Since obama was bitching about the cost of the Iraq war

STFU

Hans Zimmer & Johnny Marr LIVE

[direct link]

It's reassuring to know there are still true artists out there.

Look - Sebastien Tellier

Sorta NSFW

ReasonTV: How the commerce clause made congress all-powerful

VERY worth your time.


[direct link]

"Power can be used in silly ways and the constitution isn't our protector against undesirable government actions, only unconstitutional ones."
That's right. The constitution is not our protector against undesirable government actions.
This is.

from hotair

If Chris Christie didn't live in New Jersey, I'd be tempted to quit my job and go work for him.

[direct link]

How sad is it that this tiny bit of common sense and non-knee jerk reaction is so groundbreakingly refreshing in our political system?

Via HotAir

Home - Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros

[direct link]

Wanna find the Death Panels? Ask the Brits, they've seen 'em.

Telegraph: US breast cancer drug decision 'marks start of death panels'

Strict Machine (We Are Glitter Goldfrapp Mix) - Goldfrapp

[direct link]

Butt in the process of being kicked by work

Rough.

Nothing but quickies for a while.

Sola Sistim - Underworld

[direct link]

Turn this up for the cure to a shitty day.

Colt with ball

Looks like other animals love to play with balls too.

Buck up, buttercup

Alan tells us why we should all just chill out a bit.

Thanks Alan, I needed that.

Quote of the Socialism

The problem with socialism is that eventually you run out of other people's money.
~Margaret Thatcher

Blargh

Work is kicking up, and so is the business, so I've been fighting for downtime. I have fun coding for the business, but it's still mental exertion. My brain needs *droooool* time. So far, only two things have been effective at slowing down my overactive brain, teevee and alcohol, and I'm not sure which is worse for me.

Obama preps a nuclear bomb

Long-time readers know that I'm an optimist. I always look on the bright side of things, even when -- ESPECIALLY when they look the bleakest.

But in the unlikely event that the Dems get a big mid-term win with this naked vote grab, it will be the end of the United States of America as we know it.

Hyperbole?

No.

If the dems set this nuclear bomb for maximum effect, actually push the button, and pull a win out of it, it will mean several things;

1. Private Debt is now Public Debt
Lie, cheat, and steal to get into a loan, and say you can't pay it back. If you bitch loudly enough, someone will take care of it. Get more credit cards, and run 'em up to the moon! Make the minimum payment until you get bailed out! No consequences! Free money forever!

2. Income levels will drop
With the additional bailouts, and the follow up bailouts after people realize #1 is in effect, someone will have to be left holding the bill. It'll be businesses, and people who pay taxes. So people will either stop paying taxes, or get "laid off," go on the dole the like all the other looters, and take money under the table to maintain their lifestyle. Officially, income levels will drop, and joblessness will rise. Can't tax what you can't see on a W2.

3. Free loans until doomsday
Depending on the level of planning and acceptable risk level of their leadership, most lenders will figure out the implications of #1 pretty quickly, and open up their loans to anyone and everyone at high interest rates, so as to make another insurmountably large mountain of bad debt, so the government would HAVE to print more money to bail them out again! They'll take their bailouts, and either plan on leaving America, or squirrel it all away until doomsday.

4. Absolute Power until doomsday
Once the Dems get the confirmation that all the masses need are Bread and Circuses, they will print like they've never printed before in order to keep the ball rolling. Why they hell wouldn't they? In fact, it wouldn't surprise me if in the middle of this realization, they simply invoke emergency powers, and take dictatorial control. Who would stop them? Everyone's too busy eating their bread, and looking at the lions jump through the hoops. Dems will be in charge of the Former United States of America until doomsday.

5. Doomsday
No, not that Doomsday, the Doomsday when the international bubble bursts under the dollar, and the entire country crashes down to reality. You thought the great depression sucked? Get ready for The Final Depression.

If I ran every tech-related forum in the world...

...there would be a rule that if you answer any question about how to do something with, "Why would you want to do that?" You get permabanned, and your e-mail gets sent to penis pill spammers.

Its inanity is doubled by the fact that it's the answer to a question, and tripled by the fact that the person who said it was under no obligation to answer. This was their contribution to the thread.

That is all.

Repost for motivation

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


direct link

"Lethargic. Uninspired. Terrified."

Terrible true tales from phone support!

Me: Hello, how can I help you?
Customer: Hi, we're having a problem with our tape, it won't eject...
M: Ok, let me log in and take a look...
*Log in, look around, find the problem*
M: Looks like your media didn't mount due to a service error. I've canceled the backup, so you should be able to eject the tape and put in the new one.
C: So then we didn't get the Friday backup?
M: No, it failed, but once the new tape is in, I'll reschedule it to do the full tonight.
C: But what about Friday's data?
M: Those changes will be included in tonight's full backup.
C: But we need the Friday backup.
M: Tonight's backup will include it, so it will be backed up. Can you eject the tape?
C: Ok hang on...
*overhear him talking to someone else*
Other customer who obviously had english as a second language: This won't work because last Friday was end of month!
M: I'm sorry?
ESL: We do tapes at end of month to storage, and we need Friday's data!
M: If you eject the tape, and put in the one you were going to put in anyway, I can make sure Friday's data gets onto that tape.
ESL: But that will be today's data, not Friday's!
C: She's right, I totally forgot, we need that end of month tape.
M: ... But Friday's backup failed. I can get you that data tonight if you swap the tapes.
ESL: But if we swap the tapes then today's backup will be on there!
*carefully weighing the potential outcomes of continuing this call*
M: You know, you have a good point. I didn't even think of that. Let me get you to your field engineer. He'll be able to help you because he's more familiar with your systems.
ESL: Finally! Thank you!
C: Yes, thanks for knowing when you're over your head.
M: Oh, I know when that happens.

Test blagging from teh droid

Hacked, running bugless beast 0.4 froyo, overclocked to irresponsible levels!

Just the way I like it.

Full post of the awesome coming soon.

Published with Blogger-droid v1.4.9

Android ASE Perl dialogGetResponse() example

use Android;
my $a = Android->new();
my @choices=('omg','wtf','bbq');
$a->dialogCreateAlert("make a selection");
$a->dialogSetItems([@choices[0],@choices[1],@choices[2]]);
$a->dialogShow();
my $selection = $a->dialogGetResponse()->{'result'}->{'item'};
print "you selected @choices[$selection]\n";

Enjoy!

He did it. He really... really... did it.

The President of the United States of America went on The View.

It's no secret that I disagree with Obama's politics, and even his personal beliefs, but those are just ideological differences. I still respect the man for his conviction, personal strength, and to a lesser extent, for the office he holds.

But this is just embarrassing.

A sitting president going on The View to appeal to his soccer mom following is simply embarrassing.

No, it's not just that it's Obama, I'd say the same for any sitting president. But this makes me embarrassed for my country, and shows this president's shameful disregard for the prestige of the office of the president.

Disgusting.

True story.

Clever girl...

It seems Google's insidious plan to provide a scripting environment for your favorite language that is technically implemented and barely documented has had the desired effect. The same effect of eating a single potato chip, then realizing the bag is empty.

I knew I was going to do some development for the droid, but I didn't know that scripting for it would make me more excited about the prospect.

