Don't Mix Disney and Christmas

This is the absolute busiest time of the year @ Disney World. The parks are getting closed in the morning because they have reached capacity. Yesterday Magic Kingdom was closed for a while around 11:30 because it was full (around 70,000 people). A lady was complaining where I was working because there was a 2 hour wait for Space Mountain. She said that people need to find something better to do with their time than flood Disney World. I think she should take her own advice. The parks are busy to the point where I'm not allowed in them without buying a normal ticket because there isn't enough room for all of the paying customers. They're on track to break last year's record for total people in the parks in a single day. Now I just need to figure out what number that actually is. I want to go to EPCOT for new years eve, but I'm not allowed in; I'll probably try to sneak in that evening to watch the fireworks anyway. It's too busy and I don't like it. I didn't think I'd be back this time of year after visiting last year, and definately didn't think it would be because I actually work there.

Weird Cooling Compound

Someone on eBay is selling a product called "Liquid Metal" for use as a thermal-paste between heatsink and processor. This substance is 100% metal which makes it more conductive of heat than other thermal compounds which contain non-metalic substances as well. This substance is also a liquid at room temperature. This seems like a very good material to use as their tests show a significant temperature decrease, even greater than that of Arctic Silver 5 (my choice thermal compount at the moment).
A little problem was pointed out to me today regarding this product; it will eat through heatsinks and kill cooling performance. I looked into this and indeed there is a simple cause for this: the liquid is primarily made of a mercury-based alloy. It may also be a gallium alloy which has similar properties. There is a little problem when mercury or gallium comes in contact with aluminum, you can watch it corrode before you eyes. Aluminum is a very reactive material that will react almost instantly with anything. It reacts with O2 in the air and creates a clear, crystaline coating that is very strong (I believe aluminum-oxide is also what rubys are made of). When mercury is added to the equation it prevents this coating from forming, causing the aluminum to completely corrode away at a very rapid pace. If you have a heatsink made of aluminum it won't like this compound and will begin to corrode and disintegrate right on your processor. This is actually pretty cool to see, but really uncool for cooling purposes. This shouldn't be much of a problem if you use copper heatsinks.
I'm not sure I'd really want to use mercury or gallium as a thermal paste for my system. However I have never seen anyone try to use mercury as the fluid in a liquid-cooled system. I'd like to see how effective that is, but I'm not sure where I can cheaply get mercury by the litre.

Evergreen Christmas

Snowy white, is nice at Christmas-time
But I prefer the scent of sweet pine;
Forty-five, the weatherman said,
Merry Christmas to you as I turn in my bed
Crystal clear, blue skies;
I'm finally home again at Christmas time!

Oh holy Christmas in evergreen,
I've traveled every highway,
From here to Tennessee;
Oh holy Christmas in evergreen;
And if I had it my way I'd never leave (I'd never leave)

Ferry ride, on Puget Sound,
The mountains rise, majestic all around;
I've driven far away on the open road,
Missing the great green land that I call home
And I love to feel the rain as I run
There's no other land I know like Washington

Oh holy Christmas in evergreen
I've traveled every highway
From here to Tennessee
Oh holy Christmas in evergreen;
And if I had it my way I'd never leave (I'd never leave)

And like a blessing in disguise
A Washington Christmas meets my eyes
Thought it's tender, the love that's brought me here
Just breathing the air makes it oh so clear

Oh holy Christmas in evergreen
I've traveled every highway
From here to Tennessee
Oh holy Christmas in evergreen
And if I had it my way I'd never leave

by Loni Rose


9 more days and I'm home; never thought I'd be wearing shorts outside on Christmas.

Merry Christmas!

Tomorrow is Christmas, and as is usually the case while I'm out east I get the joyous opportunity of working on a holiday. I will be at work Christmas morning before most of my infrequent readers are even awake. I couldn't get the day off, and really didn't try very hard either since I really don't have anything better to do instead of working. All of the people I hang out with on a regular basis managed to get out of town this week to visit friends and/or family. I couldn't cough up the cash or the 14 spare hours of round trip flying that it would take to get home assuming that I could do it without getting fired for missing too much work on the busiest week of the year.
The computer is fully functional, with both of my video cards now in my posession. I don't really have time for any real gaming but I'll do my best to get at least a few hours in. Frack it, I'm bored; time to pull out some of Robbie's weird games.

Life in the Swamp

A MOSTLY COMPUTER-FREE UPDATE

With the exception of lacking a PCIe vid card my new computer is usable. I still need some really fast RAM and a pair of SATAII drives to complete what may be my last unsecured system. I also managed to get a MGE Quantum case for once I get home. Also there was a shootout between AMD and Intel with their dual core desktop processors, the results were both expected and obvious to us computer people. I think the story is on cNet. Thus ends my computer related update.

Work is easy right now, but it still sucks. I worked 50 hours Thanksgiving week, working 7 days straight. I'm only working 5 days this week, although one of those days involves a 13.5 hour shift. My job requires virtually no thinking so I have plenty of time for plotting and scheming up my next antics for when I return. I think I like working @ Pecos Bill's better than Typhoon Lagoon as I don't have to do mornings and I have fairly consistant hours. The people who work there don't suck and the busses come consistantly every 20 minutes. My uniform is a different matter though. No comment on that @ this time.

My roommate Dave is leaving us on Thursday to return to the great NorthWest. Medical reasons have kept him from his job most of the season and his manager gave him the OK to leave early. He will be missed, but he will be @ BCC next quarter so I might see him around. Nick will now have a room back to himself probably for the rest of the term down here. Lucky...
My other roommate Dave technically moved out last week when he came over just to remove the rest of his stuff from his closet. He now lives with his boyfriend, Rob. Loran's girlfriend, Amanda, has now moved into gay-Dave's room and is a much cooler roommate than he was. She also likes cooking, but Nick and I still cook as well.

There are only two upcoming movies that I've got on my list to see; "ÆonFlux" and "Lion, Witch, and the Wardrobe". I can't get an advance on either of those unless BitTorrent comes through for me.
I didn't get my 4 Xbox360s as planned, so I don't have the excess of cash @ the moment that I had originally thought. I waited 7 hours in line with 25 people in front of me, only to discover that the store only received 24 units.
I also have my classes for winter quarter but will miss the first two days due to being in Florida. That's it I'm going to bed.

Intel Declines AMD Offer of Dual Core Duel

Several weeks ago AMD make a public challenge to Intel to put two dual core servers together in a head to head comtest of raw computing power. Intel has now decided to decline the offer to show off their supposedly superior products. Here's the top ten reasons why as suggested by INQ:
10. Tried to follow their own roadmap to get to the duel
9. Decided to take the "front-side bus" to the duel; got stuck in a bottleneck
8. The "Intel Inside" stickers they used to package the cores together keep melting
7. Too busy rearranging the deck chairs on the Itanic
6. "Hey, we don't expect anyone to actually buy these things!"
5. Didn't want to compete when they realized that the duel would involve actual "rules" of fair competition
4. They couldn't get a permit from the fire department to emit that much heat
3. No systems available yet - protective clothing used by manufacturers only safe for up to 149 watts
2. Dell told them they weren't allowed to participate

And the number one reason Intel won't accept the dual core duel:

1. Moore's Law has been replaced by "Paul's Paradox": the number of canceled products per year at Intel will double every year after the introduction of the AMD Opteron processor.

So basically AMD has a better server platform right now. What does that mean to an average person? Absolutely nothing, unless you happen to own AMD stock since a better product might possibly result in better sales.
On a more important note, however, Xbox360s go on sale mightnight Tuesday.

