I Want To: A Page of Utilities

I'm not sure where I came acorss this page, acutally. I bookmarked it work earlier today with the intention of posting it before I went home, but alas, someone actually wanted me to do my job...

Anywho, the I Want To page is a big ol' list of a bunch of useful little websites and utlities that can help with organization and efficiency.

I'n most cases, I think just writing something down on a piece of paper might be quicker, but these sites are fun too.

So dig, yo.

Besides, it's like I always say: it's good to want things. And yes, I know that I usually say that to be an ass, but it applies here too. And no, not the ass part.

Crisis Counseling - 10/31/05

This week's Crisis Counseling is up.

A few things of note, here:

• Ruin is using the Phantom Zone to teleport himself all over the place, employing this technology to beam Pete Ross into his place just as Superman was about to unmask him.
• So, how the hell did Ruin get a hold of the Kryptonian technology necessary to gain access to the Phantom Zone? Was he, perhaps, imprisoned there?
• Power Girl is, in fact, still Kara Zor-L of Earth 2. She evidently survived the Crisis because she is tethered to the Earth 2 Superman, who survived the collapse of the multiverse by absconding to another plain of existence with Earth 2 Lois Lane, Earth Prime Superboy, and Earth 3 Alexander Luthor. Fun.
• Wonder Woman is actually gonna be put on trial for killing Max Lord. She plead not guilty at her arraignment. I find this infinitely hilarious.
• Paradise Island is under attack from a swarm of OMACs.

Should be a fun week to come.

How to Survive a Robot Uprising

How to Survive a Robot Uprising: Tips on Defending Yourself Against the Coming Rebellion
is a new book by Daniel H. Wilson, a Carnegie Melon University roboticist and oracle of the future. The book is apparently a humorous jab (as if you couldn't tell from the title, dumbass) at the state of robotics technology and survival guide for every robot revolution cliche known to man.

The Post-Gazette has a moderately funny write-up on what sounds like an hilarious book. Here's a quoted quote from the article:

"Any robot could rebel, from a toaster to a Terminator, and so it is crucial to learn the strengths and weaknesses of every robot enemy," author Daniel H. Wilson warns in "How to Survive a Robot Uprising: Tips on Defending Yourself Against the Coming Rebellion."

Paramount Pictures bought the movie rights to this thing before it was even finished and have, thus far, and have gotten Ben Garant and Thomas Lennon from Reno 911 to write the screenplay.

Oh, and if you don't understand how the picture relates to the rest of the post, mosey on over to RobotCombat.com to watch the SNL skit. You won't be sorry.

Via Slashdot.

Crusty Old White Guy to Sit on Supreme Court

So, the President just nominated Judge Samuel Alito, Jr. of the Third Circuit US Court of Appeals to replace Justice Sandra Day O'Connor. And by just, I mean like an hour ago, putting the announcement before the waking hour of civilized man. I guess they White House really wants to get a hold of this week's news cycle, eh?

At any rate, Judge Alito is quite disappointing as a nominee. Since his appointment to the bench back in 1990, he has shown himself to be an extremely conservative judge and apparently has an affinity for Justice Scalia (gag). He was part of the Reagan Justice Department in the Solicitor General's Office and was appointed by George H.W. Bush (you know, if you couldn't figure that out from the 1990 thing) to the Third Circuit US Court of Appeals. This means that in addition to his career history as an attorney, Judge Alito carries with him 15 years of judicial baggage into the confirmation process.

So, Mr. President, what exactly should we infer from Judge Alito's nomination when two weeks ago you claimed that it Harriet Miers' lack of judicial experience was a good thing?

Come on, Shrub. WTF?

Washington Post

Libby Indicted

Libby's got five counts against him:

• 1 count obstruction of justice
• 2 counts of perjury
• 2 counts of making false statements

He's also resigned as Chief of Staff to the Vice-President.

I'm a little upset that none of the charges are directly related to the leak, but, at this point, I'll take what I can get.

Read up on this at the following sites; it's pretty much everywhere:

• CNN
• The Washington Post
• The New York Times
• AmericaBlog
  

Now all we need to do is get Rove.

So, Sulu is Gay

I didn't think this was new, but apparently George Takei only officially came out of the closet in a recent issue of a Los Angeles gay and lesbian magazine.

As a Trekkie, I've known this for quite some time. From my convention experiences and from conversations with other fans who've met Mr. Takei, he's never seemed to hide his sexual orientation. People just doesn't bring it up on his own and no one ever seems to ask him about it.

Anyway, not a big deal, really - well, at all, I guess.

Here's an article on this from CNN.

