Holiday "Break"

...my ass. Holiday travel and year-end cleanup to do. So, I'm on strike today, and will probably be so for the next couple of days.

I'm watching videos...

1


via Warren Ellis

2
Strindberg + helium--yes, as in that Strindberg. Apologies, but I forgot where I ganked this from.

3
And, if I don't get to chat with y'all before Christmas (There, I said it! What're you gonna do about it?), then you can sing along...

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Rollin' on a River

Ike Turner, a Rock 'N' Roll Pioneer, Dies at 76

The best I can do for a tribute is this McSweeney's bit. If only our country's foreign policy was this advanced...

OK, America, you done fucked up again. Things got a little out of hand, and you went and blew up another country. Now you got everybody all mad at you, and you don't know what to do. Well, don't worry, America. Ike's been down this road before, and I know exactly how to handle it. You better listen to what I'm telling you, America. Ike knows what he's talking about, and Ike's willing to help you out as long as you do exactly what Ike says and stop being so stubborn. You dig?

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Ask a Filipino

Because I'm too lazy to answer these sorts of questions myself, here are some frequently asked Filipino non-martial-art-related questions...



via Hyphen Blog

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An Open Letter to All Inquiring Minds

This blog's definitely been thin on entries, and even thinner on actual life updates. You can blame, in part, life at The Big Red School on the Hill.

I can, however, offer a quick breakdown...

1
Work: Job is still good. It has its days of course, but thus far the major benefits (steady pay, insurance, and a golden ticket to a lot of community activities) still outweigh the occasional pain in the ass. Even the fact that didn't get a shot for a position that most people (at work) think I had a better than even shot at getting. I should've at least (so I'm told) been a sure-shot for an interview. Welp, never got one, which is okay really, because it was one of those situations where I had absolutely nothing to lose, and everything to gain by trying.

2
The Wife: I spent the weeks before Thanksgiving helping recover from, as a friend put it, "A hot oil treatment to the face."

3
While this is usually the time of year when I would bitch about the general inconvenience of the holidays or the idiocy of taking time off from work to engage in activities that are generally more tiring than the job you get paid for only to have to return to said job at the end of it, I'd have to say that I've been pretty good about keeping to the routines I've set for myself.

3
The writing: Keeping me busy. Freebies out on teh Intarwebs here and there. The goal for '08 is to have more paid stuff.

4
Training: was pretty dismal in '07. No yoga this past summer, just some classes with a local kung fu instructor who I happen to work with. My sparring impressed. My bow-legged horse stances did not. I've resolved to at least go back more frequently after the New Year, and hook up with a local FMA guru--the one who suspiciously eyed my sticks at a seminar awhile back.

Okay, now I'm going to collapse.

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Life Saver

Finally, I have time to blog because I took this piece of advice...

So it dawned on me to group my feeds by the way in which I want to read them, not by topic. If there were some feeds that I didn’t mind missing, and some of which I wanted to read every single word, I should organize them that way, not by their putative subject areas.

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Little Boy Blue and the Man

...wait, wrong one.

You're Cat's Cradle!

by Kurt Vonnegut

You believe quite firmly that free will deserted you long ago and far away. As a result, it's hard to take responsibility for anything. Even though you show great potential as a leader of a small 3rd world country, the choices are all made ahead of time. You're rather fond of games involving string. Your fear of nuclear weaponry is trumped only by your fear of ice.


Take the Book Quiz
at the Blue Pyramid.

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Eyes--Back in My Head, Now!

Yes, I've got a short respite until I'm back in the academic diamond mines. And, like an absentee parent who shows up out of the blue once every other holiday, dispensing money and presents before disappearing for the next few milestones of your childhood, I leave you this...



Yes, that's them.

Via Warren Ellis

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What a Shitty Thing to Wake Up To

Norman Mailer, Author and Social Critic, Dies at 84

Weekend Edition Saturday, November 10, 2007 · Norman Mailer, who burst on the literary scene in 1948 and published his most recent book just last month, died Saturday at the age of 84. Co-founder of the Village Voice, the winner of two Pulitzer Prizes and the National Book Award, he was nonetheless a controversial figure who lived life large.

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One-Click Usury!

Because why should Vinnie the Loan Shark have all the fun?

Person-To-Person Lending Flourishes on Web
by Jessica Smith

Morning Edition November 2 2007 · Known as a nation of borrowers America at last count had a collective $2.5 trillion in consumer debt. But it could fast become a nation of lenders as Web sites that enable ordinary people to lend to each other flourish. Welcome to the era of coffee shop money lending. In a café in Washington D.C. 31-year-old Kelly Vielmo stares at a laptop screen and browses a listing of people who want to borrow money. He has logged into his account at 'person-to-person' lending site Prosper.com.

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"You're the Inspiration"

This is why I scored 99% as a "sci-fi/comic" nerd...



From Jeff Vandermeer's Ecstatic days

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Nerds, Nerds, Nerds, Nerds!

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Another American Institution, Gone

For all of you who knew the Rat Pack wasn't just Frank, Dino, and Sammy...

'Rat Pack' member Bishop dies, 89

Comedian Joey Bishop, the last surviving member of Frank Sinatra's 'Rat Pack', has died at the age of 89. Bishop died of multiple causes at his home in California late on Wednesday, according to his friend and publicist, Warren Cowan.

