BunkBlog

How many people put themselves as their own friend, so they can have one page that includes their own posts as well as their online contacts’ postings? And, why? Do you forget what you’d written?

The in-laws keep asking what we want for Christmas. So, why not point them at the Amazon wishlist or my CDnow wishlist? Oh, because they don’t think those things are what I “really” want. So, I put them on there why then?

What kind of bizarre inside jokes do you share with your oldest friends? Here’s a wacky example (remembered because of a particular password that was generated by some site) for me and . The word “friend” is used by some folks to indicate more than mere friendship, if you know what I mean. So, we decided that there should be a different word for that type of quasi-relationship: frend. The plural of frend is frendz, to further differentiate it from merely friends.

So, what kind of inside jokes have persisted for a long time with your friends (or frendz even)? This one has been around since 1985 or so.

Nothing to say, just want to try out the new icon. God, I’m bored today.
current_mood: bored

Why do so many people have to lord over others their love of obscure art? It’s as if nothing can be good if it’s also popular. Oh, gee, I’m sorry I don’t have time (or the geographic benefit) to seek out that cool new Serbo-Afrikaans TechnoThrash Dubmix that is soooo much better than anything that you might actually be able to find in a damned record store.

No, this is not directed at anyone, just a random rant while waiting for Mr. Sandman to bop me on the head….

Considering that I once considered a 1200 baud modem to be a screaming upgrade to my online experience, it’s amazing that I yearn to get off this butt-slow 33k connection, no? Even worse is that it is supposed to be a 56 k connection, but I’m getting a normal throughput of 3.94kiloBytes/sec (31.5 kbps). Stupid BFE damned town with no broadband options. Grr. mumble mumble bitch complain.
current_music: No Doubt – Platinum Blonde

Don’t suppose anyone has “New Age Girl” by DeadEye Dick available for me to purloin? Not only can’t I find it on Bearshare (dialup may skew my results) but they don’t seem to sell it on CDNow even.

Anyone?

For my Antisocial Store:

For the Origami store, just here for the special offer. Cute little moose, and all you pay is shipping and handling, assuming you buy something else. You know you want to!

Well, it’s Aaron’s birthday today (or for 3 more hours in Korea anyway). I guess he’s almost old now…

Meanwhile my ranking on the T Shirt Countdown has dropped from a high of 20 to today’s #24. Eh.

Played hooky from work yesterday (but called to let them know anyway), and for the first time in 4 months someone actually wanted to see me. And, not just one person, but two. What are the odds?

<rant>
OK, more griping about inconsistencies between browsers. MSIE, the most popular of all browsers, if only because it is preloaded on every Windows and Mac machine, renders fonts literally. Meaning, if someone specifies the font size on his page as being 8 points (you know who you are, you evil shits with low-res monitors), it will render at 8 points regardless of what you set the little “Text Size” menu option at. This seems reasonable, if a bit inflexible. The other two big browsers, Opera and Netscape, both consider the “Text Size” option to be a zoom button. Netscape makes the text larger, regardless of the settings in the HTML, and Opera makes the text and graphics larger.

Personally, I prefer the “non-Microsoft” approach, if for no other reason than I find 8 point text way too fucking tiny and people keep using hard-coded fontsizes even though they’re absurdly inflexible and actually countermanded by HTML 4.0 standards.

</rant>

I wonder if will ever put an actual entry in his journal. I’m sure something of interest must happen occasionally. 🙂

I’m rocketing up the charts now, boyee! Yessirree, I’ve jumped from #46 to #35 on the T Shirt Countdown list. Big deal, I’ve still not sold enough shirts and mugs to get a commission check, but then I wasn’t expecting to make money at this anyway. Anyone wants to look at my stores, feel free.

That’s all I’ve got to say; I’m boring today.

Update: Now I’m #20, so I’m on the front page of the site. Woohoo! God, I’m sad.

Want to read some of the most convoluted reasoning to support a conspiracy theory? Check out this article, which claims that Bin Laden used paintings to communicate with his people in the US and around the world. Yeah, right.
current_music: Five For Fighting – Alright

Her name is Marcellee Gralapp and on Oct. 28, this obscure library director in Boulder, Colo., became a household name nationwide after she denied library workers their request to install an American flag inside the entrance to the city's main library. Her reasons struck thousands of people in Boulder and around the nation as absurd and drew the ire of many Americans.

