current events, meme

If you aren't aware of who Stephen Fowler is then come on out from under your rock. Fowler has rocketed to infamy because of his stint on a tawdry reality show, Wife Swap, (part 1 of 5 of the show here, links to other parts are there) in which his wife switched places with another wife from Missouri.

Normally the show has some sparks, some reconciliations, some lessons learned and happy reunions.

But Stephen Fowler took it several steps beyond the norm and spent much of the two weeks demeaning, insulting and basically being a complete and utter elitist asshole to his swapped wife.

It was bad enough that the outrage caused people to start a StephenFowlersucks.com website, he's gotten death threats, he's been forced to resign from two boards he was on and I wouldn't be surprised if he and his deeply embarrassed wife have to move away from Noe Valley.

Having now just sat through all five parts of the episode in question, I'm possessed of a strong urge to drive up to Noe Valley and go kick Stephen Fowler's teeth in. I won't, of course, though his address and cell phone have been posted on the internet. He's getting his own payback for his own disgusting elitism and rampant assholery.

There's a difference between being an intellectual, caring about the environment and trying to raise the most awesome overachieving kids possible and being a prick. He's a prick. An embarrassing wanker who represents the worst of what the Bay Area has to offer. If he were a friend of mine, I'd delete his number from my cell. Seeing how unspeakably rude he was over the course of two weeks to a woman who'd swapped places with his wife was just shocking and sad.

His children are going to grow up knowing that they have Stephen Fowler for a father and he's a prick. Sure, a smart and, previous to this infamy, successful prick but a prick with an ugliness that surpasses any positive good he's effecting in the world.

That and those incredibly annoying shirts that he rotated. All black shirts with eco-slogans like Go Solar, Sus-tain-abi-lity (on four lines). I'd like to sustainably introduce his tiny British balls to my large American foot.

On the other hand, his wife, Renee, seems like a truly genuine and good person. She connected with the Long family, she helped to enlighten them, open their eyes to other possibilities and ways of living, that exercise isn't evil, that eating decent healthy food doesn't have to suck and that she wasn't sitting in such horrid and grotesque judgment as her asshat husband.

On Renee's blog for her show, Inside Out Weight Loss, Stephen posted an apology. It appears that he is possessed of genuine remorse for his hateful actions and perhaps he will get help and learn what made him behave in such a colossally ugly fashion. Renee posted about the show and her husband's actions as well.

The sad thing is that there are many, many other Stephen Fowlers around the world. People that think their intellect, education, breeding, money, their big expensive car or big dick gives them the right to demean and denigrate other people.

Judge not lest ye be judged yourself.

Stephen Fowler is being judged and he is being found deeply wanting.

Labels: behaviour, douchebaggery, elitism

I have been trying, on and off for a couple of years now, to get the privacy listing removed from my domain. I usually start the effort at the 90 days out from renewal mark and am so deeply frustrated and pissed off that I give up and suck up the extra yearly cost.

But not this year. This year I've been doggedly pursuing the company, Domains by Proxy, to get my login information (which is old and completely lost) so that I can finally cancel the unnecessary and unwanted service.

Domains by Proxy, by the way, is owned by the asshats of the internet, GoDaddy.com led by asshat extraordinaire, Bob Parsons. GoDaddy's claim to "fame" is the use of big breasted women in their Super Bowl commercials.

Everytime I finish jumping through one of their annoying hoops, they put up another one. Because they need to verify my identity, I had to send them a scanned copy of my license. Only they rejected it the first three times because they claimed the resolution wasn't high enough. I ended up emailing them a full color hi-res copy. Keep in mind that I wasn't able to actually fax this stuff from my house since we no longer have long distance on our POTS line which added a whole other level of complexity to this hassle.

Once that hurdle was cleared, they set up another one. This time I had to try to remember the fake company name I'd registered the site with originally. I had no idea so I took a couple of wild stabs in the dark and got it on my second try. I was thinking the path to access was almost complete but I was very wrong.

Now they needed me to send them a copy of the business license for the fake company. But fake companies don't have business licenses and I was and am unable to provide them one. Which meant more emails, more negotiating and more forms to fill out and fax back.

