"It's not crumbling, YOU'RE crumbling!"

Some new years motivation.

Watch this for a swift kick in the ass.


direct link

"Lethargic. Uninspired. Terrified."

Why you should be reading FerFAL's blog

JPFO: Don't cry for me Argentina America

"I can't happen here" are famous last words uttered frequently throughout time.

FerFAL is a blogger who lived through Argentina's fall, and unlike most of the people on the internet who start their long-winded opinions with, "when the SHTF..." he's actually lived through it.

Read FerFAL's blog.

Telegraph: Top 10 conservative movies of the decade

I think the UK Telegraph's definition of "conservative" is accurate enough for these to be excellent selections

If an American media outlet did it, it would probably be full of movies with unhinged paranoid gun nuts.

Aside: The liberal media has been so zealous in erecting conservative strawmen that I think they've begun to believe their own words. Now they tilt at the windmills they've built, while real conservatives organize and build momentum. They make themselves more irrelevant each time they gather a crowd to watch them defeat these "giants."

Pearl's Girl - Underworld (live)

If that last one was too soft for you...


direct link

rioja. rioja. reverend al green. deep blue morocco. the water on stone. the water on concrete. the water on sand. the water on fire. smoke. the wind. the salt. the bride boat coming. dave in the water. old man. einstein on top of his house. white deep blue andalusia red yellow red yellow black car. red light. far. black place. walls. blue chair. morocco. hamburg. paris. the pieces of the puzzle are waiting. the water of the dark boats gliding. the bride boats gone out to sea and dave is floating. dave is floating. and old man einstein crazy in his attic. crazy.

white room. sun room. shadow room. night transmitting cars across the room. these things sent to dance across the room. eye watching from your bed. returning to you.

[repeat first verse]

Jumbo - Underworld

This is classic Underworld. Brilliant.


direct link
Vague lyrics here.

Watch it live


I'm trying to take a break from the acid jazz.

click
you disconnect from me
click
when you come to take your century
telephone breath between us
the will of the world is between us
only theses wires
dust between the wires and green glass
in the distance
I am your tourist

I'm going to buy a stopwatch

Sometimes I try to see how long the customer can talk without any interaction from me.

It's like they're having a stroke. Even though they stay on topic at first, it quickly degrades into minutia of their day, the problems they're having in life, the status of their family, the weather, possibly the clothes they're wearing, and then I'm pretty sure they just start saying the names of things they can see.

I really should get a stopwatch though, just because the most I was able to identify was four minutes, and this was after he was talking for so long I had to watch the time.

Quote of the War on Terror

I'd rather, in the interest of protecting people, overreact rather than underreact.
~George W. Bush
~Dick Cheney
~Diane Feinstein

BlackBerry Bold OS Update

The recent OS upgrade (4.6.0.304) seems to have fixed a few annoying issues.

I haven't had a single crash since the update, and youtube streaming doesn't suck anymore! Finally I can make use of this sweet resolution to watch HD videos with clarity. Also, applications that use the internet are much faster and more stable.

If someone could work on making the browser less clunky, that'd be great.

In the meantime; I'm enjoying my Bold more and more. Rare yet annoying downtime aside.


I entered this post with it, while waiting in the lobby of a datacenter.

Music Takes Me Up - Mr Scruff (official video)

direct link

Running on hour SIX of the BlackBerry outage

This is why you don't centralize.

This is retarded.




Blame Canada

Stop motion guitar

direct link

Dear Friend:

Detroit? Or Soviet Russia?

Good god. I knew it was bad, but I had no idea it was USSR bad...

The Ultimate Phantom Menace Review

When a movie is torn apart in a review, I like to say it has a new asshole. But this review didn't tear any new assholes.

This review hit the movie with an meteor.

This movie is now a loose collection of atoms. Ouch.



If you thought that was awesome, watch the rest. But be warned; the full review is 70 minutes, but entirely worth your time. It also gets rather revealing if you stick with it till the end.

Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5
Part 6
Part 7

From Hot Air

Borderlands co-op is freakin' fun

I didn't get Borderlands because I had read that the co-op was the only real reason to get the game, and I had plenty of other games to distract me. But when I found out a friend had it, and another friend was thinking about it, I figured it made sense to get it.

The first night we were able to play, I couldn't do much because I hadn't done the first bundle of missions that make up an introduction and orientation. In fact I hadn't done a single thing besides join the game. It would be a few days before our schedules would coincide enough to play co-op again, so I explored the single player missions.

The single player was just as easy as I had heard. It was still fun, but I really never had that feeling of "OH SHIT" that comes from knowing you're about to die and respawn someplace far away.

I was finally able to co-op again last night, though only with one friend, and had a lot of fun. When you "die" you get a session where you kneel down, and the screen starts to dim, but if you kill something before time runs out, you get a "second wind" where you come back to life, and have a chance to run like hell until your shield recharges. In co-op you can revive a friend instead of them having to kill something to get their second wind. This means you really need to coordinate with your friends so you don't become to separated, and unable to revive eachother. But why would you need to be revived so much if the game is easy? Because it ain't easy in co-op. When a friend joins your game, you are given a warning that the enemies on Pandora (the planet) have become tougher, and tougher they are. Borderlands boasts some complex difficulty management that is supposed to keep the game challenging. But it's supposedly a sliding scale so the more people that play, the more difficult it becomes for each player. But the primary idea is that the tougher the enemies, the better the loot.

The co-op with just two players was frantic and fast paced. Keeping an eye on what's coming up behind you while monitoring your friend's health and shield bar so you know if you'll be needed, trying to revive your teammate while being attacked yourself, diverting the attention of a particularly tough opponent so your teammate can get a good shot on him, enjoying the shared accomplishment of taking down a boss, or just divvying up the loot, makes for extremely enjoyable gameplay. Hours fly by.

Highly recommend you pick up this game if you can get some friends to join you.

(I'm on xbox live, and online weekdays between ~10pm and 2am PST, weekends I'm on sporadically. Drop me an e-mail if you want to friend up, and I might actually entertain the notion!)

If a guitar could catch fire from playing, his would.

direct link

Ca. recycling "tax" bled dry, can't pay for recycling

In California we have a recycling tax. Well, actually, if you ask a legislator, it's not really a tax. It's kind of like a loan. A 5 cent loan.

If you want to buy a recyclable object, usually a beverage such as a 16oz bottle of soda, you will pay for the soda, and you will pay 5 cents to the state of California. But it's not a soda tax! Because all you have to do to get it back is go to a state-run recycling facility and get your nickel back! Definitely not a tax. Just a fee you pay to the government.

Needless to say, it had exactly the desired effect. People who didn't recycle continued not recycling, and the state got to keep all those sweet nickels.

Except now that we're in hard times, more people have taken to recycling.

Bad news.

California legislators have been raiding the fund for years.

Hey, if it wasn't a tax, why were you guys spending it like was tax dollars? Maybe it was because it really WAS a tax that you wanted to claim was not a tax?

Nahhhhh...

