...it seemed interesting at the time...

Mark of Texas

2009-11-05T22:23:00.001-05:00

The frightening part, is, her school district says she is a "valued employee and one of our best teachers". I suppose the fact that she's an insane maniac who refuses to have her fingerprints taken and want's to work with your children is really not important. Why search for previous convictions on someone who is so obviously close to god..... Ah..Texas.

http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2009/11/mark-of-the-beast/

The best and the brightest (Republican style).

2009-11-05T13:48:00.001-05:00

...and this is what the police are like at the highest levels of organization...but make sure you toss out your rights and do what they say when they say it when the lowest levels get in your face..

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8345292.stm

Sigh....

2009-11-01T00:14:00.001-04:00

Evil evil..kill the nudies. I guess the city of Boulder has no real crime...although they seem to have quite a large police force. Maybe Boulders citizens should get together and see if they are spending entirely too much money for services they clearly don't need if this is a priority. Although, to be honest, I wonder what the cop on the street feels like being pulled off of real work for this bullshit? (Not that he could say and keep his job of course. That would take a free society, and almost all police organizations are run as if they are military and not civilian. I wonder why they so often clash with civilians, who believe they have rights, while their military organizations suspend their rights and talk about their duties.)

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8336308.stm

I got it half right.....^_^

2009-10-26T12:40:00.001-04:00

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/8325579.stm

You will never see "Americans" in this headline...

2009-10-23T10:16:00.001-04:00

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/8321967.stm

Odds and ends..

2009-10-15T21:58:00.001-04:00

OCTOBER 14--A South Carolina teenager is facing a felony charge for throwing a "deadly missile" at a moving vehicle. The armament in question was a burrito. (various sources)

Regarding the above...it doesn't matter what it was. He claims "it was only a prank". A jest..a simple jape...no harm here. Bullshit. Anything winged through the open window of a car traveling next to you at speed is criminal. Period. What could possibly be "prankish" about it? "Gee officer, I only meant to distract him long enough for him to lose control and crash...it was only a prank". In fact..I'm not even sure the window being open should be considered. I know that I would have pulled hard right upon something hitting my window...that I would have seen..at best..with my peripheral vision at the last second. I'm annoyed that this is being reported as a "joke" story. This was dangerous, and well worth the felony charge. Don't let him off the hook.

I was going to continue here by lambasting the authorities for PC above and beyond the bounds of PC...but upon reading further than the headline things become less clear. The story was about parents being arrested for washing their 8 years olds mouth out with soap...(something many of us managed to live through, and we managed to be more circumspect around elders, if not each other..^_^). However..this is also described as being forced to "eat" soap (which I might consider going a touch to far), and more importantly...not getting aid for the child when she had an allergic reaction to the soap, however..that may not be true either, since they did call for aid, which is what brought the police in the first place. You would think that a news organization would at least attempt to get the full story before bothering to run it for everyone else to make fun of. There is just too much here that is unknown.

OK..unlike most of the news reports..I did look a bit further. The mother has had run ins with child services before it seems...and while she was finally taken to a hospital, it was long after she should have been..and it seems only then because the mother got afraid she would be in worse trouble if the girl died...not out of any compassion for the child. I think I may now switch position, and rather than swearing at a government agency for being to aggressive, I should swear at them for maybe not removing the kids from that home sooner...^_^.

PC

2009-10-15T10:50:00.001-04:00

I'm pretty sure this is a PC rule of some sort....maybe they think that it's an advantage of rich runners...in which case I would think a limit on which shoe you could use would be more to the point. I'd feel more sorry for the 'victim" in this case if she hadn't won because the person who did win was disqualified for getting a drink of water from a non-authorized spectator (hey...after 15 miles or so she should have been paying more attention to the clothes being worn by spectators..you know..to pick out the right ones from the wrong ones). Maybe the organizers should lose their license to run this race for not controlling the audience better? Seems to me they are at least as responsible for un-authorized persons being on the course as the runner is for accepting liquid from them...

http://news.cnet.com/8301-17852_3-10372586-71.html?tag=rtcol;pop

Signs of Intelligence?

2009-10-07T23:32:00.001-04:00

From a conservative Republican columnist? I was beginning to think such a thing did not exist since Bill Buckley left us..not to mention the loss of Bill Safire..who's language columns showed the wonderful intelligence he could bring to bear when he would actually think about what he was writing rather than trying to obfuscate one of his clients out of trouble.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/02/opinion/02brooks.html?_r=2

The dumbest contestant of all time...

2009-10-07T08:39:00.003-04:00

Hi everybody!....If you get a chance try to watch this video about the dumbest contestant of all time on the Price is Right show.

Here is the url:

http://tr.im/pricewrong

Its funny!

Love from,
tara

MIssing cartoons..

2009-10-06T15:42:00.002-04:00

Just noticed that the cartoons from my post yesterday aren't there today. So much for the easier method I found of inserting them. I'll try and get them back in now..

Do you remember....?

2009-10-06T09:59:00.001-04:00

Please remember me when i die....
(This post is re-printed from another blog i used to have. The old blog was on an adult site that i don't go to anymore).

My family can trace back our ancestors to my parents great grandparents. Most of my friends can't even go back that far. i keep wondering about all of the lost generations of my ancestors who walked on this planet many years ago. They are lost in the dustbin of history......Absolutely no memories are left of them.....It makes me feel sad...With the invention of photography in the 1800's it became easier to preserve the memories of people....Video tape, film and digital images also will aid in recording a families' memories...But who is going to care one hundred years from now? i can look at old photos of my great grandparents but i have no real memories of them.Our ancestors probably had the same type of worries that we have.....about love; money; and health....i wish that there had been a central registry kept throughout history to record each family's ancestors.....their names; dates of birth; occupations; etc. Next time you visit an antique store you probably will see a box of old photographs showing interesting looking people wearing old fashioned clothes....All of them are long gone and no one even wants their pictures now....They have disapperead from everyone's memories...Its as though they never existed at all. Yet each one was once a special individual....now nothing but dust....When i was little i left my hand print in some wet cement on the sidewalk in front of my parents' house. Yesterday, i noticed that my hand print has almost completely disappeared after all these years...its as though i am already fading from view....after i die, i will be like my hand print...just a fading lost memory.....Will any of you remember me years from now? i'm scared of being forgotten.....

love, tara

Best place to live..

2009-10-05T15:04:00.001-04:00

I remember seeing..a few weeks ago..a Repug politician (is there anything worse you can call anyone?) trying to scare his audience of sycophantic morons about how horrid health care reform would be, by saying "I don't want to go to sleep one night, and wake up the next morning in Sweden."

Now I, for one, had a lot of trouble understanding what was supposed to be frightening about this...as Sweden is almost universally considered to be a fine place to live indeed...but now I see his problem. He must have seen this early..

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_depth/8290550.stm

Why would you want to wake up in Sweden when you should be in Norway? In either case though, I can imagine residents of either of those countries waking up in a cold sweat after having the nightmare about waking up in the US......where they could kiss their health care, education, and high standards of living goodbye....

Twice in a day!

2009-10-05T14:19:00.002-04:00

Yeah..ok. I figured if I was going to start this back up I'd better grab a couple of comics..if only to remember where I got them from and how to work the clipping programs..^_^

Well...it seems easier to insert and play with the pictures in this template of the blog. That's good. People are still taking Palin seriously enough to do editorials about her...that's not as good. I assumed enough people had realized what a useless thing she is by now. Silly me.

This is just a fun one for my euro friends...a few American stereotypes. (Probably the same people who still want to hear about Palin.) ^_^

On another front...I'm experimenting with Google Voice. If it really can do what it looks like it's supposed to I'll be very happy. Glad now that I waited to switch from Vonage to an even cheaper home phone option..so I only had to send out one number change. This one should stick with me forever (forever for me anyway..^_^), no matter how many times I change my home and mobile options, companies, and numbers. That alone..it seems to me..makes it a must have. Those who have a number that they have had for years that they want to port however, may want to wait a bit. I know they are working on getting the ability to port your current number..but that could take a while, given how much luck the main players have had trying the same thing. Also note the Call button on the side of this page, just if any of my friends forget my number, or have a dead mobile..or are at someplace they don't have quick access to their contacts but do have web access..I'm just a click away. To those who just want to swear at me because you hate me...the program will ask for a name...and if I don't recognize it, will send it right to voicemail...and I will probably read the text before listening to it...so I'll even miss the hatred in your voice. Hardly seems worth your trouble...^_^

7 Months and counting, eh?

2009-10-05T00:25:00.002-04:00

Well, maybe since I've changed the style and added a couple of toys I'll stay interested enough to get back into the habit of posting things. I hope so. I really remember liking spouting off at the idiocy I see around me everyday. Maybe I can convince myself that I'm not an even greater idiot long enough to take some potshots again...^_^.

