I want to brag. It's really nothing to brag about, but for me, it's kind of a milestone. It means I'm getting back on track with connecting with my audiences.
On DeviantART, for the term "The Laughing Man", my pic is the most popular for the previous month. It's been viewed 73 times and favorites 14. Like I said, not "epic" numbers, but for me, they're pretty good, especially as of late. (44th most pupular of all time, lol) The Laughing Man Strikes Again
If you're a fan of Adventure Time, search DA for "The Great Mushroom War". There are some very, very epic pictures that come up, especially the ones involve Ice King, Princess Bubblegum, and Marceline. Bragging again: Mine is third most popular of all time, and second most popular of the past month. Aftermath of The Great Mushroom War
Sure I hope these numbers stay up, but even if they don't, I'm still very happy about this.
Monday, December 26, 2011
Thursday, December 22, 2011
Freetards
(Before you read) Too long; didn't read: Audio Tape
Let's get something settled right away: 90% of what comes out of Hollywood is total shit. Being on screen does not qualify you to give expert opinion on anything (except maybe being on screen)! A great deal (and this is fact, look it up if you doubt it) of the "most popular" songs that are sung by young, pretty faces, and make their way to the tops of the charts, are written by one, overweight, post-middle-aged white man. (I've seen his house. Even though he doesn't, it looks like he lives in his mother's basement. Even as a millionaire, he's a perpetual basement dweller. Nothing against this guy, though.)
So why all the hate? I'm not hatin'. Haters gonna hate, but I ain't hatin. I ain't even mad! You know who is mad? Sony, the RIAA, the MPAA, and other groups like them. They like things like the DMCA and SOPA. It gives them (corporations and trade organizations), through the guise of government legislation, carte blanche, to jail people who share. Right now, they make the claim that sharing digital copyrighted material (downloading movies and music) is hurting their industry, even though independent research shows contrary. They then can have those people held financially and/or criminally responsible. If SOPA passes, and I shit you not, linking to a video of Justin Beiber dancing to songs by Usher, makes you a felon. Felons go to prison. Again, I'm not shitting you on this. Look it up.
But much of what I wrote was conjecture. Conjecture, because I didn't give any sort of citation to back up my claims. But I'm not taking the time to explain the history behind, and ins and outs, of the war oneducation internet piracy that's been going on since the turn of the century. I'm going to assume that you already know it. If you don't fucking Google it. Or use Yahoo or Bing or Ask or whatever. Do it.
Now that you've educated yourself on these things, we can converse. Side A has the entertainment industry against Side P (P stands for pirate. What does A stand for?) Back in the day, Side P got a hold of some CDs. The CDs tooks up a whole lot of space, so the nerds/geeks of Side P "ripped" their music CDs to their computer's hard drives. Since these Side P nerds and geeks were hardcore nerds and geeks, they made their material accessible to themselves at remote locations.
THEORETICAL EXAMPLE: I have some music, that I purchased and paid for, stored on my computer, and can access it, over the internet, when I'm using a computer at school or work. My bosses and/or teachers are totally cool with me listening to a CD while at work or in class, but this way, I don't have to lug those CDs back and forth, where they can get stolen, lost, broken, or melt if I leave them in my car. So far so good? THEORETICAL EXAMPLE: Some of my fellow hardcore nerds and/or geeks notice this, and do the same. Later, we compare lists and see that I have songs others don't, but want, and vice versa, so we share.
And now everything must come to a screeching halt. Remember Napster ten years ago? Or KaZaA? Well Napster was sued into oblivion by Side A, turned into a premium service, and faded away into obscurity. KaZaA was purchased and turned into a semi-commercial product, and infects downloads with all kinds of illegal stuff operated by Side A, i.e. Side A obtains a type of malicious software called a rootkit, puts it in the files you download, and uses them to obtain your personal information (illegal - computer fraud) in order to prosecute you. Meanwhile, skiddies use the backdoor created by the rootkit to steal your passwords and credit card info and uses your webcam to record you nude and then uses that for blackmail. And so it goes. LimeWire fell due to malware. Morpheus too. Even Sharaza was targeted, but fear not Side P! SourceForge hosts a project by the original founders of Shareaza called... Sharaza! It still works and is disease free.
Through all of this brief history I recounted lives the file sharing protocol known as bit-torrent. On Side P, person 1 has a file he wants to share. He creates a torrent tracker, and uploads it to a website. Person 2 clicks this link, and begins to download the file. As it's downloading, persons 3 through 50 click the link too, and are now downloading it from persons 1 through 50. Then persons 51 through ad nauseum do the same, so now the people downloading the files are now also guilty of uploading.
tl;dr
I told you all of that in order to ask you this: DOESN'T ANYONE REMEMBER FUCKING CASSETTE TAPES? Seriously? Some of you reading this are too young to really remember the cassette tape, but it was this little thing that you could really easily record to. They're cheap. The equipment to record is cheap. The equipment to play is cheap. You can record from the radio, other tapes, CDs, MP3s, or even those archaic 8-Tracks and vinyl records!
Many of you reading this have spent enough time in Akron to know that if you see Reggie in North Hill, on Exchange Street, or in Kenmore/Lane-Wooster, and he's carrying that black duffle bag, you know you could get some pirated CDs or DVDs from him for cheap. That is piracy. He's making money. (Oddly, I've never seen him in Middleburry, or down on Arlington) But when cassettes and VHS tapes were prominent, people would make tapes for each other for free. Sometimes, they'd just put their favorite songs from various artists, maybe sorted by genre, onto one cassette. They called it a "mixtape". It was an amazing time.
Person 1: Hey, did you get that new Offspring tape?
Person 2: Naw, I can't afford any new tapes right now.
Person 1: Oh, no sweat, man. I'll dub a copy for you. Pick it up when you come over.
