Interesting article on wealth. Read this.

http://www.paulgraham.com/wealth.html

The Digital Millennium Copyright Act

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DMCA

I'm not sure if most of you know what this is. It is a copyright law that was passed in 1998 here in the United States of America. Uh, let me just copy the first paragraph from the wikipedia entry, to give you a feel for it:

The Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) is a United States copyright law. The act criminalizes production and dissemination of technology that can circumvent measures taken to protect copyright, not merely infringement of copyright itself, and heightens the penalties for copyright infringement on the Internet. Passed on May 14, 1998 by a unanimous vote in the United States Senate and signed into law by President Bill Clinton on October 28, 1998, the DMCA amended title 17 of the US Code to extend the reach of copyright, while limiting the liability of Online Providers from copyright infringement by their users.

Yeah, so that's about it. It is a huge "fuck you" to those of us who want the freedom necessary to make informed choices in the software-based marketplace. I firmly believe that if something is good enough, I'll buy it, but I'd rather try it first, because there's a lot of shit out there that's being boxed up, wrapped real pretty, and advertised on television as the second coming of whatever-god-you-believe-in. Also, the freedom to do as we please with products we've already purchased would be pretty nice, and I don't know, maybe even something they shouldn't be allowed to arrest us for.

Twenty die as historic seaplane crashes into water

http://news.scotsman.com/international.cfm?id=2436252005

For some reason, I really liked the title of this story. It's Something about the release of twenty souls as a historic seaplane crashes into water, I guess.

When I clicked on the link, it became even more awesome because there was a public service announcement on the page done in flash that showed animated balloons made to look like a penis and a pair of testicles, and the penis balloon deflated. The ad then said not to use cocaine because it damages your sex drive.

A Boring Dream

I had a dream that I got three bags of groceries for less than five dollars. Good groceries, too. Actually maybe it was less than six dollars. Either way it was pretty cheap I'll tell you what. Finals are a good time.

Extremely intense French music video

http://www.icidailleurs.com/nonstop/devantmanuque.mov
Very intense indeed.

Coming Soon: Some Damn Good Reasons NOT to invest in Next-Gen Consoles

This means you, Xbox 360. WE COMIN' FOR YOU, NIGGA!

Recording Industry Out of Their Fucking Minds

http://www.pcpro.co.uk/news/81101/music-giants-bear-down-on-lyric-search-apps.html

Basically a couple of huge record companies are shutting down the programs that search the internet for lyrics you are listening to. How are such programs illegal? Is it wrong to want to know what the artists are saying? Ha. Do such programs facilitate illegal file sharing? Because I really don't think they do. I mean, a lot of albums don't even come with lyrics in the liner notes so you have to get them from outside sources, like the internet anyway. This is truly insane. I hope they can't get away with this shit for long. Freedom of speech lol

This is cool

Cool that is, until you realize it's part of what was used to train people to kill each other. So that takes away from the cool factor for a little while at least. Killing is inherently uncool in real life.



Graciously copied from http://www.cyber-heritage.co.uk/cutaway/
. Tons more of these can be found at that website.

The End Of The World As We Know it: Life-Changing Events Via Digg.com

As if a billion and one meaningless Web 2.0 entries weren't enough, Digg has been reporting on all kinds of bad news lately. The world is basically over, ladies and gentlemen.

Sharpies are bad for DVD and CDs. What the hell do we do now?

Macromedia is now Adobe. Who's going to compete with Adobe now?

Dogs laugh. Has your dog ever laughed at YOU? Check for disobedience.

X-Men 3. Oh great, we get to see Doctor Frasier Crane play as a mutant genius with blue skin and huge muscles. No one is excited about this.

At least we still have Google Calendar to look forward to in a few days.

Note: I'm actually a big fan of Digg. I'm not the biggest fan of every new website popping up promising ajax and ruby on rails based social networking, previews, betas, rounded borders, color gradients, MS Trebuchet font, and just generally looking like a piece of internet candy, though. I'm not a fan of the new X-Men movie (yet. I really liked the second one actually. It just seems like they're going to drag it into the ground). I am a fan of the idea of Dogs laughing. It is hilarious. I am not a fan of software companies buying up all of their competition. Adobe will really have to prove themselves on this one. It makes little difference to me because I don't use Windows right now, but I'd hate to see their new products become garbage and lack innovation just because they basically have a monopoly. I'm not a fan of the sharpie news. And of course, I am always a fan of Google. Except for that Web Accelerator bullshit. That thing needs to quit trying to come back from the grave. Not a great idea.

Hope the sarcasm wasn't too "advanced" for you guys.

Ohhhhhhh Man.

Brick by brick
the night eclipsed
Pricked by cuticle thorns
Dried the sleep
on nursery slits
Into this life I'm born

Heaven's just a scab away
I'd like to see you after just one taste

Q-Unit

http://members.home.nl/visionx/

Horrible mashups. I listened to a few and almost wished I hadn't. The picture is funny though. Very funny. I love Queen. Rest In Peace, Freddie.

Giant Prehistoric Scorpions...In Scotland?!

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/4486830.stm

Aside: I would be a lot less stressed for time if I started sleeping more normal hours. The semester is almost over...and I may quit the Geek Squad soon, just to try to enjoy free time again.

No Time To Update Today, So:

Here are some MC Paul Barman lyrics. I'm mostly alone in my deep appreciation for Barman's wit, intelligence, and feigned (or is it?) immaturity. Notice the clever usage of all the letters of Barman's name at the beginning of the third verse (MC Paul Nathaniel Barman).

