killing time

Want something completely and utterly mindless, but might keep you occupied for a few moments? Here you are. Yeah, you’re welcome. Try snycing it to the music in your head.

About time – streamlined google hacks.

There’s some local band up in Canada called Divided Highway. Just a small group of guys playing locally somewhere up north. Decent enough website. Here’s the backdoor to their set lists, song sheets, and mp3 collection. Welcome. C’mon – they play some Bee Gees music! They deserve to get hacked …

This game’ll piss you off. Just move your mouse over some apples and watch the computer, the process becomes obvious.

How does something like this happen? The website pen island dot net looks like penis land dot net. Nice job marketing! The Methodists have the weirdest races. The Cumming First Methodist Church is, yep, cumming first dot com. Is that a tumor on your ass or just a speedo fart brought to you by speed of art dot com?

Here’s a remarkable story: Convicted forger A. Schiller was serving his time in Sing Sing prison in the late 1800s when guards found him dead in his cell. On his body they found seven regular straight pins whose heads measured the typical 47/1000ths of an inch or 1.17 millimeters in diameter. Under 500-times magnification it was found that the tiny etchings seen on the heads of the pins were the words to The Lord's Prayer, which is 65 words and 254 letters long. Of the seven pins, six were silver and one was gold - the gold pin's prayer was flawless and a true masterpiece. Schiller had spent the last 25 years of his life creating the pins, using a tool too small to be seen by the naked eye. It is estimated that it took 1,863 separate carving strokes to make it. Schiller went blind because of his artwork. This link begins with an amazing pencil carving.

This website gets my vote for coolest design.

Click on the glasses for hundreds of beer recipes. I don’t drink much at all anymore. Makes me thirsty.

Enough browsing the net.

Me? Going to the Philadelphia International Auto Show tomorrow. Never been to one before. Should be interesting. Beyond that, have a light travel schedule for a couple of weeks, but heavy production schedule. Lots of docs going out.

Yawning ...

how very odd

Two people, both adoptees, meet and feel a deep connection. Such compatibility. They befriend, date, betroth. They marry. Then they find out that they are twins, separated at birth. Ouch. The court tossed their marriage. That’s harsh. “I thought you tasted familiar …”

President Bush stuck to his principles in the summer of 2001 when he limited federal funds for stem cell research if those cells came from unborn children. The guy opposes abortion – and whether you do or not – he was consistent. Good for him. The libs excoriated him, even though he was the first to allow ANY money for such research and every single advance before and after has been from adult stem cells. Regardless, isn’t it interesting that given constraints how innovation will occur? Just released, a method to harmlessly harvest fetal stem cells. Remarkable.

Saw a lot of these Smart cars in Europe. Coming here this year. They are very efficient: upon impact, they simply explode – leaving nothing for road crews to clean up, including anything but trace remains of you. Family members are given test tubes and everything needed to hermetically seal them, along with directions and encouragement to gather DNA samples prior to use of the vehicle.

Can you relate?

I enjoy articles about things astromonical. But check this quote – "It's an odd universe we live in," said Vanderbilt University astronomer Kelly Holley-Bockelmann.

Odd? She’s referencing the universe. No wait … she is referencing the universe. So, um, “odd” compared to what, exactly?

These people give me the yips.

Is there really a market for a glow-in-the-dark pussy? I mean, outside the porn industry?

Nuremberg had a baby polar bear and set up a website. It’s in German, but the pics tell the whole story. You can translate the page if you want to. Put the page URL in the box towards the bottom, select from German to English, and hit Translate. Works well.

I thought my life was dysfunctional … this guy goes to a brothel for some action and finds his wife there. Yeow!

Enough for now.

remembering picnics

The past comes alive sometimes. It is remarkable to me how I can remember some things so clearly. Since that TIA thing, I had whole swaths of my memory go poof! on me. So much is just not there or is reduced to 2D images without depth or affect of any kind. But some things remain. I wonder what the sort was that was used by my mind? Was it random or by design? I would like to think the latter. I remember certain smiles. I remember being at a carnival and these two young girls were so excited to be able to do whatever they wanted to. I love carnivals. The people that work them are such a unique bred. Hardened by the road. Memories come to me with scents – I don’t mean I catch a fragrance and a memory rises. Instead, I recall something and it becomes real for me, including the scents and sounds and touch. I remember a park by Harrisburg that I spent a lot of days visiting. I love the whole concept of parks. Teddy Roosevelt, right? Sir Edmund Hillary died today. He used to climb things. I remember walks by the water. Doesn’t matter if it is the ocean or a lake in a park; they are all so fresh in my mind. I’ve been to Yellowstone Park. I love picnics, although I have only had a few in my lifetime. I find it so amazing that someone would plan out a meal or a snack or anything along those lines, and then figure out the logistics of fitting into a square container, only to unfold this expansive meal. So very cool.