Aluminum foil hats won't protect you

Researchers at MIT have proved what I suggested more than a year ago, that aluminum foil hats amplify government radio frequencies not block them. For those of you who wear these fashonable head coverings, tin foil may be your better bet as aluminum will only increase your vulnerability. A new study in the near future may suggest that only lead foil will actually be useful, but I only know one place that sells it and its rather expensive. Although what price can you honestly put on the safety of your mind from the evils of government brainwashing? You can read the findings here

Work

On Monday I had my first day off in 3 weeks thanks to Wilma. Since the managers @ Typhoon Lagoon didn't expect a huge crowd I got yesterday and today off as well. Having 3 days off in a row makes me realize exactly how much I truely hate working @ Disney World. Next week I start my new job working @ the Pecos Bill restaurant in Magic Kingdom and I'm looking forward to that almost as much as I looked forward to getting my wisdom teeth taken out.
Yesterday I drove down to Miami with Salinda to pick up Briana from her school since they don't have any power or water down there until further notice. I didn't plan on really going anywhere yesterday much less driving 600 miles; I just wanted to get Garrett's Mini up and running so I would have a cool car to take to work everyday and not have to wait for the stupid bus. I now have all of the parts ordered and they should be arriving sometime early next week. I also found out that it's pretty much a Frankencar. The chassis is supposedly from a early 60s Morris Mini, the body is supposedly a mid-70s Cooper, and it supposedly has a 1275cc engine from a late 60s Cooper. And once the new starter system is installed it will be mine until Garrett takes it back; probably when he gets back from his next Iraq tour.

WarCrafT...Rest in Pieces 24/10/2005

Today marks the end of an impressive piece of machinery; my computer, WarCrafT. The Windows files had been corrupted as my hard drive started the slow process of failing sector by sector. A recovery install failed before completion, leaving the drive completely unbootable. The recovery console died in this attempt meaning I can’t do another install without destroying my profile and deleting all of my files on that drive. My makeshift chipset cooler also has died and I don’t have parts laying around here to fix it like I do at home. (I'll pull the files off the disk once I get the new rig up and running because I currently don't have a platform on which to do so.) So my computer sits, waiting for a total rebuild with all new components. Out of the ashes of WarCrafT shall arise a new rig, one more powerful than before. And this rig shall be christened, Tartarus, because it sounds cool and reminds me of Disney World. I’m still looking for more suiting names if you have any suggestions, preferably from Greek or Welsh mythologies; my current leanings are also toward Aries, Titan, Arawn, or possibly Dyrnwyn.

Speaking of Disney World…the hurricane was rather uneventful last night. We had some strong winds and heavy rain, but that was about it. Power didn’t go out, the drains didn’t overflow in the parkinglot, and no trees blew down in our area. I did get the day off work and that was the best part of the whole hurricane. The seal did come loose on the window right above my bed so I woke up soaking wet around 0700 EST from the dripping water overhead. I cleaned most of it up and put a contained to catch the water and went to go sleep on the couch for the next 4 hours. Then my roommates and I went to the Florida mall for lunch. The closest I can get to good teriyaki in this whole frakkin’ state is Burbon Chicken fron Asian Cusine at the mall. It isn’t bad, but its definitely not upto Miyakko’s (no clue on the spelling so if someone can provide the correct spelling that would be nice) standards, but it quenched my teriyaki craving that I’ve had for the last 2+ months since I left home. I'm currently at Salinda's house and will spend tomorrow searching for a solenoid for a 1962 Astin Mini type-S so that I don't have to walk home from work as often. And with that I head to bed since I got rudely awoken this morning by Wilma pounding on my bedroom window.

Finally...an Update

I didn't start my new job today as I was originally told; that date has been pushed back 2 weeks to 6 November. Tomorrow the waterpark will be closed because we're supposed to get hurricaned and they don't think people other than I would actually want to go to a waterpark that day. My computer has been delayed by the post office so it is not up and running at the moment as I had planned. Hopefully the stuff will arrive on Tuesday so I can start working. I made a midnight run to the store to buy Batman Begins and was able to get it a little early, but decided to hold out for the Deluxe edition instead. I guess that's a good update for the moment, I'll have more after the storm hits.

Need new computer

That's the only real thing that I'm working on at the moment. My computer has issues and I want to get something faster as mine is completely maxed out and the components are starting to show their age. My Barton has spent at least 95% of its life overclocked and most of that time running Seti@Home or some similar distributed computing program. I am now getting weird fatal errors on a regular basis that are hardware related; I reclocked my CPU to a much lower speed and most of them have gone away but they still happen. A windows reinstall didn't help much either. So I am building a new machine this week.

Here are the components that will be in it:
DFI LANparty UT SLI-DR mobo
$135.50 on ebay
I like the DFI's performance and the tons of extra features that it has, and it was a really good price with tons of accessories
AMD Venice 3000+ CPU
Price negligible
I've had one for months hoping to build a system and finally have a good excuse now.
ATI Radeon X600 Pro Video Card
$75 on ebay
I like ATI stuff, it interfaces with my HD card, I needed a PCI-express card, wanted at least 256MB of RAM, and the price was right
Maxtor 200GB HD (ATA133 with 16MB cache)
Pulling it from my Barton system, its performance isn't bad and it's available
Generic 1GB RAM (2x512)
Pulled from my old system, stressed tested it in another machine to make sure it's good, overclocks well
ATI HD Wonder card
Isn't going to be available for long as it does its job too well and studios are suing to make it extinct
LiteOn 12x DVD/RW drive
Pulled from Barton, works well

Out of pocket this transitional system is fairly cheap and should perform well. The first components to be upgraded will be the RAM, followed by the harddrive, then the Vid card. That should hold me over until I need dual layer DVD burning capabilities or a dual core CPU. It will be running WinXP Pro w/i SP2 and Office2003 Pro.

I'll have Florida updates up within the week but I've been kinda busy lately and start my new job on Sunday.

EULA for Life

Many of you will notice that I haven't posted anything about life out east yet, and that isn't going to change today. I did, however, find a great link from INQ that I am ripping off now. Stay tuned for a real update in the very near future.

PLEASE READ this end-user license agreement ("EULA") carefully. By being born, you agree to be bound by the terms of this EULA. If you do not agree, do not exit womb and, if applicable, return to the place of conception for a full refund.

1. GENERAL. This EULA is a legal agreement between you (either an individual or an entity) and the scientific or religious establishment of your choice (“God”). This EULA governs your Life, which includes all seconds from the time you are born until you are legally pronounced dead (. This EULA also governs the container supplied with your Life ("Body") and any support services ("miracles") relating to Life except as may be included in another agreement between you and God. An amendment or addendum to this EULA may be presented to you by your retail suppliers ("Parents").

2. THE PARENT PROGRAM. All complaints and technical support requests should be addressed to your Parents, who may or may not, depending on the subscription level you have elected, offer you additional warranties. Parents are third-party components, and not subject to warranties under this EULA. God is not liable for the quality, competence, character, number, gender, species, ethnicity, religious affiliation, or presence/absence of your Parents, or for the quality of the relationship between them, if any, and does not supply technical support for Parental units. Any Parent may be terminated or exchanged at any time without notice and without recourse.

3 CONSCIOUSNESS. To reduce piracy, God requires certain components to be activated. The license rights granted under this EULA are limited to the first five times you gain Consciousness ("Wake up") after you are Born unless you supply the information necessary to activate your Life. You may also need to reactivate your Life if you modify your Body or alter your Consciousness. God will not collect any personally identifiable information from your DNA during the activation process without your consent.

