20070331

full meal deal

i posted a link to this awhile back; now we have the full song, along with a great extra:

20070330

overenthusiastic

well, that was unexpected. i had a few extra comments pop up in the "recent comments" section and thought, hey, cool. and then i looked a little closer, and realized that they were from last september, when i was using haloscan before the switch to blogger beta. i guess it's nice that they still have a record of my comments, but this definitely seemed like overkill to me.

listen to... well, not john travolta

because let's face it, a guy who owns five jets doesn't doesn't exactly have the "moral high ground" when it comes to global warming.

20070327

well, at least that part went well

update on my dysfunctional PSU: sent it in, and just recieved a brand new one from the company... took about a week and a half altogether. if i didn't have a backup PSU, that probably would have seemed like an eternity, but as is, i'm fairly impressed. i'll be installing it this weekend, and hoping it lasts longer than the first one.

20070323

because you can never have too many videos

i saw this one over at wizbang awhile back, and found it absolutely hilarious.

more proof that MKH is awesome

huh. cool.

via the seattle times (which doesn't even require registration for this article... kudos to them), we learn that maybe that whole "techno-fence" along the southern border isn't such a bad idea after all. we still need more manpower down there, but i'm much more optimistic than i was.

20070320

theater folk are cool

this weekend, rachel and i went to see a friend of ours (lauren) perform in the play "noises off," by michael frayn (description: "Take a second rate acting company presenting a really bad play and the result is a high-speed, frenzied farce as their on-stage and back stage antics spiral into total mayhem.") i have to say, i was quite impressed. it started to drag on a bit towards the end, but over all it was highly entertaining.

afterwards, we hung around for awhile and talked with lauren. she was doing well... work was crazy, but she loved it, and really enjoyed being able to act as well. we got to meet a few other actors as well, and they turned out to be pretty cool people. they even shared their booze with us (it was st. patrick's day), even though we were basically just "groupies." we took off shortly after that though, because they were having a birthday party for the guy who designed the set. he also seemed like a cool guy, but we didn't really know him, so it would have been a bit odd.

the mission creek players--the group who was acting that night--also give free acting classes; or at least they will, once they finish building their permanant location. if i'm still around when those get started, i think i'll be tempted to give it a go. i've never seriously acted--the closest i've come to it was a brief performance for my shakespeare class, when i was moonbeam in the 'play within a play' in a midsummer night's dream--but i definitely enjoyed it. i don't think i'd have much problem with the "grunt" work (memorizing my lines), but body language, voice inflection, etc., might be a bit trickier to pick up.

20070314

yarrrrgh... (updated)

so, i think it's time for me to start looking for new computer pieces. when i came upstairs to brush my teeth last night, everything was fine. when i got back down a few minutes later, my computer had shut itself off. i tried starting it up again; it flashed a few times, then went off. i haven't been able to get it going since then.

it looks like the power supply has power--the power switch on the back lights up when it's turned on--but i get no response whatsoever when i try using the power button on the front of my case. right now i'm trying to get ahold of a friend who might be able to help me check the various pieces of my compy, so i know if just one piece is fried, or if i have to start all over. wish me luck.

--update--
looks like truckin' knows his stuff... the problem was with the power supply. so i pulled it out, popped in my old one, and for now i'm functional. i'll be sending the dysfunctional PSU back to the manufacturer, and hoping that whatever the problem was is covered under my "limited" warranty.

20070313

man, i need to start playing that again

nethack is probably one of the greatest games ever. even though it could potentially make you hate life, or at least various letters of the alphabet. for those who haven't played it before, nethack is considered a roguelike game, where everything is represented by keyboard letters and symbols: your character (@) fights his way past grid bugs (x), orcs (o), dragons (D), and vampires (V), quaffing potions (!), reading scrolls (?) and spellbooks (+), and picking up gold ($) and gems (*), watching out for traps (^) on his way to the staircase to the next level (>). see the link above for a more complete description.

this post was inspired by something i found while cleaning out my email inbox, a "theme song" of sorts that a friend sent me a few years back:

Play Nethack
By Francisco Rangel


(To the tune of Paint It Black by The Rolling Stones)

