This MSNBC Hardball clip is 100% comedy gold.

http://thinkprogress.org/2008/05/15/kevin-james-appeaser/

This is, by far, the single greatest disclaimer ever written in the history of mankind. Seriously, everyone should read this.

http://www.nelsonrocks.org/disclaimer.html

Read it. It just gets better and better as it goes on.

( Copied behind this cut so that it will be forever preserved. )

Went out and saw Mars and Saturn tonight. They were visible from our front door -- as were Leo and Gemini (and the moon).

http://www.stellarium.org/

The numbers don't stop climbing. I remember seeing "a few hundred" a couple days ago.

Estimates of the people still missing are 41,000, with 22,464 confirmed dead. A recent government estimate put the number of deaths at 70,000, with some non-governmental organizations estimating that the final toll will be over 100,000. Foreign aid workers concluded further, that 2 to 3 million are homeless, in the worst disaster in Burma’s history, comparable with the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyclone_Nargis

Your Order ID: XXXXXX
Artist Name: New Kids On The Block
Order Details: (2x) 5 Star VIP - Air Canada Centre, Toronto, ON, September 21, 2008

5 Star VIP package includes:
- A ticket in the first 10 rows!
- Meet and greet - photo op!
- Pre-show party! [with the band]
- Exclusive New Kids on the Block gift bag!
- Parking
- Crowd-free merchandise shopping! [Oh good, I don't want to be around any commoners when we shop.]
- Discount coupon to the New Kids on the Block online store

---

Yes, I clearly love my wife.

---

EDIT: I'm suddenly reminded of the time in Texas that we went to a Selena boutique that was closing in 10 minutes...and managed to spend hundreds of dollars on clothes, perfume, CDs, and DVDs in a frenzied shopping spree. Maybe I shouldn't encourage this sort of indulgence...but it's fun.

As seen on Fark:
It used to be that you *could* pirate games. But it was a lot of work. It took forever to download and it was often buggy/missing content and you were generally restricted in what it could do.

Buying the game meant it was EASIER to use. A store bought game just 'worked' where the pirated copy required hacks and cracks and headaches to play.

Somewhere between then and now - things changed.

This is definitely the case. I buy a LOT of games.

The games I legally purchase are more frustrating to utilize than the copies that software pirates download. I sometimes find myself downloading cracks to avoid CD checks and such. In a country with reasonable laws, this is legal. In the USA, it may not be. Regardless, I shouldn't *have* to do this simply to avoid having a crippled version of my software.

And now it's getting worse.

Spore, a game that I have been waiting to play for three or four years now, will be released with a completely vile copy-protection. Every 10 days, the software will call home to re-authorize itself.

Okay, let's say I haven't played the game in 11 days, and then I go on a trip where I don't have wireless internet access. And I want to play. The game I bought.

I can't.

Or a few years from now, EA goes out of business. And I want to play. The game I bought.

I can't.

Unless.

I get a crack for the game.

Wow....I just got Rickrolled by Hewlett-Packard.

Their hold music includes a Muzak version of "Never gonna give you up".

It's...........WEIRD.

I setup an automatic monthly donation to Doctors without Borders today. I meant to do it ages ago -- but better late than never, I guess.

These days, 10% of memegen.net's traffic comes from.............South Korea?

Holy crap, I'm getting a refund!

Hurrah for the US Dollar tanking and grossly decreasing my revenue and leading me to over-pay my income tax installments.

Yeah, so basically I'm happy that I made LESS money this year, and the money I'm getting back is my OWN money that did NOT earn interest..... but it's still a great feeling...one which I've become unaccustomed to over the last few years. Typically, April is when I say: "I've got to pay HOW MUCH???"

And from what my accountant is saying, it's not a small refund.

Happy Birthday to me!

(April 30th is the Canadian tax payment deadline, in case you 'merkins were curious.)

It's my birthday tomorrow. Such things don't really affect me much, though I'll admit that thinking that I'm turning 30 next year (THIS year I will be turning 29, just to be clear) has me freaked out a bit.

Not freaked in an "Oh noes, I'm old and decrepit" way. More of a "Oh noes, people are going to expect me to grow up" kind of way. Also, I miss being a prodigy. I'm not any smarter today than I was X years ago. Back then it impressed people, these days it's expected.

BUT!

Today I *did* run in to something that made me feel old.

Those born in 1990 get the vote this year.

Wow. *Adults* who were never alive in the 80's and who will hardly remember the world of the 90's. People who only started to be truly independent in the 3rd millennium.

Okay all you tattoo freaks, beat this:



More pics.

Senate Passes [Anti-]Evolution Bill

As with so many such bogus laws (see "Patriot Act"), this bill features another manipulative name: "Academic Freedom Act"

How could anyone vote against freedom?

Well, we have lots of laws that limit our freedom -- which need to exist. For example, you aren't free to murder someone, or do many others things that harm another person. Teaching falsehoods to someone harms them. A lot.