4. DIGITAL RIGHTS MANAGEMENT. Content providers are using digital rights management technology to protect the integrity of their content so that their intellectual property, including copyright, in such content is not misappropriated. If your Brain's security has been compromised, content providers may request that God revoke your right to copy, display, and/or play protected content. Revocation does not alter your Brain's ability to access unprotected content, if any exists.

5. OUT-OF-BODY EXPERIENCES. Your Life may not be shared or used concurrently among different Bodies.

6. YOU ALSO AGREE:

a. Not to remove or obscure any copyright, trademark or patent notices ("Birthmarks") that appear on the Body as delivered to you;

b. To indemnify, hold harmless, and defend God from and against any claims or lawsuits, including attorneys' fees, that arise or result from the use or distribution of the Life;

c. That God reserves all rights not expressly granted.

3. RESERVATION OF RIGHTS AND OWNERSHIP. God reserves all rights not expressly granted to you in this EULA. The Life is protected by copyright and other intellectual property laws and treaties. God or Its suppliers own the title, copyright, and other intellectual property rights in the Life and in any derivative works produced by you during the course of your Life. The Life is licensed, not sold.

4. MEMORIES. You may make a single back-up copy of the Life. You may use one (1) back-up copy solely for your archival purposes and to reinstall the Life in the Body. Except as expressly provided in this EULA or by local law, you may not otherwise make copies of the Life, including the imprinted materials accompanying the Life. You may not loan, rent, lease, lend, or otherwise transfer the back-up copy to another user.

4. LIMITATIONS ON REVERSE ENGINEERING AND DISSASSEMBLY. You may not reverse engineer or disassemble the Life or the Body, except and only to the extent that such activity is expressly permitted by applicable law notwithstanding this limitation. In some jurisdictions, genetic mutations that might lead to evolution are prohibited.

5. NOT FOR RESALE. Life may not be resold.

6. REINCARNATION. Life may not be reused.

6. NON-TRANSFERABLE. Life is non-transferable.

7. TERMINATION. Without prejudice to any other rights, God may terminate this EULA ("strike you dead") without notice if you fail to comply with the terms and conditions of this EULA. God also retains the right to reinstate your Life, either in whole or in part, after termination.

8. REPRODUCTION. You may not propagate without authority.

8. DISCLAIMER OF WARRANTIES. To the maximum extent permitted by applicable law, God and Its suppliers provide Life as is and with all faults, and hereby disclaim all other warranties and conditions, whether express, implied or statutory, including, but not limited to, any (if any) implied warranties, duties or conditions of merchantability, of fitness for a particular purpose.

9. EXCLUSION OF INCIDENTAL, CONSEQUENTIAL AND CERTAIN OTHER DAMAGES. In no event shall God be liable for any special, incidental, punitive, indirect, or consequential damages whatsoever arising out of or in any way related to the use of or inability to use the Life.

10. APPLICABLE LAW. this EULA is governed by Divine law. Depending where you are Born, some national and/or natural laws may also apply.

11. ENTIRE AGREEMENT; SEVERABILITY. This EULA (including any addendum or amendment to this EULA which is included with the Life) is the entire agreement between you and God.

Orlando

Yes, I live in Orlando now. It's a little different than Seattle. I'll have more for you when I get the time to write it, but now I'm going to bed.

Moving

I leave in 46 hours for my new job in Orlando. This will probably be my last post until I can rebuild my computer which will be dismantled about 10 minutes after I finish this post. I will spend the next 5 months living out of my backpack. At least there are more intelligent people in Florida than in Washington, and everything is cheaper since they don't have a state minimum wage. I'll be making less per hour there than I do here, but I'll be working a lot more and living and going to school for free. It's a trade off I'm willing to live with at the moment. I'll be spending next week with the family back in Mississippi so I might try to post while I'm there.

On a happy note, concealed weapons permits are much cheaper and easier to get in Florida, so maybe I'll be able to LEGALLY carry a gun on me now. I'll have to check with the boss to see if I'm allowed to do it @ work or if I should just keep my mouth shut and do it anyway.

Nothing New

It's been a month since my last post and there isn't much new to report. I've spent the last week cleaning out my garage, basement, and shed of all things that I don't want/need anymore. Last night I decided to have a binge movie watching party where we watched Revenge of the Sith, Batman Begins, Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, and Shaolin Soccer. When everyone was gone I started reading "The Ezekiel Option" by Joel Rosenberg, the next thing I knew I was halfway through the book and the sun was beginning to rise in the east. Oh well, back to work with only a little time left.

And Now, Time for Something Completely Different

Now that Independence Day is over, I can finally take some time to relax. I was running a fireworks stand, which is a 24/7 job from the time the fireworks are delivered until the early morning of the 5th. Skyway is a tiny island in the middle of King County (which the governor is trying to have renamed for Martin Luther King Jr.) that still allows people to carry out the sacred, American tradition of lighting cheap, Chinese explosives in celebration of their country. Skyway is also considered to be the ghetto and where I lived for the week at my fireworks tent. For nighttime security, I brought my digital projector and watched movies on the side of the tent all night.

My dad just got back from his business trip to China, and brought a bunch of stuff home with him. He brought me back a new Rolex watch and DVDs of Revenge of the Sith and Batman Begins. Unfortunately Batman is in Chinese so I’ll have to put a new audio track on it before I can watch it. Owning a region free DVD player really comes in handy in these situations.

A friend of my grandma died a few weeks ago and I was hired to haul a bunch of her old furniture out of her apartment with my truck. I got a new couch and antique cabinet out of the deal as well as some old clocks painted with UnDark paint (which is radium based). My mom took a few random things that she liked and I’m going to haul the rest of the stuff to the Good Will in Seattle sometime later this week.

Finally, we have enough signatures to put the newly imposed 9.5¢ gas tax onto the ballot in November. This is the fastest Initiative to ever qualify in Washington, in 30 days, and gathered the 4th highest number of signatures ever for an Initiative with 420,518. The opponents to this Initiative say: “This initiative's signature-gathering campaign will exhibit the worst aspects of direct versus rep resentative democracy. It will urge a yes or no straw vote in place of the months of negotiation, compromise and balancing of diverse state interests that went into the lawmakers' package” because “Citizens shouldn't override well thought out legislative decisions.” These “interests” mainly include the unions who would benefit the greatest from some of the projects that would be paid for with the new tax money; and a dozen of the larger businesses in the state. The two largest multi-billion dollar projects that this money is allocated for haven’t even been designed yet; there is no estimates as to the actual costs involved, nor an estimated completion date for either of them, only that they will require further tax increases to fund and none of the other projects will be started until these two are completed.

Of the 200+ projects that would eventually be funded by this tax increase, the only one that I can see as urgent is the widening of I-405 between Renton and Kirkland. This project is ready to go at the moment, and about 5 years overdue, but it will not be started until 2013, assuming that all of the other projects are completed on time and on budget (a very rare thing). This is why I will be voting to repeal this new tax in November; no one knows exactly what they are getting for the money or when they’ll get it, they don’t know how much any of it is going to cost, and I’m just pissed off at the state right now; all good reasons for me to vote down the new tax that I’ll hopefully avoid paying before it gets repealed.

Articles for the Age of Reason

"WE, THE SENSIBLE CITIZENS of the United States, in an attempt to help people get along, restore some semblance of justice, avoid any more needless riots, keep our nation safe, promote positive behavior, and secure the blessings of debt-free liberty to ourselves and our great- grandchildren, hereby try one more time to ordain and establish some common sense guidelines for the terminally whiny, guilt-ridden, deluded, and other bed-wetting morons. We hold these truths to be self-evident: that a whole lot of people are confused by the Bill of Rights and are so stupid that they require a Bill of NO Rights."

