Thursday, November 29, 2001
This month's "Most Gullible" award goes jointly to John Simpson of the BBC (he who liberated Kabul) and Anthony Lloyd of The Times of London. They managed to mistake a 1979 spoof from the Journal of Irreproducible Results discovered in a bunker in Kabul for genuine instructions on building an atom bomb. To quote Anthony Lloyd:
"The vernacular quickly spun out of my comprehension but there were phrases through the mass of chemical symbols and physics jargon that anyone could understand, including notes on how the detonation of TNT compresses plutonium into a critical mass producing a nuclear chain reaction and eventually a thermo-nuclear reaction."
I doubt this puppet has quite the mainstream TV career ahead of it that Basil Brush had. Still, it would have made an interesting new womyn's role model character on Fingerbobs...
Monday, November 26, 2001
Now that Thanksgiving is behind us (since even those among us with the very slowest of digestive tracts have by now surely processed and put behind us our share of the estimated half a trillion calories consumed on National Turkey Day), let's consider a couple of alternatives to turkey for consideration next year. For the record, in the Stewart household, we had steak, but for those who are traditional enough not to want to rule out fowl play, I offer for your consideration the turducken. If that's not sufficiently different, then let me offer instead this tasty morsel.
Sunday, November 25, 2001
Wednesday, November 21, 2001
If my gonads had not been so closely linked to my adolescent strife, I might have had the balls to do this when I was in high school.
This just in: As the B-52's continue to pound K{a|o|u}nduz, hoping to force the Taliban into submission with their trademark campy retro-hip sounds and humorous lyrics, singers Fred Schneider and Kate Pierson are reportedly "bearing up quite well, thank you" despite the near-impossibility of obtaining the requisite wine coolers & industrial-size cans of hairspray. The B-52's, who flew in from their base in Athens, GA, have conducted huge numbers of sorties in support of the Northern Alliance's ground campaign against the embattled Taliban. This is nothing new, of course, for the B-52's who, in the course of their work, frequently "roam around the world".
This just in: Tired of criticism over the shifting vowel forms in English transliterations of Pashto and Dari-language place-names, which has resulted in the name of the city in northern Afghanistan being variously rendered as Konduz, Kunduz, and Kanduz, the International Society of Translators today issued a statement condemning their detractors as "u bonch uf cants whu con jost fack uff".
This just in: One early result of the high-level meeting between White House adviser Karl Rove and various Hollywood execs is a new star vehicle for rubber-faced comedian Jim Carrey about the fall of Afghanistan's capital. The movie gives us a parodying look inside the crumbling Taliban, with the windmill-armed humorist known for his wild-eyed mugging for the camera playing the role of the vanquished Taliban local leader. The movie is to be called "Kabul Guy".
Monday, November 19, 2001
Sure, there are plenty of lowlifes out there who have used 9/11 as another opportunity to scam people out of their money. But, not surprisingly, the one that looks the most innocent is often the most guilty.
Sunday, November 18, 2001
Monday, November 12, 2001
At 3,900 rounds per minute, the Lockheed-Martin 30 mm GAU-8/A seven-barrel Gatling gun (ex-"GE Minigun") in the Fairchild A-10 Thunderbolt (aka the Warthog) has long held the record for the greatest rate of fire of any currently-deployed firearm.
All that will change, however, if a small Australian company gets its way ... it's right there on the front page - Mike O'Dwyer's machine gun design which has no moving parts offers a "variable rate of fire confirmed to one million rounds per minute".
A conventional machine gun delivers its rounds spaced about 300 feet apart. The Metalstorm's rounds depart the muzzle a mere 4 inches apart.
All that will change, however, if a small Australian company gets its way ... it's right there on the front page - Mike O'Dwyer's machine gun design which has no moving parts offers a "variable rate of fire confirmed to one million rounds per minute".
A conventional machine gun delivers its rounds spaced about 300 feet apart. The Metalstorm's rounds depart the muzzle a mere 4 inches apart.
Friday, November 02, 2001
Following yesterday's surprise announcement, Turkey continues to prove itself an unexpectedly staunch ally.
I propose we show our solidarity with our Turkish brethren by choosing to eat something else on Thanksgiving (or Christmas, for Brits). Say, kebabs? No, wait ... how about MRE's? Turkish delight?
I propose we show our solidarity with our Turkish brethren by choosing to eat something else on Thanksgiving (or Christmas, for Brits). Say, kebabs? No, wait ... how about MRE's? Turkish delight?
This just in: On the considered advice of Homeland Security Doofus Tom "Oak" Ridge, FedEx amends the wording on their mailers from "Do not enclose blood or diagnostic samples" to read "Do not enclose blood, diagnostic samples, or anthrax spores. Please".
