What The Fuck?
Um, what in the hell is going on now?
How is my weblog with my template on my domain being jacked with, how is my content being dressed with someone else's flippin' weblog?
Is this a hosting issue, a Blogger issue or a domain registry issue?

GODDAMN IT TO FARGIN HELL, I DON'T NEED THE EXTRA AGGRAVATION.

It was working properly again a moment ago but I don't hold out hope for the rest of the evening. I think I need to just get to bed and deal with everything in the morning.

  posted by Johnny Huh? @ 9:34 PM Feel like saying something?

 
Die Telemarketer Scum, Or Just Don't Call Me Anymore
From Jay comes an excellent spot for Californians to get an early stop call order in, Do Not Call Pre-Registration. From the email "Attorney General Bill Lockyer announced Monday that Californians can begin to pre-register their home and cell phone numbers on a 'do not
call' list. The list will feed into a national, no-cost registry that takes effect in October." Sure, you could wait until October to register but then you'll get a seat way in the back where the gangstas are.

An Old New Word
Erika was cleaning her hard drive at work and wanted to make sure I'd gotten three words she'd come up with before they were defragged into oblivion. Two were already in the Intellectual Poison New Word Hall of Fame already, psychopornolistic and fortituous. But one is new, circumlick - During foreplay the act of licking around the perimeter of your partner's genitals before going in for the kill.

A side note to Erika's new word. I got one of those random calls from someone you've not heard from in x number of years or, in this case, xx number of years. One of the first pals I made when I moved to Tempe, Arizona waaaaay back in 1989. It was cool to hear her voice, still as distinctive as ever, and to hear that she's doing well. It was also great to hear updates on some of my other friends from back then who I've also lost touch with. Erika had been my sole contact with that period of my life. Now it would appear that I'll have access to maybe some more.

The Ominous Post from Sunday Morning
No resolutions, no updates today. I got up, went to work, found out there was no chance of any work being done until our office had been moved, no chance of anything happening really. I came back home for a few hours until Brian was going to call me. I opted to end up taking the day off as my body has been breaking down on several levels lately due to the high stress. My eyes are a wreck right now, sunlight is a dagger into my optical nerve center, my shoulders are bunched up tight, my insides are roiling with moments of terrible upset. I needed a day off to recuperate. And plan.

  posted by Johnny Huh? @ 7:56 PM Feel like saying something?

 
New From Japan: The Invisible Coat
Well, its not truly invisible and you have to be wearing special glasses to get the effect but, with real time imagery projected onto a funky special coat and the goggles on, what one of the developers termed, augmented reality is the result. Its a trick that lets the viewer actually think they are seeing through an Invisible Coat.

Its very, very young technology but think of the future of it. People could be their own tv sets, projecting any imagery they chose, they could be walking movie theaters or news stations or video games. Or they could also be used for surgery or just to see inside people.
Alas, no pictures of the invisible coat to share.

Alas no more. Thanks to Carlene and Ted Turner's CNN. And yup, the cool factor on these is very high.


  posted by Johnny Huh? @ 11:49 PM Feel like saying something?

 
How Do You Write About What Might Happen In A Day and a Half?
The most common image in my thoughts now is of a stylized high noon shoot out. I am, as always, astonished with the rapidity of changes that come into my life. For reasons that will become clear on Tuesday, I can't write about the most over riding train of thought in my head.

How about some fluff instead? Hmmm, trip to Ikea? Yeah, I guess that'll work.
First time to the Emeryville (basically ghetto Oakland) location, in the middle of a whole big bunch of other big shopping places. But it had its own multi story garage. Given the number of cars in the lot when we pulled in at about 1, I would have expected crushing loads of people. But the store is so large that it felt crowded once in three hours and we got away with some of the slickest and coolest loot going.

Ikea is like a free capitalism amusement park/shopping mall/crazyal's low price leader. Anyone within a hundred miles of an Ikea should go. Its worth it just for the experience, unless you have a strong dislike for Danish design, some call it stark and cold but I appreciate the simplicity of it.

You get a bag but most move up to carts on the lower level where you can actually start getting at the loot. The whole top floor is showroom, a meandering pathway through living rooms, bedrooms, bathrooms, kitchens, kids rooms, dorm rooms, play rooms. All of them. A solid marketing concept, show the product in use, in it's natural environment. And once people have wandered through over and around all the upstairs, maybe stopped in to have a bite to eat, then you descend to the product section. Grab a cart and start the shopping. Huge aisle after aisle of product, all manner, colanders to whisks to Dr. Suess-like paper lights to ugly flowered print drinking glasses to clean and simple couches. Picture frames, pots for plants, plants for pots, all new and unavailable anywhere else. Its such a refreshing assortment of products.

So we escaped after one moment when the movement ahead was too slow for the movement behind and there were ALOT of people all at once. I don't like being in random crowds of people for especially long periods of time. For a variety of reasons but for one kind of funny one. Its unnatural, biologically speaking, for such diverse members of our species to gather in large places together without a common cause. Shopping does count but its tenuous and, after an indeterminate period of time which depends on the individual, the situation begins to cause some level of trouble, a disruption.

Oh yeah, add on all of this joy with work. The company's moving to higher ground physically, better sun, less homeless folks wandering through. Only thing is that I don't know if I'll be going with them. Monday will prove to be a most interesting and change-happy day.

But I got a cool new butcher block island in my kitchen and that's cool for now.

  posted by Johnny Huh? @ 9:50 AM Feel like saying something?

 
Generating A Positive Karmic Balance
Because of recent events in my working life I've been seeking outlets to creating a better karmic debt for myself. In order to flow the rest of my life I think its necessary to flow other lives around you. But sometimes its less of an outlet but rather an opportunity to do good.

Take tonight, out busting around with Paula on our bikes, checking out the beach, the waves and the last vestiges of the beautiful warm sunny NorCal style day. I had to stop by the old house to check on some pending packages and it was just kind of fun to buzz around the old neighborhood to see who was out and about. On our way back up the street towards our house we stopped in at a head shop (yes Virginia, head shops are not only legal in California, they're quite plentiful).

The sell all kinds of funny stuff, I like the fact that they keep their porn right next to the four foot glass blown party hookahs with tubes and a bowl you could eat cereal out of.

There's also a pipe to smoke, and it says this on the box, "tobacco oil" which must truly be the nastiest stuff on the planet if it really exists.

Anyway, after having our look around, we were getting ready to leave and I noticed a mountain bike parked in the store next to the tattoo bar (believe me, they are super cool there). It was a distinctive kind of mountain bike, in fact it looked kind of like (only an older model in blue and yellow).

A distinctive and rare bike these days, especially because a good friend of mine had the same kind of bike only it had been stolen recently. So I started looking at the bike closer and it became clear in a matter of moments that it was her bike. Whoever'd stolen it hadn't even bothered to remove stickers or do anything to mask the bike at all. After some inquiry to the staff at the store, I found out it "belonged" to one of the guy's who worked there.

I talked with him for a long time, including one of the other people who work there about what to do in this situation. I made sure to not accuse the guy directly of stealing the bike but questioned him about where he got it. He said he'd had it for a month (lie, it had been stolen a week before) and that he'd traded a tall white guy his bike, a sweater and some beer for it. I'd also been snapping pics some of the time, tying the store to the whole thing and trying to get a pic of the guy. After talking with him for a while I asked him what he thought should happen.

He shrugged and said that he'd traded his own stuff for it. To which I replied, but the guy you traded with stole this from my friend. I know this for fact, this is her bike (oh yeah, we were two blocks from where it had been stolen). I said I didn't want to call the cops but it seemed like the thing to do. After some talking, I told him to not disappear anytime soon and we went back down to the end of the block to gather some troops.