ARTICLE I: You do NOT have the right to a new car, big screen TV, fastest new computer, or any other form of wealth. More power to you if you can legally acquire them, but our government is not obligated to guarantee these luxuries. Live with an old car and a 13" B&W TV.

ARTICLE II: You do NOT have the right to never be offended. This country is based on freedom, and that means freedom for everyone - not just you! You may leave the room, change the channel, express a different opinion, etc., but the world is full of idiots, and probably always will be.

ARTICLE III: You do NOT have the right to be free from harm. If you stick a screwdriver in your eye, learn to be more careful; do not expect the tool manufacturer to make you independently wealthy because of your stupidity or lack of skill.

ARTICLE IV: You do NOT have the right to free food and housing. Americans are the most charitable people to be found, and will gladly help anyone in need, but we have grown weary of subsidizing generation after generation of professional couch potatoes who achieve nothing more than the creation of another generation of professional couch potatoes!

ARTICLE V: You do NOT have the right to free health care. That would be nice, but from the looks of public housing, we're just not interested in our own health.

ARTICLE VI: You do NOT have the right to physically harm other people. If you kidnap, rape, intentionally maim, or kill someone, don't be surprised if the rest of us want to see you sit in the electric chair for a short period of time.

ARTICLE VII: You do NOT have the right to anything that belongs to others. If you rob, cheat or coerce away the goods, services, or money of other citizens, don't be surprised if the rest of us get together and lock you away in a place where you STILL won't have the right to a big screen color TV or a life of leisure.

ARTICLE VIII: You do NOT have the right to any job regardless of your race, creed, sexual preference or religion. Take advantage of the opportunities of education and vocational training laid before you to make yourself useful and self supportive. Don't expect a free ride from the government or your community.

ARTICLE IX: You do NOT have the right to happiness. Being an American means that you have the right to PURSUE happiness. Make your own happiness, don't sit there and wait for someone to hand it to you.

By Mitchell Kaye & Titus Carter

Your Contribution to the Spanish-American War

I received this from Glenn not too long ago, since I haven't had time to come up with anything new since finals week is always busy, this will have to do until I get bored enough to actually post something.
Here it is:

A hundred and seven years ago, in 1898, the federal government began levying a temporary 3 percent excise tax on telephones, ostensibly to fund the Spanish-American War.

Flash forward to 2005 -- and every American with a telephone is still paying this "temporary" tax. The war was over after just a few months, but the tax has been in effect for over a century. On top of that, the tax does not go for any specific purpose. Rather, the funds are simply added to the general fund.

Congress attempted to repeal the tax in 2000. Both the House and the Senate passed legislation to eliminate the tax -- it was a 420-2 vote in the House -- but then-President Bill Clinton vetoed the bill when it reached his desk.

Once again, the House has been presented with a bill -- H.R. 1898 -- that would repeal the tax on telephone and other communications services. The bill was introduced in late April by Rep. Gary G. Miller of California, and has been cosponsored by 39 other congressmen. It currently sits in the House Committee on Ways and Means.

The outrage?

This tax should have been repealed more than a century ago, but some members of Congress still support the tax -- and some even want to expand it. Congress' Joint Committee on Taxation issued an opinion in January, saying that the tax could be expanded to apply to wireless Internet and data connections.

Good Ol' Fashon Justice (follow up)

The two men responsible for defending their car will not be facing criminal charges for the death of the Edward Zanassi, who tried to steal their 1967 Camero. The county prosecutor also said that they may start treating auto theft as a crime and prosecute those who do it.

Mp3 Players

This is an almost final draft of my latest writing assignment for my English class, enjoy if you wish.

The music industry has centered on forms over the decades. The media has changed many times; from analog to digital, from LP to CD, it continues to evolve before our eyes. The current mutation is in the form of compressed files that reside on a computer hard drives. Wav, Mp3, Ogg, and Mid are everyday words in my circles, representing 4 of the dozens of music file formats that live in cyberspace. New technology allows us to carry these files with us in small devices wherever we go with ever increasing capacities. The Apple iPod has become one of the most visible and popular of the music players seen today. Ask a random group of people and most of them will probably tell you that iPod is the best music player available, but that is only because the advertisements tell them that.
Turn on the TV, read a magazine, look at billboards and you will see an ad for an iPod, you practically have to go out of your way to avoid one. Apple followed the lead of such companies as Rio and Creative by releasing their own player, the iPod, named in the same fashion as their iMac and iBook computers. They realized several years ago that digital music players were going to be the next hot consumer music medium, and they were right. Dumping millions of dollars into their marketing campaign has allowed them to seize a sizable portion of the market. Now, thanks to the total media saturation, when most people think digital music, they think iPod. Apple’s marketing executives have done their job very well; I hope they all retire as billionaires.
The most common form of digital music today is MPEG-I Layer 3 Audio, more commonly shortened to Mp3. This format was revolutionary upon its introduction to the world in the early 1990s. Before Mp3, when computer hard drives were measured in megabytes, it was inconceivable to store an entire CD on a computer much less an entire collection. Mp3 made it possible to store music files on a computer hard drive as the data files were as much as 20 times smaller without substantially hurting the sound quality. The seeds for the new music revolution had been planted.
It took until 1999 with the introduction of Napster.com to make Mp3 mainstream. People now realized that they could copy entire CDs onto their computer, and share them with others, while getting new music from all over the world for free. Many music artists embraced the new medium that allowed them to share their music with the entire world, without having to deal with the large record companies who would never sign them to a contract. The music industry took notice and sued Napster out of existence. They did this because people were stealing their music instead of paying for their songs. Napster and many of its successors are now gone, but the Mp3 craze has stuck to this day. Creative Audio, a company specializing in consumer audio equipment, decided to release a small digital player that would hold the downloaded music for people to play on the go. Unlike a CD player, these devices were small, never skipped a beat when moved, and lasted a very long time on a single battery. A handful of companies soon released their own Mp3 players, including Rio, Sony, and eventually Apple.
Apple’s iPod was not a landmark technology when it was released, but it did influence the evolution of today’s digital music players. It incorporated a new interface that had not been seen before and a sleek design. A tiny hard drive replaced the memory commonly found in an Mp3 player which allowed for an impressive five gigabytes of music storage; this was half of the storage space of the average desktop computer at the time. Apple marketed their new iPod niche as their Mac computers where it was quickly embraced by their loyal Mac users. The fad had been born.
It took more than a year for the iPod to be introduced into the mainstream market where it began picking up a dedicated user base that is growing even as I type this. The iPod has evolved through several newer generations and can hold as much as sixty gigabytes of music at this time. The sleek design graces countless ads and people everywhere sport their trademark white earphones. Go into any major electronics store and you will see a large display featuring the iPod and many accessories. From the media saturation, you would never know that any other model of Mp3 player existed. Today, the name “iPod” itself has come to be worth about $100 by itself; the average cost of having the Apple logo on your Mp3 player. If you want an Mp3 player with more features than an iPod, a simplified interface, or more music storage they are readily available. If the 14 hours of battery found in an iPod not enough for you, get something with 40 hours of juice. There should be no doubt in anyone’s mind that the iPod is a very good Mp3 player even if it is the most expensive, but it is not the best available. The early pioneers of portable audio players are still developing and releasing new and improved players that are several steps ahead of the iPod in features and functions. Why don’t I see TV commercials and billboards being graced by the Creative Zen or the Rio Carbon players? I don’t see them because the companies would rather invest in new technology than advertisements. This is what will keep these companies alive after the iPod trend fades like the 8-track tape.
Apple has everything bet on their iPod at the moment, completely eclipsing their other product. The other Mp3 player manufacturers have several lines of audio devices on the market, Apple has one. I’ve tried to stay away from the huge, name brand fads because the better product is lurking closely in its shadow. With technology advancing at the fastest rate in history, being left behind is an easy feat no matter how advanced the technology is at the moment. The iPod will someday be surpassed by its nameless competitors just as the BetaMax tape player was replaced by the VHS system which has been replaced by the DVD, which will be replaced when something better comes along.

