.:Gotta Drop a Blog in The Corner:.

woot

Sat, 06 Mar 2010 11:06:45 -0500

some new shirt.woot shirts that crack me up. this one is the newest, and doesn't have it's own page yet, so the link may not be be correct after today. in that event you should be able to find it in the bystanders section of the reckoning page. i like what the lady says. greatest thing since... sliced bread self-explanatory. mug shot i especially like the description blurb they wrote up about this one, especially the mention of dexy's midnight runners and huey lewis and the news. race for the cure got some stuff coming up this week. gonna ask for some good vibes if you've got some to spare. hope you all have good weekends.

in conclusion

Tue, 02 Mar 2010 00:36:14 -0500

i woke up sunday to an email from my friend. *insert trash talk*

On that bright note....for your birthday present, Canada will win gold just for you. I know, it's everything you could ask for.

well according to them, i got exactly what i was wishing for for my birthday. i received a nice text from them after the game.

Told u that Canadian gold was for u

you have to love how friends are always lookin out. i didn't even know that's what i was wishing for either. how come it felt like such a letdown afterwards? congratulations to canada. it was a really good game. i'll tell you what though, as a sabres fan, i really enjoyed watching ryan miller going through the line for handshakes and meeting up with lindy ruff. i'm happy for lindy, for his role in serving as assistant coach for team canada, and i'm glad the sabres have him as their hc (longest tenured one in the league too 200 coaching changes have happened since he was named head coach for buffalo btw). watching ruff take a couple extra seconds to console miller on the loss... doing what coaches do... just great to see two buffalo guys representing their countries. can i also tell you how much i like the line for handshakes at the end of games tradition in hockey? it's just a classy tradition that goes all the way down to the lowest levels of hockey. i remember going through those lines win or lose, right glove under left arm, shake, and perhaps give a tap of your stick to your opponents goalie pads if they had a monster game. so... back to the regular season now. i hope miller's hungrier than ever after that loss. i'm pretty sure being the goalie that shuts down the western conference opponent in the cup finals would be an adequate way to get rid of this bad taste. who knows... maybe it'll be luongo and the canucks come june. now if we can just get past the senators........ i also noticed it was yahoo's birthday. they've been around for 15 years (officially). it's about half of my life. it feels like they've been around for so much longer. i ended up getting a package from a friend. it was a framed blobfish made of felt. blobfishes auto-magically put me in better moods. just look at it! how can you not laugh when you see one? it's got this awesome nose looking thing. i want to pinch.

grimace and childhood nursery rhymes

Sat, 27 Feb 2010 15:00:18 -0500

i saw this brilliant shirt on shirt woot the other day, and it made me laugh. i went and got a shirt. does anyone know what a grimace is? i never really questioned it when i was little, but whoever came up with the thing had to have been pretty lazy, or crazy, or both. it's just a purple blob raindrop thingy, with eyes and eyebrows, and a mouth, and stubby arms and big feet. what the hell is it supposed to be? is it purple because it's sick from a diet consisting of 100% mcdonald's products? since it has a pear-shaped body, does it mean it is less prone to diabetes 2 and other weight related disorders than its apple-shaped relatives? and why doesn't it put some pants on already? what the f man? it doesn't even look like anything. this reminded me of one of my favorite ricky gervais clips as some nursery rhymes also don't make any sense. i am looking forward to the game tomorrow. one of my friends flew back to vancouver for the weekend. they'll be doing some celebrating come sunday if team canada wins. i on the other hand am hoping ryan miller stymies crosby, heatley, thornton, and co. speaking of crosby... i was thinking about team canada's roster, and how they have half the lineup of crosby, stills, nash, and young... or two-thirds of the lineup of crosby, stills, and nash.

