John's Blog

Seattle Post-Intelligencer: AP - U.S.: Schwarzenegger wants strays killed faster

"Bring me Sahrahh Cohnnaa.....or I'l strangle this puppie." We can only hope that Arnold is going to protects us from those mass murderers out there! (Puppy prevents Canadian killing spree)

D O G T O Y :or: M A R I T A L A I D - You decide.

Probably not safe for work! The 2nd round gets kinda tough!

City Pages: A Child's ABCs of Terrorism
"O is for oil and occupation. When a president does something bad, he's supposed to get impeached. (Impeachment is a time-out that lasts until you die.) Do you want to know something funny? Occupying a country for its oil is not an impeachable offense, but oral sex is. We can't tell you why--better ask Mom or Dad about that!"

I recently found that my computer was running reaaallyy sloooww. Part of my problem came from installing the new Firefox 0.9 update and ignoring the installation instructions (if you install over an old version without uninstalling it, you WILL have problems!). Not only did this create mega problems, but many of the most popular extensions don't work with 0.9, so I went back to 0.8. In the process of cleaning things up from the various crashes I realized that I hadn't done many of the basic maintenance things that you need to do to keep things running smoothly for way too long. A friend at work was having many of the same problems so here is a recap of some of things that should help:

Uninstall unused applications and remove unused files

Clean-up the cache from your browser. In IE just go to the tools dropdown and choose "internet options" and on the "general" tab under the "temporary internet files" hit the "delete files" button.

Download and run BOTH Spybot Search and Destroy and Ad-Aware, which remove spyware which can violate your privacy as well as slow down your machine.

Remove any programs that start-up automatically when your PC boots up that you really don't need. Hit the start button and select run; type in "msconfig"and hit 'ok". In the startup tab of the System Configuration Utility that this brings up, you can uncheck any unnecessary programs. This frees up a lot of resources in some cases.

Clean up the crap that Windows spews around by downloading and using a registry cleaner This removes settings that may have been added to your registry for programs that you no longer have, which can slow things down as well as create other problems.

Run your scan disk and defrag utilities.

The march of "new crap" continues; most of it unnecessary, but since when has that stopped anyone?? After seeing this one the MagicRing (a disposable vibrating condom) I quickly went from thinking "who the heck cares" to "why the heck didn't I think of that?"

But I'm still scratching my head over the product I saw in the checkout line at the supermarket yesterday, the "mini-Hershey's kisses". Is this for the times when you need a chocolate fix, but you just can't finish the enormous amount of chocolate that a regular sized kiss contains??

The Gallery of Super-Dudes

Look, up in the sky....It's a bird....It's a plane.....naw; it's some middle-aged dudes with really bad judgement!

The Washington Monthly

Who knew that Republicans could have a sex scandal, or that this wasn't just a Tom Clancy plot gone bad??

The Number Of F****s In Deadwood

I'd been meaning to keep track of this; but thankfully someone else already did. This goes into more detail than I would have imagined....for those with a short attention span:

Total f**ks in Season One: 831
Average f**ks per episode: 69.3
Cumulative FPM: 1.23

MSNBC - McDonald's cuts out the middle man

This would be an improvement over the last few MickeyD's employees that I've had the pleasure of dealing with. Just try ordering something without frys, and watch the fun begin. Am I the only one who thinks that the horrendous service and stupidity exhibited by their counter staff is just part of a conspiracy to make us all use their drive-thru?? Although it's just my luck that I'll go to "Robo-McDonald's" and get stuck behind the same person who is always in front of me at the ATM who has apparently never used one before, or is doing multiple transactions in an attempt to balance the federal budget.

FOXNews.com - 'Fahrenheit 9/11' Gets Standing Ovations

Mikey; he liked it! ("a really brilliant piece of work, and a film that members of all political parties should see without fail.") Could it be that they are taking that "fair & balanced" thing seriously?? Naaa.....as someone else so aptly put it: "Fox has no conservative bias! They gave the new Michael Moore film a good review." = "I'm not racist! I have a black friend!"

STLtoday - Sports - Cardinals

They grow them big in Texas........JERKS; that is......and surprisingly enough I'm not talking about GWB! Just in case you missed the story about the big lummox who pushed aside the four-year-old kid to grab a fowl ball at the Texas Rangers game you should check this out. I'm sure Sportscenter and the rest will be getting a lot of mileage out of this one. We can only hope that his "15 minutes of fame" is extended for a bit so that he can be tortured ala Steve Bartman. At least Reggie Sanders was able to give this story a happy ending.

Too bad I didn't have the day off. With the special edition of "Everybody Loves Reagan" this game would have made a wonderful way to have spent the day.

