I found a terrible awfully geeky everquest fun website the other day: the EQPixel Army Gnomish Portrait Machine, which allows you to make dollz style toons of your everquest characters.
Yikes.
Kat: "What's that?"Me: "It's a website that let's you make little cartoons of your EQ characters."
Me: "I can't believe people make things like this"
Kat: "I can't believe you've been playing with it for an hour"
But I was, and I made this ( click to see full size):
disclaimer: Kat informs me that the dialogue is not close to verbatim. She thinks she said something along the lines of "wasting your time with that thing" instead of "playing with with it for an hour," but when hard pressed she admitted that the dialogue e"ssentially captured the spirit" of the conversation (my words).
The Headline at InfoWorld saysSCO [CEO]: "GPL threatens $229B software market"
"The world, especially here in America, is shifting to one that is an information society," McBride said. "In the future, is that $229 billion in software still going to be there? Or in the case of the Free Software Foundation's goal, is proprietary software going to go away?"FUCKING HIPPIES!Attendees of McBride's keynote were handed a WIPO primer on intellectual property (IP) law entitled "Intellectual Property: A Power Tool for Economic Growth." The pamphlet had been shipped to SCO by WIPO free of charge, a SCO spokesman said.
McBride likened the notion of free software to a variety of movements including file sharing, the dot-com bubble, and even free love. He predicted that the proprietary and open-source worlds were on a "collision course," that would ultimately result in the end of the GPL license.
It used to be that when shmoes needed something, they came to us, the rich people, and we would sell it to them. That's why we're big businessmen and they're all factory workers. Or whatever it is they do.
Now these hippies with their free love and free software want to just come along and give things away for free.
When will they grow up and learn that capitalism depends on being able to sell a product again and again and again!
WWWAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!! I'm going to sue everybody who ever used unix! WHAAAAAAAAA!!!!! I'm not a sue happy cowboy!!!!! MOOOOOOMMMMMYYYY!!!!
We need to look at real businesses like Microsoft and Apple that get their customers to pay them for an OS and then pay for bug fixes! Patch? Patch? Fuck the little guy! They need to pay for it!
This freeware crap has got to go!
It IS funnier when their scared. What I think is funny is, when's the last time you heard about any innovation coming out of SCO? It seems all they are now is a whinny sue-happy cadre of suits that occasionally releases a software update.
Berklee School of Music has decided to join the fun of giving things away with Berklee Shares: free music lessons.
Hey wait, don't go to the next entry yet! They have DJ lessons, like this one on crabs for turntable djs, which is hilarious if you've ever taken a music lesson before--mainly the way the teacher exhorts you to "work each individual finger, one finger at a time, slowly and then build up speed."
It's good advice, of course, but it's funny because the teacher is so straight-sounding--he doesn't once say hype, dope or live, or talk about beats at all.
Hey DAM13R! Are you checking this out?
File under found photos:
No really, click on them. Dig the fur. Dig the fur. Have you ever lived shit like that? Have you?
I have, that's right.
Ok, I mentioned my really weird dream the other day that was strange enough. I was dreaming about being at the squat, for me the squat as in the one where I, as they say, squatted for a few months in my late teens.
The squat, for the record, was in Southwest Phila, and I mention it becasue in today's Philadelphia Daily News:
A man missing since the summer was found dead by investigators last night, cut into pieces and stashed underneath the stairwell of his own home.I am so glad I don't believe in psychic powers, because if I did, I'd be really fucking freaked the fuck out, y'know?The body of the West Philadelphia resident, believed to be James Jones, but known to neighbors as Malick, was found shot, dismembered, placed in garbage bags and then covered with concrete in his basement, police said.
Did I ever tell you about my Photogallery at the LightRoom Photo Community?
Have a look see!
When I look at the Bunny Killers, I don't know whether to smile or sneer, laugh or cry.
From The Washington Post
Powell described his killer schedule in an interview Thursday with Abdul Rahman Al-Rashed, a reporter for a London-based Saudi newspaper."So do you use sleeping tablets to organize yourself?" Al-Rashed asked.
"Yes. Well, I wouldn't call them that," Powell said. "They're a wonderful medication -- not medication. How would you call it? They're called Ambien, which is very good. You don't use Ambien? Everybody here uses Ambien."
Really? Some folks across the river may conclude that explains a lot.
Michael Jackson is a sad man, who had a very sad life.
His Father, interviewed by the BBC:
"I whipped him with a switch and a belt. I never beat him. You beat someone with a stick."....
