a collection of musings on life, politics, culture, and humor.
August 26, 2014
August 14, 2013
opening pandora's box
This showed up on Facebook a while back. I guess it explains why there are so many Dave Thomas themed stations on Pandora.
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| Pandora Headquarters. |
February 3, 2012
2011 predictions revisited
Oh, hey there, February! How you doing? What's that you say? I never reviewed my 2011 predictions last month like I was supposed to? Well son of a B.
Sorry about that, guys. I guess January just bowled me over like so many soda bottles in the back warehouse of the supermarket during the annual against-all-the-official-rules Thanksgiving time turkey bowling tournament that all supermarket employees apparently do, if sitcoms and angsty family dramas are to be believed (and I assume they are). My sincerest apologies.
Well, let's get down to it. As is my usual routine, I'll go through my predictions one-by-one and see how psychic I actually am. I've fared pretty well in the past, so I've got a lot of dignity riding on these results (by which I mean I actually have nothing whatsoever riding on these results).
So here we go. Ready? OKAY!
---
* My cooking, which is good but certainly nothing gourmet, is the subject of critical acclaim.
Nope. To be honest, I wrote this prediction the day after I submitted a recipe to a contest from the back of a pizza crust package. Apparently I was over-confident in myself.
* I get, and destroy, some awesome pants. These are hopefully two separate pairs, as I'd hate to destroy awesome pants right after getting them.
Yes. I got a brand new pair of khakis in January, and by March they were wearing paint due to somebody at work failing to cordon off a work area. That incident sums up how things work at that company pretty well.
* Brent surprises absolutely everyone by not contracting any STIs this year. This is most likely due to the fact that there are simply no more STIs left for him to contract.
Yes. Somehow, Brent managed to avoid contracting a single VD in 2011. Incidentally, he also landed a ladyfriend this year. Coincidence?
* A major purchase, like a car or some durable good, is in my future. I don't have any idea how this will happen, as I don't anticipate being able to afford anything in the next year.
Sort of. I didn't make a major purchase, but I did inherit a car. Also, sort of plus one on predicting that I wouldn't be able to afford jack shiz this year.
* A new job opportunity comes my way, and it's probably something unexpected and fairly exciting. This may help to explain how the above prediction can take place.
Yes. I got a new job, finally. You can now find me making your favorite handcrafted beverages at Starbucks Coffee Company. It's a much better company than my last one, so that's nice. Also, as a side note, I'm the only male in a store of 17 women. Needless to say, even my cycles are starting to synchronize.
* Someone I know gets punched right in the face. RIGHT IN THE FACE!
Yes. My brother (a cop) fulfilled this prediction literally days before the year's end by getting in a pretty serious brawl with some ill-mannered street toughs. Not only did he get punched right in the face (RIGHT IN THE FACE!), but he actually got sent right to the hospital (RIGHT TO THE HOSPITAL!) with a bite wound (!) that punched right through his shirt AND his jacket (!!!) and into his flesh. The guy with the strong teeth didn't fare nearly as well, I'm told.
* There will be a huge, huge scandal that turns everything upside down. The scandal will be old, but the news will be new. It will result in plenty of lost jobs, even more lost money, and at least one or two arrests.
Yes. May I briefly remind you of the Penn State scandal, in which former coach Jerry Sandusky was found to have spent the last several years raping boys in the locker room showers, and a number of school officials, presumably more concerned about the school's football program than about the fact that people are getting raped by their football coach, covered up the abuse just like the current Pope did before he was Pope. So that makes for a perfect score (regrettably) for this prediction: The scandal was old (Sandusky is alleged to have been raping people from as early on as the 70s), but the news was new (Sandusky was indicted on 11/4/11), plenty of jobs were lost (five, by my count), even more money was lost (it was good knowing you, profitable football program), and there were at least one or two arrests (three, actually).
* White supremacists will make headlines for doing something asinine, as white supremacists are prone to do.
Yes, but it depends on how you define asinine. How about a Nazi group adopting-a-highway in Delaware? Is that asinine, or just kind of silly? I guess it's your call.