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Every Man For Himself!

I am so screwed.

Your chance of survival: Preparedness: 63%, City Skills: 42%, Survival Skills: 35%, Nature Skills: 7%

“There are things that we never want to let go of, people we never want to leave behind. But keep in mind that letting go isn’t the end of the world, it’s the beginning of a new life.”

“What the caterpillar calls the end of the world, the master calls a butterfly.”

“Even the end of the world is described as if it were only an exceptionally hot afternoon.”

“The heart of a man to the heart of a maid - Light of my tents, be fleet - Morning awaits at the end of the world, And the world is all at our feet.”

"If I left you alone in the woods with a hatchet, how long before you could send me an e-mail?"

Link: The Apocalypse Survival Test written by mike_ix on OkCupid Free Online Dating, home of the The Dating Persona Test

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Call Me OCD If You Want

...but some days, this is the only way I stay sane at work.

3 Steps to a Permanently Clear Desk

The important thing to remember is that you must have a system in place, and you must teach yourself to follow the system. Otherwise, you just clean your desk, and it gets messy again.

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Dammit!

I just learned that, because I haven't carted around my laptop for the better part of eight weeks and used the battery, that I've just killed said battery. I got all of 20 minutes use before it went into hibernation.

Dammit, dammit, dammit!

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"Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough," I Say

Again, E and I headed to the first weekend of the twice-yearly Friends of the Library Book Sale. It was one of the worst lines I've ever had to stand in at all. We stood around longer than an old Soviet Union toilet-paper line, for pete's sake.

Supposedly, the local fire marshall didn't like the way people were crammed into the old warehouse, so he laid down the law and decreed that only so many people were allowed into that giant tinderbox at a time, which meant an unprecedented hour-long line.

Still, I had an agenda, and the fact that I got that second book in the pile there made it all worth while!



I thinks it's indicitive of the refinement of my reading tastes that the piles are getting smaller. I'm just not picking up every damn book I come across. That's good, because I'm spending less, overall. Well, not really--there'll always be stuff I want, but at least I'll eventually spend less on the classics.

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Your Level of Nerdiness

...depends on how hard you squee at the following.



EDIT: Damn, this is the second time I've had to replace this video :).

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Weather Report: Cloudy and Gray

A Look at the Life and Work of Joe Zawinul
by David Was

Day to Day, September 12, 2007 · We look back at the work of keyboardist Joe Zawinul, one of the founders of the fusion jazz movement. Zawinul died Tuesday at age 75.

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If You Build It, They Will Come

It's how they get here that bothers me...



How does Verdine feel about sex? I've had to force myself to not click the search link.

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The Original "Security Executive"

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Don't Call Me Tiny

Apparently, when this essay was passed around and dissected a couple of years ago, I missed the memo. Bears thinking about, though...

From A Heritage of Smallness

Are we not confusing timidity for humility and making a virtue of what may be the worst of our vices? Is not our timorous clinging to smallness the bondage we must break if we are ever to inherit the earth and be free, independent, progressive? The small must ever be prey to the big. Aldous Huxley said that some people are born victims, or 'murderers.' He came to the Philippines and thought us the 'least original' of people. Is there not a relation between his two terms? Originality requires daring: the daring to destroy the obsolete, to annihilate the petty. It's cold comfort to think we haven�t developed that kind of 'murderer mentality.'

But till we do we had best stop talking about 'our heritage of greatness' for the national heritage is-- let's face it-- a heritage of smallness."

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Clearing the Pipes

I've been clearing out the massive amounts of saved links, snippets, bookmarks, RSS posts, etc. of various types I've been accumulating off of teh intranets over the past few months. Hey, I've been busy!

Anyway, here's a gem I found back in July (I ferget where, sorry): An interview with Alan Moore on Lost Girls. Yes, that's an interview on Lost Girls on SexTV--you figure out if it's safe for work, or not :).

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"Walking on, walking on broken glass"

Anyone know the number of a good ambulance chaser? I'm kidding! I kept those jokes to a minimum, as I could tell people were nervous around me at work. A tempered glass window shattered and fell on me, resulting in superficial cuts to both my hands. It sounds worse than it is. After a few minutes, the cuts didn't even warrant a Band-Aid, although I got one.

That's the nice thing about working at the university health center. The speedy attention the center already pays to workplace injuries went doubly so for me. It's not what you got, it's who you know, and I knew darn near everyone I came into contact with. Authorized line-jumping rules!

That's not to say I didn't wait. I wasn't howling in pain, so I had to wait just long enough for the whole process, including filling out an accident report, to eat up the rest of my morning until it was time for lunch. Of course, I had to repeat the story about twenty times and quell some rumors that took mere hours to spread, everything from me slamming said window in a mad tirade, to some random student doing it, to the whole thing simply breaking on its own due to an act of God. Yeesh.

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One Less Master

Jazz World Mourns Loss of Max Roach

Legendary jazz percussionist Max Roach is dead at 83. Having been associated with greats such as Duke Ellington and Dizzie Gillespie, the self-taught musician wowed audiences throughout the world.