Person 2: Oh cool. Thanks dude.
Person 2 would go over to Person 1's place. Person 1 would have the tape there waiting. Person 2 would converse with Person 1 and all the other people there. Sometimes the whole group would go out together. Sometimes there was pizza and beer. It was a face to face meeting, behind closed doors. If Person 1 didn't supply Person 2 with the goods, Person 2 didn't go out and buy said tape, Person 2 just didn't listen to it. Person 2 doesn't have the disposable income to go buy it. If Person 2 doesn't buy it, and Person 1 doesn't give or lend it to Person 2, then Person 2 doesn't know how good (or bad) the album is, and might go buy it when that disposable income does come along. A lose-lose situation for Side A.
My point is that it is the same now. People from Side P want to watch a movie or listen to a song, but they can't afford to go out and buy every DVD/CD/premium download they want, so they simply don't watch that movie or listen to that song, unless they download it for free. If Side A succeeds in killing off this "internet piracy", all they'll succeed in is lessening their audience. They're not going to make any more money by preventing those who cannot rent or buy their movies/songs from seeing them for free.
Unless, of course, those people go back to the days of the mixtape, but maybe with a more modern, Reggie-esqu spin.
Person 1: Hey man, did you see that new X-Men movie yet?
Person 2: Naw man. I'm not gonna blow twenty bucks on movie tickets or a DVD.
Perosn 1: Well shit, bro, I'll burn it for you when you come over.
Person 2: Cool. Thanks, bro!
So it's back to the behind-closed-doors-causal-attire-pizza-and-beer-rendezvous of the pirating underground. Wow! Cloak and dagger just got really exciting! But wait, there's more. Side A is trying to make that a thing of the past too!
'Outrageous!' you say. 'Impossible! How could they possibly do that?' The answer is: Gradually. Every buy a movie with a "digital copy" included? It works like this: You buy a DVD (or Blu-Ray disc, or whatever) and it comes with a code that allows you to download, for free, that exact same movie you bought to a limited number of electronic devices. The theory is that you can have it to play in your living room, but maybe also on your laptop or phone or tablet. You know, when you're away on business, but have that undying urge to watch Failure to Launch.
Isn't this a slippery slope? Isn't the next step to do away with the physical media, the DVD or Blu-Ray, altogether? Consumers are already being groomed for this. Remember Napster? Ever hear of iTunes? iTunes has music, movies, podcasts, all kinds of stuff on it. It's not super expensive, but it doesn't carry the risk of fines or imprisonment. And you can do it piece by piece. Only like one song on an album? Just download that one song. Pandora and Last.fm offer similar experiences (streaming, and with ads). And let's not forget NetFlix. At eight bucks a month, you have access to a fine-and-imprisonment-free collection of more movies and TV shows that you could download in any reasonable amount of time that you can watch on your TV, computer, cellphone, tablet, or video game system.
I smell the death of physical media. I smell the death of personal ownership. Maybe Orwell was right, but it's not Big Brother, but Big Entertainment, who will be encroaching into our private spaces.
Read this: Wikipedia: Sony BMG Copy Protection Rootkit Scandal
Have to be careful when selecting search terms.
COPYRIGHT INFO:
Bitch, please. Refer to Title 17 - United States Code of Federal Regulations - Section 107 It's called "Fair Use", and I can use all of these images. Sue me, and the Electronic Frontier Foundation will sodomize you on my behalf.
Let's get something settled right away: 90% of what comes out of Hollywood is total shit. Being on screen does not qualify you to give expert opinion on anything (except maybe being on screen)! A great deal (and this is fact, look it up if you doubt it) of the "most popular" songs that are sung by young, pretty faces, and make their way to the tops of the charts, are written by one, overweight, post-middle-aged white man. (I've seen his house. Even though he doesn't, it looks like he lives in his mother's basement. Even as a millionaire, he's a perpetual basement dweller. Nothing against this guy, though.)
So why all the hate? I'm not hatin'. Haters gonna hate, but I ain't hatin. I ain't even mad! You know who is mad? Sony, the RIAA, the MPAA, and other groups like them. They like things like the DMCA and SOPA. It gives them (corporations and trade organizations), through the guise of government legislation, carte blanche, to jail people who share. Right now, they make the claim that sharing digital copyrighted material (downloading movies and music) is hurting their industry, even though independent research shows contrary. They then can have those people held financially and/or criminally responsible. If SOPA passes, and I shit you not, linking to a video of Justin Beiber dancing to songs by Usher, makes you a felon. Felons go to prison. Again, I'm not shitting you on this. Look it up.
But much of what I wrote was conjecture. Conjecture, because I didn't give any sort of citation to back up my claims. But I'm not taking the time to explain the history behind, and ins and outs, of the war on
Now that you've educated yourself on these things, we can converse. Side A has the entertainment industry against Side P (P stands for pirate. What does A stand for?) Back in the day, Side P got a hold of some CDs. The CDs tooks up a whole lot of space, so the nerds/geeks of Side P "ripped" their music CDs to their computer's hard drives. Since these Side P nerds and geeks were hardcore nerds and geeks, they made their material accessible to themselves at remote locations.
THEORETICAL EXAMPLE: I have some music, that I purchased and paid for, stored on my computer, and can access it, over the internet, when I'm using a computer at school or work. My bosses and/or teachers are totally cool with me listening to a CD while at work or in class, but this way, I don't have to lug those CDs back and forth, where they can get stolen, lost, broken, or melt if I leave them in my car. So far so good? THEORETICAL EXAMPLE: Some of my fellow hardcore nerds and/or geeks notice this, and do the same. Later, we compare lists and see that I have songs others don't, but want, and vice versa, so we share.
