Saturday, May 31, 2003 :::
tis a gift
The next time you write a historically important novel, create a life-altering invention, or make anything of national significance, you should think twice before considering donating the original to the federal government. Else ye become a victim of your own generosity.
what do you think?
::: posted by Kyle at 12:57:00 PM
Friday, May 30, 2003 :::
Today Edition of...
you gotta be sh*tting me!
apparently airplanes crash themselves. I they should make them so they don't do that anymore.
totally funny in context movie quote
"Eight-year olds, Dude." -Walter The Big Lebowski
stop talking you sound dumb
amnesty international for complaining about the "horrible" conditions at Guantanamo Bay, you can kiss their ever-widening butts.
that's a valid practical point
this could reek havoc with national budgets
self perpetuating cliche
anybody else notice that all of my post of late are either insensate ramblings about social ills or pointless lists?
what do you think?
::: posted by Kyle at 8:10:00 PM
almost hundred-years war
For all the jockeying name, name-calling, and dissent going on, I can actually see an end to the violence in Israel. But I fear that it doesn't come because all parties agree to put their differences aside. I think Ariel Sharon has given up, he's decided that stopping the killings is the most important thing, he's tired playing the political defense game. Tired of putting on a strong front to the Palestinians and convincing the international community that Israel is not evil. Just looking at him, the change is apparent. I'm not going out on a limb to say that being the Prime Minister of Israel is probably the most frustrating job on the planet. It's obviously taken its toll. I believe he's hedging his political bet that while appeasing the Palestinians may not be the right thing to do, it'll stop the killing, and then maybe his citizens will forget about what is right/just and just be happy with being alive.
In the long run however, I don't think this will stop the violence. It will work for a short while, no doubt about it, appeasement always does. But soon, it won't be enough; there will be demands for more land, less soldiers, more free prisoners. In the situation now, a permanent peace is impossible.
The official TOG parking lot scheme of peace? Give the Palestinians a state with set boundaries, both side pull all their citizens back to their own side. Then build a big freaking wall with concrete, barbed wire, and gun turrets, the whole works. There is no use arguing over what land is owned by whom, historically both groups have been there for 3,000 years, there is no progress to be made bickering about who owns what patch of holy sand. Take the piece you get, sit down, shut up, and hide behind the wall. You owned property on the other side? Tough, here's money for what it was worth, go buy yourself a new rock garden on this side of the dotted line. Just let it be.
what do you think?
::: posted by Kyle at 2:20:00 PM
Thursday, May 29, 2003 :::
super awesome thinger
Well, if i can't live in an airplane, might as be able to launch them from my little paddleboat
now, if I could only scrape together 4.5 million dollars
what do you think?
::: posted by Kyle at 4:59:00 PM
Health Care in these United States
bored at work so I'll write you a mini-essay
The history of heath sayth TOG
In the beginning (man I really love that phrase!) you were born, lived a bit, worked as much as possible, and then you died. Then there were doctors to whom you could go to if a dinosaur ate your leg, or something of a similar situation and they would tell you that you are dead, and change you X dollars. Then there were more doctors, whom would tell you that you were going to die in a few days because you took a breath of dinosaur fart and it has rotted your innards, and they would charge you X+5 dollars because now you had more time to get your end-of-life affairs in order. Then even more doctors came, and you could go to them before you were dying. And they would tell you to stay away from dinosaurs because they’re bad for you. And for this regular advice he (yes he, I'm playing the statistics of pre-industrial revolution so don't throw your feminist baggage on me) would charge you X+10 dollars because his advice was more valuable because it prevented you from almost dying in the first place.
This progression goes on until one day in the not so distant past, some dude says to you "Hey If you pay me X-10 dollars a year, whenever you get hurt and almost die, I'll pay your doctors bill" this sounds like a pretty good deal because you're a sickly chap and nearly die every year, this should obviously save you money. And after a year of near-death experiences, the dude says to you "your sure a sickly chap, It will cost you x-5 dollars this year to keep our agreement going" and you say okay, because you'll still probably save money, and it's a lot less worrying you have to do.
This all goes on until there are a bunch of "dudes" and a bunch of "you's" different dude change different amounts to different people all based upon how sickly they are or aren't. This arrangement is working out pretty well for everybody. Dudes are making some money, doctors are healing sickly people up, and unsickly people have the piece of mind that if they every turn to the dark side the doctor will make them better.
Then all hell breaks loose because somebody gets pissed because nobody will pay the doctors bill of some other extremely sickly dude. "Oh damn, the system's a sham" they chant outside the gov't buildings. Please take other people's money to pay this extremely sickly dude's doctor's bill. Somebody gets elected by saying that they'll do, and they tell the peons and underlings to get it done. They're all real happy because their representing the little guy and lots of people are glad to help, and those that...hey, you know what, this essay turned out to be not so mini. I guess I'll just break it up into pieces, tune in tomorrow for continuing coverage. same bat time, same bat channel
what do you think?