Note: Still no picutres with blogger. Fuckwits... Fixed. Blogger's still a bunch of fuckwits, though.

Florida Power & Light Ignored States Warnings

From the Sun Sentinel:

FPL ignored state warnings on inspecting wooden distribution poles

By David Fleshler & Joseph Mann
Staff Writers
Posted October 28 2005

Florida Power & Light Co., which experienced widespread failures of its distribution poles during Hurricane Wilma, dismissed warnings from state regulators earlier this year that its system for inspecting poles was inadequate.

More evidence to the notion that utility companies should be socialized.

FP&L doesn't deserve shit in hurricane aide now. In fact, the state should spank them and force their CEO to resign without a severence package. That'll never happen, though. Instead, they'll probably get billions in state and federal aide. They'll then raise their rates claiming higher operation costs because they can no longer subvert state law.

So, to all my peeps down in the heat-box, find some way to reduce your energy costs. I suggest looking in to that solar/electric hybrid AC from a few weeks ago.

Note: Blogger is being a little bitch today and won't let me upload pictures.

Brewster Jennings Protects America

Brewster Jennings Protects America is geography game that uses the Google Maps API and seems to be based, at least in part, on Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego. The basic plot of the game is that terrorists are planning to blow something up and it's your job to track the little bastards down. Like Carmen Sandiego, you do this by picking up clues at each leg of the search.

The game has 6 variable length and difficulty settings, but if you know anything about geography and history, you should have much problem with this. You can also choose between a global mission or one just within the borders of the United States.

Still, it's a fun time-waster. Kinda funny, though; I've played 3 or 4 games so far and haven't had a reason to venture into the "fly-over" states. What's the lesson there?

The game also has a development blog where you can track new additions and changes.

Via Google Maps Mania.

Tropical Storm Beta

Yeah, according to CNN, we're up to Beta, now. I wonder if this year's hurricane season will extend beyond what is normally considered hurricane season. For that matter, I wonder how they determined the time period of the season to begin with. Was it just a matter of looking back over a certain number of years and saying "well shit, we've never had a storm before June or after November, so that must be hurricane season?"

And speaking of hurricanes, Wilma did a number on my family back home. If you hadn't figured by all of my snide comments towards Florida, I grew up there and only recently escaped. Sunrise, the Ft. Lauderdale suburb that I used to call home, took a walloping to the point that portions of city hall collapsed. Oddly enough, no one seems to overly concerned about it. City hall was an old, ugly building that had a lot of problems. I don't think anyone is gonna miss it. Utility failures and the complete and total destruction of every tree, fence, and screen room in the area seem to be the only real damage to speak of. My parents lost some shingles and my grandparents rood took a little damage and sprung a leak, but it really just seems like inconvenience damage more than devastation. I wish I could say the same thing for some of the surrounding cities, though. From what I've seen, Pompano, Coral Springs, Davie, Hollywood, and downtown Ft. Lauderdale took a big hit. My next trip home should be interesting.

Edit:
Yeah, I know. Sunrise's website is down. If I had to guess, I'd say that it problably has something to do with the server being in the partially collapsed and flooded city hall building.

Bush Accepts Miers Withdrawal

Harriet Miers just withdrew her name for consideration for the Supreme Court.

CNN's front page alert claims that President Bush has "reluctantly" accepted her withdrawal.

Man, Dubya is just not having a good time lately.

Let's see if we can't keep this trend going, eh?

Edit:
The Washington Post has an article up about the withdrawal.

Comic Book Day - 10/26/05

Superfunhappytime!

Ooooooo! Today we finally get the true origin of Power Girl. Dorktacular!!

Here's today's list:

• Adventures of Superman #645
• The Flash #227
• JLA #121
• JSA: Classified #4
• Teen Titans #28
• Wonder Woman #222

DC also claims that Superman #223 comes out today, but it ain't on the Diamond List. Really, though, two Supes titles in one week would be a bit odd.

I may also pick up the new Batman trade Under the Hood. For 10 bucks it's kinda hard to beat. Oh, and I'll picking up Birds of Prey #87 too. I somehow forgot it last week. That's what I get for smokin' the brown crack...

Joy! I Finally Found Manhunter!

God must have been drunk yesterday, cause after 6 months of getting bitch slapped by Target, I finally found the Justice League Metal Collection Martian Manhunter. I'd gotten so used to just flipping through the displays that when I found him, I just kept looking. Took a second for it to register.

Yippee! Now I have the complete set.

Well, that is until they release the expanded JLU set that includes Green Arrow, Aquaman, and some of the other, more prominent secondary characters.

Infinite Crisis #2

Monitor Duty has the cover of Infinite Crisis #2 via Newsrama.