And now everything must come to a screeching halt. Remember Napster ten years ago? Or KaZaA? Well Napster was sued into oblivion by Side A, turned into a premium service, and faded away into obscurity. KaZaA was purchased and turned into a semi-commercial product, and infects downloads with all kinds of illegal stuff operated by Side A, i.e. Side A obtains a type of malicious software called a rootkit, puts it in the files you download, and uses them to obtain your personal information (illegal - computer fraud) in order to prosecute you. Meanwhile, skiddies use the backdoor created by the rootkit to steal your passwords and credit card info and uses your webcam to record you nude and then uses that for blackmail. And so it goes. LimeWire fell due to malware. Morpheus too. Even Sharaza was targeted, but fear not Side P! SourceForge hosts a project by the original founders of Shareaza called... Sharaza! It still works and is disease free.
Through all of this brief history I recounted lives the file sharing protocol known as bit-torrent. On Side P, person 1 has a file he wants to share. He creates a torrent tracker, and uploads it to a website. Person 2 clicks this link, and begins to download the file. As it's downloading, persons 3 through 50 click the link too, and are now downloading it from persons 1 through 50. Then persons 51 through ad nauseum do the same, so now the people downloading the files are now also guilty of uploading.
tl;dr
I told you all of that in order to ask you this: DOESN'T ANYONE REMEMBER FUCKING CASSETTE TAPES? Seriously? Some of you reading this are too young to really remember the cassette tape, but it was this little thing that you could really easily record to. They're cheap. The equipment to record is cheap. The equipment to play is cheap. You can record from the radio, other tapes, CDs, MP3s, or even those archaic 8-Tracks and vinyl records!
Many of you reading this have spent enough time in Akron to know that if you see Reggie in North Hill, on Exchange Street, or in Kenmore/Lane-Wooster, and he's carrying that black duffle bag, you know you could get some pirated CDs or DVDs from him for cheap. That is piracy. He's making money. (Oddly, I've never seen him in Middleburry, or down on Arlington) But when cassettes and VHS tapes were prominent, people would make tapes for each other for free. Sometimes, they'd just put their favorite songs from various artists, maybe sorted by genre, onto one cassette. They called it a "mixtape". It was an amazing time.
Person 1: Hey, did you get that new Offspring tape?
Person 2: Naw, I can't afford any new tapes right now.
Person 1: Oh, no sweat, man. I'll dub a copy for you. Pick it up when you come over.
Person 2: Oh cool. Thanks dude.
Person 2 would go over to Person 1's place. Person 1 would have the tape there waiting. Person 2 would converse with Person 1 and all the other people there. Sometimes the whole group would go out together. Sometimes there was pizza and beer. It was a face to face meeting, behind closed doors. If Person 1 didn't supply Person 2 with the goods, Person 2 didn't go out and buy said tape, Person 2 just didn't listen to it. Person 2 doesn't have the disposable income to go buy it. If Person 2 doesn't buy it, and Person 1 doesn't give or lend it to Person 2, then Person 2 doesn't know how good (or bad) the album is, and might go buy it when that disposable income does come along. A lose-lose situation for Side A.
My point is that it is the same now. People from Side P want to watch a movie or listen to a song, but they can't afford to go out and buy every DVD/CD/premium download they want, so they simply don't watch that movie or listen to that song, unless they download it for free. If Side A succeeds in killing off this "internet piracy", all they'll succeed in is lessening their audience. They're not going to make any more money by preventing those who cannot rent or buy their movies/songs from seeing them for free.
Unless, of course, those people go back to the days of the mixtape, but maybe with a more modern, Reggie-esqu spin.
Person 1: Hey man, did you see that new X-Men movie yet?
Person 2: Naw man. I'm not gonna blow twenty bucks on movie tickets or a DVD.
Perosn 1: Well shit, bro, I'll burn it for you when you come over.
Person 2: Cool. Thanks, bro!
So it's back to the behind-closed-doors-causal-attire-pizza-and-beer-rendezvous of the pirating underground. Wow! Cloak and dagger just got really exciting! But wait, there's more. Side A is trying to make that a thing of the past too!
'Outrageous!' you say. 'Impossible! How could they possibly do that?' The answer is: Gradually. Every buy a movie with a "digital copy" included? It works like this: You buy a DVD (or Blu-Ray disc, or whatever) and it comes with a code that allows you to download, for free, that exact same movie you bought to a limited number of electronic devices. The theory is that you can have it to play in your living room, but maybe also on your laptop or phone or tablet. You know, when you're away on business, but have that undying urge to watch Failure to Launch.
 |
| I see you! |
 |
| Did you take your Prozium? |
I smell the death of physical media. I smell the death of personal ownership. Maybe Orwell was right, but it's not Big Brother, but Big Entertainment, who will be encroaching into our private spaces.
Read this: Wikipedia: Sony BMG Copy Protection Rootkit Scandal
Have to be careful when selecting search terms.
COPYRIGHT INFO:
Wednesday, December 7, 2011
Overheating car? Turn up the heat!
While I never identified myself as a "hillbilly", per se, I did grow up in a rural area, and, well, I guess I sort of am one. Which is totally fine, really.
But, unlike most "hillbillies", I don't know crap about cars. At lest, not by comparison. I am, however, pretty familiar with how things on cars work that I have had to replace, the cooling system being one of them. So this post is sort of a PSA for car newbies, by a car newbie.
The reason for my post is because whenever I've advised some one with an overheating car to blast their heat as high as it will go, they always react with shock. "What? That's stupid! The problem is that there's too much heat! I'm trying to get rid of heat! Why would I want to make more?"
Trust me, I've been dealing with over-heating cars since I started driving. Don't believe me? Google it!
The surprise that people have is a result of their lack of knowledge of how their car's heat works. It's not a furnace or heater like some people think. The heat is actually a waste product that come from the car's engine.
