Outpost of the Empty Head

IMG_1427

nobody@vox.com(silas216) — Sun, 18 May 2008 20:55:30 -0700

IMG_1427, originally uploaded by Felix_KL.

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Strangers on a Train

nobody@vox.com(silas216) — Wed, 14 Nov 2007 19:47:38 -0800

I shared one of Rebecca’s favorite clips yesterday. Now it’s my turn.

And no, I have never thought of myself as Cary Grant. But I do picture Becca as Eva Marie Saint: cool, collected, and absolutely gorgeous.

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October 15, 2007 -- The Pharyngula Mutating Genre Meme (3)
October 7, 2007 -- Chick Flicks (0)
August 26, 2007 -- Big Box of Links (0)

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Election Fatigue

nobody@vox.com(silas216) — Wed, 14 Nov 2007 18:20:48 -0800

Originally published at thoughts from an empty head. You can comment here or there.

flame, originally uploaded by shoothead.

I've had enough.

There are 432 days until a new boss takes over, and I have had it. I'm tired of the incessant nitpicking of insignificant foibles, the fluffing of stupid stories that have no bearing on the job at hand, the stupidity of various pundits passing themselves as "serious" people while peddling their idiot talking points, the spinelessness of politicians in general, the idiocy of the system that I find myself in - all of it, really. More and more every day, I find myself hitting the "Mark All Items As Read" button on my feed reader, and not simply because I want to talk to Rebecca (which is still a pretty good reason, truth be told). I've pretty much had it up to here with the whole circus.

You know what my favorite movie is right now, especially whenever I see yet another freaking campaign ad?

Understand, now: I'm a news junkie. I can spend hours doing nothing more than dissecting stories and finding connections in everyday happenings. That's what used to be considered, at least by me, a "good time". But I can't take it anymore. I really can't. CNN has been off my radar for months now. FOX is a joke. MSNBC would be regularly confused by me with CNBC (which itself is a pretty useless network to anyone not married to their jobs) if it wasn't for Olbermann, and even his show is beginning to lose its luster. The Republicans seem to love playing "Who Wants to Have a Gay Sex Scandal?" when they're not busy ripping apart everything they claim to love, and the Democrats seem only too happy to bend over at every chance for the most hated president in recent memory.

I realize that I'm not the first to note that this election "year" seems to have begin a tad early, but really, I can't take it anymore. I honestly don't want to see one more story or article about this stupid excuse of an exercise in "representative democracy".

Count me out.

UPDATE: I for one welcome our new robot overlords. :lol:

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Technical Difficulties

nobody@vox.com(silas216) — Wed, 14 Nov 2007 16:12:49 -0800

If you're wondering what the heck is going on (which pretty well describes my default state), I am trying to crosspost all of my regular blog entires here at Vox. Unfortunately, Vox doesn't like some of the code coming through. Hence, strange posts that look as if stuff is missing.

Just in case you were wondering.

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links for 2007-11-14

nobody@vox.com(silas216) — Wed, 14 Nov 2007 08:29:14 -0800

The Skeptics’ Guide To The Universe - Logical Fallacies

(tags: articles blogs collection communication cool criticism debate guide interesting skeptics skeptic skepticism reference science philosophy logic)
Borders Adds TV Watching to Its Bookstores’ Entertainment - New York Times

WTF?!?!?!?

(tags: borders bookstore tvs+dont+belong+in+bookstores+you+idiots stupidity)
If I Ran the Zoo: There Are Two Kinds of Republican Sex

Tom Hilton for the win.

(tags: wingnuts GOP republicans+are+real+freakjobs)
BBC - Doctor Who - News - Watch Crash, Raise Cash!

It’s not long now until Friday night - and Time Crash, the special Doctor Who scene starring David Tennant and Peter Davison.

(tags: doctor+who davison tennant children+in+need bbc w00t)

He Said It

nobody@vox.com(silas216) — Tue, 13 Nov 2007 22:23:58 -0800

Because I am buried under paperwork (and because Rebecca loves Monty Python) , I offer the following classic clip.

stuff like this

November 9, 2007 -- The Hazards of Dating a Geek (0)
October 4, 2007 -- The Ocean Administration (1)
October 3, 2007 -- Celebrity Weapons (0)

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links for 2007-11-13

nobody@vox.com(silas216) — Tue, 13 Nov 2007 08:29:48 -0800

Suicide Bombing Makes Sick Sense in ‘Halo 3′

I used to find it hard to fully imagine the mind-set of a terrorist.
That is, until I played Halo 3 online, where I found myself adopting — with great success — terrorist tactics. Including a form of suicide bombing.

(tags: article articles blog bomb bombing computer cool death war halo gaming politics halo3 terrorism psychology games)
POKIN AROUND: A real person, a real death | St. Charles Journal - News -

Some people really are worthless bastards.

(tags: myspace suicide teens bastards wtf)

One Step Too Far for the TSA

nobody@vox.com(silas216) — Tue, 13 Nov 2007 04:23:22 -0800

OK, TSA, now you bastards have gone too far.