healthcare and hockey

Fri, 26 Feb 2010 17:57:03 -0500

with all the olympic happenings lately, a lot of the major news stories may have been brushed over recently. i'd like to highlight one that is an issue i feel very strongly about. for any non-american readers out there, you may have heard about the whole healthcare debate in the US and how the democrats are trying to overhaul our system, while conservatives and republicans pretty much want less regulation and more privatization (expansion of private health insurance). recently president obama had called a summit inviting republicans to join with democrats to try and figure out a way to save his healthcare package and get it passed. first off, i think it's a no brainer to get this passed. healthcare costs in the US account for around 16% of our gdp and is rising. with the increased costs, less people are able to afford private insurance, and the numbers of uninsured are increasing. with the economic downturn affecting the job status of families and individuals, even more are being added to the rolls of uninsured, since health insurance is still tied closely to an employer's benefits package. now i understand the arguments by the democrats to want to push through a public option. i completely agree that healthcare is a right, and government SHOULD be in the business of overseeing healthcare. there are many reasons why i think it would be more efficient if we moved in that direction, one of them being economies of scope and another being economies of scale. conceptually i understand the conservatives and republicans argument of smaller government, that is their mantra and agenda. although i don't always agree with them, it does has its place in certain instances, i don't think this is one of them. so i respect both views of the two sides. however, to stall legislation so that nothing gets done is ridiculous. the plan is NOT perfect, and will NEVER be as long as there are two sides to the issue. people need help NOW! healthcare has always been an incremental process in the US starting from jfk-lbj first coming on the coattails of the whole social security debate. medicare was added along with medicaid. drg's were introduced, schip was expanded, part d was added. this has been an evolution of around 50 some years. originally the plan by the liberals were to expand medicare so that it would cover all of the public, but there was pushback because we didn't want a SOCIALIZED system. that was 40 years ago! in 1992 when clinton was elected, one of the centerpieces of his platform was healthcare reform. the republicans took control of congress after his election and killed it. almost a two decades ago, we knew our healthcare system was unsustainable. what do we have to show for all those years that have passed? absolutely nothing policy wise, but healthcare costs have risen from 10% of gdp to the 16% now. people need solutions now! stop bickering about the details and pass something, get it moving forward at least. i know the democrats and republicans have to agree on some pieces of the legislation, it can't be an all or nothing kind of deal. if it were up to me, i'd just tell the democrats to go it alone. they have the majority in congress right now, as well as the executive branch. the longer they wait the unhappier the public will get, the bigger chance they'll lose their mid-term elections this fall. pass it now while they have the majority! don't back down from the conservatives! why be so afraid? grow a pair already! to all those who think socialized medicine will be the end of the US... what the hell do you think medicare and social security are? they are two socialized programs! if you are so pro privatization and anti big government, i would urge you to drum up support for a national referendum to end social security and medicare! and for those of you who are currently enjoying the benefits of both and don't support healthcare reform... i don't even know what to say to you. get your head out your ass, do you even know what the issues are? are you even capable of logical thinking? do you understand your hypocritical position that makes absolutely no sense? enough ranting about healthcare, i'll just leave you with a clip from western new york's own louise slaughter from president obama's summit. sums up how i feel about this whole mess pretty well. on to hockey. wow. i really didn't expect the US to have such a monster game against finland. so it's up to canada tonight. slovakia has an up and coming team, and they have satan on their team (as in miroslav satan, former sabre, penguin, islander, oiler, and current bruin)! it would be great if canada didn't let up after their own blowout win over the russians. with a win, we've got an awesome US-canada rematch on the way sunday! congrats to joannie, yu-na, and mao. good showing by mirai too!

go canada!

Wed, 24 Feb 2010 18:11:35 -0500

just wanted to type something up quick before the canada-russia game. i am crossing my fingers team canada brings their A-game, as russia's gonna be a really hard opponent to get by. hopefully the crowd can serve as a huge 7th man on the ice tonight. since canada absolutely destroyed deutschland yesterday, i hope the confidence is able to carry over to tonight, while the day off for russia doesn't help as much as it should. i'd also like to add how much i enjoyed watching joannie rochette skate last night. that can't be an easy thing to do after the week she's had. to see the reaction and support of the crowd behind her... canada, you are an amazing country, and ms. rochette you do your country and mother proud!

