United Irish Pubs

Chuck Norris Blend 100% Kick A!

2007-12-14T14:58:00.000-06:00

By now I'm sure many internet fiends know about Blentec's Will It Blend.

How will Chuck Norris fair, I wonder.

News, news, news

2007-09-30T18:44:00.000-05:00

Michigan Shutdown

Two Environmentalists Anger Their Brethren

A very feisty girlfriend...

2007-09-16T02:44:00.000-05:00

...courtesy of Weird Asia News

24 year-old Wei has a very loving girlfriend… Maybe too loving.

When Wei went to see his girlfriend recently they began to kiss. She apparently got so excited that she accidentally bit off Wei’s lower lip. Bit off to the extent that the bottom lip was actually still hanging in her mouth.

Wei was rushed to a hospital in the Chongqin area of China, but the tissue from his mouth was already dead. The doctor was forced to use tissue from other parts of his body to fix his lower lip.

As strange as this story is, it is not the first time Wei’s girlfriend has taken to biting him. It seems whenever she gets excited, biting and hurting Wei is the only way she can be satisfied.

“My girlfriend’s zodiac sign must be a dog”, Wei jokes… while the doctor seems to suggest it might be something psychological with the girl.

Russian Government Dissolved

2007-09-12T20:54:00.000-05:00

Russia PM goes as Putin dissolves government
By Mike Eckel, AP
Published: 12 September 2007

President Vladimir Putin has dissolved the Russian government on the request of the prime minister, the Kremlin said Wednesday, a major political shake-up ahead of crucial parliamentary and presidential elections.

The dissolution is expected to result in a new head of government, who will be seen as Putin's choice to succeed him after he steps down next spring.

Prime Minister Mikhail Fradkov said he asked for the dissolution because with elections approaching, Putin needed to have a free hand to make decisions, including those concerning appointments.

Putin agreed: "You might be right that we must all think about how to structure the government so that it better suits the pre-election period and prepares the country for what will happen after the parliamentary and presidential elections."

Under the Constitution, Putin now has two weeks to propose a new head of government, which the lower house of parliament, the State Duma, then has a week to vote on. Russian news agencies said Fradkov would serve as acting prime minister until the vote.

The parliamentary elections are scheduled for Dec. 2, followed some three months later by presidential elections.

The newspaper Vedomosti, citing unnamed Kremlin officials, reported Wednesday that Sergei Ivanov, a first deputy prime minister and a leader contender to succeed to Putin, could be appointed prime minister in the near future.

Another first deputy prime minister, Dmitry Medvedev, who is a top executive at natural gas monopoly OAO Gazprom, is considered the other leading contender.

The Independent

Broken Blog, Broken Computer...

2007-03-01T02:22:00.000-06:00

What's next?

a post

2006-12-21T02:14:00.000-06:00

I am not a lush.

look it up and figure it out! use your brain and teh interwebz, or maybe an actual bound, dried, tree-pulp volume of Websters!

Teh Odd and Amazing News

2006-12-08T09:38:00.000-06:00

Making My Ears Bleed...
Warm Fuzzy Feeling
All The Pain Money Can Buy
By Fastball

http://www.publicaffairs.ubc.ca/ubcreports/2006/06dec07/jaws.html

http://www.livescience.com/animalworld/061207_fish_cooperation.html

http://news.sky.com/skynews/article/0,,30000-13555822,00.html

New Toy

2006-12-05T19:15:00.000-06:00

Numly Copyrights! woot

17590-061205-934731-72

© 2006 All Rights Reserved.

Bubble Fusion

2006-12-05T19:03:00.001-06:00

Bubble Fusion Confirmed by LETU Research

Fri, Nov 17 2006

LeTourneau University physics professor Edward R. “Ted” Forringer, Ph.D., and an undergraduate student have just returned from the American Nuclear Society (ANS) winter conference in Albuquerque, N. M. where they presented two papers confirming the existence of fusion in collapsing bubbles.

It has long been observed by scientists that sound waves in a liquid produce flashes of light when bubbles collapse. This phenomenon is called “sonoluminescence.” Professor Rusi Taleyarkhan, Ph.D., from Purdue University was the first to successfully show that these collapsing bubbles can produce fusion of two deuterium nuclei. This process is known as acoustic inertial confinement nuclear fusion, commonly called “bubble fusion.” Taleyarkhan’s results had been called into question, but now have been substantiated by Forringer and his students.

“Articles published March 2006 in the premiere international science journal, Nature magazine, prematurely dismissed Taleyarkhan’s work,” Forringer said. “Two students and I went to Purdue University in May to conduct our own research, collecting, analyzing and interpreting our own data that substantiated his previous work.”

One paper on bubble fusion, co-authored by professor Forringer, senior David Robbins and sophomore Jonathan Martin, has already been peer-reviewed and accepted for publication in Transactions, a publication of the American Nuclear Society. A second paper with Robbins as lead author, along with Forringer and Martin, is currently being reviewed for publication.

And why has bubble fusion generated so much press?

“All other successful methods of producing nuclear fusion are very expensive, requiring large collaborations at national laboratories. But bubble fusion can be replicated inexpensively on a table top with the right conditions and equipment,” Forringer said. “Fusion holds promise for clean, cheap and abundant ‘green’ energy, and our work provides another promising step for further research.”

Forringer and his students are continuing their bubble fusion research at LeTourneau University.

The Pub Opera Widget!

2006-11-30T16:59:00.000-06:00

Hey Opera users!

Check the feeds sidebar and use the widget!

Happy Turkey Day!

2006-11-22T14:05:00.000-06:00

Scientists find genetic oddity protects sex cells
Antisense IME4 shows nature's yin-yang economy

David Cameron, Whitehead Institute
November 21, 2006

Researchers have found that a class of RNA molecules previously thought to have no function may in fact protect sex cells from self-destructing.

The findings from MIT, the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research and the Institute for Systems Biology in Seattle were reported in the Nov. 17 issue of the journal Cell.

Central to this discovery is the fundamental process of gene expression.

When a gene is ready to produce a protein, the two strands of DNA that comprise the gene unravel. The first strand produces a molecule called messenger RNA, which acts as the protein's template. Biologists call this first strand of DNA the "sense" or "coding" transcript.

Even though the other strand doesn't contain a protein recipe, it may also, on occasion, produce an "antisense" RNA molecule, one whose sequence is complementary to that of the messenger, or sense, RNA. Antisense RNA has been detected for a number of genes, but is largely considered a genetic oddity.

Using common baker's yeast, Cintia Hongay, a postdoctoral researcher in the lab of Whitehead member and MIT Biology Professor Gerald Fink, discovered that in the case of a gene called IME4, the antisense RNA blocks the sense RNA. In other words, the gene disables its own ability to make protein.

"This is the first case where a specific function in a higher cell for antisense RNA has been found," said Fink, senior author on the paper. "This points to an entirely new process of gene regulation that we've never seen before in eukaryotic cells."

There is a method to this sense/antisense madness, one that has a kind of yin and yang quality.

When conditions around yeast cells are good and rich in nutrients, the cells divide by mitosis--that is, the DNA duplicates so each daughter cell receives exactly the same number of chromosomes as the original cell. However, when the yeast cells are starving, IME4 switches on and activates a process called meiosis. Here, the cells divide into germ-cell spores that, like mammalian egg and sperm cells, have half the number of chromosomes. Yeast spores withstand this harsh environment far more ably than the larger cells from which they originate.

But in some cases, flipping the meiotic switch can be catastrophic. If a cell with only one copy of each chromosome (a haploid cell) is forced into meiosis, the progeny won't survive. Fortunately, such destructive meiotic division is avoided in haploid cells because they continually produce IME4 antisense RNA, blocking the production of sense RNA. Antisense IME4, then, safeguards against meiosis in cells that can't handle it.

"For years scientists have evaluated genomes by measuring the sense RNA, with antisense transcripts thought to have no meaning at all," says Fink. "Here we've found a process in which antisense RNA regulates sense RNA. This same process may occur in the sex cells of mammals. In fact, considering how widespread these antisense transcripts are, I wouldn't be surprised if these findings eventually lead us to discover an entirely new level of gene regulation."

Hongay is now searching the yeast genome for other genes that might be regulated by antisense RNA.

Additional authors of the paper are Paula L. Grisafi of Whitehead and Timothy Galitski of the Institute for Systems Biology in Seattle. This work was supported by the National Institutes of Health and a Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award postdoctoral fellowship.

MIT

7-Eleven gets rid of Citgo

2006-09-27T16:23:00.000-05:00

7-Eleven Drops Citgo as Supplier
AP
DALLAS (Sept. 27) - 7-Eleven Inc. is dropping Venezuela-backed Citgo as its gasoline supplier after more than 20 years as part of a previously announced plan by the convenience store operator to launch its own brand of fuel.

7-Eleven officials said Wednesday that the company's decision was partly motivated by politics.

Citgo Petroleum Corp. is a Houston-based subsidiary of Venezuela's state-run oil company and 7-Eleven is worried that anti-American comments made by Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez might prompt motorists to fill-up elsewhere.

Chavez has called President George W. Bush the devil and an alcoholic. The U.S. government has warned that Chavez is a destabilizing force in Latin America.

"Regardless of politics, we sympathize with many Americans' concern over derogatory comments about our country and its leadership recently made by Venezuela's president," said 7-Eleven spokesman Margaret Chabris.

"Certainly Chavez's position and statements over the past year or so didn't tempt us to stay with Citgo," she added.

Instead, 7-Eleven, which sells gasoline at 2,100 of its 5,300 U.S. stores, will now purchase fuel from several distributors, including Tower Energy Group of Torrance, Calif., Sinclair Oil of Salt Lake City, and Houston-based Frontier Oil Corp. Chabris said 7-Eleven's decision to sell its own brand was based on many factors, including Citgo's decision this summer to stop supplying stations in parts of Texas and other states to focus on retailers closer to its refineries in Corpus Christi, Lake Charles, La., and Lemont, Ill.

But 7-Eleven had been considering creating its own brand of fuel since at least early last year, and some analysts suggested 7-Eleven may be hyping the political angle somewhat as a way to curry favor with U.S. consumers.