Of course...I don't mean to shift any blame..but...I see 4 other people listed as contributors...who also never posted anything for the last 7 months.

I suppose I shouldn't be too surprised though. Two of them don't even follow the blog...^_^.

Has it really been over 2 months?

2009-06-04T16:38:00.000-04:00

I really must work on my time sense. I told myself I would just spend a couple of days not looking at ed. cartoons and railing at the world...and look what happens. It still doesn't seem like it's possible to have been so long. I'll look into finding something to get upset about...^_^

Forgot the title....

2009-03-28T13:42:00.000-04:00

I don't really have a rant, since the world's medical professionals seem to have taken up my beef with the pope (Lancet), I feel it would be like beating a dead horse (which, while it may be fun, is really sort of futile...^_^).

About the funniest thing I saw today was some kind of world wide "dimout" (not sure if that is supposed to describe the action being taken, or those taking it), where everyone is supposed to sit in the dark for an hour and...I suppose...contemplate their eco-sins. These are the kinds of things that make me do the opposite just on general principles. I'm lucky I haven't heard when the National Smoke Out day has been for the last couple years...as it means I haven't had to go out and buy and smoke any cigarettes. Anyway..excuse me..have to run and turn on all the lights in my house. I can go back to living sanely when I'm sure this idiocy is over for another year....

Somehow I've missed whatever story this cartoon is commenting on. Too bad we don't have any renowned doctors of marine biology who know anything about pharmacokinetics data in fish to clue us in who read this blog...^_^.

Or do we?

Sometimes it's hard to tell who the enemy is...but then Limpballs opens his mouth..and before he manages to fill it with drugs, shit leaks out...

..even so..the Dems in congress should remind themselves whose coattails they rode in on..and keep in mind that to get re-elected..first they have to win their own primary....and being obstructionist for the first man with any ideas in decades is maybe not the best way to win said primary.

This study is a surprise to no one. It's always the people who complain the most about what others are doing who are doing it the most themselves....ie..see priests and pedo's..or right wing radio hosts and drugs.....

A quick couple on Republicans being Republican. Unable to even recognize the truth...let alone tell it...and so set in their ways that they would rather die than change.

...sad career choices are my forte...^_^ (imagine that funny mark above the e..I can't be bothered to hunt up the right ascii character..^_^)

Repugs aisle..."NAY"

Headline Game...

2009-03-18T15:13:00.000-04:00

One of the reasons newspapers are folding (and there are many), is that no one..not even the tabloids..seem to know how to write headlines anymore. I can help...

Pope sentences thousands to death!!

"it's a moral thing" quips jaunty pontiff while vacationing in warmer climes.

Even France dumbfounded at immense idiocy..

Below From the BBC

Benedict XVI, who is on a tour of Africa, said handing out condoms only increased the problem of HIV/Aids.

The Roman Catholic Church says marital fidelity and sexual abstinence are the best way to prevent the spread of HIV.

But France, echoing the reaction of some aid agencies, said it "voices extremely sharp concern over the consequences of [the Pope's comments]".

"While it is not up to us to pass judgment on Church doctrine, we consider that such comments are a threat to public health policies and the duty to protect human life," foreign ministry spokesman Eric Chevallier said.

Rebecca Hodes, of the Treatment Action Campaign in South Africa said: "His opposition to condoms conveys that religious dogma is more important to him than the lives of Africans."

I wonder who it is up to to pass judgment on Church doctrine? The French say it's not them..any takers? Somebody should.

Warners tells children not to be seen or heard..

Below from EFF

First they came for the teenagers. Could toddlers be far behind? Nope. Thanks to the good folks at YouTomb, we’ve learned that Warner Music’s automated takedown net has now caught two videos of little kids being little kids.

Of course we can’t show you the videos since they’re, well, censored, but the YouTomb snapshots tell most of the story. One showed a 4 year old lip-syncing to the old Foreigner hit, “Juke Box Hero.” The other apparently showed a baby smacking its lips to the tune of “I Love My Lips”—a song originally sung by a cucumber in an episode of “Veggie Tales.” Both videos are obvious fair uses (these are transformative, noncommercial videos that are not substitutes for the original songs, and there is no plausible market for "licensing" parents before they video their own children singing) and perfectly legal—just like the video of a baby dancing to a Prince song that Universal Music Group took down in 2007.

These are just a few of the thousands of videos Warner has instructed YouTube to block in the past few months. According to statistics kept by YouTomb, there were twice as many videos removed from YouTube in January 2009 as in the entire previous year combined. The numbers are all more appalling because, thanks to Warner's reliance on YouTube’s automated, censorship-friendly Content I.D. tool, there is no reason to think that Warner even bothered to watch these videos to decide whether it actually objects them before blocking them.

We’ve said it before, and we’ll keep saying it until the folks at Warner come to their senses: it’s time to stop the censorship. The Content ID system should be set to flag possible infringing works and then Warner should have a human review those works before they are taken down.

And if Warner won’t reverse course altogether, it should at least promise that no one will be sued for simply disputing a Content I.D. removal. Warner loses nothing by this: even after a user files Content I.D. dispute, Warner still has the option of using a DMCA takedown notice to target videos to which it really objects. By publicly committing to using the DMCA process, Warner will reassure fair users that they can raise the red flag without fear of finding themselves in the middle of an expensive and unexpected lawsuit.

Why is it I assume that Warners will do nothing to change it's policies? Oh..that's right..they are one of those companies that thought suing it's biggest fans was a good idea...and are still wondering where the fans all went.

This is more the case than most would like to believe....

I've always thought that. Don't trust anyone over 27. (As true today as ever).

Quote? Of course not. That story will quickly turn when it's your turn.

I could make a number of comments..but the details in the drawing seem to make most of them...

We all have seen the answer to this question.

American Idol Prediction

2009-03-11T16:29:00.000-04:00

Hi Everybody!

There are thirteen contestants now in the running to win American Idol. i predict that the final winner in about twelve weeks will be Adam Lambert. i think he sings very good. Time will tell if i'm a good judge!

Love from,

tara

Vatican weighs in on Brazil rape case

2009-03-07T21:23:00.000-05:00

From the BBC

A senior Vatican cleric has defended the excommunication in Brazil of the mother and doctors of a young girl who had an abortion with their help.

The nine-year-old had conceived twins after alleged abuse by her stepfather.

Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re told Italian paper La Stampa that the twins "had the right to live" and attacks on Brazil's Catholic Church were unfair.

Yes..attacks on Brazil's Catholic church are unfair. Why should the morons at the top get away without any attacks?

Let's imagine some more accurate headlines and stories....

VATICAN UPSET WITH SUSPENSION OF DEATH SENTENCE FOR 9 YEAR OLD HUSSY.

The Vatican today came out in favor of the excommunication of those who saved the life of a 9 year old rape victim by allowing the abortion of the twin fetus's she was carrying "How dare the mother of the girl and those doctors interfere with Our Lord's death sentence on this sinner and harlot" said someone or other who claims moral authority over everyone in the world just because he gets to wear funny clothes.

In a related story, the stepfather who committed the rapes over a period of 3 years or more has confessed, and will be welcomed into heaven with open arms. The Vatican is considering bringing him further into the church by making him an archbishop because of his showing of moral character, and also to help offset the cruel loss of his sperm fertilized eggs....

Below...more dubious moral characters..

It's somehow comforting to see that the new faces of the repugs have the same high intellectual rigor of the previous lot...

...speaking of high intellectual rigor

Finally..advice feature I can believe in. Beats the hell out of fake Dr. Whatever on the networks...

Brazilian abortion..

2009-03-05T20:17:00.000-05:00

A Brazilian archbishop says all those who helped a child rape victim secure an abortion are to be excommunicated from the Catholic Church.

The girl, aged nine, who lives in the north-eastern state of Pernambuco, became pregnant with twins.

It is alleged that she had been sexually assaulted over a number of years by her stepfather.

The excommunication applies to the child's mother and the doctors involved in the procedure.

Good for them. Each one of them is a million times more moral than any member of the catholic church hierarchy. Now maybe they can live real lives of sane, moral behavior without worrying about the edicts of a bunch of insane old men.