Just this morning I sent them the declaration that the company is not a valid company. And, like every other correspondence, they can take up to three business days to respond which inches us ever closer to the renewal date for the domain.

But I am going to be dogged about it this time. Primarily because I found out that Domains by Proxy is a GoDaddy company and it bothers the hell out of me to know I'm putting money in an asshat's pocket.

You will not win this time, Domains by Proxy! I will defeat you. And the reason I will not give up is because of Bob Parsons specifically.

Labels: annoyances, blog

Douchebattery - beating the annoying snot out of someone who's behaving like a douchebag.

This will go into the Fictionarium for posterity shortly.

Labels: nwotd

Labels: bike, road race, Tour of California

Grady and I, along with thousands of others, braved the cold, wind and rain today to enjoy the Amgen Tour of California as it made its way from Sausalito down to Santa Cruz. Fearing missing the excitement, we got out onto Empire Grade above UCSC by around 11:30 this morning.

And waited. It rained for an hour or so. Then stopped and we waited some more. And then it rained some more.

Every once in a while an Amgen festooned vehicle would come tearing by, lights flashing, horn honking and everyone along our little stretch of the road, all twenty or thirty of us, would get up, get ready and then get disappointed.

The cyclists ended up starting to come through at about a quarter to two. We were smart and I'd turned the Escape around to face the oncoming riders so that we could effectively camp out in the back hatch with it open to avoid most of the rain. And Grady and I played games together, ate snacks, told jokes and took pictures of other stuff while we waited. Grady also had fun kicking gravel into the rain runoff, so much so that he's probably ruined his new(ish) shoes.

When the cyclists did come ripping through, they were proceeded by support cars, police cars, motorcycle cops and photographers on the backs of other motorcycles. And they blazed through even though we were at the top of a pretty good sized hill.

As they tore by, I snapped pictures, shot video from a tripod on the deck in the back of the car and made sure Grady didn't go wandering out into traffic. I had both my big-boy camera, the Canon XTi, and my new SX110. I think I may have ended up opting for the 110 to replace my SD1100 because of today and the desire to zoom in.

Either way, I got some good photos, including Lance!, shot some good video footage and had a good time spending so much time alone with Grady.

My favorite (and recorded) moment occurred after the first big peleton can ripping through with all of its support cars and excitement. Grady appears on the far right of the video, watching, smiling and digging it. After the last car goes by, he turns towards the camera and says, not once but twice, "That was awesome, poppa!"

And it was awesome.

Here's my photo set from the day. I'll probably add a few more as we move forward. I'm currently working on getting the videos converted into a more usable format.

Labels: california, cycling, rain, raising children

With UFC 95 coming up (Feb-21-2009 9pm ET/PT on Spike TV), I thought it was time to put my prediction stake in the ground again and see if I can improve my numbers, I'm currently running at just over 50% right calls and very, very few bullseyes (that's calling the round and way the fight ends).

Main event:
Diego Sanchez (19-2) vs. Joe Stevenson (29-9)
Prediction: Sanchez by TKO in Round 2.
Reason: Sanchez is dropping down to 155 for the first time. He was an animal at 170 who overwhelmed many of his opponents with his intensity and relentless attack. I expect he'll be even more dominant at 155. And, honestly, I've not been much impressed with Joe Stevenson in his last several fights.

Undercard:
Dan Hardy (20–6) vs. Rory Markham (16-4)
Prediction: Hardy by unanimous decision
Reason: This is a tough call, I'm not overly familiar with either fighter.

Nate Marquardt (27-8-2) vs. Wilson Gouveia (12-5)
Prediction: Marquardt by TKO in Round 1

Demian Maia (9-0) vs. Chael Sonnen (21-9-1)
Prediction: Maia by submission in Round 2

Josh Koscheck (12-3) vs. Paulo Thiago (7-0)
Prediction: Koscheck by TKO in Round 2

Paul Kelly (8-1) Vs. Troy Mandaloniz (3-1)
Prediction: Kelly by TKO in Round 1
Reason: Kelly's a beast who brings a full head of steam into the octagon. I just get the sense that he's going to overwhelm Mandaloniz.

One of these days, I'll have to compile all of my predictions and get a real scorecard pulled together.