Verse 1:

My brain makes the earth dark but I'm hung like a birthmark

I like to suck toes yours secrete fructose

I make paintings based on grids just like Chuck Close

I'm old school like Aztecs but new in other aspects

If you want sex with me be prepared for bad sex and slapstick

Even Chapstick won't help my chapped dick

When I'm with a naked chick I use a faker dick

A turkey baster laced with Elmer's to make it stick

My ex fled to Reykjavik, we really were trying

Ohhh your so wet, "My pussy's crying"

I need an eye exam and a vagina with no diaphragm

Or condom, I'm pond scum, I'm going to buy a lamb

And when we make love I'll picture titty humping

which looks like a Venn Diagram

Ewww, this isn't dope I feel like I'm pissing Scope

Lamby's a misanthrope

I asked her to stop moving, does she listen? Nope

The sheep was a clone so I was a creep on the phone

Now I'm sleeping alone

With her photo on my nightstand in a sepia tone

Oh yeah and you know that...

"Paul Bar-Bar-Barman"



Chorus:

The joy of your world is Paul Barman!!!

Beautiful, Beautiful Barman

Yes the joy of your wwoorrlldd is Paul Barman!!!

Beautiful, Beautiful Barman



Verse 2:

After this rap I'll be in Napoli, happily

Proposing to my chosen under an apple tree

"Let's get married," I don't walk, I get carried

By a motorcade of voter-age women on rollerblades

In cute sleeveless shirts exposing their shoulder blades

But I'm a lonely guy since my honeypie ran off with Ione Skye

Now I've got nothing whatsoever, ugly-broke-arrogant, but so clever

When I write rhymes on brown bags and in shower steam

Me and Paul are the power team

We'll leave you deflowered with a mouth full of sour cream

Gobble this obelisk

"Paul Bar-Bar-Barman"



Chorus:

The joy of your world is Paul Barman!!!

Beautiful, Beautiful Barman

Yes the joy of your wwoorrlldd is Paul Barman!!!

Beautiful, Beautiful Barman



Verse 3:

My close pals, aunts, uncles, leaders, Nations, and towns

Hamlets and neighboring islands, everyone

Landlords, bosses, and relatives, moms and newborns

Somehow when I act thirteen, I'm a virgin girl's tractor beam

This one was dressed to kill from her head to my testicle

She was from west of Phil-ly and spoke well of it

She said, "Just for the hell of it let's not be celibate."

I got all higgledy piggledy, it's a big relief

When I take off my fig uh leaf

She said that, "Let's get at this" but her cat and an unpotted cactus

Sat on her mattress

that sure made it saturated with sharp thorns and cat piss

I put on a hiphop beat while she whipped off the topsheet

She said, "Come to bed I like my undergrads underfed

They amaze how they stay up days on mayonnaise and Wonderbread."

I dove in her cervix a lot like Sir Mixalot

This interlude is for the women I've interviewed about the clitoris

and how to make it less hit-or-miss

Should we be gentle?, Is it all mental?

I won't use a dental dam 'cause it discurges

my urges to submerge in her jizz

She said, "My goodness you should juss use clues that's nonverbal

You're too vigorous if my clitoris, for example, turns purple"

It was time to copulate but we didn't want to populate

So my bold groin reached for my gold coin proooophylactic

I unwrapped it, you can't know how I felt

It wasn't a gold coin condom, it was chocolate Chanukah gelt

The white part crumbled on her tummy and the rest began to melt

Foiled again.....

My Linux Desktop Is Awesome!

If you are interested in pursuing a Linux Desktop, let me know. I could write up a guide or maybe just talk via email or instant messaging or something.

Linux is exciting.



Full-size screenshot(click again once it loads to enlarge to the full 1280x1024 so you do not lose any detail): http://img499.imageshack.us/my.php?image=linuxdesktop1128055bv.png

This Post Is Powerless

Power is something that's pretty hard to figure out. What is power? How can we get power? What is power? What is power? Let's take man and woman for example. Man has an overt power over woman in most cultures. Even here in western society, where things are supposed to be equal, or at least getting there, you'd be hard pressed to find one person who truly believes that women are more powerful than men. At least as far as show of power goes. As undeniable as this is, it is equally undeniable that any woman can have power over most men. There's a certain kind of hypnosis they are capable of. I've been a victim. I assume most men have. It's a bitch, it's a doozy, you do things you would never expect yourself to do. So really, the power balance between men and women is very well...balanced.

I believe that in all seemingly unequal power struggles, the power balance could be equalized or shifted, were the opressed party to realize that they have something that the oppressor wants. This is the case in all power struggles. Everyone has something to bring to the table. If you find yourself in a situation where you feel powerless, think about what it is that the person who holds power over you wants from you, and deny them that. See how the power shifts.

Christmas:

It's partly about enjoying things you didn't know you needed or wanted, but all of a sudden you do.

A relatively recent picture of me

Glorious.

Google As An Internet-Age Christ Figure?

I was driving to the grocery store to pick up a few last-minute things for Thanksgiving, and I started thinking about the future, and Google's place in it. I thought of the possibility that our age could have a new Christ-figure: this very company. I imagined a world where the resentment that people are beginning to harbor for Google grew bigger, and it was hated, and denounced. In this world people would hate Google simply because they were something that in their minds could not exist: a benevolent corporation. In the end, Google would end up having its servers and power over the internet, or internet usability tools, however you want to look at it, stripped away. People would forever remember what Google tried to do: make the internet a better place, where information was easier to access for everyone.

