BOYCOTT THE RIAA!!!

OK, Now they've crossed the Line! Read this: "Ripping is Stealing"

Boycott The RIAA

Stop The RIAA

Free Jammie

Once again, buy used CDs, buy indie, or buy directly from the artist. The RIAA is nothing more than a money leeching parasite!

And the Walls Came Tumbling Down II.

Indeed there are many things a person needs to survive in emergency situations, which has become evident upon making the list of all the supplies. But another thing that is quite important is to have several skills available in case such a situation could arise. Here's a list, of sorts, of the different skills and abilities that would come in handy.

Physical fitness. This one is rather important, because you never know when you may be required to take an extensive hike or swim*. Endurance is especially important. For instance: You get stranded in a forest that has a large population of bears. Bears will track food down for miles and if you think that one is following you be ready to take extensive measures to get out of the bear's way.

Self Defense Tactics. Knowing how to fight, how to defend, how to take a punch can be an important part to survival. "Lord of the Flies" is an interesting scenario that shows how crazy people can get. Of course there are several other stories that do it in a less bland fashion.

*Swim. It won't do much good to be physically fit in the water if you don't actually know how to swim.

Knot tying. There are several different types of knots that a person can learn. And each task could be best accomplished by knowing the specific knot that the task calls for.

Marksmanship. If you have a gun, you need to know how to shoot it. A shotgun, is for close range, a rifle for long range, a crossbow has more of an arch than a bullet. Practice shooting.

CPR, Heimlich Maneuver, General First Aid. This one is pretty obvious, and can always be handy. The first aid includes knowing how to suture a wound, stop bleeding and how to keep things sterile.

Edible? Don't eat it if you're not sure if it will kill you. Know what's most nutritious and what's poisonous. Eat very small portions and eat often. Also consume a lot of water, especially if you have to endure rigorous activity.

Hunting and fishing. Learn how to be stealthy, how to track animals down, know their habitats and of course your marksmanship will come in handy here as well. Fishing may be easier in some regards if you have the right tools. *Ahh more things to add to the supplies list*

Fire. You have to keep warm. If your body goes into a state of hypothermia you will die if you don't get warm. Fire is also great to signal your location, boil water, cook food, and well, I suppose we all know how useful fire is. It can also be dangerous of course so take care and know how to keep it under control.

Mending. Clothes don't last forever. So being able to patch them up would probably be very useful.

Morse Code. This may be more important than you think. HAMM Radio, light signals, and maybe even pecking on a wall to be stealthy could be an important form of communication. It is far down this list for a reason though, because if the other person doesn't know Morse Code then it's not really going to help much.

Play. If you can find the time, keep your mind busy. If you have company, laugh and try to enjoy yourself despite the circumstances. If you can't keep your sanity, then you will not last long.

Wii!!

Just a quick post to say that I've written a blog from my Wii!

What fun!

And the Walls Came Tumbling Down.

I've been watching Jericho and reading The Walking Dead. It's putting me into survival mode. I'm going to make a list of stuff I need in case of an emergency situation. Of course, Jericho hits a little closer to home than The Walking Dead. Now there are two situations that these supplies call for, a situation of anarchy where a whole town, state, or the country is in a state of emergency. A more plausible situation is where I am either lost in the woods or stranded because my car broke down. I will label each item accordingly (A for anarchy and S for Stranded)

Large Tank or Barrel for gas. (A)
A Generator. (A)
Two Way Radios (A)
Hand crank gas pump. (A)
Siphon hose. (A)
Shovel. (A)
Binoculars. (A)
Rope. (A/S)
Map. (A/S)
Compass. (A/S)
Cat litter. (Specifically for tire traction)
At least 20 Jugs of Water. (A)
A simple tool kit (hammer, flathead and phillips screw driver, crescent wrench, crowbar.)(A/S)
Hand crank flash light/radio. (A/S)
Flash Light. (A/S)
Batteries (all sizes). (A/S)
Candles. (A/S)
Glow Sticks (A/S)
HAM Radio. (A)
Lighter, Matches, and Flint. (A/S)
Canned Foods or MREs (meals ready to eat). (A)
Back Pack. (A/S)
A Whistle. (A/S)
Blankets. (A/S)
First Aid Kit. (A/S)
A Knife. (A/S)
A Pistol. (A)
A Rifle w/ Scope. (A)
A Shotgun. (A)
Crossbow? (A)
Axe. (A)
Lots of Ammo. (A)
Motorcycle or Four-Wheeler. (A)
Bicycle. (A)
Books. (A)

Now, realize, any gas powered machine is only reliable as long as there is a solid supply of gas. So that's why a Bicycle is a must. A single lit candle will supposedly keep you warm in a car if you get stranded because your car breaks down and you're stuck in rain or snow. Of course you should keep the vents closed so that the heat stays in.

Survive.

Congratulations.

Today I became occupied with something that allowed my mind to wander. And because such a situation came about, I thought back to a recent social gathering that I attended not too long ago. I overheard a man who is twice divorced, congratulate a newly engaged woman. Although he congratulated her, what I heard was more like "My Condolences." I sat in the floor thinking, as I toiled away at the task at hand, about how a congratulations for becoming engaged from someone who is twice divorced could be taken almost as an insult.

If I were the one being congratulated by that man, I would be under the impression that he isn't sincere. Not that he means to be insincere necessarily, but because of his experience with marriage, I would not feel that he means to congratulate most sincerely, as that man is very likely biased tremendously against marriage.

On the opposite side of this I would take a pastor's congratulations whole-heartedly. Let's assume of course that the pastor in question is indeed a just man with no secrets. This man has the authority to bring a man and a woman together in holy matrimony. So to be congratulated for it from a pastor would leave me less skeptical of the possibility that the man has biased thoughts behind his eyes and in congratulating me he would also vicariously be giving me his blessings.

Now that I've gone through this social scenario, I have come to the conclusion that this is not the most just of thinking. For in thinking this way I have faltered in that I have judged the person who gave the congratulations. Perhaps it's not so important a thing who is giving the congratulations, but just that they are giving the congratulations. But in my human nature it is hard not to have such thoughts regarding the sincerity of someone who is giving their congratulations.

