Oh Bother....

So I've gone and injured myself (again).

Hitchcock And The Symphony

Tonight the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra will be screening Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho and providing the soundtrack live. There are cooler things in life. But not many. I'll be jetting over to catch it immediately after work.

Taking A Break From...Well...Just About Everything.

So I've been enjoying the weather. It's been unusually pleasant here in Charm City this summer; typically by this time we're swimming in humidity with temperatures regularly in the 80's and 90's hoping that the drought will end, but this year's been mild and drought free- okay, maybe a little too much rain for my tastes, but you can't win them all.

I took some much needed time off from work, went to a few more ball games, made some (modest) progress on the novel, and pretty much ignored politics. I may be going on a legitimate (read: traveling) vacation in August which will (if it happens) produce another long-ish silence here. However, regular (albeit light) blogging will recommence from here on out. Still no blogging on Sundays or Mondays this summer- unless it's by cell phone which, dude, pain in the rear on my phone, but there will be blog(ging).

There will be no politics until I catch up on what I've missed (so think maybe sometime next week). There will be general interest blogging.

Sorry for not giving you folks a heads up, but burnout exploded in my face all of a sudden. (Seriously, this post is kinda wtf, right? Totally time for time off.) I'll try not to let it happen again.

Largest Movie Screen In U.S. Stops Advertising With Local News Paper

Baltimore is home to Bengies Drive In, which boasts the largest movie screen in the U.S. Bengies has been a Charm City staple since 1956 and continues to draw a capacity crowd. Hilariously, they no longer advertise with the Baltimore Sun because the B.S. is...well...bullshit.

So Pretty

This PC design is hot enough to make me start babbling Tron quotes. "Oh my User."

Agent Mulder Was Wrong

It turns out that high-as-a kite wallabies are the degenerate culprits behind Aussie crop circles. No, really.

It's Shit Like This....

...that made me stop reading Marvel Comics. No. Really. In fact, the original run through of this story line is exactly what led to me vowing to never buy another Spider-Man comic again. News flash: Peter Parker is not the goddamn clone, assholes. He is Spider-Man. No. It doesn't matter that they went back some time after the fact that tried to put things right. Too little too freaking late, Marvel.

"George III never taxed, regulated, or policed us remotely as much as Washington, D.C. does today."

Indeed.

*hat tip, instapundit

Faster With The Commercial Space Flight/Exploration Please

The current administration is taking the paring knife to NASA. I understand priorities. But they wouldn't have to slash NASA's budget if they weren't so busy pissing tax dollars away trying to hijack private industry. Assholes.

Violin

The Console Wars

It's been a while since I dropped in on Penny Arcade, so I had some catching up to do. I eventually got to this post and its accompanying comic.

I grew up during the console wars and it left very real marks on me. My memories are not as traumatic as Gabe's; I was Sega fan firmly entrenched amongst other Sega fans. Rivalries were bitter then. Sega's initial shot across Nintendo's bow from all appearances should have been fatal.



16 bits. Those of us who had been unknowingly wandering in the 8-bit desert of the Nintendo Entertainment System had seen a river and been told to drink deep. I remember the first time I saw a commercial from that set (the above being a later one); me and several other kids were sitting at the kitchen table of the woman who watched us after school. Our jaws fell open. We went downstairs and turned on the NES already dissatisfied. We had seen the promised land and knew we weren't in it. We had all just placed one item at the very top of our Christmas wish list and underlined it. Several times.

God, it seems so quaint now. These days no one talks about bits anymore. Any console from the original Playstation on doesn't sell you on hardware jargon, but features and screen shots. Bits are a thing of the past. But during the console war bits, colors, and processing speed were what it was all about.

Nintendo responded to the Genesis with the 16-bit Super NES and the console wars raged. It seems like forever that it was just those two behemoths slugging it out. Genesis trying to capitalize on it's superior speed, SNES trying to capitalize on it's bright colors. Nintendo added a new piece of hardware to the SNES cartridges, the Super FX chip, which made the SNES as fast as the Genesis. Sega released its first add-on to the Genesis, the Sega CD, which increased storage capacity (though not bit processing power). It's mostly known for a seemingly endless barrage of comedically bad live action games. Like Night Trap:



By this point other companies had started to get into the race and Sega released its second add-on to the Genesis, the 32x. (Feel free to skip the theme song.)