I don't really believe that Google is this way, necessarily, but I do like them and their services. This is just something that I thought about, absent-mindedly, while driving to the grocery store.

Light On The Updates. Here's A Cool Link!

Updates will be light in the following days because it's Thanksgiving. We're expecting three dozen people here. I have a paper due Monday that I haven't started, too. I work Black Friday. In retail. At Best Buy. Et Cetera.

But anyway, since it is the week of Black Friday and people will no doubt be returning things en masse because they are unhappy with them or something, or maybe just because it's the holiday season and soon or later you might want this as a reference, here is a nifty site that shows you the best way to get in touch with a real live person at those customer support numbers you're supposed to call. I know you probably hate being led in circles on those numbers. I sure do.

http://www.paulenglish.com/ivr/

Have an excellent holiday.

Hard Drive Story, Or, Insights On Fooling Around With Linux And The Future Of Operating Systems

So, I built my new PC about a month ago. This is the story of this PC, up until now.

The first step to building this new PC occurred in September, actually. Back then I purchased the motherboard I would be building the system around. It was MSI's K8N Neo4 Platinum board. It came recommended from the shsc.info website, a wiki that is run by the members of SomethingAwful's "Serious Hardware / Software Crap" forum.

In October I ordered the rest of the parts. Good stuff. I won't bore you with the rest of the system specs, but just know that it runs all current games very, very nicely. What is important for this post, is the hard drive. The brand is Maxtor. It's a SATA drive, which is like the new standard for connecting your hard drive to your motherboard. It's 300GB.

I have had some problems with this drive. When I first installed Windows, I went to the Event Viewer. It's just a common habit for me. I do this to see if everything went smoothly. The Event Viewer tracks hardware / software errors that have been reported to windows. I didn't expect anything to be there, but there was an error. Paging error on this brand new, gigantic, SATA disk. Oh no! I just wrote it off as a first time starting error thing, like maybe my drive was just trying to get used to this system.

This was not the case. For weeks on end when I booted my PC it was very hit-or-miss. Sometimes it would boot in a reasonable time (1 minute or less), sometimes it would take 5-10 minutes to boot, other times it wouldn't boot into windows at all: it would just hang on the splash screen. The event viewer reflected these boot problems.

Eventually I admitted that this wasn't going to get better, so I formatted the drive. This was a pain in the ass, but of course I transferred all important files to another PC in the house while I reinstalled. I did a complete format, hoping that maybe something was just corrupted.

Things were ok...for a while. Then the same thing started again.

Flash forward to the first or second week of November. On a whim, I upgraded my chipset drivers (the chipset is NForce 4). Things seemed to get better. I was happy. The computer was happy, everyone was happy.

Flash forward to last week. I get a hankering to install Linux. My chosen distro? Ubuntu. I liked Ubuntu a lot because they sent me like 10 free install packages, and I had heard from lots of places that theirs was the distribution to go with at this point in time. I had tried the LiveCD from one of my many install CDs too, and it was rock solid. So I go to install, make Linux partitions, etc...no go. My partition will not resize, for some reason. I'm in the Ubuntu installer, trying to resize. No error message, nothing. I try resizing through Partition Magic. This too, does not work. So once again, the second time in less than a month, I am formatting my brand new drive. The drive partitions perfectly with Windows installed all over again. Hmm. Not sure what is going on at this point. Actually, right now I still don't know why it would not partition. But I installed Linux, which I will get into in a little bit, and I was able to easily choose between Windows and Linux. Of course Windows booted slow as hell. I begun to suspect that there was really something wrong with my hard drive.

I ran Maxtor's PowerMax diagnostic software to see if I could get an RMA number to take advantage of my 3-year warranty on the drive. This took a long time, much longer than I was expecting. Three hours long. The program reported absolutely zero errors on the drive. Did I mention Linux booted fast as lightning, every time, without fail? And Windows, of course did not, it was still a crapshoot.

So, this must be a problem with Windows, right? After posting my problem on the SH/SC forum, someone finally replied with a link to this thread on Nvidia's forums. Hey, how about that! It appears that Maxtor SATA drives, of the exact same kind that I have, and maybe even some other vendors' drives too, have problems with the NForce4 chipset! How about that? And what's a remedy? To upgrade the chipset drivers? Oh, of course. No wonder Windows boots so slow sometimes! No wonder this seemed to go away when I upgraded my chipset drivers! No wonder...I didn't make this connection before? Shit. Anyway, I still get a few of these errors in my event log, but far fewer. And Windows has been starting up just fine. I believe in the near future that this problem will be totally rectified.

Now, on to discussion about Ubuntu Linux.

It has been a long time since I seriously fooled around with Linux. It has come a long way in two years. For the average user it is far easier to navigate, operate, and be productive in a Linux environment. If you are such a user, or any user really, Ubuntu is a great distro to try out, to see if you might like Linux.

When I first booted into Linux, all of my essential hardware was detected immediately right off the bat. I loved it. There is an excellent guide here to getting started with Ubuntu 5.10, and it really helped me get things working the way I wanted them to. One of the first things I did was create a partition separate from my Windows and Linux partitions, a FAT32 type partition, to hold all of my documents, games, music, and other files that I might want to have access to from both operating systems. The reason for FAT32? It is a file system that both operating systems can read / write to. Linux cannot write to an NTFS file system (the system that Windows XP uses), and Windows cannot even read from an ext3 file system, which is used by Linux. So I created this FAT32 partition, and it serves this function, and another: If I need to reinstall either OS, my files are relatively safe from destruction here on this separate partition.