"This has nothing to do with Chavez," said Oil Price Information Service director Tom Kloza. "They (7-Eleven) just didn't want to be tied to one supplier."

Kloza said all 7-Eleven did was seek out suppliers who could sell it the cheapest fuel and "that was not Citgo."

Citgo officials did not immediately return calls for comment.

In July, Citgo decided to stop distributing gasoline to 1,800 independently owned U.S. stations because it was a lackluster segment of its business.

In order to meet service contracts at 13,100 Citgo-branded stations across the U.S., Citgo had to purchase 130,000 barrels a day from third parties - a less profitable business model than selling gasoline directly from its refineries.

09/27/06 12:10 EDT

Copyright 2006 The Associated Press. The information contained in the AP news report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press. All active hyperlinks have been inserted by AOL.

Iraq, Iran, Saudi Arabia, and stability

2006-09-26T13:26:00.000-05:00

AN UNCIVIL WAR:

Deadly Neighborly Games

Growing Concerns in Saudi Arabia If you are part of the governing royal family in Riyadh, two developments are to be avoided at all costs. First, you do not want a Shi'ite-dominated Iraqi government in power. Secondly, you do not want an Iraqi alliance with Teheran. The strict Wahabi theology in Saudi Arabia regards the Shi'ites as heretics and fundamentally objectionable. In addition, having a country across your northern border controlled by Shi'ites and influenced by Teheran is a basic security threat.

Some people speculate about how long Abdullah ibn Abdel-Aziz al Sa'ud, who became king and prime minister on 1 August 2005 after the death of HM King Fahd ibn Abdel-Aziz al Sa'ud, can retain power. The royal family is seen as aligned with Washington, D.C., and many fundamentalists view the inroads of Western culture in Saudi Arabia an outcome of this relationship. Social problems and excesses of princes are contributing to growing levels of public frustration with the royal family. Robust economic activity is helping to create more opportunities for Saudi families this year, but this fact is not slowing the conversion of moderate Muslims to extremism, particularly among the impressionable youth.

The Dangerous Game Powerful Saudis are reacting to developments in Iraq and the potential overthrow of the royal family in Riyadh by building alliances with Sunni extremists in Saudi Arabia and providing funds for the Sunni insurgents in Iraq. Their organizations are recruiting jihadis and transporting them to the huge Western Iraqi province of Al Anbar (Majority Sunni, borders with Syria, Jordan and Saudi Arabia). This desert province has become a conduit for supplying Sunni forces and and the staging camps for volunteers. Analysts presume that al-Qaeda has a role in the operation, but it is a fact that necessity is building new relationships. Attempts by the undermanned American forces to stop the flow of materiel and personnel to the Sunni insurgents have been mostly unsuccessful.

During 2004-2005, American troops were the primary protection for the non-Kurd Sunnis in Iraq. Throughout the strife, insurgents from each religious sect have driven civilians from their homes and into refugee camps, which offer some degree of security but but almost no basic necessities. The strengthening of Sunni forces and escalation of fighting has halted the early progress on providing electrical power, water, and other utilities in Iraq.

Conclusion Life in hell, as Time Magazine called the country, is likely to get worse because:

1- Shi'ite Prime Minister Nouri-al-Maliki met with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in Teheran in mid-September 2006. The rhetoric indicated that an alliance was developing between the present government in Baghdad and Iran. This is a Saudi nightmare.

2- The Sunnis involved in the unofficial civil war on both sides of the Iraqi-Saudi border believe that they have about three more years of the American occupation (until a few months after the January 2009 presidential inauguration). This time must be used to substantially weaken the Iraqi Shi'ite paramilitary forces and infiltrate and intimidate the army and police.

Iraq is the killing ground. Iran is providing arms, intelligence, and selected volunteers to the Shi’ites. The Saudis and others that view this as a pivotal struggle are doing the same for the Sunnis.

Extremists against extremists.

Will they exterminate each other? No, because a long queue of volunteers exists on both sides.

DIRECTOR'S PERSPECTIVE Last Updated 21 September 2006

For media inquiries: Contact Saruhan Hatipoglu (Director of BERI S.A.) at sshatipoglu@beri.com

Copyright 2006 Business Environment Risk Intellegence

I'm a target...

2006-09-25T21:04:00.000-05:00

for military recruiters.
Army:
This time in Walmart.
He was about the size of Rowe.

He told me basic was easier than football practise.

I call BS.

Katrina: one year later

2006-09-02T17:46:00.000-05:00

September 01, 2006
The Unlearned Lesson of Katrina
By Robert Tracinski

In the press coverage of the first anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, we expect a fair bit of the usual throwing around of blame for political advantage, but to my surprise that has not been the main theme of the coverage (though Ted Kennedy couldn't resist a crudely partisan tirade). Instead, the dominant theme of the anniversary coverage is what is not being mentioned. Having reported the wrong story about the flooding of New Orleans one year ago, the press is trying to protect its distortion by excising from history the events that gave many Americans their greatest shock.

What shocked many of us was not the hurricane itself, nor the response of the federal government--outrage against the Bush administration was cultivated later. What shocked us first was the response of the people of New Orleans themselves: the immediate looting, the collapse of the city government as demoralized local police walked off the job in the middle of an emergency, and the thousands of people wallowing in squalor while demanding that someone else come to help them. These are the facts that the mainstream media has downplayed or just plain ignored.

Ironically, it was the press itself that first brought this story to our attention, by focusing its reporting on the crime and squalor at the Superdome and the New Orleans convention center in the days after the levies failed. But the press soon began to backpedal, realizing that they had miscalculated. They showed us too much of the squalor, too much of the rampant looting and lawlessness, and too many ungrammatical ravings by foul-mouthed New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin. The American people began to lose their initial reaction of sympathy and to wonder instead why so many inhabitants of New Orleans were more eager to blame others for their plight than they were to lift a finger on their own behalf.

The media had hoped for an opposite reaction. They wanted to induce guilt, telling the rest of the nation that the wretchedness of New Orleans was somehow our fault. For example, New York Times columnist Frank Rich lectured us that the poor people of New Orleans "were left behind to suffer and die when the people of means began sprinting toward higher ground. They are the ones who are always left behind, out of sight and out of mind, and I'd be surprised--given the history of this country--if that were to change now." Didn't we understand that the story was supposed to be about America's heartless indifference to the poor?

Let's take a critical look at the events, from a year's perspective, and see what the real story was.

The left is correct on one point: the story is all about federal spending and the welfare state--but not in the way that they think.

Frank Rich and company claimed that people were trapped in New Orleans because they had been abandoned for decades by a stingy government that denied them an adequate level of welfare handouts. In fact, New Orleans received a higher per-capita rate of federal welfare spending than most cities--a full 78 percent more than the national average--and the districts hardest hit by the flooding contained some of the city's largest public housing projects. The welfare state had showered its largesse on New Orleans, but with what result?

In fact, the disaster in New Orleans was caused, not by too little welfare spending, but by too much. Four decades of dependence on government left people without the resources--economic, intellectual, or moral--to plan ahead and provide for themselves in an emergency. I stated the lesson at the time:

What Hurricane Katrina exposed was the psychological consequences of the welfare state. What we consider "normal" behavior in an emergency is behavior that is normal for people who have values and take the responsibility to pursue and protect them. People with values respond to a disaster by fighting against it and doing whatever it takes to overcome the difficulties they face. They don't sit around and complain that the government hasn't taken care of them. And they don't use the chaos of a disaster as an opportunity to prey on their fellow men....

People living in piles of their own trash, while petulantly complaining that other people aren't doing enough to take care of them and then shooting at those who come to rescue them--this is not just a description of the chaos at the Superdome. It is a perfect summary of the 40-year history of the welfare state and its public housing projects.

In the week after the disaster, a New York Times reporter profiled two New Orleans families and their different reactions to Katrina. The main difference was not money; neither family was well-off. But one was from the lower middle class--people who are used to working for a living and providing for themselves--whereas the other family fully represented the welfare state mentality. The first family pooled their efforts with their extended family to drive out of New Orleans before the storm hit and stay at an inexpensive hotel farther inland. The other family didn't leave New Orleans until the flood waters reached their own home--and along the way, they blew their "last $25 dollars to buy fish and shrimp from men grilling them on the street"--with apparently nary a thought for what they would live on after dinnertime.

The main difference between these two families was not money but responsibility. That is also the difference between the people in New Orleans who stockpiled necessities like food, gasoline, and bottled water before the storm hit, and those who waited until after the storm and looted whatever they needed--which apparently included televisions, jewelry, and DVDs--from the local Wal-Mart. Many of these looters, especially those who struck within hours after the storm passed, were not in any kind of desperate need. As one of them explained to a reporter, "People who have been repressed all their lives, man, it's an opportunity to get back at society."

This fellow acquired his sense of ethics from the welfare state--and from its spokesmen, like Frank Rich.

This sense of victimhood and entitlement brings us to the other mainstream media claim about Katrina: that it unmasked America's institutionalized racism and showed, as one rapper proclaimed, that "George Bush doesn't care about black people." (It could be argued, incidentally, that "rap music" is itself the most insidious form of institutionalized racism today, peddling a debased view of blacks as thugs and whores that exceeds the wildest slanders of Ku Klux Klan propaganda.) But what are the actual facts about Katrina and race? The Coast Guard and National Guard toiled relentlessly for four days to rescue thousands of people from their roofs, saving as many as 50,000 people--most of them black. And an analysis of deaths from the hurricane showed that mortality rates were slightly higher for whites than for blacks. So much for the myth of the racist hurricane.

But that doesn't mean race was not an issue. Katrina exposed the virulent racism of many blacks, who are raised on a culture of victimhood and grievance and think the rest of the nation owes them a prosperous living. On September 10, for example, Fox News Channel broadcast a live interview with a Katrina evacuee in Houston, a self-parody of the Angry Young Black Man who demanded a $20,000 debit card from FEMA and shouted at the camera: "We didn't ask to come on that bus.... It's like a slave ship. It's just like, you know, back in history, you know, they put us on a slave ship.... Just give us what the f--- we deserve."

What was he describing as a "slave ship"? The buses sent to rescue people from New Orleans--the same buses whose absence in the first days after the flood were considered evidence of nationally institutionalized racism. There is certainly prejudice involved here; this young man has prejudged America as guilty, and he simply grabs at any rationalization that will confirm his bigotry.

