People talk about being addicted to alcohol, drugs, tobacco, food... etc.
I am addicted to the Internet.
Five days ago, I blew up my PC by trying to install some memory without unplugging the damn thing first. Four days ago, I acquired a new, faster motherboard, a new case, a video card, and a network card. The next four days are a frustrating struggle to figure out why my wireless card is fubar, and why my video card takes a big poop when my two network cards are in a certain slot, and why the wireless router doesn't work for anyone else in the house when it's on my PC desk, but if I move it four feet to my Mac desk, everything works fine (all the internet must have been going out the window).
An hour ago, I finally got my Internet working again.
Those four days were impossibly long. I didn't realize how much of my routine involved the 'net; in the morning, while I'm having coffee, I surf the blogs. While I'm waiting at the bus stop or riding the bus, I listen to podcasts or new music. I play a *lot* of online poker. At night, I chat up my friends on the IM, and watch friends of mine that make final tables in 20-table tournaments. (congrats, Kevin!!!)
I couldn't do any of that, and I felt SO LOST. I would listen to the radio when I could to get some news, and I've actually been reduced to reading the GF Herald to get snippets of what's been happening with Alito (confirmed) and the Prez'dint (bombed the SOTU). I got a book from the library (Neil Gaiman's "Anansi Boys") and read it in the garage while smoking a cigar yesterday because I had two hours to kill and no idea what to do with myself.
I did my taxes today... sort of. I still have to mail my signed form to the IRS, but other than that, everything is filed and complete. The Lifetime Learning credit is non-refundable, and that's bullshit. However, if I remain a destitute student, next year I will qualify for the EIC, which is most definitely refundable.
In other news, I found a pair of flannel pants at target for $4. I am so sick of Diggnation that I will strongly consider deleting it from my video-podcast directory. GOD those guys are (-1, Offtopic). I still can't get my iMac on the internet. I need another ethercable to put into the switch; you can't just plug an ethernet cable from one computer into another and expect it to work. (to which I say: WHY THE FUCK NOT???)
It's good to be back. If you'll excuse me, I have some surfing to do; there is much tv to be downloaded.
January 31, 2006
January 26, 2006
i hate my computer
Mozilla took six minutes to load a website on my PC today. I know this because I was able to listen to two songs back-to-back before i was able to navigate the 2+2 homepage.
i feel like crap. i don't have enough to do; no job (save for six hours on the weekends), no money, and no car. so i just sit in my house and drink.
here's a link.
go ahead and die.
i feel like crap. i don't have enough to do; no job (save for six hours on the weekends), no money, and no car. so i just sit in my house and drink.
here's a link.
go ahead and die.
January 25, 2006
a legend was born
True Story of one of the best online tournament poker players in the world.
I'm talking like top 5.
Darrell Dicken, aka Gigabet.
It's probably too late for you, but this is how you become the best.
I'm talking like top 5.
Darrell Dicken, aka Gigabet.
It's probably too late for you, but this is how you become the best.
January 21, 2006
January 18, 2006
a little bit funky
DJ Sasha is -- BY FAR -- my favorite DJ. The live show he performed for Radio One's Essential Mix is probably my favorite trance mix of all time. No, you know what, scratch the probably... it's the best. If you're good, I might even link to it so you can download and listen to what was voted (in a landslide) the best Essential Mix of 2005.
Sasha performed a live show in Gypsyla---uh, ...Australia on January 13th, and you can listen to it on the Radio One website. Unfortunately, the BBC Radio Player is a fairly limited device, and before you can get to the good stuff, you have to listen to the show's DJ, Annie Nightingale, mix a brief show first (as well as promote some live shows across the pond that I would cut off two fingers to see). Her accent is 180 degrees from sexy, and her choice in music is.... well... boring.
So, if you can survive the first part of the show intact, you will be treated to the world's best DJ mixing a freakin' sweet set.
But only if you click this link. (This link will only lead to the Sasha show until January 20th, so get there quick and get your fix.)
Oh, and while I'm at it, I encourage you to listen to the Essential Mix on BBC Radio 1 every week. I have never not liked it. If you ever loved, liked, or didn't hate dance music, you will love this show. If you ever wanted to learn anything about dance music, or if you ever wanted to seem European without wearing a turtleneck and carrying a purse, you will love this show. In fact, why are you still reading this? Go there and tap your foot or wiggle your butt in your chair or whatever you like to do. Right now. Go on.... I dare you.
