Can't we all program along?

Al Gore's crappy, nationwide television station, Current TV, is being sued by our crappy, local, public radio station, The Current, surprisingly, over it's name. First of all, in the two times I've been forced to listen to DFL Radio The Current, I didn't hear shit I liked. At one point, they played something very obscure that lead someone to chime out, "Dude, they played this band no one's ever heard of? This station is awesome." Sorry, no. Believe it or not, the reason no one's heard of your band is not because the poo-poo music industry is trying to hide them from the public, and it's not because people have poor taste in music. It's simply because your music isn't mainstream. Get over it. The Current sucks, and I'm very disappointed that my tax money goes into it. Now I haven't seen Al Gore's TV network yet, but if it's as good as the internet, I'll give it a try.

Well I'll Be Dipped...

Have a look at this.

NEW YORK -
Saddam Hussein told aides in the mid-1990s that he warned the United States it could be hit by a terrorist attack, ABC News reported Wednesday, citing 12 hours of tapes the network obtained of the former Iraqi dictator's talks with his Cabinet.
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One of Saddam's son-in-laws also explained how
Iraq hid its biological weapons programs from U.N. inspectors, according to the tapes from August 1995.

Now from the headline, "Saddam Reportedly Warned U.S. of Terrorism," and the first paragraph it sounds like Saddam was on the red phone with George Bush, telling him some dudes were going to fly planes into the World Trade Center next Tuesday, which obviously isn't what happened. I'm sure it was a non-specific warning, and almost useless, so I don't see anything of particular interest there. But further into the article is where you find the real news, and by further into the article, I mean the last two paragraphs...

Charles Duelfer, who led the official U.S. search for weapons of mass destruction, told ABC News the tapes show extensive deception but don't prove that weapons were still hidden in Iraq at the time of the U.S.-led war in 2003.

"What they do is support the conclusion in the report which we made in the last couple of years, that the regime had the intention of building and rebuilding weapons of mass destruction, when circumstances permitted," he said.

See, the Associated Press has to make it look like we did something wrong, and then leave the important details at the end of the story. Basically, the invasion of Iraq was justified. There were no WMDs found, but there was definitely intent to acquire them. So what if they warned us of any terrorist attacks? Like I said, I don't think it could have been anything specific enough for us to have prevented anything, and even if it was, that was on Clinton's watch, not Bush's. And that's all I have to say about that.

Take a Good Look, 'Cause He's....

From T-Rizzle's blog on nin.com...

The Grammys make me hate music, and certainly everyone in the ass-licking music industry.

Awww, Twent didn't win a Gwammy so he's upset. :'( Well, we didn't seem to hate the Grammy's when we were nominated for one back in 2000... Hey, I fucking hate the music industry too, but I'm a consumer. You work in it. For fuck's sake, shut your fucking mouth and make your fucking CDs for me to consume, dick head.

In a related story, according to theninhotline, Trent narrated a commercial for the organization of frothing nutjobs we lovingly call "PETA." (I'm not posting a link because I'd hate to think I sent anyone to a webpage with a link to PETA's website on it) Apparently Trent actually speaks from experience when he says he wants to fuck someone like an animal. Good thing it doesn't appear to affect the music much, being a jackass. But I will be disappointed if there's a song about fur and KFC on the next album, due out in November 2017.

A Small Taste of Karma?

A hotel in Mecca has collapsed, killing 15 people.

MECCA, Saudi Arabia - At least 15 pilgrims were killed Thursday and 39 injured when a building near the Grand Mosque collapsed around them just after they returned from midday prayers, the Interior Ministry said.

Early speculation of terrorism was immediately ruled out when authorities realized that Christians, Jews, Hindus, Taoists, Buddhists, Sikhists, Baha'i, Jainists, Shinto, Zoroastrians, and even Scientologists don't suicide-bomb innocent people.

(Oh come on, it's a joke. Honestly, I'm not happy these people died. I'm just making a politically incorrect joke at their expense. I sincerely apologize..... if you didn't get it.)

Yellow Funding Proposals

Some South Korean stem-cell research guru has been outed as a fraud.

SEOUL -- South Korean investigators said yesterday that the apparent landmark stem-cell research by cloning expert Hwang Woo-suk had been faked, turning the onetime national hero into a disgraced fabricator.