But, unlike most "hillbillies", I don't know crap about cars. At lest, not by comparison. I am, however, pretty familiar with how things on cars work that I have had to replace, the cooling system being one of them. So this post is sort of a PSA for car newbies, by a car newbie.
The reason for my post is because whenever I've advised some one with an overheating car to blast their heat as high as it will go, they always react with shock. "What? That's stupid! The problem is that there's too much heat! I'm trying to get rid of heat! Why would I want to make more?"
Trust me, I've been dealing with over-heating cars since I started driving. Don't believe me? Google it!
The surprise that people have is a result of their lack of knowledge of how their car's heat works. It's not a furnace or heater like some people think. The heat is actually a waste product that come from the car's engine.
Friday, December 2, 2011
Make a Custom Seasonal Background for Blogspot/Blogger Blogs using PhotoShop
Literally HALF OF THE STAFF at CraftyGirlSquared and the ENTIRE STAFF at JuBee's Craft Box have been asking me to make a tutorial of how one can make a holiday themed background using Adobe PhotoShop.
I don't know how many of her, er um, I mean their fans, are using PS, but here it goes anyway.
By the way, I'm using Adobe PhotoShop Creative Studio 4 64-bit Edition, so your results may vary if you're on a different version.
I don't know how many of her, er um, I mean their fans, are using PS, but here it goes anyway.
By the way, I'm using Adobe PhotoShop Creative Studio 4 64-bit Edition, so your results may vary if you're on a different version.
Saturday, November 26, 2011
BackTrack 5 (Ubuntu 10.04) Tor/Vidalia/Privoxy for newbs and n00bs
If you just want the down and dirty instructions, click:
Here's a tech post to my "whatever" blog. I'd like to say that I'll do a bunch of these on a regular basis, but, remember my post Angry CyberPunk Review No.1? Well, I said I'd being doing that all the time too, and guess what, I've only done one. I'd like to do more, but I don't have the time. "You just need time management." STFU. No I don't. Time management is bullshit. I don't have any time to manage. I can't just pull time out of my ass.
BTW, all my posts on my "whatever" blog are to be considered NSFW because of foul language.
Too long; Didn't read.
Here's a tech post to my "whatever" blog. I'd like to say that I'll do a bunch of these on a regular basis, but, remember my post Angry CyberPunk Review No.1? Well, I said I'd being doing that all the time too, and guess what, I've only done one. I'd like to do more, but I don't have the time. "You just need time management." STFU. No I don't. Time management is bullshit. I don't have any time to manage. I can't just pull time out of my ass.
BTW, all my posts on my "whatever" blog are to be considered NSFW because of foul language.
Wednesday, November 16, 2011
Do this to piss people off
Okay kiddos, here's what you do:
First, get to your victim's computer. Press and hold the left [shift↑] key and [alt] key at the same time, press the [prnt scrn] button and release all keys. Then select "yes". Now, hold the [num lock] key for five seconds and then select "yes". Finally, press the right [shift↑] key five times in a row and select "yes".
Now RUN!
They're screen colors are messed up and buttons beep for no good reason.
EPIC WIN
First, get to your victim's computer. Press and hold the left [shift↑] key and [alt] key at the same time, press the [prnt scrn] button and release all keys. Then select "yes". Now, hold the [num lock] key for five seconds and then select "yes". Finally, press the right [shift↑] key five times in a row and select "yes".
Now RUN!
They're screen colors are messed up and buttons beep for no good reason.
EPIC WIN
Saturday, October 29, 2011
Duct Tape - at nine tenths of the speed of sound?
I just read this (The Sun - Passengers watch Ryanair crew mend jet window with TAPE) article and it really did make me laugh out loud. The jist of it is this: An aircraft maintenance crew applied some duct-tape-esque adhesive to the windscreen of a Ryanair passenger jet, while flight crew and passengers were on board. From what I gathered, the windscreen had just been replaced, had a fresh seal on it, and the mx guys decided to add a little tape to be extra careful. Now all the pax on board seem to think it's just a little duct tape holding the windshield on, and naturally they become apprehensive. Twenty minutes past wheels up, the flight crew decided to abort the flight and rtb because the tape was making a hideous noise.
1) Mx crews have the option of deferring non-critical repairs to the next scheduled maintenance. When they do this, they typically have to apply this tape to the thing that has to be fixed. I once became aware of an "airliner" that had suffered some hanger-rash to it's vertical stabilizer. Everything in the tail empennage worked okay, so mx just slapped enough 600m.p.h. tape on it until the dent was flush with the rest of the aircraft skin, the jet was loaded up with pax, and off they went on their merry way. If you've flown commercially, you've probably flown on a plane with something with tape on it.
2) I personally have acted as pilot-in-command of an aircraft with this silvery miracle tape holding a piece of plastic on. It didn't look important, so it passed my pre-flight inspection. I didn't care if it fell off. No big deal.
3) In defense of the aircrew on that Ryanair jet, the sound that tape made was probably the worst sound they'd ever heard. I had the unfortunate pleasure of riding in a Ford Expedition with a freshly installed windshield. It had only been on for about twenty minutes, and as such, had this bright neon-orange safety tape all around its periphery. After asking about the day-glow adornments, I took my seat and settled in for what proved to be a two-hour ride from hell. Two-hours of freeway driving between 60 and 80m.p.h. The sound that the tape made as the wind hit it can only be described as an orgy of no less than fifteen angry banshees. And some of the banshees had just received a tax audit. So yes, I probably would have said "Fuck that noise, son!" and told ATC "Look brah, we gotta turn back. Forget this flight, man. It's not happening."
My God this was a pointless blog post!
