It's always sunny in philadelphia

It's been a slow blogging week for me, so a good fall back topic is what's on TV...
A NEW comedy that's what.
It's always sunny in Philadelphia.
It's a bit on the crude side, and there are things they say and do that you know is "not right" and you should not be laughing at, but it's just one of those things that is funny none-the-less. I was actually surprised that they are allowed to curse like they did on TV. I guess because it's a cable show? But it's not a "premium" channel like HBO - not sure how they get away with that.
So, if you can take the crude language, the politically INcorrect humor, I would say to check this out. Oh.. it also stars Danny DeVito who is funny too. My favorite character though is Charlie. Something about his high pitched voice and the yelling just cracks me up.
Makes me want to go out and buy a gun and shoot at a log in my basement.

News Corporation

Did you ever stop to think who owns the newspaper you read? The magazine where you get your entertainment news from? What about the TV shows or channels you watch? Chances are high that one of these media outlets is owned by The News Corporation. Perhaps their biggest piece of property now is "faux" news... Er, I mean Fox News.
For a list of their holdings check this out:
http://www.cjr.org/tools/owners/newscorp.asp

For a bio of the News Corp:
http://www.corporatewatch.org/?lid=358

And to find out more about the man of charge of it all:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rupert_Murdoch

Technorati Tags:
Rupert Murdoch
News Corporation
Media

LibraryThing.com

Just a quick post...
I found this neat website yesterday.
http://www.librarything.com/
I know there are some stand-alone programs that will let you keep a list of books on your computer, but this is a good idea for a website because of it's social and sharing abilities.
I added just a handfull of books to my list (5) and was surprised to see another person had all of the same books.
It would also be neat to go in with a group of people and make a "joint" account where you could share books with your friends.
check it out.

Technorati Tags:
social
books
library
library thing

Broken Trail

I finished watchin' part two last night of this really good TV show called "Broken Trail" on the AMC channel. It was a two part series starting on Sunday night with "limited" commercials (which was nice). I highly recommend this TV western. Not your typical western of shoot-em-ups (though there are some), but a real story telling experience. Turns out some of it is based on historical events too, which I did not know until the end of the show.
One of the things I liked about the show was the cinematography. Some of the filters they used to get the "golden sunsets" were a bit too much, but some of the scenes were very nicely filmed. There was one scene in particular that looked like an early morning shot with a golden glow of a bunch of horses roaming in a field of hay with their breath showing in the cold morning air. Nice.
The acting was terrific, with Robert Duval stealing the spotlight (well earned too). Thomas Hayden Church also did a great job, but his character was a bit flat and one-sided. But in the moments where he took charge he did a great job.
AMC is going to re-broadcast this (probably more than once) on July 6th (mark your calendars) and I highly recommend it. It's not just another "Clint Eastwood" western. Duval was Duval, a hard nosed tough guy with a heart of gold. I have one criticism though... the "showdown" with the bad guy was a bit anticlimactic and short.
What I don't understand is how this quality show was headed right for TV. This should have been on the big screen.

Here's the official website on AMC

Dem's Fightin' words

I was over at Technorati looking at the "what's popular" when I saw my friend Jon Stewart's name mentioned. (I don't really know him, I just feel like I do because I watch his show on a regular basis.)
The headline is what will capture the readers attention...
"Jon Stewart, Enemy of Democracy?"
What?! Enemy?!
What kind of wording is this?
Well, the headline did it's job... It got me to read the article to find out what's going on.
Turns out... nothing. It's a very misleading headline (perhaps this is 'tongue-in-cheek' sarcasim?) I'm not familiar with the author of this article Richard Morin - So I can't tell if this is meant to be funny (it doesn't sound like it to me).
He seems to be reporting on two different items...
1) a study by "political scientists" What does that mean!? that says that people who watch the Daily Show, "MIGHT" become more cynical and "MAYBE" will not vote.
2) It then goes way off the subject and talks about how Democrats who donate to Katrina victims apparently make donations based on race... and Republicans are over-all stingy in their donations, and don't give as much as Democrats. What does this have to do with Jon Stewart?

Mr. Morin, I am torn... on one hand I hope that on Monday's show, Mr. Stewart responds to your article and puts you in your place like only Mr. Stewart can. But... the other part of me hopes that this item is just lost in the shuffle because it's just a blatant attempt for attention, with no real value, and like a little kid screaming for attention, it's best just to ignore them.