Why anyone continues to pay any attention at all to these sick old perverts is one of the puzzling questions of the modern world.

Speaking of religion and old perverts....

Like the Catholic priests...better a dead raped 9 year old who is way to small to birth twins than a living girl who might pop them out every few months like the church likes them later....notice any other similarities between the elite of the repugs and the elite of any other faith based organizations? Like..the one below?

Noticing a theme today?

Besides..the church won't let you remove it anyway....(not that there is any sign of life...even after years of gestation...^_^)

Long time coming...

2009-03-04T15:59:00.000-05:00

Yeah...so I got lazy. What's new?

Traditionally, the seven deadly sins were considered: pride, envy, gluttony, lust, anger, greed and sloth.

The Apostolic Penitentiary, one of the Vatican's most secretive departments, which fixes the punishments and indulgences handed down to sinners, last year updated its list of deadly sins to include more modern ones.

The revised list included seven modern sins it said were becoming prevalent during an era of "unstoppable globalisation".

These included: genetic modification, experiments on the person, environmental pollution, taking or selling illegal drugs, social injustice, causing poverty and financial greed.

And God sayeth unto Moses...genetic modification is RIGHT OUT!!!

The best one though is "taking or selling illegal drugs". God now decides what's a sin by what the laws are in the country in which you reside. Belgium..go to hell, Netherlands..you might be OK....^_^.

As usual, the cartoons could probably be grouped better...but the edit window size conspires against my moving them around with any ease....so they are as they load.....^_^

.and if I suggest that all this violence would go away tomorrow if it could be bought at the local drugstore..with appropriate warnings and taxes....I'm the one that's called insane. Go figure.

If only....

I'm just typing in here so no one mistakes the cute Tiny Sepuku cartoon as belonging with those following....^_^

And here I thought that once the repugs were out of office, taking their insane, universally discredited programs with them, I wouldn't have as much to point at and laugh. Silly me. The side show lives on...if only on the dead end siding of talk radio.

Editorials

2009-02-17T15:20:00.000-05:00

From the BBC news site..

The founder of a US Muslim TV network has been charged over the beheading of his wife, media reports say.

Muzzammil Hassan, 44, is accused of second degree murder of Aasiya Hassan, whose body was found last week at the TV station in New York state.

Both Mr Hassan and his wife worked at Bridges TV, a station aimed at countering stereotypes of Muslims.

Way to counter those stereotypes. Sort of the same methodology that the repugs try and use to convince people they have a brain...."we'll show you how smart we are...let's keep doing the same thing that caused the current mess..that's bound to fix it...."

The following just confirm what I've been saying recently. I'll be happy to reduce government oversight of private concerns..just as soon as I see any sign that as rule 1 they have replaced "Profit above all" with "Don't kill the customers"

Editorials

2009-02-15T11:02:00.000-05:00

Here it's been..over a week. Time just moves way to fast for me to deal with...

We start with a little valentines day message. Shouldn't be much in the way of controversy there...^_^

Which one should we care about? Which one actually effects our lives? Now..all together now, which one gets more press coverage? Of course.

Did you notice that they have renamed their "bonus" payments that are not allowed to "retention payments"...because, after all...if you don't keep the assholes who caused the situation, they'd just go get jobs at huge pay rises in some other industry...like....like.....like...well...certainly there is someplace where their skills would be useful. Maybe they could become repug congressmen....or are they over qualified for that?

The idea anymore that someone needs to hop on a jet and rush off someplace for a face to face to solve a problem shows how out of touch these people are. You can have a face to face with anyone, anytime, in a few minutes, if they aren't so fossilized they should have been buried years ago....

...and they've given me a couple....but I'm trying to cut back on my profanity....

Editorials

2009-02-06T13:02:00.001-05:00

Yes ladies and gentlemen, it's another edition of commentary on "stolen" editorial cartoons. I put stolen in quotes because, to be honest, I don't think my posting them here takes even a millionth of a penny from the pockets of anyone involved in the production of them...but I'll bet a bunch of lawyers somewhere disagree....

Speaking of lawyers and the ability to be wrong even with their extra education on the law....

I understand the tendency to want to blame Obama for choosing them...but....well...at some point you have to believe the resumes you are handed, and trust to your staff to ferret out this stuff. The hard part comes when (and I'm not saying this is the case here), the laws being broken are so arcane and byzantine (like say...tax laws) that even the lawbreaker has no idea s/he has broken the law. I mean..in many cases it's not as clear cut as say certain radio hosts and their gulping of narcotics....

Be careful what you wish for...^_^

Ah yes..the old double standard.....

My brain says...yes...the market should be left alone and it will always correct itself...if it is truly free....but...that is based upon the idea that it should not be able to be manipulated by big business interests anymore than it should be by government interests....and that the minimum standard of a company should be that it try not to kill it's customers. (Something you would think would fall under the heading of common sense...^_^).

What!! A star athlete who has used recreational drugs!! Oh no's!! Take away those medals...what kind of role model is he!! And take away Babe Ruths records too please...since he as often as not showed up with a hangover..meaning the drugs were still in his system. And...well...I could easily go on over the years. Can you believe people have actually called for his medals to be taken back? As far as I can tell..the IOC policy towards non performance enhancing drugs is that if you don't test for them during the competiton....it's not their problem. A pretty sane opinion there if you ask me. Are we sure this is the IOC we are talking about? Doesn't sound like them.....

As for Michael..well..maybe he isn't the self centered asshole I have assumed he was since he was annointed by the media barons starting a couple of years before this last round of games....maybe he's actually human. However..he has rolled over on his back and promised never to engage in harmless fun again....so perhaps my initial impression is correct.

Hey..I was almost 2 weeks ahead of the cartoonists on this one..very rare...although I do understand their hesitancy to comment on idiot religious happenings out of fear of fatwah....

The best comments I've heard on this are along the line of..here's a guy that has no doubt about the truth of a bunch of word of mouth stories handed down over several millennium..translated and re-translated....but doesn't believe something that happened less than 60 years ago...with a paper trail a mile wide, testimony from many of the perpetrators, and millions of witnesses. Talk about selective belief. This is not something made up by the victors after the war to demonize the German people. (If anything, it was played down so the money being spent on the rebuilding of Germany would have an easier time being disbursed). This was all carefully noted by the wartime Germans themselves...with the attention to detail for which they are well noted. The only people denying it happened are those who have shown a marked tendency to want to do it themselves.....which is very un-Torquemada like..oh..wait...hmmm..never mind.

Onion Rings

2009-02-06T08:42:00.000-05:00

Hi everybody.
i'm sure all of you have fond memories of a favourite food dish that you used to eat when you were young. In my case i remember going on a long car trip with my parents and we went into this restaurant and i remember i had an order of onion rings. They were the best ones i ever had but i can't remember the name of the restaurant or even what city it was in. It was many years ago.
The last few months i've been trying to make my own onion rings and hoping i could duplicate the taste. i've tried several recipes and all of them were no good. However, a few days ago i found a recipe on the internet for Outback Steakhouse Blooming Onion and i bought all the ingredients...stuff i really never have around my kitchen like cornstarch, garlic, paprika, cayenne pepper...i also bought a case of beer because one of the ingredients was beer. I spent about $30.00 on all of the ingredients that were required, not counting the case of beer, which cost $45.00 Canadian.Last night i finally decided to try the recipe and it took me about half an hour to mix up all the ingredients, including a bottle of Heineken beer, and i put two onion rings in the hot oil...and then i tried to eat them and they were the worst onion rings i ever had!...It was terrible!i can't understand what went wrong because i followed the recipe exactly as it was written. i got so upset that i dumped all the batter and other ingredients in the garbage. Those two onion rings i ate cost me about $15.00 each! And what a mess to clean up all the dishes and the pot...i was wondering if anyone else has had a similar problem trying to duplicate a favourite food memory from childhood.
love from,
tara

Editorials

2009-01-31T11:02:00.000-05:00

A big clump today...taking care of most of last week...

First..on a side note...this was published in response to the BBC asking about a problem at Google this morning....

"There was a fault. We don't know the nature of it yet. Everything has been solved. We are still making initial enquiries, " a Google spokesperson told BBC News.