Vibraphone Boogie [unreleased] - Mr. Scruff

direct link

Imma let you finish but--

This tickled my funny-bone.

Pic is SFW, the rest of site is mostly NSFW, you have been warned.

They can do it!

...and they probably will...

From Theo, whose blog is still awesome but NSFW

Mike Rowe Celebrates Dirty Jobs

Quote of the plumbing

The society which scorns excellence in Plumbing as a humble activity and tolerates shoddiness in philosophy because it is an exalted activity will have neither good Plumbing nor good philosophy: neither its pipes nor its theories will hold water.
~John William Gardner

The stereotypical gun tragedy that didn't happen

After a late night I was catching up on sleep around 10 am. My wife started work a few hours before, the rabbit was probably chewing on something she wasn't supposed to, and I was dead asleep.

I awoke to a banging sound. Not sure of the specifics of the sound because I kind of woke up knowing it happened without really hearing it.

I sat up in bed and looked at the closed door. Between the door and the carpet I could see the hall light was on. Did I leave the hall light on? Did I imagine the banging sound?

I put on the electronic earmuffs I keep on my nightstand and turned them all the way up. I picked up the AR I keep bedside, (almost automatic once the earmuffs go on) and held it at a loose shoulder pointing about 6 feet in front of the door. I listened... Nothing. No low talking, no TV running, or even discernible footfalls. It seemed too quiet.

I thought about the situation. There is only one person with a key who would enter without notifying me, my wife, but I couldn't think of any probable scenario where she would come home so early. Would an intruder turn on the lights when there was enough ambient light to see? Drawing the shades makes it pretty dark, and seems like something you'd do if you didn't want to be observed...

I didn't feel like I was in danger. But is that how people feel before they find themselves neck deep? It didn't seem obvious what was going on, one way or the other. Every thought seemed to have a counter-thought, I wasn't sure if I was rationalizing or not. I was still groggy.

I checked my phone and saw no missed calls or text messages. I considered calling my wife, but she can't answer at work. Maybe I'd hear the ringing from outside the room. But what does it really mean if I don't hear ringing outside? What if she answers? Do I hang up on her? Would she call back and give me away?

This was a very strange feeling because different circumstances somehow made it both likely and unlikely there was an intruder in the house.

Wait. Stop. Ok. I can't decide what to think, but that doesn't matter, because I've nothing to lose if I assume an intruder and it's my wife, and I have everything to gain if I assume intruder and find intruder.

I carefully stand and switch my AR to right-handed, because I need to go around a U-shaped corner that curves left. My right hand is not as strong as my left, (note: need to fix that), so I need to put the buttstock in my armpit to hold the gun on target when I open the door. Target being a few degrees to the right of the door jamb. The safety is on, my thumb is resting on it, and my finger is not on the trigger.

How do I open the door? Fast or slow? I opt for medium, figuring slow might make a door squeak too early before I can see the area, and fast might make me fumble or shoulder the door or jamb.

I open the door, and move through it and round the corner, the direction of my barrel trails a few feet behind where I can see next as I round the corner.

I almost immediately see my wife in the next room. "Hi, [my name]!" I lower the AR, and return to the bedroom. I turn off my earmuffs and put them back on the nightstand, and return the AR to its post.

A very odd experience.

---

I wasn't afraid of accidentally shooting anybody because the four rules of firearms safety prevent me from doing so.

Rule 4: Be sure of your target, and what's beyond it.

It's as simple as that. You don't shoot through doors or objects, you don't shoot at shadows or shapes, and you don't shoot at things you have yet to identify. At no point did my muzzle sweep my wife or anything I hadn't had a quarter-second to look at.

I found it interesting that I wasn't hyped on adrenaline or in fight-or-flight mode, probably because I just didn't know for sure. Despite the fact that I was more confused than scared, that situation really could have gone either way. If there really was an intruder, I probably would have just been startled into disbelief. But at least I would have been startled with the upper hand.

Also of note; every once in a while, I practice clearing the house when no one is home. Without that practice I probably would have caught the barrel on the edge of the door or doorjamb (as I did during the first few practices), shouldered the rifle left-handed, or opened the door with the barrel pointing where I was still identifying things.

She later said that when she heard the door open, she thought she should say something because she figured I'd have a gun. She asked if I had anything because she didn't see me well enough to see if I was armed (practice pays off!).

Reason.tv solves that healthcare problem

Upon a stair

You seem to be confused...

Impressive!

Flutter - Bonobo

direct link

We will negotiate a trade.

We're trying to get our rabbit to understand it's ok to hang out with us, so I've been feeding her from my hand.

This morning, she wouldn't have it. Normally I hold it for her until she eats some from my hand, then I put it in her bowl. Today she just wouldn't eat any from my hand. After trying a bit, I decided she was being stubborn and left with the banana for a bit.

When I came back she met me half way, and when I offered her the banana, she was still iffy. Then she picked up her wire ball (a cat toy she plays with), and put it down in front of me. I put the banana in front of her, and took her wire ball. She ate the banana.

(I didn't keep the wire ball)

Hope you weren't scheduled to build a server last night

Called a few friends to confirm, they got the same error.

Scheduled maintenance?

I didn't get any e-mail...

Quote of the "DUIs = TEH CASH MONEYS"

"Prosecutors ... judges ... police and the Department of Revenue rely upon these results,"

From an article on faulty DUI tests

Toki's Cat Song

Just when you think you know what to expect from Metalocalypse, they go and do something like this.



Oh yeah, animated graphic suicide at the end of the vid. But don't worry; he's a dentist.

Watch the whole episode here

911 call: Woman shoots crazed intruder

It is rare that you get the chance to vicariously live this kind of experience.

Not a dramatically directed reenactment or a somber recount of the experience, but a quantum leap into the actual event. You hear the calm, the resolve, the growing fear, the terror, and the sorrow.

It's unreal.




Of particular note is that fact that she didn't know this man. She was sleeping in her bed when her dog alerted her to the presence of a man to whom she had done no previous wrong.

This was simply a random act of violence, and reminds us of a harsh reality;

Random acts of violence can visit anyone, at any time, and irrevocably shatter lives.

It's a terrible situation all around. One man who didn't want to die, dead. One woman who never wanted to take a life, having taken one.

Who wins here?
What is the point?
What was the motivation?
How could it have been prevented?

Do you want to know the answer to these questions?

You are free to demand these answers or ponder the possibilities, but ONLY if you already own an effective weapon of defense and have the experience to use it confidently.

If you are unprepared and you want answers to these questions, I hope any criminal you might encounter isn't as divorced from reality as you are.


Do you imagine yourself an audience member of this play called life?

Do you watch these events from an opera house box seat? Offering your critical analysis, witty comment, and scathing sarcasm with the same inconsequence as one would watching a movie?

You are not separated from these events by the barrier between reality and fiction. All that separates you from all those things you see on your local news, and the 911 audio you've just heard is your own mental disconnect.

Just remember that your mental disconnect won't prevent an insane person you've never met from throwing your patio furniture through your back door and violating your sanctuary from reality.