My Sentiments Exactly.

I'm a Christian. And to read this just makes me feel good to know that there are other people out there with the same thoughts. I wonder how I'll deal with these issues when I have a child.

A Commentary on the Holidays

A word of caution.

Don't make yourself dizzy in the shower. For your health.

Store Brand Goods.

Many of the store brand goods are actually name brand products that have simply been relabeled. So if you feel like you need name brand products just to look like you're not a cheap person, then you're probably poorer than those who enjoy the same products as you at a cheaper price.

The Wiki

My Taste in Music.

My music tastes vary widely but there are really two that I focus on. Rock and Alternative both Mainstream and Indie. Bare in mind that I do boycott the RIAA so when I buy music I make sure none of my money goes to them, either buying used or directly from the artists.

Here is the moral dilemma I deal with. I've listened to several types of rock music. Some I just stay away from altogether. I don't agree in the least with most of rock music's messages. I don't do drugs, sex isn't a main focal point of my life, and well, I do like to rock.

Blasphemy is something I stay away from as much as possible. It bothers me. Now, I'm not the most holy of people. I don't like the fact that I have to say that statement and I do work toward being a morally just person. The problem with all of this is that I love the sound of rock music. I love the energy.

I don't even mind if I can't hear the lyrics from all the screaming and growling going on. To me screaming in itself can be a talent. Could you go out on stage and do that every night? I wouldn't want to as I would bet that it would eventually mess up your vocal chords as evidenced by the lead singer of Avenged Sevenfold.

On the opposite side of this, there's Country Music. A vial grotesque super mainstream type of music. The kind where the music writers are the real ones making money. Did you know Garth Brooks doesn't write his own music? I challenge you to find someone who does write their own music in country music. To say that someone doesn't would probably be inaccurate but it would be interesting to find out who does. I don't like most country. I enjoy Willie Nelson and Johnny Cash. Some of the older stuff is good at times, because it seems more honest and less tailored to line the big wigs pockets with platinum.

But there's one positive to country. The stories. Those who actually do the writing of these songs do a good job of it. Interesting, dramatic and often touching stories. After all, it is country. The emo for hillbillies. I can relate to some country as well. I am a man of the mountains. But far from a Redneck. I would consider that word to be a racial epithet against me.

I have found a couple of bands that kind of touch on both sides of this hunger for stories and rock music. Death Cab for Cutie and The Weakerthans. Very good bands, but I suppose I crave more. So, who do I turn to? What bands do you suggest? I like rock, alt folk, alt pop, not a huge fan of rap though. Similar bands are The Postal Service, Cloud Cult, and Bishop Allen.

Pyramid scheme.

I know this is old news but dangit, it's not very good design. The least they could do is label them instead of leaving it solely to color representation. I hope they at least modify the new pyramid. Heck.. give me a week on it. They would be amazed!





I mean, even though the old pyramid is unsightly at least it serves its purpose.

Local Lore 1.

My first home had a red dog driveway. Most people may not know what red dog is and I intend to straighten that out. I live in an area of southwest Virginia where the big money is in coal. It makes for quite a quandary to think about. The fact that I speak so much of the energy "crisis" and talk of ways to save energy when the truth of the matter is, if we were to quit using coal altogether as a means of energy production it would devastate much of my family.

The process of separating coal from rock was less meticulous in the early days of coal mining. Slate makes the bulk of the rock that was separated from the coal. Even though most of the coal was sifted away a bit of it would end up in the slate pile anyway, far less of it ends up in slate piles today. Coal is made of decaying leaves, dead animals, and rotted trees all covered up over time and with the great deal of pressure among the layers of the earth, the decaying things turn into black rock.

These piles would stay in one place for quite some time. With such a mixture of slate and coal in the early days of coal mining the energy from the continual decaying process of the coal would build up heat and turn the inner part of the pile into a red hot cinder of coal and slate. Once these piles were moved the heated slate inside having been cooled was found to be red. Quite the shock, I'm sure, for the first guy that moved a slate pile. This red rock is called red dog.

According to my Dad, back in the 1960s a young fellow must have had some mischief in him. He was hanging around at a strip mine, probably even though he shouldn't have been, perhaps drunk, and decided to bed down on a slate pile. Perhaps the warmth that emitted from the pile outweighed the fact that it was a bed made of rock, and large ones at that.

So this guy decided to make a slate pile his temporary sleeping quarters. The next day the same man was found on the slate pile dead. Even though it was probably warm to sleep on the pile, the man must not have considered the fact that inhaling the gases that came from the pile would eventually suffocate him.

Investing in music.

This is kind of interesting.

Wired Articled

Slice The Pie: Music Investments

To sum up the article you can write reviews for albums and get paid, and paid more if you are in line with popular views.

You can also invest in bands like the stock market. And you will be paid $2 per 10,000 albums sold per stock you invest in.

You can also listen to a lot of free streaming music.

Man Power.

I've been thinking about how ridiculous our pursuit of improving our lives is and in doing so we have simply thought up ways to both consume more energy than ever before and have also really just made our lives more complex. Think about this, we now have electric can openers, electric pencil sharpeners, and electric tooth brushes. All these thing can be done with our hands just as easily and I'm sure there are many other examples.

In addition to objects such as these consuming more energy than necessary, portable communications devices are also making it more and more difficult to turn off and get away from the job. People are actually dying from being overworked now too. Kiroshi is what they call it in Japan. So does technology and electronics really improve the quality of life?

Can anyone think of more examples of electronics that really don't improve our lives any?

Gift Giving.

Giving the right gifts can be very difficult. It is easy to be given a list and then proceed to get for the person exactly what they want. But I can see a problem in that. Yes it's the easy way and makes for an enjoyable experience for the receiver, but to truly show the person that you love them and know them well is to get them something that they would really like, even though they don't necessarily know that they wanted it.

This shows that person that you are very close to them and understand who they are. It's easy to fall away from that though. Especially if you are not close to that person. It's easier to get them something that you like and think that they will also like it. But that is rarely the case. The gesture of giving someone a gift is something special. But to get them something that they like without them asking for it is the ultimate.