On a sort-of related note, 2011 also saw former skinhead leader Bryon Widner undergo 25 surgeries to remove a bunch of Nazi tattoos from his face so he can put his wicked past behind him. That's not something asinine, and he's not currently a white supremacist (although he used to be), but it is neat enough to justify sharing here.
* At least two people I know beget children. These two people are, naturally, people whom I do not expect to be begetting children. This may be a result of the many unexpected marriages I predicted in years past.
Yes. A whole grip of them, most of whom I will not even bother listing (because you probably don't know them anyway). I will mention, though, that I had a niece born this year, which is pretty cool.
* Something from outer space collides with the earth, or with something we put into space from the earth. The price of tin foil goes sky high.
Yes. How about this? And this one? And this one here? Man, are there any satellites left in space?
* I appear on TV for some reason. I regret the fact that my hair looks so bad the one day I happen to be in front of a camera.
No. To my knowledge, I did not appear on TV this year. Although I did have plenty of days where my hair looked like crap.
* I think something in my life is going to catch fire. I hope it's not going to be like that time the whole city of San Diego burned down.
Maybe? I feel confident that something did in fact go up in flames, although I can't recall what it could have been. For purposes of the scorecard, I'm going to have to count this as a 'No', which is a bummer.
* I don't know why, but I think something bad will happen involving Adam Sandler.
Yes.
* I come in contact with a celebrity, who addresses me by name.
No. I don't remember encountering any celebrities this past year, but I did get one of my tweets favorited by a Canadian humorist, if that's worth anything.
* Madness, sheer madness, insanity, and inanity. Chinatown won't even know what hit it.
Not really, but kind of. There was a decent showing of madness, moderate insanity, and low-but-steady inanity throughout the year, but probably not amounting to the levels I had in mind when I made this prediction.
And the final numbers are in. Out of 15 predictions, I was correct 9 times, incorrect 4 times, and "kinda sorta" correct twice. That leaves me with a .60 average, which is 3.3% lower than last year, which means I need to really step up my game when it comes to psychic abilities.
Now, please enjoy this picture of an anthropomorphic peanut:
Sorry about that, guys. I guess January just bowled me over like so many soda bottles in the back warehouse of the supermarket during the annual against-all-the-official-rules Thanksgiving time turkey bowling tournament that all supermarket employees apparently do, if sitcoms and angsty family dramas are to be believed (and I assume they are). My sincerest apologies.
Well, let's get down to it. As is my usual routine, I'll go through my predictions one-by-one and see how psychic I actually am. I've fared pretty well in the past, so I've got a lot of dignity riding on these results (by which I mean I actually have nothing whatsoever riding on these results).
So here we go. Ready? OKAY!
---
* My cooking, which is good but certainly nothing gourmet, is the subject of critical acclaim.
Nope. To be honest, I wrote this prediction the day after I submitted a recipe to a contest from the back of a pizza crust package. Apparently I was over-confident in myself.
* I get, and destroy, some awesome pants. These are hopefully two separate pairs, as I'd hate to destroy awesome pants right after getting them.
Yes. I got a brand new pair of khakis in January, and by March they were wearing paint due to somebody at work failing to cordon off a work area. That incident sums up how things work at that company pretty well.
 |
| Pretty much exactly like this. |
* Brent surprises absolutely everyone by not contracting any STIs this year. This is most likely due to the fact that there are simply no more STIs left for him to contract.
Yes. Somehow, Brent managed to avoid contracting a single VD in 2011. Incidentally, he also landed a ladyfriend this year. Coincidence?
* A major purchase, like a car or some durable good, is in my future. I don't have any idea how this will happen, as I don't anticipate being able to afford anything in the next year.
Sort of. I didn't make a major purchase, but I did inherit a car. Also, sort of plus one on predicting that I wouldn't be able to afford jack shiz this year.
* A new job opportunity comes my way, and it's probably something unexpected and fairly exciting. This may help to explain how the above prediction can take place.
Yes. I got a new job, finally. You can now find me making your favorite handcrafted beverages at Starbucks Coffee Company. It's a much better company than my last one, so that's nice. Also, as a side note, I'm the only male in a store of 17 women. Needless to say, even my cycles are starting to synchronize.
 |
| Me with my co-workers. I'm the one with the beard. |
* Someone I know gets punched right in the face. RIGHT IN THE FACE!