Hopefully that will be all he violates.

---

Oh yeah, the cops took 16 minutes to get there from the time the guy set foot in the woman's home.

Do you think you can survive 16 minutes from that point?

Do you think you can survive 5?

How about 1? Imagine a crazy guy just entered the room you are in right now. He's raving and holding a steak knife. He screams that it's all your fault, and charges you.

Start the clock!

One-one-thousand...
two-one-thousand...
three-one-thousand...


There, but for the grace some random crazed meth-head, go I.

From HotAir

A reminder:

I hate harpsicords

Ubuntu major upgrade a major breeze

It's true what they say about the plumber's sink.

Our home laptop runs Ubuntu because I don't want to have to deal with it. I don't want to have to tweak it, I don't want to have to fix it, I don't want to have to spend days dicking with config files to get it working on the non-standard hardware the laptop runs on.

Consequently, the Ubuntu version was severely out of date, and I didn't want to have to deal with the upgrade.

Eventually the lack of software support for the older version made it necessary to pull the trigger. I checked a few sites that promised me I needed only click a few times, and reboot.

I opened the update manager and clicked to check for a new version. I clicked upgrade, and literally clicked under 10 times through the course of the upgrade (including the reboot), and it was done.

Microsoft had better get their shit together.

Quote of the hate.

Hatred paralyzes life; love releases it. Hatred confuses life; love harmonizes it. Hatred darkens life; love illuminates it.
~Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Posts about hate.

I don't know what any of that means.

I've been busy.

The buildup to the trigger pull on the business has been surprisingly fruitful. I cannot overstate the importance of making use of all your resources. Talk to everyone you know, and let them know you're starting a business, and you're looking for clients and pay for referrals. Help comes from the most unexpected places, and once you start making connections more directly related to your business, that network expands very quickly.

I finally got off my lazy ass and called Walther about the space gun, and they told me they'd send me a fedex label and I need only ship back with a note indicating the issue. I take this as good news since Walther is owned by S&W, and sending my 442 in was free and simple. I guess we'll see.

LameBook is good for more than a few hours of entertainment. The things some people post on public social networking sites make me lose faith in humanity. But then, there are people making sites about it, and people uploading it, and people laughing at it, so hopefully the segment of humanity I should be losing faith in is a small one.

Lua is a neat little programming language. I'm learning it for work, and I like that it's so easily built into other programs, and is frequently used as a scripting language within other products. I think I'll be running into it again in the future. Also, the dynamic tables are cool.

I still try to make use of my twitter, but don't expect any brilliant revelations.

The primary waster of my time has been Modern Warfare 2 (video notes: multiple kills unlock the remote controlled weapons, which are accessed when the player opens the laptop, so that's what's going on there), which I wager has been sapping productivity across the nation and to a lesser degree world since launch. The single player campaign is jam-packed with intensity, perhaps too much intensity. You can get through the campaign in about 5 hours, but when you're done, you'll think it has been longer. Like finishing your first episode of 24 and realizing that all that awesome was packed into a scant 40 minutes. But the real time waster is the multiplayer. Hours and hours (and hours) just melt away. The progress based unlocking of weapons and attachments keeps you going for ONE MORE level or ONE MORE kill. It's really something. But Penny Arcade has a point. I discovered the tactical knife/commando/marathon/lightweight combo early. It's fucking hilarious. Concordantly, the double shotgun guy really IS a dog rapist.

Assassin's Creed 2 claimed the remainder of my gaming time with its flawless execution and beautifully rendered world. All the kinks from Assassin's Creed 1 are gone, and golden mortar has been used to fill the cracks. In addition to being visually stunning, elegantly brutal, and intuitively designed, it has something AC1 didn't have; an ending! And not a shitty one either. Sure they left it open for the next game, but what game doesn't nowadays? Besides, after the ending, you'll WANT to know what's going to happen next. The side collect quests are still there, but they feel a little more connected to the story, and actually have a purpose. I'm talking to YOU, Desmond.

tl;dr BUY MODERN WARFARE 2 and ASSASSIN'S CREED 2

In related news; games are robbing you (SPOILER ALERT for Dragon Age at that link!)

Rediscovering old favorites is always fun.

Dexter somehow manages to outdo itself four seasons in. Seriously; more like this please.

A great video, with perfect music

Current earworm: Parisian Goldfish - Flying Lotus. If you want to know where I got it, you'll have to ask Breda. If you do, I can't recommend watching the whole video. Full disclosure: I watched the video many times. The first few times were for novelty, but after that I kept watching to see if I could reverse engineer the kind of mind that would direct and create such a thing. I mean; what do you say to the actors you've hired to get them to make the faces on the video? And where on Earth do those backgrounds come from? Continued watching actually gave me flashes of artistic brilliance, but that may have been due to my weakened mental state (due to the continued watching itself). Perhaps it's similar to listening to the drukqs album after only hearing selections from the album. You think Aphex Twin is brilliant until you listen to the rest of the album and realize he might just be throwing shit at the wall and seeing what sticks. (but don't mistake my derision for dislike, I think he's brilliant)

In other news; teenage boys will be teenage boys. It's harder to watch one do stupid shit when you realize that you'd probably have done the same at that age.

I overshaved (overshove?) my beard. I'm down to goatee mode. I think I look weird.

Mishaps Happening - Quantic

direct link

Some pre-thanksgiving awesome.

Irresponsible speculation wins again!

So the news is that my speculation was pretty accurate.

Quote of the poison

Both Modern Warfare games have a kind of escalating win mechanism for people who are performing well, and the "Killstreaks" only get more brutal in Modern Warfare 2 with the advent of the AC-130 or the Tactical Nuke - the latter of which wins games instantly. I resented it initially, until I recognized the core of shame that spun within the anger. As a young man, infinitely worse than the promise of corporal punishment was the shameful trip to the kitchen to obtain "the spoon," a plastic mixing utensil as supple as a hickory switch which was the implement of my torment. Certainly, being bombarded with 105 millimeter shells is bad. But the knowledge that your armed your enemy thus, with your sloth and your ineptitude, unfolds in the heart like a poison.
~Tycho

Also, "Why Penny Arcade doesn't suck Part 3"

Would Obamacare Kill Medical Innovation?

From HotAir

Sorry. I had to make it.

BIPARTISAN GROUP OF SENATORS STAND UP TO BUSH'S STONEWALLING ON TERROR PROBE!

Oh, no, wait, it was Obama's stonewalling, and no one cares.

Think this is just an isolated thing? Think Obama really is CHANGING things after Bush? Read more of these posts here and think again.

Healthcare Hoops: Where the ref is also a player

From HotAir

"That's what I thought."

Entered in ConnectWise

2002 vs 2009

BUSH WANTS NO TERRORISM ON HIS WATCH; STONEWALLS CONGRESSIONAL PROBE!

It's only terrorism when we say it's terrorism!

Oh, no, wait, it was Obama, and no one cares.

Think this is just an isolated thing? Think Obama really is CHANGING things after Bush? Read more of these posts here and think again.