Google, you coy little minx...

Is there a (long-term) goal to permit writing Android apps in these other supported languages, or is it just for quick and dirty experimentation?

This is possible. However, the first priority is to make the existing system stable, more user friendly, and to provide more comprehensive access to the Android APIs.

I'll play your game...

Busy busy busy

Light posting lately primarily due to the business taking up most of my free thinking time, and work-work kicking up. Early sign that the recession is easing.

We got our first customer that we have no need to offer a "friendship rate" to. Very nice to charge full price. Beginning to feel like this is getting serious. Oh yeah! We seem to have found a good spot to develop our Big Damn Idea™ (The consultant work is to make enough money for us to make the Big Damn Idea™. The Big Damn Idea™ is what makes us Big Damn Millionaires™.) I figure it'll take about a year for us to get it 75% ready to sell. At first, I thought it was a solid idea, and was happy we'd get rich. But as I thought more about it, I realized the full implications of that level of success, and got extremely excited at the potential of being able to move wherever we want, and take our jobs with us. I'll have that big house on acreage with the range in the back in no time :) (update since I started this post a week ago: (told you I was busy) we've got another Big Damn Idea™. Awesome.)

Gaming has been light. Mostly killing time until New Vegas. Been playing Fallout 3 on Very Hard, and it's... very hard... Still fun though. I'm playing through stealthy-style, which is actually possible with the Operation Anchorage add-on and its Chinese Stealth Armor. Once you get the better criticals and silent running, you just start owning. Ol' Painless is my favorite weapon. I'm really looking forward to the hardcore mode in New Vegas. Ammo weight is going to be... interesting...

Updated iPad thoughts

The iPad has actually managed to find a niche in our lives, and has dovetailed in better than I had expected.

I've found the ipad to be somehow freeing as far as internet access is concerned. It seemed so trivial to grab the laptop, sit down on the couch with it on your lap, and fire it up, but now that I don't have to do that, it's extremely convenient. Getting a thought of something to check out, grabbing the ipad sitting conveniently withing arm's reach, pressing the power button for a no-boot startup, and doing your search is awesome. The iPad is slim enough to lean against something or participate in a stack of books, so there's always a place for it. The other unforeseen benefit is that my wife like to stretch out on the couch across my lap, leaving no room for a laptop (even my undersized Inspiron 11z). Being able to have that screen in your hand, and in any position you need has proven to be unexpectedly convenient. The portability makes browsing, youtubeing, and reading more convenient in bed too. It's easier to get your brain going when you're catching up on blogs or news in bed. The weight is still a small issue, but as I said previously, manageable.

Netflix streaming has been far more useful than I thought. With only one teevee, we're usually stuck watching what the other wants, which isn't too bad because we like a lot of the same shows, but if I'm playing a game she doesn't like watching, or if she's watching a show I don't feel like watching, it's easy to fire up Netflix, and pick one of those movies out of your instant queue that you want to watch, but don't think your spouse wants to watch. Maintaining physical closeness while both of you are enjoying the leisure time.

Safari has started being picky about the pages it chooses to load. If you're lucky, it'll crash, and you'll have to reopen it, and kill the page before it loads to the point to crash again. If you're unlucky, it'll try to load so hard that it'll get stuck, making safari completely unusable. And since you can't kill a crashed app, (APPLE PRODUCTS DON'T CRASH WHY WOULD YOU IMPLY SUCH A THING?! HERETIC! BURN HIM! BURN HIM!) you are forced to reboot the whole device. It's apparently a known issue, in that, users know about it, and apple refuses to acknowledge it.

Following Safari's lead, YouTube has been equally picky about videos it loads with ease. Probably 50% of the time, it can't download the video at anywhere near a usable speed. The same videos download just fine on a laptop on the same network. This is also a known issue, in that, users know about it, and apple refuses to acknowledge it. At least there are fixes out. Wait, did I say "fixes?" Because I meant "HILARIOUS fixes!" Check out that site for other data interruptions, and you'll see that doing things like adjusting the brightness fixes the network issue. Apple just gets more and more like Microsoft every day...

The third party app crashing has been lighter, but Sketchbook Pro persists in crashing with annoying regularity when processing transparency for multiple layers. This is particularly annoying because Sketchbook Pro is awesome, and I love playing with it. (though I'm not sure why the resolution is so low) (oh wait, probably for the same reason it crashes when processing transparency for multiple layers) I've just learned to save frequently, or suck it up. You know, just like in Windows...

My previous statement still stands though. It's not worth the money at the moment. Wait until the price comes down, or the next software version, or the next release of hardware with new features, or any combination of those things. You might weight some of those benefits noted here and previously more than I do, so keep that in mind.

Ghosts n Stuff - Deadmau5

[direct link]

"All according to plan."

That guy

Updated phone thoughts

Got a new work phone, and have been considering the Droid lately, so I've been more aware of the strengths and weaknesses of my phones and potential replacements.

The BlackBerry has been chugging along merrily, resisting my mistreatment, and only suffering a single design flaw. I purchased QuickLaunch a few months ago, and have been extremely pleased with the increased control. I love being able to operate my phone without looking at it, and the customizable shortcuts coupled with the BB's autotext feature means I can press the side button twice to open a text message to someone, press "q" three times (it's in the corner of the keyboard, and easy to find), then press space to autocomplete the "qqq" to "On my way." and click twice to send. All without looking at my phone. Once I started considering the BB strengths, I had to stop and really think of all the times I use the built in shortcuts and the QuickLaunch shortcuts to navigate through the OS. It was just so intuitive, I did it without even thinking. No tapping and scrolling, no clicking and dragging, just press "D" for memopad, "C" for contacts, "B" for browser, and go! Not to mention, doing all these shortcuts so quickly means I get almost no OS lag, which would wear on my nerves quickly.

I've gotten quite good at typing blind on it, which I love, and the keys are just as responsive and sturdy as the day I got it. Considering the new droids has made me respect the BB's overall size, and form (most droids being big and blocky). Big enough to feel sturdy and sure in my hands, while small enough for one handed operation (and I have small hands), and easy pocket carry (which I prefer). The trackball navigation has become second nature, and in the event of lag (usually when opening a heavy app), I scroll the ball down the exact amount I intended to move the cursor exactly where I intended. I only realize how reliable it is because the lag makes me wonder if I got the right amount of scroll just before it highlights exactly what I was looking at. This brings me to the one design flaw.

The trackball is prone to gather dust, and debris, causing it to refuse to roll in one direction. Earlier models had removable trackballs, and a little maintenance was no big deal, while later models use touchpads which eliminate the moving part altogether. The BB Bold, however, had a non-removable ball, which means the only way to clean it is with alcohol and a cotton swab. I've only had it lock up on me three times, but every time was still annoying. I'm worried that it will eventually lock up to the point that I can't clean/fix it.

Aside from that, the BlackBerry really shows its design maturity in almost every category. It really is a working phone. I'll miss it when I switch.

I considered getting it as another phone, but a BlackBerry, a Droid, AND a (work) Samsung Windows Mobile phone? That's one too many.

Infected by the Droid

My interest was piqued. I started watching some feature videos, and I was very interested. Then I read about the ROM community, and I was extremely interested. Then I saw the linux shell underneath with scripting support, and I was sold.