Tom "Blue" Ridge is reported to be taking a well-earned four-day vacation to recover from "nervous tension" after this concerted effort.
Tom "Blue" Ridge is reported to be taking a well-earned four-day vacation to recover from "nervous tension" after this concerted effort.
Thursday, November 01, 2001
Been doing some coding recently, and wanted to share a quotation I came across long ago in The Psychology of Computer Programming by Gerard M. Weinberg:
Last among the essential personality traits for programming, we might
add a sense of humor. The computer "Doth make fools of us all," so
that any fool without the ability to share a laugh on himself will be
unable to tolerate programming for long. It has been said with great
perspicacity that the programmer's national anthem is "AAAAHHHH!"
Then we finally see the light, we see how once again we have fallen
into some foolish assumption, some oafish practice, or some witless
blunder. Only by singing the second stanza "Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha," can we
long endure the role of clown.
Wednesday, October 31, 2001
Most spam that you get with "interesting" subjects tend to lead to some type of porn site. When I got one recently with the subject "Attention Hose Draggers", this is the LAST thing I expected:
Why spend all your spare time dragging that hose around your yard?
Call TLC today at l-888-PICK TLC
We will be able to have a sales representative out this week to give you a
quote on an automatic lawn sprinkler system.
CALL TODAY AT 1-888-742-5852 FOR A FREE ESTIMATE!
Why spend all your spare time dragging that hose around your yard?
Call TLC today at l-888-PICK TLC
We will be able to have a sales representative out this week to give you a
quote on an automatic lawn sprinkler system.
CALL TODAY AT 1-888-742-5852 FOR A FREE ESTIMATE!
Not getting enough different slants on the "current situation"? Try these on for size: Israeli-sourced intelligence news/analysis, US-sourced intelligence news/analysis, or, err, InstaPundit. I can't say, of course, where these links came from. Thanks, John B.
It's dark and very very cold in Finland, so I suspect the Finns spend a lot of time indoors with not much to do. I guess a prime number shitting bear is the sort of thing you'd expect to occur to them over the long winter months.
Monday, October 29, 2001
If you read this article out loud, record it (mp3, wav, audio cassette, whatever) and then play it backwards, its hidden message appears to be "sell ORCL." Of course, if you were a "chartist," you would have already known this just by reading your horoscope. WTF?
A picture paints a thousand words? These guys have turned it into a game. Anyone remember the old games of tennis and whack-a-mole played out in ASCII art on USENET?
Friday, October 26, 2001
Thursday, October 25, 2001
I could spend hours on this site. Just in the last hour, I learned about C and black boxes. Gotta throw this in, otherwise my post surely will not pass the censors.
You may have thought the Ham(p)ster Dance was the ultimate in useless crap, but at least the Ham(p)ster Dance">Ham(p)ster Dance has an annoying tune that gets stuck in your head that can't be cleared by booze, hookers, boozed-up hookers, or hooked-up boozers. Here, then, is something much more useless:: Momo.
Following Shaun's announcement, I'm pleased to announced that the "Are we getting our money's worth?" award this month goes to Heimatgesichertsheitamtoberstandardtenfuehrer ... err, sorry, Homeland Security Office chief Tom ("Cheese") Ridge who is quoted by CNN as saying: "It is clear that the terrorists intended to use this anthrax as a weapon."
I am very glad he has clarified this for us - I had been vacillating for days (aside - does one need Vaseline in order to vacillate properly? Or at least without friction burns?) over whether the terrorists intended the anthrax as a peace offering, or as an apology. After all, you never know with terrorists.
Now, after a couple of weeks of intensive head-scratching, Tom ("Hergest") Ridge has at last cleared things up. Thanks, Tom. Good job.
I am very glad he has clarified this for us - I had been vacillating for days (aside - does one need Vaseline in order to vacillate properly? Or at least without friction burns?) over whether the terrorists intended the anthrax as a peace offering, or as an apology. After all, you never know with terrorists.
Now, after a couple of weeks of intensive head-scratching, Tom ("Hergest") Ridge has at last cleared things up. Thanks, Tom. Good job.
The "Not looking so smart now" award this month is shared between the Bush and Clinton administrations. Back in July, the US scuppered an international effort to enforce the 1972 Biological Weapons Convention, based on findings by the Clinton administration that the protocol "would put national security and confidential business information at risk."
Wednesday, October 24, 2001
Spot the odd one out:
Pikachu
Jigglypoof
Stufflebeem
Two of these are Pokemon, one of them is a US Navy Rear Admiral. You make the call.
Pikachu
Jigglypoof
Stufflebeem
Two of these are Pokemon, one of them is a US Navy Rear Admiral. You make the call.
