Yeech

Myself doesn't drink coffee, so he finds this particularly bad:

SEATTLE -- A Seattle restaurant is giving you an option when you order steak -- decaf or caffeinated.
Rippe's steak house is selling a steak coated with Starbucks Espresso grounds.
It's called the Seattle Signature Steak.
The caffeinated filet mignon sells for $30.
Chef Allison Jester and a waitress experimented with the idea one night when the manager wasn't around.
The steak also is seasoned with salt, garlic, onion and black pepper. Once grilled it has a black crust, smoky flavor and a moderate coffee taste.
The Espresso steak is now one of the most requested items on the menu.

But I suppose being Seattle and all, where coffe flows like rain there, and people have to ingest mass quantities of caffiene, in order to stave off depression to keep from killing themselves, it can happen.

Would you like some verbal abuse with that Whopper, you Lardass?

If only they would use their powers for good instead of evil:

TROY, Mich. -- Imagine ordering a burger in the drive-through lane, only to have a voice on the intercom say you're too fat for a Whopper.

Police in Troy, Mich., want the Federal Communications Commission to help find the person who hacked into a Burger King's wireless intercom system.
The hacker told some customers they were too fat. Other patrons were bombarded with obscenities and bizarre comments last week.
Store supervisor Jennifer Saccoia tells the Detroit Free Press the mysterious voice has been silent lately. Police have called in the FCC to investigate.

They say the feds have the radio direction-finding equipment needed to track down the person who has been transmitting on the Burger King frequency. That sort of radio hacking is a federal crime.

Support Call

"Welch Hall computer assistant; may I help you?"
"Yes, well, I'm having trouble with WordPerfect."
"What sort of trouble?"
"Well, I was just typing along, and all of a sudden the words went away."
"Went away?"
"They disappeared."
"Hmm. So what does your screen look like now?"
"Nothing."
"Nothing?"
"It's blank; it won't accept anything when I type."
"Are you still in WordPerfect, or did you get out?"
"How do I tell?"
[Uh-oh. Well, let's give it a try anyway.] "Can you see the C:\> prompt on the screen?"
"What's a sea-prompt?"
[Uh-huh, thought so. Let's try a different tack.] "Never mind. Can you move the cursor around on the screen?"
"There isn't any cursor: I told you, it won't accept anything I type."
[Ah--at least s/he knows what a cursor is. Sounds like a hardware problem. I wonder if s/he's kicked out his/her monitor's power plug.] "Does your monitor have a power indicator?"
"What's a monitor?"
"It's the thing with the screen on it that looks like a TV. Does it have a little light that tells you when it's on?"
"I don't know."
"Well, then look on the back of the monitor and find where the power cord goes into it. Can you see that?"
[sound of rustling and jostling] [muffled] "Yes, I think so."
"Great! Follow the cord to the plug, and tell me if it's plugged into the wall."
[pause] "Yes, it is."
[Hmm. Well, that's interesting. I doubt s/he would have accidentally turned it off, and I don't want to send him/her hunting for the power switch because I don't know what kind of monitor s/he has and it's bound to have more than one switch on it. Maybe the video cable is loose or something.]
"When you were behind the monitor, did you notice that there were two cables plugged into the back of it, not just one?"
"No."
"Well, there are. I need you to look back there again and find the other cable."
[muffled] "Okay, here it is."
"Follow it for me, and tell me if it's plugged securely into the back of your computer."
[still muffled] "I can't reach."
"Uh huh. Well, can you see if it is?"
[clear again] "No."
"Even if you maybe put your knee on something and lean way over?"
"Oh, it's not because I don't have the right angle--it's because it's dark."
"Dark?"
"Yes--the office light is off, and the only light I have is coming in from the window."
"Well, turn on the office light then."
"I can't."
"No? Why not?"
"Because there's a power outage."
"A power--!?!" ...[AAAAAAARGH!]
This person was good friends with my supervisor, so I couldn't deal with him/her the way I really wanted to, and was forced to explain sweetly and gently to him/her that computers needed power just like office lights, and if the office lights were out, then the computer was too, and that yes, if s/he hadn't saved her work s/he had probably lost everything s/he'd done so far in WordPerfect. But I could still fantasize:

"A power outage? Aha! Okay, we've got it licked now. Do you still have the boxes and manuals and packing stuff your computer came in?"
"Well, yes, I keep them in the closet."
"Good! Go get them, and unplug your system and pack it up just like it was when you got it. Then take it back to the store you bought it from."
"Really? Is it that bad?"
"Yes, I'm afraid it is."
"Well, all right then, I suppose. What do I tell them?"
"Tell them you're TOO STUPID TO OWN A COMPUTER!" [slam]

but that wouldn't have been a very nice thing to do, now would it?