Great observations by Jimmy Breslin........."You are supposed to honor and respect the dead. But you also must respect the truth, and live for the living - and this funeral has gone on for almost a week........You keep thinking of Harry Truman, whose code was, "Do not impose." He left an order that there were to be no eulogies at his funeral.......His whole weeklong funeral is cheap, utterly distasteful American publicity."

And some comments by Noam Chomsky....."During his years in office, Reagan was not particularly popular. Gallup just published poll figures comparing him during office with other presidents. His average ratings during his years in office were below Kennedy, Johnson, Bush I, and Clinton; above Nixon, Ford, Carter. This is averages during their terms in office. By 1992 he was ranked just next to Nixon as the most unpopular living ex-president. Since then there has been an immense PR campaign to convert him into a revered and historic figure, if not semi-divine."

Natural Sciences Faculty

In case you thought you were having a bad day; consider going through life with this name.

A few interesting Bush links incase you haven't seen them:

If you need a time waster; this might fill the bill.

An interesting beginning, but lacking a payoff......still worth a look.

This might be the desktop of the head pinhead's computer.

And a classic camp "pain" ad......

Bush/Zombie Reagan 2004

So inappropriate......Yet so funny! This "is" the logical outcome of some of the things that I've been complaining about!

Wow, I am amazed at the degree of laudatory comments that are dominating the unending news coverage of the passing of Ronald Reagan. I expect soon we'll hear an SNL type news flash...This Just In.....Reagan still dead. Don't get me wrong; I have nothing but sympathy for the family, both now and in the torturous trip down the path that is Alzheimer’s; something that nobody should have to suffer. What I have a problem with is the effort to re-write history, and give him credit for everything other than the sun rising in the morning.

Lets face it; he was a charismatic guy who was a true gentleman, and in comparison to the current wing nut in the White House a statesman and a pragmatist. But that's about it for my "fond" remembrances. I recall a legacy of deficits, Iran contras, Star Wars, and some pretty conservative (for lack of a better word) social policies. I could go on, but I'm sure others can do it better.....or so I hope. I can hardly believe that he is being mentioned in the company of the really "great" presidents like FDR; seems like we've forgotten much about either our recent or our not so recent history. We can only hope that President Wingnut's attempt to bask in this warm glow is the miserable failure that so many of his other policies have been.

Just got back from a weekend road trip to PA. Some random thoughts from the drive back: Every time I drive to PA two things inevitably happen; it rains and a big-assed rock always strikes my windshield and tries to break it. Why does this only happen on the PA turnpike?? It's the first "super-highway" but apparently the innovation stopped shortly after that, since it always seems to pale by comparison to other big interstate roads and it misses being categorized either quaint or efficient.

Passed by some "Good Luck Smarty Jones" signs as we drove by Philly......like the horse is going to look out the window and be inspired by the expression of good wishes?? Looks like that didn't work. It would have been great to have had the hoped for storybook ending, but since life doesn't always have those tidy resolutions, there may be an inspiring story here anyway. I was disappointed to see a newspaper headline that blamed the jockey for the loss. I'm a big fan of personal responsibility (something we don't see enough of these days), but I'm really not a big fan of blame. Sometimes what is.....is.

I must stop obsessing; the whole way up the Jersey turnpike I kept passing a Hummer. It took every bit of self-control that I had NOT to look at the driver and check out if it was "Chris-ta-faa". When I passed the Escalade and the guy was holding a stogy I realized that perhaps I had a problem. Way too much anticipation for the season ending of The Soprano’s. An OK episode tonight since most of the expected loose ends got tied up, but still a bit of a letdown after the last “killer” (no pun intended) episode.

Soggy Pigeon

No, NOT another GWB post, but a link that catagorizes different types of blogs. I plead guilty to "5" and to lesser degrees "3" & "4". Still looking for my voice I guess.

The Smirking Chimp

Not that I'm obsessed or anything but I keep running across great articles like this one. You would think this is a political blog (which it isn't) but as a subject that is a daily annoyance (GWB) I can't help but to read articles such as this and keep my fingers crossed that "the mainstream" is begining to shift to a more rational (read: anti-Bush) point of view.

A few good points are made, but as the author puts it :"Far from winning his so-called war on terror, George Bush rather continues to stoke up the fires that forge terrorists around the world."

CBC News:Bush likens war on terror to Second World War

Oh yeah,right.....like this doesn't ignore history (I don't recall WWII being the result of a narrow minded political agenda or being the result of a pre-emptive strike) and completely devalue and disrespect the huge sacrifice made by the previous generation. But what can you expect from the same person who said:

"I'm honored to shake the hand of a brave Iraqi citizen who had his hand cut off by Saddam Hussein."-Washington, D.C., May 25, 2004

"I want to thank my friend, Sen. Bill Frist, for joining us today. … He married a Texas girl, I want you to know. (Laughter.) Karyn is with us. A West Texas girl, just like me."-Nashville, Tenn., May 27, 2004