Friday, October 10, 2008
Switching my vote to Sarah, no doubt
I just read in the Worcester T&G that Sarah Palin (nee Sarah Heath) spent Thanksgiving weekend of 1986 here in Worcester... a few houses over from mine, on Elm Street. What's more, it was a Levi Lincoln house (Governor/Senator of Massachusetts in the early 1800s, native of Worcester, that built a bunch of houses and buildings in the city), as is mine. Anyway, Sarah ate at her boyfriend's family's house, I think (something like that... not interested enough to go back and read the article). Meanwhile, I was turning 17 that weekend (Nov. 24, specifically) and was much more interested in seeing Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, which opened on the day after.
Thursday, October 9, 2008
The Legend of Jessie Cristos
The greatest unknown band on the planet. The Legend of Jessie Cristos was a country/goth rock band that played the soundtrack for the film of the same name, which was never intended to be made. Instead, the songs told the story of the Old West messianic vampire cowboy Jessie Cristos, his martyrdom in the hands of the Elders, his tragic romance of the lady Elizabeth, the pursuit of her father, The Judge, and last but not least, Jessie's Dirty Dozen. When the Dirty Dozen Make Merry, run. Anyway, the band occurred briefly in the late 90s, in Boston, and my participation was in graphics, flyers, playing with a fog machine and lights, and even a couple of times performing on-stage, to read from the Book of Jessie. I'd say "Rest in Peace" to Jessie Cristos, but I doubt he ever will. Ha!
Anyway, I've had these old drawings of mine scanned in for ages, and a brief conversation w/the aforementioned Shannon inspired me to upload them.
Go listen to some LoJC tunes at: Original Snub (note: the versions there are fairly low bit-rate... easier to DL, but don't quite do justice to the recordings)
Anyway, I've had these old drawings of mine scanned in for ages, and a brief conversation w/the aforementioned Shannon inspired me to upload them.
 |
| From The Legend of Jessie Cristos |
Go listen to some LoJC tunes at: Original Snub (note: the versions there are fairly low bit-rate... easier to DL, but don't quite do justice to the recordings)
Aspartame in your brain
Please read about aspartame, also known as Nutrasweet, Equal, and other artificial sweeteners. If you can find the documentary Sweet Misery (you may need to pirate it via torrent), it can be compelling.
Aspartame is used in almost every diet soda, and in every sugarless gum I've ever found. Google "aspartame" or "aspartame poisoning" and you'll find plenty of information that may well make you want to kill the people who make and use it, as well as the FDA that approved its use starting in the mid-80's. Splenda (sometimes marketed as Sucralose) also has its damaging effects, but sounds more like health food when compared to aspartame. Please: you are much better off imbibing sugary soda/coffee/tea/etc. than that sweetened/poisoned by aspartame. You can, however, find some diet sodas using Splenda: oddly, I've found that you can actually get Splenda-sweetened Diet Coke in that unending soda aisle in your local supermarket, whereas I've only ever seen the aspartame version in convenience stores. In seeking out other diet sodas, the Weight Watchers brand is aspartame-free. As ever, the golden rule is: read your labels.
Aspartame is used in almost every diet soda, and in every sugarless gum I've ever found. Google "aspartame" or "aspartame poisoning" and you'll find plenty of information that may well make you want to kill the people who make and use it, as well as the FDA that approved its use starting in the mid-80's. Splenda (sometimes marketed as Sucralose) also has its damaging effects, but sounds more like health food when compared to aspartame. Please: you are much better off imbibing sugary soda/coffee/tea/etc. than that sweetened/poisoned by aspartame. You can, however, find some diet sodas using Splenda: oddly, I've found that you can actually get Splenda-sweetened Diet Coke in that unending soda aisle in your local supermarket, whereas I've only ever seen the aspartame version in convenience stores. In seeking out other diet sodas, the Weight Watchers brand is aspartame-free. As ever, the golden rule is: read your labels.
NO BEETS?
These days, not so good. Other days, better.
Aside: This reminds me of the wisdom once spoken by (the ravishing) Claudia Christian on Babylon 5: "No boom today. Boom tomorrow. There’s always a boom tomorrow. Boom!, sooner or later. BOOM!"
I'm officially off my meds, for the most part, a required difficulty as I switch onto a new med. I've gradually phased out my previous anti-depressant (Cymbalta), and once gone, I've dropped a couple of others cold turkey, as of this morning. The sudden loss of doxepin (AKA Silenor, AKA Aponal) was felt last night: Wiki defines the drug as a psychotropic agent with tricyclic antidepressant and anxiolytic properties, but is also helpful in dealing with insomnia. I slept one or two of my ideally 40 winks, although this did help me remember fragments of dream from those scattered moments. So hey, at least there was some entertainment. I'm also off the currently-trendy Adderall, my legal speed, which I came off of a few days early actually, since I ran out of pills and then lacked the oomph required to visit the pharmacy. My only remaining drugs are lamictal (treating bipolar effects in a less blunt way than lithium) and my testosterone gel (Androgel), which to be honest, often feels useless.
After coming down from Cymbalta for the last two weeks, I now get to spend two weeks dry of those three drugs, so as to remove the remnants of them, as they clash with my new drug of choice, tranylcypromine (brand name version is Parnate). This is an MAIO (monoamine oxidase inhibitor), which carries with it serious restrictions on diet. It's hard to imagine your regular omnivore taking this on, but as a vegan I've got a real head-start.
Anything that is aged or fermented is out. This, and other things, contain Tyramine, which is a no-no amino acid-based compound. Here's a partial list of the forbidden, some of which are extremely serious, and others are to be avoided, or in some cases, allowable in very small amounts:
Anchovies, Avocado, Banana peels, Bean Curd, Beetroot, Booze, Bouillon, Brazil Nuts, Bread w/high yeast, Broad Beans (Fava, Italian Green Beans, Lima, Lentil), Caffeine, Cheese, Chinese pea pods, Chips w/vinegar, Chocolate, Coconut, Coffee, Coke, Corn (sweet), Cucumbers, Eggplant, Figs (canned), Ginseng, Grapes, Meat, Miso, MSG, Mushrooms, Oranges, Peanuts, Pineapple (fresh), Plums, Protein Extracts, Prunes, Raisins, Raspberries, Red plums, Salad Dressing, Sauerkraut, Shrimp Paste, Soy Sauce, Spinach, Teriyaki sauce, Tofu, Tomato juice, Vegemite, Yeast, Yogurt
Aw man - fuck me in the eye! NO BEETS? Kids, for that reason alone, remember: don't do (legal) drugs.
Aside: This reminds me of the wisdom once spoken by (the ravishing) Claudia Christian on Babylon 5: "No boom today. Boom tomorrow. There’s always a boom tomorrow. Boom!, sooner or later. BOOM!"
I'm officially off my meds, for the most part, a required difficulty as I switch onto a new med. I've gradually phased out my previous anti-depressant (Cymbalta), and once gone, I've dropped a couple of others cold turkey, as of this morning. The sudden loss of doxepin (AKA Silenor, AKA Aponal) was felt last night: Wiki defines the drug as a psychotropic agent with tricyclic antidepressant and anxiolytic properties, but is also helpful in dealing with insomnia. I slept one or two of my ideally 40 winks, although this did help me remember fragments of dream from those scattered moments. So hey, at least there was some entertainment. I'm also off the currently-trendy Adderall, my legal speed, which I came off of a few days early actually, since I ran out of pills and then lacked the oomph required to visit the pharmacy. My only remaining drugs are lamictal (treating bipolar effects in a less blunt way than lithium) and my testosterone gel (Androgel), which to be honest, often feels useless.
After coming down from Cymbalta for the last two weeks, I now get to spend two weeks dry of those three drugs, so as to remove the remnants of them, as they clash with my new drug of choice, tranylcypromine (brand name version is Parnate). This is an MAIO (monoamine oxidase inhibitor), which carries with it serious restrictions on diet. It's hard to imagine your regular omnivore taking this on, but as a vegan I've got a real head-start.
Anything that is aged or fermented is out. This, and other things, contain Tyramine, which is a no-no amino acid-based compound. Here's a partial list of the forbidden, some of which are extremely serious, and others are to be avoided, or in some cases, allowable in very small amounts:
Anchovies, Avocado, Banana peels, Bean Curd, Beetroot, Booze, Bouillon, Brazil Nuts, Bread w/high yeast, Broad Beans (Fava, Italian Green Beans, Lima, Lentil), Caffeine, Cheese, Chinese pea pods, Chips w/vinegar, Chocolate, Coconut, Coffee, Coke, Corn (sweet), Cucumbers, Eggplant, Figs (canned), Ginseng, Grapes, Meat, Miso, MSG, Mushrooms, Oranges, Peanuts, Pineapple (fresh), Plums, Protein Extracts, Prunes, Raisins, Raspberries, Red plums, Salad Dressing, Sauerkraut, Shrimp Paste, Soy Sauce, Spinach, Teriyaki sauce, Tofu, Tomato juice, Vegemite, Yeast, Yogurt
Aw man - fuck me in the eye! NO BEETS? Kids, for that reason alone, remember: don't do (legal) drugs.
Road Map to God
While I've the focus to write this (and the enthusiasm helps): please read my (I say possessively) Shannon's fantastic bit of thought here:
http://blog.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendID=33789163&blogID=439596233
Ages ago, in "the best years of my life" (an unhappy thing to say, when such years are no longer anywhere near the present, but, hey, and, meh!), I was lucky to have Shannon as a girlfriend... it was in San Francisco, 1993. I lost touch with her for too long, but in one of my more functional moments, recently, I sought her out in this virtual world, and am very happy for having done so. So, read what she has written that I done linked. All of my readers (0-3?) might become hers!
http://blog.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendID=33789163&blogID=439596233
Ages ago, in "the best years of my life" (an unhappy thing to say, when such years are no longer anywhere near the present, but, hey, and, meh!), I was lucky to have Shannon as a girlfriend... it was in San Francisco, 1993. I lost touch with her for too long, but in one of my more functional moments, recently, I sought her out in this virtual world, and am very happy for having done so. So, read what she has written that I done linked. All of my readers (0-3?) might become hers!
Tuesday, October 7, 2008
A-ha!
Ok, as a big fan of A-ha, I can't resist linking this revisionist video:
"IS THIS YOUR HOUSE?!"
"IS THIS YOUR HOUSE?!"
Thursday, October 2, 2008
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
Monday, September 29, 2008
Once, when we were in debate camp...
September 29, 2008
Palin heads to ‘debate camp’ in Arizona
CNN) — As some prominent conservatives begin to raise the question of whether Sarah Palin should remain on the Republican presidential ticket – and others call for her to be given more public exposure in a bid to reverse falling poll numbers – the McCain campaign is bringing the Alaska governor to John McCain’s Sedona ranch for several days of intense debate prep.
Senior campaign advisor Steve Schmidt and other top officials met Palin in Philadelphia Sunday night, and are traveling with her and McCain to a Columbus, Ohio event Monday morning. The group then heads to Arizona.
The original plan was for Palin to prepare in St. Louis, where the vice presidential debate will be held Thursday. Instead, she has already been preparing in a Philadelphia hotel for four days with advisors. She will now get ready for the debate at McCain’s rustic creek-side home — what a top aide calls "debate camp."
The aide, who's part of the team prepping Palin, tells CNN they decided to take her to debate camp there because it is an "invigorating and enjoyable place to prepare for Thursday."
Apparently someone in the McCain campaign saw that clip of Sarah trying to talk (emphasis on trying) on the TV. Somehow she'd gotten away from her handlers in her hotel room and was standing in one of those parking lot-like restaurants where you get your meal from a lady in a window. Or rather, they call out your name when your order's ready (the dead-eyed woman sleeping through her miserable job blandly asked Sarah for hers, and it didn't register any recognition within her, despite being surrounded by lights and cameras).
Someone made the moment more surreal by asking her a vague question about Pakistan, and her answer was also vague, nonsense words being tossed around with all the others being spoken in the busy little area... place? Parking lot.
Finally someone in McCain's camp said "Fucking Christ will someone reign her in already?!"
Sunday, September 28, 2008
boobies.
Police say teen plotted to kill mom for breast implants
FOUNTAIN, Colorado (AP) -- A Colorado teenager hired men to kill his mother so he could use her money to get breast implants for his girlfriend, police said.
Nikita Lee Weis, 18, was arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to commit first-degree murder, said Fountain Deputy Police Chief Mike Barnett.
Weis' mother, Hyun Weis, was attacked Thursday with a small wooden baseball bat at her home but escaped, authorities said. She was released Friday from a hospital.
---
1 - The headline as it was, I was really hoping that this story was about a son loving his mom's implants so much that he wanted to gouge them out of her and put them in his own chest.
2 - Seeing that the weapon of choice is as it was, are we sure that the "men" hired for this job weren't actually a couple of 4th graders in little league?
Anyway. This has been a very random post.
FOUNTAIN, Colorado (AP) -- A Colorado teenager hired men to kill his mother so he could use her money to get breast implants for his girlfriend, police said.
Nikita Lee Weis, 18, was arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to commit first-degree murder, said Fountain Deputy Police Chief Mike Barnett.
