Free Fallin'

President Dubya's approval rating is down to 29%, and dropping at a rate of about 5% a month. Reminds me of the scene in Speed, where the one cop asks what will prevent the elevator from falling if the emergency brake gets blown, and the other cop replies "The basement." It's like a nasty divorce, with the American people realizing that their trust in him after 9/11 was completely misplaced, and now they are very, very bitter.

To put 29% in perspective, the only two presidents since polling began to have lower ratings were Nixon (just before he resigned) and Carter (just before he got fired). Dubya, on the other hand, is probably going to limp along for nearly three more years. If this duck were any lamer we'd have to call it an amputee.

What File Extension am I?

Another silly quiz:


Which File Extension are You?

Bumps

A poem by Taylor
April 25, 2006

There's nothing more that I dislike
Riding on a scooter or bike
Than bumps.

They give you such a fright
Riding on a scooter or bike,
Those bumps.

There's nothing more that I dislike
Those things that are just like spikes
They make you fall down,
Down to the ground,
Bumps!

Roller Coasters Extend Lifespan

It says so right here.

All Abnormal Sexual Urges on the Western Front

Perhaps the funniest damn thing I have ever read:

Background:
Flanders, 1915. The First World War. The British are seeking to seize a key point in the German front lines by digging a tunnel under the German positions, filling it with explosives, then blowing it up. A young officer named Cassels, with mining experience in the civilian world, is in charge of the tunneling operation. Close to the scheduled offensive, he realizes that the tunnel won't be close enough to the German positions and that a more powerful explosion than planned will be needed.

"Because of the confines of the tunnel, Cassels realized that it could not hold enough of the bulky gunpowder or guncotton to do the job. But he seized on an idea that no one had thought of before: he would use ammonal, an explosive used in mining but new to warfare, with three-and-a-half times the strength of ordinary gunpowder.

"Cassels quickly sent in a requisition for 3,500 pounds of the ammonal but, in typical army fashion, a glitch developed immediately: no one back at headquarters had the faintest idea what ammonal was. Someone assumed that it was a drug, and dispatched an inquiry to the Royal Army Medical Core. In due time, a reply was received: 'Ammonol is a compound drug extensively used in America as a sensual sedative in cases of abnormal sexual excitement.'

"What reaction this information elicted from the Quartermaster General is not known"

From A Storm In Flanders by Winston Groom

Linux notes

I've been installing MEPIS on the old tbird. Since I'd like to replace the mobo and maybe the boot disk in the not too distant future, I need to document what will need to be repeated.

To play DVDs:
get libdvdcss-1.2.8.tar.gz

xVids play fine (yea!)

Printers:
select TCP
IP 192.168.0.10
Port: 9102
Epson C84
Cups+Gutenprint

Need driver for HP Laserjet 4L (port 9100)

Beats Having Giant Polygon Boobs

You scored as Batman, the Dark Knight. As the Dark Knight of Gotham, Batman is a vigilante who deals out his own brand of justice to the criminals and corrupt of the city. He follows his own code and is often misunderstood. He has few friends or allies, but finds comfort in his cause. Batman, the Dark Knight 63% Neo, the "One" 58% The Terminator 54% Captain Jack Sparrow 54% William Wallace 54% James Bond, Agent 007 50% The Amazing Spider-Man 46% Maximus 46% El Zorro 38% Indiana Jones 33% Lara Croft 33% Which Action Hero Would You Be? v. 2.0 created with QuizFarm.com

Subordinate Must Die!

Spent all Saturday having to monitor a project which was one of my subordinates responsibilities.

Now he must die!
Die!
Die!
Die!

How Geeky Can I Get?

You scored as Nebuchadnezzar (The Matrix). You can change the world around you. You have a strong will and a high technical aptitude. Is it possible you are the one? Now if only Agent Smith would quit beating up your friends. Nebuchadnezzar (The Matrix) 81% Deep Space Nine (Star Trek) 75% Millennium Falcon (Star Wars) 69% Babylon 5 (Babylon 5) 63% Serenity (Firefly) 63% SG-1 (Stargate) 56% Andromeda Ascendant (Andromeda) 44% Moya (Farscape) 44% Bebop (Cowboy Bebop) 38% Enterprise D (Star Trek) 38% Galactica (Battlestar: Galactica) 31% FBI's X-Files Division (The X-Files) 19% Your Ultimate Sci-Fi Profile II: which sci-fi crew would you best fit in? (pics) created with QuizFarm.com

Throttle my subordinate

He screwed up. Made me look bad in front of a client. He deserves it.

