Archive for August, 2008
« Older Entries | Newer Entries »Capitol Hilton
[ 1 Comment ]Posted on August 6, 2008 by admin in Politics
Wednesday, August 6th, 2008The video speaks for itself, if a bit woodenly.
Proving that political campaigns have truly devolved to the level of entertainment, Paris Hilton responds to the McCain campaign’s use of her likeness by announcing she’s running for president. No big deal, I’m running for president too. This got me thinking though, about that rarely-mentioned monster, the Military-Entertainment Complex, which then (curse you, Internet!) led me to spend an hour or so perusing TomDispatch.com, which further led me to impulsively order two books: The Wrecking Crew: How Conservatives Rule , and The Complex: How the Military Invades Our Everyday Lives
. Regardless of whether you find those books intriguing, TomDispatch.com (which is a project of the Nation Institute) is a wealth of well-researched journalism, which although possessing a decidedly liberal bent, provides a depth of coverage and reporting that is hard to come by these days.
Getting Your First Tattooth
[ Comments Off ]Posted on August 6, 2008 by admin in Lifestyle & Culture
Wednesday, August 6th, 2008And an Etcha-Sketch manicure while you’re at it.
What do Princess Diana, Amy Winehouse, Abraham Lincoln, Elvis, David Letterman, Tiger Woods, and George Washington have in common? You can get them all “tattooed” on your teeth. Heward Dental Lab of Sandy, Utah offers a (thankfully) unique service. Tooth tattoos. To compliment your attractive new dental body mod, maybe you’d like to try some DIY laser-etching on your nails. Way cooler than just wearing black nail polish (Please, how eighties!). Of course you’ll need to build your home-made laser cutter to complete the task. Careful though, all this body-modding can be addictive.
Building a PC-Based Studio for Less Than $100 (Part 2)
[ Comments Off ]Posted on August 6, 2008 by admin in Music
Wednesday, August 6th, 2008Downloading and Installing dyne:bolic
Downloading and Installing dyne:bolic
This is part II of a series. See part I here.
The Machine
So, there were no organic life forms living in the PC we’re using, which was surprising, given the spider-infested storage area from which the machine was retrieved (see photo). Next, we need to download dyne:bolic. Their download page is a little hard on the eyes. What you’re looking for is either the link that says “download using BitTorrent” (provided you know how to use BitTorrents ) or the section that says “download via ftp from mirrors”. We chose the BitTorrent option, although we aren’t endorsing it; our download still took almost an hour-and-a-half because the torrent wasn’t very well-seeded. You might want to try a regular FTP download. Read the rest of this entry »
Anthrax: Also Available on CD
[ Comments Off ]Posted on August 5, 2008 by admin in Politics
Tuesday, August 5th, 2008Or as a new movie by Oliver Stone
I never cared much for the band Anthrax, but you’ll probably find more factual information on their web site than in any of the following links. The Anthrax case that’s been hitting the press cycle again reminds me of an episode of the original Star Trek series in which Spock tells a beautiful female android: “everything I tell you is a lie”. The simple paradox short-circuits the android’s brain, causing smoke to come from her ears. That’s how I feel as I try to keep up with this. First, there was the Hatfill guy, Ashcroft’s person of interest back in 2001. He’s now won his case against the government, but I personally never believed he was the culprit anyway. Just a little too coincidental for my tastes was the sudden alleged suicide of Bruce E. Ivins, the FBI’s immediate announcement that he had recently been informed he was under investigation, and the sudden appearance of his loose-lipped therapist claiming he was a latent raging homicidal maniac. Anybody smell a patsy scenario? Well, apparently people like Richard Spertzel do , and he’s not your average paranoid conspiracist. He was head of the biological-weapons section of Unscom from 1994-99. This Think Progress piece suggests that the White House pressured the FBI to link the Anthrax to Al Qaeda back in 2001, and now the FBI is urging the DOJ to close the case, while admitting the case against Ivins was largely circumstantial. Can’t wait to see the Oliver Stone version.
Why Are You Such An Idiot?
[ Comments Off ]Posted on August 5, 2008 by admin in Editorial & Opinion
Tuesday, August 5th, 2008Or genius, as the case may be…
Find out here. Don’t have time for an idiot test (or afraid you’re too dumb to pass it)? Then maybe you can try your hand at guessing people’s accents. That first link is like “Simon Says” for the web, and harder than it looks. The second link is from Language Trainers’ Group, and frankly is a little weird. The woman from Florida didn’t sound very Floridian to me. And I was a moron with the northern European accents. Got a 28. I’d love to know other people’s scores. If you’d like to see someone who REALLY has her accents down, check out the YouTube clip of Amy Walker doing 21 accents in 2 1/2 minutes.