Weis' mother, Hyun Weis, was attacked Thursday with a small wooden baseball bat at her home but escaped, authorities said. She was released Friday from a hospital.
---
1 - The headline as it was, I was really hoping that this story was about a son loving his mom's implants so much that he wanted to gouge them out of her and put them in his own chest.
2 - Seeing that the weapon of choice is as it was, are we sure that the "men" hired for this job weren't actually a couple of 4th graders in little league?
Anyway. This has been a very random post.
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
Monday, September 15, 2008
Separated at birth?
I knew I'd seen that face before... Sarah Palin is the reincarnation of Nellie Olson!
Friday, July 4, 2008
Once in a while I like to compare the various news sites online against one another, using their lists of "popular" or most read articles. It can be pretty funny, as well as telling. Anyway, today is one of those onces!
CNN's Most Popular
1 National Mall in monumental disrepair, activists say
2 How much skin is too much at the office?
3 Eight dead as canoeists sucked into turbines
4 Woman who died on hospital floor called 'beautiful person'
5 American keeps hot dog-eating crown in overtime
Al Jazeera Most emailed articles
1 Chomsky: US public irrelevant
2 Israel 'committing memorycide'
3 Obama's other Muslim problem
4 Finding Brazil's isolated tribes
5 US 'escalates covert Iran Missions'
New York Times Most emailed
1 Nicholas D. Kristof: The Luckiest Girl*
2 Well: The 11 Best Foods You Aren’t Eating
3 Paul Krugman: Rove’s Third Term
4 Editorial: New and Not Improved
5 The ’60s Begin to Fade as Liberal Professors Retire
* Had to check this one out to see what it was - an Op Ed bit about a Ugandan girl that managed to go from illiterate peasant to graduating from CT College.
FOX News Most read
1 Flat-screen TV Gas a 'Climate Time Bomb'
2 A Fitting Tribute to a Slain Navy SEAL Gains Attention
3 Grandma, 70, Gives Birth to Twins
4 Surgeon Ordered to Pay $795G for Cutting Off Man's Penia
5 Christina Applegate's Boyfriend Found Dead
London Times Most read
1 Adolf Hitler finally returns to Berlin - but will tight security ensure model behaviour? *
2 Missing PlayStations provide clue to the murder of two French students
3 The top 10 fan versus band scuffles
4 Ingrid Betancourt returns 'home' to France - but doubts emerge about 'daring' rescue **
* Reports on a Madame Tussaud dummy of Hitler being used in a new display.
** This is actually really interesting - IB is one of the hostages recscued in Colombia. But a Swedish radio station (RSR) has been reporting that the rescue was a largely contrived affair, and that the US had quietly paid $20 million (to who, exactly?) to manufacture a staged rescue.
The Nation Most Emailed
1 Disaster Capitalism: State of Extortion
2 Obama's Evolving Foreign Policy
3 The White Whale*
4 Just Democracy
5 This Brave Nation: A Defining Moment
* E.L. Doctorow's keynote address at a joint meeting of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the American Philosophical Society on the theme of "The Public Good: Knowledge as the Foundation for a Democratic Society."
Washington Post Most Viewed Articles
1 Compound in Red Wine Fights Ravages of Age
2 A Man of Seasonal Principles*
3 Leading With Their Left**
4 The Economy? Words Fail Me.
5 Zooming Around the Alps In a Homemade Wing Suit
* Op Ed re: Obama
** Op Ed re: election
ABC News Most Read
1 'Pregnant Man' Has Baby Girl
2 Brinkley's Soon-to-Be Ex Addicted to Sex?
3 Blueberry Cobbler, Flag-Waving Wings and Patriotic Potatoes
4 Brinkley Forgives Husband's Ex-Mistress
5 Sen. Jesse Helms is Dead at 86
CBS Most Views
1 More Passport Files Breached
2 Bush Greets New Citizens, And Protestors
3 Fit To Serve? Most Young Adults Aren't
4 Stolen Beauty
5 Judge Rejects Bush's Stance On Wiretaps
MSNBC Most Viewed Videos
1 Bush heckled during July 4 speech
2 Fireworks Gone Bad
3 Brinkley trial gets nasty
4 Video shows emotional hostage rescue
5 Brinkley takes the stand
Daily Mail (UK) Most Read
1 The floating cities that could one day house climate change refugees
2 Facebook generation 'form flimsy friendships and are bored by reality'
3 Our solar system is egg-shaped, according to distant space probe
4 Polaroid launches a wallet-sized printer that prints your mobile phone snaps in seconds
5 Meet the underwater Anaconda snake that could solve our energy problems
Telegraph (UK) MOST VIEWED
1 Schoolboys disciplined for 'refusing to pray to Allah'
2 Alex Allan, Britain's leading spymaster, found at home in a coma
3 Ray Lewis resigns as deputy London mayor to Boris Johnson over magistrate claims
4 Faceless figures cause a stir at Wimbledon, Harrods and Elton
The Independent (UK)
1 'I fell in love with a female assassin'
2 Why Canada is the best haven from climate change
3 No words necessary: The cartoonists tackle climate change
4 Muslims feel like 'Jews of Europe'
5 Barcelona the most likely destination for unsettled Adebayor*
* A football (soccer) player being traded.
LA Times most Viewed
1 Baron Davis confident he'll be playing with Elton Brand
2 Goleta fire now covers 5,400 acres
3 Germany's newest citizen, center: Chris Kaman*
4 How harmful is porn?
5 Pringles are not potato chips, judge says in British tax case
* Basketball player.
Huffington Post
1 Arianna Huffington: Seven Things Barack Obama Should Do to Keep From Blowing It
2 Obama Vows To Expand Bush's Faith-Based Programs
3 Vanity Fair's Christopher Hitchens Undergoes Waterboarding
4 Wesley Clark Stands By McCain Criticism
5 Barack Obama: My Position on FISA
The Guardian Weekly (UK), Wallstreet Journal, and Christian Science Monitor don't have such a lists.
CNN's Most Popular
1 National Mall in monumental disrepair, activists say
2 How much skin is too much at the office?
3 Eight dead as canoeists sucked into turbines
4 Woman who died on hospital floor called 'beautiful person'
5 American keeps hot dog-eating crown in overtime
Al Jazeera Most emailed articles
1 Chomsky: US public irrelevant
2 Israel 'committing memorycide'
3 Obama's other Muslim problem
4 Finding Brazil's isolated tribes
5 US 'escalates covert Iran Missions'
New York Times Most emailed
1 Nicholas D. Kristof: The Luckiest Girl*
2 Well: The 11 Best Foods You Aren’t Eating
3 Paul Krugman: Rove’s Third Term
4 Editorial: New and Not Improved
5 The ’60s Begin to Fade as Liberal Professors Retire
* Had to check this one out to see what it was - an Op Ed bit about a Ugandan girl that managed to go from illiterate peasant to graduating from CT College.
FOX News Most read
1 Flat-screen TV Gas a 'Climate Time Bomb'
2 A Fitting Tribute to a Slain Navy SEAL Gains Attention
3 Grandma, 70, Gives Birth to Twins
4 Surgeon Ordered to Pay $795G for Cutting Off Man's Penia
5 Christina Applegate's Boyfriend Found Dead
London Times Most read
1 Adolf Hitler finally returns to Berlin - but will tight security ensure model behaviour? *
2 Missing PlayStations provide clue to the murder of two French students
3 The top 10 fan versus band scuffles
4 Ingrid Betancourt returns 'home' to France - but doubts emerge about 'daring' rescue **
* Reports on a Madame Tussaud dummy of Hitler being used in a new display.
** This is actually really interesting - IB is one of the hostages recscued in Colombia. But a Swedish radio station (RSR) has been reporting that the rescue was a largely contrived affair, and that the US had quietly paid $20 million (to who, exactly?) to manufacture a staged rescue.
The Nation Most Emailed
1 Disaster Capitalism: State of Extortion
2 Obama's Evolving Foreign Policy
3 The White Whale*
4 Just Democracy
5 This Brave Nation: A Defining Moment
* E.L. Doctorow's keynote address at a joint meeting of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the American Philosophical Society on the theme of "The Public Good: Knowledge as the Foundation for a Democratic Society."
Washington Post Most Viewed Articles
1 Compound in Red Wine Fights Ravages of Age
2 A Man of Seasonal Principles*
3 Leading With Their Left**
4 The Economy? Words Fail Me.
5 Zooming Around the Alps In a Homemade Wing Suit
* Op Ed re: Obama
** Op Ed re: election
ABC News Most Read
1 'Pregnant Man' Has Baby Girl
2 Brinkley's Soon-to-Be Ex Addicted to Sex?
3 Blueberry Cobbler, Flag-Waving Wings and Patriotic Potatoes
4 Brinkley Forgives Husband's Ex-Mistress
5 Sen. Jesse Helms is Dead at 86
CBS Most Views
1 More Passport Files Breached
2 Bush Greets New Citizens, And Protestors
3 Fit To Serve? Most Young Adults Aren't
4 Stolen Beauty
5 Judge Rejects Bush's Stance On Wiretaps
MSNBC Most Viewed Videos
1 Bush heckled during July 4 speech
2 Fireworks Gone Bad
3 Brinkley trial gets nasty
4 Video shows emotional hostage rescue
5 Brinkley takes the stand
Daily Mail (UK) Most Read
1 The floating cities that could one day house climate change refugees
2 Facebook generation 'form flimsy friendships and are bored by reality'
3 Our solar system is egg-shaped, according to distant space probe
4 Polaroid launches a wallet-sized printer that prints your mobile phone snaps in seconds
5 Meet the underwater Anaconda snake that could solve our energy problems
Telegraph (UK) MOST VIEWED
1 Schoolboys disciplined for 'refusing to pray to Allah'
2 Alex Allan, Britain's leading spymaster, found at home in a coma
3 Ray Lewis resigns as deputy London mayor to Boris Johnson over magistrate claims
4 Faceless figures cause a stir at Wimbledon, Harrods and Elton
The Independent (UK)
1 'I fell in love with a female assassin'
2 Why Canada is the best haven from climate change
3 No words necessary: The cartoonists tackle climate change
4 Muslims feel like 'Jews of Europe'
5 Barcelona the most likely destination for unsettled Adebayor*
* A football (soccer) player being traded.
LA Times most Viewed
1 Baron Davis confident he'll be playing with Elton Brand
2 Goleta fire now covers 5,400 acres
3 Germany's newest citizen, center: Chris Kaman*
4 How harmful is porn?
5 Pringles are not potato chips, judge says in British tax case
* Basketball player.
Huffington Post
1 Arianna Huffington: Seven Things Barack Obama Should Do to Keep From Blowing It
2 Obama Vows To Expand Bush's Faith-Based Programs
3 Vanity Fair's Christopher Hitchens Undergoes Waterboarding
4 Wesley Clark Stands By McCain Criticism
5 Barack Obama: My Position on FISA
The Guardian Weekly (UK), Wallstreet Journal, and Christian Science Monitor don't have such a lists.
Wednesday, July 2, 2008
Weeds
Related to my last post... marijuana. It still blows my mind that it's illegal. And again, its benefits to anyone - medicinal, spiritual, recreational, experiencing freedom, etc. - are purely inconsequential. What is of consequence is that there's so much money to be made, that massive corporations are currently not making. The tobacco industry must have been hurt by the increasing restrictions, price hikes, etc. on their products over the years (I say "must have been" just because I don't know for sure, and what I do know is that such a massive industry usually won't let itself be stopped from making profit... so maybe they're raking it in by means unknown to me).
But imagine if weed was legalized. The tobacco industry could release an endless stream of products, using various breeds, endless combos (spliffs, blunts, etc.), and make incredible amounts of money. In terms of legality, it would be as controlled as alcohol, if not moreso, and you'd need a license to sell it (the end result would mean mostly only packies and smoke shops selling it). Fines for breaking the various laws would be even bigger than for alcohol.
Meanwhile, the drug war would actually be winnable. People look to chemicals for their speedy recreation, and to weed for their ambling sensations (I just though of those two words together, and had to use 'em, even is it doesn't make a lot of sense... but you know what I mean). So, people will always be interested in scoring some chemicals, but if weed is legal, most of those people would re-direct their hopeful thrills in that direction. If you can get out of your head legally, why go through the danger of seeking out illegal drugs? There's the potentials for violence, arrest, and all kinds of shit. Let's not forget the fact that you're buying chemicals from some guy on the street (or in the park, as it used to be for me, which was a nicer, greener and therefore more progressive environment... uh... right?).
But who knows what's in that stuff? It could be fake, and harmless, or fake and harmful, or laced with something, or it could be the real thing, and all but the first of those carries serious health risks (obviously, chemical drugs can differ greatly from one another; I'm generalizing). There's no recourse against a dealer of illegal drugs, and he has no liability for producing a quality drug at a reasonable price. Obviously, if someone wants to stay in business, you operate appropriately and ensure customer satisfaction. But there's still no nutritional facts information on the packaging. No warning labels! "WARNING: DIS SHIT WIL FUCK U UP GOOD 4 SHO'!"
Giggles aside, my point is that the market for the chemicals would drop hugely. And using weed would have the same ramifications as alcohol, such as not driving when stoned, not smoking in non-smoking areas, not buying for minors, etc. Except in Texas. And the penalties would probably be more severe, in terms of fines and any sentencing related to crimes in which weed is involved. (I don't personally think that one should be penalized more than the other, but that's simply how it would end up being if it were ever legalized, because of political demand.)
