Sean's 'blog

[ 2005 Rant Page | Long Lost Twins ]

My Favorite Christmas Ornaments
December 16, 2006

Lo these many years ago (sometime in the early 1990s I think) I made 8 Christmas Ornaments by taking a carefully separated Walnut shell half, and creating little Christmas scenes inside with FIMO clay. Here are a few of the ornaments I made. My mother and my sister were sharing these back and forth for the last decade or so, and I asked to have them this year.

Cocaine Energy Drink?
December 16, 2006

Energy drinks are pretty popular these days. Ask me, I work at a computer game company. There's more cans of Red Bull in sight than any other drink other than Mountain Dew.

So last week when I heard the story on the TV News that someone was marketing a drink called Cocaine, I was surprised to hear that there was a huge controversy. People were getting upset that this guy was creating a drink and marketing it to kids using a drug sub-culture vibe. Cocaine.

The manufacturer says that the idea is to invoke the energy that Cocaine supposedly gives you. An energy high. The slogan is "The legal alternative."

The question I have is - why are people so upset? Because a small drink company comes on the scene and tries to exploit the war on drugs to get people to drink it because it's taboo? The brewers have taken a lot of flak for this.

Because obviously no established company would do that, right? No one would call a drink by a word used in the drug culture. That would be heinous!

Coke is short for Cocaine. The word is used far more than the longer version. And lest we get any illusions that the Coca Cola Company's Coke product is supposed to invoke images of sweaty, hard-working men using a red-hot coke smelter, no. Coke is a very old name for a drink that was created well over a hundred years ago. First marketed in 1885, Coke originally contained real cocaine. It only became cocaine-free in 1929. (Hmmmm... the year of the market crash... ).

Seems to me that people who are kicking up a stink about Cocaine have had Coke so ingrained into their daily lexicon that they don't even notice that it, too, invokes the drug sub-culture in order to sell product.

Twelve Angry Men
November 11, 2006

The Colonial Theater in Boston has been running the classic American play "Twelve Angry Men" for part of November in preparation to take the show to Broadway in New York. My wife and I had both studied the play in High School and I recall it well. It really stuck with me. I have also seen the famous film based on the play starring Henry Fonda, Martin Balsam, Jack Klugman, John Fiedler, to name a few of the 12.

This current play stars George Wendt (Norm from Cheers), ironically the play takes place almost within eyesight of the Bull & Finch Pub, aka Cheers, on Beacon Street in Boston. It also stars Richard Thomas. Richard Thomas, for those who don't know, played John Boy Walton on the TV show "The Waltons". "The Waltons" was my wife's favorite TV show growing up. I knew that if I were to get tickets for that show it would be an unmatched treat for her. So I did.

This past week my wife received by mail her Masters' Degree in English Literature from Memorial University of Newfoundland. And her birthday is coming up. So I bought two tickets to the show and we went on November 11, 2006. Put that together with this being a favorite play for both of us, and Richard Thomas being my wife's favorite TV character ever, this was an event fated to happen.

It wasn't cheap. Tickets for the show normally cost $75.00. I paid over $135 plus service charges and shippnig, but let me tell you. I would have paid double if I could have afforded to. This show was tense, dramatic, and wonderful. The actors were sensational. They kept up the well-paced tension perfectly, and it was a joy to behold.

Our seats were front-row mezzanine to the left, which is the closest you can get to the stage on the Mezz level, and we had a perfect vantage over the 12 jurors who sat around the table, some with their backs to the audience. This was a far better place to be than even first row Orchestra which would have required looking up at the backs of the 5 jurors on the back of the table.

This play is an American classic. Like Death of a Salesman or Of Mice and Men, this play deserves its place among the best America has to offer in literary works.

Bravo, Mr. Thomas. Bravo Mr. Wendt. And bravo to the rest of the cast. You made our evening! Hell, you made our month!

I Wish I Had A Better Camera And Better Timing
November 12, 2006

I was driving by Willet Pond in Norwood, MA today, in the deep fog. It was around 4:00pm, and I looked to my left as I was passing over a bridge and my breath caught. I wish I had had my camera with me. It was about 30 minutes later when I got back there with my camera and the light had faded, and the fog, which had been tangible, in clumps, and afforded a more beautiful picture than it did 30 minutes later, but I took the picture anyway, and here's what I got.

If you want a larger image (1577x912) please click the above image.

In February of this year I dropped my camera. I was atop the Empire State Building and someone asked me to take a picture of them. I had my own camera strapped to my wrist. But to use this person's camera I had to remove my gloves. Pulling off my gloves I never noticed the wrist strap go with them, and bang, my camera hit the observation deck of the Empire State Building. The camera still worked, so I thought no biggie... but ever since then its sharp focus has gone.

Time to get a new camera. But to paraphrase a now disgraced Donald Rumsfeld: You take the photo with the camera you have. Perhaps, like that Rummy, my camera will be replaced soon.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy.

Remembrance
November 11, 2006

On November 4, 2003 I set myself a challenge. I had taken a bunch of photos in the previous August, in Newfoundland, of my GI Joe Commander in various settings around that gorgeous province. I gave myself one week (in time for Nobember 11, Remembrance Day in Canada - Veterens' Day in the US) to come up with a story that honors the memory of the soldiers who died in the two major world wars of the previous century. Newfoundland was heavily involved in both wars and was the perfect setting for a story about Remembrance.

Within that week I had a fairly nice story written, and with the exception of a couple of shots which I took locally after the fact, I put up a fairly nice story. It's told as a photo album annotated with post-it notes.

Please read it if you wish. It's called "Remembrance" and is my tribute to those brave men and women who died during the wars of the last century.

Pumpkin Fun
October 21, 2006

Inspired by this web site, I decided to try some 3D pumpkin carving. I'd wanted to do this for years, and my pumpkin carving has gotten more and more contoured and less just extruded cuts into the wall of the pumpkin.

