Have you ever found yourself needing to whip up 100 servings (2/3 cup) of potato salad?

How about five score peanut butter cookies? Try the military way. Some military food was (and probably still is) better than other military food, but all in all it wasn't that bad.....

Speaking of recipes...

We just had some Can't miss red snapper for dinner. We both like fish anyway, so that's not a hurdle. If you enjoy fish, I highly recommend this dish. It is SUPERB!

I've pimped some stuff up here for myself, my wife and my dad. Check out the fine music from an old Navy buddy of mine. And by all means, check out the Children of Acid....

Well hell............!

I was looking at some site traffic and followed the link to the USB driver to allow firmware upgrades for Olevia LCD TVs. The old link is BUSTED! If you're looking for the USB driver to allow you to perform a firmware upgrade, look in either the "Firmware" or "Utilities" directory at this link (as of August 2008, this link isn't working and you might want to glance at this).

Keywords again......

pixelworks boot connection
olevia firmware
olevia usb
pixelworks usb

Damn, I hope this one doesn't change..........

I totally and absolutely LOVE......

the software from OpenOffice.org. I've used it for years and love the functionality. There's a new version out and if you haven't tried it and have any interest in something like this, give it a shot!

If that's not exactly your cup of tea and you want something you don't even have to install, try Google Docs. You can edit your own documents directly in your browser and have the ultimate level of document portability (as long as you have a net connection) about anywhere. Rockin'!

OK, my normal level of weirdness and cynicism drove me to make this tonight. Who knew one could have so much fun with the weekly Presidential radio address?

Happy Valentine's Day, Suzanne!

♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥
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Yeeeeeeeeeeeeehaaaaaaaaaaaaawwwwww!

I've put a new little ditty up at indieonestop.com. It's meant to be at least a little funny. Hey, I'll say in advance that I hope you like it.....

The title?

HOUSE(music) of Chairman Bush

Heh-heh-heh!

Nuts, I almost forgot.......

I get an e-mail from the Department of Defense every week day that has various pictures of various military goings-on......

You can get the same e-mail by clicking here and sending the resultant e-mail. There are some awesome pictures. There are also mundane pictures, but the great ones more than make up for the ones that are semi-boring........

And then..........?

Last week at this time, we were expecting at some SUPER-CRAPPY weather in the area. It materialized. Unfortunately, a number of people lost their lives. The local (Huntsville) branch of the National Weather Service has the write-up of the storms that occurred in the area. There are pictures included. See it for yourself.

At the same time, the results of Super Tuesday were rolling in. This week, there's also some voting going on. The stakes are lower this week, but so far it appears that Barack is easily outpacing Hillary. Though I'm not for either of them, I'd MUCH RATHER see Obama take the nomination. My humble opinion is that Hillary (and her other half) have too much baggage from their previous time spent in DC. On the Republican side, I find the rift between "conservatives" and McCain laughable. It would be excellent (though probably unlikely) to see a STRONG Libertarian sweep in and beat both of the major parties....

I've mentioned the idea of Open CourseWare. As far as I know, MIT was one of the first schools to establish an outlet for free college level materials using OCW. MIT has a variety of materials available at their site. Check it out!

I will end with some self-pimping! Peace out!

Check out my daddy-o's page at indieonestop.com.....

Dick Metcalf, aka Rotcod Zzaj @

Heck, check mine out while you're at it......

vejadu @

Here we go....

Si, si......!

We were kind of jazzed to see that a new one of these is being built right down the street from us. Word has it that the restaurant in Big Cove has pretty good food so hopefully our new Mexi-joint will follow suit.

I've included a song in this post, but I'm only putting it on the individual post page because there's one auto-play song on here at the present time and I haven't taken the time to figure out how to stop that so I can auto-play this one. BTW, this song isn't for or against the subject, it's merely my "artistic" interpretation with guest vocalist President George W. Bush...

If you desire, you can access it by clicking "read more"....

I was talking with my dad..................

earlier this evening. We were yakking it up with the MySpaceIM. I don't use these types of programs often anymore. Hell, I remember when I first started using ICQ roughly 10 years ago. I just don't chat often enough. Anyway, he brought up my post covering the rough weather on Tuesday night/Wednesday morning and the crazy number of tornadoes that were reported. I just looked at NOAA's Storm Prediction Center data for that day again and in the space of about two days, the number had jumped from 78 to 91. I sure as hell hope that this unusual set of weather circumstances doesn't foreshadow the spring storm season......

Goodbye Mitt! And, hey I'm sorry, but good riddance! For some reason, I just wasn't overly fond of this guy. First, it seemed suspiciously as if he had a BIG agenda if he financed nearly 1/3 of his campaign with his own cash. Add his remarks at CPAC announcing the suspension of his campaign today and I'm more than happy to see him bow out.

"If I fight on in my campaign, all the way to the convention, I would forestall the launch of a national campaign and make it more likely that Senator Clinton or Obama would win. And in this time of war, I simply cannot let my campaign, be a part of aiding a surrender to terror."

--Mitt Romney/02-07-08 addressing CPAC

I'd laugh my ass off if Obama or Clinton win. I wouldn't like it but it would be an ironic twist.....

