-
According to an article I read, this is supposedly the most comprehensive site on finding cheap gas, containing 185 "websites" (is that like "internets"?)
-
That was NOT threatening speech. "You make me feel like killing you" is in no way the same as "I'm gonna kill you". I'd be sick of cops harassing me if I had a brain injury that made me walk like a freak too.
"he repeatedly explained to the officer that he'd sustained a traumatic brain injury in a work-related accident and was disabled, not drunk….was taken to…Hospital where the stun darts were removed from his back. A blood test…confirmed…no alcohol or drugs in his system. … Was charged with misdemeanor assault two days after… The District Attorney's Office later asked that the charge be dismissed "in the furtherance of justice." "
Yea. The DA dropped the charges because he knew their cops were full of shit.
Officer Gabriela Saavedra is a shitty cop, but Officer Donald Cline sounds like a straight-up pig for tasering a man simply for walking funny. Because in the end, none of this would have happened if Gonzalez was able to walk like a normal person.
-
Yes. IBM failed to stomp out clones; Apple's ultimate fate should be NO different. Too bad Psystar went bankrupt… This is antitrust; consumers rights are far more important than Apple's "right" to mis-apply the law and prevent a fair market from occurring.
-
Once again, while government regulation and licensing makes sense and is a good thing — taking away the option to make unlicensed, unregulated purchases is extremely anti-capitalist and anti-freedom.
I wouldn't expect a casual babysitter to be licensed by the state as a child caregiver, anymore than I would expect a 12yo mowing my lawn to have a license for yardwork, anymore than I would expect an old man to have a taxi driver's license if I asked him to drive me to the grocery store for $5. Similarly, I don't expect to be protected from old dangerous products at a yard sale.
If the government has any intention of getting people in trouble for what they are selling at a yardsale, that's just another strike against freedom. Another elimination against mom & pop-type commerce, and another step up for the corporate takeover of any and all commerce.
Fortunately, they say they're not doing this. But I have yet to see evidence that government can restrain itself in the long run.
May 2009
May 31, 2009
May 31, 2009
VIDEO: MOVIES: REVIEW: Horton Hears A Who (2008)
Posted by Clint under Carolyn, Clint, Media, Movies, People, Reviews, Video[5] Comments
[IMDB link] [Netflix link] We put off watching this for awhile.
PEOPLE: Directed by an animator for Toy Story 2 and some other nobody, this did have well-known voice actors, none of whom we recognized while watching: Jim Carrey played Horton (but we never realized this while watching it, so it’s not “over-Jim-Carrey’ed” like some movies). Steve Carell played the mayor of Whoville. Carol Burnett was the bitchy Kangaroo. Will Arnett (aka GOB from Arrested Development) (who we had previously been on a quest to see every movie of) played Vlad, the vampiric vulture. Seth Rogan was Morton. Voice actor Jess Harnell, from Comic Book:The Movie, was in this too.
QUIRKS: Based on the Dr. Seuss book. Computer animation. There’s also a lot of subtle references to other Seuss works, that may be missed by anyone who doesn’t read the IMDB trivia page.
BAD STUFF: Mostly directed at kids. The humor is not particularly sophisticated. There aren’t [m]any jokes that only adults would get.
GOOD STUFF: This *is* a chance to see one of Dr. Seuss’s stories come to life. And there are some good lessons:
1) Just because you’re the only person who believes in something, doesn’t mean you’re wrong.
2) A person is a person, no matter how small.
3) Authoritarians who want their rules and opinions obeyed at all times are douchebags.
CONCLUSION: Generic pass. At least it looks nice in HD. Seuss is great, but this wasn’t really any more complex than the book itself.
RECOMMENDATION: Seuss fanboys might want to watch this. People who want something to watch with their kids could watch this — it’s not nearly as annoying as some of the childrens’ stuff out there.
MOVIE QUOTE: “I meant what I said, and I said what I meant — an elephant’s faithful, one-hundred percent.” Yes, this quote actually isn’t from Horton Hears A Who, but another one of Seuss’s stories with Horton. But it’s not like we remembered that. These were books we read as kids. It felt very authentic because Horton did say that in the books. Just not in this book. It’s still the quote-of-the-movie as far as I’m concerned.
FRIENDS’ RATINGS: Benj loved it. Christian D liked it. (more…)
May 30, 2009
-
Yes. IBM failed to stomp out clones; Apple's ultimate fate should be NO different. Too bad Psystar went bankrupt… This is antitrust; consumers rights are far more important than Apple's "right" to mis-apply the law and prevent a fair market from occurring.
-
Once again, while government regulation and licensing makes sense and is a good thing — taking away the option to make unlicensed, unregulated purchases is extremely anti-capitalist and anti-freedom.
I wouldn't expect a casual babysitter to be licensed by the state as a child caregiver, anymore than I would expect a 12yo mowing my lawn to have a license for yardwork, anymore than I would expect an old man to have a taxi driver's license if I asked him to drive me to the grocery store for $5. Similarly, I don't expect to be protected from old dangerous products at a yard sale.