Looking for a great source of unsubstantiated rumors about top secret internment camps dotted around the US? Tales of hypersonic research aircraft over the Nevada Desert? Blather about the Omega Agency and the orders it issues that come from "above the President"? Then look no further than AboveTopSecret. Just beware, though, that the NSA will be watching you ...
Feeling depressed, anxious, or confused in the wake of all that we see every day on the news? Maybe you should BuySexToysNow.
Friday, October 19, 2001
Thursday, October 18, 2001
Wednesday, October 17, 2001
Yep - the deployment of not one but two (count 'em folks) Spectre gunships to turn the Taliban into dog chow explains to me why the most promising new name for the territory under attack is "Half-gone-istan".
The choice of the nickname "Spectre" for the AC-130 is, to me, an intriguing choice. I can imagine few things less "spectral" than a 62-ton, 16,000 horsepower transport plane raining down withering firepower while turning lazy circles in the sky. I can think of few more concrete demonstrations of military might and resolve. Indeed, one of the reasons they're using these beasts during broad daylight is: because they can. If indeed it's true what they say, that there are many Taliban/al-Qaeda members who cherish the thought of death as much as Americans cherish life, then this thing is here to help them achieve that goal. Anyone else with a rather, say, better functioning sense of self-preservation (hell, if we had the time, I'd be happy to wait for evolution to run its course with these geniuses) should have ample reason, if not time, to rethink that position.
Let's face it, whether you're chewed up by 7.62mm bullets being sprayed at you by the pair of incongruously-named "mini-guns" (the same 6-barrel Gatling gun things you saw being supposedly used in "Predator" - yes, those mini-guns), ripped in two by the 20mm cannons, obliterated by the 40mm Bofors cannon, or just plain aerosolized by the 105mm Howitzer, you've probably eaten your latest kebab, and burned your last American flag.
And finally ... a survivalist writer and friend of mine (who has recently been commissioned by that most urbane of the highbrow journals, "Hustler", to write a "think piece" on surviving a terrorist attack) passed on the following interesting tidbit last night: by his calculations, a one megaton nuclear airburst strike, detonated at a height of 10,000 feet agl would be sufficient to ignite every turban within a seven mile radius. He offers no particular context or rationale for having performed this calculation, just kinda thought it was interesting.
The choice of the nickname "Spectre" for the AC-130 is, to me, an intriguing choice. I can imagine few things less "spectral" than a 62-ton, 16,000 horsepower transport plane raining down withering firepower while turning lazy circles in the sky. I can think of few more concrete demonstrations of military might and resolve. Indeed, one of the reasons they're using these beasts during broad daylight is: because they can. If indeed it's true what they say, that there are many Taliban/al-Qaeda members who cherish the thought of death as much as Americans cherish life, then this thing is here to help them achieve that goal. Anyone else with a rather, say, better functioning sense of self-preservation (hell, if we had the time, I'd be happy to wait for evolution to run its course with these geniuses) should have ample reason, if not time, to rethink that position.
Let's face it, whether you're chewed up by 7.62mm bullets being sprayed at you by the pair of incongruously-named "mini-guns" (the same 6-barrel Gatling gun things you saw being supposedly used in "Predator" - yes, those mini-guns), ripped in two by the 20mm cannons, obliterated by the 40mm Bofors cannon, or just plain aerosolized by the 105mm Howitzer, you've probably eaten your latest kebab, and burned your last American flag.
And finally ... a survivalist writer and friend of mine (who has recently been commissioned by that most urbane of the highbrow journals, "Hustler", to write a "think piece" on surviving a terrorist attack) passed on the following interesting tidbit last night: by his calculations, a one megaton nuclear airburst strike, detonated at a height of 10,000 feet agl would be sufficient to ignite every turban within a seven mile radius. He offers no particular context or rationale for having performed this calculation, just kinda thought it was interesting.
Tuesday, October 16, 2001
Thanks to Ken for discovering this gem. The Spectre has been called into battle in Afghanistan. Let's face it folks this amazing piece of military hardware just kicks fuckin' ass!
Monday, October 15, 2001
Hmmm. Who says all the best cereals are for kids? Also, I think I've met a few of these people before?
This is just got old fashion terrifying. The sound you hear is the sound of your privacy being sucked up by the giant corporate/government vacuum cleaner.
Sunday, October 14, 2001
Now, we'll all seen the amazing stick figure martial arts demonstration as rendered in Flash. Let's kick it up a level by putting each and every one of us in control of those kung-fu moves. Better yet, let's add Bruce Lee to the mix.