Speaking of things Presidential....

My grandmother's 90th birthday is coming up in March. I thought it would be cool to send her a birthday greeting from the White House. You can have a White House greeting sent for a baby's birth, a wedding, someone's 80th (or greater) birthday or a couple's 50th (or greater) wedding anniversary. Need more info? Click here.

Peace, y'all!

Whew, I'm glad last night (really early this morning) is over....

It's a complete bummer to hear that over 50 people were killed in the storms of last night/early this morning. This was some ABSOLUTELY FREAKY weather. If the numbers are accurate, this month will probably be a record breaker. The highest number of tornadoes reported for the month of February between 1950 and 2004 was 83 in 1971. The storms from last night/this morning are reported to have produced 78. How freakin' nuts is that? While looking up some of this info, I found some other interesting sites.....

NSSTC Collaborative Weather Blog
NWS Huntsville preliminary local storm reports

One other interesting spot (there are millions, I'm sure)....

A recent conversation we were having with our best friends brought up a big (and unusual) snowstorm that happened when we were back in high school. I didn't remember when it happened, but I found a little more info here. Yeah, our little freak snow happened in January 1988........

Now onto lighter things....

I was leafing through a catalog from J&R Music and Computer World after I received some software that I used an amazon.com gift certificate to purchase a few weeks ago. One of the items in the catalog was the Nabaztag/tag. That's kinda weird!

Well, Super Tuesday is over. At least the Republican race is becoming less muddled. I'll still vote Libertarian in November.....

Just one word for today...........

VOTE!

Diigo....

Social Annotation: Seamless Integration of Social Bookmarking, Web Highlighter, Sticky-Note & Clipping

I've used diigo for a little while. I'm sure I haven't even scraped the surface of its functionality. Here are some of the bullets they use in the standard "invite your friends" e-mail:

• The Best Web Annotation Service: Add highlights and sticky notes on any web page, anywhere, and access them anywhere.


• A Great Webpage Clipping Tool: Highlighted portions of any webpage are clipped and collected centrally, which can be shared and searched.


• An All-in-One Bookmarking Tool: Bookmark webpages to Diigo, local folder, delicious, Simpy, Furl, Spurl... and make them permanently cached and full-text searchable.


• A Powerful Blogging Platform: Annotate webpages and quickly turn them into blogs with a built-in blog editor or enhanced linkrolls.


• A Great Collaborative Platform: Share and interact on online findings, complete with highlights and sticky notes.


• The Most Customizable Search Tool: Like Google's toolbar, but far more customizable, so you can access any search service with one-click --- music, maps, references, local library, New York Times, ...


• Unique Content Selection Menu: Interact with any word on a webpage just by selecting it, do not even have to click! - highlight, search, look up - whatever you you want!

I just dig the ability to add a "virtual sticky note" to a page and highlight content that I find pertinent. Muy cool!

Oh, I meant to bring something else up in my earlier post. If you are an Alabama taxpayer and don't have a library card, what are you waiting for? I wasn't overwhelmed with my local library, but they are (last I heard) trying to upgrade. What the hell, it's kind of a small town! But nice....

Anyway, home access to the Alabama Virtual Library can be obtained at school libraries (for students and educators) or your local public library. As a research tool, the AVL is AWESOME! The AVL can be used to access thousands of information sources covering probably every walk of life. Check it out, please. Hell, if you live here, you're paying for it anyway...

Wazzup y'all?

Check out one of my latest songs!



I've probably mentioned this already....

My 20 year reunion from Butler High is coming up this year. In light of that, there are several spots online dedicated to our high school class. Linky-linky:

http://www.myspace.com/srbutlerhighclassof88
http://classreport.org/usa/al/huntsville/bhs/1988/
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/butlerhigh1988/

Hopefully, the reunion info will also show up here pretty soon.

Oh, to end this I think I'll say......

Please vote on Tuesday if you can!

And....

Happy birthday, Mom!

Mai kittee iz on the internetz....

moar funny pictures

So, I guess it's pretty close to official that Barack has taken SC....

There are a few more contests in Maine and Florida and then it's Super Tuesday. Hopefully the field will be much more narrow after February 5.


moar funny pictures

There's a little boycott going on in Alabama. You might wonder what the boycott is about. Alabama has some EXTRAORDINARILY quaint laws that limit the alcohol content and size of beers that can be sold. Unfortunately, that means that many "gourmet' and specialty beers can't be sold in this state. "Free The Hops" is part of a drive to fix Alabama's silly laws regarding the alcohol content of beer. Heck, you can run down to the package store and pick up Bacardi 151 or Everclear....

Anyway, back to the boycott. If you live around Birmingham, the Birmingham Budweiser distributor is fighting local efforts in Birmingham to change the Birmingham statutes to allow the sale of higher alcohol content beer. Free The Hops is spearheading a boycott of Budweiser distributors and products in the Birmingham area. "Oh no, we can't allow GREAT BEER to be sold in Birmingham. We might lose business......."

It's been a while! If you're asking "For what?", I've posted some new songs over at my MySpace artist profile. They're the top four songs on the player. Check'em out......

Two weeks from right now.....

it will be "Super Tuesday". Don't forget to go vote......

