"'My new Internet penis is a gigantic monster! Hey, regular penis, guess what... SHUN!' A bored smiley finds pleasure discovering the riches of the Internets." SHUN!
This short animation made me laugh. The penises are cartoony and SFW, really not any more offensive looking than most dog chew toys.
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If this blog is true then not only is this kid good at poker, but now he is lucky his parents and grandparents have taken the money he has won at poker to pay for his college.
He is under the legal age limit to gamble and claims to have amassed $28,000 in poker winnings. The bad news is that his family has now taken the money and is going to use it to pay for his college.
They have left him $400 and he is starting to roll again on partypoker.com
"An Indianapolis father is appealing a Marion County judge's unusual order that prohibits him and his ex-wife from exposing their child to 'non-mainstream religious beliefs and rituals.'
The parents practice Wicca, a contemporary pagan religion that emphasizes a balance in nature and reverence for the earth.
Cale J. Bradford, chief judge of the Marion Superior Court, kept the unusual provision in the couple's divorce decree last year over their fierce objections, court records show. The order does not define a mainstream religion.
Bradford refused to remove the provision after the 9-year-old boy's outraged parents, Thomas E. Jones Jr. and his ex-wife, Tammie U. Bristol, protested last fall." (more at link)
WTF? Religion aside, has this judge not heard about this thing over here called the Constitution?
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"NEW YORK -- A former FBI official claims he was 'Deep Throat,' the long-anonymous source who leaked secrets about President Nixon's Watergate coverup to The Washington Post, Vanity Fair reported Tuesday.
W. Mark Felt, 91, who was second-in-command at the FBI in the early 1970s, kept the secret even from his family until 2002, when he confided to a friend that he had been Post reporter Bob Woodward's source, the magazine said.
'I'm the guy they used to call Deep Throat,' he told lawyer John D. O'Connor, the author of the Vanity Fair article, the magazine said in a news release.
Felt was initially adamant about remaining silent on the subject, thinking disclosures about his past somehow dishonorable.
'I don't think (being Deep Throat) was anything to be proud of,' Felt indicated to his son, Mark Jr., at one point, according to the article. 'You (should) not leak information to anyone.'
Felt is a retiree living in Santa Rosa, Calif., with his daughter, Joan, the magazine said. He could not immediately be reached for comment by The Associated Press. His family members disagreed with their father, feeling that he should receive accolades for his role in Watergate before his death." (full article at link)
I only give a rat's ass enough about this just to blog it, but only because I'm a news whore.
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"Tycoon Guy writes 'It seems rumors of the franchise's demise were greatly exaggerated. TrekToday reports that according to Trek head honcho Rick Berman, a new film might come sooner than you think: 'If it gets done in two years or three years I think that timeframe for a new, fresh feature with a whole different outlook would be fine.' He's previously said that the film will feature a whole new cast and ship; it's being written by Band of Brothers screenwriter Erik Jendresen.'" Of course the franchise is going to continue going. Duh. It's a huge moneymaker for Paramount, they will keep that universe rolling out new branches forever.
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"Experience the year's finest achievements in animation, visualization, simulation, visual effects, and technical imagery.
The Computer Animation Festival presents selected works in the Electronic Theater (matinée and evening shows) and the Animation Theater (throughout the week). The Electronic Theater also includes a pre-show event, which begins 20 minutes before showtime: a live graphic performance by J. Walt Adamczyk entitled 'Autocosm: Gardens of Thuban,' specially created for SIGGRAPH 2005.
New this year: projecting in high-definition (1080i and 1080p).
"In 2002, it was quite a juicy news item when, during the national census, Russians had learned that there were elves and hobbits living among them (that was the first year Russians were allowed to pencil in their ethnicity rather than choose the most appropriate option from the official list). In reality, however, elves, orcs, and hobbits had lived alongside ordinary Russians for more than a decade by then. Since the early 1990s, Russian fans of J.R.R. Tolkien have been bringing their idol’s books a step closer to reality by living them out.
In the summer, woods around Moscow, as well as Moscow’s biggest parks often teem with people who look like they’ve just walked off the set of “Lord of the Rings” - swords, armor, the works. The parks and gardens — which, for those in the know, have their own names in elven tongue — serve as grounds for role-playing and acting out the scenes from Tolkien originals as well as Tolkien-based fan fiction. ... Tolkienists, as they are known, put a lot of effort into researching character family trees and life stories, learning the languages in the books, writing their own spin-offs of traditional stories, writing music, organizing games and conventions, as well as learning crafts such as armor-making. The books that make up the bulk of the Tolkien canon — The Hobbit, Lord of the Rings, and The Silmarillion — provide plenty of material." (full article at the link) That would be fun to see, especially if someone gets an arm lopped off. Man, I read the LotR trilogy 19 times in high school alone, but I'm nowhere near as hard-core as these peeps.