A real Johnny, a John, a Stacy, a Lino, a Paula and I went back down the street to go and get the bike. Johnny because the bike was stolen from his back yard and he would, understandably, be interested in who had entered his domain and had the gall to steal from him. John and Lino because they like the girl who's bike got stolen, they don't like theives and they're down for keeping our neighborhood clean and safe (especially if it might include an ass whooping). Stacy came along because she lives with Johnny, felt the same sort of anger about a thief in her domain and she happened to know the guy who'd made the trade. Paula was there, obviously, because she was with me, is a pal of Heather's and has a streak of fairplay in her a mile and a half wide, she does not go for cheaters, line jumpers, thieves or other social jackasses. And me, well, I'd started the whole thing and was overseeing the execution of the recovery of my friend's bicycle, also to make sure things didn't get too out of hand.

Six of us sort of descend on the place, four or five total other people there. The guy was still there, the bike was still there and after giving him a minute to tie things up with a customer he was waiting on, we talked to him about what was going to happen. Faced with six people, four guys, one of which is a big 'oke, one's a short but very thick 'oke, one's in the middle heightwise and build wise and then there's me, I'm not as tall and not as big. Never have been and never will be, it's cool, there are certain esteem benefits to knowing how physically strong oneself is. Another long term benefit of working out with powerlifters back when I was just starting out in the fitness game, strength is its own discipline beyond building a big muscular body.

Anyway, we left with the bike without incident although the guy said he'd call the cops (an interesting switch now that he was going to lose the bike) and Johnny, who'd pretty much stepped in as speaker, invited him to do so. Come on now, a stolen bike in a head shop? Who you gonna believe?

The bike was brought on back into the fold of the 'hood and Paula and I got sidetracked outside the local dive bar chatting with friends I've not seen in a while. After catching up, getting a party invite for Sunday, some hugs and plans for more time, we rolled all the way back down to the end to check in and see if the bike had gone back to Heather yet. No sighting yet.

So we asked Johnny to have Heather give us a call when she got in. We rolled back up towards home yet again, this time on my old street where her house also was (she did used to be my neighbor). She hadn't gotten home yet so we kept on. As we got further from the house a truck pulled on to the street ahead of us, its lights about a half mile up from the ground. I got the hell out of the way (Friday night in this town?) but recognized that it was the same kind of truck that Stacy had said she'd seen Heather in earlier. We circled back as the truck pulled into her driveway.

And really, the only thing that could have possibly made telling her we'd recovered her bike for her was to have had a picture of the look of both astonishment, surprise and real, genuine joy. She was literally jumping up and down in her excitement. And then I met her aunt and uncle and friends. Wonder if I made a good impression on them? Hahaha.

So there ya go, an opportune happenstance on the rare off chance that I went into the head shop today, that I'd talked with Heather only a day or two before and she'd told me about her bike getting ripped off. I'd even started looking online for a replacement. Ahh, fates.

  posted by Johnny Huh? @ 12:10 AM Feel like saying something?

 
This Just In: First Pics of MOAB's in Action
From my good pal, Jay, comes the first picture of the new MOAB (mother of all bombs).
It comes with this notation from one of our boys over there in thick of the action. (sorry to those seeking real pics of the biggest, dumbest bomb in the American arsenal and sorry to those ladies big enough to straddle a fighter plan who this picture may offend).
> Our first action
>
> Well my crew did well. Early this morning we rolled our first fatty off
> the flight deck. This is a MOAB. As you can see, it's a nasty one, one
> that you wouldn't want landing in your backyard.
>
> God fear the queen.
MOAB in flight

  posted by Johnny Huh? @ 4:07 PM Feel like saying something?

 
Friday Five
From the Friday Five dot Org comes this week's Friday Five.

1. What was your most memorable moment from the last week?
Getting yelled at by a homeless guy for riding my bike on the sidewalk.

2. What one person touched your life this week?
Paula, my fiance, for her never ending need to tease me because she loves me.

3. How have you helped someone this week?
I live to serve, I'm in PR. I provide media types with data from our development surveys all day, everyday.

4. What one thing do you need to get done by this time next week?
Getting my newly relocated office into some semblance of order.

5. What one thing will you do over the next seven days to make your world a better place?
One word, IKEA! Ohhhhh yeah! We're hitting Emeryville tomorrow to pick up some stuff for our house. I can't wait!

And on that note, I'm hitting the road, gotta go get an adjustment at my chiropracter's, my first in over a year and geezo do I need it after this week's joy.

I may be on some this weekend, we'll have to see. I'm awaiting delivery of our DSL router so I can get my Mac online at home again. And then its all about the speed, baby. Double speed DSL this time around too! Woohoo!

  posted by Johnny Huh? @ 3:51 PM Feel like saying something?

 
One of the Problems of Locally Over Exposing a Blog
One of the main problems I've just run into with writing to a web log is that too many people I know and work with are aware of and read Intellectual Poison. Its not a random board in cyber space that has no connection to my real life. I can't complain about my house because my fiance reads me (and there's nothing to complain about, its just an example because I can't write about what's really bothering me these days).

What I need to do is just not tell people about the blog anymore. I don't need local folks to be reading me (and no, that doesn't mean you, Paul, you're in the pal category and I like knowing you read up). And no, this isn't any sort of an assault on people outside of my work reading me. Its about people within my office knowing I write here and knowing that any bitching I do about work here could trickle down to my boss and then the whole stupid can of worms is over turned and the floor looks like a Dali print.

So, I'm going to start making a few changes to the blog. I'll no longer be posting as myself but now I'll be under a pseudonym. One that I came up with a few years ago as a joke for a short story I was writing at the time. My thinking is that, given a few weeks I can actually return to some greater level of anonymity. I won't be speaking about the blog with anyone I work with that I don't also spend time with outside of work, i.e. unless their a pal then I'm not talking to them about it.

And I'll have to find another outlet for my current irritation. Though perhaps I'll write it up as a short story and post it here. That way I can just call it fiction and be done with it if I'm caught out or anything.

But yeah, I've got a big old hill of shit to deal with in the next couple of weeks. Starting with moving our office to the new building over the weekend (well, I'm not doing the actual moving but I do have to box all my crap up for the mongoloid movers to drop and break in the three hundred yards of the move).

How have the rest of you demarcated the line between blog and reality? I need some help here. That and I may need a new job soon so anyone who's got a spot open for an experienced PR Manager, drop me a note. And no, Layne, I'm not relocating to Mini-Soda. My tender bits would freeze and fall off and I'm just not quite ready for that sacrifice yet.

  posted by Johnny Huh? @ 7:16 AM Feel like saying something?

 
Two Things
One, I may have been somewhat over zealous in my broad brush condemnation of the Ivy League. I'm not against these special tier schools, they have produced some very important people and innovations.

But, since we just watched Orange County (which was much, much funnier than I thought it would be, a review may be in the offing) last night, they are also a glittering fantasy land in many ways. The kids who go to schools like Stanford, Dartmouth and Yale are raised to believe that they are the best and brightest when they are, oftentimes, merely from the wealthiest sector.

Sure, part of it is sour grapes on my part as there was no chance whatsoever of my getting into Dartmouth but its more than that. I know many people who have graduated from Dartmouth, Berkeley, Stanford and other "top" schools and they are, pardon the crudeness, dumbfucks. Dumbfucks with last names like Kennedy and Rockefeller. Wealth does NOT equal intelligence no matter how much they try to impress that upon you.

And two, I just got some take out lunch from one of the places near my office, Los Pinos, which is not a big deal in and of itself. But I got back to my office and started macking on the al pastor burrito (BBQ pork) with the combo of rojas (red) sauce and lemon (though I much prefer lime). As I started to squeeze the lemon out, with just a little bit of pressure, it sprayed, literally sprayed, lemon juice almost three feet! It nearly hit my computer monitor on my desk. As it is, I'll have the most lemony fresh wrist rest in Santa Cruz.

Just thought that was pretty amazing. But maybe that's just me.

  posted by Johnny Huh? @ 1:19 PM Feel like saying something?

 
An Excellent Review Quality Quote
Maybe I'm about to jinx myself by talking about it at all but I've talked about it offline as well as here. I'm set to have my first annual review with my company and am a mixture of nervous and excited. But today's quote is very appropriate for thinking about my future and the company's future.