Theroux asks Mr Jackson if he wishes his son had a partner.
When he describes partner as "boyfriend or girlfriend", Majestik says: "What are you trying to say, that Michael's gay?"
Majestik says the question is disrespectful to Joe Jackson, who later says "we don't believe in gays. I can't stand them." Mr Jackson then calls an end to the interview.
Emphasis added to lock in poignancy.
Yuval Kossovsky is writing a several part review of OS X Server 10.3 aka Panther. He seems to like it, as I 'm sure I will (I'm waiting of a copy to put on the 'ol XServe right now). Read all about it at Panther Server: Is it ready for the enterprise?
From the Boston Globe, CNN planted question at debate, student says:
But when she arrived in Boston for the debate, she wrote, she was "handed a note card" with the question and told [by CNN Producers that] she couldn't ask her alternative "because it wasn't lighthearted enough and they wanted to modulate the event with various types of questions."What, 2 soldiers dying in Iraq every day, a sluggish economy, environmental protection being gutted, a fucking moron for a President who's alienating the home-base of democracy from every other democratic nation, one by one, I could go on, this isn't lighthearted enough?
This is a big problem: Corporate Media Interests are focus grouping our democratic process. Really, right now we don't need some fucking media whore clowns making the next presidential election into some sort of funny car show.
CNN reports that Jessica Simpson will get her own series.
Is it the apocalypse yet?
From the New Scientist:
A study has revealed characteristic activity in the brain that predicts whether a memory is accurate or false. The difference occurs at the time of recall, suggesting that a test for false memory might one day be possible.Holy David Jacobs, Batman!
Ah, that reminds me of the time I saw Dr. Jacobs giving a talk downtown:
man in audience (MIA): "Dr. Jacobs, if what you are saying is true, and the government knows that aliens are here and abducting US citizens and making some sort of hybrid slave race, why don't we do something? I mean, seriously we must be able to do something to fight them..."Ah, science.Dr. Jacobs (Dr. J): "Well, I think that when it comes down to it, the government believes that this is plan A, and that it's pretty bad, and that whatever we do, we don't want the aliens to switch to plan B."
MIA: (looks extremely puzzled): "Plan B? What's plan B?"
Dr. J: (pause): "Well, I'm not sure. But I can assure you, it's a lot worse than plan A."
Conversation is to the best of my recollection, of course.
So I'm doing a little Albino Blacksheep surfing, and I come across this sort of weird, sort of creepy North Korean music video, called Fucking USA:
BUSH EVILOk, so the lyrics don't exactly roll off the tongue in easy rhythm, but at least we know what they're talking about, unlike some people I could mention. Go watch the video, it's interesting (and funny in a disturbing way) on several levels, I promise.
We clearly remember the blood and tears we shed
and you were the cause of our country's division
FUCKING USA!
And we won't forget all of the horrible massacres
FUCKING USA!
You are a country of murderers.
But if America is such a righteous country
the why can't we say what we want to say?
Have you made us into slaves of our own precious land?
So now we are yelling
WE ARE AGAINST AMERICA
You stole the Olympic Gold medal from us
FUCKING USA!
You are a dastardly thief.
You have the ability to steal everything and go on a rampage
You are a monstrous thief.
FUCKING USA!
translation by Rob Pongi
Ok, but let's get to the end of the video and to title that reads "english translation by rob pongi. RobPongi.com".
Yow.
I was expecting to find a small business card type site, but instead I found....the Roppongi Video Happy Hour!
Rob Pongi is apparently some sort of video jester who runs his own interview/satire show from what looks to be an alleyway in Tokyo. He wears a strange outfit (explained in the Rob Pongi FAQ), and has really strange conversations with the Japanese. He claims to love them, but he spends an awful lot of time making fun of them, too.
No really, go watch a couple videos. They're real eye openers.
Edit 7/5/2011Rob Pongi sent a DMCA takedown notice to dreamhost for the video still I used for this article. I could pay an attorney to file a counter-notice, but that seems ridiculous as Mr. Pongi's relevance is a near-neighbor of zero. Instead of bothering I generated a new artwork that approximates the visual experience of the non-infriging still for the viewer and yet heightens the overall clownosity that Mr. Pongi exhibits in his public life.
On a tip, chris and I were watching the video of Bush signing the Partial Birth Abortion Ban Act:
Me: "Notice anything missing?"
Chris: "uh... I think so"
Me: "it certainly is a bit peculiar... where are the women? He is signing an anti-abortion bill, right?"
