World of Suck

No that's not a metaphor - it's a literal. And before you get all uppity over 'yet another man-bashing' post read the fine print: the number of men that are unemployed between the ages of 30 and 54 are up, why is that?

Before I get into ranting out my opinions, let me start with my source: the honorable NY Times (article 'Men not working, and not wanting just any job'). I'll digest some of the content for you and pull out the numbers that prompted me to hit the keyboard and start pounding keys:

Millions of men [...] in the prime of their lives, between 30 and 55 have dropped out of regular work. They are turning down jobs they think beneath them or are unable to find work for which they are qualified, even as an expanding economy offers opportunities to work.

About 13 percent of American men in this age group are not working, up from 5 percent in the late 1960’s. The difference represents 4 million men who would be working today if the employment rate had remained where it was in the 1950’s and 60’s.

...

Even as more men are dropping out of the work force, more women are entering it. This change has occurred partly because employment has shrunk in industries where men predominated, like manufacturing, while fields where women are far more common, like teaching, health care and retailing, have grown. Today, about 73 percent of women between 30 and 54 have a job, compared with 45 percent in the mid-1960’s, according to an analysis of Census data by researchers at Queens College. Many women without jobs are raising children at home, while men who are out of a job tend to be doing neither family work nor paid work.

The article includes discussion on the backgrounds of the men in question, some are blue collar and some are white collar - often refugees of the dot-bomb debacle of the nineties. The point however is clear, these men are not afraid of not working. Nor are they scared of ripping through their savings or assets to support themselves while they wait. Of course waiting implies that they are actually waiting for something, that something being a new job one might suppose.

If you take at face value that there are men in the 30 - 50 year range that aren't working to support themselves and their families how does this factor into their image of themselves both morally and politically? I personally find the idea that "I can't take that job... it's beneath me" as a validation of what people have been saying about immigration. There ARE men out there that need jobs, but aren't willing to do what they consider menial tasks. So the tasks go to women and minorities who don't have that kind of self-esteem issue. Personally in my experience I found that having a job, any job, to be more essential to my mental health than the desire to inflate my ego by saying I was too skilled to punch a clock. I have lost my job and I have gone out immediately and gotten a clock-punching job. No I didn't put it on my professional resume, but the need to bring home a paycheck... any size paycheck was fundamental. It was my "screw you, I'm going to make money no matter how hard you kick me - what you think I'm just going to sit at home and cry?"

Putting aside the whole immigration topic, the other point that bothers me is how the country is leaning to the right. We're in a war. We're cracking down in illegals. We're pushing back on raising the minimum wage (though that may finally pass). We're pushing more of the responsibility for health insurance onto the consumer. We're isolationist, antagonist, bible-thumping propagandist. We're all of the above and more, swinging the clock back as far as possible to the cold-war mentality of the 50's where the Red Scare is now replaced by the Islamic Scare. How does all this sit with these men flopped on the couch at home watching Oprah? How are they voting? Does the idea that we're a nation at war motivate them? Does the drive to legalize or deport aliens inspire them? They can't be sitting in a darkened room all day, they must be exposed to what's going on... my question is: if America is going back to the 50's mentality how can 4 million men be sitting on their asses today when it wasn't acceptable back then?

I have an image in my mind of one of these men sitting at home with a bag of snacks watching the war on CNN. Watching their countrymen getting killed and maimed overseas. Watching the walls being built between the US and Mexico and shaking their bag of snacks and mumbling "Get'em Dubya" between bites. It's not a good image, of the white American male, but then again that's why I'm ranting... isn't it?

I don't get it. If you kill someone accidentally with a knife or gun it's manslaughter. If you pick the wrong person to beat on it's assault. The idea is that you can't simply hurt someone and walk away. There's accountability. If it was your action that caused someone else hurt or pain you need to do something - owe someone - to balance the scales. So will someone please explain to me why it's not a crime to run someone over with a car when it's "an accident"?

EL MONTE, Calif. (AP) -- An 85-year-old man who drove a car onto a patio at a Starbucks coffee shop and injured 10 people isn't likely to face charges, police said Saturday.

''It sounds like it's just a simple mistake by an elderly man,'' said police Sgt. Richard Williams, adding he ''seriously doubts'' charges will be filed.

What the Hell? He's 85 and he 'oopsie' just mangled 10 people. See it's ok really, it was just a slip. He though the brake was the gas and was just a little confused is all. But that's still ok. Because it was an accident. Because he was old. BULLSHIT. Fucking old people need to be held accountable - I don't care if he's at the end of his life.

Step one - yank the old fuckers licence away. He should never, ever drive anything faster than a golf cart again. Wait, screw that - no golf carts, not even a segue. The geezer shouldn't have control of ANYTHING with wheels and a motor, not even a lawn mower.

Step two - does he have insurance? His insurance had better fucking be covering the cost of the injuries he inflicted on other people. If not that then his estate and his fucking family for letting the old bastard out in a deadly weapon. Yes his family. They're the ones that know him best right? Chances are they knew he was too old to drive but wouldn't inconvenience themselves to deal with it, sure, so now they should pay for the trouble he's inflicted.

Step three - jail. Yes jail. I'm not saying years, but ffs - he just ran over 10 people! Put the fucker in jail until you determine that you're NOT going to file charges. No one is too old for a few days of jail. Don't let him wake up in his home, in his bed while other people are in intensive care. Let him be reminded every moment for the next few days where irresponsible people go.

I'm sick of this old people shit - where they screw up with a car and kill people then walk away. America is getting older and grayer, and people are being shown that as you age you are less accountable than when you were younger and had more responsibilities. If that's how we want to have it then lets give cars to pre-teenagers and not hold them accountable either. I promise you they would probably have less accidents than the old folks.

“America wasn’t founded as a theocracy,” he said. “America was founded by people trying to escape theocracies. Never in history have we had a Christian theocracy where it wasn’t bloody and barbaric. That’s why our Constitution wisely put in a separation of church and state.

“I am sorry to tell you,” he continued, “that America is not the light of the world and the hope of the world. The light of the world and the hope of the world is Jesus Christ.”
-the Rev. Gregory A. Boyd

Now I'm not religious, but I was pretty startled to find myself agreeing with Mr. Boyd. I respect the fact that people can find a place for faith in their lives, so long as it doesn't create a barrier for communication between them and me. Anyone who feels that you need to "have" religion, much less a certain narrow brand of religion, isn't someone I'd care to waste time talking to anyway. Still, I'm astonished to find what I'd call "intelligent" dialogue from someone who professes to be an Evangelical.... but that's precisely the point he's making.

A religious fraction that feels their ultra-conservative viewpoint is all encompassing - slipping from faith and morals to politics and voting is what has corrupted the movement (says Mr.Boyd). The superposition of crosses on military actions and the ideals of what's "patriotic" has polluted the real meaning of faith. To say simply "You need to vote for Bush if you're a real Christian" is a heap of bullshit. And if the reasoning behind that's not sufficiently clear then re-read the second paragraph in the block quote above.

