BunkBlog

At the Boy’s martial arts class today, I somehow didn’t avoid conversation with another parent. *sigh*

He started out with the usual stuff about Che Guevara being a commie – yeah, duh. Then it went downhill, with aspersions cast at those evil liberals. Apparently, the USA Patriot Act is not as bad as any rational person thinks, but it would be much worse if the liberals were in charge, as they’d certainly not have any sunset provisions. You remember the sunset provisions the conservatives have been so assiduously trying to extend into perpetuity.

The finale to this surreal trip down lala lane ended with a quick aside about how global warming is a crock. I have no response to this. Are other scientific findings equally suspect? Is germ theory also silly, since it makes no sense atavistically? I didn’t want to bring up evolution, but I think we can all guess where chucklehead would end up on that issue, eh?  He even claimed that Mount St. Helens has produced more greenhouse gases in one explosion than all of human historical input.  That’s incredibly wrong.  That’s orders of magnitude wrong. All the volcanoes in the world produce 130 million tons of CO2 per year.  Meanwhile, human activity per year produces 27 billion tons of CO2 per year.  For those of you who think math is hard, billions are larger than millions, and humans produce 200 times the CO2 of volcanoes per year.  That’s not Mount St. Helens, that’s ALL volcanic activity in the world.

There are days I’d really like to get out of this town. Fortunately, I can avoid these morons most of the time, and it is cheap here. Mostly. Anyone have a job in Monterey they need filled? Anyone? Anyone?

Every so often, Ted Nugent shows up on Faux News or in a print publication, and he gets to hold the unenviable position of the Cool Republican. After all, according to conventional wisdom, most of the entertainment industry is filled with crazy lefties, but Nugent is the edgy guy in the GOP.

He’s so edgy, he brought a couple of weapons on stage (they appear to be M16s, so they are probably AR-15s) , and waved them around. Ooh, edgy. And then, he screamed obscenities about a variety of Democratic politicians. Edgy. He told Senator Obama (who he respectfully calls a piece of shit) to suck on his machine gun. Um, edgy? Senator Clinton, lovingly called a worthless bitch, is told to ride a gun into the sunset. WTF?

In an interview with Sean Hannity, Nugent spoke of Democrats (in response to a former Hustler writer saying he had dibs on Rush Limbaugh for conservative hunting season), “I find it just reprehensible that they would recommend violence, not to mention murder and shooting people and assassinating people. This is bizarre.”

You’re right, Nuge. It is bizarre.
You can find the video if you search online. I’m not linking to that crap.

Do cell phones make schedules permanently flexible?  Is the very concept of a fixed meeting time completely outdated?

Some people believe everyone has a cell phone with them at all times.  This means that, if you’re running late, you can reschedule on the fly.  As a corollary, it seems that a distinct lack of respect for other people’s schedules is common.  After all, you can always reschedule everything on the fly, as well.

Since I don’t have a mobile phone, I don’t understand this attitude.  To me, a decision to meet at 10am at the corner of Hollywood and Vine means exactly that.  To others, it means to try to meet at 10am, but maybe 1pm, and maybe in Santa Barbara.  Hey, it’s all good, right?

What have cell phones done to our society, for good or ill?

I’m not going to bore anyone with the details of our week in Southern California, nor the four days of driving to and fro. But, I will share a few entertaining bits and random mind drippings from the travel here.

We passed a number of military vehicles (construction-type mainly) on the way through Arizona, and not far behind them were some buses. The juxtaposition was merely a coincidence, but the buses have covered windows and the Department of Homeland Security emblazoned on their sides. It made me think of obvious plots of conspiracy theory movies based on some version of the Argentinean Disappeared.

While crossing the Californian desert, I saw billboards advertising special sales on breast implants (only 3500 dollars!), followed closely by billboards advertising artificial turf for the lazy homeowner. Fake boobs and fake lawns.

Although I continue to not find El Paso appealing, they do have a Paulina Rubio concert coming up next week. Yum.

The Morongo tribe has a name just made for a casino. “Yes, Kemosabe, moron go to casino, Morongo Casino.”

Social Distortion has a new album out. Well, a new song on a greatest hits album.

I suppose I should have read the books or even have heard of them, but what the heck, I’ll play along.

Speaker Pelosi went to Syria Tuesday, and that made the Republicans scream that she was overstepping her authority and confusing the Syrian government. So, when Republican Representatives Wolf, Pitts, and Aderholt met with the Syrian president on Sunday, how was that different?

