couldn't resist posting this "AWESOME" tattoo. 
thanks to the Smoking Gun for my weekly mugshot fix.
Friday, October 31, 2008
happy halloween
Dubai?
what really concerns me about this building boom of all of these non-connected mini cities is that as they are developed and continue to be insular developments one day there will be this huge city war in Dubai, a la Judge Dredd. we'll have fighting breaking out when one green city launches an offensive at another over sewage rights and water usage rights. some day the larger city of Dubai, and it's smaller green cities will all be reduced to rubble. i thought of this because there was an article up at AMNP about how Dubai is the center of development for the future, and there are a ton of awesome ideas.
"Seriously - expect sci-fi movies to be filming there, and for the rest of the world to be playing catch-up for
decades."
can you imagine each city being ruled by it's architect overlords as they fight for dominance as the prominent and most certifiably green city? if someone's public transportation pod plan is better than your green walkways and interlinking tree canopy skyways why not just use an RPG and reduce their pod-rail system to dust? please make THIS the sci-fi concept for the movies we will be filiming there, or better yet, documentaries of the violence.
Oops!
i have never read the bible, but i used to watch a ton of religious cartoons at odd hours of the night because they made me laugh a lot. i didn't learn much from this time, but i do remember that a) Charleton Heston hosted these toons and b) Jesus/God isn't really into fixing problems like this. for that matter, Charlton Heston isn't really into fixing these sorts of problems, especially when he was MOSES and worked with the Lord to smote some heathens!
thanks to blogger PZ Myers we have some added bible quotes! this proves that we godless liberals know more about the bible now than most evangelicals! there are more pics and some horrifying video at Wonkette.
8They have turned aside quickly out of the way which I commanded them: they have made them a molten calf, and have worshipped it, and have sacrificed thereunto, and said, These be thy gods, O Israel, which have brought thee up out of the land of Egypt. 9And the LORD said unto Moses, I have seen this people, and, behold, it is a stiffnecked people: 10Now therefore let me alone, that my wrath may wax hot against them, and that I may consume them: and I will make of thee a great nation.
Thursday, October 30, 2008
Joe the Plumber:
two incredibly stupid quotes from a FOX News article about ol Joe W. 
image courtesy of Steve Brodner
1. "Provocateur? Check. "Joe" stirred the pot two days ago when he twice agreed with an audience member that Obama would mean "death to Israel" if elected president."
2."I got a challenge to Obama. He's a man of mystery," he told FOX News Thursday. "He seems to get a slide on absolutely everything. American people want to vote for somebody who can't even come out and speak straight. That's pretty crazy to me."
wow. it's a shame McCain didn't meet this guy earlier, seems redundant to keep two versions of Palin on your bus all the time.
What worries me about the image to the left is that... at 1200 calories and 60g of fat... will it be enough for lardy gamers who rarely leave their worn out couches to feel energized enough to get through an hour of intense "guitar" playing without needing a brief nap?
god, i eat KFC sometimes, just seeing this makes me want to barf. i am glad that corporate greed can now manifest itself in a proportional meal size.
go read the Kotaku review of this horrific meal.
uhhhhhh
ok this video is really weird. it's some dude swinging his baby around a room by it's appendages. it APPEARS that the baby is enjoying this.
i am having a hard time believing this is real, but who knows. the music sounds like some sort of russian/eastern european version of kung fu fighting so this guy very well could be pre-training his spawn to become the next russian/eastern bloc phenom.
Candy Corn!
here is how it's made! there is something completely mesmorizing about watching things being produced in a factory.
flare ups!
so Keith Knight, a cartoonist, has caused a small uproar by the publishing of one of his comic strips. the strip is about the experiences of an Obama volunteer going door to door. well it also happens to be about the usage of a very controversial word.
Now to me, this is a huge uproar over nothing. apparently this is based on a true story, and if that is the case this is a story that needs to be told. we need to stop banning stories that we just don't like.
people in America like to think that stuff like this doesn't happen, and that racism doesn't exist anymore, but anyone who's spent time living in a lot of different parts of the country realizes that is totally false.
this is a historic election, and stories like this need to be told because they show WHY this election is so important. i can't believe people are calling for apologies over this.
above is video of the latest Bond game, Quantum of Solace. i haven't thought about buying a Bond game since Goldeneye, but after watching this video it sure looks a heck of a lot like Goldeneye, which would be pretty perfect on the Wii. also multi-player. now if only you can play with a cougar 7 or the Moonraker lasers...