great game

Mon, 22 Feb 2010 01:58:48 -0500

it's been awhile since i've watched such an exciting hockey game, seeing as how buffalo has barely missed the playoffs the last couple seasons. it must have been amazing to be at the arena for the start, i was all charged up from seeing the crowd just on the tv. i chose to go with canadian ctv coverage over msnbc (one of the benefits of living close to the border). had some good shots of different groups of people watching from toronto to vancouver. i have to admit, i was undecided on who i should throw my support behind in the beginning. on the one hand i've always been partial to canada in most things especially when it comes to music, government, and social responsibility. i also have this love for a sport i feel is above all others in hockey. however well... i'm still an american, though one who's been influenced quite a bit by our neighbor to the north having spent much of my life in the buffalo-niagara metro area. the US roster has sabres goalie ryan miller as its starter, ex-sabre chris drury who still might be one of my all around favorite sabres, and two buffalo area natives in brooks orpik (currently with the pens), and patrick kane (currently with the blackhawks). it was quite a conundrum for me... who to root for. in the end, the buffalo ties won. miller was fantastic tonight as the US took about half as many shots as the canadians making 42 out of 45 saves. he'll be the reason the sabres go deep into the cup playoffs this year. playing against the elite teams in the olympics could really boost his confidence going into the last couple months of the nhl season. for sure, canada has a very talented team. they totally dominated the americans for much of the game in all aspects of it. however, the US hung tough and found a way to win. for this reason, though canada now has a longer road to get to the gold medal game, i feel like they're still better equipped than the americans to do it. this could set up an interesting final if the US and canada both make it. i also got around to thinking about the make up of the US team, and how many people were upset with some of the selections including that of chris drury. jeremy roenick spoke out in public against drury's selection. i've always despised roenick and his big fat useless mouth, especially when he was playing with philly. that guy should just shut his pie hole. tonight drury again had a clutch goal as he usually comes through in times when his teams really need him to. additionally, drury's fearless in blocking shots and is one of the most effective penalty killers out there, both of which were on display tonight. he might not be a power forward who score pretty goals, but he's a great role player, leader, and is responsible at both ends of the ice. so those were pretty much the things going through my head as the game moved from the first to second period. the game itself was great though, constant back and forth, canada always coming back to tie until the americans took a two goal lead later in the game. canada's goal to pull within one made it a lot more tense, and it seemed like the americans would never get the puck out of their zone in the last couple minutes. kesler's empty net diving goal to put out the canadians allowed me to exhale. the effort he made to tap it in with his stick was brilliant. so... with that, i'll congratulate the canadian team for playing a hard game... and give them some good vibes to get past germany and russia. hopefully both teams will be able to survive to the gold medal round, and we'll have a very intense and interesting rematch. i'm still uncertain about who i'd root for if that game does indeed happen. i think it would be amazing to see canadians win their first gold on home ice, and just to be happy for all the canadians out there. however seeing as how the canadian team denied the US team their own celebration on home ice in the gold medal game in the slc olympics... i might decide it's time for payback. at the end of the day though, this game was so good for the sport of hockey all around.

wegmans on the office

Thu, 11 Feb 2010 23:52:50 -0500

the recent episode of the office featured some wegmans soda in the break room! it isn't the first time that wegmans has been on the office. for those of you who have never heard of wegmans, it's just the best supermarket in all the land. better than whole foods, better than trader joes. stop in if you're ever in western or central new york, western pennsylvania, northern or southern new jersey, or northern maryland and virginia. one of the songs that's been on heavy rotation in my queue is i'll fight by wilco. much like coax me by sloan, it's one of those songs where something very specific is able to capture my attention to really elevate it to another level for me. with coax me, it's always been the two guitar lines playing off each other. with i'll fight it's the organ that my ears really focus on. it adds a richness, albeit in very brief bursts. i'm pretty excited for these olympic games. vancouver should be a great host city, i'm glad i get to watch some canadians do their thing. north america is so dominated by the US, and i find that many people have no idea what goes on up in the canadia. for this reason, i'm so glad i grew up in buffalo... living in a border city gives one an interesting perspective. my musical tastes were shaped by some good canadian radio back in the day, and i am very greatful for that. additionally, trips up to toronto are quick and easy, and it's always been fun heading up there and exploring. of course i can't forget going up for some weekend hockey tournaments. my team always lost to those burlington, on teams we played... but really... you can't expect us americans to one up those canadian kids on their turf (ice). while i've been through most of eastern canada... one day soon, i hope to make a trek out west and ski banff and check out vancouver.

every once in awhile i'll read a ridiculous spam message

Thu, 11 Feb 2010 20:52:46 -0500

yes, i'll read the entire thing for shits and giggles. i'll look for spelling and grammar mistakes, and i'll check out the full headers. this was a recent one that i got in my "spam" account. it's subject is, "FRAUD ALERT ON YOUR FUNDS (CODE 111)". the "person/account sending" the message is "F.B.I ". it starts off with this,

ROBERT MUELLER III EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR FBI FEDERAL BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION FBI.WASHINGTON D.C FEDERAL BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION SEEKING TO WIRETAP INTERNET

pretty impressive right? robert mueller is keeping tabs on my accounts and financial dealings. what the hell is the federal bureau of investigation seeking to wiretap internet? why would they name a division that? if they did have a division to wiretap the internet, wouldn't they just name it the internet wiretapping division? the whole concept of a division seeking to wiretap the internet means it's not already in place right? like they're trying to build some public support for it so they can actually do wiretapping. the message follows with some gibbah jabbah (as mr. t would say), but i'll just highlight the parts i found funny.