All of these ideas taken into account, in the end it all comes down to money; industry could be making it in astonishing amounts, and they're not. For that sole reason, it's bizarre that it's not legal. It will be legal again, some day, and it would happen one state at a time, not nationally, I'm sure. It is currently legal in Alaska, and the medicinal use is legal in 10+ states, with restrictions, of course. I'm hoping that my home state (Massachusetts) will be one of the early ones to legalize.
Actually, if weed was legalized in Massachusetts, my brothers would be making more money, as they rent out apartments here in Worcester (through me). The housing market would skyrocket, as hordes of stoners decide to relocate and get "freedom fried." I'd love to see some stats on the business impact of Mass's legalization of gay marriage.
Note - on the Wiki page for cannabis, it mentions that "On June 2005, more than 530 distinguished economists, including Nobel Prize-winning economist Milton Friedman, called for the legalization of marijuana." This led me to the excellent site www.prohibitioncosts.org - check it out.
But imagine if weed was legalized. The tobacco industry could release an endless stream of products, using various breeds, endless combos (spliffs, blunts, etc.), and make incredible amounts of money. In terms of legality, it would be as controlled as alcohol, if not moreso, and you'd need a license to sell it (the end result would mean mostly only packies and smoke shops selling it). Fines for breaking the various laws would be even bigger than for alcohol.
Meanwhile, the drug war would actually be winnable. People look to chemicals for their speedy recreation, and to weed for their ambling sensations (I just though of those two words together, and had to use 'em, even is it doesn't make a lot of sense... but you know what I mean). So, people will always be interested in scoring some chemicals, but if weed is legal, most of those people would re-direct their hopeful thrills in that direction. If you can get out of your head legally, why go through the danger of seeking out illegal drugs? There's the potentials for violence, arrest, and all kinds of shit. Let's not forget the fact that you're buying chemicals from some guy on the street (or in the park, as it used to be for me, which was a nicer, greener and therefore more progressive environment... uh... right?).
But who knows what's in that stuff? It could be fake, and harmless, or fake and harmful, or laced with something, or it could be the real thing, and all but the first of those carries serious health risks (obviously, chemical drugs can differ greatly from one another; I'm generalizing). There's no recourse against a dealer of illegal drugs, and he has no liability for producing a quality drug at a reasonable price. Obviously, if someone wants to stay in business, you operate appropriately and ensure customer satisfaction. But there's still no nutritional facts information on the packaging. No warning labels! "WARNING: DIS SHIT WIL FUCK U UP GOOD 4 SHO'!"
Giggles aside, my point is that the market for the chemicals would drop hugely. And using weed would have the same ramifications as alcohol, such as not driving when stoned, not smoking in non-smoking areas, not buying for minors, etc. Except in Texas. And the penalties would probably be more severe, in terms of fines and any sentencing related to crimes in which weed is involved. (I don't personally think that one should be penalized more than the other, but that's simply how it would end up being if it were ever legalized, because of political demand.)
All of these ideas taken into account, in the end it all comes down to money; industry could be making it in astonishing amounts, and they're not. For that sole reason, it's bizarre that it's not legal. It will be legal again, some day, and it would happen one state at a time, not nationally, I'm sure. It is currently legal in Alaska, and the medicinal use is legal in 10+ states, with restrictions, of course. I'm hoping that my home state (Massachusetts) will be one of the early ones to legalize.
Actually, if weed was legalized in Massachusetts, my brothers would be making more money, as they rent out apartments here in Worcester (through me). The housing market would skyrocket, as hordes of stoners decide to relocate and get "freedom fried." I'd love to see some stats on the business impact of Mass's legalization of gay marriage.
Note - on the Wiki page for cannabis, it mentions that "On June 2005, more than 530 distinguished economists, including Nobel Prize-winning economist Milton Friedman, called for the legalization of marijuana." This led me to the excellent site www.prohibitioncosts.org - check it out.
Chomsky on Al Jazeera and then I ramble on and on.
A good (albeit short) interview w/Norm Chomsky can be read on Al Jazeera's site today... you can also watch it (from Al J's Inside USA show). I always like watching or listening to Chomsky rather than reading him, because in the latter case it can often be like reading a technical manual. In person, he has to dumb it down a bit for people like me.
Anyway, he talks about the election, citing the people as being "irrelevant onlookers," which is not a new idea for people considering our process. But what interested me the most was his explanation of how our health care situation might well improve. Apparently General Motors has voiced the idea that it costs them $1500 more to make a vehicle here than if they did in Canada, because of the differences in our health care systems.
In unconscious synch, I re-watched Michael Moore's Sicko last night (I wish this film had gotten more notice), and one of the things that I again took from this was his interviews with Americans in France. They cited that, while they got ridiculous (in comparison to American) paid vacations and leave, their work productivity was amazing. I'd love to see stats backing up these anecdotes, because it's something I've always believed would be true, but haven't had the opportunity to see it in action. If anyone knows of such data/dada - or has anecdotes relevant to this - I'd love to hear it.
Chomsky also addressed our fake democracy, and compared it to the real democracies of some of the poorest countries, like Haiti and Bolivia, also very interesting. But he said that "You know, if peasants in Bolivia and Haiti can do this, it's ridiculous to say we can't."
My response is that a real democracy that serves the people is easier when the country is smaller, or the government is more localized, and that the US's extreme wealth - held in only a few hands - makes a "real" democracy hardest of all. A massive number of protesters in Washington DC can't affect the entire country. Not even the political body of a single state can have a great effect, forget about a "third" political party, or a big advocacy group. And when the government and media are owned by the extremely rich and extremely established, the systems of both (media including the web and its use) are being controlled in their favor.
In short, we're fucked. I know it's easy to throw my hands up in despair, but I throw them up anyway. But I also have hope. While I personally feel useless, the fact that other countries are showing themselves to be more functional can help lead us in saner directions. The fact that GM sees that it could make more money if we had a better health care system is exciting, because in the end, that's what controls everything. Industries are always tailoring their (not our) government to ensure maximum profit, and there are many opportunities for them to do so. They can ship jobs out of the country, of course, and this happens a great deal. But if more and more jobs are exported, people will go nuts and demand and actually create change, again, because of money. And our industries need us to have money. I was so amused by the news that Wal-Mart found that its customers were buying fewer goods at their stores because they couldn't afford them anymore. How's po' Wal-Mart going to make its money if there's none in the country?
Or, the industries can go to war with one another (brief tangential images pop into mind, of kewl sci-fi future wars waged between companies and their troops, logos tattoed on their foreheads, and no sign of "nations" in sight). If the auto industry can make more money by pushing us closer to a socialized health care system, they'll do it. Or they'll try. Other industries and massive corporations might realize the same, and something might actually happen. Increased productivity from happier and healthier employees could become a real factor to corporations' leadership (the happiness/health aspect is inconsequential of course, the productivity/profit is what's truly important).
The way to get industry and its few ruling bodies to make changes for the better are to show that it also betters them financially. Natural (solar/wind/hydro) power pays for itself over time, and beyond that point is free (minus overhead of course). Manufacturing centers should all be going off the grid as soon as possible, if they really want to make money (assuming they plan to be in business for a long time), setting up their own energy farms and the like. The fact that it will help save the earth is, again, inconsequential. Maybe even one day, we'll reverse the course of our military (the biggest expense of all), and de-privatize it. Although then I wouldn't get to see my kewl sci-fi future in action. But I can still dream... I pledge allegiance to Halliburton, hallowed be thy name....
Anyway, he talks about the election, citing the people as being "irrelevant onlookers," which is not a new idea for people considering our process. But what interested me the most was his explanation of how our health care situation might well improve. Apparently General Motors has voiced the idea that it costs them $1500 more to make a vehicle here than if they did in Canada, because of the differences in our health care systems.
In unconscious synch, I re-watched Michael Moore's Sicko last night (I wish this film had gotten more notice), and one of the things that I again took from this was his interviews with Americans in France. They cited that, while they got ridiculous (in comparison to American) paid vacations and leave, their work productivity was amazing. I'd love to see stats backing up these anecdotes, because it's something I've always believed would be true, but haven't had the opportunity to see it in action. If anyone knows of such data/dada - or has anecdotes relevant to this - I'd love to hear it.
Chomsky also addressed our fake democracy, and compared it to the real democracies of some of the poorest countries, like Haiti and Bolivia, also very interesting. But he said that "You know, if peasants in Bolivia and Haiti can do this, it's ridiculous to say we can't."
My response is that a real democracy that serves the people is easier when the country is smaller, or the government is more localized, and that the US's extreme wealth - held in only a few hands - makes a "real" democracy hardest of all. A massive number of protesters in Washington DC can't affect the entire country. Not even the political body of a single state can have a great effect, forget about a "third" political party, or a big advocacy group. And when the government and media are owned by the extremely rich and extremely established, the systems of both (media including the web and its use) are being controlled in their favor.
In short, we're fucked. I know it's easy to throw my hands up in despair, but I throw them up anyway. But I also have hope. While I personally feel useless, the fact that other countries are showing themselves to be more functional can help lead us in saner directions. The fact that GM sees that it could make more money if we had a better health care system is exciting, because in the end, that's what controls everything. Industries are always tailoring their (not our) government to ensure maximum profit, and there are many opportunities for them to do so. They can ship jobs out of the country, of course, and this happens a great deal. But if more and more jobs are exported, people will go nuts and demand and actually create change, again, because of money. And our industries need us to have money. I was so amused by the news that Wal-Mart found that its customers were buying fewer goods at their stores because they couldn't afford them anymore. How's po' Wal-Mart going to make its money if there's none in the country?
Or, the industries can go to war with one another (brief tangential images pop into mind, of kewl sci-fi future wars waged between companies and their troops, logos tattoed on their foreheads, and no sign of "nations" in sight). If the auto industry can make more money by pushing us closer to a socialized health care system, they'll do it. Or they'll try. Other industries and massive corporations might realize the same, and something might actually happen. Increased productivity from happier and healthier employees could become a real factor to corporations' leadership (the happiness/health aspect is inconsequential of course, the productivity/profit is what's truly important).
The way to get industry and its few ruling bodies to make changes for the better are to show that it also betters them financially. Natural (solar/wind/hydro) power pays for itself over time, and beyond that point is free (minus overhead of course). Manufacturing centers should all be going off the grid as soon as possible, if they really want to make money (assuming they plan to be in business for a long time), setting up their own energy farms and the like. The fact that it will help save the earth is, again, inconsequential. Maybe even one day, we'll reverse the course of our military (the biggest expense of all), and de-privatize it. Although then I wouldn't get to see my kewl sci-fi future in action. But I can still dream... I pledge allegiance to Halliburton, hallowed be thy name....
Tuesday, July 1, 2008
More and more buttons....
OK, more button designs... the first bunch are screencaps from one of the funniest animated shorts ever, "Rejected" by Don Hertzfeldt. The other design is surely to be only the first of a lengthy series of buttons.
ANATOMICALLY CORRECT ANIMAL CRACKER
I am devoting a new photo (well, picture?) album to my beloved ANATOMICALLY CORRECT ANIMAL CRACKER. Enjoy!
Please feel free to inject him into your own pictures. He likes adventures.
Sunday, June 29, 2008
Holy poo.
Ok, just watched and re-watched this season's penultimate episode of Dr. Who. Blown away. It's so far off the hook it's ridiculous. Madness! How they managed to cram that much into one episode is brilliant.
This episode is the big bang. Featuring every surviving Dr. Who cast member (as well as some from Torchwood) vs.... well, no spoilers here. If you want spoilers, go to my collection of screencaps that I wasted too much time culling. Now I have to wait six more days to see the finale! Gah.
This episode is the big bang. Featuring every surviving Dr. Who cast member (as well as some from Torchwood) vs.... well, no spoilers here. If you want spoilers, go to my collection of screencaps that I wasted too much time culling. Now I have to wait six more days to see the finale! Gah.
Yet another button.
Otay, took me way too long, but I think this new button is one of my best:
Dr. Hoffman being the discovering chemist of LSD. I posted a memorial bit here, written by Tim Lott (from the London Independent)... he put the LSD experience into words as well as anyone perhaps could.
Dr. Hoffman being the discovering chemist of LSD. I posted a memorial bit here, written by Tim Lott (from the London Independent)... he put the LSD experience into words as well as anyone perhaps could.
Saturday, June 28, 2008
Stamp Fun II
My buddy Jon gave me this old set of mint stamps, also from China.
China, Cat. #776-780.
Issued December 16, 1947, celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Chinese Postal Administration.
China, Cat. #776-780.
Issued December 16, 1947, celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Chinese Postal Administration.
Stamp Fun I
I've started using the Scott Stamp Catalog (the be-all end-all of philately inphormation) to identify some stamps, basically trying to figure out some unknown countries of origin here and there. I finally found the listing for this one:
People's Republic of China, Cat. #269.
135th anniversary of the birth of Friedrich Engels (1820-1895), German Socialist. Issued 12/15/1955. One of a pair of stamps issued that day, the other celebrating the 85th anniversary of the birth of Lenin (I ain't got that one yet, but ohhh, I will).