Best quote from the article? Has to be this:
Tibalt also emphasizes the positive influence of the culture on his life — his Tolkien obsession has encouraged him to write poetry and songs. “My mother likes that this is what I’m doing, rather than drinking beer out in the street.”
"He plucks that banjo like a madman, like the devil himself." -New York Press
You better believe it. Phillip can wail on his banjo and backpack bass drum/tambourine like nothing you've ever seen or heard. (Summon Song mp3: right click to save/download)
Mole in the Ground (click here for short film in Flash format) finds Phillip Roebuck with a banjo in his hand, a drum on his back playing to jaded New Yorkers who normally treat street musicians like pan handlers. Here he talks about how started his $100 an hour career and shows why he's worth every dollar. --
BIO: I graduated from University of Washington in 2002, studying autonomous robotics, embedded digital systems, and math. That's when I started to get back into art for the first time since gradeschool. I haven't taken an art class since 5th grade, but I learned a great deal in that, my 11th year. I'm not quite to the point that I'm doing this full time, but I'm getting pretty close.
work background: I worked briefly in LA as a graphic artist designing not-so-inspiring teeshirts, but quickly discovered that freedom is more important than food. I love LA, but I didn't so much enjoy the work i was doing. So now i'm back in Seattle freelancing and drawing and repairing shoes, getting closer to being a full time artist/designer.
art background: i haven't taken any art classes since 5th grade, but honed my drawing skills by doodling in math notebooks. i've only been painting for less than a year now. i would LOVE to give art school a shot one day when i have the time/money, but I'm learning as much as I can right now from experimentation and gleaning off friends.
locations: born in Sendai, Japan. raised in Marietta, GA, USA. residing in Seattle, WA, USA.
i'm always interested in interesting freelance work. please contact me if you have anything.
bookings, inquiries, and other hate mail: (email maer) Big downloads, but nice grooves to drive with or just chill out around the casa to. Check the link below to check out 6 more sumptious mp3s at the sucker dot dj site. --
"To block pop-ups from plugins, open your Firefox 1.0 or 1.0.1 browser, type about:config in the address field. Right-click in the resulting config page somewhere and select New -> Integer. Type privacy.popups.disable_from_plugins in the resulting dialog, hit OK, type 2 in the next dialog and you're all set." Works like a charm!
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(Larger pic here - Uploaded by marie516 at Flickr)
"When the Morolians invade, ace reporter Ulala scoops the story for Space Channel 5. The hip-hopping aliens zap citizens into a hypnotic dance trance, but beat girl Ulala is their ultimate match. So they challenge her to a dance battle, and she busts out her grooviest moves to free the captives. Get down with Sega's supernova star as she struts through the space station in style! " I saw the pic above while cruising through Flickr, Google gave me the info on Ulala.
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"He explained to me that Humpback Whales sang beautiful songs. They copy from each other, remixing the songs and add to the songs. These songs evolve over time and riffs get passed from whale to whale across the world. The songs have lots of interesting variations and even have rhymes. He made an interesting observation that the whale songs of the 60's were much more beautiful than the whale songs these days." --
Yenny Model Made with super sculpey (mixed with a block of black and white sculpey 3) About 8 inches About 9 hours in a span of time Stand sorta by her self" Great character sculpting by Alena Wooten. See more of here work at her deviantArt gallery. --
"The U.S. Food and Drug Administration said it has received about 38 reports of the rare condition among Viagra users.
U.S. health regulators said on Friday they have received more than 40 reports of a type of blindness in men taking impotence drugs, mostly involving Pfizer Inc.'s Viagra, but have not determined if the medicines were responsible.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration said it has received about 38 reports of the rare condition among Viagra users, four reports among users of Eli Lilly and Co.'s Cialis and one report in a man who took Levitra, made by GlaxoSmithKline Plc." A dash of irony, anyone?
Impotence drugs may be linked to vision loss Seattle Times, WA -21 hours ago By Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar and Alan Zarembo. WASHINGTON — An investigation into whether Viagra and other popular impotence drugs ...
Viagra warning list may add blindness Chicago Tribune, IL -May 28, 2005 By Geoff Dougherty. Pfizer Inc. on Friday announced it is considering updating packaging materials for Viagra to include a warning ...
Pfizer Shares Slip, Drug Stocks Trade Flat Forbes -May 28, 2005 Both the American Stock Exchange Pharmaceutical Index and the Nasdaq Biotechnology Index ended the week essentially flat heading into the long Memorial Day ...
If we may put aside the royal "we" for a moment and briefly, shamelessly plug a personal project...
Friends of mine have finished up the second issue of their free DVD magazine, Chaise. Chaise Two is a collection of kickass media on a DVD and CD: among the offerings are two short films, including Elena Elmoznino's 2004 Slamdance Best Short prize-winner "Freestyle"; all kinds of animation; experimental video; and all other kinds of wonderful interactive goodies, including printable mail art. There's a trailer, and instructions on how to get your free copy here.