We hope this notification meets you in a good state of mind and health. The Federal bureau of investigation (FBI) Washington, D.C in conjunction with some other relevant Investigation Agencies here in the United states of America have recently been informed through our Global intelligence monitoring network that you presently have a transaction going on with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) with regards to your over-due contract payment which according to their records has been fully endorsed in your favor.

i'm glad the fbi is concerned with my state of mind and health on top of busting up bad guys in their domestic duties.

It might interest you to know that we have taken out time in screening through this project as stipulated by the usual protocol of operation and have finally confirmed that your contract payment is 100% genuine and hitch free from all encumbrances and of which you have the lawful right to claim your fund without any further delay. Having notified you of this, we advise that you go ahead in dealing with the Central Bank office accordingly as we will be monitoring all their services with you as well as your correspondence with them at all levels of your claim.

wow, the fbi has taken over duties to do checks for individual citizens when it comes to their finances. can they also do my taxes and submit them to the internal revenue service for me too?

In addition, please also be informed that we recently had a meeting with the new Executive Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, in the person of Lamido Sanusi and Mr. Tunde Lemo along with some of the top officials of the ministry regarding your case and they made us understand that your file has been held in suspense depending on when you personally come for the claim. They also told us that the only problem they are facing right now is that some unscrupulous elements are using this project as an avenue to scam innocent people off their hard earned money by impersonating the Executive Governor and the Central Bank office.

i'm sure the busy board of the nigerian central bank loved meeting with you mr. mueller, about my specific case. i also appreciate the irony of the whole unscrupulous elements scamming innocent people by impersonating the executive governor of the central bank. i'm glad you had a chance to meet with them.

We were also made to understand that a lady with name Mrs.Joan C Bailey from OHIO has already contacted them and also presented to them all the necessary documents evidencing a claim purported to have been signed personally by you prior to the release of your contract fund valued at about US$8,000,000.00 (Eight million united states dollars),but the Central Bank office did the wise thing by insisting on hearing from you personally before they go ahead on wiring your fund to the Bank information which was forwarded to them by the above named Lady. One of the main reason why they contacted us was to assist them in making the investigations.

oh, mrs. joan c bailey from ohio! wait, who the hell is that? when the hell did i sign off on some documents going to nigeria? why is the spacing all messed up in your email mr. mueller of the fbi? can't i at least expect a professionally written email from our country's premier domestic intelligence agency? speaking of which, the fbi is actually a within the justice department... you'd think that with all the lawyers running around, these types of things would be up to snuff.

We were further informed that we should warn our dear citizens who must have been informed of the contract payment which was awarded to them from the Central Bank of Nigeria, to be very careful as a result of all these irregularities so that they don't fall victim to such an ugly circumstance. And should in case you are already dealing with anybody or office claiming to be from the Central Bank of Nigeria, you are further advised to STOP further contact with them in your best interest and then contact the real office of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) only with the below information accordingly:

again, irony appreciated.

NAME: SANUSI LAMIDO SANUSI OFFICE ADDRESS: Central Bank of Nigeria, Central Business District, Cadastral Zone, Abuja, Federal Capital Territory, Nigeria. SANUSI LAMIDO SANUSI Email:sanusicbngv1@aol.com OFFICE PHONE: 234-808-1559451

well i guess that's good for aol that the governor of the nigerian central bank has an aol.com email... seeing as how they've just been spun off from time warner since they were a money drain on the combined media entity. going after the nigerian market will surely boost their revenues and profits, despite losing marketshare in the US. i can imagine Mr. Sanusi starting up his computer and waiting for the words, "you've got mail" like in that meg ryan-tom hanks movie. how awesome is that?

