Joe Szilagyi

• Anyone who opposes Admiral Ackbar as Ole Miss's new mascot is racist toward Mon Calamari. http://notatrap.org/ #olemiss #olemissackbar #
• Saw KICK-ASS in a preview screening. They just broke super hero films. #
• RT @Sk8j: Wait, TWEET is seriously trademarked by Twitter? What do birds say now? #
• @Chaplain22 at once it's the best superhero satire AND one of the best superhero films at once. in reply to Chaplain22 #
• http://www.coffeepartyusa.com/ #
• Holy crap, I think the #coffeeparty is for real #
• @Im_Barbara the only way evil will win is because good is stupid in reply to Im_Barbara #
• Office's kitchen always has random business journals that are absurdly specific in topic. "Green Backup Datacenter Design Weekly" #
• curse you #windows mobile only having one activesync server source at a time! what a completely STUPID design decision. #
• Science officially declares (for real) that the universe is "hella big". http://bit.ly/9DfJaU Hella is now a measurement. #
• RT @DRUNKHULK: KEEP EYE ON BUNNING! ESPECIALLY IF JAR-JAR WANT GRANT HIM EMERGENCY POWER! #
• Some mornings you just need the Pixies on random shuffle because it's that sort of morning. #
• @DavidGallaher 8888888888888888888888888? #
• @dietsch you're going to hang a backlit Captain Morgan and a neon BUDWEISER, right? Right? in reply to dietsch #
• 2 months, 2 hours, 44 minutes, and 18 seconds since we had cigarettes. #
• @tazary thanks!! in reply to tazary #
• 4 8 15 16 23 42 4 8 15 16 23 42 4 8 15 16 23 42 4 8 15 16 23 42 4 8 15 16 23 42 4 8 15 16 23 42 4 8 15 16 23 42 4 8 15 16 23 42 #
• Gay sex prostitution ring uncovered in Vatican (!!!) http://bit.ly/akyyfa & http://bit.ly/bMLsWZ #
• @Chaplain22 You're travelling through another dimension, a dimension not only of sight and sound but of mind. Next stop, the Twilight Zone. in reply to Chaplain22 #
• Crystal clear gorgeous day. I can see every line of Mount Rainer in HD; Elliot Bay looks like a still mirror; the islands are all out. #
• Live Meeting, you drive me to drink #
• Media is avoiding calling the Pentagon shooting terror even though it meets the dictionary definition. Afraid to piss off someone? #
• @tazary the closer we get to April 19 the more scared I get we're going to get another McVeigh. in reply to tazary #
• Wheat bread + natural peanut butter + wildflower honey + a dash of butter = winning PB sandwich. #
• @chrissmari just a lil tiny bit in reply to chrissmari #
• New York Times totally destroys Scientology: http://nyti.ms/caEQya This is epic. Mainstream media is catching on finally. #
• RT @nonsequiturlass: So Joe's playing Dragon Age in the living room, and I just hear him shout, "I'm in a whore house!" WTH. #

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It was at a preview screening in Seattle at Pacific Place on Monday night. The crowd was oddly quiet and relaxed before the film, which was weird, as most of the promotion was done via local comic book stores for this particular screening. During the very advance preview for Zombieland that we saw there, the crowd was really amped up and rowdy; by the time the opening chords of For Whom The Bell Tolls hit at the opening credits the place nearly flipped out. The KICK-ASS opening is the trailer scene of the guy flying off the side of the building in New York City–when that scene finished, the crowd DID go nuts, and it didn’t stop whooping and cheering the rest of the way. I think the crowd–for whatever reason–either had no idea what KICK-ASS was really going to be like or had never touched Mark Millar and John Romita Jr.’s comic book. We had, we’d seen the trailers, and were waiting for all hell to break loose, and holy shit does it.

Minor spoilers ahoy:

The movie is much, much funnier than the trailer gives any clue it would be, and it’s much, much funnier than the comic book. Some bits of the comic are nearly perfect reproductions of the film. KICK-ASS and the car after his first superhero incident and his superhero public reveal in the camera phone video scene in particular. That scene from the trailers (“I’M KICK-ASS!”) was done INCREDIBLY well and a near perfect example of how to show a character transformation and origin in one go on-screen–it was thrilling and the single best scene in the film (second best is the hilarious Ennio Morricone bit).

Yes, the violence was at times totally absurd, but that was sort of the point–over the top and brutal violence is really the only weapon a “real life” superhero would have. No “Spider-Sense”, no Superman-style bouncing bullets off of your chest. You’d have to beat the holy hell out of someone–or shoot them–before the same happened to you. You’d get the tar beat out of you. Christopher Nolan and Christian Bale alluded to this in a few scenes in Batman Begins and The Dark Knight, but in that fantasy Batman has the world’s most cutting-edge armor, the world’s greatest ninja training, he’s the most driven and single-focused crime fighter of them all… and he’s still a battered mess of bruises and stitches. A normal person, trying to fight crime? It would be straight up kill-or-be-killed. Beat them rotten before they knife you.

Even when Kick-Ass does kick ass in that “I’M KICK-ASS!” scene, he gets his ass completely kicked at the same time. He’s all but spitting up blood and teeth. It’s what all this would really look like, or as close as we’re likely to ever actually see unless someone does go and actually become a superhero. The film is brutally violent at times, but the comedy, the great characters, and the strong undercurrent of hope and idealism in the film completely mitigate and balance that. The microwave scene (best completely horrible joke scene of the year; it will be very hard to top, especially the reaction of the goombah on the far right side of the screen) and/or anything with Hit-Girl will probably get the most complaints for the Conservatives in the world, along with all the sex jokes.