Chris: "No one on that stage owns a uterus"
Me: "Maybe they're in the audience?"
Me: Ah, there's our boy now"
Chris: "Hmm."
Me: "Isn't he dreamy?"
Chris: "Hmm."
First, George W. Bush is an odd combination of ridiculous and dangerous. He's sort of an evil idiot savant. He also is the perfect poster boy for hypocrisy. Just this morning I heard Georgie say on the television that the best way to protect our homeland is to hunt our enemies down one by one and stop them, which I suppose means to kill them. The idiot part comes in when I realize that he really believes what he is saying. This guy really believes that he is here to wipe out evil. The savant part --- the genius --- is found in how he gets so many otherwise intelligent people to cheer him on. Now, to the hypocrisy part. President Georgie is a born again Christian, as are the vast majority of his adoring followers. Do they think that Jesus was just kidding around, or maybe having an off day, when he gave the sermon on the mount ---- and when he said turn the other cheek, and when he said put away your sword? Do these people actually believe that if Jesus himself were here on earth, he would be suggesting that we hunt our enemies down one by one? (Emphasis added)Unfortunately, Thom Rutledge is so worked up about Bush and his cohort of blood-thirsty lambs of Christ that he never quite makes it to seriously lambasting people who don't use their blinkers.
Just in case you don't go, the good bit:
And Jesus said to the disciples, "Whenever you feel threatened, hunt thine enemies down one by one and destroy them."And Peter was confused, asking, "Lord, pardon me, but aren't you contradicting much of what you have been teaching us?"
Jesus looked upon Peter with a smirk and said, "You are either with me or against me. What will it be?"
From game girl advance: Genderplay: Successes and Failures in Character Designs for Videogames:
The late Dr. Anita Borg taught that technology isn't neutral; tools are shaped by the values and desires of the creators. Often the creators tend to be clueless to the values encoded in their tools, because to them, the tools are transparent - they reflect pure utilitarianism. But to those who are excluded, the tools are highly charged.I wonder what this can tell us about the move from joystick to gamepad?
Penny Arcade! plays Final Fantasy Tactics Advance.
Ahhh, FFTA. GBG, indeed!
From the document TRADITIONAL VALUES DEFINED, by the Traditional Values Coalition:
We believe in the principles outlined in our Declaration of Independence, our Constitution, and the writings of our Founding Fathers. We support free enterprise, limited government, low taxes, and personal responsibility. We believe in self government, not self indulgence. We do not believe that the federal government should extend its power over every aspect of our lives. The best government is the one that governs the least.(emphasis added)What is interesting (not tom mention galling) about groups like the Traditional Values Coalition is that they want less government when it comes to things that they want more free reign with (pushing prayer in schools, erecting 10 commandments statues in the courts, other actions that push their brand of religion on everyone) but suddenly when an issue like gay marriage comes up, all of the sudden WE NEED MORE LAWS to protect the fabric of "our" way of life.
I was talking with this guy I know today and he said something pretty good (paraphrased): what drives the far right crazy is that they want free enterprise and capitalism, but capitalism needs to create demand, and demand is ironically created by the things that the far right hates (sex, liberal attitudes and other "bad" things).
So basically they freak out because they can't reconcile freedom and free enterprise, and respond by demanding that everything they don't like be made illegal.
Less government my ass. What we need from the government is less restrictions on personal freedom, especially now.
Let the government worry about clean air and crime, and let we the people decide who we're going to marry, what we're going to smoke, how much we want to drink, what we want to think on our own time.
You would think that their discomfort of having "my" immoral, degenerate, unchristian, homesexual-agenda-pushing, wisecracking, sloth-rocking America pushed down their throat by TV and the other "liberal" media outlets would keep them respectful of everybody's right to live the way they want, but no... they need to make sure everybody lives their narrow version of life, where everybody is straight, dumb and christian.
Apparently Blueprint for a Mess is being blogged pretty extensively, but I couldn't resist when I read this:
There was ample warning, both on the basis of the specifics of Iraq and the precedent of other postwar deployments -- in Panama, Kosovo and elsewhere -- that the situation in postwar Iraq was going to be difficult and might become unmanageable. What went wrong was not that no one could know or that no one spoke out. What went wrong is that the voices of Iraq experts, of the State Department almost in its entirety and, indeed, of important segments of the uniformed military were ignored.Yeah, can the liberal media please start calling this one out a little louder?
This administration does not consult with experts who say things that don't fit in with the plan.
Thanks to This Modern World for the link.