The height of the console wars (the 32-bit battle) saw Sony, Atari, Phillips, and Panasonic enter the fray. The Phillips CDi crashed and burned because it was an over-priced piece of dreck which had all of 5 games because it was more interested in being an entertainment center than a gaming platform. The Panasonic 3DO had more games, but only one was any good. No wait, I'm thinking of the Atari 64. The 3DO didn't have anything worth mentioning aside from low sales and a short life span. Sony stuck around with the Playstation because (I grudgingly admit) it was a good platform, but also because Sony is the seven-headed dragon and they own large portions of a ton of third party licenses which brought game exclusivity to meaningful levels. We'll get back to that later.

The 64bit Sega Saturn marketed itself as a 32bit platform because while Sega made brilliant stand alone consoles their marketing department should have been keelhauled and then shot for good measure. Nintendo was content to let the SNES carry the load during the 32-bit era and...that didn't fail spectacularly.

Atari's 64 hung in for a little while, but the real battle was between Sony's PS and Sega's Saturn:



Sony's entry into the console wars was a game-changer though. Before Sony, the majority of exclusive games for any given platform were those that were made by it's company. The same third party titles were essentially available on all platforms. It wasn't necessary to own every system. One would suffice. Hardware was the primary reason to buy a console and that created fierce brand loyalty. Sony's financial power over many third party developers would eventually result in the end of the console wars. There's no war when your average gamers has all available platforms. Now having exclusive third party titles is the norm, and instead of missing out on a good gaming experience most gamers just own multiple consoles. Sometimes that makes me a little sad.

Jeebus. This post is way longer than I intended. Sorry folks.

Ummm...Okay....

Wtf?

Just In Case...

...you've never had a television show canceled. One of the writers behind Terminator: Sarah Connor Chronicles speaks up and it is freaking hilarious. It's too good to excerpt so read the whole thing.

Body-More, Murderland.... Still Not Number One

So thanks due to an accounting error or something the city I reside in is in fact not actually the most violent city in America because that honor goes to Detroit.

The difference of 33 killings is just enough to push Detroit's homicide rate past Baltimore's to reclaim the No. 1 ranking among cities with a population of 500,000 or more people. Baltimore's rate is 36.9 killings per 100,000 people; Detroit's is now 37.4 per 100,000.

It's okay, Bleed-more! There's always next this year. Now where's my goddamn bread and circuses?

Weekend Stuff

I'm kind of a horror movie buff, so this weekend I'm totally looking forward to catching Sam Raimi's new flick, Drag Me to Hell.



It's nice to see him taking a break from turning Spider-Man into an emo loser getting back to his horror roots.

Umm... No

Io9 has either lost its damn fool mind or is in cahoots with whoever is in the process of ginning up the zombie apocalypse. Zombies are not and cannot be sexy/hot. Because they're rotting dead flesh and will eat your intestines out of your screaming soon to be living dead body.

Case closed. Not sexy. Not hot. Be prepared.

Memorial Day Weekend

It's tradition over here at WTJD, that we open up the DVD bin, crack open a few beers, and have a Band of Brothers marathon for Memorial Day weekend.

By this juncture, I don't expect there are many people who haven't seen it. However, if you're one of those unfortunate few the History Channel usually runs a marathon this weekend. It is awe inspiring and I recommend watching it with the same conviction with which I would recommend breathing.

This Explains Everything

About science funding, that is.

Thanks, C

Federal Witness Placed In Cell With "People" He Was Testifying Against

And that's only the beginning of the funny.

So, this gang member, Van Sneed, is supposed to testify against three other gang members who were charged with drug conspiracy....and killing witness tampering. These four worthless wastes of life are then locked in a cell together and a fight ensues. Oh, and Sneed's greatest claim to fame? His appearance in the Stop Snitching video.

Honestly, if it wasn't for the collateral damage, I'd say let the scum wipe each other out.