Aim at the sun and you may not reach it; but your arrow will fly far higher than if you had aimed at an object on a level with yourself.- F. Hawes.

Totally Unrelated
April Fool's Day is coming up and lots of people need a little more creativity in coming up with practical jokes. With that in mind I present this article, Livewire: Surfing for Practical Jokes which should help even the most inwardly focused of geeks find some way to satisfy their inner need to act like an 8 year old. Me? I'm going with an all whoopee cushion April Fool's. Nothing makes people smile in spite of themselves better than forceful expulsions (real or fake) of back side gas. Which reminds me, did anyone else see Chappelle's Show last night after South Park? His R. Kelly music videos were hilarious if a bit on the nasty side. One phrase that I took away from it? R. Kelly's Doo Doo Butter. Yeah, crude humor but after South Park's stem cell research and Christopher Reeve show, it was quite refined.

And yes, I still have the cartoon image of Christopher Reeve sucking stem cells from the neck of a fetus in my mind. South Park is about the most politically incorrect show possible right now. But its still pretty funny in a guilty kind of way.

  posted by Johnny Huh? @ 11:40 AM Feel like saying something?

 
Ground Level US Soldier Blog
From my good buddy, Mark, comes L.T. Smash, a blog written by a member of the US Armed forces deployed in Iraq, ostensibly though verification is difficult, as it is with Salam Pax of Where is Raed?. I've read enough of Salam to believe that it is truly someone in Iraq writing the blog, there may be some hyperbole but its real enough for me.

Which is a curious thing about blogs. They could be truly fanciful writing experiments by someone in the midwest or somewhere else, obviously with knowledge of the place they're pretending to write about but there's no reason that they couldn't be stitching their story together from news reports and other media outlets. I don't think this is that case with either Salam or Lt. Smash (a name that actually goes a very long way to explaining current US foreign policy) but it does make one wonder.

I believe reports I read on CNN because they've been established as a media outlet but there's really just no way to verify that a blogger is who he or she says they are aside from piecing their story together by reading their blog. But I do keep my salt lick right next to my computer so I can absorb everything with a grain or two. What's that old line? Believe nothing of what you hear and only half of what you see? Yeah, that'll work.

But the whole blogging thing does give a very different and very personal perspective of the war. And being able to see the conflict from more sides should provide a better overall understanding of what's really happening.

  posted by Johnny Huh? @ 9:19 AM Feel like saying something?

 
A Very Interesting Point
I was surfing a few blogs of my blog pals and came across this post on Smellen's post about Michael Moore's letter to ShrubCo on the Eve of War in which he notes that only one single member of the 535 members of Congress has a son or daughter in the military. Which is truly surprising if you think about it for a moment.

Um, so when they talk about our brave sons and daughters fighting in the Middle East, just who are they talking about? Not their kids because their kids go to private schools and over priced snotty east coast Ivy League schools where they don't have to interact with the "common" types.

Note (Updated 3.27.03): I've since been educated by some readers and some other bloggers about Michael Moore's sometimes less than wholly honest film making techniques and subsequent conclusions and messages that he conveys. As with every other source of information, he should be taken with a big grain of salt. If his movies are falsified stories then he shouldn't be considered a documentarian at all, he's a regular movie maker with a different technique than Spielberg but closer to him than to someone that actually produces less skewed movies. Doesn't mean I don't want to see Bowling for Columbine, I still do and since its showing at the local theatre for a second run, we'll probably hit it this weekend. Thanks to those of you that took the time to try and set me right.

I do still standby my pocket analysis of the Ivy League school system though, spent too many years in its shadow to now have strong opinions of it. Its overpriced, snotty and a lower rung of the old boy's network ladder to the top. You didn't attend Harvard or Yale? Well then, you'll have to take the long route to the top.

In Soul Sucking News: Celine Dion Takes 'Vegas
I'm not sure what braniac thought this one up but Celine Dion's A New Day is about to start a three year run in Las Vegas. Why? Because she hasn't squalled her awful music to quite enough people already. And really, you're nobody until you perform 5 shows a night, five nights a week in Las Vegas for 3 years. Look at what its done for such mega stars like Siegfried and Roy (they look sooo lifelike you almost think they're human). What does this mean for Joe Middle America? Just another crappy show to shell out for with the wife when you're spending your ShrubCo inflated tax return.

And Las Vegas, that aged den of mafia intrique takes another step towards becoming DesertDisneyland. Who's next? The Martin Short All Star Review? How about the Connie Chung Ca-ching Coalition? Or hey, make it a traffic stopping duo of Connie AND Maury together on stage for the first time. Wooo.

Maybe not.

I think I'll be off searching the underbrush for the pair of nuts that Las Vegas lost.

  posted by Johnny Huh? @ 3:55 PM Feel like saying something?

 
An Interesting Analogy and Test Scale
I've been working with Doc Searls professionally for the last week or two in my job in PR for a tech research company.
He has been a blast to work with and has produced a pretty amazing article for us for which I am very, very grateful.

But he referenced an interesting scale of a technological acceptance based on Mohandes Gandhi's famous quote: First they ignore, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win. Each stage is its own GandhiCon. Ignoring would be GandhiCon 1 and so on.

Just thought it was a very cool and pretty enlightened way to look at things.

And Doc, sorry if I let the cat out of the bag a little early. But I'm still all excited about your email and the pending newsletter post. Pretty awesome stuff!

Questions about the War
Has anyone else noticed how many more "friendly fire" incidents there have been in this first week of the war? It seems like our forces are as dangerous to our own people as they are to the enemy. Jets being shot down, helicopters going down and many other incidents. I wonder how hard it would be to be told that your son was killed in a friendly fire incident by a fellow American or other coalition soldier instead of being killed by an Iraqi? I wonder if there's some kind of compensation, a governmental apology of sorts.

By the way, I just did a Google News "friendly fire" search and got a return of 2970 articles. Now all of those aren't new but there's definitely a large proportion of those that are related to this current war with Iraq.

That and it has become apparent that Saddam is no longer playing by any rules whatsoever. He's torturing POW's, using chemical weapons on the battlefield, using his own people as human shields and basically proving everything that ShubCo's said about his is more or less true. He is a monster, he is a sickening and despicable human being who has lost all touch with reality in an attempt to retain whatever measure of power and control he can. I hope he's not dead, I hope he's cowering in some hole somewhere praying for Allah to save him (or whatever higher authority he draws his righteous fury from). I want to see this monster put on trial and convicted for war crimes and human rights violations of the highest order.

My heart goes out to the POWs and their families. It will make things much more difficult to witness, thanks to instant war coverage, the damage being inflicted on our people by Saddam's forces. But it will not deter our resolve to pull the plug on his power mad orgy of death. If anything it will give us ever greater resolve to remove him so that he can no longer pose a threat to anyone.

And one more thing, I was reading an article about the war budget submitted to Congress. Apparently there's no real accounting for the vast majority of the $70 some odd billion dollars they're asking for. Umm, not sure but I think I'd like to have a better idea of what's going to be done with $70 BILLION dollars. It would be really easy, if there were unscrupulous types in our government, to stash away a half billion and no one would ever notice. But we all know our US government is comprised of fair minded, honest working folks, right?

Yeah, right. Want to buy a bridge? It goes from San Francisco to Marin and is really cheap, just for you today.

  posted by Johnny Huh? @ 9:45 AM Feel like saying something?

 
Quality Forward: Hope You Bought the Warranty
From Jay comes easily the funniest picture of the day.



My favorite part is the look on the puppy's face, its a mixture of "Ahhh" and "Damn am I in real trouble now" or maybe he's getting a wee shock?
Damn, just makes me laugh looking at it. Might have to print that one out for the wall.

Bad Smoker News
Feeling lucky? Then why not take up smoking and gamble for real? Check out this article from Time titled What are your odds? of getting lung cancer and dying from smoking the foul things.

Go on, roll the dice. All you've got to lose is everything.

  posted by Johnny Huh? @ 4:34 PM Feel like saying something?