Labels: mma, predictions, UFC

I took a shower with Sully earlier this morning and one of his things he likes to do in the shower is fill a bathfoam container cap with water to pour it into a larger container.

But, because I was in the shower with him and obstructing the water flow, he had to look for a place where the water was running off of me. And, being a man, one of the natural places for this to happen is my cock.

So, Sully kept holding his cap up under my penis to collect the water.

Labels: raising children, visual

Lots of stuff going on this week. Let's get to it.

Weak Catch - Ex-MLB catcher Bobby (Ch)Estella, who was built like a brick shithouse and now we know why, will accuse Barry Bonds of getting him steroids in the government's never-ending witch hunt for one player while an entire league was rife with PED abuse.

Weak Reason to Fight - Two friends got into a little fight "over nothing" after some drinks and one was arguing with his girlfriend. One punch knocked the kid down, he smashed his head on the ground, never regained consciousness and died the next day.

Weak Legislators - The California budget impasse continues unabated. Three months and counting.

Strong, LiveStrong - The Amgen Tour of California is set to kick off. But there were already some pre-race fireworks when an asshat of a reporter named Paul Killage asked Lance Armstrong a question during a press briefing. This is the same reporter that referred to Lance Armstrong as "a cancer in the peloton". Nice.

Strong (and Just) Punishment - Richard Craig McNew raped and murdered a 90 year old woman. He's been found guilty and is going back to prison for the rest of his disgusting and pathetic life.

Labels: baseball, budget, cycling, fighting, justice, PEDs, week in weak

Lubrary - a place where lubrications are stored and sorted according to the Dewey Decimal System by use (sex, automotive, industrial, etc.) and by chemical formula (graphite, various oils, water-based, etc).

All New Words of the Day (NWoTD) are archived for posterity in the IP Fictionarium. Swing by and take a gander.

Labels: nwotd

This is an update, with a chart, on my previous post about the most ticketed vehicles on the road along with some speculation as to why Hummers get the most tickets. What I find the most odd here is that other huge vehicles, like the Tahoe and Suburban on the far opposite side of the ticketing spectrum from rolling idiocy like the Hummer.

The addition of more of the bottom end of the spectrum pokes a great big hole in my theory about larger vehicles being more distanced from the road surface and thus having less of a sense of their speed, if this were true then Suburban and Tahoe drivers would be nearer the top end of the spectrum. So perhaps it really is about the kind of driver that is attracted to the Hummer?

Labels: accident, safety, speed

I've been doing some research in hiring an artist/graphic designer to create an image for me. I have the concept done and really just need someone with skills to take my idea and make it a reality. So I posted a short note on Craigslist in the Gigs section. Over the course of the rest of the day, I got more than 80 responses with the vast majority of them including links to online portfolios. Some included attached resumes and portfolios and some (the easiest to cull from the herd) asked for more information.

I wish it were feasible to respond to each of them but there really just isn't enough time in the day to do so. And I am slowly working through the thick stack of sites, deleting emails and proposals where I can, starring others to come back to when I like them.

Much like when I was part of the vetting process for the market research company, these emails are, effectively, job applications. And as such, first impressions count for everything. Given the volume of responses I got, any reason to remove one becomes a valid reason. Here’s the (growing) list of reasons I deleted three quarters of the responses.

Culling criteria:
• Requests for more info
• Misspelled link (page doesn’t load)
• Browser resize
• Autoplay music
• Overly obtuse navigation including window/tab spawning
• Artsy to the point of being annoying (light print on a lighter background is annoying)
• Animated and frenetic images (I don’t need a seizure, thxvm)
• Anything to do with MySpace
• Anything to do with FaceBook (I’m not signing up just to look at your work)
• Google Ads or other revenue ads
• Link to a large agency with large retainers
• More than four clicks to see your art
• Attached resumes without examples of art or clear link to art

What I’ve been left with is a solid group of high quality sites. Now my plan is to email them all with more particulars about the project and see what comes back from that.

In the meantime, we’re finalizing a domain for the new site that will be included in the design. I’m looking forward to this whole re-launch and, hopefully, converting it from a fun pastime into something of a moneymaker. Stay tuned.

Labels: design, project

How about a holiday dedicated to lust too?