Hat tip, Steve

Today's Metal

Apparently I'm in an Arch Enemy mood today. Also, Angela is totally freaking sweet.

Classic...If You're Into This Sort Of Thing

Down in the basement at work today. That means iPod time. So I've been rocking out to these guys all day and figured I'd give you folks a taste.

Some Griping And A Question

A friend sent me a link to this site today (specifically the Yakuza pineapple post). The first thought that popped into my head was that it would be an excellent way for me to brush up on my written Japanese. The second thought that popped into my head was how completely ridiculous it is that having studied the language for a little more than 5 years, none of my instructors really taught Kanji. These weren't private lessons, but the Japanese language curriculum for Baltimore County.

To get an idea as to just how crazy that is, imagine taking an English class where you're taught to speak English, but only taught to read and write prefixes, suffixes, articles, and a handful of basic nouns, verbs, and particles (ex. days of the week, numbers, to run, to read, up, and down). Imagine studying English for over 5 years and being less literate than a kindergartner. Exactly.

At any rate, that's in the past. Right now I'm looking to refresh and improve my Japanese language skills. So, my question for you fine folks is this: Do you know (or have you heard) of any good study guides (preferably specifically for Kanji)?

Congratulations, Maryland!

You're one of the 5 least free states in the Union!
There really is no place like home.

On NASA

This post is less of a +/- list than a two perspective glance at some common questions about NASA. However, before we get into anything else, I have a bone to pick with the 14 dead astronauts jab. Don't get me wrong the loss of life is tragic, but we're strapping people to rockets to speed them away from the surface of the Earth at speeds that replicate multiples of Earth's gravity. The space shuttle goes from 0 to 17,000 mph in 8.5 minutes. All of this is towards the end of sending human beings into the single most inhospitable environment known to man. The fact that only 14 brave men and women lost their lives in that pursuit is remarkable and belongs firmly in the 'NASA rocks' column.

That said, let's look at the two other (major) issues:

1.) Government Bureaucracy vs Private Industry-
Clearly one of NASA's biggest problems is the degree to which it's a government agency with all of the accompanying/resulting inefficiencies, mismanagement, and sprawl. Of course, the greatest benefit of NASA being a government agency is that all Americans own a piece of NASA's accomplishments. The moon landings continue to be a source of national pride (as they should be), and I'm not sure to what extent that would be true if they had been accomplished by US Air or IBM.

Privatized space flight and exploration are the way of the future, but I think there's a strong argument for maintaining some kind of government space agency for national security/defense purposes at the very least.

2.)Manned vs Non-manned Space Exploration-
As far as practicality is concerned, this essentially comes down to whether or not think one of the biggest purposes of space exploration is give mankind an option for survival when the sun starts to die or an asteroid the size of Texas looms or whatever gonzo space disaster happens that's beyond our ability to control or fix. If being able to make a home on other worlds sounds important to you, then there's no substitution for manned space exploration when it comes to accumulating data on the effects that environment will have on human anatomy and psychology. It also provides field data on the challenges we'll encounter.

If you think space exploration is essentially about building a better encyclopedia then the costs and risks (in every sense) of manned space exploration are unjustifiable and robots are clearly the superior alternative.

I'd like the human race to have as many options for survival as possible.



In short, I would sell my organs on the black market to pay to be a part of the first human colony on Mars and NASA made us believe it was possible.

Before Dave Sucked

So this is the band the guy who did Bald White Oprah used to be in before he stopped drinking and started sucking.



Artists, let this be a lesson: Art is pain; if you don't suffer for your art your art will suffer.

Surprise- Oh, Wait. Never Mind.

So the WaPo wastes valuable newspaper money paying staff writer, Jen Chaney, to piddle away everyone's time.

Apparently S. Darko, the straight to DVD abomination sequel to Donnie Darko doesn't actually look like b-movie hell, but it certainly feels like it. I mean, 1.) Completely unsurprising, and 2.) It's straight to DVD. I expect that sort of review from "hip" "urban" weeklies or some such, but the WaPo entertainment section? Really? What's next? "Vampires vs Zombies 2, better than the original- only the second worst film you'll ever see"?

