Category: Default

Aawww–www—-some!

Is it too much to ask to just have paper towels? In the last few years, I’ve seen more crazy gizmos to dispense drying materials than I thought possible. Here’s the latest atrocity I have to deal with:

It’s motion sensitive see. So you have to wave your hand a couple times until it sees you, and spits out a carefully measured piece of paper. Carefully measured to not be enough, so you have to repeat.

Then there’s the kind that you have to grip with both hands on each side, but not too hard and pull but not too hard and not too soft. Or the kind you push a lever to get the carefully measured not enough towel. Or the one with the navigation wheel of death control on the side in case the main control isn’t working, which as of this writing, it never has.

The odd thing is that I don’t anyone who likes these. Everyone would rather just have some paper towels. And yet these pop up all over the place. So who makes the decision? What person sits back and thinks, “I hate these. My friends hate these. My coworkers hate these. You know what, I’m going for it. Let’s put them in!”

Who likes these?

The trailer for the Mary Popping as horror movie.

Sure, Barry Bonds is a cheater. But not in the way you think…

Diversity makes society worse? In some ways.

A child’s guide to US Foreign Policy

Funny New York Subway signs:

Want to know what LSD is like? This may help.

Dick Cheney tells the future in 1994: Invading Iraq would create a quagmire.

Me and Mrs. Muttrox are arguing about this. We agreed to let the fans settle it. The question is, at the peak of their popularity, who was a bigger star, Scott Baio or Ralph Macchio?

I seem to be on a roll with advertising commentary lately… How about this one for offensiveness? This is a full page ad in the local alternative paper, for this classy joint.

(If you don’t know what MILF means, look it up.)

I had never really thought about it. But then I did. On this exit, the Perimeter Mall Food Court paid good money to announce their existence to tens of thousands of commuters every day. But who is biting?

“Sandy, we’ve been driving for six hours, time for a break. I’m sick of all the decent places we eat. Let’s take the kids to some absolute fast food pit. Preferably at a mall that takes thirty minutes to park your car, yeah some kind of — hey, look at that sign! There’s a food court! Let’s take this exit!”

“Darn it! I was supposed to meet Willy at the Food Court, and I can’t find it. Where do you suppose it could — hey, look at that sign! There it is!”

I wonder if they’ve ever really converted anyone due to that marketing. Oh, and the restaurant in the lower left panel is right next to the food court, so they already get spillover traffic from that.

On the other hand, my wife thinks it’s really weird that McKendricks, a high-end steak house is up there also. “Boy, I could sure use a bite. Hey, look at that sign! Want to blow $150 on dinner?” True, but they only need to convert a few people to make their money back, the Food Court has to move an awful lot of popcorn chicken to get some ROI.

My wife also thinks it’s weird that I took the picture while driving. How else was I going to?

This hotel we stayed at for our anniversary trumpets that they have a pool. A picture of the pool is below.

It is the size of two hot tubs put together. You can’t swim a lap, it’s barely longer than a human being. It’s deepest area is five feet deep.

Ridiculous!

Suddenly, I’m excited about sports again. This is the worst part of the year for me. No football. No basketball. Only baseball, a borderline sport at best.

But what’s this? The dynastical Patriots loading up on talent? Clearly strong contenders for the Super Bowl, o yez.

And what’s this? The Celtics suddenly have Paul Pierce, Ray Allen, and Kevin Garnett — let me repeat that Kevin Garnett!? Suddenly contenders to win it all.

Oh, I can’t wait for real sports to begin again!

I am preparing for the grand finale by re-reading Book 6, and the last 100 pages of Book 5. At the end of Book 5 (Order of the Phoenix), Dumbledore reveals why he left Harry with those awful Dursleys. It was love, something Voldermort doesn’t appreciate. Aunt Petunia, however unwillingly took him in, and because she is the same blood of Harry and his mother, that made the house a safe haven.

Okay, fine. So you can’t get at Harry while he calls it home. Maybe you can do something about that. Nothing says you can’t enchant the Dursleys. With them under your control, how hard could it be to get Harry to renounce his home? Drive him to move out, or go back to Hogwarts. Then you ambush him on the road. Not terribly hard when you’re the Dark Lord. Don’t try to kill him, but get your Death Eater pals to capture him.