What dedicated Christians need to realize is that while they might have a handle on what's morally good - they don't have the ONLY handle. Sure Christianity preaches love and respect, it has aspects that support the poor and downtrodden. But it has to be cautious of blending zealotry and narrow mindedness that comes along with political success. I think in their sudden successes, the religious right has ignored that - and flush with power their goals have gone from the "good of many" to the "enrichment of the few".

Used car dealers. The stereotypical sleaze of the business world. Everyone expects to get ripped off, the goal is to avoid the worst of it.

Earl Kieselhorst didn't fully appreciate how badly his deal would turn out to be. To be fair, I don’t know how anyone could have expected this.

He bought a 2003 Chevy Silverado for $8,100. Good deal. Signed the contract, took the truck and headed home.

But, apparently the dealership didn’t like their deal. So, the next day they called him up and said Earl owed them an additional $10K. They acknowledged that the contract was for $8K, but they claimed that the sales rep was new and made a mistake offering to sell the vehicle at far too low of a price.

Naturally, Earl was of the opinion that the deal was done, and if they made a mistake, it was more or less their problem.

So, Earl was a little shocked when he discovered that his truck, that he still had the title to, was not in his driveway to next day. It seems that the dealership sent a tow truck out and took the vehicle back. In fact, upon investigation, he discovered not only that they took it, but that it was back on the lot with a ‘For Sale’ sign on it.

When he complained to the dealership, they had a nice response for him. Now he owned them $11K if he wanted the truck back. Quality, eh? It’s important to note that the dealership didn’t return the $8K Earl already paid them. They just took the truck back, and they consider the matter settled.

On a positive notice, the Better Business Bureau agrees with Earl. By signing the contract, the dealership is bound to honor it. Earl is suing them for possession of the truck.

In his situation, I’d be very tempted to just go up and drive it off. He still has the keys. I’d be afraid that possession would be 9/10th of the law, or that the dealership would sell it to someone else before a lawsuit could be finalized.

Fuckers. A deal is a deal. Sorry if you screwed yourself over, but I guarantee that if the positions were reversed, the dealership would be screaming bloody murder. Fuck ‘em. You fuck up, you deal with it. If I fuck up, I gotta deal with it.

Stupid board. I couldnt comment, so i guess a new post.

1. Perhaps we could prosecute the bastards better if more rapes were reported.

2. Good point. I'll need to think on that one.

3. Yes, this is not a socialistic society. Those with more money get more things, thats the way it works. Besides, my understanding of a D&C is to remove all things from the uterus AFTER a miscarriage. My ex-wife had one each time after her 2 miscarriages.

I wanted to comment on the previous post but I was unable, so here it is:

1 - WHO gets to decide if the conception in question was part of abuse? You, bman? Do you realize that, if I recall correctly, 3/4 of all rapes are not reported? Most women would rather suffer in silence, than be raped by the system again. Then what if, god forbid, she find herself pregnant. Under your scenario, it is likely that if she hadn't been to the police, I guess she would be stuck being reminded for 9 months and beyond of the violence and violation she suffered.

2 - What if contraception fails? I know I don't want to do without sex. What about you, bman?
The only form of birth control that is fool proof is abstence.

Abortion is and should continue to be a MEDICAL decision between the patient and her doctor. It is a hard enough decision on its own, a woman does not need the government sticking its nose any further than it already does into medicine. So bman, mind the affairs of your own body.

The unfair part is, a well off woman will always be able get an abortion, in the form of a valid medical proceedure call a D&C. Fact of life - the wealthy can always get what they want.

I would have commented on u325's rant but was unable to due to this suck ass board software, so Im starting a new rant in response.

I am pro-life. I'll admit it. So is at least 1/2 of the US voting population. I am however understanding when abortion should be used and when it shouldnt be used.

The woman or girl whom is raped or abused by her father and becomes pregnant SHOULD be able to obtain an abortion.

The woman or girl whom is raped and becomes pregnant SHOULD be able to obtain an abortion.

The woman or girl whom is suffering from some physical condition that will cause her death or serious physical impairments if she carries the child to term SHOULD be able to obtain an abortion.

The woman or girl who's growing child is suffering from some extremely debilitating disease or birth defect that will grossly impair the childs ability to live by any accepted means SHOULD be able to obtain an abortion. (no brain, no lungs or heart, etc etc)

The woman or girl whom does not take any precautions before having consentual sex SHOULD NOT BE ABLE TO OBTAIN AN ABORTION. Sorry, but its an unfortunate biologically programmed result that should be considered irreversible unless one of the other horrible conditions I've mentioned above are met. Life's a bitch, there are complications, trials and tribulations.. get used to it.

Abortions are in epidemic proportions in many social circles. Albeit they probably exist more frequently in the lower income social ladders, it exists heavily in the middle and upper classes as well. Abortion does not follow monetary boundaries.

In reality this whole abortion debate is not about those examples I've given at the top... those reasons are valid in most people's eyes no matter how sad and unfortunate it may seem. However you cannot deny that all this uproar in the media and in society about abortion is due to the type of women whom repeatedly become pregnant and go to get an abortion to solve their problem. Some agencies report many of these sluts having upwards to 15 abortions throughout their lives!

Either they are too stupid to know what birth control is or they really dont give a damn about anything else but themselves. Perhaps we should take these stupid cunts and abort them at the same time we abort their fetuses, then we wont have to worry about repeat performances... at the very least sterilize them after their first abortion.

The whole problem with the bra-burners and pro-choice advocates is that they consider abortion as a legal self-right. Im sick to death of their response.. "ITS MY BODY", or check this one out.. "i cant afford it, im working". haha imagine that. Its better to be dead - Ok. Every time I hear that I want to puke. They want the right to do whatever is necessary to solve their immediate and future problems that may result from having the child. By those very same rules and thoughts, we should be able to snuff out anyone else who might impair our ability to happily exist in this world with no repercussions. We could solve many problems in this manner.

How many of your pro-choicers actually agree with the sluts that visit the abortion clinics repeatedly? It maddens me knowing that by promoting your bullshit that you are also adding controversy to the poor woman who was raped and wants an abortion or the poor couple who's child is missing a brain or other critical organ and they may have to consider aborting it.
Or is the repeat-abortion slut just as important in your eyes?

Next time one of you bra-burners or pro-choice left wing nutjobs get back from your rallies, put away your signs and propaganda and go to tuck your children in bed, stare at your child as they fall asleep in their beds, kneel right down next to them, look them in the face and say this:

I dont like you.
You are interfering with my life.
You may possibly interfere with it at some time in the future.
I do not wish to be inconvenienced by you now.
You are costing too much money.
I feel embarassed to tell my family, friends and peers about you.
Men wont look at me in the same way if they see I have you.
Im terminating you because its my right to do so - I am woman.
You must now die.

Die you pro-choice fuckers... die hard. Die hard in a fire.