I've Got A Thing For Neat Animation

So this video is kind of rocking my world right now.

5 Minutes

The bit where he dances into his pants sans-hands is totally my favorite.

I'm Geekin' Out!

Thanks, J., for pointing out this free e-book of The Great God Pan.

The rest of you folk may not know that yours truly is a huge Lovecraft fan, and the man, himself, frequently proclaimed The Great God Pan to be his biggest inspirations.

Also, I'm kind of re-addicted to the x-box 360.

Jaw Dropping

Nyle "Let The Beat Build" from Nyle on Vimeo.

That's one continuous take and the sound was recorded simultaneously.

100 Days, 3 Abandoned Hostages

Tammy Bruce rightly notes one of the current administration's more troubling policies:

When you abandon Americans held by terrorists, and then reward terrorists who trained with Al Qaeda, some might argue it’s more than priorities that are screwed-up in the White House.

Read the whole thing and marvel at the....Incompetence? Fecklessness? Bias? Collapse? Real life Punch and Judy? of the MSM.

The Question Remains

This one's for Leeann.

So on the one hand we have Jean-Luc Picard's warm friendly sometimes mentor-like take on command.


And on the other hand we have grisly Bill Adama, who's take on command is essentially making every crew member of the Galactica a surrogate son/daughter.

(I guess it's too soon or something because all of the BSG stuff on youtube is either a trailer or a creepy music video montage.)

Clearly, Picard and Adama faced wildly different situations. Picard captained the flagship of the Federation, primarily tasked with scientific surveys and diplomacy. And he was awesome at it. Plus he defeated the Borg. A lot. Even when they cheated (energy shields adjusting to bullets is so bullshit.) Adama commanded a decommissioned battlestar that became the last defense of the tens of thousands of humans who survived the Cylon holocaust. And he so completely rocked at it that half of the Cylons decided to throw their chips in with him.

So how to decide between them? Well one way is to try to figure out who I would rather serve under. On the surface that doesn't work out so well because in the Star Trek TNG universe I would totally want to serve under Picard, but in the Galactica universe I'd totally want to serve under Adama. But let's look a little deeper.

Adama was totally willing to risk a civil war amongst the tattered remnants of humanity to save the lives of two of his favorite surrogate sons. Which is all kinds of crazy and wonderful. The world ended and Bill Adama essentially saves the human race by being its dad. I don't think a captain who's casual enough with his crew to the point where the chief medical officer totally has creepy ghost sex in front of him could pull that off. But Adama is a soldier, not a diplomat and the Star Trek TNG universe never asks anyone to "roll the hard 6". Adama would kill Romulans and Borg like James Tiberius Kirk killed Klingons, but a lot of treaties would go unsigned and first contact situations would be...problematic.

So who's better? That's still tough. I know that I'd rather have an ascendant humanity over one on the verge of extinction and that a Star Trek future is a hell of a lot brighter than a BSG future. So if the choice was about picking fates, then Picard all the way. But if the choice is just about who I'd prefer to by my commanding officer in a universe that's neither Battlestar bleak or Federation florescent then my gut says Bill Adama. (And as a bonus Tigh's alcoholism caused the Galactica and her crew less trouble than Riker's sex drive caused the Enterprise and hers.)

:( !

So the home computer is experiencing some major technical difficulties which started yesterday. That's the bad news.

The good news is that fan appreciation day is today (instead)! Yay!

So today I'll be posting what I was supposed to post yesterday, but couldn't.

Konami Code Summons Unicorns

Yesterday ESPN was awesomely hacked. I don't generally go in for that sort of thing, but seriously. The Konami code and unicorns is pretty win.

Dude.

How did I miss that Bea Arthur passed away this weekend?

Seriously. I remember watching Golden Girls with my mom when I was a wee tyke.

At any rate, this one's for you Ms. Arthur:

New Link

Wicked sorry on the whole slacking thing. New link on the link bar: When Your Only Tool Is A Hammer. Sometimes I feel like my only brain is a colander.

Shiina Ringo

Discovered courtesy of my brother, this lady has become a staple on my iPod.