There’s some unevenness in the acting, but that’s really my only sole complaint. Nicolas Cage is Nicolas Cage, and to me at least he can sometimes seem to veer far off the rails in performances, but that’s what I love about him. My wife unfortunately absolutely doesn’t like him as an actor because of this and thinks you get Nicolas Cage too much in films. She had no complaints about him in KICK-ASS, and by her rating that’s like forcefully shoving an Academy Award into his hands for playing Big Daddy in KICK-ASS. Seriously. I thought he was great. Chloe Moretz gets ALL the best lines, and the sheer madness of her spouting things like “Let’s see what you cunts can do now” and “Show’s over, motherfuckers!” is endlessly surreal paired with her adorable “Look what I did!” expressions when she’s sending body parts and viscera flying. For a little kid, she’s actually got some chops. The pacing, editing, soundtrack and structure of the film were perfect. It grabs onto your typical modern film ADD-riddled mind and just keeps shoving you forward in a very good way. The film visually was gorgeous.

I adored the last film Matthew Vaughn and Ben Davis did, Stardust, and I admit I like that film even a bit better than Neil Gaiman and Charles Vess’s book that it was based off of. I think KICK-ASS is a better film.

I’d summarize my review by the first thing I said the minute the credits popped up: “Yeah, we need this on Blu-Ray,” to which my wife said, “Are you fucking kidding? Hell yes.” It’ll be either a Zombieland+ level hit or a cult classic. I’m not sure which.

• Hate realizing I'm only in love with 75% of a new game, and the 25% is enough to make me shelve it till later expansions. #
• Awkward spoken sentences include the words "the things a President can do with a cigar". #
• Any white Americans who advocate nativism in immigration policy are racist. Not one of us is native and has a right to that stance. #
• at Roxie's in Fremont for lunch w/ Craig & Katherine #
• http://twitpic.com/14mk3l – My lunch #
• http://twitpic.com/14mvhf – Fremont Sunday market #
• I apparently stink at birding #
• RT @cnnbrk: Obama releases plan to bridge Senate, House health care bills. http://on.cnn.com/barpFI #
• End of winter in Seattle: blinding sun & warm yesterday afternoon; blinding sun & deep frosts this AM. #
• Cheney supports ending DADT along with the joint chiefs? May just happen in 2010 then. #
• @studiounderhill what tonight?? its Monday in reply to studiounderhill #
• @studiounderhill curses, didn't read up mobile app quickly enough in reply to studiounderhill #
• Mount Rainer looks sleepy today. #
• I hate the mail client freakout when you make massive changes on one, and have to replicate to another off of Exchange. #
• Read 5 phone reviews as I ate lunch; only one mentioned voice quality (excellent). Love how voice is secondary on a phone now. #
• According to Leviticus, all who eat shellfish will be put to death. All or nothing, children. #
• NPH is Nightwing! #
• @mojocrowejo well it's just animation so I hope so! in reply to mojocrowejo #
• @Chaplain22 He's voicing him in the next Batman animated film in reply to Chaplain22 #
• Just told that Wil Wheaton will be a semi-regular on Big Bang Theory now… as Sheldon's arch-nemesis! #
• RT @wikileaks: Privatized prior restraint? Cryptome disabled after recent threats by Microsoft over MS spy-guide. http://is.gd/962gh #
• I think I fractured my gaming bones, when even EVE's insanity doesn't hold my attention. #
• @Chaplain22 yeah, tried that. only tf2 holds me & only in highly limited doses. I think its total mmo/pc gamingitus. in reply to Chaplain22 #
• @mocoddle awww! in reply to mocoddle #
• #FF really nice people: @mocoddle @Sk8j @bastique @Wheeler @garyploski #
• This girl has an edition of Christopher Moore's Lamb that looks like an 18th century Bible. It's fantastic! #
• @TheFirstMan Bradley Cooper? I could absolutely see him as Captain America. in reply to TheFirstMan #
• Overheard on the bus: "gonna hang with my home boy Obidiah" #

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• On our way to the Ballard Farmers Market with our niece #
• http://twitpic.com/139us6 – Hello from Ballard #
• Furthermore, thank heaven for fantastic hot dogs with kraut. #
• Forgot to mention I saw LaRouche trolls with their "Obama as Hitler" propaganda at my neighborhood market yesterday! #
• What LaRouche believes: http://bit.ly/dzSmzs If you see these idiots, mock them. #
• What's especially funny about that with LaRouche saying "Remember the Jews! WW2!" is that he himself is an Anti-Semite. What a joke. #
• Bitter nerdrage tears are delicious. #
• Brain and brain, what is brain? #
• I think I kinda know what the LOST numbers are, I just realized. #
• Ten seconds on Google confirms I was right but it's rather slight and irrelevant. #
• @hectorlima actually I was wrong. I thought the Cave Numbers were 1:1 Oceanic seat numbers. They're not. in reply to hectorlima #
• Actually I was wrong. I thought the Cave Numbers were 1:1 Oceanic seat numbers. They're not; only Jack was. #
• If you use Four Square, please see this site: http://pleaserobme.com/ #
• Cold, cold, what is cold? #
• I have decided I am tired of fish biscuits #
• Investigating our new Hard Rock Cafe #
• #Seattle Hard Rock Cafe is relatively chill compared to most of them. Kind of impossible to top the EMP locally for memorabilia, though. #
• Need to write my DC continuity fix idea & post it someday. Ends with @neilhimself turning off the cosmic lights and continuity fanboy tears. #
• @garyploski nice! stage, film? in reply to garyploski #
• ever get the feeling your city just winked at you? #
• Damn it. My own Schroedinger just finished percolating. #
• @studiounderhill the whole being-aware-of-it design flaw held me up in reply to studiounderhill #
• @studiounderhill well that was certainly out of context and a reply to the wrong reply's reply. in reply to studiounderhill #
• http://twitpic.com/147u5b – 4th Avenue #seattle #
• and off for a walk in the park #
• http://twitpic.com/14e4v0 – out #
• http://twitpic.com/14e54o – PNW sun #

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Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius today will release a new report showing more dramatic health insurance premium increases are proposed in Connecticut, Maine, Michigan, Oregon, Rhode Island and Washington.