The senate has decided to pass legislation that would make it illegal to transport a minor out of state for an abortion. They also decided NOT to pass legislation to create new pregnancy-prevention programs. In a nutshell it says "Yes we want teenagers to get pregnant and we want them to have those babies". Personally I expect them to pass laws next mandating that women be denied education, remove their right to vote and own land, and cover themselves from head to toe to "prevent satanic stimulation of the male mind".

Yep it's fabulous that the senate had decided to reward fathers and abusers who inflict themselves on minors with yet another way to ensure that girls can't get out of the trap they've been abused into. Dandy. Yes it's so very family oriented - nothing says 'family values' more than giving birth to your own brother.

Of course there's the attitude that Grandma shouldn't be trying to interfere is Daddy wants a piece of his little girl. They're protecting parental rights, of course. The idea is that parents, not the minor is the one with the best interest of their daughter, and anyone can tell you that the best interest of a ten or twelve year old is to have the responsibility of a baby, stunt their own growth by carrying a pregnancy to term in a body that's not fully mature, and basically shatter any possibility of a future into a thousand bloody shards.

I'm sorry you simply cannot convince me that a minor should be forced to carry a child to term. You can't even convince me that a minor should even have that child if they want to. Show me a thirteen year old mother that's successful, who never had hardship, who managed both the education of herself and her baby into a prosperous career. Have her write me a letter - I'd be happy to hear why I'm wrong.

Still I will give the senate republicans consistency. In an age where thoroughly useless and mindless devotion to dark-age pregnancy prevention programs (abstinence) gets money hand over fist, and honest to goodness practices like condoms get denied mention it's not a surprise. The family fanatics feel the necessity to force reproduction on everyone, a little something borrowed from the Taliban here in America to make us all feel a bit more cultured.

You know what? This law isn't about the protection of the american family. It's about posturing and politics. It's about misogyny. It's about protecting the 'head of the family' in Utah. It's about how molesting little girls and getting away with it is now part of the American way...

Well, since when did popcorn suddenly start costing $7 per bag? This better be some good goddamn popcorn! And soda! In a society where $5 can get you a six pack of cheap beer how the hell did we end up paying ** FIVE AMERICAN DOLLARS ** for 64 ounces of Coca-Cola .. In fact.. No, not even 64 ounces. When you take into account the massive displacement of the ridiculous amount of ICE they fill your cup with, you probably get 28 ounces of soda!

Of course, you know it, I'm talking about the movie theaters!

My wife and I spent $25 last night -- on a movie. It's my fault for being dumb enough to go to these places, but I don't think I ever recall seeing prices this ridiculous. It has been at least 6 months since I last went out to see a movie, and I can honestly say, the prices have skyrocketed. It's bloody fucking murder and these places get away with it.

How is this any different from price gouging hurricane victims an extra 150% on a pack of batteries? The retailers know the products are in high demand therefore they raise the prices to take advantage of that, of course, people know they need the stuff so they'll still buy it either way.

Movie theaters know people can't just sit there sucking their thumbs for 2 hours, so they offer refreshments -- if you'll call them that...

The problem is, this is the very same process! They know you want to eat and or drink something, and they know that there are a lot of people coming through the doors and they milk their customers for every cent their parents are worth!

Large Popcorn: $6.50
Nachos: $5.50
Large Soda: $6

We got a medium drink -- no ice, a box of rasinette's and a box of sno-caps and the fucking total was 10 dollars. That is approximately $3 per candy and $4 for a medium drink.

Where does the price gouging law draw the line? Convenience? Convenience stores are already more expensive than grocery stores or mega marts, and when a crisis appears, god forbid they raise prices! Oh my god that would be terrible... but Carmike Cinemas can charge 700% gross-profit on everything and get away with it?

The fact is, Movies have gotten too big budget and the only way for these places to make any money is to fuck you up the ass at the refreshment stand and it's absolutely pathetic how much we'll pay for the luxury of having disgusting and unhealthy shit streaming into our throats for 2 hours while we sit in these uncomfortable stiff auditorium seats and stare at a movie screen that's not even fucking straight and watch trailers and commercials for 20 minutes.

I can't stand it anymore.

FREEPORT, Maine (AP) -- Armed game wardens seized 10 exotic fish from the tank of a popular Chinese restaurant, leaving its owner shaken and outraged.

''They treated me like a criminal,'' said Cuong Ly, who escaped from Vietnam 25 years ago. ''I lived under communism and I felt like I'm back there again.''

So this guy has had his fish for years, 15 to be exact, - along with his restaurant. He considers them "lucky" and a part of his family. The Koi, a breed of fish that can grow over a foot in length, were seized by the game wardens after a new law was passed a year or two back that outlawed the importation and possession of Koi. Apparently the game warden, Sgt. Tim Spahr, felt it was a good idea to rush Mr. Ly's restaurant and effectively steal his fish.

Steal? Yes that's right fucking STEAL. Why? Because after the fish were "confiscated" they were taken to a commercial pet shop.... which has agreed to let Mr. Ly BUY his OWN fucking fish back.

Someone needs to fucking repo Mr. Nazi Game Warden Spahr's car and then transport it to a used car dealer and let him BUY it back. Now that would be justice.

I'm a polite person. As a matter of fact I'm a very polite person. I go out of my way to be both pleasant and polite to everyone, regardless of how I interact with them. I say "thank you" to wait staff when they refill my water. I smile and go "have a nice day" to the pock marked old hispanic lady with the missing teeth at the grocery checkout (she now smiles back, she used to be rather startled when I'd treat her nicely - unlike the other patrons). For a brief time I worked in the service industry, at a gift store. I learned that even though I had to be nice to people - they would be nice back and it helped sell items AND made it a pleasant experience for the shopper (thus more likely to return). It also made the job less stressful.

Outside of formal interactions, there's the accidental ones where you hold the door or bump into someone accidentally. This is where the buck has been stopping.

If a stranger holds the door for me I always thank them. Nicely. I expect the same. Lately though I've had long-haired bitches flaunt by and I've taken to saying "You're WELcome" snidely after they breeze through. I'm not your door man bitch. Next time I'm dropping it on you as you step over the threshold. How do you like your coffee now byatch?

Bumps. If I'm crusing by in the grocery store and I graze someone with the basket on my arm because they backed up or walked into me I say "Oops, sorry" and smile. If the person in question is going to give me a hostile look - I've now taken to adding "OR NOT" more loudly and walking on. Next time I should ram your scrawny ass into the freezer case "accidentally".

The other day I was looking at some items on the wall of a store and someone had come up behind me quietly. As I backed up to get a better look at some things that were higher up I clipped them with my heel. So of course, I turn around and say sorry. The fucker ignores me. Totally. I'm speaking directly TO him. Fine. I make my selection and as I walk away I turn to him and go "Gosh I hope you're Ok!" and leave, squelching the reflex to hip check him over the display case and into the next isle. No penalty box baby, I can get away with slashing in this arena.