OK, I'm showing my bias here! What the hell, I'm human. Like everybody else.....

For those of you who might be brainiacs.....

Jeopardy will be having an online testing period on the 29th, 30th and 31st of this month. For more details and info (registration required to participate), go here.

Hey, it's January 20, 2008! Guess what that means........


Get Your Own! | More Flash Toys

If I was one of the "Record Store Cats"....

It would very likely be this one (they call him Techno Tim):


Techno Tim

I happen to own an Olevia LCD TV....

One of the features that it has is the ability to have its firmware upgraded via an included USB port. That's all well and good, but the .zip file I downloaded from Olevia's site didn't have all of the required files. I was getting HIGHLY annoyed and couldn't find any additional info from Olevia's site. A little digging FINALLY led me here (in either the "Firmware" or "Utilities" directory) (as of August 2008, this link isn't working but give this a look). This allowed me to download the specific USB driver required for my laptop to communicate with my TV. It took me two days (not continuously) to find that crap. So, keywords here.....

pixelworks boot connection
olevia firmware
olevia usb
pixelworks usb

Something like this shouldn't have been as hard to find as it was....

A little politics....

I DO NOT LIKE Romney. I could give a damn less what religion he is. He just seems to have suspiciously "flip-flopped" too often for me. My take is that he follows (or at least used to) the route of political expedience. Just my opinion. Besides, his little barb of a remark to Ron Paul in Myrtle Beach the other night just struck me as annoying. He basically seemed to be accusing Ron Paul of being a lackey for Mahmoud Ahmedinejad. Perhaps it was only jest but it just left me with a sour taste in my mouth for Romney. Go Ron!

I think it's been a while since I talked about Faux News on here......

I guess I'm out of touch with the news enough that I didn't catch until Monday that the Fox News sponsored GOP debates in New Hampshire weren't all inclusive. Now I realize they can't have EVERY Tom, Dick, and Harry claiming to be running for President but they excluded folks like Ron Paul and Duncan Hunter. Sure, they are polling low and not likely to win, but they are nationally recognized. Excluding them from debates doesn't help them get their voice out there either. It smells suspiciously like a news outlet trying to pull the strings of the voters. Fair and balanced my ASS! Anyway, Fox is sponsoring the GOP debates in South Carolina on Thursday. If you read this and are so inclined, please jump on over to http://youdecide08.foxnews.com/2008/01/08/gop-debate-on-fox-news-thursday/ and leave zillions of messages about how "fair and balanced" Fox truly is. Remember, one of their catchphrases is "We report, you decide." I guess they report if they want to and you decide if they want you to. I hope they get HAMMERED with comments. Also, if you care, e-mail rob@scgop.com, hogan@scgop.com, and jwr@scgop.com to ask them to have the strength to do what the New Hampshire GOP did if Fox pulls this kind of stunt in South Carolina. Screw Fox News!

While I'm near the realm of talking about Ron Paul, that wonderful little outlet called The New Republic pulled a hack reporting job with this little number. Nowhere in the article did I see anything approaching a "When contacted, Ron Paul...." or much in the way of documentary evidence. Even if that was produced, it should be noted that Ron Paul's normal demeanor and public face never even hints at the things he is accused of in that piece of tripe at TNR. How about this? This is a fairly OLD accusation.....

What the hell does the media have against Ron Paul? Maybe they are scared of someone who THINKS and thinks INDEPENDENTLY! Those plonkers had better be damn scared of me if that's the case....

Hey y'all........

Happy New Year

Don't send a lame Holiday eCard. Try JibJab Sendables!

OK all, hopin' you had a Merry Christmas...

Upon arriving home this evening, the first "Pirates of the Caribbean" movie was on TV. I've always liked the music from the series and I wanted to do more research into who was responsible for it. Some of that research shot me on a tangent that just stoked the fire even more......

I never knew that DJ Tiesto had done a remix of one of the theme pieces from the Pirates movies. I am including this video right on the front page because I ADORE Tiesto's interpretation. Some people (ahem!) say there's no resemblance to the original. THEY ARE WRONG (particularly noticeable around 3:23 in the song). Seeing this live would approach causing a feeling of PURE JOY in my mind! The remix is on autoplay and the original (also very good) is embedded for comparison. As extra fodder for this post (and excellent dance music to boot), clicking the "read more" will allow you to listen (if you choose) to Tiesto's Adagio for Strings.......

Tiesto - He's A Pirate



Original He's A Pirate with vid




Tiesto - Adagio for Strings

Ho ho ho......!

Merry Christmas, y'all!

Woohoo, two days 'til Christmas.....

Y'all have my wishes for the happiest of holidays!

And now I'll pimp myself a bit...

Holy cow.............!

15 years thus far, Suzanne. I'd have to say we could give ourselves a congratulatory pat on the back. Happy Anniversary!

Though it's slim pickins for snow around here.....

Don't send a lame Holiday eCard. Try JibJab Sendables!

This whole interactive graphic and video thing kicks butt! What in the heck did we do before the "internets"? Speaking of Bushisms.....

Ahh, it's that time of year!

See?








Plus, I haven't figured out how to embed the next one, so you might just have to click the link to see some HILARITY.