Let me reiterate, this guide is awesome for getting started with Ubuntu Linux.

Now, you ask, why would you want to use Ubuntu Linux? This is why: it is free. Completely free. All of the software is free to download. It can do many of the things that Windows can, and some it can't. In my opinion, the music player amaroK is the COOLEST music player out there on any Operating System. Beats the shit out of iTunes. Hell, it is even cooler than foobar2k in my opinion. I still use and love Foobar on windows though. If you get a new computer in the future and don't want to shell out a few hundred dollars for Windows, I highly recommend you look into Linux as an alternative. With very little work, you can be running a completely legally free operating system that is every bit as functional as Windows.

Another reason to try Linux is to broaden your horizons. It is interesting to see that there's more out there than Windows! There's more than one way to do things, more than one way to organize your files, more than one way to start up an operating system, more than one way to do everything you do right now with windows, and these ways are all perfectly good and right in their own respects. You may even learn that you prefer Linux to Windows. Me, I'm kind of stuck. I like both. If Linux had better gaming support I just might switch. If you look at Windows Vista, the new version of Windows that is supposed to be coming next year, you will see a lot of it is influenced by Apple's Mac OSX. If you look closer, you will see that a lot of it is also influenced by features that are found in the various Linux Desktop Environments. When you get right down to it, all 3 major operating systems appear to be converging on many points. They're all starting to look better, following Apple's example. They cater to both power users and the newbie alike. I believe that in a matter of years, unless someone pulls out some drastic new feature, that it will boil down to a matter of choice. Now many would argue that right now it is a matter of choice, but if you want to play all the best games, you really have to use Windows right now. What I mean by a matter of choice is this: You no longer have to have an intimate knowledge of computers to enjoy the Linux experience.

Each OS does something better than the other right now. The great thing is that many things that are supposedly exclusive to one OS can be emulated on different operating systems. Hell, we are even looking at the possibility of installing OSX on regular old PCs now (I have tried this. It was cool!). With all of the OSes adopting similar hardware now, we're really looking at some interesting convergence points in the future.

Hard Drive is Fine. Hard Drive and Chipset Don't Get Along.

http://forums.nvidia.com/lofiversion/index.php?t8171.html

Rock Bottom Slots!

I wrote this at 7:50AM this past Wednesday or Thursday morning. I do not remember which. Probably Wednesday. Let's get started:

I am watching what might be the worst infomercial I have ever seen. I've never seen a person sell a slot machien on television until now. I'm still in a state of disbelief. This is real.

"You're serious? Wow, that's amazing!" (An actor hired to look like a consumer, speaking in regards to the price of this great slot machine.)

The way they have it set up , they have a bunch of attractive, well-dressed people standing around playing slots with these salesmen. Television salesmen.

"Nothing like this has ever been done before!"

"Look at the mesmerizing lightshow! Listen to the riot of electronic sound!" (Real quote)

"A $3500 value for 5 payments of $99, no 4 payments of $99 with 100 tokens (a $50 value!), absolutely free!
Since the new year is coming around, and we want everyone to be able to afford this great offer, we're taking it down to 3 easy payments of $99 and an extra 100 tokens for a total of 200 free tokens. This ridiculous rock bottom offer can't last! So buy now!"

How do they come up with the ideas for the commercials they use to peddle this shit?

Check out the awesome website.

Things Are Going On

Bad hard drive. Sending it in for a warranty. This will take a while. Exam in 1.5 hours. Work tonight, and the next two nights.

None of these things will stop me from keeping the updates coming, though.

Computers

I'm formatting my hard drive, making a few partitions, installing Ubuntu, and reinstalling Windows.

Hope this helps with the fucking shenanigans my computer keeps pulling.

Salmon update soon. Wanted to do it today, but I did not have as much time as I thought I did.
Also there was Chinese food.

An Idea: Task Elimination Solutions

Today I had an interesting idea. This idea, will allow myself and others to serve our community actively, fight boredom, and win friends. This idea, is errand running; a task elimination solution. I propose to stand somewhere in a heavily trafficked area, like on the sidewalk of South College Avenue, with a large sign which will say "We Will Run Your Errands For Free." We will have at least two people here, one to manage the errands in queue, and another to actually run the errands. Real running will be involved: sorry, non-runners. You are not invited. Until we implement large-scale service using cars and / or dune buggies. The idea is that we fight our boredom by doing these menial tasks, like getting groceries, running books to the library, getting books from homes for classes (of course these patrons will trust us, because we're just good people), and assisting with other small, odd tasks. These people are freed of the burden of doing these tasks, and they get the pleasure of seeing us do them at top speed, and total devotion to the task at hand. I am seriously thinking about doing this. It's getting cold though. Maybe when the weather starts to get warm again. We would gain a lot of social wealth by doing this. We'd be kings. Kings without material riches.

Fuck! Whoa! Hello!