I find polite social interaction varies a lot from state to state really. New York, where I was raised, if you make eye contact as you walk along a crowded street people are quick to smile or say "hi" even. In Massachusetts where I'm currently located they're hostile motherfuckers who blanch at the slightest infringement of the five foot "cylinder of privacy" around their fat asses. I blame it on the whole insular, commonwealth attitude, being proud that they've never set foot out of their 15 square mile town 10 generations later (can you say "inbreeding" kids? I knew you could!).

The word is this - I will continue to give people the benefit of the doubt on the first interaction. But if you're gonna cop some shit attitude with me, expect it back - in spades.

If you have watch some of the right wing puppets... I mean, pundits... you might come away with the impression that World War III has begun. I don't know if it started with Newt on NBC, or he was just the first really loud voice. But it's bullshit.

His version of things says that conflicts and disturbances in Iraq, Afghanistan, North Korea, India and Israel are the beginning of the next glabla war. He also alludes to a number of terrorist plots that were "uncovered" / stopped recently. He didn't mention Ethiopia, but let's toss it in for fun.

A few of his moronic partners in crime have gone so far as to say we're in world war IV or V, depending on the perspective. I might take the Cold War as WWIII, but I'll be damned if I can figure out how we all missed WWIV.

No matter what version of reality you want to accept, none of those conflicts is a world war. I dunno. Maybe Newt doesn't know enough to tell the difference. Maybe he just wants to play some smoke and mirrors to help his cronies in Nov. But the truth of that matter is Israel v Hezbollah is a very localized conflict, as are pretty much everything else that he listed. For the most part, these conflicts are handled locally with international watchdogs doing their best to keep and maintain the peace. For the most part, it’s going pretty well. Things are edgy in some areas, but mostly a long way from true wars.

North Korea is has nukes. And it’s doing missile tests. OK, big fucking deal. From a World War perspective, it lacks the whole “war” aspect. It's a diplomatic confrontation with a lot of saber rattling.

Afghanistan is doing the same thing it’s done for decades. Fight with itself. This time, there are US soldiers there ‘chasing’ around an old guy with a dialysis machine. Basically, extra targets and a slightly higher profile. War, but still very localized. So much so, that it’s totally contained inside the borders.

India and Pakistan are arguing again. With guns. Again. Overall, situation normal since the British left. Both sides have nukes, which is bad. Still, this is limited to the two nations involved. Lots of external countries are trying to talk everyone down and restore peace. Not much to see here. Certainly no world war situation.

Iraq is localized as well, with some bonus points for terror groups. Those groups are in conflict with US forces and the regime those US forces have helped install. The terror threat offers the potential for targets in the US, but so far, not much on that front. I sure CIA/FBI has stopped some number of those attacks.

Ethiopia and Somalia hadn’t done much yet when Newt spoke, but no one cares either because it’s in Africa. For some reason, the world has never cared much about the place, sad to say. It’s also not threatening to expand throughout the continent. Maybe a little war between two sides. I doubt it’ll last more than a year. Bad enough, sure, but hardly on the scale of world war.

And finally, we’ve got Israel. The best hope for a World War. Nope. All action has been in a very small region. Mostly at targets in Lebanon with some rocket attacks from terrorist groups hitting Israel. There is potential there because Syria and Iran could team up to do something about it if they get provoked. Of course, Israel could smack down both countries pretty damn fast. Standing behind the scenes you have the US/UK on one side and Russia/China on the other. All of those parties are interested in preventing the conflict from expanding. Mutually Assured Destruction and all that. Still, up to now, it’s localized. It will probably stay that way because Israel has no interest in expanding its borders, and can defeat any force in the region that is thrown at it.

Now in comparison to those local conflicts, let’s take a look at World War II. Japan and Germany work together loosely as an Axis. Japan invades China and Korea and much of SE Asia including British colonies, and then attacked the US, Russia and Australia. Germany invades Austria, Belgium, Netherlands, France, the Balkans, Poland, Denmark, Finland, Norway, Greece and most of North Africa, and then attacked England, Russia and US.

See the difference? I do. And this isn’t a fucking world war. It’s a number of localized, unorganized conflicts occurring at roughly the same time. It’s probably due to the draw down of US and Russian influence following the end of the Cold War. Combine that with widespread religious fanaticism, US forces being stretched very thin, stir, and you have yourself a number of annoying problems in the world. But we’re a long way from anything I’d even try to classify as a global war.

Maybe I have to think outside the box like them. It's a new world war for a new age? Still, most of those conflicts only link is that they're going on at the same time. Most of them are a long way from war even, let alone World War.

Has anyone around here taken notice to the "new" online magazine which focuses on the "User Experience" aspect of web design and development? Well it seemed like a really good project, and some of the articles were worth the read, but lately, as I occasionally check up on the site, the same thing always shows up to disappoint me - NOTHING NEW.

WTF? IT's been 2 bloody months since anything signifigant and the featured article has been on the front page since the site's inception.. Not a great way to launch a magazine...

And here I am getting excited over something geeky like this only to have my hopes and dreams crushed by the cruel hammer of apathy.. Seriously WTF happened over there? Did everyone just die? Did they stop giving a shit? What about the contributed articles? Nothing!

Ever plan to visit Sarasota? You know - where all these supposedly famous people come to retire and DIE... Well don't eat at DaRuMa - a trendy Japanese Restaurant in trendy ass Sarasota Quay. What a misake. First of all, I reserved 15 seats for my wedding party - I asked if they had any sort of private seating areas.. why? Well, back in New York - in Schenectady -- where I am from, there is a very nice Japanese restaurant there - Hiro's. This place makes you feel like you've just landed in the Japanese countryside and wandered in a nice restaurant, with the exception of the tableside cooking, I'm not Japanese so how do I know they do all this fancy shmancy shit over there? Hmmm..

Either way, the tables are all separated in a nice area, there is no foot room since the seating area is all tatami mats - therefore they require you to remove your shoes. You sit cross-legged and there is just enough room and its enjoyable.

Not here. Not in Sarasota. No - People are too goddamn UPSCALE for anything like THAT.. The "Tatami" section was in fact nothing more than a cheap imitation and with no privacy whatsoever. What is the world coming to? Not only this, but the cooks aren't even Japanese. WTF? Do you go to a mexican restaurant to get served by white motherfuckers? white people can't make mexican food because white people aren't fucking mexican, just like these imposters aren't Japanese. WTF is the point of going to an EXPENSIVE restaurant to have some fat american guy cook for you? The whole thing that makes it Japanese is the experience of having an authentic, trained Japanese cook do the magic.

Oh well, I guess it's too much to ask for authenticity in a city like this.. My bad, yo.

If this wasn't annoying enough, We could not even order a regular sushi order.. Why is this? Are we in some kind of special zone that makes it that much more difficult to get sushi to? No. The fucking sushi bar was 12 feet away. Any other restuarant I can go sit at a teppan-yaki booth, and order sushi until my stomach explodes. Not at DaRuMa.. No - they have a LIMITED SELECTION - and some of it is as vageuly worded as a software patent.. For example - one of the items was simply called "Sushi - $8.95"

What? Rice? I get fucking rice for nine bucks???? are you kidding me?