Unfortunately, her new project is Tokyo Jihen which is all things I hate about J-rock.

So I Guess The Question Is....

Given the ideological mixed bag that is the tea party movement, is a federalism amendment a salable goal? I think that if it uses Mr. Barnett's wording it could be. It'll draw even more cooks out of the woodwork and the TPTB and the MSM will pull out all the stops in their efforts to marginalize and dismiss us. Heck, all we can agree on right now is ousting the incumbents and they're already 3 steps from crapping their pants. But if we were to respond like we're responding now I think, yeah, maybe it's just crazy and brazen enough to work. Maybe we could scare some pretty big concessions out of the feds.

What do you folks think? It's late and my general distaste for government always has had a touch of the extreme so maybe this is my pipe dream.

There's Exaggeration And Then There's Bald Faced Lying

This car looks future-pretty and everything, but let's cut the crap here: any car that tops out at 90 mph is, by definition, absolutely and completely incapable of "handling like a bat out of hell". I don't care what the CEO of the company says. My old '94 Ford Escort Wagon topped out at 90 so this guy is basically arguing that "bat out of hell" = "Ford Escort Wagon". His life is either really damn boring, or he's a lying s.o.b. But, sure. The car looks cool.

Hat tip Instapundit

Taking A Break

Reader Appreciation Day

Okay so the announcement is late, but...uh...yeah. I know, I'm a bad bad blogger. Forgive me?
Well, regardless of my state of absolution, reader appreciation day is next Wednesday. (I am still working on that BSG post and it will be up Wednesday.) So leave a comment, send an email, let me know what you want me to post about next Wednesday. It will be done.

Perseverance

That's how I got to see the O's whip the White Sox 10 to 3.

Waiting Out The Rain

The Bird Rocks

Little over an hour's delay and the game is on.

At the ballpark. Boog's beef sandwhich and beer. Now if it'd just stop raining.

Video Game Goodness

Io9 has a gamespot feature on the new System Sh.... I mean Bioshock 2. In spite of the fact that Bioshock is essen... okay is System Shock and the typical haloed white knight/slavering pit beast polarity of its "moral choice" component, it's still one of my favorite games of the past few years.

It's beautiful, creepy, and fun. When it comes to the survival horror genre that's the cat's pajamas right there. (Though the top two positions still belong to Silent Hill 1&2 because those games managed to flat out scare the hell out me.) So here's to hoping that Bioshock 2 will be as good as it looks.

Exactly

Whenever someone tells you that the rich are getting richer and poor are getting poorer:

Or put it this way. Take your time machine back to the middle ages. Find some locals and explain to them that in the era you're from, most people live better than the king does in their day.

Also, a better articulated "human beings are awesome" piece than my Doctor Who-like rants.

Dear Orioles

WTF? Guthrie. Dude. Stop loading the bases. Seriously. Especially in Boston. It's The Green Monster. You can't count on grand slams to save the day when after you've thrown away a perfectly good lead because you can't pitch.

5th inning 8 to 5, Baltimore. 7th inning 10 to 8, Boston. Problem? Obviously. Let's not talk about the unforced errors. No, wait. Let's do. Roberts (2B)? Really? Maybe it's not a great idea to grease your glove before games. Same goes to you, Huff (1B).

I love you guys. I do. So please stop hurting me. I mean, between the Rangers Wednesday (19 to 6. Really!?) and Boston last night, I shudder to think about what terrors will unfold come June. Here's how things are supposed to work: You (the Baltimore Orioles) are supposed to rock to the extreme in the beginning of the season, giving everyone here in charm city (myself included) much hope for post-season awesomeness. Then sometime in June (generally just after the all-star game) you suddenly make a sharp turn, drive over a cliff, and obliterate the season in a fiery hell pit. (We, here in charm city, would very much appreciate it if the second half of that arrangement didn't actually happen.) The thing that you seem to be missing regarding the last 2 games is the "rocking" and "giving hope" bits. Please correct. By 7:10pm tonight. Thank you.

With warm regards,

C. (Toaster Lover) S.

Hawaiian Shirt Day

Yesterday was a much needed break from politics. Today we'll be if not exactly diving, at least wading back into it.

