How to Tie your Shoes Properly
January 20th, 2010
Archive
Archive for the ‘News’ Category
ISC Charges Arise From EU
December 16th, 2009
Tuesday the International Cuttlefish Society (ISC) was implicated in a massive money laundering and tax evasion scheme that touched virtually every government in Europe. Sources say that the ISC had worked in coordination with various crime lords of Ukraine and Russia in an attempt to launder billions of dollars through local European aquariums and zoos in exchange for cooperation during what it described as the "end of all ends, the day His Worshipful Death would arise from his eternal slumber."
Apparently, the ISC was merely a cover for some sort of underworld cult hell bent on world destruction, but as of yet we have been unable to tie them with any particular religious order. Some have said that they are a front for a fictional group known as the Cult of Cthulhu based on the writings of H.P. Lovecraft, but that cannot be confirmed.
The ISC was laundering money for the gangsters by funneling it through various aquariums 
and zoos as bloated charges for cuttlefish, cuttlefish care, and supplies. Since the ISC possesses a basic monopoly on cuttlefish breeding programs and cuttlefish skin harvesting, used by scientists, everyone attributed the gross increases to the global recession.
Representatives from the ISC were unreachable for comment, but followers and members world wide have been seen wearing tentacled masks and sporting large ceremonial daggers.
"Some people are getting nervous," said an aquarium worker that wishes to remain anonymous, "cuttlefish are starting to disappear. And those people are everywhere!" Reporters for Al-Jazeera cornered one masked man who screamed, "Ph’nglui mglw’nafh Cthulhu R’lyeh wgah’nagl fhtagn!" before the reporter, cameraman, and producer were all stabbed to death and their bodies dragged 
off. The same phrase has turned up at several aquariums in the Mediterranean region, especially in Spain and Greece, painted in blood near entrances.
In a seemingly unrelated issue, thousands of ocean geologists are baffled by the apparent appearance of a previously uncharted island in the Pacific basin. The island evidently has what can only be described as non-euclidean buildings intact. Some are calling this the lost Atlantis, and many are making the pilgrimage there now.
Meet Molly The Black Mouth Cur
October 20th, 2009
So I brought the stray that has been living in my garage to the vet yesterday shelling out enough money for me to say that this dog is mine and mine alone. Molly, as she was named on the way to the vet yesterday, is a nine to ten month old Black Mouth Cur. For those of you not in the know, BMCs are very intelligent and fiercely loyal all around good dogs, that is actually a hybrid breed that the vet says, “suffers from hybrid vigor.” In other words, she is loving, sweet, kind, protective, brave, and not scared of shit (as further evidenced from the many scars she has from being a former hog dog).
Molly was breed by a hunting dog breeder down the road and was sold as a pup to a man about 5 miles away some 6 months ago. She wandered back into our neck of the woods about 4 weeks ago flea ridden and on the brink of starvation. I took to feeding her after the kids started playing with her and Maggie, our 10 month old beagle, took a liking to her. Since then she has put on about 3 or four inches around the neck and you can’t see her hip bones anymore. She weighed in yesterday at 56.2 lbs. and has a lot of room to grow.
The wife, kids, and I all agree that she is a wonderful dog and just couldn’t stand to see her suffer any longer. So without further ado here is Molly.
Dogs, Fantasy, & Jawas
October 15th, 2009
So it has been awhile since the last post and some interesting developments have occurred. I am now officially back running a dedicated Linux server 24/7 and I absolutely love it! I installed the Ubuntu Minimum release (about 9MB ISO file) and have slowly been adding the packages that I want. Of course it is running headless and my main interface is through a Putty SSH connection from my Vista work machine. My .screenrc file is working good and I am testing out the dvtm window manager used in conjunction with screen to split the screen up into several different dedicated boxes.
I have also been adopted by a sweet, and somewhat giant, stray dog that we have started calling “Marmaduke” or just Duke for short. She has been neglected for a while and was very thin and flea infested when she started showing up, so after a bath a flea pill and some food, she now guards the property outside. The kids also love her and she is content to simply sleep in the garage and do virtually nothing. Definitely my kind of dog. So on Monday Duke and I will be off to the vet for a checkup and a rabies vaccine. Then I imagine she will have a much needed thorough scrubbing and cleaning. Oh, and Maggie, the little beagle, is actually a better dog with her around. Duke will bark and Maggie will come flying out of no where and will actually stay near the house instead of running away for hours on end. All in all a wonderful dog.