I was going to post the full article on my blog, but the "permission rights" on the Washington post.com does not allow this. So You'll have to go to the link to read it yourself...
http://www.washingtonpost.com/

What cracks me up is that the "politcal scientists" found that the views of the Daily Show "develop cynical views about politics and politicians..."
I just looked up the meaning of "cynical" -

cynical [sinik?l] adjective 1 believing that people are motivated by self-interest; distrustful of human sincerity or integrity

Come on! What normal sane person is not cynical of politicians and politics?
So when Mr. Stewart points out the lies, mistakes, and often times idiocy of politics and politicians, then that makes Mr. Stewart the "enemy of democracy?"

Sorry, I've ranted about this too much now. But Mr. Morin struck a nerve with me, and I had to sound off. That's what a BLOG is for :)

Technorati Tags:
[politics]
[jonstewart]
[dailyshow]

Macro photography

Wow! Look at these incredible macro photographs!
I hope someday I can take photos like these...
http://pishmo.com/macro/

Coffee Art

Wow! Took me a second to figure out what these were, or were intended to be used for, but upon figuring it out I just had to smile. These things would work GREAT at a local Diner, where the waitress almost always spills your coffee into the saucer as she's bringing it to you. Then you have the paper placemats to use as a canvas. Genius! :)
I could also see these being used as a marketing "gimick" at the local coffee shop...

http://www.gnr8.biz/product_info.php?products_id=182

ouch... what a STEEP price tag ($59!) for a couple of mugs! Soon these will be at Walmart for $4 a piece.

Minimum Wage

I was not aware that this issue was being voted for in the senate until last night while watching "the daily show". Mr. Stewart tore into the senate for failing to pass an increase in the federal minimum wage. Turns out they have NOT raised the limit since 1997 - But as Stewart pointed out, they were sure to increase their OWN wages several times, to an amount of about $31,600 over the past 9 years. $5.15 an hour is a disgrace. I would propose a new idea in that a teenager (up until 18) can make this lower $5.15 rate, but at 18 the pay would be increased to the new Minimum Wage proposed at $7.25. I think a kid who flips burgers for a part time job can get by at $5.15 as extra spending money, but once you hit 18 and responsibilities set in, there should be a new standard to raise the income levels of those who really need it. Shame on you Senate.
News clip from LA Times. I ALSO wish that the news media did a better job at alerting the public to this upcoming vote.

I wanted to add one other small item I found out about the ForaTv that I posted on just a few days ago. Turns out while in this "Beta" mode the limited videos are free. They plan on selling the videos and charging subscriptions. ugh. This really takes the wind out the sail for me in promoting this service. Information like this (interviews with thinkers, scientists, authors, etc...) should be made free for the benefit of us all. Trying to sell this information is shady. I would hope a FREE opensource community might open around this subject. I bet it would be great.

Ok, I have the day off tomorrow to visit with family (who are in from out of town! Hooray!) I may not post tomorrow. If not here's an early TGIF and have a good weekend.

Yankee or a Rebel?

Found a neat little [pointless] online web test/quiz today. It ranks you in a percentage format as to which category you fall in: a yankee or a rebel. I usually skip over these tests, but since this was short, and I liked the way the "answers" were explained, I took the whole thing. I had considered myself a Yank, but turns out I can just bareley make that claim. I guess I've take too many trips to the south? :) I'm 43% Yankee.
What is a Yankee exactly? I don't know either so I looked it up on wikipedia.
Do people really use this classification anymore? Seems so archaic.

http://www.alphadictionary.com/articles/yankeetest.html

A tiny Bug

Just thought I'd share this photo. Another attempt at Macro with my new camera. It's stuff tough to get the hang of, but every now and again I get a shot that's worth saving. Still not what I consider a "good" shot, but decent. This little bug hitched a ride in with me to the office this morning on my shirt. I happened to bring my camera in with me to work, so I thought, before releasing him back out into the wild, I'd try to get a macro shot. To give you a size persepctive, he was probably about 3/16" from tip to tip. I liked this shot the most because it showed the texture on his back, and shows the tiny tiny claw on his foot. (Don't ask me why I'm calling him a "he").
I'm still need to be more aware of my lighting while attempting to get these macros.
(again, if you click on the image it will open in a window enlarged.)