When I was busy worshipping jazz trumpet players in college, I didn't pay too much attention to the non-trumpeters with a few exceptions. Max Roach was one of them. When I was soaking up Clifford's work, you just couldn't help being as blown away by the drumming as you'd be by anything Clifford did.

Currently listening: Clifford Brown/Max Roach, "If I Love Again"

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Straight Up Mountain Province!

So, who's seen this new show Human Weapon on the History Channel? You haven't? A couple of dudes travel the world, train for a bit in different styles, and then go one on one with one of the practicioners.

Check out segments from the eskrima episode.

EDIT: Duh, how about some YouTube-age?

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Soul Power

I know I've passed this video around to some, but I can't help it. I've been watching it at least every other day for the past month. It's the Tower of Power at the 2006 Montreaux Jazz Festival playing their signature tune "What Is Hip," featuring Carlos Santana on guitar. Now, Carlos isn't a funk guitarist. You'll notice he goes 8 bars trying to play in the style of the tune; it was a'ight. But then, he gives us 16 bars of pure Carlos.



Damn, this still gives me goosebumps!

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Playing Hookey

I'm playing hookey from work today. Hey, it's been a hard week. Summer's usually a cakewalk, but I've been de facto covering for my boss. Not officially, mind you. But with the boss on vacation for two weeks, all of a sudden I've supposedly turned into the answer man.

Hey, I'm not bitching. I kept trying to tell people that it's like those old Star Trek episodes where all the senior officers plus redshirt would be down on the planet, and the only one left to run the ship was Mr. Sulu whose sole job was to keep the Enterprise in orbit.

Well, Sulu's on vacation--even though I am on campus right now. I suppose I could wander into work with my umbrella, brandishing it like a sword like Sulu did in "The Naked Time."

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Aw, Crap

If you're really into 24/7 scat play, you need these.

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Drooling

Via Stickman's Escrima Blog: seminar and interview vids of Sonny Umpad.

I haven't even made it all the way through the first video because I've been replaying snippets of certain moves, in total awe of the intricacies of Sonny's techniques.

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This Is Bound to Work

China tells living Buddhas to obtain permission before they reincarnate

Jane Macartney in Beijing

Tibet’s living Buddhas have been banned from reincarnation without permission from China’s atheist leaders. The ban is included in new rules intended to assert Beijing’s authority over Tibet’s restive and deeply Buddhist people.

As Neil Gaiman said, "That trick never works."

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Battle of the Century: Olsen vs. Potter

Jimmy Olsen: Ass constantly saved by Superman.

Harry Potter: Ass constantly saved by Hermione, Dumbledore, Snape, Sirius, Lupin, Moody, Tonks, Hagrid, Dobby, Kreacher, Oliver Wood, Colin Creevey, Stan Shunpike, the bartender at the Leaky Cauldron and this guy he just met down the pub last week.

ADVANTAGE: Olsen.

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THE E HAS LANDED!

E has returned, safe and sound, to the U.S. of A. and is with friends in the City who are helping her fight the jet lag until she can come back to I-town tomorrow!!!

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There Once Was a Woman Named Venus

You scored as William Wordsworth, You’re poet is William Wordsworth. English Romantic poet and poet-laureate, whose “Lyrical Ballads” (1798), first published anonymously with contributions by his friend Coleridge, marked an important turning point in the history of English literature. Other works include “I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud” and “The world is too much with us”. Wordsworth's name, perhaps even more so than that of his friend Coleridge, remains to this day almost synonymous, in England, with Romanticism itself. William Wordsworth 50% Percy Shelley 44% Lord Byron 38% Samuel Taylor Coleridge 25% John Keats 25% Who is Your Romantic Poet? created with QuizFarm.com

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It IS True!

There is data to back this graph up!

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Who?

Jesus, even Time Lords have blogs.

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"Hipness is what it is"

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Some of you are looking as some of those latest acquisitions and saying, "Oh, he's finally moved into the 21st century...but wait...is that CHICAGO XI? Jeeze, that album is almost as old as he is. And, doesn't he have that one, 'cause he damn sure has all the others?" Actually, a CD copy of XI is the only one that's managed to elude me. And please, watch and listen first before you give me any of that "pussy music" stuff.

I highly recommend PROG by The Bad Plus. Any jazzers who can reinvent "Tom Sawyer" by Rush deserve respect.

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Innerspace

Been meaning to share this bit from Dar Kush

The strangest thing. The more you need to meditate, to journal, to do the internal stuff, the more the external world will collaborate to convince you you don’t need to do it. All of the inner voices will rise up like a chorus and scream at you that anything, anything, is more important than that inner work. Cutting your neighbor’s cat’s toenails seems more important.

I've found this to be true of just about anything and everything that "threatens," so to speak, to move me forward.

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I Cn Has Blog?

Your Score: Serious Cat
50% Affectionate, 34% Excitable, 55% Hungry

Hungry for knowledge in any internet forum, you demand decorum. Any off-topic remarks, absurd statements, or tomfoolery on the interweb is deeply frowned upon by you. Truth has no room for drollery.

To see all possible results, checka dis.

Link: The Which Lolcat Are You? Test written by GumOtaku on OkCupid, home of the The Dating Persona Test

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There Is a God

Forgot where I got this, but...

Bacon Salt

So wrong, yet so right.

