Thursday, January 22, 2004

Probably our greatest skill is not in developing new technologies, but in finding ways to pervert and exploit those technologies. Not that it isn't often funny.
Congress passes a new spending bill.
"I've said it about reality TV before, but if you watch it you're not only not smart, you're prety much a bad person."
- JFR's latest rant on the subject
Christ, even Democratic sysadmins suck ass.
Maureen Dowd's commentary on the State Campaign Speech of the Union.

Wednesday, January 21, 2004

Okay, check this shit out, at least I know what game they're fucking talking about. I'll let you guys know if I figure out any of the (probably useless) cheat codes. So far, the game is pretty amusing... Like the series, only with lots of profanity.
Alright people, we need to have a talk. I don't know how difficult the Love Hina dating sim is, and in fact, I don't even know what sim it is you're looking for. Seriously, though, if you are this desperate to cheat, then it is just not worth it.

Seriously, people looking for LH sim cheats have been the majority of my visitors for several days running now. It's gotten fucking ridiculous.

Look, if whatever game it is you're trying to play is in any way reflective of Love Hina, then no amount of cheating is going to allow you to score. The whole bloody show/manga is about getting teased, for chrissakes. That is, of course, unless if manga vol. 14 or Again (neither of which I've read/seen) is nothing but one huge orgy. My guess, however, is that you can't win. Not even with Kitsune, the "promiscuous" one who never actually has any sex.
BBspot's Top 11 Yo Momma Insults for Coders.
Continuing the trend of Asian fetish 'blogs, John has a new blog up and running for those of you who like legs, particularly Asian ones that are stocking-clad: P!.
I knew there'd be some shit from Bush's speech last night that I was gonna forget about. How about that plan to fund drug testing in schools, huh? Do you think school funding will also be based on the scores from those tests? Seriously, why don't we just fucking get it over with and change this country's name to Oceania already?

Tuesday, January 20, 2004

Here's another adult link for 'ya, so if you get fired for clicking on it, it's your own damn fault.

In the mood for a dirty, raunchy comic strip written by a guy who's pretentious and a little too full of himself ('cause I have room to talk), but is still fucking hillarious? Then Sexy Losers is for you. Oh, and if you happen to read any of the "Kenta's Horny Mom" strips... Well, if that doesn't jar your sensibilities, then I don't know what will.
It looks like David Rees, author of the excellent Get Your War On, is starting up yet another new comic: Adventures of Confessions of Saint Augustine Bear.
Just got done watching the State of the Union. A few notes.

First off, Bush enters to almost immediately find a black child to interact with. I'm sorry, but if that wasn't a bullshit photo-op plant, I don't know what is. "There's a black child in my arms. Am I freakin' out? NO! Am I sayin' 'Get that tar baby out of here? NO!'"

Like the first half of Bush's speech was pandering to the troops and patting ourselves on the back for Afghanistan and Iraq. Mixed in there was sniping against those who opposed the war, because once again the anti-war crowd is pro-Saddam. Speaking of Saddam, I was impressed that so little time was spent on his capture.

Not surprisingly, we didn't hear much WMD in Iraq hype, and no mention whatsoever of Osama. The closest we got on Iraqi WMD was something along the lines of "weapons of mass destruction-related activity programs." Boy, we've come a long way from "Iraq nearly has nukes!" just a year ago, haven't we?

You know, I didn't realize Bush was such a big fan of international effort. What with Great Britain, Australia, Poland, Endor... Look, I'm sorry, but if Australia and Poland are your number three and four guys, respectively, then you do NOT have a strong "international coalition." All those other countries he mentioned can't be contributing a whole lot, at least not enough for someone to brag about when they're trying to sell the coalition. I know that Japan is sending a decent amount of money, but that's just what they do - they are the biggest giver of international aid in the world. Oh, and after much soul-searching they're sending like four troops to help out. I'm not faulting them for that; I know they have issues with military action. I just can't seem to remember why.

