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October 29, 2004
Instant Death!
Check out this warning sign. No comment necessary.
Via Boingboing.
October 28, 2004
The Angora Comes Off
A long-lost Ed Wood movie has just been unearthed: Necromania! It's a porn film from 1971 about a young couple meeting a sex coven of sex witches.
What's interesting (besides the fact people were actively searching for this movie for over 15 years), is that the Reuters article claims the movie was discovered in 2001, yet there's an imdb review of the film from late 2000...
October 26, 2004
Cross Border Vaccines
The recent flu shot shortage in the United States, has inspired more than just cross-border shopping.
The Victoria Clipper, a ferry line that offers trips from Seattle to Victoria, British Columbia has recently thought up a new marketing scheme: offer flu shots with every trip to Victoria.
But remember folks, federally controlled health care is of poorer quality than America's "envy of the world" health care system.
22:11 | America | Comments (3)
October 25, 2004
Boring Blog News
At a request from Shawn, my RSS Feeds now contain the blog posts in their entirety, not just excerpts. I know you're all thrilled to hear that.
22:38 | Blog | Comments (2)
Let The Spamming Begin!
Since One Big Rant's glorious rebirth, yesterday was the first day it started getting spammed again. It took them long enough! So I did what Bryant Choung of bryantchoung.com suggested: installed MT Blacklist (which I was using before the Great Crash of '04) and tweaked the comments page. If anyone has any problems posting comments, please let me know.
22:20 | Blog | Comments (1)
October 22, 2004
Moving In
I've been pretty busy here lately between work, concerts and helping Teresa pack. As of this Saturday, I will no longer be living the bachelor life; T is moving in. We're pretty excited about it, and although it will be a bit tight (this is a one-bedroom apartment), I think we're going to be happy (it also means an excuse for a housewarming party).
In an attempt to minimize the amount of stuff to move, we've so far culled four garbage bags of stuff to give to Good Will (ok, three of the four bags are Teresa's... I'm still working through my massive storage closet). If anyone wants to stop by and pick up some old VHS tapes, random antiquated computer parts, or clothes we no longer wear, be sure to let me know.
08:05 | Stuff | Comments (4)
October 19, 2004
Bush's Biggest Fan
Whoever said Bush didn't have support from other countries, obviously hadn't talked to Hasan Rowhani, head of Iran's Supreme National Security Council.
Rowhani prefers Bush because he got rid of Saddam, a long-time enemy of Iran, and because "Democrats usually insist on human rights and they will have more excuses to pressure Iran."
I wonder if that should be part of the Republicans' new slogan: Democrats usually insist on human rights. Vote for Bush!
What's He Building in There?
Last night I got to see Tom Waits on one of three stops in his North American tour (and third tour in 20 years!). The show was fantastic! Dressed in a dark suit and fedora, Waits performed with the energy of a man half his age. The beatboxing that is the hallmark of his new album was recorded live on stage, and looped as the drum tracks. Not forgetting his roots, he busted out his piano for the second encore.
I ended up selling the extra ticket to a friend and fellow Waits fan (at face value. What a nice guy I am! Actually, it was a lot less stressful than constantly checking eBay to see that no one had bid on it, instead finding messages from would-be bidders pointing out that my auction closed 14 hours after the concert was to start). We all had a great time, and I think that show made a Waits fan out of Teresa (she now muses aloud how she doesn't think the neighbour is building a playhouse for the children).
21:41 | Entertainment | Comments (4)
October 14, 2004
By George W Bush
And just look at other countries that have tried to have federally controlled health care. They have poor-quality health care.
Our health-care system is the envy of the world because we believe in making sure that the decisions are made by doctors and patients, not by officials in the nation's capital.
From the third presidential debate, Oct 13, 2004. Transcipt
19:29 | Quotes | Comments (2)
A Tale of Tickets and Stupidity
Thanks to the power of the Internet (specifically eBay), I got two (albeit pricy) tickets to Tom Waits on Monday. Actually, I got three tickets. In my rush to find affordable tickets, I accidentally bid on what I thought was a good price for two tickets, but actually turned out to be a terrible price for one. My glee turned to horror as I watched the timer count down the minutes, and I remained the top bidder by a mere five dollars.
Hopefully I can get that ticket as soon as courierly possible, so I can once again harness the power of eBay, but this time in reverse.
October 12, 2004
D'oh!
Tom Waits in Seattle next Monday... Sold out
22:11 | Entertainment | Comments (1)
Real Gone
During the Great Blog Blackout of '04, I finally went out and got myself an iPod. Marvelous little thing. I ripped all my CDs, and barely filled a third of it. I signed up for Audible.com, a digital audiobook provider, and have been happily listening to novels and the recent presidential debates on my commute to work.
