Monday, July 31, 2006
Tech Support, plz
OK... I dunno why my right "floating" panel is moored at the bottom of this page. If anyone knows how to correct this in the html, I'll buy you a unicorn.
<3 Heather Havrilesky
Ok... *this* is why Heather Havrilesky is my most favoritest TV critic ever. I mean... not that I read any others... but she's just so clever and insightful and... *right*.
Full article is here: http://www.salon.com/ent/tv/iltw/2006/07/30/louie/
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"July 30, 2006 July is almost over, and once again I don't feel as if I've fully exploited its July-ness the way I should've. Isn't July supposed to be filled with fireworks and picnics and watermelon and trips to the beach? Shouldn't everyone be tanned and well rested, with a frozen daiquiri or a chilled glass of sangria with a delightful fruit garnish in their hands at all times? I always have the feeling during July that there should be cookouts to attend constantly, and not the kind with messy bean salads and plates of burned sausages and bags of crumbly Doritos, either. No, we're talking festive, camera-ready cookouts, where everyone is wearing shades of dark red and purple that look good together, like in the pages of Martha Stewart Living, and the intelligent-looking yet stylish hosts serve huge, colorful fruit salads and big platters of beef, cooked to medium-rare perfection. All of the children are adorable but never shriek or pull the dog's ears, and at night there are sparklers and martinis and tiki torches and maybe a live violin quartet or a jazz band. People tell great jokes, no one talks about their dumb jobs, and there are no bugs, anywhere.
In other words, ideally, July is a cross between a Nestea plunge commercial and a spread in the summer issue of the Pottery Barn catalog. Sadly, though, that kind of art-directed July remains limited to magazines, fluffy summer TV shows and calendar photography, because the fact is -- and this is the part you forget when you're daydreaming about July in the middle of some particularly shivery, dreary day in January -- July is very, very hot. July is hot enough that no one has the energy to shower or comb their hair or even speak, let alone assemble delightful fruit garnishes. All anyone really does is slump on the couch in their underwear, sweating buckets.
Maybe in New England, in some small Norman Rockwell-style town, they achieve the sorts of idyllic July days that the rest of us dream about while we're tossing and turning at night, soaking the sheets. Maybe while we plant ourselves in front of the one, tiny air-conditioning unit in the house and refuse to budge, those adorable folks up in Maine are pickling beets and attending quaint little small-town parades. While the rest of us are driving to a crappy mall just to get out of the heat, those assholes are playing croquet while sampling a fresh batch of prosciutto-and-melon skewers.
But July is almost over, which is a big relief, since the month of August is clearly meant to be spent slumping on the couch in your underwear, sweating buckets. See, I imagine that I love the overachieving months the best, but really, I prefer the months with the lowest expectations attached to them: rainy February, sullen November, and soiled, stanky August. "
Full article is here: http://www.salon.com/ent/tv/iltw/2006/07/30/louie/
=======================================
"July 30, 2006 July is almost over, and once again I don't feel as if I've fully exploited its July-ness the way I should've. Isn't July supposed to be filled with fireworks and picnics and watermelon and trips to the beach? Shouldn't everyone be tanned and well rested, with a frozen daiquiri or a chilled glass of sangria with a delightful fruit garnish in their hands at all times? I always have the feeling during July that there should be cookouts to attend constantly, and not the kind with messy bean salads and plates of burned sausages and bags of crumbly Doritos, either. No, we're talking festive, camera-ready cookouts, where everyone is wearing shades of dark red and purple that look good together, like in the pages of Martha Stewart Living, and the intelligent-looking yet stylish hosts serve huge, colorful fruit salads and big platters of beef, cooked to medium-rare perfection. All of the children are adorable but never shriek or pull the dog's ears, and at night there are sparklers and martinis and tiki torches and maybe a live violin quartet or a jazz band. People tell great jokes, no one talks about their dumb jobs, and there are no bugs, anywhere.
In other words, ideally, July is a cross between a Nestea plunge commercial and a spread in the summer issue of the Pottery Barn catalog. Sadly, though, that kind of art-directed July remains limited to magazines, fluffy summer TV shows and calendar photography, because the fact is -- and this is the part you forget when you're daydreaming about July in the middle of some particularly shivery, dreary day in January -- July is very, very hot. July is hot enough that no one has the energy to shower or comb their hair or even speak, let alone assemble delightful fruit garnishes. All anyone really does is slump on the couch in their underwear, sweating buckets.
Maybe in New England, in some small Norman Rockwell-style town, they achieve the sorts of idyllic July days that the rest of us dream about while we're tossing and turning at night, soaking the sheets. Maybe while we plant ourselves in front of the one, tiny air-conditioning unit in the house and refuse to budge, those adorable folks up in Maine are pickling beets and attending quaint little small-town parades. While the rest of us are driving to a crappy mall just to get out of the heat, those assholes are playing croquet while sampling a fresh batch of prosciutto-and-melon skewers.