Like this young man, the media has blamed Hurricane Katrina on a massive failure of government--which is also true, but again not in the way that they claim. It was not primarily a failure by the federal government, which is not supposed to be the first responder to a natural disaster. The first responders are supposed to be the state and local governments--who failed utterly.

Mayor Ray Nagin failed to devise or administer an evacuation plan--remember that famous photo of dozens of school buses that were left to be swamped by the flood waters instead of being used to evacuate flood victims?

Instead, Nagin spent the entire crisis complaining about what other people weren't doing to save his city. When asked where he was during the crucial moments of the disaster, Nagin snapped back, to the world at large, "Where were you?"--as if a random resident strolling the streets of Buffalo bears more responsibility for the plight of New Orleans than the city's own mayor.

That Ray Nagin is still mayor of New Orleans, one year later, is the worst possible indictment of the city's corrupt culture. In 1979, the people of Chicago voted out their mayor because he failed to ensure the timely plowing of the streets after a heavy snowstorm. Ray Nagin presided over an unprecedented collapse in city government, and the people of New Orleans re-elected him. A large number of New Orleans voters are still stuck in the fantasy of holding everyone responsible for their lives except themselves.

William Jefferson also represents the local political culture well. He's the congressman whose home district is in central New Orleans--and he's also the congressman recently caught hiding $90,000 worth of bribe money in his freezer. Nagin and Jefferson are typical political products of the welfare state. Their job is not to protect citizens' lives and property, but to dole out vast sums in vote-buying patronage to their supporters and constituents, and occasionally to skim a little off the top for themselves.

And that brings us to the role of the federal government. The federal government's problem is not lack of spending. Over the decades, Louisiana's congressional delegation has funneled billions of dollars to a vast system of canals and levees, which failed--not because they were inadequately funded, but because they were inadequately designed and built.

And what about federal spending on the rebuilding of New Orleans? The federal government, far from ignoring the Gulf Coast, has pledged the astonishing sum of $120 billion dollars, far more than for any previous natural disaster. Tens of billions have already poured out of the federal coffers--largely to disappear into the unreformed swamp of Louisiana political corruption.

Yes, this is about a failure of government, all right. It's about the failure of big government and the welfare state and the whole philosophy behind them. It is about the vital necessity to move away from government handouts and toward personal responsibility and private initiative. Hurricane Katrina demonstrated that the moral difference between self-reliance and dependence on government is ultimately the difference between life and death.

The only institution for which the press has any praise on the anniversary of Hurricane Katrina is, naturally enough, the press. They have spent much of this week congratulating themselves on what a marvelous job they did--which is the surest indication that they have completely missed the real story.

Robert Tracinski writes daily commentary at TIADaily.com. He is the editor of The Intellectual Activist and TIADaily.com.

Teh Nerd News Attacks!

2006-08-31T19:24:00.000-05:00

Making My Ears Bleed...
Listening
In Love And Death
By The Used

Weird News
Hedgehogs vs. McDonalds
Tech News
Sweet Laptop Mouse
AMD/ATI Laptop Platfom?

The Nerd Returns

2006-07-03T20:08:00.000-05:00

Microsoft demos Windows Vistaa and Office 2007...on a Mac?

My new cellphone.
We (the Malones) recently renewed our cellphone contract and I got a buggy Moto v557. So we called Customer Care and they said, "We no longer carry the Moto v557." >_<
"Well what do you carry?", said we.
Not-so-long-story short, I'm getting a Moto L2.

Thus concludes my post.

PS Have I said I have a job?

I work at Superior Chair in Belton, Tx.

More from the waiter

2006-06-26T20:11:00.000-05:00

June 26th, 2006
HOW TO USE A CELLPHONE WITHOUT LOOKING LIKE AN ASSHOLE

I don’t own a cell phone. I used to but I got rid of it. It never worked during those “emergencies” mobile carriers try and convince you are survivable only if you own one of their phones. Has anyone done a study proving cell phones make life safer and better? When you factor in the high bills, distracted drivers, traffic accidents, rude behaviors, and the occasional bout of brain cancer I doubt that it has.

I know most people can’t dream of life without cell phones. Personally I think they’re contraptions whose true value’s been ruthlessly marketed to separate people from their money. Ringtones for a buck? Data plans? Text messaging? Video and TV? In the words of Warren Buffet, “You make a product for a penny, you sell it for a dollar and you sell it to addicts.” And make them addicts while they’re young! Don’t believe me? They have cell phones for toddlers now!

I am not, however, a total antediluvian. Cell phones are miracles of technology and I know they’re here to stay. One day I might even have to break down and get one. But as a waiter I find cell phones a great annoyance. People using cell phones often think they’re creating a bubble of personal space within the public domain. Inside that bubble people think they can act like they’re at home – complete with yelling, inappropriate language and subject matter they’d normally whisper in private. Of course the bubble’s an illusion. There’s no private space - we can hear every word they’re saying! And if you ask someone talking on a cell to lower their voice or go outside what happens? They get all pissed off! This is very similar to what happens when people are confronted inside another artificial zone of personal space – their car. Ever heard of road rage? It’s the same principle! Talking on a cell phone while driving is like mixing Valium and Jack Daniels – not a good idea.

The development of technology has always outstripped the development of manners. Maybe, one day, social mores will evolve with technology and we’ll live in a quieter, more civil world. But until that day arrives I’ve decided to bitch about cell phones and share hard won etiquette tips I developed after watching restaurant patrons act like idiots for years. So, without further ado I present….

HOW TO USE A CELLPHONE WITHOUT LOOKING LIKE AN ASSHOLE

1. Do not use your cell phone while driving. Pull over. Even hands free phones are distracting.

2. Refrain from using the cell phone on the subway, bus, airplane, and train.

3. When eating out do not use your cell phone at the table! (Unless you’re using the web browser to read Waiter Rant.) Go outside. I don’t care if it’s raining.

4. Talk normally. There’s no need to yell. If your surroundings are too loud maybe you shouldn’t be using your phone.

5. If you have to say, “Can you hear me now?” five times – they can’t. Hang up.

6. Do not interrupt a conversation with a real live person to answer your cell phone. (Transplant surgeons are exempt from this rule.)

7. Do not use your cell phone to talk to someone in the same room.

8. When out with coworkers or friends, constantly checking your phone for messages is annoying.

9. Text messaging while talking to another person is rude.

10. Your kid’s text messaging at the dinner table is rude! I can make them stop with a look. Why can’t you?

11. If your call gets dropped, wait a few minutes and get into a better coverage area before calling back. Don’t frantically try calling me back NINE times in thirty seconds forcing me to listen to static. I don’t like you that much.

12. If you see a number you don’t recognize in your phone’s missed call log, don’t ring it at three AM saying, “Yo! I got a call from this number! You call me? Who’s this?” Pathetic.

13. Stick with one ring tone - you all know what I’m talking about.

14. Stopping abruptly in the middle of the sidewalk to answer your cell phone is moronic.

15. Make sure the phone’s charged before you leave the house. Restaurant outlets are not for your cell phone. Fluvio’s cell phone chargers already use up all the Bistro’s available outlets. (He has 5 cell phones, 2 Blackberries, and 2 PDA phones!) You knew this post was coming Fluvio.

16. Guys – when eating with other men in a restaurant don’t whip out your cell phones as you sit down and put them on the table. Nothing says “Gee, I wonder if his is bigger than mine?” than that little maneuver.

17. Put the phone on vibrate in a restaurant. Actually put it on vibrate everywhere. Put the damn thing in your pants if you’re looking for a little fun.

18. Unless you’re expecting a call from God - turn off your phone in church, synagogue, or the mosque.

19. Set the ringer volume below an ear shattering 200 decibels.

20. Don’t use the phone’s video camera in inappropriate places. Try using it in a strip club and see what happens.

21. Don’t keep the wireless headset plugged in your ear when not using the phone. The coolness quotient on that expired years ago. And while you’re blabbering into space don’t be offended if I mistake you for a schizophrenic. Sometimes I can’t see the headset.

22. If you’re running late the ability to call your boss from the road does not magically make your tardiness OK!

23. Having a cell phone does not mean you can change your plans nine times before actually meeting up with friends. Pick a time and place and stick to it.

24. Don’t have your friends call you with an “emergency” to extricate you from a bad date. Be a grownup and deal with it.

25. If you’re going to be late for a restaurant reservation please use your cell phone and tell us!

26. Turn off your cell phone at the opera, ballet, movies, live theater, and concerts. Again, transplant surgeons are exempt.

27. Turn off your cell phone before doing anything romantic – use your imagination.

28. Cell phones shouldn’t be allowed in schools. If parents are so concerned with their kid’s safety they shouldn’t vote down the school budget every year or elect local Mussolinis to the Board of Education. Cell phones won’t teach a kid how to read or make then any safer. Besides – it makes cheating so much easier.

29. Answering your cell phone at a wake is the pinnacle of self involvement. You’re going to hell. Sorry.

30. Just turn the thing off. You don’t have to be available all the time.

31. Full disclosure – I’ve done some of the above mentioned stupid behaviors. Mea Culpa!

the above is copyright 2006 WaiterRant.net

Sex weasels!

2006-06-05T21:52:00.000-05:00

I was watching some sex show on Discovery Health Channel only long enough to hear this: "Do certain odors arouse men and women?" So I kept on watching.

According to the show, Women are most aroused by a combination of cucumber and licorice, and Men are most aroused by pumpkin pie and lavender!

Women are turned off by such odors as barbecue, whereas, men are revving over just about any smell.

Science yet again affirms that men, thats me and the guys, have the sex drive of weasels.

