Return of the King Extended Edition Trailer

Filed under: Movies - — jac @ November 30, 2004 - 9:09 am

(from the too cool not to share dept.)

The trailer for Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King Extended Edition can be found here.



The Screen Savers

Filed under: Television — jac @ November 29, 2004 - 8:36 pm

Out of morbid curiosity, I endured the premiere episode of the new incarnation of The Screen Savers. Here’s my review (I’m stealing a bit from a classic Bloom County strip):

G4TechTV’s recently retooled The Screen Savers has brought the word “bad” to new levels of badness. This show just oozed rottenness from every bad segment… Simply bad beyond all infinite dimensions of possible badness.

Well maybe not that bad, but lord, it wasn’t good. Yes, it was that bad.



Medically Supervised Anecdotal Study

Filed under: Skeptic — jac @ November 29, 2004 - 1:28 pm

I heard this phrase in a radio advertisement:

In a recent medically supervised anecdotal study, over 96% of the participants who took Product X*, reported an increase in libido and erectile strength.

What is a medically supervised anecdotal study? Why not have a real clinical trial of Product X? Probably because a real clinical trial would show Product X is no better than the potions and elixirs sold at 19th century medicine shows.

*Not the real product name.



Guess the Location

Filed under: Chappell's Show — jac @ November 28, 2004 - 11:52 am

See if you can guess where this picture was taken (winner gets a Gmail invitation).


Guess

Post a comment to submit your answer.

Clue (11-06-2004): Not Port Liberty, New Jersey
Clue (10-28-2004): Not South Korea.
Clue (10-27-2004): Look here
Clue (10-17-2004): Not the Gyaing River, Myanmar.
Clue (10-14-2004): this picture was taken @ June 1990



Falwell’s Thanksgiving message

Filed under: Politics, Religion - — jac @ November 26, 2004 - 10:06 am

(via Media Matters for America)

I thank God now in the 21st century for talk radio, that three hours a day people like Sean Hannity1, Rush Limbaugh1,2, and hundreds of others are telling the truth of what really is going on. I thank God for FOX News Channel1. I thank God for the Internet bloggers and the news producers like NewsMax.com1,3, WorldNetDaily.com1, even The Drudge Report1,4.
– Radical Cleric Jerry Falwell

  1. bearer of false witness
  2. drug addict
  3. spammer
  4. fucking weirdo


Alternative Warning Labels for Textbooks

Filed under: Science, Skeptic — jac @ November 24, 2004 - 1:10 pm

(from the countering creationist idiocy dept.)

(via Pharyngula)

Textbook disclaimer stickers:


texbook warning stickers

I like the idea of printing these stickers and sending them to students in school districts that pass or are trying to pass these silly textbook disclaimer laws.



Presidential Yacht

Filed under: Boats, Politics — jac @ November 22, 2004 - 8:21 am

(from the I want a boat too, but I don’t expect someone else to pay for it dept.)

(via Eschaton)

Congress Passes $388 Billion Spending Bill:

The Senate voted 65-30 for the legislation late on Saturday that sets aside funds for a range of priorities including a presidential yacht, foreign aid and energy. It is one of the final pieces of work for the 108th Congress and they may return to finish a spy agency overhaul before the end of the year.

Presidential yacht? WTF? I wonder how many people went into the voting booth on Nov. 2 and thought, “I’m going to vote Republican, because this country really needs a presidential yacht.”

Actually, I’m all for the preservation of presidential yachts and other historic vessels (if this is the purpose of this appropriation). But don’t you think there should be other spending priorities?

UPDATE: Budget bill has $15.8B in extras:

$2 million for the government to buy back the presidential yacht USS Sequoia, sold in 1977 by President Jimmy Carter to demonstrate frugality.

The Republicans are showing fiscal responsibility by undoing Jimmy Carter’s act of frugality. Welcome to bizarro world. By the way, the Sequoia seems to be in good hands, so this is not a case of preserving a historic landmark.



Dubya: The Movie

Filed under: Politics — jac @ November 22, 2004 - 8:07 am

(via email)

dubyamovie.com



Chock full of artery clogging goodness

Filed under: Food — jac @ November 17, 2004 - 7:57 am

(via Musings of a Philosophical Scrivener….)

Hardee’s introduces new mega-calorie Monster Thickburger:

ST. LOUIS (AP) — As many fast-food chains are catering to the health-conscious, Hardee’s is introducing the biggest and thickest of its Thickburgers — one with enough calories to make Ronald McDonald blush.

The St. Louis-based chain on Monday rolled out its Monster Thickburger — two 1/3-pound slabs of Angus beef, four strips of bacon, three slices of cheese and mayonnaise on a buttered sesame seed bun. The sandwich alone sells for $5.49, $7.09 with fries and a soda.

Even a news release touted the Monster — at 1,420 calories and 107 grams of fat– as “a monument to decadence.” Add fries and a soda and a single meal would involve more calories and fat than most people should get in a day.

The introduction comes at a time when McDonald’s, Wendy’s and other fast-food giants are offering salads and other lower-calorie fare. Subway advertising has long used patron Jared to tout the low-calorie items on the menu.

Hardee’s has gone another direction.


Hardee’s has gone another direction.

You think? 1,420 calories and 107 grams of fat
- Holy crap! Just reading the description is enough to cause chest pains.



As if Linux wasn’t cool enough already

Filed under: Linux, Music — jac @ November 17, 2004 - 7:38 am

I’ve been playing around with Hydrogen - an advanced drum machine for GNU/Linux. So far, it seems to be full featured (I’m more familiar with “real” drums). Hydrogen can import sound samples in .wav, .au, and .aiff formats and export “songs” to midi and wav files. Hydrogen uses an XML file for its native song file format, thus allowing the potential for manual tweaking of song files and the ability to manipulate these files by other applications.

Hydrogen might just have the best splash screen ever:


penguin drumming






Now I can join WEIGHT WATCHERS!