The report quotes National Association of Insurance Commissioners officials predicting the nation will “see rate increases of 20, 25, 30 percent.”

From this article, which everyone should read.

I challenge a single conservative to successfully argue that the right of a company to turn a profit is more cherished than the simple human right to have access to medical care. I dare you.

• Saints by 10. #
• Why can't every Super Bowl be this great? #
• Also: that onside kick will go down in history as one of the Great Plays In History. #
• I hate when a head bomb goes off. #
• @Taikonaut I'd settle for the glorious days when just my texts lit up with such news. in reply to Taikonaut #
• Any news, even leaked, of when Smith & Moffat's #Doctor #Who begins? #
• @Stu_N thanks, I was getting itchy for new Sci-Fi serials and Torchwood, Lost, and V whenever it returns don't quite scratch it. in reply to Stu_N #
• @paulhanna how sad is it my first thought was if it would be pro creator vs corp if it touched upon the fights over rights? in reply to paulhanna #
• Dear mailer daemon: go to hell and die. Thank you. #
• Why don't we own a crock pot? #fb #
• I has fresh chai #
• RT @studiounderhill: Absurdist counterprotest confounds bigots. http://is.gd/80Pmh #
• ad – dle: transitive verb, to throw into confusion, confound. intransitive verb, to become confused. #merightnow #
• @mocoddle rentals are the best. perpetual new car smell. in reply to mocoddle #
• RT @paulhanna: Angry blogger further angered because Captain America is not a Teabagger: http://tinyurl.com/yha4prl #
• RT @tpmmedia: Report: gay rights advocate Lt. Dan Choi called back to active duty http://tpm.ly/8Zrren #
• Evidence of the American Taliban's existence: http://bit.ly/9dm1Rp #
• So Google Buzz is (Guzz?) is mytwitfacewavemail all in one service? Why not throw in Netflix streaming while you're at it. #FB #
• RT @washdems: SB 6843, which suspends the 2/3 vote requirement of the leg. for tax increases, passes Senate & moves to House #
• My entire twitterverse is #snow, but here in Seattle it's not even wet. Global warming is a fraud then? #
• I crave pineapple. #
• Lunch with Bernie today, for Tandoori. #
• RT @nerdist: Seattle! April 10th! Me! Showbox! Special presale tomorrow at 10a. Password is NERDIST, of course! #
• Oh tandoori… buffets are dangerous. #
• @comcastcares when is the Seattle area getting more HD channels? Especially BBC America HD, which is already in some of your markets? #
• Was Bill Murray on the last No Reservations? #
• @bradleysalmanac you don't want yet another aggregating memeservice to ritually read? in reply to bradleysalmanac #
• @dietsch ooh, thanks. need to see about making that dinner time viewing. in reply to dietsch #
• @dietsch we just watched it; totally great. I love when Tony gets caught out off guard like that! in reply to dietsch #
• @essveeup @dietsch "I went through a phase where I wanted to be a neurosurgeon," was fantastic. in reply to essveeup #
• I don't know why I keep listening to Lisa Hannigan's I Don't Know. #
• reading about NASA's new solar observatory, my first thought was "trilithium!" #
• @mrtonylee I suspect it's long term value will be like Google Reader, but for social media rather than blogs. in reply to mrtonylee #
• Smack me: I just wished for snow in Seattle #
• Michael Cera clone sighting at Pike Place Market #
• http://twitpic.com/12n2jm – Knish Attack #
• Overheard in elevator: "then I told him I had a riding crop," as the door opened & their conversation ended abruptly. #
• Looks like Seattle & Pasco, WA were the first cities to apply officially for Google's FIOS trials. Fingers crossed for 1000Mbps Internets! #
• @getwired nice selection! in reply to getwired #
• Trillian now carries MSN, Yahoo, Google Talk, Facebook chat, and AIMx2. I think this is just overkill, connecting to all at once. #
• Y'know, if Steam, Twitter, Xfire had Jabber support, I'd have every username/message system of mine in the past 8~ years online in one app. #
• And integrate SMS/email. ONE APP TO RULE THEM ALL #
• http://bit.ly/aKf4Gz = http://bit.ly/ai4F6H ? Uh oh. #
• Is there any (useful) site where I can list bands and be mail alerted of local shows? preferred if lists many local venues. #seattle #
• dear god is it 5 yet #
• http://eternal-earthbound-pets.com/Terms_and_Conditions.html #
• When nachos attack!!!! #
• about to see "Bram Stoker's Wolfman" #
• "is Wolfman R?" "think so" "maybe we'll get nudity." "Wolfman's got nards." #
• Wolfman = Sleepy Hollow on meth. #
• The scale of the Universe: http://bit.ly/dr1JXd #
• Huh, I had no idea we could do Pizza Hut delivery in this neighborhood! #

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List of nations in North America by 2050-2100:

Canada
Mexico
Cascadia (possibly merged to Canada)
California
New England (including New York)
“The South”
Montana
Various unique, small nations (Dakota, Minnesota, Wyoming, etc.)
Texas (or possibly joining The South)

Here’s how it’ll break down, give or take:

The former American states north and east of Pennsylvania and New Jersey (New York included) have become their own nation. New Hampshire, being New Hampshire, may tell everyone to screw off so that they can continue being New Hampshire. Maybe they’ll name themselves literally “New England”. Fiscally stable and progressive independent nation. Strong commerce. Strong economy. They’d be wise to retain New York as a member of New England for it’s economic, culturarl, and agricultural firepower.

The mid-Atlantics: PA, NJ, MD, DC, places like that–depending on how local state-level elections flow, they could end up anywhere.

The American south will be their own thing. A conservative, religious, red nation, and the beginnings of a Christian theocracy in North America comparable in many ways to Egypt and to a lesser degree Iran. Florida, insanely, will be the liberal corner of their nation. No idea what they’d call themselves. Couldn’t care less.

