The Scene of the Crime

I grabbed Season One ofThe Scene the other day, and it sat on my hard drive for quite some time before I took the necessary time to peruse it.

Let me tell you, the first few minutes are simply beautiful, especially on an aesthetic level. Then it cuts to a screen capture of a desktop (Windows XP, you'd think they would at least be using Linux), where you get to read chat conversations and watch them rip a dvd (using the same bloody software that I would), and skim the most recent articles on Slashdot and BoingBoing.

Despite the inherent simplicity, I found the first episode to be absolutely fascinating. However, by the second episode, the ludicrous details, like how long it takes to make an NFO (basically a notepad document about a movie) and the utter lack of anonymity have begun to irk me.

Link

The PMS of Mother Nature

As many of you in the area will recall, there was a fantastic thunderstorm on the 26^th. Amidst the crazy amount of thunder and lightning there was an inordinate amount of wind. However, a peculiar phenomenon occurred in my backyard. One of the trees of my Frolf (Frisbee Golf) course was savagely ripped down, and the field behind it had interesting wind damage as well. The majority was blown flat and interstingly enough, a good portion was “swirled”.

Harry Potter VI

This is my response to Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, I’ll attempt to eliminate any spoilers from this post, but reader be warned, highlight the following text only if you want to risk it.

Are you sure you want to be reading this? I’m not taking any crap if this ruins it for you.

Personally, I thought this was wonderfully written. The manner in which J. K. Rowling interlaces every insignificant detail of the previous books is just astounding. Either she has a genetic predisposition for meticulously crafting this tale, or it’s a testament to the English education system.

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince follows the trend of the previous books, as it becomes darker and more adult, perhaps following the growth and maturation of Harry, no? However, it is surprising that J. K. can continue to do this without losing her future reader base. It’s fine right now, because those of us, who were around for the release of the first couple, are still perfectly aged for these most recent works.

However, as with anything, ‘love’ can do a wonderful job of tainting something otherwise quite wonderful. The surprising amount of paper devoted to the various romantic relationships in the book, is nearly sickening. And, if I read the word “snogging” one more time, I’m likely to vomit. It can be said that J. K. did a wonderful job of describing the woes of High School relationships, or at least infatuations.

On another note, Jeff and I were discussing how funny it would be if someone was to kill J. K. Rowling before she finishes the last book. Also, the point was raised, why don’t they just use guns?

Oh, I hate the ending, and I hate Snape.

The End.

Murderous Haze

For some peculiar reason, random, yet interrelated, thoughts come into my head over a period of several days. Then, seemingly without my bidding, they compose themselves into something (which I hope is) reasonably coherent. *Throws thoughts to the wolves*


Individual responsibility is dead. We live in an era when every incident has a perfectly 'reasonable' explanation, e.g. ignorance, insanity, intoxication. It is that last reason which I find wholly unacceptable, well, more so than the others.

Too often I have heard tales of woe of the tragedies inflicted by drunken dolts behind the wheel. Too often those stories involve the demise of an innocent victim. Whether it is a son, or a daughter, or a mother, or an unborn child, the tragedy is equally great, for a life is senselessly taken. However, the second greatest travesty is how these murderers are not held accountable.

It is argued that, as a result of their inebriated state of mind, they are not fully responsible for their actions. However, I beg to differ. In taking that first drink, they accept whatever consequences may result. Therefore, I propose that whenever someone is killed as the result of drunk driving, that the individual under the influence be charged with murder of the first degree. This severe charge is justified in that the person makes the conscious decision to quaff the beverage, and thus accepts all that it may entail.

Respond.

Sign It: Part II

Behold the power of my blog (at least I'm going to take credit for the change).

All Decked Out

This is the deck that Mike, Jeff, and I built. This has caused a variety of reactions, most of which have been somewhere between disbelief , amazement, and amusement (Ashley: "and the thought of u three building a deck makes me laugh i wont lie"). I had a greater sense of accomplishment from building it, than from anything in my scholastic career (with the obvious exception of Eric the Elephant). This has been the second Severtdink Prodcution to date (there will be a sheet under the deck demonstrating the fact).

Here's ONE For Ya

South Park: Season 9 - Die, Hippie, Die!
Hippie: You see, the corporations take their profits and invest it in the war machine while keeping everyone blind.
Stan: Right, so how do we get back at them?
Kyle: Yeah, we're pissed off.
Hippie: Well, so my idea was this: Let's have like a weeklong music festival....

I find it exceptionally ironic when life mimics fiction, especially when that fiction is nonsensical satire. You ask "Where is this plan straight out of South Park found in the world today?" and the obvious reply is The One Campaign's free concert in Philadelphia. I really wonder, if they were to take an honest poll, how many people were there for world hunger and how many were there for the music. For that matter, how is a concert a powerful political gesture?

"1% more of the US federal budget [$22.922 billion] would help save millions of lives..." (link).
Yeah, I bet a lot of the same people are clamoring about the deficit and the war. I suppose their theory is "We want to help people, but we don't care if they are oppressed. We just don't like poverty or AIDS"

And seriously, don't get me started on AIDS. It is still primarily a sexually transmitted disease, so the obvious solution would be: "DON'T HAVE SEX!" However, that seems to be one thing the 28.3 million people in Africa with AIDS are incapable of doing.

However, I must say it’s amazing to see celebrities caring about something that they are not afflicted with (e.g. poverty).

She Fell For Me..

I ran over this on the Information Superhighway today. I thought it was hilarious, but, from a pure “physics” standpoint of course. It is an excellent simulation of how a person falls, and I know this from entirely too much climbing experience (albeit not on blue bubbles).

Link

Disclaimer: I do not condone dropping girls in bikinis infinitely far

Eric Strikes Back

My brother was telling me an interesting story of Eric the Elephant last night. Apparently, when I mailed him a copy of the DVD, it was shoved into the DVD player without reading the warning that accompanied it (totally the fault of the beautiful cover art and PG rating). And so, Maggie (my four year old niece) was exposed to the, um, gratuitous acts of violence. Doh.

Sign It

This sign made me laugh. Can you guess why?

I Hate Chains

I received the following message from 11 different people today (yes complete with gramatical and formatting errors).

Dear AIM users,Because of our overloading of our servers, we are being forced to extract our non-active AIM users. Because this is a free service, AOL has exceeded the budget for the AIM service. We are asking that you send this exact message to 20 other AIM users to ensure us that you're an active AIM user. Our system tracking devise will pick up this message to keep you on our active list. You have 72 hours to complete this task or your service will be cancelled immediately. Starting JulY 30, 2005, we will be charging a small fee for registering of a screen name for AIM. Thank you for your time and for using AOL or AIM.Sincerely,Mark JenkinsAOL Owner and Founder

Here is the fallacy hidden behind the stupidity of such a message:
1) AOL is a publicly traded corporation. That means that there is no single owner (yes someone can have a controlling share). Strike one.
2) The "founder" of AOL was Steve Case - and it was originally called Quantum Computer Services. Strike two.
3) AOL as the ability to send a message directly to every single user, because guess what, you're on their server. Strike three. Get out.
4) One other thing, if you've ever noticed, you connect to the AIM server when you sign on. That means, they can tell when you're online. Thus, they know if your account is active.

Now that you're educated, you may refrain from sending chain messages (there is no truth to them whatsoever). If you persist I'm going to shove a brick down your throat.

On the subject of chain messages/emails watch this.