Just a thought.

Labels: holiday

I don't understand people who drive company vehicles with the company's name plastered on the side and a sticker on the back that says "How am I driving? Call 1 800-Ima-Jerk to report bad driving" along with an identifying number and they drive like completely assholes.

Do they really expect that cutting people off and driving big pick up trucks like sports cars isn't going to result in people dropping a dime on them? Or do they just not give a damn about getting yapped at for being assholes on the road?

In today's economy with record layoffs all over the place and a market flooded with qualified and eager workers, wouldn't it make sense to do everything in your power to keep your job? I.e. don't behave like a douchebag on the road?

My guess is that they don't think they are driving like jerks or they don't think people will call them on it. But if you cut me off and I've got some way to bring a little smackdown on you for doing it, you can rest assured that I'll be dialing your company up in a heartbeat.

Why can't people drive with some manners?

Labels: driving, jerks, stupid

Everytime I hear an ad on the radio that talks about discounts and marked down prices they seem to invoke a failed concept as an added incentive to try and get you to buy. They invoke the idea that, because you've saved money from them, you have this big wad of cash leftover that you get to keep.

The reason this is as failed concept is because there is no pile of money that equals the full price of the item to begin with. People either buy it on credit (and lose the benefit of the discounted price in finance fees) or they save their money and wait for a sale to afford it. At least that's what I do, I can't really speak for anyone else.

The same thing applies to the Cash Back deals that car dealers advertise. You aren't going to get a car and a big wad of hundred dollars bills. You'll get a car and some of the price knocked off the top (though the dealer will still make a hefty chunk of change on the transaction).

Money saved isn't money earned and a discount doesn't equal more money in your pocket, it just equals less money taken out. Trying to convince me otherwise smacks of economic jiggery.

Labels: marketing, money

As always, The Boston Globe's Big Picture series captures some of the amazing and shocking realities of events around the world. This series is from the Australian Wildfires. Click the link for more images, some are pretty amazing, some are pretty awful (in a sad way). The photos remind me of the seemingly never-ending series of fires in close proximity to our house this last year. Bad enough that our school district shut down early one day as ash drifted down on us all. Here are a few photos from the school that day. Nothing anywhere near as arresting as the first in the series of photos from The Big Picture.

Labels: fire, photography

Yes, I'm already biased against Alex Rodriguez, he plays for the Yankees after all. And he's been used to replace the now forcefully retired Barry Bonds as the face of steroids and drug use/abuse in Major League Baseball. He is, afterall, one of its stars and a story about him having lied in a national interview about using PEDs and then having to admit that he is a big fat liar, he did, in fact, cheat and use drugs to enhance his on-field performance (no word from Madonna if he's used drugs to enhance his on-hag performance yet).

But here's the thing, his apology, all softly lit to try and make him a more forgivable transgressor, his body language, his words all add up to a big fat nothing.

He wasn't contrite, he wasn't sorry for what he did, he was sorry for having gotten caught and for tainting every single record he's had thus far and every single record he may still break. He's sorry for tainting his chances at baseball immortality and he doesn't really come across as sorry so much as angry that he got caught and angry that he is being forced to apologize.

Do I feel bad for him being pushed out in front of the Steroid Witch Hunt 2.0? Nope. Nobody forced him to cheat, nobody forced him to take drugs for three years (at least that's what he's admitted to) and nobody forced him to air his false apology. Screw A-Tool, he's a plastic douchebag who isn't contrite in the least, he's more angry than sorry which means he's completely missed the point of apologizing for cheating.

Labels: baseball, cheaters, PEDs

I have this tendency to seek poignancy and significance in everything. From parsing the meta-messaging in Dora the Explorer to trying to figure out the subliminal messaging in the ad about boner pills (what is the friggin' deal with the annoying whistling?). Or the order in which testimonials are delivered or the group of friends out on the town that includes one of each color, race and gender.

And, sometimes, I have to remind myself that, sometimes, what it is is all it is.

Labels: questions

Weak apology - Christian Bale is a foul mouthed asshole and he's somewhat sorry for it.