"Hey - can I get a sushi menu?"

"Uhh, Normally we can't order sushi over here"

"Well why not?"

"It takes time to make"

"So?"

"Well" .. stops, looks at the fact that there are 15 fucking people infront of him .. "I can do this for you, but what ever you order from the regular sushi menu has to be charged under this item here -- It's more expensive but you usually get a little more sushi too."

WTF? So because I'm sitting in a fucking booth not only can I not order sushi from the sushi menu, I have to pay nearly DOUBLE for the privelege? And my order of spicy tuna looked normal to me, 8 peices - or ONE ROLL. NINE DOLLARS FOR ONE ORDER OF SUSHI.

To be comparitive, I can go into ANY OTHER Japanese restaurant in sarasota/bradenton and order teh same thing for $4 to $5 TOPS.

There is NOTHING about this restaurant that makes it special other than the fact that it is in a trendy spot of town .. BFD.

If I go to a fancy restuarant I expect FANCY RESULTS, not bullshit, fat american cooks, and ripoff sushi prices simply because we're not sitting in a normal table.. Fucking sushi chef too lazy to work? Well fuck him, He could have gotten a nice tip.

I've been to many other Japanese restaurants in Sarasota/Bradenton, and I honestly cannot explain WHY - of all the better options around me, that I decided to waste not only my precious money, but everyone elses at this disgrace of a restaurant..

For your reading enjoyment - here is a list of much better japanese restaurants:

Utamaro - St Armands Circle - not as expensive as DaRuMa - certainly in a more upscale area though. Very nice experience and delicious noodles.

Hana Japanese Steakhouse - right in the middle of town, good food, japanese cooks, excellent sushi ,, all around good, decent prices too.

Saga Japanese Steakhouse - South sarasota, the traditional seating area is good, but the tableside cooking area sucks, you sit on regular shitty old chairs.. kills the experience, however the food is great.

Sam Oh Jung - Korean joint but the owner makes fantastic sushi, and it is the least expensive place to get sushi. Very nice sushi bar, family run, very casual atmosphere.

There are more but I haven't gone to those places yet.

Moral of the story is - You get what you pay for.. oh, wait, no you don't - not in Sarasota anyway.. noo. The more expensive it is, the lousier the quality, go figure. Damn I'm pissed off. ARG!#

This goddamn "American Family Restaurant" bullshit has pissed me of way too much, and I've finally lost my grip on the whole fucking thing. I think I'm going to just go insane..

Why do these poor quality 3rd rate "American" restaurants feel the need to throw roughly .5 million dollars of worthless, ugly, cluttery decorations all over the place, scattered in a hideously disorganized manner? Do you ever ask anyone on the street "Hey, What do you like about Applebee's?" Do they ever say "The Decorations!!"? OF COURSE THEY BLOODY DON'T.

If all of these stupid ass shitholes stopped spending so much money on worthless decor and -- I don't know, MAYBE started spending it on educated kitchen and bar staff, then who knows, MAYBE you could get a decent steak and a drink that's PROPERLY MADE. Hell, even the damned menu has a picture of a well-done steak on the front of it.. Anybody who LIKES steak NEVER orders it well-done.. What kind of idiocy is this?

Is it really too much to ask for? Why should I have to go to a specialty restaurant just to get a steak and a cocktail that's properly made?

Now, All of these restaurants are all alike, some being slightly worse than others of course, but for the sake of storytelling, I will stick to my recent (and last) experience at my neighborhood Applebee's restaurant.

They ACTUALLY have a drink - an "Applebee's Martini" with Vodka, Vermouth and Olives .. only the olives are stuffed with bloody Slim Jim pieces!!! Of all the white trash shit in the world, Slim Jim olives? WTF is wrong with America?

Aside from that, they have sissy ass mixer drinks which are sweet enough to cause diabetes on the first sip - Drinks are supposed to taste like alcohol, NOT high fructose corn syrup and citric acid.

My nightmare began when I attempted to order a "traditional" martini - that is, one made with gin, and for Christ's sake, a NORMAL olive. - Everybody knows how to make a bloody martini, right? Not this restaurant! no way!

You know what I got? Gin on the rocks in a highball glass. Where were the olives? SITTING ON TOP OF THE FUCKING ICE!!

Well, normally I like my drinks a little on the "balanced side" as pure gin does have a tendency to taste like, oh I don't know, SOAP... But this was outright dumbassery. What kind of brain dead mindfucked zombie was behind this grotesquery of a drink? Noone who deserved to be, that's for sure.

After a minute or so, the very special waiter came back to check up on us, and I said to him "This isn't a martini, what is it? This is gin on the rocks with an olive on top"

"Sorry sir, how should we make it then?"

"First of all, in a MARTINI GLASS, mix about 1 part vermouth with oh say 3 parts of gin. Put the olive in the glass and pour the mixture over the olive, stir and serve"

That's what SHOULD have happened.. but here is what actually happened.

The dumb ass says to me... "That's a martini. This is how we make them here"

9842890238DSJFIOJSKFJASKLF THIS IS NOT A FUCKING MARTINI.. GOD I WISH I COULD KILL PEOPLE AT WILL.. DF3@$dgfdsgdf

I'm just speechless at this point, I just wanted to jump out of my seat and attack this fat ass with my table knife.. I was so pissed off that I couldn't even remember the rest of my dining experience, or what I ordered for that matter, but I do remember not tasting much of anything..

We spent $30 on lunch, thirty goddamn dollars. PLUS tip.

Of course, I could always rant about my recent experience at Sarasota's hippest Japanese restaurant.. What a fucking shame that was..

I spent a portion of my rainy morning at the farmer's market. I love getting there on Saturday mornings, taking in the sights and sounds and planning something healthy to eat for the weekend. This morning was not ideal - it was raining. Not bad enough to make me scurry for cover, but enough to get me damp between each stand. I'm casually looking at the produce when I get poked in the back. I jump, just to get poked again. I turn, to nearly lose an eye to a spike on an umbrella being carried by an obviously oblivious old bat. And she was gone before I could complain. As I continued shopping through out the market, I felt like I was running a gauntlet of unbrellas.

Come on give a girl a break! Pay attention to where you put that thing! Or you may wind up with it wedged, open, up your ass!

Have you ever had one of those moments where you had a very bad feeling?

Say, for example, you just heard or saw something and knew that under the right circumstances it would be A Very Bad Thing. Particularly if someone you know ever found out about that something?

I just did. Literally, a cold sweat appeared on my forehead.

On my work email address, I just got spam. This is highly unusual as our filters are very good at blocking them. The email was an ad for a company that will, for a modest fee, use a number of lame and craptastic methods to promote your website for the purposes of improving your search engine rating. By itself, this is an annoying thing that may lead to certain searches coming up with less accurate results and the engines having to redesign themselves to account for this tactic. It's happened before. No big deal really.

