Monday, March 28, 2005

earthquake

massive earthquake off Northern Sumatra.
Felt strongly in Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur. No word yet on tsunami, but we won't hear reports from Sri Lanka and India for another hour or so. It's also the middle of the night over there.

The fundamentalist Christians are going to have a field day with this one. Look at the calendar.
life

What's better? Making a lot of money but not being fulfilled or being fulfilled and broke?

Just curious.

Sunday, March 27, 2005

RIP Sprite

Sprite was one of my Zebra Danios. He passed on sometime during the afternoon.

He was the smallest of the school, therefore the others picked on him. It wasn't anything to worry about as the school all played together when they weren't chasing each other for some spastic reason.

However, for some reason, Sprite liked to go off by himself. In the last couple weeks, I noticed Sprite hiding in the back of the tank. I figured he was doing his loner thing (as I do from time to time.)

This week he wouldn't come out to eat. I guessed that he was ill. I just didn't have the heart to euthanize him though, figuring he'd get better. But today, Sprite died. It's the first death in the tank since I set it up in November.

RIP Sprite.

Saturday, March 26, 2005

fundraising drive

I haven't run a fundraising drive since the election season. I am thinking it is time again.

Not for a candidate however. For me, instead.

It's called the "Drop Terry a Dime or Two so he (and his fish, cause they are his kids) Doesn't have to move back in with his parents" fundraising drive. Not that there's anything wrong with my parents. They are wonderful smart people. I just don't want to live with them again. And I think they enjoy being childless. Well not quite childless, they do have Shadow the Cat who is the equivalent of a 2 year old. At any rate, it would just be wrong of me to move back in and ruin all the fun they are having. And Shadow would be quite resentful since he is a bit of a Princess. You should hear the cat whine when the family gets together for holidays. You'd think we were going to take his milk away or something! Also, everyone else in college moves back home with their parents these days and I really have never enjoyed being "like everyone else." I move against crowds. It's probably better I don't drive outside of isolated parking lots. I'd probably drive against traffic. (hardeharharhar.)

job front
Two peeps back: 1 denial(USDA) and one vague "You MIGHT get to have an interview."(PennDOT's Transportation Planning Specialist Trainee Program) I'm not discouraged yet. I have a lot of paper still floating around human resources offices out there. It might be time to send out another batch after I rewrite my resume which is just way too long. At this rate however, I'm willing to work anywhere as long as it doesn't involve moving back in with my parents. Not that there's anything wrong with that.

stuff for grabs
140 lbs of weights. They are collecting dust in the closet. $45. Pick up only.

Friday, March 25, 2005

culture of life, part II

I noted, with some irony, that Governor Jeb Bush wanted the Department of Children and Family to take custody of Terri Schiavo.

The same Department that lost 5 year old Rilya Wilson.

The same Rilya Wilson who remains missing. And is probably dead, due to Florida DCF's incompetence.

Jeb!, what were ya thinking buddy?! That's not in line with the culture of life you know.
culture of life

Culture of life, indeed.


Just a link. From time to time I'll point out all the wonderful things a culture of life provides for its citizens. It is truly humbling to see the culture of life at work in the President's home state. We should all be proud.
America: The shorter version


We've lost our goddamn minds.


Yes, this media circus surrounding Terri Schiavo is further evidence that the adults are firmly in charge. Funny. Not haha funny, but I'm-being-dissolved-in-hydrochloric-acid funny.

Sunday, March 20, 2005

congress is a sack of horse poo


You know, if we get attacked again in the next year or so, I'm blaming Congress for wasting time with steroids in baseball and sticking its fat ugly nose in a family's personal business. Instead of doing their job for the betterment of society.

For example.

There are 45 million+ people without health insurance. Congress is too busy though. Baseball players are sticking needles full of steroids and artificial testoserone into their meaty glutes.

We have spent upwards of $200 billion on Iraq. Some of that money has been squandered. . . in one case a company (Halliburton) spent 27 million on cooking oil that cost a very tiny miniscule fraction of such. Congress was too busy trashing the name of Michael Schivao. Couldn't be bothered.

We have a massive trade imbalance, and our deficits are beginning to put a drag on the world economy. China and Japan hold much of our foreign held debt. China has hinted that they want to cash out. Congress, again, couldn't be bothered. Baseball players might be using steroids OF THEIR OWN VOLITION to play better games even if it means their testicles shrink to the size of peas.

Pakistan's nuclear scientists proliferated all over the damn place. Not a peep from Congress, which, of course, was busy making legislation . . . oh you get the point.

Our legislature people. Full of fucktoad morons. Hey, we voted for them. Too busy to actually WORK on the issues. And to be honest reading various "compromises" and whatnot from the Democrats and left-leaning blogs has made me nuts. We're all (myself included) taking time away from the important issues above. So I'm not talking about this anymore. My heart goes out to the family, and may God keep poor Terry. But everyone making a political issue out of this (Tom Delay especially) really can just go . . . I don't know . . . get a clue.

Friday, March 18, 2005

living will

Mom? Dad? If my brain ever turns to spinal fluid the way Terry Schiavo's has, you'd better pull the plug.




If you don't I will haunt you.

Thursday, March 17, 2005

stuff

In about 7 weeks or so I'll be moving. If anyone in the Lancaster, PA area wants my stuff, let me know. I'm getting rid of my nightstand, desk, and bureau. I'm debating on departing with my books because they really are an awful pain to move, but they are too much apart of my soul. I love my books. All this stuff I'm selling for about 45 bucks total (not the books). The futon I might sell for another 50 or I might put it up on an auction site (not Ebay, which steals your soul and money).