I finished Joe Abercrombie’s altogether awesome First Law Trilogy and have started on the stand alone book from the same universe, Best Served Cold. So far I have not been disappointed. I hope to have it finished as well within the next week or so. And why so long you ask? Well, keep reading.
Along with everything else, Steven decided he wants to be a Jawa for Halloween, so Courtney has sewn up the cloak and been working on the gloves while I have to solder up some orange LEDs to mount into a mask for the eyes, and figure out how to make that little gun from the first movie. I think I have it figured out at least.
So that is pretty much it! Oh, and I am writing this with a CLI python based blog editor for Linux called charm. So if it comes out a little bit wonky, that’s why.
Singularity Rant on io9
July 8th, 2009
Analee Newitz has a pretty good rant about the uber-human singularity/post-singularity sci-fi that is abounding these days. I have to admit that I am a fan of the sub-genre and have read guys like Stross and Rucker who have had some heavy singularity books in the past. But I also read Neal Stephenson’s amazing Anathem, which Newitz marks as part of the anti-singularity trend.
Either way I am happy there are still trends within scifi for us all to get all pissy about. Honestly I tend to like a good singularity / uber-human story. Especially if my other choice is steampunk. To clarify, I am an amazing fan of the steampunk genre and movement, I have just not found a decent steampunk book as of yet. But I am still looking! So if there is a really good one out there please let me know, and don’t mention Gibson & Sterling’s The Difference Engine please.
The Pirate Bay is being Sold
July 2nd, 2009
After years of constant legal battles, the guys behind The Pirate Bay are selling one of the world’s most popular internet sites for just under 8 million dollars according to the website’s own blog and Ars Technica. The reasoning behind the sale, from what I can gleam from the blog and a the Twits from one site admin, Peter Sunde Kolmisoppi, is extreme burnout.
And honestly, who can blame them? For six years these guys have been around providing the world with not just the best torrent tracker on the web, but also a continuing front line for digital freedom. And according to Kolmisoppi, only TPB is being sold, the other apps and websites that the group owns will remain intact.
What sort of impact will this have on the torrent scene in general? Well, it is hard to say but this is definitely not the first time that the p2p subculture has seen things turned on its ear. So most likely, things will continue on with another website rising up from the ranks to fill the void.
It might mark the end of an era, however, the fall of TPB might just signify the drop in widespread pirating of media, especially as more and more legally free streaming routes become availiable (hulu, last.fm, pandora, etc.). But ultimately only time will tell.
Farscape Returning to DVD!!
July 2nd, 2009
If you missed collecting “Farscape” on DVD during its initial release, we have good news for you. The long out-of-print series is coming back to DVD this November.
The set will be launched at a panel at this year’s San Diego Comic-Con and is being picked up by A&E Home Video. The set will celebrate the 10th anniversary of the show.
When a freak accident during an experimental space mission catapulted Astronaut John Crichton (Ben Browder) across a thousand galaxies to an alien battlefield, a cult classic was born with the epic, adventure-filled TV series Farscape. The award-winning fan favorite show, which ran from 1999-2003 on Sci Fi and was named by TV Guide as one of television’s best cult shows ever, is about to blast off again on DVD courtesy of a pact between A&E Home Entertainment and The Jim Henson Company.
Blasting off in November 2009, as the show marks its 10th Anniversary, the treasure of the newly re-packaged DVD line will feature a Farscape home entertainment first: THE COMPLETE SERIES MEGASET. Never before available in one package, A&E Home Entertainment brings together all four out-of-this-world seasons with countless hours of absorbing bonus programming featuring multiple commentaries, interviews with cast and crew, behind-the-scenes featurettes and much more! Single season collector’s sets will also be released, offering genre fans of all walks the opportunity to sample this superlative sci-fi classic.
To launch this eagerly-anticipated re-release, there will be a Farscape panel convening at this year’s Comic-Con International in San Diego. Executive producer Brian Henson, creator Rockne O’Bannon, and stars Ben Browder and Claudia Black (Officer Aeryn Sun) will be in attendance to discuss their favorite moments from the series and the DVD re-release.