I see a red D and I want to play nethack
Go down to Gehennom and bring the trinket back
I see the grid bugs bite, the Kop runs with a hose
I light my magic lamp and so the darkness goes

Drop stuff on altars but they're cursed so they glow black
I stash my scrolls and potions in an oilskin sack
I see corpses all around, I'll eat them right away
Hope I get intrinsics, hope my god will let me pray

Sit on a throne and get to genocide some L's
The Oracle will speak, and the shopkeeper sells
Get a prize from Sokoban and then on to clear the quest
Kill Medusa, find the castle, open up that chest

The Valley of the Dead, and David's Treasure Zoo
I'll visit Vlad and get the Candelabrum too
If I look hard enough for the vibrating square
I'll kill the wizard, get the Book, and I'll be there

I'll get the amulet and make a run for it
With demons on my tail, I hope I don't get hit
Go through the planes and reach the altars at the end
I'll sacrifice the amulet and I'll ascend

I wanna beat this game, it's so hard, cannot save, can't restart
I'll go to Gehennom, with my pet by my side
Don't eat the food that's tainted, tainted, tainted, or you'll die, yeah!


for something so simple, it gives a very accurate description of the gameplay... much like weird al's "the saga begins" did for star wars: episode I.

also while checking back on the main nethack page, i found another theme song, which not only has lyrics, but also some music to go along with it.

on which note, it's time for me to get back to greek. but i see the length of this post as a good thing; it means i still have some procrastination skills.

ouch

The Pelosi Plan for Iraq

It makes perfect sense, if the goal is winning votes in the United States.


that's a bit larger than i intended it, but oh well. it's sad, but true: the democrats (with a few exceptions, like joe lieberman) don't want to win in iraq, they want to win in the polls here at home. read the rest of the article here.

20070312

site maintenance

as you may notice, i finally switched back to haloscan for my comment system... this way there won't need to be any more anonymous comments from people who don't use blogger/google accounts. this means that i lost existing comments (again), but there weren't enough of those that i'll be mourning the loss. hopefully blogger doesn't go through any major maintenance that would require me to switch again.

20070306

few stood against many

this friday, 300 hits theaters. if you are a man, and you don't think that movie looks f*cking awesome, there is definitely something wrong with you. i expect all of my readers (which i think is pretty much just me at this point, but oh well) to go see it this weekend.

20070305

quote of the day

"I for one think it's high time that we recognise the important contributions that lepers make to our cultural landscape."

found here, h/t protein wisdom

20070302

quote of the day

mel gibson was right! the jews are apparently responsible for pretty much everything bad that happens, including the destructive acts by "palestinians" on what used to be jewish land:

Mr. Abir blamed the Jewish state for the desecration of the Gaza synagogues by Palestinian Arabs, claiming the decision to leave the structures intact was part of an Israeli conspiracy.

Israel "left the synagogues behind so the world would see the Palestinians destroying them," Mr. Abir said.

which is apparently why israel also decided to leave all of their cities intact, since according to the article linked above, "...the area in which the synagogues once stood is now used to fire rockets at Israel." (sarcasm) damn those jews for leaving all their cities standing! they should have burned them all to the ground and then run themselves into the sea! this is all part of a conspiracy, using our rocket attacks to make us look bad! (/sarcasm)

so far as i know, the jews have yet to be blamed for global warming, but i wouldn't be surprised to see that pop up sometime soon.

h/t say anything

20070301

definition of the day

expiration date: when she dies while you're at dinner, a movie, etc.

i think i just made that up, but feel free to prove me wrong.

hahaha! (updated)

Winter’s end brings thoughts
of girls in summer dresses.
The filthy strumpets.

for some reason, it reminds me of spring at whitworth.

--update--

although, now that i think about it, the second Lapsed Prude's Haiku is probably more accurate:

Winter’s end brings thoughts
of girls in summer dresses.
The hot, hot strumpets!

now there's a fun thought

buying your way to kyoto compliance. i think it would be awesome if we actually went for it; though i would prefer to see the funds to do so raised by cutting spending in some area, rather than by raising taxes on gas.

point, and counterpoint

*point: white americans are probably the most "powerful" (for lack of a better term) people on the face of the earth.
*counterpoint: white american cheese is probably one of the worst inventions ever.

how do we reconcile those two things?