Even that is over-complicated. Just get the police to arrest him, and have them bring him right to your place instead of a normal cell.

Then you just throw him in a nice quiet cell with no means of escape or communication and wait for him to starve to death. You don’t have to worry about the scar or the prophecy or anything like that since you’re not actually attacking him. As long as you’ve covered your tracks well enough, he just dies.

Honestly, how hard is this stuff?

Consider:

* Saudi Arabians did 9/11. The majority of the hijackers were from Saudi Arabia.
* Osama bin Laden is from Saudi Arabia.
* The majority of the money for terrorism comes from Saudi Arabia.
* Saudi Arabia made a tacit deal with Osama and the like, essentially saying we won’t do anything to stop you as long as you don’t attack us. Nice.

But wait, that’s not all!
* If you believe in the oil aspect of all this Middle East fun, there’s the small fact that have most of the oil.
* They have an incredibly unequal society, in terms of wealth. The rich really do have it all.
* They have an incredibly unequal society, in terms of rights. Absolute dictatorship. You can make a strong case that Iraq was a liberal democracy compared to them.

I constantly come across little news bits like this (empasis mine):

Now, Bush administration officials are voicing increasing anger at what they say has been Saudi Arabia’s counterproductive role in the Iraq war. They say that beyond regarding Mr. Maliki as an Iranian agent, the Saudis have offered financial support to Sunni groups in Iraq. Of an estimated 60 to 80 foreign fighters who enter Iraq each month, American military and intelligence officials say that nearly half are coming from Saudi Arabia and that the Saudis have not done enough to stem the flow.

Why did we talk about Iraq in the first place? Why are we talking about Iran now? If you want to stop terrorism and get the oil at take out a dictatorship, head for ol’ Saudi Arabia.

The environment is actually doing better than it has for 30,000 years or so. A very convincing non-conventional view. (It looks harder to read than it actually is.)

The kind of picture that makes you a bit sick.

The writer is annoyed with bioethics liberals, even though he’s one of them. Direct and honest.

An oral history of the Simpsons

A fascinating 1 minute film of a supermodel being made.

Just plain addicting.

10 Things I hate about Star Trek

Maybe I don’t watch as much TV as I thought…

Evolution of the Alphabet (well-done animation)

A wonderful look at life. (Illustrated by the South Park guys)

Inspired by the deluded ravings in the comments of my last post, I present a list of the most embarrassing songs currently residing on my playlist (out of 1,948 songs). They fall mostly into wuss artists, pure 80s music, and music that makes me feel far too emotional. (Some of these I’m not the least bit embarrassed about, but my readers might think I should be.)

Barbara Streisand – The Music of the Night
Berlin – Take my Breath Away
Billy Joel – She’s Always a Woman
Bob Seger – We’ve got Tonight. Who needs tomorrow!?
Chicago – Colour my World. Wish we’d had this for our wedding song.
Def Leppard – Bringin’ on the Hearbreak. Can’t you see?
Hall & Oates – I have four songs, and I like them all. Fooey on you.
Huey Lewis & the News – Do You Believe in Love?
John Denver
Journey – Send Her my Love and Separate Ways. (Stone in Love doesn’t count as embarrassing, that mother rocks.)
Linda Rondstadt – You’re no Good. When our band did it, I realized what a great tune it really is, pre-Van Halen.
Loverboy – Workin’ for the Weekend
Mazzy Star – Fade into You (Apparently embarrassing. Fuck all y’all.)
Michael Jackson (& Paul McCartney) – The Girl is Mine. I’m a lover, not a fighter. I’m not embarrassed about Billy Jean or Wanna be Startin’ Somethin’
The Motels – Only the Lonely
Natalie Imbruglia – Torn
Pat Benatar – Shadows of the Night
Paula Abdul – Rush Rush. This is the one I get called out on. I love this song, play it six times in a row, sing along to every word, and I don’t care.
Styx – All of Paradise Theater. Every last stinkin’ song.
The Eagles – One of these Nights. I hate every Eagles song except this one, which is odd since it has wuss written all over it.