Also, Hawaiian shirts rock and in celebration of today's awesomely warm weather I am totally rockin' (one of) mine. But you don't have to take my word for it:

Oh Neat-o

This Infinite Photograph thing is pretty keen. Click. Pause. Zoom. Click. Take that '70's.

Oddly Enough Is Right

I mean, where does the conversation go after explaining that the painting on your wall- the one everyone's been inquiring about- is an original Hitler?

Hat tip Rich

I <3 The Hubble

*Edit* That's a mosaic of the galactic center. Totally forgot to tell y'all that.

Worst Case Scenario For My Future....

So, if the book goes nowhere or just doesn't work out what the heck am I gonna do with my life?

I'm thinking move to Japan get a job doing anything that would pay me enough to own this phone. Seriously, I'd sell my organs (the ones I could spare) on the black market.

37 Years Ago Today

Apollo 16 slipped the bonds of our lonely blue marble and headed for the moon.

Human beings are awesome. Take I, Pencile and expand that to rocketry. Not just the physical production of rockets, but the intellectual understanding that allows for that. From fire to the wheel to Pythagoras to Brahe to Copernicus to Newton and Leibniz to Franklin to Edison (and Tesla- dude was robbed) to Goddard and the whole of human intellectual endeavor before, during, and in between that culminated on that day 37 years ago when human beings set out to set foot on soil approximately 238,855 miles from Earth for the fifth time.

Also? Screw The Dark Ages.

On The Way To Work

Sample

Here's a taste of what I was listening to on the way to DC:

Me

Headed home. Details to follow in a later post.

Nirth cert on stage. Too bad.

Looks like we're being let back into part of the park.

Things continue outside the park. Battery dead.

There's police tape up around the park. Officers are conversing inside.

2:09 everyone's told to clear the park. We're going to be allowed back in. I wonder if it has anything to do with the leftwing protest across the street.

MARC is now 5 min late. I'm staring at that godawful fabrication in front of Penn station.

Inspection Fail

Image test

Testing mobile

Another Link!

Southern Belle Politics is now on the link bar.

The First Away Game Of The Season

The O's lost pretty badly to Tampa Bay last night. 11 to 3. Ouch. Still, we're 4 and 2 going into the first away game of the season. Tonight we're taking on the Rangers. Previous seasons have been less than kind to the birds when they're away from home, with a little luck tonight we'll come out on top. Currently top of the 3rd, 2 to 2, 2 outs.

New (ish) Link

I've been a regular readers of PETA Kills Animals and (until several seconds ago) assumed that I had included it in the link bar. Now it actually is.

This Time In Antwerpen

Previously in the UK.

It's Like I've Died And Gone To R'lyeh

What do you get when you cross Metallica, The Beatles, and H.P.Lovecraft? Genius, that's what.



Hat tip The Other McCain

Old But Awesome

DVICE has a group of totally sweet images of the LHC. Sure, in most of them it totally looks like the Stargate to hell, but it's the largest particle collider in the world and seriously beautiful. (Plus it had loons across the globe terrified that it was going to end the world.)

O's VS 'Rays Tonight

It's gross outside, by which I mean grey, rainy, and slightly chilly, but forecasts call for the sky to stop behaving like a Red Sox fan some time around 5. With the game scheduled to start at 7 things are looking good. Let's hope the boys can take it to Tampa Bay again tonight.

After these next two games they're on the road for six and it'd be good to send them off on a winning streak. You know?

At some point we'll probably get around to Why I Dread the All Star Game or The Curse of June, but it's early and the future is wide open so we're doing Why Not Believe '83.

Metal Morning

Good morning. Today is brought to you by English breakfast tea, Dio:



and Danzig:



Throw the horns.

Yep.

England Slowly Losing Its Status...

...as my second favorite English speaking country (USA #1!). And it started off with one heck of an advantage with that whole parent country thing. But seriously, England, how am I supposed to keep you in that highly coveted spot when Australia does things like this and you do... what exactly? England, you created Doctor Who, how can you let Australian Who fandom surpass your own? You're slipping, England, that's how. Get back on the ball.