I love the drive I take occasionally to work in Virginia. Crossing the M-D line has always been special to me. Not sure why. I have always felt that good things lie on the other side. Is it just because it isn’t here? I felt the same way in California. Good things were there, too. Maybe the good things there up and moved, so I have transferred that in my mind? Now that’s just rambling, musing …

I wonder about past things coming alive again. Scary, familiar, comforting. There were some periods of relative safety. Those can come alive again.

random observations about my dogs

I have two border collies. One is bred as a working dog – sleek, fast, smart. The other seems to have been cross-bred with a pig – fat, clumsy, stupid. I call the latter, “Olaf, the pig dog.”

I stayed in the large backyard with my dogs the other day. You can tell when a dog is going to dump – they sniff around for something. A toilet? They both assumed the position, which I always thought was totally random. On this day, they not only took a dump at the same time, they both had their asses pointed at me.

It’s winter here. I had them on the deck with me. I broke up some ice. They eat it like it’s candy.

I have a small strawberry patch. Stupid cats occasionally use it as a litter box. The dogs treat it like a buffet. They eat cat shit.

When I take them outside through the basement, as soon as the door opens, Olaf goes bounding down. My smart dog stays on next to me until I say it is ok to go down the stairs.

When I open the basement door to the yard, my smart dog rips into the backyard to clear it of any intruders such as birds. Olaf stays close until he sees that I am going out, too.

When I put them out the front door, it is on a long chain. Olaf always gets wrapped around a bush or rocker or anything available, and then he barks to be helped. IF my smart dog gets wrapped, which is rare, I can point to the way free and she does it herself.

When they play in the backyard, Olaf runs like a madman. My smart dog cuts him off at every corner.

My smart dog is name Ceiligh. It’s Gaelic for “festive,” or “party,” or “that’s your sister? Um, ok, she dating anyone?”

When I give Cei a treat, she scurries away and chomps down. Olaf looks at me: “This it? Any more?” When he realizes nothing more is coming, then he scurries away with his treasure.

I have two food bowls with identical food. Both dogs will eat from the one on the right, and then push it around noisily when it is empty – ignoring the full one just nine inches away.

Olaf had his nuts drilled. He still humps Cei upon occasion. When I tell him to stop, he looks at me like a teenager caught yanking it. He gets the same look when he takes a dump and looks over his shoulder at me.

When Cei pisses, Olaf gets in there and sniffs so closely he must get splashed.

The dogs sit on the couch sometimes and lick each other’s tongues.

When Olaf lies next to me, the important thing is to rest his head on me. Cei wants her back resting against my leg.

Cei understands “no.” Olaf is like telling Sam Donaldson to not ask a question.

That’s about it for now …

screaming at toilets

This is why I stay away from politics, despite my almost pathological following of it my entire life. One articles relates” "They like this war. They want this war to continue," Pelosi, D- Calif., told reporters. … Asked to clarify her remarks, Pelosi backed off a bit. … "I shouldn't say they like the war," she said. "They support the war, the course of action that the president is on."

So Pelosi opens her mouth and suggests – we all know she was – that the pubs rather enjoy the killing of soldiers. When questioned, she could not stick to her words. A little rust on the chastity belt, I guess.

Lucianne.com responds with: Could we now talk a little bit about how the democrats 'like' killing babies.

The message, of course, is that supporting a woman’s application of her right to privacy to the continued life of her fetus until the 24th week or so when ultra-womb viability kicks in is somehow liking the killing of babies.

My personal views on either topic don’t matter. I have a horse in both races, but I really don’t need to watch the ugliness that is American politics. No one will ever clean it up. It will only get messier.

No, nobody likes killing anything. Yes, some people leave their coat and soul in the Congressional Cloakroom. Just not interested. Tell me what my taxes are and leave me alone.