Stamps are kewl.
People's Republic of China, Cat. #269.
135th anniversary of the birth of Friedrich Engels (1820-1895), German Socialist. Issued 12/15/1955. One of a pair of stamps issued that day, the other celebrating the 85th anniversary of the birth of Lenin (I ain't got that one yet, but ohhh, I will).
Stamps are kewl.
PSA: Head injuries and You
Friendly reminder:
Let's say someone next to you smacks their head on something hard. Your own head is turned at the time, so you don't see it happen, but you do hear a THUD and him exclaiming AAAAAAHHHH! Naturally, you say, "You alright?"
If the person says "no" or in my case today "no, not really" and then staggers off, and then later returns saying he might be a bit concussed, consider checking on him and make sure he's okay.
In my case today, I'm alright. I got a bit nauseous and have felt woozy, but after a half hour, during which I've checked myself and how I'm doing repeatedly, am confident that I'm fine.
But: when someone says they're not alright, and that they may be somewhat concussed, please actually do something about it. Jeez.
Let's say someone next to you smacks their head on something hard. Your own head is turned at the time, so you don't see it happen, but you do hear a THUD and him exclaiming AAAAAAHHHH! Naturally, you say, "You alright?"
If the person says "no" or in my case today "no, not really" and then staggers off, and then later returns saying he might be a bit concussed, consider checking on him and make sure he's okay.
In my case today, I'm alright. I got a bit nauseous and have felt woozy, but after a half hour, during which I've checked myself and how I'm doing repeatedly, am confident that I'm fine.
But: when someone says they're not alright, and that they may be somewhat concussed, please actually do something about it. Jeez.
Summer Camp, 2008
Kathleen Engle, 16, from Fairfield, California, said she had looked into the Peace Corps and other options but decided on the military.
“I was in fifth grade when 9/11 happened and that’s when I decided the best thing I could do for my country was this,” she said, playing a video game called “America’s Army.”
“I guess it’s going to be hard to kill someone, but if that’s your job and that’s what our commander tells us we need to do, I’m going to do that in order to protect my country.”
Elite US Army Academy Lures Kids With Mud and Duty
“I was in fifth grade when 9/11 happened and that’s when I decided the best thing I could do for my country was this,” she said, playing a video game called “America’s Army.”
“I guess it’s going to be hard to kill someone, but if that’s your job and that’s what our commander tells us we need to do, I’m going to do that in order to protect my country.”
Elite US Army Academy Lures Kids With Mud and Duty
Thursday, June 26, 2008
Ick + Philately
It's so humid that I've worked up a sweat while fiddling with my stamp collection. Which is going swimmingly, btw, and which is also how I feel about sitting in this humidity. Ha!
I need more stock sheets, though; I don't use the little gummy flaps to hinge 'em into books, I use the ones with rows of plastic you snug them into. I've got tons of stamps sorted into the cute little glassine envelopes, with nowhere to go.
I just got in a bunch of stamps for really cheap (like $8) recently, which were awesome, because they came from a book gotten at an estate sale. Inheriting someone else's stamps is fun, and they might have some rarer ones. Online (ebay and stampwants are the biggest sites, I think) you can get all kinds of stuff, but most often the auctions/sales are for individual stamps or series, with their catalog numbers listed, etc. I like getting a mass of stamps and discovering different stuff. The other stamp purchase I made recently is for 1000 worldwide (this usually means no American or English stamps), and a pack of 25 stamps from Malawi and 50 from Mexico. I mostly got those because they were from the same vendor and were dirt cheap/postage-free. But I'm collecting Malawian stamps in particular, for nostalgic purposes: I spent a semester at Chancellor College in Malawi my junior year at Colby College.
Otherwise I've got stuff from just about every country around, including from some that aren't around anymore. I've got a ton of American and Russian stamps, though, the former out of an interest in my country's history, and the latter because they're kewl. Actually, I can list off a bunch of countries w/bitchin' stamp designs, so I'm still just grabbing any old stamps in general, although this (with the above exception) is being curtailed a fair bit for lack of funds.
I almost made it to an estate sale recently where the guy told me there'd be stamps, but it was too far away. Eh! I'll keep hunting. Estate sales are a gas, btw, and if you've never been to one, you should check it out. People go fucking nuts.
I need more stock sheets, though; I don't use the little gummy flaps to hinge 'em into books, I use the ones with rows of plastic you snug them into. I've got tons of stamps sorted into the cute little glassine envelopes, with nowhere to go.
I just got in a bunch of stamps for really cheap (like $8) recently, which were awesome, because they came from a book gotten at an estate sale. Inheriting someone else's stamps is fun, and they might have some rarer ones. Online (ebay and stampwants are the biggest sites, I think) you can get all kinds of stuff, but most often the auctions/sales are for individual stamps or series, with their catalog numbers listed, etc. I like getting a mass of stamps and discovering different stuff. The other stamp purchase I made recently is for 1000 worldwide (this usually means no American or English stamps), and a pack of 25 stamps from Malawi and 50 from Mexico. I mostly got those because they were from the same vendor and were dirt cheap/postage-free. But I'm collecting Malawian stamps in particular, for nostalgic purposes: I spent a semester at Chancellor College in Malawi my junior year at Colby College.
Otherwise I've got stuff from just about every country around, including from some that aren't around anymore. I've got a ton of American and Russian stamps, though, the former out of an interest in my country's history, and the latter because they're kewl. Actually, I can list off a bunch of countries w/bitchin' stamp designs, so I'm still just grabbing any old stamps in general, although this (with the above exception) is being curtailed a fair bit for lack of funds.
I almost made it to an estate sale recently where the guy told me there'd be stamps, but it was too far away. Eh! I'll keep hunting. Estate sales are a gas, btw, and if you've never been to one, you should check it out. People go fucking nuts.
Wednesday, June 25, 2008
In Memoriam
The best news I've heard in a while:
A Fitting Memorial: The George W. Bush Sewage Plant
If you’ve attended an event or festival in San Francisco lately - or even just hung out at a city park - you’ve probably seen them.
Admittedly, they’re hard to miss. Someone in the group is usually toting a large American flag, and another is often carrying a boom box blaring patriotic music. Sometimes one of them dresses up as Uncle Sam.
They’re the Presidential Memorial Commission of San Francisco, but don’t let the serious name fool you. The group’s intentions are in the gutter: They want to rename the Oceanside Water Pollution Control Plant the George W. Bush Sewage Plant come January, when the next president is sworn in.
(Click to read rest of article.)
A Fitting Memorial: The George W. Bush Sewage Plant
If you’ve attended an event or festival in San Francisco lately - or even just hung out at a city park - you’ve probably seen them.
Admittedly, they’re hard to miss. Someone in the group is usually toting a large American flag, and another is often carrying a boom box blaring patriotic music. Sometimes one of them dresses up as Uncle Sam.
They’re the Presidential Memorial Commission of San Francisco, but don’t let the serious name fool you. The group’s intentions are in the gutter: They want to rename the Oceanside Water Pollution Control Plant the George W. Bush Sewage Plant come January, when the next president is sworn in.
(Click to read rest of article.)
Monday, June 23, 2008
Entertainment Recommendations
For your viewing pleasure:
I just finished tearing through the complete BBC series Life on Mars (2 seasons of 8 hour-long episodes each, 2006-07). Starring John Simm of Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz fame, it's the story of a cop that gets hit by a car and sent into a coma, yet (at least in his mind) he finds himself as a cop newly assigned to his same department, but in 1973. It's a fucking incredible series and I can't recommend it enough. There's a new version of it now on American TV which apparently blows, and I doubt I'll be watching it.
This was a ton of viewing for me, right when I was also zipping through a recent Sci Fi channel mini-series called The Lost Room. About 5-6 hours running time in all, and it's a fantastic trip. Peter Krause stars, along with Sydney Pollack and Julienne Marguiles (sp?) as a cop that discovers a key at a crime scene. It turns out to fit any lock, but whatever door you're opening with it will open into a deserted motel room. Again, wicked recommended.
I just finished tearing through the complete BBC series Life on Mars (2 seasons of 8 hour-long episodes each, 2006-07). Starring John Simm of Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz fame, it's the story of a cop that gets hit by a car and sent into a coma, yet (at least in his mind) he finds himself as a cop newly assigned to his same department, but in 1973. It's a fucking incredible series and I can't recommend it enough. There's a new version of it now on American TV which apparently blows, and I doubt I'll be watching it.
This was a ton of viewing for me, right when I was also zipping through a recent Sci Fi channel mini-series called The Lost Room. About 5-6 hours running time in all, and it's a fantastic trip. Peter Krause stars, along with Sydney Pollack and Julienne Marguiles (sp?) as a cop that discovers a key at a crime scene. It turns out to fit any lock, but whatever door you're opening with it will open into a deserted motel room. Again, wicked recommended.
It's a McMiracle! (hey, CNN's word, not mine)
Here's a cheery story on CNN's site about a guy who lost 80 pounds in 6 months on "The McDonalds Diet." I shit you not. The interviewer happily went over his daily menu with him in detail, both of them describing what's in them, and clearly impressed by their deliciousness. The CNN "news" person even mentioned off-hand that one of the items included an option (grilled vs. ... whatever else), though the dieter didn't go that way.
Sometimes, our guy would or wouldn't take the mid-day snack of Apple Dippers, which the CNN lady described for the viewers that didn't know, as being slices of apple; probably only about half an apple.
Also on the topic of apples, apparently the Walnut Salad he sometimes had at dinner is just a little cup of fruit, which has grapes, walnuts, and again, apples.
The background image for the text on the screen was mostly abstract, but gave the feeling of a sunrise or sunset, a nice orange glow. Inserted into this was a somewhat opaque version of the McDonalds' M logo and the words 'I'm lovin.'
Our man hasn't been in contact with McDonalds, but if he gets any support from McDonalds, it's for the Wounded Warrior Project, a charity he's working with (I looked it up online, and it seems like a great charity). And we also know that our hero - and they displayed this info when introducing him - he's a VP of some company (it's all initials, no idea what it is or does), and that he never graduated from college.
So why'd he do it? Somehow, it all began with that Wounded Warrior Project. He told his wife he was going to finally lose a ton of weight, and because she didn't believe him, he decided to come up with the "craziest idea I could think of at that moment."
This... news item? is so far gone, and so surreal, that I'm not sure how to even begin. There was no explanation, btw, as to how or why McDonalds was somehow supporting this extremely troop-supportive charity he's involved with... the only link was that he engaged in this absurd diet. And that he's on CNN, which is apparently now sponsored by the letter M and the word lovin'.
I love that he's successful, and never graduated from college. And ate solely at McDonalds. Are you like him, at least in the categories of non-graduate, patriotic, and fat? Keep on it! He's a vice president! And he's on CNN!
Wait... I never graduated college, I'm fat, and I'm supportive of our troops! All I need now is to start eating at McD's and I'll be successful and maybe even famous!
BTW, he has no plans to continue eating the "McDiet." He'll be eating healthy meals at home, but says that if he backslides, he'll go back to "what works," as in, the McMiracle McDiet at McDonalds. This is McCNN reporting.
Sometimes, our guy would or wouldn't take the mid-day snack of Apple Dippers, which the CNN lady described for the viewers that didn't know, as being slices of apple; probably only about half an apple.
Also on the topic of apples, apparently the Walnut Salad he sometimes had at dinner is just a little cup of fruit, which has grapes, walnuts, and again, apples.
The background image for the text on the screen was mostly abstract, but gave the feeling of a sunrise or sunset, a nice orange glow. Inserted into this was a somewhat opaque version of the McDonalds' M logo and the words 'I'm lovin.'
Our man hasn't been in contact with McDonalds, but if he gets any support from McDonalds, it's for the Wounded Warrior Project, a charity he's working with (I looked it up online, and it seems like a great charity). And we also know that our hero - and they displayed this info when introducing him - he's a VP of some company (it's all initials, no idea what it is or does), and that he never graduated from college.
So why'd he do it? Somehow, it all began with that Wounded Warrior Project. He told his wife he was going to finally lose a ton of weight, and because she didn't believe him, he decided to come up with the "craziest idea I could think of at that moment."
This... news item? is so far gone, and so surreal, that I'm not sure how to even begin. There was no explanation, btw, as to how or why McDonalds was somehow supporting this extremely troop-supportive charity he's involved with... the only link was that he engaged in this absurd diet. And that he's on CNN, which is apparently now sponsored by the letter M and the word lovin'.
I love that he's successful, and never graduated from college. And ate solely at McDonalds. Are you like him, at least in the categories of non-graduate, patriotic, and fat? Keep on it! He's a vice president! And he's on CNN!
Wait... I never graduated college, I'm fat, and I'm supportive of our troops! All I need now is to start eating at McD's and I'll be successful and maybe even famous!
BTW, he has no plans to continue eating the "McDiet." He'll be eating healthy meals at home, but says that if he backslides, he'll go back to "what works," as in, the McMiracle McDiet at McDonalds. This is McCNN reporting.
Saturday, June 14, 2008
Starbuck says... "YOU MOTHERFRAKKER!!!"