Most of the time, this kind of stuff is reserved for the "social networking" sites, but.....

Y'all doodle on my picture for proverbial shiggles (don't ask) if you are so inclined. Heck, make me look purdy. Check it!

The first order of business here is...

to wish Suzanne...

Happy Birthday!

I hope dinner's good! BTW, you are NOT old. You've got a LONG way to go...

As far as the holidays, we're lookin' at slim pickins' down here in the South if anyone is holding their breath for a white Christmas. That's assuming we see any real precipitation to begin with as we're still in the middle of a drought. Here's a probability map for seeing a white Christmas.



Anyway, it's time to run along and go to work. Y'all have fun now!

Hahaha! Happy birthday, Suzy!



Free Comments & Graphics

Happy Day of the Ninja!

"Day of the Ninja" you ask? Heck, I don't know either, but it's yet another way to whittle away the time...

I got a message on myspace.com the other day from another Butler High School '88 grad. As an aside... No, that doesn't mean I am old. I age second by second, but I have a long way to go until I am old. Anyway, she pointed me to yet another classmate tracking site. The cool thing here is that all the functionality is available without paying anything. They do suggest donations. Check it out and see if you are represented...

BTW, here's the page for Butler High School's class of 1988. For the mother unit (1 ea.), here's Western High School.....

In anticipation of the whole 20 year reunion thing, I started a group on Yahoo! for BHS '88 grads about five years ago. Check 'er out! On that note, I must bid y'all adieu...........

PEACE!

As usual, I'll be right handily pimpin' myself (well, my kitty).....

My kitty battling some girl in a bikini:

My kitty duking it out with a dog:

My kitty would LOVE your vote!

I'll end with some funny "Teletubby" videos that can be seen by clicking "read more"....


"Teletubbies wazzup"


"Teletubbies must die"


"Raving teletubbies"

Howdy folks...........

Not too much exciting in this week since Thanksgiving.....

I DID notice a bulletin on myspace.com that Information Society was going to be playing several shows in the US in the next couple of months. Check out the InSoc page at myspace.com. There's even a new album......



Plus, while looking at the bands I have listed on my MySpace profile, I noticed a great travesty. I didn't have Apoptygma Berzerk listed. I truly dig Apoptygma Berzerk. The band's player on myspace.com has an Apop song as remixed by VNV Nation. Check it out! And check out the same song set to video (from The Animatrix) from youtube.com by (as almost always) clicking "read more" at the bottom of this post.....

If yesterday was a day to engage in any of the seven deadly sins......

I (and many others I'm sure) definitely took part in gluttony. A fine feast. I probably should've stopped at the first plate of dessert. I never do, though.....

The end is drawing nigh....

I hope everyone had an excellent day. Here's to the weekend.....

Oh, by the way, I couldn't resist.....

What South Park Character Are You? (pics) Chef You're an original PIMP! You know your way with the ladies/gents and you know how to satify. Everyone likes you and you like everyone. Myspace Quizzes

Yo, folks!

Happy Thanksgiving!

OK, I hate pimpin' myself on here twice in a row, but...............(not really)

I took this picture of Mt. Rainier when I flew out to Olympia in July of '05. Again, I dressed it up recently to enter into a little contest. The effect is supposed to resemble the grade school anti-drug movie renditions of a psychedelic experience. Do you like?

I just started a new battle on myyearbook.com............

I took this picture of a praying mantis when I went to Ohio last fall and recently dressed it up to make it slightly more freaky. Obviously, I would love your vote if you are so inclined. Doing so probably requires signing up at the site, but what the heck............

Ohhhhh, the anticipation.......

It's been a nice lazy Sunday thus far and it appears as if it will remain that way. Perfect time right now for me to be building the mindset to do an hour's worth of running while listening to bouncy music.....

Rock on!

Forget voting for those screwy politicians, vote for Art........

Egyptian mythology and me.......

Which Egyptian God or Goddess do you represent? (Pictures!) Ma'at, Goddess of Order, Harmony, and Truth Ma'at was the goddess of physical and moral law in Egypt, of order and truth. She was not much of a goddess, but more of a concept. She was what was right; she was the way things should be.<p> You lead a very well-ordered life. You are just and keep things in balance. You know just how to react to things, and people like you for that. <p> Fantasy-Mythology Quizzes

I believe that I've mentioned here before that I'm a music fan.....

I suppose that my poison of choice is often electronic stuff, but I have very eclectic tastes. I was watching the Today Show yesterday morning and I saw these dudes....

Red Hot Chili Pipers


And when I first heard of Miri Ben Ari and her whole "hip hop violinist" thing, I was intrigued. See...

Miri Ben Ari at The Apollo


And then of course there's Nuttin' But Stringz as can be seen here....

Nuttin But Stringz - Thunder


Most excellent!

w00t!

I'm about to embark on the last three nights of the night shift for a little while (barring OT of course). Mind you, I enjoy the night shift, but it's not necessarily conducive to a high quality of life.

I normally have a little concern for politics and such, but the early starts of campaigns and announcements for this campaign is already wearing thin. I have, of course, contributed to it slightly by having some early on support for Ron Paul, but the constant barrage of political news and punditry promises to be tiresome by this time next year.