1) Mx crews have the option of deferring non-critical repairs to the next scheduled maintenance. When they do this, they typically have to apply this tape to the thing that has to be fixed. I once became aware of an "airliner" that had suffered some hanger-rash to it's vertical stabilizer. Everything in the tail empennage worked okay, so mx just slapped enough 600m.p.h. tape on it until the dent was flush with the rest of the aircraft skin, the jet was loaded up with pax, and off they went on their merry way. If you've flown commercially, you've probably flown on a plane with something with tape on it.
2) I personally have acted as pilot-in-command of an aircraft with this silvery miracle tape holding a piece of plastic on. It didn't look important, so it passed my pre-flight inspection. I didn't care if it fell off. No big deal.
3) In defense of the aircrew on that Ryanair jet, the sound that tape made was probably the worst sound they'd ever heard. I had the unfortunate pleasure of riding in a Ford Expedition with a freshly installed windshield. It had only been on for about twenty minutes, and as such, had this bright neon-orange safety tape all around its periphery. After asking about the day-glow adornments, I took my seat and settled in for what proved to be a two-hour ride from hell. Two-hours of freeway driving between 60 and 80m.p.h. The sound that the tape made as the wind hit it can only be described as an orgy of no less than fifteen angry banshees. And some of the banshees had just received a tax audit. So yes, I probably would have said "Fuck that noise, son!" and told ATC "Look brah, we gotta turn back. Forget this flight, man. It's not happening."
My God this was a pointless blog post!
Tuesday, October 25, 2011
No Parking
I'm going to buy a small parking lot near an intersection. I'm going to block it off with a fence and a gate that doesn't quite reach all the way across. It will have a proximity card activated gate and those retractable tire shredders. There will be HUGE signs warning of severe tire damage and being towed and prosecuted, and a sign that says call this number for help with my number.
Once a day for a week at different times of day I'll use my card to open the gate and retract the spikes and park there for an hour or two and then leave, with the gate closing and spikes extending behind me.
Eventually, some one is going to get stranded in there and call me. I'll show up and tell them that if they can read any one of the signs to me, I'll buy them replacement tires and pay for them to be towed to a shop and put them up in a hotel for the night if need be. Once they read the sign, I'll know that they didn't get stuck in there because they're illiterate.
Then I'll laugh and drive away. Then post to YouTube.
Once a day for a week at different times of day I'll use my card to open the gate and retract the spikes and park there for an hour or two and then leave, with the gate closing and spikes extending behind me.
Eventually, some one is going to get stranded in there and call me. I'll show up and tell them that if they can read any one of the signs to me, I'll buy them replacement tires and pay for them to be towed to a shop and put them up in a hotel for the night if need be. Once they read the sign, I'll know that they didn't get stuck in there because they're illiterate.
Then I'll laugh and drive away. Then post to YouTube.
Pictures I saw on teh interwebz:
Monday, October 17, 2011
Meteors
So I'll totally get around to the Angry Cyberpunk Reviews again.
But until then, a list of the meteors I've seen. I have no purpose for posting this here. It was already on my Facebook page anyway.
But until then, a list of the meteors I've seen. I have no purpose for posting this here. It was already on my Facebook page anyway.
I wanted to make a list of the meteors I've seen because whenever anyone asks me how many I've seen I have to stop and count each event in my head. I figured this would be a great place to keep the list. This way I know I won't lose it.
Turns out I've seen twelve.
1. Early 90's, drving on I-90 Eastbound somewhere in Ashtabula County, Ohio. Probably about midnight. Meteor apeared through windsheild as a green streak, with a discernable "head", with a length that spanned the entire feild of view (from top of windsheild to horizon).
2. Early to mid 90's. Brunswick, Ohio, facing West. Meteor appeared as a single point of white light that was stationary (moving head-on), and then appeared to move to one side and quickly desintigrated.
3. Summer of 2004, while observing an unusually south reaching Aurora Borialis, in Brimfield, Ohio (near Kent) I witnessed a body of some sort (i'm guessing meteor) strike (what I believe to be) the upper atmosphere, creating what resembled a "wake" in the aurora, similar to a boat's wake.
4. 2004 or 2005, driving on I-76 eastbound between Mogadore and Brimfield between three and four in the morning, I witnessed a spectacular "fireball" meteor that almost amde me wreck my car! As it descended strait down, (either vertical or vertical with some head on movement), it initially appeared as red, then quickly changed to orange, yellow, and then white. Once it turned white, it illuminated some clouds and then vanished in a flash. I thought for sure something like Deep Impact was about to happen. Looking back, it probably wasn't much bigger than a TV, and probably didn't reach the ground.
5. 6. 7. 5 Aug, 2008, Vermillion, Ohio, on the shore of Lake Erie, looking north, but almost strait up, I saw three typical Perseid meteors. They appeared as white streaks in the sky, only taking up an eigth of the feild of view, and dissipating rapidly. Even though the beach was crowded, no one else bothered to look up.
8. 14 Nov 2008, around five pm, I was standing in the south lot at my apartment complex, in Tallmadge, Ohio. That particular complex underlies a strait line path between Kent State University Airport and Akron-Cantion International Airport. Trainer aircraft from KSU's fleet can often be seen flying directly overhead, and almost always, air traffic can be seen due south towards Akron-Canton. So, as I always did, I looked south. I saw two amber colored objects moving relativley slowly over what appeared to be the vacinity of the airport. Suddenly, the objects both broke apart into about a half dozen orbs of amber, yellow, and white color, and then faded out. For a moment, I thought I had witnessed an aircraft explosion. (very disheartening for an aviator, and especially for me, since there was a good chance that, were it a KSU aircraft, I would have personally known the souls on board) I was able to recall the exact date because on the same date there was a similar sighting in Madison Township, Ohio,many miles away, and in the opposite direction. A full search and rescue effort was undertaken because so many people had called 911 claiming to have seen an aircraft aflame! http://ww.sott.net/articles/show/169040-Suspected-Ohio-plane-crash-may-have-been-meteor
9. 10. 11. 12. Mid-November, 2010, in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio, facing north-northeast to east-northeast, I witnessed four in a row from between one am and two am. These were Leonids. They appeared as white streaks in the sky, only taking up an eigth of the feild of view, and dissipating rapidly. I wanted to beat my previous record of three in a row, so after the fourth one, I went back inside.