I merely wrote the copy for the booklet/website, so my own contribution to the project is rather paltry, which also means I don't feel dirty being so shamelessly gushy about this - I'm endlessly impressed by everything about what's been done. Except that godawful copy. The release party in Brooklyn this Friday, so if you're in the area, stop on by and say hi, I may even be manning the door.
I received the mag in the mail this week, really cool cd and DVD, lots of extras to look and, stickers to print out, etc. No cost to you to get it, just a SASE (self addressed stamped envelope).
"Welcome to the World Wide Web's Juggling Information Service, serving the Internet juggling community by connecting all of the juggling related resources that we can find. If you're a juggler, or want to learn to juggle, or just want some information on juggling, this is the place to be." This site doesn't look like it gets updated much, but it has a lot of good juggling info.
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Well last night I signed up for a $6+$1 Texas No Limit Hold’em tournament at PartyPoker.com. The field was 1,590 other players.
Couple of funny/lucky hands happened. At one point I was down pretty far and the blinds were large so I was forced to go all in at one point because I could not cover the $30,000 big blind and was dealt a 5,4 off suit. Well I thought that was going to be the end of my run, but not a bad night as I was going to place roughly 200th out of 1,590, but the flop came 5,5,k and I knocked a guy with pocket ace’s and a guy that paired up the king out of the tourney. Needless to say they had a few choice words for me as they parted ways from the table.
And so, I played on after being tripled at that point and in pretty good shape.
I worked my way up to the final table and busted out sixth for $230. Not much money, but it was off of a $6 investment and it was a ton of fun.
They have a midget employed here. You order the specialty shot, he comes dancing out of a box at the end of the bar, and pours it down your throat.
That would be heavenly. Preach here at Snarkyspot knows a dwarf named Danny who knows Mini-me (Verne Troyer). From the stories I've heard, Verne can drink like nobody's business. --
Edit by preach:
I have partied with Verne Troyer quite a few times, and should I ever write a tell all book there will be many stories of Hookers, Strippers, and Drugs. I might even through in some fire trucks and donkeys.
"In these speeches I've been riffing on the dangers of 'headism', the mistake of assuming that the economic incentives and other forces that dominate at the head of a demand curve apply equally down the tail. This is a common misconception, much like when people ask bloggers how they intend to make money from their online noodling (other than, you know, turning it into a sure-to-be bestselling book coming out RSN)." (more at link)
'Long Tail' is the new buzzword to live by. Mice and monkeys have long tails, and they are mammals.
If I had a long tail, I would use it to throw stuff at innocent bystanders or to hold my cell phone to my ear while driving.
Mind like a sieve? Don't worry. The difference between mere mortals and memory champs is more method than mental capacity
"This may be connected to the fact that seven of them used a strategy in which they place items to be remembered along a visualised route (Nature Neuroscience, vol 6, p 90). To remember the sequence of an entire pack of playing cards for example, the champions assign each card an identity, perhaps an object or person, and as they flick through the cards they can make up a story based on a sequence of interactions between these characters and objects at sites along a well-trodden route.
Actors use a related technique: they attach emotional meaning to what they say. We always remember highly emotional moments better than less emotionally loaded ones. Professional actors also seem to link words with movement, remembering action-accompanied lines significantly better than those delivered while static, even months after a show has closed." (full article at link)
I'm lucky if I can remember to put underwear on in the morning. Lots more stuff in the article, I wish I could remember what.. it... said...
"We all know someone that’s intelligent, but who occasionally defends obviously bad ideas. Why does this happen? How can smart people take up positions that defy any reasonable logic? Having spent many years working with smart people I’ve catalogued many of the ways this happens, and I have advice on what to do about it. I feel qualified to write this essay as I’m a recovering smart person myself and I’ve defended several very bad ideas. So if nothing else this essay serves as a kind of personal therapy session. However I fully suspect you’ll get more than just entertainment value (“Look, Scott is stupider than we thought!”) out of what I have to say on this topic." (full article at link)
Written in April, good read.
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OMG, this one is funny! Nice remix of that 'My United States of Whatever' song with 'NOOOOOOOOOO!!!' from Episode III. -- Other popular links at Snarkyspot:
(The guy with the long hair doesn't look as enthused as his spectacled friend...)
"Hi, first of all we would like to let you know that this is like none of the other name changing auctions that have went on ebay...it's time to put an end to this game.......we are not copy cats....we are the real thing...this will by far be known as the most insane name changing auction that will ever be on ebay.
WE WILL CHANGE OUR FIRST, MIDDLE, and LAST name to anything you wish....THE CATCH IS.....
THERE IS NO CATCH!!!
THERE ARE NO LIMITS....NAME US ANYTHING!!