Custom roms
Custom boot animations
Scripting support (incl. Perl, lua)
Open development (java based)

What's not to love?

I'll probably be going with the original Moto Droid for the extensive 3rd party ROM support, and keyboard.

I've been wanting to truly own my cell phone for years, and now I can!

-- Other droid phone notes --
The HTC Incredible really is. You need to play with one if you're even considering droid.
The Droid X is the monolith from 2001, but custom roms for it are not far off.
My sister took a chance on the original Motorola Droid, and has loved every minute of it. She doesn't even touch her computer anymore.

Sometimes people vanish from the face of the Earth

Last week we celebrated the finalization of my parents' divorce.

Wow. That is such a strange sentence to write out. Almost as strange as the fact that we were celebrating what would have been crushing mere years prior. I guess it should be a reminder that life will always surprise us.

My former mother decided to celebrate by sending my dad a picture of herself smiling, with the caption, "Look at me I'm Happy!!!!" Dad, having not physically seen her for quite some time, was surprised, and forwarded the picture to my sister. My sister called to warn me, then forwarded it to me. The warning wasn't enough.

She had obviously undergone a few plastic surgeries, and her face barely looked as I remembered.

I called my sister immediately. Previously, we had talked about how she had changed into a different person in all aspects but her appearance. The commonly heard phrase was "this person walking around in mom's body." But now we talked about how she had completed the transformation. That woman really IS someone else now. Inside and out. My mother is gone. I've already mourned her loss, but this was still hard to see.

I wonder how many other people are out there, tightly coiled just beneath the surface, ready to spiral out of control at turn into a different person over the course of a few mere years. So sad, these unbalanced people. More sad, those around them who can't see it because they are blinded by love and kinship.

Saw a new iPhone 4 ad last night

The actors were very obviously holding it in the Steve Jobs Approved™ manner, while trying to look as natural as possible.

They failed.

Why didn't they just toss the slick, sleek, aesthetically perfected, beautifully understated iPhone in a silly bumper case?

Oooohhhhh....

I'm drunk

Awesome.

"You're all assholes."

Through a bit of luck, I was off on a day when my friend was speaking at a local hacker meeting. I was going to be anti-social, but I dragged myself there, and was rewarded with some interesting conversation.

One guy told us about a talk he saw called "You're all assholes." So named because they took suggestions on what to do the talk on, and got suggestions like "Email," "Websites," and "SSH." At which point they realized their attendees were all assholes. The talk continued, mostly about how you were supposed to be attending the meeting because you wanted to engage in a high-level discussion about application and network functions, but instead, were attending because you don't understand basic computing.

The final point of the talk was; if you're not personally interested enough to look up some basic information yourself by spending the day at Barnes and Noble or the library with a pen and notepad (recently found one of my old notepads) or (at the risk of sounding "kids these days have it so easy") do a simple fucking google search and just start reading, then you are never going to have the complete knowledge necessary to effectively consider all possible attack vectors, and effectively exploit them.

Almost any human can learn or do just about anything if they have the drive to do it. But there is a difference between someone who can do something, and someone who wants to do something.

This is why enthusiasts will always beat the people who are only doing something because it's their job.

The enthusiast will do the extra research, work the extra hours, and return the next day excited to continue.

We were expanding on this point to a newbie, and I started listing the things you need to know and be able to do to be an effective hacker, and surprised myself with all the things I've taught myself the years in order to accomplish my goal. Esoterica abound.

But I still do it, because I still love it.

The old saying about finding out what you're good at, and finding out what you love doing is still very much in effect. I just wonder if my generation had time to find out what those things are.

Quote of the TARP

Never mind the money that these same banks make getting endless 0% interest loans from the Federal Reserve (aka You) while either they lend it back to you at 14% or just lend it right to back the government and pocket the yield.
~Dylan Ratigan

Whole lot of truth going on over at Zero Hedge.

Worth your time.

King Of Snake - Underworld [Everything, Everything DVD]

[direct link]


[direct link]

Puzzle Quest 2 Interview by GameSpot

This is delicious Puzzle Quest 2, you must play it.


[direct link]

Puzzle Quest is back, and not in the shitty way all those other Puzzle Quest games were. Puzzle Quest 2 is all the things you loved about the first game, with some Awesomesauce on top.

The demo is free to download on XBox live Arcade. Give it a shot.

ahh, fuckit

Two more!

Had some serious coding problems last night

Had some fun last night.

Part of why it made sense for me to start a company for which I would have to write scrapers and scrubbers is because I really love the challenge.

Well, last night it got just hard enough for me to have fun. (that's what she said!)

I put on the headphones, cranked up the music, and stared at the code until I figured out a way to change the architecture to work within the updated requirements without rewriting the program flow (or the whole thing!).

It was a fun, creative, challenging process, and along the way I got to see how much money our program was going to save our customer by minimizing the delta between his prices and those of his competitors.

At the first small business class we went to, when asked the question "Why go into business?" I was surprised that my immediate answer was "To provide a service." I actually want to help my customers, and I know my partner does too. That's how I know we're going to go far.

Excelsior!

Concrete jungle - pfadfinderei & modeselektor

[direct link]

A liberal arts major wins an award!

But it's probably not the one she was going for...

That is a good post.

Watch anime?

Watch this. (and the two following episodes)

I laughed until I cried.

Pining for a fictional Wyoming

I've been reading Molon Labe this weekend, and every time I put the book down, I note the lingering motivation to move to the fictional Wyoming. I read, and literally think, "Wow, this sounds great. We should totally move there!"

Guess Mr. Party knows how to write to his audience.

Hope springs in Oakland.

Reuters: Ca. BART cop found guilty of manslaughter

Everyone was foreseeing violence after this verdict. When the verdict was read, there were many reports of companies sending their employees home early to avoid the potential riot.

But I have hope.

Watching the counter-protest of the Lovelle Mixon protest gave me pause, and hope that Oakland was starting to figure out that they'll never get ahead if they burn their city, riot at the drop of a hat, and refuse to cooperate with the policing force.

I have hope that Oakland will keep itself together after this.

Overheard at work

Me: The thing that really sucks about the whole situation is that we have people who can do all the things that would have prevented this failure. We just didn't have someone to tell them to do it.
Coworker: There is no shortage of can at this company. Only a shortage of will.


Damn shame. All this talent and we apparently don't know how to use it.

God help me.

I tried soy "milk" in my cereal this morning, and it was disappointingly tolerable.

I see more marshmallow mateys in my future.

*sigh*

I want to write an astronomy textbook.

So at the end I can write; "tl;dr It's turtles all the way down."

And now, a joke!

What do you call a KKK member and politicians who says "nigger" on TV, and gets away with it?

Answer

California foodstamp cards used at strip club ATMs

You just can't make this shit up.

Sony doing something right?

Marco seems to be experiencing a distinct lack of suck with his Sony eReader.

Sure, he needs special Sony software to convert whatever format he has the book in into the Sony format, but from what I have read, it is very accepting of original formats, which is as uncharacteristically Sony as making a product that is fully functional. When I read that it acted like a regular flash drive when you plugged it in, my skeptic-o-meter pegged.

So what's the catch here Sony?

