The opinionated fool declareth:

Hey Government, back the fuck off!

Well, I was waiting for the ran to slowly inch by so I could cycle up to work, and I cam across the following story at BoingBoing.net: Italy considering gov't regulation of bloggers . I have no idea if this would have any support in the Italian government, and I know free speech isn't as precious in Europe as it is here in the U.S., but sheesh, that seems like such a bad idea to me (understatement).

Where else can you find hard-hitting stories about toilet paper theft that's going on in Fond Du Lac, Wisconsin? From CNN , of course.

Yeah! I feel great! Okay, I wrecked out my beater-car last week, so I have no car. But now I'm thinking that I may not actually bother to find a replacement car right away. I would have never thought that I'd say this, but living 10 miles from my place of work actually doesn't require a car. I've come up with a great way to save money, not have a car, and get in some bitchin' exercise, all from biking to work. I'll be rich and good-looking, right? Here's a Google Maps version of the route that I take to/from work: Google Map . View Larger Map This yields about 1-1.5 hours of good aerobic activity (depending on how hard I ride) for every day that I do it. Now that I'm really trying to eat better in order to lose "the man-bewbs," this is a really great thing, and will complement the evening lifting I've been doing in the garage with Eric's weight bench. The negative to all of this (actually, there are a few things): it takes about ...

It's almost official: Hugo Chavez is a despotic dictator. Telegraph story

We all know that I'm a virgin, right? Well, if anybody has evidence to the contrary, step forward. :P Here's more proof of my virginity. Haha. Interesting, to say the least. They don't really establish causality, as it would be most difficult to do so, but, yeah. Interesting nonetheless. (Link from slashdot's site.)

This song: Collusion , by Psycorps... ...that's what I need for my Friday night.

I guess I'm tired of giving out my opinions on things.

I laughed.

So, I haven't updated in 2 weeks. Sorry. I know - being the coolest freakin' guy on the planet, everybody has probably been biting their nails wondering that the heck Chris has been up to. Not much, really. Things are copacetic. Trying to work more, get a side project finished here in the lab by the end of summer so my name will actually return a hit on PubMed.com. Also trying to get the pwg stuff back in gear. WoW play is in effect, but under control, unlike a while ago. My iPod is broke, and being an incredibly dumb idiot, I waited until it lapsed from it's 1-year-warranty to register a repair request with Apple. Now I'm sending it to a third-party company for repair. Probably going to be a hundred bucks to get it fixed. Good thing I'm filthy, stinking rich. I'm going to buy another soccer ball. The Feroni isn't holding air anymore. In case you're wondering, The Feroni is a soccer ball that I stole from a 10 year old a few years ago. I believ...

Last week Sony debuted a new, flexible, paper-thin display system. Take a look at it here . That is damn sexy!!

NewScientist has published and made available online an article "debunking" 25 misconceptions that muddy the waters of discussion on whether or not global warming is an actual phenomenon or not, and whether or not at it's root cause lies Human activity. You might want to read it here . Then, you might want to watch The Great Global Warming Swindle , which contains an interview with the former headman of NewScientist. This video is over an hour long, but it strongly changed some of my views on the reality of man-made global warming. (As always, it's important to remember that as new information gets made available, we can find out more about what's actually going on. This video convinces me that, at this time, it does not appear to be a human-driven process. But one of the good things about this video also is that it frankly allows for the discovery of new information, making the point that it appears to be the "global warming" advocates that are jumpi...

The NY Times has a pretty moving story that you may want to read. Love is weird, am I right? Weird, but strong? We didn’t want another baby, I told them. We wanted our baby, the one sleeping right over there. “She’s our daughter,” I said. “We love her.” Hope everybody has a bitchin' Tuesday.

Not sure if anybody else heard about this, but there was an extremely intriguing research report and analysis released last month that suggests (lack of) Vitamin D and it's related pro-forms (D2, D3, D4, etc.) has a very high correlation to increased risk for several cancers. Specifically, this report showed that, of a study of 1200 women, there was a 60% reduction in the appearance of cancer in subjects taking Vitamin D supplements compared to those not taking supplements. I believe I heard on NPR news that this 60% difference is actually a higher level of difference between similar cancer-rate studies comparing people who smoke to those that do not. Interesting to say the least. Anyhow, I was reading up about it (again, because I'm supposed to be working on a data set... and we all know that frequent breaks help facilitate brilliance and creative thinking) and found another, older, but interesting article about how cancer patients respond much better in the summer than wi...