Happy New Year

to all and to all a good night, wait, wrong holiday. So its a new year, another year gone by, another year ahead, either filled with the promise of anticipation of what lies ahead, or another year of the same old shit, and stuff, depends if the glass is half full or half empty I guess. For Myself I tend to see it both ways as half empty and half full at the same time. The actual new years was spent at home taking care of the boyfriend who had the flu, he was really sick, 102 degree fever, chills, sweats, aches, the works. I felt bad about going out without him, leaving him at home being sick and all. So I stayed in, played around on the new PC and got drunk, passed out around 10:30 or so and slept through the new year. Pretty sad, yes I know. But so it goes. Oh yeah, and it rained for most of the week, started tuesday the 30th and rained till Friday the 2nd only clearing up Saturday. Now there are potholes in the asphalt the size of garbage can lids all over the place, and just after I bought new front tires for my car, wonderful, even paid $60 for an alignment. But at least I didn't get sick too, at least I hope not.

2003 the year in revue

So let's see if y'all remember these things from the past year:
-So how about those Raelians, who announced to the world that her tinfoil hat-wearing pals would, any day now, have a human clone to show the world. Ya, right.

-Then there was the Dell Dude getting busted for marijuana. Which prompted the joke: I don't know what to think about the Dell Dude getting busted for pot, I always thought marijuana was a Gateway drug...
-I'm sure we all remember "freedom Fries" jeez that was stupid. Aggrivatingly stupid was "can you hear me now?"
-Martha Stewart , that bitch, got hers.
-Yes Fox News/Bill O'rielly sued Al Franken but did you know Spike Lee sued TNN over their use of "his" name for the SpikeTV channel.
-To the Media: Please, please, please do not continue to show the Michael Jackson mug shot, it gives Myself nightmares, Hell it even scares my dog.
-Then there was the guy who put himself in a crate and had it mailed home.
-Some idiot intevnted the term metrosexual

From the "Ya know I always meant to take care of that" department

link

Patrice Moore, 43, said he called for help when the mountain of mail, books and other paper items collapsed on him Saturday. However no one heard him.
He was found at 1:45 p.m. Monday by his landlord.
Emergency workers, neighbors and about 20 firefighters dug through the debris to reach Moore, filling 50 garbage bags with paper. He was freed at about 2:15 p.m.
Moore was hospitalized with leg injuries.
The incident recalled the legendary case of the Collyer brothers, who in 1947 were discovered dead in their house in Harlem after one of the brothers was found trapped under a pile of papers and the other died of starvation.

Maybe the landlord was comin to evict him for being a messy slob who still hasn't paid the rent this month, but if one lets their home get so cluttered that his can happen, you deserve to get buried by it. Myself is guessing he kept occupied reading back issues of Maxim.

Happy holidays to all!

finally cont'd

So before going home today Myself stops in to COMPUSA to get a different data transfer software, and Lo and Behold Myself notices the software I have is supposed to sell for $30 not the $70 that was paid, the $70 dollar version that Myself paid for but did not get, DOES allow me to pick and choose the files I want. Screw that. I get a different brand altogether. Now I know that I don't even need and software and its possible to transfer the files by setting up a direct link using shared files, and the built in network capabilities, but this seems easier. So Myself shells out another 70 bucks, and get out of there before I buy something else. (the Sim people and the Civilization III games were very tempting) I get home and fix the virus, (it was the Welchia, technically a worm). Not too nasty, but it chews up resources trying to find another PC to infect. No beer tonight, gotta get this thing done, (and done properly). Set up the two PC's with the trasnfer app, and off it goes 10 gigs of data will take six to seven hours. Wonderful. this will be done around two or three something in the morning. nothing to do but wait, guess I will have a beer or four.

finally..