Speaking of the troops, I will never get over the administration's cynicism, whereby they praise the troops in public with words, but fuck the troops in private through legislation and military policy. We're proud of what you're doing, and we're going to keep you over there as long as we can, whether you like it or not. Oh, and we're going to cut your benefits when you finally do come home, too.

One of the most striking things in the speech came somewhat early on, when Bush explicitly called for an extension of the PATRIOT Act. When re-capping this after the speech, I'm lucky I didn't break my hand punching the wall. Bush all but pulled out a blood-soaked copy of the PATRIOT Act and waved it in our faces. This sent several clear messages, amongst them being this: George Bush may be talking a big game that makes him look like he's moving towards the center in this election year, but make no mistake - he is firmly entrenched on the right.

In what will probably be their one moment of showing balls this year, I have to give the Ds points for clapping as Bush was mentioning the expiration of the PATRIOT Act provisions next year.

Bush once again pulled out his faith-based initiative bullshit, attempting to blur the lines between "not promoting" and "discriminating." When Bush talks of organizations "with a cross, a star of David, or a crescent on the wall," we all know perfectly well that he's talking about a VERY BIG cross, and a rather small star of David or crescent. Bush doesn't give a shit about tearing down the walls of discrimination (cough*affirmative action*cough), he wants to erect the walls of government sponsorship of religion.

He also further crammed the No Child Left Behind Act down our throats, what with its bullshit standardized testing and current lack of funding. You go ahead and keep pushing those tests, George, and we're going to end up having a country full of unimaginative, ineffectual people. Namely, a country of me.

Bush praised the beginning of the dismantling of Medicare, and he outlined plans for the beginning of the end for Social Security. Meanwhile talking up all sorts of domestic initiatives which have no clear source of funding. Relax, docile populace, because Team Bush (TB) is going to cut the deficit in half. The deficit, which didn't exist not too long ago, that is now at record heights. They really should not be bragging about cutting down a deficit that they created. What the fuck does Bush want, a cookie? You're SUPPOSED to clean up the goddamn mess you created, you dumb motherfucker.

Still, you don't need a PhD in mathematics to realize that half of a really big number is still a really big fucking number. And of course, that "cut in half" is most likely a best-case estimate, and we all know how often things reach their best-case outcome. As a bonus, it will take five years to hit this halfway point, which means that most of the deficit will be left to those who follow him.

Oh, and how about that little Ashley Pearson, or whatever the fuck that 10-year-old's name was? That was the biggest load of CRAP I've ever HEARD. You go, girl! If you even exist.

In addition to the PATRIOT Act colonoscopy, the other big moment, for me at least, was when Bush started ranting about marriage. God, I wanted to puke when they showed Santorum; I could swear that cocksucker was actually glowing.

The reason why that was so poignant is because as I watched it, I just thought to myself "Here's, ostensibly, the most powerful man in the world, spewing homophobic garbage while the whole world watches."

Bush once again talked about "respecting the individual," but in true Orwellian fashion he contradicted that statement IN THE EXACT SAME SENTENCE by bringing the hammer down on gay marriage. You know, I'm half surprised that part way through a rant on Iraq he didn't just start talking about how we're at war with the Soviet Union, while everyone just pretends like it's all OK.

Bush's big justification for his gay-bashing on a world stage is that "the will of the people" must be respected. We already know what he thinks about the will of the people, but regardless of who's using that justification, it's a stupid fucking justification. It's a shame that we don't always follow the will of the people, because if we did then I'd never have to worry about sharing the bus, the workplace, and whatnot with blacks and other minorities here IN THE LAND OF THE FREE.