Just thought I'd share.

Power Girl really does seem to be right up in there with all of this crisis shit. Good to see that the character is finally getting some decent attention.

Anywho, this issue comes out in November.

South African History Comic Books

See, they're not just for dorks.

A white, South African artist who was brought up during the Apartheid has teamed up with Nelson Mandela to do a 9-issue series chronicling the former president and political prisoner's life. The comics are part of an effort to teach the true history of South Africa, rather than simply dismissing any historic act carried out by the black majority of the country.

Apparently, South African history curriculums only delve back to the ancient times of 1652 when the Dutch landed in the area. Everything that happened before the region was "discovered" evidently means nothing, as it was a time of heathens and savagery not fit for the ears of civilized man. Or, rather, the government there still doesn't care much for black folk.

Anywho, check the article out over at CNN.

Poll: Few doubt Wrong-doing in CIA leak

Wow, looks like America finally woke up and smelt the load of idiocy it left in its pants.

According to a CNN/USA Today/Gallup poll, 9 out of 10 Americans think the Bush Administration either broke the law or acted unethically when they leaked the name of a covert CIA operative. Read the articled here: CNN.

That's what happens when you ellect a completely unqualified person to the Presidency. For shame!

In other, related, news, it looks like there will, in fact, be indictments re: this matter and the targets of those indictments have already received their target letters. That is, according to The Washington Note, anyway.

The indictments may actually come out today.

Couple that with Comic Book Day and I think I may actually crap my pants out of sheer, uncontrolable joy.

Updates...

So, yeah, I'm sorry I didn't post anything yesterday. I had some stuff to take care off.

I promise I'll make up for it today, though. Just not yet, really.

In the mean time, keep yourselves occupied with this classic comic cover, courtesy of SuperDickery.

Skinny Dipping with Little Boys


C'mon guys! What could possibly be wrong about skinny dipping with a gaggle of nubile young boys at the local water hole? There's no innuendo there! No sir!

Earbudclips, or How a 12 Cent Chunk of Plastic Can Solve One of the Most Annoying Things Ever

Earbud headphones are cool. There's no questioning that. The problem is, though, that unlike conventional headphones, earbuds tangle somethin' fierce.

We've all had this problem: you keep your overpriced, disgustingly cute, single function mp3 player iPod in your pocket for easy access, but always seem to get foiled by the inevitably tangled headphone cords. It's just one of the many annoyances of living in an age of personal electronics. Well, that is, untill now.

The Earbudclip solves this problem with about as simple and obvious a design imaginable. And priced at only 25 times the cost of production (please note: I have no idea what these things cost to make, however, I am more than positive that they do not cost anywhere near the $2.50 for which they are being sold. I'm just trying to make a point.), you really can't afford to not waste you money on these dinky little shits.

Anyway, check out the company's site. It's good for a laugh. I'd have thought this problem could have been solved with a plastic paperclip. Are consumers really this stupid, though?

Via OhGizmo!

Crisis Counseling - 10/24/05

New Crisis Counseling is up over at DC.

Looks like they added another video blog too.

Nothing huge happened with the Infinite Crisis related titles last week, but the second issue of Justice came out and it was pretty good. I still can't figure out if it's supposed to be in continuity or not. The inclusion of Plastic Man in the JLA makes me think no, but I'm sure I'm wrong.

Anyway, check it out.

New DC Super Heroes Figures from Mattel

Yeah, today looks to be a mostly dork-related day. Things just go that way some times.

Moving on to the coolness, though, DC is finally putting some decent action figures out on the general market. Soon, the days of only being able to find a decent Superman figure through you local cesspool of nerdery comic shop will be happily gone.

The figures apparently won't be quite as detailed or articulated as the Marvel Legends line, but I'm cool with that. The preview pics posted on the below two Action Figure.com links prove that articulation isn't everything and that too much detail can be a bad thing. I'll just be happy to toss a Bizarro figure into the cart this Spring when I go on my weekly Target runs.

What do I do with these things, you ask? Well, I proudly use them as clutter in my office, thank you very much. You see, I don't dig having pictures of family and friends here at work. I like to keep that life completely separate, lest I start associating my only support structure with the utter despondency of my job. Surrounding myself with my escapist hobby keeps me dazily out of phase with reality long enough to get through the day.

Anyway, check out the new figures.

San Diego Comic Con: DC Superheroes
San Diego Comic Con: More DC Superheroes

Oh, and shut up. There is absolutely nothing wrong with a 24 year-old man getting excited about toys. Nothing, damn it!

The Manhunter from Mars

Monitor Duty is posting a new article by Alan Kistler chronicling the history of the Martian Manhunter.