While sitting here (ideally to work on making a kick-ass phylogenetic tree for a meeting with the Bosserino tomorrow morning) eating some Smartfood popcorn (the best freakin' popcorn ever - oddly enough, I have this memory of going to the waterways in downtown Las Colinas for some carnival and getting free bags of the stuff... this was probably when I was in elementary or middle school) I happened upon an ArsTechnica article about the ominous July 15th date for the royalty hike that's supposed to be introduced, and kill, Internet streaming music. (For some backstory, check out this Wiki entry on the proposed changes. I was pleasantly surprised that the bill to overturn this royalty hike - which is unreasonable, and should be overturned - was introduced by one of my favorite politicians, Sen. Brownback (of pro-life fame/infamy). I like that dude. So, good job, Mr. Brownback.

This CNN article makes me pretty mad. It's such a paradox, that someone who is pro-life should attempt to kill another to achieve their "pro-life" ends... Although there is some logical appeal to the argument that killing is justified during war, and in this case, the thousands of abortions each day constitute a war on the unborn... ultimately I think this notion has to be rejected, since the 'battle' isn't so blatant as to be fought on any declared battlefield with any declared enemy. As corny and stupid as the term sounds, it's more of a 'spiritual battle' that needs to be prayed for, actions taken within the system to decrease and eliminate either 1.) the need for thousands of abortions each day (ie - giving mothers a respect for their unborn fetus, providing them aid during and after pregnancies, etc) 2.) end the legal option that parents possess today to abort their unborn. As it is, bombings and loud, yelling protest have very distasteful (...

Don't look, actually - or else you'll get bitch-slapped by reality as the EU passes legislation covering all 27 member-states making it illegal (1-3 year jail sentences) to "incitement to violence or hatred “against a group of persons or a member of such a group defined by reference to race, colour, religion, descent or national or ethnic origin." You see, the iron fist reaching out to bitch-slap you and enforce measures against thought-crime and cerebral-immorality cometh not from the ultra evil Jesus-loving Right of cowboy America but the friendly and subtle and sophisticated and oh so enlightened leftist European elite . Trent Reznor is wrong about who we need to fear.

This was my finest gaming hour. This is my old guild - Forsaken Deathknights (FDK)- killing Ragnaros back in November '06. It's hard to grasp the scale of this fight (and the video capture is done through a different player) if you don't play World of Warcraft very much, but there are 40 of us FDK members in there all killing the huge fire-demon in the middle. You can see the damage spells hitting Ragnaros from all directions. Matt will laugh at this, mostly because Ragnaros, the final boss in Molten Core, was pretty much extremely easy for most advanced guilds (such as Skull Squadron) long before FDK even stepped foot in the Molten Core area. Yet we worked our way through it as a casual guild over the course of 5 or 6 months, working a steady 1.5 nights each week, and this progression and the teamwork, drama, bitching and moaning, more drama, dealing with prima donnas , strategy-learning and even more needless social drama that all went into making this boss kill was rea...

It seems like this tragedy will be history-making. My heart and prayers go out to my friends in Virginia, to those 31+ killed by the gunman, and especially for the gunman who was killed (or killed himself)... what a terrible waste. Now, finally to get up to school and work.

Don't worry, Dan. You might not like the content of this communication with my Representative, but worry not - I jotted this down between lab activities (aka - "work") a few minutes ago. Dear Representative, Howdy from Rice University! I'm a graduate student studying vertebrate embryology here at Rice. I'd like to first thank you for your part in funding our lab's research! Being in my position, I have a keen understanding and appreciation for the funding of our country's great scientific programs. However, I am writing to you this morning to let you know my strong disagreement with the bill that was just passed by the Senate allowing for funding of embryonic stem cell research. It seems like this bill (or this issue, in some form) is likely to be brought before Congress again in the near future. I believe that embryonic humans should be in full possession of their human rights, starting immediately at conception. Since somatic cell nuclear transfer (...

You know, Espers .

Kind of interesting that the Supreme Court ruled within the last week that the Bush administration is not in violation of the law regarding holding suspects at Guantanamo, then followed that with a ruling that the EPA has the authority independent of the administration, to regulate carbon emissions. So no restriction, followed by some restriction. Not interesting per se, one merely hopes that conspiracy theorists might take heart that the Fascist and Evil Regime of Furher Bush (!!!) is being checked in some ways by the courts.

