Lazy or Stumped?

I can't think of anything senseless enough to post here tonight, so the world will just have to settle for my annoying comments on other people's blogs until my brain hits the big red reset button.

Me Not Shutting Up

I was caught
In the middle of a railroad track (Thunder)
I looked round
And I knew there was no turning back (Thunder)
My mind raced
And I thought what could I do (Thunder)
And I knew
There was no help, no help from you (Thunder)

Sound of the drums
Beatin' in my heart
The thunder of guns
Tore me apart
You've been - Thunderstruck

Logo

I finally got around to putting some kind of graphic on this thing. It's weak, but it's supposed to be. Kind of goes with the whole concept of a pitfinder. Step. Step. Step. Yaaaaaaaaaaaa! Thump!

I'll shut up now.

Ever have one of those times when you feel like you should just keep your mouth shut, your opinions to yourself, and your head down?

I was never less alone than when by myself. -- Edward Gibbon

Have more than thou showest,
Speak less than thou knowest. -- Shakespeare

I can't find my slide rule either. Not that it's that important, but it bugs me.

Finally Friday

A computer lets you make more mistakes faster than any other invention in human history, with the possible exception of handguns and tequila.
-- Mitch Ratcliffe

I Need a Translator

G.W. Bush said this, but I'm left scratching my head as to what it's supposed to mean. Any ideas?

"Because the -- all which is on the table begins to address the big cost drivers. For example, how benefits are calculated, for example, is on the table. Whether or not benefits rise based upon wage increases or price increases. There's a series of parts of the formula that are being considered. And when you couple that, those different cost drivers, affecting those -- changing those with personal accounts, the idea is to get what has been promised more likely to be -- or closer delivered to that has been promised. Does that make any sense to you? It's kind of muddled. Look, there's a series of things that cause the - - like, for example, benefits are calculated based upon the increase of wages, as opposed to the increase of prices. Some have suggested that we calculate -- the benefits will rise based upon inflation, supposed to wage increases. There is a reform that would help solve the red if that were put into effect. In other words, how fast benefits grow, how fast the promised benefits grow, if those -- if that growth is affected, it will help on the red."

Foreign Feedback (Please)

I know there aren't many people reading this blog, but if you see this post please take a couple seconds to read it and maybe post a comment.
I don't want to seem arrogant, I'm just a guy at a keyboard like anybody else, but I understand that I live in a nation that's big, powerful, and capable of significant influence around the world. I take this responsibility very seriously as a citizen and a voter. That said, I'd be very interested in hearing from anybody outside the U.S. about the current state of world affairs and how my country looks from the outside. No, I'm not asking anyone to speak on behalf of their people, just to give honest thoughts and opinions. Are the actions and the policies of the U.S.A. even on your personal radar? Which ones? What do you think?
I'd really like to know. Even if you know of blogs or other resources from other countries that are already talking about this and you just leave a URL or a link, I'd appreciate it.
Thanks.

Green Beer Day

An Englishman thinks seated;
a Frenchman, standing;
an American, pacing;
an Irishman, afterword.

-- Austin O"Malley

Clarification

jadeosaurusrex was kind enough to read my humble blog and brave enough to speak her mind (nicely, I might add). So I guess I should elaborate a bit on some of these posts. I don't mean to sound like I'm griping about all women, or women in general, I like women. It's just that sometimes I see some women who've taken things a step beyond. Not that it's any of my business, if I thought it was, I'd speak up right there. I guess I'm just venting because every woman has something about her that makes her unique and beautiful and it seems like a real shame that so many of them (at least in the U.S.) spend so much time, money, and effort trying to be someone else. Of the women I know, the ones with straight hair want it curly, and the ones with curly hair want it straight. Most of them are stunning just the way they are (not that I could convince them of that).
I guess if I had any advice that wasn't dredged out of my brain late at night trying to make sure I put something on the blog that day, it would be that women who are confident and comfortable with themselves are soooo much sexier and attractive to us knuckle dragging, mouth breathing guys. :-)

A guy I know was once asked what if he thought the Equal Rights Amendment (remember those days?) should be passed, he replied "Hey, if they want to sink to our level, it's okay with me."