As always, it's a good read and helps clear up a lot of questions about the character.

Of particular interest is the origin of J'onn J'onzz and how his backstory has changed over the years so that a man from Mars doesn't sound like an old 1950's scifi cliche. I was also quite suprised to learn that the Manhunter is rather dark for a DC Comics character, using his telepathy to implant false memories in innocent people, employing his shapeshifting ability to torture an evil version of Superman (Yes, evil. I wonder how big a dick that guy is?), and several times engaging in activities that directly lead to the deaths of villains. That's a pretty big deal in a universe where the darkest hero, Batman, still refuses to put an end to his psychotic, mass murdering arch enemy, the Joker (Batman: I don't kill. - My Response: Waaaaa.....).

Anyway, check it out. It's a good time waster.

If There is a God, He's a Schmuck

Millionaire Senator Wins 850 Grand in Powerball

Washington Post
CNN Online

I'm not sure what else to say about this, really. Whatever faith I had left in the cosmic balance is now completely shot.

There really should be some sort of law against this kind of thing.

Senator Gregg (R-NH) sounds like a bit of an ass, too, and intends to keep most of the money. Not surprising, really. What else should I have expected from a Congressional Republican?

On a side note, am I the only who finds it funny that both of the above articles are filed in the "Politics" sections of their respective websites? Aside from him being a senator, what's political about this?

Another Reason Why Florida Sucks

You know, aside from the constant heat, insects measured by the pound, alligators that eat dogs, and, oh yeah, the record number of HUGE FUCKING HURRICANES!

From the Sun Sentinel:

Driver, 93, rolls through St. Petersburg tollbooth with body embedded in windshield

ST. PETERSBURG -- A 93-year-old driver apparently suffering from dementia fatally struck a pedestrian, then continued driving through a toll booth with the man's body on his windshield, police said.

When's global warming gonna get its ass in gear and raise sea level, already?

The Simpsons, or rather, Al Shamshoon

So, the Arab satellite television network MBC is going to start airing The Simpsons, except, not really.

Because of cultural differences, Al Shamshoon (yes, I guess that's Arabic for "Simpson") will feature a slightly different take on the model of American family disfunction. Among the changes, apart from other name adaptations such as Omar=Homer and Badr=Bart, Omar won't be eating doughnuts or drinking beer, and Moe (no name change, apparently) will now graze goats rather than own a seedy bar.

My only concern - if you can call it that since I don't really care; at all - is that in changing the show, it won't actually be funny anymore. Some of the best Simpsons moments happen when a character is drunk off his ass; other's are just quirky pop-culture references that'll probably be lost on such a foreign culture. Changing only some of the show is going to leave the rest of it in an odd place. And really, the people likely to watch Al Shamshoon probably won't be offended by western culture. Why would the America-hating segment of the population tune into a slightly tweaked cartoon about stereotypical Americans? If you're gonna leave that in, why change any of it?

Anywho, here's hoping it shows up on bit torrent. As dumb as it sounds, I'd still like to see it.

If you want, check out The Independent Online for more.

Voice and Video Chat for Gaim

According to Download Squad, Gaim will soon be getting voice and video capability.

This is definitely some awesome news.

For those of you who don't about Gaim, here's a quick rundown. Gaim is what AOL Instant Messenger should be. Gaim is an open-source, multi-client chat program that is compact and easy to use. It offers just about all of the same features that the big three chat services give you(with the exception of voice and video) and is completely ad free. Plus, it can even handle Jabber clients like Google's new Google Talk. So if you tired of having to use several, seperate, ad latent chat programs, this might be for you.

Gaim is also mod-able and expandable, much life Firefox. There are hundreds of plugins for Gaim that do anything from adding a system tray icon to autochecking you various email accounts.

In short, download Gaim now. In fact, right now!

Download Gaim

Duncan for Governor

According to the Washington Post, Montgomery County Executive Doug Duncan has announced that he will run for governor of Maryland.

Being a Montgomery County resident who has directly benefited from Mr. Duncan's tenure as county executive, I think I'll be voting for him come next election.

He's a pretty good guy anyway; especially next to Governor Ehrlich, who seems to have ties to all those GOP bigguns currently under indictment or investigation. I've had just about enough of that shit.

He's gonna have to go up against Baltimore Mayor Martin O'Malley in the primary, though. That'll be a tough race. Even so, I'm sure either of them'll beat Ehrlich.

Lost 2x05 - "... And Found"

So, another solid episode last night. No major revelations, but we did get a few more questions.