Well Myself finally went and bought a new PC, finally replacing the old P1 Aptiva, (remember those?), with a P4 HP. Myself considered buying a Dell, but being out in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, the shipping would have added more a cost than going down to CompUSA and justbuying one, ergo thats what I endeavorad to do. So I traipse down there and find a good deal, $850 with a $250 rebate. After rebuking the salesboy's attempt to pay $200 for their service plan, which was a bit annoying, I get some PC relocation software to move data off the old girl, and Myself is out the door, not too painful. So I get home and hook up the new PC, works fine. ok so far so good. Install the firewall, the anti-virus. doing good no major problems. Now Myself needs to install the software to move off the old data. Except there is only one monitor, ok, do a little cable switching and install it. Switch monitors again and intsall on the new PC. Ready to go except the software wants to copy everything to the new PC, Myself want to copy only certain stuff, and this does not let me do that. Problemo. Damn software cost 72 bucks and its been opened. Gotta get a different mover. Now the new PC is telling me I got a virus. shit. 1:30 in the morning, gotta work tomorrow. Maybe Myself shouldn't have drank so much beer. Screw it leave it, go to bed, hope the boyfriend doesn't do any real damage and I will try to remove it after work. One interesting thing. I found a CD in the burner, not sure what its for. more to come on the new PC adventure...

Music Wars Scene 26:
in which a US appellate court allows ISP's to tell the RIAA: "Don't come 'round here no more"

In what has to be seen as a blow to the Empire RIAA, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, has ruled that Internet Service Providers, (ISP), do not have to give the identy of subscribers suspected of file sharing.

WASHINGTON - A federal appeals court ruled Friday the recording industry can't force Internet providers to identify subscribers swapping music online, dramatically setting back the industry's anti-piracy campaign.
snip...
But it will make identifying defendants for future lawsuits much more difficult and expensive. The ruling forces the recording industry to file civil lawsuits against "John Doe" defendants, based on their Internet addresses, then work through the courts to learn their names.

What this means is that it is now much more costly for the Empire to go after the rebels, although Myself believes they still will, the RIAA will have to concentrate on only the most aggressive, prolific downloaders, and not sue grandmas, and teenage girls. I can almost picture RIAA prez Cary Sherman's head exploding when he heard of this one...

Music Wars Scene 25:
in which the worlds largest retailer considers entering the fray

So now WalMart, that 800 lb. gorilla of the retail industry, with low, low, prices, is testing its foot in waters of the music download biz

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (NYSE:WMT - news) said on Thursday it would begin testing digital music downloads on its Web site, joining a list of companies hoping to profit from the growing demand for such services.
Wal-Mart, the world's biggest company, said customers could download songs for 88 cents per track. Wal-Mart said it would gather customer feedback over the next few months and make any modifications before officially launching the service in 2004.

Any surprise that they are offering a price that is less than anyone else out there?

in other news...

article link:

Researchers at McMaster University showed male students pictures of women, some of whom were said to be attractive and some not-so-attractive, as determined by the Hot or Not? Web site.
After seeing a very attractive woman, the men were more likely to make dumb choices.
The Canadian researchers asked the male students to roll dice. If they rolled double digits, they were given a choice of taking $15 to $35 the next day or up to $75 after waiting a while.
The men who saw the attractive women were more likely to take the lesser amount.
NewScientist.com said biologists call choosing immediate rewards to greater ones in the future as "discounting the future."
The researchers said they tried the same test with female students. But there was no lessening of intelligence among the women after looking at hunks. Men also didn't show a change in reaction after seeing pictures of expensive cars.
The researchers said men stop thinking about long-term consequences once they get slightly aroused and see a sexual opportunity.

Just another well, duh, study to tell us that men eally do think with their dicks. And yes Myself has to admit at times being guilty as charged.

Ahhh the Power of Cheese...

Link

A Cedar City [Utah] man is accused of assaulting another man with a block of cheese.

Police said the victim was struck in the face with the cheese Thursday.

They say the assailant was intoxicated at the time. He was charged with misdemeanor intoxication and misdemeanor assault and was booked into the Iron County Jail on $1,100 bail.

or maybe its the power of Utah:
link

OREM, Utah -- An 18-year-old accused of flashing someone made it easy for police to catch him.