From Wikipedia: The Perseids ( /ˈpɜrsiːɨdz/) are a prolific meteor shower associated with the comet Swift-Tuttle.
From Wikipedia: The Leonids (/ˈliːənɪdz/ lee-ə-nidz) are a prolific meteor shower associated with the comet Tempel-Tuttle.
As a meteor free falls through the Earth's atmosphere, it undergoes frictional stresses and heating. Eventually, the object may reach a point where the stresses are so great the object breaks apart abruptly, appearing to explode.Or, it may only partially break apart. The force from one "chunk" exploding can push the two peices away from each other. This is why meteors sometimes appear to change direction. Amyway, I used to think this limit was called The Roche Limit, but that has to do with orbital physics.
Thursday, October 6, 2011
Update
Well I stopped working at Spring Hill because of a TON of infighting, backstabbing, and the like, plus some scheduling bull crap that was unacceptable, and some more stuff I don't want to get into because I'd just be bashing people on the internet and that's not fun. I will say this, though: when I was doing the job I hired in to do, and had at least one other officer for backup, it was a fun job.
Then I got a job at Suarez guarding warehouses and searching employees for gold coins. It's boring as hell, but you can usually get homework done and 99% of my coworkers/bosses were 100% cool 87.5% of the time.
But I'm leaving that one too. My awesome wife is working and will be netting more money than I was and she suggested (adamantly) that I quit working and just focus on school and be a stay at home dad. I have less than one and a half weeks to go, and then I'll be purposefully un-employed. This will be the first time since I was sixteen that I wasn't working a full time job. It's gonna be weird.
Then I got a job at Suarez guarding warehouses and searching employees for gold coins. It's boring as hell, but you can usually get homework done and 99% of my coworkers/bosses were 100% cool 87.5% of the time.
But I'm leaving that one too. My awesome wife is working and will be netting more money than I was and she suggested (adamantly) that I quit working and just focus on school and be a stay at home dad. I have less than one and a half weeks to go, and then I'll be purposefully un-employed. This will be the first time since I was sixteen that I wasn't working a full time job. It's gonna be weird.
Wednesday, August 10, 2011
Angry CyberPunk Review No.1
I need to warn you right off the bat: I wrote this last night at work. I've been under a lot of stress, so thise thing has extra swear words in it!
I hate my phone. I get no signal of any kind in this building, and I have to write this on my peice of shit Samsung Intercept on mother fucking "Think Free Office" because my phone failed to install QuickOffice. This peice of shitprogram I'm using now - you type and it takes like sixty seconds for text to appear, one letter at a time.
Welcome to Angry CyberPunk Reviews, a new reocurring segment on my blog.
I hate this phone, so I won't really be reviewing any cyberpunk, just bitching about stuff. If I was on a real computer, I'd be bitching more creativley.
Appleseed. It is a manga written and illustrated by the freakin amazing Shirow Masimune. Freakin a. I haven't had the opportunity to read it yet. Then there were some OVAs that I also have not seen. I am bummed. However, I have seen the two CGI theatrical releases: Appleseed, and the sequal Appleseed Ex Machina. Now, I have been told that these two movies have pretty much nothing to do with the Manga, and that Mr. Masamune may not have been involved with their production, but they're still pretty sweet.
Now there's this bad-ass, smoking hot blond raver chick named Dunan. She'll just as soon shoot you as she would look at you. I don't think she's DTF, though, because her boy toy, Rearios, got his shit fucked up in the war. His body got FUBAR, so they stuck him in a robot body a la Robocop. He can't do it, and looks like a Mr. Coffee with bunny ears, so Miss Hot Pants Dunan is a little tripped up about it.
In the mean time, the powers that be get a hold of MechaBunny's DNA and mix it with other DNA to make a bioroid (a sort of living android) that looks just like him. I forget his name but he's a fucking ass hat. Timmy? Tommy? Tinkadink? TonkaTruck? Whatever.
So now, he's all like "Ooh, look at my sexy body! It's way better than your stupid metal body. I have warm flesh and blood, Dunan, AND a working penis! And I don't have emotions so I can Karate fight betterthan you." Terios. That's his name. What a tool.
Then Dunan's all like "Oh what's going on? I hate this guy because he looks just like my b/f, but he's sexy so now I'm both conflicted and moist!"
And ol' metal face is like "Imma fuck this chump up! Ahh! I'm freaking out! I shot this bald headed guy because his bluetooth headset bothered me, but he was my bfff!" That stand's for Best Fucking Freinds Forever, incase you haven't seen "Step Brothers".
Then there's a virus and some shit blows up and I think zombies at one point, I shit you not.
I think it's rated R. They say things like 'fuck' and 'caca' and 'peepee' and whatever. Blood and guts are at a minimum, but people do get killed.
Also, not a single tit or ass.
Good flick.
Next time I'll tackle Ghost in the Shell.
Thursday, July 28, 2011
Big Dumb Ape
(This is from my smartphone, so, no spell check. Your corrections will be pronptly ignored.)
Late last night I did something I thought I'd never do. I became enraged by something I read on Twitter. Before I go any further, I want to get something out of the way: I don't choose a side in the whole Christianity v. Atheism debate because there are a whole bunch of fucking morons on both sides. I have my belief, other people have theirs, and as an American, I respect that. (To our international readers: Yes, we in the United States refer to ourselves as Americans, meaning only U.S. Americans. Yes we know that te word 'American' applies to anyone on either American continant. No, I won't apologize.)