Good Ol' Fashon Justice

A man in Grahm tried to steal a 1967 Camaro Wednesday morning. He figured it would be an easy deal even if he got caught since car theft isn't generally prosecuted around here. He didn't count on being caught by the owner and his roommate who sent him to the hospital in critical condition. The would-be thief, Edward Zanassi, has a repeat criminal history including auto theft, identify theft, and drug charges. I say he had it coming.

Other sucky stuff

Now that they have effectively raised property taxes, they are milking more money out of me on top of that. The state legislature passed some fun tax bills. First, they repealed an initiative of the people which required a 2/3 vote of approval for all tax increases. Then they passed a 9.5 cent increase in the gas tax over the next 3 years. As of July 1 of this year, we will now have the second highest gas tax in the country, thirty-one cents on the state level, just a single cent behind New York. This will be remedied on January 1, 2006 when another 3 cent increase will take effect, giving us the highest gas tax in the country. I probably wouldn’t be complaining much if we had the best roads in the country, but there are places on the freeway where it isn’t safe to go the posted speed limit because the roads are about 10 years overdue for being resurfaced. 
The officials say that they need the tax money to fund such projects as their new light rail system. I have a serious problem with their current system; it doesn’t take people from where they are, to where they want to go. The current trains can take people from Everett to Seattle (about 30 miles) in an hour, with 2 stops in between. The budget analysis was just published in the paper; they spent $393 million on this system. The worst part about it is that there are about 160 people that ride the train on a daily basis. THAT COMES OUT TO $2.46 MILLION PER RIDER! Oh and the operating cost? It costs more than $300 per passenger in daily operating expenses to keep the two trains moving. If they are so hell-bent on taking 160 cars off of the road, they should buy these people small helicopters and train them how to use them, they would be saving tens of millions of dollars.
What is the official response to the low ridership? The idiots in charge are going to add another 400 passenger train to the existing two so that it is more convenient for those riding to have a slightly more flexible departure schedule. I’m guessing that that will only increase the operating costs 50% or so, but probably won’t increase the number of riders much. Someone seriously needs to look into this and consider filing criminal charges against those responsible.
The biggest problem is that Seattle residents aren’t fans of public transportation. The current system doesn’t take people from where they live or work to where they need to go. I could take the bus to school everyday instead of the 45 minutes I spend driving there, but it would require 2 transfers, waiting for the next buses to come, and it would take a little over 2 hours each way to get from my house to school. I don’t have an extra 2.5 hours every day to travel to and from school. I took a while on this post, which I don’t usually do, but I can submit it as a rough draft for an events paper I have in English class, so I’m technically doing homework at the moment. But I’ll post more later if I feel like it, whether or not you want to read it.

Taxes suck

Yesterday a special election was held to increase funding for the local hospital. Their emergency room resources have been seriously over extended for several years now because illegal Mexicans have been using it as a free clinic. The current law forbids the emergency room staff from turning anyone away to claims to have need. The increase would raise the hospital property tax to 59 cents per $1,000 assessed value of property. What they did not tell anyone; that I had to look up on my own is that the current property tax is 9 cents per $1,000 assessed value. Top that with the fact that assessed property values in my neighborhood are significantly higher than the market value of these properties. I’d expect the market value to decrease around here because the neighborhood is rapidly declining as the houses age and are not being properly maintained by their residents, many of whom don’t speak English or any understandable dialect.

Better luck next time...

Happy 4-19 everyone!

The Catholics now have a new pope, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger is now Pope Benedict XVI. My campeign for the papacy has been a rather small and unremarkable one, as less than 100 people knew that I was running. Since he's 78, I doubt he'll be breaking any records for longest serving popes. Now I have more time to setup my new campeign for being the next pope.

On a more important note, AMD is now shipping their 'Revision E' Hammer core processors which mean better overclocking with less heat. With the addition of SSE3 to the chips they may now show higher performance on applications taylored to the Pentium 4. And with the moble Turion64 chips being released as a strong contender to the Pentium M I am now considering buiding a laptop for my next system.

Wow School is Boring

I now have 9 hours of free time to kill at school every week now that the new quarter has started. I spend most of this time reading news online. I also study my quiz book during this time. Yesterday I was even so bored that I did homework. I eventually ran out of that to do, so I made up something to do. I didn't feel like making a cool post, so I am dedicating this post to TBQelite and Rebenstrange. I took their profile pictures and separated them. Here they are:

You can tell which is which because TBQelite was wearing his watch, while Rabenstrange doesn't wear watches.

On March 8, Senator Clinton gave a speech to the Kaiser Family Foundation on the media's influence on teens. Here's an excerpt that had to do with video games:

In the last four decades, the government and the public health community have amassed an impressive body of evidence identifying the impact of media violence on children. Since 1969, when President Johnson formed the National Commission on the Causes and Prevention of Violence, the body of data has grown and grown and it leads to an unambiguous and virtually unanimous conclusion: media violence contributes to anxiety, desensitization, and increased aggression among children. When children are exposed to aggressive films, they behave more aggressively. And when no consequences are associated with the media aggression, children are even more likely to imitate the aggressive behavior.

Violent video games have similar effects. According to testimony by Craig Anderson before the Senate Commerce Committee in 2000, playing violent video games accounts for a 13 to 22% increase in teenagers' violent behavior.

Now we know about 92% of children and teenagers play some form of video games. And we know that nine out of ten of the top selling video games contain violence.

And so we know that left to their own devices, you have to keep upping the ante on violence because people do get desensitized and children are going to want more and more stimulation. And unfortunately in a free market like ours, what sells will become even more violent, and the companies will ratchet up the violence in order to increase ratings and sales figures. It is a little frustrating when we have this data that demonstrates there is a clear public health connection between exposure to violence and increased aggression that we have been as a society unable to come up with any adequate public health response.

So now we have to figure out why kids are getting dumber when it comes to differentiating fantasy from reality. Fifty years ago, cowboys and Indians were very popular on TV and kids watched gun battle after gun battle on TV. Back then, it was even acceptable for a student to bring a gun to school for show and tell. I can’t find a single instance of a school shooting in the news archives in the 50s. So I have my doubts that watching people shooting each other on TV is cause enough to go out and shoot someone else in real life.

Video game manufacturers are constantly making more violent games than ever before, that is a fact. It is also fact that it is a purely consumer driven industry. If people didn’t want to buy and play violent video games, there’s nothing forcing them to do so. I have my doubts that 90% of the thousands of video game titles contain violence, unless of course you count a tackle in football as violence or Mario jumping on a goomba's head. The real question they should be asking is not “Why are developers forcing violence upon the youth of the world?”, because they are not, but “Why do I like these games so much?” I like them because they are fun. More often than not I play racing, sport, and strategy games but I still like to sit down and shoot up everything in sight every once in a while. I don't think anyone would argue that shooting everyone in sight in Grand Theft Auto is not preferable to shooting people in a shopping mall.

Quote of the moment:
"The new Europe: Being a constant reminder why our ancestors left the Old Europe."

Long time no post!