As reported in the local newspaper, The Daily Camera, in denying the request, Ms. Gralapp told her subordinates that "The library should be welcoming to people of all beliefs and hanging the flag might have compromised the library's objectivity." The librarian, a Boulder city employee for more than four decades and a native born American, actually believed, like so many other misguided citizens of this country, that the American flag could be injurious to the feelings of the many non-Americans who used Boulder's library every day.

That came from the “DefenseWatch” newsletter, but I’m sure you’ve all seen other examples of folks claiming that an American flag is somehow controversial to hang in public in the United States. Have these people ever been outside the USA? Whenever I encountered a South Korean flag in Korea, they would have been amazed that I didn’t cringe and feel utter revulsion. And those Mexican flags in Ensenada, those are sure offensive as well. What in the world is wrong with people? There is no right in the Constitution for you to be free from insult. Further, if you are offended by the flag of this country, go elsewhere and look at their flag instead.

White signifies purity and innocence; red, hardiness and valor; blue, vigilance, perseverance and justice. 

The stars represent the member States that voluntarily joined together for common defense as the several United States of America. The stripes represent the original 13 colonies.

Yep, pretty offensive.

Somehow, some bozo decided that jeans were haute couture in the 80s. We ended up with Jordache and Calvin Klein jeans (“Nothing comes between me and my Calvins,” a young Brooke Shields declared in commercials of the time), and the various “washes” that persist a bit now. We had stonewashed, so as to avoid that annoying “new jean” break-in period. We had acid-washed, for those who needed pants that looked like they’d been damaged. Then, we had Overdyed jeans, which look like something in a cartoon with their excessive amount of colored dye applied to jeans which had started out an honest blue. Bleached jeans, usually in funky patterns that didn’t quite reach to the top or bottom, looking like you’d jumped into an over-chlorinated pool wearing your clothes.

That’s just the coloring nonsense. There were also design issues. Boot-cut, tapered, straight-leg, etc. And, the more extreme “wrap pant” look, which I refer to as batwings. No belt loops, just extra-loose jeans with velcroed flaps that fasten in the front.

I’m sure there are a few others I’ve forgotten. What other bizarre stuff do you remember from the “designer jeans” era?
current_music: Lenny Kravitz – Stillness Of Heart
current_mood: bored

I don’t if I’ve mentioned this before, but everyone should click this link right away. Don’t worry, nothing bad will happen to you, honest.

Oh, don’t like that link? How about this one? Better?

Thank you thank you. I’ll be here all week.
current_music: Barenaked Ladies – Blame It On Me

The United States expects to spend more than $1 billion a month on the early phases of the war in Afghanistan, and the cost is likely to rise rapidly above that level as the Pentagon builds its forces in the region, Congressional and administration officials say.
James Dao – New York Times, November 12, 2001
current_music: Barenaked Ladies – The Flag

OK, so I’ve been harassing my English classmates on LJ for the past week, but they’re actually looking good this week. We’re finally turning in assignments that are expected to be structured and formatted according to the MLA style, and so far (three of us have completed the assignment that is due today) it’s looking reasonable.

Now, my Economics class is another story. One of the students has posted his reply to the latest assignment (also due today), and at the end says, “I want to point out that I took this answer from the following URL” as if that makes it ok to plagiarise the entirety of his assignment. Is there some new rule in college that makes it ok to just take an entire doctoral thesis and post it as your own? I was reading through this entry and thought, “Wow, someone actually put some time and effort into this lame class. How amazing.” And then, I came upon that final statement.

I’m a fiddler crab, it’s fiddler crab season!
current_music: Five For Fighting – Love Song

So, here’s a comment on the English discussion list today:

Dr. deleted expected an answer to each question and I had to re-introduce myself.

Oh, the sheer gall of the professor to expect you to actually answer each question posed. Let’s see what the instructions said about that first (laughably simple) assignment:

Tell us these things about yourself (don't omit any of this info; this exercise tests your ability and willingness to follow directions):

Yeah, that was pretty tough to figure out. I can see why you’re unhappy that your first draft (which you submitted as a completed assignment) was rejected.
current_mood: amused

Hey, for the next few weeks, Cafepress is giving free shipping on orders of $50 or more. So, if you want some cool Andy Social stuff (or Origami Swag), now is a good time.