Related: Your stuff owns you. I am always amused by my friends (particuarly the ones who still live with mom and dad) who buy buy buy lots and lots of junk.
congress is a bunch of loser dummies

who continue to waste time.
To be honest, I don't care if MLB players use steroids. If shrunken testicles, bitch tits, wild mood swings and acne are their thing, it's their personal choice. I am continually shocked by people (including the parents of those who committed suicide bought on by roid rage) who put the blame on others. Taking steroids (given there is a TON of readily availble information out there) is a PERSONAL CHOICE. People who take them are taking their own PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY into their own hands. Republicans are all about this. Stop trying to legislate idiocy. If people take stuff that harms them, well that's their own fault. And if they die because of the idiot decisions they make (LIKE TAKING STEROIDS WHICH CAN AND DO ALTER YOUR STATE OF MIND), well tough cookies.

Watching Congress waste time when we have an astronomical deficit that will surely bring down the world economy in the medium-to-long term just made me want to scream. And question why I even bother voting when all they do is waste time and put on these retarded press shows. Oh no, Steroids!

This is almost as bad as "Oh no, Clinton's Cock!" Meanwhile, while the media and legislative body was distracted, terrorists declared war and quietly targeted our cities.

Yeah I so went there.

Advice to Congress: There are WAaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay more important issues. You guys are losers for picking this one to put out the media blitz for. Total. fucking. losers.


I am getting really cynical in my old age.


As an aside, mainly because this post is one of amazing cynicism (and they've been on a roll lately), check out The Decadent West and this post on China. I couldn't have said it better myself.

Tuesday, March 15, 2005

Monday, March 14, 2005

grrrrrrrrrrrrRRRRRRRRRRRRRrrrrrrrrrrr

I'm pissed. Here's why.



It is the kind of TV news coverage every president covets.
"Thank you, Bush. Thank you, U.S.A.," a jubilant Iraqi-American told a camera crew in Kansas City for a segment about reaction to the fall of Baghdad. A second report told of "another success" in the Bush administration's "drive to strengthen aviation security"; the reporter called it "one of the most remarkable campaigns in aviation history." A third segment, broadcast in January, described the administration's determination to open markets for American farmers.

To a viewer, each report looked like any other 90-second segment on the local news. In fact, the federal government produced all three. The report from Kansas City was made by the State Department. The "reporter" covering airport safety was actually a public relations professional working under a false name for the Transportation Security Administration. The farming segment was done by the Agriculture Department's office of communications.
Under the Bush administration, the federal government has aggressively used a well-established tool of public relations: the prepackaged, ready-to-serve news report that major corporations have long distributed to TV stations to pitch everything from headache remedies to auto insurance. In all, at least 20 federal agencies, including the Defense Department and the Census Bureau, have made and distributed hundreds of television news segments in the past four years, records and interviews show. Many were subsequently broadcast on local stations across the country without any acknowledgement of the government's role in their production.

1984......

disturbing


There are lots of things odd and disturbing on TV today but the new Burger King Commerical takes the cake. The first time I saw it, I wasn't quite sure what was going on. I honestly thought it was some kind of soft core pornography Like:

Dallas Cowboy's Cheerleaders?

Big Cabooses?

Twins with buckets full of ranch dressing? (Now that just weirded me out.)

Breasts growing on trees? (being picked by a fairly buxom young woman giving the camera the Jeff Gannon "come hither" look. . . entendre my god. Her hair was even blowing ever so gently in the breeze......)

And I'm not absolutely sure if I saw this in one version of the commerical, but there was a giant chicken dressed up in S&M gear. I'm half surprised there wasn't a sling in there. If you don't know what S&M gear is, God Bless you. You haven't been warped. May you never be warped.

Talk about bizarre.

And talk about effective. That damn song is in my head for hours after seeing that jarring and somewhat pornographic commercial. Damn, I want a Bacon Crisp Chedder Tender Ranch right now damnit! Burger King appears to be going the Quiznos route----make something bizarre that might disturb some people------disturb them into buying your fast food. We never did find out what those rat things were that Quiznos was using (did we?), if they were indeed rats. However I wanted Quiznos from the second I saw it, even if the commercial was . . . weird.

And now that damn song is in my head again. I'm off to Burger King.

Wednesday, March 2, 2005

creepy


Has anyone noticed a strange tag during the commerical breaks on TV? It's a Latin phrase. omnium finis eminent or something like that. At first I thought it was a production company but then I saw it during shows.

Google searches were rather fruitless.


If anyone knows, drop me a clue. It's creepy.


UPDATE: I spelled it wrong. Here's a better search. Still quite creepy.

I've noticed it on NBC and Sci-Fi. On NBC, it was a five second tag right before the 11PM news after Law and Order's latest clone went off. On Sci-Fi, I think the first time I saw it was during a movie (Frailty, with Bill Paxon, very disappointing by the way). The next time was, ironically since it means the beginning of the end is near, during Battlestar Galactica.

I think it might be a tag for the new War of the Worlds movie that's coming out this summer. Or someone with a very wacky sense of gallows humor knows something the rest of us don't.


UPDATE NUMBER 2: They're for the new War of the World's movie.