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If You Build It, They Will Come

It's how they get here, that bothers me.



That's what I get for naming the blog what I named it.

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Whiskey. Tango. Foxtrot

This gets out of 5.



Yes, that's Dame Shirley herself. Yes, it's the Pink song. Yes, it's real. And yes, my brain is leaking out my nose and messing up my shirt.

From Kung Fu Monkey.

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Confirmed.

Via Horizon, the Blake's 7 Appreciation Society

PETER TUDDENHAM
27 November 1918 - 9 July 2007

I'm sorry to have to share the sad news with you that Peter Tuddenham died on Monday 9th July after a short illness, aged 88. Dear husband of Rosemary, and much loved father of Mark, Julian and the late Jamie. We know you will all want to join us at Horizon in offering them our deepest sympathy at this sad time.

The voices of Zen, Orac and Slave are now silent, but our memories of this lovely, warm, friendly, entertaining and hugely talented man will be with us always as we celebrate a life well-lived. We will miss you, Peter.

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I'm All David Banner Again

Now that I've had a long weekend, taken an extra day off (with another coming), and let go of my feelings of entitlement, I'm a much happier person than I was this time last week. I'm actually ready to go back to work (for a three-day week...two-and-a-half if you don't count the seminar I'm scheduled to fall asleep in attend tomorrow morning.

The camping trip was fun. Sure, it meant leaving a whole bunch of stuff half-finished. My inbox here at home is so full, I don't want to deal. Stuff to read, write, and file. But at least I have the energy to care and am relaxed enough to do something about it all.

I'm still looking forward to my next day off, though. I'm almost recovered. I almost feel like a normal human being again, except for a stiff neck that hasn't gotten better in a week (it actually got a touch worse after the trip, but it's gotten back to where it's been). But I'm not quite there yet. The (metaphorical) Hulk is still a bit too close to the surface for my taste.

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Insomnia

Jesus H. Christ, it's 4:30--why can't I fucking go to sleep. Man, to add cosmic insult to cosmic injury, I can't even be in the best shape to make use of the limited time I have to get shit done because I can't even fucking sleep.

I'm going to be one pissed off firecracker tomorrow. The only thing for it is to drink as many red eyes and Red Bulls as I can get my hands on.

This isn't right, I tell you. This just isn't fucking right.

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"I'm on Vacation"

Between today and Monday, my sole mission statement is to recapture my vacation to which I'm entitled because of all my hard work. I haven't been able to take it before now because of circumstances beyond anyone's control. But I've decided that (a) no one can return lost time and (b) no one will ever care for my time off as much as I will.

Therefore, my response to everything and anything--pleas for help, deviations from my plans, unexpected events which require effort on my part to effect some sort of response--from now until next Monday when I have to report back to work is going to be, "I'm on vacation."

It didn't help that the one free day I had was today, a holiday, where anywhere I'd be remotely interested in going was either closed or closed early. Now I'm all for the 4th of July, but I couldn't even get some normal mind-numbing TV tonight, for Christ's sake. I wanted some peace and quiet and all I got were fireworks and "Stars and Stripes Forever."

There's a chance, since my boss knew as I was leaving on my "vacation" what I was heading into, that I might be allowed some additional time off (though I have no real idea when). God damn it, I can taste that time. And I know exactly what I have to do to protect it in advance so that nothing will intrude on it. Truthfully, I don't even plan on telling folks when it'll be.

You see, this was going to be the week where my writing wouldn't have to be crammed in between work shifts and other things. I didn't get that. I was extremely angry about it yesterday, but I'm mostly over that. I'm sublimating those emotions into (a) plotting how I'm going to get myself the time off that I should've had in the first place and (b) making damn sure I'm as rested as I can possibly get between now and next Monday. It's not going to be much, but God damn it, "I'm on vacation," and I'm going to make fucking sure the rest of the world knows it! I'm going to cash in on the credit I've earned myself this week for all my various "good deeds."

"I'm on vacation." The mantra for the rest of the week. Here are some examples on how I plan to use it.

Random Wheeze: Hey, would you mind? We could use a hand with this.
Me: I'm on vacation.

Phone: *Ring ring*
Me: (Oblivious because the ringer will remain off for the rest of the week) I'm on vacation.

Selfish? Hey, screw it--I'm on vacation.

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This Could Never Happen Here

...right?

Iranian cartoon pulled from film festival | The Australian:

From correspondents in Bangkok
June 27, 2007

THAILAND has caved in to pressure from Iran and withdrawn the animated movie Persepolis, about a girl growing up and feeling repressed under Islamic rule, from next month's Bangkok International Film Festival.

'I was invited by the Iranian embassy to discuss the matter and we both came to mutual agreement that it would be beneficial to both countries if the film was not shown,' festival director Chattan Kunjara na Ayudhya said today.

'It's a good film, but there are other considerations.'

The film, based on the popular French comic books of Iranian director and writer Marjane Satrapi, drew complaints from the government-affiliated Iran Farabi Foundation when it was screened at this year's Cannes Film Festival in France.

After all, this country would never do anything like that...

<⁄bullshit>

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And the Hits Just Keep on Coming

Again, let's do our own homework, shall we, kiddies?



I forgot to add the word analysis to essay homage to isaac babel doris lessing. But damn, I guess it means Google is doing its job, huh?