The American midwest, from Utah, Arizona, Texas, the Dakotas, Wyoming, et all may or may not align in a southern national strip with the south, bordering along Mexico. If they do, I expect nothing less than economic war between Mexico and this new nation.

Illinois and the upper midwest–Michigan, folks out that way–may or may not form their own nation. Some of them would be an ideal fit for annexation with and merger into Canada as new provinces. Illinois in particular may be appealing.

The rest of the massive midwest? Either small independent nations or alignment with their neighbors depending on the prevailing local politics and trends. None will align south with Mexico. With Texas, flip a coin whether they go solo or join the South.

California: it’s own nation.

Oregon, Washington: either our own nation, or merger into Canada. I prefer Cascadia as a national identity, e.g. Cascadians. At the same time, I think Washington and Oregon would do fine as a new province of Canada. God save the Queen?

Montana: it’s own nation, and they’d probably do fine.

Tell me I’m wrong. It’s happened to every single empire in the history of the world: every single, solitary one, since the Romans. We’re at the approximate long end range of longevity right now, for the United States. By 2150 the former United States of America, on a map, will look like modern Europe.

• http://bit.ly/ci9Jyg #
• Not enough coffee in all of Creation today. #fb #
• I think I'm yet to have a flight into San Jose without epic turbulence on approach #fb #
• Aggressive taxi driver is aggressive #
• RT @mayormcginn: Got a question for the mayor? Go to The Stranger's Questionland! http://tinyurl.com/yzb83kc #newseattle ^ap #
• The past two days have been altogether too surreal. #
• die database die #
• My brain feels like it's Friday 6pm. #
• RT @PubliColaNews: From today's Eyman hearing. http://www.publicola.net/2010/02/04/from-todays-eyman-hearing/ #
• Is it summer yet? #
• Well, la de frickin' da! #
• Someone we know with fiscal trouble was suddenly helped by someone, to save their home. Things that reaffirm faltering faith in humanity… #
• @pop_nerd bacon diet in reply to pop_nerd #
• RT @tpmmedia: Mr. No: Sen. Shelby (R-AL) blocks ALL Obama nominations http://bit.ly/9dgSkk #
• read my last link: extraordinarily dick move by Republithug holding America hostage to $profit his $tate. #
• I just realized that in Lost S3 Locke saw the MiB in Jacob's hut when he was with Ben… not Jacob. Right? #
• mental to-do list for the next quarter has now outpaced the boundaries of space/time #

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• One of the more interesting stories I've seen on art, commerce, and technology (really, it is) http://bit.ly/8I6vIX #
• @mocoddle awwwww! in reply to mocoddle #
• @chrissmari you can fake it but I think you'd have to forward all the Wii traffic out through another gateway, or have your router do it. in reply to chrissmari #
• @chrissmari Doable, but a pain in reply to chrissmari #
• RT @dietsch: @DavidGallaher Hm. Bacon-infused bourbon, maple syrup, lemon juice, all shaken with an egg white. Breakfast in a glass! #
• @dietsch He's dead! Who? Him. Others: He's dead? Others: Who? Him. Others: He's dead? Others: Who? Media: WTF He's dead? Subject: ???? in reply to dietsch #
• AT&T losing iPhone on Wednesday http://bit.ly/5HEJcK #
• Off to Seattle Coffee Works and the West Seattle farmers market #
• At Jak's Grill in the Junction for brunch #
• fidget fidget fidget fidget #
• Washed rinds are one of the keys to happiness #
• I'm in ur Hillsbrad flagging ur pvp #
• We just watched Food, Inc. There is so much wrong with US law that will never change without France 1848 or Russia 1917 happening here. #
• Peak IP production: IPv4 Free Pool Drops Below 10%, 1.0.0.0/8 Allocated http://bit.ly/7gn0ia for non-nerds, FYI this is not good. #
• RAWR #
• Did Simon Pegg let it slip that David Tennant is our new Biblo? Dude… http://bit.ly/6LugLu #
• My fingers are firmly crossed that today is… placid. #
• How I feel today: "I wanna move up to Nashua, get a nice little spread, get some sheep and tend to them." #
• RT @tpmmedia: Coke, booze, assault: Blackwater contractors' past revealed in murder case http://digg.com/d31GmJV #
• Is it baseball season yet? #
• @bdomingos Can't some soon enough, let me tell you. I wish we had the NHL or NBA (still) here. in reply to bdomingos #
• What's this I hear about you having problems with your T.P.S. reports? #
• Anyone know on Apple Excel 2008 how to get simple item count? I.e. highlight bunch of rows and get a simple "That is x rows" output? #
• Mr. Beddard is my Excel hero. #
• @pop_nerd what duck? in reply to pop_nerd #
• Dear people of Earth, IMs are for answering #
• Listening to free audiobook of HG Wells's The Time Machine from Librevox. #
• @pop_nerd ah old tweet! Yeah, I really dig them. now, if I had pho deliveries… in reply to pop_nerd #
• OK, enough of that audiobook. I can't take this volunteer reader… over to the Savage Lovecast I go. #
• T-minus three episodes of the Tenth Doctor to go #
• Off today in support mode for Andi at dentist for some work. She is unhappy. #
• I only want an #iPad if it runs the LCARS interface. #
• PETA is now against Punxsutawney Phil??? Really??? YES PHIL IS MORE HARMFUL THAN FACTORY FARMING. idiots. #
• @andykhouri it will make you want to eat butter. in reply to andykhouri #
• So the iPad has no USB ports. So no way to access files save for network/bluetooth. That's… stupid. #
• @mtbradner I'm hoping that's not the only option, since it means you have to take the dock everywhere… in reply to mtbradner #
• @mtbradner I totally misread what you wrote; that's feasible. But still, I'd actually thought it'd be neat with a phone & camera hooked up. in reply to mtbradner #
• If you've never seen it: http://www.shotbeak.com/oldtweets/ #
• I thought the Joint Chiefs during the SOTU were not supposed to be applauding, right? #fb #
• @Wheeler McCain once was nearly centrist but he's polling terrible now vs a Teabagger at home with elections looming. He's fully sold out. in reply to Wheeler #
• Still a crime, what? RT @tpmmedia: NBC: Landrieu Plot Aimed To Test Sen's Response To Disabled Phone System http://bit.ly/d3apS5 #
• @warrenellis dreading massively full day's agenda and realised I've neither bought nor cooked a thing for our Super Bowl pagan rites. in reply to warrenellis #
• I just really realised my day will be 5x fuller than I thought. Lovely. #
• @simonpegg why do repeatedly abuse myself by following horrible sports teams? in reply to simonpegg #
• JD Salinger died. #
• @mocoddle its starting to be all over, someone in the office just told me in reply to mocoddle #
• Sci-fi/fantasy short film festival for the SIFF at Cinerama Saturday. How jammed will it be? #siff #fb #
• @tobeycook swell… "Screening On Rush – Advance Tickets Not Available" in reply to tobeycook #
• @tobeycook gives me an excuse to get out of the house early for the 12pm rush I suppose. in reply to tobeycook #
• Some idiots want to ban "torrent" traffic with net neutrality? Yeah? So that's the vast legal uses too for science/tech? #
• #Pagliacci Pizza in #Seattle is donating today's profits to #Haiti relief- order: http://Pagliacci.com #fb #
• My bus fairly reeks of marijuana. #
• I see we've opened ceremonies with a bang today. #
• I'm sorry, I can't take anyone that hearts Michelle Bachmann even a bit seriously. She's like the Muppet Show of politics. #
• RT @mattfogel: The Hitler meme never fails to make me laugh… RT @julien: Hitler responds to the iPad http://bit.ly/d6kISi #

