C.Y.A.

This site has a moral...or does it? You decide.

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'Tis The Season

Hey folks, here's a neat little page that lets you create your own snowflake.

"So what?" you say. "There are lots of snowflake makers on the web! For instance, there's Make-a-Flake, Snow Days' Create Your Own Snowflake, Flake Central's Snowflake Maker, or the Snowflake Designer. What's so special about the snowflake maker you're recommending, loser?"

Well check it out and be amazed. This one rotates your snowflake creation in 3D. And you know how people these days are so in l-o-v-e with anything 3D (from Beowulf to The Nightmare Before Christmas in Disney Digital 3D)!!!

It's okay with me if you really aren't impressed with this snowflake generator because, at the end of the day, it's just one snowflake generator out of a potential 73,100 snowflake generators that Google could find so I'm sure that there must be at least one out there that is better than this one; I'm just too lazy to try to find it (this one returned as the third search result, though).

I spent a great portion of my childhood watching TV. Some folks may say I spent too much of my childhood watching TV. Looking back, at times I feel like the kid in the opening credits to Dream On, and I start to think that maybe those folks were right because a lot of my childhood memories are in some way tied to television.

For instance, I remember taking karate with my sister and the Rossi's in 1981, the year that The Greatest American Hero premiered, which quickly became my favorite show during its short-lived run. I also remember talking to my friends in school about that show and The Fall Guy, starring Lee Majors. I remember writing episodes to Manimal, Automan and Whiz Kids in third grade (1983) with my buddy, Rob Willard. My friend Dave and I used to discuss Pee-wee's Playhouse back in sixth grade (1986), and in 1987 I developed a crush on Kimmy Gibbler of Full House when that show premiered. I became friends with Adam Repka the year The Facts of Life (thankfully) went off the air (the year was 1988. We were in the 8th grade).

See what I mean? Should I go on? I can relate everything to movies, as well, but this post is about television shows because I found TelevisionTunes.com Check it out. It's a lot of fun. I found so many shows I had not thought about in years and it was really cool hearing their theme songs again. Enjoy!

Yikes, check out this site. It's called Blue Ball Machine (minds out of the gutter, folks). It's fun to watch where the balls go, just keep in mind that they wrap around the screen from bottom to top and side to side.

Here's a nifty little distraction: it's called Man in the Dark. Use your mouse to move him around. Have fun!

Think you know your nerds? Or are you more familiar with your fellow psychopaths? Take this quiz to find out. By the way, I don't need to know how you scored; just stay at least 500 feet away at all times, killer!

I was a totally different person in high school and college. I was extremely shy and unsure of myself. I was single just about every fucking minute of those consecutive 9 years (with the possible exceptions of the summer of '92, and the fall of '96 through summer of '97, which I'm still trying to figure out if they count. If you want clarification, let me know; I may or may not respond). Pretty sad, eh? That's okay, you can agree with me. I guess part of the problem was, well, I'm still trying to figure that out, too, but whatever it was that was bothering me, I'm over it now. I can talk to just about anybody about almost anything. And since I'm so far removed from the dating scene, I figured that this would be something fun to post; something that I should have read 15 years ago. It's an article called Asking For The Date. This is truly the best advice I never received.

Here is a link to a clock. Big deal, you say? Check it out here. It's really neat...for the first few seconds, anyway. After about 10 seconds or so it gets tedious. But at least it's a novel approach to time keeping. Enjoy!

Check out this video. It's a guy painting a portrait of Bruce Lee in a very unique way. Dig it here.

Aaah, drinking games. Where would my college experience have been without them? Check out this list of drinking games, especially if you're tired of the same-old drinking games. Have fun!

Here is statistical proof that Pac-Man exists.

Calvin and Hobbes was one of the best comic strips ever.

I still mourn the day Bill Watterson decided to end the strip. I'm very glad, though, that he ended it when he did because the worst thing that could have happened to the strip is that the humor of it, the heart of the strip and all of the characters, could have gone stale.

Take, for instance, another perennial favorite, Garfield. Garfield has been in existence for almost 30 years (it will be thirty years in 2008). How many more Monday jokes, pie jokes, Jon's ill-fated dates, attempts to mail Nermal to Abu Dhabi, etc, do we have to endure? Sure, it was cute the first few hundred times, but when is enough enough? Make no mistake: I am not bashing Garfield. I love Garfield and I like the fact that he's had a hit cartoon series, seemingly countless books and two live action movies. I'm happy for Jim Davis and I hope Garfield lives on for years. But I'm tired of reading it in the papers. In fact, most times, I skip it.

What Bill Watterson recognized was that as an art form the comic strip in general had devolved into simple sketches of mostly talking heads and not much else. There was hardly any development of characters and there were very few, if any, actual story arcs. Most daily strips ended with a quick joke or a silly pun. Watterson also was keenly aware that the medium as a whole could be so much more.