If the government has any intention of getting people in trouble for what they are selling at a yardsale, that's just another strike against freedom. Another elimination against mom & pop-type commerce, and another step up for the corporate takeover of any and all commerce.
Fortunately, they say they're not doing this. But I have yet to see evidence that government can restrain itself in the long run.
-
Nice to see Spain is on the p2p side, now that Sweden seems to be clamping down.
-
It's longer than what I really read, but this more or less confirms my opinion that the bailout is dead wrong.
Too big to fail? Local community banks do a lot of lending, and these aren't the ones that needed to be bailed out. Credit would not just disappear without the bailout. The bailout is bullshit, and I'm surer than ever.
Unfortunately the web version is only about 10% of the full article, which blows.
It's like they think they're going to sell magazines by NOT telling us the news. Meanwhile, Rolling Stone comes to my door in print form despite me never ordering or paying for it. No wonder the news industry is failing…
-
That's too bad… Christiania seems to be one of the last bastions of freedom in the modern world. I guess the 38 year "experiment" is due to end soon.
-
Child rape cover up — in the name of God and the sky fairies. Pathetic. If these children weren't going to church, they wouldn't have been raped.
(Okay, some of them would have by other people, but probably not as many, because nobody else has the word of god to instill a fake trust.)
-
Let's see. THREE separate eyewitnesses, all several blocks from one another, claim a police vehicle was following a speeding white mini-van that struck and killed someone. But the NYPD wont acknowledge this, because it might make them liable for the death. Typical.
May 29, 2009
JOURNAL: COMPUTER: My 1998 configuration
Posted by Clint under Clint, Computer, Hardware, Journal, old school (non-BBS), People, Pointlessness, Technology[3] Comments
Pointlessness warning! I found an old file stating in way too much detail what my computer configuration was in 1998. Figured I’d post it here as a backup/old-school-computing memory, so that I could delete the file without a feeling of loss. I’m gonna add some comments in red (11 yrs later!) to make fun of the past. (more…)
May 29, 2009
-
Nice music hacking! Changing music beats/sounds via the command-line. Command-line beat-boxing. Awesomeness.
-
This says a lot about America, when even black *police* get shot by white cops who shoot first and ask questions later.
I view this as a good development. If enough cops are killed by other cops, they might actually change their procedure. If they kill black civilians, nothing changes. If they kill black cops — investigations automatically arise.
Dude was shot at 6 times, hitting him twice.
The department does not interview officers involved in fatal shootings until a prosecutor determines whether criminal charges will be brought. Does that even make sense? So basically, New York cops can shoot and never be accountable, unless charges are filed. But without an interview, how will the circumstances that let a DA decide whether charges need to be filed come to light?
This is not the first time this has happened in New York! It's actually the 3rd time in 3 yrs.
-
Neat. Capitalists bought factories with World Bank loans, defaulted on the loans, and tried to fire all the workers. The workers physically occupied the factory, resisted multiple police eviction attempts, and have kept the factory open, giving people jobs where capitalism would have failed them.
Amazing story. Apparently tons of Argentine factories are now controlled by workers without bosses. -
Yes, our hysteria about child porn has reached the point where a man has gone to jail for possessing manga comics. NO CHILDREN ARE EXPLOITED when somebody draws something.
What next — putting people in jail for imaginary murder? What if I draw a city getting nuked, should I go to jail for imaginary terrorism?
This is pretty much thought crime. Virginia and Iowa are the 2 states that have taken this stance. The Comic Book Legal Defense Fund funded this guy's defense, but then the idiot went and plead guilty.
How can a DRAWING be a "minor"?
He faces 15 years in prison — for having Japanese comics that American culture doesn't like.
Part of freedom is allowing unpopular behavior. Nobody was actually hurt; nobody was actually exploited. This guy hasn't molested anybody, and didn't have any real child porn. Nor was his collection centered around these comics.
Even if he IS fantasizing about children — thoughts are not, and should not, be illegal.
-
Yea, the guy is a creep. But a criminal? Three years in jail? Please!
He had pornography on his person. That is not illegal. He did not have child pornography.
He had "drawings depicting children" on his person… Not child pornography, or they would have said that. Hey, I've carried X-Men comics before. That's not illegal.
He asked a boy to pose for a picture in an arcade. He didn't touch him. He didn't restrain him. But the boy said he felt like the guy had a gun or a knife. So because of some child's active imagination the guy goes to jail?
This isn't his first time. But last I checked, we don't live in the fictional land of Minority Report. You have to actually commit a fucking crime before you can be incarcerated!
"Asking someone to pose for a photo can't be considered detention," his lawyer said.
I agree. -
"According to Wikipedia administrators, this marks the first time such a high-profile organization has been banished for allegedly pushing its own agenda on the 'free encyclopedia anyone can edit.'""