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• On our way to see Black Science at the Comet. #
• At the Deluxe for garlic fries and a drink. #
• please tell @nonsequiturlass what you think of her allegations of old age. #
• http://twitpic.com/ymla4 – At Comet on Pike, waiting on friend's band. #
• Two guy dancers, funny end to night. One channels Talking Heads, the other Alcohol with a big A. #
• Assisted hand stand fail #
• "Never express yourself more clearly than you think." – Niels Bohr #
• WA GOP files to eliminate 17th US Constitutional amendment, declaring war on voters http://bit.ly/6ZGGeE #
• $DO || ! $DO ; try try: command not found #
• extreme rarity of our buses being late/AWOL in #Seattle, still faster to downtown, for how often traffic & parking used to get me driving. #
• @Wheeler remember, insurance here will bankrupt even Conan or Jay. in reply to Wheeler #
• @Wheeler oh, had they disclosed numbers now? yeah, I'm sure I could eke by on that much if I stuck to matinee films. in reply to Wheeler #
• More #Torchwood should arrive from Netflix today. Three guesses what @nonsequiturlass will want to watch tonight! #
• @garyploski you minute hog. in reply to garyploski #
• Curious, why won't American media report on Guantanamo murders? http://bit.ly/5AUOVd #
• @querlvox Harper's and Maddow drive blogs and left news sites. Why hasn't even CNN or the NYT or WaPo touched this? in reply to querlvox #
• In A.D. 2010 war was beginning in Massachusetts. #
• bus accident #
• some idiot in a Prius cut us off and hit the bus. #
• Haha, the guy pulled over, then took off quickly as it was his fault. No injuries or damage to us. #
• …that was so anti-climactic. I was hoping for some COPS action or news coverage or a gun battle over insurance cards. #
• Re Massachusetts: Meaningless; we never had 60 because of Lieberman. House punts #HCR to Obama and GOP loses for 20+ years. #
• Let me be more blunt: MA tonight was a meaningless dog & pony show for a failed Republican party. HCR is won. #
• Almost a day later and the American media still afraid to report on Guantanamo murders: http://bit.ly/5AUOVd #
• I feel bad on learning of Haiti telethon today one initial thought was, "another Kanye/Mike Myers moment?" #
• Leaked #Apple #tablet photo: http://i.imgur.com/NTh8q.jpg #
• Dear port 443 traffic: please knock it off, m'k? #
• I am wearing this shirt today: http://bit.ly/61onZN #
• Tonight's agenda: Turn Left ep of Who, leftovers, Warcraft, some reading, grumpy wife as cat decided Andi needed love all night over sleep. #
• @pop_nerd by the way, thanks for turning me on to @seattlegeekly – listening to it now! in reply to pop_nerd #
• From the moons of Endor to the land of Lando / we take the whole damn posse to wherever the van goes #
• America sold: RT @tpmmedia: Supreme Court strikes down campaign finance laws http://bit.ly/7LKg36 #
• @warrenellis Yes, she did. Can we all come be refugees on your island? in reply to warrenellis #
• "I hate to think that all my current experiences will someday become stories with no point." #
• The folks at #acronis are scholars and gentlemen. #
• Re Supreme Court free speech: If corporations want to be individuals, it's time we start taxing them like individuals. #
• I love the smell of missing Windows drivers in the morning #
• @andykhouri I hate you for the mental image I now have. in reply to andykhouri #
• #FF early for me, just because: @tmorigi @mocoddle @turtlefeed @getwired @radiomaru #
• @turtlefeed We're all like whoa and you're all like whoa and we're like… whoa in reply to turtlefeed #
• @turtlefeed this is your fucking wake up call man. I am an F-B-I agent!! in reply to turtlefeed #
• Comparing Tron 2's 3D to Wizard of Oz's use of *color*? That's… massively bold. http://bit.ly/5gBcYr #
• I suspect today will require a successful saving throw versus my brain exploding from overload. #
• Heartattack and Vine is fantastic commuting to work music. #
• @nonsequiturlass what the? in reply to nonsequiturlass #
• @Wheeler another stupid aspect, why present it only to "programme makers" and not the public? Isn't BBC public financed? in reply to Wheeler #
• Is it Caturday? #
• This is either The Week That Would Not Die or The Week That Ate Cleveland. #
• @pop_nerd that's what we had last night. The Tso's is pretty good. in reply to pop_nerd #
• Lets play Twister, lets play Risk… #
• @rochtrev You got a PHC live trailer before AVATAR? Wow, we had to do Teardrop Diamond for that. in reply to rochtrev #
• @wilw is that Arkham line your own creation? Never heard it before… in reply to wilw #
• RT @wilw: Arkham's Razor: A theory which suggests that the simplest explanation tends to lead to Cthulhu. #
• I haven't properly played chess in 15+ years, and just bought a cute little set cheap. Wonder how horrible I'll be. #
• Last #Conan Tonight Show needs some "I am a Pimpbot. It is within my program to turn out all the #NBC hos," to turn out the lights. #
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ugk37TvIR8E #
• WELL DEAR INTERNET #
• Game companies patch bugs that benefit us fast, bugs that hinder us "when possible". #FAIL #design #gaming #
• @warrenellis another vote for Savage Love. in reply to warrenellis #
• I have the worst habit of finding a new musician I like and seeing I've missed their Seattle tour dates. #
• taco bell diet? really? I demand a Baconater diet then. #
• @rochtrev its not actually costing that, he fessed up the joke last night. in reply to rochtrev #
• Sally Sparrow is up for best actress at the SAG awards?? neat. #
• Best and worst science in modern sci-fi films: http://bit.ly/4Hgqae #
• Republican Governor candidate calls the poor "stray animals" & advocates halted breeding: http://bit.ly/6AMNlj Hello, Germany 1930 #
• I'm sorry, some of the GOP can at least PRETEND to not be Nazi party hopefuls. Really? #
• I'm actually seething right now over this mouth breather "human" from South Carolina #
• Palate cleanser: http://bit.ly/5cZ4bS #

