So, went out for Chinese food...

...and my fortune read "If it seems that the fates are against you today, it's because they are." **paranoid glances back and forth**

I thought today was going pretty good, though! Guess I had better just go to bed, and not "tempt fate"...

Wheeee...

So now in addition to HEC-RAS, I'm installing ArcGIS and HEC-GeoRAS. Because if ever there was a program cobbled together from decades of DOS command lines even more than HEC-RAS, it would be ArcGIS... should be fun...

Your fun Wikipedia page of the day

List of Unexplained Sounds

Be sure to click through them all and listen to the ones with recordings, some of them are pretty spooky.

Old Old School Massive Attack

More of a short film than a music video:



One of those things where nothing much seems to happen, but I just enjoy the atmosphere of it.

How Exciting!

The "in stock" date of the buttstock I want for my rifle has been pushed back every time I've looked at it on Midway since mid December, until the past week, when the date went out to the end of February, and then started coming back the other way.  It's now looking like it may be shipping within a week...  at which point I will declare myself momentarily satisfied on my setup (though there's still the bayonet, and the sling, and the [_____]).

I MUST get out shooting more!

So True

Dr. Boli on the severity of different crimes. Sadly, I had to laugh. As they say, follow the money...

(Oh, and I would say "sorry" for the linky not thinky, but even when I'm not linky I'm not thinky, so I guess you just get what you get.)

Cold

I was warm in bed this morning and as soon as I got out I was cold. Went downstairs to eat breakfast and I was colder. Went outside to drive to work and I was colder.

...I hope I'm not coming down with a cold...

This one has everything

Morcheeba, Blindfold:



Exceptional lady singer, check.  Symphonic strings and turntable scratches, check.  Forced perspective and slow motion visuals, check.  Random fish being thrown across the screen to keep you on your toes, check.  One of my favorite songs ever!

Has anyone else noticed this recently?

My sitemeter statistics are showing that googlebot is on a mad tear through my blog. Usually I get a couple hits a week, but I'd say in the past 5 days a good 20% of my traffic is actually googlebot. Just wondering if it's just me, or if anyone else is noticing that too.

Sunday Music: Some Kind of Zombie

I can't remember if I have posted this song before or not, but it's been a looong time if I have.

Before zombies were in, Audio Adrenaline made this:



I quite like the comparison of being "dead to sin like some kind a zombie" (ahem, "dead man dance" ahem).  Doesn't hurt that it's a solid rockin' song, and a bizarre music video (in other words, right up my alley).  And it's from one of my favorite 90's Christian albums--I know I did the Chevette song, off of it a while back.

Dogs

There's our little annoying dog (taking a break from trying to pull off my socks) and my Uncle's Ridiculous Corgi (who was supervising him taking off my socks) I mentioned the other day.

Dogblogging!

Strangers

More trip-hop, this time Portishead. And live, with an orchestra!

To cut the grumbling in the air

Have some kittens on a vacuum.



Just doesn't get old, that.

While I'm at it

Since it seems that most of the driving population of the United States has a problem telling under what conditions you need your headlights, rather than give you some sort of list that you will forget here's a helpful hint to keep you safe, and more importantly, to keep me from dying screaming in a fire with you:

Just. Turn. On. Your. Headlights.

Since it is too hard for you to remember that you ought to turn them on in fog, just turn on your headlights when you get in the car.  Since it is apparently too hard for you to remember that you ought to turn on your headlights when the sun isn't up yet, just turn on your headlights when you get in the car.  Since it is too hard for you to remember to turn on your headlights when you are driving a little grey car in the twilight, just turn on your headlights when you get in the car.  One rule.  Keep it simple.  Turn on your headlights.  Broad daylight and it hasn't rained in a month?  TURN ON YOUR HEADLIGHTS.

With any luck you'll forget to turn them off and your battery will be dead, keeping your apparently too-dumb-to-breathe body off the road.

I don't care.

So apparently there's another group of crazy idiots who are going to boycott some coffee shop on valentines day, or thereabouts.  And there's some sort of counter movement going on in the gunblogs that will inevitably dwarf whatever feeble effort the three (or is it 14 million? Those anti-rights cultists can never seem to count...) people in Sheboygan paying attention to the National Counsel of Gun... Violence... Appreciation... Councilors (or whatever their flavor of the month is--good golly but those anti-rights cultists come up with some duuuh-uuuhmb names) twitter feed. 