Weak solidarity - the Republican show of unity in none of them supporting the stimulus package in the House may be heartening to their base who are still licking their wounds over getting trounced last November but it demonstrates a lack of give a damn for the rest of the people in America who are losing their jobs in record numbers.

Weak manufacturing - that the Peanut Corporation of America knew they were shipping tainted and metal-laden peanut products and did nothing to stop it is bizarre, illegal and completely immoral. The people in charge should spend many years behind bars of real prison to get an opportunity to rethink their decisions.

Weak demand for payment - sure, you may have been murdered on Christmas by an angry prick in a Santa costume but you're rent is late so I'm going after your ex-husband. (Note, the demand for payment has since been retracted).

Weak ego stroking - the mother of eight new babies in southern California has six other kids, no husband and no visible means of support. Her doctors should be ashamed of themselves for pumping her full of eggs and baby-making hormones. And it looks like they are under investigation for improprieties.

Weak contract negotiations - Manny Ramirez wants a multiple year contract making more than $25 million per year to play baseball. He's a completely self-absorbed asshole who will quit on a team when he doesn't get his way. My school district is going to lay off hundreds of people because our budget was cut by $17 million this year. One man wants to make enough for hundreds. But then, the same thing can be said about many ball players. Sports salaries are so far out of whack as to be ridiculous. Thanks Scott Boras, for not recognizing how much the country is hurting and for rubbing these enormous numbers in our faces while real people make hard decisions about what to do now that their jobs have been taken from them.

Weak MVP - A-Rod tested positive for steroids in 2003 when he won the AL MVP. I'm not sure why it took 6 years for the results to come back but the message his steroid use sends is a bad one. Use drugs, cheat and win. I hate him even more than I did before he became a Yankee.

Strong Win - Way to go Steelers! It was a scary, topsy-turvy football game and my faith was shaken near the end but Big Ben and the Boys came through for a thrilling and awesome win to take home the World Championship.

Labels: week in weak

ChaostCo - CostCo on a rainy Sunday is utter chaos hence Chaos CostCo mashed into ChaostCo.

More here.

Labels: nwotd

We went to the beach today, it was a little hazy but pretty warm and mostly sunny. We splashed around in the water alot. Nande got run out, Grady got run out, Sully got run out. They are all sleeping well now.

Labels: beach, life with a dog, photos

Today's new word comes from combining the words volcano and hork (blowing your nose) thus.

Horkano: when you blow your nose and the resultant flow of goo is like an erupting volcano. Delightful, eh?

Go Here for the new words of the day archive.

Labels: nwotd

Francheese - when a previously good television or movie series is spun off into a cheesy direction. Sort of like the addition of the highly marketable Ewoks to the first Star Wars trilogy or the addition of the incredibly annoying Jar Jar Binks to the second trilogy. I'm sure there are dozens of other examples of francheese.

Got a good example of a franchise taking a turn for the cheese (and the money, of course)? Leave it in the comments.

And, as always, hit up the Fictionarium for more glorious examples of newly minted words.

Labels: nwotd

William H. Macy looks like a cross between a human and a frog.

Dick Cheney is as hateful, vile and wrong in "retirement" as he was as vice president. Only now nobody really gives a shit what he has to say.

The Daily Show does a pretty fantastic job of demonstrating the ridiculous hypocrisy of the Republican attempts to derail the stimulus package. Quote of the night "C-Span doesn't delete the tapes when a new administration takes power."

We are finally starting to work our way through this last season of The Shield. It is superb in a dark and twisted kind of way.

I get to see my Mommy tomorrow and I'm pretty excited about it. And not just because there will be excellent sushi involved.

I tend to share alot of articles I read on TechDirt, they do a good job of highlighting ridiculous lawsuits, and general dumbasserery.

Labels: random

I have come to realize that I've got some really good qualities and some really poor follow through. I'm a great idea person but a generally bad finisher.

So, in order to help overcome my shortcomings, I am declaring today, Finish Day. I will try to list out as many of the projects I am currently juggling and then try to shoot them down one by one. This list will very likely grow before it starts to shrink.