In your best interest, any message that doesn't come from the above email address and phone number should not be replied to and should be disregarded accordingly for security reasons. Meanwhile, we will advise that you contact the Governor of the Central Bank immediately with the above email address and request that they attend to your payment file as directed, so as to enable you receive your contract fund accordingly. To this effect, you are required to reconfirm and authenticate your given particulars below for certainty and onward processing and release of you funds as we may not be held liable for any wrong payment. You will be required to pay a fee of $550 dollars for the complete processing of your transfer.

how convenient that i get to contact the governor of the central bank, i'm sure he's waiting to hear from me. i wonder though, why must i pay a $550 processing fee? wouldn't it make more sense for you, the fbi to pay the fee for me since you've initiated this whole process without me. if you really think about it mr. mueller, if i end up getting that stream of $8 million usd, you'll make back that $550 processing fee in taxes i'll owe, and then some. so call it a good faith move on your part... pay the fee for me first, and then you'll get more funding in the next budget from the taxes i'll pay. besides, you're organization has been doing such a good job up until this point, i'm really hesitant to step in, in case i mess something up. we wouldn't want the tax on my $8 million to disappear now do we? and the best part of the whole thing can be found in the email headers X-AOL-UID: 3281.1756801258 X-AOL-DATE: Sat, 6 Feb 2010 3:10:58 AM Eastern Standard Time Return-Path: info@fbi.gov Received: from mtain-mg09.r1000.mx.aol.com (mtain-mg09.r1000.mx.aol.com [172.29.96.209]) by air-db07.mail.aol.com (v126.13) with ESMTP id MAILINDB074-869b4b6d240970; Sat, 06 Feb 2010 03:10:49 -0500 Received: from mail1.unicorp.com.qa (www.bemcoqatar.com.qa [213.130.100.10]) by mtain-mg09.r1000.mx.aol.com (Internet Inbound) with ESMTP id 08F7A3800010D for *****@mail.com; Sat, 6 Feb 2010 03:10:47 -0500 (EST) Received: from User ([82.128.38.212] RDNS failed) by mail1.unicorp.com.qa with Microsoft SMTPSVC(6.0.3790.3959); Sat, 6 Feb 2010 00:03:33 +0300 Reply-To: rbtmueller1@aol.com From: "F.B.I"info@fbi.gov Subject: FRAUD ALERT ON YOUR FUNDS (CODE 111) Date: Fri, 5 Feb 2010 21:59:49 +0100 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="Windows-1251" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Priority: 3 X-MSMail-Priority: Normal X-Mailer: Microsoft Outlook Express 6.00.2600.0000 X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V6.00.2600.0000 Message-ID: MAIL1iVx9H1e0CwzoF700009621@mail1.unicorp.com.qa X-OriginalArrivalTime: 05 Feb 2010 21:03:33.0705 (UTC) FILETIME=[AD609390:01CAA6A6] x-aol-global-disposition: S x-aol-sid: 3039ac1d60d14b6d24071605 X-AOL-IP: 213.130.100.10 interestingly enough, the originating domain was in qatar. i guess the fbi's email servers are located out there? plus, they use an aol mail server route to transmit... no wonder our intelligence on iraq sucked so much! way to go using secure servers fbi! plus, who the hell uses the aol mail server platform anymore anyways? i also like the replyto email address of rbtmueller1@aol.com. good to know the head of the fbi is ALSO an aol user!

filthy scumbags

Mon, 25 Jan 2010 18:10:15 -0500

so the rnc has sent out a congressional district census mailing soliciting donations for the party. they conveniently timed it so that it might coincide with the national census that happens every 10 years. i don't necessarily oppose the party soliciting donations, as fundraising is obviously important for political campaigns in these times (though i would prefer money not play such an important role in political influence). what really gets me is HOW the republican party goes about doing it. sure, they might be technically allowed to do something like this... but that doesn't make it the right thing to do. now i'm not saying that the democrats have never or would never do something like this, but sometimes i wish that the whole political system wasn't so dirty. with the "survey" that's included, they're basically baiting the respondents to answer the way they want.