Bill Watterson filled the strip with vivid story arcs that dealt with so many different real life themes ranging from secret crushes to bullying to revenge, even death (think of the baby squirrel story). He treated his characters with the utmost respect and developed them more than just about any other comic.

And the panels that he would draw, especially the ones where Calvin was fantasizing, were simply incredible. From the golden age comic book styling of Calvin's alter-egos, Stupendous Man and Spaceman Spiff, to the hard-knock private eye, Tracer Bullet, who perpetually inhabited a life straight out of a film noir, Watterson showcased the very potential (and responsibility) that every comic strip artist has, and that the comics are not just filler; comics have a rich history that seems more and more to be taken for granted in exchange for a quick punchline and a syndication deal.

All this and I haven't even touched on Bill Watterson's fight to keep Calvin and Hobbes as a non-commercial entity as he felt that commercializing would have cheapened the artistic value of the product it was selling. But that whole battle is enough for another entry at another time. I've rambled long enough.

I don't expect that you're as much a fan of Calvin and Hobbes as I am, but here are some really good Calvin and Hobbes links for your perusal, which are the reason that I started writing this entry in the first place.

Simply Calvin and Hobbes
Calvin and Hobbes: Unplugged
Calvin and Hobbes Wonderland
Calvin and Hobbes.org
Calvin and Hobbes Unofficial Website
Calvin and Hobbes Making Snowmen
Bill Watterson's Wikipedia entry
An Interview with Bill Watterson
Drawn Into a Dark But Gentle World (this is a short essay Watterson wrote that was published prior to the end of Peanuts. A beautifully written homage)

Hey folks, you have to check out this video! It's called Man vs. Kids.

Now, I know that some folks would fail to find the humor in this, but to hell with those folks; this is hilarious. The sound effects add a lot to the humor of the video. Enjoy and have a great weekend, everybody!

Here's what you've all been waiting for, folks: a graph that explains why people are attracted to one another, given two distinct attributes, and the likely results of such attraction.

I'd like to think that I fall within the middle-third of the graph, top to bottom, which I assume would be classified as 1 Standard Deviation of the mean if you want to get statistical about it, but historically, I think I'm more of a left-third kinda guy - or several standard deviations of the mean - who especially inhabits the gray area at the top of the graph.

I enjoy haikus
I enjoy computers, too
Check out this website

Personally, I don't like fast food. It was great when I was a kid and each meal came with a toy, but back then I either had playtime or gym class every day at school, so working off the excess calories and fat wasn't really an issue and my parents only bought me fast food when we were out shopping all day or for a special occasion. Nowadays, however, there's simply too much at stake when it comes to eating fast food (think increased portion size, fat, sodium, sugar, etc) and I think that too many people rely on fast food to feed their families when they don't feel like cooking. Pretty sad, eh?

Have you seen the documentary Supersize Me? This is the one where the filmmaker, Morgan Spurlock, subjects himself to 30 days of nothing but McDonalds for 3 meals per day. It's sick what happens to his health. For a little insight, as if you didn't know the food was already bad for you, here are the nutritional stats for the big 3 chains in the USA: McDonalds, Burger King and Wendy's. Now you can see exactly how bad the food really is for you.

Then there's the book, Fast Food Nation, by Eric Schlosser. This book (which was also made into a movie of the same name - rent it and you will really think twice before you buy fast food again, especially after watching the last scene) delves into the history of fast food (and what a noble history it is - seriously) and the ill-effects it has had on our society as a whole from the farmers to the slaughterhouse workers to the employees at the restaurants to you, me and everyone in between. It's an excellent book and you will never look at fast food the same way again.

I don't mean that you'll stop eating it altogether - I haven't - but you'll think more about each purchase before you make it. Fast food is a fascinating industry.

However - isn't there always a "however" when you read something like this - I think I could be persuaded to try more fast food items if we had any like these from around the globe. Here is a link to McDonald's Strange Menu Around the World. This sort of makes you wonder how some of the other chains have adapted to other cultures.

This is funny. This site is called Icon War. I dig the sound effects so make sure the sound is turned up on your speakers. It's nothing earth-shattering, but it's fun to watch. I think that the sound effects and the fact that most of the icons are written in Japanese make it that much funnier. Enjoy.

Dig this site: It's a flash animation called The People's Mario that imagines Super Mario as a Russian worker. It's really a brilliant work. And I also dig the mock Super Mario Brothers music that plays during the end credits. Enjoy!

Here's a cool article I found tonight. I think the chick who wrote this article deserves a Pulitzer. It's called Why Geeks and Nerds Are Worth It...