I'm getting tired of this stuff.  I don't like coffee.  I don't like the chi-chi hipster atmosphere of coffee shops.  I don't even like the overpriced pastries they sell. In fact, it could be said that my entire life has been one long boycott of Starbucks et al.  I hate to say (write, whatever) this out loud, but I Don't Care.  Let it be put on the record that while I believe that this is a good cause, I also believe that no one is listening to the anti-gun groups, and so this is just an excuse to buy coffee. 

And I'd rather spend my money on ammo.  Harumph.

A mega creepy conglomeration for you!

From Yello's first album!



Especially the Assistant's Cry part.

Strange and wonderful*

It's very odd how you can rip all the skin off a knuckle and it doesn't start hurting till two days later, no?

*I say that because just thinking of the healing process is just so amazing it makes me freak out a little bit (kinda like looking at the stars, or the Hubble Deep Field photograph), and feeling the pain again means things are moving right along in there.

I don't think you think that means what I think it means

Is there another health provider I could go to first?

Rather than finding something more conventional

I am going in the wrong direction, I think.



What's weirder than Bjork? A Bjork remix!

That little guy behind her is just plain creepy. Actually most of this video is creepy.

Potato Chips!

Sliced a couple potatoes real thin, put them in a bag with olive oil, salt, garlic powder and pepper, shook them up till they were all coated nice, put them on a couple of baking sheets, and baked them for maybe a half an hour until they were all getting nice and crispy.

Note to Self

It is possible to crash a fancy new computer with 8GB of RAM by trying to edit a 80,421KB JPEG in MS Paint...

CRKT M16

Via Linoge's Soldiers' Angels fundraiser and giveaway, yesterday I came in to possession of a splendid little knife (well, biggish knife) from Columbia River Knife and Tool, a (an?) M16-13z.  A nice bright spot in an otherwise rather dismal day.  Because I like companies that support great charities like Soldiers' Angels, here's a little bit of free advertising for CRKT, in the form of some pictures and my initial impressions of the knife (note: did you see what I just did there, FCC FTC FAA FAC et al?  That's all you're going to get from me today. Go suck eggs.)

So let's see... zytel grips, spear point partially serrated 3.5" blade that flips out via a little lever (not spring powered, mind you), their "autolawks" locking system.  Sort of a diamond shaped blade, with a satin finish and a slightly off-centered edge (though very sharp), which I'm not sure the purpose of. Nice solid knife. Not huge, but big enough (and I guess big enough to count as a "weapon" in some jurisdictions, huh?).  Only thing to possibly disagree with is that it was made in Taiwan.  Some people care about that more than others, and I like to try sticking with Made in USA products, but it's hard to argue with quality, which this knife has in spades. But I thought I would mention it.

Put up next to my old standby, a Kershaw Scallion, you can see the size better:

The autolawks system is an extra little lever that blocks the liner lock until you pull it back, just an extra layer of safety, I guess, to keep the blade from coming closed on your fingers.

When closed, the blade snaps into place with what feels like a little detent of some sort to keep it from just flipping open in your pocket.  When you push on the lever (the protrusion with the hole through it in the above picture) it overcomes whatever it is that holds the blade in place and swings the blade out.  Depending on the position you are holding the knife, it may swing all the way open and lock, or you may need to give it a little flick to get it to go all the way.  When it's open, the lever acts as a bit of a finger guard to keep you from slipping up the handle.  Similar to how the Kershaw works, but without the spring power.

So to sum up, I like this knife very much. It fills a niche in my collection (a larger folder) that I was previously lacking.  Many thanks to Linoge for running the fundraiser for Soldiers' Angels, and to CRKT for providing this great knife as a prize.

Sigh, and sigh again.

So came out of work yesterday to be greeted by a very flat tire:

So, got the spare on, went by the tire store to hear the professional opinion... it was too far gone to save, the sidewall had torn. I'd known that the tires on the truck were going to be needing replacement soon, the tread was getting down there, so I just had her give me a quote.

$826.24 later (over a hundred dollars of which was taxes and fees, thanks fed.gov!), I got to walk out the door of the tire place with brand spankin' new rubber.  Yokohama Geolandar ATS--reading reviews you get a nice even spread of people praising and complaining about the very same things (They wear great! They wear worst of everything! Great traction in wet conditions! Worse than slicks in wet conditions!).  Averaging things out, I figure they're decent all around tires.  I will say that they ride noticeably smoother than the old tires.