Fora TV

Wow... I am always amazed when I get a "comment" on my blog from someone that I don't know. Some how in all of the "billions and billions" (that was my Carl Sagan voice) of websites and blogs, some poor soul has stumbled upon something I had to say. I'm both honored, amazed, and humbled that they also decided to leave me a comment. Moving on...
Thanks to a commenter (manifest dignity) who found my comments on the YearlyKos C-span coverage he recommended two websites (sort of connected) that allows you to view videos online... I had never heard of them before, and after looking into the one called ForaTV, I am so glad this link was recommended.
ForaTV is a website in conjunction with "LinkTV" that posts videos that deal with "Idea Immersion". Well, I'm struggling to describe it because it's so new to me so I'll copy and paste something from the about page...

Today, in cities all over the world, great thinkers, leaders and writers are saying important things in public places. You could not be there.

Until now.

ForaTv is an on demand multimedia portal delivering spoken words on global issues.

ForaTv will provide engaging on demand viewing experiences for the media active world citizen.

How Cool is that!?
So I just watched a segment on the YearlyKos that I missed on C-span and it was both edicational, thought provoking, and much more interesting that watching was was on "regular" crap TV tonight.
I thank "manifest dignity" again, and I encourage everyone to check out:
http://fora.tv

PS> The other website associated with fora is:
http://www.linktv.org/
I've not looked into this one yet... so it may be just as good :)

PS2> I had trouble trying to register on the fora site. Somehow I entered a different register page that asked for a "promotion code" which of course I did not have. But tonight I realized that when I went to the homepage and clicked on the "register button" it did NOT ask me for this special code and everything worked fine.

Tags: Web video thought politics social

TGIF books and movies

It's Friday! Yeah!
It's been a slow week at work. I hate it when it slows down this much. But, I just have to wait it out until things pick up again.
Anyway, I thought I'd post today about a few movies and books...

The book first...
"Bad Twin" - by Gary Troup
This book is related to the TV show LOST. I've still been paying attention to the "alternate reality" game that is going on the internet with relation to the LOST TV show. It's been fun looking for clues and puzzles - though lately I tend to rely a lot on the fan sites to keep up to date. But, I got "suckered" into buying the book, and I have to say I enjoyed it overall. There were some Hollywood coincidences, but there always are. It was more of a detective novel, and not very much "strange" stuff going on like on the TV show. In fact, it has very little to do with the TV show, which was a bit disappointing. Yes, some of the names were used, and I'm sure with the next season we'll find more of a connection, but for the most part it was just a good detective story. I tried looking for clues, but there wasn't much to go on. Just as an example... The "author" is a pen-name. Gary Troup is an anagram for "Purgatory" - and it's rumored that the real author is Stephen King - Though I found no evidence of King's writing style.
All in all a good summer read.

Movies...
I rented a good movie called "Mrs. Brown" (imdb website)
It was with Judi Dench and Billy Connolly - both great actors. It was a Drama really and a bit of a love story, but it was well done. It was a "period piece" set in 1866-1880's. It did a good job of taking me back to that time. I also enjoyed the performance by another actor named... Arghh... I forgot his character name, and there are no photos on imdb for me to pick him out. He played a very "hoity toity" role and was excellent. Good movie - you should check it out.


I just watched "Dirty Filthy Love" last night at my sister recommendation. She blogged about it and it sounded interesting. She was right it was a good movie! I was torn at parts because I didn't know when it was "appropriate" to laugh (if at all?). But weather it was right or not, I cracked up when he got in a "barking match" with the the little dog tied to the street sign.
I'll just second her opinion... It's a good movie.
One thing that struck me... One of the characters (Charlotte) was played by Shirley Henderson, who has a very distinctive voice. It was driving me crazy as to where I have heard her voice before... It's not until now when I looked her up on imdb that I found it... She was the voice for "Moaning Myrtle" in the Harry Potter movies :)
I'm willing to bet too that the actor Michael Sheen who played the lead character with the OCD and Tourette's syndrome must have been emotionally exhausted at the end of the day. He did a fine job of portraying this disease. (as did Shirley! It was a good onscreen chemistry).
Thanks sis for the recommendation!

back to books...
I'm starting another book on my many of 'books to be read' list... (hey... How come there is no IMDB for books!?) The World is Flat by Thomas Friedman (wikipedia). I'm only a few pages into it and it's already captured my attention and I am liking his style of writing and storytelling. I hope this book will hold my interest to the end.
I recently (this week) saw the author interviewed (again) on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. Turns out he's re-released the book with an update. I'm not gonna run out to buy it though.

