Miscellaneous Random
No wammies!
Did you know that there was a Press Your Luck scandal? I didn’t until recently. The story is at first interesting, but then incredibly sad. The guy figured out the game, but couldn’t get a bit of luck going in his real life afterward.
Social metric
I’ve decided that there is an easy way to tell if I’ve been “making the effort” to go out and socialize. It can be easily gauged simply by counting the number of discarded MapQuest maps on my floor. Since I live in the Bay Area and the people I know are scattered from Santa Cruz to Salinas to Oakland, there is no way for me to know how to get everywhere.
Right now there are about 5 used maps in my car. I’ve been a busy boy. Now, off to add number six.
RIP Mitch Hedberg
One of my favorite comedians (probably my absolute favorite) has passed away. Mitch Hedberg died this week in his hotel room. I love his albums and the DVD I have, but I’ll never get the chance to see hime live. This makes me truly sad.
I’m against picketing, but I don’t know how to show it.
– Mitch Hedberg
Ugly
Crap. Some guy found one of my especially-awful old pictures (taken because it was funny) and decided to use it as fodder for a marginally funny web page that makes me look like some sort of freak. Ok, maybe it is the picture that makes me look like some sort of freak. But it’s my job to mock myself, not his! I’m under the label “Broadi”; that’s what my hair looked like after 2 hours in a convertible.
Fortunately, he was dumb enough to just point to the image on my server. Thanks to the miracles of SetEnvIf, I plan to replace the picture with something embarassing. For him, not me.
The children are our future, and we’re boned
News flash: students are morons and don’t understand basic freedom. Now, I hated history and civics type classes just as much as the next kid, but I paid a little bit of attention. I know I get to own a gun, say what I want, etc. But 1/3 of kids thought that the 1st ammendment goes too far in guaranteeing free speech? Come on. In the post 9/11 (lordy, I wish we could come up with another name for that) it is essential that we know our rights and cling to them. There are people out there that are hoping we’ll give up rights for security. It’s not worth it.
Those who desire to give up freedom in order to gain security, will not have, nor do they deserve, either one. – Benjamin Franklin
Thowin’ up the horns
As much as I respect (and to a degree, observe) Christian tradition, it’s great to see it being mocked. The ability to laugh at that you hold precious is to me a sign that you are secure about it. So, I’d like to point out that the introduction of Metal Jesus (along with an early appearance and his latest cameo) is a thing of beauty. Kudos, fellas.
Granted, I really don’t think anything is funnier than Claw Shrimp.
Also, go Gabe! He’s a fellow former-Spokanite and his artwork keeps getting better over the years.
Swaggart, you’re cut
I generally stay away from controversy, but this is too much. Check out what Jimmy Swaggart, upstanding citizen, said from the pulpit:
I’m trying to find the correct name for it … this utter absolute, asinine, idiotic stupidity of men marrying men. … I’ve never seen a man in my life I wanted to marry. And I’m gonna be blunt and plain; if one ever looks at me like that, I’m gonna kill him and tell God he died.
I have my own share of difficulties with my faith, but this is crazy. It’s hate speech. Not a boo-boo, not a poor choice of words: _hate speech_. It’s so clearly hate speech that a station that aired the show is under investigation for violation of hate-related broadcast laws. Know what’s worse? People laughed and/or cheered. Cheered! At the suggestion that someone be killed!
It’s time for this guy to step down. I’m just so flustered by the black-eye he puts on Christianity that I don’t know what to say. At the very least, he should go study at the feet of Tammy Faye to learn a thing or two about love. Apologize all you want but you’re still a jerk. You’ve missed a fundamental aspect of your faith, not to mention basic human civility.
Moron alert!
I really hope the new Navistar truck sells like gangbusters, I really do. With the ubiquity of the H2 it was getting hard to tell who the really stupid, trend following sheep on the road were. It will once again be clear!
Poor Lamar
I just saw Lamar Odom on SportsCenter say that there were “Americans that didn’t want America to win.” When asked why that might be, he didn’t know. Maybe it’s because many of us can’t watch the NBA anymore. Maybe we don’t want to watch tattooed idiot taunt each other. Maybe the 24 second shot-clock has turned it into a repetitious run-n-chuck game. Maybe we don’t want watch for two hours to find out who gets the last shot to win the game.
And maybe we just simply wanted you to fall flat. To be humbled. To be taken down a peg. On your stage, your swagger may be justified. But it’s time to realize, just like in every other sport in the Olympics, that the US doesn’t dominate. It’s a contest for a reason. Show up, play hard. Play as a team.
Don’t tap your chest and insist that you “gots to represent.” Look at the colors on your chest, and remember who you represent. You certainly haven’t represented me as an American.
The Watchmen
I’ve been recently getting back into comics. Yeah, I know. Geeky. But one that I read recently at the recommendation of a friend was The Watchmen. It’s fantastically good. And if you read it, or maybe if you haven’t, you will laugh until you cry while reading the treatement the Something awful goons give to it.
