Sunday, July 30, 2006

O RLY? A big scientist, you say?

THE WEEKEND NET NEUTRALITY SITUATION EXTRAVAGANZA!

All anyone seems to know about NN is the "two-tiered internet" description. Which is right, but it's a pretty interesting and complicated issue. Since i'm a huge dork and keep reading about it, here's some fun/interesting/slighty-terrifying-bc-these-people-run-the-country info for ya.

Section A = Senator Ted Stevens.

1. Who is he? R-Alaska, current president pro tempore of Congress, current chairman of the United States Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation.

2. Why do we care? He's the "internet is a series of tubes" guy.

3. "Senator Open to TV Chat about Internet "Tubes"

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Mocked by comedian Jon Stewart for calling the Internet a bunch of tubes, U.S. Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Ted Stevens said on Thursday he is open to going on Stewart's popular "Daily Show" for a rebuttal.

...

Stevens, whose committee has authority over many Internet issues, defended his comments and said he had even received support from experts.

"I have a letter from a big scientist who said I was absolutely right in using the word 'tubes,"' he told reporters.


4. Daily Show: Jon Stewart on Net Neutrality



5. Older Daily Show Ted Stevens and Robert Byrd: COOTOFF!



6. "Does Rupert Murdoch's DIRECTTV Own Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens?"

Sen. Ted Stevens (R-Alaska), the powerful chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee, is pushing legislation that could give the Rupert Murdoch owned-DIRECTV a huge advantage over the cable TV industry.

Ted Stevens Stevens has not explained why he supports the legislation, but nearly 10 percent of the senator's 2005-2006 individual campaign contributions have come from employees of companies owned by Murdoch, such as News Corp., Fox and DIRECTV.

...

As Senate Commerce Committee Chairman, Stevens is sponsoring a new telecommunications bill that would require cable TV operators to carry all Digital TV signals from local stations; this is known as 'must-carry.'

The cable industry wants to only carry the station's primary feed, saying the extra digital signals would take up too much space on their systems. (The primary feed would offer primetime network programming and other regularly scheduled shows; the extra feeds might include special channels for local weather broadcasts and Video on Demand services.)

But Multichannel News' Ted Hearn reports in this week's issue that Stevens has inserted language in the bill that cable operators would have to carry "any digital video signal." The magazine quotes Stevens as saying the new language is intended to impose digital 'must-carry' on the cable operators.

But what about the satellite TV providers, EchoStar and the Murdoch-owned DIRECTV?

Multichannel News reports that Stevens' aides blocked an amendment by Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) that would permit both cable and satellite TV operators to carry just the "primary video" feed rather than "any digital video signal."

Consequently, as Stevens' bill now stands, cable TV operators would be required to carry all local Digital TV signals while DIRECTV and EchoStar would not. If the language becomes law, this would give the satellite TV operators more flexibility in what channels and services they want to offer.

It also could save DIRECTV and EchoStar considerable money because they wouldn't have to create space for the extra channels.

Friday, July 28, 2006

Sooooooooo, what happens to your own personal internet?

you know, the whole "series of tubes" thing is totally funny until you listen to that entire speech and realize that ted stevens truly has no idea what is going on. kudos to you and your decades of public service, but you are NOT THE GUY to be rewriting telecommunications laws.

.

Thursday, July 27, 2006

Wait, what?

So, it's late. I'm Wiki-ing, doing some tech-nerd info research. I type in Apple, trying to get to the computer page. It brings up, you know, apple. Little a. Totally normal. But ... somebody vandalized the apple-the-fruit page?



Why??

also: Fun fact: From Slashdot -- Some dude wrote a RIDICULOUSLY long book on the evolution of Apple's operating systems. Since there CAN be too much of a good thing (1,680 pages), the author had to trim some of it. And then, bc he's nice, made the unedited first chapter available as a PDF download.

So if you don't really care about a thousand pages on the differences in the systems (me!) but still would be interested in skimming a history of the development (me!), check it out.

<3

LET ME DRIVE THE BUS!!

So in my evening browsing of Boingboing.net, there was an entry linking to this: Children's books that appeal to the inner scientist. Or something like that.