TWO parts of my brain are intrigued!
long story short: some creative agency needed a solution to a CA winemakers problem. much like champagne the "port" moniker has been tied up with only certain things produced in certain regions. poor ol CA has been left out in the cold by that harpy the Old World. so you've got this CA produced fortified wine, which for all intents and purposes is a Port, but they can't call it that. enter 6 West Design who decide to call it USB! freaking awesome. it also helps that the bottle packaging is incredibly cool looking. if i wasn't already looking for somewhere local to buy this and i came across it in a store i'd want to purchase it.
now to figure out if it tastes and good as the packaging looks.
Wednesday, October 29, 2008
Media BIAS
ok so people are prattling on about the "liberal media-bias" and how unfair it is for poor ol' McCain and his evil harpy VP.
whatever i mean it's obvious there will be some imbalance when creative types tend to run most entertainment and media outlets and creative types tend to lean left. it's old news and it's boring. now with that out of the way...
i just finished reading this stupid Yahoo News article about how Barry's TV Infomercial plan might backfire. ok, you are right, i was totally suckered in by a sensationalist headline.
so i read it and the crux of it is that it can potentially be viewed as overkill by the watching audience, and that Obama has a tendency to "go big" which is apparently bad. i can't process this as an issue though because as a liberal, un-american terrorist i don't understand why him being able to attract a crowd of 80K to his nomination rally was a bad thing.
"In July, Obama’s visits to Afghanistan and Iraq generated comforting images of the senator with military leaders and Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki. But his trip ended in Berlin with an image of 200,000 fans, mostly Europeans, chanting Obama’s name.
In August, his campaign navigated the minefield of the Democratic Party’s feuding families to pull off a convention that began healing the wounds between the Clinton and Obama camps. Then it came to its conclusion between two Greek columns where a triumphant Obama delivered an acceptance speech to a football stadium crowd of more than 80,000."
why shouldn't the leader of the USA have some sort of charisma and likeability that draws people to him? oh he's a good speaker? he uses sentences and manages to talk without using an entire lexicon of slang? he's a good motivator and gives people optimism? so this is all bad?
also on that note why on earth would we NOT want someone who is popular abroad? seems like our current leadership has done us no favors with our "friends" on the other side of the pond. i'd like to travel Europe and not have to worry about being hassled because of our countries leadership.
"A better parallel to Obama’s strategy could be independent candidate H. Ross Perot, who aired 15 infomercials in the 1992 presidential campaign."
OK now THIS is a reason against Obama doing TV ads... PEROT did it. certainly didn't work in his favor did it? now that is an article i wouldn't want to punch myself after reading. OBAMA SHOULDN'T DO TV INFOMERCIAL BECAUSE ROSS PEROT DID. i'd read and probably agree with that logic.
taking offense at Obama's tendency to go big is just about as stupid, and certainly as ignorant, as people who think he's a socialist muslim terrorist. the dude is not an elitist, and people who can form cohesive thoughts ON THE SPOT in proper English aren't un-American.
it's frustrating because this all plays into the stupid America thing. why should we be proud of being stupid? why should we champion Palin because she uses "the people's language"? her populist BS is so dumb, and she's winning over the intellectually devoid.
Art Style!
Ok so friend and fellow blogger DKC had an entry a little while ago about some of the new WiiWare games from Art Style that are to be released. they are fancy puzzle games that seem to take the general idea of a puzzle game (e.g. Peggle) and mix it up with a little absinthe and future art drugs. they look fantastic with their updated graphics, and i totally want to get them, if only to be totally bewildered by how confusing and hard they are.
check out his review though, it's much better writing and a lot more entertaining.
Style Over Substance: Why I'm In Love With WiiWare's "Art Style"
magic!
yeah this is sort of mystical in the way it works. i can't imagine this is even remotely as easy as this guy is making it look.
it does make me want to go get his bande dessinee, Alan's War, even more now.
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
beeeeef
this is basically the best "how-to" ever for a restaurant. the English captions for it are AMAZING. go check this guys blog entry about it... i was actually "LOL'ing" at work. 
the fruits of labor
so the pen and ink sketch i did for my boss's new baby came out pretty well, and on the way to the shower/dinner function with all the work folks i hit Ikea for a quick framing job, and then managed to wrap the framed sketch in craft paper and tied it up with some twine, both from the shipping section at the exit of the store. check out the wrap/hack job and then below the cut is the final product! 
not bad!
must... go... to.... Times Square...
so the future is here now. not the future Uniqlo promised that was robot shopping assistants, those are totally dumb and don't work.
no no... they are promoting their new heat-tech clothing line by giving it away with MIMES. FUTURE MIMES.
