my mom wears combat boots

Yeah, my mom is more hardcore than your mom. MICKEY'S OUT OF A CHAMPAGNE GLASS, SUCKA.

And people wonder why I'm strange.

two good quotes

Both heard today:


"Veggie dogs are like buying a Real Doll of your dead wife." - diesel sweeties

"What were the pyramids or the Taj Majal after all, but rich people playing 'Pimp my afterlife'?" - Stephen Colbert on ostentatious wealth not being a new trend

oh this is delicious

Someone made an animated GIF of Lord of the Rings + World of Warcraft.

If you've ever played WoW, this is freakin hilarious.

good writing returns to West Wing

It's about time. They had some nice tidbits this week with regard to "intelligent design". It wasn't done angrily, it was done thoughtfully, which I thought was a nice approach.

----------

"Do you believe that the theory of intelligent design and the theory of evolution should be taught alongside each other in public schools?"

"Absolutely not. One is based on science, one is based on faith. Intelligent design is not a scientific theory, it's a religious belief. And our constitution does not allow for the teaching of religion in our public schools."

"Many of us here would be more comfortable if our children were taught all points of view."

"And I'm all for that. Evolution is not perfect, it doesn't answer every question, but it is based on scientific facts. Facts that can be predicted, tested and proven. Intelligent design asks theological questions. I'm sure that many of us would agree that at the beginning of all that begatting, something begun. What was that something?"

"Congressman, many of us want a version of science taught to our kids that is in accordance with our beliefs."

"I understand. But can't we agree that the inclusion of non-scientific explainations into the science curriculums of our schools misrepresents the nature of science? And therefore compromises the central purpose in our public education; which is the preparation of a scientifically literate workforce."

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"Was the universe designed by God? That's up to everyone in this country to decide for themselves, because the framers of our Constitution believed that if the people were to be soverign and belong to different religions at the same time, then our official religion would have to be *no religion at all*. It was a bold experiment then, as it is now. It wasn't meant to make us comfortable. It was meant to make us free."

--------------

That's some good stuff. I wish I could get more people to read and think about those words.

Barring that, I'd like to take people who want to teach intelligent design and beat them to death with their own bibles. Because I'm not always as thoughtful as the West Wing.

i am a child

You know, sometimes it really isn't the best idea to let the user name things in a game. Because I've got the maturity level of a 5 year old, and you're going to end up with things like this. 

gaijin incoming

I've been sick as a dog all week. I got hit by some king-hell of a virus and it laid me out for a few days. Needless to say I've been bored out of my mind and playing video games on the couch, and hating healthy people.

Anyway, I'm going to Japan! I'll be heading over there on November 4th, and spending about a week with Adrienne, Nina and Adam. (The girls are going for a wedding, the guy are going because... Japan. Duh.) Oh my lord, I can't wait. I've never been before, and I don't speak a word of Japanese, but I've got three faithful guides who all speak varying levels of Japanese, with varying racial levels of Japanese blood in them (anywhere from Jew to Full-On-Nip).

Since the vast majority of people who read this blog are nerds, and nerds love Japan, I want some advice about what fun stuff to see and do. I've already got a list of stuff to check out, and we're taking a train down to Hiroshima and Miyajima, but the rest of the time, we're just bumming around Tokyo, looking at craziness. I even went and picked up a Canon SD450 just to have a full photojournal of the experience.

Adrienne will probably have to drag me kicking and screaming from the Akihabara district. Nature schmature. I'm there to see the TOYS. Give me flashing lights, ridiculous gadgets, and ramen from a street vendor, and I'll be on cloud 9 all week long.

But yes. Give me advice on behavior, give me advice on where to go, what to eat, what to do. I am a sponge, I want it all.

tax lies

I really don't understand how democrats can keep getting away with telling huge lies about taxes in America and have no one call them on it. It's getting absurd. I saw this on the Daily Show this week:

John Edwards: "We have a tax system that favors the wealthy. We've got billionaires who are paying a lower tax rate than their secretaries."

And Jon Stewart said nothing, just let it slide. I mean, come on! We have a graduated tax system. This is simply untrue, barring criminal activity. Billionaires are in the top tax bracket, and in addition, they probably make a lot of money off the stock market, where capitial gains are taxed even HIGHER than the top tax rate.

Everyone has this stupid urban legend-style idea in their head that the rich can escape paying taxes because they have so much money, even though statistics show that the top few percent of Americans pay the vast majority of taxes. You could eliminate the bottom two tax brackets entirely and hardly make a dent. This country is run off the taxes on wealthy people and corporations.

Wake the hell up. There is no "tax cut for the rich." That tax cut was for everyone, and percentage-wise actually favored the poor. It's all a complete fabrication, and doesn't stand up to even a few minutes of critical thought. But it's what people want to hear.

a new majestic?

Those of you that read this blog know that I am obsessed with Alternate Reality type games, like Majestic was.

I've heard that this site here:

http://www.lastcallpoker.com/default.aspx

Opens into a Alternate Reality game, but people aren't quite sure what the deal is, if it's a marketing ploy for an unknown product or what. The details are sketchy, which is how I like it. It hasn't been plotted out and solved by obsessive gamers yet, which is exactly when it's the most fun. You can see some hints on the front page, it looks like an online poker site, but then it flashes little phrases like "if you can read this I'm already dead".

Anyway, I'm poking around there, haven't received any AIMs or phone calls yet, but if this kind of thing interests you, sign on and try it out. Let me know if you do, so we can share info.

Edit: This site is really bizarre. It looks to me like they're trying to arrange a meet-up of people to play a game of tombstone poker in an actual graveyard. And that graveyard is about a 40 minute drive from me.


http://www.lastcallpoker.com/allin/sf_1015/default.htm

I'm really tempted to go show up there, just to see if people are really going to play poker in a graveyard. I still can't get my head around what this game actually entails.

some quick thoughts

Serenity was freaking great. It had some twists that broke my heart, but still impressed me at the balls they had to take them. I won't list them here because I'm not a total bastard. But seriously, go see Serenity. And Lucas, if you're watching, that's what a good sci-fi movie looks like. Remember how it can have good special effects, witty writing, and make you laugh? You bitch.

Also, this photo amused me. I can't seem to get a direct link through flickr, they are too clever for me:

http://flickr.com/photos/normal/46651093/

However, this is also funny but not too clever for me to include the pic:



As a final note, after watching several episodes of Home Movies tonight, I think that H. Jon Benjamin is my favorite voice actor ever.