In no particular order, here are my thoughts and questions:

• Jin certainly is picking up English pretty well.
• As soon as Sun said she lost her ring, I knew that it was with the bottle.
• That Mr. Echo guy is a little weird. I wonder if that's his real name or his rebirth-in-the-jungle name.
• The tail section survivors seemed to have made knives and spear out of salvaged and sharpened aircraft aluminum. I wonder how they managed to sharpen that stuff. Rocks, maybe?
• Jin seems to be really good at that whole fishing thing. I'd have thought that he could make a pretty nice living with that and not have to work as a busboy, waiter, or a doorman, but I don't really know much about Korean culture. Do they have a rigid class system?
• It's funny that Sun and that guy didn't speak any English to each other since, you know, she knew he went to school in the US right when they met. Could it be that she didn't speak the language yet? Did she learn it after she met Jin?
• There are boar on this side of the island too, and Jin is lucky he wasn't gorged.
• Did anyone else think the hotel guy was gonna tell Sun he was gay?
• So, I guess "the others" have never heard of shoes. Kinda funny from a group of people who give their children teddy bears to play with.
• Was the teddy bear supposed to be significant? It looked familiar somehow, but I can't recall if I've seen on the show before.
• Kate seemed oddly sentimental about Sawyer.
• Michael doesn't seem to have any common sense, whatsoever. Tear-assing around an uncharted jungle screaming out for his son and the murderous kidnappers who took him armed only with a stick?
  
• Seems like that book Jin's friend had was pretty spot on. The chick in the orange dress literally led Jin right in to Sun.
• I really liked learning more about Jin and Sun, but I can't help but feel like I missed something in the subtitles.
• I see a problem coming between Sawyer, Anna Lucia, and Kate. Maybe Jack too.
• Have the explained why Sun seems to know so much about botany? Doesn't she have a degree in art history? It's kinda funny how no one seems to question this because she's Korean.
• It doesn't make sense for the tail section group to not share information with the raft survivors. It's not like they don't have the time. Besides, wouldn't the tail section group want to learn what our guys know about the others?
• When Jin and Echo were talking about Jin being married and Jin asked Echo if he was married, did Echo reply, "No. Worse.?" What's that about?
• The tail section group has a radio. Were they the ones who answered Boone last season?
• The others we've encountered in the jungle and the others we've encountered on the raft don't seem to be the same group of people. The raft bunch had technology and clothes. The jungle group looked much more feral.

That's it for now, I guess. Until November, then.

No New Lost for Three Weeks

Damn it.

The next episode looks really good, too.

I'll post more about tonight's show tomorrow morning.

Till then; mahala, be-atch!

Comic Book Day - 10/19/05

Yippee yay hoo.

Today is an oddly expensive day for comics. Nothing huge came out, just a bunch of little odds and ends.

Here's what I picked up:

• Batman #646
• Birds of Prey #87
• Captain Atom: Armageddon #1(of 9)
  
• Green Lantern Corps: Recharge #2(of 6)
• Justice #2(of 12)
• Manhunter #15
• Robin #143
• Superman #222
• Supreme Power: Hyperion #2(of 6)

I also picked up the alternate cover of Infinite Crisis #1, just for kicks. The comic shop I go to was having a big $1 comic sale today too, but I couldn't really find anything I liked. It was sad. I cried.

Problems with The Shat

There's a little blurb in the Washington Post today about William Shatner, or, as I like to call him, The Shat, being taken to the hospital yesterday after complaining of lower back pain.

He's apparently fine, though, which is a relief cause I don't think I could live in a world without Captain Kirk.

Speaking of The Shat-man, I've been watching Boston Legal lately (it's on after Commander-In-Chief) and am quite impressed by it. Sure, it's completely unrealistic, but it's so quirky and altogether strange that I can overlook its utter detachment from reality.

Shatner, in particular, though, is what really makes the show fun. He plays a renowned trial attorney who seems to have lost his mind in his old age. The character's behavior is so absurd that I can't help but giggle every time he comes into frame.

So, if you're not doing anything at 10pm on Tuesday night, check out Boston Legal on ABC. Bill really did earn that Emmy.

Dick Cheney Might Resign?

Huh? What magics are these?

And just where the hell did this come from?

According to US News and World Report, today's Washington Post article has started a slew of rumors that the Dick might resign. And no, the seemingly extra "the" is not a mistake.

For those of you who only read, I dunno, The News-Press, the article was about how the Independent Counsel's office is focusing their investigation of the White House CIA leak on the VP's office. For Dick, that's some bad frelling news right there. I mean, how embarrassing must it be to have hand-picked a staff now under investigation for treason?

Anyway, as if Dick's departure wasn't enough, there are also rumors that Condi might replace him. I can only imagine the kind of confirmation battle that'll be. And if such is the case, the only way you'll get me away from C-SPAN is by prying the remote from my cold, dead hands.