 
The Ten Thousandth Visitor to Intellectual Poison
Sure, there's some anti-climax as I was pretty sure we'd get there before too long. But it has been alot faster than I thought and that's both cool and heartening.

Anyway, I have been checking my logs and the 10,000th visitor came from RR.com. But that's about all the info I've got on them

Leave a comment if this is you. Not sure what I'm going to do but I do want to do something.

Thanks for all the clicks, thanks to my blogging pals and my real world pals who read the blog as a means of staying in touch or just because they find it entertaining.

  posted by Johnny Huh? @ 4:26 PM Feel like saying something?

 
Another Forward from Esther, Intellectual Poison Forwarding Goddess

Vodka powered Laptops and Cell Phones?

Enough said.

  posted by Johnny Huh? @ 3:34 PM Feel like saying something?

 
Another Sign of the Impending Demise of American Business
When a bad CEO walks away with $35 million dollars for doing a bad job there is a serious problem with corporate America. I read this over on Dan Gillmor and the title of the news article is Ousted EDS Chief Pockets Hefty Severance.

Just how in the hell such a huge severance package can be sold to a board of directors is unbelievable. But then, Dan sums it up nicely by saying the reason he got all the money is because he's part of the CEO club, which is nearly impossible to break into but once you're there, you can't be fired no matter how badly you do your job or how much you embezzle.

Its sickening to think of these poor excuses for businessmen destroying a company, basically stealing people's investments and flushing them down the toilet and then walking away from the smoldering wreckage and laughing all the way to the bank and their next CEO gig. Its like lower level actors in Hollywood who keep getting roles and shows (Colin Quinn anyone? the guy's NEVER been funny and yet he keeps getting on shows, why? or Martin Short, another talentless waste of space) only much more detrimental.

Is there any way to stop this bullshit from happening? I'd love to hear some ideas.

  posted by Johnny Huh? @ 2:58 PM Feel like saying something?

 
Bigger the Baby, the Smarter the Baby?
I should forward this story, Birth Size May Affect School Exam Results in Teens, on to my mother as she used to like to remind me that I was an enormous baby. Now I can point at this and say that's why I'm so darned smart. Her pain was my gain. Maybe I'll send her some flowers too.
And to head off the question before its asked, yes, I was a very, very large baby. I was 22 inches long and 11 pounds 2 ounces at birth. Born nearly two weeks late on the 11th of September, two weeks after Woodstock and 9 months and nearly two weeks after New Year's Eve. I used to rib my mom and dad that I was a drunken mistake on New Year's Eve 1968. And who knows? Maybe I was.

At least it makes for an interesting story.

  posted by Johnny Huh? @ 11:13 AM Feel like saying something?

 
Baseball Blog: Hasta La Livan
Too much techno war talk over the last few days and its overshadowing one of my favorite times of the year, the start of the baseball season. So I'm going to blog on baseball stuff for a little while, until I have to get back on the war again.

For the second time in the last six years, two brothers are team mates again on the Montreal Expos, Major League Baseball's backwater tide pool that doesn't even broadcast its games anymore. Late yesterday, I saw the news that Livan Hernandez was traded to the Expos which puts him back together with his brother, El Duque, Orlando Hernandez. It ought to be interesting to see how they perform together on the same time. Livan has the stuff to be a super star but seems more into the Carl's Jr. Super Stars. He's been coming into camp in mid winter form, over weight, slow and not ready to earn his pay. We'll see if being reunited with his brother inspires him to be a better athlete or baseball player.

I'm not all the upset to see him go but am way less pleased than I was when Mr. Bad Attitude, Jeff Kent, was parceled off and replaced with a speedster in Ray Durham. Honestly, the Giants are going to be a better team than they were last year. They've added speed, better defense, got rid of some cancerous elements and even got themselves one of the best managers in the game while getting rid of the most over rated manager in the game.

And Today's Quote
Do not falter or shrink; But just think out your work, And just work out your think. - Nixon Waterman

  posted by Johnny Huh? @ 9:24 AM Feel like saying something?

 
How Are We Doing?
Well, ABC has some lovely stills from Brig. General Vincent Brooks. Hard to really tell what's going on. For a ground level take on the whole thing, go read Raed.

Iraqi Intelligence Service Before and Iraqi Intelligence Service After
Palace Guard Before and After

But there are the setbacks, the helicopters going down and the crews being carted off for some Iraqi style beatings and torture. And so begins the hardest part of war in the digital era. Now we can see the effects of the injuries to our boys. I don't think the Bush administration did an especially good job of preparing America for the reality of a war.

So much to consider in this war. And it appears that the Republican Guard and Saddam's other elite and extra brain washed forces are going to make Baghdad a very unfun place for the "coalition" forces to penetrate. All I've seen in the news thus far has been British and US soldiers fighting Iraqi soldiers. But then, I've been sipping on this war so far so as not to get tired to quickly.

Important Non War Let's Talk About Baseball News
Tejada Sits for the Day and A-Rod Expects to be Back in the Lineup means that two of the four big time super shortstops are slightly battered at the start of the season. Miquel played in every game last year and A-Rod's the hottest player in baseball. Or is he?.

Ah, baseball. Can't wait for this weekend for the games to start up for real.

  posted by Johnny Huh? @ 9:04 PM Feel like saying something?

 
Pending Big Watershed Moment in Intellectual Poison History
I'd not have thought that this little blog would get to 10,000 visitors in the first year but here we are, pushing towards 10K at speed. I thought it would be later this week but there's a good chance we'll break the barrier by tomorrow.

I'd like to think that the 10,000th visitor to the site will be here in search of something I actually wrote about and not on a random search for wacky Japanese stuff like the nipple scarves, see through panty skirts or the USB toothbrush (which we're still trying to figure out just why someone would want a USB toothbrush, maybe for the world's most control freak dentist who wants hard statistical data on how often the patient's been brushing and for how long and concentrating on what areas but really, some people need to relax a bit, eh?).

By the way, I'm entirely too excited about some toothpaste I just bought during my lunch hour wander about town. Crest's Rejuvenating Effects looks like I may never have to go to see the dentist ever again. Which would be fine because that bugger likes to beat me up with his whiny little drill, scrappers and stainless steel toothpicks. Ahh, I know I'll still have to go but a toothpaste that says it can repair some of the damage caused by tooth decay? Heck yeah, I'm down with that for $4!

Back to the 10,000 visitor thing. If its someone who's actually here to read or check in then I'd like to do something cool for them. Don't quite know what yet but something could be done. Maybe an Amazon gift certificate or, if you're local, an invite to one of Paula's and my sushi parties or beers out one night. Who knows?

Got a good idea to suggest (within reason, keeping in mind that I'm just another worker bee like most of the rest of you though with a healthy dose of ego need apparently)? Drop a note in the comments and let's see who's got the best idea.

Who Asked God about his thoughts on Abnormal Sex?
Apparently somebody did because I came across his (well, his messenger, Odette Ouellette who also happens to have a book for you to buy, crazy how that works).
Anyway, I was thinking, what does a site like Health Recipes have to do with divine knowledge about whether or not a given sexual act is abnormal and thus a greater sin than normal sex that's not for making more Christians? Well, its one of those subtle church run sites that "pretends" to be merely a conduit for health related information but instead they're working the angles, trying to weasel God into everything they do.

So here's what GOD says about abnormal sex as interpreted and regurgitated by Odette. The site does make a point of saying that all opinions expressed therein are her own and are not reflective of Health Recipes. Ol' Odette's sooo darned helpful that's highlighted other areas of the Bible that talk about lewd, carnal sins of the flesh.

Hey, did you know that to fornicate you've gotta be bumping uglies with one married person and one unmarried? Which is also adultery. Kind of like a sin two for one deal. One act for two sins, now THAT'S effeciency.

But why even try when One Simple Prayer Can Gain Heaven's Entrance? Yup, they advertise it on their juicing page. Why in the heck can't people just pass along a nice juice recipe and keep their flipping religious convictions to themselves?