A friend of mine got carving knives for Christmas from his Dad. He didn't ask for them at all. But once he got the gift he realized just how good a gift like that is. It's a timeless gift, one that he may not use immediately but later on could find useful, like when he has kids or even grandkids of his own. He can then use those carving knives to carve his family some timeless gifts of their own. This to me is a perfect example.

I guess what I am saying is that those who give gifts even though receiver may not like the gift just for the gesture can be a bad thing. Giving a bad gift for the gesture can show just how out of touch the giver is with receiver of the gift or likewise. But at least it's nice of them to give something.

So, if you're going the list route, think about getting that person something independent of the list as a way to show them that you are connected to them in a special way.

Tin Man.

Thank God it's not a musical!

I think this is cool.

Mummified Dinosaur

Imagine being able to hold a dinosaur scale in your hand. You'll be hearing a lot more about this because they've made a documentary and have written 2 books about it. To sum up, apparently this dinosaur actually fossilized/mummified faster than it could decompose.

So since that be the case they are able to deal with and study flesh, muscle, scales, and bones instead of just bones. It's so pristine that they can see how the dinosaur was colored, not so much specific colors but they can tell what kind of pattern it had because there are lines on the skin.

Read the article if you want more details. It'd be cool to be 16 years old and find one of the biggest dinosaur finds in history too.

Change.

Starting January 1st, I am going to document all the change I find in 2008. I'll do my best to not actively seek out change by walking up to drive-thrus, coursing through parking lots, and fingering every change return slot. I am quite curious to know how much it's going to amount to however. I may not even crack a dollar unless I get lucky and find several quarters, or bills on the ground.

My prediction is $2.26. Tell me your predictions too. I'd almost like to get a $5 pool going and whoever guesses the closest to total change found would win the pool. I'd probably lose a lot more than I found, but it would make it more interesting. To add to the stipulations, it has to be money found out in public. In the couch, in the car or at someone else's house doesn't count.

The Ninth.

Malachi Ritscher

I don't know exactly how I feel about Self-immolation. I will say that I'm very opposed to suicide. But to kill yourself for a cause or belief is something that fascinates me. I don't think I'm strong enough to carry out such an act.

Make up your mind.

When there is no more information, it's time to make a decision.

Shows on the Show Show-er

I don't watch t.v. very often. The problem with t.v. is that I'm not available to watch the shows I want to when I want to. So I watch them online.

Chuck is a good show, and it's free since iTunes and NBC fell out. Chuck is available online the day after it airs. But if you want to catch the oldest episodes you're out of luck, unless you search for them through other avenues such as Amazon. They're a $1.99 per episode and worth it at 45 minutes an episode on Amazon Unbox: Chuck

I watch The Unit, although I'm very far behind on this show. CBSs website has a few of the latest episodes of The Unit. So they're also $1.99 per episode on Amazon Unbox: The Unit and worth it for 45 minute per episode.

I watch Dexter. I hope to buy the first and second seasons soon since season two will soon come to a close. I haven't ever seen the first season in stores I've been to yet, although I don't frequent the DVD Isle often.

Amazon Unbox: Dexter is worth $1.99 for an hour with Dexter. I would buy the individual episodes if I knew that I would be promised the boxed version when it comes out for a little extra. Kind of a reservation for the DVD, the same way they do video games. It's a Very Good show.

I watch Weeds. I managed to find Season 1 & 2 for $26 at a rental store close out. Amazon Unbox: Weeds is not worth $1.99 for a 30 minute episode even though it's pretty entertaining.

You'd think I'm getting paid to do this. I just like the shows and figured I'd share.

Art?

Flingin Paint

Ok, so it's semi-entertaining because the guy's slinging his paint everywhere and acting a fool. But even though it's about 9/11, I'm not diggin' it. I was really hoping to never hear that Hero song again too. Nevertheless, God Bless the Firefighters.

It's Jerry Time

I happened upon this by clicking an ad I do believe. I rather enjoy listening to the crazy stories, and the animation is different and definitely helps keep ones interest, even though the style can be a bit uncomfortable to look at sometimes. But I think that may be the purpose.

Here's the Site: It's Jerry Time
Go there and enjoy, maybe click on some ads while you're at it to give Jerry a little extra cash.

Exoskeletal Battle System.

I've always wondered when this would come into practical existence. I want one!

Early Art III

This image is pretty to familiar to most I'm sure. Simple, usually pretty to look at and man does it make you high doing it. Ahh, nothing like hyperventilation to keep a kid occupied. One could even derive some fractals from it if they wanted to spend the time doing such. Chaos or Order?

Vampire Electronics

The Article

I think it's an interesting concept and frankly, I'm more interested in the money saved than conserving energy, although that is quite important to keep in mind. But either way this is something that I think is worth looking into and figuring out a way to cut back on. Think of this, those cordless phones you use, are always on charge. If you don't have one on the docking station, there's still the answering machine, or clock, or caller I.D. that is seeping power.

My Playstation 2, Wii, VCR, DVD player and stereo all have these features. And if some of them don't have power running to them, then the correct time and settings are all lost. And they also are really difficult to unplug since everything is behind the t.v. stand. So what to do? At least my stereo has a mode that consumes less power.

So in the end, more coal is burned, more CO2 is released into the air, and more money is spent on electricity by the consumer. The only ones that benefit are the power companies themselves. I wonder how much money they're losing now that those florescent bulbs are becoming more popular.

I just have to state that cutting back for me would be really difficult. Unless there are ways to make it easier. Any suggestions?

Political Trash.

As much as I want to try to steer clear of politics I can't help but gravitate towards it occasionally. I won't go into much detail about my thoughts but here's a heavy handed take on it.

Denial.

Misleader.

I just want someone who actually holds himself accountable for his actions. Don't you think it's rather unusual that SO MANY people resigned the administration over the past 7 years? Actions do speak louder than words.

Fedex truck crash: Driver's condition unknown.

