PSA

Don't forget: Fall is the season of pumpkin ice-cream. Schedule some consumption before you forget and miss it again.

Why is he dressed like Castro?

A very uncomfortable-sounding web guy was just on 102.1 talking about the new B-Stream section on edge.ca. Once I realized he wasn't saying "pee stream", things became clearer. Looks like they've got some streaming music going on, and that users, edge staff, and a few celebrities have the ability to submit playlists. It's acting like a streaming radio station right now, with no option to skip or select, but I recommend a look. I'd like to at least be able to select which playlist I want -- for example, I want to listen to what k-os posted -- but all in all it's worth keeping an eye on. After all, The Edge is awesome. Not as awesome as The Edge, but then what is?

The Hardest

As you can see, I've gone a little button crazy. Something about 'em I just like. They're a webgeek version of the bars military personnel wear. Want your own? Go here:

Rock out

In an effort to avoid having an ice cavern for an apartment this year, we did some work today with the desperately needed assistance of the in-laws. In short, we prepped the windows against one Johnathan Frost. Endless caulk jokes. Endless caulk jokes... with my father-in-law. Somehow I survived, but probably only since he knew that if he brained me with mallet he would end up having to rehang the curtains.

Hello, Oogie.

Ran into one of the IT guys today, the guardian of the Secret Elephant Graveyard, the one who looks like Kamajii but with fewer arms and talks like an ent. He was standing in the men's room, staring into the mirror and rubbing his beard. I impart to you, gentle reader, this summarized transcript of the conversation which started there and continued into the hallway.

Alex: Given up on pulling out your hair and moved on to the beard?

Kamajii: Nah, just plucking the bugs out.

A: Fun.

K: Sometimes I think I should just give up. Just pick 'em off the ground and stick 'em in my beard. Save 'em the trouble.

A: Totally, dude. You should embrace it. You should teach them to do stuff. Like the flea circus in old cartoons.

K: Make them do my bidding. Get into small places.

A: Freak people out.

K: But then the Orkin man would come after me.

A: You could walk into the Pentagon and say "check this shit out". Apply your powers for the common good. Wear a cloak and stuff.

K: They'd strap me down and do all kinds of experiments on me.

A: If they try it, sic the bugs on 'em.

Over 9000

Just how much is a proud man willing to debase himself in order to win an Xbox 360 from Mountain Dew?

• Start occasionally buying Pepsi at work, even though it sucks? Yes.
• Plan on replacing the normal household purchase of Coke with Pepsi from 10/2/05 through 10/22/05 (or while supplies last), in order to receive the specially marked sticker worth three codes? Yes.
• Convince coworkers to give him their bottlecaps? Yes.
• Ask the Housekeeping folks to glean the caps from the discarded Pepsi products of the workplace? No.
• Take a bottlecap off of an empty bottle left on top of a trash can in the cafeteria? Yes.
• Take a bottlecap off of the ground on Elmwood? No.
• Spot an empty bottle, insist that the car be stopped, jump out and grab the cap? No.

I'm not proud of it, but I'm not hiding anything either.

8 @ 57@r7

A coworker of mine got a new phone extension --1337. As we all know, this totally pwns.

For those of you not disgustingly geek-assed enough to know what I'm talking about, this is leetspeak (or "13375p34k"), the odd twisting of the English language used by online gamers. I recommend the wikipedia entry on the topic for a good summary of the major points. Anytime you see numbers used instead of letters in the middle of a word, the suffix "-xors" added to a word for no reason, and other such nonsense, back slowly away until you can feel functioning society around you again.

From a linguistic standpoint, leetspeak fascinates me, particularly its prevalence and standardization. How can so many people use the same made-up rules in the same way? I understand why a secretive "language" or code system would be used by girl-phobic basement-dwellers as they bop around pretending to be elves. It's a step above jargon, intentionally meant to conceal and confuse, that only the insiders can interpret or often even recognize. This is geek perfection.

That being said, do not ever use leet in conversation with me. I will smack you, y0u 0v3rc4ff3'n473d w4ck0.

Grrr...