I scanned the graphic, saw some i knew, some i didn't, some with SHARKS (two, actually) and then this one caught my eye:



Such a cute little pigeon, i thought. But what could he possibly be doing on a bus?? Amazon.com to the rescue:

From School Library Journal:
(PreSchool-Grade 2) -- A brilliantly simple book that is absolutely true to life, as anyone who interacts with an obdurate three-year-old can attest. The bus driver has to leave for a while, and he makes one request of readers: "Don't let the pigeon drive the bus." It's the height of common sense, but the driver clearly knows this determined pigeon and readers do not-yet. "Hey, can I drive the bus?" asks the bird, at first all sweet reason, and then, having clearly been told no by readers, he begins his ever-escalating, increasingly silly bargaining.

"I tell you what: I'll just steer," and "I never get to do anything," then "No fair! I bet your mom would let me." In a wonderfully expressive spread, the pigeon finally loses it, and, feathers flying and eyeballs popping, screams "LET ME DRIVE THE BUS!!!" in huge, scratchy, black-and-yellow capital letters.

The driver returns, and the pigeon leaves in a funk-until he spies a huge tractor trailer, and dares to dream again.


Maybe it's because i've spent a lot of time around little kids or maybe it's because i've become so used to laughing at will ferrell or stephen colbert when they're YELLING AT THE AUDIENCE but this is absolutely hilarious to me.

I'd love to see the illustrations in this book.

Best part of it is, there are MORE FUNNY BOOK COVERS:

Don't Let the Pigeon Stay Up Late (i.e. cranky, shifty-eyed pigeon.)



The Pigeon Has Feelings Too! (i.e. emo pigeon)



According to good ol' Wiki, Mo Willems worked for Seasame Street from 1993-2002. Good stuff.

<3

Monday, July 24, 2006

The Music Sounds Better [With Zune??]

I can't sleep, bc in order to stave off the caffiene/nicotine headache, i had coffee at 9 pm. which was stupid, but, so am i.

Anyway, there's been a bevy of interesting Microsoft-media-player-also-being-referred-to-as-the-iPod-killer news as of late.

Engadget had something pretty extensive on it a few days ago, chock full of (potentially mostly true) info. The player itself is called Zune. (They were calling it Argo, and now it's Zune. Whatever.)

Neatest part of that article: Coming Zune. Terms of Use indicates that it's Microsoft, and brand spanking new (july 22) so ... could be interesting to keep an eye on.

The point of the cartoon is lost on me.
But, people do like bunnies.
AND IT'S A REGINA SPEKTOR song.
She is simply amazing.
(Harry loves her too.)
Zune is still a weird name.

Regina Spektor MySpace. And I hate MySpace, but it's the easiest way for me to tell you to try new songs.

(also, i think it's really freaking out the dog that i'm still awake. he keeps coming back in here, like, "uh, so, am i supposed to sleep now for real, or are we gonna keep playing? a little help here!" (makes puppy face and puts head on corner of the keyboard.)

<3

...and i'm gonna chop that motherfucking desk in half!

The Science of Sleep -- Since you're probably not a huge dork and don't lurk on the Apple site for new trailers, you may not have seen this. Eternal Sunshine IS one of my most favorite movies of all time, but I'm not even assuming this is going to be the same -- it'll be uniquely and wonderfully different and amazing.

Other things (i.e. my personal favorites) by acclaimed director Michel Gondry that i wasn't aware he did until b-rad mentioned yesterday he's also done music videos:



"Mad World" (Donnie Darko soundtrack version) - Gary Jules (2004)
This song made that movie.

"Fell In Love With A Girl" - The White Stripes (2002)
(this was the lego video that everyone loved.)

"Knives Out" - Radiohead (2001)

"Music Sounds Better With You" - Stardust (1998)
If I had a nickel for everytime i listened to this on the drives to and from Myers Park junior year, I would've had a lot of nickels.

"Everlong" - Foo Fighters (1997)
(see, now the giant hands scene seems so familiar!)

"Around The World" - Daft Punk (1997)
(hannah and i went through a phase where this shit was the coolest thing we'd ever seen.*)

"Protection" - Massive Attack (1995)
I actually didn't get into MA until a few months ago, but i didn't really dig around that hard, apparently. I love this song, but i had no idea it came out 11 years ago. Video is alright, song is fantastic and depressing.



*Yet another reason that my family and i are cooler than you. My dad and I were really into "120 minutes" -- moreso me than him, and I'd set the VCR to tape it every sunday night from midnight to 2, and it was the highlight of my monday afternoons after coming home from school. I was fanatical about it (see also: obsessive love of "Six Feet Under") but it was a lot of fun seeing the new ALTERNATIVE ROCK VIDEOS and the occasional NIN or nirvana "classic" that they'd throw in there. It also showed videos LONG before they ever snuck into MTV's regular rotation, if at all. "Around the World" was one of those videos. It's infectiously catchy, and has skeleton suits. BYYYYYAH!