Speaking of the Daily Show, I saw a really funny interview last night with a comedian actor - Louis C. K. (hmm, how does he get away with having an abbreviated last name!?). He did a bit about his two children, one was one-year-old and the other was four. Very funny. Something about how he hates his four year old... You really had to see it, as it was "sarcastic" humor.
He's promoting his new TV show on HBO called "lucky louie"... I'll have to try and find someone to tape this for me (or rent it when it's released on dvd). Actually, now that I think of it... I heard this same guy being interviewed on NPR on my ride home from work yesterday! He was telling a funny story about his mother being a single working mom (well, that part wasn't funny)... They didn't have a lot of money it seems growing up. He would yell to his mom...
"Mom! I'm Hungry!"
"Well, go make yourself a bologna sandwich"
"But I don't LIKE balogna!"
"Then you're not that hungry" ;)

ok, this post is entirely too long.
Have a great Friday and enjoy the weekend!

tags: Books, movies, hbo, comedy, review

smudge pot

What a funny name - smudge pot.
As soon as I saw the photo on these, it rang a little bell way back in my memory... I remember seeing these things used on the side of the road! I don't know at what point they were phased out, but I do remember these things. Seems now they are being re-purposed for outdoor lighting and bug repellent. Go figure.
I can't recall if I've mentioned Joe's website or not (I'm going to have to add his link to my sidebar) it's a really neat website, well written and funny at times. And there is usually some cool items. You should make it a part of your daily websurfing.
http://www.bookofjoe.com/2006/06/smudge_pot_redu.html

Lyrebird

We have mocking birds near where I live that are amazing in their ability to reproduce other songs (including all of the car alarms in my apartment complex!). I've also been able to whistle a simple pattern and have a mocking bird repeat it back to me in about 3-4 trys. (I must have looked like a fool if anyone else saw me doing this ;)
But this bird takes the cake... Camera shutters! Chainsaws! If I didn't know any better I would have sworn this was a fake video.
This is also another attempt at "embedding" a video on my blog. Let's see if it works.
If not go to this link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wpt9GLfVpkw

Buying Art

Art... what is it?
I've been thinking about this a lot lately. I love art. All kinds of art. I love trying to create my own art. The learning process, etc... I love looking at art. But why?
I recently bought myself a small piece of art or sculpture. While at the makerfaire I saw these incredible items made by Bathsheba Grossman (website). I couldn't really afford the "large" sculpture (about 3-4"), so I bought the smaller one (approx 1"). A bit pricy at $80 (imho), but it's such a unique item that I couldn't resist. When I try to explain what makes this piece of art unique, I can see their eyes glaze over, and I can hear their thoughts... "you bought this why?" :)
I also have it on my bookshelf at home now and realized - it doesn't do anything but sit there. That's pretty much true of all art. So why buy it? I have other paintings and photos in my apartment, but most have been given to me. One I bought for $20 and framed myself. A few other prints I have. I also have a real nice sculpture from Bowen designs of a famous Frank Frazetta painting called "death dealer" that I paid the most for. Yet... it still doesn't do anything. Then I realized as I was looking at my art... I can tell you where I purchased each one. I can tell you a story behind each one. It is as if a part of my memory is now captured by each of those pieces of art. There is a definte connection now of my memory and those pieces. Is this what spurs us to buy art? capturing a moment of not just beauty but also a memory? I think so.
What do you think art is? Have you ever bought a piece of art?

C-span and yearly Kos

Saturday, I was headed out the door, when a show came on c-span that looked very interesting. It was a televised broadcast of something called the "yearly kos". I've heard of the "daily kos" but I have to admit I don't read it. (I will try to check it out more often now). This event was mainly about "progressives using the internet" or in other words... bloggers.
Anyway, since I was headed out the door, I unfortunately did not have time to watch it. BUT thanks to c-span they re-ran it again last night. It was LATE started at 12 or 12:30am, and went until around 1 or so, but I stayed up to watch the whole thing. Very glad I did.
I won't go into all the details but the panel they put together was really great. There was an older gentleman (s0rry, can't remember any names) and he was some sort of teacher at Berkeley, he was very well spoken, yet was able to speak on a wavelength that even I (a layman) could understand. One of his comments that really struck me was about how to "frame an argument"... his example... Illegal immigrants. If you say "illegal immigrants" the problem then are the "immigrants" - yet if you re-phrase the problem as "employers who hire illegal immigrants" now the problem becomes the employers. very interesting.
I did a search on c-span and I think you can watch this over at their website. You should check it out. Another website that sounded a little odd was called "drinking liberally". Not sure about this one, but he was a good speaker.