Well it's definitely been too long since my last post. Do most of you reading this really care? Probably not. Since my last post several important things have happened in the world. I found out that I am listed in the acknowledgements of Claire Wolfe's newest book, The Freedom Outlaw's Handbook. My spring break started about 8 hours ago, and I plan to waste every second possible with totally random and cool stuff, not to mention catching up on a few month's worth of lost sleep. A bunch of students tormented another student beyond his breaking point; now a handful of people are dead. Bryan Suits is back on the radio in his rightful timeslot and I am happy for myself because I can listen to him 5 days a week again. A few other things that might be important also happened, but they are obviously not important enough for me to remember at the moment.

Quote of the moment:
I Solve My Problems Through Violence

I'm busy!

No I haven't posted anything interesting for a while, and no I don't see doing so in the next few days. I have too much work to do to post anything meaningful here right now. I have 4 papers due in the next 7 days and they all suck. I get to quiz this weekend for the first time in a year and a half so I've been studying for that as well. But I also have 2 tests this week that I should also be studying for. So for the last post I should be writing all week here is an anonymous quote that I found while cleaning out my junk mail folder:

Ambition is a poor excuse for not having enough sense to be lazy.

The Horse Quiz

Thus says the survey.

A-Team Resurection

Howstuffworks.com has decided they want to form a new A-Team. They placed an ad in the LA Craigslist and waited for results. You can monitor their progress here.

Working Order

I've been putting it off for several months now, but I've finally fixed the most messed up parts of my vehice. I have replaced the wiper motor, so I now have functional windshield wipers; something that I would recommend all Seattle drivers to have. My rear brakes were also squeaking badly, so I opened them up only to learn that excess brake dust was building up inside. I probably have 10,000 miles left minimum before I need to replace them, unless I do a ton of 4x4 off roading in the near future. They still squeak though, so I might take some WD40 to them to fix the squeak. I tweaked my suspension a little so I will have a much smoother ride when hauling 500+ kilogram loads in the back. There are quite a few things that I still need to do, but I now have the more important/annoying ones out of the way.
My current vehicle maintenance to do list:

Get/install a rear-view mirror
Fix rear, passenger window latch
Get/install an emergency brake (I've never had one)
Paint
Replace sound system with one that works better while listening to AM radio

Your opinion wanted

I want to buy a shirt from thoseshirts.com. Since they have many very cool shirts to choose from which one do you think I should buy and why?

Students & Snow

It's official, students have too much free time on their hands.

Student volonteers help create the 55-foot snow scupture of a pirate ship. You can read the entire article here

I'm not sure there's enough snow in a 50 mile radius of my house to make such a structure

Super Bowl ticket

A guy named Jon receives a free ticket to the Super Bowl from his
company. Unfortunately, when Jon arrives at the stadium he realizes
the seat is in the last row in the corner of the stadium - he's closer
to the Goodyear blimp than the field.

About halfway through the first quarter, Jon notices an empty seat 10
rows off the field, right on the 50 yard line. He decides to take a
chance and makes his way through the stadium and around the security
guards to the empty seat. As he sits down, he asks the gentleman
sitting next to him, "Excuse me, is anyone sitting here?" The man
says no.

Now, very excited to be in such a great seat for the game, Jon again
inquires of the man next to him, "This is incredible! Who in their
right mind would have a seat like this at the SuperBowl and not use it?"

The man replies, "Well, actually, the seat belongs to me, I was
supposed to come with my wife, but she passed away. This is the
first Super Bowl we haven't been together at since we got married in
1967."

"Well, that's really sad," says Jon, "but still, couldn't you find
someone to take the seat? A relative or close friend?"

"No," the man replies, "they're all at the funeral."

Too much to do, too little time

If you haven't noticed, I haven't posted a new topic for a while. I will hopefully remedy the situation later tonight. If not, I'll just have to dig up an old email worth reading again.

English is a hard to learn

If English is not your first language, it is one of the hardest to learn. There are many pronunciations for the same letter combinations, that getting a firm grasp takes years, even for a native speaker. Here’s why:

1) The bandage was wound around the wound.

2) The farm was used to produce produce.

3) The dump was so full that it had to refuse more refuse.

4) We must polish the Polish furniture.

5) He could lead if he would get the lead out.

6) The soldier decided to desert his dessert in the desert..

7) Since there is no time like the present, he thought it was time to present the present.

8) A bass was painted on the head of the bass drum.

9) When shot at, the dove dove into the bushes.

10) I did not object to the object.

11) The insurance was invalid for the invalid.

12) There was a row among the oarsmen about how to row.

13) They were too close to the door to close it.

14) The buck does funny things when the does are present.

15) A seamstress and a sewer fell down into a sewer line.

16) To help with planting, the farmer taught his sow to sow.

17) The wind was too strong to wind the sail

18) After a number of injections my jaw got number.

19) Upon seeing the tear in the painting I shed a tear.

20) I had to subject the subject to a series of tests.

21) How can I intimate this to my most intimate friend?

There is no egg in eggplant nor ham in hamburger; neither apple nor pine in pineapple. English muffins weren't invented in England or French fries in France(Surprise!). Sweetmeats are candies while sweetbreads, which aren't sweet, are meat.

Quicksand works slowly, boxing rings are square and a guinea pig is neither from Guinea or is it a pig. And why is it that writers write but fingers don't fing, grocers don't groce and hammers don't ham?

If the plural of tooth is teeth, why isn't the plural of booth beeth? One goose, 2 geese. So one moose, 2 meese? Doesn't it seem crazy that you can make amends but not one amend. If you have a bunch of odds and ends and get rid of all but one of them, what do you call it? Is it an odd, or an end?

If teachers taught, why didn't preachers praught? If a vegetarian eats vegetables, what does a humanitarian eat? In what language do people recite at a play and play at a recital? Ship by truck and send cargo by ship? Have noses that run and feet that smell?

How can a slim chance and a fat chance be the same, while a wise man and a wise guy are opposites? You have to marvel at the unique lunacy of a language in which your house can burn up as it burns down, in which you fill in a form by filling it out, and in which, an alarm goes off by going on.

English was invented by people, not computers, and it reflects the creativity of the human race, which, of course, is not a race at all. That is why, when the stars are out, they are visible, but when the lights are out, they are invisible.

One more: Why doesn't "Buick" rhyme with "quick"?

Fabulous Friday!

Sweet bliss of a day is soon upon us all. Or at least it is for those of us who attend BCC. This is because this Friday is “Professional Development Day” which basically means the teachers have to sit in lecture all day while the rest of us go do something productive. For the day I want to paintball. Anyone who wants to come may come. I no longer have my arsenal so those of you without guns will have to find your own this time. I vote we go up to Shadow Walker’s place, or possible Seabeck, for a change of scenery.

In other news: Fort Lewis is in lockdown last I heard because a set of night vision equipment is missing. Iraq held elections and a bunch of people voted in a legit election for the first time in their life. AMD has begun production of their new processors that will implement SSE3 and strained silicon which should allow for better overclocking abilities than with the current generation of Winchester core chips. I’ll look into buying one of these chips probably at the beginning of the summer.

Nothing New

I really want to post something cool right now that will get everyone laughing and thinking at the same time. Right now, I'm too tired / lazy (pick one) to do anything like that. Lately I’ve been working many extra hours at the print shop and that has taken almost all of my free time from me. With the exception of Rabenstrange getting his gym locker and all of his stuff stolen from it, nothing interesting has been happening around here. So to keep things interesting I’ve searched through my Glenn archive and have found the 5 stages of drunkenness. I have never actually been drunk, sounds quite unpleasant from the liquid’s perspective, so I’ll just have to take his word on this.

The 5 Stages of Drunkenness:

Stage 1 – SMART This is when you suddenly become the foremost expert on every subject in the known Universe. You know that you know everything and want to pass on this knowledge to anyone who will listen to your wisdom. At this stage you are always RIGHT. And of course the person you are talking to is obviously very WRONG. This makes for an interesting argument when both parties are SMART.

