Nothing

All this week I can't seem to find anything to be passionate about. I am an emotional void. Maybe watching 21 Grams didn't help with its screwed-up people and pain and loathing.

I mean I could post about the Reagan brothers tiff, or the breast MRI thing, but nothing is really making me feel anything. I could post about the really big bomb that went off a couple of days ago killing all of those poor people in Iraq who only wanted to get through the day and maybe make their world a little better place, but something bad happens there or in Israel or the Gaza Strip or Sudan every damn day and then a sort of guilt-laced apathy seeps into me and I...feel...nothing.

Hemingway asked what John Donne asked: For Whom the Bell Tolls? Does it really toll for thee? For me?

Maybe I should just play NIN's Hurt on a constant loop thereby bringing about the heat-death of the universe where everything recedes back into an all encompassing singularity and "POP!" there goes the known universe.

Or not.

Freeze them on the "ark"

They are preserving endangered animals' DNA by freezing the genetic information for future study, sort of like a Noah's Ark of DNA. Or a strange, yet practical Jurassic Park type thing

Prayers for rain

Rituals performed to the goddess Indra for rain in India. The ritual is called a yagya.

And an Indian comedian-actor performed his own ritual to bring rain.

Maybe a story in here, not sure.

Take that stupid pop-up advertiser

I may be wrong to get happy at the news of a denial of service attack against the annoying pop-up ad company DoubleClick, but...Who gives shit! I hate those guys with their tracking spyware and their damn unwanted pop-ups for wieght-loss products and loans.

Screw'em.

An Army of Boobs

As an incentive to women, the US Army is offering breast enhancement, er, I mean boob jobs.

(Thanks Brandon)

The Case of the Lady and the Vending Machine

I get a fifteen minute break at work to not be at my desk and get some me time. The last thing I want to do is talk to people I either know from work or don't know at all. Yes, I am an antisocial fu*k and no, I do not want to change. You see, when I go for a walk around downtown on my fifteen minute break I escape into my head and either think about what I have to do when I get home or how I can better myself or what life would be like if I was indestructible, masked, and had a secret underground lair.

So yesterday afternoon I am walking down the hallway on my way to the stairwell when some broad in tight pin-striped pants stops me and asks if I work on this floor? Yes, I reply I do, and keep moving hoping that she will leave me alone or is only asking for directions to another suite. She moves with me and asks if I know about the vending machine and who she could contact about getting her fifty cents back. As I keep moving toward the stairwell door she goes on about how she put fifty cents into the machine and hit the specific buttons and waited for her bag of chips to fall, but nothing came out and she would really like her chips because she put her money in and she did not get anything and that there is no contact number and there should be one because there usually is one and she has no chips and can't get her money back. Are you annoyed yet? Because I was. I smiled, nodded my head and kept moving. She must have followed me about thirty feet yabbering away about her lost f-ing money while at least twice I told her that I did not know anything about the machine other than that a man comes every once in a while to refill the thing. Sorry. Gotta go. Good luck.

And I am in the stairwell and out the door and on my break. Jesus, I thought she was going to start beating me for losing her money and being out a bag of chips.

I guess she really wanted those chips, huh?

The French and their wine

When I went to Paris I was in wine heaven. Great wine for low prices and everyone was drinking it at all hours of the day. I love wine, especially the reds. And I really like French wine. I also like a few from Oregon and Washington, from Australia, and, when I can find it, South African wines also.

And my point is that France's wineries are in financial trouble and mother nature isn't helping.

Stifling innovation

Have you heard of the Inducing Infringement of Copyrights Act? According to this politician:

'Sponsored by Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), the Inducing of Copyright Infringement Act of 2004 would, in the senator's words, "simply confirm that existing law would allow artists to bring civil actions against parties who intend to induce others to infringe copyrights."' - Wired News

What the act could do is limit the advancement of technology. Maybe we could all go back to using vinyl albums played at 33 1/3 r.p.m. Maybe greedy bastards in media should not be such greedy bastards and Senator Hatch should not listen to every lobbyists that wants to buy him a power lunch.

Lawsuit for Global Warming

Several states have joined in a lawsuit over global warming against five large power companies. Guess the US governments position on this one.

Mercenaries claim they were employed by US

When did the War on Terror turn into a screwed-up version of Tom Clancy's Clear and Present Danger? These guys in Afghanistan have been arrested for running a private jail. They claim that they were under contract with the US Government and answered to Donald Rumsfeld and that they have been abandoned by their country and employers.

Wow. I wish I wrote a book like that.

Sweeping Health Care reforms called for

The National Coalition on Health Care and several bipartisan government representatives have been speaking out about rising health care costs and prescription drug prices.

'The number of Americans without insurance is projected to top 51 million by 2006, up from 41 million in 2001, the group said.' -SFGate.com

'A 45 percent price cut would let Congress eliminate a gap in coverage that will occur when Medicare's outpatient prescription drug benefit takes effect in 2006, the authors conclude.' - Forbes

You know that the pharmaceutical industry will not take a hit in the financial crotch like what they are proposing. At least not without either making up the money in other markets or through even more government subsidies. And you know how I feel about subsidies: If your company is turning a profit, why is that company getting taxpayer dollars? Man, I hate government subsidizing of big businesses.

Rape and genocide in Sudan

I really hate these bastards. I think they should be made into eunuchs and forced to clean toilets and streets all damn day long, and in their off time they should be caned. The sooner the UN can put forces on the ground to prevent the rape and murder in Durfur, the better. It's time for the peaceful nations of the world to pony up and stop the bullies in Sudan.

Hanging out

Young'uns in the Florida Keys are hanging themselves from meat hooks. Yes, actually piercing themselves with the hooks and then hanging from them.