"Basically we’re going to have two mimes. A male and a female mime inside the machine. And the public can see them through glass. When you get there, we’re going to have Uniqlo reps dressed in the silver bodysuits. And they’re going to hold a thermograph scanner — think of an airport security machine. The thermographer identifies cold spots in your body. After you go through that, you go to the vending machine and push a button and the mimes are going to do a synchronized choreographed routine and then your outfit comes out."
this is happening in Times Square, and i have to get a plane ticket to be there for it.
waitaminute!
so MTV now has MTV Music which is some sort of web 2.0 interface where MTV will actually SHOW MUSIC VIDEOS.
so according to the site they have uploaded 22,000 some videos. you can just go watch videos til your heart bursts, it'll be just like when you were a child. back when it was a functional channel.
i am pretty surprised that this actually happened ever, but whatever. here are the top 5 videos i just watched:
1. Radiohead- Creep
2. Portishead- Machine Gun
3. Toto- Africa
4. Huey Lewis- If This is It
5. The National- Apartment Story
a crippling 1099 DDT
a 1099 tax form is filed by an independent contractor for wages paid by a company that has contracted their services. this form number has also been used as an informal nomiker for independent contractors.
well the 1099's of the WWE or World Wrestling Entertainment have taken offense! they feel that their jobs are NOT independent, and they are on such strict regulations they deserve all the trimmings afforded other corporate full time permanent drones. rather than doing something exciting like diving off a top rope to smash the executives at WWE, they have instead hired some evil lawyer types to don masks and tango with the WWE in in the legal ring.
the WWE "Professionals" have taken issue with the following guidelines they feel reduce their "independence":
"WWE determines wrestlers' physical training routine, and skill levels of training.
WWE determines location where the wrestlers are to perform (including setting of time).
WWE determines who the wrestlers will compete with and against, the duration of each match and - I hope this does not come as a shocking disappointment to you fans out there - the outcome of each match.
WWE determines the costumes and hairstyles that the wrestlers are to wear, including their props and stage personas and signature moves."
legal translation from WorkforceLogic Blog
seems to me like the ol WWE is going to have a hard time asserting anything is "independent" about their performers when they don't really control any of their daily performing decisions. that said, i certainly don't have a law degree and this seems to have some pretty heavy ramifications for a lot of 1099 creative types out there.
go read a WWE Executive reaction on the Eric Bischoff blog.
go read the source article here.
Monday, October 27, 2008
halloween!
it's that time of the year... continuing a tradition started last year, Cynthia and I have carved pumpkins!
Cynthia used a pattern from the pumpkin carving kit and made a little pirate masterpiece...
i took the low-brow classic route and made a confused looking pumpkin who is crying a single tear, or MAYBE he killed someone and that's his chollo memento tat.
mmmmm yogurty
yet another reason to move to Japan! just look at that slender bottle!
since i totally missed the Ice Cucumber Pepsi boat.
yeahbuwhat?
You are looking at Russian BLOOD Candy. seriously. one of the ingredients is Hemoglobin. It is made with real cow's blood. According to Serious Eats this is:
"...Russia’s equivalent to gummy bear vitamins —a treat to trick kids into taking supplements so that they grow tall and strong (like the bird-man mascot)."
Go lookin your local Brighton Beach corner store... see if you can find some. wtf.
YES
I wish i had Comcast because there is such a dearth of 80s Ninja Movies on-demand that Boing Boing Gadgets has created a helpful flow chart. 
also NINJA TERMINATOR!!!
CUBE!
"The future of video gaming comes now." - the Cube Youtube page
i missed the boat on this one the first time it made the internet rounds, but thankfully it has resurfaced.
Friday, October 24, 2008
awesome
so an incredibly stupid McCain volunteer decided to make up a wacky story about being accosted by an angry Obama supporter in an unsavory neighborhood in Pittsburgh, while she was in a desperate search for a Bank of America ATM. btw she twittered the whole thing and oh, what's that? she lied! go to Wonkette to read this story, it's both hilarious, irritating, and unbelievable.
oh and speaking of hi-jinks... the two "utes" who put Obama signs on a dead bear they left in public space said did it just for laughs." (!!) how hilarious! go read the article:
2 Face Charges in Bear Prank
Thursday, October 23, 2008
Chinese Democracy
[15:32] flyingovertrout: also Chinese Democracy has a release date!
[15:33] flyingovertrout: i didnt hear about this
[15:33] xxxx: i heard!
[15:33] xxxx: i am going to avoid that album like a bum with jesus phamphlets
[15:35] flyingovertrout: ha ha ha ha
[15:36] flyingovertrout: i will listen to a preview track on itunes
[15:36] flyingovertrout: i don't even get why they are releasing it
[15:36] flyingovertrout: it seems like it would do them more good to just sit on it
[15:36] flyingovertrout: like some mythical beast
[15:36] flyingovertrout: instead of trotting out a horse with a horn glued to it's forehead
huh???
remember kids... crime doesn't pay. even online.