THIS IS THE REAL THING PEOPLE!! FROM JULY 2005-JULY 2007.....OUR NAMES WILL BE WHATEVER YOU WISH THEM TO BE!! WE WANT PEOPLE TO TRUST US ON THIS....THAT'S WHY WE BUILT UP OUR FEEDBACK TO 50 JUST TO MAKE SURE. THIS JULY WE WILL PROVIDE ALL LEGAL DOCUMENTS TO THE WINNING BIDDER SO YOU KNOW THAT OUR NAMES HAVE BEEN CHANGED TO WHAT YOU DISIRED. WE'RE TIRED OF PEOPLE SAYING THEY WILL CHANGE THEIR NAMES TO WHAT YOU WANT...BUT THEN THEY START LISTING WHAT THEY WON'T BE NAMED...WELL.....IT'S TIME TO MAKE HISTORY PEOPLE.....THE ULTIMATE NAME CHANGING AUCTION IS RIGHT HERE, RIGHT NOW! PEOPLE WILL KNOW US BY THESE NAMES AT WORK AND AT SCHOOL.
Winning bidder take your time naming us...remember, you have until JULY....but also for the reason that we are not in any hurry to changing our names.....we can only imagine what somebody will come up with!!
FOR SERIOUS BIDDERS ONLY" More power to them. If I was stupid and rich enough to win the bidding, I would dub one of them 'Gobble Dee Knobble' and the other 'Stinky Butt Cheddar'. Or something like that. Hurry up, bidders! Less than a day left, and the bids are already up to $1,325!
"Years ago, a fascination with antique optical toys led Rufus Butler Seder to wonder if he could create motion pictures on a grand scale using no electricity, moving parts, or special lighting. After some experiment he developed an 8" square, lens-ribbed glass tile that was to form the building block for his dream come true. He called it a LIFETILE.
...
The notion of making 'movies for the wall' came to me when a colleague of mine, animator Flip Johnson, built a large-scale experimental zoetrope in my Boston Loft in the mid '80's. On the wall, he'd drawn a ten-foot long series of fish in different phases of motion, lit them with fluorescent lights, then, about a foot in front of the wall he positioned a ten-foot long big strip of black cardboard with a series of vertical slits cut in it. If you ran alongside the wall with your head turned at a neck-cramping 90 degree angle you got the impression of movement, although perhaps a bit dark and blurry. Flip seemed disappointed by the result of his efforts, but I thought it was great." (full history of Lifetiles here)
The videos shot of walking along the murals and watching them change is interesting, like watching animated pictures shot at 4 frames a second.
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"Lynds' paper, 'Time and Classical and Quantum Mechanics: Indeterminacy vs. Continuity,' is the latest chapter in a story that begins with Zeno and runs through Newton and Einstein to today. The question they struggled to answer: How does matter move through time and space?
Newton described motion as a change in position over time. (In the process of figuring that out, he invented calculus.) That allowed for infinite series of infinitesimal steps, which polishes off Zeno. But for his model to make sense, Newton needed what he described as 'absolute, true and mathematical time, which of itself flows equably without relation to anything external.' It's a God clock, ticking out discrete instants, or, if you prefer, a universal CPU, doling out reality one cycle at a time, a series of static instants giving only the appearance of motion like the successive frames of a movie.
But Einstein didn't buy it. The heart of relativity is that everything depends on your point of view - if you're traveling at close to the speed of light (a constant), then time moves differently for you than for your slowpoke friends back home. Einstein died before he had worked out the implications of his own brilliant ideas. Among the problems left unsolved: Time could go faster or slower (or even backward), but was it divisible? And were there irreducible 'atoms' of time, quantum flecks now called chronons?" (more at link)
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"boarder8925 writes 'George Lucas said he was finished with the Star Wars movies, but it seems George Lucas has an idea for another add-on to the Star Wars movie series: a prequel to The Phantom Menace. The story would follow the Jedi regaining control of the universe from the many Dark Lords some 88 years before Anakin Skywalker ever graced the universe. Yoda, who, according to Lucas, was instrumental in the effort, would apparently have a headlining role. However, Lucas, now age 60, says he won't be captaining such a ship if it ever happens.'" --
The 42-year-old, identified only as RZ, hit her head with a heavy blunt instrument. He then cut her throat and chopped off both her arms. Then, with a long–bladed meat knife used for filleting meat from bones, he spent eight hours skinning the 76-year-old.
After the killing, the man dressed himself in his mother’s skin and took to the streets of Vlaardingen, Holland, on the night of February 4.
He was seen directing traffic in her skin and dressed in one of her dresses as he recited texts from the Bible…" Those wacky Dutch. I will just assume he was chanting his favorite quotes from 'Silence of the Lambs' as well.
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(from Screenhead)
"Remember that video with the Yoda puppet doing Just A Gigolo which we were so amused by last week? Here’s the creepy, humorless version aimed at poor Christian children, many of whom likely sleep with kitchen knives hidden under their pillows now."