However, I have an acquaintance named Tom. Tom's a dickhead. His sole purpose in life is to fuck as many women as possible. In order to achieve that, he is obsessed with money, because money gets you laid. He started off his career selling insurance. Oh yeah, that's the time of phlegm-wad we’re talking about here.

In the late 90’s he decided to get onboard the internet bandwagon and tried to set up a spam company. We managed to talk him down (and I threatened to sue him under a state law that was passed). But he moved on to a new thing. Search engines and referrals. He set up a web page with a bunch of insurance info with links to the sign up pages. Anytime someone that he linked signed up, he got a referral fee. And he designed his site to use a number of search engine exploits to get top ratings.

However, such things can not last forever. Google shifted and he didn’t shift with them. Consequently, he lost all of his top rankings, along with most of his income. After nearly going bankrupt, he is now working with a bunch of streaming video scams to make money. Basically, he’s paying hookers to stand in front of a camera and advertise his new scam sites, then getting them top rated on google, yahoo and youtube. Oh, and he’s looking into spam emails again.

Which basically brings me to my point: I’m terrified that Tom will find this company. It seems like they are made for each other. And together, they may come up with a bad enough idea that I will be forced to hunt him down and murder him. For the good of the internet.

Hey Hillary. Fuck You.

Not just a little either. Fuck you Mexican Donkey style, k, bitch? I'm tired of your little haughty speeches, your moronic legislation, and your ceaseless attempts to stare down your nose at the rest of the world as if we’re serfs.

Well, here’s a little dose of reality:

Guess what. The internet isn’t evil. I know it may come as harsh blow to you, but it turns out that the unregulated nature of the internet is not turning our children into drooling mindless idiots. It’s actually raising the level of awareness to unprecedented levels in human history. Now, I realize that’s scary for you because the serfs just don’t buy whatever bullshit you’re shoveling. Free thought’s a bitch, isn’t it?

Secondly, if initial reports out of your office our correct, you’re looking for a spokesperson. A single mother, poor, multiple jobs are a bonus. Most importantly, she needs to have had her child go batshit crazy. And there has to be some way we can blame it on video games. Duties of said person will be to speak at several events, and to reporters about the damage caused by video games. Also, you must push for Hillary’s Federal tax on video games. Initial estimates are 5-10% a game.

"At the rate that technology is advancing, people will be implanting chips in our children to advertise directly into their brains and tell them what kind of products to buy," Clinton said at the Kaiser Family Foundation.

I can't even describe how stupid the above statement is. And you even fall into the great "save our children" BULLSHIT. It's a logical fallacy. A crutch that you fall back on in an attempt to get an emotional response from your audience. The fact that you rely on it so heavily just further demonstrates your inability to defend your position on any fucking thing.

Fuck you. Fuck you with a 15 inch, barb wire covered dildo. I’m sick of you. I’m sick of you staring down your nose at the American people. I’m sick of people already lauding you as a return to Bill. I’m sick of the concept that you’ll be the democrat candidate in 2008. Fuck off and die slowly bitch. Bleed out from a million lemon-soaked paper cuts. Slow roast yourself in a BBQ pit. Most of all; get the fuck off the stage and stay out of my life.

I can honestly say that you’re one of a handful of people that would guarantee my vote for a Republican president. Frankly, you’ve done nothing but annoy me as a representative of NY, I think you posses the leadership qualities of a rusty nail, and I think you have 0% chance of beating anyone on the republican ticket.

Maybe one of your staffers will be able to explain all of this in baby talk to you. I doubt it because frankly they seem every bit as dumb as you.

The past couple days have been quite hectic at work. Ben Franklin was so right that beer is proof that God loves us. Thanks for the cold one in my hand!

“What I’m trying to do with my time in the Senate during this whole debate we’re having is to remind the Senate that the rules we set up speak more about us than it does the enemy.” “The enemy has no rules. They don’t give people trials, they summarily execute them and they’re brutal, inhuman creatures. But when we capture one of them, what we do is about us, not about them.

“Do they deserve, the bad ones, all the rights that are afforded? No. But are we required to do it because of what we believe? Yes.”

To me a man is someone who stands by his principles regardless of which side his political bread is buttered on. Mr.Graham, Senator of South Carolina is a man. His banground in military law is untouchable as reserve judge on the Air Force Court of Criminal Appeals and a former military lawyer. In essence this man knows his shit, and knows it well.

Given the importance of the issue, to me the writer, I don't feel bad repeating his concept in more direct terms: What makes America better than the terrorists who are attacking us is the fact that we have laws and we respect them. Terrorists do not - they have no laws, that is why they are terrorists. To distinguish ourselves for them it is essential that we not forget who we are, lest we become just another terrorist ourselves.

I had to call a billing department. They want me to give them money. I get put on hold. Not just any hold, this was the hold from hell. They had their announcement on continuous loop. "We appreciate you patience, we'll be with you shortly" BS. Followed by a very enthusiastic, bit too loud, jazz piano sniplet of music. Loop had to be max 1 min long. By the 8th time I wanted to smash the piano. Turn it down, make it longer, anything! But listening to that sniplet again and again and again made me want to scream. Then the kicker. Phone starts ringing, I'm like, here we go. . . . instead I get another message "Sorry we have more calls than our staff can handle, please leave a message." Why no give me that proclaimation 9 min earlier??? Before I got irritated with the stupid looping piano music?? ARRGG!

I pay a tax on my car that goes to the town each year. This tax is to help maintain the roads and streets that I drive on. In the past America has built bridges, tunnels, highways with American labor and American money. To my knowledge that's what tolls and taxes are for, to keep the way safe and open for people to get from place to place.

I do know that the purpose of tolls have changed. In many cases tolls continue to exist to provide income to the state for other transportation related expenses or sometimes other needs like education. Long after the road or bridge has been paid for - the toll remains. Frankly I'm ok with that. That is as long as that money is going, in some way, to the people that live there. Naturally I wouldn't be writing this if it were always the case.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Roads and bridges built by U.S. taxpayers are starting to be sold off, and so far foreign-owned companies are doing the buying.

On a single day in June, an Australian-Spanish partnership paid $3.8 billion to lease the Indiana Toll Road. An Australian company bought a 99-year lease on Virginia's Pocahontas Parkway, and Texas officials decided to let a Spanish-American partnership build and run a toll road from Austin to Seguin for 50 years.

Few people know that the tolls from the U.S. side of the tunnel between Detroit and Windsor, Canada, go to a subsidiary of an Australian company -- which also owns a bridge in Alabama.

What's even less amusing is that this effort is being lauded by conservatives as a way of "de-politicizing" the inflation of tolls. In essence when your bridge fare goes up 50% a year, you won't be able to blame your state.... because you see it's not in their hands. It's a nifty way to shift the blame, and responsibility of what, to me, is a key state asset. Yes, supposedly there are legal loopholes to enable the state to grab control in times of emergency, but how that's defined or implemented seems as vague as the reporting of this infrastructure being sold abroad in the first place.