Let's parse this for a second...
1st sentence..ok..good..an admission of a problem..great.
2nd sentence..also OK..the techs charged with fixing the problem do not have notifying a "spokesperson" high up on their list of priorities..nor should they..
3rd sentence...What!!! You don't know what it is..but you've "solved" it? Well done. Personally, I find it tricky to solve my problems when I don't know what is causing them..but maybe that's just me...
4th sentence...ummm....now wait a minute...not only don't you know what it is, but you are just beginning to look..yet you've solved it. Wow. Who let the weasels out? I wouldn't think anything of this from almost anyone else...but I expect better from Google.

A valid point about what a bunch of screaming hypocrites the repugs are...not that the same can't likely be said of any pol....^_^

But...how will they ever manage to pull themselves out of the hole they dug if their execs have to fly around in last years jet? Have you no compassion?

Isn't it amazing how perspective changes how you see things. I suspect the people being talked about here actually believe this argument, and feel picked on.

Jon Stewart had a wonderful take on the possibility of some of these people being housed in US prisons...and that's basically...what are the repug congressman afraid of? We are the number one country in the world for imprisoning people. Certainly we can handle any of these guys. It's not like we're bringing them in to work at the local Quickie-Mart. If some are worried about it...put them in the same prisons we hold some of our more incorrigible gang members. I forsee lawyers begging to get them returned to Guantanamo...for some nice relaxing torture...^_^

Yes...this is like about what most "consumer" oriented government agencies look like after 8 years of repug neglect and outright sabotage of their intended purposes. Interesting that they are now beginning to feel that maybe they are actually supposed to perform the mandate that they were created for in the first place....keep corporations from killing their customers. (You'd think any sane organization would have that as at least a minimum goal...but it seems not...hence controlling agencies....).

Why I have always been confused about flirting..^_^.

If only.....
Maybe some Limpballs brand Peanut Butter Product...special offer cheap for all his listeners...overstock sale....

Corporate Weasels - An Example

2009-01-29T12:22:00.000-05:00

How to tell you are dealing with weasels instead of an honest company. Read the following statement from Linden Labs:

On 27 January our overnight L$ transaction settlement process was
instructed to initiate twice. We quickly caught it and halted the
activity, but for a limited number of Residents, we paid weekly
stipends twice. In order to remedy this overpayment, we will regard
your stipend of 3 February to be paid early. Stipend payments will
resume as normal for you on 10 February. If you find things don't look
right upon review of your account records, please contact us via
support, and we'll take a look.

On behalf of all of us at Linden Lab, we apologise for this error.

The Linden Lab Billing Team

Here is the translation into real speak:

Hey everyone, we goofed up, and by mistake a limited number of people were paid their stipend twice. Rather than taking responsibility and either tracking down those over payments or just taking the incredibly small loss and forgetting about it, we have decided instead to inconvenience all of our paying residents...few as they are compared to the general population...and have them all log in and check their accounts, then, if they were not double paid, they can just figure out how to wend their way through our increasingly Byzantine support system and hope that the problem is remedied sometime in the next month or two. We assume that most of them won't bother for the piddling amount we pay in stipends, and our "mistake" will turn into a net profit, which those of us who caused it will use as a plus on our next performance review when we ask for a raise. It's a good thing our customers are too dumb to figure this out, or our number of paying customers would be dwindling even faster than it already is.

On behalf of all of us at Linden Lab, we assume we will once again get away with screwing the few people who care enough to pay for access to our system.

The Linden Lab Billing Team (Ka-ching!)

Please note the above is satire and as such falls under fair use rules.

Editorials and suchlike items...

2009-01-26T10:45:00.000-05:00

Before I get on my high horse...here's a link sent to me by co-blogger tara...and is probably better and more useful than anything I've come up with since I started this...

http://www.archive.org/index.php

Classic TV, Movies, Animation, Books (both e and audio), a live music archive that has close to 60,000 concerts....just a brilliant resource. I suggest bookmarking it at once.

A quick glimpse at current opinion...

I believe one of the readers of this blog is one happy scientist all of a sudden...^_^

An example of how not everything that is considered bad is always bad. There are circumstances where layoffs are a good thing.....

I don't have a cartoon on one issue that interests..and that's the BBC's (and now SKY TV also) refusal to air what even the makers agree is a plea for aid to Gaza that will be focusing heavily on the "poor victims in the Gaza strip" and the destruction wrought on them by the "overly aggressive Isralies". Many protests about how the media is being controlled by the evil jews and parliamentary votes have been scheduled. I think the tone of the protests makes it easy to see that the normal anti-semitic stance of the Brits (something they have been trying to convince the world is not true for years) is still very much the special of the day. Kudos to both BBC and SKY for making a decision on neutrality and sticking to it...and to those on the other side...stop whining..you won...your leaders said so....and they wouldn't lie would they? Why not take a quick trip down to Gaza and help them celebrate their "great victory". I'm sure an influx of English speakers of European descent will be welcomed with all the warmth and hospitality that is usually shown to them in the region. Maybe even phone ahead so they have enough time to get the swords nice and sharp....

...and to show that not everything brings forth a political diatribe...here is this years McLaren F1 car...which...except for the silly looking tiny rear wing, (mandated by this years rules), I think is a pretty good looking racing car.

Vatican, and other stories..

2009-01-24T23:16:00.000-05:00

This from the BBC newsite:

The Vatican has condemned President Obama's move to restore US funding for family planning clinics abroad that give advice on or carry out abortions.

One Vatican official warned against the "arrogance" of those in power who think they can decide between life and death.

This from me....

Talk about arrogance. That comment sounds to me like the most perfect description of the Vatican that I have ever read. Am I really supposed to take my moral authority from a group of people who just today re-instated as Bishop a man who preaches the Holocaust didn't happen? An organization that is better known for it's denigration of women, abuse of children. torture of innocents, and generally perverted behaviors of it's various leaders over the centuries than for it's "good works". I suggest they shut up, get their own house in order, and say about a billion Hail Mary's before I'll even consider making them even in the top 10 of places I look to for moral guidance.

STFU.

Had to get that in as soon as I saw it. A bit less thought than usual...but it really made me angry. Let me toss in a couple other things I have sitting around while I'm here.

Well, I wanted to end with this...but since the window doesn't scroll when when I drag the picture...and the edit window is tiny...I can neither get this one below the following one and vice versa...anyway...I find the above good advice..^_^

And as for this one....I think it will take more than 1 instance to convince me....^_^

Editorials

2009-01-22T16:02:00.001-05:00

Thought it was time for me to take a look at the visual pundits again....

And what else would anyone expect from Mr. Ditto and the Heads? What I say to Limpballs and his cohorts is..America. Love it or leave it. I know of a country that is run just the way they would like this one to be. It's depicted in the cartoon below.....I'm sure that the NeoCons would not only be welcome..but would fit right in....

You can tell I feel bad for them. Tell you what...let's give them the same voice that they gave everyone who wasn't a neocon for the last quarter century. After all..if it's good enough for the goose....^_^

Yep..just like Hamas says..it's another great victory over Israel. I don't know what the rest of the world is whining about. Hamas says they won, that they have gotten even stronger and will continue to shell southern Irael with even more accuracy and frequency. I certainly don't see why anyone else should be interested in sending aid and support to the victor. Possibly there is some way it can all be re-routed to the poor loser Israelis..

Editorials

2009-01-15T10:22:00.000-05:00

Well, I guess it's time once again to pontificate and show how little I truly know about Life, the universe, and everything...^_^

Those who know me know that this is pretty much my sticking point with religions. They talk all sweetness and light....but watch your back...

There is one good thing in general about this country..that keeps most of us here even when it goes badly wrong...as shown above. Even the fascists leave when they lose an election. Can you imagine these characters just packing up and leaving power after being in charge of maybe 95% of the rest of the world's countries? Maybe I am naive about this...but this time I wasn't all that sure it would happen.

Good point. Let's keep theses guys in our sights...and also remember to thank Bernie for at least mostly preying on them too...not just the small investor funds.....

Editorials

2009-01-09T10:16:00.001-05:00

I haven't seen all that much that interests me to start the year...which explains the slow updates a bit..^_^. Just the standard Republicon moaning about the sky falling...and don't try and do anything about it..all offered attempts at solution or mitigation will only make things worse. Trust them...they know all about making things worse...

Hey..why not. It's worked for hundreds of years with rhino horn and thousands of other "medicines". This is good in 2 ways...gives the animal kingdom a break with something that actually works..and maybe gives some tribal elders a reason to hang on in this life instead of going for all those virgins in the next. A bird in the hand after all....^_^

You know what? I'll bet the dem congresspeople think the reason they got elected and even may have an override majority is because of what great leaders they are. They had better wake up. They rode in because of one of the most unpopular presidents ever. I would suggest that they had better be seen to be helping the new guy, right or wrong, if many of them seek to be around longer than the next 2 years......(and hope he's got it right). They need to remember that congress almost never ranks above a president in popularity, no matter how unpopular he is. The president has to be a real moron to drop below congressional approval ratings. Just because the got lucky with the last one doesn't mean that their luck will hold.