So yeah, spent the equivalent of a nice new entry level AR-15 yesterday on molded rubber.  How was your day?

And since I'm in the weird genres of electronica right now

Why not some Bjork?



She's about as weird as you can get in modern music.

Sigh (no yay this time)

Decided to call the humane society about the little missing cat, just to see if anyone had dropped one off... though I'm not sure that they bother with cats anyway. And of course the office is closed on Tuesdays. So far things aren't looking promising...slightly depressing.

what is this i dont even

Herman Cain... at a Steven Colbert rally... singing Pokemon stuff?

Yet another one of my precious few marbles has been washed down the drain into a series of tubes...

Sigh (or Yay, I guess)

It's currently snowing, and the weather says it will be till 8:00 or so. Probably the best snow we've had all season down in the valley (not that that's saying much). No one's gone through our mailbox yet, which is a plus.

My uncle the mechanic sent an email yesterday from Belize; it was 85, he was sitting on the beach. Meanwhile, back at the ranch:

But it's good to finally get some snow, it's been really dry so far this year. Last week we set a record high of 58 one day. Coulda worn shorts! Today, though, I think I may just leave for work a little later than usual. A body gets tired of yelling at all the morons on the highway who are trying to kill themselves and you in a single impressive piece of burning wreckage.

I guess I'm back to Trip Hop

Tricky is always darker than the others for some reason.

Scoped

There.  Bushmaster ORC 308, with my new Vortex Diamondback 4-12x40 on a Burris PEPR mount.  I *think* it's boresighted in; as I've never done such a thing before, We Will See.  The front sight ordered for Christmas hasn't been heard from since the order confirmation email--Bushmaster either lost the order or they are really busy--but I did pick up a Magpul rear BUS.  And nowhere seems to have the butt stock I want in stock--or indeed any stocks.  The stocks are out of stock. For now I just need to get out shooting more...

It's Monday

Which means it's time for some sort of creepy music, right?



Can't I just get back in bed?

Give Us Rest

David Crowder Band released their final album (deliberately their 7th--remember 7 represents completion in the Jewish tradition) a couple weeks ago. Yes, my favorite band is going on to other things. But man, this album, called in typical DC*B tradition, "Give Us Rest or (a requiem mass in c [the happiest of all keys]" is a doozy. 2 disk set, genres running the gamut from bluegrass to quasi-death metal, from a Kris Kristofferson cover to Bill and Gloria Gaither hymn. Pretty impressive for a worship band.  And it has some pretty nifty album art, as showcased by this short video:



I, of course, love it all.

They also made this somewhat hilarious Rockmockumentary to mark the release:



I'm sad that they're over, but I look forward to what these guys come up with in the future...

Notes of Randomnosity

Quiche for supper tonight; egg, ham, spinach, cheese... yummy.

It's trying to decide if it wants to start snowing or raining outside; the mountains look like they're getting pounded in any case.

My uncle the mechanic left today with his girlfriend for Belize; he goes every winter, and someday I'll go too, dagnabbit. For now we are left babysitting his dog and his car (a ridiculously silly cardigan welsh corgi, and a classic BMW, respectively)

My rich uncle and his partner just called; they just bought (holy cow, how many hundred?!?!?) acres of land in upstate New York, in the middle of nowhere as a "retirement property." My first thought was "why did it have to be in New York?  I coulda snuck out there and built a shooting range if it were anywhere else..."

The cat disappeared yesterday, in between when we left for the concert and when we got back.  Haven't seen hide nor hair of him, though the cat food in the bowl was gone this morning.  I don't know if that means he came back, or if it means the [insert boogie monster here] ate him and then came back for his food...  needless to say there are a ton of raccoon signs out there, I think it may be time to renew my crusade against them.  It's just such a pain digging all those holes... I'm leaning towards pikes lining the canal bank...

So what kind of education do you need to be in a cowboy band?

The answer to that question is simple.  Ranger Doug (the idol of American youth!) has a Masters of Literature, Too Slim (the man of a thousand hats!) has a Masters of Wildlife Management, and Woody Paul (King of the cowboy fiddlers!) has a PhD in Theoretical Physics from MIT.  I kid you not.  Oh, and the new guy (only been with the band since the 90's) Joey (the Cowpolka King!) has only been playing accordion since he was 4.

