boy o'boy!! auld eire!

and awaaaaaay we go!!

hey! sign this

the letter from Rep. Conyers to Bush declaring intent to try to pass a motion to censure he and Cheney.

please sign.

Damn!! David Brooks gets apocalyptical!

!

and apoplectic!!

will it lead to apoptosis??

I don't even know what to say

except that I'm very happy that this shit is going down.

I'm talking about all the shit about Bush that's coming down now.
He said a year ago that he doesn't wiretap without a warrant, and now he said that he does.

I know, I know, it's no big shocker that this administration lies like all-get-out,
but hopefully, this'll be the straw that finally gets stuck in the camels eye and then it gets
infected and then they have to amputate at the neck.

bring it, bitch.

i love this essay by Kristof in the New York Times.


war-on-christmas-o'reilly-bullshit.

read it.

cold. so cold.

so very cold.

I guess if it gets much colder,
I may have to take shelter in my freshly killed Ton-ton.


no big deal, though.

I've got a lightsaber.

yes, I remembered I can post pictures

hey - you'd be in the spotlight too, if you had a name like that.

damn she's cute

we start 'em young,
and we start 'em on macs.


oh yeah - she's my niece

what'd you say? I'm what?

much too cool for you?

oh.
that's what I thought you said.

mmmm...summmmmmer

I miss it.

A Conversation in Context (Philadelphia, 2005)

< Con

and when those days come, the days of the apocolypse
- not the jesus one, just regular worldwide catastrophe, I truly feel like I will be among the useful.

but listen to me well,
those of you with skills only useful in this 'advanced' society of ours,
if you try to fuck around (cover YOUR back?? why should I cover YOUR back?? maybe I won't!)

then I won't hesitate.
I won't be able to.

sorry.

text >

the write stuff

So you know how when you’re in a bad relationship with some guy, he’s totally going out, being beligerant. He had come into the whole relationship seeming like a good guy, really compassionate. Like he wanted to help you clean yourself up, stop hanging out with those guys, put on some nice clothing and get your hair and nails done.
So you go for it, and he seems relatively harmless for a bit.
Then some bad shit happens that affects a lot of people and all of a sudden he seems to get some kind of hero complex; like he’s supposed to go and help all these people. But weird-like, not in a red cross kinda way, but more jesus-on-a-cross kinda way, you know? So he’s getting all strange and and negative and stuff, and after all kinds of different shit happens,

you meet a new guy.
He seems like a pretty good, upstanding guy. Really couldn’t say much bad about him. You know a lot of people who’ve been friends with him for a long time, and they all have nice things to say. So you start hanging out with him and it turns out you like what he has to say. Turns out he says a lot of the same things that you think would be good for you – and he wants to be with you real bad.

So he starts wooing you, flowers, dinners, concerts, the whole deal and you’re thinking about this new guy. But
then the old guy comes back into your life. He just wants to keep you safe, he says; that’s all he was trying to do before, he swears. And you know what?, he says, that other guy just won’t be able to keep you safe when it comes down to it. He just won’t. When you go to the other guy, he just doesn’t seem to be able to find the words to say that it’ll be ok with him, that he’ll be able to keep you just as safe – even though you have a feeling it’s true.

What’s a body to do? You gotta trust words, and so you go with mr safe. Hey, at least you can always say, you said you would; I trusted you.


Sigh.


I guess in the end, that’s what it came down to. The guy with the right stuff on the inside was pushed away for the guy with the writers staff on his side.


But you know what makes me smile? That even though I rejected him, he still sends me emails. Little notes to let me know that he’s still around, still cares, still hopes for our future together, and still needs money.

God bless John Kerry.

hey, here's a thought

who gets up in the morning on a frigid winter day, shivers as they get out from underneath their nice warm down comforter,
looks out the window at the snow on the ground, sees the breath billowing out of bypassers mouths and

PUTS ON SHORTS!!

maybe it's 'cause I spends my whole day on a college campus, and it's just another one of those crazy college kid fads, but honestly, what the fuck.

jeopardy

have I ever mentioned that I watch this show every day?
or if I don't watch it, I record it and watch it later.

I love jeopardy and there's a decent chance that I'll kick your ass at it.

thank you Alex.

weddings, classes, and more

so this is pretty final - August 24th at the Palm House in the Brooklyn Botanical Gardens.
should be a smashing time.

as it will be in a glass house, please don't throw stoned.

about classes, I'm trying to sign up for a creative writing class that will teach the sort of writing that is along the lines of Woody Allen and Mark Twain.
Coupled with my burgeoning improv career, I should have a 4 movie-a-year contract in no time.
and likely making movies as good as Woody's recent offerings.

and the more?

I'm hungry.

tap for it

what a time.

so we went to new york on tues eve, saw a bunch of wedding venues on wednesday - thanks to R for letting use the car. really did make the whole thing easier.

thursday morning, M, J and I took the train up to CT for thanksgiving day - hectic as always, lots of people, food and
noise. noise. noise.
was J's first time with the mass of humanity that makes up the extended.
of course it was M's first time, and both handled it beautifully.

a night's sleep and we were off to Providence for the weekend.
a rented car and a few hours later, it was sundown.

I do love seeing interaction between J and the parents - not sure why, but it makes me pretty happy.

very nice times were had over the weekend, lots of heated discussion on all things, from holy to unholy.
fear not - abortion, belief in god, homosinuality, and any other controversial topic were all guests.

plenty of warm discussion too.

J learned how to tap for just about anything - very cool.
near to cured her insomnia.

saturday night's alright for fighting, but we decided to go out for a drink instead - worked out better in the end. hung
with shy, and that was cool.

sunday was taking M to the airport, saying bye to B and Maia.

a tour of Slater Mill was quite cool. very wild that they could see what was needed to get from A to Z and could build a machine to do it.
turning cotton into thread into cloth into money.
it's like magic, using gears.

the train home - decided that was better than flying early Monday, and truly it was.

I'm pretty sure M and J had a nice time,

and the gluten ribs were great.

wedding balls are stinging

yep.
going on Wednesday to look at a few venues for the biggest wedding of my life (our lives).

should be interesting, looking at these places with the sharp and trained eye of a professional venue-looker.
I'm sure I'll see all kinds of small details, both positive and negative, that will both excite me, as well as cause great dismay.