Now I'm on expert carver, so I couldn't come close to the pumpkin I used as inspiration, but it was a good start.

I learned some lessons about the tools too. Like those finer loop carving tools have to be used on tiny chunks of flesh at a time. Too much bends the wire, and soon you get metal fatigue and *snap*. they break. So be careful. I used the larger loops more after that, but I still used the finer loops for finer details.

Next time I'll try to come up with a more original face, but for a first time, it wasn't bad.

RIP Habeus Corpus
October 17, 2006

Yes, folks, mark your calendars. Today died Habeus Corpus. Today, American citizens can be picked up and held indefinitely and without being allowed to be present at trial. They can be tried and executed based on hearsay evidence elicited by torture.

Today George W. Bush signed into law an act that makes a jellyfish look like it has a spine by comparison. Congress, threatened and bullied by this president, signed into law a heinous act which George W. Bush proudly claims "will save American lives".

And you can be reasonably sure he won't employ one of his over 800 "signing statements", which are the notes George W. Bush had appended to bills signed into law claiming that he, himself, is exempt from those laws. Over 800 of those has he signed since taking office.

In his own words, George W. Bush says that "in the distance of history questions about this bill will be narrow and few."

That's probably true. Because in the distance of history this will be viewed - unquestioned - as a war crime, and questions about it will be narrow and few, much like questions about the bill that imprisoned thousands and thousands of Japanese in internment camps during World War II. Very few people question that bill now. As will they this bill signed today.

George W. Bush also says this bill does not allow torture. Easily said for a man who has conveniently redefined torture in his own mind to specifically exclude those turtures currently being performed on prisoners by Americans, or worse, by people employed by Americans to turture by proxy - people in secret prisons throughout the world. And by his side as he signed away your rights was Dick Cheney, the man who repeatedly lied about Al Qaeda's ties to Iraq, and then later lied about lying about it, and Alberto Gonzales, the man Bush asked to find it legal for him to torture his "detainees" - and Gonzales obliged, writing a paper saying that it was perfectly OK for the USA to not abide by the treaties it signed regarding torture. Yes, the "quaint" Geneva Convention. A treaty that defines and forbids the very kinds of evil behavior the US has fought against since its founding. Behavior George W. Bush is now fighting to be allowed to do.

George W. Bush, who insists Global Warming is a myth, must know that in truth global warming is caused by friction of all the good Americans who are currently spinning in their graves as he stomps on the American flag while he blunders through a second term without accepting reality - in fact creating his own reality in which torture is kind treatment, and advice from generals about the harsh realities in Iraq and Afghanistan just petty griping.

Thirty to forty years from now, perhaps sooner, Doctoral Theses will be written proclaiming these acts perpetrated by this foul, criminal administration today, to be war crimes. That's right. War crimes.

And lest George W. Bush delude himself that those freedoms cemented into place by the Founding Fathers, men whose wisdom and forethought puts to shame anything George W. Bush would consider wise, were put in place in a simpler, more naieve time, when terrorists weren't out "to destroy the American way of life", for shame. For shame. For those very freedoms put into place by those wise men were put in place during a time when they themselves were in danger of beheading for even thinking about those freedoms, let alone writing them down and declaring them publicly like they did.

Those freedoms entrenched by Washington, Jefferson, Franklin, and those other brave men (many of whom died for the crime of signing their names to the Declaration of Independence) were put in place during a far more deadly and dangerous time, a time when these very men fought a very real, concrete war, and not some amorphous war on a concept - terrorism.

And for every single member of Congress who voted for this bill, you should lose your jobs and resign in disgrace because the very act of voting for this piece of criminal legislation is a disgrace.

Shame.

Today, if you are a true American, you should hang your head in shame for what was perpetrated in your name.

Remember this day. And remember it like the date 9/11. Remember 10/17. Remember it, because this is the day your elected officials betrayed you and stole your freedoms. They've been whittled away since 9/11. They've made internet gambling illegal under the Ports act, an offshoot of the Patriot Act, remember that? The act that would never be abused, used to further a right-wing agenda by simply invoking the name "terrorism" to prosecute crimes that have nothing to do with terrorism. Whittled away when this foul administration enacted private spying on citizens' communications, and condoned torture in your names.

Remember 10/17. Because its evil effects will last longer than did the effects of those events on 9/11. These will last until some saner people stand up and strike down this evil bill. And in this current political climate, you'll be waiting a long, long time.

RIP Habeus Corpus. RIP American Freedoms. RIP America.

You Won't Believe This - Newsweek Coddling the USA
September 25, 2006

So I certainly would not have believed this if I hadn't seen it with my own eyes.

Newsweek International's web site shows the covers they are using for the various parts of the world.

Here they are: Which one is the odd cover out?

I swear... this is too incredible to make up!

The Word "Scrod" Has Got To Go!
September 12, 2006

Who wants to eat something called scrod? Say it aloud: Scrod!

What is really a young white fish, often a Cod, sounds more like a young whitefish crossed with a scrotum.

Call it young whitefish. Do not call it "scrod", under any circumstances!

The Slyest Visual Pun In Rock Video - Evah!
June 23, 2006

Finally! I found it! Thanks to YouTube, I am now able to reveal something I've been telling people about for years.

How did this get by censors? With calls to ban Madonna's various videos, and others, for sexual content, how did this one get aired? The first time I saw it, I was wowed.

The Cure's 1987 video for "Why Can't I Be You" features the band (I assume) on a sound stage spelling out the letters of the title of the song, and the chorus refrain, "Why can't I be you".

So the first guy stands with arms up, "Y"

The third guy stands straight. "I"
The fourth bends his arm and leg "B"
The fifth lies on the ground with arms and legs up "U"

What about the second guy? Well, hard to believe, but he stands there, wearing a foam-rubber sculpture of a mouth (which we also see gape open at the beginning of the video, with a guy in black-face standing inside) standing vertcially. When the song sings "can't", the guy opens up the mouth's lips.