Brookstone: Taking Stupid People's Money

It seems that more and more lately, my focus here tends to lean toward incredibly stupid products. I suppose it's just luck that I chose Fumbles McStupid as a name rather than something more in line with my original intent; to keep from shitting myself out of sheer boredom.

That said, let's take a look at today's waste of technology, brought to us, of course, by one of the industry's two biggest overpriced gimmick technology stores, Brookstone (In case you were wondering, the other store is The Sharper Image).

The Radar Pitch Baseball is a baseball that clocks its own speed. The thing has a non-replaceable battery that'll last about 60k pitches, an 80ft range, and a maximum speed clock of 120mph.

That's all well and good, but mysteriously absent in the description of features is any mention of this thing's ability to be used as a baseball. It makes sense, I guess. The Radar Pitch would cost a whole lot more than 25 bucks if its internals could repeatedly resist the impact of a bat.

I gotta ask, though, are they really asking people to buy a baseball that can only be pitched and not hit? Seems kinda stupid to me. But, then again, so do all sports.

Really, though, I don't know what I expected from a store that actually sells $200 laser pointers. If there's a good supply of morons out there who don't value their money, why not do them a favor and take it?

The Colbert Réport

The Colbert Réport premiered last night and, as expected, was freakin' hilarious.

Stephen Colbert is well suited to this type of thing and The Réport makes an excellent addition to Comedy Central's fake news coverage.

Most surprising, though, was how quirky Stone Phillips turned out to be. Maybe it was just the witty, and rather insulting, questions and remarks Colbert was presenting him with, but the guy was not at all what I expected.

Among my favorite parts of last night's show were the big "C's" rant on former Reagan White House Press Secretary James Brady's opposition to guns and the fact that the show isn't actually called The Colbert Report, but rather The Colbert Réport, with the "t" in report mimicking the silent "t" in Colbert.

All in all, a very good show and definitely something I intend to keep watching.

Random Thought

Those of you who read this blog regularly know that aside from some strange preoccupation with robots, my superdorkery exists in two forms; comic books and politics. So you can imagine my confusion when I read the following headline in the Washington Post the other day: Specter to Press Miers in Hearings.

I had to read it three times before I realized that they were talking about Arlen Specter and not The Specter.

Anywho, that's all, really. Just another exciting adventure in dorkitude.

Nicotine Gel

Wow, this is pretty sad. Nicogel is a nicotine gel that's absorbed through the skin.

Is nicotine really so great that you need to get it in gel form?

I guess that's not the point, eh? As long as this stuff is addictive, there's always a potential customer.

Apparently, one bottle'll give you the same fix as 50 cigarettes and will cost you about 18 bucks.

Have fun!

Crisis Counseling - 10/17/05

Well, Infinite Crisis is here and it doesn't disappoint.

Some quick thoughts:

• Two Luthor's? WTF?
• Earth 2 Supes and Lois + Earth 3 Alexander Luthor + Earth Prime Superboy = Super Badass
• Bats' comment to Supes about the last time he was an inspiration made me laugh out loud

Check out the new Countdown(?).

Wedding Day

Still down in Ft. Myers.

The wedding is today and all seems to be going relatively well. Well, well in that the hotel and church haven't burned down and there aren't any hurricanes baring down on us.

Should be an interesting day. Lexatron doesn't seem nervous at all, but The Girl has been running around non-stop to get everything ready. It's a shame I can't be of more use, but without a car down here, the most I can do is sit in the hotel and read comic books.

I'm told that I can also go out on to the beach, since the hotel's right on the water, but who the fuck wants to do that?

Infinite Crisis #1

So, I just finished reading Infinite Crisis #1 and it was fucking awesome.

Can't really write much about it now, but Earth-2 Superman and Lois, Earth Prime Superboy, and Alexander Luthor!!!!

!

Bad ass. Bad ass, indeed.

Out of Town

Lexatron and The Girl are getting married this weekend, so it's back to the hurricane infested heat-box until Sunday.

I don't know if they have things like the "inter-web" or indoor plumbing down in wonderful Lee County, Florida, so this might be my last post for a few days.

If I'm not back by Monday, avenge my death.

The Colbert Report

The New York Times is running an article on The Colbert Report.

For anyone who doesn't know, and is thusly a loser, The Colbert Report is the new spin-off of The Daily Show and premiers Monday night at 11:30pm on Comedy Central.

The idea originally started as a goof segment on The Daily Show in the form of a commercial for a current events debate show in the same vein as Hardball and The O'Reilly Factor. Stephen Colbert, one of TDS's fake news correspondents, played the host.