I'll be looking for such things as: are there toilets? how many? is toilet paper included in the price? double roll, or single? do we get bathroom attendants, or will guests be expected to turn the sinks on themselves? how about drying their own hands? do we really want to go there?

if you've been married before, you know that these are some of the things that weigh on the mind of the wed-ers, right up until the caterer doesn't show up.

then your priorities change.

well that was fun

what a weekend!

friday night dinner
an entirely fun time
then a bike ride home in the cold.

waking up and brunching
found a new place around the corner.

playing ball (one of a few times in the last 8 years)
stretching and exercising for a little while.

meeting up for pizza bagels and beer
first time in that place since j was in college
and then to smoke's, where I've never been.

seeing a play at the kelly writers house
and what a play it was. dan put out some
pretty wild stuff.
the play was very good.

on to lt's for drinks and people talking
my neck hurt so I went home.

we chilled till late night and went to sleep.
the bed broke. in the morning, I went to the couch for
the extra room.

then for the second time in two days, we
went to brunch. at that point, we all went home
and hung around.

we went for coffee, after a while.
I went off to my class, and everyone came
for the show. it was pretty good, actually, and I
was definitely happy about it.

back to the house, and chinese food
with lots of talking and tv watching.

more talking and then everyone left.

we updated our ipods and went
to bed.

there's something missing from this picture...

you remember the book 'goodnight moon', right?
so check it - they've removed the ashtray from the illustrations in the book and taken the cigarette out of the author's hand in his picture.

while i'm all for people not smoking, even annoyingly so at times, i'm not so sure that this is good.

at the very least it makes me feel wierd.

i think of that movie 'basic instinct' where they had to manipulate the video in order to see the woman leaving the room where she killed the guy -
that might have been one of my first realizations that

reality (like realty),

unless you see it with your own eyes, is very suspect.

best tv show cancelled

so, if you are a regular around here, you may or may not know about the best show on tv these days.
i say 'these days' because it's not going to be around for much longer.
yes, i'm talking about
martha stewart's version of the apprentice.

hahahahahahahahaha.
no, not really.

what i'm talking about is Arrested Development (note the caps to denote supreme importance).

fox, as is their habit, develops great shows and then cancels them.
they let them win all their emmys, bobbys, critic's awards and what have you and then cancels them.

wicked brilliant, if you think about it, because...
well, i'm sure it is, 'cause they keep doing it.

well, it's too bad.

so - here's a good article about it.

support your local

that's what we're supposed to do, you know.
buy locally, buy from your mom&pop neighborhood store - not from the behemoth big-box stores that are stealing business away, forcing shops to close.

well, i tried.
i needed a socket wrench set, so i went up the block to the local hardwear store.
now, i understand they are small and can't stock everything a person might need, but the only socket set they had was of the crappy variety. you know those crappy tools you can find at the dollar store or where-ever; they just fall apart or don't work for the job they are meant.
i must have gone to 4 or 5 other small, local hardware stores, finding the same crap in each one.

so now what, i ask?
i could have them order me a set, and wait a week until it comes in.
i could go online and order it from a (big-box) website like Amazon and have it in a day or two.
or i can just ride down to WalHomeLowesSears and have my choice of quality brands at a low price.

i went, i bought, and i feel bad.

but not as bad as either having crappy, unreliable tools or no tools at all.

this title is informative

that's what they say a 'title' should be, you know.
it should give you the flavour, a little taste of what's to come in the post that follows.

so, i believe i've achieved my goal.
thanks for listening.

dearth of comments

so - i've been told that what i post here doesn't exactly lend to commenting.

is that true?

denver, eh?

that's what i'm talking about.

up to an ounce is legal in denver.

check it

lord gym

i need to work out again. i say again, because i have now recognized that i don't work out, not that i'm on a break from working out.

that being said, i need to get back to the gym.

well this is exciting!!

i'm going to yerp!

yep - yerp!

i ain't never done been to yerp really, not least for mor'n a few hours.


sick.

flock

i know it's all over the place, but i've been playing with flock for the past day and a half, and it's cool.

there's a learning curve, but once you get into it, you can see the potential

reccanize!!!

i'm wicked famous.

these days

i'm getting wigged out by the weeks peppered with jewish holidays

seriously, every couple days, it's friday again, and then monday comes like
four times a week and it's getting a bit hard to handle.

not to mention i'm missing my yoga class three times in a row.

went for a long bike ride today, and that was really fun. we went up and down then over and
back then up and back home -
a very satisfying ride


that wedding date may have to change a bit, just for the record.


whatever.

these past weeks seem like the longest weekend ever or something

from what i hear

going to law school is being pissed when you find out that you agree with scalia half the time

throw the rabbi!!

am i the last one to see this?
i feel like this should have been around for a really long time.
use the thing to make him floyzen and then plotz.



check it.

wedding date

august 20

ambiguouly gay duo

if you've ever loved these bits from SNL, then you'll....love this collection of those bits.

check it

puerto rico isn't happening.

shit.

that would have been really cool.

celebrate

so the holiday was nice, lido style, with the tauber family circus.

know what's hard? planning a wedding.
and not even planning the thing, but just trying to
come up with a
basic idea of a wedding in order to
start thinking about
organizing
the preliminary plans
for the wedding.

rough man, rough.

hah! this is cool!

national geographic has a webcam set up that is pointing at a watering hole in a savannah in Africa

you can actually see animals and stuff...has a very fast connection, so it looks really good.

check it

yoger

that's how we say it where i come from.

so my downward dog is tamed, my child's pose isn't a horror flick, my table is clean and my body is wracked with fucking pain.

yep, i had my first yoga class last night, and i am sore.
it was cool and all, definitely flew by a lot faster than i thought it would, and in the end i was actually relaxed.

the teacher was cool, but just a little too flexible, if you ask me. shudder.

there's a lot of flaky esoteric stuff in there too - from the cheesy soundtrack to the encouraging 'feel the core strengthening' and 'look inside yourself and revel in the engergy of the pose' and finally ending with an OM

but i'll be going back, at least till i don't anymore

red crossssss

so i did a stint at the local red cross office last night, spending the time answering calls that come in to the emergency services lines.

wild.
i had no training whatsoever, basically was shown a bunch of forms that need to be filled out when people call.

why are they calling?
well, they've had some kind of disaster happen to them, usually a fire, or a they are family of military who are trying to locate service-people for various reasons.

or they are looking for training classes, how to volunteer, where to donate, and so on and so forth.

it was kind of surreal b/c you would think that the people on the other end of the phone when you call the red cross are highly trained personnel.

well, it's not.

it's me.

24

- - - - - - - - - - - - -

the events in this blogpost take place between 3:46 and 3:47 on the day of the extended 24 dvd-watching marathon


my name is zack and this is the longest day of the week. so far.