::: posted by Kyle at 4:45:00 PM
Sweet Mother of Mystery!
Now that I have resumed earning the salad so that I get the bling-bling and the icy accessories, I’ve picked up a few new hobbies. I've been playing Fantasy Baseball for about the last month and a half, but I've really started getting into this week. Doing all sorts of baseball sleuthing, check the weather of the game-cities, scoping minor league scouting reports. Analyzing favorable/unfavorable pitching match-ups...man I really suck. I seriously need to pick up some new social vices so I don't over dorkify myself.
Anybody got any suggestions?
what do you think?
::: posted by Kyle at 1:00:00 PM
Wednesday, May 28, 2003 :::
only the beginning
In an effort to expose the ever widening trend of Media Agencies passing off opinion articles as news, TOG is proud to bring you the following pieces:
Putin's Sure Hand Abroad Belies Problems at Home
-courtesy of the NY Times
Thanks for Nothing
-courtesy of the SF Chronicle business section
Court Gives Leeway to Interrogate
-courtesy of the LA Times
...and that's just today's news
what do you think?
::: posted by Kyle at 1:27:00 PM
Tuesday, May 27, 2003 :::
The Boys-o-Summer
I'd like to take this time to address all those Braves-haters out there who ridiculed me when my beloved team went 4-8 the first 2 weeks of the season:
Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha! Who's the hose-beast now? Let's just check the ol' standings and Hey! What’d ya know guess whose got the best record in the Majors? It sure as hell isn't your Yankee's you hotdog-eating, theater-going, cabbie-riding, non-English speaking, borough monkeys! Oh, it's the Braves, however did they get there? Oh wait, they never left! At least not in the last 11 years. So run away to the sorry excuse for dwellings you call homes, and marvel at the consistency that only comes to you in a drug-induced dream, Bi-otch!
what do you think?
::: posted by Kyle at 4:43:00 PM
Monday, May 26, 2003 :::
If you can't be with the one you love...
Back in Lawrence getting my mad work on. I've decided to make a few additions to my room this summer. I didn't last year because I really didn't plan on staying in this room for more than a year, but since their were no suitable open rooms on the 2nd floor, (I'll take a severe case of eyelid herpes before I'll live on the 1st floor!) I might as well make the stay more bearable. So, without further ado, I give you my possible new changes/stuff:
Wee-mini-refrigerator (I've got space requirements)
Television (space requirements also prevent me from buying a 52" plasma)
DVD player (to enhance usage of television)
DVD's (to enhance usage of DVD player)
Reconfiguration of the official sound system of TOG (mounting brackets and the like)
Maybe new carpet (the stuff I've got now is okay, but I think I want something less fluffy)
Big ol' Frame (for super-special theatre-quality Shawshank Redemption poster ordered directly from the German printing press)
Grow light for Howard (official vine of TOG)
Wee-willy water fountain (engineered to create Zen garden whenst paired with Howard)
Random obligatory object hanging from wall (cause I'm weird like that)
I encourage suggestions for new stuff, and witty comments concerning my near-flawless sense of style.
UPDATE: I bought the mini-fridge
what do you think?
::: posted by Kyle at 1:54:00 AM
Friday, May 23, 2003 :::
for the homies who've gone before
At home chill'n like a villain, doing absolutely nothing. Life is good right now, except for the 'rents' computer. Hardware is just fine: Athlon XP 1800, 256 MB DDR RAM, GeForce 2 MX200, 60 GB Hard Drive, 4 months old. The real kicker you ask? She's equipped with none other than the finest version of Windows 98 you ever did see. That's right 98, as in 1998, as in 5 years ago, as in the 3rd worst operating system on the planet (eclipsed only by Win95 and the bane of all things logic, Windows ME). The video card is capable of 1280x1024 w/ 32-bit color, but Mother-dearest prefers 800x600 w/ 256 colors. My computer runs better than this, and it's a pile of smoldering sand. Forgotten how crappy 98 was? check it:
Reboot is not something you do when you make drastic system changes, it's something you do because you ran a non-Microsoft program. Hate the occasional hung frame you get whilst Unreal T'ing it up on your Linux equipped 486? Try getting residual hang-ups every 2.5 seconds because your running notepad AND calculator at the same time. Windows 98 is like a cross between a Volvo and a Pinto; it never really works 100% and it never has small problems, when something’s wrong with 98, people start dropping dead. It's the village prostitute of operating systems, once it gets a disease, everybody else is getting it too.