Birds - Emiliana Torrini

Simply beautiful.


direct link

Onion: Ultra realistic modern warfare game features awaiting orders, repairing trucks

I actually picked up Modern Warfare 2 today so this is extra amusing.


Ultra-Realistic Modern Warfare Game Features Awaiting Orders, Repairing Trucks

Interestingly enough, I enjoyed the original Operation Flashpoint because you did things like ride in the back of trucks for minutes at a time, take training courses, and do guard duty. It was a very immersive game that relied very heavily on you making the right moves at the right time, but didn't constrain you to the point that the correct choice was obvious. This also gave you multiple ways to accomplish objectives such as retaking bases, searching the woods for enemies, and trying not to get fucking killed all the damn time.

Quote of the truth about handguns

I put 30K rounds through my $300 (in 1994) Ruger P-89 with only one trip to the factory for repair and it only misbehaved when I used non-factory magazines, crappy Egyptian military surplus ammo, or it was extremely dirty. The $2000 STI has had numerous repairs with about the same number of rounds through it and the Gun Blog 45 has the paint wearing off and the LDA trigger is a piece of crap.

Sometimes I hate my guns.
~Joe

"Woke up in a car

that was tokyo drifting everywhere."

Suicide more likely for census worker hanged with "fed" on chest

Yahoo News: AP sources: Suicide eyed in Ky. census worker case

Interesting.

I was wondering what was happening with this case.

My first guess may turn out to be accurate.

Tremendous Ca. parole failures allow 18 year-long kidnap and rape of 11 year old girl

Criminal.

Absolutely criminal.

What's worst is the knowledge that heads will not roll for this.

The parole system is a giant amorphous blob of buildings, cars, paper, computers, and lastly, people. You'd have better luck trying to nail jello to the wall.

Disgusting.

Absolutely disgusting.

Cyanide and Happiness: Waiting For The Bus

A tragedy that should have been averted

SB Sun: Three-year-old found gun, shot himself in face

RIALTO - A 41-year-old grandmother is the center of a police and Child Protective Services investigation after the woman's 3-year-old grandson got ahold of a .22-caliber handgun and shot himself in the face.

Leaving a firearm where it can be accessed by children who have no firearm safety instruction is an accident waiting to happen.

The law calls it criminal negligence, but it's just stupid. Now a child is gone because of this woman.

Quote of the Debt

I'm not convinced the majority of people are up to the task yet we protect them from their own stupidity almost as if they were children who would grow up someday. I sometimes see a future where the system collapses and Darwin collects on a massive debt we have been accumulating for the last 100 years. It would have been far, far better in so many ways to pay off Darwin in regular installments than to have the Grim Reaper swing his scythe in such a broad swath as I sometimes see as plausible.
~Joe Huffman

A quote of the day off of a different quote of a day. Very meta.

Best commercial ever

direct link

"The meteorite is indifferent."

Word Disassociation - Lemon Demon

Repostery!

How long until CBS is "not a real news organization"?

Jailed white supremacist murderer asks for better accommodations, is given them

OR:

Jailed white supremacist murderer makes mockery of California death penalty

AP: Jury complies with lifer's death sentence request

White supremacist asked for the death penalty while serving 45 to life because the amenities are nicer on death row than in the general population. He figures that by the time he's done with the California death penalty appeals process, he won't care about living anyways, and will have enjoyed his time in prison more than if he were in the general population!

He is literally asking to be made more comfortable.

The jury approved his request.

What a fucking joke.

Elementary school trend reveals sad social state

The mob mentality has no humanity.

It is a dangerous thing, and it's easy to slip into it.

Be careful, and be an individual.


Via Makezine Blog

The Philosopher Raptor sez:

Play stupid games...

... win stupid prizes.

My Workspace

I've gotten a few comments on how I run my work computers, so I think I'll go over my work setup. Normally people like to talk about their hardware setup, but I think I've found a seriously productive and versatile software setup.

Two boxes, one Windows, one Linux.

The Windows box has a dual monitor setup, and all inputs (mouse, keyboard) connected to it. The task bar is set vertically to increase the amount of windows it can display while showing title title text. Horizontally the similar programs either clump into one item, or shrink until only the icon is visible. The vertical bar lets me see everything. Windows taskbar lets you set your own shortcuts, and in the vertical position, I have some width to fit shortcuts to all the programs I use easily. I very rarely have to use the start menu.

The Linux box is a Red Hat flavor that runs headless (has no monitor/mouse/keyboard, only network connection and power), and runs GNOME for simplicity. It runs a VNC server that I connect to from my Windows box, and full screen on the entire left monitor.

VNC is a remote connection software that gets a bad rap from people who use it on windows (I was one of them) because on windows it's slow and annoying. Using it on anything other than a LAN connection meant "painting" the screen with your cursor every time you click on something and other annoyances. VNC servers on linux, however, are more like RDP. Seriously, you can watch youtube videos with it. The VNC fullscreen is a true fullscreen, and catches all keypresses and combinations with no latency on a LAN. (But make sure you match your duplex settings. On auto I experience lag)

At first, my GNOME desktop ran four virtual desktops (four separate screens you can flip through on your one monitor) that I rarely used. But after I assigned a keyboard shortcut to switching left and right through virtual desktops it became much easier to flip between different programs on different desktops.

My resolution is actually rather low. Because the LCDs I work with max out at 1280x1024, I had to make the most of the limited space by using multiple desktops on my Linux box, and the vertical taskbar on my windows box.

The amount of desktops I had on my linux session gradually grew. As it became easier to move between them, it just made more sense to put different windows on different desktops to keep different types of work separate. Compared to alt-tabbing or finding and clicking on the taskbar, finding the windows I want is much easier when I know what desktop they're on.

I currently run with 10 virtual desktops.


I do most of my work on my linux box, so my windows box rarely has to be rebooted, but my linux box does have one problem... Firefox.

Since I tend to run my PCs hard, it's very common that I'll have many windows of firefox with many tabs open on each, that I'll leave running for days at a time. The reason I don't leave them open for weeks at a time, is because Firefox will eventually crash, peg my CPU, hog my memory, or just lag intolerably. I've hit every update they've released, and tried every fix I've read. Same issue. I've come to the conclusion that Firefox just wasn't meant to be run like this.

Firefox aside, the linux box has been exceedingly stable at continuous running of mysql servers, terminal server connections, security scans, various scripts I run, and pretty much anything else I can throw at it. It's only a 1.2ghz box with 1gb of ram, but it runs like a champ. Every few months, I do get the occasional nautilus crash which is easily recovered from, and once or twice a year, I get a kswap0 freak-out that can only be resolved by restarting my X server, but those problems are nothing compared the stability I get on this configuration.

The windows box runs only the programs that won't run on linux or need to run locally. Most of my interface with the ticketting and database resources are done through the terminal server connection on the linux box. But the windows box is the only one with a soundcard, so the only browsing it does is online radio, media player, and the odd youtube video. This has kept the windows box running pretty strong. It will still get the occasional program run amok, but I'm quick on the draw with the end task button on the task manager.