Then another security guard entered and the second guard went through my bags questioning me on almost everything in them. He gave me a really hard time on several items. The first was a bottle of Allegra-D. He wanted to know why I had it and if I could prove it was actually allegra inside of it.

The second problem was that I had several graphic novels with me. I had planned to read them on the plane. I had “DMZ” volumes 1, 2 & 3, “The Nightly News,” and “Artemis Fowl.” The guard flipped through “DMZ” saw a ravaged New York City and them immediately called for two other security guards to join him in the room. I was then questioned for over an hour about the comics and why I had them. I was point blank asked if I was a terrorist or if I ever had desires to harm other. The whole ordeal was completely ridiculous. I can understand them being cautious but going ballistic because of the graphic novels I had with me is taking it too far.

I told them that I was the Executive Editor of Th3rd World Studios, an independent comic book company, and that as a result I always try to read as many other comics/graphic novels so that I know what’s out there. I explained that DMZ had gotten a lot of positive reviews and so I decided it was time I finally read it. But they didn’t seem to care. All they saw was comics with “terrorism” and felt that it was suspicious.

Looking back I understand now that I should have never left my stuff outside of the airport bathroom, but to go crazy over graphic novels is ridiculous. I’m sure they’ve never accused someone with a season of “24″ of being a terrorist. But comics, apparently not being as mainstream as I’ve hoped, are seen as this mysterious dark thing. It’s ignorance like this that makes the general public think comics are just for kids or that comics are ONLY superheroes. It’s sad.

I sure hope Rebecca likes long road trips, because this blogger isn’t going through any airports in the foreseeable future. [ed. - She does. w00t!]

Via Brian Wood.

stuff like this

August 24, 2007 -- Dangerous Pudding (0)
November 7, 2007 -- A Rose is Not a Rose (0)
October 10, 2007 -- Playing With Intelligence (0)

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Walk the Line

nobody@vox.com(silas216) — Mon, 12 Nov 2007 23:58:36 -0800

Hell, yes, I support the strike. I work for a living.

Give those bastards hell, WGA.

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August 8, 2007 -- Thrown Under the Bus (4)
August 3, 2007 -- Who Wants to Write Jughead? (0)

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Big Brother Really Is Watching You

nobody@vox.com(silas216) — Mon, 12 Nov 2007 23:08:33 -0800

big_brother_is_watching_sml.jpg

Well, I hope you’ve enjoyed what little privacy you thought you had, folks.

WASHINGTON (AP) - As Congress debates new rules for government eavesdropping, a top intelligence official says it is time that people in the United States changed their definition of privacy.

Privacy no longer can mean anonymity, says Donald Kerr, the principal deputy director of national intelligence. Instead, it should mean that government and businesses properly safeguard people’s private communications and financial information.

[…]

Kerr said at an October intelligence conference in San Antonio that he finds concerns that the government may be listening in odd when people are “perfectly willing for a green-card holder at an (Internet service provider) who may or may have not have been an illegal entrant to the United States to handle their data.”

He noted that government employees face up to five years in prison and $100,000 in fines if convicted of misusing private information.

Millions of people in this country - particularly young people - already have surrendered anonymity to social networking sites such as MySpace and Facebook, and to Internet commerce. These sites reveal to the public, government and corporations what was once closely guarded information, like personal statistics and credit card numbers.

“Those two generations younger than we are have a very different idea of what is essential privacy, what they would wish to protect about their lives and affairs. And so, it’s not for us to inflict one size fits all,” said Kerr, 68. “Protecting anonymity isn’t a fight that can be won. Anyone that’s typed in their name on Google understands that.”

“Our job now is to engage in a productive debate, which focuses on privacy as a component of appropriate levels of security and public safety,” Kerr said. “I think all of us have to really take stock of what we already are willing to give up, in terms of anonymity, but (also) what safeguards we want in place to be sure that giving that doesn’t empty our bank account or do something equally bad elsewhere.”

Sounds innocuous enough, right? I mean, do we really have any expectation of privacy anymore, especially online?

Kurt Opsahl, a senior staff lawyer with the Electronic Frontier Foundation, an advocacy group that defends online free speech, privacy and intellectual property rights, said Kerr’s argument ignores both privacy laws and American history.

“Anonymity has been important since the Federalist Papers were written under pseudonyms,” Opsahl said. “The government has tremendous power: the police power, the ability to arrest, to detain, to take away rights. Tying together that someone has spoken out on an issue with their identity is a far more dangerous thing if it is the government that is trying to tie it together.”

Opsahl also said Kerr ignores the distinction between sacrificing protection from an intrusive government and voluntarily disclosing information in exchange for a service.

“There is something fundamentally different from the government having information about you than private parties,” he said. “We shouldn’t have to give people the choice between taking advantage of modern communication tools and sacrificing their privacy.”

“It’s just another ‘trust us, we’re the government,”’ he said.

Outpost of the Empty Head

IMG_1427

Strangers on a Train

stuff like this

Election Fatigue

Technical Difficulties

links for 2007-11-14

Most Commented Posts

He Said It

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links for 2007-11-13

Most Commented Posts

One Step Too Far for the TSA

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Walk the Line

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Big Brother Really Is Watching You

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