Sir Terry Pratchett

2009-01-02T12:05:00.000-05:00

Congratulations to the new Sir Terry, who received a knighthood in the New Year's Honour's list. He has been one of my favorite writers since even before he stumbled upon the Discworld (yes, I actually read and liked Strata), and any publicity which may bring in new readers is a good thing.

So, an anecdote.

I met Sir Terry about a year and a half ago, at a talk and book signing in a book store in eastern PA, what I would call a large mom & pop operation, not a huge chain store. It amazed me that an author of his stature (and sales) was, after a quarter century, still working the circuit. He certainly didn't have to, as any increase in sales made by this appearance was I am sure measured somewhere way to the right of the sales decimal point. Once it was my turn to have my book signed I let him know that I had spent a couple of months in my misspent adulthood working as assistant engineer on the Meatloaf "Bat out of Hell" album...an album I know from reading that he has expressed a fondness for. This led to him recounting a more recent encounter with the album, as he chose it to listen to while he was getting a tube shoved into his heart for a look/see, and in turn I answered a couple of questions he had regarding it's recording. After taking up way too much of his time (a look at those behind me in the queue was enough to confirm that...), he turned to sign my book. I was looking forward to some clever turn of phrase that would make the signature more distictive (he is a prolific signer...the joke being that an unsigned Pratchett is worth more than a signed one...^_^). He signed and handed me back the book, which I put in my bag. When I got to my car and looked at the signature, I was quite a bit more moved by it than any clever remark. It read "Thanks".

I have regretted ever since that I did not at least give him my email address, just in case he ever decided that there was something else that he wanted to know the answer to about the album. I sent it off to his drop website....at just about the same time he announced he has been diagnosed with a form of early onset Alzheimers disease..at which point he was swamped by thousands of emails, which he acknowledges he will never be able to get to. Maybe this will pop up on a google search someday when he is taking some surf time....and maybe, if I don't need too many more bypasses....I'll still be around to respond...^_^.

I think I'll toss a couple of editorial cartoons from last week in here now...

I suppose that here is where I open myself up as a target to the left...to the everlasting surprise of my normal right wing targets. I don't understand the whining about this from people and organizations I more normally would tend to respect. You don't let a group of people in the territory next door sit there and lob missiles at you over and over again. Period. I personally admire the restraint of the Israeli's for putting up with it as long as they did..at least on their end honoring the "cease fire" that had been brokered by Egypt, even through Hamas continuing to call for the death of Israel as a state, as well as the death of it's peoples. Here's a quick clue for all you Muslims out there, and your apologists. If you stop screaming "kill them all" and make even a slight attempt to join even a 19th century civilized world, maybe you could get some sympathy when you scream about the Israeli "attrocities". At least they are doing it out in the open, with all the world watching. Not skulking into the local market to blow up some women and children with a bomb strapped to their ass.... Grow up. If you spend all your time telling me you are going to kill me, then start driving past my house everyday tossing rocks, don't bitch at the shotgun blast through the windsheild....

...and in what way were we expecting them to behave differently? They are the same greedy bastards that caused the problems...then and now. Maybe if some of them could be brought to trial, like the exec's in China who's lives are on the line for adding industrial chemicals to their milk products, there would be less of this...or at least they might have the decency to hide it better....

Talk about sour grapes...here's a cartoonist that only wishes this is what the end of his life will be like...^_^

top 10 political scoops of 2008

2008-12-31T22:57:00.000-05:00

There's an interesting list on politico.com. If we sat down an thought for a while, we could probably have come up with it.

But since they already made a list - it is easier to just to post the link.

"Political junkies couldn't have asked for a better year."

http://www.politico.com/

Happy New Year!

2008-12-31T09:55:00.000-05:00

Hi Everybody!

i just want to wish all of my friends a very Happy New Year!
i hope that the coming year will be better for all of you than 2008 was. i'm so happy that 2008 is coming to an end...it was a really bad year for so many of us.
We should all try to make 2009 a better year by trying to do good things and by helping other people with their problems as much as we can.

Love from,

tara

Editorials

2008-12-28T14:38:00.000-05:00

Talk about fellow travelers....

Amazing how the there are no rules in wartime defense only works for the side that believes they are winning. I can remember when we swore we were not at "war" in Vietnam..that it was a "police action", while at the same time complaining that the enemy were not complying with the "rules of war" (Geneva conventions). I am constantly amazed at how good every country seems to be about wanting it both ways. Here's another. We are all for trying war criminals in an international court of justice...which of course we ourselves do not recognize as having any jurisdiction over us...^_^

Editorials

2008-12-21T20:37:00.000-05:00

But..but...weren't the last 15 tax increases on cigarette sales supposed to balance the budgets forever? What do you mean, everyone stopped smoking because it became to expensive....?

What's the difference between the Hindenburg and Rush Limbaugh?

Yep..he's learned how to run a Ponzi scheme from the best...Ronnie Raygun himself. When it comes to stealing investors money there is no better role model than a Repug pres....^_^ ( I believe the theory is.."What a bunch of idiots..they should have invested it themselves. We'll show them what happens when you put your trust in the promises of a government. We'll raid it to pay for our tax cuts to the rich, just like the corporations raid their trust funds...no one will ever notice anyway.")

Medical Myths

2008-12-18T09:31:00.000-05:00

Here is the link.

At least some of these I knew were silly...but there are always a couple that I realize I have accepted as facts..often for large portions of my life..^_^. Below are the myths..details at the BBC site I link to...

Hangover Cures
Eating Late and Gaining Weight
Sugar and Hyperactivity
Hats and the cold
Poinsettia Toxicity
Suicides at Christmas

Editorials

2008-12-17T14:33:00.000-05:00

This is time consuming. Is it worth it?

As you can see from the cartoon below...this is actually how the repugs see the world. It's all the workers fault....our non worker overlords are to be absolved of all blame. All hail our feudal masters....

I wonder how we blame this one on the workers? Possibly the United Union of Security Salesmen is somehow to blame......^_^

And he's had so much practice ducking he barely even had to move....

Meet the new Bush, same as the old Bush....

Editorials

2008-12-14T22:07:00.000-05:00

Yes, there are a lot of them..but I was lazy for a few days..^_^

...and these are the guys who went to the exclusive private schools....

Well, a problem suggesting that these were ever "American" values. GOP values, sure..but not American.

For the last 8 years the Goofs have been blaming everything that's gone wrong on Clinton....so, you would think that for the next 8 everything would be Bush's fault...but .... no...we've gone right to Obama, just for having the gall to get elected!!! And they wonder why we laugh at them. The cartoon below would be considered an exaggeration if it was portraying any group except the repugs.....but the core right wing of the party is still blowing this tripe out of their orifices....

Editorials

2008-12-10T09:46:00.000-05:00

No comment needed...

Needs a Lipstick $ .99 sign...

This is normal. A good example of "just not getting it". The criticism of them showing up in their Leer Jet's to beg for money the first time means it is already too late...any sane person would have thought of that before hand. Changing if for later appearances just makes things worse....as it shows how willing they are to pander to the lowest intelligence level (ie, congress). I don't care if they all show up in individual limo's or even work their way down to car pooling (although which car to use would be an interesting debate to hear...I wonder if they would alternate..^_^). I might be a little worried about them all driving around together. I've never heard of much good coming out of a carful of guys out for a joyride..^_^. And aren't they supposed to be competitiors? Perhaps if they were all 3 wouldn't be in trouble. You'd think at least one of them would have been willing to buck the tide if they were really competing...

On a related note, I'm still seeing cartoons railing against the evil "workers" and their compensation package. First off...they are no where near as generous as that given to the non-workers (executives), and, if I recall, the evil unions have already suggested a number of cuts they would be willing to accept. I do not recall hearing anything from any "executives" about how they are happy to accept a cut for the benefit of all. Where are the cartoons mentioning that? Or is it only the easy targets that are grist for the mill? I think maybe it's an example of what is to come. Much of the easy material will be going away soon, and I think the artist/writers of these things have gotten lazy over the last 8 years of easy pickings. They aren't used to having to think a little bit for an idea anymore....^_^

Fake Simpsons cartoon 'is porn'

2008-12-08T08:39:00.000-05:00

Reads the headline on the BBC site. Now..first off..that is not the ruling. It is (even without seeing it), almost certainly porn. The ruling was that it was "child porn", which falls under different rules..having little to do with it's prurient interest and much to do with the protection of children...hence a more liberal interpretation of what should not be allowed. Cartoon characters may well be depicted in pornographic situations...but in no way can they ever be considered children (or adults, or animals, or anything other than drawings...and due the same protections as any other form or artistic expression..like say...words....).