So what's this got to do with a mouth or lips?

Well, pronounce "can't" the London British way... wait for it...

There you go...

Finally, rather than just telling people this, I can now show them.

One other feature of this 1987 video that's noteworthy. It seems Robert Smith, the lead singer of the band, presaged the whole "furry" phenomenon.

If it's still there, you can watch the video.

Will Bird Flu Hit The US?
May 5, 2006

The Government, and the media, in a massive attempt to distract from the disastrous war in Iraq, has been pushing the dangers of an imminent Bird Flu Pandemic.

Funny...

Currently, Bird Flu is perfectly natural among wild bird populations. But it's not normally transmitted to humans. However a strain in Asia seems to have hopped to humans, and the US is running scared. What if it happens here?

But this government is the government of the Right-Wing, Christian Creationists... what have we got to worry about?

In order for Bird Flu to transmit from birds to humans, it has to evolve.

And we all know evolution is nonsense, right?

I mean it's a valid theory only in that there is a mountain of irrefutable evidence backing it up. But that just means it hasn't been proven! Therefore it's complete and utter nonsense.

Creation, on the other hand, has absolutely no basis in fact, nor is there a shred of evidence to back it up. Therefore it must be true.

Like God.

God must want Bird Flu to hit humans.

Why Is God Doing Such A Bad Job In Iraq?
May 4, 2006

Many Presidents have invoked the name of God during their terms. Many. Probably every single one, to guess. The difference, however, between most Presidents and George W. Bush is that he honestly believes God singled him out to be president, and he's following God's plan.

So ... why is God's plan for Iraq sucking so badly?

Addendum to Bush on National Anthem in Spanish
May 3, 2006

Yesterday, Laura Bush came out in support of the Spanish version of the National Anthem saying: "I don't think there's anything wrong with singing it in Spanish."

Then when told that her husband's opinion differed, she backpedeled, saying "Well, I think it should be sung in English, of course," she said.

Bush on National Anthem in Spanish
May 1, 2006

A new version of the US National Anthem was revealed recently. A translation into Spanish of the old standard song 'The Star-Spangled Banner", which is, as you know, a war anthem. How appropriate.

Amidst the recently renewed fervor over illegal immigration (ie: Mexicans, let's face it... millions of Swedes aren't marching on the Capitol) this Spanish version of the anthem has been spoken against by politicians, including the likes of George W. Bush who said he thinks the Anthem aughta be sung in English.

His exact quote: "I think the national anthem oughta be sung in English."

After all, that's the language Jesus wrote the Bible in, isn't it?

Why are politicians so up in arms about this? Wouldn't it honor this country to have that song sung in the native language of any of the hundreds of millions of immigrants who made this country great?

Clinton's Smithsonian Portrait Revealed
April 27, 2006

Yesterday, portraits of Bill and Hilary Clinton were unveiled at the Smithsonian.

Immediately, reports appeared that Bill's portrait showed him without his wedding ring.

But why is the most important detail left out?

Explain that! What's up with that painter???

"People Don't Speak In Semicolons" - Stuff and Nonsense!
April 26, 2006

Someone once said, probably in a fake English or North-Eastern accent: "People don't speak in semicolons."

Utter nonsense.

This cannot be farther from the truth.

People speak not only in semi-colons, but in commas, colons, parentheses, quotation marks, exclamation points, quarter-colons, eighth-colons, and a million little marks no one's even invented yet.

Written language is not speech.

Speech is a crude approximation of thought. It can approximate, but never capture the nuances of human thought.

And written language is a crude approximation of speech. It can approxmiate, but never capture the nuances of human speech.

Written language is a method of recording and interpreting speech. It is nothing more than a crude attempt to capture all of the nuances of the flow of human thought, and digitize it down to a few hard-coded symbols that in no way can possibly hope to capture that analog flow of human nuance.

It is a code used to record what someone has spoken. Written language is like written music. It can approximate the subtleties of the notes and nuances of the pitches and tunes, but it can never translate to perfection the intent of the spoken stream of thought.

Written language is then read and interpreted, but it can never recreate the nuances uttered by the spoken word.

Not only do people speak in semi-colons, they speak in a million subtle punctuation marks no one's even ever thought to make symbols for, or would ever hope to make symbols for.

So for those who think people don't speak in semi-colons - just spend less time reading and more time listening to real people.

Eulogy for the Musical Prelude
April 25, 2006

Sigh. This morning we were driving our 10-year-old daughter to school and listening to a radio station. Suddenly, I hear the familiar guitar tones of the opening to "Hotel California", that absolute classic musical work by the Eagles.

It was a long, sensuous solo accoustic intro, and is as much a part of the song as the rest is.

Then as the opening kept going, my daughter said, "Does this song have any words?"

Now my daughter plays violin, plays piano, has played oboe, and actually writes her own songs for fun. She loves music, and sings constantly.

And when she heard this, she said "Does this song have any words?" To which I replied, "Yes, this is the prelude."

It struck me that the radio station we were listening to was one of very few which don't talk over the songs they play. In the Boston area, Mix 98.5 DJs talk over any song's prelude and stop only microseconds before the singer begins singing.

And it's sad. Most stations do this, with only a few exceptions.

The radio station we were listening to this morning was WBOS 92.9, which thankfully is one of the exceptions. This station actually advertises that it never talks over the music - the emphasis of which is a sad thing indeed. Why does this station have the ability to use that as a positive? It should be standard. But it isn't.

Our generation of kids are growing up not knowing the beauty of a musical prelude.