Oh yeah, because the Church is losing adherents faster than Big Tobacco is killing off its customer base. Its like a race to see who can die off first. So they must indoctrinate, they must invest in subtle marketing schemes to make smoking (or just replace smoking with religion) look cool. They hire young and pretty people to hawk it, they glamorize it in movies, they fill tobacco with additives that make it more difficult to quit.

Hmm, interesting. I started out writing about finding God when I all I wanted was a juice recipe and ended up horking up a blackened lung at Big Tobacco. And to attempt to rebalance my karmic scales, how about a link to The Truth to give people a fighting chance to learn about how awful cigarettes really are and the unreal means that the scum bag executives would go through to get people to try a cigarette, just one because they know that's all it takes. Cigarette executives are only slightly higher than Spammers but that's because we know who the executives are. They should ALL be voted off the island.

  posted by Johnny Huh? @ 2:31 PM Feel like saying something?

 
A Canadian Coalition against the American Death Penalty
From Stilleto Philosophy's Carlene, who's also just suffered a death in her family, comes Californian Death Row Inmates by a group called the Canadian Coalition Against the Death Penalty. Which raises issues on its own without even getting any further.

Yes, folks, these people are giving murderers web pages to make their pleas to the masses that they're innocent. Read all about Richard Allen Davis and how he's enjoying prison and hoping to fall in love. Davis, as some of you might recall, was convicted for the abduction and murder of Polly Klaas (link to the foundation started in her memory). His history (that he didn't write) is right here. I don't know but I think I find the idea of giving criminals a soapbox a bit repugnant. Davis, in particular, is a reprehensible man who shouldn't be on death row, he should be dead.

These are predators and are being given an outlet, an access point to the rest of the world. Why? So they can proclaim their innocence again? Maybe some of them are innocent but the majority were clearly convicted, there's no question that Davis killed Polly Klaas (or so little as to not have any meaning).

And while everyone's entitled to their opinions about the death penalty, I am entitled to my own as well. I've gone on record before as saying I believe in the death penalty. I firmly believe that there are crimes that should mean you forfeit your right to life for having committed. I think I've already written about this at least once. Maybe I'll go dig that up and republish it again.

  posted by Johnny Huh? @ 10:04 AM Feel like saying something?

 
And Oh By the Way, the Oscars
Not that much of anyone gave a damn, least of all me, but they had the Oscars last night. I've not checked any score sheets to see who won but from the headlines it looks like "Chicago" won a bunch of stuff. Which makes sense really, its a musical that I wouldn't ever see (I topped out on musicals after the gang fight scene in West Side Story thanks) about gangsters and the mafia in Chicago. Woohoo. Whatever.

I'm just thankful that Joan Rivers' re-animated corpse was let out to air for a little bit. I think I clicked past E last night and saw her skeleton with her coat tail riding daughter slicing up outfits as if it really matters at all what people wear to the fucking show. I really and truly wish they would just let her dessicated corpse rest in peace. She looks awful, sounds worse and is just kind of sad to watch on TV (even if its only for as long as it takes to press the channel up or down button on the remote).

But hey, if anyone's interested then check out Excite's List of Winners.

I was not and thus did not.

  posted by Johnny Huh? @ 9:58 AM Feel like saying something?

 
Short Sighted Bikes
While I was buzzing across town to drop off some vids from the weekend on Therapy, my Suzuki SV650S, I happened to see another biker on his ride. It looked like a Kawasaki Elimator (though that pic is of a customized version) and was confirmed when I saw him from the side. Now, some of you might be asking how it was so easy to tell the Eliminator from all the other Jap cruisers on the market. And the reason is actually the reason behind writing this post.

The Eliminator has been one of the very few foreign built motorcycles in recent history to offer a solo seat option. What's that? Tired of hauling your old lady around on the back of your bike and just need a little throttle twisting time to yourself? Get an Eliminator and eliminate the back seat, also known as a pillion or, perjoratively, bitch (as in, you riding bitch, baby, yeah!).

And while I suppose that there are riders out there for whom a single seat motorcycle makes alot of sense. But they must be pretty few and far between. A motorcycle built for one makes about as much practical sense to me as a unicycle with two seats. At least to me. I mean, I don't carry passengers all that often on my bike but I do enjoy having the option. And the back seat can also be used to carry gear in case the tank bag's full or left at home. No profound insights, just a curiousity as to why people would limit themselves so much. But then, bikers ARE a diverse lot of people and each has his or her own need.

Which reminds me of a side note I've been meaning to mention here for a while. Female motorcyclists are super cool! There's nothing more fun than cruising up in the hills, catching up with a biker and then having a romp playing chase only to find out at the end that it was a woman wheeling that sport bike all over and kicking butt. Women are riding more and more now and I think its a trend that should continue. But my girl's all good for riding with me, not on her own, and that works just fine.

But fellas and ladies, if you're buying a motorcycle then you might want to get a pillion, it makes it that much more fun to grab a pal and get out to carve up some mountain roads. No reason you have to use it every time but its nice when you want to. Or when that uber hottie sees you on your bike and asks for a ride, without a back seat you've got to say no and who does that benefit? The next guy who does have a back seat and spare helmet, that's who.

A Plug for Someone Doing Good
Layne is applying for sainthood, go and have a read on how things are progressing (aside from scaring the poo out of her manager guy she was picking up from the airport, Layne "Leadfoot" Johnson, she's either paying down her karmic debt or building one helluva surplus). You go, Layne!

  posted by Johnny Huh? @ 9:31 AM Feel like saying something?

 
Another Dad Culled from the Family
My uncle, Bunker, went his own way in life and he went his own way in death as well. I don't ow much of the particulars of the event but I have the big picture in focus.
Douglas "Bunker" Kitchel passed away this weekend with both of his families in full attendance.
My heart goes out to my cousins, my aunt and everyone else so closely affected by his loss.

It had been a few years since I've seen him in person but Bunker always had a hand in our lives, if only by demonstrating how to derive maximum pleasure from his own. He was a joyous type of man, happy in his existence, happy in his work, happy in just about all he did. But there was a dark side in his drinking, a facet of his personality that I've only heard about and had never witnessed first hand. My interactions were always fun and exciting, an adventure waiting to be begun. He taught me how to shoot a rifle and how to pack and label ice cream for sale across New England.

He was a good man, a good father and he will be missed by all who knew him. Travel well, Bunker.

  posted by Johnny Huh? @ 7:38 AM Feel like saying something?

 
Ending an Era and Forty Dollars of Fruit
Put OJ up on Craigslist tonight. Its time to send him off packing into the great big world.

And, if someone were to ask you what Forty Dollars of Fruit looks like, now you could tell them. Paula and I went back down to Watsonville today and got the hook up! Seven pounds of navel oranges for $1! Blood oranges for 69 cents a pound. The pic doesn't show a bunch of other food we got like spinach, zucchinis and other fruits.

My latest favorite drink is two blood oranges, two kiwis and two navel oranges. I don't know who said kiwi doesn't have its own flavor because kiwi juice is a very strong drink.
I also tried ginger, spinach and an apple which came out with one hell of a kick.
Paula made a mexican mango and strawberry that was like thick candy. Good stuff.

And nothing to do with terrorism.

  posted by Johnny Huh? @ 5:54 PM Feel like saying something?

 
By the way, go read Layne for a long and slow motion train wreck post about a jackass dad to be and his pregnant teenage girlfriend cum booted out on the street waif tossed to the wind. Luckily there was a Layne there to help gather her back in and anchor her down for now. Baby on the way, further drama to ensue. Worth a read.

  posted by Johnny Huh? @ 9:40 AM Feel like saying something?

 
Reality TV, not in Iraq
Apparently reality has become a bit of a bother for the Iraqi military so they're deciding to make their own reality now.
Iraq denies losing Umm Qasr, Faw peninsula.

This reminds me of a line from Where the Wild Things Are, if you don't have a happy ending then make one out of cookie dough (or something like that, might be from another book, might be Remember the Night Rainbow).