I can't wait to see this logic continued. The headline possibilities are endless.

REAL SIMPSONS CARTOON:
IS CRUEL TO ANIMALS
ENDANGERS CHILDREN
IS LIBELOUS OF LAW ENFORCEMENT
PROMOTES ALCOHOLISM
GLAMORIZES VIOLENCE

We don't even want to begin to think what troubles the old Warners cartoon catalog is in if cartoon characters are now considered to be real. But...we do get an indication (since this line of thought has been prevalent in the US for the last quarter century or more), why there have been so few good cartoon shows done in that time. (With...of course...the glaring exceptions of the Simpsons and South Park..which don't even pretend to be made for children).

Here is something that those in power are going to have to get through their heads....since graphic representations and virtual reality will make up much of this century at least. These are methods of expression or art.....and have more in common with the printed word than with the motion picture or photograph. No real people were harmed in the making of this drawing (or this rant..^_^).

May contain nuts.

Editorials

2008-12-07T13:40:00.001-05:00

Finally, (I hope) got my dish installed properly (ie..the right dish pointed the right direction), which means..with any luck...I won't have to deal with that particular group of "customer service" reps for years. Leaving me still with their Comcast brethren to deal with in terms of broadband...but at least they can only screw me on one service now...^_^.

Found an interesting little article on the BBC site. Here's a link. I love articles that excuse my sloppiness and blame it on my "creative" mind....^_^.

Also..any comments on this? (Especially you Anagen.)

Remember, the cartoons can be seen at a larger size by clicking on them...

Yes..it's the consumers fault. How dare they take cheap home loans and credit and then cry for help and talk about bankruptcy. You won't catch America's bank and industrial leaders behaving that way......^_^. What's that you say? They are? Are what they want is lower interest rates so they can borrow more? Funny...that's not what they say is right for consumers. For them they want higher interest rates and harder bankruptcy rules. Wonder why what works for them is no good for us?

It's an easy cartoon. "It's the governments fault" cry the poor industrialists. I wonder why the non big 3 automakers were able to live with the same rules? Maybe they got some special advantages....like....competent management? A product line that is more varied and flexible?

Return of the editorials...

2008-12-05T09:53:00.000-05:00

Haven't been involved looking at the cartoons as much this week. Main reason is..mostly a lot of hot air about nothing. Can't really blame anything on the new guy yet....and even the cartoonists can't be surprised anymore at the pure depth of mis-management and stupidity shown by the current batch. Also...I've spent most of the week trying to save a few bucks a month by getting rid of my cable video and going to Dish Network for everything. I was hoping that along with that would come a slightly more competent customer service department...but it seems that Dish has an even more rigid top down control structure...so that when you finally do actually get a human being they are so limited as to what they can do as to be almost worthless...while (as is virtually always the case) the supervisors who can make decisions are clueless retards. So..the pain in the ass quotient (at least as far as getting things running properly to start with) is just as high as with Comcast....but...I am saving a bundle of money for more programming, and I have high hopes (having been a satellite subscriber before) that once I am up and running I won't have to deal with them with anywhere near the frequency that I have to with the cable...^_^

This has been a running theme the last week....and I basically agree....many people are greedy bastards...but...what I haven't seen in any of the cartoons...is...what about the stores? If you advertise 50% off 1 hour only first come first served for items that are known to be in short supply...don't go wringing your hands when the customer frenzy you've spent thousands to whip up actually occurs. How about a fair price all the time? Then people wouln't be goaded into lining up in the cold for hours beforehand and sprinting for the goal. If you turn things into a sporting competition don't be surprised when you get injuries and foul behavior. For an example, watch any football game..^_^.

However..the difference between Minnesota and Florida is....Minnesota is actually bothering to count all their votes in the recount. Not running about trying to get the courts to stop it....although once again the repugs are frightened to death of what a recount that includes all the cast ballots will show. If I'm a cartoonist..I'm rooting for Franken. Much better one liners...make my job easier...^_^

so when does fantasy turn into reality

2008-11-29T14:15:00.000-05:00

November 29th, 2008
Mom wants Drew to serve the max - three years and $300,000

I wonder about the response to this

http://government.zdnet.com/?p=4208

the washington post described the incident:

Drew, 49, of Dardenne Prairie, Mo., posed as a teenage boy, "Josh Evans," using a MySpace account to send romantic, then disturbing, messages to one of her daughter's classmates, 13-year-old Megan Meier. Meier thought she was messaging with a new, good-looking boy in town. As the New Yorker magazine said in a January article about the case: "Megan and her peers carried on an online social life that was more mercurial, and perhaps more crucial to their sense of status and acceptance, than the one they inhabited in the flesh."
Meier, who suffered from depression, killed herself in October 2006 soon after reading a message from Drew's account that said: "The world would be a better place without you."

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/washingtonpostinvestigations/2008/11/myspace_suicide_ruling_a_water.html?nav=rss_blog

is the question one of how to prosecute some who does this kind of thing (ie picking the laws based on terms of use, or is the bigger question, do you hold someone responsible for manipulating someone else in a harmful way - do you prosecute someone who falsifies identity and then purposely promotes angst in others in a real-life physical setting?

Happy Thanksgiving!

2008-11-27T09:38:00.000-05:00

Hi everybody.

i just wanted to wish all my American friends a very Happy Thanksgiving!

i hope you all have a nice holiday. In Canada we celebrated Thanksgiving back in October. But i'll still cook a turkey wing for dinner tonight!

love from,

tara

Editorials

2008-11-24T21:16:00.000-05:00

Now..back to the cartoons...no additional help from me today..^_^

The kind of thing that makes us a laughingstock.

2008-11-23T07:44:00.000-05:00

Now..that being said...all countries have things that seem to be more prevalent in their country than any other...so people get to set up and maintain their stereotypes. This one seems prototypical American..^_^.

McDonald's sued...

Comments please...^_^

Editorials

2008-11-22T22:08:00.001-05:00

Ok..almost didn't make todays post..but better late than never.

For those who celebrated too early...remember 60 days left and no accountability whatsoever. Now..many of these things he was doing won't last more that 2 months as Obama comes in and rescinds the more ridiculous ones....but still....a lot of damage can be done in 2 months....

Why does he act the way he does? (in reference to the previous cartoon) Possibly a quick look at the Texas school system may hold a clue....

Editorials

2008-11-20T11:44:00.001-05:00

I've ranted on this already..but I do like it when someone can do it better in a lot fewer words...^_^

After posting this..I'm not sure what it is..^_^. I had a whole rant set up about the silliness of lying to your customers about your product when all it would take is the lowest level of employee to bring down the whole corporation...but I can't find any news article suggesting that Whole was mis-labeling their products. Now I'll just use it as an example of a poorly thought out comic and see if anyone see's something in it that I'm not....

On the humor side...I found this on Digg...

http://www.ridelust.com/road-rage-101-tips-to-piss-off-other-drivers/

I find I regularly do 3 or 4 of them..but that's only because the drivers around me have already pissed me of by doing the other 6.....^_^

Fwd: REVIEW CONTEST & NEW LIVE VIDEOS!!!

2008-11-20T10:35:00.001-05:00

From: Ian McGlynn

WIN $50 OF NEW MUSIC, COURTESY OF IAN MCGLYNN

Hey Everyone!

A lot of you have been asking about the review contest. First, to write a review on iTunes you must have an account with iTunes. Second, to write the review, go to the "This Is The Sound" album page on iTunes and click on 'write a review'. The last day to submit your review is Nov. 30, 2008. Please read the below press release for more details.

In other news...for those of you who missed the recorded and filmed Blue Light Sessions show, we have some good news. 3 of the live performances are up on Youtube for your viewing pleasure. Please leave a comment and tell us what you think!