Police say he exposed himself to a woman while he was sitting in his car outside a Wal-Mart store in Orem Monday.

The woman kept calm, got a description of him, took down his license plate number and called police.

Shortly after, the suspect stopped at a gas station and accidentally locked his keys in his car. He called police for help. When they got there, police noticed the car and man matched the description the woman gave them.

Police say when they questioned him, he admitted flashing the woman. He was cited for a misdemeanor.

The George Carlin Bill

Don't these congresscritters have anything better to do than this:
HR 3687:

HR 3687 IH

108th CONGRESS

1st Session

H. R. 3687

To amend section 1464 of title 18, United States Code, to provide for the punishment of certain profane broadcasts, and for other purposes.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

December 8, 2003

Mr. OSE (for himself and Mr. SMITH of Texas) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary

A BILL

To amend section 1464 of title 18, United States Code, to provide for the punishment of certain profane broadcasts, and for other purposes.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That section 1464 of title 18, United States Code, is amended--

(1) by inserting `(a)' before `Whoever'; and

(2) by adding at the end the following:

`(b) As used in this section, the term `profane', used with respect to language, includes the words `shit', `piss', `fuck', `cunt', `asshole', and the phrases `cock sucker', `mother fucker', and `ass hole', compound use (including hyphenated compounds) of such words and phrases with each other or with other words or phrases, and other grammatical forms of such words and phrases (including verb, adjective, gerund, participle, and infinitive forms).'.

Myself is still waiting for someone to say asshat and dicklicker.

Good Food, Good Fun

link

HOUSTON, Dec. 4 — A Texas woman was sentenced to 10 years in jail Thursday for running over the manager of a McDonald’s with her car because she wanted mayonnaise on her cheeseburger. The woman, Waynetta Nolan, 37, showed no emotion as the sentence was read in court after a trial in which the McDonald’s manager, Sherry Jenkins, said that even though she gave Nolan the mayonnaise she requested, the woman flew into a rage anyway.
“I gave her everything she asked for — mayonnaise, no mustard, onions — everything I could possibly do for this lady. Mayo, mayo, mayo, and it’s still not good enough,” Jenkins told reporters outside the courtroom.
Nolan, who was convicted of aggravated assault for the April 23 incident, became so angry when a McDonald’s employee told her that she could not get mayonnaise that she threw her cheeseburger into the drive-through window, witnesses said.
Jenkins tried to placate her by offering a cheeseburger with mayonnaise, but Nolan continued to make demands until Jenkins finally called police.
When she went outside to write down Nolan’s license plate number, Nolan ran her over, breaking her pelvis.
Nolan testified that she was putting ketchup on her cheeseburger when she accidentally struck Jenkins.

Maybe she should have asked for them to put the ketchup on for her, yah, right.

Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act

Ever heard of it? Myself has not, that is until today when I discovered that the US government is suing the Maui Planning Commission. It seems that a rural Maui congregation wanted to build a church but was denied a permit by the land board, and subsequently was able to get the DOJ to file a suit under the act.

The United States sued Maui County in support of Hale O Kaula after the church filed a religious discrimination case against the county.

The church had requested use of farm land in Pukalani for a worship center, but the planning commission denied the permit, agreeing with neighbors who claimed it would lead to increased traffic and noise, added burden to county services and a deterioration of the rural atmosphere.

The church refused to argue a complete case in a contested-case appeal. Instead, it accused the hearing officer of bias, then filed its suit based on the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act, a relatively new law enacted by Congress to give churches an advantage in zoning battles.

This not very well known act was signed into law in September 2000, by President Clinton, in the waning days if his term, designed to give religious groups protection from discrimination against their freedom of religious exercise, the act reads:

No government shall impose or implement a land use regulation in a manner that imposes a substantial burden on the religious exercise of a person, including a religious assembly or institution, unless the government demonstrates that imposition of the burden on that person, assembly, or institution--
(A) is in furtherance of a compelling governmental interest; and
(B) is the least restrictive means of furthering that compelling governmental interest.

The argument against this act is that it creates special rights for religious groups that non-religious groups don't get. When any organization, religious or not, is permitted to bypass basic regulations on things like traffic, noise, and safety, that strikes Myself as wrong. By the looks of all the various advocacy groups involved here, this one is going to go on and up the legal system for awhile.