Just watched the "mid-season finale" of Battlestar Galactica... all I can say is WOW. WOW WOW WOW FRAKKIN' WOW. WOW.
If you don't watch BG, you should. Even if you're not interested in science fiction, etc. It's just a brilliantly written, well-acted show. Easily the best sci fi show in years, and some would argue, ever.
If you don't watch BG, you should. Even if you're not interested in science fiction, etc. It's just a brilliantly written, well-acted show. Easily the best sci fi show in years, and some would argue, ever.
Why? is a useless question at this point.
When I read this on CNN's front page just now:
without even thinking about it, I put my head in my hands and whimpered "Nooooooo...." My response struck me as perhaps melodramatic, but, there it was nonetheless.
It's odd and maybe interesting to me, that this stands out as being one of my most immediate reactions to any of the shitty news coming out from Iraq in a long time. It's like... people get to enjoy a simple pleasure during all of this chaos, this Hell, and then some poor, misguided person is so far gone as to think that doing this will mean something. Instead, it's a perfect example of how meaningless life, reason, reality, has become for some of these people. Senselessness makes sense, I guess. Fuck.
Bomber hits as Iraqis celebrate soccer win
A bomber detonated her suicide vest Saturday in a marketplace in Diyala province, targeting soccer fans who had just watched the Iraqi national team win a big match against China, authorities told CNN.
without even thinking about it, I put my head in my hands and whimpered "Nooooooo...." My response struck me as perhaps melodramatic, but, there it was nonetheless.
It's odd and maybe interesting to me, that this stands out as being one of my most immediate reactions to any of the shitty news coming out from Iraq in a long time. It's like... people get to enjoy a simple pleasure during all of this chaos, this Hell, and then some poor, misguided person is so far gone as to think that doing this will mean something. Instead, it's a perfect example of how meaningless life, reason, reality, has become for some of these people. Senselessness makes sense, I guess. Fuck.
Friday, June 13, 2008
It mah kitteh!
In happy news: a pic of mine made it onto LOLcats' front page, woot! It's someone else's caption, but hey. Kittehs!
Radioactive Man
From Inter Press service, via Common Dreams (which everyone should always read):
"We" have actually been dropping depleted uranium bombs ever since the Gulf War, and not just during it, and during these past years. All through the 90s these munitions were being dumped in payloads by our forces. The worst of the effects had been felt in the Basra area, which was the main area of activity in the original war. Before this war even started, people there had been dealing with a massive increase in cancer, to a point where 40% of the population was plagued by it. Deformities in newborns were common.
Some people consider the "Gulf War syndrome" that so many of our military experienced was a result of the DU munitions used (in addition to such factors as post-traumatic stress disorder, which will make any condition worse). I'd be really interested to see a study regarding women that served on the ground in Basra back then, and if they experienced particular difficulties when giving birth, or if there were deformities in their children. And in general, the cancer rate for those that served in the area at that time.
Of course, the radiation issued from the remains of the munitions will never go away... it's there to stay. Just like freedom!
---
Ah! I just looked up DU on Wiki, and it actually addresses the lasting effects of DU on US military: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Depleted_uranium#Gulf_War_syndrome_and_soldier_complaints
‘Special Weapons’ Have a Fallout on Babies
FALLUJAH - Babies born in Fallujah are showing illnesses and deformities on a scale never seen before, doctors and residents say.
The new cases, and the number of deaths among children, have risen after “special weaponry” was used in the two massive bombing campaigns in Fallujah in 2004.
After denying it at first, the Pentagon admitted in November 2005 that white phosphorous, a restricted incendiary weapon, was used a year earlier in Fallujah.
In addition, depleted uranium (DU) munitions, which contain low-level radioactive waste, were used heavily in Fallujah. The Pentagon admits to having used 1,200 tonnes of DU in Iraq thus far.
Many doctors believe DU to be the cause of a severe increase in the incidence of cancer in Iraq, as well as among U.S. veterans who served in the 1991 Gulf War and through the current occupation.
“We saw all the colours of the rainbow coming out of the exploding American shells and missiles,” Ali Sarhan, a 50-year-old teacher who lived through the two U.S. sieges of 2004 told IPS. “I saw bodies that turned into bones and coal right after they were exposed to bombs that we learned later to be phosphorus.
"We" have actually been dropping depleted uranium bombs ever since the Gulf War, and not just during it, and during these past years. All through the 90s these munitions were being dumped in payloads by our forces. The worst of the effects had been felt in the Basra area, which was the main area of activity in the original war. Before this war even started, people there had been dealing with a massive increase in cancer, to a point where 40% of the population was plagued by it. Deformities in newborns were common.
Some people consider the "Gulf War syndrome" that so many of our military experienced was a result of the DU munitions used (in addition to such factors as post-traumatic stress disorder, which will make any condition worse). I'd be really interested to see a study regarding women that served on the ground in Basra back then, and if they experienced particular difficulties when giving birth, or if there were deformities in their children. And in general, the cancer rate for those that served in the area at that time.
Of course, the radiation issued from the remains of the munitions will never go away... it's there to stay. Just like freedom!
---
Ah! I just looked up DU on Wiki, and it actually addresses the lasting effects of DU on US military: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Depleted_uranium#Gulf_War_syndrome_and_soldier_complaints
Monday, June 9, 2008
Kitteh!
So, a while ago I made up some lolcats using old kitteh photos, but I think lol-speak just doesn't come naturally to me. In any event, they used none of them, but if you go to my pet gallery you'll see all six of them. This may be more adorable if you knew the kittehs pictured.
The New Captain America is... Stephen Colbert!
When Captain America died, the only one that could have replaced him was his old pal, Bucky. But then, I considered Stephen Colbert, and realized that when they kill off Bucky, he should be able to step in to the winghead's uniform just fine.
This would have been more clever if I'd designed and posted it when Cap died. Hey, I'm slow.
(Apologies and love to the incredible artist Alex Ross for using/abusing his painting.)
This would have been more clever if I'd designed and posted it when Cap died. Hey, I'm slow.
(Apologies and love to the incredible artist Alex Ross for using/abusing his painting.)
Wednesday, June 4, 2008
New Buttonses
Here's a flurry of new buttons I've made - see my buttons gallery for bigger images and more buttons. If you want one, let me know. I also take requests for new designs!
Dear big O
The following is a letter I've actually sent (in email and by POST, if you can imagine) to Obama's campaign.
To: Senator Barack Obama and/or his campaign staff
From: Phobrek Taz, Worcester, Massachusetts
Date: June 4th, 2008
NOTES:
I’m not actually crazy about boldfacing text, but I do it here to highlight the more important notes. Basically, if something isn’t boldfaced, someone wishing to skip over all my blather can just ignore it. Even though my writing and thoughts are simply a treasure to behold.
I imagine Senator Obama won’t be reading this himself, so if whoever’s reading this could add my name or vote (so to speak) on your tallies of comments that people make in such letters, I’d appreciate it.
Dear Senator Obama,
Congratulations! I’ve been rooting for you, and desperately want you to become the next president of the United States. And thank you – to you and all the people involved – for running a campaign that has genuinely inspired and excited people, unlike any other in my lifetime (I’m 38).
You’ve been my clear favorite over Hillary Clinton, and while so many felt she should have conceded, I’m actually content that she stayed in it. Somehow, for once, voters in every state actually got to have a say in these primaries (I think the Michigan/Florida debacle was handled as well as was possible). I think that this should be a talking point:
I’m glad we saw this process through to the end. To many, this process may seem unfair… in its scheduling of all of our states - and territories - causing them to have more – or less – impact on the results; and for the earlier states being able to create a perceived trend, that may feel limiting to those that come later. In 2004, the latter TWENTY-SIX primaries became largely moot, as candidate Senator Kerry became the presumptive nominee just after “Super Tuesday,” March 2nd. But this year, every state counted, even after the controversy surrounding Michigan and Florida, because: Senator Hillary Clinton stayed in the race, despite the badgering of the media, and the pundits… and she gave the people in every state and every territory the opportunity to have their vote counted… to have it mean something.
The important ideas here are:
To get people to understand that you desire due equity for all, regardless of their candidate, location, even their party. Right now, being inclusive is vital. You want absolutely everyone on board your train.
To, likewise, reach out to the Hillary supporters in particular, in a way even congratulating them, and her, for having the strength of will to never give up, and to make the full primary process mean something. People (understandably) love it when you tell them that they did the right thing, resisting the media’s demands that they do otherwise.
The most important thing of all, in my opinion, is to reconcile w/Hillary and her supporters. One way to do this is to return her support: as everyone knows, she will now do her duty by supporting the Democratic candidate, but this doesn’t mean that it can’t go two ways. This talking point would be especially useful if you do not choose her as your running mate. Talking point:
I know that this is easier to say, now that this process is over, but while I know Senator Clinton will be supportive of myself and our party’s campaign for the presidency, that doesn’t mean that the support needn’t go both ways. Senator Clinton is (insert compliments here). Her interests, her perspectives, are clearly shared by half of those who voted in our primaries, and her (and our other candidates’) causes must also be supported, and adopted, and reflected as well as possible, in our campaign, and in our future administration. To not do so, would be to deny so many of our supporters a continued meaning to the votes that they have cast in these past few months. These voices must continue to be heard, and heeded, for to not do so would disempower, and disenfranchise, our own people.
This kind of talking point would be something to use when you announce your Veep. If it’s Hillary, you’d use it to lead up to your announcement; if you pick someone else, you’d make a point of saying this afterward. Not on that same day, but very soon afterward.
However, I actually think that you should choose to take on Hillary as the Veep. I didn’t think this for the longest time, because I felt like you shouldn’t have to, just because so many are suggesting it, and I personally believe that she’s been somewhat “co-opted” in her eight years since leaving the White House. A specific example is that she was such a champion of health care reform as First Lady, and then ended up having to succumb to the industry in order to get elected. She had to play ball. I don’t particularly blame her, as this is how government usually works. She could either play ball and get elected, or not get elected at all (not just because of this one example, but because of the overall, corrupt process).
You, however, have been more able to maintain your integrity, and you haven’t had nearly as much time to become tainted by this process either; and people know it. I’m sure it’s been tried, to push you into undesired directions, and I am sure that these influences will continue to try to manipulate you and everyone else in government, forevermore. It’s a sad part of the process. But you are our best hope of operating against that machine.
That said, lately I’ve come to believe that you actually should pick up Hillary as Veep. I’m very wary of both her and Bubba, but if they can be reined in, they could be very important in getting things done. They’ve got clout.
But much more importantly: in the end, even after you became the presumptive-presumptive-nominee, Hillary supporters were still coming out in droves, down to the very last primaries. That’s incredible. The upshot is: half of the party and its voters are passionate about getting her into the White House. Not a small chunk; not a third; HALF. They will not be easily appeased.
So many have said that if their candidate didn’t get the nomination, they’d either vote Republican, or not at all. This of course is bullshit, most of the time. When a candidate is still very much in the running, most supporters will make this silly ultimatum in an (ineffective) attempt at coercing others into switching sides. Regardless, they don’t want to say anything that suggests that their candidate will lose. If they don’t end up backing the Democratic candidate for the presidency, they’re either mentally disaffected, or are actually Republicans (same thing).
But in the end, there is only one vital thing that must happen: there must not be a Republican in the White House. That has got to be the primary goal; everything else is of secondary importance. Taking on Hillary as Veep is the one move that will give you a huge increase in your chances of winning. To not do this is to risk losing a lot of votes. Hillary truly does attract voters of specific demographics, different from yours, in large numbers. These people often seem like more conservative voters than you and your supporters (so I believe), and they really are the ones that might possibly end up voting for McCain. That cannot happen.
Besides appealing to the needed demographics, the Clintons (as a pair) do have their legacy. To some (myself included) that legacy isn’t necessarily very appealing, but everything is relative. The facts are: the Clinton Era came right before this tragic, devastating eight years of Bush tossing our country (and others) into the proverbial shitter. There is an attraction to returning to better times, to undoing these eight years, and the Clinton Era is connected to that for many people. Bush has driven every aspect of the United States into the ground, after inheriting what people see as being the (tainted but forgivable) Clinton legacy (whether they realize they see it as this or not). Taking on Hillary will give comfort to those that fared better (read: almost everyone) before this current administration took over, while you – at the helm – will still clearly signal a brand new day that will build off of a recognizable, perhaps even nostalgic, foundation.
Last, but important nonetheless, and also in the name of inclusion: so many people have remarked that this year’s field of candidates for the Democratic nomination has been a surprisingly excellent collection of people. While people have only been supporting you or Hillary for the last few weeks, there were others who received support and represent voters’ interests. Most people that support other candidates end up not voting for them, because the candidate’s status of “unelectable” means that they’re throwing their vote away. You are my choice of candidate, but my first choice would have been Dennis Kucinich, who has some notably different positions. Many people end up wishing their favorite candidate, or a particular platform plank, would be included in the plans and directives of the eventual nominee, and they are far greater than the number of votes reflected as the amount actually cast for these “unelectables.”