Dude, Sweet.

So no game blogging last night because I was at Seder with an old friend and his family. (The brisket was incredible. Seriously. Like smack your mama good.)

Anyway, the birds beat the carpetbaggers again last night. One more game to go today before we get to kick the Yankees out of our fair city. Let's rock.

Today's been great so far. Even dropped some Skynyrd on the ipod. Walked through the harbor. Picked up a strawberry-kiwi smoothie on my way into work. Yep, life is good. Now I just need the O's to victoriously kick the Yankees' sorry keasters out of my city.

Sadly, it's the top of the 9th and the score is 9 to 2 New York. So, probably not gonna happen. But that's okay, boys. We licked 'em good twice.

Exactly.

Glenn Reynolds says "This is how it should be done", and I quite agree with him. Not that anyone here should be surprised.

Okay, But Where's He-Man?

Io9's exclusive with Bai Ling is terrifying on at least two levels. 1.) Someone let her write her own dialog, and 2.) That chick looks more and more like Skeletor.



Seriously, scroll down and tell me you didn't think of that dude with guns.

On Corruption

Washington is to the taxpayer as the drug cartels are to the addict.

That about says it all.

New Widget

You may have already guessed this, but I love baseball. Specifically, I love the Baltimore Orioles, the miserable bunch of mugs that they are. My grandfather was an O's fan and passed that down to me. Baseball season means baseball posts and not just about specific games or team business, but about the poetry of baseball (and the parts that are stupid- I'm looking at you, designated hitter rule).

The new widget over to the right will hang around until the end of the season.

More Opening Day Goodness

*Update* (7:58pm) O's Win 10 to 5!!! Great way to kick off the season, guys. Screw you, Derek Jeter.

The sun is now out, the sky a cool blue, and I know my ballpark has a beautiful view.



Bottom of the 5th and score is 5 to 1, Baltimore. Keep up the good work boys.

Opening Day, Or Why Not Believe '81

It rained this morning and into the afternoon today in Charm City, but the sun's started to peek out from behind the clouds. The game is still on and teams of baseball fans are making their way to Camden Yards as I write this. Unfortunately, this O's fan is hard at work instead of wiping down a green seat and preparing to order a hotdog and a beer. Even more unfortunately, most of the fans currently clogging the streets of my fair city are Yankees fans. Bastards.

Here in Baltimore we hate the Yankees more than Red Sox fans whine. So here's my opening day wish: I want my Orioles to send those Yankees sons of bitches packing back to New York with their heads hung low. Especially in light of the general expectation for the season as a whole.

Thanks to the wonders of the internet I'll be keeping track of things over on the MLB website. Let's go O's!

America Rocks Reason Number 6,315*

Baseball is totally better than cricket.

*Numbers are randomly assigned.

P.S.stats aside, screw Derek Jeter.

Stupid Dark Ages....

The graph says it, man. The graph says it all.

Oldy But Goody

*Oops. Wrong object embedded first time. All fixed now.

BSG Post...The Cheat

This is a cheat post, but the real deal will be coming shortly.



This guy is actually writing a song a day. He takes requests too. Double click the video for the link to the website because I'm feeling lazy tonight.

Linkage

Simon Jester is brought to you by some familiar friends, and will be hanging out over in the link bar from now on.

Okay.

To atone for being such a serious Sally yesterday, I'm going promise you the BSG finale post tonight. I've just been having a hard time not making it a response to all the criticism because I think it deserves more than that.

Also? Steampunk case mods.

Hat tip, Kevin for the link.

I Promise This One Is Funny

So of course it comes from someone else.

Doesn't Look Like I'm Doing It Wrong After All....

I can't say that I'm entirely certain what to make of the growing trend of "sovereignty bills", 28 of which have been introduced in state assemblies so far, but I know that they're the sort of escalation I've been worrying about. That worry was the beginning of my earlier post.

With revolutionary die-hards behind him, Mr. Pitts has fired a warning shot across the bow of the Washington establishment. As the writer of one of 28 state "sovereignty bills" – one even calls for outright dissolution of the Union if Washington doesn't rein itself in – Pitts is at the forefront of a states' rights revival, reasserting their say on everything from stem cell research to the Second Amendment.