Hi there. It's been a long time since I posted like this. I've been keeping pretty busy with classes and work, and Everquest, of all things. Oh, Everquest. I guess I had too much free time on my hands one day a week ago and decided to reinstall it. It has been fun, and I haven't become a slave to it. I'm not sure if I can keep this up though, or if I even want to. I mean Everquest caused me some trouble in the past. Actually it caused me about four years of trouble, took away four years of productivity that I can never get back, and basically devoured my high school social life. But hey, sometimes you have to give up your high school social life for a silly fucking massively multiplayer online role playing game where you are a bard who runs around with a lot of losers and slays dragons, right? Right?

Right?

Oh. Well anyhow I started playing again. The game is a lot more beautiful than it was in the past. Enough about that fucking game, let me speak on things that matter.

What matters is matter, folks. We are all made up of matter, presumably. I'd hate to see some weird non-matter based being browsing the internet and finding my website because frankly I'm racist against those kinds of motherfuckers. They need to stay the hell away from my family. They need to keep to their own kind. It's just not natural, otherwise.

A quick word or two about The Facebook: ok cool (see that was two words pretty concise huh).
Seriously, The Facebook is kind of cool. I used to hate on it pretty indiscriminately, but I'm finding a use for it now. I have fun being "internet sociable" and posting things on other people's walls, even if I am not exactly tight with these people, because hey, it's the internet, and it shouldn't be taken seriously. I have come into contact with people from my past who I am so glad still exist, and seem to be doing well, just older, hairier versions of themselves. In the end, becoming hairier is a crucial part of aging, up until you get old. Some people also become more mature and learn more about the world, but certainly not everyone. Mostly, people just get hairier with age. Not wiser. But then, I wonder, when you get really old, do you still continue to get hairier? Some would argue that no you don't, you start to lose hair. But some people start to grow hair out of their ears, and I don't know what the fuck that's about. I've heard people say that the hair is sucked from the top of your head and it comes out of your ears. That is a cute idea in my opinion. The Facebook is largely a bunch of self-serving, ego boosting, masturbatory bullshit, but it does have it's uses. Thanks for existing on the internet, Facebook.

I'd like to get back into programming and study it independently but I wouldn't know where to start. See, I'd like to make programs for myself and others that are useful, but it seems like most of that shit has already been done. I cannot think of anything I need done that I cannot find a use for. It's kind of a bummer, because I want to do programming, because I've found it fun in the past. Automation of a process is always fun. I guess I'll just wait until I find something I want to automate and then fool around with it. For now, I'll just learn more about web design and be more attentive to this blog so I can flesh this site out and make it useful and interesting, or should I say, internesting. I realize that if I ever want to really make this website into something respectable, I will have to get off of Blogger, get my own domain, and use one of the blog publishing programs available. For now though, I'm just content and happy with the fact that I designed this web page myself, and will continue to add design elements to it until it's "done" (you can never really be done). As for the programming thing, it will undoubtedly lead to me doing something with a service that is provided on the web, like linking up two things or downloading some content to my desktop in an attractive way. There are a lot of APIs out there for services available on the web. I'd love to interact with one or more of them in an important and useful way.

Let us talk about internesting, the word I created above. What a word, huh? Internesting. It makes me think of a nest on the internet. Which would of course mean there is some kind of internet animal, like a bird, or an insect. God, insect nests are a bothersome idea for my mind. Nests. Headnests! Rat nests! Nests! Nest is a weird word. The internet is weird too. I kind of wish there were animals that lived on the internet. Please do not say that a software virus is kind of like an animal, because this is not what I am talking about.

OkCupid: Kind of a hilarious site. I joined it a month ago or something. Totally worthless so far. But hey, look at this girl!



Hey, this is what my desktop looks like. I originally took this image to fix a problem with Blogger I Was having getting it to show images correctly but now I see that the problem was the option I was selecting, not my template. Holla.

Swords And Robes

Swords and robes are cool so fucking cooooooooooooooooool hey yeah what is cooler than a sword and / or a robe blish blash fag fucking bullshit can't do what needs to be done just add more weight pull the trigger man just get off this planet without any kind of ballast you need to check yourself

Next on To-do List:

Rounded borders.

Because really, I have to make this site identical to every bullshit web 2.0 style website out there, I already have one of the most used fonts.

So now I need to implement AJAX, add some rounded borders, a few color gradient banners, and provide some retarded fucking social networking service that is "new" and "exciting" and in beta, or some shit.

Web 2.0 here we come!

I HAVE A LOT TO PROVE

People are ridiculous

Everyone makes mistakes.

I make mistakes.

I waste time and money on things.

Sometimes we get ahead of ourselves and we act without thinking.

These things happen.

I Fixed Some Long-Standing Gripes

Except for that minor positioning blemish in IE, this design is now functional, in my opinion.

Glad to be here, folks. Just glad to be here.

Bear vs. Shark

Bear vs. Shark is a fucking awesome band.

Thank you for being awesome, Bear vs. Shark!

The Doors - The Wasp

I wanna tell you 'bout Texas Radio and the Big Beat
Comes out of the Virginia swamps
Cool and slow with plenty of precision
With a back beat narrow and hard to master

Some call it heavenly in it's brilliance
Others, mean and rueful of the Western dream
I love the friends I have gathered together on this thin raft
We have constructed pyramids in honor of our escaping
This is the land where the Pharaoh died

The Negroes in the forest brightly feathered
They are saying, "Forget the night.
Live with us in forests of azure.
Out here on the perimeter there are no stars
Out here we is stoned - immaculate."