Is it set to lock you out until you plug it into a computer and let it do a Sony "update" every month? Will a future update remove some useful functionality? Or will you dust off the old standby, software update makes computer unusable necessitating uninstallation of the software, and reinstallation of the original version from the CD, followed my months of clicking "don't update" until the software updates itself anyway, causing you to repeat the process?

What am I thinking? This is Sony we're talking about!

Tell us about the secret transmitter reporting what books are loaded so you can sic your lawyers if you find one you don't think the user bought? Where in the proprietary eReader file format is the reader storing the amount of time the reader spends per page, what books they finish quickly, and what books they reread so that data can be uploaded the next time it's connected? Where is the flesh eating beetle compartment set to open if the user doesn't buy the extended warranty?

C'mon Sony. No one can take a great new idea, create great hardware, install great firmware, and fuck it all up with cumbersome, feature limiting, locked down software like you can! No way this is the exception that proves the rule. I'll just wait a year or two for the nasty to come out...

Rushed school project nets pure Magic

MGMT "Kids" Fan Video by Jon Salmon (30 million youtube hits)


[direct link]

The story behind the video.

Want to watch more videos like the world cup?

YouTube has a button for that!

A truly epic fail by Apple

People are standing in line for hours for the privilege of paying $500 for a phone that doesn't work when you hold it in your hand.

Let that sink in for a minute...

APPLE has built a CELL PHONE that doesn't work if you HOLD IT IN YOUR HAND!

This is unbelievable.

I mean, seriously, unbelievable. Can you imagine if you issued a press release before the iPhone 4's drop date that Apple's new flagship product was a cell phone that stops working when you hold it in your hand? You'd be laughed off the planet!

How does a flaw like this slip by product testing? Was there even any product testing? I mean, being able to hold your phone in your hand is a pretty fucking basic requirement for a phone! Did everyone wear latex gloves while testing it or something?

I know this phrase is tremendously overused, but this is a truly epic fail.

UPDATE: Apparently apple has been saying that its customers are obviously not holding their phone correctly. Except, they're just holding it as advertised. Whoops. This just makes the whole issue even more confounding. How'd they even film the commercials? Or were they all props with simulated screens?

California foodstamp cards used at casino ATMs

This should be grounds for immediate welfare denial.

Wait, what am I saying, this should be charged as theft.

This is disgusting.

asdfmovie2

[direct link]

Start Wearing Purple - Gogol Bordello

[direct link]

DISCLAIMER: ET is not responsible for the mental repetition of this song negatively impacting your ability to use use brain your function at with.

This is Apple Perfection™???

Hey, so, you know how Apple is supposed to just work and all that? Say good bye to viruses and crashes, and now available with both great taste AND less filling?

Yeah. No.

I'm going to start keeping track of the amount of crashes I have on the iPad. I figured the first few just had to be flukes, because you don't hear people complain about Apple OSs crashing, because Apples Just Work™. But there I was, working or playing, and boom. Crashes.

The third party app crashes I can give a partial pass to, because Apple didn't write them, but one would expect them to test them for stability. Because a crashing third party app to a common Apple user (hurrr) is probably indistinguishable from an OS crash. I've been amazed by the amount of crashing I've experienced with third party apps, and have started saving my work as I go (which is not always easy depending on the app, because there is no save function, because APPLE PRODUCTS DON'T CRASH WHY WOULD YOU IMPLY SUCH A THING?! HERETIC! BURN HIM! BURN HIM!) So I've gotten into the habit of opening up a new application, doing something, quitting, and coming back to see if it saved. Then saving or quitting or whatever I need to do to protect my updates from a crash every few minutes or few changes I make.

Isn't this what Apple users were trying to get away from? Constantly saving just in case you get a blue screen of death and lose all your work? Now I'm just doing the same damn thing, and without all the extra functionality of a complete OS!

Where was I? Oh yeah, I can half-forgive the third party app crashes, but the Apple apps like iTunes, Safari, and the app store crashing? WTFM8?! This is THEIR application running on THEIR software running on THEIR OS running on THEIR hardware, and I'm still getting crashes? And must the app store reset the breadcrumbs of where I was whenever I install an app? It's hard enough to get a complete listing of a specific type of app in the store without clicking to install one item, being kicked out of the app store just so I can stare at a progress bar, only to return and find I'm back in the top-level category listings! Then to sit there trying to remember what category you were in, or what search you did to get to the listing you found the related app on to get to the one where the similar app listing included the other app you wanted to download. Heaven forbid you want to install two items from the bottom of the listings for a category, and have to click "Show more" wait five seconds, scroll down, click "Show more" again, and repeat 10 times only to install the first app, get kicked out to stare at a progress bar like a simpleton staring at a toaster, then go back to the app store, and do the same thing again for the second app. But hey, I guess it was built around simple, so why not build for simpletons?

I also enjoy watching iTunes or the iPod function shit itself when it has to do more than one thing at a time. Like if you are trying to download, browse, watch, or listen when a TOS update comes up, or you have to reenter your password. This morning there was a good 30 seconds of hesitant half-function before the app store choked to death on its own vomit and collapsed as the home screen popped up just in time to prevent me from seeing the app store deathrattle and release its bowels. At this point, I (of course) immediately clicked on the app store again and chuckled while the OS spent 20 or 30 seconds cleaning up the shit and vomit before reanimating the corpse and lurching it up on the screen.

All that said, blah-bitty-bloo, still not worth your money just yet, still a fun toy, etc.

Basic OS functionality? There's an app for that.

I was playing around with the sketchbook app, and made a bunny.

[pause for chorus of applause]

Technically I made two bunnies after the first one disappeared when the iPad crashed, but-- Ok. She wanted me to send her the file, so instead of setting up one of my e-mail accounts on the iPad, I just logged into gmail from Safari. I composed an e-mail and clicked to add the attachment... Except I couldn't browse the file system... Weird. Well I guess they want me to use their e-mail tool instead of doing it my way. Figures. Instead, I browsed to imageshack to do the upload so I could just send her the link... Except I couldn't browse the filesystem... Huh. Could it be that safari truly doesn't have an internet browser based file system browser? I think a moment, and remember Flickr. Flickr! Flickr is all Web Two-point-oh-y so it has to have functionality on the super hip Apple OS. I browse to Flickr, and I can't do any uploads. This was after I browsed the Flickr pool of other people's sketches they did on their iPads. How were those people uploading? Oh! There's got to be an app for it. Then I realized why there had to be an app for it.

The reason there are so many apps for doing tiny, menial tasks such as uploading files, using social networking sites, and almost any site with ajax involved, was because the OS couldn't do any of those things.

But why would they make an OS that had that basic functionality built in, when they could remove it, and sell an app for $0.99 that adds the functionality they clearly went out of their way to disable?

Amazing. I am both disgusted and impressed.

Doing the jobs Americans won't do.

The Minuteman Project: Doing jobs Americans won't do. American politicians, that is. Motivational poster demotivator

Think Obama hates it when states take their border security seriously?

Just wait until the citizens start forming up armed posses to protect their neighborhoods from cartel violence and threats.

If this goes unanswered by the Feds, they're practically handing the AZ police force over to the cartels on a silver platter. Once the AZ police realize that they are on their own, how long do you think they're going to hang around to get shot at by superior firepower and numbers?