This is an interesting article on scramjet-engine technology. Same concept as a jet engine, only a whole lot more intense: operating temperatures in the thousands of degree; theoretical max Mach 15 – about 10,000 MPH. The concept is to use it for passenger travel. Termed “hypersonic,” it was originally funded by Reagan and originally de-funded by Clinton. Not a shocking pair of actions. Could you imagine a failure during top-speed flight? Instant toast. One problem – as fat-fetched as it may seem, but it will become real – the noise is akin to a rocket launch. They will not be able to use these engines as the sole means of propulsion at most airports. There will have to be a second power plant of sorts. Man … plane aloft, primary engines fold away, secondary engines deploy – “Please put your trays in the upright and stowed position, make sure all of your luggage is in the overhead compartment or underneath the seat in front of you … now, take a deep breath, pinch your buttocks together, and hold on! Sanitary wipes are in the pocket in front of you if you should fill your pants.”

Buried in this article is the statement, “The receding ice caps on Mars hint at a climatic warming trend.” When someone can explain why, and distinguish the source from the “global warming” here on Earth, then I will start listening to Algore.

Yes, this is where I am from. Chick get angry with her toilet, and proceeds to scream at it. Busted for public disturbance. Turns out to be protected speech. If I want to scream at my toilet, I have that right, no matter what language I use. That’s a good thing to know.

Found this article saying 3,800 people and kids under the age of 24 were homeless in NYC. Wasn’t sure how to judge such a number. Went to the NYS 2000 Census data. Seems 12.06% of the population are ages 15 to 23. Compare that to the first article’s claim of 8.2MM living in NYC, and it suggests that about 1 in 260 people in that age bracket in NYC is homeless. That doesn’t seem too out of whack. I’m not focused enough to track all the source data, but the EU, with a claimed 3MM homeless against a population of 456MM has an overall rate of 1 in 152. I guess NYC’s not too bad. A statistic is a terrible thing to waste.

All for now

quick note

In my favorites and linked here is Totally Unauthorized. She recently went to France, and is introducing post after post on the trip. Check out her flickr pics, too, that are linked in the center column.

The pic above is a morning shot near the caves at Lascaux. Beautiful ...

just yappin'

I’m surfing the net without a filter for the first time in a long while. A post or two below I mention and link to the Life in Israel blog. He’s got a long blogroll bottom right. I am cruising through those sites.

What I find remarkable is the anti-Bush stuff out there. People are so into the moment in front of them. It’s as is they have zero recollection of past realities, and equal knowledge of history.

Remember when Clinton tried to mastermind some military moves, and they went poorly? Did he say, “I could have done better?” No. He blamed specific junior officers and made them hold press conferences to confess their personal ineptitudes. How humiliating. Even if it were accurate, my god, you take responsibility publicly and reprimand privately. How classless. Let’s not even address the type of person it takes to accept blowjobs from interns, and then lie under oath about it.

Remember how they rode Reagan as being stupid? Gee, now they look to him as one of the greatest presidents.

Remember how Carter deftly brought the economy in for a crash landing?

Remember how Kennedy dabbled in Vietnam, Johnson took us in full bore, and Nixon got us out?

Gee, remember how Saddam killed thousands of Kurds with chemical weapons, and how his boys raped and pillaged the countryside? How he had his political opponents killed?

Why is there no perspective these days? Are people that malleable, that vacant? Do people understand that the “rich” give them jobs, and that the government is an ever-present drag on economic growth? That the deduction on your paycheck is what pays for all the government programs – including Nancy Pelosi’s government aircraft that she insisted upon so she wouldn’t have to fly coach like us vermin because she is so very important? That teachers’ unions have destroyed the public-education system? That Algore has an agenda which is not the betterment of man but the betterment of Al? Geez – even the Clintons hate him! That should tell you something.

I don’t like all the policies of President Bush. I don’t like all the anything of anyone, including myself. But I will say this – I find it more instructive of the speaker than the target when someone suggests that a man that was elected twice to the governorship and the presidency is stupid. No one rises to such heights filling an empty suit. No one. Nobody’s daddy can ensure anything so deeply public. Get a grip on reality. Remember the scene in Forrest Gump when Jenny’s boyfriend slaps her hard in the Black Panther apartment? He later blamed “that lying Johnson” for his own lack of control that resulted in him hitting a woman. Wow. Just frickin’ wow.