- Finish Gallery of the Absurd collaboration post
- Finish Skyrates Museum of Aviation History storyline
- Contact and set up meeting with teacher to discuss wedding photography
- Contact and set up other meeting with other teacher to discuss other wedding photography
- Make clean copy of ID and fax forms to Domains by Proxy to remove private domain registration
- Finish prototype invention
- Complete one, two, three, school tech summaries for department share site
- Finish editing video of biking with Nande in Nisene Marks
- Repost Craigslist ads for bookcases and desk to clean out house
- Post Craigslist ad to test waters for new stylist, manicurist, esthetician for shop
- Update and add CafePress store to bike blog
- Clean up resume and remove the Six Sucky Words

Labels: finish

I just came up with a new game called Choose A Side.

It works like this. Go to your local favorite news source (in my case it will be the San Francisco Chronicle) and copy the top five news items on the home page. Then go through the list and choose a side and explain why.

Sound like fun? Alrighty then, here we go.

Positive Bonds Steroids Tests Alleged - Okay, okay, Bonds is a big fat-headed cheater. I said it. But what is ultimately going to send him to jail isn't the steroid use, its the lying about it. Look at Jason Giambi, he admitted it and his career has moved on (albeit with smaller numbers). It is arguable that Bonds cheated, or started cheating, during an era when steroid use was rampant and tacitly condoned by ownership and the commissioner. Once public sentiment turned against it then everyone tried to pretend like they'd been against steroid and HGH use all along. Does that exonerate him? No, because he let his ego get the better of him and lied about drug use while under oath in front of a congressional hearing. And one thing you absolutely do not do is lie to a bunch of Congressmen and women. Do I think they should be, you know, doing something more important with their time? Hell yeah, our economy is in the toilet, we have two wars going on and we have asshat bank execs pulling down $15 million a year in bailout cash. Bonds' crimes are pretty unimportant in the larger scheme of things.
Conclusion: Not on Bonds side.

Digital TV Conversion Delayed Until June - This won't make one bit of difference in our life either with or without the conversion. We get cable, it is taken care of for us (though I did hear that our cable company was slowly slipping beneath the bankruptcy waves). I guess, since I have to choose sides, I'll go with the people here, the ones who either cannot afford or cannot find a digital converter unit to buy.
Conclusion: With the non-digitized masses.

UC Regents Change Rules For Admission - guarantees are hard to come by in the real world. They always have loopholes or clauses or somesuch that makes them less than rock-solid. I have no problem with reducing the guaranteed admissions of the top students in California from 12.5% to 10% if it means more kids will get an honest look by the school system. But then, I'm not a top 11% student, I bet I'd have a different take on this if I was.
Conclusion: Siding with the Regents.

Shackled Tracy Boy's Escape Described - the people are abused this kid should never walk free again. They are despicable, hateful, hideous excuses for human beings. What they did is unforgivable and they should be made to suffer until their last breath.
Conclusion: Completely on the kid's side here. Absolutely no question.

Obama Caps Executive Pay Tied To Bailout - This is another pretty easy one. It is shocking how deeply greedy and ridiculous banking executives are. The stories of excess making the news are very likely the tip of the iceberg and we're only hearing about them now because the money is ours, not theirs (though it is still ours sort of when it was bank money). The junkets, the lavish office redecorating, the bonuses for doing nothing showing up and helping crater the company. The greed is rife throughout the banking industry and it is wrong. Capping executive salaries is a good first step to ensuring that the bailout money they get isn't going straight into some wanker in an expensive suit's pocket.
Conclusion: Go Obama! Smack them fatcats around some!

That was a good time. Want to give it a try? Leave a comment and I'll come check yours out.

Labels: meme, news

My favorite celebrity satire artist, 14, scores a wicked hit again with her: A Madonna Crotch Endorsement 20 Years from Now.

14 does a great job of capturing the little details and the whole package is satire of the highest and funniest order.

Her entire series of work based on Paris Hilton is genuinely hilarious and worth a look. The same for her Rachel Ray series.

Really there's very little that she does in the way of celebrity satire that doesn't score a near direct hit on my laugh at them bone.

I've been working on a collaboration with her for a little while now but its taken a backseat recently due to more pressing issues (like, oh I don't know, breathing). But I am planning on getting back to it when I can think clearly again and feel the burning need to rip some celebs a fresh one (actually, I'm going with some political figures for my write up).