Friday, October 12, 2001
Tuesday, October 09, 2001
Monday, October 08, 2001
"First and foremost, Tromix believes that a firearm or related product should entertain its user, and in the event such a refined product such as ours should stand out in the fields of hunting, self defense, home offense, or other such activities, so be it. Hence, Tromix cares not if it fits a specific application, as long as it is fun and entertaining to the user. We feel excessive noise, blast, recoil and a good fireball are a prerequisite to an invigorating shooting experience."
Friday, October 05, 2001
Thursday, October 04, 2001
Another disheartening article about the CIA's continuing failure to measure up to the threat and the challenge it and, oh, the rest of us, are now facing from the Bin Man.
I had somehow managed to conflate in my mind this article and the one Shaun posted when talking with Mr Sandrowitz the other day, to the great confusion of us both.
However, I am now taking my medication again, the fog has lifted, and all is now clear.
By the way - the article I keep exhorting everyone to read is in the on-line edition of The New Yorker, a too-too-sophisticated magazine for and by those living closest to the North-East's largest ongoing urban renewal project. For some reason best known to themselves, and clearly far beyond the grasp of those of us not blessed with the good fortune to live in the city of overpriced shoe-box apartments, rude people and terrorist-demolished skyscrapers, the site has chosen to put the article on a page whose URL will one day change, as it is one of those "monthly spot" links. So - enough vitriol about New York and New Yorker magazine. It's a good piece - good enough to make everyone feel really good about themselves, and really bad about the CIA - so go read it while the URL is valid and not pointing to, say, an article about why the Hamptons will be so fabulous this fall, or where the best blintzes are to be found on the Upper East Side.
I had somehow managed to conflate in my mind this article and the one Shaun posted when talking with Mr Sandrowitz the other day, to the great confusion of us both.
However, I am now taking my medication again, the fog has lifted, and all is now clear.
By the way - the article I keep exhorting everyone to read is in the on-line edition of The New Yorker, a too-too-sophisticated magazine for and by those living closest to the North-East's largest ongoing urban renewal project. For some reason best known to themselves, and clearly far beyond the grasp of those of us not blessed with the good fortune to live in the city of overpriced shoe-box apartments, rude people and terrorist-demolished skyscrapers, the site has chosen to put the article on a page whose URL will one day change, as it is one of those "monthly spot" links. So - enough vitriol about New York and New Yorker magazine. It's a good piece - good enough to make everyone feel really good about themselves, and really bad about the CIA - so go read it while the URL is valid and not pointing to, say, an article about why the Hamptons will be so fabulous this fall, or where the best blintzes are to be found on the Upper East Side.
Monday, October 01, 2001
Forget earning Membership Rewards or United Frequent Flyer miles -- Check out PC Booty Call -- "a full service auction house for escorts, that offers you beautiful girls available through a consistent, reliable, and timely, fantasy service that you can bid on." It pays to use it, becuase you can "... earn Pimp Points towards a free appointment the more you use our service."
An interesting article on how ill-prepared the US's intelligence agencies are to combat Usama Bin Laden. This was written before September 11th, and contains such gems from operatives as "Operations that include diarrhea as a way of life don't happen."
Having seen how much curry some ex-UK special forces operatives can consume, I can only assume this isn't a problem for British intelligence. To quote one: "My arse'll be like the back end of the batmobile tomorrow."
Having seen how much curry some ex-UK special forces operatives can consume, I can only assume this isn't a problem for British intelligence. To quote one: "My arse'll be like the back end of the batmobile tomorrow."
Thursday, September 27, 2001
Tuesday, September 25, 2001
Lyndon LaRouche ... Teddy Goldsmith ... Roberto Calvi ... P2 ... my head is spinning.
I've mentioned LaRouche before. He's probably delusional, but if he's not, and if he's right, we're all in a heap of trouble.
Example:
"First of all, what has happened to the United States is on last Tuesday, the 11th, it came attack by a mysterious force, which I know is some kind of rogue operation inside the security screen of the United States. This did not come from the Middle East. It didn't come from Europe. It didn't come from South America. There may be people who are nationals from other parts of the world who were involved in this, but the operation is very sophisticated, and no one could do an operation like this, from outside the United States at present; there's no one who could do what was done here then."
I think he's dead wrong. I hope he's dead wrong. If you enjoy having your head turned inside out, check out this piece of agitprop.
Teddy Goldsmith is another interesting character - brother of James (Jimmy) Goldsmith, somehow implicated in the vastly complex and largely forgotten Iran-Contra scandal (remember that?) both descendants of Europe's Goldschmidt dynasty - he founded, among other things, The Ecologist magazine, and Howlett's zoo park outside Canterbury. Teddy Goldsmith's own bio, posted on The Ecologist's site, makes it possible to believe there's a link there between him, the Goldschmidts, the groups that have been protesting the IMF and World Bank meetings, Roberto Calvi, P2, the Mafia, the KGB, the CIA, the Catholic Church, the assassination of JFK, and the crashing of two airliners into the World Trade Center ...