1. Online divorcee jailed after killing virtual hubby.
2. Teens convicted of virtual theft.
also... Man to be reimbursed after mice munch on his cash.
mish mash of stuff
3 things that caught my eye on the net this morning:
1. Chris Cooley (Redskins player) details his latest bruise. go look at the pics, it is literally his ENTIRE leg.
2. a restaurant in Japan (natch) that looks like some Miyazaki tree house.
3. new McBess drawing coming up soon!
uhhh
greatest flickr album EVER!
it's all awesome drawings of Kaiju Monsters in battle, and some anatomical models!
Kaiju Eiga
so smart...
well once again i was put down by a weird flu/cold thing for a day this week. ever since i wrapped up a steroid pack to knock down my polyps i've gotten sick fortnightly. this of course kept me from making ever so important posts to the blog yesterday, and even kept me from work.
today, though, i am back at work and i have been trying to focus on drinking lots of hot tea. i also have on hand some ricola drops, and this spurred my genius idea for the week. i plopped a Ricola cough drop into my earl gray as it steeped and it's freaking awesome.
it's certainly 10000 times better than Thera-Flu, though consuming my own urine is better than Thera-Flu.
oh! speaking of not working yesterday, i found some time to whip up a quick pen and ink drawing for my bosses baby shower tonight. here's the image i came up with...
i am of course open for hire if you need a similar image done for you!
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
fall
so now that i live in a climate that has me reconsidering half my wardrobe, i see these shoes and pine for a real winter and a real purpose for these awesome sneakers. 
it's like a combo of those awesome russian peasant boots and retro Ewing basketball shoes.
awesome?
i don't smoke, and i certainly don't plan on taking it up anytime soon. 
this product, it reaches out to a part of me that wants to wear track suits all the time, and drink really cheap booze and not do very much all day but complain about things and gamble.
Monday, October 20, 2008
Friday, October 17, 2008
Obama gets my vote...
"Contrary to the rumors you have heard, I was not born in a manger," Obama said. "I was actually born on Krypton and sent here by my father Jor-El to save the planet Earth."
one upping Moses...
so there is a city buried under a lake in Bulgaria. it's an ancient city, and now archaeologists, scientists, politicians, and architects want to unearth it and make it a tourist destination.
this all involves the building of massive dikes and a huge pump system in the middle of this lake. you'll approach it by boat, and there 20+ feet below the water level will be this ancient city.
i can't say this isn't a totally awesome idea, but it just reeks of cost overruns, unplanned disaster, and the arrogance of human engineering. either way i'd totally go. go read about it at Eikongraphia.
Thursday, October 16, 2008
nerd nerd nerd
now i wouldn't consider myself to be a big Star Trek geek... it's definitely one of my nerd deficiencies. i used to be a pretty regular watch of Next Generation, and i even went so far as to watch a bit of DS9 and Voyager (shudder). ok, wait this isn't sounding like much of a denial now.
anyway... a couple new movie stills have been released, and i have to admit i am actually pretty excited to see this flick now.
plus the cast... Karl Urban, John Cho, AND Simon Pegg? Also the bad guy is apparently Eric Bana?? i do remain somewhat skeptical because i hate Sylar, though his wooden acting will probably help his Spock, and good luck to the dude playing Kirk. talk about a mountain of expectations.
Wednesday, October 15, 2008
....
i feel like i should be shocked by this... but part of me thinks it makes perfect sense for white well to do college students to come up with something this stupid.
