Sunday, December 24, 2006

They should've had these on Survivor.


My roommate just made this. Isn't it great? They should've had a few of these on the island the first Survivor was on. That would've made it more interesting.

Personally, I've always been disappointed that king crabs aren't similar in proportion to, say, the Chesapeake blue crab. Imagine king crab legs in a blue crab body type. The body would probably be close to a meter wide. It'd be so sweet to release a crustacean tank onto a crowded beach and watch beachgoers flee in panic.

Roger will probably make some comment about Flemish Giants now.

Wednesday, December 20, 2006

Compare and Contrast

Wall Street Bonuses Flood NYC's Economy

Bonuses are expected to generate $1.6 billion in tax revenues for New York state and another $500 million for New York City. For every job created on Wall Street, three other jobs are created in the city and suburbs.

"Wall Street jobs create jobs," said Ken Bleiwas, deputy comptroller. "Why? Because they are pumping money into the economy. They're going out to restaurants, they are purchasing all kinds of consumer goods."


vs.

Nothing New Here -- And That's the Point In California, 10 Friends Eschew Consumer Culture to Live Secondhand

Attention holiday shoppers! These people haven't bought anything new in 352 days -- and counting. These 10 friends vowed last year not to purchase a single new thing in 2006 -- except food, the bare necessities for health and safety (toilet paper, brake fluid) and, thankfully, underwear, and maybe socks (they're still debating whether new socks are okay).

Tuesday, December 05, 2006

The words "naked", "crack", and "gator" in the same sentence just can't end well.

Take a look at this article about a naked crackhead attacked by a gator.

Also, I know '80s German synth had some weird videos- I mean, remember Alphaville's "Forever Young" vid?- but this video of a song called "Andromeda" by Silicon Dream is the worst I've seen yet. The lead singer looks like a gay pedophilic Ronald McDonald(okay, more so). The dancers do not coordinate, move strangely, and leer at the camera.

Truly, the world is strange.

Monday, December 04, 2006

Hugo Chavez

Hugo Chavez may have won reelection, but whatever happened to Freeze?

Cingular MMS data charge disputes

I think I have figured out some of Cingular's problems regarding MMS charges (that I posted long ago about), internet data use and what some would believe is fraudulent behavior. (This stems from over a year ago, but I just gave up that service and haven't since worried about it.)
I will post an explanation of why I believe they are double billing, their reasoning for why they aren't, how to protect yourself, and also some nice "customer support" audio that dates from way before the AOL guy recorded his call. He was only on the phone for 30 minutes anyway, whereas I have calls lasting over two hours. (Don't worry, they'll be excerpted.

Fight the power!!

Friday, December 01, 2006

Bill Parcells, Mike Vanderjagt, and Dr. Livingstone's frozen elixir

This is a bit out of date, as he's been released, but for the sake of completeness I'll post what I've found.

from an ESPN posted AP article:

Asked last week about getting Vanderjagt out of his rut,
Parcells said: "I don't have a Dr. Livingstone's frozen elixir. I
don't. I don't know what I can do. This guy is 36 years old and has
been kicking for a long time. He has his way of doing things.
Hopefully, things get a little bit better."


This led to some speculation as to what Dr. Livingstone's frozen elixir is/was.

First of all, I'm always wary of AP articles. They often misquote people.
e.g. Another AP article which obviously misquotes Parcells.
Parcells said. “There are things that happen out there that people aren’t cognitive of.”

Clearly he said (or meant) "cognizant" instead of cognitive. Even if he did misspeak, the writer could've fixed it with bracketed notation.

Anyway, so maybe he did says Livingstone's frozen elixir. What he was most likely referring to was Chartreuse Liquer (Elixir), which is not frozen:
History of the Chartreuse Liqueurs

And as this page points out:
Its reputation as a medicine was augmented even as late as the 19th century when it was widely used as a treatment in the cholera epidemic that swept Paris in 1832. It is even reputed that the explorer Livingstone took the drink into Africa as a solution to the many diseases rife in the jungles.