The idea was hilarious, so they actually made the show.

Wall Street Journal Article on the CIA Leak Thing

The Wall Street Journal is running an article on possible indictments in the ongoing CIA Leak investigation.

Apparently, Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald is now looking in to what is being called the "White House Iraq Group." This group is said to be largely responsible for crafting the administration's war plans and media message and would have likely dealt with Ambassador Wilson's charges against going to war on false pretenses. Included in this group, among other high level Bush Administration officials, are both Scooter Libby, Chief of Staff to the Vice President, and Karl Rove, Deputy White House Chief of Staff.

I wonder who else was involved with this group.

Should be interesting to see what happens. It's a shame that no one seems to take treason seriously anymore.

Don't Drink and Drive in DC

The Washington Post is reporting that the Metro Police have the authority to arrest anyone caught driving with a measurable amount of alcohol in their system.

Here's a quote from the article:

As D.C. police officer Dennis Fair ... put it in an interview recently: "If you get behind the wheel of a car with any measurable amount of alcohol, you will be dealt with in D.C. We have zero tolerance. . . . Anything above .01, we can arrest."

And:

Fair acknowledged that many people aren't aware of the District's policy. "But it is our law," he said. "If you don't know about it, then you're a victim of your own ignorance."

So watch out, people. Even though the police acknowledge that they don't win or even prosecute a lot of these cases, they'll still arrest you and throw you in a cell until the booze works its way out of your system.

Seems a bit ridiculous to me. I mean, why even have a legal limit for driving under the influence if it's also illegal to have had any alcohol whatsoever? This zero tolerance law is stipulated with the qualifier that the driver has to be driving pretty badly to begin with, but how is that different from the standard DUI laws? Someone could be drunk off their ass, but if they're driving as if they weren't, then a cop has no cause to pull them over. The police can't randomly stop people to see if they're drunk; the public has to be notified in advance of roadblocks and such.

This just seems like an unfair way to boost the city's revenue stream.

Comic Book Day - 10/12/05

Well, its Wednesday and Infinite Crisis is finally upon us. I much more excited about this than any grown man should be. But, then again, up until two years ago, I still played with GI Joes.

Anywho, here's what I'm picking up today:

• Action Comics #832
• Firestorm #18
• Green Arrow #55
• Infinite Crisis #1(of 7)
• JLA #120
• Villains United #6(of 6)

I might also pick up Nightwing #113. I've been mostly avoiding the Nightwing Villains United tie-ins because they really only seem peripherally involved in the main story.

A Good Day for Democrats, A Sad State of Affairs for the United States

So, for those Democrats as bitter and partisan as me, today was an exceptionally good day.

Let's just take a look at some of the goodness AMERICAblog is reporting this evening:

• Special Prosecutor looking at Cheney?
• Matt Lauer Seriously ticks off Bush
• NBC's Fineman: White House in civil war over Karl Rove
• Bush recants acceptance of responsibility for Katrina mess
• Poll: 50% say Congress should consider impeaching Bush if he lied about Iraq
• BREAKING: Frist earned tens of thousands of dollars on stocks OUTSIDE of the blind trust
• How do you spell "Indictment"? S-c-o-o-t-e-r

I'm excited, but also conflicted. Did shit really have to get this bad before the rest of the country woke up? I guess that what we get for watching the reality tv garbage. Yeah, that's right, Mom. Watch something with a plot for gods' sake!

New MSN Mail Beta Preview

Paul Thurott's SuperSite for Windows has a preview of Mircosoft's new webmail offering for Hotmail and MSN. They're calling it "Kahuna."

The new system apparently uses AJAX, which is good, but is still bloated with bandwidth wasting graphical ads, which, quite frankly, sucks goat ass.

There are some other trivial new "features" like drag-and-drop sorting and a streamlined interface that resembles the newest version of Outlook, but that's about it, really.

In the end, though, you're better off with Gmail, I think. But if you'd like to give this thing a whirl, click here to add your name to a beta test list.

And to The Girl: yes, you'll probably lose all of your mail again in the transition. Apparently Microsoft are just dicks about that.

Shower Water Temperature Gauge

Via Engadget comes the Safe Shower Temperature Gauge, a 20 dollar replacement for common sense. Tired of not being able to tell from your burnt and blistered skin that the water is too fucking hot? Well then, this waste of technology is for you.

Complete with a digital read-out and (gasp!) a clock, this worthless little do-dad will no doubt fill that void of despair you've been feeling for the past few years. Either that or, when the water pressure finally forces this thing from the end of the pipe, you'll be smacked in the head with two high speed chunks of debris rather than the standard one.