Some Suggestions

Ladies (okay, I'm using the term loosely for the moment) how about clothes that fit you? Maybe not what the pop stars are wearing, no matter how trendy it is. Not every woman is has the same bone structure, couldn't you find a look that works for you?
Please quit with the streaky striped hair that looks like you're wearing parts of three or four wigs that almost match. Intentional stripes (like goth chicks) can be okay, but the I-didn't-have-enough-color-so-I-used-three-that-I-thought-were-the-same look is just annoying.
Please stop pulling out your eyebrows. I see women who must have plucked with the mirror a right in front of their face, and I guess it looked good from that distance, but from more than arm's length it looks like your eyebrows are MIA. It's kind of creepy. And drawing them in someplace where eyebrows would never be isn't any better.
Most women look better with as little cosmetics as possible. Doing a lot of extra stuff just makes you look like you don't think you're good enough the way you are, and it's kind of dishonest in a way. And what's wrong with your natural hair color anyway?
You can take me to task for my lack of fashion sense, my lazy grooming habits, and my ignorance of brand popularity trends, but I don't really care. I'm comfortable with who I am. What about you?

1986

This is our world now... the world of the electron and the switch, the beauty of the baud. We make use of a service already existing without paying for what could be dirt-cheap if it wasn't run by profiteering gluttons, and you call us criminals. We explore... and you call us criminals. We seek after knowledge... and you call us criminals. We exist without skin color, without nationality, without religious bias... and you call us criminals. You build atomic bombs, you wage wars, you murder, cheat, and lie to us and try to make us believe it's for our own good, yet we're the criminals.

Yes, I am a criminal. My crime is that of curiosity. My crime is that of judging people by what they say and think, not what they look like. My crime is that of outsmarting you, something that you will never forgive me for.

I am a hacker, and this is my manifesto. You may stop this individual, but you can't stop us all... after all, we're all alike.

Quotes Upon a Theme

Half the work that is done in the world is to make things appear what they are not. -- E. R. Beadle

I give you bitter pills in sugar coating. The pills are harmless: the poison is in the sugar. -- Stanislaw Lec

We pay a person the compliment of acknowledging his superiority whenever we lie to him. -- Samuel Butler

Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored. -- Aldous Huxley

Tornado Alley

I think we dodged a bullet last night. There were tornadoes just about everywhere but here. They went all around us, but managed to miss here. The power didn't even go off where I live. There are many people less fortunate out there today, so I thought I'd fore-go the usual flip sarcasm and just hope that people can recover from this soon.

Good luck to those that need it more than I do right now.

Gobbeldygook

The weather has been kind of nasty where I live so they keep breaking into the regular programming with warnings and updates. The problem is that the guy who's doing it on the channel I'm watching is so incredibly inarticulate that he might as well not be talking. I don't remember what his name is (I think he told me), so I'm just going to dub him Mouth-full-of-marbles Mumblenuts. He says we might have "big-small-large hail" - no kidding. He also said something like "continuinglingly". I have no idea how this character got on television. I'm sure he's a nice fellow, and I have no beef with him personally, but I do have some doubts about his career choice.
Just the other day another news-head said "I'm sure you have questions about living with your body." Yeah, because I wouldn't want to ask too many questions about living without it.

Later Update:
Mumblemouth just told us "This tornado is on the ground and it is tornadic" Yeah, what else would you expect? Volcanic?

The List - So Far

Scooter
Tom
Jack
Birdshot
Iraq
Ports
Eavedropping
Iran
India
Abu Grahib
GitMo
Iraq
Debt
Al Queda
Rendering
AWOL
Memogate
Halliburton
Afghanistan
Iraq
WMD
Yes I know Iraq is in there more than once, but how many years have we been there?

Panic Day

Today is "Panic Day". I don't know who decided that or exactly what that means, but I found it on the internet so it must be true. Tomorrow is "Festival Of Life In The Cracks Day". I'm kind of looking forward to March 28th, "Something On A Stick Day".
Sounds like fun.

Women's looks.

I have this theory that much of the stuff women do to look better is done because of other women and some kind of competition that doesn't involve us. Guys aren't that hard to please. And we (straight guys) can't tell an $80 dress from an $800 dress. If she looks good in it, we don't care. Women use hair care stuff that's supposed to add vitamins. It's dead tissue. It hasn't been alive since it left your scalp. I think that half the stuff women put on their faces is bad for them, generating the need for the other half of the stuff to make up for it.