The Junior Christian Science Bible Lesson Show [5shock.com]
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MONARCHS OF ENGLAND 1066-NOW
The Anglo-Saxon system was an elected monarchy, with preference given to the bloodline of previous monarchs, but choice mainly by perceived strength and wisdom. This was why the English Witan felt able to choose Harold to be king before the Norman invasion. This gradually changed to primogeniture, where the oldest male child of the monarch inherited (the matter of female children when there was no male heir was unclear, perhaps until Elizabeth I), but the former system lingered in the mind, leading to various points where the powerful felt they had the right of choice eg. The Glorious Revolution — (list here).
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Flash can be used for anything, including this 'simulation'. Cool sounds, but I'd like to be able to slice some watermelons in half or whack off some hands or something. Someone notify me when the multi-player version is out.
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Last night while playing in a real money tourney of 400 people at PartyPoker.com I received one of those bad beats that makes you want to throw things. Not because I was out played by someone with superior skills, but someone did something extremely dumb and got lucky.
I had made it down to where we had less than 100 of the original 400 and had $1400 in chips, up $400 from the original $1,000 and I get As,Qs on the button and I push in $400 as my pre flop raise. The guy to my left calls and the flop comes Ad,2h,Qc rainbow. I push all in and he calls, but get this, he calls with Kh,2c! He pushed all in with a pair of two’s with AQ on the board! Turn comes 8c. River comes 2s…
He beat me out with a set of 2’s.
Sometimes there is no accounting for luck, but when it is luck garnered from stupidity it can be very frustrating to be on the other end of it.
Ok, Orson Scott Card is one of my all time favorite authors and I absolutely love Enders Game, and Speaker for the Dead, but after re-reading his Jedi diatribe I have come to the conclusion that it is an absolute crock of shit. That it is nothing but an agenda driven piece putting Christianity in juxtaposition to the Jedi and using some kind of religion yard stick to show how the Jedi is a religion that has flaws, and is lacking in many areas. If that is not the pot calling the kettle black then we need to throw that cliché away and never use it again.
In the article he is critiquing the Jedi as a religion and berating it for its shortcomings. First of all Orson, the Jedi are fictional characters in a MOVIE. Secondly, it is a MOVIE!
I am not defending the movie, or its worth, or if the movie is good or not, but rather the fact that a movie that should be enjoyed, or not, based on if you like the movie, or not, is being used a yet another chest thumping, pulpit pounding means to an end.
While I agree that anyone in ‘real life’ that proclaims to be a Jedi has a screw loose, I at the same time don’t see it as being much more in left field than saying that there is a Sky Daddy looking down on us and trying to make things come out the best for us, but he is constantly being subverted by a fiendish fire dwelling creature that exists as nothing more than Sky Daddy’s foil, but then Sky Daddy’s son killed himself to save us all…the end.
Orson: “As a religion, the Force is just the sort of thing you’d expect a liberal-minded teenage kid to invent.”
Come now Orson, you should really try to hide your politics more subtlety and again we are dealing with a series of movies that were aimed at kids. We both can very easily agree that Lucas was not trying to create an airtight religion that would stand up to intense doctrinal scrutiny, but rather trying to make a movie that he thought people would be entertained by.
Orson: “It’s a terrible thing, I suppose, for a writer to invent a religion and then discover that he and all his friends are on the wrong side of it.”
You in all your creative power could not write something that would be different than your own perspective? Come on.
Orson: “Not as if the Jedi masters discussed ideas — it was still a business meeting, in which they told each other obvious things and then made decisions by a sort of instant consensus that is never achieved in the real world except in really scary dictatorships.”
Umm. It is NOT the real world Orson and the first side to lauch the 'hitler' charge is almost always wrong.
Orson: “Clearly they were modeled after an adolescent view of the Knights of the Round Table.”
You must really despise Lucas. You have knocked his ideas as childish twice already. He must be crying all the way to the bank.
Orson: “And even though they train like crazy to learn to master their power, none of their discussions as a council are devoted to considering what is right and wrong. They simply know the rules and, except for those being tempted by the Dark Side, they never question them.”
Do you often come to conclusions that are based outside of your Christian beliefs? Have you recently decided that your Christian rule book is wrong in par,t or whole? How you look past your beliefs in which you are bound into the same type of closed ended system and lash out at another system of belief that was MADE UP FOR A MOVIE is simply dumb founding.
Orson: “So instead of looking at the storyline of Episode III as a conflict between good and evil, you could read it as a conflict between the entrenched aristocracy trying to preserve their monopoly on power, and an ambitious upstart, who is determined to break that monopoly and take control for himself.”
You could as well overlay that with what the Christian church has done for thousands of years. Crush any thought that contradicted or subverted the authority of the Church. Again here the irony of someone so deeply entrenched in a religion that does this very thing is cosmic.