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Essay Homage to Isaac Babel Doris Lessing Notes

Everything you wanted to know but was too dumb to read the damn story to find the answers yourself. I hope you fail whatever class you were doing this for, you lazy-ass bastard.

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Utensils, My Ass

E and I spent this morning at the local farmer's market. There was a stall with a merchant selling wooden furniture and cooking utensils. Amid the spatulas and spoons, these jumped out at me...



I picked one up and thought, "With that curvature? Utensils my ass." But they were exactly the right size and shape to be a different sort of tool, something I can train with. So I bought two.

I mean, come on...

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I Want a 64 Box

Emo Crayons

Where were these when I was young?

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Righteous Anger

Listening to these albums, I really think Lewis Black knows my pain.

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These just take me back to a time in high school where all us freaks and geeks hip cats would pass comedy tapes around in study hall and such.

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Utopia

Series 3, Episode 11: Best. Episode. Yet.

...and it's only part 1 of 3.

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Diiiiiiiive!

Last night, the wife and I went to the first film of a summer outdoor film series at the Big Red School on the Hill. Sing it with me...

Flash! Ah-ahhhhh! King of the impossible!



I just had to get a shot of the almighty Brian Blessed...

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The Ultimate Lifehack

Bones could allow data swaps via handshake:

YOUR backbone's connected to your shoulder bone, your shoulder bone's connected to your neck bone - and your neck bone's connected to your cellphone.

Something along these lines is what Lin Zhong and Michael Liebschner at Rice University in Houston, Texas, envisage. They want to use the human skeleton to transmit commands reliably and securely to wearable gadgets and medical implants. Their research, funded by Microsoft and Texas Instruments, could also lead to new ways for people with disabilities to control devices such as computers and PDAs.

I'm so getting this!

(via Warren)

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It's All Part of Their Grand Plan

A quick smoke? It's good for the wings:

Birds are picking up discarded cigarette butts and using the smoke to fumigate their wings of parasites, experts said yesterday.

Hitchcock's THE BIRDS was prophetic! Mother Earth is getting ready to rise up and beat us like J-Lo in that movie where she learned Krav Maga and kicked her abusive husband's ass.

Just five more years, watch.

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Amen (Break), Brother!

My plan for the day was set back a bit. I got caught up in BookTV, random Saturday morning lingering, and this video I got via 3:AM Magazine.

Have a seat and educate yourself for about twenty minutes...



I've been keeping a list of various good reads, but am I now going to have to start a new one for documentary videos on YouTube?

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Your Own Worst Enemy

Once again, someone says something I always knew but never knew how to put into words. This is why you are your own worst enemy.

From Dar Kush:

Your ego identifies itself with whatever your “steady state” is—usually your current self, but if you are in a state of flux, whatever your most stable condition might have been.... Whatever your automatic habits would turn you into? That’s your ego. Take your concentration off for a few weeks, and you’re right back where you started.... Remember: if you don’t change your internal image, your ego-identity, you’ll have to use conscious attention to compensate. And trust me: your conscious mind is the smallest, weakest part of you. Eventually, it will LOSE. [emphasis mine]

Pretty much falls in line with the whole GTD idea about how smart your conscious mind isn't. This is why it's never just a matter of sheer willpower, but of executing a methodical plan to accomplish whatever you want to accomplish.

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Steampunk(ish)

From Warren.

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Bwah-Ha-Ha-Ha!

Blogger unmasked, court case upended - The Boston Globe

By Jonathan Saltzman, Globe Staff | May 31, 2007

It was a Perry Mason moment updated for the Internet age.

As Ivy League-educated pediatrician Robert P. Lindeman sat on the stand in Suffolk Superior Court this month, defending himself in a malpractice suit involving the death of a 12-year-old patient, the opposing counsel startled him with a question.

Was Lindeman Flea?

Flea, jurors in the case didn't know, was the screen name for a blogger who had written often and at length about a trial remarkably similar to the one that was going on in the courtroom that day.

In his blog, Flea had ridiculed the plaintiff's case and the plaintiff's lawyer. He had revealed the defense strategy. He had accused members of the jury of dozing.

I really don't need to say anything, here...

Via Whatever

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Next Season: Christians and Lions

It's only a matter of time at this rate.

BBC NEWS | Entertainment | Outcry over TV kidney competition

A Dutch TV station says it will go ahead with a programme in which a terminally ill woman selects one of three patients to receive her kidneys.

EDIT: Yes, now I know it's a hoax, thank you.

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Retro

I've been on a real retro 70s kick lately. Real 70s music, not the SATURDAY NIGHT FEVER soundtrack (not that there's anything wrong with that).

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It's tastes like these that cause others to wonder if I was really born in the early 70s, which I was.

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Adriaaaaaaaa...Oh, Wait

I know I should make fun, I really do. But this actually looks interesting on a couple of levels.

WARNING: This is definitely not for the kiddies!



via The Engine and other places.

EDIT: And then I read the (supposed) plot. Most of it you could glean from the trailer, but "With five young and highly diverse mercenaries at his disposal..."? Is this going to be like that last season or two of WALKER: TEXAS RANGER where you just didn't see Chuck do as much kicking as he used to?