**See also: Byyyah!

***Sorry, I'm on a major Wiki kick here, but it's just so useful.

<3

Friday, July 21, 2006

Arrrrrrrrrrr-gravating.

Ok. Pirates. Should've done this last night, but i was too tired.

I'm not sure at what point in the movie i gave up, but it was pretty early on. I think it had to do with the shark people. WHO, FOR THE RECORD, WERE NOT BAD ASS ENOUGH TO CALL THEMSELVES SHARK PEOPLE. They were just moldy-crustacean people.

It's like Disney was so excited that the first one was a blockbuster that they took all their writers and just locked them in a room with a fishtank and a chest full of pretty pretty princess jewelry and fed them acid for 4 days straight while they just sat there and flicked gold medallions off each other's foreheads.

And for their valiant efforts, they managed to come up with:

Shark people? Sure. Whatever you want.

A dead monkey that is still in the pre-curse state even though all the rest of the pirates were returned to normal human form after the Aztec Gold was replaced? O-kay.

A "kracken" that just looks like a ginormous octopus? Fine. (I mean, jesus, people, if you're gonna run with the imaginary shark-people concept anyway, why not just make the kracken a fucking ENORMOUS fucked-up looking shark.)

The entire cannibal island was a waste of time. As Lauren pointed out, we didn't need TWO longwinded wheel-related action scenes (hamster ball bones cages and water wheel).

And they just made Elizabeth immediately fall in love (lust?) with Jack, and that was ridiculous.

Also ridiculous was when Will saw them making out, was really pissed off about it, and then still pledges to travel to the ends of the earth to bring jack back to life. WHY. That motherfucker sold. you. out. And more than once! and now he's macking on your girl and you're like, yeah, let's save him. cool. It doesn't make any sense.

As Jim mentioned, the heart. WTF. First of all, how bout a line or TWO OR THREE about how Davy Jones transformed from a normal person into a walking pile of kalimari. Even if the power of heartbreak ripped his body to shreds and he regenerated as that creature, FINE, just, TELL ME. If we're supposed to infer that bc he rules the sea, he looks like that and so do his minions, fine. Just, TELL ME SOMETHING ABOUT WHAT HAPPENED TO THEM. And the heart controlling the sea? You can't just write something like that into a 2.5 hour script and just leave it at that.

Even the flouncy new commander (who was excellent, actually) knew that he could control the entire fucking ocean with a still-beating heart that has been locked in a box and covered in sand. HOW IS THIS POSSIBLE. I'm putting up with your bloated storyline, please just take an extra 45 seconds to explain how this is possible. A fucking apple doesn't control the freeway just because you SAY it does. Make something up -- i don't even care and that's obviously what's been done for the rest of the movie. Just GIVE ME A REASON.

This is what happens when you force a trilogy out of a movie that was based on a fucking theme park ride. Sure Depp and Bloom are pretty to look at, but it ruins the experience when I'm banging my head against the wall.

[atleastwegottoseeitforfree!]

Wednesday, July 19, 2006

Precious!

"Newborn beluga makes a splash at Shedd"



Isn't that just the cutest thing you've ever seen?!

<3

Tuesday, July 18, 2006

AQUATIC YOUTUBE VIDEO DAY!

Why? Eh, why not?





I love manatees. I also was watching some ocean adventure thing on PBS with Jean Michel Cousteau this morning at 3 am. It was pretty neat. Sleeping would be neat too. As would being able to eat something that doesn't upset my stomach.

[??]

Thursday, July 13, 2006

respek.

Toothpaste for Dinner -- 7/13/06




!

Blahhhhh

Come on people.

It's hot out, my stomach hurts, I'm cranky, I can't afford gas, motherfuckers in the Middle East are trying their damndest to start WWIII, and then i have to read about THIS.

They're prolly gonna have to put barbaro down. And out of all the shitty things today seems to have to offer, that is the saddest.

:( [poorhorsie]

Wednesday, July 12, 2006

Stop hittin' the table

A. Microsoft's answer to the iPod? (fun fact: I am pretty sure i am the ONLY PERSON LEFT IN AMERICA who doesn't own an iPod.)

B. Oh, EFF. I love you. Frequently Awkward Questions for the Entertainment Industry

2. The RIAA has sued over 20,000 music fans for file sharing, who have on average paid a $3,750 settlement. That's over $75,000,000. Has any money collected from your lawsuits gone to pay actual artists? Where's all that money going?