Fedex truck crash

It kind of irked me that they failed to mention whether the driver of the truck was alright or not. It seems like that would take priority over the mess that it made. It would suck to have a package damaged as a result of this though.

Sellout.

Here's what is wrong with the media. So many people have to sell out in order to exist in the media. Here's an example, and I know that it's kinda lame that I watched this with so much intent. But hey, it was on. MTVs Wanna Be a VJ contest showed exactly this sort of selling out. Or maybe not. Stay with me to understand.

Ray, a short-haired, blond, wiry looking fella ended up winning a Wanna Be a VJ contest. He was quite outspoken about how MTV is so cliche and shows crappy music and he hoped to bring more electronica and Bob Marley to the network. Which is kind of funny.

Soon after, he got his shot at introducing videos on the network he was no longer able to be the outspoken fellow that said, "You know, this video sucks, I don't understand why you people like it, now here it is." Instead it was business as usual and he soon was no longer on MTV, either because he was defiant or because he just didn't work for them. If he was defiant then he actually didn't sell out.

The VJs are robots trained to do what they're told and there's no real personality coming from them because of that. The reason for that is because it's a formula that works for MTV. They don't want people to give their opinions, because if they do there's a good chance they'll piss off their sponsors and they'll be short some money.

"Taser This: Fuck Bush", "Nappy-headed hos", and "This is a Brokeback Mountain game, because there was so much penetration." Are all great examples of people speaking their minds, right or wrong as they may be, and were chastised for it by the respective companies they were affiliated with. The reason they were chastised is because of the fear that sponsors would hit the eject button and those companies would no longer have the money they once had. It all comes down to money not moral concern.

This explains why at the beginning of certain programs there's a warning that says "These are not necessarily the views of the network." But hey, selling out can be a good thing to certain people. Somebody gets paid a lot of money, and we all need money unfortunately. Heck that's why there are ads on this blog.

Hooray for capitalism!

Wishlist.

Well, it's that time of year again, capitalism at its finest. I figured I'd post what I have my eye on.

I'm to the point to where what I want isn't what people would be willing to get me because of how expensive it is. There's a lot of games and game peripherals, an xbox 360, a nice printer, a wacom tablet, and well, the list could continue but for the sake of brevity I'll have to say that this combo is close to the top of my list:

Insignia mp3 Player

Insignia Bluetooth Headphones

If I had to choose between the two I'd have to pick the headphones. I just got the same mp3 player a few months back and it has been a great addition, but it doesn't have bluetooth and the cord is always getting caught and often rips the headphones off my head or out of the jack. If the headphones don't have a dongle to connect to my current mp3 player then there'd be no reason to have the headphones either.

But anyway, ante up! What's the main thing on your list this year?

Drugs.

I don't do them. Never have. Heck I haven't even took a swig of alcohol or took a drag off of a cigarette. I hope I never find out why drugs are so appealing. The actions involved alone make them lose their appeal to me.

Marijuana: Inhalation of hot smoke into your lungs.

Cocaine: Snorting white powder up your nose.

Heroin: Injection by needle of hot liquids.

None of these sound like comfortable ways of getting high. In fact they sound quite invasive. And obviously they're not good for you. These are the popular ones, but have you heard of Indian Bean? Scopolamine? Jenkem? Bannadine?

Here's Scopolamine, A.K.A. Colombian Devil's Breathe A.K.A. The Zombie Drug.



The Indian Bean is a bean pod that grows on the Southern Catalpa tree. Famous for the worms that live on them called Catalpa worms or Catawba worms. These worms are great to use as bait for fishing and destroy the tree's leaves annually. Native Americans are believe to have smoked the dried bean pods on the tree thus the name Indian Bean tree. And I've read there's some hallucinogenic effects.

The Wiki Doc.

Jenkem. Let me tell you about jenkem! Boy would it be awful to die from huffing jenkem. Jenkem is basically fermented fecal matter that is either left in bottles or bags for about a week and then huffed to get a hallucinogenic effect. I mean come on people, are your lives so bad that you stoop so low as to huff crap gas just to get away from it all for a while?

The gas that they huff is Hydrogen Sulfide, and will kill you if you take in too much of it. Anybody watch Dirty Jobs? Remember when Mike went down into a sewage treatment plant to clean off a huge sewage pump? That's the same stuff they were worried about and had to clear out for a little while because of an alarm. It makes me happy to know that those who do it have to have the taste of butt mud in their mouths for the better part of a week.

The Wiki Doc.

Bannadine is a chemical derived from banana peels. I dunno how you extract it but once you have it you smoke it and it makes for a hallucinogenic trip as well. But alas, this one is a hoax and doesn't work, in fact bannadine doesn't even exist. However, bananas do have tryptophan, the drug that's also in turkey that makes you sleepy, although there's much debate about it's effect as well.

The Wiki Doc.

My point? I'm amazed at the lengths people will go to get high.

Word Salad.

You are also in luck just now because of the plague; prices are down. With the bat in your hand, you can only do what it allows you to do. Thevision of curry will remain clear-cut to your dying breath. Despite these efforts, the Projects eBooks and any medium they may be on may contain Defects. Two in two out Two little people went out etc. Please contact us beforehand to let us know your plans and to work out the details. Twinkle twinkle little star Twisters and claps Two and three holes Two foot fly Two in the rope etc. Partridge with regret; she was both intelligent and devoted. Now we re on the battlefield Numbers Nurses Nuts in cap Oats and beans etc.

I wanted to post this because I received it in an email one time, and received 5 more since then. But spare you I will of the others and truncated was this one. It reminds me of schizophrenic ranting, and mind disorders really intrigue me. Any idea why these emails are being sent? This is all that was in the email, so why send this? There's no advertising or anything.

Pop.

So there's a lot of hula-baloo going on with soft drinks and I have my own perceptions on them. These are all simply things that I've gathered from tasting and doing a little bit of reading on the web and aren't necessarily facts.

Based on taste, I'm saying that Vault is simply a re-branding of Surge which came out in the mid 90's. Furthermore I find it hilarious that there's a petition out there asking to bring back Surge:

Fight the Power?