If you live in the southeast US and enjoy electronic music, check out Liquified and/or Evoke Productions. I intend to make it to shows from one or both in the future....

Well folks, it's time to crash. Adieu!

Follow me to perdition....

http://www.myyearbook.com/join.php?ref=4757153

And so I've been off this evening......

Nothing too exciting, just had some Chinese from the new restaurant in town and ran some errands and such.....

After watching South Park, I remembered about this nifty little "game" from southparkstudios.com. I made one a while ago, but it was time for an update (especially since I'm growing a mane right now). See....



I thought that the game had a "save" function but it didn't appear as if that was the case. At that point, I remembered that I could just use a screen capture function that's available in most graphics programs. It struck me that I hadn't put IrfanView on my new laptop. I've used IrfanView for simple computer graphics tasks for quite a while.

And now for something totally unrelated......

I've been to a few places overseas. Here I am in Alabama. I absolutely love the fact that I can go out at 2:30 in the morning and find a choice of something to eat if I am so inclined. I truly don't believe that's the case in a lot of places (especially in a town with a population of under 30,000). I love this country....

In closing, check me out at one of the latest social networking sites........

Peace, y'all!

What an absolutely gorgeous day outside......

68°, crystal clear skies, light breeze.... and I slept most of it away. Got to bring home the bacon tonight.....

Normally I would be workin' up a sweat right now, but I'm not sure what work will hold in store this evening. Besides, I've done fairly well this week. I have been a little out of touch with what's going on in the world, but a quick glance at the news appears that things in the world (at large at least) are this side or the other of the status quo....

I know that this little SNAFU led to changes at my facility. That plant in AZ was locked down for seven hours. Why would a person drive to any job with a pipe bomb in the car, much less a nuclear plant? In the past, people have forgotten guns or beer cans in their cars (also security violations), but a pipe bomb? Totally weird....

Well, it's about time to be gettin' ready, so......

Roll Tide!

Happy Halloween, y'all.............!

Not too many ghouls or goblins this year, but at least I'm off this evening......

My employer had an excellent (if you're pro-nuke) news release the other day. TVA is somewhat on the cutting edge of the nuclear industry revival. Heck, if the French can exceed 70% of their grid being nuclear, why can't we? I don't believe we'll ever see nuclear power generating anywhere near 75% much, but we can easily do more than the 20% or so that we generate now.

As always, there is ENTIRELY too much candy left around my house. I like to be prepared. That just means leftover candy to take to work tomorrow night.......

If you are inclined to see that sort of thing, be sure to check out the new episodes of South Park and The Sarah Silverman Program this evening. Preview clips from comedycentral.com are available by clicking "read more" below and probably aren't suitable for work or family purposes.........


South Park - Imaginationland Episode III Preview and Imaginationland Episode II Highlights




Sarah Silverman Program: Date With God - Preview

Ohhhhh yeah, baby..........

Amazon.com took care of the flawed CD in quick fashion. You guys rocked! I have listened to this CD to the point of Suzanne and our neighbors probably considering me obsessive. However, Little Things is pretty darn kickin'. A couple of the songs truly send that little electrified wave feeling down my spine. Weird? A video including one such song can be seen by clicking "read more" at the bottom of this post......

Now to the other customer service fiasco from a couple of weeks ago......

I was going to give these folks time, but I haven't received anything other than what looked to be a canned electronic response and that was over a week ago. OK, the Steak n Shake in front of Madison Square Mall was the source of my anger ten days ago. I hope they don't normally suck as bad as they did that night (food=OK, service=not OK) or else they will deservedly go out of business. Hope you folks get your stuff together.....

Well, I got word of some nice OT coming up for this week and probably the next as well. I love it when I can have it planned that far in advance. In fact, I'll be seeing how long I can last tonight so I can vamp out tomorrow. Heck, maybe I'll run for a while tonight after I do laundry. That might keep me more pumped up than just drinking coffee.....

I love the music this video is set to.......

Je ne sais pas - Sylver - set to Final Fantasy animation - from bacsicsAshe




Peace, y'all!

The results are very tentative and I will of course be waiting to see what the Libertarians have to offer, but....

	Ron Paul Score: 45	Agree Iraq Taxes Stem-Cell Research Health Care Abortion Line-Item Veto Energy Marriage Death Penalty	Disagree Immigration Social Security
-- Take the Quiz! --

Sometimes my sense gets thrown right out the window......

I did a good thing by running for close to an hour this afternoon. And then.....

I just polished off (estimate) close to 15 pieces of pizza and a little ice cream concoction at a local pizza buffet. Oh, I can't forget the bowl of cottage cheese. Tasty dinner, though....

I was slightly bummed this morning and some readers will be much more familiar with what I'm talking about. I happened to be in downtown Huntsville during the daytime for the first time in ages. I figured that I'd go check out an old weekend haunt where I went with my parents probably every Saturday morning during the early 80s. I figured that I'd get a good espresso or cappuccino. Unfortunately, the Kaffeeklatsch doesn't do that kind of thing anymore. I wonder how long it's been since they got rid of the old espresso machine. At least they're still in the roasting business.....