The letter asks political questions, including, "Do you think the record trillion dollar federal deficit the Democrats are creating with their out-of-control spending is going to have disastrous consequences for our nation?" and, "Do you worry that the Obama administration is committed to greatly expanding the government's role in your life?"

i wonder how many people would actually take the time to ask themselves, "are the questions i'm reading biased in any way?" for some reason, i don't think most people would even stop to question them. i've been thinking a little bit lately about how i really should just stop reading the news and stop caring about politics and just let everything play out, and be ignorant. it would make my life more serene, i wouldn't be all mr. furious (100 bonus points if you get the movie reference) all the time. then i start to think maybe this is how the gop is going to end up winning... by outlasting all the liberals in the country... since they oppose healthcare reform which would expand coverage to many middle and lower income voting individuals. this block of voters have historically had a higher proportion of democrat leaning individuals, the expansion of preventive health services would hurt them, by causing their blood pressure to increase after listening to all the bs the republicans spew 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. the end result of this would be an increased risk of heart disease and associated cardiovascular illness. without preventive healthcare and the increases of these diseases, life expectancy would be limited. so if these individuals are not around, they can't vote. meanwhile rich conservatives will always be able to afford their private insurance premiums. though i really don't think that's the real agenda, it does make me wonder how a group can be so against reform that covers everyone? on top of that, the whole election of a republican to replace kennedy in ma. really has me down. the democrats totally screwed the pooch on that one as they didn't put enough resources into that election. that's also been playing into my feelings of going anti-news and being ignorant. life would be so much simpler if i didn't care about any of this going on. at the end of the day though, the gop always draws me back as they'll always find a way to somehow make it into my life everyday to irritate me.

beethoven's 7th 2nd mvt

Sat, 23 Jan 2010 20:45:52 -0500

life is so unpredictable, and despite how expressive language can be, sometimes i feel it is just not enough. at times there can be no words to describe how happy one can be, but what's interesting is when a close friend is dealing with a loss... how can one even start to really tell another that they're sorry too? i think a lot about the biblical story of job. the main message is that job was a good man fearful of God, and despite losing everything (children, means of life, given sores on skin, etc.), he would not speak against God. what i have always found fascinating were the initial reactions of his three friends who came to visit him after this all happened. his friends came to join job and sat with him on the ground while saying nothing for seven days. what i really like about this is that these friends showed they cared without having to say a single word. they might not have completely understood where job was or what he was thinking, but they tried by being the ones who were there with him in this difficult time. it really stinks when one feels like they can't help at all when something bad happens... that the only thing they can do is really be there for those one cares about. i know from personal experience that it does help when people are there when something tragic occurs to oneself, but despite that, being the person on the outside looking in... it doesn't make it any better. i've been trying to find something to summarize how i'm feeling today... and i came across an old favorite. beethoven's 7th movement 2. there's variation in the work with some levity, but what i really love about this movement is the heaviness that encompasses from the minor key. i remember sitting in an orchestra playing this once before... how the line would flow so seamlessly from one section to another... and how effective and plodding it seamed when everyone was called to play. i miss sitting in the bowels of a symphonic orchestra and reveling in the sound. anyways... there's a sadness i feel because i know my friend is hurting... and the world is less one great mother. however i am glad that she had the opportunity to see her son fulfill his dreams, and that she also had a chance to live out her dreams. there were a couple versions i found, i really like the one with kleiber conducting. when the piece starts off... it's almost dead quiet... you barely notice anyone's even playing if you just listen to it. it makes the build up and crescendo that much more effective. this one is with karajan conducting. it's good, but i think i'm most impressed with the video. the crescendo's are very effective, but the start of the kleiber version is better... it's just SO soft p(ppppp)ianissimo... super duper pianissimo. RIP dhini.

old one that's been saved up

Sat, 09 Jan 2010 15:11:11 -0500

so here's an old entry i've saved up... it's been staring back at me and annoying me, so i figured i'd publish it with some newer stuff below it. i have to stop reading comments, it can't be good for my blood pressure. this is a comment from a random person about news that marshawn lynch stole $20, and kawika mitchell's defense of lynch from his twitter account. i'm not a huge fan of lynch, but i'm not a huge fan of idiotic people who comment either.