Just thought that useless bit of trivia was pretty funny.

Groovy

No idea who the band is, or anything like that, but...



it's a pretty smooth tune, that.

Brussels Sprouts

Sauteed in butter, with sea salt, garlic, cayenne pepper, and then deglazed with balsamic vinegar when ready to serve.

Holy crap, that's hilarious

Don't get me wrong, it's a horrible, horrible thing **snerk** horrible thing

Freak washing machine accident boils lab monkey alive

Ok, fine, you win, I did laugh.

Seen at Sharp as a Marble

I just had the strangest desire

I need to listen to Journey.  Right now.  Don't stop believin', yo.

Quote of the Yesterday

I prefer to have my world view shaped by facts, rational thought, logic, and actual hard evidence, rather than the deranged rantings-and-ravings of charlatans whose continued employment literally relies on more people being shot and killed by firearms.

Linoge, "we do not claim; we prove" (and a nice use of a semi-colon in the title, there)

The anti-rights cultists have jumped the shark. It's kinda sad to see grown adults act the way they do, but then again, it's kinda fun to laugh at them...

Going to see these guys tonight

Riders in the Sky, because sometimes you just need some cowboy music:



I've loved them ever since I was a little kid--kinda exciting to see them live.

Buycott

In support Borepatch's "I am TJIC buycott" (or is it Jay's?), I present to you my latest excursion into beefing up my ORC:

I've been looking for a scope for some time now, so the buycott was really just a good excuse to pick one up. This is a Vortex Diamondback 4-12x40. Seemed to hit my quality/price ratio in the right place (and it was the same price as the 3-9x40, so >>shrug<<), and it's the one that my old roommate in MT put on his 300 RUM (hmmmm... it's hiding in the back of the last picture of this post), so I figure it ought to hold up to my measly little 308. The proof, as they say, is in the pudding, but before I can prove it I must mount it on my rifle...

Squirrel Suits

Chinese Scenes from BASE-Book - Matt Gerdes on Vimeo.

China has some pretty neat scenery. So why not jump out of a cable car and fly through it?

More SOPA Thoughts

Seems there are quite a few people out there in the "Pointless posturing/yeah, so? the Fed.gov's been doing this ever since the ink was wet on the constitution--why are you all butthurt now?" category. This is a valid point, I think, but I want to tell you a story to maybe hearten you. It's very short--about my brother, who was never interested in current events/politics at all--until SOPA. He was a standard American coputer-y geek, content to play his flash games and watch cats on Youtube--until SOPA. I can't say that he is now going to be the next campaign organizer for the Libertarian party (though that position sounds kinda like it would be herding cats, anyway)... but SOPA shocked him out of his comfort zone, made him realize that yes, the government isn't all happy sunshine people here to comfort and protect, and he's actually following the primaries, and can actually debate the pros and cons of the current selection of jokes running for bumbler in chief (and he realizes that they are all jokes, too).

If even a small percentage of all the internet kiddies out there have been caused by SOPA to actually care one tiny bit about the politics of the day, and realize that they do affect you who was content to sit in the basement on 4chan, I can't say as how that is a bad thing.

Hmmmm...

The internet oughta go on strike more often. That was kinda nice.

On strike

...be back the 19th.

There was more than just SOPA, you know.  The Senate is voting on their version (PIPA) on the 24th.

When did we let so many idiots be in charge of such minutia in our lives?

Signs of the end times

My boss cleaned off some of his 10-year pile of junk, and is finally upgrading from his Windows XP machine to Windows 7.

I feel like someone punched me in the nose! What's happening?  Who am I?  Where am I...

There's a word for that, I know... wait, it's coming to me

Democrats in Wisconsin finally turned in all their petitions to recall governor Walker.  But apparently the next step in their cunning plan is "?" and the step after that is "PROFIT!" because:

"Democrats don’t know who will challenge Walker. Party and union leaders say they’re not concerned about not having someone actively running against Walker and trying to match his fundraising. In fact, they say it was part of their strategy."

You went through all that trouble to forge all those dead people's signatures, and you never came up with anyone to run against him?  There's a word for this, it will describe you perfectly, but I can't quite remember what it is... I think it starts with "S-T" and rhymes with "Cupid."

Huh.

Went out to do the chores this morning in just a sweatshirt, and thought to myself "Wow, it's pretty warm out today."  Then I got in my truck and saw that the thermometer was telling me 8 degrees F, warming all the way up to 10 by the time I got to work.