I think it's a strong, productive, stable workspace that I've found perfect for processing work orders, engaging with customers, keeping research data available, writing and testing code, and pretty much any other odd job that gets sent my way.

Kinokofry's Animal Facts

7 interesting facts you probably didn't know about animals!

The only lesson we need learn from Swine Flu

If the government cannot provide enough vaccine to save us from a new influenza, how are they going to save us from something really nasty?

If you always do what you've always done, you'll always get what you've always got.

Ride Fast and I agree on Open Carry.

"Just stop it! They're junk!"

Some rare straight talk for the California legislature.

Make Mine Freedom (1948)

Not sure how I hadn't seen this before.

Evil executives refuse to continue working for less pay!

How DARE these people not accept a severe pay cut and continue working in the same capacity!

I mean, what would YOU do if your boss said you had to take a severe pay cut? Well, not YOU, I guess... You're not an evil executive. You're just a regular employee being paid a market wage to provide your services to advance the interests of your employer.

Oh wait...

The danger of taxes on health care benefits

First consider someone without coverage.

A man who does NOT have health insurance is hit by a car while crossing the street. One month later he is released from the hospital with a $400,000 bill. The man cannot afford to pay the bill, and is forced to declare bankruptcy. He suffers a serious credit hit, but begins working again to try to get his life back on track.

Next consider someone with coverage.

A man who DOES have health insurance is hit by a car while crossing the street. His insurance company pays his $400,000 bill. One month later he is released from the hospital. Under the Baucus Health Care bill (and many other bills proposed by Democrats), he would be taxed for the $400,000 worth of health care benefits he received from his insurance. (the limit on this kind of taxation is unspecified) The man cannot pay his tax bill because he doesn't make anywhere near $400,000 a year. The man files for bankruptcy. The man better hope the Democrats tax his health care benefits as income, because if they don't? Bankruptcy will NOT eliminate them.


While we're delving into the bankruptcy and tax implications of these health care bills, lets talk about the fine for not having insurance. If you, for whatever reason, are unaware that you are required by law to get insurance under these bills, and get a letter a year or two into the plan saying you owe one or two years of fees to the government for not having health care coverage, you will probably not be able to bankrupt out of these fines. Because you can't bankrupt out of penalties owed to the government.


SOCIALISM ROCKS!

ATF keeping our streets safe

Just heard an ad on the radio for 1-800-ATF-GUNS, the ATF illegal guns hotline.

The ad asks if you notice gang activity or gang violence in your neighborhood, then asks if you feel like a prisoner in your own home. Then it asks you to be part of the solution to stop violent crime, and report this activity to the ATF.

From someone who wasn't a great fan of the ATF; this is good.

Keep up the good work, ATF!

How do you keep bailout companies from paying back their bailout?

Ensure they can never compete with competitors who pay their executives the market rate.


Of course, this presumes the government does NOT want ownership of these institutions.

You don't need to make the slope slippery when you own the slope

I read a post from Ride Fast about how the police used OnStar to remotely and safely stop a carjacked car involved in a pursuit.

Pretty cool, eh?

No dangerous PIT maneuvers or impacts with innocent bystanders.

Except Ride Fast seems to think this could open the door to other uses, and eventually, abuses.

I didn't quite agree with him as I read his post. Maybe it's just because I have family in law enforcement, and know how dangerous there pursuits can be to the officers involved, but I honestly thought the benefits outweighed the possible abuses.


Then I read the last sentence of his post, and a chill ran up my spine.


I recommend you read it too.

Mainstream media reacts admirably

Is it change? I hope.

Not So Blue - Quantic

direct link

Perfectly matched style of video and music.

I'm getting pretty fucking tired

Of turning on the radio for news and hearing bullshit about balloon boy, balloon dad, or balloon mom.

NEWS, MOTHERFUCKER! DO YOU REPORT IT?!

Things you'll never forget

It's been about six months since Boomershoot, but right now I can close my eyes and be back in Orofino, Idaho looking through my scope at JD's target.

My body is cold, but it doesn't matter because I've already entered the final stage of stone-like stillness and single mental focus that comes just before firing a shot. My arms, my hands, my head, and my rifle are a single solid object in this moment.

I interrupt my shallow breathing with a slightly deeper breath, and speak two words. "Send it!"

After a brief pause of complete physical and mental stillness, I hear a muffled shot and I feel pressure against my chest. I do not flinch, and my eye does not waver, because this sensation is almost natural to me now. Through my scope I see bullet trace for the first time.

The high pressure and heat created by the bullet traveling through the air bends the light around it, allowing you to actually watch the bullet move through the air. You can literally watch the tiny projectile moving at 2800 feet per second fly through the air. The ripples of light around the bullet, and the disruption directly behind the bullet take the form of a wavy donut trailing behind the projectile.

The moment plays in my head in slow motion. The donut enters at 9 o'clock in my scope, follows a parabolic path upward toward 12 o'clock before it begins arcing downward toward the center of my crosshairs where a three inch by three inch white box rests, 380 yards away. I watch the donut drop perfectly into the target, and disappear briefly behind the solid white of the box. A fraction of a millisecond later the square of white disappears into a small cloud of white smoke that instantly expands into a four foot cloud. It hangs for an instant before the wind begins dragging it to the right. A smile involuntarily stretches across my face as I take in a breath and I pull back from the scope. The scent of gunpowder begins to register in my brain, and I turn to speak to JD just as the sound of the explosion hits us. "I saw it! I saw the bullet trace!"

Every time I play that scene over in my head I must smile.

There are some things you'll never forget.

It's Dancing Time - Mr Scruff and Quantic

Something upbeat for your Monday.

Raise you hand if you don't care about a kid who may or may not have been in a balloon

*raises hand*

Obama makes up his mind finally!

Hotair: Feds won't overrule states on marijuana laws

Yes, after bouncing around a bit, the Obama administration seems to have come to a conclusion of some kind.

Obviously he isn't exactly leading the charge up the hill toward total legalization of marijuana and changing the way we fight the War On Ourselves Drugs, but with California making very loud noises about legalization, I think this might be the best he could do on short notice, and without being too divisive.

Hell, this coming fight between the states and feds over legalization might be the only good thing that comes out of California's inescapable downfall.


There's one area in which California's prowess is unquestionable.

That area is the ability to pass more taxes.


Finally we'll be able to use that to an advantage

I dare say I may have more than three things I agree with Obama about!
1. Merit pay for teachers.
2. We can't let illegals "cut in line" toward citizenship.
3. Kanye West is a jackass.
4. Obama kind of supports legalization maybe???

But maybe I'm being too hasty. I mean, he was for legalization before he was against it

I still have HOPE that he will CHANGE the policy he called an "utter failure" back before he had the power to change it.

Capitalist Crow sez:

Perspective

It's friday

Just entered the resolution notes for a ticket in haiku form.

Research is fun!

Discrediting misleading graphs is ALSO fun!

Clicky for full size

Are these Hoovervilles? Or Obamavilles?