"Oh boy howdy here’s a winner of a party from our special friends at Late Night Shots, the exclusive invite-only social networking club for glib Georgetown trust-funders whose hearts belong to the Confederacy. The members were recently inspired by the playful cultural activities of the slaves on their plantations, and they’ve decided to throw an ironic version for themselves! HA HA HA, see it’s an AWESOME and hilarious idea for a party, because they’re pretending to be like black people!!"courtesy of Wonkette
hmmm
so with the goverments of major powers across the globe buying up shares in major financial institutions i am struck by one in particular. Russia.i have always found Russia to be a particularly interesting place with some fantastic literature and even more fantastic corruption and a labyrinthine goverment. the country has been on this insane roller coaster ride ever since it's inception and the current peak and valley they've been through are nothing that the country hasn't seen before. this is especially apparent when you consider the majority of the population, who as far as i can tell is continuing to trudge on through yet another upheaval in the status quo. Vladimir Putin has clearly set himself up to maintain some form of control over the goverment until he dies or is displaced in a bloody coup. his successor Medvedev is really without power, and just there to indicate to the less intelligent that someone else is in charge, even if that isn't true. Russia is a "semi Presidential Republic" which means that there is a President in charge of the state, and a Prime Minister in charge of the goverment. so Putin has stepped down from running the "state" to running the goverment which is really where most of the power is contained anyway the way he has things going now. the Kremlin had at one point gotten so bad in the 90s they had to reach out to the Oligarchs of the country, the handful of Russians who rose above the rest to control the natural resources and all affiliated companies. they even had their claws in the goverment, and still probably do to this day. so the Kremlin had run out of money and reached out to them for a loan. well now that the Kremlin has the money and the Oligarchs are largely decimated the Kremlin will soon have huge stakes in the fiancial markets. they'll own a huge portion of an integral part of the daily operations of the country. this just seems like another repeat of a ruling class in Russia losing the reins, only to be taken out by another arm of the state. i am very interested to see what will happen in Russia, where anything seems to go. the populace has largely been spared in this current economic crisis because, to be frank, they are all too poor and left out of the countries financial boom period. the goverment, which coincidentally, owns most if not all of the tv stations has gone so far as to put a ban on talking about the financial crisis. this is very convenient considering what i said above. if you aren't participating in the market, and you don't hear about it on TV... one day you'll just be blindsided when your goverment is bankrupt. the rampant corruption and narrow focus of the economy though has left Russia with huge problems. there is a crumbling infrastructure (this is a problem that has never gone away), and no one thought to diversify the economy because the natural resources were doing so well, and so there are grave concerns about what is going to happen with the Russians as the global recession trudges on and oil prices continue to fall apart. now i wonder that with the goverment taking part ownership in the financial market, and the financial market being a huge disaster how much responsibility in the daily operations of the financial markets WILL the goverment take. will Russia begin a "New Deal" program that'll eventually morph into another communist state? at their darkest hour will Putin start to consolidate goverment power even further? with Russia it seems like a roll of the dice, so we i will keep reading the headlines.
Tuesday, October 14, 2008
no title
"A man made a field and planted potatoes. A possum came and ate them all. The man and his brother saw that the possum had eaten all the potatoes. It was sitting in a tree. They pursued it, killed it, and ate it. They put the bones of the possum in the river and then went home. They slept for two nights, and wehn they came back they saw that the possum's bones had developed eyes, ears and legs, like a man. They went home again and slept two more nights. Then they returned and looked at the possum. He was now a real man. The possum-man came out of the water and made himself a bow and arrow. He stood by the river. They saw him disappear into the water. One of the men went home and told his wife about it. She made a grass belt and grass bracelets for the possum-man. They went down to the river to look for him. There was no possum-man. A large tree had arisen in the place where he had disappeared. A strange sound came from the tree, like the song of many birds. The man cut the tree down with a stone axe. He then cut a big hole in the tree. Men and women came out of the tree. He chopped off some more of the tree, and more men and women came out. They were all singing. All the women wanted a man. They each caught hold of a man and said: 'This man is mine.' They man who had cut down the tree gave them each a name and told them where to go and live. They all sang as they went off through the long grass. They built huts. The women became pregnant and gave birth to children. They grew up- and here we all are."
Jens Bjerre - The Last Cannibals
circulate this to all your relatives...
well all the ones who think Obama is some sort of radical terrorist from the heart of Islam.
maybe they will think twice when they learn the foundations of those claims. who knew a rabid anti-semite would be featured on Fox News as a reputable source! i am so shocked.
anyway here is the fellow who began the "Obama is a Muslim" smear campaign. what a glorious human being.
go read about his political life... chock full of good deeds and lovely poems about equality.
Monday, October 13, 2008
blinky... only deadlier and with less eyes.
photo courtesy of The Courier Mail
so according to locals, and a tv biologist, there are giant mutant fish feeding on humans in the water along the India-Nepal border. now these fish are not to be confused with crocodiles according to the TV biologist who is sure it is the local fish.
named the Goonch, this local fish is mutating and growing into it's oversize form by feeding on the flesh of human bodies dumped into the water according to local custom. first the body is burned in a pyre, then dumped in the river where it will coincidentally become fish food.
so the Goonch, after establishing a taste for DEAD human flesh, is moving on to live human flesh. basically it's a giant, mutant, killer catfish-esque beast. it has described by one local as an "elongated pig"(!!) so beware when you are in the water. there is no telling what lurks in the depths.
