For about the past 15 months, I’ve had a beard, closely cropped when I get a haircut, rather more rustic in between.
Well, I’ve decided to shave it off. Hopefully, it makes me look a bit younger.
Category: 40yrs
One of the Reasons that I Read WallStreetJackass
Because he finds things like this.
Brilliant.
Deep Thought
I never watched, nor was interested in watching, the television show Lost.
I don’t know what happened, but I have read that some fanboi (and fangrrl) have been profoundly disappointed.
I feel some schadenfreude at all the fans who were disappointed by the series finale.
I guess that makes me a bad person.
Nevada Banns Chicken Suits from Polling Places
The headline is actually rather more interesting than the story.
You see, like most states, Nevada bans electioneering within a certain distance, 100 feet in this case.
This applies to things like campaign T-shirts, buttons, etc.
Well, because of Republican front runner Sue Lowden’s statements about bartering chickens for medical services, state elections officials have banned chicken costumes and chicken memorabilia from the “no electioneering” zone:
Nevada banned people wearing chicken costumes from polling places around the state on Friday.
The state election commission does not want the costumes or other poultry-related memorabilia to prevent mocking of Republican Senate candidate Sue Lowden, who wants to unseat Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D).
I approve of their decision. The presence of chicken related items is electioneering in this context, so their decision is correct in both the strict legal sense, and in the more general context.
Still, it’s a weird hed, ain’t it?
This is Not the Onion
The Staten Island Republican Executive Committee has backed drunk-driving bigamist and former Congressman Vito Fossella to run again for in the 13th district. (see also here)
The County committee still has the final call on this, but he is now the front runner.
If The Daily Show ain’t on this like white on rice, Then they are way off their game.
I Suppose that this Was Inevitable
Could it be ………… Satan?GameStation, a UK video games retailer, has entered the final frontier of click-through licensing, it has added ownership of users immortal souls as one of the conditions of the agreement:
Popular UK video games retail company GameStation has claimed that the retailer legally owns the ‘immortal souls’ of thousands of online shoppers thanks to a clause in the ‘Terms and Conditions’ documents, which, sadly most customers don’t read before purchasing an item online.
GameStation reported that, as a part of the April Fool’s day gag, the retailer changed the online ‘Terms and Conditions’ form and added the so-called ‘Immortal Soul’ clause, which read that “By placing an order via this web site on the first day of the fourth month of the year 2010 Anno Domini, you agree to grant us a non transferable option to claim, for now and for ever more, your immortal soul.”
Unsurprisingly, very few people notices, and very few opted out of this requirement:
GameStation also offered customers a chance to reclaim their souls by clicking on the ‘opt out’ button at the end of the document.
However, out of the 8500 customers that visited the retail site on that day, only 12 percent of them managed to read the ‘Immortal Soul’ clause and swiftly saved their souls from damnation by opting out.
I think that it is clear that to the degree that Satan exists in the manner of Zoroastrian/Christian concept,* he is kicking himself for not having come up with this earlier.
*The idea of Satan being an entity in direct opposition to God is largely a Zoroastrian concept, which was adopted by Christianity. In Judaism, Satan is a title which means adversary, though perhaps a better translation is prosecutor, and is more the inclination to do evil than the guy with the horns and tail.
OK, This is Cold
Josh Marshall has a Pennsylvania reader whose life-long Republican neighbor has changed his affiliation to Democratic so that he can vote against Specter in the primary.
Apparently, he feels the need not to miss the chance to vote against Arlen one last time.
Employment Anecdotal Data
I’ve gotten a lot of calls regarding submittals for jobs this week.
With a bit of luck, I’ll find something before my Daughter’s Bat Mitzvah.
Well, Here is a Blast from My Web Past
Around 1995 0r so, I really do not recall when exactly, I decided that the web was just too useful for me to compete on utility, so I would compete on uselessness.
So I created, hand coded, because that was the way then, a web page dedicated to bad hair days.