- - - - - - - - - - - - -

don't park on me!

so the other night, we're looking around the east village for a parking spot, and holy crap, there's one in the most perfect spot ever.
less than a half a block from the apt, right in front of us.
so, we pull up next to it, check the sign, yep, it's good.

we inch forward to give ourselves some space to back in, and start backing in.
there we are, about halfway in the spot, totally on the diagonal - clearly taking the spot.

and up comes this fucking lady. in a bright yellow sports car, and pulls her car halfway into the spot!
(i neglected to mention this was the 'end' spot, so she was able to drive right up into the spot, something we had been unable to do b/c of traffic)

anyway, so she sees us halfway in and then proceeded to pull her car in. this was not a good situation. i was tired.
and riding bitch.

once it became obvious that she wasn't moving (and after much hand-waving), i knew something had to be done.
i got out of the car, and walked over towards her.
standing right in front of her bumper, i said, hey- it's obviously our spot, and we're taking it. so please move on.

the nerve. the nerve of this lady, what she said next.
she says, well, it looks like a tie to me.
(a tie?! a tie?! this isn't your fucking kids soccer game, lady! this isn't a three-legged race at your companies annual picnic, you dumb fuck!)

so i says, are you fucking kidding me? a tie? we were backing into the spot, and you pulled in. now go away.

so she starts inching forward. very close to my knee at this point, and you know me and my knees. don't hit them.
i lift a finger, and hold it up, in the universal 'hold it' fashion.
whoa, i say with a menacing look, don't even think of touching me with that car.

as i'm looking at her, i glance down and almost smile at my opportunity.
taking a step to the right, i make sure to catch her eye, take a really obvious look at her license plate, and catch her eye again.

hey lady, i say, get out of my parking space and go back to fucking connecticut.





that's right.
go back to connecticut.

and she did.

weekend stylings

going up to the city for the weekend.

got some great shows to see - white stripes at coney island, and just found out about an Au Revoir Simone show tonight that we'll go to.

cool.

and hopefully on sunday afternoon go clean out my stuff from the rat-infested shit-covered basement that it's been in since i moved to philly. delightful.

the red cross just called, said they want me to come in on Monday to work the phones, so i'll be doing that.

and isn't it nice to be invited to something (relatively) exclusive??

gosh.

PR

so the decisions have been made. pretty much.

if the offer comes, we're going to puerto rico. we think.

it'll be a good thing to do. right?

i mean, things like this don't always come along.

it'll be fun, exciting, adventurous, and those kinds of words.
we've been working the phones, finding connections etc, and it seems like we'll be just fine.
the problem, you see, has been the uncertainty of me finding a job with no spanish skills.
but it seems like it won't be such a problem.

how wild!

puerto rico thoughts

well.
a whirlwind trip to PR
a ridiculous hotel in the elegant stylings of cuba in the 50's.

and now what to do? almost an offer from the man, but two years is a long time.
but then, honestly, the chance to live somewhere very different for a couple years doesn't come up in such a convenient fashion that often.
it would definitely be a challenge in many ways, from living far away, to finding a job, to being very hot all the time - i'll miss the cold weather, i have to say. it's in my blood.

also- two years? man. but it really isn't that far, truth be told. and all you bastards better visit if we end up there. 3.5 hour flights, cheap tix, a place to stay. bastards.

i think in the end, the adventure is worth it.

your thoughts? would you do it?

first

so this is a blog post that has a bunch of tracks with roots in New Orleans

good stuff

holy crap.

we're going to Puerto Rico on sunday.

why? so j can interview with a judge for a clerkship.

in Puerto Rico.

yes, it would mean us moving there for a while.
about two years, i believe.

holy crap.

arcade fire again..

but then, i don't know that 'again' is the right word. you see, 'again' would imply in some way that i was tired of them maybe; that seeing them another time was in some way burdensome.

nope. i love the music, i love the show, the stage presence, and everything else about them.

they put on such a powerful show, that it's so crazy.
after i saw them last year, coming out of the show, the feeling is of being totally blown away - the album is clearly incredible, but it's only a taste of the live show.
therefore, when i talked to people afterwards who have been loving on the album, but never seen them live, i was definitely happy to hear that they felt the same way - a truly killer show.

yes, the sound at summerstage sucks- def not loud enough. however, i was able to get up pretty close under one of the speakers mounted on the left side, so it was satisfactory.
yes, the crowd generally blew - the last time i saw them at the tla, the place was jumping up and down the entire time. last night, win even commented on how 'scarily peaceful' the crowd was. i don't think it has anything to do with a bigger crowd than a club, b/c when they played at coachella, they at least looked to be loving the crowd and all.
maybe it was various technical issues that had win peeved - a borrowed piano, too bright lights, constant touring playing the same 12 songs or so.

yeah, bowie came out and did Queen Bitch and Wake Up. it was good, but i'd rather see them without bowie in a smaller venue with better sound.

and another pic...

fine and dandy

saw the dandy warhols last night, and they totally rocked.

really good.

the place we saw them was pretty good for shows too, was upstairs basically right over the stage, and the sound was really good.

a pic of mr dandy himself, courtney taylor-etc.

this scares me

this moron brown put in charge by this moron bush.

how may other morons are out there in charge of stuff?

read it

see this? head of FEMA is a liar

and he was appointed cause he was the college roommate of the former head of FEMA.
who is a good buddy of Bush.
according to this Time article, his resume is full of shit.

shocking.

not.

hell yeaaaaah

no one does a 'hell yeah' like jay-z does a 'hell yeah'

and how about kanye west and mike myers? i wish they'd do a remake of Ebony and Ivory

kchackis

whats up with them anyway? its not like i don't have a few pairs at least, you know.

i dont wear them with a blue gold-buttoned blazer, or anything, and thats a good thing i think.

at this party last night, and so many people wearing them - shorts, pants, other pants, different shorts, the whole spectrum.

why that colour? why ?

tired

so tired.
not totally sure why, but it's been a bit of a hectic and stressful day.

oh yeah, found out that i don't think i'll be heading down to new orleans or surrounding areas to help.
even though my job will give a significant amount of time off for people who want to volunteer, it would mean basically being gone for like 2 months, what with all the jew-days coming up.
i really would have liked to go and make a difference some in that whole big cluster-fuck.
for next time (and yes, it's almost guaranteed that something bad like this will happen again) i plan on being qualified to provide some real help.
more on that as it happens.

ok. party tonight, j's new bike to put together sometime, settling into a relatively normal schedule, figure out what to do with myself, that's all

yeah so summers over-ish

but NOT FOR MEEEE!! whhooooo!!

until it gets too cold to go out. then it's over.
sorry.

that's just how it is. winter comes on and it gets all cold again and riding gets a little annoying.
man.
i bet it would be cool to be in paris.
have you ever been to paris? supposed to be nice this time of year.
maybe we'll visit sometime.

nicest weather ever this weekend. just perfect. chilling at the beach-house eating good food and hanging with people.

and the situation in new orleans and surrounding areas is still freaking me out.
i honestly can't believe the total abject failure of our government to respond to this in a manner befitting.

anyway. talk to you soon.

