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....

As promised....

Here is part two (the remaining nine minutes). I have y'all click "read more" because I don't like having too much video and glitzy stuff right on the front page. So, if you want to check it out, go ahead and click "read more"...


Last 9 (or so) minutes of Art and Suzanne's wedding reception
12/19/1992
Weatherly Heights Baptist Church
Huntsville, AL

I've been swearing for years....

that I was going to get the 17 minute video of our wedding reception onto DVD so we would have less chance of losing it. Years later, I've finally done it. In addition, I've created a PC file-based version of it. Now the entire world can check it out by clicking "read more". That's only true if YouTube isn't blocked for you. The last half of the video will be coming soon. Talk about a blast from the past...


First 8 minutes of Art and Suzanne's wedding reception
12/19/1992
Weatherly Heights Baptist Church
Huntsville, AL

Yesterday, it was the invocation of Vietnam...

Today, the unclassified key findings of an updated National Intelligence Estimate regarding Iraqi stability were released. This merited a prepared statement AND a press conference from the White House. Not long after the new NIE was making news, Senator John Warner (R.-VA) was discussing the need for at least a symbolic pullout of a small number of troops by Christmas. We have to start somewhere. That's had me thinking for a while. What metric will we use to judge whether the "war on terror" part of Iraq has been a success? The President often mentions that too early of a withdrawal from Iraq would "embolden the terrorists and provide a fertile recruiting ground". Seems to me that it's already a prime recruiting ground and (for those militants who don't get killed) an invaluable training ground. Unless the US intends on having forces in Iraq for a VERY long time, our adversaries will still declare their own victory when we get around to bringing our troops home. The new generation of Islamic militants will have the benefit of at least some battle-hardened leaders. I think we need to revamp SOME of the way we conduct business. I think there are a number of people who realize this and are trying to effect change, but inertia and bureaucracy hinder them.....

Well, I'll leave it there for now. I want to devote more attention to watching The China Syndrome. It's on Turner Classic Movies right now and it's much more interesting now that I'm in the nuke industry than it was when I was nine...

Today was a good day to....

grill. These burgers were meant for the grill at the neighborhood party the other night, but it was a little late after returning from Monte Sano...

I don't know what made me start thinking about my 20 year HS reunion (if the Butler High School c/o '88 has one), but it should be less than a year from now. Scary, eh? Here's the official alumni page from Butler's web site. As it is often noted, time flies...

Well, I think I'll end this for now. It's almost time for South Park followed by Lil' Bush. It should be a laugh-filled close to prime time....

One can't place the blame for most....

of the results of the newly declassified executive summary regarding CIA shortcomings leading up to 9/11 on the current administration. The .pdf file is linked from near the bottom of the page. Sure, there were probably things that Bush and Company could have done differently, but it seems that many of the failures (through the various branches of government) were political and systemic. Unfortunately, it often seems as if the will to change the political side of things doesn't exist because the two beasts of power in this country are more interested in longevity in office and partisan bickering than actually achieving much.

Glancing over the news today, I found it somewhat laughable that the President was pointing out the flaws of the Iraqi government (first question in the press availability). To be sure, there are flaws. It is (or should be) MUCH HARDER to correct the errors of the government of a sovereign country than it is to fix our own shortfalls. An admittedly cursory search for any remarks by the President on the GAO report comes up surprisingly empty. There are things that are going OK over there, but much of the lead-up to and follow-through in this war has been farcical.

Anyway, enough complaining....

Y'all have fun, now!

It just occurred to me that I forgot to mention something the other night...

Yes, Assemblage 23 will be in Nashville on September 24. And I'm ready to go right now. However, I noticed that the supporting act will be a band named Cryogen Second. After the shortest amount of looking around, I discovered that Cryogen Second is actually local to Nashville, TN. It's a little bit unusual to hear music like that come from a town so closely associated with country music. I know that when I heard the first track on Cryogen's myspace profile (Outside the Light), the first impression that popped into my head considering the distortion vocals, dark melodies, and pulsing beat was Funker Vogt...

Very nice! If you are able to tolerate the kind of music I listen to, check'em out....

Ahhhhh, weekend recap.....

It's been a nice weekend to just chill out....