Based on taste, Mountain Dew Game Fuel is simply re-branded Code Red Mountain Dew. Perhaps with a squeeze of orange juice.

More on Game Fuel, Haha!: Game Diesel

Coke Zero is basically the Classic Coke formula but instead of sugar the company uses aspartame.

Diet Coke is basically the New Coke formula which was an abysmal failure in 1985 and also replaces sugar with aspartame.

Coke Trickery

What is it you do again?

I'm a 3D Artist. I model, I texture, I rig, I animate. But even though I've shown some of my family what I do they still don't get it. I don't suspect they'll all ever truly grasp it, but you would think that showing them would've done it. A lot of the older folks in my family abhor computers, so it's no huge surprise to me. It's almost a refusal by them to understand what I do for a living. I don't suppose I have a conclusion for this one, I just wanted to get it out there. Anyone else have this issue?

DS Technologies.

Hmm, this would be great except if it tunes into the same t.v. that we've been able to do for years through an antenna to watch NBC, CBS, ABC, and Fox then I'd advise not buying it. The FCC has decided that all cable companies have to switch to digital cable. Which means that every television also has to have a box. They also will be eliminating the free antenna channels altogether, so unless this tunes in to something else, it will soon be useless. At least in America.

The Bell.

You know the one. The one that sits on front desks at several businesses, post offices, and stores. It creates quite the dilemma. When to use the bell is the question. Even when there's noone around to help you it still begs the question. *inner thoughts* Maybe if I wait around for a minute someone will show up. Hmm where is everybody? Maybe it's lunch time. Sheww... *DING* *end inner thoughts.* It just seems so rude to ring the bell. But to do it while someone is directly in front of you is rude. I should start doing that, maybe raise a few blood pressures. It'd be a hoot!

Money.

I've seen time and time again where men will be very forward with girls. I won't go into extreme detail but it seems like those who speak it often get it. I've seen one guy continuously say that he wanted sexual favors around girls and he ended up getting his way. Well, I figured I'd give it a try, but I don't want sexual favors. I want money.

I'm not begging, I don't want people to give it to me for free. But I need a lot more money than I'm earning now, so I want money. I want money by doing what I've been trained to do through college. I am getting paid for doing what I've been trained, but not nearly as much as I feel like I'm due.

I want benefits. No not just a free subscription to Game Developer magazine. I want health insurance, a retirement plan, paid vacations, and whatever else this wonder company wants to give me. I don't expect that I'll ever really be rich, but I want to feel comfortable. I want my own place, and to get that I want money. I invite tips on how to make money, which stocks to invest in, what kind of IRAs, CDs, what to collect and sell for higher prices... you get what I'm saying. I want money because I need money, not because I'm greedy. If I were to be rich, I would definitely be a giving person. But until I feel comfortable, I want and need money.

Believe me, I'm really going to try to make it happen without aid, but I realize a lot of people get in good with certain groups of people to make their money. And that's why I wrote this blog.

How to make a peanut butter sandwich

How to make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich:

Materials: Spoon, butter knife, 2 slices of white bread, 1 jar of peanut butter, 1 jar of jelly, paper towel or small plate.

Take the slices of bread and place them side by side on either a paper towel or a small plate. Open the jar of jelly and stir the jelly with the spoon. Once jelly is at the proper consistency for spreading, place 1 piece of bread in one hand and spread desired amount of jelly with the other using the same spoon you stirred with and then place the bread jelly side up next to the other piece of bread. Put the spoon in kitchen sink when finished and close jar of jelly. Put the jelly back where it came from (usually the refrigerator).

Open the jar of peanut butter, place the other piece of bread that does not have jelly on it in one hand and butter knife in the other, extract desired amount of peanut butter from the peanut butter jar and spread onto the piece of bread that's in the other hand. Place peanut butter side of bread down on top of the other piece of bread that has the jelly side up, being careful not to squeeze any jelly out of the sides of the peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Close the jar of peanut butter and put the butter knife in the kitchen sink as well. Then put the peanut butter back where it came from.

Eat.

There are two reasons why I wanted to do this. The first is to try my hand at instructional writing again as it can be very difficult to do right if a person were to follow the instructions exactly. The other reason is to show how I like to minimalize mess when I make a PB&J. Notice the seperate utensils for the peanut butter and jelly. That way no jelly gets in the peanut butter jar and no peanut butter gets in the jelly jar. The reason for stirring the jelly is so that you don't tear the bread as you spread the jelly, which is usually kept in the refrigerator making it more difficult to spread since the cold makes certain liquids more viscous. The plate or paper towel is used to catch any crumbs that come off the bread and also to catch any jelly that comes out the sides of the sandwich.

Ahh yes, the art.

I figured I should share what I enjoy in art. There's usually a cringe factor involved because I gravitate toward the macabre and uncomfortable. I'm not too ashamed to admit that I play Magic: The Gathering, and I've been fortunate enough to meet and get in touch with several artists. Here's some of them:

Ron Spears

RK Post

Terese Nielsen

In other art:

Margot Quan Knight (contains nudity)

Ron Mueck (contains nudity):



I'll post more later.

Water Bottle/Gadget Holder

Why would I think of that?

The comments make for a good Guffaw.

At least they comment on this site...

Threadless Blog

This Place is a Mess!

I think I know why Walmart does so well. Yes, they have stores all over the world and that surely helps, but for the most part their stores are clean. I've seen the store contradict me on that statement but I would say that 75% of the time they're clutter free (restocking time doesn't count). The reason I bring this up is because 3 stores come that just made me very uncomfortable because of their problems.

K-Mart - The one in my home town seems to be the only one that's just completely unkempt and they surely know how to do that right. The toy isle is the worst of all. They had plastic shelves that stood about hip high up in the middle of the isle with an abundance of unsorted toys strewn about all over the top of them. Then in the food section where the drinks are there was a big puddle of soda pop being blocked off with over turned empty boxes. Let me tell you, the entire store has similar problems as well.