Sasha performed a live show in Gypsyla---uh, ...Australia on January 13th, and you can listen to it on the Radio One website. Unfortunately, the BBC Radio Player is a fairly limited device, and before you can get to the good stuff, you have to listen to the show's DJ, Annie Nightingale, mix a brief show first (as well as promote some live shows across the pond that I would cut off two fingers to see). Her accent is 180 degrees from sexy, and her choice in music is.... well... boring.
So, if you can survive the first part of the show intact, you will be treated to the world's best DJ mixing a freakin' sweet set.
But only if you click this link. (This link will only lead to the Sasha show until January 20th, so get there quick and get your fix.)
Oh, and while I'm at it, I encourage you to listen to the Essential Mix on BBC Radio 1 every week. I have never not liked it. If you ever loved, liked, or didn't hate dance music, you will love this show. If you ever wanted to learn anything about dance music, or if you ever wanted to seem European without wearing a turtleneck and carrying a purse, you will love this show. In fact, why are you still reading this? Go there and tap your foot or wiggle your butt in your chair or whatever you like to do. Right now. Go on.... I dare you.
January 17, 2006
Why President Gore would have been an American hero, Part 1,623,471:
(note: Al Gore is still an American hero, despite having an election stolen from him, too.)
From Gore's speech on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day:
Fear drives out reason. Fear suppresses the politics of discourse and opens the door to the politics of destruction. Justice Brandeis once wrote: "Men feared witches and burnt women."
The founders of our country faced dire threats. If they failed in their endeavors, they would have been hung as traitors. The very existence of our country was at risk.
Yet, in the teeth of those dangers, they insisted on establishing the Bill of Rights.
Is our Congress today in more danger than were their predecessors when the British army was marching on the Capitol? Is the world more dangerous than when we faced an ideological enemy with tens of thousands of missiles poised to be launched against us and annihilate our country at a moment's notice? Is America in more danger now than when we faced worldwide fascism on the march-when our fathers fought and won two World Wars?
It is simply an insult to those who came before us and sacrificed so much on our behalf to imply that we have more to be fearful of than they. Yet they faithfully protected our freedoms and now it is up to us to do the same.
From Gore's speech on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day:
Fear drives out reason. Fear suppresses the politics of discourse and opens the door to the politics of destruction. Justice Brandeis once wrote: "Men feared witches and burnt women."
The founders of our country faced dire threats. If they failed in their endeavors, they would have been hung as traitors. The very existence of our country was at risk.
Yet, in the teeth of those dangers, they insisted on establishing the Bill of Rights.
Is our Congress today in more danger than were their predecessors when the British army was marching on the Capitol? Is the world more dangerous than when we faced an ideological enemy with tens of thousands of missiles poised to be launched against us and annihilate our country at a moment's notice? Is America in more danger now than when we faced worldwide fascism on the march-when our fathers fought and won two World Wars?
It is simply an insult to those who came before us and sacrificed so much on our behalf to imply that we have more to be fearful of than they. Yet they faithfully protected our freedoms and now it is up to us to do the same.
ich bin traurig
Those of you who listen to my angry ramblings are familiar with my belief that when the 2008 presidential election "happens," a couple of things are likely to occur:
1) The President will scare voters away by leaking "information" to the "media" that "the terrorists" are going to target voting places, encouraging the fearful and weak of spirit to stay home and not vote the criminal incumbent party out of office.
If that doesn't look like it's going to work,
2) The President will declare that national security is so tenuous that America cannot withstand a change of leadership during this "time of war," and refuse to give up the White House, period. The "media" hails Dear Leader as "visionary" and "courageous" as the now-lifetime-appointed Totalitarian Dictator lights a cigar on the burning corner of the Constitution.
Considering this little thought experiment, as I often do while walking to a bus stop/waiting for a bus/riding the bus, I decided that it is unlikely that the President would reject our system of elections. Europe, Latin America, Asia, and Canada (!) probably wouldn't stand for such a reversal of fortune in the world's richest country.