I don't even remember why I started looking for magazines published by the US government, but here's a good place to start finding them. Here's info right from the horse's mouth.....

Peace!

OK, perhaps a little jest in starting......

This joke is old, but it catches the mood so well.....:

A stranger was seated next to Little Johnny on the plane when the stranger turned to the Little Johnny and said, "Let's talk. I've heard that flights will go quicker if you strike up a conversation with your fellow passenger." Little Johnny, who had just opened his book, closed it slowly, and said to the stranger, "What would you like to discuss?" "Oh, I don't know," said the stranger. "How about nuclear power?" "OK," said Little Johnny. "That could be an interesting topic. But let me ask you a question first. A horse, a cow, and a deer all eat grass. The same stuff. Yet a deer excretes little pellets, while a cow turns out a flat patty, and a horse produces clumps of dried grass. Why do you suppose that is?" "Jeez," said the stranger. "I have no idea." "Well, then," said Little Johnny, "How is it that you feel qualified to discuss nuclear power when you don't know shit?"

It kind of started the other day when someone in the local forums at al.com brought up my workplace and asked a question about whether we were going to meltdown given the number of times we've dropped our recently restarted unit since June. I just had to respond......

In a similar vein, I was listening to NPR this morning and I heard that some musical artists (among other groups and organizations) are starting a new push to lobby against nuclear power and government provisions for loan guarantees to utilities who want to develop more nuclear assets. There are some good artists, but I am obviously a nuclear supporter and I think these folks are wrong on this issue (assuming that the government will continue to operate as it does). Anyway, they have placed material on YouTube talking about their stance. As always, I like to include BOTH sides of the story. There is a rebuttal to the nukefree.org video. This video is provided by the Nuclear Energy Institute. OK, the NEI video is not glitzy and chock full of celebrities, but check it out.

Well, I'd better run....

Y'all have a blast!

What in the world...........?

We live in a "service industry" country right now. God help us!

Take for example, a recent visit to a local restaurant. Suzanne and I and our best friends (plus their two kids) waited fifteen minutes before anyone even came to ask what we wanted to drink (only after a manager was asked). The food was pretty good (once we received it). However, the server didn't come back to our table for at least fifteen minutes after we were eating. By that time, three of the six drinks on the table were empty. I was surprised to remember that we were in Alabama. I won't mention the restaurant name until I see how they resolve my complaint.....

Another? I ordered this CD but received this one instead. I was truly jonesin' to get the Sylver CD! Now I have to wait a little longer. Hope they can rectify the screw-up quickly.....

At least the Buffalo Wild Wings at Madison Square Mall was good today (service included). I should have thought better than to go on a Saturday afternoon during college football season.......

Did you ever.......

have a song that you heard that just kind of moved you no matter how often you listened to it? Perhaps gave you that little electric tingle down your spine.....

I posted a Sylver video on here the other day. Some further listening and looking for other video material on YouTube led me to an older song of theirs called Wild Horses. I was pretty much hooked instantaneously. I think that my fondness for this song comes from a synergy of the plaintive lyrics and melody, throbbing beat, the singer's delivery, and definitely other subconscious elements. "Wild horses can't keep me away".... What a way to describe love! I had to buy the CD (unfortunately, I couldn't get this as a download) right away. I totally dig this song....

I don't normally put much video right on the front page, but if you have good speakers, crank'em up and enjoy.........



I don't remember how I got there today, but I discovered that Yahoo! had a subsite devoted to things "green". Further tooling about led me to Google's collaboration (the cleanup weekend just happened this past weekend) with the United Nations Environment Programme and Green Maven - The Green Search Engine. I wouldn't consider myself anything close to an environmental fanatic, but every little thing can help......

Ahhhhhhhhhh.........

road trips. The little jaunt to Knoxville the other night was great. I got there too early, but that afforded me a chance to have a decent dinner, get bugged by a self-professed "old hobo" looking for change, and walk around downtown Knoxville for a while. The concert? My, my, my.....

Loreena and company were, quite simply, astounding. I've had some of her music for quite a while and wanted to see her. I'm very happy I made the trip. All of the musicians were tremendous. The fiddle player shredded that thing to pieces. She made a joke during the show that they had been taking collections throughout the tour to get the dude lessons. Trust me, they would be seriously advanced lessons. The show was immense fun. Anyway, I ended up getting her latest CD (link to iTunes). It's very good. If you enjoy this kind of music, consider seeing one of the ten remaining shows....

And now for your viewing and listening pleasure (as usual, click "read more"), check out a 2006 remix of an early 80s ABBA song. I just downloaded the music from iTunes. The band? Sylver! SCARY (but good)........



As for the original, I'd have to say that it's fairly frightening.....

I try like crazy not to watch too much television....

Most of the time, I'm successful. However, when I'm transitioning from days to nights, I occasionally find myself traversing through some of the "vast wasteland". Most of the time, I'll watch a feature film, a documentary, or some comedy. This evening, I caught most of a documentary on Discovery Times called "Execution in Iran". You can see it for yourself here. Words don't begin to describe....

For something much more inspiring from central Asia, check this out. This is a wonderful mix of musical genres....

Well, it's that time of year again....

Until we meet again......adieu!

