Wednesday, March 24, 2010

Awkward Family Photos

NOTICE -- I got a heads-up from a friend this morning that his Kaspersky security program was detecting phishing attempts from the following website or, more likely, one of its advertisers. Kaspersky has a history of occasional false-positive triggers on some sites, but sometimes if a site isn't careful enough about choosing its advertisers, it can inadvertently act as a "carrier" of a real phishing attack embedded in one of the rotating banner ads that those sites feed to the host page. He urged me to remove the link to the site, but even though I trust his judgement I'm going to give it the benefit of the doubt. So, I suggest that you PROCEED WITH CAUTION, as you always should while browsing the web. It might not hurt to also close the browser and maybe clear the cache after you've visited the site below, just in case.

And remember, NEVER enter any sort of personal info without first double-checking the URL (web address) that's asking for it, and remember that no reputable business will ever contact its customers by email, text, or phone, asking them to verify their personal info ... you should always call them by the phone number listed on your statement or on the back of your credit/debit card whenever you're in doubt. Surf safely!


Sorry it's been a while (well, if you count one week "a while") since my last post, but I just haven't been struck with inspiration for this blog lately. But, thanks to a friend at work, I've found a completely awesome site I simply have to share with you: Awkward Family Photos (its title says it all -- and a lot more). And, since I've been at a loss for words here lately, and given that a picture is worth a thousand words, then, well ... this works out quite nicely.

Wednesday, March 17, 2010

Happy St. Patrick's Day!


















Okay, so this comic would probably be more at home on my "Trek-Ease" blog, but then this here blog is all about the world not making perfect sense anyway, so in a way it's totally appropriate. Besides, this is the blog that's gone the longest without updates lately, so ... here it goes.

Image courtesy of the official "Foxtrot" website (where you can find it in much better quality ... thanks a lot, Blogger, for shrinking it so goddamn much).

Friday, March 12, 2010

Wacky Wikis

I was cruising around the Internet the other day, as I am wont to do, and I discovered a very curious fact: there's a wiki out there for just about anything. Granted, few of them have as many pages, or as exhaustive a knowledge base, as the granddaddy of them all, Wikipedia, but it's still somewhat astonishing how much some people know about some things (collectively, I would assume ... at least I would hope that these wikis aren't all assembled by one person each). For instance, did you know that there's a wiki about...

Pop Tarts? Yes, apparently someone thought it useful to assemble a database of information about that uniquely American breakfast food, the Pop Tart. Don't get me wrong, I love me some Pop Tarts, but still, it's not exactly a practical field of knowledge....

Pet Diabetes? I didn't even know there was such a thing. Mind you, I'm not at all making light of pet diabetes any more than human diabetes (there's a history in my own family, in fact), but still ... a curious little field of study indeed.

"South Park"? Actually, this one isn't all that surprising, considering they have wikis for other TV and movie properties like "Star Trek", and probably "Buffy The Vampire Slayer" too. Come to think of it, I might have to bookmark this one...!

Nudism? Aw hell, why not? It's the Internet, after all, and there's room for anything. But really ... how much does anyone have to know about not wearing clothes? Okay, maybe how to exercise caution when using devices with external moving parts that could potentially cause damage to your ... never mind.

Tuesday, March 9, 2010

Legalize It! ...Got Any Snacks?

Okay, let's get one thing straight before I go any further: I am not, by any stretch of the imagination, a "pot-head". In fact, I've never taken a toke in my life ... nor have I experimented with any other substances, not even alcohol ... hell, the only alcohol I've ever ingested has been in the form of cough syrup. Nevertheless, I'm a firm proponent for the legalization of marijuana. Why, you ask? There are a few reasons.

It's virtually harmless. Think about the laundry list of potential side-effects associated with all those prescription drugs that somehow manage to get FDA approval and are constantly advertised on television ... dry mouth, bowel cramps, watery eyes, constipation, headaches, nausea, nosebleeds, drowsiness, disorientation, heart attack, stroke ... the side-effects are often worse than the condition you're taking the drug for in the first place!! What does weed do? It gives you the munchies, makes you giggle at everything, and if used too much, it makes you dim-witted. Even compared to the consequences of chain-smoking and alcoholism, that's a freakin' walk in the park.

It'd help out the cops. There's hardly any police department in this country that isn't overworked and understaffed, so they'd probably welcome the opportunity to ignore the petty marijuana sale and distribution offenses and even the larger pot busts, and have more time to go after the far more harmful drugs like meth, cocaine, and heroin ... not to mention having more resources to fight violent offenses and property crimes. And if you think that's something, wait till you see how the ripple-effect of the decriminalization of marijuana would ease the stress on prison crowding and court dockets!

It'd stimulate the economy. If marijuana were legalized, it would give the government the opportunity to regulate its sale, which would in all probability mean taxing it ... which would bring in a much-needed (depending on who you ask) revenue stream for the federal government. Not to mention that legalizing its manufacture, distribution, and marketing would provide a new industry for the country, meaning the creation of jobs, which we need now more than ever.