Please Donate to the Red Cross

new orleans and the surrounding areas are a fucking disaster.

katrina

how incredibly crazy.

it seems like new orleans won't exist in a very similar way.

i would have liked to seen it before.

how huge a crazy disaster man.

pictures after the title link

post-game wrapup

the game being the weekend.
it was good.
me and j went to prov to do the shab with mom and dad.
aaron was there, and so were lots of food and halacha.

all went well - hung with alex torre, shai, gavi, etc.
j got a new bike - sweet!

and a good time was had by all.

why can't we have more justii like this?

there's a difference between what you think should be the law, and what the law is.
well, no shit.

link

these is funny

check it -
there's all these funny people in la who make funny short videos and show them then they are voted on and maybe they get to make more and show them. too.

www.channel101.com

yeah so

here i am.

got to get back into this thing.

back from a weekend in new york, had early dinner with j, my parents and hers. what a trip.

went well, i think, everyone got along well - not surprised.

then, moved all j's stuff back to philly. finally back and together.
good times.

lots of cool stuff from google coming out, did you notice? wed, there's supposedly an IM app being release.
what's lame is that they don't seem to do much for the Mac os.

more later.

yeah so

engaged, lots of stuff to do these days.

we're supposed to figure out all the shit we want over the next 30 years of our lives, so people can buy it for us now.

jesus.

tired and exhausted

what a week last week, and a weekend to boot.

i'm so tired.
got engaged on wednesday, her birthday on thursday, friiiiiiiidaaaaay, concert on sat night, then pool party bbq on sunday.

dang.

today is a big day.

ring ring

so i just sit around, reading some, watching lots of movies i rent from the local video rental store.
i do try to drink a lot of water. i go to the gym more often than not in the week, so there's that.
i also ride my bike everywhere.

and i sit at home the rest of the time

shit

sitting on my couch

know what i'm really really happy about? the fact that this is the last summer like this.
it sucks having a summer like this. nothing to do, knowing basically no one.

shit man.

at least it's the last summer like this

control the ipod in the car

this is cool - a new thing from Harmon/Kardon that is a nice little ipod in-car controller

check it

wanted: one rocket

hah!

this is awesome!



these guys roll with lots of meth in their trunk

strapped onto a rocket.

fired by a button on the dash.

heheh

its hard to keep up...

But -
heres a website that has (i think) every Live8 performance, so you can watch/listen to them...


site

blogitty blog blog

i havent posted recently, so now i am.

awesome july 4th weekend, spent it mostly at the beach house.
which is killer.

thrash.

sam winch - check him out...

has a really good album, and if you're lucky enough to catch a live show, well then, good on you!

his webernet site

tripping pro baseball player throws no-hitter

for real.

back in the 70's this guy did just that.

sex-havers rejoice everywhere!

or at least people who don't use protection.

or sometimes don't, and then have to deal with this.

the morning after pill can now be had in gumball machines

i want to go to japan

i know, it's like saying i want to go somewhere because of a small part of the population that is interesting.
oh wait - that's exactly what i'm saying


check out these kids.
i love them.

heard of this?

i've been reading about this various places over the past month or two (don't hold me to the exact dates), and i think it's cool.
little babies made of tape that look cool? wierd?

so there.

STORKER PROJECT

stop making sense

no, seriously.

i've never seen the danged movie, and i call myself a talking heads fan.

well, i'm watching it this week, so damn you all to hell.

i need sleep

what with going to ny on the weekends to see j, always filled with stuff to do, they aren't exactly relaxing. i then find myself back at work on monday exhausted.
i'll be glad when we don't have to do this anymore.
i hate the fact that i can't wait in many ways for summer to be over.
that's just wrong.


went to see dirty on purpose on sat night at mercury, and i like them. the sound pretty much blew, but i think they're goooooood.

ok.

sitting here in limpo

ugh.

what a day. sitting in a hotel, making sure presentations run properly for a collection of the super-rich.

thankfully, the day will be over soon.

oh yeah, then i have to do it again tomorrow.

jeez

on a whim and prayer

saw Bob Dylan last night, in lakewood new jersey.
new jersey! hah!

mikey hooked it up at the last minute, which was pretty cool. big up.

dylan was surprisingly good, according to me. the woman who kept collapsing from drunken-ness seemed to think so too. maybe. really hard to tell.

when i last saw him, it wasn't so great, but then that was a lot more crowded, a lot hotter, and a lot of other stuff.

this was in a minor-league baseball stadium, very small, and not crowded. we were able to get about 20ft from the stage, dead center. band was the same as i saw him with last time, but bob only played piano, no guitar. huh.

bob's strange as hell, but dammit, he's bob dylan, and has the right.

highway 61 was good, other songs too. his vocals were actually decent, though at some point many songs start to sound the same. his frog-throat thing is something.

as for the good people of new jersey, they are most definitely from the new jersey that people love to laugh at.

fascinating evening all around.

tired tired

what a weekend this past one was.

fri afternoon, pick up the rental car, drive to nyc, wait for j, leave the city around 7:30. get up to western mass about 11:30.
can't believe we found the campsite. nice. setup the tent and etc.
chill.

saturday, chilling. very hot, very sticky.
and those freakin' caterpillars everywhere. seriously, everywhere.

sat night, off to newton, a shower, and a bed.
ahh.

sunday morning, return the cars, back to jacobson's for cocktails and bagels. and lots of other food. the beginning of the end for my stomach.
much chilling

then, shavuout. and eating.

very cool for everyone to be staying on garland. trippy in ways.

eating.

post-chag, goodbye to b+s, 10pm train to nyc, get in at 2am.
cab to j's, sleep, up at 7am, train to philly.

tired. tired.

its hard

sometimes all you try to do is the right thing, the best way you know how, but it doesnt always come accross that way.

talk about a hard freakin' sell

these danged Marine recruiters just can't get enough of this kid

my thinking is that they know he is really Neo.



awesome Matrix reference!!

rain rain rain gets you wet wet wet

so i went to this show last night to see Inara George a singer/songwriter person who has a beautiful voice and sings really beautiful songs

the show was held in the basement of a multi-use church building.
it rained so much, so much like i had never seen before.
so much rain, in fact, that the floor of the venue started flooding. and then kept flooding, till about 2 inches covered the floor - totally wild.
so just a few mins into her set, they cut it and after much discussion, they decide to move the show to the sanctuary upstairs.

it was still great in the end, but i didn't stay for the headliner, the guy from the sea and cake.

good times

and so i post

not to bring forth anything particularly interesting, but only to keep in the groove.

it's a good thing

lifehacker and me

it's nice to see that people appreciate my many hours spent surfing the web...or at least give me credit for a little factoid that i bring to their attention

and here it is

there is just something so exciting and giddy-fying about seeing my name in print-ish!

whooohoooo!!!!

summer in the city

is finally ready to start

an apartment has been got on the LES, houston and ludlow, so that's cool

i will be happy one day to live back in nyc

i'm tired as hell and i just want to give up on this particular day

bluetooth has been particularly awesome since i got my new phone - actually has added convenience to my life in a way that not much tech shit that i buy (into) has done before...

go ahead and ask me how bluetooth can change your life


and then i'll tell you - duh

ok, so why did i fly to RI to get my license renewed?

mainly, b/c it was about the same price/annoyance factor to do that, as to get a PA license (or NY).

they require all kinds of documents i don't have and would either have to come up with good alternates or pay for getting duplicates of the originals..
such as soc.sec. card, etc....not to mention that a requirement is a US birth certificate, though i'm sure a passport would suffice

i also am not planning on being in PA for long enough to justify going through the process

whatever

another day, another airport

such is the life of a traveling salesman.

i imagine, at least.

as for me, i'm in the airport in rhode island, waiting for my quick flight back to philly.
my license expired a few months ago, and i finally got it renewed today.