The another thing that truly irks me about K-mart is that friggin alarm that sounds when you walk into the claustrophobic electronics section. Why can't they just expand that section or maybe make it so that the employees that are in charge of the section can see the customers that are looking at the electronics.

Another funny thing about the K-Mart here is that they still have an N64 and Xbox display up that no longer functions. Furthermore, the Xbox part of the display still dawns the bear controller that Penny Arcade famously made fun of. In fact if I ever get a chance, next week I may photograph the display and show you. Keep an eye out for an update.

Random Consignment Shop: This shop is stacked from floor to ceiling with Everything! That's how thrift/consignment shops work of course. This one mainly focused on media like books, movies, and music but the problem with this store is not that it was cluttered exactly. They have things pretty well in order. It's just that they have decided to pack the store with SO MUCH. It's so claustrophobic in there, you barely have shoulder room to walk through it all. I guarantee that if a Fire Marshall stopped by they'd have a problem with the place. Plus it seemed so packed that it might even be dangerous in that something may fall on someone. Just thinking about the place makes me feel uneasy.

Old Retail Store:
I recently watched Walmart: The High Cost of Low Prices and they showed how a local retail store was going under because Walmart moved into their town. It had thrived and did quite well for many many years. They showed footage of the inside of the store and it just seemed so barren. I don't know if it was because they didn't have the money to pay for any more merchandise or if it had always been that way, but to me having very little merchandise is a big turn off. I just find it so depressing and because of that I won't go back to a store like that. A big reason for having a store is so people can go there, look around, and to buy things, but if there's nothing to look at it kind of defeats the purpose.

So if you decide to get into the retail business, walk around in a few others first so that you can know what works, and what doesn't work. Now, off to contact someone at K-Mart HQ to tell them that something needs to change. It won't be the first time I've contacted companies about their products. More on that subject later.

Greeting Cards

I throw them away. Just give me the money and a hug.

So I was up late last night and Nocturnal State was on VH1. I was watching this band because watching it made me really uncomfortable. Sometimes I like to feel uncomfortable and cringe at what I'm viewing and that feeling is kind of a phenomenon to me. So this video was definitely fulfilling that:

http://www.chairpage.com/media_files/YoungModern/video/straightlines/straightlines_bb.htm

First off, I don't like the song. I can't place why, but I guess that the album name "Young Modern" kind of sums that up. It's not rock exactly and it's Way too mainstream pop for my tastes. What bothered me most about it is that the camera in the video just gets incredibly too close for my comfort and he's wearing a vest with no shirt on. The guy reminds me of Freddie Mercury of Queen, and I wouldn't doubt that that is the intention.

http://img210.imageshack.us/img210/9968/freddiemercury0ve.jpg


















http://keepqueenalive.com.sapo.pt/freddie%20mercury%20friends.jpg


















This fellow seemed vaguely familiar to me somehow, and I'll usually sit through something that I don't like just so I can see the name of the band at the end of the video and from then on steer clear of that band. But doing so was kind of a slap in the face for me this time. I never would have dreamed that this is the same band who put this song out in the U.S. in 1995:

http://www.chairpage.com/media_files/Frogstomp/video/tomorrow/tomorrowUS_bb.htm

Yes.. the same band that I saw on VH1 last night is the same band that released the song "Tomorrow"; Silverchair. "Tomorrow" is one of my favorite songs, the guy's voice in that song is truly powerful and it Rocked! I kind of wish it was on Guitar Hero III, that would've been awesome! "Tomorrow" was a sort of continuation to Nirvana and Alice in Chains and it really fit for the time.

But now they came back and put out this tripe? I realize that bands have to mature and do what they feel is right and that is alright. But expect to lose a lot of fans if you change too much. That means you too No Doubt. I guess Silverchair lost me after "Frog Stomp" because I missed out on "Freak Show", and the singles from "Neon Ballroom" weren't any good either as far as I'm concerned.

Oh Well.

Exercise

I have been exercising. It makes me feel better but it surely isn't fun. My mp3 player is helpful in keeping my mind occupied and helps to take my mind off of the pain so I can do more than I normally would, which still isn't much. But I gotta say, I often feel like I'm a hamster in a wheel while using my exercise machines. I don't like it.

My job requires me to sit for 8 hours at a time in front of a computer. That's definitely not a job with any physical benefit. I don't mind it and I think I would rather do that than work in construction or something like that. But I do kind of wish that I could get something done while I workout. I do need to split some logs outside here, so that's something.

I'd like to take up hiking, trail biking, kayaking, snow boarding, play soccer, play field hockey, play ultimate frisbee. Which, there's no real productive value to those either, but at least they're much more fun. And it's more social as well. I read only enough of an article to get the point that people who play soccer burn more calories than those who run. And why is that? Because it's more fun, and the competition helps to drive you past the pain in a way that no Mp3 player can.

As if anyone would need to read this to fathom the idea, I mean it seemed pretty obvious to me upon reading the headline anyway, here is the article:

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,297437,00.html

Friggin Andy Warhol

Not art.

http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/living/2007/10/20/nat.art.design.chair.cnn?iref=videosearch

I'm sure it was enjoyable to bang on this sleek looking steel box, but I'm not buying it as art. The people talking about this just acted like it was the greatest thing ever too. Ok, so this is a fundraiser and may in fact lead to a greater piece of art in the long run, so one could argue through that, that it is art; but I'm definitely not convinced. It's a chair. A very crude and unusable chair, I'd be more willing to call the original steel box art.

And for those who have 7 minutes of life to waste like I did, here's the long version:

http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/living/2007/10/20/nat.art.design.chair.cnn?iref=videosearch

Law Suit = Ruined Life

The RIAA has started taking it upon themselves to sue the pants off of people, 24,000 of them. Now, it is understandable that they would want to be sure that their assets are safe and not being taken away, but who are They to do it? They simply seem to be the parasite of the music world, a parasite more powerful than the host, which is the music labels and the artists. The reason I bring this up is because the first person to lose a case to them was Jammie Thomas.

She has a website up that's asking for donations to help her pay the 222,000 dollars that the court ordered her to pay. She makes about 36,000 a year. 222,000 dollars means that if she could only pay 5000 a year until it is paid off she'll have payments for 44 years! She'll be 74 by then!