Yes. My brother (a cop) fulfilled this prediction literally days before the year's end by getting in a pretty serious brawl with some ill-mannered street toughs. Not only did he get punched right in the face (RIGHT IN THE FACE!), but he actually got sent right to the hospital (RIGHT TO THE HOSPITAL!) with a bite wound (!) that punched right through his shirt AND his jacket (!!!) and into his flesh. The guy with the strong teeth didn't fare nearly as well, I'm told.
* There will be a huge, huge scandal that turns everything upside down. The scandal will be old, but the news will be new. It will result in plenty of lost jobs, even more lost money, and at least one or two arrests.
Yes. May I briefly remind you of the Penn State scandal, in which former coach Jerry Sandusky was found to have spent the last several years raping boys in the locker room showers, and a number of school officials, presumably more concerned about the school's football program than about the fact that people are getting raped by their football coach, covered up the abuse just like the current Pope did before he was Pope. So that makes for a perfect score (regrettably) for this prediction: The scandal was old (Sandusky is alleged to have been raping people from as early on as the 70s), but the news was new (Sandusky was indicted on 11/4/11), plenty of jobs were lost (five, by my count), even more money was lost (it was good knowing you, profitable football program), and there were at least one or two arrests (three, actually).
* White supremacists will make headlines for doing something asinine, as white supremacists are prone to do.
Yes, but it depends on how you define asinine. How about a Nazi group adopting-a-highway in Delaware? Is that asinine, or just kind of silly? I guess it's your call.
On a sort-of related note, 2011 also saw former skinhead leader Bryon Widner undergo 25 surgeries to remove a bunch of Nazi tattoos from his face so he can put his wicked past behind him. That's not something asinine, and he's not currently a white supremacist (although he used to be), but it is neat enough to justify sharing here.
* At least two people I know beget children. These two people are, naturally, people whom I do not expect to be begetting children. This may be a result of the many unexpected marriages I predicted in years past.
Yes. A whole grip of them, most of whom I will not even bother listing (because you probably don't know them anyway). I will mention, though, that I had a niece born this year, which is pretty cool.
* Something from outer space collides with the earth, or with something we put into space from the earth. The price of tin foil goes sky high.
Yes. How about this? And this one? And this one here? Man, are there any satellites left in space?
* I appear on TV for some reason. I regret the fact that my hair looks so bad the one day I happen to be in front of a camera.
No. To my knowledge, I did not appear on TV this year. Although I did have plenty of days where my hair looked like crap.
* I think something in my life is going to catch fire. I hope it's not going to be like that time the whole city of San Diego burned down.
Maybe? I feel confident that something did in fact go up in flames, although I can't recall what it could have been. For purposes of the scorecard, I'm going to have to count this as a 'No', which is a bummer.
* I don't know why, but I think something bad will happen involving Adam Sandler.
Yes.
* I come in contact with a celebrity, who addresses me by name.
No. I don't remember encountering any celebrities this past year, but I did get one of my tweets favorited by a Canadian humorist, if that's worth anything.
* Madness, sheer madness, insanity, and inanity. Chinatown won't even know what hit it.
Not really, but kind of. There was a decent showing of madness, moderate insanity, and low-but-steady inanity throughout the year, but probably not amounting to the levels I had in mind when I made this prediction.
 |
| This is about as insane and inane as it got. This is admittedly unimpressive. I'm getting old, you see. |
And the final numbers are in. Out of 15 predictions, I was correct 9 times, incorrect 4 times, and "kinda sorta" correct twice. That leaves me with a .60 average, which is 3.3% lower than last year, which means I need to really step up my game when it comes to psychic abilities.
Now, please enjoy this picture of an anthropomorphic peanut:
January 19, 2012
blackout lifted
Black it up, black it in, let me begin...
Thanks for participating in my honor system blackout (which according to Google Analytics was exactly the same as a normal day for this site). You may resume reading my amazing and wonderful prose now.
Also, enjoy this picture of a man entertaining seniors with an accordion:
Thanks for participating in my honor system blackout (which according to Google Analytics was exactly the same as a normal day for this site). You may resume reading my amazing and wonderful prose now.