This could serve as a wake up call to Washington, but simply putting a pause on the expansion of the federal government and its reach may not be enough. And it shouldn't be.

*Hat tip, Instapundit

Whatever....

So I found this thing, and having a few minutes to kill, I gave it a go.

I scored 160/400, making me (according to this quiz) "very conservative". And to that I say "whatever." This quiz was designed by someone who's very progressive and it shows (I mean other than being on the Center for American Progress website):

Immigrants are a burden on the country because they take jobs and abuse social programs. And then you have to rank your agreement with the statement on a scale of 0 to 10. Another example would be It is unpatriotic to criticize the government or the military during a time of war.

Let's look at the first statement. Legal immigrants are frequently some of the hardest working members of our society, so that would clearly be a 'no'. However, illegal immigrants, assisted by the minimum wage and consuming benefits they don't help pay for, are a burden. (This is all being grossly simplified because there's a larger point I want to get to.)

Now, if we look at the second statement we see something similar; it's not whether you criticize the government or the military that's patriotic or unpatriotic, but how and why. Like the woman said, 'T ain't what you do it's the way that you do it.

Don't worry, I'm not going to beat the old patriots vs partisans horse. I just think that this quiz is a good and funny example of how completely worthless the word "conservative" is in today's political climate. Between the crunchy-cons', socio-cons', and the rest of the hyphenates, no one can honestly tell you what "conservative" is. The word is actually more worthless than Neocon, which (to everyone, but actual neocons) means "evil evil person, who disagrees with my ideas on foreign policy". "Conservative" is the mythical label of authenticity that generates the vast bulk of Republican infighting. The funny thing is, the left doesn't see distinctions. For them, Republican = conservative.

The left has a clearer definition of conservative than we do because authenticity is about a subjective set of standards. You can't draw the line at conserving the constitution because many "conservatives" would support a constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage; something which desecrates the very spirit of the constitution. Many "conservatives" support teaching Intelligent Design in public schools, which amounts to religious education in public classrooms. If it looks like I'm picking on social conservatives, it's because they're the most blatant examples. But even if we abandon those hobby horses, there are still plenty of examples. We can't say we draw the line at small government because there's a group of people who we refer to as big government conservatives. Sarah Palin, the "conservative" member on the Republican Presidential ticket, has overt populist sentiments regarding government's role in the market and (as evidenced by the people on the street) so do many "conservatives".

Whatever. I could keep going, but this thing is already an essay and I feel like I'd just be flogging a dead horse. Saying, "In this concert we're all manufactured boy bands wagging on about which of is us the more serious or authentic musicians, because the level intrusion by the federal government which we all tacitly accept would have the founding fathers spinning in the graves like jet turbines.", is ineffectual and pointless. True. But ineffectual and pointless. Much like this post.

How On Earth Did I Miss These People!?

Primordial Slack.

25 Years Ago

March 29th looms and Baltimore remembers and mourns one of the greatest travesties in the city's long history. No, the Ravens really don't count. And Yes. Johnny Unitas was is and will always be The Great One. Screw you, Indianapolis and there's a special place in the ninth circle of Hell for Bob Isray, that traitorous thieving bastard.

Because The Karate Kid Is Awesome....

Dude. I know.

A Look Behind The Curtain...

If you've ever wondered just what kind of lunatic is running the show over here, you're in luck. Pics or didn't happen:



Nothing for The Zombie Survival Guide, but Illuminati conspiracy theories are a fair trade.

Guilty!

My guilt score is 560, making me a non-person. Sweet.

BSG

I'm totally doing a BSG post for the finale, but I have to pool my thoughts and my notes first. Part of doing that is watching the finale again. Expect it late Wednesday. I'm currently in the process of writing it- I just need a few more days. I will tell you that I loved the frak out of it. Keep on keeping on.

Something To Watch....

Across the Universe is a must see.

The promo's looked very art-faggy, but the movie isn't at all what I thought it was going to be.

The renditions of Beatles songs are amazing and quite honestly, for the most part my favorite versions of the songs.