The enlightened wealthy leader class in America is one step ahead of me, though, like it always is. They don't need to revoke elections in order to remain in power in perpetuity.
Diebold can build machines to steal elections, call them "paperless voting machines," and then pay Representative #1, Bob Ney of Ohio, thousands of dollars to write and help pass a law that mandates the use of these election-stealing machines in every precinct in America.
Then they can continue to pay Election Stealer #1 thousands of dollars to ensure that a reform bill with over 100 bipartisan co-sponsors never leaves the committee of which E.S. #1 is the chair.
So now, despite exit polls to the contrary, Republicans can "win" every "election," and nobody can challenge the results because the only company with access to them is Diebold, whose chairman promised to "deliver the election" to President Bush in 2004. Wasn't Ohio the last battleground state? Was it ever really a battleground state? Will it be the last battleground state ever, as every election in America ends 51-49 in favor of the criminal incumbent party?
Brilliant. Absolutely brilliant.
1) The President will scare voters away by leaking "information" to the "media" that "the terrorists" are going to target voting places, encouraging the fearful and weak of spirit to stay home and not vote the criminal incumbent party out of office.
If that doesn't look like it's going to work,
2) The President will declare that national security is so tenuous that America cannot withstand a change of leadership during this "time of war," and refuse to give up the White House, period. The "media" hails Dear Leader as "visionary" and "courageous" as the now-lifetime-appointed Totalitarian Dictator lights a cigar on the burning corner of the Constitution.
Considering this little thought experiment, as I often do while walking to a bus stop/waiting for a bus/riding the bus, I decided that it is unlikely that the President would reject our system of elections. Europe, Latin America, Asia, and Canada (!) probably wouldn't stand for such a reversal of fortune in the world's richest country.
The enlightened wealthy leader class in America is one step ahead of me, though, like it always is. They don't need to revoke elections in order to remain in power in perpetuity.
Diebold can build machines to steal elections, call them "paperless voting machines," and then pay Representative #1, Bob Ney of Ohio, thousands of dollars to write and help pass a law that mandates the use of these election-stealing machines in every precinct in America.
Then they can continue to pay Election Stealer #1 thousands of dollars to ensure that a reform bill with over 100 bipartisan co-sponsors never leaves the committee of which E.S. #1 is the chair.
So now, despite exit polls to the contrary, Republicans can "win" every "election," and nobody can challenge the results because the only company with access to them is Diebold, whose chairman promised to "deliver the election" to President Bush in 2004. Wasn't Ohio the last battleground state? Was it ever really a battleground state? Will it be the last battleground state ever, as every election in America ends 51-49 in favor of the criminal incumbent party?
Brilliant. Absolutely brilliant.
January 16, 2006
i can finally sleep safely tonight
last night:
dusty wrote:
sorry, i don't recognize your email address. who is this?
this morning:
On 1/16/06, Joe wrote:
tracy's bf dusty
...who? I continue to get confused. So:
dusty wrote:
oh.
sorry, i don't use bittorrent.
The game ends:
On 1/16/06, Joe wrote:
oops!!... i just found out i had gotten the email address wrong. the one i was supposed to use had a couple numbers after eldusto. sorry
----------------
This could just be a case of mistaken identity... but it could also be an attempt on the part of the media industry to ferret out bittorrent trackers. I certianly wouldn't put it past them. Curious.... curious indeed.
Oh, and check out Josh Christy's website. /plug
dusty
sorry, i don't recognize your email address. who is this?
this morning:
On 1/16/06, Joe
tracy's bf dusty
...who? I continue to get confused. So:
dusty
oh.
sorry, i don't use bittorrent.
The game ends:
On 1/16/06, Joe
oops!!... i just found out i had gotten the email address wrong. the one i was supposed to use had a couple numbers after eldusto. sorry
----------------
This could just be a case of mistaken identity... but it could also be an attempt on the part of the media industry to ferret out bittorrent trackers. I certianly wouldn't put it past them. Curious.... curious indeed.
Oh, and check out Josh Christy's website. /plug
January 15, 2006
curiosity killed the cat
Now this is a curious email:
-----
On 1/15/06, Joe wrote:
Could you give me a list of the torrent sites you use? i forgot to get them b4 i left.
-----
Joe who?
Left where?
Huh?
Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean they're not after you.