Once those posses start forming up (if they haven't already), the justice and security they provide will be... imprecise. Lets be honest, a bunch of guys with guns aren't exactly a legal system, which is why we formed a legal system in the first place. We send money and support to remote areas so the law can be enforced evenly all over the country, and civilization can take hold. But we need to maintain the power of law to maintain our civilization. Without enforcement from the highest office in the country, can you blame the beleagured citizens for taking the law into their own hands?

If Obama hates it when states take their border security into their own hands, he'll be livid to hear mere citizens are picking up guns and doing the job the feds won't do themselves.

"Hello, David? This is your doctor. Hang up the phone, and call 911 right now."

David at RNS had a collection of minor maladies compound into a serious situation.

He's ok now that they figured out what was going on, but that must have been pretty scary.


MORE SPLEENS MEANS MORE POWER

Seattle cop punches poor defenseless girl while attempting to exact hate crime on underprivileged minority

Not really, but I'm sure that's how it will be framed.

If the cop has his hands on you, you've already lost. Don't fight.

In related news, WTF is up with Seattle PD's takedown training, or lack thereof? Where are their Tasers? Where is their backup? Does this cop even know how to do that arm lock he was attempting for several minutes?

I understand he was playing it soft, and I understand that it was probably because so many people were around him, but that crowd could have just as easily turned ugly. (Also, no one offers to help the officer? I guess I don't know the etiquette in that situation.)

This two minute flail-fest is exactly why cops are rough in takedowns. Once he had her against the hood of the car, the head should have hit the hood to control the rest of the body. Instead, her upper body is free to move and twist. I dunno. This whole video just made me feel real uneasy about the officer's safety.

Quote of the Silent Hill 2

It's a fascinating voyage of pain and dispair that leaves you emotionally drained and satisfied, like fucking a burning dolphin.
~Yahtzee

iPadulations

Because the business my partner and I started targets companies that don't know about the type of service we are offering, and haven't been actively (or correctly) marketed to, we ran into difficulty explaining the specifics of what we can do for them. Our elevator speech needed to be adjusted depending on the business of the person we were talking to, and even then, it wasn't always clear to the potential customer exactly what we were talking about.

We thought about the problem for a bit, and decided that this might be the only legitimate use for the iPad. We can get a 3G model, VPN into our network, and show them some interactive sample data without having to ask for internet access or commandeer their workstation.

For that reason and one other, my business partner and I bought two iPads. Both 32 gigs, one wifi+3G, one wifi only. We have yet to try out the 3G service, but for how shitty AT&T's voice network is, their data network has been fast and solid for both of us.

My derisive complaints remain; no card reader, no standard media storage, no flash player, proprietary everything, limited (and often buggy) applications, and a simplified, locked-down, lowest common denominator OS. I laughed at the early adopters because I knew that Apple was going to wait 6-12 months, and release a new iPad with one of those features added. Then 6-12 months later? One more feature. I never would have bought one personally, considering the above issues and the excessive cost.

But now that I have one...

The Good
The interface is flawless, as is par for Apple. You could give it to a chimp, and an hour later, he'd be setting up an RSS reader for his favorite blogs, and playing Words with Friends with another chimp in Florida. The ad says "You already know how to use it." and they aren't lying.

The display is brilliant. The color reproduction and contrast are fucking beautiful. The brightness effectively blends every fingerprint smudge away. No color weirding when viewing at any angle. Perfection.

The battery life is very good. Use it for hours, and watch it drop to 99%. It's not measured in days like a lower-tech e-reader, and it might be worse for movies on Netflix or something, but for casual use for a variety of purposes, I think they've found a great balance. No complaints here.

The reading of websites and blogs is quite optimized. The text rendering is sharp and clean, and the horizontal lock feature is very useful. I think they wanted to be very sure to get this right.

The Bad
I hate to sound like nutnfancy, but it's just barely too heavy. This is a tiny problem, but it's noticeable when you hold it in certain positions for more than a minute. It also affects unsupported one handed holding. Again, not a big issue.

Playing videos is hobbled due to Apple's "No video format exists except Quicktime" mentality. I have yet to find a working WMV player, and the one system that is supposed to play MPEGs and other formats requires they be streamed through a separate local server. Youtube plays, and is technically integrated with the browser, but there seems to be some intangible clunkiness there. I guess they've got to keep you buying movies from iTunes.

No multitasking. I know this was done intentionally to keep things simple, but I think we're ready to listen to Pandora while we browse the internet. Our heads won't explode, Steve. We've been multitasking since Windows 3.1, so this refusal is starting to wear thin. I suspect we'll have to wait two more iPad revisions before they provide the software to add this functionality, and it almost certainly will not work on previously released hardware.

The keyboard is debatably bad, but I've heard reports of people with enough practice using it easily. It's too easy to drop the blade of your hand or an errant finger onto the keyboard, and inadvertently add a few letters to your word. So try it out for yourself to see if you can work with it. But the fact that the F and J keys are rendered with the touch tab on them should tell you everything you need to know :]

File transferring is cumbersome without using iTunes (tough if you run linux). Fortunately DropBox is free and effective at getting files from your computer to your iPad, but that doesn't change the fact that Apple wants you to use iTunes instead of your tool of choice to transfer files... Or maybe they just want to be able to add the card reader in the next version. Either way, it's a dick move.

Conclusion
So it's too physically heavy, too software complicated, and too expensive to be a good e-reader; and it's too software incompatible, too unfamiliar in form, and too simple to be a netbook laptop. But I guess that's what Apple was going for. It's not either of those things, it's just an iPad. Nothing more or less. But the question is, was there a market for an in-between device? Apple has created new markets before, but fucking over loyal early adopters can overshadow popularity and cult following.

I don't think I'd buy one with my own money. I might wait for the inevitable 3rd or 4th generation, when it has more of the features we would expect to get standard from any other company, and is at a price we would merely scoff at from any other company.

All that said, good on Apple for recognizing how to squeeze money out of its followers, and exploiting it for the largest profits it can get from the market. Also, Apple's management of their market demand is nothing short of brilliant. From a technical standpoint, I think their offerings are sub-par, but from a business standpoint? Their ability to create markets where there were none, and drain every available cent out of them is stupefying.

So far, I've been enjoying Dominion in the time my wife isn't glued to the awesome that is Words With Friends. Dropbox is an easy way to do file transferring, and is free. Private Media Folders is also free $3.99 and worth it, and provides a password protected area in which to store your files.

You're talkin' 'bout my generation???

Wanna get down on those kids these days? Read this first.

Everything he said lines up with my upbringing.

Being told in elementary school to test for the gifted classes because it would look great on my college resume. Spending weekends and summer doing community service, because "Everyone's going to have great grades, you've got to be well rounded to stand out on your college application!" Looking through the club catalog endlessly, trying to find something that interested me in the slightest because that "shows that I have a passion for my education, and will add to my college application." We considered hyphenating my last name to make it more obviously reflect my latino heritage because white males have a much harder time getting into college than minorities. I can't count the amount of times I was told that the student loans for college wouldn't matter, because I'd be making 200k a year in my profession, whatever it was going to be. Every "B" was a death sentence, because every student who could took every AP course they could, and worked between 3 and 8 hours on homework every night so they could get the coveted 5.0 GPA, and "guaranteed" acceptance to the college of your choice. The years of preparation and months of endless studying sessions cramming for the SATs, because if you messed up on them, you could kiss college good bye. I knew those kids because I was smart too, and seeing what they did to maintain their impossible grades made me feel sorry for them. Especially when one of them got an A- through no fault of their own. The anguish these kids felt over their college aspirations crumbling to dust didn't make much sense to me at the time.

