Buffy Season 8
Posted on 2006-11-28 at 07:28
Joss Whedon, head writer and creative force behind the Buffy franchise, has annouced a deal with Dark Horse Comics to write a new comic series that takes place after the fade-to-black of the end of Season 7 of the Buffy series.
While not as good as a new tv show picking up where the old left off, this is still good news for those of us still entranced by the series. I believe I'll be subscribing asap.
In honor of the event, I've taken the Buffy Personality Test (to see which character I am most like). I did this because I have no life and dogged fanboyism is the way of my people. If you wish my tribe to accept you as one of us, you must go there now to take the test as I did. My results follow:
Glorificus
54% amorality, 72% passion, 90% spirituality, 45% selflessness
You probably have a complicated, multi-faceted personality. Kind of like Glory-Ben-Glorificus.
Passionate and driven with a spiritual side that comes out at times, a healthy taste for the finer things in life and a willingness to do what's necessary to achieve your ends. You're assertive and have no problems standing up for yourself. And, push come to shove, you're the closest anyone's ever come to straight-up beating the Slayer and her gang.
The upside of that result? Well, Glorificus was a god. Powerful. Capricious. The downside? Gorificus was raw evil. The sort of evil that steals wheelchairs and slaps the homeless. Glorificus is a survivor, but not in a good way.
I could swear I've taken that test in the past and gotten Xander as a result (which is much nicer, if a bit less interesting!).
UCLA Police Use Excessive Force On Camera
Posted on 2006-11-21 at 07:47
And we get outraged and wonder why Ice Cube had this to say:
Fuck tha police
Comin straight from the underground
Young nigga got it bad cuz I'm brown
And not the other color so police think
They have the authority to kill a minority
Fuck that shit, cuz I ain't tha one
For a punk muthafucka with a badge and a gun
To be beatin on, and throwin in jail
We could go toe to toe in the middle of a cell
Fuckin with me cuz I'm a teenager
With a little bit of gold and a pager
Searchin my car, lookin for the product
Thinkin every nigga is sellin narcotics
You'd rather see me in the pen
Then me and Lorenzo rollin in the Benzo
Beat tha police outta shape
And when I'm finished, bring the yellow tape
To tape off the scene of the slaughter
Still can't swallow bread and water
I don't know if they fags or what
Search a nigga down and grabbin his nuts
And on the other hand, without a gun they can't get none
But don't let it be a black and a white one
Cuz they slam ya down to the street top
Black police showin out for the white cop
Ice Cube will swarm
On any muthafucka in a blue uniform
Just cuz I'm from the CPT, punk police are afraid of me
A young nigga on a warpath
And when I'm finished, it's gonna be a bloodbath
Of cops, dyin in LA
Yo Dre, I got somethin to say
Fuck the police
Was the student being a pest? Maybe. Was he non-cooperative? Looks like it. Does that matter? Not in the least. They tasered him 5 times, mostly while he was on the ground or in handcuffs. They threatened to taser the bystander who asked for a badge number. They tasered him, then got mad becuase he wouldn't jump right back up. Obviously they have never been tasered before. I'd be happy to show them how a taser works.
All this because he wouldn't show his student ID in a "random" (he was of Middle Eastern decent) library ID check. I remember growing up in a world where it was the evil Soviet Police who would demand of its citizenry, "Show me your papers." The tasered kid screamed it best: "Here's your fucking PATRIOT Act!" And this is what they are willing to do with cameras and witnesses! Think about it.
Mood: Disgusted and Dissappointed.
The Return of the Cold War
Posted on 2006-11-20 at 08:18
It appears that old Cold War spies must continue with caution as their are still those who would see them dead.
In short, he was researching the death of someone else killed for speaking too critically of Putin's Russia and found himself the recipient of an old-fashioned James Bond style poisoning in his cocktail. He has survived (so far) but remains in serious condition in the hospital.
I am both shocked that old KGB operatives are still getting poisoned and oddly comforted that such things are still happening in a world where the enemies are barely recognizable. Is it wrong to be just a little happy that, just as when I was a Cold War Kid, I can understand the nature of the crime? Dude pissed off the Russian president. Dude got poisoned! It's almost calmingly familiar---as international incidents go.
A story in 6 words
Posted on 2006-11-16 at 09:00
Why me? Because someone had to.
A reminder to myself
Posted on 2006-11-14 at 21:40
Beaten back. Beaten down.
Busted body scraped the ground.
Cut and crushed, wounded cries,
A bloody face with daring eyes.
I'll rise again on trembling knee.
You can't beat the Will from me.
Sometimes, the reason needn't be deeper than spite.
Bronchitis
Posted on 2006-11-13 at 09:00
So, a week and a half ago, I got a cold. No big. I got over it...mostly. Took a day off, rested, moaned, etc.... By the end of that week I was fine. Following week I went to work every day, had the sniffles left over, nothing much else. The cold was going away and I was all good.
Then Friday afternoon hit.
The sniffling came back hard. The coughing turned ugly. The lungs felt heavy. By Friday evening I knew something went horribly awry. Saturday morning, I went to the doctor. Some bloodwork and chest x-rays later, and I had Brochitis. Boooooo!
By Saturday afternoon I was on Zithromax (a 5-day antibiotic). By Sunday I felt better. Today (Monday), I feel a lot better. Still coughing and sniffling, but it's better now. Hopefully within a day or so I'll see a full recovery. God bless modern medicine.