Based on this thinking, I think it would be wise to give real consideration to using one or more of these candidates in your administration, whether it be an appropriate cabinet position, or something else of a substantial nature. If you found that using a previous candidate was appropriate for one position or another, that would be another excellent move of inclusion. For instance, Bill Richardson would make an excellent Secretary of State, in my opinion. Besides exciting his supporters, such an appointment would also appeal to those who like him and his ideas, and his general demographic support, even though they ended up voting for and/or supporting some other candidate. I know many people that are big fans of both Richardson and Kucinich, who ended up voting for you over Hillary, even before it fell down to just the two of you.
Besides the appeal to various supporters, there plainly are some excellent people in that original field of candidates, that would be appropriate for positions even if they’d never been a part of the primaries. One other factor: people know these candidates. They’ve been all over TV, during their campaigns as well as the endless debates. The public likes being able to identify and understand the top people in the administration; I think that the public is developing an increasing recognition of the other major players, mostly meaning the main cabinet/advisors, UN ambassador, etc. Using such a person to occupy a space in your administration will increase inclusion (obviously, this has become my mantra), and show that their perspectives and causes are being sincerely represented for them at the highest levels. Obviously, there are other well-known players that would be popular and appreciated at various posts: an example that most easily comes to mind is the fantastic Richard Clarke, for instance.
I’ve only ever written a couple of letters to politicians – my senators, Kennedy and Kerry – but today, I have been so driven to write this letter, even knowing it will probably not make its way into the thinking of you or your campaign. But if it does, then this is the most important letter I’ve ever written. And I thank whomever for actually reading my long-winded notes.
Yours truly,
Phobrek Taz
Worcester, Massachusetts
Tuesday, June 3, 2008
Thou art a soiled condom, sir!
Slick Willie done apologized for calling some asshole reporter (actually, editor) a "scumbag." He's got to walk on eggshells to avoid screwing his wife... 's campaign, but man, show some balls. Do they all have to apologize anytime they say something that might make Grandma frown? For reference:
If that indeed was the charge laid out by this guy, then sure, he's a fucking scumbag. I don't think people really equate the word with its original meaning (a used condom), do they? Maybe I'm wrong. If so, then yeah, apologize for the image, but my understanding is that it's just taken as a general insult these days. Am I wrong?
Meh. Meanwhile, reports are up and down on the idea of Hillary wanting the Veep position. I hope Obamarama resists the urge. After all, I've already decreed that he should take Dennis along for the ride. Kucinich 2016! Kucinich 2016! His wife will still be hot.
The article, by Vanity Fair magazine's national editor Todd Purdum, suggested that Bill Clinton's personality had changed since his 2004 heart bypass surgery and said that there were reports of Clinton "seeing a lot of women on the road." - CNN
If that indeed was the charge laid out by this guy, then sure, he's a fucking scumbag. I don't think people really equate the word with its original meaning (a used condom), do they? Maybe I'm wrong. If so, then yeah, apologize for the image, but my understanding is that it's just taken as a general insult these days. Am I wrong?
Meh. Meanwhile, reports are up and down on the idea of Hillary wanting the Veep position. I hope Obamarama resists the urge. After all, I've already decreed that he should take Dennis along for the ride. Kucinich 2016! Kucinich 2016! His wife will still be hot.
Quote of the Day
Regarding his very distant blood relationship to Barack Obama, our beloved Creepy Veep Dick Cheney said that the Cheney line on his father's side of the family dates to 1630's, and a Cheney family line on his mother's side dates to the 1650's.
Thus:
On the Daily Show, they interviewed some random W Virginians on the day of their primary, asking why people weren't voting for Obama. Those made for some other great quotes (paraphrasing here): "I ain't votin' for no Muslim," and "his middle name's Hussein... I had enough'a Husseins."
Thus:
"So, I had Cheneys on both sides of the family — and we don't even live in West Virginia," Cheney cracked. After pausing for laughter from the crowd, Cheney added, "You can say those things when you're not running for re-election."
As the CNN item detailing this adds:
Afterward, West Virginia Sen. Robert Byrd lashed out at Cheney for the "insult to all Americans." In a written statement, Byrd declared that Cheney showed "contempt and astounding ignorance toward his own countrymen" with the comments.Sadly, that weird old Byrd just went into the hospital tonight. Damn. First Our (drunken) Man Ted, now the aged one (I had no idea he was 3rd in line to the presidency... can you fucking imagine?). If Kennedy has to retire, we're pretty safe (but not completely) with his replacement being a Democrat. But for Byrd in West Virginia?
On the Daily Show, they interviewed some random W Virginians on the day of their primary, asking why people weren't voting for Obama. Those made for some other great quotes (paraphrasing here): "I ain't votin' for no Muslim," and "his middle name's Hussein... I had enough'a Husseins."
Mind-boggling Article of the Day
From Common Dreams: http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2008/06/02/9373/
“We are now stepping into the Buck Rogers scenario,” explained Colonel Kirk Hymes, who is in charge of testing the “Active Denial System” at Moody Air Force Base in Georgia.
WTF
60 Minutes: Pentagon’s Raygun Demonstrated on Mock Protesters
by David Edwards and Muriel Kane
The Pentagon has been developing a raygun which can harmlessly repel enemies by causing a burning sensation in the top layer of the skin. However, according to CBS’s 60 Minutes, the military is unwilling to actually trust this weapon enough to deploy it in Iraq.“We are now stepping into the Buck Rogers scenario,” explained Colonel Kirk Hymes, who is in charge of testing the “Active Denial System” at Moody Air Force Base in Georgia.
Hymes demonstrated the weapon by staging what CBS somewhat oddly called “a scenario soldiers might encounter in Iraq” — a handful of military volunteers, dressed as civilian protesters, who carried signs saying “peace not war” and threw objects at a small group of soldiers. A series of raygun blasts from half a mile away disrupted their chants and finally sent them running.
Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Acquisiton Sue Payton calls the Active Denial System a “huge game-changer” which “would save huge numbers of lives.” She told CBS, “It could be used to read someone’s mind, in effect. … If they continue to come at you, then you’re fairly sure … they’re probably a terrorist or an adversary who wants to do you harm.”
(skipping a paragraph)However, the failure to deploy the weapon as planned has raised suspicions that the real intention is to use it for domestic crowd control.
In 2006, Air Force Secretary Michael Wynne was quoted as saying that the device should be used first on Americans, because “if we’re not willing to use it here against our fellow citizens, then we should not be willing to use it in a wartime situation. … If I hit somebody with a nonlethal weapon and they claim that it injured them in a way that was not intended, I think that I would be vilified in the world press.”
All together now:WTF
Saturday, May 31, 2008
Here's a brief article on the protection of uncontacted peoples: http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2008/05/30/9303/
It begins:
These remarkable pictures of Envira Indians were taken by Brazilian government officials during several flights over a remote part of Brazil’s Acre state.
Painted a bright orange, two members of the tribe emerged from their huts to threaten the helicopter as it flew low over their small village.
Others could be seen in the background, apparently startled by the presence of the noisy machine in their skies.
“We did the over-flight to show their houses, to show they are there, to show they exist,’ said Jose Carlos dos Reis Meirelles, an expert on “uncontacted” tribes, who works for the Brazilian government’s Indian affairs department.
“This is very important because there are some who doubt their existence.”
---
I agree that it's important to prove their existence. But I have to ask... if you fly a chopper over these people, are they not being contacted? It's the old notion that if you're trying only to observe a situation in a disconnected manner, you're still interacting with and affecting it. "Uncontacted" doesn't mean that the people have never been contacted whatsoever, but I'm just imagining these people racing out of their huts to find this terrifying monster swooping down upon them from the sky. They have probably encountered outsiders at some point in the past, but I think it's likely that such visitors would have been on foot to get to what must be rather remote areas. I'd love to know what effect such an event would have on these people, though. D'oh.
It begins:
These remarkable pictures of Envira Indians were taken by Brazilian government officials during several flights over a remote part of Brazil’s Acre state.
Painted a bright orange, two members of the tribe emerged from their huts to threaten the helicopter as it flew low over their small village.
Others could be seen in the background, apparently startled by the presence of the noisy machine in their skies.
“We did the over-flight to show their houses, to show they are there, to show they exist,’ said Jose Carlos dos Reis Meirelles, an expert on “uncontacted” tribes, who works for the Brazilian government’s Indian affairs department.
“This is very important because there are some who doubt their existence.”
---
I agree that it's important to prove their existence. But I have to ask... if you fly a chopper over these people, are they not being contacted? It's the old notion that if you're trying only to observe a situation in a disconnected manner, you're still interacting with and affecting it. "Uncontacted" doesn't mean that the people have never been contacted whatsoever, but I'm just imagining these people racing out of their huts to find this terrifying monster swooping down upon them from the sky. They have probably encountered outsiders at some point in the past, but I think it's likely that such visitors would have been on foot to get to what must be rather remote areas. I'd love to know what effect such an event would have on these people, though. D'oh.
Wednesday, May 7, 2008
I dair U 2 nock this canddiateoff mi sholder LOLOLLOLL!!!1
Yay Hillary! Keep going, girl. By my calculations, if you beat Obama 60-40% in the last few primaries, you can almost beat him! You done did it before - in New York, Arkansas, and American Samoa - you can do it six more times! And then maybe the super'gates can drag you across the finish line. Especially if they have extra primaries in those three states... uhm, places. NM.
Is it my imagination, or do the pictures of Hillary in the past few days have her smiling in a way that opens her mouth to an inhuman extent? Nice tonsils, babe!
Is it my imagination, or do the pictures of Hillary in the past few days have her smiling in a way that opens her mouth to an inhuman extent? Nice tonsils, babe!
Monday, May 5, 2008
LSD
Dr. Hofmann has left the box for good this time... the inventor of LSD died last week, and this article makes an admirable attempt at explaining what he'd unleashed. Having done a lot of acid in my life, I think his take is as good an encapsulation as you'll see. It's otherwise kind of frustrating trying to relate the experience to someone who's never taken it.
Yawp.
Originally published in the (London) Independent:
A Tribute To Albert Hofmann: My LSD Trip Down Memory Lane
by Tim Lott
Dr Albert Hofmann, who died last week, was the inventor of LSD. But he was not merely a chemist. He was a revolutionary.
Hofmann changed the way a whole generation looked at the world. This is the sort of statement that is customarily made about thinkers and scientists of the stature of, say, Marx or Einstein. But it is more directly and vividly true of Hofmann than any of these otherwise much more formidable intellectual titans. Freud theorised about the existence of the unconscious, but LSD made it an experiential reality, as tangible as touching stone or seeing light.
Hofmann’s discovery is still widely misunderstood. But those who have known its glory - and its agony - will also know that no one really comes back from the altered state of consciousness that LSD induces quite the same person that they were before. Like no other experience imaginable, it rips to pieces your understanding of what it is to be alive.
When you return from the unimaginable shore to which LSD takes you, putting those pieces back together can be a lifelong task. It can make you mad. But it can also make you understand that your life is not what you thought it was - that it is bigger, richer and, above all, stranger.
This epiphany-in-a-pill is an idea that makes us deeply uncomfortable for a raft of reasons - the lack of spiritual or moral effort involved in attaining the experience, the impossibility of explaining its effects to non-users, and the moral panic over its distribution and use in the 1960s and 1970s.
Nowadays, LSD has been quietly consigned to the medicine cabinet of history. It is no longer fashionable, nor widely available, nor especially potent. It has lost ground to gentler drugs such as MDMA or more violent narcotics such a crack, crystal meth and heroin. But it is in a different category from all these mind-altering substances, and ill deserves its lumping into the category of “recreational drugs: bad/harmful/dangerous”.
This isn’t to say it isn’t bad, harmful or dangerous. LSD can certainly be all those things. But LSD - like its natural counterparts mescaline or peyote - is not quite in the same category as any other mind-altering narcotic. It is potentially, I think, the only truly creative drug - that is, a drug which enables the mind to shake off the shackles of habit and conditioning and arrive at the heart of - for want of a better word - the human soul.
And it is the only “recreational” drug that has a real element of intellectual and cultural respectability, with thinkers and writers such as Aldous Huxley, Ken Kesey and Allen Ginsberg all affirming its uses, while the remarkable phenomenon we call “the Sixties” would not have happened at all without this psychoactive shamanic medicine.
Before I continue, I should make it clear that I am not a habitual or long-term user of the drug. I have taken it twice - both times when I was 15 years old. On one occasion, it gave me an experience of bliss, lasting some 12 hours, that lay far beyond words or images to express. On the other, I was cast into the darkest reaches of hopelessness and terror. I ended up running down my street naked, and being locked up in a police cell. It is not an exaggeration to say that these experiences, to this day, are always with me.
This will sound like hyperbole to anyone who hasn’t experienced the drug, so I will make an effort to explain what it was like, knowing that such an effort must fail. I wrote about it in my memoir, The Scent of Dried Roses. Here are two brief extracts:
“The tower blocks shine like mirrors and the blue of the sky seems to have concentrated and leaked out into the air, so that everything is soaked in aquamarine. There is a deep relentless and secret whirr within me, a dynamo that has been switched on to full power for the first time. I am so full of delight I want to leave my skin and melt.”
Then later:
“The panic begins to turn to unalloyed terror as I feel my very sense of self beginning to collapse into the swelling chaos of everything else… I am negated. I have gone completely mad, although everything is unmistakable, intensely real.”