The Democratic-controlled Congress is talking quite loudly about finding ways to defund the war in Iraq, with the caveat that they will never allow the soldiers to be less defended than they are now. This, predictably, means they are Defeatocrats and are giving up, micromanaging the war, and otherwise overstepping their reasonable place in the government. In 1993, when the Republican-controlled Congress voted to defund the war in Somalia, with the caveat that the soldiers would be well-defended during their redeployment, how was that different?

Is it really so much to expect some sort of consistency from people in public office? Do they really think that nobody will notice? Do they forget about videotape? Astounding.

If you haven’t heard of the controversial art show featuring a giant chocolate Jesus figure, posed as if being crucified but minus the cross, too late. It’s been canceled. The hotel where it was being shown says they cannot guarantee the safety of the show, as they’ve received threats of violence and even death threats against the artist and the show backers. That’s how you convince people you’re reasonable and have the power of right and goodness on your side – threaten them with death. So, are we going to hear anyone say that Christianity isn’t really a religion of peace, as we’ve been hearing about Islam?

Of course, the entire art exhibit would have languished in total obscurity if not for the protests against it. Apparently the protestors’ parents never told them, “ignore him, he’s just trying to get attention.”

Playing with the geotag feature of Flickr, I came across this strange picture from my old stomping grounds at Fort Ord. This paint can apparently was left behind when the Army pulled out of the post in 1993. The photo was taken 13 years later, and the spill still has the illusion of freshness. Strange as heck.

ord_autoyard13

Originally uploaded by A.p.K..

Since I got 25 of 25 correct, that means that less than 2% of respondents did the same.  Ouch.

Two bombs went off at midnight in Bangkok, Thailand. This is part of a series of eight bombs during the night there.  Happy New Year.

Dustin Donica, a 22-year-old Specialist in the U.S. Army from Spring (a town near Houston), is the 3000th confirmed American fatality in Iraq.  Happy New Year.

The idea here is to post the first sentence (or part of it if it’s freakin’ long) of the first post of each month from 2006.  I went the extra step to link to the post, in case you want to understand why I would say some of these things.  So, here ya go:

January: I’ve added the new and improved WordPress 2.0 software to the site.

February: Someone (phbt!) recently pointed out that it has been more than two weeks since I posted…

March: Based on reviews from Kitiara and others, I think I’ll pass on Ultraviolet.

April: The BBC has a list of 10 stories that could be pranks but aren’t.

May: To announce that there must be no criticism of the president…

June: We have (as of this writing) eight total movies playing in the city of San Angelo.

July: …Kyle XY and the dearly-missed Fox show John Doe…

August: …I now have full wine racks…

September: Friday, we had planned to go to the Kiddie Park and Witte Museum.

October: My friend Dora hosted a party at her house last night, and I catered it.

November: …Flying Spaghetti Monster references…

December: I seem to have a few new readers.

The Rules: Go to the this site and check out the songs from the year in which you turned 18. Bold the songs you like. Strike the songs you don’t. Leave the ones you’re indifferent to alone.