Finally, there were some pretty clear crack-backs on the Ds in that speech. If there was ever a time to get pissed and to get fired up, Democrats, now is the time. I suspect that just like Pelosi and Daschle immediately afterwards with their rebuttals, you Democrats will continue with your official policy of laying down. Meanwhile, the "Great Uniter" has driven an even larger wedge in between this nation which he has played a big part in dividing. Strap yourselves in, America. We've got four more Bush State of the Unions to go.
"For nine-and-a-half million I'd go pitch in Iraq... Maybe between starts or between pitches I could go look for those weapons of mass destruction."
- JFR's take on Sasaki Kazuhiro, who turned down $9.5 million to play for the Mariners next year so he could return to Japan to be with his family

Religion is dangerous, example #65,027,183,652,216,551,234

Just fucking sad.
Don't forget to get stoked for Bush's State of the Union this evening, starting at 8:30 EST.

What the fuck is up with that picture of Bush? What with his glasses, loosened tie, and a writing implement. Yes, I know, he's "rehearsing." That picture, though, is a bullshit plant just to make it look like Georgie is working real hard. Look, he's gonna go out there, he's gonna regurgitate the drivel that was written for him, and then he's going to crawl back into the hole from whence he came where he does none of the real work of driving this country into the ground. This is only one minor example, but I have had it with them trying to push the notion that Bush is smart or some kind of in-charge leader. He's a figurehead, plain and simple. The jig is up, ok?

One can only hope.

Just for good measure

Monday, January 19, 2004

I am just shitting myself over the brilliance

This guy was caught linking me, and as such will have to live with the shame of somehow being associated with this 'blog. I've only started perusing his site, but have come across some good stuff as well as some great links like The IRC Bible and Evil GOP Bastards. This image here, originally from EGOPB and shamelessly stolen from Dufus' front page, is just fucking great:



Just go check EGOPB yourself, but if you're too lazy, at least hit their posters section. Of course, thanks to Dufus for the link, and be sure and check his site out.
Whether or not Clinton ever gets his wish and sees the 22nd Amendment repealed, he will never cease to be influential in politics.
Fixed the first link in this post (the one about Takara). Thanks, Eli.
Well, there goes plans for the McRapist extra value meal. Sorry, Alleged McRapist.
Apparently, here's a PC game to avoid.
There's one site hit that I continually get which kind of amuses me. Every so often, I get a hit from someone who did a Google search for "bitter little man." I know it's the same person every time, too, because of the domain name that shows up in my Sitemeter log. For some reason, this person just cannot bring themselves to just bookmark this site. Furthermore, they must be too embarrassed by coming here to even memorize my URL, or they're terrified that (just like with a bookmark) the web browser's address bar will trap and store my URL for the world to see.

I'm actually not saying this to be an asshole; I'm just glad that this person as well as other people come here to read this nonsense, regardless of how they get here. It's just that this is one of the more interesting patterns of visitation that I've seen.

Speaking of visitor patterns, it's really fucked up (to me, at least) that I can recognize patterns. It's fucked up because that means that I'm getting some consistency of hits which actually allows me to see patterns. I can tell when some people are bored at work, or when they're bored at home. I even realized when ETP had changed his working schedule because the time his work domain started showing up in my log each day changed from evenings to early afternoons.

Clearly, this shows that I have too much time on my hands. However, I can take some comfort in knowing that I'm not alone.
Okay, you lazy bastards (except for Jared). After a suggestion by Sarah, I made a couple of posts over at the Messageboard to try and get things started. We even have our first poll up. I suspect that, like all other things in my life, these efforts will be in vain.

Yes, I know, I gave everyone about 12 seconds to hit the messageboard, but my guess is that Sara is right and no one would say anything unless if I did first. C'mon, guys, don't be like I am at bars and parties. Namely, silent.

I also re-organized the different forums after a suggestion by Danny. I was afraid that I had created too many forums and, sure enough, I immediately got a suggestion to cut back. I went ahead and did that, so now there are four main discussion forums, one for posting jokes, another for comments about the site itself as well as suggested links and topics, and finally the polls forum. Hopefully that will help the signal/noise ratio.