now i can finally hit the open roads in my awesome car

it's cool - fly here, cab to the dmv express office in a nearby mall, 20 mins of waiting, cab back to the airport, and thats all. eeeeeeeeeaaasy.

wait. almost too easy.
hmmm. i bet they're trying to get me, those sunzabitches.

subject to change

well. a hectic weekend all around.

thievery on friday night was good, not great - i think i prefer my thievery in a different atmosphere. this was too much in between a show/concert and a dance thing. i would have preferred the dance thing.

on sat, j got screwed out of her apt, so that put a damper on things...spent the aft looking for places, checking out a place and then off to brooklyn for the party at 116.

which was fun.

pretty much it.
didn't get to just relax with j as much i'd prefer, but the bum apartment deal was a big blow to the whole weekend

i'm sure a new place will be found pretty easily soon, so no worries

banksy, i love thee

this guy's just great.

now he put this great rock in British Museum as part of a contest-thing where someone had to be photographed next to it

just freakin' awesome

more about it here and here

the weekend comes, the weekend comes

the day: friday
the week: longest ever
the reason: philadelphia

know what i like?
when i'm writing a few lines, and like above, the lines get progressively longer, and end up looking like steps.

so - i'm heading to new york city this aft, and it's been a while since i was there.
probably close to 2 months even. wild.
i do notice that when i go to nyc these days, it can be a bit overwhelming at times. there's just so many people, all on the streets, all the time.
not overwhelming like, whoa..i can't deal; more like, wow - there's so much more people here.

oh yeah, and i ate at the best place in philly the other night. called govinda's, it has killer veg hoagies like you can't imagine. and that's another thing.
i never said hoagie before i lived in philadelphia. i always kind of felt like it was a dick tracy comic word or something. think about it.

so back to ny - going to be a busy weekend
thievery corporation tonight, which will be awesome. except for the part that it's in a huge club. the thought makes me very uncomfortable, truth be told.
- - then tomorrow night, a party at 116 garfield.
ah, good ol'116. now theres a place with some history. about 4 and a half years worth, i think.
so that'll be fun.
best roof in bklyn, i think. except for that one massive roof in w'burg that i went to a party at one time.
that was cool

and now, politics

if you haven't seen the testimony of Galloway, a member of Britain's Parliament, then you should run, not walk to...well, click here and watch

(download it first and use realplayer to watch)

and this is cool too

i don't know if you know about banksy, the artist who snuck his works into like 4 major museums in nyc..but this is similar

people put art under the paintings and stuff in hotel rooms.

what a great idea

what more can you ask for...

jews, tarzan, milk, and rubberband


lots of love

way too bizzare, dude

ok, so they find this guy wandering the streets of some place in england
-no labels on his clothing
-he doesn't speak or really seem to communicate at all

seems useless right? maybe they should just put him down, like other strays...

oh wait - he happens to be a freakin virtuoso on the piano - he draws them, plays them, and writes music for them

totally awesomely wierd

and so it's begun

the long cold summer of away-ness

*sigh*

this guy is incredible!!

he just doesn't stop!

first - he admits mule-love

then- washing machines and men, and not to discriminate - watermelon


surprise, surprise, he's a violently anti-gay radical.

awesome.

hi....are we both chinese?

now here's a little bit of comic brilliance..

the guy calls one chinese delivery place, makes a big order, puts them on hold, calls a different chinese delivery place and hilarity ensues

confucious and confusion....both reigning in one post

now, i'm no expert

but this is hilarious

its a spoof of backstage documentary things

its done well, and funny to boot

he about gets it right, i think

a writer for slate tries adderall and has a pretty accurate description of the outcome, based on my own experiences...

the only thing i'd add is that when i tried taking it to write, and really felt the lack of creativity part that he speaks of, taking a hit seemed to kick start the creative side of the brain

sports bra! sports bra!

i mean, who doesn't miss the 30's?

see now, this is funny

the songs in my head are yours

if you're someone interested in 'roots' music, as i tend to be, this is something you should check out...
its a guy who found some recordings of an Inuit singer. it sounds really cool, i think.
as the post says, this singer was known for singing in the voices of the characters in his songs.


listening to this stuff, i'm reminded of two things - this awesome documentary me and j saw sometime in the last couple years about a blind blues singer from the west coast, who ends up going to Tuva (somewhere near mongolia) to hook up with these throat singers.
its hard to describe really, but it's totally fascinating.

The second thing is something I saw a long time ago, when I was but a young naked bushman in Nova Scotia. The natives in the area, the micmac, had a form of singing/competition where older women (at least thats all i ever saw do this) would do this crazy fast rhythmic breathing "at" each other. anyway, i'll see if i can find a link to some...




anyway, check it out

wow update - def listen to the 30 minute she-be-she track. as the guy on the site says, these eskimo guys took over a radio station during a cbc strike. wow. listen.
the ode to ayatollah khomeini starts at about 19mins.

power out in our #3 neighbourhood

so last night was the night the lights went out in center city.
and that name 'center city' - doesn't it sound like a city from a comic book?
like metropolis-dwelling superman and gotham-ite batman go there to visit their leggy superladies
i dont know that the locals would take to me running around in my tights, even the coloured ones. but you know who everyone takes to in a yeah-those-guys-are-wierd-but-its-ok way? the ones who line up for star wars movies dressed in costumes.
now i have nothing against costume, and have been known to wear one at times. these guys and girls are really really serious about it.
i think i have to go to a 'con' sometime just to get the full force of the whole trip.

so, we hung out in the back drinking and chilling by candlelight until the lights went on a few hours later

unsure as how to title this

but -
this is a link to a couple phone convos that hilarious comedian
(or 'man' as wonkette calls him) eugene mirman recorded with this United American Technologies company.
what they do is slander other phone companies, hate gays and gay-like substances and offer a great deal on phone service

entirely worth listening to

convo 1
convo 2

what a week

just seems like i have a lot to do.
-moving out of our apt for the summer, which means packing and annoying things
-figuring out if and what class to take over the summer
-get back into practicing guitar and budgeting cash for my lessons
-writing up a big document for work
-softball game on wednesday
-hang out with j cause it's going to suck going back to the weekend-wuver trip

lost wild dog boy

jerky_1
Originally uploaded by zackly76.

this was a guy we saw running through the trees alongside the two-lane road in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.

he agreed to pose, but before i could get a chance to talk to him, he bounded away

crazy story

way right-wing anti-gay guy really gay and likes to find ,and subsequently touch, underage boys from the internets

hypocrisy really gets to me.
could be as a result of my own, but still

crazy

and at that fair

there were all these booths. one of them was there was to promote life on the main line.

judging from the booth, i'm guessing it needs promotion





*i know it's not so clear, i took it on my cell phone, but it's pretty darn good.
it says 'main line life'

a fair

on the mainest street in center city of philly, there was a true to life street fair
but this wasn't just any street fair - this was a very fancy street fair with wine and expensive food

and orange balloons

his name is fergus, and he's in my living room!

how awesome

and the eyes have it.

it, being these supa-fly glasses bestowed upon me by the eye doctor

go ahead and laugh. someday it'll happen to you!