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Getting Things Done Sunday

Not much reading or scribbling done so far today. But what I have done is dumped my brain. Most of it, anyway. Between that and moving a couple of major projects forward today, I’ve been feeling a lot better.

This is why I’m going to try to get back into some habits I’ve let slack lately.

1. I bought a discount copy of POWER SLEEP by James Maas. I need to get my sleep habits back on track.
   
2. My days have to begin and end at my desk, processing my virtual and real inboxes.
   
3. I need my weekly reviews again.

Of course if you’re not up on the whole GTD thing, you can get up to speed here.

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Meet the Flintstones

It had to happen eventually.

Variety.com - ABC developing 'Cavemen'

"Winner for most unusual piece of development this pilot season goes to ABC, which has turned a series of quirky Geico commercials into an actual half-hour comedy project.

'Cavemen' will revolve around three pre-historic men who must battle prejudice as they attempt to live as normal thirtysomethings in modern Atlanta."

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If You Build It, They Will Come

It's how they get here that bothers me...

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Attention!

For those in the I-town/607 area code...

Saltonstall Workshop
"ONLINE PUBLISHING: BEYOND BLOGS"

• Saturday, May 19
  
• Presenters: Michael Orthofer, NYC; Mark Budman, Binghamton; Robert Colley, Syracuse
  
• 2:00 pm – 4:30 pm
  
• $15 registration fee, includes light refreshments
  
• Tompkins County Library’s Borg Warner Community Room
  
• Limited to 50 participants. Please call 539-3146 to reserve your place.

I reserved my space and was asked to get the word out, so here it is! I've had the pleasure of having a submission rejected by one of the presenters, the publisher of VESTAL REVIEW.

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Practice, Part II

I've noticed lots of new traffic because of this post, one in a stream of reponses to the original. Welcome all!

It actually took me a couple of days to find this out: If you can bring yourself to look slightly higher than her cleavage, you'll get the joke. I still can't believe it.



I'm depressed.

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Neglected to Mention

...that since I last said anything, I've had two more pieces put up on SIX SENTENCES.

I've forced myself to go back and work on some of the longer things I've been neglecting though, and I've told myself that I won't submit any more free fic until I've got those things sent out. Of course, who am I fooling. What's this blog called again?

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Practice for When She Finally Gets Pregnant?

I'm so happy for Mary Jane. She isn't just the damsel in distress. She gets to wash Parker's Spidey costume with both her tits *and* her thong showing!

You've come a long way, baby!

Another stereotype, successfully reinforced!! Make Mine Marvel (for got'damn pete's sake...)

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I'mo Git You, Sucka

I haven't even seen these movies...

You scored as Jigsaw. You are Jigsaw. You dont enjoy killing people at all. You instead love to see how far people will go to live. However if it ends in a bloody death, you still sleep with a smile on your face. You are intelligent, and know how to outwit just about anyone. And that spells bad news for anyone who falls into your games of death and torture. Jigsaw 85% Hannibal Lecter 80% Candyman 80% Pinhead 75% Michael Myers 60% Freddy Krueger 55% Captain Spaulding 50% Jason Voorhees 45% Leatherface 45% Buffalo Bill 30% Which Horror Killer are You? created with QuizFarm.com

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Real Instant Gratification

You mean to tell me I can export my Google Notebook into Google Docs, and then theoretically save that file into the format of my choice, including .doc and .pdf?? Jaysus!

Yeah yeah, I know. My growing dependence on Google services is going to be my downfall. Oh well.

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If I Can't Have Borg Implants

...then I can at least take stuff with me that's usable by any OTHER computer with a USB port and internet access.

Based on this article on USB thumb drive tricks, I put my 1 GB drive to use by cramming Firefox (complete with all my settings) and Wordpress into it. This way, I can use Firefox from anywhere with all the bells and whistles of my Google account so long as I have a net connection AND have a private blog to keep as a journal with entries I can tag and organize.

The sad part is that this may make me blog less, since all the secondary functions I use blogs for are being co-opted by Google services. Oh well, maybe I'll get to doing more productive things.

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Balancing the Video Karma

I decided that after posting about a rather violent video (Which is nonetheless effing sweet!), I thought I should put up some light-hearted fun things passed to me by friends and people at work.

Natalie Imbruglia lets someone have fun with her wonderful one-hit...



...and (as I'm sure most of you have seen by now; so sorry to have come late to the party), Alanis's slam on the song "My Humps."

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Bought on Free Comic Book Day

Today was also Free Comic Book Day and if your local comic store was anything like my local store, then there were probably some sweet deals on stuff.

Me, I scored these...

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Book Splurge '07

One of the pitfalls of steady income is the ability to go to the first and most expensive weekend of the twice-yearly Friends of the Library Book Sale. While E and I spent more on this booksale than the two previous ones we went to combined, we still made out like bandits.

My haul alone was easily worth every penny of the $40 I spent for it...



So don't be surprised if I'm not blogging again for awhile.

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F*** tha (Internet) Police

Digg the Blog » Blog Archive » Digg This: [numbers redacted]

But now, after seeing hundreds of stories and reading thousands of comments, you’ve made it clear. You’d rather see Digg go down fighting than bow down to a bigger company. We hear you, and effective immediately we won’t delete stories or comments containing the code and will deal with whatever the consequences might be.