One day I was listening to Mix 98.5 when they played Tracy Chapman's gorgeous "Give Me One Reason". This song begins with a voluptuous accoustic guitar opening that I don't have enough adjectives to describe. Not good enough for those damned DJs. Got to ruin it by talking trivial crap over it.

Will someone please tell these idiots that a song doesn't begin and end with the lyrics? That songs have beginnings, middles, and ends. And we would appreciate hearing all three parts, thank you.

Perhaps you recall the video of a live performance by Heart of their song "Magic Man" in which Nancy Wilson comes out with a huge accoustic guitar and plays an amazingly articulate solo prelude that you never want to end. Our kids may never hear that.

With the state of music today, and how it's presented both on TV and on radio, will we be the last generation to appreciate - hell, or even hear - a beautiful musical prelude?

"Serenity" Homage to "Forbidden Planet".
April 21, 2006

When I first saw "Serenity" at the Boston preview showing, several months before it hit cinemas (a rough cut with placeholder effects and music) which was graced with the presence of Sean Maher (Simon) and Morena Baccarin (the world's most gorgeous woman) I didn't notice it. I have to say I was so caught up in the story the reference passed me by.

But when I saw it months later in the cinemas I noticed it.

Near the end, when the Serenity crew reaches the planet of Miranda, (Prospero's daughter in Shakespeare's The Tempest, which was the play Forbidden Planet was based on) they find a rescue ship with a holographic recording by a crewmember revealing what was going on.

The rescue ship is numbered C-57D.

Note:

This is the call-number of the Starcruiser in Forbidden Planet.

Wow! Finally! Katie Holmes Gives Birth.
April 19, 2006

This just in! Every news channel on TV tonight is reporting that Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes are now parents!

Making Katie Holmes the first human being ever in the history of this planet to ever give birth!

Wow! It's awesome, and most certainly newsworthy!

As Keith Oberman said, "No word yet on the gender, or what planet it's from."

The Latest Pro-Bush Pro-War Propaganda Mass E-Mailing.
April 16, 2006

I just got this in my in-box today. Sent by someone who doesn't know me personally, but frequents a posting forum I frequent. The majority of people on that forum are right-wing, politically, but as we are of all stripes we try to keep politics out of it. Occasionally a flame-war will erupt, but we generally get over it and move on.

However, since this was forwarded to me personally in a mass-mailing, I feel compelled to comment.

First, let me comment that I hate - absolutely abhor - mass mailings. Even when my family does it, and includes me in a list of mass-mailing, I write them back and ask them not to, telling them that usually the letter, or action, or story, is completely false (like some kid dying of cancer who needs a thousand e-mails to cure him) and that the only people who benefit from these mass-mailings are the spammers who are receiving thousands and thousands of saleable e-mail addresses.

For those who wish to forward so-called "true stories", please use this web-site first. SNOPES Urban Legend Reference Pages

But this one was one of those pro-war, bullshit rhetoric pieces like the letter home from Iraq. This one begins with this megalomaniacal line:

The entirety of the mailing, with my comments in bold follows. (I have removed any e-mail addresses to protect the innocent, or stupid, whichever the case may be for each:

Here, we begin to see just how many times this was forwarded.

First the Superbowl, and next Superworld??? Uh. That sounds familiar... First Poland, then the World!

Well, since this is a hypothetical president this writer is talking about, let's examine that. What president would say this, if not the current one who got us into this quagmire? So let's assume the writer wants Bush to say these things. Seems reasonable. It's not likely the next president will say it. He'll be too busy rebuilding Bush's burnt bridges to be able to do anything notable of his own.

Isn't it nice to be able to piss in the pool and then leave the mess for someone else to clean up?

Oh? So all's well in Iraq? No civil war? No genocidal murders of the various sects? Good to hear.

So... Mission Accomplished? Again, Mr. Bush?

The reckoning is that you will go down in history, Mr. Bush, as the most warmongering president this country has ever had. You're the only one who started a war, rather than joined one in progress, based on lies and deception to the people of this country and to Congress.

Where's the list of innocent people who have died in this war over oil? Where's the list of terrorists involved in 9/11 that you've taken out? Why do you think this list of countries is so short?

Ah, now we are talking about the countries not run by insane lunatics.

Sure... what's the total now, Mr. Bush? Is it a Trillion yet? Pretty close, I believe. Do you give that much each year to other countries? And more importantly, do you give freely? Or do you expect political cooperation in return? (Hint: Ask Yemen!)

How can you, when you have no universal health care, and an education system that's the laughing stock of the developed world? Isn't a government's job to ensure the health and welfare of its own people first? Where's the love for those who can't afford health insurance and have the bad luck to break their legs? Ah, yes, you saw to that too when you changed the Bankruptcy laws to favor large corporations, and screw the little guy.

Rather than pouring troops into third world hell-holes to take their oil? Please please please don't speak of corrupt governments, Mr. Bush... yours is worse than Nixon's, and that's saying something. We can no longer keep track of the lies, corruption, outed CIA agents, faked "evidence", paid journalists, leak after leak, faked letters home from Iraq, Katrina, wiretapping citizens, and other incompetences of your administration.

Or some other country involved in the UN that actually cares about other countries. Good call. We all know how YOU see the world.

So you're going to give your people universal health care? An improved education system? Roll back the Patriot Act? Stop warrantless spying on your own citizens? The invasions of privacy? AIDS? Cancer? You're going to repeal the new bankruptcy act? You're going to repeal the new Medicaid policies that was just a nest-egg for big Pharmaceutical companies at the expense of the elerly? What other social problems are you going to address, Mr. Bush? I can't wait to see your policy documents on those issues.

Ah, good, now we're getting somewhere... As soon as you complete Bin Laden's trial... oh? What's that you say? You can't even track down a single known terrorist, and you're now threatening the others that are out there? Well, I'm sure they're quaking in their boots after your success in getting Bin Laden or any of the people involved in 9/11.