Originally, it was just me, you’ve seen the picture, it’s in the right column, and Al (Einstein, that is, the patron saint of bad hair).
Well, I realized that not only did the Internet completely out-class me in useful things, but it completely outclassed me in useless things, so it never went that far.
That being said, I did add one other public figure, just 12 days before September 11, 2001, James Traficant, who had arguably the worst hair in the 200+ year history of Congress.
Mr. Traficant was subsequently tried and convicted for matters unrelated to his hair, corruption, and expelled from Congress.
Well, He’s back!!!!!!
After serving 7 years for bribery, he is running for his old seat as an independent in his old district in Youngstown, OH.
Same as it ever was……
Entering the Last Decade
I’ve hooked up a webcam, and installed Skype.
I just confirmed that it worked with my brother, who uses both a lot, he has a D&D run that involves players from the west coast and China.
I’ll be having a video interview some time this week.
Daniel’s advice, “Remember to look at the camera.”
My Skype ID is “msaroff.”
I’m Doing a Bit Better Now
It’s no longer an effort to get into my shoes, and my toe was well enough to do some lawn mowing.
When said toe started to complain, I stopped mowing, but it seems to be back at about 90%.
No More Posts Today
Gout sucks, and so do its treatmentsMinor interaction with my meds, nothing life threatening, but I feel like crap, so I’ve been largely off the computer.
I’ll try to catch up tomorrow, and leave you with this thought:
I’m Henry VIII I Am
Well, not exactly, but it appears that my 2 weeks on Doxycycline has given me gout in my left big toe.
One of the triggers for gout is a sterile digestive tract, which the drug has delivered in spades.
I went to the urgent care clinic, and after a bit of a wait, got a quick diagnosis from the doctor.
I’m on Indocin, which is basically industrial strength Ibuprofen, and Colchicine, which is some weird stuff derived from the Autumn crocus.
The instructions for Colchicine say, “Take 1-2 tablets every 2 hours until pain stops, or nausea-vomiting-diarrhea.”
I just the Wiki on Colchicine. Great googly moogly. This is nasty stuff, as in a fairly potent cellular toxin when used to excess..
I’m taking my meds, and another acidophilus to deal with the “sterile digestive tract,” and heading to bed, thank you very much.
I Hate Doxycycline
Even after getting corrected instructions from the Pharmacists, this medication sucks.
I’m not sure why, but I’ve felt generally achy lately, been sleeping awfully, I’ve felt fuzzy and unfocused, I’ve been throwing up a lot,* and the first joint of my left big toe is painful, hot, and swollen, so I’m hobbling around.
After some Googling, I determined that these are not that uncommon side effects, and I thank my stars that I am not taking this sh%$ for some chronic condition like acne.
Thankfully, I have only one pill left to take tonight, and then I am done.
Thank God.
*Yes, that incident in the Barns & Noble was so much fun, luckily I basically† made it to the bathroom before losing my strawberry smoothie.
†None escaped my mouth.
Dangers of Outsourcing Part 11: Bad Translations
Most Unfortunate
Dotcommie at the by invitation only Stellar Parthenon BBS, is on a listserve for people who have been involved in internet advertising for at over 10 years, and got the following ad.
What he had heard was that the ad copy was outsourced to a copywriter who spoke English as a 2nd language (ESL).
In any case, it does appear to be just a bit, how to put this, inartful.
Nobody Goes There Anymore, It’s Too Crowded
It appears that after a few years of being the government in Gaza, Hamas is getting complaints that they have sold out:
Hamas, the Palestinian faction viewed by many in the West as a nest of terrorists and Islamic hard-liners, is battling a curious new epithet: moderate.
Fifteen months after a punishing Israeli offensive failed to dislodge Hamas from power in the Gaza Strip, rival resistance groups and some former supporters say the organization has become too political, too secular and too soft.