We attended a friend's wedding up on Monte Sano mountain in Huntsville yesterday. The wedding was very nice albeit very HOT. Tracy and Ashley, if you read this, CONGRATULATIONS! Heck, congratulations anyway! After that, we came home and dressed down a bit so we could go to a little neighborhood party. We didn't get over there until about 7:30 PM. We had fun. I finally finished the rest of the Sparks Plus that's been in my fridge for at least a month (only 3). That was topped off by a few pints of Guinness (draft bottles). Tasty! Oh, and there were also a few jello shots that appeared out of nowhere. Anyway, we called it a night around 11:00 PM.

Having had that "energy beer", I couldn't get right to sleep. That wasn't necessarily good because I had to get up around 5AM this morning. I had planned to go out riding (bicycles) this morning around 6:30. 5AM sure came early. At least I had enough time to down a cup of coffee. Ric and I rode about 15 miles out here on the back-roads this morning. After we rode, we split up to shower so all of us could go eat breakfast. Over breakfast, we learned that one of the restaurants that we enjoy in Huntsville is closing at the end of this week. We made plans then and there to go to Qdoba this evening. After returning home, the bed was calling me to take a nap. Unfortunately, we got to Qdoba to eat and they had closed up for the day. There weren't enough employees to keep the place open for their normal hours. I'm just wondering if things will be like that the rest of this week. We went to the "alternative" down the street and had a big old time....

And here we are.....

I almost don't know if I'll know what to do with myself tomorrow. I'd love some rain, but I wouldn't mind going up and trudging around the trails on Monte Sano mountain. And there's a chance of having this for dinner tomorrow night. It doesn't matter what's for dinner because the food at Chez Terrell is always awesome! This does mean that I probably won't be going in if I get called for OT tomorrow. C'est la vie! I can't turn down some tasty vittles.....

Peace, y'all!

As it was the first of seven days off, I took it easy today...

Work even called for OT EARLY this morning, but I had a few things to do to get ready for a buddy who's getting married tomorrow. I suspect that they'll call again a few times this weekend, but I'll be fairly tied up. Hopefully they'll have some slots available next week. I used to be the one to sell my soul for the OT money...

Check out some of the biodiversity from my neighborhood:





I could probably make it out to Denver, CO to see Assemblage 23, Tristraum and Leiahdorus on October 20, but I just can't see spending the time and money when I'm already planning to see A23 in Nashville in September. Speaking of Leiahdorus, go on and click "read more" for a video via YouTube. They sound a lot like they're from the 80s....

Fortunately....

The fine people of Athens made (again, my humble opinion) the proper decision last night. I'm not saying there are no adverse effects of alcohol. Heck, I'm living proof. However, it is possible to work through those kinds of issues and just making the city dry wouldn't have ended them anyway. Besides, I found out (I kind of suspected before arriving) that our precinct wasn't voting on the wet-dry thing anyway....

Well, it looks like people aren't being as careful on the roads during the "Take Back Our Highways" campaign as they probably should be. It's not like this little traffic jihad came unannounced or anything....

EARTHQUAKE!

I was glad to hear that my father and family survived Flossie out in Hawaii. I forgot to ask him if he had been that close to a hurricane before. I imagine that he's seen a typhoon or two from the time he was in Korea. I'll have to ask him. Yo, daddy-o, ever been through a tropical-type storm?

Well, I need to go shower right now. I'm stinky. Good night, folks!

PS, for a cool video (this was very spiffy live), click "read more"...

As I am often driven to extremes....

I am going to have to find a way to grow some of these. The site admin for Children of Acid happens to have a great picture of some of these peppers that he has grown. I enjoy insanely HOT food and I believe that these will be entirely too hot for me.....

It looks like the wet-dry issue has kind of stirred things up on al.com's Limestone County forum. As a last plea for common sense (in my humble opinion), if you are reading this and voting on the issues in Athens tomorrow, remember this:

Prohibition Worked Wonders

Howdy, folks...

For those of y'all in my immediate neck of the woods (i.e. Athens, AL), don't forget to join the fray in the wet-dry vote on Tuesday. Obviously, I have my own opinion on the vote. For those who swear that repealing sales will cut down on drinking and driving, I DO NOT BELIEVE you. For those who vaguely invoke the "adverse effects of alcohol" (I saw that in a recent article about the wet-dry issue), alcohol is still for sale in at least some of the surrounding counties. Those who desire alcohol will go to those areas and purchase alcohol to bring it back or, worse yet, drink it on the way back into town or before coming back into town.