What do you need in life? A grocery store – that’s a good thing. A fully stocked grocery store. Ever see how well the Soviet government ran them? Are our grocery stores run by the government? How come North Korea cannot feed its people? A good hospital is needed. How come people come from all over the world to use ours? Where is all the aid going in Africa? Not to the people that need it. How come the best health care in England is in the private – non-government – side? How come Blue Cross/Blue Shield will pay for your cancer treatment but the English government denies the request because it thinks there is not a high enough likelihood for survival?

Show me a single instance of greater government involvement resulting in a more efficient system. There are none. Governments exist for the common defense. Anything beyond that is intrusive and comes at the expense of growth – including building roads. You realize, don’t you, that the tax you pay on gasoline is no different than the tolls you would pay on private roads? Government creates nothing. They take and redistribute – yet private charities do a better job of that with a fraction of the overhead.

People who view government as the answer to anything need an economics course – for the first time or again.

People who think some politician is the answer to anything had better review both the question and the optional answers.

words digitized

Laundry day. Started late. Usually have the second-to-last load in by now; instead, first just went in. The drive to and from Virginia yesterday was tiring. I needed to sit and veg; so, I did.

I’ve got the Busch Series NASCAR race on. In Texas today – super-speedway. I love watching the junior varsity. They rack up accidents like a monkey collects ticks. And at 190 MPH, it should be fun to watch the parts fly. I do, contrary to popular belief, hope that the parts are limited to car parts and do not include body parts. I hate all the mourning the commentators do for weeks after someone gets bent into the Parivrttta Janu Sirsasana pose around the dashboard and asphyxiates when whatever passes for a carburetor in one of those vehicles is crammed so far into his face that his larynx becomes beach-front property.

Next week is sunny Orlando, Florida! Um, yuk. Really. A conference full of people with “I’m-on-a-company-paid-vacation-I-am-so-top-of-the-world-who’s-got-the-hospitality-suite-tonight-I-mean-really-whose-leg-you-gotta-hump-to-this-job-my-name’s-Jim-you-can-call-me-Jimmy-what’s-your’s?” smiles. Maybe my plane will crash on the way there – can always hope.

I’m disappointed. Been doing things here. Wrote the above way over a hundred laps ago. No yoga.

btw, I just found out what I am: quacksalver: n. one who falsely pretends to knowledge of medicine. It’s good to know what one is.

My dad liked John Wayne a lot. Seemed to be more his generation. He was still making new movies during my childhood, which I enjoyed, but he also got sick and died. How, expiration aside, could you not like a guy who said, ” "Life is tough. It's even tougher if you're stupid."

The other day I mused about Russia not needing the death penalty because they could just murder their dirt. But “murder” is, supposedly, a coroner’s conclusion. My proposition still hands. And furthermore, let’s add this: Countries with highest suicide rates (totals per 100,000 people per year, as of June 2006): … 2. Russian Federation: 38.7. The US is number 45 on the list. My homeland, Lithuania, is number 1.

Think the world isn’t a dangerous place? Your number will change as auctions come and go, but as of this writing, there are 606 jell-o mold items on eBay.

This is interesting: Personality types by blood type.

Type A:

• Best traits: Conservative, reserved, patient, punctual, perfectionist, and good with plants.
• Worst traits: Introverted, obsessive, stubborn, and self-conscious. Anal retentive.
• Famous examples: George H.W. Bush, O.J. Simpson, Britney Spears

Type B:

• Best traits: Creative and passionate. Animal-loving. Optimistic and flexible.
• Worst traits: Forgetful, irresponsible, individualistic.
• Famous examples: Akira Kurosawa, Jack Nicholson, Luciano Pavarotti

Type AB:

• Best traits: Cool, controlled, rational. Sociable and popular. Empathic.
• Worst traits: Aloof, critical, indecisive, and unforgiving.
• Famous examples: John F. Kennedy, Marilyn Monroe, Mick Jagger

Type O:

• Best traits: Ambitious, athletic, robust, and self-confident. Natural leaders.
• Worst traits: Arrogant, vain, and insensitive. Ruthless.
• Famous examples: Ronald Reagan, Queen Elizabeth, John Lennon

I’m type O (negative). There’s a certain comfort in being self-confident and insensitive.