Gregory House, M.D., continues to be my hero.

8th Grade Math

You Passed 8th Grade Math

Congratulations, you got 10/10 correct!

Could You Pass 8th Grade Math?

Working on the Relationship

Told the wife I was thinking of a trial separation afer we move next summer. I was planning to get an apartment in the new town before we buy a house anyway. I told her I was thinking of keeping it, at least for a while. Said I'd had it with her treating my wants and needs for how our lives & home were configured as unimportant. Said I hated coming come at the end of a hard day's and being treated like an intruder. I didn't want a divorce, that I wanted her to still be a part of my life, but I was at my rope's end and the only thing left that I could do was to try to put some space between us for a while. I really wanted things to work out, but I had to be willing to take a chance that they wouldn't.

It's been a month since then, and things are really different. We've both been a lot more affectionate with each other. She hasn't been using the living room (the first room when you walk into the house) as a storage locker for whatever crap she brings home. In fact, the whole house is downright presentable. We had some friends over for the Superbowl (first time in a year I'd invited another couple over) and didn't need to spend the whole weekend cleaning first. She's shown a lot more interest in my feelings and she's even gone out of her way to do nice things for me on a couple of occasions. Kind of like a marriage is supposed to be.

So I'm guardedly optimistic that it won't be necessary to leave home. If things can just continue as they've been going...

New toy!

My new dSLR is on the FedEx truck "out for delivery" as I type! Wahoo! Gonna get me some serious photo action.

I am such a nerd.

Figgy Pudding

WTF is figgy pudding, I why am I trying to extort some from my neighbors? And what would I do with if even if they did bring me some? This song just creeps me out.

Don't even get me started on 'He abhors not the virgin's womb'. I really hope that's just a really bad translation.

Something Works

Figured out why my .php photo galleries weren't working properly on my local computers - turns out the newer versions of PHP have an environmental switch defaulted to OFF for security reasons. This switch was defaulted to ON in earlier versions. Either my hosting service uses an old version or they thew the switch for me. Once I understood the problem, five minutes of research showed me how to modify my page to work without the switch. Cool.

Still Nothing Works!

$&^@*
@&#(*!!I)@
@#*(0

and

&@$#*($&#@*(@#

Smarter Than a Monkey!

Your Final Quiz Score: 45 right out of a possible 60
The Monkey's Final Score: 15 right out of 60

You asserted your intellectual superiority brilliantly! The monkey is now left contemplating his own inferiority. Where others have failed to claim the mantel of unequivocal dominance over lesser species, you have truly succeeded! Congratulations on besting the ape and reaffirming the capabilities of the human mind. You have done mankind proud.

You scored in the 95th percentile.
(95% of quiz takers scored worse than you)

Geography Your score: 12 Monkey's score: 5 -- Quite a sufficient job.	History Your score: 12 Monkey's score: 3 -- Nicely done.
Science/Technology Your score: 11 Monkey's score: 4 -- Well done.	Random Trivia Your score: 10 Monkey's score: 3 -- A handy defeat of the monkey.

Link: Monkey Challenge Quiz


Alternatively,


I beat the monkey by 30 points.
Monkey Trivia Quiz

Update

Well, some things work.

Just not most of them.

Argh.

Nothing Works Today!

God damn it!

Damn! Damn!

bjoirsbjhriso[bjheio[bhosie[jhbpeo]a hopiab hnopdib j
jvo9peaj bvea]fdabk
[ab k
[ab kp[a\ebjk re
[abbadf

I feel better now.

What's that big glowing thing in the sky?

After 9 strait days of rain, the sun came out today. Yipee!

Today's activity: finally install Windows XP on Rogue. Yes, I firmly believe in keeping up with the times!

Listening to: "Turning Japanese" by some 80s band.

Drinking: Electric lemonade.