Brandon's Blog

4/10/2006

TextDrive Got Pwned!

Well, the blog(s) took a dump this morning for about two hours.  No verbose explanation from the Powers That Be.  It’s a little disturbing that the forums seem to be dying on TxD’s site, and the old “status blog” (from which downtimes and reasons can be intuited) no longer is linked from the main page.  In fact, I haven’t really searched far enough to see if there’s a link for it at all.

For a host that sells itself on community, this doesn’t bode well, but I’m not sure if I’m ready to switch.  Unless Gilford goes highly flaky for a number of weeks again, I think I’m better off here than moving.  What’s that, Mr. Page?  All my stuff’s here anyway

I think the hosting has been a good investment.  I mean, yeah, you can blog for free on Google’s Blogger or LiveJournal or get solicited in a variety of disturbing ways on MySpace (OMG!  I HeArT EMO!).  But the ability to deploy arbitrary PHP applications at will is valuable to me, even if it’s simply an “ace in the hole” option, one we financieros might refer to as a “real option.”

Meh.

4/10/2006

Once Is Not Enough

Saw it on Josh’s blog, had to put it on mine.  It is Barack Obama:

If there is a child on the south side of Chicago who can’t read, that matters to me, even if it’s not my child. If there is a senior citizen somewhere who can’t pay for their prescription drugs, and having to choose between medicine and the rent, that makes my life poorer, even if it’s not my grandparent. If there’s an Arab American family being rounded up without benefit of an attorney or due process, that threatens my civil liberties.
It is that fundamental belief—It is that fundamental belief: I am my brother’s keeper. I am my sister’s keeper that makes this country work. It’s what allows us to pursue our individual dreams and yet still come together as one American family.

This is, at least according to me, the true definition of American Liberalism, not Kennedy and Pelosi demagogy.  The fact that this ideology does not exist prominently in American society is why people are confused when American politics is referred to as a “liberal democracy.”

This brand of liberalism is the kind that makes you think, “Hmm, do I favor the conservative or liberal point of view in this argument?” instead of dividing the political landscape into Mickey Mouse factions of paper tigers and talking heads.

Take over, Barack.  Please take over your party.

4/10/2006

Hit 'Em Up

I’m broadcasting this to just about anyone I can, so I may as well put it up here, too.  I’m looking for a project to do from now (or so) to the end of next semester.  The actual project duration doesn’t have to be that long, as I would almost prefer to do more than one thing.  The project(s) would, ideally, possess certain features:

This is for my sanity, and I’m looking hard.  If anybody has an idea, let me know.

4/9/2006

Recurring Events

Keeping the Faith is a movie I always see at Blockbuster.  Now that I’ve seen the last 60%, I am relieved to say that it sucked and I can now ignore it in the store instead of being forced to wonder.  I always give Edward Norton an extra chance.

4/9/2006

Funny Quote

Read it out loud.

“Twice half-assed makes an ass whole.”—Solomon K. Chang

4/9/2006

Big Mistake

On the way to an early bedtime, I made the mistake of reading a page on Maddox’s site.  I found this gem (from a list of words he hates):

URL (as pronounced “ERL”): Few things invoke more contempt for humanity than someone who pronounces URL as “erl.” It’s an acronym, not a word you douche! Between people who say “erl” and programmers who pronounce char (an abbreviation for character) as “chär” (with the “ch” pronounced like in “chart”), I get so pissed that I just want to saw my arms off.

Made me think back to high school CS, with the char, and the “I said Mon, not Mom,” and the mw-hai…!

4/8/2006

Very Looney

For reasons somewhat related to ailing sinuses, boredom, and general disgust at school, I have acquired the very precious knowledge that Katie Holmes is expected to bear her little bundle of Risky Business joy silently.

I think this is a wonderful idea.  It is no secret to those who have heard me say it [note to editor: preposterous statement on purpose] that one of my favorite Tom and Jerry motifs is the “must be quiet in the house but something really hurts” gag, which typically occurs when Momma or whatever (she doesn’t wear a nametag on her feet) is taking a nap.  Tom (the cat, not the pansy; didn’t consider the irony when conceiving this post) gets jacked really hard with a hammer or whatever else and shoots out the door, gets on a bus, offloads to a riverboat, climbs a mountain, and yells “YEEEEOOOOOWWWWCH!!!!”

I think Katie should do this, too.  Tom will be too busy trying to get in touch with his inner alien to notice.

Put the video up on eBay.  One more purchase and I’m entitled to a star beside my name.

4/8/2006

Pine

I’m not typically a UW-IMAP person (yeah, yeah, “oh, this stuff again”) but I am really enjoying the novelty of using Pine on top of Slackware (and Windows, for that matter) to read my IMAP e-mail from a text client.  In some ways, it seems like e-mail is still best presented in this form, especially the IMAP model.  The concept of “expunging” is not easily depicted in a GUI.  As purged as I feel I am from the MS Windows way of looking at the world, the “why the heck did that not actually delete?” question arises at times when using Thunderbird.

Dang, that was a long paragraph.  Luckily, there is nothing else to say about this terribly dry topic.

4/8/2006

Lynchie

I can’t put Lost Highway into the DVD player right now, which is really strange.  I think I just don’t want to have to blow my nose and cough during a movie as important as this one will be.

4/8/2006

Bloggy

This blog is the blog of the man who created Ren and Stimpy.

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