"If women had the sex drive of men, we would be going at it like two weasels.
If men had the sex drive of women, life would be one long, wonderful conversation."
-some pastor in Denton, Tx

2006-05-22T23:26:00.000-05:00

Making My Ears Bleed...
Cast It Out
The Autumn Effect (iTunes Version)
By 10 Years

Happy birfday to me! Twenty-two on the twentysecond, a once in a lifetime event.
Enough about me and more about other stuff.
Such as... The Da Vinci Code movie
and I have no job (please call me Remedy Staffing)

The Da Vinci Code movie
*******************
(if you haven't seen it or read the book this ditribe is a bit of a spoiler. you have been warned)
*******************
Ok here's my review.BORRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRING!
For once I agree with the French. In Cannes, they laughed at it. In Temple, I would laugh if I wasn't in danger of falling asleep. There was an undue amount of talking. It was like watching an audiobook. One thing that caught my attention was when they brokedown the surname "Sangreal." Sang | real. "Sang" - Latin for blood and "real" where "regal" or "royal" is derived. Hence, sangreal means blood royal or royal blood when the adjective-noun order is rearranged into the English agreement. This last name indicated the bloodline of Christ.
Now to break it down Texas-style, Latin is the root of three languages: Italian, French, and Spanish. The Latin word "sang" looks remarkably similar to the Spanish word "SANGre" which means blood!
Ok language lesson over. The overarching danger the movie and book pose is the historical ignorance of the viewer and/or reader. Thats all for now.

a short blurb

2006-05-20T23:22:00.000-05:00

so much to talk about and not enough brain power left to type it

I'll post more tomorrow if I remember.

and now the news at 2:10AM

2006-05-13T02:05:00.000-05:00

much perponderance. more later.

tomorrow (or later today, depending on the way you view time) much cleaning (throwing stuff away!) must be done.

Yes I am a Nerd

2006-04-14T03:55:00.000-05:00

Making My Ears Bleed...
Nails For Breakfast, Tacks For Snacks
A Fever You Can't Sweat Out
By Panic! At the Disco

Currently Watching
Mai-Hime (Vol. 1)

I need to go to sleep
hopefully I'll post later to-day.
*my audience waits on the edge of their seats and waits by the phone with hopes of a call*

[The scribe passes out]

Lack of posts

2006-03-26T17:12:00.000-06:00

Lots of stuff going on...

and a lack of posts.

sorry guys and gals

New Speakers in the Land Yacht!

2006-02-19T21:36:00.000-06:00

Thanks Wes

Front Doors

Rear Deck

Bleh Speech

2006-02-19T21:19:00.000-06:00

Making My Ears Bleed...
Thought Like Flames
Silence
By Blindside

I picked a boring topic for my speech, "Judicial History of Abortion Since Roe v. Wade." I find it interesting, but how do I engage my audience? It doesn't matter where the speech is given, TC or LeTourneau or [insert setting], it is not something that crosses your mind every day. We'll see how it goes. Wish me luck!

a music joke

2006-02-05T23:32:00.000-06:00

"How do you piss off an indie rock snob?"

"Actually enjoy music!"

I had fun.

thanks Jeph

w00t Rainz!!! LOL GaMeRz 1337 Talkz!

2006-02-02T13:16:00.000-06:00

Woooo it rained yesterday!!!

The Donut Within

2006-01-22T01:36:00.000-06:00

You Are a Powdered Devil's Food Donut

A total sweetheart on the outside, you love to fool people with your innocent image.
On the inside you're a little darker, richer, and more complex.
You're a hedonist who demands more than one pleasure at a time.
Decadent and daring, you test the limits of human indulgence.

What Donut Are You?

Simulpost at quizblogg

This is how late it really is, if you were wondering :)

Rantings of a Nerd-Geek Mastermind!

2006-01-21T18:46:00.000-06:00

Hmmm alot has happened since my last post. Where to start?

I went up to Longview on MLK weekend to sell one of my computers and hang out with my various nerd and non-nerd friends. Well the weekend didn't go as planned...
(insert music that goes "dum dum DUH!")
Well the person I was going to sell the computer to no longer worked where the business deal was struck and law being law I didn't have a current phone number. The number I had was disconnected, so said the pretty prerecorded voice on the other end of the phoneline. Strike one on the weekend.

I stopped by Al and Mike's new apartment.

ok its getting late, so I'll save the rest for later

Look the pigs they glow in the dark!

2006-01-12T16:08:00.000-06:00

Glow in the dark pigs

Glowing pigs part 2

Gobs of News

2006-01-12T00:21:00.000-06:00

Making My Ears Bleed...
Who I Am Hates Who I've Been
MmmHmm
By Relient K

Weird News

Learning how to drive early

Better carry a condom in this town!

Nerd News

6.8GHz 'quantum-optical' CPU

'Quantum-Optical' chip maker shows 6.8GHz CPU

Sports!? (This is new)

David vs. Goliath

US/World News

Tunnel discovered under US-Mexico border

much post about nothing

2006-01-10T02:12:00.000-06:00

Plane watching from space

Hi...I'm...the, uh, guy who posts things here...

2006-01-09T01:33:00.000-06:00

er uh happy new year!

Google makes bid to be a media mogul and PC doctor

Mars in three hours - theoretically

Futurama returns?!

more later

A post from the interweb gateway

2005-12-28T01:09:00.000-06:00

Coming to you live from Temple, Texas, USA, on the computer in the kitchen, its me!
(wow anticlimactic finisher)

eh more later.

Its my favorite online free Wikipedia!!

2005-12-17T01:36:00.000-06:00

Making My Ears Bleed...
Warmth
Make Yourself
By Incubus

Wikipedia science 31% more cronky than Britannica's
Excellent for Klingon science, though
By Andrew Orlowski in San Francisco

Coverage of Wikipedia in the popular press veers between two extremes.

It's either the admirable heroics of plucky amateurs - it's Neasden FC winning the FA Cup - or it's the latest net threat to civilization. This week a survey by Nature gave sympathetic news editors the chance to revisit the first view.

Accuracy of Wikipedia matches Britannica, review shows, boasts CBC. Wikipedia as accurate as Britannica on science trumpets CNN's website. Business Week, which wants to be the house journal for Web 2.0 badgers, has no doubts. A Vote of Confidence in Wikipedia it shouts.

But what's the real story?

Science journal Naturechose 50 science articles from both Encyclopedia Britanica and gave peer reviewers a blind test to find mistakes. That gave the free-for-all web site a fighting chance - as it excluded the rambling garbage and self-indulgence that constitute much of the wannabe "encyclopedia" social science and culture entries. 43 reviewers replied, and this is what they found.

Britannica turned up 123 "errors", and Wikipedia 162.

In other words, the quality of information coming from Wikipedia was 31 per cent worse.

Peer reviewers also regarded the Wikipedia entries as poorly written and structured. "They need a good editor," Britannica's Tom Panelas told the BBC.

Many Wikipedians will say that this reflects poorly on Britannica. Indeed so, although without a closer look at the reviews, no one should draw firm conclusions. There are errors and there are errors, and some of the Wikipedia science entries were real clangers. It incorrectly described how Mendeleev's work related to that of British scientist John Dalton, and one peer reviewer asked, in amazement, "Who wrote this stuff? Do they bother to check with experts?"

For anyone concerned about the quality of information, this is depressing reading.

The McDonalds-ization of street food means you can go anywhere on the planet on get a terrible, bland meal of unhealthy junk food. Is the same thing happening to knowledge?

Wikipedia, like McDonalds, wants to be ubiquitous. If Nature is correct, the future is going to be a third more unreliable than it is today - a depressing prospect, we think you'll agree. If ever needed proof that a glut of information doesn't mean better information, we now have it.

Who could possibly hail this as good news? Two camps, we think. People with a real chip on their shoulder about authority, as we saw earlier this week. People with a contempt for learning, many of you say. But more broadly, only someone more obsessed by process than by the end result can regard this as any kind of victory - something all the popular press missed in their anxiety to gives us an upbeat, good news story from Planet Wikipedia yesterday.

[A Wikipedia mailbag special follows later today - in English, not Klingon.] ®

Update: Readers Ernest Trurro and Barry Kelly have had a brainwave. Why not count the "error rate"?

"You didn't care to compare the average article lengths to find the actual error _rates_, which is what really matters, did you?" huffs Ernest. "I thought not."

"It seems you left out the fact that Wikipedia articles are on average longer than the respective Britannica entries," says Barry, who adds, darkly: "Whether that's by malice or incompetence I don't know."

Let's put to this to the test.

Here's a hypothetical entry, containing two serious errors.

Sir Isaac Newton was born in 1462 and published the Theory of Relativity.

We can see that it is 13 words long: an "error rate" of one every 6.5 words.

Now here's a longer version.

Sir Isaac Newton was born in 1462.

Badger badger badger badger badger badger badger badger badger badger badger badger badger badger badger badger badger badger badger badger badger badger badger badger badger badger badger badger badger badger badger badger badger badger badger badger badger badger badger badger badger badger badger badger badger badger badger badger badger badger badger badger badger badger badger badger badger badger badger badger badger badger badger badger badger badger badger badger badger badger badger badger badger badger badger badger badger badger badger badger badger badger badger badger badger badger badger badger badger badger badger badger badger badger badger badger badger badger badger badger snake

He published the Theory of Relativity.

This version is 114 words long, and contains only 2 errors - an "error rate" of one every 57 words. That's almost nine times more accurate - and very much proves Barry and Ernest correct.

We unreservedly apologize, and once again, must hail the power of "collective intelligence".

All Rights Reserved El Reg. 2005

More critters!

2005-12-08T21:19:00.000-06:00

ok time to have some fun. To see what each critter is thinking hover you mouse over the picture.

The Cusp

2005-12-08T04:39:00.000-06:00

here I stand at the Cusp.

... of the unknown
... of a semester away from my home. (Longview, Tx of all places)
... of passing Biblical Foundations.
... of a new major.

I have submitted but not yet broken. Breaking hurts.

here I stand at the Cusp.

"A day that will live in Infamy"

2005-12-07T20:40:00.000-06:00

On December 7, 1941, the Japanese attacked a United States naval base in Hawaii. This attack sent the United States out of neutrality and into the Second World War.

Remember the veterans, our grandparents and aunts and uncles, on this day.

Naval Historical Center

Wiki Slanders the Web again

2005-12-06T01:51:00.000-06:00

Making My Ears Bleed...
Comes Crashing
Building A Better Me
By Dogwood

People these days. Not much to say today. Just a link to yet an other article from El Reg.

Wikipedia Strikes...Again. Still free, still wrong.