Last night I was out at a pizza parlor with "The Eric and Katie Duo" and got a call from my sister. She'd called a couple times before, and then when she said she "had news" and then told me she was pregnant, I made a whooping noise, did a high-five with Eric and yelled "I'm gonna be an uncle!!" which made a few people around us look over. So then I sat back down and realized it was April 1st after Jennifer said, "Just kidding!" Apparently nobody else believed her the entire day. Oh well - I'm happy to be there for you, sister, as a gullible sucker! Hehehe.

Here's something you haven't heard for probably 5 or 6 years. Maybe 8 years, I don't know: What's Going On - by Four Non-Blondes. Heh. Oh, the '06 Tax Return Present gets shipping "beginning of this week." So I'll hopefully have it by Friday. Saving money to spend on car repairs? That's for suckers.

Rioting by "youths" hit a major Parish train station today. (Warning: FoxNews link - here .) But this is only to be expected. The last I heard, there were parts of the Paris suburbs that were so hostile to non-Arab police officers that the police began refusing to even enter those areas to attempt to quell rioting and general lawlessness that has persisted since the beginning of the rioting in 2005. If you don't go in there and root out the problem, it's just going to spread. The same goes with ignoring the problem, or pretending that there is no issue to be dealt with. If they continue to be big do-nothings regarding the latent racial/religious tensions, next year it won't just be burning cars and smashing windows.

Made a nice purchase online today while at work. Expect me to show it off in a couple of weeks!

To the angry, white Toyota Carrolla driver out there on N. Sheperd street: Hello. I'm sorry I did... whatever it is that I did that so upset you. You see, I didn't do anything on purpose to make your drive-time commute more difficult than it had to be, so I didn't understand why you floored your crappy 4-block piece of shit car to "zoom" past me while giving me a dilapidated and weak middle finger, which at first, with your wrinkley hand up in the air next to your rawhide face and frizzled $8 hair-style made me think that the Cryptkeeper was driving next to me, until you opened your mouth to yell something to me (sorry, I didn't catch it because there's 20 feet and two pieces of pneumatically-sealed glass between us) and I saw your ugly and small pointy teeth and realized that it was some feeble old lady trying to tell me I was doing too well of a job trying to drive slowly and carefully home from the supermarket. Life's too short to be that much of ...

watch the sun, as it crawls across a final time and it feels like, like it was a friend. it is watching us, and the world we set on fire do you wonder, if it feels the same? and the sky is filled with light can you see it? all the black is really white if you believe it as your time is running out let me take away your doubt you can find a better a place in this twilight dust to dust, ashes in your hair remind me what it feels like and I won't feel again night descends could I have been a better person if I could only do it all again and the sky is filled with light can you see it? all the black is really white if you believe it and the longing that you feel you know none of this is real you will find a better place in this twilight -NIN's "In This Twilight"

Two things happened today: I found a man dying (more than likely already dead) of a heart attack in a parking lot at the gun range. This poor guy was face-up sprawled out on his back when I pulled into the range. At first I was dreading finding someone who'd shot themselves and hit by an accidental discharge or some freak accident while putting some guns into his car, but there was no blood, just an older-looking man lying peacefully on his back. His name was Michael, he was 53, and he rented a place from Gary, the gun store owner and worked at the range. I went in and got some help, someone started CPR as we called 911, they came fast and got to work on him, but he didn't make it. It was his time to go. The saddest part is that he has no family. His story was apparently a pretty rough one, although the last part of his life he had essentially got everything worked out, he had a rough early adulthood, it sounded like. At the least he had friends that cared about him. I h...

How long do you let someone treat you without respect before you dissolve the friendship from your end?

NIN's new album, Year Zero , so far sounds like it's going to be amazing. They have this theme for the album - almost a concept album - where in 2022, some kind of rightwing fundamentalist Christian politik has taken over America. They put stuff in the water to subvert the people. And this... thing - called "The Presence" - which is some kind of Hand of God - reaches down from the sky, and the only people that can see or feel it are (if I understand correctly) those that aren't taking the medicated water. At any rate, the music sounds like it's going to be top notch. I was a bit worried after With Teeth because there were really only 3 tracks on the album that I really enjoy listening.

I'm designing the rest of these primers at home, where there is terriyaki beef jerky and cold Diet Rite Tangerine soda.