But July is almost over, which is a big relief, since the month of August is clearly meant to be spent slumping on the couch in your underwear, sweating buckets. See, I imagine that I love the overachieving months the best, but really, I prefer the months with the lowest expectations attached to them: rainy February, sullen November, and soiled, stanky August. "
Friday, July 28, 2006
My korfball team can beat up your korfball team
I recently got an internal memo from my corporate overlords at Accenture in which they shared neat things various employees around the world are doing. The one that caught my eye was the story about this consultant who's competing in the 2006 European Championships as a member of Hungary’s national korfball team.
Korfball.... wth?!!??!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Korfball
Korfball.... wth?!!??!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Korfball
Science -- Liquid Lakes Found on Titan
This appeals to the Planetary Scientist in me (ah, the days of wine and exogeology).
Basically, Cassini (the probe sent to Saturn many years back) has snapped pictures of Titan's surface, which show strong evidence of current liquid lakes on the surface. Titan is interesting because it's the only other terrestrial body in the solar system with an atmosphere as substantial as Earth's. The drawback is that Titan is incredibly cold, and the atmosphere (and lakes) are nearly entirely hydrocarbons. To quote from the CNN article below, "Scientists believe methane gas breaks up in Titan's atmosphere and forms smog clouds that rain methane down to the surface." [I think they may have meant ethane gas breaks up to form methane.]
So effectively, Titan is covered in lakes of ethane and methane, under a blanketing atmosphere of the very same. Fun stuff. Oh, by the way... uou may know ethane by another name... vodka. =P
Anyways, here's the article: http://www.cnn.com/2006/TECH/space/07/25/saturn.titan.ap/index.html
Basically, Cassini (the probe sent to Saturn many years back) has snapped pictures of Titan's surface, which show strong evidence of current liquid lakes on the surface. Titan is interesting because it's the only other terrestrial body in the solar system with an atmosphere as substantial as Earth's. The drawback is that Titan is incredibly cold, and the atmosphere (and lakes) are nearly entirely hydrocarbons. To quote from the CNN article below, "Scientists believe methane gas breaks up in Titan's atmosphere and forms smog clouds that rain methane down to the surface." [I think they may have meant ethane gas breaks up to form methane.]
So effectively, Titan is covered in lakes of ethane and methane, under a blanketing atmosphere of the very same. Fun stuff. Oh, by the way... uou may know ethane by another name... vodka. =P
Anyways, here's the article: http://www.cnn.com/2006/TECH/space/07/25/saturn.titan.ap/index.html
Hamster Wheel == Hilarious
Ok, this is total fluff. But it's so cute I have to share.
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=1569125216323959688
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=1569125216323959688
Wednesday, July 19, 2006
Politics - How to *really* preserve marriage!
zomg... I have a new favorite Congressman: Democratic Rep. Lincoln Davis. You know how the right wing is always saying that gay marriage is a threat to the sanctity of marriage, and therefore must be crushed beneath their collective jackboots? Well, in answer to the recent defeat of their a$$hole anti-gay-marriage constitutional amendment, Lincoln Davis stood up and suggested that it didn't go far enough.
Basically, he said... fine, you want to preserve marriage? Then outlaw divorce, and make adultery a felony. And beyond that, "We should prevent those who commit adultery or get a divorce from running for office. Mr. Speaker, this House must lead by example. If we want those watching on C-SPAN to actually believe that we're serious about protecting marriage, then we should go after the other major threats to the institution."
He wasn't really being serious, I don't think, but was instead calling out the GOP and challenging them to seriously tackle this "problem". I've been thinking/saying/ranting the same sort of thing for a while, and I am so stoked that an elected representative stood on the floor of the US House and obliquely ripped the right wing a new one. =P
Anyways, we can thank War Room for this article, too. See the original here.
Basically, he said... fine, you want to preserve marriage? Then outlaw divorce, and make adultery a felony. And beyond that, "We should prevent those who commit adultery or get a divorce from running for office. Mr. Speaker, this House must lead by example. If we want those watching on C-SPAN to actually believe that we're serious about protecting marriage, then we should go after the other major threats to the institution."
He wasn't really being serious, I don't think, but was instead calling out the GOP and challenging them to seriously tackle this "problem". I've been thinking/saying/ranting the same sort of thing for a while, and I am so stoked that an elected representative stood on the floor of the US House and obliquely ripped the right wing a new one. =P
Anyways, we can thank War Room for this article, too. See the original here.
Gaming - FFII turns 15!
So... Final Fantasy II (actually FFIV in Japan) recently turned 15. That game rocked... by the end of it, your characters went all the way to the moon on their giant Blue Whale. <3. I remember my friend Carl and I would rent it (it was on the old school NES), and we'd stay up all night trying to beat it during sleepovers at his place (this was like, 8th grade?). I think our record was 12 hrs... go us!