I do my best to avoid acting in anger. Maybe it's because I'm from puritanical New England, maybe it's because I watched too much Star Wars as a kid, I don't know. I'm certainly not always successful, but that's what I try to adhere to.

My question is this: is anger useful? Can anger be used to strengthen good actions? It's certainly a good way to get a boost of energy, but is it more destructive in the end? Unfettered, anger will make one lose focus and make mistakes. Can it be fettered? Can a controlled anger yield positive results?

Flippy

Not entirely sure why you would buy Zoo Keeper for the NDS, when you can play it for free all over the net, and have been able to for years. And anyway, I thought the DS was only for Nintendogs.

That's a bad outfit!

The new Superman movie is going to be bad. I need to keep reminding myself of this. The first one is bad, and that has Christopher Frackin' Reeve.

The thing is, I've been so Pavlovved by the theme music that they could play a test pattern and I'd love it. There's a fake teaser trailer out there, and I barely made it through that in one piece -- I can't imagine what a mess I'm going to be at the end of the full feature-length film.

The problem is as follows. For reasons unbeknownst to me, Superman holds great power over me. There are only two things that can elicit a strong positive emotional response from me: the American national anthem and Superman. Apparently I have a serious feelings about the strongest thing on Earth using its powers for good.

Even I

I have a blog. That means I have to write about Katrina, right?

I have a request. Please stop using this horrific tragedy as an example of your political agenda. Stop snorting and saying "typical". Whether you're a member of the Bush Defamation League, you don't like people whose skin has more or less brown than yours, you're anti-gun, or whatever the hell you're trying to prove, I'm tired of it. People are dying and other people are trying to help them. That's it.


Here are some selections from CNN.com's timeline of the events.

August 26th

• 4 p.m.: Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour and Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco declare states of emergency.


August 27th

• During the day, residents of Louisiana's low-lying areas are told they must evacuate; residents in other low-lying areas are urgently advised to do so. President Bush declares a state of emergency in Louisiana.


August 28th

• 10 a.m.: As Katrina hits 175 mph winds, New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin orders mandatory evacuations as the storm seems to beat a direct path to the city.


August 29th

Katrina hits.


August 30th

• The U.S. military starts to move ships and helicopters to the region at the request of the Federal Emergency Management Agency.


August 31

• President Bush flies over the Gulf Coast in Air Force One to survey the damage. He later announces a major federal mobilization to help the victims.


September 1

• Violence disrupts relief efforts as authorities rescue trapped residents and try to evacuate thousands of others living among corpses and human waste. Those stranded express growing frustration with the disorder evident on the streets, raising questions about the coordination and timeliness of relief efforts.

• Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff announces that 4,200 National Guard troops trained as military police will be deployed to New Orleans over the next three days. Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco requests the mobilization of 40,000 National Guard troops.


September 2

• President Bush visits Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana, and later signs a $10.5 billion disaster relief bill.

• Members of the Congressional Black Caucus criticize the pace of relief efforts, saying response was slow because those most affected are poor.


September 3rd

• The Army Corps of Engineers brings in pumps and generators from around the nation to help get New Orleans pumps back on line and bail out the city.


Now, I don't really have anything to compare the timeliness of the federal response to. Maybe the people who are making claims that the goverment should have responded more quickly know more about these things than I do, but I'm not sure I buy that it could have been faster.

Yes, people have guns. Yes, people who are very hungry and very upset have guns. And yes, there have been incidents of some people shooting at the people who are trying to help. This is very, very messed up. This does not mean that we should abandon anyone, or that anything even remotely resembling a majority of victims do not deserve help. We should not succumb to the temptation to group the victims together based on the actions of a few crazed jerks.

And that's all I've got.

Dollface

Japanese people are weird. If you don't believe me, go check this out. Jesus.

Not pictured

I just received some pictures from my Mom. One of them is of one of my brothers, this one being The Dark Lord of Darkness. How dark is he, you ask? In the picture, he is wearing a T-shirt which reads "I'm only wearing black until they make something darker".

The picture is of him opening his birthday present, a green striped polo shirt. Come on, Mom.