Play Dead:

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=01W61ch7pQI

Night Driving:

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=B1suQjK1YSI

Memorial Day Parade:

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=yoNzy7Jg5ig

Love,

Camp McGlynn and the Bailey Park Think Tank

We figure that most of you probably lay in bed at night writing in your journal about Ian's music. Just yesterday, Ian's third cousin Larry wrote this on the bathroom wall of The Thirsty Beagle: "Ian's songs sound like flowers trying to grow in my Nana's garden at springtime." Another fan wrote: "Ian's songs sound like music from a cuckoo's nest." Both beautiful sentiments, but only one is likely to remain on Ian's Facebook page. Since it seems so many of you seek an outlet to express your wonderfully unique thoughts on Ian's new album, we have a suggestion for you. And a challenge.

Camp McGlynn and the Bailey Park Think Tank is pleased to announce our This Is The Contest. What's This Is The Contest, you ask? Well, it's as simple as this: Listen to Ian's latest album, This Is The Sound, ponder it every waking hour of your day, and then write a review of it on iTunes. We've assembled an all-star panel of judges to vote for their favorite. The winner gets a $50 iTunes gift card.

Meet the judges:

Gary Nadeau is a director of films, writer of screenplays, and the guy who's doing Ian's first music video. He co-wrote the film Jack, starring Robin Williams, and has been making a bunch of cool shorts for dwell (http://www.dwell.com). Check 'em out, yo.

John Mosloskie is not only the producer of This Is The Sound, and a player on it, but he fronts a group of genius musicians called Holler, Wild Rose! who deserve your immediate attention.

Ariane Trahan is the founder of No Correct Way, a music publicity and promotion company that is working with us to make This Is The Sound even more special than we already think it is.

So, what are you waiting for! Listen, opine, wax poetic, shoot from the hip. Whatever. Just no erotic poetry, please.

Oh, and Ian has a brand new website created by Brandon Tutmarc. Check it out here: http://www.ianmcglynn.com

Editorials

2008-11-18T11:54:00.001-05:00

Awww...is da big bad unions pushed the poor multi millionaire CEO and his minions to the verge of bankruptcy? Poor old CEO. I wonder where the union bashing has been the last couple of decades when "management" was ignoring the future and counting their money? Why is it with repugs that when a company is doing well it's because of skilled management..and when it's doing poorly it's the greedy workers fault? Just once I'd like to hear one of them admit that maybe lack of planning and lackwitted good ol' boys were the problem...not some grunt barely making a living wage. Anyway..if they are so hot on getting these automakers bailed out..rather than bashing the unions they might be saying thank you. The dems certainly owe no favors to the management side...while they may well owe the unions some consideration. Personally..I say let them crash and burn and buy a Toyota....^_^

Here is more the problem with the auto companies. The 80's taught them nothing..in fact, they still behave as if it's the 50's. Maybe they can ask some questions..like why are they always 5 years behind the rest of the worlds automakers? Must be those damned unions. Probably been spiking managements water with lead....^_^

Not that I'm ever known to brag.....^_^

2008-11-18T11:29:00.000-05:00

Full analytical report for Cliff

Please bookmark this page; it will be available online for two weeks. You may also print a copy of each section for your records.

General statistics

Total number of questions: 30
Questions answered: 30
Questions not answered: 0
Questions answered correctly: 28
Questions answered incorrectly: 2
Percentage correct answers: 93 %

Your age adjusted IQ score is 142 and the average score for all test takers is 100.

Your Grade ** Gifted **

Anyone with a general IQ this high is considered to be gifted. You have the ability to think critically, conceptualize ideas and form your own conclusions. Your ability to think in patterns and to produce order out of chaos enables you to handle complexities and see logic in everything. Needless to say you are self-aware of your abilities and have the brains for all known occupations. If you think of intelligence as the ability to adapt easily to new situations then you are at the top of the charts.

So...my eternal question is...if I'm so smart (and verbal is my strongest category), why is it I have such a hard time getting anyone to understand what the f I'm talking about? ^_^

PS..this is directly in line with every IQ test I've taken since I was in high school +/- 4 points. Just nice to see my brain hasn't totally given up..^_^ Here is the web site if anyone is interested.ll

http://www.intelligencetest.com

Editorials

2008-11-17T15:20:00.000-05:00

hmmm..I think I made a similar comment a day or so ago..but that was about rank and file right wing loonies...not this specific subset.

On top of their little parties....lets also take into account all of the money they've wasted over the last few years trying to raise their name recognition and profile...only to have it tossed away by an idiot executive staff (given that that phrase is not an oxymoron). Not only are they in financial trouble, but their name is now shit on top of it. 20 to 1 they are purchased and subsumed...(or do the purchasing themselves and take the name of the company they purchased..like Cingular did with AT&T).

Second Life affair ends in divorce...

2008-11-17T09:32:00.000-05:00

Hi everybody,

i just read the item that Cliff posted at this blog on Friday, November 14, 2008, about the Second Life affair that ended in divorce.

My first reaction was one of disbelief...like can't these people tell reality from fantasy? Why don't they get a life?

But....then....i was thinking about it more and more...and hey, i think i'm the same way as the lady whose partner cheated on her in Second Life. That if it happened to me i would probably react the same way!

Does that mean i'm taking Second Life too seriously...that i'm spending too much time in a fantasy world?

Does it all mean that i'm wasting my real life by living more and more in my Second Life?

What do all of you think?

Love from,

tara

Editorials

2008-11-15T23:56:00.000-05:00

I suggest an off shore prison camp for them..I know just the place....^_^

No turkey..turn the axe where it will save us all....

Always room for more clowns at that circus....

Well, that attempt to email a link directly looks ugly as hell. So...let's try this link to Dick Cavett's blog.

Second Life affair ends in divorce - CNN.com

2008-11-14T10:33:00.001-05:00

* Please note, the sender's email address has not been verified.

Here's an attempt to publish from another site by emailing the article. Hope it works.

Click the following to access the sent link:

Second Life affair ends in divorce - CNN.com*


Get your EMAIL THIS Browser Button and use it to email content from any Web site. Click here for more information.

*This article can also be accessed if you copy and paste the entire address below into your web browser.
http://edition.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/europe/11/14/second.life.divorce/index.html?iref=mpstoryview

Editorials

2008-11-13T14:05:00.001-05:00

Remember..if you click on the comic it will open up in a larger form.

In reading comments from the "wrong" over the last few days(or should that be "the far wrong") since the election, there is actually a section that believes this will happen to them. I say not to worry..we usually leave this kind of behavior up to them and others of the facist stripe (like, say..communists..^_^..totalitarianism is as totalitarianism does..). I don't really mind if Rush and the dittoheads continue to screech their brand of aural pain. I use it as a barometer, and when I hear one of those talking points being barfed up, I know that I am listening to or reading someone who I don't need to pay any attention to about anything. Saves a ton of reading time.

I hope she runs also. It will mean the brain dead "core" of the party is still in charge. Hope she does better in her primaries than Danny Boy managed to. Another guaranteed 4 years with as few repugs as possible is certainly something to look forward to.

Editorials

2008-11-11T16:45:00.000-05:00

One of the problems with trying to collect the more interesting of these is that sometimes I look at the comments. In this one..the righties were bemoaning the lack of decency standards while fretting over how Obama was going to destroy the first amendment...really...I can't make stuff like this up....they can't even see what idiots they are when they contradict themselves in the same sentence....morons.

Did I miss the backround on this? Was she really hoping everyone would forget that she swore they were going to charity when she was done playing grown up?

...if one felt that W had a brain, one would wonder what he thinks about the reversals of policy that O has already announced...along with the statement that the incoming admin was keeping an eye on what he would be up to for the last couple of months...ready to reverse any executive orders asap...^_^

Editorials

2008-11-08T15:04:00.000-05:00

Yes..it's a little hard for us to gloat over statements we know are not true. It's one of the ways we identify a republican. It's that inability to distinguish lies from truth again.

Believe me..if the world voted for these 2 candidates a new word would need to be coined. Landslide would be too mild. Then again, the republicans don't care anyway....they hate the rest of the world just as much as the rest of the world hates them....

Editorials

2008-11-06T10:22:00.000-05:00

You know..there were some others I was going to put up...mostly digs at Palin from both home and abroad...but I think of all those I've seen...Mr. Oliphant here says it best....(..and he did it without drawing the Lincoln Memorial..as at least 12 other artists did....)

Congratz

2008-11-05T15:40:00.000-05:00

Congratz America, you have chose the best men for the job, i hope the world will be a better place now.

No editorial cartoon today...