I cut my hair. Not too short. And, no, Dan, not to be like you. By the way - how did it get to be 6:40am? I mean, the equivalent of 5:40am? Got a lot of work to do tomorrow. Today I: *repaired my pair of sandals using a high-power staple gun, a hammer, and a dinner fork - in that order *cleaned the Beretta 92FS 9MM. Such a pretty gun, I really need to keep that baby cleaner, like she deserves. Who knew so much gunk could get stuck in there? *started watching Rome season II. Really damned good. So far it's not quite as entertaining as season I, but that's like saying the second ribeye steak wasn't as good as the first when in reality you didn't need two steaks, you fatty *and speaking of steaks, I weighed myself and discovered I'm getting fatter *cut my hair to a reasonable length *stayed up way too goddamned late!!

In other news, I feel like queuing up some Tool and going for a ride in the automobile. Maybe out I-10 west of town, or I-45 south towards Galveston. Dark highways are good for the soul. See ya later.

I didn't win $50 million. Three bucks wasted!

Yeah, so I went to the bookstore, then to Big Lots (then back to work.) And here I am, busting out my new phosphor-electro-sparking multi-colored glass electro-swirly-sculpture and my new 4x4 LED color pattern generator. Together less than $20, these babies will bring me endless joy here at work. You, reader, have little or no understanding of what I'm saying, do you? Well, here's a link to the LED Color Cube thing from Homedics (I paid just $6 for it!) and here's the Mini Electra lamp . The best part about this? Whoever the hell is reading has absolutely no interest in all of this!

Plane wreckage on some island A capsizing luxury boat And in Utah, the satellite picture captures some kind of missile (ICBM?) mid-flight. It helps if you zoom out a little bit to get more context, but still - pretty fascinating.

If you're going to be using Windows Vista, here's a great article to show you how to configure that 'pewter to use less electricity. Meanwhile, I'm going to be here late tonight developing an RNA blot because I'm just starting the washes and it's already past 5pm. But that's cool - I mean, what else would I have to do on a Friday night besides do high-stringency salt washes and antibody detection? Now to get some Metallica copied onto the music player so I can rock out with my science out.

There's only one thing that's going to happen for sure, and that is the purchase of additional RUSH albums.

Tomorrow is going to be the big day when James Cameron holds a press conference and declares that he's found the tomb of Jesus, Mary, Mary Magdalen, Jesus' son, and a couple of the Apostles. Good. I'm glad we got it all cleared up now, that Jesus' claim to fame was bunk, the Ascension never happened and Christianity, like all other religions, is bullshit. Good work, James .

One can say: "I will, but my body does not obey me"; but not: "My will does not obey me."

From Wesley J Smith: A baby has been born at one day less than 22 weeks gestation , has survived, and is doing well. This birth may have significant ramifications for abortion law because it reduces the time of viability to just over half a normal gestation period. It may impact futile care theory and the occasional attempts to refuse wanted life-sustaining treatment for prematurely born babies. The birth could affect personhood theory, at least for those who refuse to depersonalize born infants, because it could materially alter their moral view of the moral worth of later stage fetuses. So, welcome to the world Amillia Sonja Taylor. Your birth might become a significant event for expanding the perception of who qualifies to be in the human family. In other news, I'm back from Siberia (New York), my sister's wedding was great, she's in the Dominican Republic now on her honeymoon, and after this afternoon my progress review document will be completed, turned in, and I can r...

Somewhere in the dark A shadow moves 'neath another Purchase upon tenable ground Is slowly found And with the slightest sound A gasp, perhaps, And a sigh, And then a pale light To cut through the distance And a means A purpose A purchase Which is to say, direction Towards that means Or the result And somewhere in the dark A shadow moves 'neath yet another A different form A difference found And the tenable ground With only the slightest sound Yields to inevitability Disappearing down No, not underground But above Where a Dove may be found Purchasing with pale wings Against the thin air Above the ground A hard way Perhaps the only way And yet still in the dark it may sing For against the coming dawn, No victory can any bring Except that which the Dove doth sing.

I woke up at 6pm today, after sleeping more than 14 hours. It was dark and I thought it was 6am. Went and bought some TacoBell and more NyQuil (CVS-brand Nighttime Multi-Symptom Syrup). The NyQuil works so good I feel like I need to sleep another 14 hours, even after a giant cup of Baja Blast Mountain Dew while watching Clerks II. It feels like today isn't real. Goodnight, people.