-----
On 1/15/06, Joe
Could you give me a list of the torrent sites you use? i forgot to get them b4 i left.
-----
Joe who?
Left where?
Huh?
Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean they're not after you.
January 11, 2006
scotch? or bourbon?
is crown royal scotch or bourbon?
I can never tell.
I'm not happy with the way the Alito hearing has been happening. I listened to the whole deal while I got clowned at the poker tables yesterday, and I gathered three things:
1) Republicans are cheerleaders for anyone else who might be Republican.
2) Roe v. Wade is not "settled law," it is subject to a "super-precedent."
3) *most important* the executive branch of government is not responsible to the legislative, even in cases where the executive claims exception from the legislative. most important of all, there might be situations where the executive can make decisions regardless of legislative imperatives, and these decisions WOULD NOT BE SUBJECT TO JUDICIAL REVIEW.
no links; it's way late, and i'm tired. this guy is clearly a bushie. i pray to the god that doesn't exist that the democrats filibuster; otherwise, i wonder whether or not there will be presidential elections in 2008.
all hail king george.
I can never tell.
I'm not happy with the way the Alito hearing has been happening. I listened to the whole deal while I got clowned at the poker tables yesterday, and I gathered three things:
1) Republicans are cheerleaders for anyone else who might be Republican.
2) Roe v. Wade is not "settled law," it is subject to a "super-precedent."
3) *most important* the executive branch of government is not responsible to the legislative, even in cases where the executive claims exception from the legislative. most important of all, there might be situations where the executive can make decisions regardless of legislative imperatives, and these decisions WOULD NOT BE SUBJECT TO JUDICIAL REVIEW.
no links; it's way late, and i'm tired. this guy is clearly a bushie. i pray to the god that doesn't exist that the democrats filibuster; otherwise, i wonder whether or not there will be presidential elections in 2008.
all hail king george.
January 9, 2006
don't look at the man behind the curtain
So if Samuel Alito is so freakin' awesome that he should be on the SCOTUS...
why is he telling the Senate, and by extension, the American public, to just ignore every organization he's been a part of, every job he's ever had, and everything he's ever said?
"Awww, relax, guy! I can change!"
why is he telling the Senate, and by extension, the American public, to just ignore every organization he's been a part of, every job he's ever had, and everything he's ever said?
"Awww, relax, guy! I can change!"
January 8, 2006
my fingers feel like hot dogs
my landlord and roommate travis is not from grand forks. therefore, he would not know if he rented his other (OTHER!) house out to some well-known members of the GFK party circut.
Well, he did just that. I went by, shook hands with the 40% of partygoers I am on a first-name basis with (GOD I HATE GFK) and joined in the live entertainment (three guys on guitar, and two guys plus me on hand drums). Great times, but my right hand will be extremely swollen and my extra knuckle will hurt like a bitch come morning.
(update: i was right. i can hardly hold a glass of water, and my hand is black and blue. sweeeeet.)
Well, he did just that. I went by, shook hands with the 40% of partygoers I am on a first-name basis with (GOD I HATE GFK) and joined in the live entertainment (three guys on guitar, and two guys plus me on hand drums). Great times, but my right hand will be extremely swollen and my extra knuckle will hurt like a bitch come morning.
(update: i was right. i can hardly hold a glass of water, and my hand is black and blue. sweeeeet.)
January 5, 2006
changing history, part 3
This is taken from AmericaBlog; I know you're all too lazy to click links, and I wanted a long post without having to do actual work, so here's the goods. There are more links and details on AmericaBlog, and I strongly encourage you to link/visit.
(4:30pm update of news that happened yesterday. Note that NBC did not say "Andrea Mitchell was wrong and should not have said what she said," they instead said "we are continuing our inquiry." Sounds like someone who doesn't want to publish a story they're not finished writing. So has Christiane been talking to Al-Qaeda, or what?)
-----
Well this is getting interesting. NBC just delete two paragraphs from its Andrea Mitchell interview, the paragraphs that talked about whether Bush was wiretapping ace CNN correspondent Christiane Amanpour (kudos to Atrios for spotting this).
Here's what the NBC "official" transcript used to say (I copied this text from NBC's own page only 2 hours ago):
Mitchell: Do you have any information about reporters being swept up in this net?