If the allegations........

in this suit (.pdf file) are true and there's not some really good justification, the head of Oral Roberts University might have a pretty rough time ahead. Here's the statement from the current university president (Richard Roberts, Oral's son) and here's the statement of the university regarding an independent audit. I don't know about the benefits of being a president at an average university, but this seems like a heckuva set of perks....

I received a little e-mail about "Cats in a record store" last week and decided to look up the originator. There are some truly funny animations of all of "The Record Store Cats!" here.

Your taxes help to fund it and there's some great science material, so check it out....

5 days until Loreena.....

Peace, y'all!

If you're like me (God help you if you are).......

and you use SpamPal in conjunction with the Bayesian plugin to fight the onslaught of junk e-mail that will eventually find you, I highly recommend using the v1.10 dll that can be found here. I frequently forget to find this when I'm setting up on a new computer and I've had more success with Bayesian filtering with this beta than with the stable release version (v1.08).

It's a fairly happy time when something like this goes down (compared to other possible outcomes).......

I was reading a story in the news yesterday about UC Berkeley offering lectures (not for credit, of course) via YouTube. I love that kind of stuff. The internets rock! As for other big name edureference kind of stuff, check out the NY Times Learning Network or the stuff from Yahoo! Education. The amount of information currently available via all these new-fangled contraptions is seriously mind-boggling.......

As can be gathered from a few events over the past couple of days....

The person responsible for DubyaSpeak.com will have plenty of material for at least the next year. I suppose it's all in good fun. I'm not one of those types of folks who would say I "hate" Dubya. I vehemently disagree with a number of things that have taken place while he's been "the man", but I've disagreed with the actions and stances of many politicians. I'm sure the next President will provide plenty of fodder for contemptuous comment....

A band that I recently added to my friends on myspace.com was looking for assistance in the voting for best newcomer at schwarzes-leben.com. I happened to look at the results of the vote from last year and I found some decent stuff. However, my favorite (by far) was Angelzoom. I zoomed (haha) on over to the Angelzoom page at myspace.com and when I saw the cover of Depeche Mode's Blasphemous Rumors, I was impressed. A quick listen to some of the other music had me hooked. Check it out, if you dare.....

If you're more in the mood to hear something cultural/educational, check out this listing of podcasts from the Smithsonian Institution.....

Peace, y'all!

Damn!

I kind of expected this turn of events....

The same vehicular issue that led to the cancellation of A23's Nashville show is responsible for the cancellation of the N.O. show as well. I'll see them the next time they come around.....

Ever the optimist, the Nashville cancellation prompted me to look at other music events around the Southeast. Now I plan on going to see Loreena McKennitt in Knoxville on October 12th and DJs Sasha and Spooky in Atlanta on October 26th. I believe that both of these shows promise to be enjoyable.....

That whole thing at Columbia University yesterday appeared to have gone down without much of a hitch. I was especially surprised at how pointed President Bollinger's introductory remarks were. I'm pretty sure that Ahmadinejad is not quite used to that level candor. It's too bad that he doesn't get that more often. For your viewing pleasure, here's Ahmadinejad's ranting propaganda before the UN General Assembly earlier today.......

Well, I'm outta here. You folks have a BLAST!

Drat!

Well, due to circumstances beyond their control, A23 will not be in Nashville tomorrow night. However, the band intends to be in The Big Easy on Wednesday night. I've been to quite a few places (US and foreign) but I've never been to New Orleans. I'm thinking now (this week at least) is the PERFECT time for a little road trip. I just hope the band's transportation situation gets rectified. I'll be stoked to see this show (barring any further problems) and visit the Crescent City.....

Overall, it's been a quiet weekend so far. Hangin' with pals (and their totally fun kids) and doing little odds and ends.....

I would be highly remiss if I didn't point y'all in the direction of Suzanne's new venture. Hey, check it out......

I am very glad to see that Columbia University hasn't backed away from hosting Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. I am diametrically opposed to many of the things that the Iranian President stands for, but this country (particularly the higher education system) is partly about the expression of ideas. Perhaps a more open dialog can move the US and Iran further from the brink of escalation and threatening posturing. Maybe it's time after over a quarter of a century. As a realist, I understand that continued animosity and disagreement is very likely, but at least we would be able to say that an attempt had been made.....

Well, y'all have a blast! I have to get ready for this week since my plans have been altered slightly. Peace!

Well, the first order of business here.....

Happy birthday, Daddy-o!

Here's to hoping that your birthday is a blast. I suppose that you could have a killer time in Hawaii. You could go surfing.........

Earlier this week, General John Abizaid (Ret.) spoke at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. I was absolutely surprised to hear the general urge patience (i.e. not pre-emptive war) with Iran and suggest that it would be possible to live with a nuclear armed Iran. I don't necessarily like the rhetoric of the Bush administration regarding Iran and I think that the words "There are ways to live with a nuclear Iran" (as spoken by Abizaid) aren't the best words for the situation. I just happen to feel that the odds of a nuclear device getting into the wrong hands would be much higher if Iran is successful (if they're even aiming for nuclear weapons) in their pursuits. Of course we'll "live with" the situation. Heck, that's what we had to do after Pakistan and India proved successful in their pursuit of nuclear weapons. However, as the whole AQ Khan debacle proved, proliferation is a serious danger and part of the reason we are "5 minutes to midnight".