For those who want to crank up their personal paranoia meters just a little higher, there's the NameBase, a search engine for citations to "names of individuals and groups involving : assassinations, organized crime, scandals, Wall Street and transnational corporations, foreign policy and media establishments, political elites from the Right and Left, Cold War history and intelligence". Surf away. Type in the name of any shadowy and/or influential figure you've ever heard of - James Bamford, Oliver North, George Bush (GHWB or GWB), any of the Kennedys, either of the Goldsmiths, Henry Ford - and see where the citations lead you.
Finally, if you've never read it, this'd be a great time to invest in a copy of the Illuminatus! trilogy and some high-grade hydroponic marijuana ...
I've mentioned LaRouche before. He's probably delusional, but if he's not, and if he's right, we're all in a heap of trouble.
Example:
"First of all, what has happened to the United States is on last Tuesday, the 11th, it came attack by a mysterious force, which I know is some kind of rogue operation inside the security screen of the United States. This did not come from the Middle East. It didn't come from Europe. It didn't come from South America. There may be people who are nationals from other parts of the world who were involved in this, but the operation is very sophisticated, and no one could do an operation like this, from outside the United States at present; there's no one who could do what was done here then."
I think he's dead wrong. I hope he's dead wrong. If you enjoy having your head turned inside out, check out this piece of agitprop.
Teddy Goldsmith is another interesting character - brother of James (Jimmy) Goldsmith, somehow implicated in the vastly complex and largely forgotten Iran-Contra scandal (remember that?) both descendants of Europe's Goldschmidt dynasty - he founded, among other things, The Ecologist magazine, and Howlett's zoo park outside Canterbury. Teddy Goldsmith's own bio, posted on The Ecologist's site, makes it possible to believe there's a link there between him, the Goldschmidts, the groups that have been protesting the IMF and World Bank meetings, Roberto Calvi, P2, the Mafia, the KGB, the CIA, the Catholic Church, the assassination of JFK, and the crashing of two airliners into the World Trade Center ...
For those who want to crank up their personal paranoia meters just a little higher, there's the NameBase, a search engine for citations to "names of individuals and groups involving : assassinations, organized crime, scandals, Wall Street and transnational corporations, foreign policy and media establishments, political elites from the Right and Left, Cold War history and intelligence". Surf away. Type in the name of any shadowy and/or influential figure you've ever heard of - James Bamford, Oliver North, George Bush (GHWB or GWB), any of the Kennedys, either of the Goldsmiths, Henry Ford - and see where the citations lead you.
Finally, if you've never read it, this'd be a great time to invest in a copy of the Illuminatus! trilogy and some high-grade hydroponic marijuana ...
Thursday, September 20, 2001
Reprobates is pleased to bring you the following piece of financial advice (thanks to Tim for passing this one along):
If you bought $1000 worth of Nortel stock one year ago, it would now be worth $49.
If you bought $1000 worth of Budweiser (the beer, not the stock) one year ago, drank all the beer, and traded in the cans for the nickel deposit, you would have $79.
My advice to you is to start drinking heavily.
If you bought $1000 worth of Nortel stock one year ago, it would now be worth $49.
If you bought $1000 worth of Budweiser (the beer, not the stock) one year ago, drank all the beer, and traded in the cans for the nickel deposit, you would have $79.
My advice to you is to start drinking heavily.
Wednesday, September 19, 2001
My email inbox, it suddenly seems, is full of exhortations to light a candle at a particular time and be photographed by a satellite, or to show the world (or my neighbor in the double-wide next door, at least) that I'm an idiot who actually reads chain emails and does what they say, or something like that.
Well, here's a suggestion I'm sure we can all get behind:
Show your support for bush at 7pm tonight, by slipping an extra dollar bill into your favorite stripper's waistband.
Boo-ya!
Well, here's a suggestion I'm sure we can all get behind:
Show your support for bush at 7pm tonight, by slipping an extra dollar bill into your favorite stripper's waistband.
Boo-ya!
Now, for a limited time, Reprobates is bringing you a special section that is devoid of humo(u)r. How is that different from the usual drivel we serve up? you might well ask. Well, not only is it devoid of humo(u)r, it's also lacking in references to bodily excretions, gonads (with or without strife), drugs or any of the other, err, finer things in life.
So how does it qualify for inclusion in Reprobates? 'Coz I'm a moderator, dammit, and I say so. Yes, dear reader, Reprobates is a dictatorship, and the most important thing to remember about that is, you can't say "dictatorship", without saying "dick".