Listen to this, and I'll tell you 'bout the heartache
I'll tell you 'bout the heartache and the lose of God
I'll tell you 'bout the hopeless night
The meager food for souls forgot
I'll tell you 'bout the maiden with wrought iron soul

I'll tell you this
No eternal reward will forgive us now for wasting the dawn

I'll tell you 'bout Texas Radio and the Big Beat
Soft drivin', slow and mad, like some new language

Now, listen to this, and I'll tell you 'bout the Texas
I'll tell you 'bout the Texas Radio
I'll tell you 'bout the hopeless night
Wandering the Western dream
Tell you 'bout the maiden with wrought iron soul

Exam Week

Give me time.

I won't let you down, folks.

Flock is pretty cool

It's a new browser. www.flock.com

I am going to eat that salmon sometime soon too

Finished

Sometimes we laugh

Inappropriately

Sometimes we smile

When we cry

Another Nightmare Last Night

In this "episode," America was taken over by some fascist religious regime, and Useff and I are not really going for it. We're too free. The leader of said regime also agrees that we are too free, and decides to have us killed. We are hunted down. Along the way, we meet some men and women who believe in our cause and decide to run with us, and be with us. Eventually, we are all caught, and we are executed while holding hands after writing letters to the people we always loved and never told how we realy felt.

A Brand New Interview With Matthew Lesko!

http://www.blacktable.com/going050929.htm

Question marks obviously symbolize inquiry, but why did you choose them over dollar signs?

Never even thought about money signs. It's all philosophical. I'd wear this outfit if I were an accountant. It has nothing to do with my business. I wear it on a regular basis.

What's up with blasts rocking Bali?

It seems like whenever there are explosives detonated in Bali, journalists describe Bali as being rocked. Being rocked by explosives can be taken a number of ways. Personally, I like the idea of Bali being rocked to sleep by a series of gentle explosions that made the landscape sway gently.

Statue

IMG_0674, originally uploaded by nchase.

Outside of the house

And the snake is drowned and
As I look in his eyes,
My fear begins to fade
Recalling all of those times.

I could have cried then.
I should have cried then.

And as the walls come down and
As I look in your eyes
My fear begins to fade
Recalling all of the times
I have died
and will die.
It's all right.
I don't mind.

Odalisque

and what do we do with 10 dirty jews
a thirty-ought full of rock salt
and a warm afternoon? what do we do?
what do we do?

Warm Weather:

Please end. Really. We've had quite enough.

Quite enough

We Major...

Feeling better than some head on a sunday afternoon
Better than a chick that say yes to soon
Until you have a daughter, that's what I call karma
And you pray to god she don't grow breasts too soon.

So I'm Making Some Serious Progress With This Template.

However, there is a bug. And I'm not talking about that picture that I am using for my title background. In IE you can see a rectangle of background above the title. That should not be there. If I try to add a border to the actual "content" in Firefox, that same background shows up too. If I can fix that, I can go further with what I want to do with this web page. I really hope I can figure out what is wrong. If anyone has insight into this issue, please email or leave a comment in this entry. Other criticisms too.

A Template!

I am not done, but I like it so far!

Once Upon A Time, I Made A Template

And it was pretty good. I swear, I'm going to make a new one. It's kind of a personal soul searching mission now, you know. Just like those other personal missions I have right now (become more of a buddhist, learn how to attract the opposite sex, become the most powerful being in the universe, et cetera).

Title

Man, you can spend all your time looking for a needle in a haystack that contains only hay.

You can try to find meaning where there is none.

You can think about things that seem legitimate, but they're really just constructs of your mind.

You can get stuck in a trap you invent for yourself and never get out.

I can wonder about every little thing in life, paralyzed, unable to take any sort of action, or I can act, and do, and be a fool. I can be everyone's fool. Am I everyone's fool?

I can watch myself wither away and rot. Hey, I'm in my twentieth year of rotting in my own skin. Don't I look sophisticated and rigid? Don't I bring an air of formality to every occasion, with my stone-faced expression, unwavering voice, and what seems to be an inability to associate with people? Getting along well with others, does not necessarily entail allowing others to know you. It's easy to be well liked when you don't do or say anything. It's easy to be well-liked when you do not speak your mind. If life is a series of cliffs with pits between them, and to jump from one cliff to another constitutes a meaningful life experience, I am the person who does not jump of his own volition. Thus far, I have mostly been pushed to the next cliff, or pulled onto the next cliff. It's comfortable, and it's also maddening. My fear, I guess, is that if I try to jump on my own, I will fall. I have built up this house of cards; the returns are diminishing. Here I am, building up to the top, and it's taking more and more effort, but the building becomes smaller as you go up too.

I'm in my twentieth year of putting on an act. The act is that I have all my shit together. If you know me well enough, you realize it's all built on the same foundation as a house of cards.

Weather

The weather is fucking terrible today.

It feels like leaving the house was a mistake.

What a great day to stay inside all day. What a great day to stay inside all day, with a companion.

Bad Dream

Fought someone gigantic and couldn't hack it




Shit

What's been going on:

Wow, it would seem that I have regular readers now. Hello, regular readers! I say this because a) people are commenting on some of my entries, and b) a reader has said that it has been a while since my last update: This is true, it has. Sorry. I will fill you all in, however many there may be. Something tells me I'd be lucky if I needed all ten of my fingers to count you on, though.

First, school has started and my classes are pretty exciting this semester. Especially my communication theory course. The professor is pretty amazing. He curses liberally, which I really enjoy. There's also a great deal of substance to what he says. I agree with a lot of his ideas. I may devote a future entry to talking about this professor.