tag: cspan, c-span, politics, yearly kos
(I forgot I wanted to start tagging my posts)

flickr photos updated

Just a quick post to say that I've updated my flickr photos with the remaining photos from my time at the Maker Faire. Since I don't have a paid account, flickr puts a monthly limit on how many photos one can upload. It's a pretty good deal actually. So check em out :)
I took a bunch of new photos with my new camera (nikon d70s) this weekend. Mostly of hummingbird, and then some tests on macro photography. I have to say I got some pretty good shots. I'll post one here.
Since I just used up all my space on flickr, I'll have to wait until july to post these new shots. But I'll be sure to let you know when I do :)

on another note:
I thought the new movie "cars" was going to be the last Disney-Pixar joint movie. But it goes to show you not to believe the rumors :) I just found out that they are starting to promote their next movie called Ratatouille - which uses the voice from the guy named "spence" from the TV show "king of queens" - otherwise known as Patton Oswalt. He's a funny guy and a comic book geek as well. He must have been thrilled to be the voice for the new disney movie! One of his funniest roles was the dungeon master in the TV show Reno 911. Too funny, but you have to be a geek to appreciate it :)
Check out the new trailer for Ratatouille on apple.com

c-span and civil liberties

It's sunday afternoon now. I was up late last night after getting home from seeing the movie "mission impossible 3" - it was a really good movie (surprisingly). I think I had some adrenaline still in my system from the movie so I was not tired when I got home so I stayed up and surfed the web til about 2:30. So, needless to say, I slept in late this morning and didn't really wake up until around noon. Man, nothing beats sleeping in late on a sunday morning (or saturday).
Anyway, I'm now watching a great show on c-span that originally took place on tuesday.
It is a senate committee hearing about a newly formed (Feb 1006) Civil Liberties and Oversight Board.
What a great insight to how the government works. Thank you c-span!
Ms. Dinkins (her title is below) is a real politician. She is able to take a direct 'yes and no' question, and turn it around, re-state the question, then respond in a way that is totally misleading or better yet, a "non-answer" and repeats a statement she has made repeatedly.
She keeps saying that since Feburary, all they have done is hired a staff (2 people!) and have talked about what topics to look at.
When asked direct questions, regarding the NSA possible privacy law breaking, she has aptly side-stepped the question, and says "well, we're just getting started and we may look into it".
I'm not doing this justice, because I'm typing faster than I'm thinking here (and trying to listen to the hearing at the same time).
So I highly encourage you to watch this interview on cspan.

I did a search to find out who Ms. Dinkins is/was and the first hit on google is her profile from her law office. So she's a lawyer. Ah.. this explains her ability to skirt a direct question :)

If these people are the ones in charge of protecting our civil liberties from the current administration... we are all in trouble.

The players:
Alan Charles Raul
- white house privacy and civil liberties oversight board - vice chair
Carol Dinkins
- white house privacy and civil liberties oversight board - chair

200th post

Wow. 200 hundred posts. hard to believe. Ok, Im' over it now.

I admit... I have a problem with authority figures. Always have since I was a kid really. It pretty much started with teachers in school. I realized that I was subject to their "rules" and I found out that they could pretty much make up the rules as they went. Ever since, I question both those who make the rules, and those who enforce the rules. Not always a good thing. I have nothing personal against these people at all. But, If I feel I'm being taken advantage of, or singled out, or plain old treated unfairly, I tend to speak up. Politely too I might add.
So all that just to bring this up...
Within a month or two, I am scheduled to get a new drivers license. I'm torn inside because on one hand I KNOW I have to play by the "rules" and do everything I'm asked (without question). At the same time I dread giving over all my personal information to strangers. In the state I'm in, they have new "digital ID" that consists of a photo that is taken by a digital camera. no big deal right? They've had photo ID's for years now (though I've always opted out of the photo ID until I started flying, then I was 'forced' to get a photo ID). BUT... the new photographs are not being used by just the DMV (division of motor vehicles - which is also a private company too). With only a little digging on the internet, I found out that these photos are being stored and sent to a private corporation who is in charge of keeping the photos on hand and is part of their facial recognition services to the government (I assume both the state and federal government). So, now MY ugly mug will be in some databank of a company I know very little about, who may or may not have the best security, and hope that they treat my private information properly. Man that really bothers me. But, as I mentioned before, I can't afford not to drive, and I enjoy visiting my family on the other side of the country so much that I will submit myself and my ID to their rules. And, what will be difficult for me... to not say anything to the person(s) who will take all my information - and probably give me a hard time (like they did last time) about my papers. I'm not looking forward to this.
What inspired this post were two (rather differnt point of views) articles on the web, about ID, privacy, and security in the airports.
One from Wired Magazine (a GOOD story actually that I was surprised at how it turned out).
http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,71115-0.html?tw=wn_index_1