Over the weekend I bought my first completely digital album. Through iTunes Music Store, I bought Tom Waits' Real Gone. I haven't heard an album this innovative since Peter Gabriel's Up. If you like Tom Waits, and have always wanted to hear him beatboxing, then this is your album.
07:41 | Entertainment | Comments (1)
Weekend With The Folks
I had a good time this past weekend with my parents. It was their first real visit to Seattle (apparently they got stuck here during an air controller strike in the 1970s), so I showed them the sites: Pike Place Market, Downtown, the Space Needle, Broadway, et al. We went out for some fabulous sushi on Saturday night (I think I overdid it on the raw scallops).
And I get to do it all over again next month when my brother comes to visit. Playing host is fun.
October 8, 2004
Loonie Hits 11-Year High
Just in time for my parents to come visit, the Canadian Dollar hit $0.80 USD.
In case you're too lazy to read the article explaining Canada's low unemployment versus the US's lower than expected job creation, just look at this image from the CBC story:
They say a picture is worth a thousand words. What thousand words come to your mind looking at this? To me, this image makes me think of a story like "Dollar ascends to gassy shiny globe". Personally, I would have chosen to accompany the story with a photo like this:
October 7, 2004
Meet The Parents
No blogging for me this weekend; my parents are coming to visit. This is their first visit to Seattle since I moved here, so it should be a lot of fun. Of course this means I need to make a mad scramble to get my apartment clean enough for my mother's inspection.
October 5, 2004
The Lost Month
I managed to salvage my blog's archives from May 2004. Thank you Google cache!
I'm sorry to say the comments during that month were lost, so to make up for it, I encourage you all to leave more comments. Unless you're a spammer, in which case do not leave comments.
20:59 | Blog | Comments (4)
October 4, 2004
Reasons For War
Today, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld publicly admitted there was no evidence of a link between Saddam Hussein and al Qaeda. Interesting considering this was one of the main reasons for the invasion. In case you don't remember, let's recap those reasons (italics are my comments):
- Saddam's unproven link to terrorists.
- Weapons of Mass Destructions that haven't been found.
- Liberation of the Iraqi people. Makes you wonder why Iraq topped the list, considering the genocide in the Sudan.
- Saddam was a terrible dictator who gassed his own people. While to US did nothing about it until 10 years later.
- Bringing democracy to the Middle East. Because we all saw how all the Arab nations fell in line after a democratic Israel was established.
- America's right to preemptively attack a perceived enemy. Too bad the US is the only country allowed to do this.
Yup, sounds like good reasons to invade a country. Let me know if I forgot anything.
October 3, 2004
There Really is a Prince Charming!
Reorganizing my bookcase yesterday, I noticed an unfamiliar paperback nestled in between two books. I thought it might have been one of Teresa's, since her books are making an increasing number of cameos on my bookcase. Upon closer inspection, I came to realize if this book was put here by Teresa, it was clearly as a joke. The book: a 1981 pocket paperback of The Man Who Will Be King, a biography of Prince Charles.
The next time Teresa came over, I questioned her about the book. She laughed when I showed it to her, but denied ever seeing it before. So that leaves me in the interesting position of being the proud owner of a book I've never seen before (and have very little interest in reading) that mysteriously appeared on my bookshelf with no clues as to how it got there. Too bad I can't even sell it, since you can get it used on Amazon for a penny.
17:34 | Stuff | Comments (1)
October 2, 2004
Yeah, Jackhammers Are To Fear
It's people like this who make me lose all faith in humanity.
11:59 | Stuff | Comments (2)
Mad Cow Fed to Other Cows
Seriously, how hard is it not to feed dead cows to other cows? On top of that, how hard is it to properly dispose of the single identified BSE (Mad Cow Disease) infected cow in Canada, and make sure it doesn't get made into cattle feed, which, by the way, is the only known way to spread BSE?
Apparently, pretty hard.
October 1, 2004
Debate
- Did I watch the debate?
- No.
- Do I think the candidates said anything we haven't heard before?
- No.
- Do I think the debate convinced any undecided voters?
- No.
- Do I think that the candidates ventured away from their pre-canned answers to have an honest and candid discussion about foreign policy and the current insurgency in Iraq instead of attacking each other's perceived weak points on these issues?
- No.
- Do I have anything interesting to blog about today?
- Well, there is this story about a man who shot his wife after mistaking her for a monkey.