But reality will come crashing down upon the head of Sodumb and his crazy ass sons much like the ceilings of their presidential palaces with the MOAB's raining down upon his three inch thick skull (and yes, that leaves room for only the tiniest of brains). Good luck convincing yourselves that things are going you're way. According to plan? Umm, your plan probably didn't include a royal ass whooping on international TV, did it?

Other Bloggin' Fun News
Go hit the Mint, go right now. They have a bunch of excellent posts up right now and are well worth a read or ten. Funny guys! I'd copy them over here but they get and deserve all the credit. Go get those nasty Iraqi's Optimus Prime, sorry Corporal Optimus Prime or whatever his friggin' rank is.

  posted by Johnny Huh? @ 4:05 PM Feel like saying something?

 
Friday Five from the FridayFive.org

Came across FridayFive.org while I surfed a couple of other blogs from Globe of Blogs (a cool global blogging site, its easy to find folks anywhere you want to find out about). Thanks to Kate-Cam for the connect.

1. If you had the chance to meet someone you've never met, from the past or present, who would it be?
Tough one, probably David Hume, Plato, Aristotle or Laurens van der Post or heck Roald Dahl too, Oh geez, George Orwell too. Maybe Hemingway just for a night of drinking.

2. If you had to live in a different century, past or future, which would it be?
I'd live in the future as long as it was the Futurama future and not something bleak and nasty like 1984.

3. If you had to move anywhere else on Earth, where would it be?
Capetown, South Africa. Why? Check out a pic of Table Mountain and you'll have some idea.

4. If you had to be a fictional character, who would it be?
Wolverine, it'd be nice to not have to worry about getting sick and that adamantium skeleton would come in handy for high speed wipeouts, the healing factor would be nice too. Only bad thing is the body hair and I think that could be dealt with.

5. If you had to live with having someone else's face as your own for the rest of your life, whose would it be?
My brother's, he's almost as good looking as I am. Can I have his brain and my face instead?

  posted by Johnny Huh? @ 12:02 PM Feel like saying something?

 
A Curious Comment from a Possible Internet Luminary
but probably just another poser with an ego need of his own.

I checked in the blog last night when I got home and had a comment or two to get through. This comment below was attached to my post, "The Paradox of the Aggresive Peace Protestor" and is supposedly from Marc Andreesen, one of the founders of Mozilla and Netscape and a huge 'net luminary.
Which I take to mean that it wasn't Andreesen, why would he have any interest in a blog like mine when he's, by his own words, a busy man?
His comment is below, my reply to him is below that.

"Andreesen's" Comment:
"Maybe they'll still be there when I get out of work and then maybe I'll have a word or two with the protestor who seemed ready to throw down at a moment's notice."

Who has time for work with all this blog space to fill up?

"Q Do you blog?

A No. I have a day job. I don't have the time or ego need." - marc A.

marca@netscape.com http://www.bayarea.com/mld/mercurynews/business/5328719.htm
Posted By: Marc Andreesen 3/20/2003 7:25:30 PM

Erik's Reply:
Why do I have a very hard time believing that the real Marc Andreesen would bother with a blogger. Which begs its own question, you quote a man and then assume his identity? And question my ego need?

What color is your kettle?

Regardless, I blog because I have alot on my mind, it helps to write it down. I type faster than you think I do. Sure, lots of it isn't me writing all that much and adding links and pics or whatever but I write plenty enough as it is.

Thanks for the input though, who ever you really are.

By the way, I left work, pedaled up the hill and went to look at the surfers with my fiance. Why bother with fanaticism?
erik@intellectualpoison.com www.intellectualpoison.com
Posted By: Erik 3/20/2003 9:06:24 PM

Sure, it may have actually been Andreesen but I highly doubt it. No one quotes themselves like that. But maybe he's such an Hefe that he speaks of himself in the third person now, kind of like Rickey Henderson.

But hey, if I'm getting exposure to big wigs like Andreesen then I guess Larry Ellison'll stop by today and maybe Steve Jobs and Bill Gates as well. Heck maybe Shrub'll stop by to see what kind of voter approval rating he's getting from this constituent (hint, it ain't good).

I could have questioned why the poser Marc horned in on that one little part of the post, given its length. The overall tone is one of agreement with the anti-war movement though I still support the actual troops on the ground. And really the main thrust of the post is about this "peace protester" who was ready to get physical to prove she was enlightened, it was not what you would expect from someone espousing non violence as being the only way.

But I guess war clouds reason and people will choose sides and any barbs tossed at them are met with fierce resistance and vengeance. No worries, I'm always up for a debate (well almost, yesterday I had to get back to the office) and I like the idea that I'm stirring up some emotional response in people.

Even if it is just to feed my all consuming ego need.

  posted by Johnny Huh? @ 9:24 AM Feel like saying something?

 
An Intellectual Poison Psychological Experiment
As some of you out there know, I like to mess with people from time to time. I was looking through my favorite nasty pic and more site, ConsumptionJunction and came across this REALLY Disturbing Pic (and note, I'm not kidding at all, this one's really quite gross and I do not recommend clicking it).
How many of you clicked it?

The pic should also serve as a warning to all the stupid kids out there with toy construction sets. There's a difference (a really big one) between the plastic toys you play with now and the real machinery that you'll be using in your career as a fork lift operator or whatever it is you settle on doing. And no, I'm not giving much away by this paragraph.

Second question, do you think the guy has a legitimate lawsuit or is he an utter and complete moron?
My money's on moron but I'm open to arguments to the contrary.

And to make up for that horrid pic, a really Nice One (or two?). (Promise!)

And one more from the What the fuck were you thinking file
Bad Sign When You Get Stopped by the Cops

  posted by Johnny Huh? @ 4:03 PM Feel like saying something?

 
More Random Pics to Make Thursday Bearable
I might be adding them to my best pics page once its up and rolling properly and not just a jumble of what's already been published before. For now, I'll just post 'em here and think about what's coming next.

Some explanation of the pictures. The first is titled
"Two Paths Diverging" and is one of those pics I shot and then later looked at again and was struck by its poignancy. Maybe I'm reading more into it than I should but I think its a really cool picture.
The second is called "Sunset over Main" and is, effectively, pretty self explanatory. Just a pretty evening out on the beach.
The third picture is also pretty simple, its called "Stop in Blue" for quite obvious reasons.

  posted by Johnny Huh? @ 2:45 PM Feel like saying something?

 
The Paradox of the Aggresive Peace Protestor
As often happens, downtown Santa Cruz is scene to yet another protest. The clock tower on my end of town is generally their rallying point and I passed through their ranks without causing a ripple. I neither support nor deride their efforts though I personally feel that such an undirected and unknown protest is, essentially, a waste of time.
Not that many of the "protesters" really have anywhere else to go. Most of them seemed to lack shelter as inversely as they possessed multiple piercings and other adornments to conform to whatever physical ideals they aspired to.

I don't know. Maybe I'm just too damned cynical but one woman in particular caught my attention, in the same way that fingers on a balloon catch your attention or fingernails being dragged down a chalkboard.

As I was returning from lunch, I saw this woman, who'd taken to the other side of the intersection to establish herself as her own little mini protest camp, was berating some car that had passed her and said something. She was yelling at this car all the way down the road, being rude, snide, superior in that wholesome look-ma-I'm-a-protestor way. She was yelling that no one could match wits with her because she came from an enlightened position.

Um, pardon me but if you're enlightenment is shouting at traffic then you need to sue your yogi. As the few of who were waiting for the light to change started across the intersection away from this loon, she yelled to her protestor friends that no one would stand near her because she was sooooo smart. I was sorely tempted to turn back and say, "Um no, some of us have JOBS we have to get back to.Some of us don't have the freedom to spend our days berating traffic in a vain attempt to make ourselves feel better because we lack any real power." But I'm definitely not stupid enough to open that can of worms.

But really, enlightened? I'm sorely tempted to go back out there and engage her in a little philosophical smackdown. There are some advantages to being a trained logician and philosopher. But no, I've gotta get back to work and sally forth.