I don't pretend to understand most of this. Like the girls who stand in line outside bars for half an hour in the cold without a coat. I guess if you want guys to think you might be stupid enough to go home with strangers, that could work. If you're looking for any kind of long term thing, becoming a human popsicle doesn't exactly garner you a load of respect for your brains.
But then, what do I know.

Quotes for today.

To be nobody but yourself - in a world which is doing its best, night and day, to make you everybody else - means to fight the hardest battle which any human being can fight, and never stop fighting. -- e. e. cummings

Tolerably early in life I discovered that one of the unpardonable sins, in the eyes of most people, is for a man to go about unlabeled. The world regards such a person as the police do an unmuzzled dog. -- Thomas Huxley

A woman's strength is the irresistible might of weakness. -- Ralph Waldo Emerson

Only those who dare to fail greatly can ever achieve greatly. -- Robert F. Kennedy

They're still out there.

The strange people who hang out in alt.devilbunnies are still there, for something like eleven years now. Fudds vs. evil rabbits. It's still just as wacky as it was, the 'war' is still on, they post rabbit centerfolds and the like, and I still don't pretend to fully understand the attraction. But hey, there's room for everyone on the web, no matter how unusual.
I wonder if these people are more than fifty percent weird.

Giddyap!

I'm kind of worried about Dubya. I have this image of the guy somewhere out on the dusty prairie sitting atop a wagon that the wheels fell off of several miles back and though the horses dragged it as far as they could they've since dropped in their tracks and he's just sitting there in the seat snapping the reins like he thinks he's going somewhere. Git along little doggie.

Not a Word

Alums is not a word.
Alum is a word. It's a double sulphate of aluminum and potassium. It's not somebody who graduated from your university.
Alumnus - Male graduate.
Alumni - Plural male.
Alumna - Female graduate.
Alumnae - Plural female.

Office is not a verb.

Fast is not a noun. It can be an adjective or a verb, but not a noun.

Expresso is not a word.

The Koala is not a bear.

Volumptuous is not a word.

Brung is not a word.

Signage is not a word.

You can't plead innocent in the U.S. no matter how hard you try. Innocent is NOT the same as 'Not Guilty'.

And please people, can we all learn how to pronounce Nuclear?

Inner Marv

I'm in touch with my inner Marv.

"Hell's waking up every goddamn day and not even knowing why you're here."

Marv is a misunderstood person who lives outside the lines.

"Most people think Marv is crazy. He just had the rotten luck of being born in the wrong century. He'd be right at home on some ancient battlefield, swinging an axe into somebody's face. Or in a Roman arena taking a sword to other gladiators like him. They'd have tossed him girls like Nancy back then."

He's not polite, but at least he's real. Honest. Unafraid.

"Shoot me now, or get the hell out of my way."

And it doesn't matter to him if anybody else understands him or not because he's got a code and he sticks to it.

"It really gets my goat when guys rough up dames."

And in a world where nobody wants him, what is he doing? The right thing, as best he's able, every chance he gets. No matter what it costs him.

"Hell, I'll die laughing if I know I've done this one thing right."

Go get 'em Marv.

"Is that the best you can do, you pansies?"

(With thanks to Frank Miller)

Web Citizen

I'm weird, I have the Blogthing to prove it. "You Are 50% Weird. Normal enough to know that you're weird... But too damn weird to do anything about it!"
So the people who are geographically close are usually very distant socially. Now there are blogs. People blog about food and pets and stuff, but once in a while I run across a person who just lays it out there. People who have their own angst and problems, but they're honest about it. Unafraid. People I can understand. And reading their blogs has given me the chance to find out what kind of people they are before I make an ass of myself. So, I'm meeting new, interesting people and getting a refresher course in being social.
It doesn't cost me anything to be nice to people, and the web lets me connect with people I can understand no matter where they are.
The pens have taken flight.

Courage

Courage is doing what you're afraid to do. There can be no courage unless you're scared.
--Eddie Rickenbacker

To be brave one short instant is no easy matter; It is easier to die for a cause than to live for it.
--Comtesse Diane (Marie de Beausacq)