I always laughed at people who took out second mortgages to buy vacation homes. Essentially I felt that anyone mortgaging property they owned (or are paying to own) should not sell it a second time to buy themselves more debt. I find it scary as hell that American cities and states think it's ok to "cash in" on American land, public land in my mind, buy selling roads and bridges to foreign nations. And I don't see how privatization really eliminates the graft, mismanagement, and inherent responsibility that the states and federal government face in dealing with transportation. To me all it does is move those problems (and responsibility) farther away from the people who are most affected by it.

Now when something goes wrong or needs to be fixed there will be a layer of international resistance on top of local/state and federal to prevent the person driving on the road from interacting with the people responsible for it.

So, who do your roads belong to? Do you know?

Yes you, the one that decided it was ok to try and run me over this morning. What the hell bitch? Did it even dawn on you for a second that maybe the whole reason I was standing on the pegs of my motorcycle was to get you to notice that you could read the 'Levi's' label on my jeans? Or that when I flipped you off as you passed me on the right in a turn lane that you could see the individual stitches in my gloves?

It's fucking whores like you, in your goddamn silver infinity, and goggle-sized sunglasses that fucking make the lives of your road-sharing peers miserable. I'm sure you know you're more important than the rest of us. I'm positive that you're entitled to be first, foremost at every light and every intersection. Waiting is beneath you. Road courtesy is beyond you. It's a shame that people don't understand how much more important your life and your time is than theirs.

I'm sure you're too busy to realize all the hate you're generating, but if I were you I'd worry. Chances are someday you'll piss off someone with even less respect for the law and personal space than you have, and he'll get satisfaction the rest of us only dream about.

Red Light Cameras.. cruise thru on red, get a ticket in the mail from our police.

What a novel idea. Im so glad to see that Columbus has finally seen the benefits. The NTSB and AAA reports that over 75% of serious injury accidents occur at intersections - of these 75%, nearly 90% of those were due to someone jamming the accelerator thru the intersection whilst the light was either red or turning red. I wish the ticket price for running a red light was the same as the ticket/penalty price for drunk driving here - $1000.00 on the first offense.

People just need to learn to slow down, realize that getting thru that light wont get you there any faster since there are a bazillion more lights to encounter on your journey to your tanning appointment, grocery store, soccer game, hair salon, barber shop or cell phone store. Its a fact of life, get over it... meanwhile settle down and quit costing me more money yearly on insurance dues simply because YOU do not want to wait at a light. Think long and hard about who's lives are at stake when you merrily plow thru the intersection with wreckless disregard for someone perhaps in my family or even your own.

On our local 12:00 news today they featured some interviews with people whom are actually concerned about 'BIG BROTHER' watching their driving activities. Are these people serious? Whats wrong with a simple picture of YOU plowing thru an intersection? We're already out in public therefore no right of privacy should be assumed. I only hope more and more cities across the U.S. begin installing these wonderful devices. Im sure the many families of those killed or seriously crippled by red light runners and the Insurance agencies will rejoice in unison.

Boobs. Tits. Jugs. Knockers. Melons. Funbags. Hooters. Hundreds of words (most of them worthy of eye rolling)

Breasts.

Men, we love them. We all have our own taste in the boobage: Small, medium large, and ginormous.

However, I’m here today to question something. Why fake? I don’t get it. Years of porn have passed me by and I can honestly say that fake boobs hold no attraction for me.

Part of the attraction is the lovely little bounce. But fake ones; they’re cemented to the chest. And they retain that unnatural shape. Like a ball that was stapled to the woman’s chest. IMO, when a woman lies down, her chest shouldn’t sit perfectly still. I know, people tell me you can get good jobs that are nearly indistinguishable from natural. If they say so.

I just don’t understand why someone would WANT them. Or want their spouse to have them. Maybe it’s a grass is greener issue. Maybe some men really view their significant others as prizes and the fake boobs make them feel more important. I’ve heard that some women get them to increase their self esteem because they had small ones. It doesn’t seem like it would work that way to me because the self image will be damaged by requiring artificial enhancement to obtain a temporary vision of beauty.

I dunno. I just don’t get it.

My dick does not make me molest little kids. I swear. I accept that I allow my penis to influence many of my actions. The fact that I check out a hot chick’s butt when she passes by. The natural glace at cleavage when it is displayed. Admiration of the female form. Particularly the NUDE female form. The urge to pull my girlfriend into bed.

In these areas, I follow my dick, like most men.

Somehow, my dick has never, not once, not even in passing, made me consider little kids attractive, nor has it made me think about trying to molest one.

All of this seems like the correct and normal state of being for most of the males in the world.

Thus, I’m surprised by the conversation I’m currently listening to. One person is literally sitting here talking about day-care and grade school. She’s uncomfortable with her daughter going to a day care because more than half the staff is male. She thinks it could lead to “bad situations” and subject her daughter to “unhealthy attention from the men”

Ok, she’s five years old. FIVE. News flash bitch: Most men don’t dig the five year olds, k? In fact, I’d go so far as to say it’s abhorrent and highly uncommon. You could say it’s highly unlikely that one of the staff likes to feel up the little girls. K? Equally, you’re concerns about male teachers in school is just as uncommon. Millions of teachers. Not so many pedophiles. Got me?

Drives me up a fucking wall. My dick doesn’t make me want to have sex with your little girl. Fuck off. Stop believing all the crappy news stories in the world and smell the fucking shit that you’re shoveling.

So I was linked to a blog today. The guy was bitching about an article he read. The article took a view pro-choice viewpoint and told the story of a woman who chose to have an abortion.

He lit into the article. He blasted it as stupid and moronic. He attacked its views and position. He went on and on with commentary similar to this:

Miss Weber, you have killed your child, which you admit is a baby/human being, intentionally. That does make you an admitted murderer. I'm not going to "condemn you to hell", I'm going to pray for your forgiveness and for the suffering which you will endure when you realize what you have done. Every baby you see from that moment on is going to wake you up to the realization that you killed your child.

The problem? Well, the article was from the Onion. And he didn’t realize that it was satire. It’s gotta sting, right? Yeah, I’ve been there before. Not the Onion (duh), but similar satire has nailed me before I realized it for what it was.

The problem was that his readers knew it for what it was and laughed at him for it. They made fun of him. So he tried to play it off. He said that his blog was just a joke about the satire and all his readers fell for it. Read that quote again and tell me how likely you think that is?

So, days have passed, and he’s still defending himself. Still acting like it was all a huge joke that only he gets.

All he had to do was go “DOH. I got punk’d” and all would have been good. A merry joke had by all, a little egg on his face. But no. He’s just not that smart. As one poster said, it’s like tripping and trying to play it off like you suddenly decided to jog. It just doesn’t work.

The moral of the story? When you fuck up, it’s better to smile and laugh with the group than to try to play it off like you didn’t fuck anything up.