and one not so good story (even though it turned out well all in the end)
http://hasbrouck.org/blog/archives/001065.html

And this all led me to another article by Hasbrouck about RFID chips in passports.
The whole thing just stinks.
But... what can I do. But sit still in class, pay attention to the teacher, and just play by the rules like everyone else.
Here's the article on the RFID chips if you are interested:
http://hasbrouck.org/blog/archives/001003.html

Papers please

I hope this is a joke...

As someone who is struggling to learn how to paint (watercolor), I saw this photo and it made me laugh. Then it made me angry, because if this tree is painting pictures better than ME I'd really just break my brushes in half and go do something else. But knowing the art world, I bet one of these tree photos is selling for hundreds or thousands of dollars. Regardless of it all, the photo is amusing :)

On another note:
I just saw in my blogger program that this is my 199 posting to my blog! One more and It'll be 200! Who would of thought I had that much to say to the world. Well, I should do a commemorative bicentenial post or something... nah ... too much pressure :)

On another blog note: With the new clustermap link I installed on my blog (which I like) I am getting hits from around the world (pretty cool!) BUT... I see that I have NO hits from the entire continent of Africa? I wonder why? I wonder if I can post a topic that might generate a search engine hit having to do with Africa.
So that being said, I'll put a shameles post here...
It's been some time since I've picked up my mbira! And I've pretty much given up on trying to build my own. It frustrates me because I got off to a real good start in trying to build my own. I was even able to find the exotic wood called "Bloodwood" from Africa. It's a beautiful wood. (yes, a part of me feels guilty because I probably played a small roll now in the deforestation of Africa! It was only one board though). Anway, IF anyone happens to search google and find this post, on mbira's then PLEASE tell me what kind of metal I should use for the keys. This is the point where I'm stuck right now. What's an Mbira you ask? http://www.mbira.org/

Honeysuckle

Not a great photo, but I'm posting it anyway.
It was more of a test for my macro photography. So colors are a little dark, but...
Between a combination of being busy at work, and not having much to say the blog has been fairly quite. Hope to change this soon.

Colbert Commencement

How cool is that? Stephen Colbert to give your commencement speech.
Here's a clip, but you should read the whole thing here... (note: the site is a bit slow to load due to heavy traffic.)

And when you enter the workforce, you will find competition from those crossing our all-too-poorest borders. Now I know you’re all going to say, “Stephen, Stephen, immigrants built America.” Yes, but here’s the thing—it’s built now. I think it was finished in the mid-70s sometime. At this point it’s a touch-up and repair job. But thankfully Congress is acting and soon English will be the official language of America. Because if we surrender the national anthem to Spansih, the next thing you know, they’ll be translating the Bible. God wrote it in English for a reason! So it could be taught in our public schools.

lightning photo

I mentioned before about taking some photos of lightning. I had 2 turn out. One is better than the other, but I'll post it anyway. Don't try this at home kids.
Remember, you can click on the photos to view them larger.

Where the internet can lead you...

Well it's Sat morning so I'm doing some "early" morning surfing on the web today, and ended up on a website that I came across the other day that I wanted to blog about. Funny how this hyperlink to hyperlink has led me back to the same website.
It started when I checked out the latest digg.com site. You never know what you'll find when you go to digg (which is what I like about it!), but there is usually a techy or geeky subject of interest. Anyway, on the main page (which changes by the minute so if you go there now you won't see it.) was for a strange phone number that appeared on Craigslist. The title of the link that caught my eye was: The 212-796-0735 mystery. The blurb of type underneath said this:

"On or around May 8, a personal ad appeared on the Internet classified ad site Craigslist (It has since been removed). It’s a head scratcher to keep you National Security Agency analysts occupied in your spare time. Each block of numbers is repeated twice; but below I have transcribed them only once for clarity."