Risen: No, I don't. It's not clear to me. That's one of the questions we'll have to look into the future. Were there abuses of this program or not? I don't know the answer to that
Mitchell: You don't have any information, for instance, that a very prominent journalist, Christiane Amanpour, might have been eavesdropped upon?
Risen: No, no I hadn't heard that.
Here's what it says now:
Mitchell: Do you have any information about reporters being swept up in this net?
Risen: No, I don't. It's not clear to me. That's one of the questions we'll have to look into the future. Were there abuses of this program or not? I don't know the answer to that
Mitchell: You are very, very tough on the CIA and the administration in general in both the war on terror and the run up to the war and the war itself Â? the post-war operation. Let's talk about the war on terror. Why do you think they missed so many signals and what do you think caused the CIA to have this sort of break down as you describe it?
Risen: I think that, you know, to me, the greater break down was really on Iraq. It's very difficult to have known ahead of time about these 19 hijackers. They were, you know, probably lucky that they got through and they did something that no one really assumed anybody would ever do. And I think that made 9/11 a lot like Pearl Harbor. That even when you see all the clues in front of you that it's very difficult to put it together.
Since when is NBC in the business of deleting entire paragraphs from their official transcripts? What's going on here?
----
What, indeed.
(4:30pm update of news that happened yesterday. Note that NBC did not say "Andrea Mitchell was wrong and should not have said what she said," they instead said "we are continuing our inquiry." Sounds like someone who doesn't want to publish a story they're not finished writing. So has Christiane been talking to Al-Qaeda, or what?)
-----
Well this is getting interesting. NBC just delete two paragraphs from its Andrea Mitchell interview, the paragraphs that talked about whether Bush was wiretapping ace CNN correspondent Christiane Amanpour (kudos to Atrios for spotting this).
Here's what the NBC "official" transcript used to say (I copied this text from NBC's own page only 2 hours ago):
Mitchell: Do you have any information about reporters being swept up in this net?
Risen: No, I don't. It's not clear to me. That's one of the questions we'll have to look into the future. Were there abuses of this program or not? I don't know the answer to that
Mitchell: You don't have any information, for instance, that a very prominent journalist, Christiane Amanpour, might have been eavesdropped upon?
Risen: No, no I hadn't heard that.
Here's what it says now:
Mitchell: Do you have any information about reporters being swept up in this net?
Risen: No, I don't. It's not clear to me. That's one of the questions we'll have to look into the future. Were there abuses of this program or not? I don't know the answer to that
Mitchell: You are very, very tough on the CIA and the administration in general in both the war on terror and the run up to the war and the war itself Â? the post-war operation. Let's talk about the war on terror. Why do you think they missed so many signals and what do you think caused the CIA to have this sort of break down as you describe it?
Risen: I think that, you know, to me, the greater break down was really on Iraq. It's very difficult to have known ahead of time about these 19 hijackers. They were, you know, probably lucky that they got through and they did something that no one really assumed anybody would ever do. And I think that made 9/11 a lot like Pearl Harbor. That even when you see all the clues in front of you that it's very difficult to put it together.
Since when is NBC in the business of deleting entire paragraphs from their official transcripts? What's going on here?
----
What, indeed.
January 4, 2006
in other news
Swami Dusty had originally prognosticated that all the miners stuck in the mine shaft in West Virginia were dead. After all, the first man the rescuers found was dead, and it was public knowledge that the CO levels in the shaft were way too high for people to breathe.
I was off by one. (If you're counting, that's 11 less than the mining company was wrong by.)
I was off by one. (If you're counting, that's 11 less than the mining company was wrong by.)
close only counts in hand grenades and horseshoes
kevin was wrong.
(I said that during the only debate round that kevin and I ever had against each other, and I won. but that's not really why I won... I had supporting evidence, like this:)
it won't be the domestic spying thing that kills the republicans, and by proxy, president bush.
it will be this.
oh, and btw, this is Representative #1.
Number One, indeed.
(I said that during the only debate round that kevin and I ever had against each other, and I won. but that's not really why I won... I had supporting evidence, like this:)
it won't be the domestic spying thing that kills the republicans, and by proxy, president bush.
it will be this.
oh, and btw, this is Representative #1.
Number One, indeed.
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