Also, enjoy this picture of a man entertaining seniors with an accordion:
 |
| Please don't even ask, because the answer is "I don't know." |
January 18, 2012
site blackout in protest of SOPA/PIPA
I thought about blacking this site out today in protest of the disastrous SOPA/PIPA legislation that would effectively give the US government authority to censor the internet, but then I realized I'd probably forget to unblock it tomorrow, and then all like four of my followers would be out of luck until I remembered what I did sometime probably next April or so, and by the time I put the site back online, they'd all have unfollowed me on Google Reader and replaced my feed with LOLcats or something like that. So I decided to keep this site up today, and instead institute a...
HONOR SYSTEM BLACKOUT DAY
Please do not read this blog on January 18 between the hours of 12:00AM and 11:59PM EST.
Go read haikus about lubed up dolphins somewhere else!
October 27, 2011
some haikus about george w bush
This post is part of a feature where people give me a topic, and I write 12 haiku about it. This post is brought to you by @thelobito.
George W. Bush
The 43rd President
Of the USA
He is from Texas
Used to be the governer
Before Rick Perry
He talked like a dork
And looked kind of like a chimp
What a tragedy
I bet that Al Gore
Wishes that guy Ralph Nader
Just stayed out of things
Bush owned the Rangers
The MLB baseball team
Not park services
Why did Jake Tremblay
Ask me to write twelve haiku
About Dubya Bush?
"I'm the decider!"
Was one of the stupidest
Things he ever said
Most agree that he
Was not a good President
But some think he was
The best thing he did
Was move Daylight Savings Time
And that's about it
The War on Terror
Even a child could tell you
Bad idea, man
You know it's bad when
Even John Kerry looks good
In comparison
Now that he's retired
I have less malice toward him
But he sure was bad
George W. Bush
The 43rd President
Of the USA
He is from Texas
Used to be the governer
Before Rick Perry
He talked like a dork
And looked kind of like a chimp
What a tragedy
I bet that Al Gore
Wishes that guy Ralph Nader
Just stayed out of things
Bush owned the Rangers
The MLB baseball team
Not park services
Why did Jake Tremblay
Ask me to write twelve haiku
About Dubya Bush?
"I'm the decider!"
Was one of the stupidest
Things he ever said
Most agree that he
Was not a good President
But some think he was
The best thing he did
Was move Daylight Savings Time
And that's about it
The War on Terror
Even a child could tell you
Bad idea, man
You know it's bad when
Even John Kerry looks good
In comparison
Now that he's retired
I have less malice toward him
But he sure was bad
some haikus about new delhi
This post is part of a feature where people give me a subject, and I write 12 haiku about it. This post is brought to you by @BigCP46.
New Delhi haiku
Are bound to be a challenge
'Cause I'm ignorant
Googling New Delhi
Now I feel like a big dork
It's in India
I think New Delhi
Is infinitely better
Than that Old Delhi
Visiting this place
You may find an Indian
Not the cowboy kind
India is big
The biggest population
In the whole dang world
What do you think of
When you think of New Delhi?
Men with pants, perhaps?
Being in India
New Delhi's bound to get hot
In the summertime
The best part about
The country of India
Is Indian food
I love to eat naan
It's ever so delicious
But that's off topic
Writing twelve haiku
About a place in Asia
Harder than you think
FDR would say
"New Delhi is a ripoff
Sounds just like New Deal"
No stereotypes
Not going to write about
Technical support
New Delhi haiku
Are bound to be a challenge
'Cause I'm ignorant
Googling New Delhi
Now I feel like a big dork
It's in India
I think New Delhi
Is infinitely better
Than that Old Delhi
Visiting this place
You may find an Indian
Not the cowboy kind
India is big
The biggest population
In the whole dang world
What do you think of
When you think of New Delhi?
Men with pants, perhaps?
Being in India
New Delhi's bound to get hot
In the summertime
The best part about
The country of India
Is Indian food
I love to eat naan
It's ever so delicious
But that's off topic
Writing twelve haiku
About a place in Asia
Harder than you think
FDR would say
"New Delhi is a ripoff
Sounds just like New Deal"
No stereotypes
Not going to write about
Technical support
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