Must be a dry cold?

Freeky Music Video

I believe I speak for everyone when I say: "Huh?"

A sad thought for the day

Butch pointed me towards GEMTECH's website (he's trying to goad me into buying a .22 suppressor), and looking at their map, I am saddened once again by how fuddish my town is.  130,000 people, and ONE real shooting range, which is not open to the public? Nowhere to rent a gun if you are shopping around? And no one dealing with silencers for miles around?  I mean, hell, Vail has a GEMTECH dealer, even!  For being such a Republican, "Praise the Lord and pass the ammunition" type stronghold, I am very disappointed in the way things are.

And for today's commute...

...we have a rousing game of Pickup Truck Pinball!

Seriously people, SLOW DOWN.  If you go 5 mph faster than the speed limit, and I go 5 mph slower, we still get to the red light at the exit ramp at the same time!

I CAN'T TAKE IT ANYMORE!

I just have to put this out there--maybe greater exposure will trickle down till everyone gets the message--

Please, feel free to repost this... more people need to know.

Spent the Day Cooking...

6:30 AM--Got up
8:00-9:30 AM--At church
9:45 AM--Started cooking
4:00 PM--Finished cooking

That's not counting the 4 or 5 hours we did yesterday...

There is now enough food in this house to make the Department of Homeland Security absolutely crap their pants. Heck, for most of the day there was 7 days worth of food in one corner of the kitchen counter!

So the freezer's full, and to cap it off I attempted to make no-knead sourdough again.

I think my yeast may have died off too much between now and the last time I tried it.  I resurrected the dough at the last minute by mixing in some baking soda--it's still pretty dense, but sure tastes good with butter on top...

Added: and now I'm sitting here enjoying a nice rum and coke.  Good day.

A Prayer for the President

Psalm 109:8

Amen, and amen.

Wow

Losta blue and orange out there in the shopping centers today...

Today's agenda

We have a two-page shopping list to get through, and then we are planning on starting in on s "Once a Month Cooking" project. It will certainly last longer than just one month, with only two people and the possibility that we'll be eating other things as well--it sure is nice to have a lot of ready to go food in the freezer. The downside is that you have to dedicate pretty much a whole weekend to it.

Seriously Cool

A minifigure-scale LEGO Saturn V

From Gizmodo

Yay!

Another Gaelic Storm song, because, well...



I had ticket 256.

Many thanks to Linoge for running the Soldiers' Angels fundraiser! Over $2000 raised by the gunblogger community... how cool!

Thoughts for the afternoon

Listen, buddy, it's not my fault you don't know how to use your cruise control. And lady, I know being an illiterate adult you won't read this message, but... surely someone explained to you at some point what those red octagons they put up at street corners are?

Friday 13th

So far today I have already had to restart my computer 5 times trying to get my antivirus re-installed. It seems to be working fine for now... hopefully the malignant aura of today has worn off, or whatever. Also, hopefully you don't have any problems at all!

A sad love song

Gaelic Storm is another one of those bands that probably should have been on my list of most listened to the other day. This song is particularly moving, I think.

Though the background picture in the video is from the wrong album.

Soldiers' Angels Fundraiser--LAST CHANCE!

Linoge's fundraiser for Soldiers' Angels is almost done!  There's still time to enter, if you hurry!

Here's a random question for you

Why doesn't the numpad have a tab key?

FIGHT! FIGHT! FIGHT!

Borepatch challenges some anti-gun troll (I refuse to write his name) to a duel.

Gee, I wonder who would win that particular fight?

Canada Haunts Me

Or at least, it haunts The Johns.



Though that windmill is kinda freaking me out. I see how it works, but it still doesn't seem like it ought to.

Quote of the Day

"I am sick and tired of Bloomberg demonizing gun owners. Any politician that would get up in front of a microphone and outright lie to the media about an innocent victim of his Draconian firearms policies is unworthy of holding public office. Every mayor who belongs to Bloomberg's anti-gun-rights Mayors Against Illegal Guns coalition should be embarrassed by his remarks and seriously reconsider their membership in his organization. The only thing worse than Bloomberg's New York gun laws is Bloomberg himself. If Bloomberg ever had any credibility at all it no longer exists. His deliberate slander of Meredith Graves is reprehensible, and he should be ashamed."