For those of you in any part of Alabama, don't forget that the "Take Back Our Highways" campaign begins on Alabama roads this week.

I forgot to mention that we saw The Bourne Ultimatum last week. Great movie!

Running on fumes...

Well, I got back from Columbus in one piece and (amazingly) free of road usage fees around noon today. Of course, I left from Columbus at 6 AM EDT. I dropped my daddy-o off at the airport and then engaged ludicrous speed...

Once I got home, I chilled for a while. Since I had missed it for the past couple of days, I had to partake of the hot sauce on a spoon ritual and then go outside to sweat for about an hour. I knew before I returned that we were going to a Huntsville Stars game with friends this evening. Man, it's been a while since I've even thought about watching (let alone attending) a baseball game. That was quite fun.

All in all, the early rise, seven hour drive and baseball game as a finale should make it supremely easy for me to get right to sleep.

In conclusion, click "read more" for a nifty video (from Tristraum via youtube.com) that I've also included on my myspace profile. Sorry, I like exposing the world to different music...


Tristraum - First Embrace

Yeah, we're cookin' with gas now...

I'm in Columbus, OH. Unfortunately, it's under sad circumstances. I'll be at a viewing for my grandmother tomorrow and a memorial service on Thursday. I've only been up here to visit several times in the past twenty years. I'd say that I'd change that, but I'm never totally sure where life will take me anyway...

The drive from Athens, AL to Columbus was almost perfect (i.e. no speeding tickets and no serious traffic SNAFUs). I say almost because I get to within 5 miles of my aunt and uncle's home and almost have a big wreck. Fortunately, I'm well schooled in the tactics of insanely diversionary driving. I missed hitting the woman who pulled out in front of me by less than one foot. Whewww! That was too close....

My dad and brother are supposed to be flying in fairly early tomorrow. On that note, I'd better skedaddle. It's approaching 1AM and I should try to wake up fairly early in the morning. I am stoked about the wi-fi connection. Later, folks!

It is with an extraordinarily sad heart...

that I have to say farewell to my Grandmother Metcalf. I can say that I don't feel that I ever spent enough time around any of my grandparents but that can't be changed now. She was a TREMENDOUS person. I know that she played a larger part in my life than any of my grandparents because of things that happened long ago.

RIP Grandmother Metcalf! We'll miss you immensely!

Delerium - Angelicus

This video was released soon after Delerium put out Nuages du Monde. Different...

Fairly recently, myspace.com added a feature to be able to list your status and mood...

Now maybe it's just me, but I find it very odd that one of the "moods" they have available is "high". Even the little emoticon looks kind of like a stoner. Maybe they just mean ultra-happy. If not, I'm not sure that I would list "high" as my mood in such a public place...

Speaking of MySpace like things...

Check out MyDeathSpace.com in the next couple of weeks! Unfortunately, the site received an immense amount of traffic after being the subject of an article and isn't currently available.

If this bit of research is true, I might be better off than I thought. I was overexposed to the sun frequently when I was a kid. Back then, it would have taken a team of wild horses to drag me out of the swimming pool during the summer. I had a few sunburns that were excruciating. Hopefully, I never experience skin cancer (or any kind for that matter).

Speaking of caffeine, it's about time to load up on some more. I tried stay awake by loading up on caffeine last night, but the strangest thing happened. After downing a 16 oz. can of sugar free ROCKSTAR, I was out within thirty minutes. I never expected that to happen...

Anyway, y'all have fun. I'm going to get hyped up on caffeine, taurine, guarana and B vitamins! Bye!

As far as campy movies go...

My Super Ex-Girlfriend was fairly funny. I had recorded it on the ReplayTV on a whim and we finally got around to watching it. I think that I'd say I'm glad I didn't pay money to see it...

The latest news from NASA brings up lots of questions....

So far, my latest book is fairly interesting. I wouldn't call it riveting (which is why it's taking me a little while to read it). However, Ted Gup does a good job of discussing the dangers to democracy of living with so many (he argues too many) secrets.

If you can appreciate the humor (quite rough around the edges at times) of Carlos Mencia, check out the "Mind of Mencia Blog". I just discovered it a couple of weeks ago, but I read it whenever there's something new. Funny! Lil' Bush needs a blog now. I don't see Lil' Bush having the same staying power as Mencia. Long live Carlos!