However, the Chartreuse trivia page reports:
Sir Henry Stanley
British explorer/journalist Sir Henry Stanley was known to bring Chartreuse Elixir on his expeditions into Africa while searching for Dr. Livingstone.


So, did Livingstone carry it or did Stanley? Or did both? I go with both, but the jury is still out.

Later.

Winning the hearts and minds of thirsty children



Iraqi Kid Runs For Water youtube video.
(You wish they would just relieve stress like this Navy flyer.)

Here's a transcript:
(kids yelling)
Soldier 1: Are they coming?
(laughter)
Soldier 1: Film them. Film 'em.

Soldier 1: You getting it?

Soldier 2: I'm getting it.

Soldier 1: Want some water?

Soldier 1: Water? (unintelligible)

Soldier 1: C'mon keep runnin'
Soldier 1: here!
Soldier 1: here! You gettin 'em?

Soldier 2: I'm getting them, sir.

Soldier 1: C'mon, you're almost there. Hurry!
(laughter)
Soldier 2: That's fucked up.
(laughter)
Soldier 1: Here!
Soldier 1: Can you see 'em?

Soldier 1: I can see 'em, sir.

Soldier 1: Hurry up, you want it?

Soldier 1: This kid's gonna run like two miles.

Soldier 2: This kid's runnin' forever!

Soldier 1: C'mon, look at this kid, (laughter) C'mon!

Soldier 2: He's chasin' it, man.
(throws the water bottle which other kids pick up)
Soldier 1: And he still didn't get it. Ha!

Friday, November 24, 2006

Taking a ship,not a canoe, through the Panama Canal

A couple of years ago (That long?!), I discussed canoeing across the panama canal. Well, if you took a ship and only had one minute and 52 seconds to do it, I think it would look something like this:

Wednesday, August 09, 2006

NanoThoughts 1.0

Got this spam on Aug 9, 2006 2:21 AM
Makes you wonder if Ned Lamont's gang really did take down Lieberman's website...


---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Ralph Nader <49ers.com@gmail.com>
Date: Aug 9, 2006 2:21 AM
Subject: Big news
To:

Hi,

Ned Lamont has won the Democratic primary for Senate in
Connecticut.

Tonight's results show clearly and overwhelmingly one simple
fact: democracy works. Connecticut came alive with
participation and passion. Together, Democrats decided that
it's time for a change.

Unfortunately, though, Joe Lieberman has announced his
intention to run as an independent.

We Democrats have a process for choosing our nominee, and we
all ought to respect the outcome.

Joe needs to hear from us. Please send him a message asking
him to respect the voters -- we will deliver your note and
post it on our web site:

http://www.nedlamont.com/respectvoters

Saturday, July 01, 2006

Mongolia Mining Spam with Aphorisms

FALCON ENERGY INC (fcyi)
Current Price: $ 0.77

OverView
An independent resource exploration and production company whose
current projects range from the production of natural gas and oil in Alberta
to the exploration for minerals such as copper and gold in Mongolia.

Is fcyi . PK Ready To Go? If You Think So, You know what to do, happy earnings :)
Current news for the company

Falcon Energy, Inc. (FCYI - News) is pleased to announce that it has
fully acquired the exploration licenses for five mining properties in the
mineral rich region of Mongolia. Management felt that the Opportunity
presented by these properties was significant enough to forgo a planned
participation by a second resource company. These licenses will be held
for a minimum of three years and grant Falcon Energy Inc. access to the
mineral rights for the licensed properties.

Mongolia has a wide variety of mineral resources. As of 1998, about 88%
of the country had been geologically mapped but only 20% of the
country's landmass had been licensed for exploration and exploitation.

Falcon Energy's interest in the region is driven in part by the
anticipation of deploying modern prospecting methods to an area that abounds
in both base and precious metals. Exploitable mineral resources found in
the area in which the licenses are held include: Gold, base metals such
as Copper, Molybdenum, Lead and Zinc as well as Fluorite and Uranium.