By the way, it is currnetly 26 deg. F or -3.33 deg. C in Longview, Tx.

Critters!

2005-12-05T17:09:00.000-06:00

Christmas Lights and Java Toasters!

2005-12-01T15:26:00.000-06:00

Making My Ears Bleed...
The Real Life
Seventeen Days (Bonus Track)
By 3 Doors Down

The Java Toaster! They said it was stupid! He didn't care. His "prints" the weather forecast on your toast. (Java is a programming language that can be run on any operating system or toaster.)

I like the Brits. If you like using butter the same as I do, doesn't it bug you that it doesn't spread as well as margerine right out of the icebox? Well, look to buy one of these. Very cool. It would be neat to have but I lack a kitchen and the house/apt. it goes in. Cool none the less.

Like Chirstmas Lights? Take a gander at this Google Video.

Here's another one for your viewing pleasure.

And lastly here is a seductive sales tidbit from the Waiter at WaiterRant.net. mmm coffee and dessert.

Firefox 1.5 and Face-trans-plants

2005-11-30T13:52:00.000-06:00

Making My Ears Bleed...
Wasted
Greatness in Tragedy
By Greatness in Tragedy

Firefox 1.5 was released as of Tuesday November 29, 2005. Multitudes of bugs were fixed and many a feature added. If you are a Firefox user like myself and use Adblock v0.5 d2*nightly 39 and Firefox 1.0.7 be aware that when I installed 1.5 Adblock would not block new content. To download Firefox 1.5 click on the link in the sidebar or click here. For a more detailed story go to El Reg.

In medical news, the French have completed the worlds first face transplant. I will elaborate when I have time, but in the mean time y'all can go here.

Mad Dash to Christmas Break (or the holiday simply known as Holiday at Wally World )

2005-11-29T07:13:00.000-06:00

Making My Ears Bleed...
Inter.Mission
Inter. Funda. Stifle.
By Fair to Midland

Well Thanksgiving was good. Lots of good food and I found Nick! Yes, he still is alive and not dating Audrey. I had a great time crusing around in his '04 Mustang and catching up on all sorts of stuff. That wraps up Thursday and Most of Friday. Friday night I went to Bums and about rocked my head off!

Headlining was Greatness in Tragedy. The energy with which they perform and play on stage is electrifying! You WILL find yourself singing along even if it is your first time to hear them. The bands that opened up for them were The Levi Smith Band and Fair to Midland. I showed up for Fair to Midland (FTM) and, man, I didn't know that vocal chords could take that kind of damage. Andrew Sudderth can swing down from the high wails to a churning gutteral growl in one fell swoop. Go to their myspace site to see a vid of them at the Curtain Club in Dallas, Tx.

I missed the Levi Smith Band. But as the Fates would have it, I started talking to this guy near the stage before GiT mounted the platform and it turned out to be the drummer for the aforementioned group! I had a nice bit of convo with Justin.

In addition to tracking Nick down I also got to see Coby. It's been ages since I've seeh her. Funny thing is the day Nick and I stopped by the pharmacy to see her, she had brought her yearbook from high school and showed her coworkers pictures of the people she went to high school with.(argh bad grammer.) Thats it I think.

Peace!

New link to cool Java drawey thingy

2005-11-23T06:28:00.000-06:00

Making My Ears Bleed...
Don't Push
Home for an Island
By The Exit

Grappa - Blue Random

Passenger tries to leave plane midflight

2005-11-21T19:56:00.000-06:00

Passenger on a flight from Hong Kong, China, to Brisbane, Australia, attempted to "step out" for a mid-flight smoke! The passenger claims no memory of the act due to an alcohol-sleeping pill coctail.

Sources:

El Reg
BBC
The Courier-Mail

All Rights Reserved BBC, The Register, and The Courier-Mail.

Bruce Willis offers bounty for A-list terrorists

2005-11-21T16:48:00.000-06:00

Bruce Willis is apparently offering a $1 million bounty on the heads of A-list terrorists like Osama Bin Laden, Aymen Al-Zawahiri and Abu Musab Al-Zarqawi. We read this from WENN:

"Willis announced his reward on U.S. TV show 'Rita Cosby: Live & Direct,' where he also slammed biased media coverage of the Iraq war. He said, 'I am baffled to understand why the things that I saw happening in Iraq, really good things happening in Iraq, are not being reported on.'"

As far as we're aware, this is the first instance of a Hollywood celebrity offering a bounty on anything other than Mike Ovitz's head ...

Seriously, though, Mr. Willis is to be applauded for his proactive approach to celebrity activism! And this is certainly preferable to what we usually get from liberal Hollywood celebrities like Tim Robbins, Susan Sarandon, Michael Moore, et al. After all, what else are all those 7-to 8- figure actor salaries useful for anyhow?

Kudos, too, to Mr. Willis for holding the media responsible for its distorted Iraq coverage. And Willis has actually been to Iraq, unlike most Hollywood celebrities who bloviate on the subject.

Willis is also said to have some interest in adapting 'The Deuce Four,' the story of Iraq soldiers whose heroic exploits have been chronicled by embedded blogger Michael Yon. We certainly hope Willis gets around to doing this, because it would be refreshingly original to actually have a supportive film made about the accomplishments of our brave soldiers serving in Iraq ...

courtesy of Hollywood Confidential and Newsmax

New link!

2005-11-18T07:01:00.000-06:00

Making my ears bleed:

Teh radio!

The Global Language Monitor

Currently it tackles Politically Correct Language

Remember having a brainstorm? well you are now politically incorrect. The new terms are Brain Shower or Thought Storm. Go to the link to see the rest.

Tech News and Angry Cattle

2005-11-16T13:51:00.000-06:00

yep I'm a Texan

Angry Cattle

Cow Tipping Impossible!

Blowy Britain

Beware the Trojans! (Horses that is)

How Many Titles with DRM

2ms response time on a LCD!

gacias to El Reg and BenQ

more nerd news out of pakistan

2005-11-14T23:47:00.000-06:00

Pakistani 9 year old is a MCP

Hey Nerds and Geeks! Some Tech News for ya!

2005-11-14T16:03:00.000-06:00

Making My Ears Bleed...
Banjo Boy
Dream Big
By Ryan Shupe & The Rubberband

...with blugrass/rock background music? oh well enjoy it. Ryan Shupe & The Rubberband is happy-feel-good music. check 'em out. On to nerdness ---->

Beware Windows Vista, Businesses (til '08 at least)

"Ours is the smallest!" says Kingmax

"Haha. Ours is smaller than yours!" retorts Pretec

Linux Nerds are Salivating the World-over

Big Google worse than Big Oil?

all headlines copyright of El Reg 2005

hmm

2005-11-08T00:00:00.000-06:00

Your Blog Should Be Purple

You're an expressive, offbeat blogger who tends to write about anything and everything.
You tend to set blogging trends, and you're the most likely to write your own meme or survey.
You are a bit distant though. Your blog is all about you - not what anyone else has to say.

What Color Should Your Blog or Journal Be?

I Act HOW Old?!

2005-11-07T23:24:00.000-06:00

Making My Ears Bleed...
Points of Authority
Hybrid Theory
By Linkin Park

You Are 28 Years Old

Under 12: You are a kid at heart. You still have an optimistic life view - and you look at the world with awe.

13-19: You are a teenager at heart. You question authority and are still trying to find your place in this world.

20-29: You are a twentysomething at heart. You feel excited about what's to come... love, work, and new experiences.

30-39: You are a thirtysomething at heart. You've had a taste of success and true love, but you want more!

40+: You are a mature adult. You've been through most of the ups and downs of life already. Now you get to sit back and relax.

What Age Do You Act?

Hmm That post about sleep,,, meh it is for the uhh zzz

2005-11-06T05:20:00.000-06:00

Making My Ears Bleed...
Relentless Intolerance
The Triptych
By Demon Hunter

Ha Ha! The Demon Hunter CD is out!!!! (well as of Oct. 25 in the States and Dec. 3 for Europe). I went to Temple this weekend. Had a good time. The crew was myself, mi hermanito, Jared, Sam, Nathaniel, Ben (Heff), Ben Bailey (Quad 2). We went to the CTCS homecoming game. Jeff and Brandon were there. Had lots of fun doing nothing. We all went to the mall to see a movie, but that fell through and we were standing outside and the rent-a-cop said we were loitering and we needed to break it up. I've never been accused of "loitering" before. After the mall we went across the street and rented:

New Fav. Movie
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (Widescreen Edition)

More on the weekend after I actually get some much needed sleep.

(sorry we couldn't hang out, Kate, we'll give it another go next time.)

Sleep: What I normally don't get

2005-11-01T12:10:00.000-06:00

Making My Ears Bleed...
Cast It Out
The Autumn Effect (iTunes Ver.)
By 10 Years

I found this article on Reflections of Christ. The article talks about the lack of sleep that Americans generally get and the side effects thereof. One thing I have heard is that we need at least 7 hours of sleep for mental health. Last night I actually got 8 hours of sleep. I normally get 5-3 hours. My lack of sleep comes with being an engingeering student and the culture of no-sleep at LeTourneau University, plus I have terrible sleep habits as it is.

Have fun reading the article.

Squirrels on Crack!

2005-10-30T14:40:00.000-06:00

Squirrels on Crack

Aww This site isn't worth much :(

2005-10-25T16:48:00.000-05:00

My blog is worth $1,693.62.
How much is your blog worth?

Happy Birthday to my Blog!

2005-10-20T20:54:00.000-05:00

It has been just over one year of blogging.

got to go study for a Calc III Test.

I Love Physics Labs

2005-10-20T11:28:00.000-05:00

Loserz

I need to go to sleep but the sun's coming up o_O XD

2005-10-20T07:07:00.000-05:00

Making My Ears Bleed...
Beheaded
Summer Of Darkness
By Demon Hunter

First, I would like to say I have stayed up all night and worked on my Exegesis Paper for Foundations. Due at 8:00AM.

Second, I would like to thank BlogIon for finding me and adding me to their HUGE directory. I fall under US Blogs, Blogger, and LifeBlogs (I think).

Yay for 2 hrs of sleep between Tuesday and Wednesday! hehe

Peace. Fortitude. Steadfastness.