So Snakey McSnakerson just accepted and wolfed down a mouse that I thawed out yesterday, then forgot about until just a minute ago. I'm blaming it on the fact that I've been dosing with NyQuil during the day, something that probably isn't recommended. Don't get me wrong - relief from whatever I have (cold/flu?) is great. But leaving mice thawed out on the kitchen counter (don't worry, it was on foil, not the counter) isn't that fun to discover. I swear my snake is a bit blind, too. He struck at the prey and almost completely missed it... from about a half-inch from his face. Then he came wheeling back around with his mouth wide open and managed to barely miss his own neck coming back towards himself. Then he grabbed the mouse across the mouse's ribcage and stomach, between an arm and a leg. I guess because snakes don't have hands and don't use utensils, he had to spend about 5 minutes working his jaws slowly around to the head. Not your most ...

I didn't get invited to any Super Bowl parties. Heh.

Just set that plastic soul on fire - and watch it melt!!! Life is good, a rocket sled utopia A self-imposed myopia You gotta love this place Life is fast, a million winners everyday You tell me, is this work or play? I'm never really sure... I'm alive, now you watch me go A tickle inside my brain Where it comes from i don't know But I'm laughin' in the flames It's just a look in your eyes I feel like I can fly And then sometimes I dig it so much... I could die I'll never make no more complaints, 'Cuz I don't care... -M.M.

Enough talking, here are a few screenshots (click for full-res versions): First one is just my basic desktop with background. The widgets are on the right, there's a clock face and below that is a little picture frame that, depending on how you set it, sifts through a folder (or folders if you specify) and changes the picture displayed. So you get a little miniature, changing picture frame. Nifty, eh? (Click for high res image.) This is shows how it pops up a little mini-view of the minimized window to preview before you restore it up from the taskbar to the desktop. (Click for high res image.) And finally, that side-view option that lets you see all the windows that are open. You click on the one you want to come forward to the front, then they zoom back in. (Click for high res image.) Well, I guess it's time for bed.

Oh, more coolness - when you mouse over a minimized application in your taskbar, up pops a mini preview of the window. Also, there's a window fetcher button - basically you click on the button, and all the open windows and applications fall back a few feet and you look on them from a 45 degree angle in perspective, allowing you to see the content of all the windows when your desktop gets crowded. Then you mouse over and click on the window you want to bring to the front and it all zooms back in. Does the fact that I think that's really bitchin' mean I'm a dork? Furthermore, and this is kinda silly, but I'm really enjoying the sample music files that come in the music samples folder. A few good electronica songs, some cool world music and jazz and classical songs in there. The new Windows Media Player looks like a decent program.

This post is being brought to you by Windows Vista™. Been a loo-oo-oong time since I've gotten the rush of using a new OS. It's great. Goodbye, Windows XP! The user interface is nice and shiney, everything is responsive and peppy. My "Windows Experience Rating" was 4.1 out of 5. Apparently 1-2 is good for web surfing, and 4-5 is good for gaming. Ha. The Radeon 9800Pro still got a really high rating though, so I have all the eye candy turned on here and it looks, well, just really pretty. There are a bunch of great features that should have been in XP - widgets for the side of the screen, hard-drive disc-imaging, advanced power settings, file run settings that make it easy to request permission for new applications to open and install (always a good thing) and - of course - sexy 3D user interface goodness. Don't you wish you had a free copy of Windows Vista™?

Johnny Cash's version of Hurt That's June (his 2nd wife) behind him in that video. I love this video so much.

Some high-quality urbandictionary.com definitions randomly observed: guitar face : the face you make when in pain, ecstasy or passing massive amounts of gas. (bonus link HERE - am I the only one that laughs? safety buzz : The amount of alcohol (or other substance) intake neccessary to provide a reason to try and make a move on someone. If this person is not receptive to the advance, then he/she can later claim that it was the substance talking and not them. However, if he/she welcomes the advance, there is nothing to worry about. break the seal : The point at which you first piss after you have been drinking your favorite alcoholic beverage and at this point you will be pissing every ten minutes. unprotected sleep : turning off your alarm clock and immediately going back to sleep; risking not waking up for a job, class, or other daily task. Urbandictionary.com: usually crude; always entertaining.