The worst part? Windows 2000 Pro is sitting on a CD 18" away ready to be installed at a moments notice. But nay, we most definitely would not want to "risk it" now would we. Certainly not under the supervision of a mere "Windows 2000 Professional" professional, someone who has worked the in's & out's of this particular OS everyday for the last 2 years. What if something went wrong? What if, heaven forbid, we lost our precious Print Master 10, or our Rand McNally Tripmaker we got from the AAA guy? Man, I really got myself worked up. I need to go to bed before I go get my 12-gauge and put a couple rounds into that thing.
what do you think?
::: posted by Kyle at 2:18:00 AM
Monday, May 19, 2003 :::
Summer Hot Button issue?
Journalistic Integrity Anyone? First the NY Times' creditibility eat's crap and dies, this time with the rest of the world. Now the BBC writes this crap, and calls it news. I swear the position of fact-checker has got to be the hottest job on the market right now. Or maybe the lowest since the mainstream is obviously not employing them.
Personally, I kind of enjoy conspiricy theories. But not when their broadcast by supposed "objective" sources and passed off as news. News is a listing of pure facts, who is dead, when it happened, not what somebody should have been thinking at some point because of what I know ex post facto. The exposing of this trend sounds like a good summer feature. Stay tuned whilst the fun ensues.
what do you think?
::: posted by Kyle at 1:23:00 AM
allusion non-illusion
I just finished watching LOTR: The Two Towers on "the sneak" (official temporary computer of TOG) and I made a interesting parallel between middle-earth and reality. There are no truly good people, the idea of "pure good" exists, but no on really personifies it. True evil, on the other hand, is much more prevalent. If you're a fan of the movies, you easily see the parallel here. I don't know if this counts for anything, just something I noticed.
what do you think?
::: posted by Kyle at 1:02:00 AM
belated update: version 1.0
Friday: Done with finals, saw Matrix: Reloaded, had lots of fun w/ senior friends.
Saturday:Observed Betzen being slow, had more fun w/senior friends
Sunday:Woke up late, clean some room, watched illegial DVD rip of Two Towers, had last bit of fun with guys from house.
anticipatory preview: verision 0.9
Monday:Drive home, see the family, make fun of brother for being @ school
Tuesday-Saturday:Lay at home, do nothing, enjoy laying at home and doing nothing
Sunday:Drive back to Lawrence, resume hating Dave
Monday-the rest of the freaking summer:Work
what do you think?
::: posted by Kyle at 1:01:00 AM
Thursday, May 15, 2003 :::
2 up, 2 down
I'm now half-way down with my finals. Strength-o-Materials and el clase de diablo (Math 250) are done. Only Political Theory and Aircraft Aerodynamics are left. Both are tomorrow morning. I'd like to take this time and space to give a big FUA!! to friday finals. Oh, and why don't you people leaves comments anymore? you're giving me low self-esteem.
what do you think?
::: posted by Kyle at 4:51:00 PM
Wednesday, May 14, 2003 :::
trying to take over save the world
In my never ending quest to discover those people who are trying to destroy the world, and just don't know it yet, I came across a few congressional proposals flying under the radar of the main-stream press. Behold, the power of the blog! Anyway, on with a list of the absurd.
Hey everybody, screw capitalism let's freeze gas prices
Operation: give other people our money before they die
I hereby sentence you to jail for your neural synaptic activity
what do you think?
::: posted by Kyle at 10:48:00 AM
Monday, May 12, 2003 :::
The slugs are safe for now
When it comes to ideological partners in journalism, there is still no honor among theives. NPR is salting the wounds of the NY Times over this Jayson Blair diaster. NPR's Melissa Block found this quote of Howell Raines, NYT's executive editor, boasting about their affirmative action program to the National Association of Black Journalists two years ago.
"This campaign has made our staff better and, more importantly, more diverse"
interesting side note: Raines actually mentions Blair by name in this speech
according to Raines himself that was about the time he knew Blair had journalistic problems. And so I point out two things from that very short quote. According to Raines, having a lying reporter makes you better, and being diverse is more important than being good.
...and they wonder why their readership is dropping like a rock while total newspaper readership is up.
what do you think?
::: posted by Kyle at 3:28:00 PM
instafuandit
as much as I shy away from Glenn Reynolds and Mount Instapundit (as our friend Jason Kottke would say) his got a real point here concerning that Glenbrook North high school fiasco. An even more interesting point? Why is Glenn getting news about a suburban Chicago high school from British based Sky News?
what do you think?
::: posted by Kyle at 3:00:00 PM
comment(reference="song" origin="lone star" text="no news")
The CIA apparently has a website for kids it's pretty freaking hilarious, I suggest you peruse the part where they explain how they get all their information. Or better yet, I'll quote it to you:
"We collect the information from some sources that are "covert" --that is, other people's secrets. We persuade these people to tell us their secrets"
*cue the Pat Everly laugh*
AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!
okay, I'm now ready to face the week
what do you think?