Anyways... here's a link to a Slashdot article, which in turn links to a lovely tribute blog entry.
Yay for Squaresoft!
Anyways... here's a link to a Slashdot article, which in turn links to a lovely tribute blog entry.
Yay for Squaresoft!
Wednesday, July 12, 2006
Rahm Emanuel pwns the Bushies
Pulled from salon.com's War Room (my favorite political blog), this post is centered around a truly pwntastic quote of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee chairman Rahm Emanuel:
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The people we pay
We've always wondered why taxpayers pay -- and $162,500 a year, no less -- for a president to have a political advisor. As John Aravosis reports at AMERICAblog, Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee chairman Rahm Emanuel has apparently checked out the new list of White House salaries and has some other questions to ponder:
"Why are we paying over $100,000 for a 'White House Director of Lessons Learned'? Maybe I can save the taxpayers $100,000 by running through a few of the lessons this White House should have learned by now.
"Lesson 1: When the Army Chief of Staff and the Secretary of State say you are going to war without enough troops, you're going to war without enough troops.
"Lesson 2: When $8.8 billion of reconstruction funding disappears from Iraq, and $2 billion disappears from Katrina relief, it's time to demand a little accountability.
"Lesson 3: When you've 'turned the corner' in Iraq more times than Danica Patrick at the Indy 500, it means you are going in circles.
"Lesson 4: When the national weather service tells you a Category 5 hurricane is heading for New Orleans, a Category 5 hurricane is heading to New Orleans.
"I would also ask the president why we're paying for two 'Ethics Advisors' and a 'Director of Fact Checking.' They must be the only people in Washington who get more vacation time than the president. Maybe the White House could consolidate these positions into a Director of Irony."
-- Tim Grieve
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The people we pay
We've always wondered why taxpayers pay -- and $162,500 a year, no less -- for a president to have a political advisor. As John Aravosis reports at AMERICAblog, Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee chairman Rahm Emanuel has apparently checked out the new list of White House salaries and has some other questions to ponder:
"Why are we paying over $100,000 for a 'White House Director of Lessons Learned'? Maybe I can save the taxpayers $100,000 by running through a few of the lessons this White House should have learned by now.
"Lesson 1: When the Army Chief of Staff and the Secretary of State say you are going to war without enough troops, you're going to war without enough troops.
"Lesson 2: When $8.8 billion of reconstruction funding disappears from Iraq, and $2 billion disappears from Katrina relief, it's time to demand a little accountability.
"Lesson 3: When you've 'turned the corner' in Iraq more times than Danica Patrick at the Indy 500, it means you are going in circles.
"Lesson 4: When the national weather service tells you a Category 5 hurricane is heading for New Orleans, a Category 5 hurricane is heading to New Orleans.
"I would also ask the president why we're paying for two 'Ethics Advisors' and a 'Director of Fact Checking.' They must be the only people in Washington who get more vacation time than the president. Maybe the White House could consolidate these positions into a Director of Irony."
-- Tim Grieve
Zidane flash game: Head-butt the Italians!
This is a fun and timely flash game, wherein you play Zidane and headbutt Italians in the sternum as they move across the field. :P
http://www.corriere.it/Primo_Piano/Sport/2006/07_Luglio/10/pop_zidane.shtml
http://www.corriere.it/Primo_Piano/Sport/2006/07_Luglio/10/pop_zidane.shtml
Tuesday, July 11, 2006
MMORPG game foments anti-Japanese riots
This is a really interesting story about an online role-playing game in China, where players recently [virtually] rioted after finding a [virtual] rising sun on the wall of a [virtual] government office. As a result of the [virtual] riot, the leader of a 700-person guild was [virtually] jailed in the [virtual] Great Tang Permanent Incarceration Prison.
Of course, that guild leader's name was "Kill the Little Japs," and his guild was called "The Alliance to Resist Japan." So as salon.com's Andrew Leonard points out, "One suddenly feels a little less sympathy, notwithstanding the horrors of the Nanjing massacre and the brutal Japanese occupation of mainland China more than six decades ago."
Anyways, here's a picture of the early stages of the riot, followed by the late stages. Pretty fascinating stuff...!!
Of course, that guild leader's name was "Kill the Little Japs," and his guild was called "The Alliance to Resist Japan." So as salon.com's Andrew Leonard points out, "One suddenly feels a little less sympathy, notwithstanding the horrors of the Nanjing massacre and the brutal Japanese occupation of mainland China more than six decades ago."
Anyways, here's a picture of the early stages of the riot, followed by the late stages. Pretty fascinating stuff...!!
Dell Laptop Explodes
omg... this is awesome. At a conference in Japan, someone's Dell just exploded out of nowhere. I wonder if he was secretly the target of a CIA-sponsored assassination plot...?!
http://www.theinquirer.net/default.aspx?article=32550
http://www.theinquirer.net/default.aspx?article=32550
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