Now it just makes me feel mad at their parents.

Parents who told their children that perfection was not only achievable, but required. They parroted the dogma of the education experts as if it were their own, and fought for the ideal as if it were the only thing one could be expected to do.

We didn't need the perfection you never attained.
What we needed was the rebellious spirit your generation held in such high regard.
We needed that spirit so we could use it against you, and stop you from turning us into little academic machines.
We needed to be allowed to grow up to be well adjusted adults, with some basic idea of who we are.

Now those of us that have achieved academic perfection by eschewing personal growth have stepped out into the world, turned back to our parents who gave us what they presented as The Secret Formula for a Happy Life, and ask, "Now what?"

To which you reply, "I dunno, but times are tough, and you gotta pay rent if you're going to stay here. The Subway down the street is hiring."

Then you complain that my generation is full of socially maladjusted adolescents and slackers???

Fuck you.


Fuck.

You.

---

They say every generation is like their grandparents' because kids rebel against their parents. I hope that my generation figures out that it is owed one childhood of mirth and discovery, and makes sure the next generation has one.

I began to wonder how the Boomers managed to break the cycle of rebellion, but the answer is all over that first paragraph. Fear. If you didn't go to college you were going to be a failure. The Boomers' fear of failure made their kids failures.

I guess that leads us to an interesting conclusion about the Boomers; they felt like failures themselves. They must not have felt feel that what they did with their youth was valuable. I'd tell you to keep your self-loathing to yourself, but it's obviously too late for that.

I don't like that it now sounds like I'm blaming all this on the Boomers, but like the guy says, the only alternative is to blame children for doing what they were told.

Gardyn - Pogo

[direct link]

Algebraic!

Adventure Time is Awesome

Hi-larious.

Here's my favorite moment so far, at 1:10 at the headbutt.

DVR it and catch an episode or two to see if you like it too.

Coming soon to a doorstep near you!

Weerd wants you to sleep tight.

This is even more disturbing to me now because after we moved, a cop came to our door looking for someone who must have been the previous occupant.

Glad the previous occupant didn't do something that would cause the police to pick up automatic weapons, put on heavy bulletproof vests and black masks, throw flashbangs through our window, break down our door, and shoot us unarmed, stunned, deaf, and blinded in bed for having guns within arms reach while failing to comply with instructions we couldn't hear.

You know, something heinous like have an ounce of pot?

But I don't even have to worry about that when most of these raids can't be bothered check the goddamn address of the house before they go all SS on the occupants.

I wonder if they'd shoot Ava, our house rabbit. Actually, I'm sure they would, why wouldn't they if they're shooting dogs that are IN CAGES?

A moment of silence for those innocents lost in the monumental failure we call the War on Drugs.

Red Dawn remake going to not suck?!

The Red Dawn Remake: The Return of the Red Scare?

I know what you’re thinking – because it’s what I’ve been thinking since I first heard details about all this several days ago. This is all some sort of gag, right? Hollywood doesn’t do this sort of thing. This isn’t the 1980’s anymore. Wake up! This is the era of Avatar, of Fahrenheit 9/11, of Sean Penn hanging with the mullahs in Iran. The communist Chinese aren’t our enemy – they’re our friends! They make our TVs and T-shirts and disposable ink cartridges. Our real enemies are American corporations, environmental polluters, and all those blonde chicks on Fox News. Get your head in the game, Apuzzo. You’re daydreaming again!

Apparently not. Difficult as this is to believe, MGM is indeed now in post-production on what appears to be an extravagantly hardcore remake of John Milius’ 1984 film, Red Dawn.
[snip]
...these posters reveal is that the Red Dawn remake may actually go where the original film did not go (largely due to the fact that the original was made during the Reagan Administration), which is in equating certain tendencies in contemporary American liberalism with Chinese-style communism (!). That would be an extraordinary thing for a Hollywood studio to do nowadays.
[snip]
I have a million questions, all of which boil down to: how did this movie get greenlit? How did this one slip by?

Due out November 24th.

UPDATE: Hey look! More evidence that it won't suck! An LA Times intellectual is scoffing at it!

Did anyone feel that? It felt like the winds changing.

Federal Spending by the Numbers

[direct link]

If you like your health care coverage, you'll be able to keep it*

* unless we think your health care plan sucks.

HOPE you wanted to CHANGE your health care coverage.

From RNS

Something our mother gave us

I had a late-night bitch session with my sister at the local 24 hour diner over many many cups of tea. She just needed to vent about the people in her life, and their confounding personalities. People who do things without even knowing it, people who hurt other people to make themselves feel powerful, people who use people that feel obligated to put up with it.

We just kept coming back to "Why don't these people see what they're doing?" and "Why don't these people just say 'fuck off' and not let it happen to them?"

It is kind of strange to realize that a couple of 20 somethings are more self-aware and mature than middle-aged fathers and family members.

I guess that's one thing our mother gave us; the lesson that your natural reaction is not always the right one.

When we realized that we were subconsciously giving her a pass just because we felt like we were supposed to, we learned to rethink our feelings, and react according to the breadth of our consideration and logic. We saw right through her manipulative words, tone, demeanor, emotion, tears, peas, and right at the truth: she wanted to make us feel bad because she felt bad. She ran us through her 18 year course on manipulative people, and we've learned every trick in the book. Now, I measure the time I spend with my defenses down instead of the time I spend with them up, and my sister considers herself cold and impassive. But it's really just refusing to let anyone else control you by forcing your reaction.

Manipulative people say and do things intentionally to make you think or act a certain way. Even if it's an insignificant result, they do it because it makes them feel powerful. "I made him scared." "I made her feel bad." "I made him do what I wanted him to do." "I have control over how this person feels, and they don't even realize it!"

So don't react.

Because when manipulative people fail to manipulate you, they either try harder, or get frustrated. Either way, they become easy to identify, put into your list of people not to trust, and mentally prepare for in the future.

An unintentional comment made by a non-manipulative person will just be dropped (because they didn't mean for it to cause a reaction), or followed up quickly by an apology (because they didn't think before they spoke).

We also marveled at the thoughtless people who simply acted or reacted automatically, without considering what they were saying, who it would impact, or WHY their immediate reaction was what it was.

Self unaware people who damage their relationships because they don't think logically about their reaction. "Why am I angry about this?" "Is this really the person I should be mad at?" "Why am I about to say this, and how will it affect my loved ones?"

Unfortunately, my sister and I have little tolerance for broken people; people who act or react because they have some subconscious hang-up. It's not technically their fault, because most people don't know they're broken, and at the time, I'm sure the action feels natural and correct. But to lack the consideration to review your action in hindsight? That's not something we put up with for long.

So we surround ourselves with people we can trust, or at least understand. Not reacting, or reacting mechanically has made it easier to process the speech, tone, body language, and general feel of the speaker, and be a better judge of their character and personality. Once we find those people we can trust, we can lower the drawbridge and relax with them without worry. Or short of trust, we can enjoy their company in one capacity, but not others.