3. The RIAA has sued over 20,000 music fans for file sharing. Recently, an RIAA representative reportedly suggested that "students drop out of college or go to community college in order to be able to afford [P2P lawsuit] settlements." Do you stand by this advice? Is this really good advice for our children's futures?

4. The RIAA said that it only went after individual file sharers because you couldn't go after P2P system creators. After the Supreme Court's Grokster decision, shouldn't you stop going after music fans?


-----------------------------------------------------------------

POP CULTURE MONSTERS PHOTOSHOP CONTEST

Children are so adorably innocent. The world to them is a shiny, happy place where Mickey Mouse doesn't have razor sharp teeth, Santa doesn't eat his reindeer and the tooth fairy takes your teeth after they've fallen out. Well, we're going to show them the twisted truth. In this contest we're going to corrupt our children in any way our sociopathical tendencies allow us.

Hehe. These were my faves:





And, from Cute Overload, THE CUTEST PUPPY EVER. THIS IS WHAT I WANT.

I put this pic as the background on my mom's desktop to guilt her into getting a puppy soon.



And random basketball news from Tar Heel Blue.com

CHAPEL HILL -- The University of North Carolina and the Dean E. Smith Center will play host to two NBA preseason games in October featuring former Tar Heels Raymond Felton, Brendan Haywood, Antawn Jamison, Sean May and Marvin Williams.

Felton and May's Charlotte Bobcats are involved in both exhibition games, including an October 17 match-up against Haywood and Jamison's Washington Wizards, and an October 27 game against Williams and the Atlanta Hawks.


Could be fun! Upper level tix are around 25, so that's not too bad.

<3

Tuesday, July 11, 2006

More music that is fun and enjoyablllllle!






Royksopp does Kings of Convenience -- "I Don't Know What I Can Save You From"

That title sounds SO EMO but it's actually a nice lil song.


<3

LOOKIT THIS I MADE THIS PIE!!!

It's not really a secret that I'm no wizard in the kitchen. I have been know to butcher batches of freakin' choco chip cookies because i stop paying attention and add the wrong amounts of ingredients.

NOT THIS TIME.

I MADE A KEY LIME PIE FROM SCRATCH* AND IT WAS PERFECT.



It's a big day for me.

*Even the crust, because i am that hardcore. My dad reminded me after the fact that hey, you should've used a food processor to chop up those graham crackers, but ... alas, i'd already spent 20 min mashing away. But it was still delicious.

-----

It's also a big day for brandon and tai shan (july 10) as they are both sharing a BIRTHDAY! Arguably tai is just the more adorable of the two, but hey, birthday boys are birthday boys.



[clawing at their respective gifts]




<3!

Monday, July 10, 2006

"...from city council, he ran in '93, out in oakland, you prolly didn't hear about him."

So, the "Chappelle's show lost epis" are ok... but this is the best one. It's got a "new song" from 2pac, except everyone gets a bit stumped bc it doesn't sound like he wrote the song in '94...

It starts 40 secs in -- FF or else you have to deal with the banter/intro.



<3

Sunday, July 09, 2006

No! conditioner is bettah!

Tee hee!



<3

Friday, July 07, 2006

In honor of Ms. Eowyn Turner

Eowyn was always in love with Justin Timberlake. Always. And i teased her relentlessly because of it.

Until ... his solo album came out. Because you can't deny that shit was awesome -- and his new stuff is sounding prrrretty good too!

So here's the new single for all you cravin' the summer hit of '06. (seriously, this is totally it. jim agrees. )


hint: if you like it, click "File" and "Save page as" and the file is yours.

God bless the internet.

<3

Me trying to learn HTML for an embeddable audio player is kind of like a blind 3-year-old trying to learn to drive stick.

Alright people. Jim and i were toying around with the idea of putting audio players in our blogs.

TOO BAD THIS IS SO MUCH EASIER SAID THAN DONE. Html makes my eyes want to bleed. So, since that effort is going to take a while, here's ODEO to the rescue!

Interpol_-_Narc.mp3

It's Interpol's "Narc," infamous in these parts for the whole "you should be in myyyyyspace/myyyyyy life!" shebang

So check it out, it seems friendly and compatible, and I will try and change this a lot if people like listening to music that i like listening to.

[The other viable option for music linkage on here would be to change my myspace song every. single. day. but i kinda fucking hate myspace and don't want to do that.]