Alan Gottlieb, in the SAF's latest press release.

Hey Mayor Bloomberg? I think the technical term for that is "PWND, NOOB!"

2 guage shotgun

Yes, that's 2 gauge, not 12.

Ideal for home defense:



Home defense... from rouge battleships or flocks of T-rexes. Or eldritch horrors. Or swarms of flesh-eating sparrows.  Or __________. (fill in the blank)

RE:M&P, XD9-SC FYI

What with all the luuurve going around with S&W M&P pistols in the gunblogging world of late, I just thought I would point out that my XD9 Subcompact has over a thousand rounds through it now--from nice hollow points, to reloads, to cheap Blazer Aluminum.  I have yet to have had any problems whatsoever. 

Just seems like XD's are the gun that people have that they don't want to admit they have. Don't know if it's because they're made in Croatia or what. I, on the other hand, don't even think the subcompact XD is ugly...

Anyway, just thought that I would put that out there...

With your mouth!

Pretty amazing that this guy can do all that dubstep with just his mouth.



Even if it is pretty silly.

Hard History

Just finished listening to Dan Carlin's "Ghosts of the Ostfront," which goes in depth into the German-Soviet war front in WWII.

>>shudder<<

I don't know if I want to go home and load one of my old Nazi-killer WWII games up or just sit in a corner in the fetal position.  That was not a happy time and place.

You really should go over there and give it a listen, if you have the time.  That is some history we do not want to repeat.

Thought for the day

You know, it's kinda freaky how fast Midway gets things shipped.

Days to Come and thoughts on music

A while back there was the meme that went around talking about the top 20 on your iPod, or whatever. Despite me loving my music, I didn't participate in that one because well, 1) I don't have an iPod, and 2) I listen across all platforms, from Slacker and Pandora, to Windows Media Player, to my Creative Zen Vision:M MP3 player that I bought back in high school(!). Hard to get a good track count when you do it like that. However, I know that Bonobo would be up in the heights, along with Infected Mushroom, U2, Chumbawamba, Muse, and I know that Family Force 5 was up to over 50 playthroughs on my old laptop before it died (yes, it's an odd mix... sue me).



I think the reason I like Bonobo is that it is still technically a form of electronic music; that is, it is usually composed on computers, but made out of looped beats and samples of acoustic instruments, and rather than the overwhelming wall of sound style you get out of DnB or Dubstep. Something sparse and almost quiet, but will still make you want to floor it on the interstate. I describe it as "Jazz World Techno" though there is probably a better way to label the genre.

I mean, they've got an upright bass:



How could you not like that?

Thanks to Weer'd for inspiring this post!

Snack Recommendation

Cottage cheese with some sweet and spicy chipotle sauce on top.  Sounds weird, but really good.

Oh, c'mon, put some clothes on...

...you stupid crazy naked hard chocolatey candies, you.



Some of those were actually pretty disturbing, considering they're just M&M's.

Books of 2012: Art of the Rifle

Well, since I got my rifle, I decided that some more usage information would be nice to go with it. So I picked up Col. Cooper's "The Art of the Rifle," which is widely recommended as the top resource for rifle shooting. It is short, yet full of information on all aspects of the subject--techniques, philosophy, and stories. In Cooper's own words, most of the book can be summed up with these two points:

1. If you can get closer, get closer.
2. If you can get steadier, get steadier.

As my new year's resolutions mostly involve finding the equipment and locations to wring out my rifle at longer and longer ranges, I fully expect to be paging through this book for the rest of the year, and the years to come. But I started 2012 off right.

I rate the book a good 8/10--it could have had a little bit more in-depth information, and it focused nearly exclusively on bolt action rifles.

Another sunrise

From this morning:

As they say in Colorado, "If God isn't a Broncos fan, then why does he make the sunrise blue and orange?"

This one goes out to Weer'd and his dubstep obsession!

Do you know what I like even more than techno songs?



Classical-style remakes of techno songs. It's too bad that there aren't many of them out there.

Light a Candle to Prevent Violence

"All that is required for evil to prevail is for good men to do nothing"

--attributed to Edmund Burke

(original idea from Weer'd)

(and Weer'd now has the other pictures up)

What we're watching

Awesome! "Forever Plaid" is on Netflix!

I bet you couldn't do this

That's some mad tea-making skillz right there.