Today, I sat down with a notebook and at a terminal here on campus and really looked at what I have for my code on this website right now. I find that I'm more successful with editing my website's layout if I draw it on paper according to the box model idea of CSS. It's helped immensely. It has helped me to see where I am wrong, and where Blogger is just incompetant (No offense Blogger, but you do have some issues that need to be worked on). Whoever designed the template that I am basing my website on seems to have code that just has no place in there, and of course there are no comments anywhere in the entire motherfucking page of code. That's not exactly helpful.

So yeah, classes, progress with this mess of a website, and also, I have been writing fairly consistently in a notebook, the very same one I used to check my coding / layout, and I plan on transcribing some of the entries onto this blog, so that they may be read by those of you who are interested. I have not forgotten about my little photography projects. I just haven't had too much time to take pictures. What I have had time for though, is some fooling around in Photoshop.
Here is a direct link to the image I made last night, it is hosted at imageshack. I tried to post this as a blog entry last night but it broke the fucking page: http://img8.imageshack.us/img8/4525/newyork093copy4jk.jpg

The source image was me doing the infamous "Mr. Roper" pose on Sunday night in New York City. I will post a link to that source image when I get back home, so that you may see the difference between the two. I know it isn't much, but I'm actually quite proud of myself for it; I think it is a respectable job.

More to come, in the future.

Doing this shit again,

In preparation for a real website with a real domain, maybe not even using Blogger. We'll see. I'm just fooling around and seeing what I can do to create a real working template using all of the Blogger design code and whatnot. It's going better than I expected so far.

I hope this doesn't turn out to be another one of my unfinished / unfinishable projects. My life is nothing but unfinished projects.

Blacks On The Run

[20:51] Nigerchocolate: my mom said she saw you and useff running through a field
[20:52] SheerKann: LOL, yeah we were running yesterday
[20:52] Nigerchocolate: she was like "they were all sweaty and looked like fugitives"
[20:52] SheerKann: Glorious
[20:53] Nigerchocolate: so I told her, "wrong thing to say" and went back to sleep

Tomato Parmesan and Gouda Frittata

Tomato Parmesan and Gouda Frittata, originally uploaded by nchase.

Obviously,

Some people do things just so that they can talk about them with others.

This annoys me to no end

HUMAN MONSTERS

YOU HUMAN MONSTERS ARE EVERYWHERE AND VERY FEW PEOPLE SEE YOU. I HOWEVER, SEE YOU WHEREVER YOU LURK, STALKING THE INNOCENT AND OPENING YOUR MONSTROUS, SALIVATING MAWS, READY TO DEVOUR THE HEART, SOUL, AND PERSONALITY OF EVERYTHING YOU CAN GET CLOSE ENOUGH TO.

Monsters are everywhere, people. Do not be afraid, though. You've seen them your entire lives.

WHAT A MEAL!!!

WHAT A MEAL!!!, originally uploaded by nchase.

This watch has a history...

This watch has a history..., originally uploaded by nchase.

Comfortable Jeans

Comfortable Jeans, originally uploaded by nchase.

"Uf De Ole Cat Hab Kittens In De Ubben Doant It Make Um Biskit"

"Uf De Ole Cat Hab Kittens In De Ubben Doant It Make Um Biskit", originally uploaded by nchase.

I edited this in Photoshop!

I edited this in Photoshop!, originally uploaded by nchase.

What is up, winged insect

What is up, winged insect, originally uploaded by nchase.

This is a budding flower

This is a budding flower, originally uploaded by nchase.

Black and White

Black and White, originally uploaded by nchase.

I increased the exposure in photoshop

I increased the exposure in photoshop, originally uploaded by nchase.

Closer Up

Closer Up, originally uploaded by nchase.

Ready For Closeup

Ready For Closeup, originally uploaded by nchase.

Flickr

This is a test post from , a fancy photo sharing thing.

A Dream I Had This Morning.

(Copied from a .txt file I made just after waking up).

I had a dream that thoroughly scared me a few moments ago. I was inside of an apartment complex building that represented a specific internet forum. It was not one that I post at frequently.

This all sort of started when one of the administrators of the forum approached me to tell me that a sale I had made on the forum had made the buyer unhappy. He was SERIOUSLY displeased with the quality of whatever I sold. What the product was exactly, escapes me at this point. This administrator told me that I was on probation, and that I may never be allowed to sell things again, as I had abused the priviledge. This was surprising to me.

I said his name, he said "fuck off." I asked if I could please speak with him for a moment and he replied "okay." The people in my room went apeshit, screamed at me that he had taken out a gun that he intended to use. I too, went apeshit.

I was so shocked that my own mind; my own dream would withhold this information from me. To learn that he was in the next room was a shock. To learn that he was also fondling a gigantic pistol was also a shock. How could I not be omniscient in a world that was entirely in my mind? I just wanted to get him to understand my point of view, afterall. I frantically cried for him not to kill me, and for him to stay where he was if that was what he wanted to do. I cried that the last thing I wanted was for him to take a life, my life, anyone's life. I ran out into the hallway and there he was. I could barely look at him. Really, the only thing I saw was the flash of the gun out of the corner of my eye. I tried to run down the long, thin, corridor, but it was far too long, and left no room for dodging. I turned to meet my unmaker at the last moment, so that he could see my soul being released as it left my shell. As the gigantic bullet left his gun, time slowed to a crawl, in a way. The moment between the time the bullet left his gun, and just before it pierced my skull did not seem to exist, but as I died I was stuck in the moment just before it actually killed me. I could feel each of my last few heart beats like they were their own individual infinities. I thought so many thoughts. I felt all of the pain and all of the numbness of the shock of knowing one's own death completely. I quieted my soul, and then felt nothing at all as my body, shattered dome and all, had no choice but to crumple to the ground.