Peace, y'all!

Ahhhhhhh, the Klan.....

I happened to miss the little KKK rally in Athens today. Trust me, I'm not that bummed about having missed it, but I suppose it might have provided a bit of weekend afternoon entertainment. I thought it was slightly strange that a group of the Klan based in Indiana came all the way to Alabama to protest against illegal immigrants. There was only a little blurb on al.com about the event and there's a slideshow (8 pix) at enewscourier.com. Though I think the message and thought processes of those who made this happen today are woefully misguided and totally wrong, I was relieved that the decision (from a few weeks ago) to deny them a permit to protest was reversed. As is often noted, "It is better to keep your mouth closed and let people think you are a fool than to open it and remove all doubt." If you like, follow the entire evolution of today's silliness (from the Athens News Courier) here.

Howdy, world!

Ahhhhhh, the end of the week....

I thought about posting something on the 11th, but I felt better being silent. I didn't want to cheapen the remembrance of the thousands who were lost by getting into some political rant.....

Today seems like kind of a lazy day to me. We're actually getting a nice, steady rain from what's left of Humberto. It's sweet to have a steady, soaking rain. Plus, it's actually been significantly cooler than it was during much of August. Mind you, I enjoyed the heat, but stretches of 100+ degree weather make it insanely hot at my job.....

The Library of Congress has added e-mail alerts corresponding to many of its RSS feeds. See here.....

If you like crossword puzzles....

PDF from Newsday: http://www.pzzl.com/global/newsday/crossword/pdf/newsdayYYMMDD.pdf

AcrossLite puzzle two week archive from chron.com: http://www.chron.com/content/fun/games/xword/puzzles/ (requires download of Across Lite from http://www.litsoft.com)

Y'all have fun now! I know I will.......

I've been fairly beat the past couple of days...

Of course it has to do with working the night shift. I'm still a fan of nights but it's almost time to transition over to being ready for days for a little stretch. Heck, the past couple of days, I slept just long enough until I could wake up and beat my body into submission on the elliptical machine and then get ready for work. My body won today. I can say that I feel extraordinarily rejuvenated.

So, news that has interested me....

The reports from the GAO about Iraq - #1 and #2
Ol' Fred jumps on the bandwagon to be the Prez
Addio Maestro!

I guess that I'd better run along now. It's about time to get ready for and then high-tail it on into work....

Peace!

Quite an end to a day and the week...

From a political standpoint, there was the beginning and end of the whole Larry Craig debacle. I was quite tired of that story by the end of the first day. I feel bad for the dude if his pleas of innocence were true. Much of his party was extraordinarily quick to turn its back on him as soon as the story exploded into the public eye. The story (along with Tony Snow's resignation announcement this week) did get me thinking about how many higher level people have left the Bush administration since the 2006 election. Look here for a partial list of more of Bush's folks who have resigned. It almost seems like they're dropping like the proverbial flies....

On a slightly more melancholy note, my neighbor was back this week. It was good to see him. He and his wife were tossing darts (along with a brew or two) and we went over to throw down a few brews for a little bit. I do happen to think that I probably scared the heck out of both of them. Somehow we got to talking about hot sauces and one of the items Jason broke out was a bottle of Dave's Ultimate Insanity Sauce. Ever the one to test the waters of craziness, I eyed the bottle for a little bit and then decided that I could tip it up for a few swigs. I'd already had my lovin' spoonful of the regular Dave's Insanity today. This stuff was a little bit hotter and gave me hiccups like I haven't had for a while, but it wasn't much of a problem. I think the neighbors believe I really am a lunatic (well, there was the Absolut from the party at the end of June). Good luck over there, Jason!

Well, I'm thinking it's about time for me to sweat a little bit. All y'all have a good Labor Day. Peace!

Wassa' happenin'...

hot stuff? Mmmmmm, those are some beautiful peppers!

Now I know it's strange that I'm up at 2:30 in the morning (I am a creature of the night) and all but I couldn't resist watching The Jerk. Besides, I wasn't tired yet. I just need to shift myself back to being ready for the daytime by tomorrow morning.

I'll often use this space as a place to complain about this administration. When the next administration is elected, I am sure I'll have plenty of fodder for discussion. Just in the interest of fairness, here's the page for the official "White House spin" on stories that are negative toward the policies of the current Executive Branch. I still believe that in most instances (particularly where politics is concerned) the truth of many issues lies somewhere closer to the middle than the opposing participants would have people believe.

Well folks, I suppose that it's time for a wrap...

Peace!

I was recently surfing the internets aimlessly....

when I remembered a little side business that a buddy of mine from my last place of employment had started. He took a vacation a few years ago and took some KILLER pictures from some beautiful locations in the western US. I went back to see how his photo store was coming along. The pictures of the bald eagles hanging around the northern Iowa-Illinois portion of the Mississippi River are great. Other than the people I worked with and a few restaurants up there, the eagles are one of a few things I miss. It was tremendous to watch the eagles sit around on the parts of the river that had frozen and occasionally take off soaring to look for fish. Check out Jason's photo store....