A high-school teacher is unlikely to have the credentials to offer significant counter-evidence to overthrow the established scientific models. Even if he or she did, a high-school class is NOT where you do it. That's what peer-reviewed journals are for, not to mention other parts of academia.

You can't "teach the controversy". Kids don't have the tools or sufficient ability to make the decision about which theories are right or wrong. Yes, teenagers are smarter than they are sometimes given credit for, but they are in school for a reason! What high-school is supposed to do is say: "Look, here are the facts that we know as determined by the people who dedicate their lives to this research." Once they've finished high-school and have at least an undergraduate degree and are working on their master's degree or PhD, then they will have all the tools required to see the real flaws in the current theories and start to question things. (To a layman, these flaws are almost always minor and incomprehensible.)

Scientific facts aren't like personal religions and philosophies. You can't just say "Oh, I believe in X" and expect it to be acceptable. And unless you've proven yourself in academia, you have no right to decide what to teach to kids. And even then, no one person should decide -- you need an assembly of the greatest minds in the field. Because if you're wrong, you can actually destroy their ability to learn what they need to become all that they can be in life.

What would happen if you did that in other fields?
"Okay, the problem with fractions is ________. Now, let me tell you about 'Intelligent Numerals'."

"The cause of World War I is so complex and so unlikely to occur by chance that it was clearly the will of a creator that..."

"Now, the Theory of Gravity is just that, a theory. Even scientists can't agree if there is or isn't a graviton particle, therefore proving that the whole thing is a load of bollocks. Clearly, it's the invisible hand of god that..."

"Countdown - The number of days until half the web links to Diablo3.com. But why???"

http://www.diablo3.com/

"Kurast will be shaken in 9 DAYS"

http://www.blizzplanet.com/

---

I know they are saying "It is not an official announcement of Diablo 3".............but damn!

WANT

WANT

WANT

(And just in time for my birthday!)

Maybe Blizzard buys Diablo3.com (it is NOT their site), posts a teaser, but doesn't "announce" anything?

WANT

WANT

WANT

I've actually been playing Diablo 2 again lately. And yes, Duriel is STILL a giant ass.

Found on http://ceruleanst.livejournal.com/151753.html, by way of Fark.com:

ACT I SCENE 2. A road, morning. Enter a carriage, with JULES and VINCENT, murderers.

J: And know'st thou what the French name cottage pie?
V: Say they not cottage pie, in their own tongue?
J: But nay, their tongues, for speech and taste alike
Are strange to ours, with their own history:
Gaul knoweth not a cottage from a house.
V: What say they then, pray?
J: Hachis Parmentier.
V: Hachis Parmentier! What name they cream?
J: Cream is but cream, only they say le crème.
V: What do they name black pudding?
J: I know not;
I visited no inn it could be bought.


...


J: My pardon; did I break thy concentration?
Continue! Ah, but now thy tongue is still.
Allow me then to offer a response.
Describe Marsellus Wallace to me, pray.
B: What?
J: What country dost thou hail from?
B: What?
J: How passing strange, for I have traveled far,
And never have I heard tell of this What.
What language speak they in the land of What?
B: What?
J: The Queen's own English, base knave, dost thou speak it?
B: Aye!
J: Then hearken to my words and answer them!
Describe to me Marsellus Wallace!
B: What?
JULES presses his knife to BRETT's throat
J: Speak 'What' again! Thou cur, cry 'What' again!
I dare thee utter 'What' again but once!
I dare thee twice and spit upon thy name!
Now, paint for me a portraiture in words,
If thou hast any in thy head but 'What',
Of Marsellus Wallace!
B: He is dark.
J: Aye, and what more?
B: His head is shaven bald.
J: Has he the semblance of a harlot?
B: What?
JULES strikes and BRETT cries out
J: Has he the semblance of a harlot?
B: Nay!
J: Then why didst thou attempt to bed him thus?
B: I did not!
J: Aye, thou didst! O, aye, thou didst!
Thou hoped to rape him like a chattel whore,
And sooth, Lord Wallace is displeased to bed
With anyone but she to whom he wed.

Wow... A South Park that everyone on here can STRONGLY relate to. This clip is safe for everyone, as far as I know:



Seriously....I got jittery just watching it. And they I realized that I was watching it *online*, so it was okay.

A rebuttal to Ben Stein.



This starts off a bit "meh", but in the middle it's meaty, satisfying, and very successful at proving the point. The point being that Ben Stein's movie (and his arguments) are ridiculous and born from sheer ignorance.

EDIT: Oooh, I *like* this guy. This video, in particular, says exactly what I've so often argued, but much better:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kWdvuSUMipM&feature=related

BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
*deep breath*
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
*deep breath*
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
*wheeze*
Haahahahahehehehehehe
*slow wheeze*
ah heh...heheh...heh
*collapse*