Gotta go …

words to (in)action

Just writing. No thoughts as I type. We’ll see where ADHD takes us.

Basketball season started tonight. I detest basketball. It isn’t the game, per se, it’s the players. Just a bunch of highly focused egomaniacs. Too much money and too little brains. I remember a comic 20 or 30 years ago that did a bit about alternative careers if sports or acting was not available (read, "income greatly disproportional to effort). He was an impersonator-type guy – did Kirk Douglas saying, “You want fries with that?”

So LA is probably going to get Joe Torre. That’s a good thing. They’ll get Don Mattingly in the deal. One manager for 4 years or so, then another for 10 of more. You’re welcome. It’d be nice if Marino Rivera went, too. Stocking the left coast with some good Yankee talent. Somebody somewhere is turning in their grave as the Bronx Bombers start to shift talent to the Brooklyn Dodgers. Somebody somewhere is also paying off an old debt. Muscle memory kicks in a bit because I lived by SF for so long. We used to sit in the stands at Candlestick and taunt Tommy Lasorda. We hated LA. But SF sucks. And I warmed up to LA when they warmed up to Pat O’Reilly. NY and LA seem to have this symbiosis that I can accept.

Enough sports.

I was drifting around the net and found something called The Ultimate Final. A lot of the other stuff on the page was hit or miss, but this bit was humorous …

Instructions

Read each question carefully. Answer all questions. Time limit: 4 hours. Begin immediately.

History. Describe the history of the papacy from its origins to the present day, concentrating especially but not exclusively, on it social, political, economic, religious, and philosophical impact on Europe, Asia, America and Africa. Be brief, concise, and specific.

Medicine. You have been provided with a razor blade, a piece of gauze, and a bottle of Scotch. Remove your appendix. Do not suture until your work has been inspected. You have fifteen minutes.

Public Speaking. 2500 riot-crazed aborigines are storming the classroom. Calm them. You may use any ancient language except Latin or Greek.

Biology. Create life. Estimate the differences in subsequent human culture if the form of life had developed 50 million years earlier, with special attention to its probable effect on the English parliamentary system. Prove your thesis.

Music. Write a piano concerto. Orchestrate and perform it with flute and drum. You will find a piano under your seat.

Psychology. Based on your knowledge of their works evaluate the emotional stability, degree of adjustment and repressed frustrations of each of the following: Alexander of Aphrodites, Ramses II, Gregory of Nicea, Hammurabi. Support your evaluation with quotations from each man's work, making appropriate references. It is not necessary to translate.

Sociology. Estimate the sociological problems which might accompany the end of the world. Construct an experiment to test your theory.

Engineering. The disassembled parts of a high-powered rifle have been placed on your desk. You will also find an instruction manual, printed in Swahili. In ten minutes a hungry Bengal tiger will be admitted to the room. Take whatever action you feel appropriate. Be prepared to justify your decision.

Economics. Develop a realistic plan for refinancing the national debt. Trace the possible effects of your plan in the following areas. Cubism, the Donatist controversy, the wave theory of light. Outline a method for preventing these effects. Criticize this method from all possible points of view. Point out the deficiencies in your point of view, as demonstrated in your answer to the last question.

Political Science. There is a red telephone on the desk beside you. Start World War III. Report at length on it socio-political effects, if any.

Epistemology. Take a position for or against truth. Prove the validity of your position.

Physics. Explain the nature of matter. Include in your answer an evaluation of the impact of the development of mathematics on science.

Astronomy. Define the universe. Give three examples.

General Knowledge. Describe in detail. Be objective and specific

There’s another line on the site that I am going to use sometimes: The more you run over a dead cat, the flatter it gets. Words to live by. It’s followed (in the Corporate America section) with, There is always one more imbecile than you counted on. Man, ain’t that a statement we’ve all proven out countless times.

One final bit from the Laws of Combat, but could just as well be in the Corporate America section: If the enemy is in range, so are you.

So I’ve been trying in some ways, marginally so, without much diligence, perspective, or commitment, to put things into perspective in my life. It’s tiring, even debilitating, to go from one fire to the next. There must be some respite out there. Planning, anticipating, avoiding the easy problems would change so much. Ah, fuck it. It’s tough being us, eh?

I need to stop writing now because I feel a bad flip coming. Look out, fire in the hole!!!