PS Mood buttons coming soon (i think) so you can tell my mood just by checking up on the blog

PPS I think that's it.

Wikipedia Addicts Prepare to be Disappointed

2005-10-18T22:03:00.000-05:00

Wikipedia Founder admits quality problems

copyright 2005 El Reg

Why am I still up?

2005-10-17T03:33:00.000-05:00

I should really be asleep now. I NEED to go to class this morning and chapel too.

New Img Host test

2005-10-14T03:13:00.000-05:00

Good stuff

2005-10-12T23:12:00.000-05:00

Making My Ears Bleed...
Perfect
Flyleaf
By Flyleaf

Legion see the post dated Oct. 5, 2005

headline courtesty of Waiter Rant
copyright www.waiterrant.net

where I have been in the US

2005-10-12T02:14:00.000-05:00

create your own visited states map
or check out these Google Hacks.

A Baby?!

2005-10-10T20:36:00.000-05:00

man all sorts of things are happening today!

John and Amber are pregnant. well, uh, amber is the one who is preggers.

Peace. Fortitude. Steadfastness.

New Flyleaf CD Out Today!

2005-10-10T15:13:00.000-05:00

Making My Ears Bleed...
Fully Alive
Flyleaf
By Flyleaf

Flyleaf Band Site
Octone Records
Flyleaf Fan
Flyleaf @ myspace.com

CD can also be purchased on iTunes Music Store.

After much a hard work,in the studio and touring, the long awaited full length CD from Flyleaf is here.

Rock on Temple Rock on!

Peace. Fortitude. Steadfastness.

I get so frustrated with myself...

2005-10-10T14:12:00.000-05:00

Making My Ears Bleed...
What Am I Going To Do With Me
Everybody Needs A Tuba
By Joel Sprayberry

that I find it hard to function to my utmost. From whither does this self-doubt come? Sleeping through classes is bad and I know it. It does not matter what major, you miss class you miss instruction! I want to scream or beat myself physically to make me stop sleeping through class, but that will not achieve anything. I am off in uncharted waters. During high school, the parents could guide me and all that good stuff. Now I am off attempting to do high level math and physics, and all they can do is go "wow that's hard. Do your best. We know you can do it!"
Where is MY confidence!? Where is MY drive? I often forget that I am surrounded by multitudes of other smart people (Wes, Scooter, Bear, Phil, Tosen, just to name a few) at a world class institute of higher learning and let myself belive in the lie that I am stupid and mediocre! I need to finish strong. Please pray for me.

Peace. Fortitude. Steadfastness.

Crazy San Fran!

2005-10-04T10:28:00.000-05:00

Making My Ears Bleed...
My Texas
From Hell To Breakfast
By The Feds

Wi-Fi A Basic Human Right?

headline courtesy of The Register.

so about today...

2005-09-28T22:24:00.000-05:00

Making My Ears Bleed...
Let Go (LP Version)
Another Journal Entry
By BarlowGirl

today was not cool.

more later.

By the way good group.

BLITz

2005-09-11T02:54:00.000-05:00

up 6:30 am

return 3:00 am

equals 21 hrs

a weeks worth of work

in 21 hrs

"I had a bad day again..."

2005-09-05T09:56:00.000-05:00

Y'all know how the song goes

Sunday was terrible! Circuits I homework + Caffeene(sp) =

lets see how far I can get on approx. 2hr. 30mins of sleep

Pray for my sanity!

Second Day of Class!

2005-08-31T18:07:00.000-05:00

Making My Ears Bleed...
Bend My Knees
Everybody Needs A Tuba
By Joel Sprayberry

writing a paper for Bib Foundations
more later
hang in there!
:)

When Dell Buys A University

2005-07-27T17:28:00.000-05:00

University bans iPod adverts
By Ashlee Vance in Chicago
Published Wednesday 27th July 2005 20:00 GMT
Get breaking Enterprise news straight to your desktop - click here to find out how

In case you had any doubts, ladies and gentleman, your children are truly up for sale, and you're paying tens of thousands of dollars to put them on the market. That's what we learned this week from the University of Washington, which has struck a broad music rental deal with Napster and Dell.

Dogged reporter Kayla Webley of The Daily pressured UW, Dell and Napster to release the financial details of their agreement. Napster has so far banned schools from revealing such information. UW, however, is a publicly funded school and was forced to disclose the data by open records laws.

Napster typically charges customers between $10 and $15 per month to rent music from its service. Customers must pay extra to obtain permanent downloads of songs. As you'll see though, the schools receive massive discounts.

UW, for example, will pay Napster $24,000 for 8 months of its service. Napster is charging just $2 per student for 1,500 students. As part of the promotional partnership, Dell will also chip in $24,000 for another 1,500 kids. Then, Dell will deliver $53,000 worth of servers at no charge to the school, the student paper reported.

But here's the real rub.

"Under the provisions the University must exclusively promote the Dell branded DJ, secure two Dell kiosks on campus to feature Dell products and services, facilitate a Dell launch event in the back-to-school timeframe, host Dell information on the UW website, execute an email campaign and participate in a case study," The Daily reported.

So students have been put on a music meat market where they're being force fed a service that doesn't work with Mac OS X, Linux or even older versions of Windows and that doesn't work with the leading MP3 player. Instead, the kids will have to listen to a sales pitch for Dell's embarrassing device and nothing else.

It's no secret that Napster's college deals reek of dot-com business model madness. At the University of Rochester, for example, students recoiled against Napster, showing their disaffection for the service by not buying a single song from it. The damaging social undercurrents of such deals have also been well publicized.

Thankfully, UW has some real brains on its side. It will pay for the Napster service by selling royalties to software and other technology developed by the school to various companies. Er, here's guessing Dell needs a new calculator app.

Hopefully, you parents don't mind paying for your children to appear in a Dell commercial. After all, they are learning a valuable lesson about renting music that's sure to last them a lifetime.

There's more on this shocker here. ®

This article is from The Register. All rights reserved.

Love, Loyalty, Duty

2005-07-25T14:44:00.000-05:00

Currently Watching
Gunslinger Girl Vol 3

Love offers greater loyalty than duty.

EU and Neo-Conservatism

2005-07-21T17:37:00.000-05:00

Making My Ears Bleed...
Show Must Go On
Classic Queen
By Queen

I read this on BERI.com, and I thought it was worth posting for all to read. Many predictions and a leftward slant but no worries.

Letter from Europe by Dietrich B. Knickerbocker (Zurich)

Has the Neo-Conservative Wave from Texas Reached Europe?

A New Wave in Europe Since WWII, many ideologies and lifestyles have followed the same direction: They are first developed and established on the West Coast, then they move across the USA, and then they cross the Atlantic to Europe. Anti-authoritative education, consumerism, feminism, the student movement, sex morals, and gay parades are all examples. The recent U.S. elections showed a strong trend toward conservative thinking on the grass roots level. Has this “Neo-Con Weltanschauung” already reached Europe? And if so, what are the implications for U.S.-European relations and U.S. policies?

Observers of the political scene in Europe were surprised when, after the murder of Dutch movie-maker van Gogh by an Islamic extremist in November, the “multi-cultural society” fell out of favor. For decades, it had been the mantra of greens, liberals, and socialists that the more people from foreign cultures enter our country, the better it is. Suddenly, opinion leaders in the media admitted that it had been a mistake to allow the widespread immigration from far-away foreign countries. Only weeks before, this would have been considered as an unacceptable violation of another mantra: that of “political correctness”.

The next signal came with the sudden drop in popularity of such politicians as Berlin’s socialist mayor Wovereit or Guido Westerwelle, leader of Germany’s liberals. There was no specific event that triggered this fall from high ratings in the polls, except for the increasing awareness that the political problems of the country were too serious to be entrusted to politicians who had deliberately cultivated their “party-going, let’s all be gay” image. Joschka Fischer, secretary of state and de-facto leader of Germany’s green party, suffered a similar fate. For years, he had been the darling of the media, who made him the most popular German politician. Suddenly, the same media that had promoted him reversed gears and criticised him as ineffective. Crucify him!

Another indication of a new mood in Europe was the wide-spread sympathetic attention given to the suffering and burial of the Polish Pope by hundreds of millions of Catholics, Protestants and agnostics alike. They mourned and watched the ceremonies on TV. Simultaneous events such as the marriage of Prince Charles to Camilla Parker-Bowles or the burial of Prince Rainier of Monaco, which at other times would have received top media exposure, went almost unnoticed. Ralph Dahrendorf, the former Director of the London School of Economics and now member of the House of Lords and columnist for several European newspapers, summed it up: it showed the deep admiration and respect for a religious leader who had lived-up to his convictions and refused to compromise these values. He contrasted sharply with political leaders in Europe and elsewhere who lacked a vision, a convincing commitment, and strength of character. Sitting in front of their TV screens, Europeans gave a no-confidence vote to their political class.

Death of a Concept The final proof of the changed mood was the result of the referendums for the new European “Constitution” by French and Dutch voters. This proved three points: First, the political strategy to develop the EU into a centralized political power with global ambitions was a project promoted by a political elite which lacked broad public support. Second, voters wanted to keep their identity as citizens of their respective country and were not prepared to sacrifice it’s autonomy for a United Europe. Third, the political class had totally misjudged the will of their own voters. A few months before, the same elitists had invited Turkish Prime Minister Recep Erdogan to the signing ceremony of the European constitution. There was no justification for inviting him because negotiations on Turkey’s acceptance as an EU member had not even started. However, Europe’s politicians and the technocrats of the EU Commission wanted to demonstrate to their own citizens that Turkish EU membership already was an irreversible fact. They should have listened to P. T. Barnum: ”You can fool some of the people some of the time, you can’t fool all of the people all of the time."

The Outcome of More Conservative Policies in Europe Important leaders of the Centralized United Europe strategy such as Schröder, Chirac, and Berlusconi are now deceased. New political leaders will soon take their place who have received a useful message: if they continue to follow the old EU strategies and let distant and underdeveloped countries such as Turkey or the Ukraine join the EU, they will be voted out of office. This is one thing no politician wants to happen.

With all the talk about spreading democracy around the world, few have recognized that European democracy has triumphed again. Fifteen years ago, the citizens of East Germany, Hungary, Poland, and Romania had the courage to demonstrate and chase their communist rulers out of office. This time, they just voted and changed the political direction of the continent.