You lose, Scions! Muahahhaa. Hail Xenu!
-
Typically, when you imagine countries that put up barriers to people leaving — you imagine countries like North Korea, China, pre-unification East Germany, etc.
Not for long. Now America wants to take fingerprints of everyone leaving — even american citizens.
Being treated like criminals. But don't worry. We'll all get used to it.
Maybe we should just put up a wall? Oh yeah, we're working on that too.
-
Sure, he's going to jail for 20 years. But let's face it: This is attempted murder. This is not "reckless injury". When you shoot someone in the head or face, YOU ARE TRYING TO KILL THEM. I think this is the thin blue line at work. Cops rarely get the same sentence.
Imagine if this had been a black man who shot a white woman and a white girl in the face. You can bet he'd be put away longer than 20 years. District Attorney Patrick Kenney should think about that.
I don't care or know if the sentence would be the same; the fact that there was no attempted murder charge here sickens me.
-
Seriously, Israel. It wasn't right when the UN "gave" you a country that was already settled by existing Jews and Arabs. It wasn't right when you waged an illegal war in 1967 and took even more land — borders STILL NOT RECOGNIZED be international law. And it still isn't right when you bulldoze people's homes, build housing developments on private property (anybody builds an apartment in my back yard — I'm burning it down).
Surprisingly, the Obama Administration has strengthened their stance. No settlements. Not some; none. No outposts. No "natural growth exceptions" (which is merely doublespeak for "we have more people so we should get to take more of your land").
P.S. It wasn't right when we did it to the Native Americans, either. But at least we didn't wall them up with no resource and then bomb them when they fought us. Of course, their price for settling peacefully is the lowest life expectancy, economic status, and literary rates. OPPRESSING INDIGENOUS PEOPLE IS NEVER OKAY.
-
Slowly but surely, medical marijuana is becoming something that exists in the majority of states in the country.
-
It's a felony to fuck with an ambulance driver performing his duty. The cops wanted to arrest him, but the DA stopped them from doing so. The cops wont release their video either.
This is a road rage incident combined with racism. A whole gang of white cops choking a black ambulance driver WITH A VICTIM IN THE AMBULANCE WAITING TO GO TO THE HOSPITAL.
The cop was upset that the ambulance didn't yield for him?!?! What the fuck? Aren't they supposed to be on the same team?
I'd be quite happy if the officers involved in this paid the ultimate price for their racist road-rage abuse of authority police brutality tax-dollar-wasting crimes. This is seroiusly fucked!
Someone please give me the names of the officers. They deserve to be named.
This isn't the first time cops have pulled over an ambulance driving to the hospital with a patient. This isn't the first time *THIS YEAR*.
Why not give the police department a piece of your mind? I did: choffice@dps.state.ok.us
May 29, 2009
JOURNAL: DREAM: Two dreams – supermarket sports, Virginia Tech revival
Posted by Clint under Clint, Dreams, Journal, PeopleLeave a Comment
20090528:
I dreamed I was in some sort of sporting event, which was a sled race. It was in a supermarket parking lot. During the summer. No, this doesn’t make sense. I managed to win by sledding all the way across the entire supermarket parking lot in about 2 seconds, beating everyone else. My “sled” was comprised of an 8×11 wooden clipboard, covered in clear plastic. No.. No sense here.
20090529:
I dreamed I was back at Virginia Tech again, in a dorm. No clue why. I didn’t have a roommate, and the room was perhps a bit smaller than those dorms really were. Brent (Mark’s brother, who was my roommate in college, and who’s getting married tomorrow) was in a room in my hallway. There were a lot of drugs around. We ate at the cafeteria, which was in the same building as our dorm rooms. My high school ex-girlfriend Tiffany D was there. I had a lot of disdain for her in the dream, as in real life. I never knew who did it, but in the dream, someone stole a joint from us.. and we think it was her. The food was pretty good. I went back to my dorm room and started to clean up/move in, but then the real life phone rang repeatedly and woke me up.
Normally I dream I’ve gone back to high school, pretending to be a senior when I really had graduated the previous year. My sister has that dream too. Not this time — this time it was college! (more…)
May 28, 2009
SURVEY: What is your true inner nationality: A quiz of global clairvoyance
Posted by Clint under Clint, People, Surveys[2] Comments
Another stupid Facebook quiz with terrible, terrible questions like how you would react if your friend fell in love with a monkey.
Your Result: You are German.
You are precise yet romantic, efficient yet dreamy, friendly yet somewhat suspicious of others. You rarely smile, but when you do it’s very meaningful. You like it best when there is a group consensus, and yet you are easily annoyed by the slowness and/or stupidity of others. Sometimes you think that if only you could live on an island or move to some wonderful place far away, everything would be better, and if you can’t realize this dream you often lose yourself in books/vacations/recipes/sports — anything for an escape! All in all, however, you make your peace with life, and have many old friends. (more…)