So in order to take the edge off of the suit, she is asking for donations and they can be given to her here:

www.freejammie.com

These websites have more information about the RIAA, what music labels are associated with them and copyright issues. Go sign the petition:

http://w2.eff.org/share/petition/

www.boycottriaa.com

I have read that Jammie has asked that the judge overturn the verdict since the total worth of the songs equals about $24 in legal downloads. And she is also appealing the case, so perhaps things will turn out good for her and she will no longer need donations. I'll give an update on whether she replies or not.

Finally, I find it interesting that the RIAA offered a Clean Slate policy that would grant immunity to the people who vowed to never download copyrighted material and destroyed any that they previously had. Doing so meant signing a legally binding affidavit that didn't actually protect those that signed such documents totally. They recently did away with the program however. Here's the full story:

http://www.news.com/2100-1027-5195301.html

Early Art II

I figured I would post another image from my collection of early art. This one is entitled "MOM." I don't know my thought process behind this one. It reminds me of the young fella that came in from another prison in Shawshank Redemption and worked toward getting his G.E.D. The obvious person to say would've been Elvis but Bob's Your Uncle. I would guess that the figure is supposed to be Mom and that's supposed to be our pencil thin house to the right. I'm pretty sure that's Mom's coffee stain on there, which is kind of ironic. This was done in pen and crayon.

Buy Direct or Buy Used.

The RIAA is ruining music. Here are the steps I take before buying an album. I first check online to see if the album is available directly from the artist, then I check and make sure that the label that the artists are on are not a part of the RIAA: www.boycottriaa.com for that. If their label is associated with the RIAA I start to look for it in the used section at CD stores or buy it used from Amazon. If I'm lucky I'll buy an album directly at the artist's concert because they usually get to keep the money they make from sales at the venue, although that may not be the case at all according to Courtney Love's article. Also, apparently the CDs aren't always available for sale at the venue either as I found out when I went to see Muse and My Chemical Romance.

I don't actually like to buy used CDs because the artists do not benefit in any way. But if they would allow me to buy their music directly from them on their website I wouldn't have to buy used. www.bishopallen.com is one such band, although they recently decided to sign with a label in order to get more serious about their career so not all of your money will go directly to them, but they have a really interesting method of distributing their music. www.cloudcult.com is another band of interest who I gladly gave my money directly to. Supposedly their method is working out really well for them, it's good music too.

www.harveydanger.com offers their album "Little by Little..." on their website for free with the stipulation that if you like it you should throw a little money in the pot. I didn't like it. But at least they're not affiliated with the RIAA. www.radiohead.com IS affiliated with the RIAA but they have decided to offer their new album "In Rainbows" up for download where you get to decide how much you want to pay them. Or you can get a box set for $56.50. BAHH I say!

The reason I dodge the RIAA is because they are detrimental to music artists everywhere. Courtney Love, of all people, sums it up well:

http://archive.salon.com/tech/feature/2000/06/14/love/print.html

To sum up the article if you don't want to read it, she tells how the artists get paid a million dollars to split up among the members once they sign to a major label. They then produce the album, hire a bunch of lawyers, and go on tour, all the while that million is getting sucked up like a sponge. Now as long as they continue to tour they do alright, but if the band has differences and split up they get poor quick! That's why Lisa "Left Eye" Lopes of TLC had to file for bankruptcy. So in buying used music the record store wins, and you didn't have to put your money towards something so malicious as the RIAA.

Early Art

The one on the top is my painting done in watercolor and it is a self-portrait of me. The one on the bottom is a watercolor painting that my Cousin did. They fit together because we did both of these at the same time so I figure it would be interesting to compare the two. My cousin was 4 years old at the time.

Global Warming Will Kill Us All! Again!!

If you all don't watch the Colbert Report, his guest on September 10th was Bjørn Lomborg. Bjørn explained how global warming is a problem, but not the most important one. His best example was this: Scientists explain that because the Earth's temperature is rising, mosquitoes will flourish causing Malaria cases to rise as well. But if we were to spend only a fraction of the money we would have spent on global warming we would save 30,000 to every 1 we saved through bringing homeostasis to the Earth's climate.

During the interview Bjørn also explained with some degree of difficulty through Stephen's shenanigans that the Earth's temperature has been rising for quite some time, even before the Model T Ford came to existence. He's selling a book, which I will probably not read, called "Cool It! The Skeptical Environmentalist's Guide to Global Warming" which calls for us to keep global warming in mind but to focus mainly on issues that are of much more importance.

http://www.amazon.com/Cool-Skeptical-Environmentalists-Global-Warming/dp/0307266923
If you're interested.

Oh.. and according to him the polar bears are fine.

Global Warming Will Kill Us All

Ok, ok. We get it. Go Green. Well I agree. But, it's starting to get ridiculous with all the coverage in the news.

I have a feed to Discovery News through Gmail and global warming is becoming increasingly more difficult to stomach. Perhaps there's some truth to the fact that the impact humans have on the Earth is starting to show. But we're not being told all the facts here. We are being scared into going green. Fear Mongering is a big factor after "An Inconvenient Truth" came out. Every report dealing with weather, animal behavior and even wildfires seems to have some mention of global warming in it.

http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/articles/2007/07/04/1183351245960.html

This article just perturbs me a bit, it's pretty interesting but they just had to tag that last sentence onto the end. Because ice melted, it is evidence of global warming. Ok, right. I think they are really splitting hairs here though. I mean is it not true that the Earth used to be very warm, then the Ice Age came and then it started to warm up again? Well, there is actual evidence that the Earth's climate is still cooler than it once was by evidence of certain plants that would only grow in hot weather that were found in ice that suggested that the temperature was warmer then than it is now. Wouldn't it stand to reason that the Earth will inevitably go through some sort of drastic cycle again? If that's true then we should be more afraid of the Earth's natural behavior than we are fearful of its behavior by way of our actions.