For the record, I was raised Roman Catholic, and, for the most part, that's what I believe. No, I don't hate Athiests. If I did, I wouldn't have married one. I still hug my athiest family members when I see them. I hug the religious ones too.
So anyway, this pretentious ass on Twitter (whom knows a very good friend of min in real life) decides that every one who has a religion is not only less inteligent than he and his comrads, but that they (we) are deserving of his hatred. I'm sorry, but I'm pretty sure that in The Dark Ages, it was that type of rhetoric that led to the so called Holy Wars, something that athiests use as an argument against structured relgion. Does anyone else see a sort of hypocrisy here? It's a few degrees of severity short of "Kill the un-believer!" There were actually two of these pretentius mother fuckers on Twitter. I told them how much their hate-speech reminded me of Al Queda. Then I unfollowed these two atheists because I tryh not to associate with religous extremists.
And if you think I'm preaching some kind of touchy feely everybody love your neighbor bullshit, well, fuck you. We're all in this shit together so don't be such a fucking dick because you can't get along with people who are different than you because you never learned to share or play with others as a child and when mommy changed your poopey diaper she wiped your little tushy and put powder on it and told you it was special and different than every one elses. WELL THIS IS REAL FUCKING LIFE SHIT BIRD AND YOU WON'T ALWAYS HAVE A KEYBOARD IN BETWEEN YOU AND ME! I mean shit, that guy hates me! He said so himself. And all because I was taught a magic man in the sky did some stuff and I didn't find that to be in conflict with science. If you read a book you would know that while many physicists are athiest, many are not. Just sayin.
And now, a less than eloquent segue:
I felt like they were saying I'm nothing more than a big dumb ape. And you know what? Sometimes I kinda like being a big dumb ape. Aww hell, I always like being a big dumb ape. But I don't see many other big dumb apes who have accomplished many of the things I have. Not many other big dumb apes can say they've made a difference. Matter of fact, remember those people I was talking about earlier, the ones who hate me because I'm not like them?
You know what? I'm not even going to go there. I'm not that much of a dick.
I am a dick though. At work, a vehcile approached a remote operated gate. I tried to communicate with this fine gentlemen, but he became increasingly annoyed with my efforts to ascertain his desired destination, as I am required to do by our S.O.P.
He had some choice language for me and as he entered the building, his gibberish rage subsided once he saw the big dumb ape whith whom he was conversing. A look of meekishness befell him, as he tried to side step his way past my checkpoint.
I looked at him, and gestured for him to come to my desk. I asked him - POLITELY AND PROFFESIONALLY - to present his identification and report his destination. And as I signed him in, his courage returned and he said "You gotta git your fuckin hearrin checked, mannn!"
I stood up, started the scitzo blink and was honest about my hearing loss: "In two thousand and three, a big FUCKING bomb went off right next to my FUCKING head and ruined this ear and I'M A LITTLE FUCKING SENSITIVE ABOUT IT."
He apologised and started talking about the war.
"I was never in the military. IT WAS MY BOMB!"
He left afte that. I don't know why.
Saturday, July 16, 2011
An Avalanche
I've got blogs. This is a new blog. It has no purpose.
Early to bed and early to rise. makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise. But I work nights, so I'm going to remian a poor, stupid fat guy. Whatevs. It's late. I just got off my four to midnight shift, and can't sleep because I usually do midnight to eight. I was supposed to be in bed by two, but that hasn't happened. I'm downstairs, here, trying to be as quiet as possible, and it's just not working out, because I'm an oaf. A big fat clumsy oaf. And I also purposely ignore grammar while blogging to have a better "flow", so fuck off. Oh, I also swear.
I'm down here trying to watch some Netflix on my Xbox, which is like some Jetson's level shit, without making any noise. I'm also trying to read the news websites and Twitter and Facebook. I reach for the keyboard, and knock over my drink. "OH GOD DAMNIT!" Look for the paper towels, they're gone. Close my thumb in the cabinet. Run upstairs, like a ninja. Trip, on the stairs. Stub my toe on the wall. Knock the soap off the bathroom sink. Grab toilet paper. Run downstairs. Clean up spilled drink. Baby wakes up. Run upstairs. Baby's asleep. Run downstairs. Cat knocks something down, loud as hell. 'GET OFF THE TABLE!" Cat runs, knocking more stuff down. How the hell is the whole house not awake right now?
I'm hungry. They say it's never good to eat after eight, but whatever. I open the cupboard as the cat noisily vomits out whatever he had initially knocked over, and decide on the nutritiousness of Frito's left over from chili pie. With the precision of a brain surgeon, and the tenacity and motivation of a squirrel on methamphetamine, I gingerly reach into the cupboard. Like a ninja, I pull that bag out of there. It does not - I CANNOT STRESS THIS ENOUGH: IT DOES NOT FUCKING TOUCH A THING - and yet, some how, the jar of innocent looking creamy peanut butter comes flying off of that shelf like a whore poltergeist in heat, and tumbles down onto the dish rack, which is, somehow, packed full of pots, pans, and baking sheets.
WHAT THE FUCK?!
It tumbles down, spinning like a top, and collides with every metallic object on that rack. Every. Damn. Thing. I, of course, let out a swear. But, since I swear so much in my casual everyday conversation - you know, at work - I use one of the swear words that my brain still considers to be an actual swear word, which, is not really a swear word at all. "BALLS!" which was promptly followed up by "FUCKING GOD DAMN SCROTUM SNATCHERS!" (That's right. If you've ever heard swears like this on Xbox Live, you were playing with NozeDive)
Some how, by some miracle, I manage to catch everything and hold them in place. I gingerly start to let go, testing the stability of this newly created crag of a pot and pan mountain, and marvel at the avalanche of silvery noise that, by all rights, should have awakened Cthulhu himself.