RIP Alton Ellis
over the weekend Alton Ellis died. i am sure hardly anyone reading this, if any at all, know who he is. i certainly didn't know about him until a couple of years ago. he is one of the pioneering stars of the jamaican music scene, and one of the founding fathers of rocksteady and reggae.
you can read his bio here, and i'd recommend going out and downloading a couple of his tracks if you get a chance.
the first Ellis song i heard was
"I'm Just a Guy" and it was really great. he's a beautiful singer with a very soulful voice. it has this really great feel to it, and it was one of those epiphany moments for me. before i had really heard any of the rocksteady or reggae artists i had always assumed motown and American soul music to be the end all be all. Alton's stuff really changed that and i was introduced to a world of really great music with just as much "soul" and "groove" as anything American artists had done. the Jamaican stuff was it's own beast, yet stood right there with the Americans. as a founder of a lot of the music Ellis had a huge influence on a ton of artists and really embodied the spirit of the music. his duet album with Hortense Ellis is gorgeous and in my eyes right up there with the Marvin and Tammi stuff. Alton's version of "Can I Change My Mind" is one of the best versions of the song ever, and it is somewhere up there on my top twenty songs of all time. Trojan Records has box sets which are fantastic and collect the music by any number of different genres. the Rocksteady box is awesome and has a ton of stuff, and the Numbers Ones set is good for a great overview of the different periods and genres. each of the collections comes with some good history and they are 20 bucks ususally for 3 cd's of material. it's hard not to get hooked.
if you really want to hear it let me know and i can get you send you a CD or send you a song or two. he's a great singer who hardly anyone i know has heard of, and that is a great injustice.
beached
the embedded video features tilt shift photography to render a real life scene so it appears to be a model. it's fantastic and the accompanying music is a pretty cool song. it is overcast and grey outside and this is a good bit of fun on a Monday morning.
Beached from Keith Loutit on Vimeo.
Friday, October 10, 2008
the lizard people NWO...
so do YOU know about the New World Order conspiracy involving lizard people from space, concentration camps far underground and a capstone for a building that doubles as a beacon for the lizard people mothership? oh did i mention that the lizard people are shape shifters and include our own current president (maybe that isn't so far fetched)? anyway this all revolves around the Denver International Airport and several mysterious clues and stories.
i read about all this a little more than a year ago and it totally blew my mind. that a conspiracy this amazing actually exists and is rather popular is so fantastic and ridiculous. i saw some blip about Obama being the head of some world shattering New World Order that would destroy everything good conservatives believe in and it reminded me of this. i've thusly produced the link to what is now my favorite conspiracy theory for you to enjoy. you owe it to yourself to read this.
"Many of these Internet speculators believe that DIA is linked via underground tunnels to nearby conspiratorial hotbeds such as NORAD and the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs. But some also believe that the conspiracy stretches from the airport to controversial Colorado tragedies such as Columbine. (A few even posit that those students may have been consumed by aliens.) One 1998 article posted on www.konformist.com managed to connect the DIA conspiracy to JonBenét and the Denver Broncos. Reached by phone at his home in Las Vegas, the site's creator, Robert Sterling, admits that the best conspiracy theories often necessitate dizzying leaps of logic, demonstrated by a kind of free-association exercise he calls "the conspiracy game."
DIA Conspiracies Take Off...
"Many of these Internet speculators believe that DIA is linked via underground tunnels to nearby conspiratorial hotbeds such as NORAD and the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs. But some also believe that the conspiracy stretches from the airport to controversial Colorado tragedies such as Columbine. (A few even posit that those students may have been consumed by aliens.) One 1998 article posted on www.konformist.com managed to connect the DIA conspiracy to JonBenét and the Denver Broncos. Reached by phone at his home in Las Vegas, the site's creator, Robert Sterling, admits that the best conspiracy theories often necessitate dizzying leaps of logic, demonstrated by a kind of free-association exercise he calls "the conspiracy game."
DIA Conspiracies Take Off...
architecture...
so i am going to go back to school soon, and i am considering following something of a lifelong dream to be an architect. i feel very uncertain about this because it's focusing a lot of energy into something i am not 100% sure about, but i found this article today about architecture as a means of humanitarian aid and it really bolstered the idea of being an architect in my head, gut, and heart. it's a fantastic piece about Shigeru Ban and his pro-bono work designing structures for refugees. there is a lot of great info in there, and some great quotes like this:
"Another is that many people think architects drive up costs and create unusual buildings to call attention to themselves. Historically, architects worked for privileged people, such as kings and religious groups; it is the same today when big corporations and government entities use architecture to make their power and money visible. Some medical doctors and lawyers work for the money while others engage in pro bono, humanitarian activities—yet architects rarely take on this kind of work. So I thought it was really important for us to do something for society, not just to build monuments or help developers make money."