Of course, I'm a big wuss for redacting the numbers in question. But hey, if Cory backed down, what chance would I have?

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Google's Bitch

Geek To Live: Getting Things Done with Google Notebook - Lifehacker

Fans and followers of the Getting Things Done personal productivity system have hacked all sorts of ways to GTD in different applications, from Microsoft Outlook to plain text to Gmail. But one of Google Labs' less-hyped applications, Notebook, is very well-suited to instant capture and easy processing of your GTD lists.

This article just came out the other day, but it's already been what--a couple of weeks--since I've turned into Google's bitch.

I don't use Google Notebook in exactly this way (I do this with my email), but it's this kind of thinking, this kind of ease that's kept me more or less organized.

Next time (eventually): Maybe some screenshots of all the different Google services I use.

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Ever Been Outnumbered?

Didn't stop this dude...


Via: Flixya

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Makes Big Brother All Tingly

Not only is this a week late, I didn't necessarily click all the links here to get the full story. But on the face of it, doesn't it just feel wrong somehow? Kind of like when you see someone picking on a handicapped person. The handicapped person may have even started it, but still.

Boing Boing: Mayor of Boston bans Boing Boing

Jake tried to access Boing Boing from Boston's free WiFi network and got this notice -- topped by the seal of the Mayor of Boston no less! Banned in Boston -- first they came for the Mooninites, then they came for the Boingers.

(Oh, this actually wasn't done on Google Notebook, but a Google Toolbar app. Yeah, yeah, I know...there goes my privacy, right? Hell, it's not like I'm putting my credit card numbers up, so wth?)

(EDIT: The only trouble is that I can't tag any of my posts from the toolbar app. Oh well, I'll live.)

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I'd Definitely Read the Mail Column

Guccione Jr. Has Omnivorous Appetite: Wants Omni, Travel Title Too

by Joe Mandese, Thursday, Apr 26, 2007 7:00 AM ET
OPENING A NEW CHAPTER IN one of America's most storied publishing dynasties, Bob Guccione Jr. is in talks with his father Bob Guccione Sr. to acquire Omni, the seminal science and science fiction magazine that spawned a new category of consumer magazines, including Discover, the publication Guccione Jr. now presides over as CEO.

OMNI was one of those things I didn't realize the value of until it was gone. Hopefully, this pans out.

(And, here again, is another post brought to you by Google Notebook!)

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Insert Techno Beat Here

Because it's been too long since the last one, and you know you've wanted it...

Your Personality Is Like Ecstasy

You're usually feeling the love for the world around you - you want to hug everyone. And while you're usually content to sit back and view the world with wonder... Sometimes you're world becomes very overwhelming and a little scary.

What Drug Is Your Personality Like?

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How Taxing

Rendering to Ceasar what is Ceasar's was a pain, but between Uncle Sam sticking it to us and the State of New York giving us a refund, we just about broke even.

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Side Effects Include Irritation...

I'm irritated right now. I'm finally situated in a coffee shop that makes the back room of Donkey look bright and sunshiney by comparison (i.e. I love this place!) only to find that I've left two of the projects I wanted to work on at home! But it's all good. I've got lots of other To Do lists to go through.

On the up side, I got two books from the library that I never thought I'd get outside of Amazon:

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I've been very wary about buying a new book sight unseen, not necessarily for monetary reasons but because my reading time is so limited. (Not to mention the fact that the Spring Booksale is around the corner. ) But, I've wanted these for awhile and now I get to try them for free. Ah, the joys of the local library.

Back to work...

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Now That We Have An Understanding About YouTube...

8 Habits of Highly Ineffective Emailing

My biggest peeve is #3

Send an Email that’s Completely Unnecessary - These are probably my biggest pet peeve of all. Emails that consist of reciprocal greetings or acknowledgments that are just a waste of server space. For example, Ted emails me asking if I can send him the latest office phone list. I send it to him and 10 seconds later I get an email that contains nothing but “Thanks!”. While I understand he’s just being polite, that’s another message I have to read. (I know this may come off as somewhat prick-ish, but you wouldn’t believe the amount of email I get like this). Obviously, If Carl from Facilities donates the bone marrow that helps you beat that pesky cancer, a “thank you” is probably in order - in addition to some flowers or free yard work. Otherwise, just let me get back to work.

Though I confess that I've been guilty of #6:

Walking Over to the Recipient 10 Minutes After Sending the Message to Make Sure They Got It - I realize there are certain people who still don’t fully trust “technology” as a whole. They don’t like buying things online, they think every time Windows hiccups it’s because a hacker has taken over their computer and is now using their credit card to finance a trip to Tanzania. That’s all fine, but folks - I implore you - please have some faith in the email system at work. I realize that occasionally emails get lost, but that’s not reason to personally verify the delivery of each and every message you send.

And, on a separate but related note, coming over to ask if I got your email because it’s very important doesn’t work well, either. The beauty of email is that it’s asynchronous. You can send me a message and I’ll read it when I have time, not necessarily the moment you send it. Just let me do my thing and I’ll read your message the very next chance I get, cross my heart. Oh, and if it’s an actual emergency - please, by all means, run over to my desk - but feel free to skip the email.