Mysterons - Portishead (live, Roseland, NYC)

By far my most favorite performance of the show. (mostly for the ending though) (3:26)


direct link

No sleep makes me giggly and cynical

The Golden Rule: He who has the gold makes the rules.

The Lead Rule: He who has the guns makes the rules.

Impressive in its simplicity.

No matter the time, no matter the place, the ability to deliver death as effectively as possible has been bending others to the will of few since the beginning of time.

The fear of death is so innately ingrained into our species that it is the natural choice for imposing will.

Maybe that's the real reason we believe killing to be part of human nature.

When people stop fearing death the threat will no longer be effective at deterring or encouraging action. At that point the elimination of enemies is more of a practical problem. A true world of violence. Where everyone lives for nothing and dies for nothing.

Removing the fear of death would necessarily remove the will to live. How can you be unafraid of death if you have reasons to live? Ideally, you'd have to promise people some kind of life after death to make them both happy to live and willing to die. Tack on a bonus prize if you do what you say, and people can live happily, under your direction, and be willing to die.

So that's what religion is for. A means of war.

When you look at it that way, what an effective way to recruit! You don't have to pay your soldiers, you need only promise them their wildest dreams. Recruitment is simple since everyone is afraid of death, and you can convince them not to be afraid. Expansion is as simple as procreation! Of course, it would help if you promoted reproduction activities by disallowing pregnancy prevention, and/or encouraging multiple wives. With a physiological bonus you can take advantage of the fact that sex is fun, and people want to have fun.

So now you've got productive, ever-expanding army of followers who do not fear death, and will follow your word. But how do you train them? Time for a holy war! Convince them they are under attack and tell them the only way to continue their way of life (people don't like change) is to destroy or convert them!

So the problem isn't religion, the problem is fear of death.

How do we get people to live and love life but not fear death?

If we could do that it would be the end all but the most wholesale violent coercion.

One of the traits of humans is their ability to survive, and this most definitely stems from the fear of the absence of survival (death). So this hypothetical people who live and love life but are not afraid of death would be rather easy to kill.

Maybe we just need to fear death half as much as we do now.


Seems odd doesn't it? That there is no way around this. Make people who don't fear death, they are unproductive and have no reason to live. Make people who fear death, and they let that fear control them. That control is inescapable. Almost like we were made as tools of will. But does that mean the one controlling is not a tool?

Get enough people to protect you because their fear, respect, or follow you, and you have less possibility of death to fear, but that doesn't mean you don't fear it. But if the person in power still has a small bit of fear, he can be described as a tool as well. But a tool of whom? A tool of his own fear? A fear that drives him to become as powerful as possible to protect himself from the fear? Seems circular.

If it were possible to make it impossible to harm another, would that be any different? I suppose it's the fear of an untimely death, not just death.

If you remove death completely, give everyone eternal life, then there is no zeal in life. The knowledge that we will someday be dead makes life sweeter. Would eternal life drive us to kill ourselves due to dissatisfaction with life? It still be the same life, it's just our perspective.

Once again, this is all in our head. We think about our demise, we build the fear of the unknown, we live life to the fullest knowing it will someday be gone, but we also allow that fear to make us do things we might not normally do, and we die anyways.

We are simple creatures. We have our wants, our needs, and our fears. Those three things are basically all that drive us through life. Complex social architecture is developed around these three things, but it's still so simple. If you eliminate fear, are our wants enough to drive us to continue living full lives? If you eliminate needs by providing everyone with basic living items (food, water, shelter), will their drive for wants be greater? Would their fear become greater too? Eliminate wants, and we're no better than creatures doing nothing more than surviving. We'd work to find food water and shelter, and we'd flee danger to stay alive.

Maybe the next big thing is the discovery of a fourth thing.

Maybe the fourth thing is perspective. The knowledge that we are particles of dust on a gnat's ass in relation to the vastness of space and time. We live on a tiny planet in a tiny galaxy in a universe in space just like trillions and trillions of others. Even in relation to the planet we live on, we may live a mere 100 years.

We are infinitely insignificant.

Hmm... I guess that didn't really help did it?


But who knows? Maybe just knowing the truth of your position in the universe can help your disposition.


Go smell a flower.

Go eat a steak.

Stare at the stars.

Sleep in.


All we have are the little things.

Open Carry Circle Jerk

Meh.

This pettiness between bloggers really couldn't possibly raise fervent disinterest in me more, but since I've been asked to weigh in (and I'm kind of bored) I will do so.

First I will comment on what Tam accurately calls the "brouhaha" between bloggers;



Now that that's out of the way, let me comment on opposition to open carry;

On one side you have people who are exercising their right.

On the other side you have people trying to tell them to stop.

Is that simple enough?

Quote of the don't do it for them

That woman was sexy...Out of your league? Son. Let women figure out why they won't screw you, don't do it for them.
~Shit My Dad Says

It NEVER rains in SoCAL!!!

GENIUS!


If only there were a way to parody this documentary.

Origamiflies at Kinokofry's

A truly inspired comic over at Kinokofry.

Go see the rest.

Two selections from the Amelie soundtrack

First, the song that was playing in my head this morning. A slow, beautiful composition perfect for today's rainy day.

Video may contain spoilers! Scroll the video off the screen if you plan on seeing the movie!
Le Moulin - Yann Tiersen

direct link

Next, a short jaunty tune to raise your spirits. :)

Pas Si Simple - Yann Tiersen

direct link

I believe these songs represent a good cross section of the entire album. If you enjoy this song I highly recommend the rest of the soundtrack. Naturally, I highly recommend the movie as well.



Aw fuck it. This one is too good not to post.

La Valse D'Amelie [Piano] - Yann Tiersen

direct link

Wonder if he was a Battlefield 1943 player?

Quote of the shortsighted men with sticks

Diplomacy between two peoples, one with the power of force and one without is not diplomacy. It's a surrender.

The idea that groups of people don't need threats of violence, but only the exchange of powerful ideas to exert will and keep enemies at bay is a lofty one. However, this world of peace loving non-violence comes crashing down as soon as one man realizes that by striking an opponent with a stick he can exert his will with the much more timely threat of painful death.

How would you stop this man? Argue that violence never solves anything? Or simply ignore him as he bashes in the heads of your intellectuals?

Civilized society, intellectual pursuits, and scientific developments requires that men man the battlements with swords and bows to keep the barbarians at bay. Without those men who would do violence to protect civilization, shortsighted men with sticks would rule the world.
~Me!

Not sure if I want to share where that comment was left just yet.

BREAKING NEWS!

Obama has also won an Emmy, an Academy Award, and the Miss America Pageant!

Research in the internet age: so easy a journalist won't do it

Not long ago I asked;

Perhaps a better question is; how long will a huge percentage of the population continue to believe these lies when the facts are a simple Google search away?

Well, how the hell am I to expect regular people to click once, type words, and click again when professional journalists can't be bothered to click on a link and check a quote?!




But maybe I'm not being fair.

Maybe no one ever taught them how to do basic research on the internet.