The key fact of these accounts is that, whether in terror or bliss, “I am not seeing things that are not there. I am seeing things that are there…. The sensible world is merely a construction of my brain, and the brain is simply a filter that keeps unmanageable, too large information out.” LSD does not merely distort reality - it removes a filter on reality. And that is why it is such a profound experience.
I cannot in all conscience evangelise, or recommend to my children that they take it. I have suffered mental health problems much of my life - I doubt this fact is entirely unconnected with those very intense teenage mental epiphanies. But I cannot help but be grateful to have seen what I have seen, which is plainly and simply a religious vision, an a priori proof that there is more to the world than a dead material universe.
My personal experience aside, it fuelled decades of cultural experiment and output, much of it bad, but some of it good. (After Sir Paul McCartney claimed that “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds” had nothing to do with LSD, I’m surprised the judge in his divorce case believed a word he uttered in court.) But the larger societal “effect” ‘ of LSD - be it in swirly-whirly graffiti, self-indulgent rock music, or tie-dye T-shirts - are a red herring, along with the appallingly dim-witted New Age movements it has left in its wake.
The art, culture and film that arose out of LSD did not have much worth - Zabriskie Point? Disraeli Gears? Journey to Ixtlan? and so on - but the fact that people took the intellectual experience of the drug seriously does speak volumes. There were even TV documentaries - one chaired by Malcolm Muggeridge - on which philosophers and academics were given the drug and filmed on camera. They spoke very highly of their experiences. LSD, they asserted, didn’t simply damage people; it changed them in ways that went beyond “good” or “bad”. This is its unique claim within the pharmacological lexicon.
Such a thing happening today is unimaginable. We live now in a world where all illegal drugs are lumped together as social evils. This represents a narrowing of our imaginations, a closing of our collective minds. Albert Hofmann’s discovery remains, I believe, of the greatest significance; and there are few mature adults - particular ones whose minds are limited by the environment in which they habitually exist - who would not benefit greatly from its prescription.
Gordon Brown would be a prime contender, I think. His dour materialism would disappear overnight. Boris Johnson has clearly had some already slipped to him in a cup of tea some time or other. But apart from him, the entire Tory and Labour front benches could do with at least one medically administered shot of acid.
That something which bio-chemically can open and even heal the mind (in some ways Prozac does something analogous though very different) is so violently proscribed speaks volumes of our times, when imagination and the spiritual itself are virtually taboo. Albert Hofmann’s great experiment was thus a failure. But one day, I still believe, both its therapeutic and philosophical uses will be rediscovered.
And one other thing. Old Albert lived to 102. What does that tell you about the therapeutic properties of lysergic acid diethylamide?
Yawp.
Originally published in the (London) Independent:
A Tribute To Albert Hofmann: My LSD Trip Down Memory Lane
by Tim Lott
Dr Albert Hofmann, who died last week, was the inventor of LSD. But he was not merely a chemist. He was a revolutionary.
Hofmann changed the way a whole generation looked at the world. This is the sort of statement that is customarily made about thinkers and scientists of the stature of, say, Marx or Einstein. But it is more directly and vividly true of Hofmann than any of these otherwise much more formidable intellectual titans. Freud theorised about the existence of the unconscious, but LSD made it an experiential reality, as tangible as touching stone or seeing light.
Hofmann’s discovery is still widely misunderstood. But those who have known its glory - and its agony - will also know that no one really comes back from the altered state of consciousness that LSD induces quite the same person that they were before. Like no other experience imaginable, it rips to pieces your understanding of what it is to be alive.
When you return from the unimaginable shore to which LSD takes you, putting those pieces back together can be a lifelong task. It can make you mad. But it can also make you understand that your life is not what you thought it was - that it is bigger, richer and, above all, stranger.
This epiphany-in-a-pill is an idea that makes us deeply uncomfortable for a raft of reasons - the lack of spiritual or moral effort involved in attaining the experience, the impossibility of explaining its effects to non-users, and the moral panic over its distribution and use in the 1960s and 1970s.
Nowadays, LSD has been quietly consigned to the medicine cabinet of history. It is no longer fashionable, nor widely available, nor especially potent. It has lost ground to gentler drugs such as MDMA or more violent narcotics such a crack, crystal meth and heroin. But it is in a different category from all these mind-altering substances, and ill deserves its lumping into the category of “recreational drugs: bad/harmful/dangerous”.
This isn’t to say it isn’t bad, harmful or dangerous. LSD can certainly be all those things. But LSD - like its natural counterparts mescaline or peyote - is not quite in the same category as any other mind-altering narcotic. It is potentially, I think, the only truly creative drug - that is, a drug which enables the mind to shake off the shackles of habit and conditioning and arrive at the heart of - for want of a better word - the human soul.
And it is the only “recreational” drug that has a real element of intellectual and cultural respectability, with thinkers and writers such as Aldous Huxley, Ken Kesey and Allen Ginsberg all affirming its uses, while the remarkable phenomenon we call “the Sixties” would not have happened at all without this psychoactive shamanic medicine.
Before I continue, I should make it clear that I am not a habitual or long-term user of the drug. I have taken it twice - both times when I was 15 years old. On one occasion, it gave me an experience of bliss, lasting some 12 hours, that lay far beyond words or images to express. On the other, I was cast into the darkest reaches of hopelessness and terror. I ended up running down my street naked, and being locked up in a police cell. It is not an exaggeration to say that these experiences, to this day, are always with me.
This will sound like hyperbole to anyone who hasn’t experienced the drug, so I will make an effort to explain what it was like, knowing that such an effort must fail. I wrote about it in my memoir, The Scent of Dried Roses. Here are two brief extracts:
“The tower blocks shine like mirrors and the blue of the sky seems to have concentrated and leaked out into the air, so that everything is soaked in aquamarine. There is a deep relentless and secret whirr within me, a dynamo that has been switched on to full power for the first time. I am so full of delight I want to leave my skin and melt.”
Then later:
“The panic begins to turn to unalloyed terror as I feel my very sense of self beginning to collapse into the swelling chaos of everything else… I am negated. I have gone completely mad, although everything is unmistakable, intensely real.”
The key fact of these accounts is that, whether in terror or bliss, “I am not seeing things that are not there. I am seeing things that are there…. The sensible world is merely a construction of my brain, and the brain is simply a filter that keeps unmanageable, too large information out.” LSD does not merely distort reality - it removes a filter on reality. And that is why it is such a profound experience.
I cannot in all conscience evangelise, or recommend to my children that they take it. I have suffered mental health problems much of my life - I doubt this fact is entirely unconnected with those very intense teenage mental epiphanies. But I cannot help but be grateful to have seen what I have seen, which is plainly and simply a religious vision, an a priori proof that there is more to the world than a dead material universe.
My personal experience aside, it fuelled decades of cultural experiment and output, much of it bad, but some of it good. (After Sir Paul McCartney claimed that “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds” had nothing to do with LSD, I’m surprised the judge in his divorce case believed a word he uttered in court.) But the larger societal “effect” ‘ of LSD - be it in swirly-whirly graffiti, self-indulgent rock music, or tie-dye T-shirts - are a red herring, along with the appallingly dim-witted New Age movements it has left in its wake.
The art, culture and film that arose out of LSD did not have much worth - Zabriskie Point? Disraeli Gears? Journey to Ixtlan? and so on - but the fact that people took the intellectual experience of the drug seriously does speak volumes. There were even TV documentaries - one chaired by Malcolm Muggeridge - on which philosophers and academics were given the drug and filmed on camera. They spoke very highly of their experiences. LSD, they asserted, didn’t simply damage people; it changed them in ways that went beyond “good” or “bad”. This is its unique claim within the pharmacological lexicon.
Such a thing happening today is unimaginable. We live now in a world where all illegal drugs are lumped together as social evils. This represents a narrowing of our imaginations, a closing of our collective minds. Albert Hofmann’s discovery remains, I believe, of the greatest significance; and there are few mature adults - particular ones whose minds are limited by the environment in which they habitually exist - who would not benefit greatly from its prescription.
Gordon Brown would be a prime contender, I think. His dour materialism would disappear overnight. Boris Johnson has clearly had some already slipped to him in a cup of tea some time or other. But apart from him, the entire Tory and Labour front benches could do with at least one medically administered shot of acid.
That something which bio-chemically can open and even heal the mind (in some ways Prozac does something analogous though very different) is so violently proscribed speaks volumes of our times, when imagination and the spiritual itself are virtually taboo. Albert Hofmann’s great experiment was thus a failure. But one day, I still believe, both its therapeutic and philosophical uses will be rediscovered.
And one other thing. Old Albert lived to 102. What does that tell you about the therapeutic properties of lysergic acid diethylamide?
Tuesday, April 22, 2008
Lair Update
So, a while ago I mentioned getting a new computer, and I've had it now for quite a while. But I also had made a deal with myself, that before I installed it, I MUST clean my room properly, for the first time in eight years. Seriously - eight years. Someone once said - and since then, many have repeated it - that the cleanliness or order of your home is reflective of your psyche. This could not be more true for me. Here's a "before picture" of a small part of my room:
People who have seen my place have said "Well, ha ha, as long as you know where everything is...." No, I would have no idea where anything was, that was a big part of the fucking problem! And yet, I've been unable to get the place clean and ordered for eight years. Such has been the state of my state.
Still, as Quentin Crisp once said:
Of course, I should give you an "after picture" of the same scene in my room, but it wouldn't look very impressive, particularly since it never got to be perfectly clean (though the rest of my room did), and it's now concealed by tons of cardboard boxes from my new computer (I've been keeping them ready in case I need to send anything back, which has come true for my speaker system).
But here's the new beast, at last:
The case reminds me of a Cylon. The case's model is the NZXT Zero Aluminum, which I must say: don't get. It was actually a replacement for my desired case, by ThermalTake, and I wish I'd waited for it (it was back-ordered, and the thing was taking so long already... d'oh). This rig is from www.CyberPowerpc.com btw, and while I can tell you they'll give you great bang for your buck, they take forever to do stuff, and their technical support is ABYSMAL.
People who have seen my place have said "Well, ha ha, as long as you know where everything is...." No, I would have no idea where anything was, that was a big part of the fucking problem! And yet, I've been unable to get the place clean and ordered for eight years. Such has been the state of my state.
Still, as Quentin Crisp once said:
There is no need to do any housework at all. After the first four years the dirt doesn't get any worse.
Of course, I should give you an "after picture" of the same scene in my room, but it wouldn't look very impressive, particularly since it never got to be perfectly clean (though the rest of my room did), and it's now concealed by tons of cardboard boxes from my new computer (I've been keeping them ready in case I need to send anything back, which has come true for my speaker system).
But here's the new beast, at last:
The case reminds me of a Cylon. The case's model is the NZXT Zero Aluminum, which I must say: don't get. It was actually a replacement for my desired case, by ThermalTake, and I wish I'd waited for it (it was back-ordered, and the thing was taking so long already... d'oh). This rig is from www.CyberPowerpc.com btw, and while I can tell you they'll give you great bang for your buck, they take forever to do stuff, and their technical support is ABYSMAL.
Quote of the Duh
Hillary Clinton said Tuesday that her comments that the United States could “totally obliterate” Iran if it made a nuclear attack on Israel had been an attempt to return the United States to Cold War style deterrence.
Does this mean we get more wars-by-proxy and a new Red Scare too? Or I guess it would be a Brown Scare? And hey, a further buildup of arms, and supplying the same to all the pawns?
"Woot!" yelps the war industry, as it slaps on a "Hillary '08" button.
New Buttons (and buttons for sale, yawp)
As usual, it's been way too long - a month and a day - since last I posted. I've had my ups, downs, sides to sides, and wibbly-wobblies. But enough about me, here's the recent additions to my buttons designs. The actual buttons are only 1.25" diameter; I really do need to get the 2" machine.
The last one - Edgar Rice Burroughs - is the same color as/and is replacing my Asimov button, below. I'm gonna come up with a new design for the margins of my sci-fi heroes' buttons (Asimov, JG Ballard, Philip K, Heinlein, etc.). As if you care.
Anyway, I'm hoping to set up a more pro page for this, but as of now I'm selling these things for $1 (postage included) to anyone in the US, and uh, more I guess for anyone overseas. If you want anything, check my buttons photo album for designs, and email me at phobrek@gmail.com - w/a mailing address, etc. Note that my buttons are all only 1.25" in diameter.
Oh! A disclaimer: if anyone has any issue with copyright of any images used, please let me know at the same address, and I'll respond, and probably cease and desist. No biggie.
The last one - Edgar Rice Burroughs - is the same color as/and is replacing my Asimov button, below. I'm gonna come up with a new design for the margins of my sci-fi heroes' buttons (Asimov, JG Ballard, Philip K, Heinlein, etc.). As if you care.
Anyway, I'm hoping to set up a more pro page for this, but as of now I'm selling these things for $1 (postage included) to anyone in the US, and uh, more I guess for anyone overseas. If you want anything, check my buttons photo album for designs, and email me at phobrek@gmail.com - w/a mailing address, etc. Note that my buttons are all only 1.25" in diameter.
Oh! A disclaimer: if anyone has any issue with copyright of any images used, please let me know at the same address, and I'll respond, and probably cease and desist. No biggie.