Stage 2 - GOOD LOOKING This is when you realize that you are the BEST LOOKING person in the entire world and that people fancy you. You can go up to a perfect stranger knowing they fancy you and really want to talk to you. Bear in mind that you are still SMART, so you can talk to this person about any subject under the sun.

Stage 3 - RICH This is when you suddenly become the wealthiest person in the entire world. You can buy rounds of drinks for the entire bar because you have an armored truck full of money parked outside. You can also make large bets at this stage, because of course, you are still SMART, so naturally you win all your bets. It doesn't matter how much you bet because you are filthy RICH. You will also buy drinks for everyone that you fancy, because now you are still the BEST LOOKING person in the world.

Stage 4 - BULLET PROOF You are now ready to pick fights with anyone and everyone especially those with whom you have been betting or arguing. This is because nothing can hurt you. At this point you can also go up to the partners of the people who you fancy and challenge to a battle of wits or money. You have no fear of losing this battle because you are SMART, you are RICH and hell, and you are definitely BETTER LOOKING than they are anyway!

Stage 5 - INVISIBLE This is the Final Stage of Drunkenness. At this point you can do anything because NO ONE CAN SEE YOU unless you want them to see you. You dance on a table to impress only the people who you fancy because the rest of the people in the room cannot see or hear you at all. You are also invisible to the person who wants to fight you. You can walk through the street singing at the top of your lungs because no one can see or hear you and because you're still SMART you know all the words better than anyone else.

More randomness

I was listening to Michael Savage on the radio on Friday, not something I normally do. He is usually a very depressing individual who's mood is dictated by which medication he had to take that day, or how booze he drank beforehand. He made a rather interesting statement that I found humerous. "I wasn't like normal kids. I just sat at home, cleaning my guns, plotting my revenge." He was kidding and I thought it funny.

But something that isn't as funny was the kids who were having a fundraiser for the Asian tsunami relief efforts who were blocked by their school. They got authorization to host a video game tournament and chose Halo 2 as their game to play. When the school officials recognized this they went ballistic because it was a game with "violence" in its gameplay. They also said about how such a thing was inappropriate because of incidents such as the Colombine shootings. I'm not sure what destroying aliens and cyborgs has to do with school shootings. After playing such games, my urge to kill people at my school was no higher than usual. All of these psuedo-psychologists who want to blame everything and everyone for a kids' actions except for the kids themselves.

And on a more positive note I learned an easy way to become a millionaire.
Step 1: get addicted to an over-priced drink at Starbucks or similar establishment
Step 2: stop in and buy one of these every day
Step 3: give up your daily, over-priced espresseo shop drink and put that money into high interest, long term bonds.
Step 4: do this for 40 years and factor inflation and compounding interest
Congratulations! You are now a millionaire with virtually no effort or gambling or rich relative having to die.

Places to Live

That's what is said, but I don't like these choices.

Tacoma, Washington
Chattanooga, Tennessee
Johnson City-Kingsport, Tennessee
Olympia, Washington
Greenville, South Carolina
Clayton, Georgia
Kent, Washington
Knoxville, Tennessee
Bellingham, Washington
Seward, Alaska
Ketchikan, Alaska
Maryville, Tennessee
Spokane, Washington
Mount Vernon, Washington
Anchorage, Alaska
Tulsa, Oklahoma
Athens, Georgia
Tuscaloosa, Alabama
Seattle, Washington
Biloxi-Gulfport, Mississippi
Berea, Kentucky
Auburn, Alabama
Clarksville, Tennessee
Wenatchee, Washington

Apparantly I like Washington. I like Idaho, Montana, and Mississippi as well but didn't get any hits there.

Working Title: "TBQ 3007"

I'm getting tired of whining and ranting about random stuff right now. If people weren't so stupid the world would be a much better place and I wouldn't have to complain about it so much. But it's not so I guess I'll keep it up. But I'm out of interesting topics for the moment...oh wait I'm not so I'm going to post about something interesting for once.

In Wasilla, Alaska a man named Carlos is building an 18-foot tall mech-style robot. He originally wanted to build one 25 feet tall, but that proved to be too expensive for someone who is 27 and still lives with his parents. He will control it by riding inside with sensors hooked to his body so that the machine will mimic his movements. He says that his prototype that he is currently building will cost around $20,000.

If I was 27, still lived with my parents, and had $20K to blow, I don’t think building a giant walking machine would be my first choice. It would probably be more along the lines of making the down payment on a cheap house.

New rant for the moment

I was doing my occasional search for scholarship type money to help pay for school when I came upon the updated FAFSA (Free Application for Federal Student Aid) site. They now have it in Spanish, for the illegals who are too lazy to learn English. So not only do they do nothing and collect government benefits, they are getting paid to go to college while still being too lazy to learn English. So just remember if you don't get accepted to the college of your dreams, an illegal immigrant who can't even speak Engligh, who is getting paid by OUR tax dollars to go to school, may have been the reason you didn't get into that school.

Goodbye Coldness

Well the cold front has left, now we’re stuck with the pathetic, normal Seattle weather. I woke up to temperatures in the mid 50s and rain. Just 4 days ago temperatures were in the 20s and it was freezing rain. I am not happy about that at all. If we’re going to be stuck with coldish weather for a while I want snow on the ground. I did have fun spraying water on my brother’s car and watching it freeze instantly as I put layer upon layer of ice on his car. But what I want is snow! We need at least one day of hard snow to close everything down and have a good time outside. Yes I could go up to the pass but that’s an hour away. We had ice and it was fun to see idiot drivers remove themselves and their cars from the road (with thousands of dollars in property damage), but I still want snow. Anyone who has any extra, please tell it to come here for a few days.

Not cold enough

For the 8th time in 9 days, the outside temperature hovers around freezing. They've predicted ice and/or snow virtually every night this past week. We've had some ice most mornings here, but that's about it; just enough to make things incovnenient for everyone but no more than that. I want it to warm up to the usual Seattle winter of 45, or cool off just enough to snow people in. Everything is covered in a layer of ice in my back yard at the moment, and it's raining right now. I want cold, ice AND snow; or I want my usual mild temperatures, not this garbage in the middle.

I gave in

Yes, I gave in to the urge to post a random survey.