"SB: In 1995, shortly after I started working with the UNHCR, the Great Hanshin Earthquake struck Kobe. I knew I had to help after I read about a Catholic church, where many Vietnamese worshipped, that burnt down. Because of my work with refugees, I thought that minorities must have a more difficult time after a disaster, so I went to Kobe to look for this church. When I found the congregation, they were having their morning service outside, gathered around a fire. It was such a heartwarming moment. And so I offered to rebuild the church out of paper tubes. The priest refused. After that, I commuted to Kobe every Sunday and tried to convince him. I also visited the park where the Vietnamese congregants were living. The conditions were horrible, yet these people had no choice but to stay there, since they worked nearby. So my students and I started building temporary shelters for these people out of paper tubes and plastic beer-bottle crates. After that, the priest permitted me to rebuild the church out of paper tubes as long as I raised the money and gathered volunteers to build it."
The selflessness of his work is really great, and he's also a fantastic architect on top of being a really awesome dude. for anyone interested in him i'd start with his wiki page and then there is a link there for his official site. check out the metal shutter house being built in NYC and some of his paper tube houses.
wtf nooooooo
photo courtesy of flickr user Codswallop
ok, confession time. i haven't eaten these cookies in a long time. that said, it is something of a sad world without these animal shaped sugar cookies coated in more sugar and sprinkled with even more sugar. every time an "old" product dies it is a little bit sad i think. i don't consider myself a retro fetishist, but anything that lasts 92 years, only to die a lackluster death is not that great of a thing.
RIP Mother's Cookies.
Palin McCain mob...
video from an OH McCain Palin rally. amazing people seriously think Obama is a terrorist.
this relates to that post from yesterday. just incredibly negative ignorant people who apparently are wallowing in their ridiculousness. cheering it on, and trying to cultivate it like it's truth.
i think it's really awful that politics are now marketed like some kind of product. at least Obama, who is pretty infamous for media saturation, is working on a platform that is about the issues. i prefer that to McCain running solely on character issues and the "republican brand".
courtesty of Blogger Interrupted
Thursday, October 9, 2008
washington bullets...
ok so i am, and have been for many many years, over the whole guns being cool thing. gun tattoos are stupid, guns screenprinted on t-shirts are not cool, guns being jewelry charms also not cool. then i see this...
and my views are being challenged. i mean... it's kind of awesome. then again i could be a total mark for things like this since i am still enjoying my japanese ice form that makes huge balls of ice. it's totally satisfying, and they certainly melt slower and water your drink down less. these bullet ice bits would certainly not do that, but they are so purty. there's nothing worse than your taste morals being compromised like this.
found at Uncrate!
POCKISTAN
ok so the latest baby whining/nit picking by conservatives happens to be Obama correctly pronouncing Pakistan.
– “When Obama says Pock-i-stahn I have an uncontrollable urge to read the New Yorker and find some Chardonnay. Fortunately I have an old copy of NR and a Coors Light to snap me back to reality. Seriously though — no one in flyover country says Pock-i-stahn. It’s annoying.” [E-mail posted by Kathryn Jean Lopez]
– “Re Senator Obama’s ostentatiously exotic pronunciation of Pakistan, one thing I like about Sarah Palin is the way she says ‘Eye-raq’.” [Mark Steyn]
– “Most overwrought pronunciation of the night: The academic way that Obama says ‘Pakistan,’ with a soft ‘a’ - reminscent of a 1980s ‘Saturday Night Live’ sketch in which newscasters over-pronounced ‘Managua, Nicaragua.’” [Philadelphia Daily News]
– “Drinking Game: A shot every time the candidates pronounce ‘Pakistan’ or ‘Taliban’ in an annoying way?” [Ramesh Ponnuru]
now i understand that the majority of Americans happen to speak English, and coincidentally can't find Pakistan on a map, but it seems a bit childish and ignorant to take offense at someone pronouncing a country the way it is mean to be pronounced. now we have been living under the presidency of someone who can't pronounce "nuclear" so i am sure that this whole pronouncing Pakistan correctly might be hard to grasp.
what is even better is conservative champion/hero/uber man David Petraeus says it just like Obama. just more classic hypocritical nonsense. this is one of the most frustrating things about living in this country is our political viewpoints are being informed by how someone says something? i can't understand how people can just absolutely let go of the political system by tying it up with garbage like this. all this partisan warfare is just such a huge waste of time. yeah sure i don't agree with hardly anything that a Republican person stands for, and yes, i have wasted plenty of time typing all this out. that said though, i can't imagine taking offense at how someone chooses to do something out of respect for another country and who motivates their choices by intellectual means.
i had been initially motivated to vote for Hilary, but i really liked Obama's message and felt he was truly motivated to do good. i liked his positive outlook, and his positive message. as i get older i am finding myself motivated by positive things not negative. after 8 years of horrible negativity i just want someone there in office who wants to do good. i feel that Obama won't act selfishly. i had high hopes we'd have a different election this year when McCain had that ad go up during the DNC to congratulate Obama on the nom. Then he pulls Palin out of his hat and she's off and running making up things, barely being able to form sentences, and essentially continuing the same crap they pulled on McCain and Kerry. these vehement personal attacks with hardly any base, and certainly no necessity. i understand that Palin may have been hurt that her qualifications were called into question, but to attack community organizers? that's just awful. plus her constant railing on and on about Obama hanging out with terrorists. ugh. the worst part about that is i meet plenty of people who wouldn't question that in a second.
i find that the biggest difference between the two parties is really their energy at this point. i just hope that for the first time since Bush was elected we can really be positive as a nation.