Going North

Well, my it's time for my brother to head back up to Wyoming for school again.  And since it's supposedly going to snow this afternoon, he's heading out early to beat it.  So what better than an Infected Mushroom remix of "Riders on the Storm" to send him off?



Pretty sure I posted this song before, but I couldn't find it. In any case, you get to hear it again.

Thought for the day

Vote Mitt Romney--because 8 Republicans can't be wrong!

Is a chicken a particle or a wave?

Or even, BOTH?



Minecraft+physics=awesome!

Watershed Moment!

Finally, finally, we have all of the pages of this big report I've been helping my boss out on, ever since four years ago when I started working for him in the summers doing soil testing. Since last May or whenever it was I came back to work for him, I've since compiled all of the data I found in the lab, crunched numbers, made figures, mapped coordinates, edited hours of video, translated my boss's chicken scratch handwriting, edited, numbered, and now, printed off hundreds of pages (three reams of paper, or about 1500 pages) for this report. Today will consist entirely of punching holes and binding... and punching holes and binding...

It is awfully nice to have a finished product after all that work!

Drunk Lullaby

From the video description:

In my mind, notes start playing just after the appropriate amount of hard liquor hit my insides.

Then I write the notes down and music is created.

That is pretty darn good music!

Seems like a slow day out there

So have a couple of sleeping dogs:

Dog blogging. Yep.

Cool Picture

365 pictures taken on consecutive days of the same thing, and then spliced together so every line of pixels is in order from the first picture to the last.  Amazing stuff you can find on this here interwebs thingy.

A Short Movie Review: Adventures of Tintin

We were given some movie tickets for Christmas, and since my mother doesn't often go to the movies, and Tintin had a dog in it, she decided on it. Despite having absolutely no knowledge of the Tintin comics, and the film itself being a little too "Uncanny Valley," I thought it was a nicely entertaining adventure story, with swashbuckling, mystery, a great voice cast, some excellent CGI visuals, and a surprising amount of gunplay. A quality film, being that it was made with both Steven Spielberg's and Peter Jackson's involvement.

I'd recommend it.

What? Whaaaaaat?! Whaaaaaaaaaaaaat?!?!

I literally don't understand. And unless you speak Afrikaans, I doubt you understand either.

Ok, this one is definitely cute

After those ostriches the other day, kittens! How can you go wrong?

I found this incredibly funny

If you laugh at screaming gummi bears, does it make you a bad person?

2011

The Onion's Year in Review, since Dave Barry's went around yesterday.

That's about the attitude I have for it.

Elections: what he said

I'm going to bed, too.

New Meaning to "Android Smart Phone"

Everyone, all together: "GROAN."

Poor kitty

Fractal the Cat goes to get his "operation" today. Ouch. But it ought to keep him out of trouble.

Media Bias?

On page 4 of yesterday's newspaper:  an article talking about the shooting in Mt. Rainier.  It talked about things that were pertinent to the situation... you know, things that were NEWS.  Let me repeat, this was on page 4.

On the front page of today's newspaper: an AP article talking about how we should re-ban guns in National Parks.  This article didn't talk about the shooter, used the ranger only for her blood, and jumped straight in to their agenda.  Front page. 

Any hint of media bias in there, do you think?

Added: wow, then I go and read through some of my blog list and see that practically everybody has a near identical post up.  When the bias is so strong, I wonder how Joe Average off the street feels about it.  Does he fall in to the narrative, or does he see through it?

New Year, and back to work

And one more TMBG song. To make you feel good. Ha.

The visual embodiment of tortured souls

Just cornstarch, water, and a speaker, but still, kinda freaky looking.

Hope Hope Hopidy Dope Hope.

"Severe reservations" my Irish ass.

This man won a Nobel Peace Prize.  Amazing.

Oh dear

I was somewhat looking forward to seeing Red Tails when it comes out (about the Tuskegee Airmen in WWII), but I saw a trailer for it on the TV yesterday that had a Dubstep soundtrack.

Look, I like dubstep as much as the next guy, but there is a line that was crossed there.  I'm not saying my entire collection of hopes and dreams was shattered, but it was dented a bit.

And for tonight's entertainment

MST3K: Final Sacrifice! I love Netflix!

What's Cookin'

Hint:  It has a roux and there's a bowl full of okra waiting off to the side...

New Year

I refuse to say "Happy." There is absolutely no evidence to suggest 2012 is going to be anything but worse than 2011.