eye eye eye

yeah. my eye is being really freaking wierd.

it's like lagging behind the rest of me.
not like a dog on a leash sniffing a tree and you have to pull on the leash to get him to come.

more like a video camera that you sweep accross the room and its not quite in focus till it stops. more like that.
anyway, it's annoying and giving me headaches. my dad said i could wait till after the weekend, see what happens, so that's what i'll do.

softball practice tonight

yep -
i got recruited, roped in, and now i'm playing for the
ISC Mighty-somethings.

actually, i asked what the deal with joining the team is, and was told that if i show up, i'm on.
i plan on showing up this evening.

i'm sure they'll want to tatoo me or have some kind of wild induction ceremony, and i just may let them.
i'm really good about letting folks tatoo me when they accept me into their ranks.
why, just look at the Amtrak Rewards tatoo i have on my back!
i guess i'm just a sucker for a free tatoo.

i've been bitten by a tiger!

and i love it!

spotlight is quite literally, the shit (in a proverbial sense)

dashboard is really cool, and has potential to be much cooler

mail is now much better

lots of other little cool stuff abounds.

i swear, watching this guy

i feel like freakin' cliche of a tourettes syndrome person

asl;kjavhua[pzjvkazjiwa[iefsknvZ

there are people who will say it in a much more technically analytical fashion, deal more with specific issues, and be more articulate -
but this fucking bush guy makes me want to break everything and then vomit all over the debris.

saw the shins last night

and you know a habit that i'm trying to get out of?

spelling 'night' like 'nite'


and the shins were totally good. they really pull it off. i have to say though, that my favourite song they played was a magnetic fields cover, strange powers.

and tonight, i'm really excited about seeing this band dirty on purpose. really good.

if you are in new york and have a chance to see them or this other band, au revoir simone, you should

don't drink anything before flying

so this is out of chronological order from my last post, but i have to get it out....

flying to providence on friday afternoon, flight's delayed.
first, for over an hour waiting in the airport, then we finally get on the plane.

i sit down, and being i'm in the A group to board (southwest style - if you're there early, you get a better seat basically), i sit in the very front row, aisle seat. about 3 feet from the bathroom.
everyone is sitting down, the attendants are going through the plane making sure everyone is all good to go. i ask the ground crew guy who is walking around if i can take a quick piss..."no", he says,"we're about to take off, and you dont want to be the one who delays the flight."
ok, i hear that so, assuming we're about to be airborne i don't push the issue.

over the next hour and a half (!) while we're sitting on the ground waiting to take off, i ask a few more times, not wanting to be the obnoxious passenger guy, but really having to piss.
the answer each time, is 'sorry, we're about to take off.'

ok. so we take off finally, and we're way up in the sky, and still i can't get up, walk 3 feet, piss for 30 seconds and sit back down.
at this point, other passengers around me are telling me that it's so not cool of them
not to mention (though i am) the freakin' flight attendants are all using the bathroom, passing out drinks etc - talk about adding insult to injury.

finally, i ask the F.A. and she's like, "well, i can't tell you that you can go, but i'm walking down the aisle and my back will be to you, so do whatever you want"

hm. ok, so i get up and go piss, back in my seat in about a minute. after having to hold it in for literally 2 and a half hours!!

now, i understand security and all that shit, but this just wasn't right.

as a kind of side point, the length of the actual flight from philly to providence is 37 minutes.

my new monitor!!

20 inches of widescreen goodness.
and it matches my new dual G5 desktop.

booyah

seders was good

was nice to see most of my family, my nephew, nieces, etc.

hanlons razor

"Never attribute to malice that which can be adequately explained by stupidity."

airport waiting...

for sooooo long

how long was it??

it was so long that i had to go to the bathroom twice!!

i'm off to providence..

for the passover holiday.

joy of joys, going to the ol'homestead, daddy singing bass, mama singing tenor (to herself of course) and me and my brothers will join right in

sometimes theres a man...

sometimes people who you know are totally cool shock you with a dimension that brings their cool to a whole 'nother level.
i work in a job where i get a limited amount of vacation days (yes, like everyone).
the thing is that i do practice some relative observance of jewish holidays - the main one being that i dont work on them. some, i observe more or less in various ways, but as Big Gedaliah Goomber said, "ain't gonna work on saturdays (and other holidays)"

so back to our story. this is the first job i've had where having the jew-days off wasn't set in the work schedule, mainly because i've always worked at jewish places. easy.
starting at my current job, i had to tell them that theres all these days that i can't work, and the snap-solution on their part was to tell me that i would have to take them as vacation days.
that sucked. really sucked, cause it meant that i would now have about 2 vacation days for this entire year.
then, recently, i found out that rather than take them as vacation days, i could take them as "unpaid leave" days. ok. so i wouldn't get paid, but at least i wouldn't have to sacrifice my vacation. great.
moving on.
my new manager, in talking to hr in order to figure out how to process the "unpaid leave" days, made his feelings known that it just doesn't seem right/cool to 'punish' someone for observing a religous holiday, by either forcing them to lose vacation or pay.
i will interject here, and say that i have never ever ever heard of a manager or the like who expressed this sentiment when they were dealing with someone i know who was in a similar situation. that is, the original idea of losing vacation days or money seems to be standard.

the hr person and my manager went over all the relevant documents together and found that the rules in question could (and in the spirit of this workplace, should) be read to say that as long as it can be worked out in a fair fashion, taking religious days should not be a punishable offense.
well. he called me in his office, told me this, and i obviously said that i'm more than happy to come in early, do extra stuff as needed to make up for the hours as much as possible.

i know that this may not be interesting to anyone, and indeed is not 'cool stuff for people', but this is one of the coolest things that has ever happened to me.
someone went out of his way for me to fix something that was truly wrong.
when this happens, it should be recognized, and now i have done so.

little white balls

so i left work in the early afternoon today, just not feeling up to par

my stroke was off and my cleats needed tightening

i had a divot to fill and my damn caddy was nowhere to be seen with my drink

this stupid glass has no ice and now, the battery on my rented golf cart is dead


obviously you're not a golfer

a singular image message

walking the streets of philly and wondering - why

the reporters response..?

don't ask me! - he says

well, maybe i should ask the sheriff, but.....

well, whatever.
i couldn't find the sheriff's email....

his email:

I know April 20 is Hitler's birthday, along with the anniversary of the
shootings at Columbine High School and I'm sure it's a day of
remembrance
for many things. The 420 remark was in a quote. I didn't say it, the
sergeant did. Why don't you e-mail him? 

i just cant see it...nazis and pot?

this link is to an article in the tahoe daily tribune that talks about some defacing of public property that was done using lots of nazi imagery such as swastikas and the like.
along with the swastikas were the numbers 420.
the sheriff is quoted as saying that it likely refers to "national smoke marijuana day".
As i wrote the reporter in the text of the email below, had he done the smallest amount of research, he would have found that 420 actually most likely refers to the fact that it is Hitlers birthday - April 20.