Well, instead of just complaining, I'm actually going to do something about it!

5 years of bloggy goodness

Hit my 5 year blogiversary.

Lets celebrate with some Obama posters I made.

CNN "fact checks" Saturday Night Live... Seriously.

Major network news agency defends the president from a late night comedy show?

Sad.

Stay tuned till the 3 minute mark to watch CNN say, "This wasn't funny, but when they made fun of Palin it was totally hilarious."

If you want to REALLY laugh though, stay tuned to the very end of the report where CNN says they asked the White House for comment, and they did what any serious organization would do, and didn't comment on a fucking comedy show.

How sadly revealing.

Hopefully those people who use CNN exclusively as their news source will scratch their heads long enough to begin broadening their news sources.

Senator won't can't read the bill

The candor of this senator should be celebrated.



This is a problem.

It's a problem beyond Republican and Democrat, it's a problem with what our legislative system has become.

It's a problem that must be fixed if we are to maintain rule of law in this country.

Quote of the torment of omnipotent moral busybodies

It would be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience.
~C.S. Lewis

Democrats elevate healthcare debate, but dastardly Republicans keep stopping them! ... somehow...

Shortly after Joe Wilson's disregard for decorum raised the ire of both parties, Nancy Pelosi delivers an emotional message, pleading for civility in this debate, and fearing this kind of irresponsible rhetoric would lead to violence.

But then---!


When Pelosi was reached for comment she said he shouldn't have to apologize, and added that the Republicans want to use this as a distraction because they have no plan.

Ok, I'm getting pretty fucking tired of hearing the Democrats, the party with total control over congress and the presidency, claim that the Republicans are holding them up.

Let me be very clear on a topic reporters are somehow incapable of challenging Democrats on;

Can the Democrats pass healthcare reform without the Republicans?


THE DEMOCRATS HAVE A SUFFICIENT MAJORITY
       TO PASS ANY LEGISLATION THEY WANT

PERIOD. END OF SENTENCE.


They have the majority!

They are filibuster-proof!

They could pass whatever healthcare bill they wanted RIGHT FUCKING NOW!


SO WHY DON'T THEY?!

Because they know their plans benefit trial lawyers, pharmaceutical companies, and the furthering of their socialist agenda more than it actually helps provide healthcare to Americans.

They know that once the American people find out what their plans are truly about, they're going to be angrier than they've ever been in their lives.

They know that unless they have Republicans who voted for the bill, Republicans that they can blame for all the ills of the bill, Republicans to use as scapegoats, Democrats alone will bear the brunt of the anger surrounding what will no doubt be remembered as America's failed attempt at Socialism.

They know that when the stories come out of people dying as they wait weeks treatment they could have gotten in hours before Healthcare "Reform," that those angry people with dead relatives will have no one to blame but the Democrats.

They know that passing this bill without Republican support will be the fiery death of their party.

THAT is why they don't "just pass the bill without Republicans."


NEXT TOPIC!


How on Earth do Democrats, up to, and including the Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, state publicly that the Republicans have no plan?


Republicans have no plan?!


Do they not have Google in DC? Do the reporters who do not challenge these --I'm going to say it-- liars not know of any Republican plan?

But most disheartening of all; are the people who watch these news outlets because they presumably want to be informed so trusting as to not see the need to do that same Google search?

You know what? I'll do it for them.

[CLICK THE BELOW LINK TO BECOME INFORMED!]

Do the Republicans have a healthcare plan?

[CLICK THE ABOVE LINK TO BECOME INFORMED!]

There. Can't get much more simple than that. If they still can't move their mouse over the link, and click it, then they refuse to be informed.


This whole fucking debate is upside down.

"Republicans have no plan!"
"Republicans are stopping the legislative process!"
"Republicans are coarsening the debate!"
"Republicans are ignoring the people!"

Just how long can left-leaning reporters, Democrat leaders, and the President of the United States of America keep lying about this debate?

Perhaps a better question is; how long will a huge percentage of the population continue to believe these lies when the facts are a simple Google search away?

An important message from non-celebrities on ObamaCare

A response video to the "people who get paid to pretend to be people get paid to pretend to know something about a real political issue" video.



Genius.

I wonder if there's a way we can try to keep these overpaid actors in the national light, and try to get them to comment further on things they don't understand. Hey, while we're at it, we can ask them how they feel about letting admitted child molesters go free. Whoops, sorry, I mean, just the ONE admitted child molester.

Keep talking, Hollywood.

Every uninformed sentence you utter from the pedestal you bought and erected yourself makes you less and less relevant to the people who are actually informed.

We agree Grandma was innocent, she's getting charged anyway, because that's my job.

Popehat: Handcuffed Grandmothers Should Just Shut Up and Think of the Children

The prosecutor basically says,
"Yeah, we all know she wasn't doing anything bad, but the law says I gotta arrest and charge, so I'm arresting and charging her."

Then the Sheriff basically says,
"Yeah, we all know she wasn't doing anything bad, but drugs are bad, m'kay?"

Let that sink in.

They BOTH AGREE the grandmother had no intent to make drugs.

They BOTH AGREE the grandmother was innocent of the intent.

But by the letter of the law, they must charge this innocent grandmother.


WHO THE FUCK WAS THIS LAW WRITTEN FOR THEN?!


Like I said earlier;

Hey, if you want to win the war on drugs, you've got to break a few eggs. And if you're still not winning, you just need to break more eggs. And if you STILL aren't making any difference, well shit, you better hire some more people to keep breaking eggs until something happens.

Something is going to happen alright.

Two beards

An important note

The Making of Samurai Jack

Samurai Jack is one of my all time favorite shows. I highly recommend you watch a few episodes to see if you are interested in this visually brilliant, yet understated series.

Lament of a Californian

Remember that whole gold rush thing? Land of milk and honey? Wagon trails heading west to prosperity?

Good times.

Obviously it took us a long time to get here, but I was naïvely holding out hope that we would reach the point at which the legislature stops and says; "Ha ha! Boy, we sure fucked over this economy. OK, no more playing, lets fix this state."

With the recent release of a STATE PRODUCED report saying that California's extremely negative business climate caused the state to miss out on 1.5 TRILLION DOLLARS over the past three years, I was hoping that time was approaching.

Apparently not.

AP: Calif. OKs fee to pay for global warming program

Yes, hot on the heels of a report that says California would have no budget crisis and probably have more money to spend frivolously, if only it were nicer to businesses, California institutes a new round of heavy taxes fees on some of the state's largest employers.


Ladies...

Gentlemen...

The state of California has sealed its fate.


California has cut open the goose that lays the golden egg, found nothing, and has begun cutting open all the other animals in search of gold, and burning down the crops in search of another goose.


There can be no recovery here.

There is no fix here.

There is nothing more here.

Only the husk of a once vibrant state, and a few glimmering mirages remain.


It is only a matter of time before the entirety of state of California comes crashing down.



There is only one hope.

One very remote hope.


That The People of California first stand up and vote out every last one of the bastards that did this.