Music Wars: Scene 24
In which the Empire says: Here you come again

Yes people it's time for a third round of lawsuits:

The Recording Industry Association of America said Wednesday it had sued another 41 people in its ongoing legal campaign against file swappers who are trading copyrighted music online.

This is the RIAA's third batch of suits against computer users since early September, bringing the total number of people sued to 382. The group also said it had sent out an additional 90 new letters to alleged file traders, notifying them that they would be next to be sued if they didn't reach a settlement agreement first.

"This is an ongoing strategy, and the way to let people know that there is a risk of consequences is to continue the program," RIAA President Cary Sherman said. "You don't set up a speed trap for one day and stop enforcement thereafter. It has to be consistent."

Wonderful, now Darth Cary is equating their draconian tactics with a speed trap, to make it more friendly -like. There are more things wrong with that analogy that one does not know where to en begin. At least Myself is not on the recieving end of this one. Hope none of you out there are not either.
Music is the greatest creation of mankind.

Just in time for Thanksgiving...

...comes Turkey and Gravy Soda from the Jones Soda Company

A new Turkey and Gravy Soda tastes, well, pretty much like you would imagine. But that's not stopping people from buying it.
Founder and CEO Peter van Stolk dreamed up the seasonal flavor on a lark, but admits he can't stomach an entire bottle.
The liquid's ominous, murky brown color accurately warns consumers about the taste. The first sips bring a mix of sweet caramel and savory lard - and it's downhill from there.
A limited number of Turkey & Gravy Sodas will be available in stores around Seattle and Olympia for the suggested retail price of 99 cents. A few entrepreneurs are selling theirs on eBay.com; by Tuesday, the bidding was up to $63 for a two-bottle set.

he article goes on to describe the taste as if you took turkey, gravy and mashed potatoes and mixed it up on a blender, that is pretty much what this tastes like. Myself would not pay 63 bucks for two bottles of this stuff, but hey what does Myself know? Now if they would only make sweaty male crotch flavor...

Price of Paradise pt 2

Living in Hawaii is expensive. The price of a gallon of gasoline is well above $2, we currently have the most expensive bus fare also $2, a box of Apple Jacks cereal is $5. Don't even get me started on the cost of real estate. So it's no suprise that Hawai'i's housing is the most 'crowded' in the nation

Hawai'i leads the country in apartment living and in "crowded households," according to a 2000 Census report released yesterday.

Nearly a third of Hawai'i's housing that existed in the census year was made up of apartments, the highest proportion in the country. Hawai'i even edged New York in the proportion of housing in buildings with five or more apartments — 32.5 percent vs. 32.4 percent.

The urban Honolulu area is a hodge-podge of single homes, low-rise apartments and high-rise condominiums, with expensive high-rise condos right next door to an eight unit low-rise section-8 apartment. So all of this is nothing too shocking to Myself. But the money quote is at the end of the article:

The mobile home is America's fastest-growing type of housing, but not in Hawai'i. The state leads the country with the smallest proportion of mobile homes at 0.2 percent.

Umm, we live on island, what the f**k are you going to do with a mobile home? Where the hell are you going to go? The cost of shipping one of those thing out here and trying to sell it would probaly end up costing more than buying a condo, duh.

Myself Rule of life #15

Cluelessness: There are no stupid questions, but there are a LOT of inquisitive idiots.

Corollary: Never underestimate the power of stupid people in large groups

if it looks like a duck

Seems that both Eugene Volkh and Katherine Lopez have the same "friend" in London who email's the same letter, about W's visit. Great now we have rightie pundits laying down astroturf.

update:It seems both Eugene Volokh and K Lo have replied to what I found, after this got picked-up by Jessie and then Atrios saying hey, no biggie here, we simply have a mutual friend, and it was purely coincidence. No conspiracy. Well Myself is willing to give them the benefit of the doubt theat they actually know said friend. But I still stand by my original call of astroturf, only instead of the editorial page this particular astroturf is of the blogosphere variety. Not as bad as the first type but astroturf nonetheless. Said friend is making the attempt to show that the protests are, in actuality, not as it is being portrayed by the "liberal media". Kind of hard to tell since the SCLM is more concerned with covering the Santa Clara airport.