We're glad our mother gave us the ability to identify our demons and exorcise them, but it hasn't done a thing for our misanthropy :) Part of being a good judge of motives and character means not being able to ignore the machinations (intentional or not) of the people you are required to deal with. This makes some people intolerable. Even (and usually especially) the ones who manipulate others to be well liked.

Come as you are, and speak your mind freely as often as you can. Life is too short to spend with controlling people, and your happiness is too important to strain it dealing with the thoughtless ones.

Bulldog tidbits

The Ishapore Enfield Bulldog is being finicky, which is to be expected, but part that's part of the fun of these old rifles. I floated the barrel on my 91/59 to increase accuracy, and used some plastic straws to make the trigger pull a little better. I love machines, and I love figuring out creative ways to fix or tweak them.

I spent a few hours trying to figure out what the problem with the extraction was, but only managed to determine what it was not. I checked the adjustment of the rear left mag lip, which was not functioning as the ejector, nor (interestingly enough) was the ejector screw. There is an edge cut into the left side of the receiver that was ejecting. The screw only seemed to make ejection a sixteenth of an inch earlier. Contrary to most guns, working the bolt quickly caused problems, while working it slowly caused no issues. The extractor claw seems to just let go half way through the draw back, and leave the shell loose above the mag, but only when worked quickly.

This is extra strange because the extractor claw is damn strong. I almost feel like it's pushing so hard it's shooting the case off the bolt face once it's out of the chamber. I brought the extractor claw position closer to the center of the bolt face by raising the opposite side of the extractor arm by the tiny amount I could while keeping the opening in line with the screw (which was broken, but somewhat functional).

I got it feeding more reliably from both sides after I was done, but couldn't eliminate the shell dropping problem. I'm going to order a new extractor, spring, and screw just so I can replace them or have spares while troubleshooting. Of course it could just be a problem extracting an unfired round (which I believe I read somewhere), so I'll probably shoot it before I make any changes (other than repairing that extractor screw).

The sear meet up is short, but extremely positive, making for a short heavy pull with lots of overtravel. I'll refrain from tweaking it until I shoot it, because the Enfield No.4's trigger is technically bad, but I shoot it just fine. (though that trigger is much lighter...)

Can't wait to shoot it, and play around with it.


I just stare at it.

BULLY!

UPDATE: Fixed "click for large size" images

---

After a discussion about someone's Perfect Gun, I started to think about what my Perfect Gun would be.

I love full power cartridges, iron sights, and wood stocks. This meant I liked WW2 rifles. I had some issue with bolt action rifles only because I shoot rifles lefty (cross dominant), but actually found some functions fit lefties better. The Enfield safety is perfect for lefties, the Mosin straight-handled bolt (and any other mauser straight-handled bolt) actually gave more opening leverage left-handed, and the Enfield's bolt handle hanging rear of the receiver was very accessible to lefties.

I started picking bits and pieces of rifles that I would combine into my perfect rifle, and actually came rather close to a rifle currently in existence. The Ishapore SMLE Bulldog.

PRO: It has the weight and balance of an Enfield. It's shortened to make it easier to point and maneuver. It's chambered in 7.62 NATO / .308 Win, which meant no rimlock, and that there would be plenty of surplus available, and that the popular cartridge would remain in production for some time! It would easily take a trigger job to turn it into a snappy two stage. And the mags hold 12 rounds without getting in the way of prone firing.

CON: It has the Enfield stock, which meant a jaw-weld instead of a cheek-weld (difficult to fix without disturbing the lines of the rifle). It has open sights (mojo makes aperture sights for them, but I'd rather see how much a gunsmith will charge to figure out how to install a No.4 ladder sight, or one of these for the sight radius).

All in all, it was a great fit for what I was looking for.

Lucky for me, I found one.
Double lucky for me, it was one of the 3rd party importer rebuilds instead of a bubba'd one.
Triple lucky it was a $150.

Sorry for the cell phone pics, (I'm actually surprised how well they came out) I'll put better ones up when we unpack the camera.

Clicky for full size!

Looooove that profile!


I was not expecting the wood to be this good. It's all matched, and very nice.


They removed the front sling mount point (no real reason for it now!), but left the bayonet lug intact! This shorty needs one of those patented Enfield No.1 sword bayonets! There is a split in the wood on the forward top handguard. It has been repaired with some glue by the previous owner, but I think I might be able to do a bit better.


It came with the sling, which is kind of thin for the proper shooting sling that it is, but I'll have more to say about it once I've tried it out.


The finish is definitely not the usual Brit finish (shitty, cracking oven paint), instead it's much more hearty. It shows some wear on the corners, but just enough for character.

We all want to be that guy.

Sal has a pic wherein he found something more than what most people see.

I've been that guy once or twice. :)

How to Hack a Computer in an Action Movie

I hate this shit even more because it's what I do for a living.

With the exception of The Matrix: Reloaded

Related.

We hardly knew ye. No, really...

From Deviant Art

Unbought oil barriers are the new unused Katrina school buses

Maine factory owner begs feds: Why aren't you buying the oil barriers I'm churning out?

Normally the government is good at spending money. Obviously they're only good at wasting it.

I forget who took ownership of this problem recently. Said something like, "the buck stops here?"

FFFFFFFFFUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU

Helen Thomas proves she's just as ugly on the inside

[direct link]

Who's in charge of this wretch, and why haven't they saved her from herself by convincing her to bow out gracefully? (or as gracefully as she can at this point)

The worst part? When this retarded elephant in the room that everyone has been doing their best to ignore and tip-toe around dies, the same people who put up with her for years will have to stand in front of cameras and talk about what a great person she was.

Call a spade a spade.

Helen Thomas is a festering boil on our political system who only retains her position because someone would actually have to look at her to ask her to leave.

From HotAir

For this...

...Penny Arcade wins 10,000 internets.


I lol'd. Heartily.

I may disagree with your douchebaggery, but I'll defend to the death your right to be a douchebag.

Sometimes being a douchebag is a duty.

I must say that I probably would have done the same thing.

Now they want to form a HOA after the fact? Good luck getting him to sign up, douchebags. After that, good luck trying to get him to obey your strongly worded letters.

I think I'd paint it something obnoxious for a few weeks and paint it to something more pleasing to my own eyes. Unless they kept insisting. Then I might do something I don't like just because they don't like it even more. Petty? Nah. I don't think of it as being petty when I'm teaching a lesson.

You remember when you were a kid, and there was that one kid who always got picked on because he always had a big reaction to it? Yeahhh... Guess some of these neighbors either didn't know that kid, or WERE that kid...

From Uncle

Sometimes you gotta be smart to be so stupid

We got a great deal on a new apartment, and our move-out date was over Memorial Day weekend. Genius! Instead of one day of crazy moving, we'll be able to spread it out to three easier days of moving! And since we saved money on the new place, lets not rent a u-haul, and just use my brother-in-law's truck! I'm so goddamn smart.

WRONG!

Instead of one day of suck, it was stretched out to THREE days of suck! And since we had three days, we were more inclined to take three days! Smaller truck, more trips, etc.