So far, you have not exactly shone in this pursuit. You sound like a kid beaten up by the playground bully, threatening from a distance, but never able to actually do anything about him.

Nice. Make China a Most Favored Nation, then ask the terrorists to focus on it. Nice friend you are!

That's fostering good global cooperation. As we all know, isolationism never leads to war... and as for NATO, Mr. Bush, the Cold War is over. Your threats are empty.

So, you want diplomants to park on the streets of any US city? It's your call to not charge people for parking tickets. Get a pair and make them pay parking tickets. You can do that you know. Nice one... admitting to the world that the streets of New York are unsafe at any speed.

Yeah... sure... Canada... we've heard that one before. Want to cement your current position in the world? Go ahead. Attack Canada.

Aren't you forgetting something, Mr. President? About September 11, 2001? About where your planes were welcomed?

Might as well beat up Mother Theresa too while you're at it... don't let the fact that she's dead stop you.

Mexico? Isnt' that the place you're now trying to get to stop invading your country by letting them come in illegally - legally? Who else do you have to clean your toilets or serve your burgers? Mexico isn't going anywhere, and you love to exploit them as well as they exploit you.

Yes, I remember that. That's how I got into the US. And I remember when Canada was waffling over NAFTA and was about to decide NOT to sign the treaty, how you threatened a pull-out from the Auto Pact. You were so desperate for NAFTA that you had to issue a threat against another treaty you had already signed in order to scare Canada into signing. But you probably don't remember that. That was your Daddy's doing. I was there. I remember it. I remember the college posters which read: "George Bush Wants A Kinder, Gentler Nation - Canada."

You mean the "Do as we say" highway? Yeah, I'm tired of that one too. Destroy your own country all you like. Drill in Alaska. But stay the hell out of other oil-producing countries where you decided that a few hundred thousand civillians is a cheap price to pay per gallon.

Ah yes, "America. Love it or leave it." How patriotic.

Let's not forget, you were the President who was going to bring "Dignity" back to the White House.

Yes it is. I wonder when it will do so. Probably not in my lifetime, or the lifetimes of those people who actually need you to focus on their welfare.

This goes to show you how little you know this planet. For example, how many of your high school students wouldn't be able to find the US on a map, let alone Iraq or Canada? How many can't even find the Earth in a map of the Solar System. Your kind are too busy trying to prove that Adam named the dinosaurs he rode to work every day.

Yeah, wouldn't that be nice... but no Republican government will ever take steps to eliminate hunger or homelessness, let alone soccer. Oh, don't worry... those countries won't forget you either... or this Iraq debacle.

Wouldn't that be nice. Thank a soldier. George, you were so stoned you probably don't remember the wonderful homecoming you folks gave to the soldiers returning from Viet Nam. When you weren't AWOL.

Thanks to your constant attack on education funding, fewer of your citizens can read this than any other first-world country in the world. And many of those who can wouldn't be able to pick the lies out of it. Logic has suffered under your educational vaccuum.

Yes, thank teachers, whose pay is a joke world-wide. Whose dedication is never acknowledged, or rewarded, but constantly ridiculed and pushed down with more removed funding.

Oh yes, please do forward this to all the idiots out there who will drink another beer and cheer "Rah rah rah!" But please also forward it to thinking people who need a good laugh.

Backhanded Apology From A Congresswoman Who Did Wrong And She Knows It But Continues To Refuse To Admit It.
April 6, 2006

A few days ago, Georgia Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney walked past a metal detector in the Capitol Building, without her ID tag, and was approached by Capitol Police and asked to stop three times before the officer reached out and grabbed her by the wrist, at which point she slapped the police officer.

Today, after a few days of controversy, the Congresswoman issued an apology.

And I quote one portion of her "apology". I have yet to find a full transcript, but I did hear the whole thing on "Countdown".

"There should not have been any physical contact in this incident," McKinney said by way of apology?

While some may take that to mean she's sorry she hit the police officer, what she was actually saying is that he shouldn't have touched an intruder walking past the metal detectors in a high-security building?

Uh... so blaming the police officer? That's not an apology. Saying things like "I'm sorry he was offended" is not the same as saying "I'm sorry I did it." That's a backhanded apology at best.

Soledad O'Brien grilled her (oh, and of course her lawyers) this morning:

[http://www.cnn.com/2006/POLITICS/04/06/mckinney/index.html]

Watch the link: " (Watch McKinney deflect questions -- 10:46)" <- My link may not work. Go to the page and click it.

After being asked the simple question "What happened that morning?" McKinney went on her rant about 16 year old pages having to recognize all Congresspeople, so why not the same for cops. She goes off on many topics, none of which even attempts to answer Soledad's simple question about what happened that morning. And Soledad was even asking what her viewpoing of what happened was.

This was McKinney's chance to tell her side of the story unanswered, since the officer involved was not there to respond, and she still evaded, evaded, evaded, deflected, deflected, deflected. It was like watching Bush being asked a question by someone he hasn't paid to ask it in a forum of his friends and family on FOX News.

So Soledad asked again:"I just want to know what happened... you approach the metal detector... tell me in your own words... What happened?"

Interjects her attorney: "Well that should be answered by her attorney."

Oh? Why? Why does an attorney who wasn't there have to answer a question about the simple facts of the events of what happened that morning, a question being asked to the one who was there??

When pressed on why the Congresswoman couldn't just tell Soledad what happened, the lawyer, in typical lawyer fashion said, and I swear I'm not making this up: "Well, we don't know what happened yet."

He's quick to say things like "We're not the ones who turned this into a criminal matter..." Uh. We? You weren't there. Your client struck a police officer. She is the one who turned it into a criminal matter.

"We haven't been told what happened." he keeps saying. Why do "we" have to be told what happened, when she has her side of the story and can simply tell it right now, in direct response to Soledad's direct question.