Maybe they'll still be there when I get out of work and then maybe I'll have a word or two with the protestor who seemed ready to throw down at a moment's notice. Or wait, she was ready to throw her "War Solves Nothing" sign and bring on her righteous and enlightened fury. I've always wanted to stage a counter protest with people carrying placards saying, "Protesting Solves Nothing" and "War is fundamental to life" and "Honk if you shower" and "America is the right be hold your beliefs, however stupid and narrow minded you may be." But it wouldn't work out well.

My co worker had a good idea. Go around a protest with a note book asking five questions, things like, do you have a job? when was the last time you voted? have you ever served in the military? etc. And then take those stats, compile them, analyze them and publish them in the paper. I'd guess more than a small portion of those people haven't voted in years and few of them have regular jobs.

Enough war talk, how about something else for a change? I promise that the next post will have nothing to do with war, ShrubCo or Sodumb. Maybe something lighter like the closing of my accounts at Wells Fargo (Weasel Fargo).

In Other News: A Curious Anniversary and Strangely Appropriate Follow up Story
104 years ago today, Mar 20, 1899, At Sing Sing prison, Martha M. Place becomes the first woman to be executed in the electric chair. She was sentenced to death for the murder of her stepdaughter.

  posted by Johnny Huh? @ 2:09 PM Feel like saying something?

 
The Most Politically Incorrect Album Cover Ever
I may have already posted this picture to Intellectual Poison but I'm going to do again anyway. Its amazing to me that this nearly went out to the public, much like Body Count's Cop Killer from a few years ago.

Yeah, this was set to be released just around the time that the twin towers were attacked. Its an excellent album and I'd love to get a full copy of it if I can. Here's the Rolling Stone Review for your consumption.

New Site Page Update News
I've just added a new page to the nav block to the left there. Best Pictures is fairly low key right now but should expand over the next few weeks into a full mini-site of its own. I've been wanting to design and build a site to showcase some of my better pictures and IntePoi Pics just isn't quite cutting it as it stands now. I'm also working on streamlining load times again as the page hangs badly on a dial up (only one more week until we get broadband back in the house, I can't wait!).

  posted by Johnny Huh? @ 10:07 AM Feel like saying something?

 
A Rebuttal to Thom Hartmann's When Democracy Failed
Savage Henry over at the Fabulous Mint 400 has written a well reasoned reubuttal to Thom Hartmann's When Democracy Failed: The Warnings of History that is well worth the time it will take to read (its the longest post I've seen from Henry yet).

From my own perspective, I see this war against Iraq as a favor, a very, very expensive favor for a son to give to his dad. Shrub Jr. is cleaning up the ridiculous mess left behind by his father and his father's master, Rappin' Ron "I have no recollection of that" Reagan. Saddam was created by the US and now he's being decommisioned publicly and in the most ugly fashion possible. Sure, he's a rabid dog but he used to be OUR rabid dog. Same thing for bin Laden, we trained the both of them, supplied the both of them and now, ten years later when the dogs turn on their masters, now we get to go in and put them down.

In Support of the War Effort
Carlene over at Stilleto Philosophy has, once again, provided a link and commentary on where she stands on the new conflict. She references MSNBC's Text of Bush's National Address. She is also asking for people to let her know where they stand now that war has been declared and we're officially opening up the big old can of Whoop Ass on Saddam and his family.

As for me, I support the troops on the ground but continue to decry the action they're participating in as illegal and it shouldn't have been necessary. Where do you weigh in? Blind obedience to the talking heads at the Whitehouse or are you out in the street with a hand painted sign protesting the war? Or somewhere in between?

Lighter, Much Easier on the Brain News
Because the world is not all doom, gloom and death from above. How about a few links to some uplifting pics?
Thong Girl, she's got links to pic galleries of beautiful young women in sexy undies.
And then there's her favorite, IStephanija. Just click it and grin. Or cut to the chase and go here right now.

  posted by Johnny Huh? @ 9:41 AM Feel like saying something?

 
Microsoft, Keeping our Data Open and Accessible to, Well, Just about Anyone

Microsoft Announces Not So Micro Security Hole
Good work, guys. And the world standardized on Windows why?
Maybe the next OS should be called Open Doors?

In Other News: Hey, its like Deja Desert Storm All Over Again
Hey, who knew this was happening and forgot to tell me?
Thank goodness for the BBC and their story War on Iraq launched. Bet Saddam has a spare pair of drawers to change into when they start dropping MOAB bombs on his presidential palaces. Flash, boom, move on to the next one. I doubt it though. Its the most massive non-nuke the US has ever created.
For a little commentary, often scathing, on the Mother of All Bombs or Massive Ordance Air Blast (MOAB), the Army is sooo cute, check out George Smith of the Village Voice with MOAB, Killer of the Helpless. Ooh yeah, light reading.

The Village Voice also has a special section dedicated to the whole "war with Iraq" thing. In fact, I think its called War with Iraq or some such like that.

  posted by Johnny Huh? @ 11:54 PM Feel like saying something?

 
Now Apple Got the SOUL!
Mr. Soul Train Joins Apple's Board, actually its Mr. Al I-Won-the-Election-but-Lost-the-Presidency Gore. The most wooden of the political puppets. Married to a woman who thinks the word "fuck" has no place in music irregardless of the basic fact that music and dance's most basic tenet is to bring man and woman together for the purposes of procreation (though I think my dangling theory needs a bit of fleshing before it has any real validity).
Thanks to Esther for the connect on the article!

  posted by Johnny Huh? @ 3:59 PM Feel like saying something?

 
Lessons from the Fanatical Archives
Found this while surfing the Mint, as I regularly do (where else do you stand an equal chance of nudity or some well written political commentary?). Anyways, I came across Billy's post about When Democracy Failed: The Warnings of History by Thom Hartmann which draws a striking similarity between what's happening now and what happened 70 years ago in Germany. Its not bleeding heart liberalism or hard edged intellectualism at all, its reasoned, its paced, its very, very well written and goes a long way to shining a light down the path America may be headed (note that I say may be headed, the world today is totally different from 1933).

A quick war joke and we're on to the next topic. From EB comes this "humor" that is almost too real to be funny. But its still worth a grin. Hold your mouse over the question for the answer
How does the American govt know that Saddam has weapons of mass destruction?. The link is to another forward regarding the war from Adnan, take a peek for a laugh. Or cry because its so obviously true (maybe).

March Madness? Thanks I'd Rather Watch Paint Peel
This next bit is far less pertinent in the face of the article and post above but oh well, its written and on to the blog it shall have to go.
Yeah, yeah, I know the whole universe is poised to go crazy for March Madness, the NCAA's hoopity par excellence, whatever. And it only serves to highlight the ever more present fact that I really dislike basketball. College, pro, women's, paralympics, whatever the form. Basketball bores me to tears. I don't mind shooting hoops or something because that's me taking part but watching basketball is less enthralling than watching houseflies hump on a window sill and less educational.

Why do I dislike basketball? Could it be because I'm not six feet tall plus? Could it be because I grew up out in the country where we had wilderness to play in and not the concrete jungle of urbania? The reasons are many and varied. One, its boring to watch genetic freaks run (lope is a better term for most of them) back and forth on a wood court inside. Two, its a sport that exemplifies much of what I find distasteful about American society (the showing off, the showing up, the thuggishness of the sport, the it's-okay-to-cheat-if-you-don't-get-caught mentality). Three, if its such a physical game then let them hit, let them body check, let them fight and get it over with and stop the stupid drama. Four, they wear the gayest uniforms (not in the sexual sense but in the damn-those-things-look-stupid sense) in all of sport and yes, that does include Cricket (I kind of dig on the batsman's pads but that's another story) but doesn't include men's figure skating (come on now, I know the skaters are athletes but figure skating's not a sport and maybe I should devote a post or two to that disparity as well).

I know lots of people like basketball and more power to them but please, when I say I don't like the sport, SHUT UP about it. I'm sick to death of people wanting to debate why I should like the stupid sport. I don't. Get over it. And get out of the way, spring training baseball's on TV.