We finished moving in on Monday, and today's the first day since that I've felt human. I just started getting back into a regular sleep/awake/dead/alive pattern.

I don't care how much we saved. Next time I'm hiring fucking movers.

MOAR

Finished Monster Hunter Vendetta last night, two days after I downloaded it.

The only reason it took that long was because I had just moved for three days, and needed sleep to continue forming correct sentences.

Can't wait for more!

If you listen carefully, you can hear them clank as he walks.

[direct link]

From LawDog

E-ARC OF MONSTER HUNTER VENDETTA AVAILABLE NOW!!!!1111ONEONEOMGOMWTF:RH_&(B$-*BOOM*

SQUEEEEEEEEEE

ohyeahitsavailablein:
Ebookwise/Rocket Format
Mobi/Palm/Kindle Format
EPUB/Nook/Stanza Format
Microsoft Reader Format
Sony Digital Reader Format
RTF Format

(and with a little effort, PDF)

Shame on the residents of Irvine California!

Support your local cops.

I was at Subway ordering when a cop came in. I rarely get these opportunities, so I waited for him to finish his order, and then asked if I could pay for his lunch. He said it was alright, but I insisted, and he gave in. He said he appreciated it and that this was the first time anyone had bought him lunch!

C'mon people! Your local cops are out there every day, dealing with all kinds of bullshit so you don't have to. They don't know what's going to happen when they pull over a car for a broken tail light. It's a hard job with long hours that isn't paid nearly enough for the job they have to do.

Show them some love.

The Onion: White House calls James Cameron, underwater director to stop the oil leak.

Oh fuck. This is real.

This would be hilarious if it wasn't so infuriating.

"Mr. President, the Gulf oil leak is getting worse! We need to get on top of this!"
"Let me be clear... It's time for us to get serious on this oil leak. *pound fist on table* GET ME JAMES CAMERON!"


C'mon. Seriously. This is a joke, right?

The 99ers can make my Subway sandwich or move.

In yet another story about how California is going to collapse under the weight of its own stupidity, and reduce to "emerging nation" status, I noticed this;

The latest bill also does nothing for the more than 111,000 Californians who have exhausted their 99 weeks of benefits. Change.com has launched a grass roots campaign for the so-called "99ers" to get additional benefits for those who have now fallen off the unemployment rolls after exhausting their 99 weeks.

First of all, WTF 99 WEEKS OF FREE MONEY?!

Second of all, anyone who can't find work is not looking hard enough, or is not looking in the right place.

The goddamn Subway that I go to for lunch has had a "Help Wanted" sign posted for EIGHT UNEMPLOYMENT MILKING MONTHS! My wife lost her retail job last year, and found another one in about ONE MONTH.

I was writing up a little HOWTO on what to do to get from nothing to something, and then I realized it was a goddamn HOWTO for life. Live somewhere, take shitty job, live rough for a while, scrape and scrounge, save up, get a vehicle. Use vehicle to expand job opportunities, or skip vehicle and greyhound it to metropolitan area with lots of public transportation. Get better job. If no better job available, get better scholastic education or trade education, then get better job. Increase standard of living, continue looking for better job.
Repeat until life happens.

These people fail at life.


PS: When one unemployed person exhausts their 99 weeks of unemployment, the state of california ASSumes they must have found a job, and reduces the unemployment* number by one.

* Unemployment number does not reflect discouraged workers, workers who are not eligible for unemployment benefits, workers who are underemployed, workers who do not actively seek employment, or workers who did not seek unemployment.

Never Again?

[direct link]

Waiter, there's a boot in my plate!

Clicky for full cartoon.


From Red Planet Cartoons

Haw-Haw!

There's a jackknifed fuel truck burning on the primary thoroughfare to get from Orange County to Vegas, the desert, several lakes, and every other form of memorial day fun. The current ETA for road clearing and safety confirmation is 5 hours, and is probably pretty optimistic. The backup has already spread to many nearby freeways, and it's unlikely anyone's gong anywhere.

And I can't wipe this evil grin from my face.

Every day I drive to a major business city at 1pm to go to work, and I have a good idea of what to expect of the traffic on the way in. Because of that, it's extremely obvious to me when people are leaving work early, or just don't come in. As a bonus, I can also not the call volume from our customers, which usually serves as a good indication to the amount of people actually doing work on any given day.

I register my annoyance when a holiday approaches and people leave in the middle of the day on a Friday, or don't show up on a Monday. Or worse, when a random weekday is collective unconsciously picked as a ditch-day. Yeah, it's none of my business who works when, but I just can't help but wonder... Who the fuck are these guys, and where do they work that they can go in late, leave early, or just not show up at all so damn often???

Maybe I'm a little sore that I don't get all these days off, but I think it's mostly the lack of work ethic or pride in your job. I suppose these people could just hate their jobs, but still...

Either way I can't help but smile at their plan to skip out on work early severely spoiled. Guess that makes me a bad person :P

Hope n' Change Cartoons

Check 'em out!

I knew about this for a while, but never took the time to go through the archives or read the posts. I recently remedied that mistake, and found much more than I had expected. They're going on the webcomics section on the right, replacing Punch an' Pie which has been ambling around aimlessly, randomly bumping into things, for months.


This is one of my favorites.

A Teacher's Strike in Paradise

[direct link]

From HotAir, which offers some commentary on the video that is worth your time.

War never changes

LA Times: North Korea says it will scrap naval accord with South

North Korea has been positioning itself, quite overtly, for war for a while now. This is just another stepping stone, but it's a big one.

War from Mr. Ronery has been a foregone conclusion. It was only a matter of when.

Now that America is at its weakest in many ways, they've got an opportunity that they haven't had in decades. It only makes sense that they take it.

I hope President Obama surprises us all by squashing lil' Kim like the bug he is. But I won't be holding my breath.

If only they could get the rest of the show to be this funny.

SNL Digital Short: Great Day

I can't stop laughing at this

Not sure if it's the head flopping around, the mouth flapping near the end, the feet flying out from under him, the flatness of the whole thing after the faceplant, or if it's all of those things combined, but it's goddamn funny.

Got it from Cueball via IRC.

I've never understood the "I'm just one person" attitude.

People seem to be stuck in the notion that they are "just one person" and can't have an effect on this big country.

I can't really understand the attitude, but I didn't really have a strong argument.

At least, I didn't until a bit ago...



This person you'd scoff at if he walked by you, this kid you'd expect to find serving your coffee, this "one person" brought down a federally funded multi-state organization. An organization that was one of the president's favorites.

How can you look at that incomprehensible douchebag who changed the course of politics in this nation with a camera, a suit, and a fake fur coat, and say that one person can't do anything is lying to themselves.

What's it going to take to get us to secure our borders?

ABC: Martyrs at the Border

I hate to ask the question because I know, and I think you know, exactly what is going to have to happen to get our government to secure the borders.

When it does happen, every politician who pushed for anything less than total border security should resign, find the nearest bridge, and jump the fuck off.

Willful inaction resulting in the death of hundreds, or even thousands of Americans should be considered treason.


Until then, you disgusting equivocators.

Oh - Underworld

Neat.


[direct link]

Gulf oil spill poised to surpass Valdez as greatest US ecological disaster...

... Now watch this drive.


No, this is not a repost.