I mean it wasn't even a hard-hitting question. It was a soft-ball intended to allow the Congresswoman to tell her side of the story unrebutted.

She then goes on to talk about a press conference with Harry Belefonte and a bunch of other black people who also weren't there on the day, as if that had any relevence to her assault on a police officer.

Soledad goes for the jugular, and she makes McKinney look like a raving lunatic. Soledad just keeps asking, "what happened," and every time she does, two lawyers jump on her and answer all the questions they wish she had asked, but they completely and continually evade the one question Soledad actually did ask, the one she began the interview with: "What happened on that morning?"

After another frustrating evasion, Soledad says: "So somebody... ANYBODY... lawyer, congresswoman... you walk up to get into the office building - what happened... ?"

Then McKinney says, and I kid you not: "I'll tell you what happened. Uh in fact over 250 black police officers have filed a lawsuit against the US capitol police department..." blah blah blah... evade, deflect, answer a question not asked... damn...

Soledad: "Forgive my lack of clarity... what happened that day?"

As in to say: "Holy crap, what does it take for you to understand that I asked a simple question, and I expected a simple answer. Stop answering questions I haven't asked you!!!!"

It's frustrating, hilarious, and a bit sickening, actually, watching three people waffle over something and evade the direct question by bringing up other issues.

When again asked, the lawyers said: "We don't know. We don't even know the allegations. We don't know what she's accused of".

How does this relate to the Congresswoman refusing to answer the simple question Soledad asked at the beginning of the interview.

Just what happened, in her words, that day?

If lawyers and politicians continue to exist, we'll probably never know.

Tragic Photo
April 2, 2006

Last weekend our daughter led us on a tour of a pond hear her school. While we skirted the pond, amidst bare trees not yet awakened to the spring, I noticed something unusual or out of place in what should have been the straight twigs of a tree.

What I saw brought on a tragic sadness. I showed it to my family, and we made our comments on it.

The next day I took a lunch-hour break and walked around the pond again, this time with my camera. I took the following photo:

Click for larger version

At first I thought I had come at the wrong time of day. The sun was at such an angle as I couldn't get a photo from an angle with the sun behind me. The sun that day was brightly visible above a hazy cloud layer. I found when I got there that I could use the sun in a way that wouldn't have been possible earlier or later in the day.

That's fishing line. Tangled in the branches of a tree next to a small dock, about six feet long and three feet wide, perhaps the place from which the fishing line was used.

The photo shows what I think is a mourning dove, which are common on the shores of this pond, tangled in fishing wire. Look at the larger version. The details are frustratingly sad. The kind of sadness and frustration that make you wish you were there at that moment to help, but of course weren't.

I'm planning on entering this photo into some kind of amateur competition or other. Or barring that, perhaps to a nature conservation company for promotional use. It sure says a lot about man's interference with nature.

If you have any suggestions where I might send it, please feel free to contact me.

The Perils Of Ignorance and eBay
April 1, 2006

Recently an eBay Auction went up for a GI Joe made in the mid 1990s. Hasbro put out a pair of GI Joes intended to honor the Afrifcan American fliers, the Tuskegee Airmen. One of these Joes was pictured, and the auction was entitled:

Tuscan Airman (Link only good until eBay takes down the auction)

The picture was accurate, of a Tuskegee Airman. But all I could think of was this:

At least then it would have been just a spelling error.

Will The Real Tomorrow People Please Stand Up?
March 26, 2006

In the early 1970s a British TV show called The Tomorrow People featured a small number of teenagers who, when they hit puberty, "broke out" which meant that their mutant powers moved from the latent to the active. These teens could then teleport, communicate telepathically, and some of them had the power of telekenesis.

These kids considered themselves the next logical step in human evolution, and called themselves "homo superior" a term coined in 1935 by Olaf Stapledon in a novel called "Old John".

This series ran for about a decade in various forms and was popular in the UK, and I grew up on it in Newfoundland, Canada.

Now consider Marvel Comics' The X-Men. Basically this series is about teenagers who break out during puberty and their powers are revealed. A very similar idea, although without the costumes, the cool Adamantine claws, and a bald, wheel-chair-bound Professor as a leader. Rather, the Tomorrow People are led by the first break-out teen named John (Young John?) who also built an amazing bio-computer named Tim.

But now there is an Ultimate X-Men comic book entitled The Tomorrow People. The back of the book also refers to "homo superior". Here's the passage on the back cover of the trade paperback of the first six issues:

More or less that's the premise of the UK TV series. Now I know the X-Men has been going for a very long time, even before the TV show, but how far back did the comic book use these terms? Or this premise of a war between Homo superior and Homo sapiens?

So who's stealing from whom? The Marvel X-Men comic began in the 1960s, which predates the British TV series, but the TV series was called The Tomorrow People before the Ultimate X-Men used the same title in a recent comic series.

Is that enough to claim that one is stealing the idea from another? Did The Tomorrow People steal the idea of teenaged mutants from The X-Men? Is the idea of mutant teens breaking out during puberty specific enough idea to call it stealing? Super-powered humans are not a copyrighted concept. (Though rumor has it DC Comics is trying to trademark the term "Super-Hero", but that's another story®™. Note: Stay tuned for my announcement that I am staking a claim on the term story®™.)

And if using the concept of teen mutants already published in an American comic-book in a UK TV series is stealing, is it ok that The Ultimate X-Men steals the very title of a very very popular UK TV series for its own?

It's not as if the title has gone unused. DVDs of The Tomorrow People are currently on shelves sharing space with the new comic book of the same title. Books and magazines have kept the Tomorrow People brand alive during the time between the demise of the series and the release of this X-Men comic book.

But get this: Not just the same title - the same font!

The font you see on the Tomorrow People DVD cover shown above is the font used from the very first episode of the TV series in 1973. This lends credence to the idea that the X-Men writers knew about the TV show when they produced this comic series named after the TV series, and using the very same font as the TV series.