From Slice of Scifi
Jacko Fans Killing Themselves?? I Smell Darwin!
July 1st, 2009
According to an article on Spike.com some hard-core Michael Jackson fans are committing suicide in the wake of his unexpected death last week. Are you fucking serious? I don’t have to be politically correct here so here goes…
If for any moment you have thought about committing suicide for any reason please get help! Please call 1-800-SUICIDE or 1-800-273-TALK and let someone more rational than you try and stop you.
However, if after you fail to think that you are not mentally ill or that you aren’t going to call in the first damn place, then please shut the fuck up and pull the god damn trigger. This is Darwin at work. One less crazed stalking fan intent on death is fine by me and probably would have made that fucking sick pedophile you idolized happy too.
“<GASP!!> OMFG!! He did not just write that!! He doesn’t understand!”
Well you’re right, I have a really hard time understanding neurosis as twisted as yours. So am I being heartless and inconsiderate? I don’t think so. I think you are being irrational and delusional, and trying to place garner even more attention for yourselves, stealing away attention form the people that really matter, his family(read: kids).
And just to make this a proper rant, will the media please stop reporting on stupid shit like this? I realize there is a dark humor factor with this story, otherwise I wouldn’t have read it, but my god people. Let these poor delusional neurotics go out in a blaze of glory with Billie Jean.
Whatever happens these people are either Honorable Mentions or winners of the Darwin Award. He would be proud.
Celebrity Deaths
June 26th, 2009
Today, or yesterday now, saw the deaths of two of the most iconic figures from the 1970’s and the 1980’s. Many people have mourned the passing of Farrah Fawcett after a long struggle against cancer, my sympathies go out to her remaining family and children.
Unfortunately her death is now being over shadowed of a sort by the death of iconic pedophile pop-singer, Michael Jackson. I think it safe to assume that like me, many other people have thought of Mr. Jackson as being dead for a 
number of years now. So his actual passing is somewhat anti-climatic.
What this teaches us is that the American people as a whole love drama. We thrive on it. We embody it. So instead of remembering these people for who they were in life, we remember them in snapshots of our lives. We don’t remember Michael Jackson the nut-job, pedophile- baby-dangler, no we remember Thriller because it is more convenient.
Conversely, we don’t remember Farrah Fawcett the strong cancer battling mother and feminist from the Burning Bed. Instead we remember the poster, and her stunning beauty on Charlie’s Angels. In a sense we are selling these two short, both are likely more than the sum of their televised parts, but did we really ever know them?
Did we ever really know them enough to really mourn them? Can we look back in our lives right now and say, “My life is in shambles now that Michael Jackson is dead?” If you honestly can then you are family, a very close friend, or delusional. The average Tom, Dick, & Harry have no emotional bond to Mr. Jackson the man. The bond is with Mr. Jackson’s music, and I believe that is still around.
So who is it that so many people are mourning today? No one really knows but their family, and to them my heart goes out. Both were parents and the children are the losers here today, they are the ones we should mourn. Not the artist and the bombshell from our memories, because they are still with us.
People still watch Smallville???
June 18th, 2009
OK I was never a fan of this show, but I know it was uber-popular about, ummm about 8-9 YEARS AGO! Are people still watching this shit? How many years is this crap going to stay on TV? And seriously, Tom Wells looks like he is 30-something-years-old! Oh wait, never mind he is 32… Do you see my point?
Now Brian Austin Green is joining the cast as Metallo, what the fuck?!? Are you serious?? Here is the truth of the matter folks, Brian Austin Green is a show killer. As soon as this guy shows up on a set the show is gone or complete crap within one season. He is the harbinger of televised doom. 
If you doubt me on this go and dig through his IMDB page and you’ll see what I’m talking about. Yeah yeah, I know he was on every fan boy’s favorite show the Sarah Connor Chronicles, but guess what? Yeah, it’s canceled too.
So maybe, Green joining on with the long-winded crap-fest of Smallville is a good thing! Green will the the nail in the long awaited coffin of Smallville. And here it is, the prediction,
goodreads