Wednesday, October 8, 2008
no seriously.
so the Neiman Marcus Christmas Book is out now. thankfully it is chock full of ridiculous things that ridiculous people will probably buy, but the rest of us can marvel at their actual existence. for instance, how about this for a mere 1500 dollars? 
"A teddy by any other name isn't nearly as tempting as having your own miniature Lagerfeld. The modern maestro, known for his exquisite brilliance the world over, has created an impeccable "uniform" he himself has donned for years. Karl the Bear, ours exclusively from Steiff®, arrives adorably dressed in an exact haute couture replica uniform created in the Parisian studios of the great couturier. Exact in every detail, from the Lagerfeld Eye wear aviators, Italian wool jacket, poplin shirt with trompe l'oeil buttoning, and black silk tie with Swarovski® crystal tie tack to the black leather belt with crystal KL buckle, lacquered jeans from the K Karl Lagerfeld collection, and the tailor made boots. Karl (the Bear, not the iconic designer) is available in limited edition, stands 14.5"H, and is handcrafted of fine alpaca, with pivoting joints, so you can pose him any place you please. He arrives in a luxurious gift box with its own black Plexiglas® podium and certificate of authenticity."
i would also take the time to check out these:
-one of the old Texas stadium endzones complete with a trip to the last game, photos with ol' Jerry Jones, and a party at your house to celebrate the installation (which the cost is not included-not that it makes much difference to whoever buys this) with the Dallas Cowboy cheerleaders!
- every 45rpm record from the Billboard Top 100 Rock and Pop Charts from the 50s-90s. only 275,000 dollars, but why not. also shipping is not included, that will only be another 25,000 dollars or something.
two blogs to check out:
Japes for Owre Tymes
current anachronistic comics featuring and even more outdated language. oddly enough the two negatives somewhow make a positive. i'm going to write my future doctoral paper on this phenomenon.
Cake Wrecks
this is a blog detailing horrible looking cakes and horrible mistakes made by the makers of said product. fantastic. i can't even say the above image even plumbs the depths reported on this blog.
dumb picture.
this picture is both hilarious and dumb. i don't even remember how i ended up looking like this in a photo. i am sure someone can attest to this looking absolutely nothing like "me". well the "me" i imagine is my outward reality in my head.
flip clock
so this is apparently a shot of the new Blackberry Storm dubbed as the latest in a line of iPhone killers. i want one mostly because of the above shot. i have this screensaver for a computer here at work and i love it. it's almost a natural thing, yet somehow not obvious, to make the alarm mode manifest itself in such a way. it's certainly better than the current iteration of "alarm mode" on most of the phones i have been using for alarm clocks over the years.
it seems pretty capable from shots online and spec sheets but i don't have any real experience with the blackberry OS. i will soon since i am now a blackberry user. i lost my phone on my NYC trip and had to scramble to buy a cheap used phone on ebay. speaking of which... i hope to be able to cobble together some pictures from others posting them online and give a little summary of the trip. i'll make sure to include the retarded losing my phone story.
it seems pretty capable from shots online and spec sheets but i don't have any real experience with the blackberry OS. i will soon since i am now a blackberry user. i lost my phone on my NYC trip and had to scramble to buy a cheap used phone on ebay. speaking of which... i hope to be able to cobble together some pictures from others posting them online and give a little summary of the trip. i'll make sure to include the retarded losing my phone story.
Tuesday, October 7, 2008
Commercial Paper?
Check out the Consumerist for an insightful run-down of "Commercial Paper" which to me, this morning, was certainly a rather foreign term.
"To put it simply, the commercial paper market works like a credit card for big companies. Some days they have money, and some days they do not. So if they need money Tuesday, but will have money Friday, they'll go to the commercial paper market and borrow some money. Then on Friday they will pay back the money, plus interest. It's usually all very calm and safe — but when large well-respected companies started failing and the people who had lent them money on the commercial paper market (money market mutual funds, for example) actually lost money on these "safe" investments — the pool of lenders dried up."
go read the rest of the article because this is a pretty scary undertaking in terms of goverment intervention and use of power. plus i would wager most Americans, like myself, have no freaking clue what "Commercial Paper" is.
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