Yes, greenhouse gases could be detrimental to the environment. The funny thing is, one of the leading causes of greenhouse gases is in fact bovine belches. Sounds odd right? Aside from humans, how can one of God's Earthly creatures be the demise of the Earth us? Does the sheer volume of cows that we have, which would otherwise be determined by predators vs. prey if we hadn't domesticated them, mean that we are the ones at fault in this regard as well? We have to eat, and it has to be meat.

Don't get me wrong. I think it is very important to do what one can to be environmentally conscious. Recycle, ride a bike short distances instead of driving your car, use florescent bulbs, drink tap water instead of bottled, plant trees. There's a lot of things that can be done. But there are no quick solutions. But do we always have to be scared that something is going to kill us? So what if we end up with ocean front property in Nevada.

Songs as Ringtones

Using songs as ring tones don't make you look cool. I don't care what the song is, in fact I may even like the song, it's just rather pretentious. Plus the sound quality is crap and doesn't do the song any justice, it just sounds like a cacophony of blather. Instead, try using every day sounds. Maybe something like the noise of a crowded room for when you're at a party or in a restaurant? Crickets for when you're outside? Or Birds and wind? The sounds of traffic?

I know! How about the sounds of a car crash for when you're driving. A lot of fun can be had with that if you have a person in the car with you when someone calls. Plus, perhaps it'll keep you from answering and will keep people like me safe, who actually pay attention to driving instead of blabbering about nothing on the phone and endangering people on the road. No even better. Just put it on vibrate, cell phones are annoying. Learn some cell phone etiquette people. Especially in restaurants and theaters.

If you do have to talk while on the road, tell the person on the other end immediately that you are driving and blurt "Driving!" when a matter on the road deserves your attention, drop the phone and use your other hand if need be, then when things are back to a comfortable pace continue talking.

Yogurt.

I'm both jealous and annoyed at companies who claim that their products are more special than others. I'm jealous because I would like to use all kinds of euphemisms and yank at the public's strings like the puppet master I would be if I ran a company and I would laugh all the way to the bank. I speak of Dannon in this case.

Now, I have done a little reading and I'm not quite comfortable with making bold statements on this one. If someone wants to check what I say and tell me the truth I would like to know. But here's my qualm.

I suspect that Dannon's Activia brand yogurt is no different than any other yogurt, and that it's all in their presentation that makes it so convincing to try their 2 week plan to get your pooper back in order. Here's my reasoning. All yogurt has healthy bacterial cultures in it that produce lactic acid which in turn gives yogurt its distinct flavor.

Now, I won't get too deep into the details and technical terms, but there are over 400 known species of bacteria in a human's digestive tract. So here's where I doubt my hypothesis: Dannon supposedly patented a strain of bacteria called Bifidobacterium Animalis and uses it in Activia. So, yes it is possible that this bacteria affects the digestive tract in a different manner than any yogurts, but I have my doubts that it really matters because other brands of yogurt are quite healthy for your digestive tract and is beneficial to eat regularly.

All the while, Dannon has jacked the price up on their patented bacteria flavored yogurts and are pulling our strings. Have you tried Activia yet?

This is what stands in the way of my hypothesis:
http://juliewashere.blogspot.com/

Thank you for actually making it to the bottom of this if you have. I know it's long.

UT Football

I don't watch football. But there's no way to ignore all the orange and white around here. It's painful to look at. Orange and white is one of the most obnoxious color combinations and yet people wear them as if it looks good.

Now I know it is kind of fun to get into a game every now and then because of the wow factor and the Edge-of-you-Seat appeal. But I have to sit in restaurants, doctor's offices, veterinarian's offices, and bathrooms, and try to stomach the awful colors. I just want to eat, or get rid of that annoying cough, or have my pet looked at, or do my business (well, perhaps the colors actually help in that process).

A dentist has a sign up in Surgoinsville on the front of his building that is a rendition of the UT football field as the background, and then over that is the lettering of the name of his clinic. That just goes to show you how ridiculous UT colors are in this area is. IT IS NOT GOOD DESIGN.

Sports fans are kind of scary too, this man was literally castrated for walking into a bar wearing the wrong team on his chest:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20728210/

I was sitting in my dorm one night when I was going to ETSU and I remember hearing the Entire Campus yell in unison because UT made a good play. It was kind of neat and very interesting to be there when it happened but at the same time it was a little discomforting. What if UT had lost?

I've been trying to sum up in my mind what sports are actually good for. Sure, there's a lot of money involved in pro sports, but let's leave that aside for a moment. For instance, the Super Bowl. After a team has won what do they get? A ring, bragging rights, and a trophy. Sports are peculiar because they have a way of both uniting people and dividing people at the same time. A word of caution to those who follow sports though, just try not to get violent over something that isn't even going to matter a few minutes later. So what if your college team loses, they'll still get paid more than you when they go pro.

On a side note; I feel like I'm not fully conveying how bad the orange and white really is around here, So I'm going to start a sort of photo library akin to mullet hunting. Keep an eye out for it.

I Hate Musicals

I consider myself to be somewhat cultured for a person from the sticks of Virginia. But I just don't get musicals. Every Disney Movie, Annie, Wizard of Oz, Rocky Horror Picture Show, Grease, Phantom of the Opera, Hairspray. How do people enjoy these movies?

I've always liked Disney and I grew up watching the Disney movies, but as I watched the movies I always hoped that they wouldn't break out into song every five minutes and spent most of the time longing for those breaks between the songs. Bear Necessities, Hakuna Matata, the intro to Disney's Robin Hood and Somewhere Over the Rainbow were all good songs. But why? Why am I forced to sit through a movie that conveys the character's feelings through song?

The songs are usually horrible. Rocky Horror Picture Show is a sorry excuse for Rock music. Most of the songs that I've heard in musicals just flow really badly. It's not good music. And I think that is because it's so geared toward telling a story, so there's a lot to fit into the songs and therefore it completely breaks up what makes a good song.

Perhaps this note will fall short since I've decided not to go out of my way to write a big conclusion. But it all boils down to this: Musicals suck, and don't try to convince me otherwise. Oh.. and Buffy the Vampire Slayer sucks too.