Dispatches from the Great Underground Empire

#101 Being Offended

Wed, 28 May 2008 13:20:58 -0500

Stuff White People Like

Tue, 18 Mar 2008 13:48:07 -0500

Student suspended for buying Skittles at school

Thu, 13 Mar 2008 05:50:07 -0500

Student suspended for buying Skittles at school: W… T… F!? This will surely inculcate a dear love and respect for authority in the mind of this pupil.

Plumbing the Depths: How the Gears Turn

Sun, 09 Mar 2008 21:41:39 -0500

Plumbing the Depths: How the Gears Turn

Chicago thinks about criminalizing small plastic bags

Thu, 06 Mar 2008 09:39:00 -0600

Chicago thinks about criminalizing small plastic bags: The asinine war on drugs marches on. Criminalizing the bag part of the “dimebag” and forcing dealers to use larger ziplocs is sure to eat into profit margins and force dealers out of business. The proposal to ban bags smaller than 2” on a side will just mean they start using bags that are 2.1” on a side. Then they’ll ban bags smaller than 3” and the cycle will continue ad nauseum until Chicago ends up banning 40 gallon garbage bags.

I think we’re going to have to face reality and admit that...

Wed, 05 Mar 2008 07:43:01 -0600

I think we’re going to have to face reality and admit that it’s time to cut Ace’s hair.

Sad, but usually true. You wouldn’t give a drink to an...

Tue, 04 Mar 2008 08:37:00 -0600

Sad, but usually true. You wouldn’t give a drink to an alcoholic would you? Don’t give a vote to a powerholic.

Quick movie rundown

Wed, 27 Feb 2008 09:35:00 -0600

Since I was sick and spent all of last weekend inside, I managed to watch a lot of movies. Here’s the low-down:

Sunshine - Entertaining plot, even though the events were predictable to anyone moderately well read in modern science fiction. I don’t know why the director needed to obscure the antogonist with blurry, annoying camera effects.
The Fog (2005) - Absolutely horrible. Took everything great about the 1980 original and threw it away. This would have made an average Sci-fi Channel movie.
Lady in the Water - I tend to like M. Night Shyamalan movies, but this one had me scratching my head at the end thinking “What was that all about?”
Fearless (Huo Yuan Jia) - Jet Li kung-fu action. Hard to go wrong.
I Am Legend - I give it a thumbs up for Will Smith not saying “Aww hell naw!” at any point during the film. Thumbs down for feeling too short and for not following what the book meant by “legend”.
30 Day of Night - Best vampire movie I’ve seen in a long time. Made me want to check out the comic books it was based on.

Garfield, minus Garfield

Tue, 26 Feb 2008 16:09:13 -0600

Garfield, minus Garfield

Video

Tue, 26 Feb 2008 09:02:37 -0600

Help! We’re dying from marijuana and we can’t get up

Fri, 22 Feb 2008 15:37:52 -0600

Help! We’re dying from marijuana and we can’t get up

Candidates candidates everywhere, and not a one to vote for

Fri, 15 Feb 2008 10:28:06 -0600

Well I hoped for the best and was prepared for the worst, but it still sucks to see the low numbers that Ron Paul, and more importantly his ideas, has received at the caucuses and primaries so far. I’m still planning to vote for him in the Mississippi primary and cast a write-in vote for him at the national election, if for nothing else but to hoist a figurative middle-finger to the nationalist authoritarians swimming in the national cesspool.

Now that Romney has endorsed McCain and essentially released his delegates and given them a pat on the head and a “Go vote for Crazy Johnny”, Huckabee will have to decide if he can pick up enough of Romney’s delegates to keep McCain from sweeping the convention. I think he may follow Romney’s lead and drop out to endorse McCain, only to enter a new contest with Romney to out-grovel each other before McCain to pick up the VP nod. What is mildly comforting is the fact the McCain is already sunk in the national election - he’s never going to beat whichever Democrat ends up with that party’s nomination. Notwithstanding his “100 years in Iraq” insanity, the huge disparity between the number of votes in the Democratic primaries versus the Republican ones, and the shear number of self-identified conservatives that openly detest McCain, it’s only a matter of time before he self-destructs on camera or grimaces himself into a stroke. If he does end up winning the national election, I’ll be too busy fantasizing about the purchase of a private island to care about being wrong.

Why is this guy so popular?

Fri, 25 Jan 2008 14:31:00 -0600

Why is this guy so popular?

Naked DSL from AT&T

Wed, 02 Jan 2008 14:13:00 -0600

Naked DSL from AT&T:

I don’t guess they’re advertising this much. I’ve already called and dropped my useless voice-line.

Update: These prices are only for the northeast market, and the saleswoman didn’t know that. I spent three hours on the phone trying to find out why the $29 DSL I ordered ended up being being $42 in the order confirmation. Back to the slow lane for now.

Small-town fascism

Wed, 19 Dec 2007 21:31:00 -0600

Small-town fascism

Extra time on hands + GimpAre you ready for Fry-day Eve 2008?

Sun, 16 Dec 2007 20:36:48 -0600

Extra time on hands + Gimp

Are you ready for Fry-day Eve 2008?

Finally, someone succinctly describes the Difference between Democrats and Republicans!

Fri, 14 Dec 2007 06:26:33 -0600

Finally, someone succinctly describes the Difference between Democrats and Republicans!

Acetalk

Wed, 12 Dec 2007 10:58:32 -0600

Yesterday Ace started saying “ah-me-ah-me-ah-me”

For some reason, when I was a toddler having never heard spoken French, I decided to call my full-blooded cajun grandfather “ami”, French for “friend.” That delighted him to no end. I named my grandparents collectively “mawmaw and ami” or “maw-ami” for short.

Maybe this means that Ace will start calling his mom “Maw-maw”.

Database Management Systems: OVER!

Wed, 12 Dec 2007 10:49:33 -0600

Yesterday was the final exam for my databases class. I should have paid more attention to the chapter on normal forms and dependancies, but I killed the SQL questions. I was both relieved and dissapointed that the class project didn’t need me to create a web-based user interface to my database; relieved because I was on a one-man team, and dissapointed because I wanted to learn Rails. I’m taking the advanced database class next semester, along with a Java “web-centric” programming class, so that should all dove-tail nicely. Then it’s just a masters project and comps, and once again sweet sweet freedom will be mine.

Embarrassments Dog Iowa Front-Runner Huckabee

Wed, 12 Dec 2007 10:40:04 -0600

Embarrassments Dog Iowa Front-Runner Huckabee: Mike Huckabee can’t be bought either. He can only be rented.