Orson: “Even the afterlife is reserved for the few, the proud, the Jedi. As we learned at the end of Return of the Jedi, even the most dark-side-serving of ex-Jedi mass murderers can, with a single “good” act like refusing to murder his own son (which even the most evil men generally avoid), earn the right to eternal life as the equal of true saints like Yoda and Obi-Wan.”
First of all this is a Vast over simplification or what actually occurred. Do you not believe in redemption?
I love your books Orson, but this article falls flat, and is an obvious piece of opportunistic mudslinging.
P.S.
As even further evidence that Orson is grinding some kind of personal, religious, agenda axe here I give you his diatribe on Attack of the Clones.
These are the only two movies that he has written about on a religious web site
"In one case, a patient began to have paranoid thoughts and used an internet search engine to investigate suspicions about an ingredient on a chewing gum packet.
Her searches led her to believe she had discovered a secret terrorist network, and was therefore being personally targeted by the authorities using phone taps and hidden cameras...
The authors also consider that a person's understanding of technology may be a limiting factor in their ability to incorporate it into a delusional system. People with a poor understanding for example, may be more likely to attribute seemingly supernatural abilities to technology." --
Found these at Flickr this morning. Lots more pics of E3booth babes taken by william bennett, click the pic to check them out. Gaming is all about garnering the interest of males, which explains all the ladies with painted on clothes, or lack thereof.
"As unthinkable as US Republicans losing Idaho or Democrats losing Massachusetts, as unlikely as UK's New Labour losing Scotland, that's how surprising it was when Germany's Social Democratic Party ('SPD') lost elections in North Rhine-Westphalia after 39 years of ruling Germany's most populous and industrialized state." (more at link)
Ah, political machinations the world over grind and wheeze.
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(click pic for larger, gratuitous assimilation, Earthlings...)
"The Voyager 1 probe is getting very close to the edge of the Solar System.
Launched in 1977, the craft is now some 14 billion km (8.7 billion miles) from the Sun and on the cusp of deep space.
American space agency (Nasa) scientists told a conference in New Orleans on Tuesday that Voyager was moving through a region known as the heliosheath." (more at link)
" Minus the deep pockets of archrival Microsoft, the Mozilla Foundation relies on an army of volunteer marketers to spread the word -- users so loyal they devise their own DIY promotion ideas, from paintingsidewalks with the browser's logo toe-mailing sales pitches to the White House.
The latest tactic for the 100,000 members of the Spread Firefox movement is to make commercials. Funnyfox, three humorous video clips showing web surfers using the browser for the first time, is the slickest contribution to date. Designed to be e-mailed to friends, the videos -- one of which shows a user's head falling off -- have proved so popular that extra servers had to be set up to cope with the load." --
Gentles readers, I am in tears as I type this to you…from laughing my ass off. Ed Wood is rolling over in the grave because he is being dethroned as the worst movie maker of all time!
Check out www.veryscaryproductions.com for some of the worst “movies” ever produced post his greatness Mr. Wood.
This one: ‘Edge of reality’ made my tummy hurtz. After watching the trailer I still have no idea what is about. Some sheriff guy gets killed like 10 different ways, some office worker has a ‘falling down’ day, Chewbacca shows up in the woods, then levity ensues!
"Neurobiologists have discovered a specialized night-vision brain area in night-migratory songbirds. They believe the area might enable the birds to navigate by the stars, and to visually detect the earth's magnetic field through photoreceptor molecules, whose light-sensitivity is modulated by the field." (more at link) The 'Buffalo Bill' character in 'Silence of the Lambs' had night vision goggles, but he just liked to tuck his man junk back between his legs and dance around when he wasn't busy offering lotion to fat women or making a human body-suit.
Not very bird-like, if you ask me.
Jame "Buffalo Bill" Gumb: It rubs the lotion on its skin. It does this whenever it is told.' Catherine Martin: Mister... my family will pay cash. Whatever ransom you're askin' for, they pay it. Jame "Buffalo Bill" Gumb: It rubs the lotion on its skin or else it gets the hose again. [to his dog, Precious] Jame "Buffalo Bill" Gumb: Yes, it will, Precious, won't it? It will get the hose! Catherine Martin: Okay... okay... okay. Mister, if you let me go, I won't - I won't press charges I promise. See, my mom is a real important woman... I guess you already know that. Jame "Buffalo Bill" Gumb: Now it places the lotion in the basket. Catherine Martin: Please! Please I wanna go home! I wanna go home please! Jame "Buffalo Bill" Gumb: It places the lotion in the basket. Catherine Martin: I wanna see my mommy! Please I wanna see my... Jame "Buffalo Bill" Gumb: Put the fucking lotion in the basket!