The story itself is not what is of interest to me. Just so it's out there, I agree with stem-cell research, so I find it kind of disappointing that someone would mess with data like this. What came to my mind while reading this was simply how much faith we put into "experts." I tend to believe a doctor when he's talking about something related to his field of expertise as I'm sure most people do. One brand of science I don't buy 100% is the theory of global warming. There is evidence of it, however the actual cause is still very much unknown, and research needs to be done on it. But what happens next is a bunch of scientists in a big pissing contest over who gets the grant money to do that research. Then stuff like this happens. Here's another bit of the article...

The government had showered Dr. Hwang with honours and research funds estimated at about $40-million (U.S.).

It opened a state research hub in October, meant to serve as the heart of global medical efforts to find cures for diseases now considered incurable.

So, whoever can cook up the most impressive proposal gets the money (in this case fraudulantly), and that's why we have all these sensationalized "George Bush personally caused global warming with Karl Rove's weather machine" theories. I'm not saying that all global warming scientists are liars. Far from it. I'm just saying that you have to remember that global warming (or global climate change, as they call it now, because the Earth doesn't seem to be warming up, but we had an active hurricane season) is still just a theory, with holes. Don't bet the farm on its cause or even its existence just yet.

Update: I was just going through my blog, and thought I'd mention something about the above blog post. In the past, I've been overly critical about global warming. It exists, but scientists say humans contribute to about 20% of it. The rest is natural. The bottom line is that no matter what Al Gore is super serial about, global warming is not a crisis. I completely agree that something should be done about pollution, primarily for health reasons, but Al Gore is still a tool, and, no, I'm never going to watch "An Inconvenient Truth."

Redneck Christians

Don't you hate it when those stupid Republicans refer to God to appeal to those redneck Christians? Its even worse when those Republicans are Democrats!

"As the Bible teaches us, to minister to the needs of God's creation is an act of worship, to ignore those needs is to dishonor the God who made us," said House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi of California. "Let us vote no on this budget as an act of worship and for America's children."

Wait... I thought Bush was the first politician EVER to mention God to appeal to Christians. (Actually every president since Washington has) You now have far-left nut, Nancy Fucking Pelosi spouting off religious rhetoric; can all you liberals please shut the fuck up about Bush's spirituality bothering you? (Or at the very least bitch and moan about her and call for her resignation. I mean, there's that mythical seperation of church and state she's blatantly defying!)

Actually the article was about the House approving budget cuts (yay), specifically of entitlement spending (double-yay), and drilling in ANWR (triple-yay). When the Senate OK's drilling in ANWR, drinks are on me! Now if I could just find more than two friends who understand how drilling in ANWR is a good idea...

Update: Sadly, the Senate did what the Senate does best--fuck everything up--and rejected the bill. Guess it'll be a while before we get past the enviro-mental-cases and into ANWR.

Oh, so that's it

I figured out why I haven't updated in so long, completely skipping October.

Your Blog Should Be Yellow

You're a cheerful, upbeat blogger who tends to make everyone laugh. You are a great storyteller, and the first to post the latest funny link. You're also friendly and welcoming to everyone who comments on your blog.

What Color Should Your Blog or Journal Be?

My blog should be yellow, not orange and green. (I won't be changing it. I like this color scheme, so don't expect any updates for a while.)

Repercussions of Kyoto

Here it is. Proof that global warming is indeed happening...... on Mars.

Scientists have suspected in recent years that Mars might be undergoing some sort of global warming. New data points to the possibility it is emerging from an ice age.

NASA's Mars Odyssey orbiter has been surveying the planet for nearly a full Martian year now, and it has spotted seasonal changes like the advance and retreat of polar ice. It's also gathering data of a possible longer trend.

There appears to be too much frozen water at low-latitude regions -- away from the frigid poles -- given the current climate of Mars. The situation is not in equilibrium, said William Feldman of the Los Alamos National Laboratory.

You know it's all George Bush's fault. Of course this wouldn't be happening if we had just SIGNED the fucking Kyoto Treaty, because there is absolutely no way this could be a naturally occuring phenomenon. God damn SUV-driving red-staters.