::: posted by Kyle at 12:14:00 AM
Friday, May 09, 2003 :::
*dragnet music* Done, da Done, Done
Turned in my lab @ 4:51, 8 minutes ahead of schedule. Now, only 4 tests stand between me and my summer of hardwork. Big 'ol update on the finals @ a later time. Now it's time to extend my current streak of awakeness by going to an Aerospace department picnic. Yeah!
what do you think?
::: posted by Kyle at 5:20:00 PM
Thursday, May 08, 2003 :::
insufficient postage
Sorry about not posting yesterday, I just finished by end-o-semester POLS paper and start on my end-o-semester Aerodynamics Lab (which is due tomorrow by 5). I'll probably post the text of my paper sometime. I'm pretty proud of it becuase it's original thought and gives an insightful perspective on the global political climate. Anyway, back to working on my lab. I probably won't sleep until I get it done, which may very well be tomorrow @ 4:59.
what do you think?
::: posted by Kyle at 7:19:00 PM
Tuesday, May 06, 2003 :::
what if Atlas really did shrug?
back in December, Ronnie Barrett president of Barrett Firearms Manufacturing Inc. sent this letter to the Los Angeles Police department. If you read the whole thing, you'll see the significance this could have, if principled manufactures like this start standing up for their rights. Makes me think about the possiblities of other companies, if they start tapping their previously unused power.
/allusion
what do you think?
::: posted by Kyle at 5:10:00 PM
Monday, May 05, 2003 :::
insight from odd places
Dennis Miller is apparently pretty freaking smart or at least his able to spot crap and call it how he sees it.
Apparently the apostrophies don't work in the comments, so ' always shows up like " and it looks like no one knows how to punctuate correctly.
Anybody else ready of Korean War II? Global Security has the timeline for the destruction of the N. Korean nukes sitting at about 2 weeks. I'm all for a few strategically placed MOAB's and an end to all this Tom-Foolery.
what do you think?
::: posted by Kyle at 4:57:00 PM
come on ride the train! the thought train!
Do you ever get the feeling that you’re really close to discovering something big? Not in a practical sense or anything, but like a life-style incomprehensible mind-blowing intellectual epiphany. I've been getting that feeling for the last week or so. I feel like I'm looking at the sign that points to the mysteries of the universe, but it's pointed right at me, but not quite, like it's pointing somewhere behind me, but when I turn around I can't see the sign anymore so I don't know where it's pointing. It's a frustrating cycle, and I don't even know if any of this exists. I feel like there are some missing pieces to life's puzzles, and I found them. But now, I lost the entire freaking puzzle. Something is definitely wrong but I don't know how to fix it. I don't need a vacation, I feel like I need a new project to focus on so that whatever I've been looking at so intently for so long will finally come into view after I've nearly stared it into oblivion.
what do you think?
::: posted by Kyle at 2:24:00 AM
Sunday, May 04, 2003 :::
like a ninja...only not
Kristi is the most totally sweet crunch time friend in existence. I now feel even worse knowing that she's leaving in 3 weeks. After some much needed guidance, I know what I need to do concerning the most pressing issue in my life. Now whether or not I'll be able to do it is another story, but what I've got is better that nothing.
::personal message::
And Kristi, I’m glad that you are my friend. You are, in a word...neat.
::/personal message::
what do you think?
::: posted by Kyle at 1:10:00 AM
Friday, May 02, 2003 :::
a last hurray?
I'll be taking off in 90 minutes to spend the next day at Kristi's parents house. She's hosting this little shindig/brew ha ha/hullabaloo thinger for all her college friends as a last chance big social gathering since she is graduating in two weeks. It's got me thinking about how boring the next year will be without my senior friends. Man, now I'm totally bumming...I'm going to go eat dirt or something.
what do you think?
::: posted by Kyle at 4:27:00 PM
Fighting the Challenge!
Katie: you know if we all got together we could probably take out Dr. Lan so we wouldn't have to take this test.
Hullman: He's 70-years-old, I would hope we could each take him out individually.
Bill: Especially if we had guns!
what do you think?
::: posted by Kyle at 4:27:00 PM
Thursday, May 01, 2003 :::
crunch time
Well, house contracts were handed out last night and are due in 4 days (a pretty tight schedule eh?). Thus, I kind of have to decide what my life will be like for the next year. A lot of it depends on who else stays/leaves in the house as to whether or not I want to stay. We'll see how it all turns out.
what do you think?
::: posted by Kyle at 3:23:00 PM