1. What A Wonderful World – Louis Armstrong
2. It Takes Two – Rob Base & E-Z Rock
3. Da Butt – EU
4. Hot Hot Hot – Buster Poindexter
5. I’ll Always Love You – Taylor Dayne
6. Man In The Mirror – Michael Jackson
7. Sweet Child Of Mine – Guns N Roses
8. Red Red Wine – UB40
9. Just Got Paid – Johnny Kemp
10. Don’t Worry, Be Happy – Bobby McFerrin
11. Pour Some Sugar On Me – Def Leppard
12. Every Rose Has Its Thorn – Poison
13. Welcome To The Jungle – Guns N Roses
14. Paradise – Sade
15. The Flame – Cheap Trick
16. 1 2 3 – Gloria Estefan & Miami Sound Machine
17. Kokomo – Beach Boys
18. Need You Tonight – INXS
19. Pump Up The Volume – M/A/R/R/S
20. Roll With It – Steve Winwood
21. Baby I Love Your Way/Freebird (Medley) – Will To Power
22. Power Of Love – Laura Branigan
23. Push It – Salt N Pepa
24. One More Try – George Michael
25. Can’t Stay Away From You – Gloria Estefan & Miami Sound Machine
26. Wild, Wild West – Kool Moe Dee
27. One Moment In Time – Whitney Houston
28. Hot Hot Hot!!! – The Cure
29. The Promise – When In Rome
30. The Way You Make Me Feel – Micheal Jackson
31. Chains Of Love – Erasure
32. What’s On Your Mind (Pure Energy) – Information Society
33. Honestly – Stryper
34. Don’t Be Cruel – Bobby Brown
35. Bad Medicine – Bon Jovi
36. Strangelove – Depeche Mode
37. Nothin’ But A Good Time – Poison
38. Angel – Aerosmith
39. Candle In The Wind – Elton John
40. Forever Young – Alphaville
41. Pink Cadillac – Natalie Cole
42. Always On My Mind – Pet Shop Boys
43. Tall Cool One – Robert Plant
44. Forever Young – Rod Stewart
45. Beds Are Burning – Midnight Oil
46. Tomorrow People – Ziggy Marley & The Melody Makers
47. I Know You’re Out There Somewhere – Moody Blues
48. Just Like Heaven – The Cure
49. Wild Wild West – The Escape Club
50. In God’s Country – U2
51. So Emotional – Whitney Houston
52. Girls Ain’t Nothin’ But Trouble – DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince
53. Wishing Well – Terence Trent D”Arby
54. It’s Money That Matters – Randy Newman
55. Under The Milky Way – The Church
56. Like The Weather – 10,000 Maniacs
57. Tell It To My Heart – Taylor Dayne
58. Kiss Me Deadly – Lita Ford
59. Never Gonna Give You Up – Rick Astley
60. It’s The End Of The World As We Know It – R.E.M.
61. Parents Just Don’t Understand – DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince
62. Don’t Be Afraid Of The Dark – Robert Cray Band
63. Never Can Say Goodbye – Communards
64. What’s The Matter Here? – 10,000 Maniacs
65. Groovy Kind Of Love – Phil Collins
66. Fat – Weird Al Yankovic
67. Piano In The Dark – Brenda Russell
68. Monkey – George Michael
69. Rocket 2 U – Jets
70. Tell That Girl To Shut Up – Transvision Vamp
71. I Found Someone – Cher
72. Spotlight – Madonna
73. Englishman In New York – Sting
74. When Will I Be Famous? – Bros
75. Hazy Shade of Winter – the Bangles

If you haven’t seen the Counterfeit Mini Flash game, you need to go over there now. Great stress reliever.

I seem to have a few new readers. I’d like to direct you to this post for something fun.

You just have to love the Warning Label Generator. Caution!

Well I live with snakes and lizards
And other things that go bump in the night
Cos to me everyday is halloween
I have given up hiding and started to fight
I have started to fight

Well any time, any place, anywhere that I go
All the people seem to stop and stare
They say ‘why are you dressed like it’s halloween?
You look so absurd, you look so obscene!’

O, why can’t I live a life for me?
Why should I take the abuse that’s served?
Why can’t they see they’re just like me
It’s the same, it’s the same in the whole wide world

Well I let their teeny minds think
That they’re dealing with someone who is over the brink
And I dress this way just to keep them at bay
Cos halloween is everyday
It’s everyday

O, why can’t I live a life for me?
Why should I take the abuse that’s served?
Why can’t they see they’re just like me
It’s the same, it’s the same in the whole wide world

O, why can’t I live a life for me?
Why should i take the abuse that’s served?
Why can’t they see they’re just like me
I’m not the one that’s so absurd

Why hide it?
Why fight it?
Hurt feelings
Best to stop feeling hurt
From denials, reprisals
It’s the same it’s the same in the whole wide world

Supposedly if you’ve seen over 70 of the films on this list (either in the theater or on video) you have no life. Mark and count the movies you’ve seen. Put your score in the header and repost.
More »

At least two people on my LJ Friends List have posted recently about Mercury being in retrograde.  I’d like to say, on behalf of all rational people in the world, “whoopdedoo.”

Seriously?  We now know that the world is not flat and that the stars are actually giant balls of insanely hot gas rather than spirits who intervene in our daily lives. Ooga booga.

I know, I should let it rest for at least an hour or so before I start to dissect the browser, right?  Anyway, the new version of Firefox is out today. Two good things I’ve noticed already: the functionality of the essential SessionSaver extension is built into the browser now (one extension nuked); and there is a spellchecker for fields that just works. So far, it’s tagged “SessionSaver” and “spellchecker” as not real words.  Too bad, I’m keeping them.

The bad things I’ve noticed?  It takes at least a tenth of a second longer to load. And, I can’t seem to get rid of the useless little green button next to the address bar. Even IE 6 allowed me to nuke the “Go button.”  What’s up with those buttons? You’re willing to type the URL into the address box but you’re not quite capable of hitting the RETURN key when you’re done?  Is it really easier to move your hands off the keyboard, move to the mouse, twitch it to the right, and click the green button?  Naturally, I see this sort of wacky-ass behavior from coworkers and my boss every day, but they’re OLD!