“People in the street say Hamas has changed,” said Abu Ahmed, spokesman for the military wing of Islamic Jihad, a Palestinian armed group in Gaza that complained recently that Hamas had arrested four of its militants as they tried to attack Israeli soldiers near the border. “They’re paying a price for that. People need to know that Hamas is still committed to the resistance.”
You know, when I was in college, I had a number of friends who loved obscure rock bands.
If the band released a record, and it achieved any success, these folks would immediately condemn the band as having “sold out”.
I guess that they were upset because it meant that the band was no longer their secret.
I find this amusing, because this seems to be a very similar phenomenon: success, in this case defined as running the Gaza strip, is “selling out”.
It’s nice to see that some stupidities are universal.
Never Stop Your Enemy from Stepping On His Own Dick
When you’re in Leno’s monologue, YOU ARE COMPLETELY SCREWED
As I have mentioned a number of times, Harry Reid is polling horribly in his bid for reelection.
In fact, his poll numbers are so bad that it appeared that his only hope was that there was a possible teabagger 3rd party candidate.
Well, it looks like the the Republican front runner just threw a life line to the Senate Majority Leader, or more accurately, she threw herself an anvil.
You see, she made a statement about how barter should be an important part of healthcare.
When I first heard this, I assumed that this was someone misspeaking and confusing “barter” and “bargain”.
I was wrong. She really meant barter, as in chickens for MRI’s:
The feathers are flying in the political attacks over Nevada Republican Senate candidate Sue Lowden’s declarations that people could control health care costs through the use of barter.
On Monday, Lowden doubled down on the barter idea. “Let’s change the system and talk about what the possibilities are. I’m telling you that this works,” Lowden said. “You know, before we all started having health care, in the olden days, our grandparents, they would bring a chicken to the doctor. They would say I’ll paint your house.”
(emphasis mine)
So, not only is she eschewing healthcare reform, she is apparently opposed to the very concept of money, the center of our financial system.*
So, she’s not just a Republican, she is an Anarcho syndicalist, opposed to the very concept of money, or she’s a complete moron, or maybe both.
In any case, Senator Reid, it’s better to be lucky than good, and you just got lucky.
*OK, money and greed……†
†……OK, money, greed, and fractional-reserve banking……‡
‡…………OK, money, greed, fractional-reserve banking, and a well defined system of contract law ……………… Oh, never mind.
George Washington’s Body to be Exhumed by Irate Librarians
Yes, it’s in my anxiety closet too.
Archivists have discovered that George Washington borrowed books from the New York Library when he was President, and now owes the equivalent of $300,000.00 in overdue fines:
Founder of a nation, trouncer of the English, God-fearing family man: all in all, George Washington has enjoyed a pretty decent reputation. Until now, that is.
The hero who crossed the Delaware river may not have been quite so squeaky clean when it came to borrowing library books.
The New York Society Library, the city’s only lender of books at the time of Washington’s presidency, has revealed that the first American president took out two volumes and pointedly failed to return them.
At today’s prices, adjusted for inflation, he would face a late fine of $300,000.
So, Mrs. McGreevey is coming after him.
Apologies to Berkeley Breathed for rearranging the frames friom his horizontal format to a vertical one.
No, This is Not a Joke
The lead SEC attorney in the civil fraud case against Goldman Sachs, aka, “The great vampire squid wrapped around the face of humanity, relentlessly jamming its blood funnel into anything that smells like money,”* is one Andrew Matthew Calamari.
I actually went and confirmed it with a Google, and Mr. Calamari is actually the associate regional director for the SEC’s New York office.
No really, click the link, it’s from the SEC.
As Dave Barry would say, “I’m not making this up.”
*Alas, I cannot claim credit for the bon mot describing Goldman Sachs as a vampire squid. This was coined by the great Matt Taibbi, in his article on the massive criminal conspiracy investment firm, The Great American Bubble Machine.
Deep Thought
H/t onegoodmove.