Now for some Army of Anyone. I don't know if this track gets radio play or not, but I'm sharing it nonetheless. Decent stuff, I suppose. So: It Doesn't Seem To Matter and Disappear - both by Army of Anyone

This is more Coheed and Cambria, and this is The Willing Well IV: The Final Cut Rush/Pink Floyd/Mars Volta.

I (being most excellent) just discovered how to use the 2gigs of free web space Rice gives its graduate students. I can now upload excellent new Coheed and Cambria songs like this one and there's not a damn thing you can do about it, slacka! Listen to those baby sounds! This track sounds so lush. I love it. (If you're interested, you should read up on your C&C lore to see exactly what those kids are, why they're happy, and why he's talking about waking up. If not, the music is still lush and excellent .) I'll throw up another tomorrow, now that I'm winning at "t3h internets" again. Here's a test picture of Tokyo at night using a photography method called High Dynamic Range Imaging (HDRI) - which increases light contrast ratios to make ordinary pictures look totally awesome, and totally awesome pictures look like heaven. (Right click and select "View Picture" for the full picture. *EDIT: That only works in Firefox (which you s...

I just watched Princess Mononoke - excellent, excellent movie! I loved it. Really intriguing. How many animated movies have you seen where feudal Japanese towns engage animal gods in combat? Anyhow, next on the Blockbuster list is Shaun of the Dead. :)

(EDIT: Read the post before this before reading this.) What exactly does this mean anyhow? I said the last post would be the last post before bed, but I got curious about that "time" and the idea of "better use" ... so I tallied up my logged time across all the characters on my account. Keep in mind that my playing time is probably somewhere around average: 111 days, plus change. That's days, as in 24 hours increments of time. Multiply by 24 to calculate hours played, and you get 2,664 hours. Two thousand, six hundred and sixty-four hours. At a computer. Killing electronic demons in a fantasy land called Azeroth with other people using voice-chat software to help us communicate. Since World of Warcraft was released right before Thanksgiving, 2004, I'm going to estimate the total amount of time to have passed since then to be roughly 790 days. (Two years from Thanksgiving '04 to Thanksgiving '06, then 30 days for November to December and another th...

I'm not buying the Burning Crusade (World of Warcrack expansion software). I've thought about it a few days. Well, at least one. I can probably put the time to better use. Anyhow, Dan and other committee members or faculty who frequent this blog, I hope this means I can get more work done faster in the lab.

I like it. Thoughts?

Laugh a little: Link .

is going through a molt following his recent feedings. The other day I noticed a slight ruddy color on his ivory-white underside, and now today his eyes are cloudy and most of his body is a faded color. Sometime soon he'll start doing his hiding and molting thing. I'm pretty happy about this, because sometimes molts can take a long damn time to happen. After his last molt (October), Snakey got in the bad habit of extending up and wedging himself on a glass lip under some aluminum screening that I'd stapled on the top of the tank lid. Every time he'd try to get out from under the screen, he'd end up scraping his dorsal scales and for the last couple of months his scales were pretty beaten up. No wounds or anything really wrong, it was just an aesthetics issue. Anyway, now he's got a solid wooden tank top and (soon) a shiny coat of armor, so he'll be more impressive.

Cichlids incoming. More later.

So I was just going to do a bit of face maintenance before going into work (late... :( ) so I busted out the shaver. Long story short, after repeated salvage attempts, I had to shave off everything. The one good part was that I made a Fu Manchu mustache to enjoy for a brief while before shaving even it off. No pictures, sorr. Sad, because I got a compliment on it just yesterday.

From a Ball Python FAQ list: Q: Help, My snakes eye has a dent in it! A: Don't panic. This occasionally happens and can be attributed to the snake being a little dehydrated. Make sure it's got fresh water and a bowl that it can soak in. The dent should be gone with the next shed cycle. A dented eye? Gotta hurt. I like my python more and more each day. :) I also discovered the binomial name for ball pythons is Python regius , which translates to "Python King" from Latin, which is why my random habit of calling my snake "Lord McSnakerson" (his real name is Snakey McSnakerson) is surreptitiously cool.

Dear Chris: Congratulations, you’ve learned how to build well-connected, visually stunning applications with Windows Vista, and now your free, full-licensed copy of Windows Vista Business is on its way. Please be patient. We cannot ship your gift until Windows Vista Business is released to manufacturing. Your free software should arrive in six to eight weeks after RTM. If it doesn't arrive after eight weeks, please contact a customer service representative at Windows Vista and Office Kit Order Admin. Be sure to have your confirmation number XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX on hand. Microsoft So I got in on this deal a few weeks ago where I registered with Microsoft to watch some webcasts through one of their education websites about how to use their new operating software (Windows Vista) and Office 07 Suite. So I got a free copy of Windows Vista Business.