Shares in Pixar animation shot up nearly 5 percent on Monday after Prudential Securities analyst Katherine Styponias upgraded her forecast for the company, saying in a note to clients that she is assuming Pixar will increase its production schedule to two films every other year starting in 2009. She also raised her price target on the company's shares to $75. Pixar shares closed Monday at $52.95. Styponias said that Pixar's growth did not depend on renewing a deal with Disney; however, she noted that if Pixar Chairman Steve Jobs and Disney CEO Robert Iger do in fact renew their relationship, Pixar would probable produce more sequels as its second films than it would if it signed a distribution pact with another distributor. Although Pixar has said nothing about upping production, Styponias observed that the company recently bought new land at its facilities and has eight movie directors on staff. She said that the company will have to keep that talent "engaged and productive" or see them plucked off by other animation studios.
"The objects that people choose to collect and the reasons why can usually be explained only through intense psychoanalysis. Yet there are companies in the business of guessing what 'collectibles' people will want to own, creating items that exist only to be kept in boxes or placed inside glass display cases. The most common collectible is the porcelain figurine, depicting impossibly cute humans or animals in suspended animation. Ironically, not many of these objects will increase in value, nor are they particularly beautiful or well crafted. But millions are spent on their manufacture and purchase in a never-ending cycle of consumption. Of the hundreds of figurines currently on the market, here are the most bizarrely tasteless."
Yeah, pretty crappy stuff, all right. Not unlike the junk you find at your average strip mall antique stores.
Little Stone Cold
Ad Description: "His hand-tailored, black faux-leather vest is a copy of 'Stone Cold's' vest, and atop his head is a baseball cap decorated with a skull and the words 'Stone Cold.' For the final touch, he proudly holds a replica of [Steve] Austin's personally designed Championship belt. Sculpted from head to toe of fine porcelain, Little Stone Cold captures his hero's blue-eyed stare to perfection."
I cringe in horror away from the wrestler baby... touch me not, oh porcelain crap monster... --
"Springfield police Lieutenant Dave Dodson says a man wearing a Darth Vader mask walked into the Showplace Eight theater around nine-15 p-m last night. He says the man shoved an employee out of the way and grabbed an undetermined amount of cash before running out of the theater and into a nearby wooded area." The perfect crime, all the employees lulled into complacency by the fans costumes flouncing about the lobby.
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"Comedy Central may not have Dave Chappelle. But it has Ken Jennings.
The Viacom-owned cable channel announced yesterday that it is developing a game show for the winningest and most famous geek ever to play 'Jeopardy!,' which is distributed by Viacom-owned King World.
'Jeopardy!' champion Ken Jennings will star in a new Comedy Central game show, the cable channel announced yesterday. (King World Productions)
In an incredible coincidence, yesterday was also the first day Jennings was to defend his 'Jeopardy!' title, facing two former champions in the $2 million, three-part 'Ultimate Tournament of Champions.' Also, coincidentally, this is the May sweeps, when ratings and big announcements count for something." (more at link)
Duh. Whore that guy out, Viacom! Heck, put him in a steel cage match with Jerod from the Subway commercials!
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"So, after everybody on the show got fat and happy and probably coped some attitude, they went their separate ways again. Knoxville went to the movies...Steve-O and his group went back to eating glass and keeping up his standards of insanity, but Bam Magera and his camera mugging fart knockers kept floggin that dead horse.
HOLY SHIT...what a piece of fecal matter that show Viva La Bam is!! Hey guys, let's annoy my parents and the stupid fat uncle for our TV show. It'll be great. We'll spill stuff on them, and generally upset their lives." (more at link)
Tear 'em a new a-hole, Joe! I love a good rant.
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These days it seems like everyone on the planet is playing poker, including myself, so I decided to start blogging some of the poker stuff that I am up to, or reading, or stumble across.
SuitedUp is a blog that Kurt Lester is running where he details his poker experiences and his success and losses.
He has already has some success winning an online tourney through Poker Mountain an attended a WSOP event at the Bellagio in Vegas.
I have as well added a ‘poker stuff section’ on the left Nav bar of snarkyspot.
Sensenbrenner, the U.S. House Judiciary Committee Chairman, has introduced legislation that would essentially draft every American into the war on drugs. H.R. 1528, cynically named 'Safe Access to Drug Treatment and Child Protection Act,' would compel people to spy on their family members and neighbors, and even go undercover and wear a wire if needed. If a person resisted, he or she would face mandatory incarceration.
Here's how the 'spy' section of the legislation works: If you 'witness' certain drug offenses taking place or 'learn' about them, you must report the offenses to law enforcement within 24 hours and provide 'full assistance in the investigation, apprehension and prosecution' of the people involved. Failure to do so would be a crime punishable by a mandatory minimum two-year prison sentence, and a maximum sentence of 10 years." "Hello, comrade. Please sit down and join us..."
Don't know if this is true or not, but pretty scary if it is.