But, no one woke up! So I just cut my losses, left the Jiffy where it lay, and take my Frito's into the living room. Do I feel good at this point? No. How do I feel? I feel like Jodi Foster on that pinball machine, that's how I feel!
So, you see, I am a klutz. The kind of person, who, upon trying to open a jar, can immediately and instantaneously coat the kitchen floor in shards of broken glass, brine, and pickle fragments. The kind of person that would accidentally cook their own hand (second degree burns suck). The kind of person who can break their own ankle by tripping over literally nothing.
Not the kind of person you'd want around your kids, since they, like glass pickle jars, are very, very fragile.
Did I mention I'm a father?
Also the kind of person you don't want in charge of anything dangerous, or that could put some one's life in the balance.
In the past, I have manufactured and detonated high explosives, rockets, missiles, and other projectiles.
I am an FAA certified pilot. That means I go to the airport, strap on an airplane, and blast off into the sky above your heads.
I used to work in a medical facility where I operated machines attached to people that, if they were to malfunction, or there was some operator error, could kill the "patient". (Sodium Citrate poisoning, air embolism, blood infections such as AIDS, you get the picture.)
And now, as in the past, I work in law enforcement, in the realm of in house security. I work on what is essentially a private police force in a scary apartment complex (ask me more about what I mean by 'scary' later). I am a patrol officer, and yes, I carry a gun. The man who once accidentally COOKED HIS OWN HAND is entrusted with a firearm in a law enforcement capacity.
It's not my place to question the judgement of those who put me into a position of responsibility. I mean, shit, those guys are fucking crazy.
Goodnight.
Early to bed and early to rise. makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise. But I work nights, so I'm going to remian a poor, stupid fat guy. Whatevs. It's late. I just got off my four to midnight shift, and can't sleep because I usually do midnight to eight. I was supposed to be in bed by two, but that hasn't happened. I'm downstairs, here, trying to be as quiet as possible, and it's just not working out, because I'm an oaf. A big fat clumsy oaf. And I also purposely ignore grammar while blogging to have a better "flow", so fuck off. Oh, I also swear.
I'm down here trying to watch some Netflix on my Xbox, which is like some Jetson's level shit, without making any noise. I'm also trying to read the news websites and Twitter and Facebook. I reach for the keyboard, and knock over my drink. "OH GOD DAMNIT!" Look for the paper towels, they're gone. Close my thumb in the cabinet. Run upstairs, like a ninja. Trip, on the stairs. Stub my toe on the wall. Knock the soap off the bathroom sink. Grab toilet paper. Run downstairs. Clean up spilled drink. Baby wakes up. Run upstairs. Baby's asleep. Run downstairs. Cat knocks something down, loud as hell. 'GET OFF THE TABLE!" Cat runs, knocking more stuff down. How the hell is the whole house not awake right now?
I'm hungry. They say it's never good to eat after eight, but whatever. I open the cupboard as the cat noisily vomits out whatever he had initially knocked over, and decide on the nutritiousness of Frito's left over from chili pie. With the precision of a brain surgeon, and the tenacity and motivation of a squirrel on methamphetamine, I gingerly reach into the cupboard. Like a ninja, I pull that bag out of there. It does not - I CANNOT STRESS THIS ENOUGH: IT DOES NOT FUCKING TOUCH A THING - and yet, some how, the jar of innocent looking creamy peanut butter comes flying off of that shelf like a whore poltergeist in heat, and tumbles down onto the dish rack, which is, somehow, packed full of pots, pans, and baking sheets.
WHAT THE FUCK?!
It tumbles down, spinning like a top, and collides with every metallic object on that rack. Every. Damn. Thing. I, of course, let out a swear. But, since I swear so much in my casual everyday conversation - you know, at work - I use one of the swear words that my brain still considers to be an actual swear word, which, is not really a swear word at all. "BALLS!" which was promptly followed up by "FUCKING GOD DAMN SCROTUM SNATCHERS!" (That's right. If you've ever heard swears like this on Xbox Live, you were playing with NozeDive)
Some how, by some miracle, I manage to catch everything and hold them in place. I gingerly start to let go, testing the stability of this newly created crag of a pot and pan mountain, and marvel at the avalanche of silvery noise that, by all rights, should have awakened Cthulhu himself.
But, no one woke up! So I just cut my losses, left the Jiffy where it lay, and take my Frito's into the living room. Do I feel good at this point? No. How do I feel? I feel like Jodi Foster on that pinball machine, that's how I feel!
So, you see, I am a klutz. The kind of person, who, upon trying to open a jar, can immediately and instantaneously coat the kitchen floor in shards of broken glass, brine, and pickle fragments. The kind of person that would accidentally cook their own hand (second degree burns suck). The kind of person who can break their own ankle by tripping over literally nothing.
Not the kind of person you'd want around your kids, since they, like glass pickle jars, are very, very fragile.
Did I mention I'm a father?
Also the kind of person you don't want in charge of anything dangerous, or that could put some one's life in the balance.
In the past, I have manufactured and detonated high explosives, rockets, missiles, and other projectiles.
I am an FAA certified pilot. That means I go to the airport, strap on an airplane, and blast off into the sky above your heads.
I used to work in a medical facility where I operated machines attached to people that, if they were to malfunction, or there was some operator error, could kill the "patient". (Sodium Citrate poisoning, air embolism, blood infections such as AIDS, you get the picture.)
And now, as in the past, I work in law enforcement, in the realm of in house security. I work on what is essentially a private police force in a scary apartment complex (ask me more about what I mean by 'scary' later). I am a patrol officer, and yes, I carry a gun. The man who once accidentally COOKED HIS OWN HAND is entrusted with a firearm in a law enforcement capacity.
It's not my place to question the judgement of those who put me into a position of responsibility. I mean, shit, those guys are fucking crazy.
Goodnight.
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