Anyway, the point is this. The Western world seems to be on the brink of ... something. There are more opinions, and more "information" (good, bad, correct, incorrect, or indifferent) available to the general public than at any time before any previous military action. I don't know about you, but I've been exposed to more information about the geo-political make-up of the Middle East than I ever wanted to know before. Some of it I sort-of knew, or thought I'd heard before, but suddenly, now, every little detail seems so much more relevant, germane, crucial. I was dimly aware, for example, of the British role in creating Israel, as documented in this personal screed that has been fairly widely circulated (this particular copy of it comes from, of all places, the 7-Series BMW Bulletin Board). Also on the same BB, however, is a piece about Afghanistan, too.
Some of what I've learned must seem hopelessly trivial to those people some of us went to college alongside - you know, the poli-sci students, and so on. Those same graduates must now be some of the most clued-in burger flippers around. For example, I learned that Iranians are not Arabs. At that revelation, some of you must be saying "Duh!", while others are saying to themselves "I had no idea there was a difference" and yet others are simply thinking "Mmm ... orange ..." But I digress.
It's also becoming increasingly clear that whatever is coming is probably (hopefully) not a war in the conventional WWI/WWII/Korea/Falklands/Vietnam/Gulf sense - the "enemy" is too sneaky to face a conventional force across anything resembling a recognizable battlefield. The author of piece on Afghanistan quoted above makes a fascinating and terrifying point - to draw the West into a pitched battle against Islam is precisely what Bin Laden wants, because he believes Islam will win.
One insight into the kinds of activities that the West will be increasingly undertaking can be gleaned from an article in Sunday's Washington Post about networks.
Bush is right when he says this won't be a short war - it took years for the terror networks to build up to their current level of sophistication, and it will take years to dismantle them. This will be an action that continues long after the spectacle of war fades from our TV screens, and we will know little about its methods and its successes, but I fear we'll know all too well about its failures.
Many in the UK wonder whether the US's new-found sense of outrage and horror towards terrorism will mean that the Boston & New York Irish will finally stop funding the IRA. Personally, I doubt it. I don't think most of Noraid's contributors are bright enough to make the mental leap, but there you go.
For one final link (because everyone likes links), I would like to remind everyone of the existence of my personal favo(u)rite wild card - Lyndon LaRouche. My biggest fear is that this man is not as deluded as he seems. Read just about anything on his site - particularly the stuff about terrorism - and make your own judgment.
So how does it qualify for inclusion in Reprobates? 'Coz I'm a moderator, dammit, and I say so. Yes, dear reader, Reprobates is a dictatorship, and the most important thing to remember about that is, you can't say "dictatorship", without saying "dick".
Anyway, the point is this. The Western world seems to be on the brink of ... something. There are more opinions, and more "information" (good, bad, correct, incorrect, or indifferent) available to the general public than at any time before any previous military action. I don't know about you, but I've been exposed to more information about the geo-political make-up of the Middle East than I ever wanted to know before. Some of it I sort-of knew, or thought I'd heard before, but suddenly, now, every little detail seems so much more relevant, germane, crucial. I was dimly aware, for example, of the British role in creating Israel, as documented in this personal screed that has been fairly widely circulated (this particular copy of it comes from, of all places, the 7-Series BMW Bulletin Board). Also on the same BB, however, is a piece about Afghanistan, too.
Some of what I've learned must seem hopelessly trivial to those people some of us went to college alongside - you know, the poli-sci students, and so on. Those same graduates must now be some of the most clued-in burger flippers around. For example, I learned that Iranians are not Arabs. At that revelation, some of you must be saying "Duh!", while others are saying to themselves "I had no idea there was a difference" and yet others are simply thinking "Mmm ... orange ..." But I digress.
It's also becoming increasingly clear that whatever is coming is probably (hopefully) not a war in the conventional WWI/WWII/Korea/Falklands/Vietnam/Gulf sense - the "enemy" is too sneaky to face a conventional force across anything resembling a recognizable battlefield. The author of piece on Afghanistan quoted above makes a fascinating and terrifying point - to draw the West into a pitched battle against Islam is precisely what Bin Laden wants, because he believes Islam will win.
One insight into the kinds of activities that the West will be increasingly undertaking can be gleaned from an article in Sunday's Washington Post about networks.
Bush is right when he says this won't be a short war - it took years for the terror networks to build up to their current level of sophistication, and it will take years to dismantle them. This will be an action that continues long after the spectacle of war fades from our TV screens, and we will know little about its methods and its successes, but I fear we'll know all too well about its failures.
Many in the UK wonder whether the US's new-found sense of outrage and horror towards terrorism will mean that the Boston & New York Irish will finally stop funding the IRA. Personally, I doubt it. I don't think most of Noraid's contributors are bright enough to make the mental leap, but there you go.