Yay!

History of Crisis On Infinite Earths

Monitor Duty has an awesome series of posts detailing the original Crisis that turned the DC Universe into what it is today.

It's some great reading for anyone who could never quite wrap their head around Crisis on Infinite Earths or is even moderately interested in the upcoming Infinite Crisis.

I really gotta give Alan Kistler some props here. This guy writes some spectacular articles on the histories of DC Comics characters that really make you want to go out and buy their books. His article on Aquaman a while back made think twice about not liking the character - well, I don't really dislike Aquaman; it's just that ever since Superfriends he's been way too easy to make fun of.

Anyway, check these out. They're pretty long and there are a bunch of them, but it's well worth it.

• Intro
• Phases 1-6
• Phaese 7-10
• Conclusion
• Crisis Characters - Where Are They Now?

The "Where Are They Now?" article has some spoilers for The Return of Donna Troy #4 and Villains United, so beware.

Man, ABC is a Quirky Bunch

Found these websites last Thursday after watching "Orientation," episode 2x03 of Lost.

The Hanso Foundation
The Hanso Foundation is supposed to be the corporate website of the company that is sponsoring the Dharma Initiative, the cookey science group that seems to be studying the island in some way.

The site has some interesting clues to what might be happening on the show. The "Active Projects" page, in particular. Remote viewing and mathematical forecasting seem to obvious enough, but the juxtaposition eugenics really caught my eye. Also, at the bottom of this is a hidden link to a version of the orientation video from last week's episode. I say "a version" because it is, in fact, different.

The Dharma Initiative
Haven't really been able to do much with this one. I can't figure out the password, if there even is one. This site has actually changed a bit since I first found it. The little login link under the logo is slightly different than before and it now brings up an independent login box, where before it just took you to a flash animation feigning an IP confirmation.

I don't know what ABC is up to with these sites (and it is ABC, the terms and conditions link takes you to a Disney legal disclaimer), but good for them for really using all of their resources to really make this show something special.

Now I just have to wait another two fucking days to find out why the hell Jin was speaking perfect god damn English in the promo for this week's episode. Ass fairies.

I shouldn't be surprised, though, this is, of course, the same network that tries to pass Alias off as serious television. JJ, I dig your work on Lost, man, but what the fuck is up that shit?

Infinite Crisis This Week After All

Heh, looks like DC's website wasn't completely full of shit afterall.

According to Diamond, Infinite Crisis #1 does, in fact, ship this Wednesday.

Super fun happy time!

Some Crazy Bastards at Unicef

Unicef, The United Nations Children's Fund, has created an ad in Belgium that uses the Smurfs to draw attention to plight of war-torn children.

This is no happy commercial, though. In fact, it's pretty smurfed up.

Here's the description from a Daily Telegraph article:

The short film pulls no punches. It opens with the Smurfs dancing, hand-in-hand, around a campfire and singing the Smurf song. Bluebirds flutter past and rabbits gambol around their familiar village of mushroom- shaped houses until, without warning, bombs begin to rain from the sky.

Tiny Smurfs scatter and run in vain from the whistling bombs, before being felled by blast waves and fiery explosions. The final scene shows a scorched and tattered Baby Smurf sobbing inconsolably, surrounded by prone Smurfs.

The final frame bears the message: "Don't let war affect the lives of children."

That's one crazy smurfin' ad, right there. This might even be more harsh than that unaired landmine ad from awhile back.

I guess the UN just got tired of always being called a bunch of pussies.

All of My Ironing Dreams Come True!

The IronMan Ironing Board is an ironing board shaped, roughly, like a person. It's got an extra wide chest and shoulder area to make ironing shirts a bit easier and the shaped leg area looks like it'll make doing pants a snap.

I am so hot for this thing. I dig ironing way more than any healthy man should. But god damn it, I can get a shirt to stand up on its own, so I don't care.

Sadly, though, as if to torture me for no apparent reason, this fucking thing costs about 200 bucks.

If I ever spend that kind of money on an ironing board, the shit box had better iron my clothes itself.

Bastards...

Crisis Counseling - 09/10/05

New Crisis Counseling up over at DC.

The conclusion to The Return of Donna Troy was a little weird. I had never followed the Donna Troy character before this mini, so it only had my interest in so far as it was Infinite Crisis related, but the payoff was pretty nice. But really, who is it that knows about the multiverse now? Donna Troy, Psycho Pirate, and Animal Man? Pretty screwy group right there.

I guess we'll find out for sure starting this week, though. DC's website, if it can be trusted - and it usually can't - claims that Infinite Crisis #1 ships on Wednesday.

Joy...