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The men who lead the Far Right and American Republican Party at their best. Happy Friday.

Four Ways Facebook is Slowly Destroying You | Gunaxin Gadgets

Apparently, Facebook will make you socially retarded, rewire your brain, get you fired/keep you from getting a job, and give you cancer in the end of your suffering. I guess it sucks that there are about 250,000,000 of us world wide on the site. Facebook as the new bubonic plague? Zuckerberginia pestis?

I remember when it was just random people strictly limited to connections from .edu domain names, and it was just the annoying little cousin of TOTALLY AWESOME websites like Friendster.com. Now it’s going to wipe humanity, but I’m sure the dog will outrun the status updates and live.

The Blackwater Kabul Shooting Case: What Do We Know?

What a shocker… Blackwater USA, an American company founded by a Christian fundamentalist, runs mercenaries across the Middle East. A bunch of heavily armed Blackwater “staff” shoot up a bunch of innocent Iraqis one day, and eventually have the legal case against them tossed on a technicality. Along the way, Blackwater USA renames itself “Xe” to rebrand themselves. Not unlike how AIG is trying to rebrand themselves, I imagine, after AIG almost destroyed the whole of the financial realm in the Western world. Turns out that Xe/Blackwater thugs shot up more people, this time in Afghanistan.

The particulars of what happened last May 5 — including whether the contractors had been drinking and whether they were acting in self-defense — are in dispute, but everyone agrees the shooting occurred after a traffic accident in Kabul.

The charges have attracted attention for coming so soon after a federal judge dismissed a case against Blackwater contractors who allegedly killed 17 civilians in Baghdad’s Nisour Square in 2007. That shooting also unfolded after a traffic incident.

The contractors in the Kabul case, Christopher Drotleff, 29, and Justin Cannon, 27, were arrested last week in Corpus Christi, TX, and Virginia Beach, VA, respectively. The case is being prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia.

How long until the Obama administration grows up and cuts off all Federal funding for this operation? It seems like their continued employment is not in the political interests of the United States, to put it mildly. If we’re spread so thin with our actual legal military that we need to hire mercenaries, perhaps that a sign that we shouldn’t be still fighting in these countries that the useless Bush administration dumped us into?

Some scientists think they’ve figured out what memories are. Maybe.

Dietmar Plenz and Tara Thiagarajan at the National Institute of Mental Health in Bethesda, Maryland observed that groups of brain cells of two awake macaque monkeys appear to have their own version of quantum entanglement, or “spooky action at a distance” that could explain memories.

And if you didn’t know anything about quantum entanglement:

Quantum entanglement is a physical resource, like energy, associated with the peculiar nonclassical correlations that are possible between separated quantum systems. Entanglement can be measured, transformed, and purified. A pair of quantum systems in an entangled state can be used as a quantum information channel to perform computational and cryptographic tasks that are impossible for classical systems. The general study of the information-processing capabilities of quantum systems is the subject of quantum information.

That’s the short answer from Stanford University. Here’s the short answer as of now on Wikipedia (with no references to your mom, at the moment):

Quantum entanglement, also called the quantum non-local connection, is a property of a quantum mechanical state of a system of two or more objects in which the quantum states of the constituting objects are linked together so that one object can no longer be adequately described without full mention of its counterpart—even if the individual objects are spatially separated in a spacelike manner. The property of entanglement was understood in the early days of quantum theory, although not by that name. Quantum entanglement is at the heart of the EPR paradox developed by Albert Einstein, Boris Podolsky, and Nathan Rosen in 1935. This interconnection leads to non-classical correlations between observable physical properties of remote systems, often referred to as nonlocal correlations.

You thought it’d be simple?