Friday, March 21, 2008
Quote of the Duh
From the article on a woman killed by a manta ray that leaped out of the water into a boat:
"It's just as freakish of an accident as I have heard," said Jorge Pino of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. "The chances of this occurring are so remote that most of us are completely astonished that this happened."
Operative words being "most of us." Meaning there was at least one guy that said "Well yeah, I coulda told you this was going to happen sooner or later...."
"It's just as freakish of an accident as I have heard," said Jorge Pino of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. "The chances of this occurring are so remote that most of us are completely astonished that this happened."
Operative words being "most of us." Meaning there was at least one guy that said "Well yeah, I coulda told you this was going to happen sooner or later...."
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
Status: FU
Order timestamp: 3/2/2008 3:28:33 PM (PST)
Shipping method: Fedex Ground
Order total: $1,886.45
Status: Order received
Status: Order received
Status: Order received
Status: Order received
Status: Order received
Status: Order received
GAHHHH gimme my computer! Every time I check - like every 4 or 5 minutes - all I gets is "Order received." FOKK.
Edit/add... I just called 'em and learned it will be shipped out this Friday or at the latest, Monday. Grumble grumble okay.
Shipping method: Fedex Ground
Order total: $1,886.45
Status: Order received
Status: Order received
Status: Order received
Status: Order received
Status: Order received
Status: Order received
GAHHHH gimme my computer! Every time I check - like every 4 or 5 minutes - all I gets is "Order received." FOKK.
Edit/add... I just called 'em and learned it will be shipped out this Friday or at the latest, Monday. Grumble grumble okay.
Buttonses
While the bunch of my button designs can be viewed in my album, here's my newest ones. The actual buttons are only 1.25" btw, although in time I want to get a 2" button press as well.
While these are all fabulous writers of yore, I'm also going to make ones of plenty of other favorite figures, such as Einsten, Nikolai Tesla, Orson Welles, favorite (dead) musicians (often composers) that you won't otherwise see on a button, like Aram Khachaturian, Edward MacDowell, etc.
And I'm going to make different background designs... recycling the one I've been using gets old.
While these are all fabulous writers of yore, I'm also going to make ones of plenty of other favorite figures, such as Einsten, Nikolai Tesla, Orson Welles, favorite (dead) musicians (often composers) that you won't otherwise see on a button, like Aram Khachaturian, Edward MacDowell, etc.
And I'm going to make different background designs... recycling the one I've been using gets old.
Quote of the Duh
"If Obama was a white man, he would not be in this position. And if he was a woman he would not be in this position. He happens to be very lucky to be who he is. And the country is caught up in the concept." - Geraldine Ferraro
Wow... I don't even need to try making a gag out of this one.
Wow... I don't even need to try making a gag out of this one.
Wednesday, March 5, 2008
Buttonses
So, with the aid of my trusty button-maker I bought a couple months ago, I've been making... you guessed it! Buttons! I've made quite a few thus far, but here's my two favorites:
I've uploaded the other designs I've made at http://picasaweb.google.com/phobrek/Buttonses. Eventually I plan to sell such things (cheap), although I'll need to make (fairly) original designs so as to respect others' ownership of images, etc. (such as the Gygax painting here).
I'm working on a bunch of designs for favorite authors, like: Anais Nin, Henry Miller, Edgar Allan Poe, Robert E. Howard, Isaac Asimov, JRR Tolkein, CS Lewis, Robert Heinlein, Philip K Dick, JG Ballard, etc.
I've uploaded the other designs I've made at http://picasaweb.google.com/phobrek/Buttonses. Eventually I plan to sell such things (cheap), although I'll need to make (fairly) original designs so as to respect others' ownership of images, etc. (such as the Gygax painting here).
I'm working on a bunch of designs for favorite authors, like: Anais Nin, Henry Miller, Edgar Allan Poe, Robert E. Howard, Isaac Asimov, JRR Tolkein, CS Lewis, Robert Heinlein, Philip K Dick, JG Ballard, etc.
He done ascended....
While this news below - fuck yeah! - dwarfs this completely, I imagine most readers of this blog (all three of you) know that E. Gary Gygax died yesterday. I'll have more to say on this great man in the near future, and I was surprised to see that I felt more about him than I thought I would.
It's odd... I wouldn't have been surprised if Gygax had actually died long ago, and I'd just never heard about it. I can't say that I'll "miss" him, since I never followed his life and doings, really. Instead, however, I've suddenly felt a great, thankful acknowledgment of what he had done, and how powerful he affected my life, as well as the lives of countless others. In terms of role-playing games, and so many games that in some way have an ancient, distant distant or relationship to them, his impact has been massive.
This is corny, but I'll say it anyway:
Gygax has found the Amulet of Yendor, and ascended to godhood.
I'm such a geek. And proud of it.
It's odd... I wouldn't have been surprised if Gygax had actually died long ago, and I'd just never heard about it. I can't say that I'll "miss" him, since I never followed his life and doings, really. Instead, however, I've suddenly felt a great, thankful acknowledgment of what he had done, and how powerful he affected my life, as well as the lives of countless others. In terms of role-playing games, and so many games that in some way have an ancient, distant distant or relationship to them, his impact has been massive.
This is corny, but I'll say it anyway:
Gygax has found the Amulet of Yendor, and ascended to godhood.
I'm such a geek. And proud of it.
YEAHYEAHYEAHYEAHYEAH!!!
WOOWOOWOOWOOWOOWOOWOOYEAHYEAHYEAHYEAH!!!
As of this morning, I gots a niece!!! Anita, wife of my brother Peter, just popped. I'm so psyched! FUCK YEAH! YEAHYEAHYEAHYEAHYEAH!!!
As of this morning, I gots a niece!!! Anita, wife of my brother Peter, just popped. I'm so psyched! FUCK YEAH! YEAHYEAHYEAHYEAHYEAH!!!
Monday, March 3, 2008
L33t
So, uh, it's been over a month and a half since I last posted, although there was a good reason, which I'll get into later (I mean, in the next day or so, not in another month, etc.).
But I'm too excited not to share this awesome news. Thanks to a loan from my godlike brother John, we just ordered me a new computer. The obsolete machine I've been using for the last 8+ years is a (refurbished, even) Dell Dimension 4550 and an even older monitor. Since then, I've come to hate Dell for their craptacular outsourced customer service (whereas it was excellent in my first years w/them) and have recently learned more about their inferior parts (although I guess they make top-notch laptops).
So after much research, I'm now getting the following!
CyberPower Infinity 8800 Pro SE
• CPU: (Quad-Core) Intel® Core™ 2 Quad Q6600 @ 2.4GHz 1066FSB 8MB L2 Cache 64-bit
• CASE: Thermaltake Bach VX Mid-Tower 420W Case with Side Window
• FAN: Thermaltake MaxOrb Enthusiast CPU Cooling Fan (Slient & Overclock Proof w/ Highest Efficiency Cooling)
• MOTHERBOARD: (QX9650 Support) Asus P5N-D nForce 750i SLI Chipset LGA775 FSB1333 DDR2 Mainboard
• MEMORY: 2GB (2x1GB) PC6400 DDR2/800 Dual Channel Memory
• VIDEO: EVGA NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GT 1GB 16X PCI Express
• HDD: 500GB SATA-II 3.0Gb/s 16MB Cache 7200RPM Hard Drive
• HDD2: 500GB SATA-II 3.0Gb/s 16MB Cache 7200RPM Hard Drive
• CD: 20X DVD±R/±RW + CD-R/RW DRIVE DUAL LAYER (BLACK COLOR)
• CD2: 20X DVD±R/±RW + CD-R/RW DRIVE DUAL LAYER (BLACK COLOR)
• MONITOR: ViewSonic VX2235WM ClearMotiv 22" TFT Active Matrix LCD Display (5MS) 1680x1050
• NETWORK: Onboard Gigabit LAN Network
• POWERSUPPLY: Xion SuperNova 800 Watts Power Supplies Quad SLI Ready
• SOUND: Creative Labs SB Audigy SE
• SPEAKERS: Creative Labs Inspire P7800 7.1 Surround Subwoofer Speaker System (BLACK COLOR)
• OS: Microsoft® Windows Vista™ Home Premium w/ Service Pack 1 (64-bit Edition)
• FLASHMEDIA: INTERNAL 12in1 Flash Media Reader/Writer (BLACK COLOR)
• MOUSE: Logitech Optical Wheel Mouse (BLACK COLOR)
• SERVICE: STANDARD WARRANTY: 3-YEAR LIMITED WARRANTY PLUS 24/7 LIFE-TIME TECHNICAL SUPPORT
• FREE ACCESSORY: CYBERPOWER WINDOWS VISTA HOME PREMIUM BONUS Maxtor OneTouch 4 Mini STM900803OTA3E1-RK 80GB 5400 RPM External Hard Drive
• FREEBIE_VC2: FREE! Poker Set
• FREEBIE_CU1: FREE! CyberPower Multi-Purpose Carrying Briefcase ($19.99 Value)
• FREEBIE_CU2: FREE! Cyberpower Unleash The Power T-Shirt/Rag
Woot. It should arrive in about a week.
"I'm so excited I could plotz!" - Hawkeye, MASH
But I'm too excited not to share this awesome news. Thanks to a loan from my godlike brother John, we just ordered me a new computer. The obsolete machine I've been using for the last 8+ years is a (refurbished, even) Dell Dimension 4550 and an even older monitor. Since then, I've come to hate Dell for their craptacular outsourced customer service (whereas it was excellent in my first years w/them) and have recently learned more about their inferior parts (although I guess they make top-notch laptops).
So after much research, I'm now getting the following!
CyberPower Infinity 8800 Pro SE
• CPU: (Quad-Core) Intel® Core™ 2 Quad Q6600 @ 2.4GHz 1066FSB 8MB L2 Cache 64-bit
• CASE: Thermaltake Bach VX Mid-Tower 420W Case with Side Window
• FAN: Thermaltake MaxOrb Enthusiast CPU Cooling Fan (Slient & Overclock Proof w/ Highest Efficiency Cooling)
• MOTHERBOARD: (QX9650 Support) Asus P5N-D nForce 750i SLI Chipset LGA775 FSB1333 DDR2 Mainboard
• MEMORY: 2GB (2x1GB) PC6400 DDR2/800 Dual Channel Memory
• VIDEO: EVGA NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GT 1GB 16X PCI Express
• HDD: 500GB SATA-II 3.0Gb/s 16MB Cache 7200RPM Hard Drive
• HDD2: 500GB SATA-II 3.0Gb/s 16MB Cache 7200RPM Hard Drive
• CD: 20X DVD±R/±RW + CD-R/RW DRIVE DUAL LAYER (BLACK COLOR)
• CD2: 20X DVD±R/±RW + CD-R/RW DRIVE DUAL LAYER (BLACK COLOR)
• MONITOR: ViewSonic VX2235WM ClearMotiv 22" TFT Active Matrix LCD Display (5MS) 1680x1050
• NETWORK: Onboard Gigabit LAN Network
• POWERSUPPLY: Xion SuperNova 800 Watts Power Supplies Quad SLI Ready
• SOUND: Creative Labs SB Audigy SE
• SPEAKERS: Creative Labs Inspire P7800 7.1 Surround Subwoofer Speaker System (BLACK COLOR)
• OS: Microsoft® Windows Vista™ Home Premium w/ Service Pack 1 (64-bit Edition)
• FLASHMEDIA: INTERNAL 12in1 Flash Media Reader/Writer (BLACK COLOR)
• MOUSE: Logitech Optical Wheel Mouse (BLACK COLOR)
• SERVICE: STANDARD WARRANTY: 3-YEAR LIMITED WARRANTY PLUS 24/7 LIFE-TIME TECHNICAL SUPPORT
• FREE ACCESSORY: CYBERPOWER WINDOWS VISTA HOME PREMIUM BONUS Maxtor OneTouch 4 Mini STM900803OTA3E1-RK 80GB 5400 RPM External Hard Drive
• FREEBIE_VC2: FREE! Poker Set
• FREEBIE_CU1: FREE! CyberPower Multi-Purpose Carrying Briefcase ($19.99 Value)
• FREEBIE_CU2: FREE! Cyberpower Unleash The Power T-Shirt/Rag
Woot. It should arrive in about a week.
"I'm so excited I could plotz!" - Hawkeye, MASH
Thursday, January 17, 2008
Stamps. WTF else, bitch?
So, my stamps from stamps.com came... they is teh best!
My next will be this design I just done made. Years and years ago there was a pretty prolific petition going on to get the USPS to issue a stamp commemorating HP Lovecraft. It never happened, so, take that, postal bitches!
My next will be this design I just done made. Years and years ago there was a pretty prolific petition going on to get the USPS to issue a stamp commemorating HP Lovecraft. It never happened, so, take that, postal bitches!
Sunday, January 13, 2008
Quote of the Day
In the "you just can't make this shit up" department:
"You cannot expect people to believe in the promise of a better future when they are jailed for peacefully petitioning their government. And you cannot stand up a modern, confident nation when you do not allow people to voice their legitimate criticisms."
- G W Bush
"You cannot expect people to believe in the promise of a better future when they are jailed for peacefully petitioning their government. And you cannot stand up a modern, confident nation when you do not allow people to voice their legitimate criticisms."
- G W Bush
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