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"In other words, despite whatever political message Lucas might or might not have intended, the Jedi are the smug orthodoxy, always congratulating themselves on their rectitude. No wonder the whole senate seems thrilled when the new Emperor announces the fall of the Jedi. They don’t know yet how evil the Emperor will be, but they know they don’t mind having the meddlesome Jedi out of the way." Interesting take on Episode III, worth the read.
Here are some more Star Wars related posts on Beliefnet.com:
Quiz: Star Wars & Religion
Wise in the ways of the Force are you? Take our quiz. The Force Is With... Everyone Readers of many faiths find religious meaning in Star Wars. Yoda the Yogi Why Hindu scriptures may be "the ultimate guidebooks for aspiring Jedis." Why I Want to Be a Jedi A Muslim finds inspiration in their code of honor. The Tao of Star Wars The Force is similar to the Taoist concept of wu wei. --
"All Things Considered, May 23, 2005 · All this week we'll hear from men and women of the U.S. armed forces fighting in Iraq, as part of NPR's Span of War series. This installment comes from 27-year-old Cpl. Cort Reed, who recounts the story of seeing one of his close friends being killed." Go to the title link and listen to the audio. I hope that everyone who has one of those 'Support Our Troops' ribbons listens to this and looks for more personal ways to help our soldiers besides putting a magnet on the back of their vehicle.
A lot of the soldiers overseas would love to just hear from people:
I would like to ask for your assistance - it should take no more than 15 minutes of your time.
For the past year and a half many of our countrymen and women have been in harms way fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan to ensure our safety at home. These brave men and women and their families deserve our respect and our gratitude for their sacrifices. To show this gratitude I have started a website whereby anyone can post a letter of gratitude to all the soldiers. The website is called
All letters will be posted to the site. We have a goal of 25,000 letters by Christmas Day, 2004 and need your help to reach this goal. We are also working to have these letters delivered directly to the soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan and working to get support from news organizations to get the word out. I respectfully request your assistance in three ways
1. Take 15 minutes to write a letter - Starting the letter "Dear Soldier," and ending it with your name , State, and date. 2. Pass the website www.letters4soldiers.com to other family or friends and ask them to do the same. Or, they can send a letter directly to thankyou@letters4soldiers.com.
Thank you in advance for your time and for supporting those who are putting their lives on the line abroad so we are safe at home. --
"SAN JOSE, Calif. — As Yahoo! struggled to lift itself out of the dot-com slump a few years ago, it faced a big decision.
Google was dazzling the world of Internet search engines with its building of a massive index of Web documents.
And a Pasadena, Calif., company called Overture Services was beginning to convince the world that search-engine advertising could be wildly lucrative." (full article at link)
Let the battle be joined between the 2 mega-search robots! Tetsuo!
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"50 Short Stories of the Week. The collected adventures of the Roper are now available as a virtual book, free of charge. Which means you don't have to pay for it. Free, as in "Free Beer". And it's the illustrated edition - have you ever wondered what Hercule Parrott might look like? Download it here or just click on the cover below [PDF, 5.1MB]. And many thanks to twoblogfor some last-minute design advice. :-)" This is cool, good work! --
"A cautionary tale about cloning Bill Cosby." Damn. That is some funny stuff, Theo. The main link goes to 4 of the episodes, but ya gotta start it off right with the first episode:
I bet Bill Cosby wouldn't approve of these cartoon renditions of his naked Jello Pudding bits hanging out on one of his clones, or the fart noises. Who cares, it's still funny as hell.
"After several weeks of lawyer negotations with G4, they have agreed to release me from my contract. Friday May 27th 2005 marks my last day on the G4 network.
I’m leaving G4 so that I can focus on what I love most, in-depth tech content. Starting with today’s premiere release of our new tech HOW-TO show ’Systm’ we will begin to build a network of technology television programming from the ground up. While Systm and thebroken will be our two flagship shows, in time, we hope to add more shows to the schedule with former TechTV cast members you all know and love. All episodes will be released free of charge, in a variety of formats (Theora, Xvid, WMV, H.264, PSP), wrapped in RSS (for vidcasting), and liscensed under the Creative Commons. " Finally. I was watching (with disappointment) G4 this weekend, now available to to us scroungy basic cable subscribers in Dallas area. Let me tell you, G4 as it is now sucks balls. (except for the scantily-clad females, that was ok.) I will be glad to see something more like the original TechTV on the air. For more news, sign up for the 'Systm' newsletter.
"Burning CDs is so April 2005. Why play around with CDs when you can burn vinyl! Let the Vestax VRX-2000 be your vinyl solution, turning content from any audio source—tapes to MP3s to sound cards—into hot wax for DJs and sentimentalists alike. Vestax claims “the sound quality and durability [is] similar to that of commercially pressed vinyl.” There you go."
Edison would be proud!
(link from work, courtesy the magical stylin' of Sean E.!)
UPDATE: From a comment here on this post (thanks, methodik!)