It's one of the best medicines around. Marijuana has been clinically proven to relieve chronic pain and to stimulate the appetite. There are a lot of people out there suffering from diseases and disorders that inflict constant pain, and that also suppress the appetite, making people susceptible to malnutrition and starvation. Only a fraction of those people live in jurisdictions that allow for medical marijuana, and just a fraction of those have the means to obtain licenses for it. And then there are the countless college students who just want to let loose every once in awhile and relax ... weed takes pretty good care of that, too, and with negligible ill effects, I might add.

On top of all that is one of the most obvious reasons for legalizing it, one that makes an almost embarrassing amount of sense. Marijuana is a naturally occurring plant. It's not altered with cancer-causing and addiction-inducing artificial chemicals like tobacco is ... it's just dried and then it's ready for use ... which is one big reason why it's comparatively harmless when used responsibly and judiciously. When you sit there and think about all these complex pharmaceutical chemicals cooked up in laboratories, innocuously packaged under names that sound like planets that the "Star Trek" characters beam down to, and how they're perfectly legal, whereas something that grows naturally in the ground is outlawed and called "dangerous", it kind-of makes you wonder ... What are some of those FDA people smoking?!?

Sunday, March 7, 2010

Stupid Is as Stupid Protests...

I don't know who the kid with the second sign is, but I really, really like him! I never wish anyone ill will, I really don't ... but all the same, I'm kind-of counting the days till the so-called Reverend Fred ("God Hates...") Phelps kicks the bucket ... just so he can learn once-and-for-all how he's wasted away his life.

Thursday, March 4, 2010

Techno-Choly Baby

I can be a real idiot sometimes. I got up on the wrong side of the bed this morning (figuratively, 'cause the other side of my bed is against the wall), and the day seemed to get worse from there, culminating in the local fast-food joint somehow forgetting to make my food, resulting in me being 15 minutes late getting back from my lunch hour. Fortunately I have a really understanding boss, so I didn't get an earful for being late. Another fortunate thing: my day basically couldn't help but get better from here, 'cause it had already hit bottom.

What started this downward spiral in my mood? News of the death of a relative or friend? No. A huge unexpected expense, like a car or home repair bill? Nope. You're gonna love the answer ... our broadband internet is on the fritz. Now comes the obvious, but no less puzzling, question: Why do I let it get me so upset? It's not the end of the world (if you'll forgive that revoltingly cliché expression). The stability of our life doesn't depend on it. It's not a vital component of our household infrastructure (except when it's time to pay bills). Nevertheless, it can throw my delicate little world into turmoil.

Did you happen to see the South Park episode from 2008 called "Over Logging", about how the Internet broke, sending all of human society into utter chaos? It's hard for me not to think about that episode, and naturally to juxtapose it to my own behavior, and end up feeling extra-super-duper-silly about myself.

When I find myself disconnected from the web like this, I fuss and fret as if my life is utterly directionless and I'm at my wit's end for something -- anything -- constructive to do. And then, what do I do once I'm overjoyed to finally see the green "DSL" LED on the modem return to its reassuring steady glow? Do I confidently forge into a carefully structured strategy to make a meaningful and profound contribution to cyberspace? Shit no, I browse the web aimlessly, wasting away a good two hours or so. You see? I told you ... I can be a real idiot sometimes.

Maybe part of the reason it upsets me is because we're paying a fair bit of money every month for having reliable high-speed internet access, and we're not getting what we're paying for. And maybe part of it is the unpleasant prospect of having to get on the phone with their customer service people and plodding through "the idiot list" of simple troubleshoots, none of which ever solve the problem, thus wasting time. But whatever the reason, it discourages me enough to long for a world without all these technological burdens we place on ourselves ... a quiet little village in rural France, perhaps. As clumsy and uncomfortable as my childhood was, I sometimes wish I still lived in a pre-digital world ... things were so much simpler then.

I'm really hoping the DSL will magically fix itself before tomorrow morning (and, more importantly, stay fixed), so I don't have to call those technical support people. I won't be calling them today, 'cause that would just be asking for one more wrench to be thrown into the rattletrap gearbox that is my Thursday. Sigh ... I should have listened more closely to that bird outside my window, whose pretty little song I could hear this morning while I was tying my shoes ... as if to tell me, "everything's going to be okay." Because, deep down inside, I know in the long run that it will be.

Tuesday, March 2, 2010

Random Lists 1



















Celebrities I've met in person:

Famous people my mother has met that kind-of blew me away:

People I've seen in concert who are dead now:
  • Victor Borge (classical pianist and comedian)
  • George Carlin (the best stand-up comedian who ever lived)
  • Sam Kinison (evangelist preacher turned raunchy stand-up comedian who lived fast and died hard)