"George Bush doesn't care about Martians." -- Kanye West

Christ, it's been a month

Ok for about the last 2 months, I've been going out almost every friggin night. Pretty much hanging out with Bien, since he was getting a job elsewhere (in Korea at first, but then he got one he was more interested in near Cleveland). So that's why I haven't posted shit for a month (and very scarcely for the month before that). I just decided to post a humorous anecdote from last weekend when my brother came home from college for a night.

Mike asked me, "What do you suppose all those activists and protestors are going to do when Bush leaves office in 2008?"

To which I replied, "Get jobs?"

It's funny because it's true.

Camera Crack Rocks

Last Monday (the 8th), the LCD screen on my less-than-a-month-old camera cracked. Don't ask me how; I don't know how it happened. I just know that I took it to Wal-Mart to see if they did a warranty/exchange deal, and the bitch from the photo department kept passively accusing me of dropping the camera, even though I didn't. I sent it to Canon's fix-it place in Illinois, where it is now being repaired under warranty. It should be back sometime later this week or next week. I miss it already. Now I'm going to buy a case for it, so it's not quite as susceptible to whatever magic force cracked the thing in the first place.

Note to self: warm Berry Weiss has a way of making one not want to drink again for at least a couple days, so only drink it chilled.

What Religious Philsophophy are You?

Apparently, I am... Agonistic? WTF...

You are Agonistic

You're not sure if God exists, and you don't care. For you, there's no true way to figure out the divine. You rather focus on what you can control - your own life. And you tend to resent when others "sell" religion to you.

What's Your Religious Philosophy?

Does that mean I like to hurt myself or something? Jeez.

Oh shit...

Well, you may or may not have noticed that the blog I read most frequently, Right-Thinking from the Left Coast, disappeared yesterday. Turns out that the building in Dallas that housed the server for his and several other blogs was struck by lightning... twice. Read about it here. Apparently, God actually does hate Republicans.

DST WTF

Congress just passed a big energy bill that includes a provision to extend daylight savings time, and that prospect frightens a couple over-protective mothers.

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. - As Congress voted to extend daylight-saving time, some parents whose children wait for school buses in the morning darkness doubted whether an extra month of daylight is such a bright idea.

"I don't think that it's safe," said Nikki McIntosh of Little Rock, whose children Myah, 12, and Alex, 11, occasionally ride a bus to school.

I'm not really blogging on this because of these whining mom's who are worried that their kids might have to stand for 5 minutes in anything less than broad daylight. Doesn't really matter to me. What boggles my mind is the idea to make a meaningless change to an already meaningless change. When you switch the clock in April and October, there is actually nothing different about the world, except all the clocks are screwed up. If you change your clock three weeks earlier, you might not need to turn your lights for another hour every evening, but you'll need to keep them on for an extra hour every morning, if you're up then. Nothing is changing, you're just moving the hour of energy usage. What the hell?

P.S. Oh, and I thought this might be a good time to mention something else I'd been meaning to blog on. It's just kind of funny. I'm sure you've heard of Paul Harvey. If you don't, he's a news commentator who's like 1000 years old. Anyway, sometimes, whenever there's news about daylight savings time, he gets really irate. Generally, Paul Harvey's pretty docile, giving an old man's traditional/conservative viewpoint on the news, but when daylight savings time is in the news, he gets very bitter and uses words like "lemmings" to describe people who change their clocks. I mean... yeah, daylight savings time is stupid, but it's there and there isn't much point in bitching about it on the radio. No one's going to just get rid of it. Especially not now since they're extending the stupid thing.

Great Moments in Cognizance

So I made a delivery to Season's Hospice yesterday, and there was a woman sitting with the nurses at the nurse's desk. She said I looked familiar, that I dated someone she knew. She asked me my name, and I told her, to which she replied, "Yeah, Joe, you used to date... [name removed]" "Tammy" "Tammy, yeah. I used to cut her hair." I went with Tammy when she got her hair cut short... once. This woman remembered who I was from meeting me once, about 8 years ago. I thought it was worth a mention here.

(I decided not to publish Tammy's last name, as a courtesy to her. I only know of 2 people who regularly read my blog, but with the internet you never know what kind of freaks might wander in.)

The Big Pictures

I was going to post more pictures, but I don't have a way of resizing them, and the 6 I uploaded used 43% of my monthly bandwidth limit. So I'll post more when I get back.

Fucking space shuttle.