Ouch. My nipples hurt just thinking about it. Very "A Man Called Horse" kind of thing to do on a Saturday afternoon, huhm?

The penis in the news

And my question is; if you can't ever remember having something, how can you miss it?

Buckminster Fuller gets a stamp

I've been thinking about synchronicity lately. Thinking about how and why certain things happen to come together. I was reading Robert Anton Wilson's Cosmic Trigger Part 1 and I came across a paragraph about Buckminster Fuller's geodesic domes and then I check the Internet news and find out the guy was given a stamp. Weird, huh?

And here's a pretty interesting article about Fuller and tetrahedrons and crazy ideas. Please, inject a little weirdness into your brain and enjoy.

Tiger killed instead of tranqued

They were supposed to tranq the tiger, not shoot him dead. And I'd also like to know why a wildlife officer was carrying a shotgun to hunt a tiger. You do not use a shotgun to hunt a tiger. As a matter of fact, the Geneva Convention says that shotguns are an inhumane weapon. But like most rules of the Geneva Convention, our country, like the Pirates of the Caribbean, look at them more as guidelines. So they used an inhumane weapon to shoot a tiger five times to kill him instead of shooting him with a tranquelizer gun. Sounds like Bubba the idiot, whose job as a wildlife officer is relatively boring, wanted to bag himself a tiger. That's f-ing wonderful.

I hate people.

McCain shows leadership

And at least someone in the GOP, and our government is. John McCain is the one Republican I would vote for because he is smart and has character and is one of the more liberal conservatives in the senate. McCain took a stand against Bush and stated that banning same-sex marriages is unconstitutional.

It really is refreshing to see anyone take a stand on anything in this time of close-mindedness, fear, and conformity.

Unneeded and unwanted complexity

When did we become a nation that cannot make a decision? The last time our government, which is supposed to be an extension of the people, had to make a decision it was thrown into the hands of people who are not supposed to be deciding politics and policy. During the last presidential election,the use of the Supreme Court, a judiciary branch of the government, in deciding our electoral process was strange and in the gray area of constitutionality.

I think our inability to make decisions as a nation and people started with lies. Lies complicate things beyond measure, adding complexity to an already complex system, our government.

The lie in question that started all of this confusion and ambiguity was the assassination of John F. Kennedy and the creation of the Warren Commission to investigate the event. When, after years of investigation (and I use the word loosely) and the destruction of evidence by intelligence agencies and other government offices, we were given 888 (isn't that a fishy number in an Illuminati kind of way) pages of an indictment that was reached in an inept and clumsy manner. It took years for the commission to decide that one man outwitted the nation's security and made a very impressive shot that killed, in my opinion, the last president who made decisions that truly changed the status quo.

Which brings us to today's CIA, which is yesterday's CIA, and the skewed information provided to Bush's White House as grounds for the war in Iraq and yet another committee's 12 month deliberation in finding that CIA was at fault (by the by, I found this on Disinfo). Which is really no answer because we can't decide on what kind of pressure the White House used in obtaining the info from the CIA or if someone outright lied.

Welcome to the Status Q; nothing has changed and I don't think anyone really cares as long as the gas is relatively affordable and we can all still put food on the table. And I guess that's the answer right there. We just don't care. And in keeping with my geekiness, I use an example from science fiction, namely Frank Herbert's Dune. In that book, the status quo is being fought to be maintained by the people who have the most to fear from change: The government and big business. Remember, "The spice must flow." Or the oil must flow. Or the money must flow.

It's your world - Change it.

Saturn's Rings and Cassini

The Cassini spacecraft has confirmed that Saturn's rings are comprised of ice from water and other liquids, and gunk.

"Nobody knows what the gunk is made of, he explained, but it is likely silicates and organic material, the stuff of rocks and dirt on Earth. The ice is also thought to contain water mixed with other frozen substances such as ammonia." from Space.com

Scientists are still not sure how the rings formed, but there are a few theories out there.

Is this the dingo?

Almost three years ago, during the Christmas holiday, our Australian Cattle Dog-mutt ran away from my parents' home in Miami. We searched for her for weeks, but could not find her. My wife and I felt like a part of ourselves had died. Jacqui still checks the lost and found and on a whim checked in Georgia. And now I wonder, after comparing photos of ours to this dog, if this is our dingo. In Georgia.

No hay banda.

There is no band.

Jacqui and I watched David Lynch's Mullholland Drive last week. When it was over we watched half of it again before we went to bed. I think I know what is about; the way you know that if you are doing something you have never done before and know, although you have never been told, that what you are doing is naughty.

Here is a cool deconstruction of the film.

Something else I am not allowed to do

Running with the bulls in Pamplona, Spain is something I am not allowed to do. All acts of incredible stupidity and danger have been outlawed by my loving wife. No more skydiving, no bull runs, no...You know what I mean. I guess I can only live vicariously through Dennis Rodman, who did run with the bulls.

Ahhhhh. How I miss those adrenaline rushes.

Panda shooting blanks

Ling Ling the panda can't get his mate preggers, even through artificial insemination.

Wow, I just thought about how rude that sounds. How would I feel if I was a panda that couldn't seal the deal and propagate and the whole world knew about it? "That would make me a sad panda," to misquote The Sexual Harassment Panda from South Park.

Damn you Robitussin!

A recent study shows that cough medicine really doesn't help get rid of coughs.

"Consumers spend billions of dollars each year on over-the-counter medications for cough……but our study showed that the two ingredients used in most over-the-counter medications were no better than a placebo, non-medicated syrup, in providing nighttime relief for children with cough and sleep difficulty as a result of upper-respiratory infection.”- Dr. Ian Paul, Asst. Pediatrics Professor