01. Time you start: 23:26

02. School: Bellevue Community College

03. Grade: 15

04. Sex: M

05. Are You in Love?: no

06. Height: 5'6"

07. Shoe size: 9.5

08. Weight: 173

09. Hair Color: brownish

10. Eye Color: greenish

11. Siblings: 3

12. Memory you miss most: winning Powerball, I can't remember ever doing it

13. Memory you’d like to forget: 3 years @ Renton High

14. What'd you do yesterday?: school

15. Last person you talked to on the phone: Brandon

16. Last thing you said on the phone: “yeah…later”

17. Last song you listened to: “I See Right Through to You” by DJ Encore feat. Engelina

The FAVORITE Side***

18. Food: meat

19. Drink: water

20. TV Show: Invader Zim

21. CD: Cobalt Blue

22. Color(s): Black/Silver

23. Day of the week: any day I can sleep in

24. Month: July

25. Number: 0

26. favorite holiday: Colombus Day

27. Cookie: White Chocolate-chip

28. Toothpaste: Freshstripe Colgate

29. Ice Cream: Brown Cow (I think they renamed it to Udderly Chocolate)

30. TV Channel: 48 - FOX News

31. Shampoo/Conditioner: anything that cleans hair and smells good

32. Song(s): “Not Ready to Die” by Demon Hunter;

33. Favorite Board Game(s): Rail Barron, EuroRail

34. Favorite Music Artist: Paul Spaeth

35. Favorite vacation spot: Cour' de lain, Idaho or Disney World

36. Favorite thing in your room: my paintball arsenal

37. Favorite thing to wear: clothes

38. Favorite Movie at the moment: Ocean's 11

39. Favorite Candy: real chocolate

40. Favorite Soda: Coke / Vanilla Coke

41. Favorite Pizza topping: salami

42. Favorite Season: Summer

43. Favorite Store(s): REI or Fry’s

44. Favorite Animal: Zach (a Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retriever)

45. Favorite Gum: Stripes

46. Favorite Magazine: Popular Mechanics

47. What do you think you’ll be doing in 6 months from now? Summer break, so working or sleeping

48. Where were you born? Earth

49. How many kids do you want? 2-3

50. What do you look for in the opposite sex? someone worth talking to

51. Sound: the microwave beeping to say my stuff is cooked

52. Food: toast

53. Favorite type of music: New Age

54. Favorite type of clothing people wear: hats

55. First thing you do when you wake up: fall back asleep

56. Favorite Person you went out with: too hard to tell at this point

57. Favorite place to eat: Chang's Mongolian Grill

58. Favorite thing you learned to say: "I'm gonna go roll around on the floor for a bit! ok?" –Gir from Invader Zim

59. Thing you do when you first get home from school? Pass water

***The BELIEVE OR NOT Side***

60. Do you believe in angels: yes

61. Aliens: yes, they work at McDonalds and can’t speak English

62. Heaven & Hell: yes

63. God: yes

64. Yourself: I have a reflection, so yes

***The HAVE YOU EVER Side [Answer YES or No]***

65. Piloted a plane? yes

66. Cried in public: yes

67. Climbed a tree: yes

68. Kissed someone you didn’t like? Do family members count?

69. Eaten a worm: yes

70. Met a celebrity: yes

71. Met the president: yes

72. Been scared to get shot: yes

73. Gotten a cavity: no

74. Shopped at Abercrombie & Fitch: no

75. Gone skinny dipping: no

76. Skipped school: yes

**Which one?

77. Silver or Gold? silver

78. Jeans, Khakis, or Black Pants? Black sweats

79. Kissing or hugging? depends on who and who else is around

80. Movies or Mall? movies

81. Day or Night? night

82. White Milk or Chocolate Milk? white

83. Pancakes or Waffles? pancakes

84. Beans or peas? beans

85. Lights on or off? off

86. Pen or Pencil: depends

87. Roller Coasters or Ferris Wheels? roller coasters

***The QUESTIONS THAT DON'T MATTER, BUT I'M STILL ASKING Side***

88. Do you sleep with a stuffed animal? I have a big stuffed elephant that I use for a pillow

89. Last time you showered: a hour ago

90. If you were a crayon, what color would you be: electric blue

91. How many buddies do you have on your list: 9

92. One pillow or two, cotton or feather: 4; pvc pellets in 2, 1 feathers, 1 cotton

93. Last CD you bought: Dance Like David by OnFire

94. How long do you take a shower: 6-7 minutes unless I fall asleep in the shower

95. How do you eat a Resses peanut butter cup: insert in mouth, chew, then swallow

96. Right, Left, or Ambidextrous: usually right

97. How many licks does it take to get to the center of a Tootsie Pop: 593 I counted once

98. Personal quote: "Look at me! Look at me! I'm a mooing sheep! Moooooooooooo!"

99. Time you finished: 23:46

Tsunami

To show my strong opposition to the destruction tsunamis and hurricanes have caused in the last year, I am going to boycott Earth Day! Natural disasters are usually so destructive that I'm not sure why we have them anymore, we should petition the UN to outlaw them; they will be just as effective at enforcing such a resolution as all of their other ones, so I don't see a reason why they wouldn't want to outlaw these death machines.

I really dislike the stock market right now...

Yeserday the stock for Advanced Micro Design (AMD) dropped more than 25% in value in a single trading day. This means that I lost more money yesterday that I earned working in all of 2004. Oh well, its only money. I'll get it all back in a month or two.

The Importance of Correct Punctuation

Glenn sent this to me a while ago so I guess I'll post it here.

Dear John:
I want a man who knows what love is all about. You are generous, kind, thoughtful. People who are not like you admit to being useless and inferior. You have ruined me for other men. I yearn for you. I have no feelings whatsoever when we're apart. I can be forever happy--will you let me be yours?
Gloria

Dear John:
I want a man who knows what love is. All about you are generous, kind, thoughtful people, who are not like you. Admit to being useless and inferior. You have ruined me. For other men, I yearn. For you, I have no feelings whatsoever. When we're apart, I can be forever happy. Will you let me be?
Yours,
Gloria

Thought Provoking Questions:

If you take an Oriental person and spin him around several times, does he become disoriented?

If people from Poland are called Poles, why aren’t people from Holland called Holes?

If you mixed vodka with orange juice and milk of magnesia, would you get a Philip’s screwdriver?

If a pig loses it’s voice, is it disgruntled?

If love is blind, why is lingerie so popular?

When someone asks you, “A penny for your thoughts” and you put your two cents in, what happens to the other penny?

Why is the man who invests all your money called a broker?

Why do croutons come in airtight packages? It’s just stale bread to begin with.

When cheese gets its picture taken, what does it say?

Why is a person who plays the piano called a pianist, but a person who drives a race car not called a racist?

Why are a wise man and a wise guy opposite things?

If horrific mean to make horrible, doesn’t terrific mean to make terrible?

Why isn’t 11 pronounced onety-one?

“I am.” is reportedly the shortest sentence in the English language. Could it be that “I do.” is the longest sentence?

If lawyers are disbarred and clergymen are defrocked, doesn’t it follow that electricians can be delighted, musicians denoted, cowboys deranged, models deposed, tree surgeons debarked and dry cleaners depressed?

Mexico helps illegals cross boarder

The Mexican government published a booklet last month telling its citizens that wetbacking over the boarder isn’t a good idea. BUT, if someone was going to attempt such a feat, here are helpful tips to aid you in your journey. It contains suggestions on how to best avoid authorities, the best things to say if confronted, and how not to die in the desert in your traveling.

Well since illegal migrants seems to be Mexico’s number one export at the moment, I can see why they would want to help out its citizens.

Their number two export I believe is still oil. They’ve got tons of the stuff, and its basically right next door. So if we ever decide to go to war just because we want more cheap oil, lets just nuke the Mexicans for a few weeks and take theirs.

School's gonna be a drag

This quarter is actually gonna suck, at least it probably will but there's still hope that it won't. I have 4 classes this quarter: Nutritional Science, Sociological Psychology, Microeconomics, and Archery. This is a list of classes that I took just because they looked interesting. The only problem is that they will require alot of work. All of my teachers, except for in archery, are stressing that BCC guidelines say that the average class will require about 15 hours of work per week. To date, I can't think of a single class at BCC that I've put 15 hours into during the entire quarter. That's just the way I am, I just pay good attention in class and that's enough for me to get a 3.2 GPA. My three academic classes all require that I have and read the textbooks (not something I'm used to), assign weekly assignments/research papers/presentations (also something my other teachers haven't done), and overall just make me have to work for a grade. What is this, high school? Despite what all my teachers used to tell me, the workload in college is / has been virtually non-existant.
I guess I'm gonna have to get into a semi diciplined routine again. Man this quarter is gonna suck. Wow I'm really lazy if I'm complaining about having 3-4 homework assignments per week in college. I must be getting better though if I've got enough unlaziness to actually write this.