Shady Internets

Jeremy and I are sitting in front of a closed Panera Bread right now so I can connect to the internets. It's not the same one I uploaded pictures from earlier; like you cared. Apparently, in July, there's a thunderstorm almost like clockwork, around 5 o'clock, everyday. There was one when we picked up the car yesterday, and another one just after we got done looking at apartments for the day.

Saw Charlie and the Chocolate Factory at Downtown Disney after eating at Planet Hollywood. Oh yeah, O-Rock 105.9 is the best radio station ever. Better than whichever station you usually listen to. Time to head back to the hotel and sleep.

The voyages of the starship Discovery...

Ok, so I admit I've been crossing my fingers, hoping that the launch of the Space Shuttle would get delayed at least a day, so I could see the launch when I was in Florida. The original launch time was today, just over an hour ago, and I'm not going to be able to be in Titusville to see the launch until at least like 5 or 6 o'clock tomorrow. As launch time approached, things kept sounding better and better (for me).

First they said the hurricanes didn't affect anything and there was a 70% chance they'd launch on time. Looming clouds changed their prediction to 60%, but they were still confident they'd launch on time. Then a protective window covering fell off and damaged two tiles of the heat shield, which could have posed a problem, but they fixed it pretty quick. Now, a faulty fuel gauge has grounded the mission until at least Monday*, when I'll be less than an hour west of the launch pad.

I kind of feel bad that I was hoping it would get delayed, and now it actually is... The shuttles get delayed all the time just before launch, so this actually isn't out of the ordinary. I was actually fairly sure it would get delayed, because many launches do, and this one is particularly important that there aren't any problems. Well, I get to see the shuttle launch for the first time since I woke up to see pieces of Columbia re-enter the atmosphere. Yay for me.

*Scott saw something on the news that said the shuttle is going to launch Saturday right as I was reading an article about the launch being delayed until Monday. Whichever, I just hope it isn't delayed any more than Monday.

37 Nanosecond Photo

Ah, the smell of fresh electronics. The battery is charging up right now, but keep an eye on my photo blog in case I decide to upload something.

P.S. I have a humorous screengrab I took yesterday that I was going to post here, but I'm too lazy to do it right now. I'll probably do it later.

Money... It's a Hit.

One of my favorite bands, Pink Floyd, recently overcame their issues of the past to play together again for the Live 8 concert in London. I went to Pink Floyd's site a couple weeks ago to find their front page plastered with this nice little quote regarding the Live 8 concerts:

"Like most people I want to do everything I can to persuade the G8 leaders to make huge commitments to the relief of poverty and increased aid to the third world. It's crazy that America gives such a paltry percentage of it's GNP to the starving nations. Any squabbles Roger and the band have had in the past are so petty in this context, and if re-forming for this concert will help focus attention then it's go to be worthwhile." - David Gilmour (Emphasis mine)

So the Live 8 concerts are ending, and the numbers are coming in. I can't say I'm suprised who handed Africa the most money. Those damn, greedy, apathetic Americans. By a long shot. (And the article is from a Scottish news source, so American-media-haters beware).

PRIVATE American citizens donated almost 15 times more to the developing world than their European counterparts, research reveals this weekend ahead of the G8 summit. Private US donors also handed over far more aid than the federal government in Washington, revealing that America is much more generous to Africa and poor countries than is claimed by the Make Poverty History and Live 8 campaigns.

Church collections, philanthropists and company-giving amounted to $22bn a year, according to a study by the Hudson Institute think-tank, easily more than the $16.3bn in overseas development sent by the US government. American churches, synagogues and mosques alone gave $7.5bn in 2003 - a figure which exceeds the government totals for France ($7.2bn) and Britain ($6.3bn) - according to numbers from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development which deal a blow to those who claim moral superiority over the US on aid.

Ouch. Don't give me that do goody good bullshit. 15 times more? Of course, most Europeans like to spin it, and talk about "GNP" and exclude private donations. When you don't tax the shit out of your citizenry, they're able to donate their own money. Lee over at Right-Thinking shares my sentiments, and I got the link to the article from there.

Blog fun

For the three people that read my blog... Jeremy started a blog of his own. Except I'm one step ahead of you, Jeremy, as I started a photoblog a couple days ago, here. The idea is to buy a digital camera in the coming months, and sort of document my time in Orlando. I could buy the camera, if Jeremy would give me money. :p