Now lest you all jump to defend The X-Men (that hallowed ground of comic books) you have to know that X-Men has had 40 years to revise its history. Simply reading old issues may help clear the muddy waters, but I do not believe the X-Men used the term The Tomorrow People until this new Ultimate X-Men series, first published in 2001.

And lest you jump to the defense of all comic book publishers, claiming they wouldn't stoop to stealing something like a title and a title font, don't be so quick with that leap. I had an image taken from the internet of a spaceship I modeled in Lightwave and had it used without my knowledge or permission on the cover of a comic book from a fairly well-known publishing house. After the atrist copped to it, he acceded to my request for a credit, which he put in a later issue. The same artist also used an image of another craft that was a prototype for a model for a videogame. I doubt he had permission to use that one either, going from what happened with my image.

I won't name the publisher or the artist now because he agreed to credit me after the fact, and that's that settled.

Is there some understanding between the publishers of The X-Men and the writers of The Tomorrow People?

If not, who's stealing from whom?

Is There Life On Mars?
March 15, 2006

I've been watching a British TV show called Life On Mars, which is the story about a Manchester police officer who gets run down on the highway and wakes up in 1973. Life On Mars, so titled because of the song (by David Bowie) which was playing on the radio both in 2006 and in 1973 in Sam Tyler's car.

He finds himself alone in 1973, newly transfered to the local police station, under a brutish Detective Chief-Inspector, whose tactics can be considered somewhat - outdated to say the least.

It's a clever premise and a pretty decent cop drama, where Sam's attempts at introducing modern police methods to an out-dated brutish police force cause some interesting clashes, but inevitably get the job done.

We find out pretty early that what's actually going on is that Sam is in a coma in 2006 and is living in his brain in 1973. We keep hearing voices from the hospital room talking about Sam's vegetative state.

Anyway, episode 8 was pretty intense, as Sam, who has already met his mother in previous episodes, now finds his Dad the focus of a serious police investigation into organized crime. Sam, who at the age of four, remembers his father leaving his mother and himself while at a wedding, never to be seen again, gets to see his Dad for the first time since he was a young lad.

One scene in which Sam is remembering his Dad from his childhood, Vic Tyler is flying Thunderbird 2, which would have been exactly right. Thunderbirds was hugely popular in England, and a heck of a lot of kids had toys of Thunderbird 2.

Here's the shot.

And here's to next season!

Next Please!
March 14, 2006

When I moved to New England from Newfoundland, one of the first things I noticed besides the harsh accents saying "Yer all set", and individually-wrapped drinking straws, was the behavior of cashiers saying "Next in line please", or "Can I help whoever's next", or some such.

I've noticed this throughout the state and the country and I notice it's changing. It's like the word Next is impersonal or something, and someone's coaching cashiers to say something more politically correct, something less impersonal.

The most common phrase these days seems to be "Can I help whoever's next?" which to me is fine, though it does seem impersonal, like it's an assembly line.

So an improvement has been noticed in recent years: "Can I help the next customer, please?" or "Can I help the next person in line, please?"

But the most bizarre version I've ever heard was in New York City at the Americn Girl shop (which we visited on February 24, 2006) was, and I kid you not... "Following guest, please."

Following guest?

It took me a minute to figure out just what the person saying it wanted... "Following guest?" Was I being tailed by store security???

Man, give me "Next please" any day!

Dungeons & Dragons Online: Stormreach ships!
March 9, 2006

It's not easily discovered through my web-site, I don't mention it much, but I work for Turbine Entertainment, a computer game company in Massachusetts. I've done many things there. I started as a creature animator for Asheron's Call, an original game we created and published with Microsoft. Then became the Lead Artist, then the Live Artist producing monthly content (the best three years of my life). Asheron's Call, my first game (and my baby) launched in 1999 and is still going.

Over the past few years I've worked as a Technical Artist, Effects Artist and Animator for Lord of the Rings Online, and Dungeons & Dragons Online: Stormreach.

On February 28, DDO shipped, and things are going very well. We're getting great reviews not only from the press but from players.

I just thought you might want to know... I'm quite proud of this game, as I am of Asheron's Call.

But here's something even cooler. Tomorrow night, March 10, 2006, during none other than the 90 minute season finale of Battlestar Galactica, an ad for DDO will air in three slots. Great ad placement!

Funny Stuff!
February 21, 2006

I normally don't go crazy over visual puns, but this one is probably the funniest thing I've seen in days. I laughed out loud for quite some time when I saw this.

GI Joe Collector Club Exclusive Join-Up Figure!
February 22, 2006

Man! I'm excited! The GI Joe Collector Club has offered a free figure for signing up for a long time now. The 12" figure for the past three years has been a transparent version of one of the Hasbro GI Joe figures. A Super-Articulated GI Joe one year, a clear 40th Anniversary Figure the next year, and a clear GI Jane last year.

This year, it's a new Adventure Team figure called the Foreign Adventurer!

While it costs extra, you can also get an accessory set for it that includes a black jumpsuit with Adventure Team logo, brown boots and shoulder holster (with pistol), metal dog-tag, and a black leather jacket with AT logo!!!

It's like Christmas 1974 again, and as this has just now been announced, I'm not sure I'm going to be able to sleep tonight!!!

Not to mention, they've also announced that the 2006 Convention Exclusive is going to be a reproduction of the Adventure Team - Fight For Survival set, which is a dog-sled and winter outfits.

UPS --- AGAIN!
February 22, 2006

Have I said it lately? I hate UPS!

Oh, I've said it before, but not recently.

On Presidents’ Day, TURBINE was officially off. However, I worked about a half-day, and I was by no means alone. In fact, our reception desk was occupied the whole day.