Are you tone deaf?
Posted on 2006-11-13 at 08:54
Test the quality of your musical ear. I scored a 72.2%. The scale is as follows:
Greater than 90%: World Class Musical Ability
Greater than 75%: Excellent Musical Ability
Greater than 60%: Good Musical Ability
Less than 50%: You may have a Pitch PErception Issue
It takes about 5 minutes or so. It was fun. Now you try.
Have Some "Long Pig"
Posted on 2006-11-10 at 08:33
Scientists working for EC System technologies and Mie University have a small robot they've designed to identify food by taste. They give it a win and the robot tells them what sort it is. They give it the fuzzy grey lump in the back of the fridge and the robot tells them what sort of beast it used to be.
All is good, right? Wrong! The robots have the hunger now! A reporter doing a story on the robot placed his hand in the mouth of the robot, at which point it told everyone gathered that humans taste like pig! Bacon, specifically. They will come for us soon.
Of course, as weird as the bacon comment sounds, it's likely the robot isn't wrong. The cannibals if Polynesia used to refer to humans as "Long Pig". The Aztecs, after the spanish converted them from cannibalism, loved the swine the snapish brought over. When asked why they liked it so much, the former cannibals told them bluntly that it tasted like us.
I guess Hannibal had it wrong. Chianti seems a trifle incorrect. Perhaps something like a Zinfandel? Yes, a Zinfandel seems a better choice for the modern cannibal.
P.S. Eeeew.
The 2006 Election
Posted on 2006-11-08 at 08:51
It seems the Democrats overcame---albeit barely---their own innate desire to fail at everything to pull a marginal victory over the bruised, broken, and self-bloodied Republicans last night. They've taken the majority in the House. They've taken the majority in governerships. It looks like that might take the majority in the Senate as well. Still waiting on two states to report. If the Democrats take both, they will have a majority in the Senate as well:
Montana Senate
Updated: 6:58 a.m. ET
91% of precincts reporting
| Dem | Tester | 174,045 | 49% |
| Rep | Burns | 172,302 | 48% |
| Lib | Jones | 9,131 | 3% |
Virginia Senate
Updated: 5:54 a.m. ET
99% of precincts reporting
| Dem | Webb | 1,170,564 | 50% |
| Rep | Allen | 1,162,717 | 49% |
| Ind | Parker | 26,048 | 1% |
Of course, this margin would have been less thin had they not dicked Leiberman over in CT and forced him to run as an independent and therefore take a seat from the Dems. Seriously stupid.
"Hey we need every seat we can get to get something done. Let's piss off a sure victory so we have a harder time of things."
How ironic it will be if their own stupidity yet again screws them over.
I voted Democrat this time. I don't particularly consider myself a Dem or Rep, but I was pretty tired of the Republican brand of evil. Looks like I wasn't alone.
OK Democrats. We've given you control. Impress us.
Overheard at Frankfurt Airport in Germany
Posted on 2006-11-05 at 21:23
A joke. I laughed.
The German air controllers at Frankfurt Airport are renowned as a short-tempered lot. They not only expect one to know one's gate parking location, but how to get there without any assistance from them. So it was with some amusement that we (a Pan Am 747) listened to the following exchange between Frankfurt ground control and a British Airways 747, call sign "Speedbird 206":
Speedbird 206: "Frankfurt, Speedbird 206 clear of active runway."
Ground: "Speedbird 206. Taxi to gate Alpha One-Seven."
The BA 747 pulled onto the main taxiway and slowed to a stop.
Ground: "Speedbird, do you not know where you are going?"
Speedbird 206: "Stand by, Ground, I'm looking up our gate location now."
Ground (with arrogant impatience): "Speedbird 206, have you not been to Frankfurt before?"
Speedbird 206 (coolly): "Yes, twice in 1944, but it was dark and I didn't stop."
Whence did I go?
Posted on 2006-11-03 at 08:02
Those of you who read regularly (both of you?) will note that this site was down yesterday. Why, you ask? DNS issues. It suffices to say that hosting my own DNS is far superior to trusting others. All the domains which I manage on my own DNS server were fine, but the digitalelite.com domains were all interrupted by a server move at the DNS service host (1and1.com). No biggie, but there you go. Anyone who has an interest in more details can click the 'Make a Comment' link for this blog entry. I'll be happy to answer more detailed questions. Also, if you want more details, you need a hobby, becuase that's such a waste of your valuable time...much like this blog in general. :-)
Monetizing the Blogosphere
Posted on 2006-11-01 at 15:56
My blog is worth $564.54.
How much is your blog worth?
More about how I will live forever
Posted on 2006-11-01 at 14:50
Resveratrol, a chemical found in red wine among other places, has been shown in controlled experiments to prevent many of the negative effects of poor diet.
It has been proved that the chemical is linked in mammals (mice in the experiments) to decreased glucose levels (helping to prevent diabetes) and healthier hearts and liver tissue (with positive effects on cholesterol).
Moreover, the chemical has been shown to increase the life expectancy of obese mice by 31%, bringing them in line with mice who've eaten a healthy diet.
Prior research into this chemical links it to increased life expectancies in general. It has granted abnormal lifespans to everything from yeast to worms to fish...and now to mice.
The next phase will include limited and tightly controlled human trials. This is not a panacea but it is a good reason to be hopeful.
See you all on my 768th birthday!
I've removed the October pink coloring
Posted on 2006-11-01 at 07:01
James should be happy now.