What are the Implications? There is no EU crisis, only politicians, bureaucrats, and media commentators crying that their wonderful plans were swept away. The EU will grow slower and will be forced by the people of Europe to identify it’s borders. There will be more emphasis on such common projects as new East-West superhighways and rail links, scientific research projects etc. There will be less pressure from Brussels on harmonizing administrative standards and procedures such as specifications for the food kindergartens in Lisbon, Frankfurt, and Warsaw can or can not serve their kids for lunch.

Turkish and Ukranian EU membership have disappeared over the horizon.

EU policy will be more pragmatic, especially towards the USA. Symbolism such as calling for a termination of the weapons embargo against China will be a thing of the past, cooperation with the USA on this and similar matters will improve without losing Europe’s own interests in trade, foreign relations, energy policy, etc. But Europe’s new conservative mood will be mild. No need to fear that the EU will build Guantanamo-style concentration camps or make unprovoked attacks on other countries.

Human Brains: Digital or Analog?

2005-07-04T01:11:00.000-05:00

Human Brains: Digital or Analog?

Haunted NES

All headlines from The Register

www.theregister.co.uk

Windows box PSU is damaged

2005-06-26T21:44:00.000-05:00

This morning around 5:30AM a power surge ripped through the new PSU(6-7-2005) and whacked the voltages going to the optical drives, fan controller, and hard disks. I am an unhappy camper!

on another note...

I have passed my Calc II class!! w00t!

I went shooting with Coop and Louis yesterday. That was alot of fun. oh yeah, I am now a member of the NRA!

I need to start posting daily again

bye

Yaaaa! Fallen comic rises again!

2005-06-20T01:30:00.000-05:00

One of my favorite webcomics finally updated!!

The last update was in February. Adio has been thru some hard times.

"Whell... comic's up. I'm trying to slowly pick up the broken pieces. My exciting adventures of the past few months are too numerous to recount, so I'll sum it up in a sentence and see if I can't elaborate more when I'm less exhausted. Boyfriend left school, depression, anxiety, unhealthy weight loss, grade drop, broke dominant hand, unable to finish final animation, still haven't officially finished spring quarter of college, panic attacks over t-shirts."

I need to sleep more, a reoccurring theme

2005-06-03T01:20:00.000-05:00

Making My Ears Bleed...
Aura(Evil Version)
hack//SIGN - extra soundtracks
By Yuki Kajiura

so it's 1:20 in the AM and I am about to get in bed. I average about 5 hours of sleep a night during the week. Today Sam (Master Electrician and boss) and Tim(Electrician's Helper and co-worker) were working on a large underground j-box, junction box, ya know electrical stuff, near the new dorm on campus. The deal is the j-box was level with the ground for easy access, but someone in a position of authority did not want to see a large cement pad surrounded by very little grass. This person of influence asked for the top of the box to be lowered by 6 inches so grass would grow over it and it would look nice. In order to lower the lid, all the connections and large electrical switches had to be lowered also. After everything was lowered and reconnected, the time came to put the fuses back in place on the pole...BOOM! A blue arc and one blown fuse later, no power to Thomas, Gilbert, the new dorm, and Apt 11-16 and the Quad.

[insert more of story]

Today I leave Longview around noon to go hang out with John on his last night as a single dude. No I will not buy him any alcohol. He needs to be cognisent for his wedding. I am ushering at the union of two blessed souls. I have never ushed at a wedding before. AHHHH John is getting married it is so alien to me!!!!

now I sleep

Room Checks, d20, an absurd sounding Windows box, how Blogger has made me queer

2005-05-28T02:19:00.000-05:00

We had the first room checks of the summer last night at 8:00 pm. I bleached and mopped and cleaned the bathroom and Stan bought a new shower curtain and rod, because the one that came with the apartment was utterly disgusting! It had a hole duct taped (not really a problem for me) and the worst part was the proliferation of mold X(.

I am starting to play d20 a mod for D&D. So far so cool.

My Windows box started making a really strange noise, so I took the cover off and located the source of annoyance: my northbridge chipset fan! So I ordered a new chipset fan and heatsink, two hard disk coolers and a new side case fan (it had stopped working for a while.) All that should be here next week.

If you have noticed, my header has been changed for a little while. It should read "I AM A SUPREME NERD!!! BOW BEFORE ME!!!" but now it reads, "I AM A SUPREME QUEER!!! BOW BEFORE ME!!!" I have tried to change it several times but with no avail. :( Blogger has made me queer!!

Off to LAN some more!!!

1337!

.:EDIT:.
never mind it finally changed

Last land mark before 30!

2005-05-22T00:10:00.000-05:00

I am now 21! I can now pack heat and all the other stuff. It has been awhile since my last post. I'll tell ya later.

Watch your P's and Q's

2005-05-04T15:32:00.000-05:00

Making My Ears Bleed...
Telescope Eyes
Telescope Eyes EP
By Eisley

Beer headlines from the Register.

Beer make you smarter?

So booze actually bolsters nerve cell growth in your brain (well at least in mice, according to the study).

Beer Belly a Myth?

Got Cancer, This Buds for You

Alcohol + Caffeine + Ginseng + Garana

So I am doing chapel write ups and I got bored. Just thought I would explore a anti-school issue. Finals week. Wheee! (Actually it floated accross the RSS feed ticker. the beer thing that is) Have a nice day and I will see you after I get back from Temple and get all moved out of the Quad and moved into the apartments.

More Quizzes!!!

2005-04-28T04:32:00.000-05:00

Your Inner European is Irish!

Sprited and boisterous!

You drink everyone under the table.

Who's Your Inner European?

I don't know if I could drink anyone under the table!

Your Taste in Music:

90's Rock: Highest Influence

Alternative Rock: Highest Influence

Country: Highest Influence

80's Rock: High Influence

90's Alternative: High Influence

Adult Alternative: High Influence

Classic Rock: High Influence

Hair Bands: Medium Influence

Heavy Metal: Medium Influence

Progressive Rock: Medium Influence

80's Alternative: Low Influence

80's Pop: Low Influence

90's Pop: Low Influence

How's Your Taste in Music?

Seduction anyone??

2005-04-28T04:22:00.000-05:00

Wonder how true this is?? As true as 5 questions can be, but I think it reflects well.

Your Seduction Style: Ideal Lover

You seduce people by tapping into their dreams and desires.
And because of this sensitivity, you can be the ideal lover for anyone you seek.
You are a shapeshifter - bringing romance, adventure, spirituality to relationships.
It all depends on who your with, and what their vision of a perfect relationship is.

What Is Your Seduction Style?

You Know You're From Texas...

2005-04-28T04:05:00.000-05:00

Making My Ears Bleed...
God Save The Queen
Greatness In Tragedy
By Greatness In Tragedy

You Know You're From Texas When...

You see more Texan flags than American flags.

You know someone who ate the 72 oz steak and got it for free.

You attend a formal event in your best clothes, your finest jewelry, and your Cowboy Boots.

You can write a check at Dairy Queen for 2 Hungr-Busters and fries.

You prefer Whataburger to McDonalds.

You dress up to go shopping at the mall.

You've hung ornaments and tinsel on a tumbleweed and used it as a Christmas tree.

You're disappointed when a food doesn't come in spicy flavor.

You know from experience that rattlesnake meat tastes like chicken.

You can tell a rock from an armadillo at 300 yards.

You know what a 'Cowboy Cadillac' is.

You have both a dog and a brother-in-law named Bud

Your local grocery store sells cactus in the Fresh Produce department

You watch the movie Urban Cowboy and laugh at the phony Texan accents

You choose a brand of Mexican salsa with the same care that another might use to select a bottle of fine wine

You think that the 4 basic food groups are nachos, bar-b-que, fajitas, and Copenhagen.

You refer to the Dallas Cowboys as "God's favorite football team"

You know whether another Texan is from South, West, East, North, or Central Texas as soon as they open their mouth.

You don't consider people from Austin to be real Texans.

Your Pastor wears boots.

There is no such thing as a "secret" sin.

The Blue Book value on your truck goes up and down depending on how much gas it has in it.

You actually get these jokes and pass them on to other friends from Texas.

Get Your Own "You Know You're From" Meme Here

More cool things for your blog at
Blogthings

ugh last week of the semester

2005-04-26T00:14:00.000-05:00

Currently Playing
My Sympathies (Rough Mix)
Cheapskates Sampler: Harder Side
By AP2

So today started the last week of the semester. No motivation, drive, go juice. whatever you want to call it. and I have a slight fever. I need to go to sleep now so I can make it to class in the morning.

bye

Now I'm Depressed

2005-04-21T12:37:00.000-05:00

Currently Playing
SONG NAME
Panopticon
By Isis

" The parents of a seriously ill baby have been told yet again that doctors will be allowed to let her die if she stops breathing by a top judge."

© 2005 BSkyB

Odd news

2005-04-21T12:35:00.000-05:00

Miami Man Puts Car Out of Misery

Holy Mother seen in Subway?

BEWARE FLYING SAUSAGES!

New Twist Over Finger in Wendy's Chili

Granny Beats Intruder with Lawn Gnome

All stories in this post © 2005 BSkyB

I thought I was more southern

2005-04-20T22:08:00.000-05:00

Your Linguistic Profile:

60% General American English

20% Dixie

15% Yankee

0% Midwestern

0% Upper Midwestern

What Kind of American English Do You Speak?

Devos

2005-04-18T12:56:00.000-05:00

Spurgeon's Morning & Evening Devotions

Morning, April 18

"Shall a man make gods unto himself, and they are no gods."
- Jeremiah 16:20

One great besetting sin of ancient Israel was idolatry, and the
spiritual Israel are vexed with a tendency to the same folly.
Remphan's star shines no longer, and the women weep no more for
Tammuz, but Mammon still intrudes his golden calf, and the
shrines of pride are not forsaken. Self in various forms
struggles to subdue the chosen ones under its dominion, and the
flesh sets up its altars wherever it can find space for them.