Didn’t Fox News say they would institute a zero tolerance policy for lying to viewers by staff in any capacity, intentional or otherwise, after lots of mainstream media finally began calling them on their games last year? Yes, they did. Their memo said:

That means we will start by going to air with only the most essential, basic, and manageable elements. To share a key quote from today’s meeting: “It is more important to get it right, than it is to get it on.” We may then build up again slowly as deadlines and workloads allow so that we can be sure we can quality check everything before it makes air, and we never having to explain, retract, qualify or apologize again.

They were already called out in very public fashion once for falsifying graphics. They played it off as it if wasn’t falsified, playing semantic games. I wonder how they’ll play it off now that someone was caught on-air literally making up stuff as blatant as Rudy Giuliani trying to spin politics by saying there were no domestic terror attacks while George W. Bush was President (it’s more important to slam a black President than be truthful).

What’s the new shameless lie aimed at America? Someone inflating the amount of money that Barack Obama has spent on economic recovery by deliberately padding it with the more unpopular TARP (Troubled Asset Relief Program) bailout money. More here.

BOLLING: The federal government certainly likes to spend your and my taxpayer dollars. Recently — check it out — they spent $700 billion on TARP, $787 billion on stimulus. Hey, by the way, that stimulus package, those are $400,000 per job — jobs they’re creating. $180 billion is either spent or lent to AIG. Don’t forget the $115 billion — these are all B’s — billion to Fannie and Freddie. $83 billion to cars. We’re not going to see a dime of this. Don’t forget the $1 trillion on health care, cap and trade, et cetera, et cetera. And this one, this one. Can you get a close-up — take a look at this one. $60 billion as of last night going to the unions to buy health care votes.

The problem is that BUSH signed the TARP money away from us–the portion of the economic stimulus that went to parasitic corporate entities like AIG–not Obama. I’m guessing by the time the 2012 elections roll around we’ll be saying that Obama was responsible for invading Iraq and the 9/11 attacks on New York City, at this rate.

Odds that Bolling gets anything more than a some laughs with everyone over at the Fox News coffee room over this rather than disciplined, reprimanded, or terminated as the previous internal memo implied he would?

Publicola posted a funny little irony the other day that I just noticed:

Last week, state Attorney General Rob McKenna editorialized on the Seattle Times op-ed page against planned state employee raises, co-writing (along with three other state GOP leaders): “Taxpayers should … be spared from funding $83 million in planned pay raises for 21,000 state workers.”

He was referring to a state employee incentive program known as “step increases.”

But last year, according to a recent report from the state’s Department of Personnel, McKenna himself gave nearly $600,000 in performance-based incentives (part of the step increase program) to 901 of his 1321 employees. That’s 68 percent of his staff.

Odds that someone in the mainstream media calls this out? 10:1? 10,000:1?

• Going to Queen Anne tonight to see Loss of a Teardrop Diamond with @nonsequiturlass #
• Michael Steele has some major albeit highly ignorant balls for this, given his previous race baiting: http://bit.ly/4Z8yc7 #
• Wanted iPhone when our Sprint contracts were up, but Android HTC Hero is mighty appealing… http://bit.ly/8TC1G2 #
• Volcano on in background while working. Tommy Lee Jones's daughter's entire role: STAND STILL LIKE IDIOT AS DOOM APPROACHES. #
• "There is another organism on this planet that follows the same pattern. Do you know what it is? A virus." http://bit.ly/8C4rWi #
• http://twitpic.com/xlf9y – Pirate pigeon #
• http://twitpic.com/xlrk0 – pie #
• http://twitpic.com/xlroz – Me @ uptown espresso #
• Teardrop Diamond was very enjoyable. Both Bryce Howard & Chris Evans are super hot chemistrywise. @nonsequiturlass crushes on him. #
• Do I want a drink? #
• Spend all your time fixing problems instead of thinking about problems and you'll never run out of problems. #
• Lions, coyotes, and bears, oh my. Our neighborhood is out of control again: http://bit.ly/8VLrX7 We've had all 3 in 6 months. #
• And yes, that's living about 15 odd minutes outside of downtown of a major city. #
• Correction, we apparently have a possible pack (????) of coyotes in Seattle. http://bit.ly/8uCWCu #
• RT @firedoglake: SCOTUS Scuttles Prop 8 Video Coverage: http://bit.ly/7oaL2Z #
• @gregmce they pound you too? I asked for info once years ago and they've since murdered several trees on my behalf. in reply to gregmce #
• Just drove past area of #Seattle with dangerous coyote pack. Watched them bum smokes off commuter at bus stop. #
• Here we go again #
• @paulhanna with the Knicks, that's oddly appropriate. in reply to paulhanna #
• @seattlegeekly you heard the rumor that Fillion will be on Torchwood as a Time Agent, right? in reply to seattlegeekly #
• RT @wilw: Regarding Star Trek Online, I will borrow a phrase from Pee Wee Herman: I don't have to play it, Dottie. I lived it. #
• #Seattle might host the FIFA World Cup! In 2018 or 2022: http://bit.ly/6gqRbZ #
• Heartbeat away from nuclear launch codes (read this): http://bit.ly/7JDcME If untrue it's libel, but they call it 'gossip'? Terrifying. #
• Neuron misfire, evening shutdown #
• Larry Philips, King County board, wants bus only lanes on 15th in #Seattle made HOV. Bad idea. Rewarding bus riders is a better idea. #
• Honestly surprised Pat Robertson didn't blame gay marriage for Haiti earthquake. Satan is so last decade. #
• As for Haiti, I wish we had 50,000 soldiers we could send for relief & reconstruction. They're busy, though. #
• How long till Pat Robertson hurls lightning and screams about the Bible being "fully armed and operational"? #
• “If you have a job without any aggravations, you don't have a job.” #
• Summary of day: Pick up gun. Load rational-thought destroying ammunition. Place barrel against temple. Fire. Repeat. #
• Simply scanning political headlines on way home today, and I'm in politics burn out. When does the season end again? #
• …and as I write that the next article I see makes me strongly consider my first ever FOIA request. Sigh. #
• Train wreck of American politics, I wish I knew how to quit you. #
• I refuse to play First Person Tetris. I can only feed one FPS vice and by God it will be TF2. #
• Heard "Gossip Girl" is cast as Star Sapphire in Green Lantern film. She's pretty, but is she right? Educate me. #
• Gravitational constant behind my eyes has gone spastic. Need coffee. #
• RT: @kef #Marvel tells comic book stores to destroy #DC 's books in order to get their rare #Siege variant: http://bit.ly/530zPf #
• Legal #fail RT @ellemenohope Def atty trying to disprove Lamb's testimony on grounds he's liberal. #prop8 #
• @bastique itcomical. Someone just told me at coffee machine that I'd crack up if I saw them trying to disprove scientific theory (!!) in reply to bastique #
• Sad and desperate now. RT @nclrights Pro-8 lawyer arguing men dumber than women, so marriage needs women. #prop8 #
• Easy solution to gay marriage: it's illegal for gov't to recognize any religious marriage. Separate ritual from rights. #
• The city smells good tonight. #
• "One thing about living in Santa Carla I never could stomach, all the damn vampires" RT @rachelsoma: http://bit.ly/53EnJD Vampire Prevention #
• I can barely keep up with cheezburger and failblog and oddlyspecific… how many of these are there?? #
• http://thisisphotobomb.com/ #
• Baz Lurman's Australia is super goofy, but damn if it isn't gorgeous. #
• @Sk8j but was it good? in reply to Sk8j #
• All-American dinner tonight: hot dogs, baked beans. But I have hot horseradish! #