Mitchell needs to shut his freakin mouth. I swear the only time I hear his name is in reference to his twitter page. I understand he was hurt. But the guy talks a lot for someone who has never done anything in a Bills uniform. His patients is growing thin with me too. Maybe he should be a better “father” to Lynch and tell him to get his head on straight! "Be a wuss at home! Be a man on Rumblings!" - Kurupt by bflo on Jan 9, 2010 10:00 AM EST

patients? growing thing with you? huh? really, i don't even know what to say after reading and writing about this comment. for all the strong feelings i have about doing what i think is the right thing, which among them includes extending health coverage to all... sometimes i feel as if it isn't worth it. should we really subsidize stupidity? in the natural world, the weakest get selected out. why should our species be any different? something that really concerns me as we liver longer are the environmental contaminants from medications. developed nations are driving medication use in order to extend life, and it cannot be good for our environment. i found this really interesting. hela cells are an immortal cell line that scientists can use to experiment on. when i was in my biotech program, a couple labs in our department specifically used hela cells as their cell model for antibody cancer research. although i was familiar that they're a cell line, i never really knew or looked into why they were named hela cells as we used focused on blood cell lines in my lab. the story behind the hela cell line is much more interesting than the story behind my mouse cells. i seem to have forgotten what else i was going to write about. that will have to do for now.

consumption

Fri, 08 Jan 2010 20:52:02 -0500

not referring to tuberculosis, but our consumer oriented profit by any means driven society. it's quite troubling when i find out about this type of news where retailers will destroy products they can't sell instead of donating it to those whom it could benefit, since they can't make a profit on it. most probably know how much i despise wl-mrt and their business practices leading to my vow to never buy anything from their stores... the mention of wl-mrt in this article didn't surprise me all that much. what i was surprised at was h&m's actions. now i've never bought anything from h&m before, but i've had a generally favorable impression of them from some friends who shop there. i also know that they're not a US based company, but are instead based in sweden. coming from a european nation, i don't know if maybe i was expecting a more socially responsible corporate culture to be able to permeate throughout their global organization or something, but obviously in this case it didn't happen in it's nyc store. no one can say if this practice happens at other stores, but i feel it's more repulsive that it happened in the nyc store in the sense that there would be a lot of people in the city who could have used these perfectly good products that were destroyed and thrown out (as the article mentions). something else i found interesting is this link that looks back on the new gadgets coming out in 1979. i have this weird relationship with technology. i like new gadgets, they fascinate and amaze me sometimes, but looking at things with a long term perspective, i see a lot of wasted money and resources. just watching that video clip from 1979, got me thinking about all the old vcrs which have probably been thrown out once people started buying dvd players en mass. this was back in the day there weren't any recycling programs for electronics. thinking about the production of those old vcrs; the raw materials, metals and minerals that needed to be mined to make circuitboards and the electronic chassis, they needed to come from somewhere, possibly domestically or overseas. shift to the factories and facilities that would refine and put together these products, which probably dumped a bunch of chemicals into the environment during the process. wrap everything together and think about how everything needed to be shipped from one point to another using some form of fossil fuel, and the overall picture is not one that is very good to our environment. especially considering the shelf life of these products was only 2-3 decades before we ditch them, and with each new cycle of products that time frame is getting shorter. think of how many vcr's there were back in the day, and how many vhs tapes were made. once dvds came out, many replaced their collections of tapes with dvds. we're spending money on the same products (though the sound and picture might be clearer, is it really value added at the end of the day?), money that we could use for other purposes. people around the world still die of malaria, a disease that has been controlled in most developed countries. many in the world do not even have a stable and clean supply of drinking water. there are so many things we could do with the extra capital we save to fix global problems, especially in undeveloped and developing countries. at the end of the day, our dvds are just gonna be replaced by the next thing that comes out (blu-ray), and the technological march will continue for consumers. i wonder sometimes if we really need all the stuff we have access to. it seems like it's just a distraction for us, and that will drive companies to advance the next big thing because they are in the market to make a profit, that is their main purpose in the lifecycle. i was reading recently how they're coming out with 3d tv now, since all these movies out are all gonna be 3d. personally i don't think it will work, especially if you have to wear those glasses, but taking a more ecological view, why in the world do we need 3d tv? will it improve our lives? could we instead funnel money that would have been spent on them to africa, south america, southern and southeast asia, or other places where we can build wells? eradicate mosquitoes? lower the prevalence of diarrheal disease in young children? especially if that 3d tv set will be in the trash in 5 years. however, i cannot say that i don't get excited when new things come out. i posted just recently about the new google nexus one. that is a pretty cool product i'll have to admit. the stuff that we're able to build gets more and more amazing every year. i've found though that as i've gotten older (though probably not more mature), getting these new toys has meant less and less to me. i'm at a point in my life when i can say that i almost feel like a dinosaur in terms of technology. my friends who i grew up with and i have been through some of the most drastic changes in our short 3 decade span of life. i was talking with some of them recently. kids that grow up now have no clue what the sound of a modem connecting to a dial-up isp sounds like. they don't know what a dial tone sounds like unless they have a landline phone. they don't know what life was like pre-internet. they might have never seen an audio cassette, and maybe even a cd. crt tv's and monitors might be foreign to them. they may have never had to load film in a camera, or wait for a roll to be developed. they've never encountered a limit of 12, 24, or 36 exposures. they might not be able to appreciate a complete album, or listen to one straight through, as mp3s have allowed people to only choose tracks they "like". as new innovations come out, they have made some aspects of life "stupid-proof" and maybe even easier, but there's a whole lot of skill and knowledge that has and will be lost because of it. i think about the art of photography regarding the use of film a lot. i've always loved the medium. the knowledge one needs about different types of film, adjusting with/for film speed depending on environmental conditions, in terms of how you want to capture your image. the process of film development, the timing it takes in the different chemicals to develop and set the images on paper. you can play around and/or keep track of so many different variables to have a picture turn out the way you want it to. sometimes you only have once chance to do it, so you better be really good at what you do. it's not to say i can't or won't appreciate pictures taken with a digital camera, pictures are pictures... but i will say that i can appreciate the craft that has gone into the whole process a lot more of a photo that i really identify with, developed using those old techniques.