Well, it's probably beyond the time that I should have been asleep, so sweet dreams folks! I'm gonna crash!

If you tend to drive, oh, perhaps a little above the speed limit at times...

Well, always be careful. However, you might want to exercise more than the usual amount of caution from August 13-17. al.com has a write-up about the 'Take Back Our Highways' initiative here while the official press release from "the man" can be viewed here (.pdf file). Mind you, I don't advocate speeding or anything...ha-ha-ha!

I should be asleep! Nighty-night world!

Can you tell the difference between a phishing site and a legitimate one?

Test yourself with this little phishing quiz. The knowledge gained from this quiz can be fairly useful and potentially save you some trouble...

Well, I sure as heck hope that I'm ready to wake up EARLY tomorrow. I am not naturally a "morning" person. Coffee helps with that, but I still hate getting up before the sun! Unfortunately, this morning, I was up until around 5 AM. But, I napped for a few hours and then loaded up on, you guessed it, some coffee. Maybe I should have gone to the grand opening of the latest addition to Athens restaurants, Chick-Fil-A.

I might have had a chance to work some overtime today, but I got plenty done around my house. I'm glad I stuck around here. Top the day off with some fine pizza from Village Pizza, and all was well!

Good evening, folks!

Oh yeah, lest I forget...

There's a fairly new restaurant over at The Village of Providence(in Huntsville) called Market Street Cafe. The selection and food are good. I know for certain that the meat loaf and the banana bread pudding were super tasty!

I like cats and all, but....

I'm quite certain that I wouldn't want this kitty coming over and curling up next to me any time soon...

A little bit of aimless wandering about the internetS (with the help of a Google news alert for TVA) brought me to an old school picture of power generation by TVA. I wonder what the place looks like now. The idea of a "100-year-old photo blog" is fairly unique...

My daddy-o's site for Zzaj Productions has been relocated to a new server. Check it out! Also included are archived issues of Improvijazzation Nation (new one linked from the front page), my dad's improv music e-zine.

Just a quickie here.....

A little further exploration allowed me to find the following bands:

Chinese Theatre

Tristraum

Quite interesting!

W00t!

This stretch of nights is over. I consider myself somewhat of a creature of the night. I naturally tend to stay up very late at night when I have the chance. There's just something nice about calling a set of the night shifts over. Now it's time to see how long I can stay awake. RED BULL...!

So, I get home and see a friend request on myspace.com. It looked like a band profile. I check it out and well....

I have to say that I thoroughly enjoy the music of James D. Stark. It's kind of cool to hear goth/electro in the form of (mainly) love songs. The sound elicits Depeche Mode, Camouflage, and other similar bands. Seeing that I enjoy that sound already, this stuff's right up my alley. But, it's not a clone of other music (though there is a DM remix on his profile right now). Support independent artists and check out this dude's work, if you dare...

Man, oh man, oh man...

With the exception of having gone in for twenty minutes or so last week to take care of a small administrative task, I haven't been to work since the last week of June. Up until an hour ago, I was looking (and feeling) totally scruffy. It's been such a long stretch off. But, I'm rested up and raring to go. Crowning achievement? I suppose I'm stoked that I can say that I made it to 37. We went out and had a great dinner with my mom and company last night. Thanks again!

Hi-ho, hi-ho, it's off to work we go....

I so love...

living where I can go get fast food at four in the morning. I suppose that what I ate wasn't too good for me, but my breakfast sure was tasty. Besides, there wasn't much better to do....

I saw a segment on NBC Nightly News the other night...

The title of the segment was "Did 9/11 create a culture of secrecy?" Unfortunately, there doesn't appear to be a story page on MSNBC's site.

NBC's Bob Faw was interviewing journalist/author Ted Gup about his new book called Nation of Secrets. There's more information about the exact premise of this book here. I just purchased it this evening. I'll let y'all know if it's any good. Come to think of it, I don't read enough. When I do read something (not for work), it's almost always related to politics or current affairs. C'est la vie...

You fine folks have fun now!

As it almost always happens...