maybe any chance "they" get, "they" like to associate pot with violence, not unlike the hilarious anti-pot commercials we see all the time on tv.


my email to 'journalist' who wrote the article:

with regards to the article about hate-graffiti and swastikas, you quoted someone from the sheriff's office as saying that the "420" is likely in reference to the 'national smoke marijuana day'.

had you done a small amount of research (on google for example), you would have found that 4/20 is actually the birthday of Hitler, and likely the source of the graffiti.

a correction or at least a note would be nice.

if you have ever smoked, or otherwise ingested marijuana, you would realize how unlikely it is to be connected to nazi-ism/violence and what it stands for.

thanks

zack

hate having to sign up just to read an article?

and how apropos to my last post...

be sure to use this killer website
where you can look up user names and passwords that are for use by all

if you are a firefox user, and i certainly hope you are, you can this great extension
its a right-click access to bugmenot
awesome

for those blogros out there (is bloggers offensive you think? or is blogros?), you should check out this extension for firefox also....it gives you right-click fun!
any site you are on, you just right click, select blogthis, and a little window pops up with the blank blog entry screen !
you can stay logged in all the time, and when the window opens, it has the link of the site youre on already there!!

happy blog fun red tanker!!

a rabbi and a neo-nazi walk into an airport....

and then they fight!!

call me old fashioned, but i like to see a jew being tough.

Kansas City Star | 04/19/2005 | Rabbi, Olathe man cited in KCI dispute

well, i got the haircut

and now its really short.

shorter than a screw that keeps a laptop case together.

now thats short!

what else. ummmm

the thing about zims crazy adventure is totally blowing my mind. so crazy

love?

that wasnt supposed to be the title, but who am i to mess with love.

so it stands.

love

boy o boy.

so i had my first little showcase yesterday. for anyone who cares, i do this improv stuff and for the first time in my life, i was on a 'stage' performing.
very nerve-racking.
i plan on being better at this.


what else.
had a good weekend, weather was nice, blah blah blah.

oh. you noticed i'm bored?


how awkward


maybe i'll get a haircut.
my only problem with getting a haircut, is that i never know what to tell the person. it was much easier when it was my mom, and she couldnt do more than cut it short. i had it short for my first 25 years or so.
i guess i tend to stick with something, when the alternative gives me any kinds of stress whatsoever.
so now i have to get out of this longhair rut. i'll get to wear a baseball hat again, so happy days.

haircut haircut haircut. see, with my hair, being so thick, its a bitch to deal with.

haircut.

Part 3: my morning so far: gooogle video, blogs and lifehacker

his email to me:

> everything else, is pretty relative, but in this
> case...i think youre misreading the ToS.
> they say they reserve the right to charge a fee if
> the bandwidth gets to be too much. they DONT say they
> are charging YOU a fee, as the the uploader.

Completely true -- but it's ambiguous, and
that's never good in a
contract.

> the system works like this:
> you upload.
> if you want, you charge a fee to anyone who wants to
> view.
> if you dont want to charge you dont have to.
> if you dont charge, and the video is slashdotted, then
> google has the right to set a fee on their on - for
> viewers. not for you, as the original uploader...


If it worked that way, I would indeed be happy; this
is a service I
want to use.

I'm waiting for them to get back to me on the email
I sent them; when
they do I'll post it to my site. If I've misread
things, I'd happily
eat my words.

Jacob

Part 2: my morning so far: gooogle video, blogs and lifehacker

jacobs email to me:

Hey Zack --

Thanks for your feedback.  I certainly may be misreading the TOS -- I'm
not a lawyer by any stretch of the imagination -- but I do think I have
some legitimate concerns with the TOS.  I've sent a 
letter to Google
asking the questions I have directly (also posted at
http://jacobian.org/recipes/archives/2005/04/14/open-letter-to-
google/), and I think that clarifies most of my objections.

I don't really have any problems with the searching, 
indexing, or in
any way using my content in aggregate, but their TOS 
allow them to, for
example, splice their own commercials into your video.  
Now, if I've
made a movie then has some really killer pacing, I'm 
not going to be
very happy with a 30 second ad for mouthwash halfway 
through the
pivotal scene.

Ads being shown *along side* the content are par for
 the course these days, but the TOS is vague about 
exactly what types of advertising will be used.

There's a similar amount of vagueness in the clauses
about revenue sharing and bandwidth.  You're right that it's perfectly reasonable for
them to try to defray their costs, but there's no indication about what
constitutes "exceptional" bandwidth consumption, or how much they'd
charge.  If I upload a video that gets slashdotted, for example, Google
is allowed to bill me -- but nowhere do they indicate what they're
allowed to charge.  If my video is popular, I could end up with a bill
for *any amount* that I would be obligated to pay *just because I
agreed with the TOS!*

Do you really not see the problem with that?

As for the reverse engineering clause: first off, it's may be illegal
-- see, for example, "The Law & Economics of Reverse Engineering" at
http://ist-socrates.berkeley.edu/~scotch/re.pdf.  Secondly, I'm not
sure of your level of technical expertise, but as a programmer myself
let me assure you that the only way for someone outside of Google to
create a third-party version of the uploader will be to reverse
engineer the program or protocol.  I'm one of those weirdoes who
doesn't have a Windows machine, so even if I figure out how to write my
own version of the uploader (hint: it's not a very difficult task), I
could get sued if I use said program, and probably would if I
distributed it.

As for "spamming wont be stopped by being pissy about what site does
what with the info" -- you're completely right, but I'm not going to
voluntarily give my information to a company that explicitly states it
won't protect my privacy.  You're also right that Google's usually
pretty good about this sort of thing; the Google Video TOS is really
the first departure from very strict privacy policies.  That's why it's
important.

Again, thanks for your feedback,

Jacob

And then, my email back to him. as i say in the email, i feel like most of his arguements are pretty relative. but he is misreading something, and thats whats important. to me at least.

my email:

> There's a similar amount of vagueness in the clauses
> about revenue
> sharing and bandwidth. You're right that it's
> perfectly reasonable for
> them to try to defray their costs, but there's no
> indication about what
> constitutes "exceptional" bandwidth consumption, or
> how much they'd
> charge. If I upload a video that gets slashdotted,
> for example, Google
> is allowed to bill me -- but nowhere do they
> indicate what they're
> allowed to charge. If my video is popular, I could
> end up with a bill
> for *any amount* that I would be obligated to pay
> *just because I
> agreed with the TOS!*
>
> Do you really not see the problem with that?
>

hey -

everything else is pretty relative, but in this case...i think youre misreading the ToS.
they say they reserve the right to charge a fee if the bandwidth gets to be too much. they DONT say they are charging YOU a fee, as the the uploader.
the system works like this:
you upload.
if you want, you charge a fee to anyone who wants to view.
if you dont want to charge you dont have to.
if you dont charge, and the video is slashdotted, then google has the right to set a fee on their on - for viewers. not for you, as the original uploader...

could i be wrong? sure.

do i answer my own questions? sometimes.