nexus one

Tue, 05 Jan 2010 21:31:07 -0500

happy new year. google's new phone running on the android open source platform just released today. only the gsm models are available to purchase now, but a cdma model for verizon and sprint will be out soon. it looks quite nice.

spelling

Sun, 27 Dec 2009 15:04:39 -0500

now i'm not saying i spell things correctly all the time. i tend to make mistakes, but i really do try and catch or correct them prior to sending a message, posting a comment, publishing an entry. depending on who i may be speaking to or emailing, i may even misspell words on purpose because there may be some significance to it, but it's understood by the other party that i'm doing it on purpose. however, when posting to a public forum, i feel pretty strongly about spelling things correctly so one doesn't look like a complete idiot. can i just say that it seems more often than not i cannot help but get mad when reading comments these days especially from things published as news or news commentary. things like healthcare reform, the war, and other social issues are important. if one feels the need to argue their point, i believe they should. what really gets me though are those who argue their point and want to be taken seriously when they keep spelling the same word(s) wrong. i've seen some misspellings that are just way off too! if an individual had a basic grasp of the english language, and spelled by sounding the word out, they would not even think about putting that extra letter in. aside from these social/political topics which get people riled up and commenting, sports also seems to be another topic which gets people going. i've seem some butchering of spelling in some comments. for example in this article i found this awesome comment. It is true no Super Bowel coach won a Super Bowel with another team, but Mike Holmgren and Bill Parcells did very good with other teams (losing Super Bowels with other teams). We need a GM! Posted by: TheFootballExpert on Dec 27,2009 at 02:13 am ok guy, maybe you should become an english expert instead of remaining a football expert. having interchangeable super bowels with different teams is kind of disgusting. additionally, i feel quite bad for holmgren and parcells for having good (super) bowels with teams and then losing their bowels (in a super way, must have been painful btw) with other teams. can one person's argument for a gm be taken seriously when they're talking about bowels? it's frickin BOWLS! the ones that get me the most though, are when supposed "americans" create signs for rallies to keep out immigrants, and they completely butcher words or can't even differentiate between words like 'there', 'their', and 'they're'. these people are angry because immigrants are coming in and taking jobs from "real americans" (which in a lot of cases are jobs which "real americans" refuse to do), and yet the "real americans" don't even have a basic grasp of "real english"! how ironic (or moronic) is that?! /rant

hi there blog

Thu, 10 Dec 2009 22:07:46 -0500

long time. i was just reading over this article on cnet from yesterday and couldn't believe it's been 10 years since i switched over from a finance intern to one of the tech interns at an internet start-up. that was a crazy time, seemed like every day there was a new ipo, and people would just become millionaires in the course of a day from their stock options. i was pretty psyched for redhat and va linux. i thought linux was gonna take over... but the way it's played out to today isn't how i imagined it. lots of businesses use linux these days, but desktop linux is still a niche market for ueber geeks it seems... despite the fact that it's free and open-source and all. it is getting better though, thanks to the likes of companies like ubuntu. who knows, with the growth of google's android, lots of people will be running on linux and won't realize their running on one of the most powerful operating systems in the world.