I've been staying up later and later at night as my time off from work winds down to an end. It's not so bad, though. At least I'll be ready to go into work on the night shift. Anyway, I was looking for something of quality to watch on TV last night. It often seems like that quest grows more difficult. I finally stumbled across this movie on the Sundance Channel. While watching it, I was thinking what a crappy set of circumstances these folks had if the complete innocence that they tried to assert all throughout was true. After the movie, I looked around a little bit. I found the Wikipedia article about the "Tipton Three" and the Wikipedia entry for the director of the movie. Both of those pages had a link to an article from The Guardian (UK newspaper) about a follow-up story to determine the truth of the story portrayed in the movie. I will repost the pertinent part here in the event that the usual link rot occurs:

"Sisters are doing it for themselves

Andrew Anthony
Sunday June 3, 2007
The Observer

.....
Buried away in the schedules with almost no advance publicity was Lie Lab. Making use of new techniques in magnetic resonance imaging, the programme set out to discover if its subjects were telling the truth. Last week those subjects were Ruhal Ahmed and Shafiq Rasul, better known as two-thirds of the Tipton Three.

That was the name given to the three young men who were picked up in Afghanistan in late 2001 by American forces and transported to Guantanamo Bay, where they were held without charges or trial for two years before being released back to Britain.

Campaigners for the men have always maintained they were innocent tourists-cum-aid workers, caught up in the invasion of Afghanistan. This was also the line of Michael Winterbottom 's film, The Road to Guantanamo. And given the tone and approach of Lie Lab, it also seemed to be a belief shared by the programme makers.

But at the end of what was actually a rather dry and laborious piece of science TV, when confronted with results that suggested he was less than forthcoming with the truth, Ahmed confessed (Rasul had refused to go through with the test) not only to visiting an Islamist training camp but also handling weapons and learning how to use an AK47.

None of which justifies or excuses his sub-legal and subhuman treatment in Guantanamo, but it does raise some questions about the portrayal, in some quarters of the media, of the Tipton Three as blameless heroes. The Lie Lab seemed almost embarrassed by its findings and was neither prepared, nor set up, to follow through on the story. But perhaps another TV programme might one day ask what a British citizen (or citizens) was doing at a guerrilla training camp, learning to fire weapons, in the middle of a war.
....."

From Andrew Anthony on Big Brother | Lie Lab | Brits Get Rich in China | Hotel California: From the Byrds to the Eagles | Media | MediaGuardian.co.uk: at http://media.guardian.co.uk/site/story/0,,2094030,00.html

I probably can't know the whole truth about what happened, but it seems like there's a lot more to this story (and movie) than meets the eye.

Happy Friday the 13th!

Not much to say here...

How about a couple of links?

I stumbled upon one slick offering from the Library of Congress called The loc.gov Wise Guide by accident. The Library of Congress has some excellent material available online. For links to the "Wise Guide" and other cool stuff, check out the Library's news page.

Have you ever wanted to know when the sun's going to go down or the moon's going to rise? How about for the whole year? Check out the data services page from the Astronomical Applications department of the U.S. Naval Observatory.

Finally, what about the loved ones at home when military members are deployed? The DoD has a website for them. Straight from the site:

"MilitaryHOMEFRONT is the official Department of Defense web site for reliable Quality of Life information designed to help troops and their families, leaders and service providers. Whether you live the military lifestyle or support those who do, you'll find what you need!"

Having just finished a fairly rigorous training program to assist in the operation of a nuclear plant...

Nuclear news interests me greatly. Heck, it's pretty much been my life since 1992. Anyway, some anti-nuke folks are aiming for the industry (they're always looking for some angle) by claiming that we're breaking the law by not being sufficiently outfitted and prepared to shut our plants down safely if there is a major fire. In fact, they have a nicely doctored up document (only the portions that illustrate what they are trying to say are included and highlighted). As somewhat of a parallel development, the Government Accountability Office will be investigating nuclear plant fire standards starting in September. By the way, here is the conclusion (not included in the NIRS document) of the the NRC document (NRC accession number ML071160431) being slightly misrepresented by the Nuclear Information and Resource Service:

"The Commission has concluded, based on the considerations discussed above, that: (1) there is reasonable assurance that the health and safety of the public will not be endangered by operation in the proposed manner, (2) such activities will be conducted in compliance with the Commission's regulations, and (3) the issuance of the amendment will not be inimical to the common defense and security or to the health and safety of the public."