Labels: awesome, GOTA, satire

One of my quickly rising favorite blogs, Rude Cactus, was lamenting the other day about about aging, going gray and needing a big pile of pills everyday to keep from falling apart.

I can sympathize with him. While I don't think I look old, there are definitely mornings when I feel old. My joints pop, my back is sore and I'll feel ready for a nap even though I've just woken up.

But the thing of it is, I don't think of myself as old. I don't think of myself as much, much closer to 40 than to 20 or even 30. I look at myself in the mirror and see a 20something punk kid. Maybe that's part of my problem, maybe its part of my solution. I don't know but I do know that I don't "feel" old in my head, just in my body every once in a while.

Though I admit, I look pretty damned good for being such an old(ish) fart.

Speaking of which, I also learned that fish oil makes you fart, alot. I may have to invest in some of the low-fart kind because I can hot-air balloon my blankets off the bed at night these days. Yes, you're welcome for the visual.

Labels: getting old

I have, like a large percentage of American males, just finished watching the Super Bowl and extend congrats to the Steelers for pulling it out after nearly letting Kurt Warner and Larry Fitzgerald take it away. It was an odd game marked by some pretty questionable penalties.

But I enjoyed it anyway and am glad that the Steelers did win but I'd be happier if they'd covered the damned spread but oh well.

Also, Kurt Warner's wife looks about a thousand times better with hair than without.

But I also did a bunch of other stuff today too and it was fun and noteworthy.

After doing some preventive maintenance on my bike rack (I added some ring clamps so that the fork side couldn't slide off again) and switching my handlebars out for the more comfy pair, I took Grady out for a bike ride in the slough that ended up being in the parking lot at West Marine instead. We had a blast chasing each other all over the big lot, me on my cruiser and him on his Hot Wheels BMX. I don't know how far we went but he definitely put a couple of miles under his wheels. More than anything though, we had alot of fun cruising around together.

After we came back home, I loaded up again with Sully and the Trail-a-Bike to get him some saddle time in the fantastically warm and beautiful day. He really surprised me by being game to go and go and go even though he was having some trouble reaching the pedals. It was touch and go at first but we stopped several times so he could blast the horn some and that made him smile and really start to enjoy himself.

We ended up going down the trail to the bridge and back to the parking lot and then all the way to Main and back. He was game for more. But he didn't want to try the solo bike on his own and took out his scooter to buzz around the parking lot for a while with me chasing him and him laughing loud and long.

If I can infect my boys with my love of bicycling then I will be a happy pappy indeed.

Oh yeah, I also dismantled, cleaned, lubed and reassembled the PS2 from my wife's shop to restore it to near perfect working order again, that was cool! Thanks to MetaCafe for the excellent help video to guide me through.

Labels: bicycle, football, sunday

What an interesting night of fights. No knockouts until the second to last fight of the night when Lyoto Machida silenced his critics with a big, big time knockout of Thiago Silva with one second left in the first round.

And then Georges St. Pierre dominated BJ Penn for four straight rounds until his team threw in the towel. GSP was bigger, faster, stronger and just too much for BJ to handle.

There was, this morning, some controversy from the BJ camp. Call it VaselineGate if you like but it wouldn't have changed the outcome either way.

So, how'd I do on my predictions?
Results courtesy of MMAMania. Click the link for round by round breakdowns of the action.
Georges St. Pierre defeats BJ Penn via technical knockout (doctor stoppage) at the end of round four
Lyoto Machida defeats Thiago Silva via knockout (punch) at 4:59 of round one
Jon Jones defeats Stephan Bonnar via unanimous decision
Clay Guida defeats Nate Diaz via split decision
Karo Parisyan defeats Dong Hyun “Stun Gun” Kim via split decision
Jon Fitch defeats Akihiro Gono via unanimous decision
Thiago Tavares defeats Manny Gamburyan via unanimous decision
John Howard defeats Chris Wilson via split decision
Jake O’Brien defeats Christian Wellisch via split decision
Daniel Cramer defeats Matt “No Regard” Arroyo via split decision

I pulled a mediocre 5 for 9 on my predictions but did land the big ones with Machida and GSP.

Labels: mma, predictions, UFC