<3

Thursday, July 06, 2006

HAPPY HAPPY JOY JOY!

Powdered Toast Maaaaaaaaaaaaaaan!

I found this when Hannah was in the room, prompting her to swiftly smack me on the arm and go WHOA!!

Our friend Dani and her fam had a trambampoline when we lived in Raleigh. Sufficed to say, we were on that thing every. single. day. And one day they got the Ren and Stimpy Soundtrack. There was no need to listen to such classics as "Don't Whiz on the Electric Fence" and "Royal Canadian Kilted Yaksmen" as often as we did, but ... yeah. Good times.

[it's log! it's log! it's big it's heavy it's wood!/ loooooog, looog, it's better than bad, it's GOOD!]

<3

oh, the brain, it hurts.

Katie clued me in about the latest entertainment section of the Milkwaukee Journal Sentinel (wisconsin, represent!) and all she could really say was "ouch." sounds about right.



[teamvincentenjoysagoodpunbutnotwhenitfliesinthefaceofAPstyle, boyeeeee]

!

Wednesday, July 05, 2006

Dear Diary: Mood -- Apathetic.

Mom's Minivan (kudos to B-rad!)



This reminded me of the classic YTMND: THE EMO SONG!!!

[hehe. stabbyripstabstab!]

Monday, July 03, 2006

hehe. king of snakes.

from penny arcade -- tycho talking about his horrible childhood experiences with family roadtrips.

The lake we would sometimes travel to, and I think they called it a lake because it had not completely evaporated, was clearly home to toxic mutants. As dangerous as that sounds, this was not the primary concern, for this area of Washington was famous for its rattlesnakes. I don't mean they had a rattlesnake exhibit where you could see them inside a cage, and then emerge from that dark zoo, the sun on your face, in a land blessed and free of them. No, the people in "them parts" are proud of these things. There is a sign by the main thoroughfare that says "Watch Out for Mister Shakes!" who is apparently famous not only for being a snake but for being a very large and dangerous, free roaming fucking man-eating snake. It was my presumption as a young man that he was called Mister Shakes both a) as a courtesy, i.e., "Please don't bite my fucking ass, Mister Shakes!" and also because of the rattling you might hear before he slunk from the grass to murder you. I understand now with the wisdom of many years that the shakes they referred to describe the strong spasms associated with their thick, (sometimes) black venom.

And the food out there on the frontier. Jesus Christ. Eating at whatever rat trap happened to be attached to the gas station we just coasted into. Plate heaped high with fried hair. Warm cylinder of milk pulled from whatever animal happened to be pregnant at the time. So, no. He can rattle his keys all day, if he would like. I'm not going to suit up and get in the car just so I can drink cat milk, eat hair, and get killed by the king of fucking snakes.

Sunday, July 02, 2006

sweet mother of god

This falls under the category of "oh hell the fuck yes." --
Man jumps on Gator's back to save girlfriend's dog.

A man in South Carolina jumped on the back of a 10-foot alligator to save his girlfriend's pet dog as it was being dragged into a lake, according to a Local 6 News report.

...

The Department of Natural Resources shot and killed the alligator shortly after the incident.

"They informed me that I should not jump on the back of alligators," Carey said. "I agree with that. The take home message is not to jump on the back of a gator."


AS IT WAS BEING DRAGGED INTO A LAKE. That is so incredibly awesome. Can you imagine just chilling, at the park, and you just happen to idly look over, and BAM, dude wrestling a dog from the jaws of an alligator?!

[!!!!]

Lions and tigers and PUPPIES OH MY!!!

Ok, so first there was His Royal Highness of Cuteness, the roly poly Butterstick and the pandacam. Then there was (is) cute overload. Which always makes me swoon for the cuteness.

Exhibit A: Cute Overlooooooad!






Now there's Let's Be Friends, which features pairs of anni-mies hanging out, looking adorable.

Exhibit B:



And there is also kitten war, which is kind of like hot or not for kitties and pits cute cat against cute cat. (Lauren's Laika was kicking ass for a while back when she was up there!) But now ... i found... Baby War: BABY VS. BABY.

HOLY SHIT, PEOPLE.

I swear to God. Puppies are one thing, but then you throw babies into the whole shebang, and then there are BABIES AND PUPPIES TOGETHER and my estrogen starts to spin off to a level where when i'm just in home depot for charcoal and some granite cleaner i suddenly find myself in the paint department, staring and thinking about how. i. would. decorate. a. nursery.

It's terrifying. And i can't stop it. Somebody help me.