thanks

zack

my morning so far: gooogle video, blogs and lifehacker

ok, so first, he said..
http://jacobian.org

and then she said...
http://www.lifehacker.com
so then I says...

that's astute??
>
> his criticism clearly is reflective of his mis-reading
> the ToS.
>
> "In other words, “we can do anything we want with your
> content.”"
>    - well, no shit. these are things they need to be
> able to do in order for it to be searchable. for them
> to allow and uploads and not have it be available
> would be pretty useless.
>
> "In other words, “we can make money from advertising
> your content.”"
>    - has this astute blogger ever used google before?
> when you search for content, ads are shown based on
> that content...and that content obviously belongs to
> someone somewhere. this is nothing new.
>
> "In other words, “If you create your own version of a
> video upload that runs on Linux or Mac, we’ll sue
> you.”"
>    - the idea that a new piece of software for a
> specific pupose can only be created through
> reverse-engineering seems pretty rigid to me.maybe
> not.
>
> "In other words, “you get 70% of revenues, unless we
> decide it cost us too much, then you get less. By the
> way, we decide what ‘too much’, and ‘less’ means. Oh,
> and if your free video is popular, we’ll bill you for
> the bandwidth.”"
>    - what's so shocking about this?  they'll host your
> video, and pay you for it. if your video is so great
> and popular that it takes up extraordinary amounts of
> bandwidth, the money has to come from somewhere. they
> arent charging you, rather they reserve the right to
> charge a fee to VIEWERS of the video, in the even you
> havent set a fee on your own. seems pretty fair to me.
>
> as for selling your name to spammers...while i won't
> say that no spammer will ever get your info from
> google, this paragraph says pretty specifically what
> they mean to do. in order to approve the video, etc.
> truth is, spamming wont be stopped by being pissy
> about what site does what with the info. especially a
> company like google, who does tend to be good with
> privacy issues.
>
> anyway, this is my rant.
>
> and now i'm off to have coffee.
>
> thanks
>
> zack

to which she answers...

Zack -

I really like your rants.  Seriously - I'd call you astute as well.  :)
 Did you send this to Jacob?

Either way, thanks - as always - for the feedback (and keeping me on my
toes!),
Gina

so i sent it off to jacob.

i'll let you know what HE says..

You have received a Image Message from a Cingular subscriber

nalgene bad for your personal environment

hippys everywhere stare at each other in shock:


CALIFORNIA / Legislature considers bill to ban chemical from kids' products / Bisphenol A found in pacifiers, toys and baby bottles

YaGoohoo!gle and I mean no disrespect

to any ooglers-gay, but check this out:

YaGoohoo!gle

it searches both google and yahoo and gives the results in side by side frames.

a coooool thing

they take a foam (or whatever) wigstand head thing and project onto it...

check this out:
head head

boingboing talks about it here: clickme!

the new Beck album

is awesome!

cant beat the Beck/Dust Bros. collaboration

read this...

cause its nice to see people on the other team call their own team out.


Salon.com Politics

very cool street art

this is cool.
check out the pavement drawings.
they look totally real and 3D from the right angle....

Julian Beever

what a great thing to have done

truly.

this guy made a page that links to clips on the daily show website.

and it updates!

from here: http://www.boingboing.net/2005/03/14/daily_show_clips_rei.html

and here's the site! http://showme.ahost4free.com/dailyshow.cgi!

cool art

check it.

a site full of party/hiphop posters from the 70's and 80's

sick

hm. we were just talking about this

the fact that google keeps their stuff in beta forever...

http://www.engadget.com/entry/1234000843034784/

go canada, go canada...

heres an article/open letter to condi rice.

no, not what you ate last nite, but the lady who is bush's lapdog.

http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/westview/story/2610442p-3026695c.html

ok, so my outrage for the day is

about those stupid toilets in the bathroom at work.

i mean, i'm taking a "rest" on the "toilet seat" and the thing flushes automatically.
thats not so bad, cause i've gotten used to it by now, relatively at least.

but today, the auto flush happens....and the damn thing backs up!

so here i am nuts deep in nasty water and...well, i think thats enough outrage for today.

just be happy knowing that if you are on these nuts, they have been cleaned.

i should post more often, i should

yep.

sure should.

well

soviet animation

for all my people who like things wacky/interesting, heres a site with some soviet animation clips...

http://www.wellesley.edu/Russian/cartoons101.html

i'm really bummed

hunter thompson killed himself.

whoa. this is cool

this guy is an idiot-savant.

so he can do incredible things with his mind

check it

iFurniture!

this is cooooool....

http://www.bluebroc.com/

this is awesome - Google Maps

its googles own map site!

you can drag it, zoom it, get directions from point to point, and it works well!

its neat that when you get directions, you can then click on any one part of the directions and a little map with just that segment pops up.

i bet theres other cool stuff too...

the pats win! but it would have been fun if the eagles had won.

if the eagles had won, philly, where i am, would have been pretty fun.

next year in philadelphia

some people

when cookies attack

pretty crazy thing

heh

David Mamet editorial on Israel/Jews

this is from a couple years ago, but a good article, methinks.

article

cross-dressing nazi slayer.

story

this came from jewlicious

for my "s-knobs" - most expensive knobbing ever

knobbing

just listen to the vocalization...

aaaaahhhhhhhhh

this is just funny because its good to see people like this being called on their shit

video

thank you haroldburger for re-bringing this to my attention

seriously the best show i've been to in a long time

arcade fire.

their album, which is quite good, shockingly doesnt do them justice.
they are so great to see live, with awesome energy

an absoute must-see.

but get the album too
or ask me for it

the mp3 bridge thing I would get

is this squeezebox thing

it uses open-source software, streams over wifi, and has a whole community of users that customize like crazy and write cool plugins for it.

you hook it up to your stereo, which is not bad cause it looks good.
then you setup the software on your computer and the box finds it easily and streams from the computer and plays over your killer speakers.

plugins are cool as hell. they range from email to weather to being able to stream video to whatever else you can think of.

it comes with a good remote, but it can also be controlled through any web browser, pocket pc, palm, series 60 OS cell phones, also certain universal remotes, pronto remote devices...

check out the community link

its really cool.

caller id on your computer? thats cool.

yeah, if your computer has a caller id compatible modem
(find out here: http://www.voicecallcentral.com/acc_faq.htm#2 )
then you can use this thing to tell you whos calling without having to get up and go to the phone

you can also use it for sending messages to people on your LAN


http://www.sunflowerhead.com/software/yac/

you like a band...this tells you other bands you might like

maybe not the most useful thing in the world, but kind of neat.

i just wonder what formula, etc they are using...


www.musicplasma.com

winamp iPod plugin

this is cool.

theres a plugin for winamp (i'm using 5.x...and on the install, if you do the custom install, be sure to include the library function) that lets you totally manage your ipod.
you can put songs on and off, sync (if you like that kind of thing) and edit tags.

its free and it works well.

winamp plugin

new site for neat software tips, etc

www.lifehacker.com

a lot of it is already well-known by tech-savvy folk, but good stuff to check out