Runaway Thoughts

I started this blog for two main reasons: 1. My love for technology, gadgets, software, etc., and 2. Sheer. Boredom.

On the first count I may have started out well by writing on tech. topics that fascinate me and that I thought I could expound upon from an interesting angle. Did I succeed on this count? I couldn’t really say and, besides, I didn’t stick with it long enough to build a readership, which would have garnered feedback. To top it off I didn’t stay on-topic. It didn’t take long before I began riffing on bath robes and soap operas, crappy museum exhibits and morons from Indiana. And, as everyone knows, once you start down that road it’s not long before Sheer Boredom turns to Apathy. Which leads to posts like “Mississippi Churning”.

They say that the problem with society-at-large is apathy. But, then again, who really cares?

It’s Been Awhile

I (obviously) haven’t posted anything for several weeks but will be posting new articles shortly.

Mississippi Churning

“I was trying to shed a little light on the number one problem in Mississippi.”

Thus spake Mississippi State Rep. John Read (R) of the Bill he has introduced that would make it illegal for restaurants in Mississippi to serve obese people.

First, I find it highly unlikely that obesity is actually The Number One Problem in Mississippi. Second, I find it highly unlikely that obesity is actually The Number One Problem in Mississippi. And, lastly, I seriously doubt that Mr. Read will be Rep. Read after the next election. But, hey, stranger things have happened.

You can read the story here.

Thank God Microsoft Made A Bid On Yahoo!

Now maybe I’ll have something else to read about besides The Second Coming Of Christ (known to us common folk as the release of the MacBook Air)!

Seriously, if I have to wade through another Blue Million posts in Google Reader about how Apple’s latest offering is the best thing since sliced bread (or even the flipside, that it amounts to a $2k Frisbee) I’m going to cancel all of my feeds except boingboing! For crying out loud, we get it already! It’s a really really thin laptop. And expensive. And did I mention that it’s, well, really really thin? News Flash: It’s a computer, not the end of world hunger! May we please move along?

Now if only someone, anyone, would write about Microsoft and Yahoo!.

It’s not much of a hobby, but it’s a hobby.

Some people collect stamps and some collect coins. Some folks like crossword puzzles while others watch birds. Whatever the activity the point is still the same: Everybody needs a hobby!

One huff is never enough!

There’s nothing quite so relaxing as a good ol’ fashioned huff from a can of compressed air, or so I’m told. But huffing while you’re driving strikes me as a little, how do you say, counterproductive. I mean it’s one thing to chat on your cell phone, maybe put on a little makeup, eat a sandwich, etc., But huffing?

The really funny thing is that Misty continued her attempt to huff fumes while being questioned by the police!

Only in Indiana. Hopefully.

Declaring War on War

I don’t know about you but I’m sick and tired of hearing the phrase “The war on (fill in the blank).” We have (official) wars on terror; child obesity; drugs; poverty and homelessness to name a few. Quick searches on Google, Live Search and Yahoo! turned up references to wars on Christianity; democracy; smoking; truth; infrastructure; George Bush; rats; fathers; shampoo; the media; guns; dissent; minorities; waste; immigration; Christmas; war on the “war on Christmas”; troop boredom; doctors; consciousness; science; whistle-blowers; spam (the email variety not the processed meat, although…) and my personal favorite, bullshit.

There’s one more “war on” to add to the list and that would be the one that prompted this rant: The “War on Internet Piracy”. Please don’t misunderstand me. I am not advocating the piracy of copyrighted material. My beef is with the use of the phrase “war on” and how it’s been bandied about to the point of meaninglessness.

The “War on Terror” is almost forgivable. Almost. After all an actual war, complete with soldiers and everything, is being fought in Afghanistan and Iraq. (I say “almost forgivable” because “War on Terror” is a misnomer. If it were called “War on Terrorists” it would be closer to the truth.) As for the rest of them, by trying to add weight to whatever cause they are “warring” against (or for), they actually soften the impact of the phrase. I mean, really, infrastructure? Spam? Troop boredom? Pointless.

Does this inclination to label causes as a “war on” say something troubling about our society, that we’re fascinated or obsessed, even, with the notion of war? Or is it simply a symptom of the dumbing-down of language? I don’t know. Thoughts?

Poo Happens! (At the Carnegie Museum of Natural History)

My Grandpa always told me, “You can dress up a turd and take it to the museum, but it’s still a turd!”. Sage words, those.

Apparently, though, Grandpa forgot to pass that advice along to the folks at the Carnegie Museum of Natural History who have a new exhibit filled with fun for the whole family! Well, it’s full of something, anyway. And that something happens to be poo! And, lest you think I jest when I say “…fun for the whole family!”, here’s a fun filled quote from Ellen James, who does something or other at the museum: “Some people may hear about this exhibit and think it sounds weird or gross or funny, and they’re right, it’s all of that…but you’re actually going to learn a lot about the science of poop.” Which makes me wonder…do scientists call it “poop”? But I digress…

Anyhoo, if you’re in the neighborhood drop on in and have a peek at the poo.

A big shout out to my friend Lisa (who happens to be a proud Keystoner) for the tails-up, as it were!

Workin’ on the weekend

Today is Friday, or, as I like to call it, Monday. “Monday?”, you ask. Yes, Monday. Because my work week commences this morn, you see. For the next three days, from 5 in the a.m. until half past 5 in the p.m. I’ll be workin’ for tha man, totin’ his barge and liftin’ his bale.

I don’t like it, this workin’ for tha man, but like the Good Book says: “By the sweat of thy brow…”. And besides, I’ve discovered that lying around all day in my robe, eating sharp cheddar cheese and potato chips, goofing on my laptop, all while watching General Hospital, doesn’t exactly promote brow-sweat, nor does it pay all that well. Go figure.

So, I think I’ll stumble to the kitchen for a shot of Joe, check the weather and the morning headlines, scrape the frost from my car windows (Old Man Winter will not die soon enough to suit me!), and join my fellow wage earners on that “…long road to the middle”.

I’d rather watch General Hospital, though.

Best rant ever!

If your in the mood for a seriously, seriously funny rant, even if the topic is a haircut the guy saw, then head (pun intended, please forgive) on over to “And I Am Not Lying. For Real.” , and have yourself a good laugh!