2008-11-05T12:58:00.000-05:00

I think we'll skip the cartoons for today...I'm feeling a bit mellower...and with any luck all the people I hate are dead of strokes...so I'll try and be nice for a while. At least until I hear the lies ramping up again..^_^.

An additional note on my friend (and maybe an occasional poster here) Ian McGlynn. If you want to listen to any of his songs...you might want to go to his website. His songs are up there on streaming format, and you can get a good idea of them that way.

If you want to buy a download though, I'd suggest Amazon for that instead of his link to Itunes. Amazon is a good $3 cheaper for high quality non-DRM'ed files ...and no having to mess with Itunes...^_^(for a full album. The price for a single track is the same. In fact, if you insist on Itunes, at least download each track individually...save a bit more than a dollar that way.). But, if you are like most Apple fans and insist on paying more just because Steve says you should...by all means pop over to the Itunes store and send more money to Steve.

(Oh..by the way..I checked. Ian gets the same amount from both places for a sale..so not sending extra money to apple does not affect him.)

Todays editorial goodies...

2008-11-04T09:57:00.000-05:00

I'm about to head off into the no man's land that is my polling place. Given that my area is awash in repug idealogues, I can only hope I return in one piece...^_^

...and he still has a couple of more months to finish the job...leaving us in the rapturous state he believes we belong in....

Another good example of this is the ad's from the repug PAC's that have inundated in the last week that even McCain was too embarrassed to approve of. What they were harping about though, in terms that might have worked even 4 years ago...were lies and distortions that this time around had been thoroughly debunked..usually within hours by various bloggers and other net entities..which were then picked up and distributed by a media that seemed to have gotten tired of being kicked around by the right wing blowhards and decided to point out when the repugs were being lying scum...(evoking the standard cries of 'bias"...defined by a repug as any reporting that tells the truth over repeating verbatim their preferred lies..^_^). One can only hope that with the "media" spread out over millions of people and not in the total control of a few big right wing conglomerates the famous Atwater/Rove technique of lying your way into office will be blunted.

...still a couple of months to go...though I doubt this congress will be growing any balls in that time...

Editorials are late today...

2008-11-03T23:10:00.000-05:00

I think the last one about says it all. The second I included for "Best use of shitstorm in an American editorial context"..^_^

If these are too small..you can click on them and the should open up in a new window a bit larger...plus you can then make them whater size you want

Clair speaks (sort of)

2008-11-03T16:05:00.000-05:00

Hi all, finaly i am in it.
Nothing intresting to tell at the moment btw :)

Freeware

2008-11-03T09:10:00.001-05:00

It's not that I mean to hide it...it's just I never think of telling people about things like this.

I highly recommend Gizmo's Best-Ever Freeware site.

http://www.techsupportalert.com/

I don't think there has been a product type in years that I"ve needed that I haven't been able to find there, and I have never been disappointed with the functionality of any of the top rated ones in a category. If you are doing something and thinking to yourself "there must be a program that could do this much faster"...odd's are it can be found here. Really good.

Did we all push our clocks back last night?

2008-11-02T09:49:00.000-05:00

ah..the old misdirection ploy. Who would have thought it of the good old pachyderms....

Editorials

2008-11-01T09:12:00.001-04:00

No..really...I'm sure the Oakland police really are worried about protecting their citizens from the rioting women should Palin lose. Look at all the trouble they had when Geraldine Ferraro lost in her run for VP....^_^

Yeah...I've been thinking this for at least a week or so now. Of course..if all our problems could be solved by spreading lies..I'd certainly be a McPalin supporter...

As a response to Anagen. Really..this did come up after I posted a reply to your voting comment...really....^_^

Morning Editorial

2008-10-31T10:26:00.001-04:00

We can tell we are in the waning days now, as the barrel is really being scraped by you-know-who. The repugs have taken their normal track of going from innuendo and distortion to outright lies. They always pull out the "Media has a liberal bias" bs whenever the media actually investigate their claims and reveal them to be the lies and slander that they are. I also don't know that the "liberal" media have their own entire news network...like Faux News..to promulgate the "black man tortures white woman for supporting McCain" story that Faux had to invent. I wonder what the "liberal" version would be..."Joe Sixpack got drunk and kicked another fag to death last night...". Oh..wait...they probably wouldn't have to make that one up would they....

I will admit that the comedy news does seem to spend more time picking on the repugs than the dems, but I would just suggest that, like most people, comedy writers will tend to do the easy thing first....and the repugs just make it so easy for them.....with such a wealth of material.

I wonder why the repugs have elevated the Joe Sixpack character as their standard bearer anyway. Are they really suggesting that the only people they believe they can get to accept their claptrap anymore spends most of his time in a drunken stupor? (Although, admittedly, it probably is the best way to get through repug administrations..^_^).

please vote

2008-10-30T11:11:00.000-04:00

Hi everybody!

Please remember to vote on November 4, 2008, for the new President! I hope you make a good choice. If not, the next four years will be like the last eight years.

i wish i could vote too but i live in Toronto, Canada so its against the law.

It's just too bad that the new President will be inheriting a system thats collapsing...and i'm sure he will be blamed for everything...

i like Americans alot...so friendly! i wish i could live in the U.S.A. but i'm stuck up here in cold Canada.

love from,

tara

This is the Sound

2008-10-30T10:50:00.000-04:00

I'm tossing in a plug for the most excellent new music release (This is the Sound) from my friend Ian McGlynn. If you don't trust my opinion, I suspect you can find some free clips on his Myspace page. I have no idea anymore where one goes to buy a hard copy of music albums, but I'm sure it can be found at any of the online stores, and digital versions are also available at Itunes and Amazon and a couple of others. Let's see...what's the best plug I can give it..

"..one of 3 albums that I've actually bought this year..."

I don't know of any higher praise...^_^

Todays editorial goodies...

2008-10-30T10:25:00.000-04:00

Isn't it amusing how the right screams socialism only when the "wealth" isn't being re-distributed to them......well..wait..it is actually isn't it...it's the possibility of some of it being diverted to the working class that seems to have them in such an uproar...^_^

Openspace

2008-10-29T11:37:00.000-04:00

To my S***** L*** friends..we will be moving...probably around the 3rd week in November..back to 1/4 of a region (given that we can find one at the right price at the right time). This will not be quite the same as it was last time we were on a 1/4 region, since the height restrictions have changed so much there will be plenty of air space for us to spread out in. If you want to see why we are doing this...read this article. You can also find the Labs description of what they are up to on their blog. I am not sure yet if we will be renting privately held land..like before...or if we will be heading back to the mainland. I am assuming the former at the moment, as the latter has a heavy initial cost outlay..although it could be cheaper each month if each full member donated tier...still..I can't see the outlay for mainland happening right now. Just a quick heads up to any of you who read this. I'll be sending a note to all group members over the weekend.

...and we'll start today

2008-10-29T09:51:00.000-04:00

Finally, a cartoon for today....

2008-10-28T18:34:00.000-04:00

Now we can see if the size of this is readable....but at least I've figured out how to do it..(I think)

Not as simple as I'd hoped...

2008-10-28T17:40:00.000-04:00

I realize this seems like grade school to members of a generation a couple removed from me...but none of this comes easily to me..^_^

So far, I can't get it to do what I really want it to do..that is..act as a repository to easily put things that strike my fancy.

Example..I look at a lot of comic strips and editorial cartoons each day..and some of them I'd like to share. Basically..I'd just like to post the link to the cartoon. As it is...I can add a gadget to the page that will allow anyone to look at the same set of cartoons day after day...or I can send individual links as posts...which happily proclaim in the header my real email address for all to spam...so, not exactly what I am searching for.

The other thing I was looking for was a gadget or button that would just stream whatever music I am playing when you clicked it on the page. Pretty simple eh? Damned if I can find one..^_^

Oh well...I'll just keep looking I guess. Likely just my strange inability to come up with the correct search term no matter how simple it seems to the rest of humanity.....^_^

Introduction

2008-10-28T10:56:00.000-04:00

As is probably usual for a first posting, a short explanation. (Or excuse).

I am setting this up as a catch-all for things that I discover...both on the web and elsewhere. I will, (I hope), be opening it up to my friends also as a place they can stash the things they stumble across as well. There is no pretension that anything I find or write (or that any friends do) is of any import to the world at large, although it may well look pretentious soon after posting...much as our lives seem in retrospect...^_^.

That's it..at least to start. Just an attic room to quickly store old junk. I don't expect anyone aside from close friends to come here often, or even at all...but welcome if you do come across it and find anything of even passing interest.