If you haven't looked closely at the juice aisle in the supermarket, you might assume there is no such thing. You might assume that since juice is made entirely from fruit, it must be healthy, and doesn't need a diet version. You might also assume that, since there's no such thing as a diet fruit, there's no such thing as diet juice either. But you'd be wrong. Because diet juice is very real.

Diet juice is also disgusting. I accidentally bought some the other day. It's right next to the regular juice, with a very similar label. I just missed the word "Light". So this morning I poured myself a glass of what I thought was Cranberry-Grape juice, but was actually Light Cranberry-Grape juice cocktail. Basically, it tasted like grape Kool-Aid. It was so sweet that it made my teeth hurt. I could barely finish the first sip.

Diet juice is also expensive. It cost $3.50 for a bottle, the same as regular juice. (And a lot more than the Kool-Aid it resembled.) I'm willing to pay extra for 100% juice, because it's made from real ingredients that aren't cheap. But this was only 22% juice. The rest was water and Splenda. So why does it cost the same as the real thing? Because Big Juice knows that anyone who's enough of a sucker to buy reduced-calorie juice on purpose is enough of a sucker to pay extra for the privilege of having their juice watered down and sweetened.

I'm waiting for the day when people realize they can just eat less of a particular food, instead of buying the reduced-calorie version of it. Then the diet food industry will collapse entirely. I think I'll be waiting for a long, long time.

Normally, I'm not one to pick on short people. I'm kinda short myself and I've heard most of the jokes. However, this is somewhat more serious.

I know, it's wrong to pick on people for their physical attributes, particularly when they can't do anything to change it.

When you buy a massive SUV, make sure you can see over the steering wheel. And by "see", I don't mean you look through the wheel to the road. I consider your total lack of vision to be a hazard to my well being on the road. When I look back in my rearview, I don't want to see a pair of eyes peering back at me from the steering wheel. Ideally, I'd like to see a full face and head above the wheel. Got me? It's a safety thing.

Alright, just to clarify...I am NOT an avid MS basher. I use, administer, and fix Windows desktops and servers daily and they do the job for most people.

The only problem I have with Microsoft is that they're gradually starting to creep into more areas of our lives. I remember the days of Windows 98 when you bought a computer, turned it on, and it was ready to rock. Now with Windows XP systems, you set it up, turn it on, activate Windows, activate Office (if you have it), download security patches...oh no, you have to download the Windows "Genuine Advantage" tool before you can do that!

This nifty little ActiveX script was originally intended to check your copy of Windows to make sure it was legit. That's all fine and good, I don't fault them there. Lately, however, it has been discovered that the WGA tool does more than just validate your copy of Windows/Office...

Take this snippet, for example, from Groklaw:

A computer user is suing Microsoft Corp. over the company's Windows Genuine Advantage anti-piracy tool, alleging that it violates laws against spyware.

The suit by Los Angeles resident Brian Johnson, filed this week in U.S. District Court in Seattle, seeks class-action status for claims that Microsoft didn't adequately disclose details of the tool when it was delivered to PC users through the company's Automatic Update system.

And yet another from ZDNet blogs:

Microsoft's Windows Genuine Advantage (WGA) is an anti-piracy technology that checks in with Microsoft's servers across the Internet that Microsoft recently pushed out to users of Windows via its Windows Update service. Unless the software is able to validate that you have a legitimate copy of Windows, you may be denied certain important updates according to an entry in Microsoft's online knowledgebase. But now comes new news that WGA is phoning home on a daily basis. Some are likening it to spyware and even Microsoft has acknowledged that it should be doing a better job disclosing what the program is doing and why.

Apparently, Microsoft has slipped in some code to "phone home" on a daily basis. Yet they failed to mention this nifty little feature in the EULA for WGA. And just what does Microsoft get from these "phone calls"?

I don't mind using Windows or Office, but I draw the line when they decide to put a tracker on my personal computer to get who knows what kind of info. Bad Bill, no cookie for you!

Hey you. Mr. Chickenhawk. Lemme explain something to you real quick.

I hear you today. You’re annoyed. How dare North Korea test their missiles! After we told them not to. It’s insulting. We should have shot them down! Or bombed the launchers before they fired. Kill the maniac!

America! Fuck yeah!

Ok, now that you got that out of your system, sit down, shut up and let me explain to you the realities facing us when dealing with the Korean dictator.

Fact: N. Korea has nukes. That’s bad. It’s also a limiting factor. When an adversary has the capability to destroy a hundred of thousand people in the blink of an eye, you have to be careful with your approach.

Fact: N. Korea is an aggressive country lead by a man with a inferiority complex about his place in the world. It feels slighted by the US and many other countries. The result is that it will lash out to prove its strength.

Fact: The N. Korean army has thousands of artillery pieces within easy range of S. Korea. Many of them are capable of putting normal, incendiary, or chemical rounds on the S. Korean capital of Seoul. Most of the 20K+ US troops located in country are inside that range as well.

Fact: The N. Korean missile program is entirely capable of hitting targets in Japan with ease. Once again, these missiles could carry a number of warheads, all of them bad. The possibility, however remote, that they could hit the US should be considered as well. I regard that likelihood as exceedingly remote, but our military leaders must weigh that as well.

Basically, what I’m telling you is that despite the ease that the US could do what you want, it’s not that simple. Sure, we could destroy their missiles. But the consequences of that action could involve a lot more than you bargain for.

So, unless you really want to see a few hundred thousand people, including a number of our troops, put at risk; I suggest you stop talking like a redneck moron. The world isn’t a Hollywood movie. Our countries will doesn’t always get its way. The hero doesn’t always get the hot chick. And frontal assaults are rarely a good idea.

Yes, it's the Fourth of July. A time of celebration of our great nation's independece. Food, fireworks, and fun for all ages...indeed.

This date holds another sad significance for me personally. July 4, 2005 was a day like any other, alas it had that holiday feeling to it. At the time, I was still living in North Carolina and had gone to visit a friend of mine. After visiting for a while, I left that afternoon to go back home. I was driving down a curvy, hilly road in the NC foothills and enjoying the particularly nice weather that day. As I rounded a bend and crested a hill, I found myself headed straight for a late 80s Taurus station wagon with nowhere to go. I hit the brakes but it was too late...the lack of ABS in my Focus may have actually lessened the damage of the impact but it was still severe enough to push the front of my car back about 2 feet and deploy the airbags. The other car was spun around and ended up off the opposing side of the road while my car went up an embankment off to the right.

What happened? Well, there was a street off to the right side of my lane which was on the crest of the hill. Rather than pulling up to see if traffic was coming on the other side, the driver cut the corner only to have me find him in mid-turn. I escaped with only an airbag burn to the inside of my left forearm. He was more unfortunate, however. I noticed at least a cut forehead among possibly other things. Thank God for airbags.

So what does this have to do with the title? Well, you see, the elderly drivers seem to hunt me down, this gentleman was no exception. In the, oh, say five accidents I've been involved in since I was 16, all but one