Now, I don't consider myself a Nerd, per se, because I'm not a computer programmer and I am also not very good at math and physics. I enjoy reading about math and physics, and I have tutored math in the past, but by no means are they my strong points. As a matter of fact, I scored lower on the math portion of the SAT's than I did on the English portion of the test. I took the test twice and my math score only improved by 10 points, which equates to 1 more correct answer.

I identify more readily with the Geek aspect of this article. I love comic books, video games, Dungeons and Dragons, and Science Fiction.

I grew up playing D&D - with my church youth group, of all people - and what child of the 80's didn't grow up playing hours upon hours of Nintendo? My mother thought I was insane buying comic books by the score. I argued that they were an investment in the future; the books would appreciate and I was on the ground floor to amassing future wealth (I should have put that money into mutual funds). Even though I feel slightly taken advantage of by the comic book press, I really really enjoyed reading those stories, analyzing the artwork, trading books and discussing the story lines with friends. Like I said, Total Geek. And Proud Of It.

Does this mean I'd make a better boyfriend than that "flashy guy" referenced in the beginning of the article? You'll have to ask my girlfriend. Just kidding. I'm still married.

...sigh...

:oP

I love this page. I have always liked - but never really understood - the science behind the phenomenon of Black Holes. I still don't, but this website breaks it down to more manageable levels for us layfolk.

As a kid, one of my favorite movies was Disney's The Black Hole starring Anthony Perkins and Ernest Borgnine. The evil robot really creeped me out. The last time I saw part of The Black Hole was a few years ago at the Moorestown Pub (r.i.p.). I couldn't hear anything because the jukebox was playing, but it was good to at least see it being aired on tv. I need to get that movie on DVD.

Anyway, check out this page. It's really cool. Personally, I'd subscribe to theory 3, but I think that theory 2 is more likely (you'll have to go through the animation to find out the various theories). Anyway, enjoy!

When I started college way back in the fall of 1993, not only was I pursuing a minor in Music (and, as such, required to be in the marching band), I was an English major. I always liked English; it was one of my strongest subjects in high school. I enjoyed grammar, especially. I ended up finishing school with a major in Radio/TV/Film, but I still, to this day, find myself correcting people's grammar. Bad grammar irritates me.

That's why I find this site particularly enjoyable. For example, on this site you will find that there are no such words as "boughten" or "reoccuring" and it's "jury-rigged" not "jerry-rigged." Come on, folks! Let's get with the good grammar!

Wow. I gotta get me one of these. Check this link out now!!!
And it's a steal at just under $400!

Here's one of my favorite websites. I posted the link to it somewhere quite a while ago, but I think it definitely bears re-posting. Check it out. It's pretty damn funny. It's called The Ultimate Showdown of Ultimate Destiny.

Then, after you watch it, check out this site. which is a little funnier having watched the Ultimate Showdown. Enjoy!

Here is a really cool game. It's a weird take on the age-old crossword puzzle. You click on a space and then a letter. The puzzle fills in all the spaces that contain that particular letter. It's pretty easy when you get the hang of it, so check it out. The Expert level is kind of frustrating, but you'll finish it. Have fun!

I want the Apple iPhone. I'm not going to get the Apple iPhone, though, because I don't want to pay $599 for the 8 Gb version. I'll probably wait about a year or so till it starts to come down in price. But have you seen the TV ads? Check them out if you haven't already. This phone looks sweet!!! There's no doubt in my mind that it's probably worth $599, but I'll let all the trendy yuppie suckers buy it first at full price which will help drive down the price in about a year when my Razr is on the way out. Seriously, though, dig those tv spots!

I spent some time today updating the look of the page. It's more streamlined with a couple cool new features that I've either already placed on the pages or am still working on. It's a work in progress so keep checking back. You're bound to find something cool. If not, just pretend you found something cool.

Top 5 Books I was Forced to Read in High School

1) The Grapes of Wrath - the only book I actually read all the way through. I even read it on my own after high school.
2) The Catcher in the Rye - great story, plus it was fun to hear Mrs. Hogan say all the bad words.
3) Animal Farm - "All Bloggers are created equal, though some more equal than others."
4) Of Mice and Men - I hope Lennie got to tend his rabbits in heaven.
5) Brave New World - actually, I hated this book. I thought it was rather annoying. But I am grateful that the book was written because without it, we wouldn't have Demolition Man, starring Sylvester Stallone.

So let's see if I can get back on the bandwagon. It's been a long time since I've posted anything here. I'd practically given up on it. But I'm back with renewed interest. I'm trying to put my very own website together, but that's slow-going at best. Honestly, who has the time? But I promise that when I get it up and running, I will definitely post it on this site so you'll be the first to know!

Anyway, it's good to be back. I have a lot of photos to post of lil k, who's not so lil anymore. I'll post more later. Hope you're all ok!!!