For one final link (because everyone likes links), I would like to remind everyone of the existence of my personal favo(u)rite wild card - Lyndon LaRouche. My biggest fear is that this man is not as deluded as he seems. Read just about anything on his site - particularly the stuff about terrorism - and make your own judgment.
Friday, September 07, 2001
You're watching one of your favorite TV shows and you start thinking that the writers must have run out of ideas. Like the X-Files was after "Fight the Future". You wonder if you're the only fan who thinks that show has gone in the dumper. Well, you're not. And, as long as Ted McGinley doesn't show up in an episode, everything is going to be fine.
Monday, September 03, 2001
Just in case you find yourself in Montogomery, Alafrickin'bama, there are no Starbucks. In fact, the closest stores are near or in Birmingham, as you can see here.
Saturday, September 01, 2001
Damn! Another disillusionment, it turns out NASA faked the whole moonshot program. Don't believe it? Here's undeniable proof.
Friday, August 31, 2001
Damn, Ken. You figured out my strategy of trolling old postings and reposting stuff that people might have forgotten about. Oh, well. I guess I'll have to find new, interesting, and possibly funny stuff through my own efforts. So, imagine how happy I am that a friend sent this to me today. I appreciate the tongue-in-cheek approach to what is widely considered the largest public health crisis Washington, DC has ever known.
This wasn't reported in the UK news when it happened. IBM tried to promote their Linux offerings with a hippy style "Peace, Love and Linux" marketing campaign, which included graffiti on sidewalks, reported by CNN and Mother Jones. I read about it in an imported magazine, and as far as I can tell it was limited to San Francisco and Chicago. I wonder if Lou Gerstner ended up doing the community service...
Wednesday, August 29, 2001
It's amazing how insensitive people can be before their first cup of coffee in the morning, nowhere moreso than in the home of Starbucks it would seem.
Monday, August 27, 2001
Dave - your posts are greatly appreciated. They would be even more appreciated, however, if they contained, uhh, new links (psst - the farts and poops pages have already been posted on reprobates! Pass it on!)
Anyway.
My attention has been brought to the following site which will be useful to those of you who wish to, say, join the "White Stun(t)az" (see Reprobates passim). Madd knowledge of gansta wayz can be found here.
Anyway.
My attention has been brought to the following site which will be useful to those of you who wish to, say, join the "White Stun(t)az" (see Reprobates passim). Madd knowledge of gansta wayz can be found here.
Wednesday, August 22, 2001
I guess I've been feeling very "posty" lately. Maybe I just feel guilty because Ken periodically complains that people are not contributing enough content to this blog. Anyways, better to feel posty that gassy, in my opinion.
Make sure to read all the way through. You'll be rewarded with gems like:
Why is it that when you scratch your ass through two layers of clothing (your underwear and your jeans) your fingers still stink? (Question submitted by TREKCOP99)
As pointed out by Barb F., who contributed the term to the fart thesaurus, a fart can be regarded as "aerosolized poop," which means that microscopic fragments and droplets of poop are actually distributed throughout the gaseous matrix of the fart. When delivered from the anus with some force, the components of the fart can penetrate one's clothing and these tiny particles can be trapped in the fibers of the cloth. The particles are transferred to your fingers and then your nose when you scratch and sniff.
Aerosolized poop. If that isn't a good product idea, I don't know what is.
Don't miss the companion site, either. Another wonderful excerpt:
How does poop stay together, like in links? (Question submitted by Blink182 Girl)
In humans, soft poop is really one long, mostly continuous sausage before it comes out. It gets its "link" look because we tend to pinch off lengths of it with the anal sphincter as the poop emerges. If a person pinches hard enough, the poop separates into several turd units. If the person doesn't pinch that hard, the turds may stay connected. If you can remain sufficiently relaxed, you can produce an awesomely long poop that will coil up inside the toilet.
Awesomely long...I think I saw one once. That's the one my girlfriend still refers to as "The Baseball Bat".
Make sure to read all the way through. You'll be rewarded with gems like:
Why is it that when you scratch your ass through two layers of clothing (your underwear and your jeans) your fingers still stink? (Question submitted by TREKCOP99)
As pointed out by Barb F., who contributed the term to the fart thesaurus, a fart can be regarded as "aerosolized poop," which means that microscopic fragments and droplets of poop are actually distributed throughout the gaseous matrix of the fart. When delivered from the anus with some force, the components of the fart can penetrate one's clothing and these tiny particles can be trapped in the fibers of the cloth. The particles are transferred to your fingers and then your nose when you scratch and sniff.