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Banned in China: what the regime doesn’t want its people to see – Telegraph Blogs

In case you had no idea what China bans it’s one billion people from seeing:

1. Photos of of the Tiananmen Square massacre of civilians.
2. Photos of tortured Falun Gong members.
3. Searches related to Tibet, Tiananmen, democracy, rights, and privacy.
4. Facebook. Twitter. MySpace. Friendster. Many online games or game-like systems.
5. iTunes store and similar stores. Many iTunes apps are filtered out by China.
6. Western news sources (most).
7. Wiki-type open editing sites (such as Wikipedia).

More details here, and that’s just the stuff we know about. Even more:

This website is one of my guilty pleasures. It’s an insanely bizarre news hybrid of weird far right, weird far left, and just… odd. I’m probably misreading it because some of it’s over the top, but it reads to me at times like the Weekly World News doing hard political news almost at times:

BATBOY FOUND IN OVAL OFFICE WITH SECRET KENYAN 9/11 FILES!

A random hodgepodge of crap I just clicked into, as a preview: “A little discussion about Revolution and the Declaration of Independance.”

When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

Quoting the Declaration of Independence? Sure, we’re off to a good start. We could be heading up the crazy train to Wasila, Alaska for a Tea Party, or we could be heading for a rousing and soul-baring discussion of what it means to be American.

The question is not if they are allowed to continue, as they have violated the Constitution for the majority of the last 100 years. There is historical validity to eliminate the government we currently have.

The question, is who will fire the first shot?

I think someone fired up the steam engine on this train. But maybe that’s nothing…

Bow down to your masters, for you are not my countrymen. Lick the hand that gives you scraps, for they are your masters and betters. Bring not your insults or provocations before me, for I will not bow to any man, for I am a Free and Sovereign Individual with no preconceived notion, that any are better than I, or my fellow man.

Wait, what? That’s not Tea Party talk. Did this train derail heading from Wasila to Zion in the fucking Matrix?

If you worship socialism so much I am sure the People’s Republic of Korea has a nice big bowl of oppression warmed up for you to gobble down.

Hey, that’s better! The guy who posted that, “av8r007″–does he write Glenn Beck’s monologues? I think this train was headed for Wasila all along. Maybe it’s right where I’m expecting things to be:

The colonists only fought back after the English marched to disarm the militias at Lexington and Concord. If blood must be shed, it should be clear that the Govt fired the 1st shot. If we start the shooting war we’ll be branded as terrorists and radicals. If the govt shoots 1st we can claim self defence.

Oh hell, apparently it is One Of Those Crazy Discussions, as now scenarios are being bandied about on how to make it look like the United States government is going to incite an armed revolution against Obama. And here I was worried for nothing. Reasonable commentary, right? Far out, Right? Get it? I kill myself.

But, before you think it’s all just “Let’s overthrow the Evil Black President’s Shadow America,” we get discussions about 9/11 Congressional reports being lies; Christian missionaries trapped in Haiti–but only the “posers, pretend Christian wannabees going on exotic vacations and calling it mission work“; and various areas to explore ATS Skunk Works, Secret Societies, New World Order, Space Exploration, Aliens and UFOs, Paranormal Studies, Cryptozoology & Mythical Beasts, and finally a section for simply the hoaxes rather than the real studies and scholarly research (like my above quoted discussion about the merits of freedom versus tyranny).

These guys aren’t just thinking that Obama is a dethawed socialist Manchurian Candidate bred in a 1941 German cloning facility outside of Dusseldorf, AKA Kenya. Hell no–this is like Fox Mulder’s personal online message board.

It’s like a supermarket of awesome.

To be an effective asshole and general burden to decent society, one may wish to follow the lead of one Steve King, a Republican Morlock from Iowa:

“This sounds to me like open borders advocates exercising the Rahm Emanuel axiom: ‘Never let a crisis go to waste,’” Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa, said in an e-mail message to ABCNews. “Illegal immigrants from Haiti have no reason to fear deportation but if they are deported, Haiti is in great need of relief workers and many of them could be a big help to their fellow Haitians.”

There’s no better time to play up the political douchebaggery than when an entire society hangs on the needle’s edge of total human suffering with the streets literally piled with the bodies of their dead family members.