People who are friendly to you aren't always your friends.

Because I know after the last post, you do, in fact, yessiree want more... How terrible of me not to include a link to the story so far!

of this good stuff: Coheed and Cambria ( Another, if you want more. ) Coheed and Cambria are a music group that sound like the Mars Volta but are a bit less experimental and a bit more ballady/rock-ish. The band released a comic along side their albums, and the two bodies of work complement each other and create an entire mythology in a distopian sci-fi fantasy universe. It's really quite interesting, and I've liked the music I've heard so far, to say the least.

Yeah, so that little flash doohickey that counts abortions... I really like it. Correction - it's useful - of course I hate what it represents. When I added it to the sidebar, it was under 57 million. The counter I was using now says 59.2 million. Ah, but time marches on - and either 2 million completely morally-neutral surgeries have taken place or 2 million small children have been killed. It's all about perspective, and what you personally decide you believe. (No, I'd never be comfortable pushing my beliefs about 2 million child non-incidents and/or child killings on anyone. Only a maniacal religious zealot would do that.) Unfortunately, some of the earliest of that 3 million-strong number aren't able to be reached for their opinion. But as I said - it's all about perspective, right? Oh, and power to enforce your perspective. Yes, kind reader - I digress. Anyhow, when I added the HTML code to display it, I copy/pasted it from 1way2god.net. I'm hap...

A reaction messed up. Work down the drain. Lots of time and reagents wasted.

While waiting on my gel to, well, gel, I watched some more of these wacky TV clips of the Iranian national TV station. The videos archived over at MEMRI range from the unbelievably stupid: ( LINK ) - watch out! Pepsi stands for Pay Each Penny to Save Israel! Oh, and Coke plans to topple Iran!!! (No, I'm not kidding!) ...to the scary: ( LINK ) - check out 9:30 into this video clip, where Ahmanijad says point blank that "America and England are the enemies of the Iranian Nation" followed by chants from the many thousands of spectators of "Allah Akbar! Death to America." The few clicks it takes to see these videos is worth it. If you want to watch more, here's a smorgasbord of stupidity for you to wallow in.

“We oppose obtaining nuclear weapons and we will peacefully use nuclear technology under the framework of the Nonproliferation Treaty, but if we are threatened, the situation may change." That coming from the mouth of an Official of the state of Iran, a country whose leader has sworn to "wipe Israel off the map." Even the Iranian leadership isn't too stupid to understand that once they are threatened it will be too late to develop a nuke... I suppose this is good, since at least now it looks like Iran has stopped pretending like it will never attempt to produce nuclear weaponry. And facing reality, while not always never fun when dealing with a fundamentalist, religious idiot sworn to "annihilate" his religious adversary (a secularized Jewish state) is always good. Oh! Wait just a second, Mr. or Mrs. Reader Person - I can hear your gears a-twerlin' up there in your head! You're like, "Quick, didn't Bush say something similar about the Ax...

Abba Pambo asked Abba Anthony, "What ought I do?" and the old man said to him, "Do not trust in your own righteousness, do not worry about the past, but control your tongue and your stomach." Right on.

I really don't feel like going back in to work. I guess things like this build character. Or maybe I could run up to school and around the loop. I haven't run in about a year. But I just aced off a Lean Cuisine™ spaghetti dinner with mountain dew, followed by ~8 little Hershey's chocolate bars, so I'm all food-filled and lethargic. I guess I still need to come up with a New Year's resolution, too. Is "to stop drinking so much @(!$ing soda" a legitimate resolution, or is that poser? Wait, is it poser to wonder if something is poser? I better just stop here. Oh wait, another thing, I now have a hand-crafted and fitted, fully-latching top to the Snakey Pit. It's high quality, and I can tell already that Snakey feels like a million bucks snaking around inside of his tank now. Ordinarily, such wanton displays of materialism would disappoint me a bit, but in our conversations, Snakey has told me that he's really not out to impress anyone - it...

Bwahahaha! I mean, they didn't really have to throw in the gay stuff, but overall it's still pretty funny.