Then The People of California demand that the new legislators overturn every bit of foolish legislation, nullify every challenge to the businesses that drove California to it's highest heights, and redraw every gerrymandered district in the state.

Then The People of California make the California Legislature part time. Remove the perks and the personal prestige. Make the job a civil service again. Texas legislature meets once every OTHER year, and makes pennies compared to our current $100k legislators. And they run in the black.

Once The People of California have done this, they must watch those they've placed in charge like hawks. Scrutinize every action. Question every bill. Root out the tiniest HINT of the poison that brought us so low, and eliminate it.

That's what we'd have to do to bring real change to this state WITHOUT letting it hit rock bottom first.

I keep saying "The People of California", because they are the only ones who can fix this. The legislators will not. They will fiddle while Rome burns, and ride their limousines over the ashes and into another state. Like a virus killing its host and seeking a new one.


But I, a serial optimist, just don't have faith that the majority of Californians will have the stomach to do what needs to be done to break the cycle.

The cycle of success, arrogance, decadence, collapse, stagnate, regroup, rebuild, strengthen, flourish, repeat is a tough one to break.

We see it happen in places like Detroit and Pittsburgh, both are in different stages of the cycle, but I think this will be the first time we see it happen on a state-wide level. Particularly for a state so large.

I do NOT believe a sufficient majority of Californians have the clarity to see what's coming, understand the dire necessity of skipping the bad steps of this cycle, and relentlessly push the difficult action necessary to save the state from collapse, and a long, painful recovery.

At least I know I did my best to divert the state from this path.

At least I know I tried.


I will be sad to see it go.


I don't agree with its politics.
I don't agree with what it does to the rest of the country.
I don't agree with the politicians we send to the highest reaches of government.
I don't agree with the laws it chooses to enact.
I don't agree with who and how it taxes.
I don't agree with what it chooses to spend or borrow money for.


But I will miss it.


Because it has been my home.


You may grow weary of a new dog that refuses to be trained. You may grumble as you pick up after it, and scrub at its stains. You may become embarrassed when it jumps on the leg of a guest. You may strike it with a newspaper as it persists at what it shouldn't. You may yell with frustration after hours of ineffectual instruction. And, yes, you may even wish it weren't yours.

But you will still cry if it gets put down.


But the most darkly humorous thing?

The people the state of California tried the hardest to save, to prop up, to support, to keep from failing...
The people California spent and borrowed and taxed in order to protect...
The poor will suffer the most.


Good fucking luck to all of us. We're going to need it.


I'm getting tired of having to say that.

Census worker nude, bound with duct tape according to witness

AP: Witness: Census worker's hanging body naked, bound

"The only thing he had on was a pair of socks," Weaver said. "And they had duct-taped his hands, his wrists. He had duct tape over his eyes, and they gagged him with a red rag or something.

"And they even had duct tape around his neck. And they had like his identification tag on his neck. They had it duct-taped to the side of his neck, on the right side, almost on his right shoulder."

Police would not substantiate the witness's report.

Unless this guy was into bondage (they're supposed to be able to tie themselves up) (the things we learn from the David Carradine story), seems like the possibility of suicide is gone.

Is this the beginning of crazy right-wing violence? Or illicit drug makers striking back?

Dunno. But many of the oddities of this story remain.

Site feed set to "Full"

Enjoy :)

A reminder of what happens when you engage in diplomacy with power-hungry dictators

The rest is history.

~intermission~

You Turn The Screws - Cake

A play for the bitter clingers

Today, President Barack Obama signed an executive order proclaiming September 26 National Hunting and Fishing Day.

After he signed he threw down the pen, looked at the nearest camera, and said,
"There. You bitter clingers happy yet? You've got your own day now. So you can stop buying record amounts of guns and ammo!"

fuck you ~ and your blog

Teehee!

Quote of the Barack "Kumbaya" Obama

From Tam on President Obama's attempted Kumbaya Circle at the UN.

It's almost pathetic, the mental picture of this grad-school wunderkind sitting across the poker table from the dons of Moscow and the oligarchs of Beijing, expecting that they will sincerely join him in giving up their ultima ratio politburo, (not to mention thinking that unstable delinquents like North Korea or Iran will cheerfully beat their switchblades into plowshares and join in the chorus of kumbaya.)

We haven't seen naivety like this in the oval office since Carter gave up peanut farming for geopolitics.
~Tam

Coming to an ebay auction near you...

PRE-BAN "Plush" Toilet Paper!

Actually, the environmentalists would probably make sure it was ILLEGAL to transfer "plush" toilet paper, which will no doubt give birth to...

The Plush Toilet Paper Black Market!

But seriously, this is fucking retarded. If the environmentalists had their way, we'd be squatting in ditches, naked.

AP colors gun usage

AP: 4 SWAT team officers shot in raid on NJ shore home

Seems a gun/drug running joint task force took down this piece of trash, and four officers were unfortunately wounded in the firefight. The piece of trash is in custody, two officers were hit in the vest, one in the foot, and one in the head. All are expected to survive.

Good story about the commitment of law enforcement organizations to work together, and the ATF doing its job well.

But please excuse me some nitpicking of the AP's selection of wording.

A gunman opened fire early Thursday on a SWAT team that burst into a home during a drug and gun raid, wounding four officers while spraying bullets from atop a staircase, authorities said.
[snip] The .357 Magnum used to shoot the officers...

Most .357 Magnums are revolvers, and hold 6 shots per cylinder. There is the possibility it was one of the newer "tactical" revolvers that hold 8 shots, or even a Desert Eagle (not impossible for a gun runner) holding 9 shots.

So bad guy shoots between 6 and 9 shots, and AP says he's "spraying bullets."

At 2:25 a.m., the task force consisting of officers from the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, New Jersey State Police, the Ocean County Prosecutor's Office and Lakewood police executed a "no-knock" search warrant at the single family split-level home.

So this task force ain't nothing to spit at. This isn't the one episode of Andy Griffith when you see them unlock the shotguns. This is basically federal SWAT. They're armed with fully automatic MP5s, or fully automatic M4s. Military weapons. But...

Police returned fire and shot Gonzalez several times. It was not immediately clear how many shots were fired.

I'm just going to go out on a limb here. I'm going to guess... ALL OF THEM.

The SWAT team from hell breaks down a door and begins ascending a tight staircase, a man appears at the top of the stairs, shoots multiple times, and two officers are noticeably hit. That motherfucker is going to get everything they've got.

The suspect, Jamie Gonzalez, 39, was in critical condition after suffering numerous gunshot wounds as police returned fire, Ford said.

AP calls the 6-9 shots a spray of bullets, and the cacophony of gun fire that must have erupted in that tiny stairway is "not immediately clear."

Yeah, I get that they're trying to sensationalize the story by starting it with "4 SWAT officers shot" instead of "2 SWAT officers wounded," and calling the unloading what was likely a 6-shot revolver "spraying bullets," but this is just another reminder of AP's colorful wording when they should simply be reporting.

Meh. It's not really a big deal, this one just bugged me.