So while I left the office around 2:00 and the package I was expecting had not yet arrived, I resolved to come back later to pick up my package. I went home and checked the UPS tracking page, and it said:

The thing is, while we were officially on holiday, we were open. Any UPS truck would have been met at the door with a receptionist who would have received the package. So obviously he didn’t even try to ring the doorbell, and I’m guessing he didn’t even do a drive-by of the office, because he would have seen the vehicles outside and knew we were open.

So I wait.

Stupidly I did not forward the tracking info to my office. I had been tracking from home. So all day Tuesday I was waiting for this package. It is a fairly important package to me because it holds my birthday gift from my wife, as well as some GI Joe action figures I ordered, and a Convention Set I have to photograph for the GI Joe Collectors’ Club. The package is worth about $500.00

I asked our receptionist (who does far more than that) later in the day if we got a package, and when UPS arrives. UPS had already been, apparently, and no package. So I figured the whole “Presidents’ Day” debacle confused them so much that it took an extra day to figure out what went on. So I went home and checked tracking.

Deilvered. 9:10am Tuesday. Signed by FINNEGAN (Ok, so I made that name up, since Turbine has no Finnegan, it’s safe to use the name and not have someone cleverly use it to gain access to Turbine. – Stranger things have happened. Also, I chose Finnegan because the business nex-door also has no employee by that name.)

So I e-mailed Turbine’s Finnegan (remember, not a real name) and he says he had not signed for any UPS packages.

So I figure, hey, it probably got delivered next-door. Same address. Different Suite #. We’re 4000, they’re 3000 or something like that. Perhaps they have a Finnegan. So I called the company next-door, and using their name look-up automated system, I discovered they also coincidentally emply a Finnegan. So I walk next-door with my UPS tracking sheet in hand and sure enough, a Mr. Finnegan got my package yesterday. He was going to give it back to UPS.

(Which would have been a disaster, because instead of thinking, and checking the label, and discovering he had delivered it one door over, the package then would have gone back to the central warehouse in this area (about a mile away, but may as well be a continent away) where it would be taken in, rescanned, sent out the next day for another attempt. Basically, the total delay would have been oh… about a week.)

So in this case, I did a little detective work and found my package.

And again I must state: I HATE UPS!!!!

God Bless Rhode Island
February 19, 2006

This is perhaps the most beautiful document I've seen in five years. It says everything I've been trying to say since November 2000. From Carl Sheeler's web page.

Wow. Doesn't that just bring a tear to your eye? It's beautiful! I wish I could make it my .sig.

Podshock Episode
February 3, 2006

The episode of Podshock I recorded Sunday was published today. I put up a page of links to help you find some of the things I talked about in that episode.

Podshock
January 29, 2006

Podcasting, another technological idea that has been around a long time only to be recently Christened with a cute name and the pretense that it's a hot new fad, has been something I've been interested in for years. I'd download audio portions of CBC Radio shows, and anything I could find to listen to.

Lately, with the immense popularity of the iPod the act of recording audio shows to download now had a new-fangled name, and new-fangled popularity.

One podcast I've been very interested in is Podshock, a Doctor Who podcast by the Gallifreyan Embassy, with hosts Louis Trapani, Ken Deep and James Naughton. Ever since August 2005 I've been subscribed to the show, and haven't missed an episode.

I've send them an audio review of the new Doctor Who sonic screwdriver which they played, and I've been active on their website's forums ever since.

A couple of times they featured my "The Second Key" Doctor Who photo story, and they've said good things about it. But recently Louis e-mailed me and asked me if I'd be interested in doing a bit of an interview about the story for Podshock.

I ran out and bought a head-set, because they use Skype to communicate to do their show. (James is in the UK, and for the three of them to host the show they use the Skype Conference Call software.) I downloaded Skype and got all set up.

Today, January 27, we connected through Skype on my wife's new laptop, and the first thing they asked was if I'd mind, as well as doing the interview, riding shotgun, or playing guest-host for the entire show. We sat around chatting for over an hour just ironing out the kinks in bad connection and the like, but mostly just chewing the fat about the Doctor Who world in general, and then we were away.

We spent some time talking about Doctor Who news, new DVDs, the like, and then they interviewed me about The Second Key. After that they played a review by Taras Hnatyshyn of "The Sirens of Time", Big Finish's first Doctor Who audio (which was the first one I listened to as well) and we commented on that, then we got some reader feedback, and they played another audio entry in a contest they ran a few months ago about our favorite Doctor.

Of course, with the current co-host being who he was, I suggested they play my entry, and they did.

Closing the show, I felt a little sad because I had had such fun doing it. We sat around and chatted a bit longer, but then supper was ready and it was time to enjoy my wife's wonderful cooked supper with Yorkshire puddings.

Anyway, the episode will publish sometime in the coming week, and when it does, I'll put up a link to it and comment on how I thought it went. As I could not hear my own voice on the show, I have no idea how it turned out, but I think it went well.

They also invited me to attend a Podshock Round Table discussion sometime in the future - something they are just now beginning to think about. Sounds like fun.

I could get addicted to this.

Blog? Sure, Blog. Why not?
January 1, 2006

Oh, why fight it? Ever since 1996 I've had a Rant page on the web, and while it was originally intended as a daily (and then weekly, and then whenever the heck I felt like it) page on good things and bad things I've experienced, I never succumbed to the temptation to call it a "blog" once the term got around and became a thing of its own.

But now with 2006 coming in, and my web site having been up for more than 10 years, I have decided rather than start a 2006 RANT and RAVE page, I'll just call it a blog and move it to huxter.org (from adventureteam.com)

Face it, Huxter. People don't read rant pages. They read blogs. And though I really don't like capitulating to fadish culture whims, perhaps it's time to face the music and dance.

January 1, 2006 - Visit my previous RANT page featuring rants from 2005 and earlier

Contact Me About My Blog Comments