(Once again, a post I've saved up for a few days, copied and pasted from a Google Reader/Notebook thing!)

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Ultimate Knife Defense!

Some of us laugh, but some of us know this hits a little close to home for some people.

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The Imus Thing, Clarified

John Rogers said it best about allegations of a double-standard between reactions to Imus and reactions to others who may have said similar things.

America loves a rebel.

America loves a bad boy.

But America hates a fucking bully.

(This post brought to you by Google Notebooks ;)--god, it's almost too easy now)

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One Less Voice

This makes the fact that I haven't gotten around to reading SLAUGHTERHOUSE FIVE yet that much sadder.

Novelist Kurt Vonnegut Dies at 84
Thursday, Apr. 12, 2007 By AP/CRISTIAN SALAZAR

(NEW YORK) — Kurt Vonnegut, the satirical novelist who captured the absurdity of war and questioned the advances of science in darkly humorous works such as "Slaughterhouse-Five" and "Cat's Cradle," died Wednesday. He was 84.

Vonnegut, who often marveled that he had lived so long despite his lifelong smoking habit, had suffered brain injuries after a fall at his Manhattan home weeks ago, said his wife, photographer Jill Krementz.

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Just Like High School

...where once again, the jocks stand to put one over on decent people geeks.

Doctor Who threatened by football

The next episode of hit sci-fi series Doctor Who will be shelved for a week if Saturday's FA Cup semi-final runs into extra time.

BBC One is showing Watford's clash with Manchester United before the drama, and says it will postpone the show to make way for any extra play or penalties.

A spokeswoman said the programme could not be broadcast after extra time as it would be "too late" for younger fans.

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We Don't Need No Steenkin' OS

I read this article a few days ago and the possibilities astounded me.

Firefox OS: Why My Hard Drive & Software are Obsolete

Imagine not needing to sort through a damn hard drive (which in my case includes the 40GB on the laptop, 15GB on the backup laptop, my 250GB external drive, as well as 3 USB flash devices--4 if you count my old mp3 player that I use as a flash drive--to add another 3+ GB). Sure there are security and privacy issues, but as if I'm going to store my Money files on anyone's server.

It's still intriguing, though--the idea of storing text, word-processing and spreadsheet docs, photos, and video online. Google provides all sorts of gadgetry and widgetry for all of that. Hell, I'm composing this post on Google Notebook. I may not finish this post tonight, but maybe tomorrow at work on a borrowed terminal at lunch. And when I'm done, I'm going to cut and paste this right onto a Blogger post form. Once upon a time, I might have composed this on Notepad or with the Firefox ScrapBook extention, or whatever else would be available to me regardless of whether or not I was online.

That's not to say I'd do away with my OS and it's apps, even if it were completely feasible and secure. I wouldn't even go 100% with Google--I still like Backpack (although I'm more of an hPDA person, now). Plus, the article assumes that you're always going to have internet access, and that's just not true right now, at least not for me.

But I can envision a scenario where my laptop could blow up and between wi-fi, Google's apps, flash drives, and my backup laptop, I could be up and running again with only the inconvenience of not being completely 100% up-to-date.

Now, if only I could get those Borg implants...

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Easter Flashbacks

From a couple years ago, but still...Happy Easter!

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Suspicious Minds

And now, another post for Blog 'Til You Drop Sunday.

March 5th through the 11th was Filipino Week at the Big Red School on the Hill. I wormed my way out of work early on the day they had an FMA workshop conducted by a very respected and well-known instructor.

To him, I was probably just some random Filipino until he picked me to demonstrate some empty hand disarms. He stripped my stick away, went to hand it back to me and then realized, "Oooh...he's got his own sticks. And they're not mine!" I'm thinking: Great, he probably thinks I'm from some rival school and now he's gonna beat on me.

So he takes two seconds, stops the demo and asks me, "We've never met? I don't know you, do I?" I smiled, said "No, sir" and it all seemed cool from there. He let me help demo knife disarms as well as some of the arrest/restraint techniques he teaches to military and LEO-types.

It was a fun couple of hours, sort of reminiscent of the old Fight Club. You had the mix of utter newbies in awe (read: gross overestimation) of my "mad skillz" (someone said, "You must be a pro," to which I quickly and loudly replied, "Oh, no I'm not!"), senior students who, while nice, were saying to themselves, "Yeah, I can take him" and the experienced martial artists who decided that since I "didn't start none, there wasn't gonna be none."

But it makes me wonder: Am I forever doomed to make Caucasian FMA instructors look at me with raised eyebrows when we first meet?

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Welcome to the Jungle Rain Forest

Part of Blog 'Til You Drop Sunday...

God, I love YouTube. These are clips from a show on BBC Three, featuring the grandmasters of two different Filipino arts.

"...and if a Filipino is fighting you, I'll have somebody engage you. I watch. And when you focus on him, I'll hit you. It doesn't sound nice, but morality comes before and after the fight. When you kill a guy just be sure, if you can help it, that the family doesn't know it's you. Because the family is gonna go after you, they don't go to the law.

And, if you've ever wondered what a Grand Tuhon's orasyon looks like up close, check this out (it's about 2/3 of the way into the clip).

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You're the Inspiration

First entry in Blog 'Til You Drop Sunday...



More here.

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