I don't know which was more jolting: the shock of learning the terrible truth of my fate in the room adjacent to me, or the shock of the death I experienced just afterward. Maybe it was neither; maybe the worst part was having someone completely misunderstand you and call you the biggest asshole on the entire planet, and totally mean every word of the statement. Crushing. That statement, would haunt my eternal soul forever. That statement would never let me rest. How would I ever know if it was true of me, now that I was dead? How could I have agitated someone to the point of murdering me without even knowing it was going on? These are the questions I imagine the ghosts of the world have to contend with. If you know someone who does not understand your motive for doing something, tell them in a way that they will be able to understand. At least tell me, if it is me. Because I'd sure hate to have to haunt this earth for all of time.

A photograph

Your Teeth Are Too Sharp

Your mind though, it is too small

Go somewhere else with that mind

This Thought Seized Me

If you are a clock maker, chances are you would make an excellent bomb designer

Cursive is good, doe

And so it's begun
This is year one
The birth of a child in the form of a man

Dream

My dream involved going to Colorado. I was visiting a friend: Shane. Colorado was upside down, the moon was upside down and the rest of the world was upside down. The experience was a lot like when you visit the final castle in Ninja Gaiden (2004). I was riding a bike through the many interesting trails, and there were oddly colored grasses. Odd colors like purple and bright yellow. I ended up trespassing on someone's property, and I think he got the army to come after me with guns. Someone was with me when I was being chased, but I cannot remember who. I remember badly wanting a picture of the upside down world. It was beautiful to see, as were all the other sights in the dream, excluding being chased down by a hilariously long and sleek black limousine. Cameras are a great thing.

Poor Dog

I bet he's absolutely clueless about why over the years I've become more agile and powerful / stayed the same, while he is only becoming slower and less sharp.

More Flowers.

Pictures

The Wild Frontier Of The Internet

Well, the internet is a crazy place. I have some things to say about it. If you're spending any large amount of your free time, or other time for that matter, on the internet, it is highly likely that you are a member of some kind of internet community. Maybe even a few. Internet communities are great places for information, but they are also filled with some of the worst kinds of people. People who do not engage in normal social interactions find the internet to be a great place to "be somebody," and often times they take this to the extreme: they "be somebody" other than who they actually are in real life.

I try to be myself on the internet and it works quite well. No, I have not constructed some invincible internet persona that I use as a medium to tell tall and legendary tales. Some people do this. A lot of people actually, do this. In fact, I don't even tell many tales of my real life on the internet, to internet users. I feel like that's a perfect way to spread misinformation, which is something I am vehemently against. If you know me, you already know this though. The internet is just as good for information as it is for lies. By and large, this internet is pretty accepting. If you cannot exist happily in some dark corner out here, there's really no hope for you. If you manage to alienate everyone on the internet who you happen to meet, you are lost and I do not know how to help you.


Blogger is still fucking up. It's fucking up in a different way now (you may notice that my text is being eaten by the menu on the right). This is bound to happen once in a while. It's a free service that is mostly awesome, though.

I travel back to that from whence I came

In an effort to reclaim what I have lost through time
Time has been misused, but can still be retreated
I can make a change, and stand firmly before the gusts of ignorance that try to blow me down

Blogger is fucking up.

For real

The Hurricane

The hurricane came to our town and left us with shreds of everything that made this place home. It took our shelter into itself, and spit it back out, useless. It ate the souls of men by the score. Our livestock numbers were reduced greatly; some of the animals that were not sucked into the tempest were rendered useless by the poison it took with it from the refinery it had visited before it came to us. Nature had never been so cruel to our people before. We were left with nothing that resembled our lives prior to the event, and we did not have nearly enough resources to rebuild even the shoddiest habitats. Our existence may as well have ended. Some of us envied those who perished in the storm. Others were not envious, but just sad because so many of their family members were taken from them. There were a few who were out of touch with the whole mess. These folk attempted to carry on with life, pretending that nothing happened. One cannot use a water pump that is in pieces, especially not when the supply it is connected to has been fouled by this storm, a storm that left behind everything bad and took everything good.

Our shattered people were coming to grips with the truth: by the next full moon, there would be even less of us than there were now. By the next harvest--there would be no next harvest. No food, and no one to plant for the next season. Some people were very bitter. All of our religious leaders had died during the catastrophe. Some had even taken their lives prior to, sensing that all would be lost.

There was a village just south of where we lived. A scout climbed to the top of the highest point of our lands and confirmed what we suspected. It was true, this village had been untouched by the storm. Now we had to do what must be done. But what was it that had to be done?

Some seriously ill shit.

http://www.dallasobserver.com/Issues/2005-06-16/news/feature_print.html

 

These pictures I have taken in the last few days:

They are being taken on an Olympus D-490 digital camera. It's five years old. I want a new one. Here are two that I am looking at:

The lesser: Canon Powershot A510



The greater: Canon Powershot A95

A spider! 

A fly! 

Thanks Picasa 

A few more flowers (5)