Favourite children are often the cause of much sin in believers;
the Lord is grieved when he sees us doting upon them above
measure; they will live to be as great a curse to us as Absalom
was to David, or they will be taken from us to leave our homes
desolate. If Christians desire to grow thorns to stuff their
sleepless pillows, let them dote on their dear ones.

It is truly said that "they are no gods," for the objects of our
foolish love are very doubtful blessings, the solace which they
yield us now is dangerous, and the help which they can give us in
the hour of trouble is little indeed. Why, then, are we so
bewitched with vanities? We pity the poor heathen who adore a god
of stone, and yet worship a god of gold. Where is the vast
superiority between a god of flesh and one of wood? The
principle, the sin, the folly is the same in either case, only
that in ours the crime is more aggravated because we have more
light, and sin in the face of it. The heathen bows to a false
deity, but the true God he has never known; we commit two evils,
inasmuch as we forsake the living God and turn unto idols. May
the Lord purge us all from this grievous iniquity!

"The dearest idol I have known,
Whate'er that idol be;
Help me to tear it from thy throne,
And worship only thee."

Evening, April 18

"Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of
incorruptible."
- 1 Peter 1:23

Peter most earnestly exhorted the scattered saints to love each
other "with a pure heart fervently" and he wisely fetched his
argument, not from the law, from nature, or from philosophy, but
from that high and divine nature which God hath implanted in his
people. Just as some judicious tutor of princes might labour to
beget and foster in them a kingly spirit and dignified behaviour,
finding arguments in their position and descent, so, looking upon
God's people as heirs of glory, princes of the blood royal,
descendants of the King of kings, earth's truest and oldest
aristocracy, Peter saith to them, "See that ye love one another,
because of your noble birth, being born of incorruptible seed;
because of your pedigree, being descended from God, the Creator
of all things; and because of your immortal destiny, for you
shall never pass away, though the glory of the flesh shall fade,
and even its existence shall cease." It would be well if, in the
spirit of humility, we recognized the true dignity of our
regenerated nature, and lived up to it.

What is a Christian? If you compare him with a king, he adds
priestly sanctity to royal dignity. The king's royalty often
lieth only in his crown, but with a Christian it is infused into
his inmost nature. He is as much above his fellows through his
new birth, as a man is above the beast that perisheth.

Surely he ought to carry himself, in all his dealings, as one who
is not of the multitude, but chosen out of the world,
distinguished by sovereign grace, written among "the peculiar
people" and who therefore cannot grovel in the dust as others,
nor live after the manner of the world's citizens. Let the
dignity of your nature, and the brightness of your prospects, O
believers in Christ, constrain you to cleave unto holiness, and
to avoid the very appearance of evil.

-----------
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When Life hits you like a soccerball (or football) in the face

2005-04-17T17:43:00.000-05:00

Currently Playing
Cold War Transmissions
Blueprints for the Black Market
By Anberlin

Ever feel like life has just hit you in the face with (insert object here)?

There is so much going on now, but I can't tell you about it right now.

Pray for protection.

RIAA Sues the Dead!!!

2005-04-14T18:29:00.000-05:00

RIAA sues the dead
By Andrew Orlowski in San Francisco
Published Saturday 5th February 2005 02:30 GMT

Death is no obstacle to feeling the long arm of the Recording Industry Ass. of America.

Lawyers representing several record companies have filed suit against an 83 year-old woman who died in December, claiming that she made more than 700 songs available on the internet.

"I believe that if music companies are going to set examples they need to do it to appropriate people and not dead people," Robin Chianumba told AP. "I am pretty sure she is not going to leave Greenwood Memorial Park to attend the hearing."

Gertrude Walton, who lived in Beckley, West Virginia hated computers, too, her daughter adds. An RIAA spokesperson said that it would try and dismiss the case.

However the RIAA's embarrassment doesn't end there. Chianumba said that she had sent a copy of her mother's death certificate to record company lawyers in response to an initial warning letter, over a week before the suit was filed. In 2003 the RIAA sued a twelve year-old girl for copyright infringement. She'd harbored an MP3 file of her favorite TV show on her hard drive. Her working class parents in a housing project in New York were forced to pay two thousand dollars in a settlement.

You can't be too young to face the consequences of being social, it seems. Only the unborn, it seems, have yet to receive an infringement suit.

But here's another interpretation of this distasteful litigation. Wouldn't the RIAA members be better off if a traditional compensation scheme, such as the one used by radio, was extended to digital music?

Yes, of course they would. And so would we.

Perhaps the cack-handed lawsuits are an indication that even the RIAA doesn't believe it can maintain the charade for much longer.®

Article from The Register RSS Feed. Copyright 2005

http://www.theregister.co.uk

Sunday Sonday Saundey

2005-04-10T14:51:00.000-05:00

The title?? I dunno

my tuner ^_^

So I just "installed" (read attached) an "antenna" (read speaker cable circa 1970?) and "mounted" (read mounted or used the black light and the doorframe around the bathroom door)

40 min since post time

just got back from running around town with Al and Pagles and I am dang tired
sooooo
Peace out!!!!
I sleep now

OUCH!!

2005-04-09T23:11:00.000-05:00

Currently Playing
Out of Reach
Great Day for the Race
By Cities of Foam

Wonder if there was a Nike check on his face?

The beginning of a new look!

2005-04-08T06:48:00.000-05:00

Hey!!!

As you may have already noticed I am moving towards a simpler look.
I would like to extend a thank you to Shem.
I pulled a few images off his blog and altered them to aquire my new look.

Hootenanny is today. Good Grief!! I could swear gremlins are all over Belcher Gym. The wireless systems were getting all sorts of feedback! Another annoying thing was people not knowing how to speak into microphones or project their voices. Yesterday I was ready to snap a few necks and blow my cell phone to smitherines with a Magnum.
Maybe I'll talk about that later.

In other News...

I have been working on Hootenanny since last Friday and have gotten the minimum amount of sleep to stay alive and functioning. Its been... different. I have decided that next year I will not associate myself with Hootenanny. It takes too much time and causes too much stress!!!

When I went to breakfast yesterday morning with Stan and Bear, it was a wonderful morning that was just the right temperature to be climbing out of a tent. It was 60 something degrees F, overcast, there was a crispness in the air.. ahhh it was wonderful.
*stops to meditate on that feeling*
I really miss camping. I was in Boy Scouts from third grade all the way to my senior year in high school. Yes, I am one of the 2% of Scout's that has his Eagle Scout badge.

I really need to go camping SOOON!!!

Wow I didn't know I needed to say that much.

Now for a Precal test and the rest of my day.

Stuff and toys

2005-04-06T02:06:00.000-05:00

Currently Playing
The Call Of KTULU
Ride The Lightning
By Metallica

I just left Belcher Gym an hour ago. I was helping setup the sound equipment for Hootnanny 2005, the 40th anniversary! I had been there since 6:30 PM. A storm rolled thru about tenish. It was awesome!! Tornado warnings and all!! I didn't know East Texas had it in her.

So my eyes are bigger than my pocketbook...

Logitech® Cordless Desktop® MX™ 3100

Cost: $149.95 USD

QuickCam® Pro 4000

Logitech Price: $99.95 USD
Newegg.com Price: $65.00 USD
I don't really need the cam because I dont do video conferencing, but it is still really cool.

Funny cats

2005-03-28T20:12:00.000-06:00

You Scared Kitty

again!!

Forms of Heresy

2005-03-23T19:19:00.000-06:00

I found the most interesting thing on the IMDb forums when I was reading up on Mel Gibson films. The thread was about Braveheart and its multiple references in Wild at Heart by John Eldredge.

The post by paperclipjoe speaks about different types of heresy. Here is his (I assume paperclipjoe is a he) post in its entirety:

I think this is good. I'll be honest with you, very few Christians I know are like Ned Flanders. There are a few like that, the sort of Puritans. I've learned a great deal by reading Gilbert Chesterton and through him Hilaire Belloc. One thing they've pointed out to me is what a heresy is. A heresy is usually a truth taken out of proportion from other truths. Because it is "true" it can undermine the other truths, unless you recognize what it is doing. Thus a puritan who does all this ninny nannying about 'don't drink alcohol, its the devil's drink' is really in a sort of heresy. As Chesterton put it, its idolatry to set up false gods, but it is also idolatry to set up false devils. The puritan ascribes evil to an object, of which there is no inherent evil. A man may drink and become a drunkard. That is true. But to take that truth and say a man who drinks IS committing the evil of a drunkard is a heresy. It takes truth out of proportion. It says the badness of being a drunk is the same as the goodness of a nice glass of wine (I don't drink by the way).

Whats the point to the original article? Christians should stop being ninny-nannies. If you're doing it, stop it. You're only assisting those who want to discredit your religion. Its almost humorous at times. You get Christians who feel so put upon that they must attack anyone who disagrees with them. At the other extreme you have Christians who feel so cowed that they hide in their corner. There is a lack of a sense of proportion. You are the majority in the country. 85% of the people in the U.S. consider themselves Christian. 45% go to Church every Sunday. So stop acting all timid or reactionary. You don't need to be an extremist (a sure sign of being timid). Just take your stand, plant your feet on the ground, and act like the dominant culture that you are. Be a Braveheart - believe in solid virtues like loyalty, brotherhood, chastity, temperance, but quit the whinning nitpicking, or hiding when you are attacked.

I think The Passion was a good example. Gibson made an entirely Christian film, with no regard to compromising its Christian element. He was savagely attacked, but he planted two feet on the ground did his thing, and succeeded in the end. And yet he can turn around and make a comedic appearance as Officer Steve Cox on Complete Savages and be a sexist pig. There are those who say "Ninny-ninny-ninnny, you can't do that. You're a Christian now. You made The Passion. No more fun anymore." Who says a Christian can't have fun in a comedy role as a sexist pig. Thats a false devil.

I think I made a point somewhere in here :)

paperclipjoe hits the nail on the head and I agree wholeheartedly!

Colossians 2:16 NIV Biblegateway
Therefore do not let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink, or with regard to a religious festival, a New Moon celebration or a Sabbath day.

School shooting in Minnesota

2005-03-22T01:18:00.000-06:00

In the worst school shooting since Columbine (1999), a student has murdered his grandparents, and a teacher and several other students at the school.

Sources:

BBC
WCCO Local News
CNN
FOX News
SKY News