A Curious Dual Edged Word
I've been thinking over the last couple of days how strange a word "resign" is. It means both the act of re-signing a contract and it also means quitting. How? Seems fraught with stupidity doesn't it?


  posted by Johnny Huh? @ 2:14 PM Feel like saying something?

 
Why Alcohol Should be Served at Work
From The Bartend comes a reasonable list of why we should all be getting drunk at work. My commentary is noted.
1. It's an incentive to show up. and throw up
2. It leads to communications that are more honest. Drunks aren't honest, they just want to get laid.
3. It reduces complaints about low pay. Right on the money here
4. Employees tell management what they think, not what they want to hear. And this is a good thing?
5. It encourages car-pooling. And multiple car pile ups in the parking lots
6. Increase job satisfaction because if you have a bad job, you don't care. And drunk people are SOOOOO happy, aren't they?
7. It eliminates vacations because people would rather come to work. Thanks, I'll still take my time off to let my liver dry out.
8. It makes fellow employees look better. This is a big seller on the concept
9. It makes the cafeteria food taste better. Um, wouldn't employees need to puffing some loco weed for this one?
10. Bosses are more likely to hand out raises when they are wasted.
11. Salary negotiations are a lot more profitable. Aren't 10 and 11 just a little bit similar?
12. Employees work later since there's no longer a need to relax at the bar. And the boss's desk would see lots of late night nookie action.
13. It makes everyone more open with their ideas. But drunk people's ideas are really pretty stupid usually.
14. Eliminates the need for employees to get drunk on their lunch break.
15. Employees no longer need coffee to sober up.
16. Sitting "Bare ass" on the copy machine will no longer be seen as gross. Why not?

I see a corporate sector of drunks, red nosed snockered losers trying to tuck their shirts back into their pants while stumbling back to their cubes and their poison of choice. Sure, it'd be fun for a week or so but once cars started rolling off assembly lines with three wheels and two windshields, I think we'd have to rethink the drink.

Unrelated News of the Pending War
Came across Where is Raed? after having heard of it several times. And, while the blog is well written from the perspective of someone inside Iraq right now with the war about to topple on to them, I was most struck by this massive picture of Baghdad (massive while it loads and then Windows just shrunk it all the heck down, wtf?). Anyway, worth a peek at both. Unless you're burying your head in the sand and repeating the ShrubCo mantra "We MUST disarm Iraq before they kill us all, the president said so and that means it MUST be true."
But don't you worry, sand breathers, I fully believe in karmic payback and supporting an unjust war will have to come back and bite you in the ass sometime. I support our troops over there, don't get me wrong, just not why they are over there. There is a big difference.

Upon a further reading of Where is Raed? I am struck by how human the whole thing is made. Reading about the preperations businesses are making in the face of war, rumors about Saddam's family, news of what is actually happening on the ground level in Iraq humanizes the war in a way that makes it seem even less necessary, more overkill than anything else. US radio stations are playing translated messages of how to properly surrender to US forces and Shrub is attempting to reiterate that this is a war against Saddam, not Iraq. If Saddam will leave then Iraq will be spared another ass whooping. Remember Desert Storm? I do.

I didn't want war before and I don't want it now but I am, as so many others are, resigned to the reality that it doesn't matter in the least what I want. I have no political power and that's the only kind that can do anything to stop this war from happening. That and popping a cap in ShrubCo's dumbass but that would be treason of the highest order and I am, above all else, an American and a patriot. Oh yeah, that and I don't want to spend the rest of my life getting raped in Federal Prison.

  posted by Johnny Huh? @ 11:31 AM Feel like saying something?

 
The Ol' Camel Day Post
I could venture off into the nasty zone and talk about all the connotations that camels evoke but I'll press on and leave the filth in my wake, for now.
I was reading Carlene's post on her Stiletto Philosophy about the Wi-Fi Zone and the system they have to uncover where the local hot spots are for wireless internet access (sadly only two places in Santa Cruz have wireless access available to the public, UCSC has a system of thier own).

Bud Selig Doing Something SMART for Baseball for a Change
By canceling the Japanese opening day festivities, Bud Selig has demonstrated at least some common sense (quite unlike his almost stone faced "Major League Baseball is losing money at a tremendous rate" when he spoke to the congressional committee). Canceling the trip was necessary because it exposes non-combatants and highly visible ones at that to the tender mercies of the world's crazy folk with agendas. And what better message to send to Americans that we're not safe or welcome outside out borders than the public disruption and killing of some of our sports heroes? That and I really, really like the A's and would be horribly upset if something happened to them, or the Mariners but not so much, I'm an Oaktown boy (and SF Giants fan too).

By the way, there are a whole bunch of sites dedicated to lambasting Selig. Check some out here, Bud Selig is the Devil, Resign Bud Selig, Remove Bud Selig Online Petition and Bud Selig Sucks. Not all of these are purely dedicated to Selig-focused vitriol because, honestly, the guy's really just incredibly boring aside from making some terrible decisions regarding our national past time.

Today's Quote
From Russia with motivation and love, Man has been endowed with reason, with the power to create, so that he can add to what he's been given. - Anton Chekhov (1860-1904) Russian dramatist and writer

A Small but Important Anniversary for Me
Today marks my first full year in my new company. With the pending move to new offices, new light, new distance between myself and the admin who drives me nuts, I'm a happy guy. I'm also looking forward to better light, a full review, a raise and some peace of mind.
Anything under a year in a position in PR is viewed with some skepticism so this is a good deal for me. And, as I told Paula last night, my next corporate move will not be laterally but vertically. I'm now able to use the position to push my career further upward instead of just sideways and that's important and empowering.

Minor Site Update News
I've been messing around with some HTML code that I snarked from Scott's Usual Noise and have changed over my top ten lists from the iPod. Now only the name of the band is displayed until the mouse is held over one of the names, then the song title comes up along with how many times its been played recently. I toyed with the idea of linking the band names to the mp3's that I have for the songs but figured I didn't need to give Hilary Rosen any more targets for her ridiculous lawsuit campaign. But I'll continue to monkey around with the code and see what else I can funkify. I also did the same to a few Blog links with more planned, a mini description comes up explaining what the blog's about.

Just in Time
Looks like we got Paula out of San Diego just in time. Man Shot, Killed Inside Mission Beach Home details a shooting that happened literally a block away from her old house. And no, she wouldn't have been in any real danger but its a bit creepy to think that someone was just murdered a block away from where she used to live.

  posted by Johnny Huh? @ 9:14 AM Feel like saying something?

 
Short Post: Get-Yer-Head-Outta-Yer-Ass News
Yep, a new news category for Intellectual Poison, based on this article forwarded to me by Esther, official forwarding Goddess of Intellectual Poison.
IT Manager Sues over "Bad Reference" - the guy wants to get compensated because he was a royal pain in the ass to work with? Um, hey, I want to get compensated because I'd really rather be riding my bikes than working. Can someone sue someone else for me on that?

The reference included "In it, a former colleague described working with Johnson as "the most horrendous episode that I have ever experienced in my working life", the High Court claim alleges." Which is a pretty good indication that this guy was a serious jerk, the kind that we used to refer to as BK's (buzzkills), those people with the ability to make Mardi-Gras no fun. The personality that demands attention and then has nothing to say or do. Just a petulant little bitch (no offense to female dogs), I think. And I hope he doesn't get a penny and has to spend the rest of his life paying off the lawyers (barristers?).

Microsoft and National Security News
I don't know who to be more pissed off at regarding, US Army Hacked via IIS Hole, either Microsoft or at the government for being stupid enough to trust important information the MS's well publicized insecure software. Either way, its a serious sign that the Army and government need to wake the hell up and get our data off of the MS teat.

  posted by Johnny Huh? @ 12:31 PM Feel like saying something?

 
Some other Pics from Last Week
These didn't make the initial cut for the post from the weekend's rainbow pics but there are a few that I still like and wanted to post for consumption. There are more but this one is almost a a meg in size (so download on a broadband co