The end is nigh! So, party on!

But if we do actually live to see July 4, then take a look here and don't blame me if you never leave the house.

This is the best explanation I have heard of this whole mess so far. Would answer a lot of nagging questions, too, like "How is it some people (small children, for example) know things (stuff about places and people they can't have read about, for example) they can't possibly be expected to know?" and of course, "How can it be that Regis Philbin is so popular?"

Of course The Matrix also offers a similar model of explanation. So who ya gonna believe?

The Senate it seems has officially and quite publicly gone off the deep end.

I'm reminded of a song by the The Alan Parsons Project.

Oh, so this explains it.

Can you imagine what a one-two punch it'd be if on top of the current global warming due to CO₂ emissions we also had another Toba-like eruption? I mean, that'd do in everyone, and I mean everyone, pussycats and bunnies included! :(

On a lighter note: Take the US Citizenship Quiz

Got all but the 19th question right. I have a defense though: I have never applied for citizenship before and they didn't cover that in civics class, anyway. No fair! I want a recount! Buah buah buah!!...

First I've heard of this here Security and Prosperity Partnership Of North America thingy. It's for real, a .gov web site and all! I guess it was inevitable, really; Europe has the EU, we gotta do something to match it. Yep, our future has "The United States of North America" (or something like that) in it. Sounds a little like Orwell's "1984" some, what with the three Big Countries he had in the novel, doesn't it? Eerie... but there's humor to be found in it. Can you see the linguistic impications in Mexico and Canada effectively the same country? "Eh senor, where's the nearest Tim Horton's, eh?"

OK, so, I'm bad. >)

In other news, I started my new contract job today. Alas I got my ID badge but can't actually start work until my computer and cubicle (yes, back to a cubicle... *sigh*.. no more spoiled-IT-worker-in-his-own-office routine for me!) are set up. So I may not actually do any work until next week! But you know, this sort of thing used to bother me, but it doesn't anymore. It has come to pass that I just take what comes and accept "the system", even at times seeing virtue in it...

... O cruel, needless misunderstanding! O stubborn, self-willed exile from the loving breast! Two grape-juice-scented tears trickle down the sides of my nose. It is all right, everything is all right, the struggle is finished. I have won the victory over myself. I love Big Brother.

Chessboxing.

An idea whose time has come.

No sex please, robot, just clean the floor

Other dilemmas may arrive sooner than we think, says Christensen. “People are going to be having sex with robots within five years,” he said. So should limits be set on the appearance, for example, of such robotic sex toys? The greatest danger, however, is likely to lie with robots that are able to learn from their “experiences”. As systems develop, robots are likely to have much more sophisticated self-learning mechanisms built into them and it may become impossible to predict exactly how they will behave.

Somehow I don't think it'd be quite the same...

Consider this post a public service. If you use the Opera web browser and do an upgrade install to version 9, you will be unpleasantly surprised when you open the new version browser and find no bookmarks or other customizations. Don't panic, though. Go here and have hope. Read the third post down and yes, you too will be able to breathe again!

BTW, I got a contract job downtown and start on Monday. Thus ends the longest "vacation" of my life as I rejoin the working dead. >)

Say what you like about him, but after seeing this story, Donald Trump is now my personal hero!

Just read this.

I am about to do something I don't normally do. I am about to make a prediction about an election. This rarely happens but this here 2008 thing is gonna be so juicy, I just have to say something. So here goes:

If Kerry runs, he'll win. If not, and Condi runs, she'll win, assuming she runs against Hillary. If the combination is any different, I'll have to go back to my Magic Eight-Ball for further direction.

Sum:

Kerry v. Condi: Kerry wins
Hillary v. Condi: Condi wins

Commentary, gang? (Like I need to solicit it...)

Unprecendented, I know-- three posts in one day. But the news has been just too tempting is all. Now take this story; he's doing the clan proud, I say! This is not just a doff of the cap to some new kind of chest-pounding ladism but instead a fine example of an ancient and noble tradition that shouldn't go un-recognized. Good work, cousin!

You know, if I were an attractive woman, I, too, would choose high-class, bisexualized, group-sexed prostitution to make a living. I mean, really, it's easy money, and you get to go to the coolest parties! Only, I wouldn't attempt to hide the fact later in life, and I sure wouldn't try to hide it from my former-Beatle husband in an effort to land him.

*Sigh*... Paul doesn't deserve this kind of grief...

Good God... Police SUV runs over, kills sunbather on beach.

The officers did not immediately realize they ran over the woman and continued driving...
...
When they saw the swimmer was fine, they drove over the berm and apparently over the woman's head, authorities said.
...
The woman, Cindy Conolly, 49, of Sioux City, Iowa, was in town for her son's wedding...

I can't imagine too much worse occuring during one's wedding days.

Five cats in my home
Fur-balls and mice toys scattered on the ground
The sound of kibble hitting the dish
When is a litterbox not a litterbox?

I confess to not having had much knowledge of exactly how the Enron villains did what they did; I just knew that they had in some way seriously victimized their employees in the process of what they did. Well, this by Ben Stein explains what happened and just why it was sooo wrong. (Keep your barf-bag handy if this is new to you!)