So, I'm a sucker for a good mystery, and checked the link out. (bear with me, I'll get to the original item I wanted to blog about). The link led me here:
http://www.homelandstupidity.us/2006/05/31/the-212-796-0735-mystery/
(Note: I don't know what this website is about and am not condoning it)
It's an intersting read. Especially because it brings up a topic that I've been reading about on boingboing which is where I first heard of the shortwave radio "spy" broadcasts. This was broadcast in response to this link:
http://www.boingboing.net/2006/05/23/wtf_is_going_on_with.html

So after reading many (not all) of the comments regarding the codes in the phone number, I decided to google the phone number and found this link which brought me to this persons blog:
http://wb42.blogspot.com/
it did not link me to the specific blog about the phone (still have to find that). But at this time, the number one post was about how the president is pushing an amendment to the constitution to ban gay marriage. To set up a federal law (that would trump any state laws) that specifically describes marriage as a union between a man and a woman. I think it's supposed to be voted on this coming monday? (lol... as I typed this FOX news just mentioned it briefly - yes I watch fox news occasionally... it's best to see what your enemy is talking about ;)
SO... this blog led me back to my orignal post (see I told you I'd get there)...
http://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/10432334/was_the_2004_election_stolen
That talks about how there are many items to point to a rigged election. I've not read it yet, and not much of this is news to me, but I found it interesting that it's been published in a major magazine (even if it is rolling stone, and a bunch of teens are looking for news about Pearl Jam).
Whew... what a circle of coincidence there. I hate when these sorts of coincedences happen like this. I always feel like the "higher power" is trying to tell me something and I'm sitting here saying "what?"

what a week...

Things started off well this week (monday being a day off!). But each day seemed to bring more headaches at work. Yesterday I was ready to have a liquid dinner (I did not, I had an excellent meal of BBQ Ribs with friends!) I was hoping that today would have been better, but it's been another crazy day. All this "hub-a-baloo" over trying to create a UPC code for a new product that's due to be printed. I have a whole new respect (and loathing) for that little box that goes on the back of almost every product sold. You would not believe all the codes, specifications, measurements, decodability, minimum reflectance, modulation, contrast, sizes, quiet spaces, truncations, etc... all this to describe a bunch of little lines. But, as of now, we've figured out a solution to get us through until Monday. Then we'll see what Monday brings. ugh.

So sorry for the lack of posts this week. I've had a few things I wanted to blog about but never found the time to. Maybe tonight when I get home, or over the weekend I'll post a couple items.

One thing... I finally got to see the season finale last night to a show I'm really enjoying. The Texas Ranch House on PBS. I missed the first season finale, but like so many other PBS shows they usually re-run them several times. So sure enough I was able to catch the last two shows.(but I still missed about 20 minutes because my power went out due to a WHOPPER of a lightning storm! I spent those minutes trying to get a cool photo of a lightning bolt! I think I took about 100 photos and only got one that turned out half decent. I still need to download it to my computer to look at. If it turned out well, I'll post it here). At one point, while standing on my balcony amidst the whipping wind, and the multitude of lightning and thunder, I realized 'hmm, maybe this isn't so safe?' So I went inside. Still it was fun! to be out in that lightshow! (hmm, a lead-in to this story I found today on the web... a woman gets hit by lightning after praying!)
Back to the show... It was a good season finale with lots of drama. What really struck me was the dynamics of the owners of the ranch. The mother in particular. It was a good psychological study on her and her family. I am also interested in getting a woman's point of view on this show. I found myself siding with the "cowboy's" point of view, and not the "feminist" point of view (which normally I have no problem with). But there was just something about this woman that I found very decietful, manipulative, and plain old "nasty". But like I said I'm curious if I am just being influenced by my "cowboy" viewpoint. Good show that I may have to just break down and purchase. I have enjoyed the other PBS reality shows too, especially the colonial house, and the iron age shows.

Well, TGIF!!!!
Maybe tonight I'll have that "liquid dinner" :)
which reminds me of a new website I just found. I'm a new wine drinker, but I like the concept of the website.
http://www.winelog.net/