So GET IN NOW - WILL EXPLODE in next 2 weeks!!

-----------------------
Read the tea leaves. What goes down usually comes up. What goes down usually comes up. To gild refined gold, to paint the lily. Weed 'um and reap. Worked night and day. Sour as a green apple. There may be snow on the roof, but there's fire in the belly. Shit happens. Stone cold sober. Rain, rain go away; come again some other day. You can lead a horse to water but you can't make him drink. Seed money. You can't teach an old dog new tricks. You can't teach an old dog new tricks. Sweet as honey. Treat him like dirt.

Shiver me timber. Your ass is grass. Put that in your pipe and smoke it. The scum of the earth. A tree does not move unless there is wind. Rough as a cob. The scum of the earth. Which came first, the chicken or the egg. To live from hand to mouth. Sweating blood. Seed money. What on earth? What goes down usually comes up. She's the apple of my eye. A thorn in my side. Sweet as honey. Timber!

Friday, June 09, 2006

Saturday, May 27, 2006

Ozzy Osbourne

I had a dream last night that I was talking to Ozzy Osbourne and I told him that I only really dug 4 Black Sabbath songs. But, if you added in his solo work, it probably went up to about ten songs. So, nothing really happened, but it was better than having a nightmare...

Tuesday, May 23, 2006

World Blogger Championship of Online Poker - Exclusive Poker Tourrnament

I'll be playing in this next month. Wish me luck!
World Blogger Championship of Online Poker - Exclusive Poker Tourrnament

The National

Saw The National on sunday night and it was a pretty good show. They were tight and sounded good.
www.myspace.com/thenational

Tuesday, April 18, 2006

Proto. Pron Pronouncement

I am posting the following spontaneous IM yawp at the request of Rog:


[10:37] Heatkernel:* yeah, man the proterozoic era
[10:37] Heatkernel: that was the real party time
[10:37] Heatkernel: for the microbes
[10:37] Heatkernel: I've been reading about that in Margulis

(* "Heatkernel" substituted for actual IM screen name).

Wednesday, March 08, 2006

Wikipedia does Beer pong

One of the most awe inspiring wikipedia articles I have ever come across: Beer pong - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Tuesday, March 07, 2006

Wednesday, March 01, 2006

John's Adventures: John's Background Switcher

This is a really cool way to update your desktop wallpaper automatically at fixed intervals. You can even get fotos from Flickr, pick by tags, etc.
John's Adventures: John's Background Switcher

Shock Absorber

This reminds me of Weird Science: Shock Absorber

I love the internet.

Top 11 songs of the past few days

"Talk Dirty to Me" - Poison
"Sweet Troubled Soul" - stellastarr*
"Mr. Brightside (Jacques Lu Cont's Thin White Duke Mix)" - The Killers
"Werewolves of London" - Warren Zevon
"Area Codes" - Ludacris
"You're So Vain" - Carly Simon
"An Honest Mistake" - The Bravery
"Sometimes You Can't Make It On Your OWn" - U2
"Holidae Inn" - Chingy
"Emily Kane" - Art Brut
"It Takes Diff'rent Strokes" - Alan Thicke, Gloria Loring, Al Burton

Monday, February 20, 2006

Hugo Chavez holds up wanted pic of Freeze

The chavistas had better take a look at this. This has "international incident" written all over it.

Monday, January 30, 2006

First Impressions Of Beauty May Demonstrate Why The Pretty Prosper

These researchers have demonstrated that people can distinguish pretty faces from not so pretty faces in 13 milliseconds. i.e. they can not remember what the face looks like as this amount of time is pretty much sublimintal, but they are pretty sure it is attractive or not.
First Impressions Of Beauty May Demonstrate Why The Pretty Prosper

It's amazing to ponder how much of our thinking is done without even thinking about it...

Got flap? Public Service Announcement


Got flap?
Originally uploaded by xthecritic.
Some people, well you just never know where they've been, so if you touch them, better remember to wash your hands.