Aerosolized poop. If that isn't a good product idea, I don't know what is.
Don't miss the companion site, either. Another wonderful excerpt:
How does poop stay together, like in links? (Question submitted by Blink182 Girl)
In humans, soft poop is really one long, mostly continuous sausage before it comes out. It gets its "link" look because we tend to pinch off lengths of it with the anal sphincter as the poop emerges. If a person pinches hard enough, the poop separates into several turd units. If the person doesn't pinch that hard, the turds may stay connected. If you can remain sufficiently relaxed, you can produce an awesomely long poop that will coil up inside the toilet.
Awesomely long...I think I saw one once. That's the one my girlfriend still refers to as "The Baseball Bat".
Tuesday, August 21, 2001
So, you're an actor that has built a lasting career by combining a strange and overly emotive way of delivering lines, a hairpiece so bad that its a joke in its own right, and persistents rumors that you are homosexual. You almost lose all of it by aligning yourself with an internet company, which promotes itself by accentuating your weirdness in all its commercials. When that company fails and the commercials end, how do you know that you still have any worth? Because your fans still love you.
Monday, August 20, 2001
A bunch of geeks and management consultants jet off to troubleshoot in Ghana. Silicon valley's attempt to ruin third world economies now they're done with the U.S.? You decide...
Friday, August 17, 2001
As as person in software sales (as are many of the usual suspects are), I have sat through at least a dozen or two sales kickoff meetings. Starting early in the morning (usually hungover) you sit in a uncomfortable chair in a large, overly air-conditioned room in a hotel, bombarded with PowerPoint after PowerPoint after PowerPoint. Except at Microsoft, where Steve The Monkey Boy dances.
Thursday, August 16, 2001
Only in LA. Some goons are attempting to get the stars to copyright their DNA. I wonder what the courts will decide to do with the "material" which infringes such copyrights? Imagine incinerating a hundred Tom Cruises...
Wednesday, August 15, 2001
So, am I now doomed to be a geek forever? If I am laughing at something like this, I may as well start my own computer club.
Friday, August 10, 2001
Monday, August 06, 2001
If I was a website admin, I'd want my site hacked by Fluffy Bunny. He likes to hit security sites like SANS and attrition. He replaces them with versions (SANS, attrition) that are much nicer, and have a cute little bunny to boot!
It's been a while since I posted. I needed to be inspired. I'd like to call the following selections "Fun with Flash".
I'm creeping like a Chester...
The second coming of the greatest flash animation I have ever seen.
This song could not be more true. I can still remember the days I held my gonads and thought about how hard my life was, waiting for the day I could get my hands on some drugs.
The last two come from the Stile Project, a excruciatingly perverse site. Dirty, nasty, and funny. Be warned...make sure nobody is around when you look at this stuff.
I'm creeping like a Chester...
The second coming of the greatest flash animation I have ever seen.
This song could not be more true. I can still remember the days I held my gonads and thought about how hard my life was, waiting for the day I could get my hands on some drugs.
The last two come from the Stile Project, a excruciatingly perverse site. Dirty, nasty, and funny. Be warned...make sure nobody is around when you look at this stuff.
Tuesday, July 31, 2001
Hmm. Herbert Kornfeld and the White Gangstaz. Who's for real, and who's the product of an over-active imagination? Trick question.
What, then, are we to make of the Icy Hot Stunaz? (or is that Stuntaz? - check the URL)
Had enough of young, white, suburban punks who act like they're underprivileged black kids from the 'hood? Well how about young, black, urban women who act like overprivileged white chicks from the affluent 'burbs?
What, then, are we to make of the Icy Hot Stunaz? (or is that Stuntaz? - check the URL)
Had enough of young, white, suburban punks who act like they're underprivileged black kids from the 'hood? Well how about young, black, urban women who act like overprivileged white chicks from the affluent 'burbs?
Paul is too lame to figure out how to post to Reprobates. So I'm going to post the link he emailed to me. Don't bother clicking here, though. It's shite.
Friday, July 27, 2001
According to the architects of America's stupid, wasteful, moronic, freedom-restricting, 6th-Amendment trashing (OK, get on with it - editor) War On (Some) Drugs, certain drugs are "gateway drugs" - meaning, presumably, that you, say, smoke a doob, get bored with the buzz (and ensuing munchies, or so I'm told) and bingo! next day you run out and shoot up with angel dust or snort some heroin or put cocaine in your ears or whatever.
Well, anyway, apparently this "gateway" effect is not limited to illegal & fun drugs. Looks like it may have happened with Viagra. Thanks to Chris for reporting this one.
Well, anyway, apparently this "gateway" effect is not limited to illegal & fun drugs. Looks like it may have happened with Viagra. Thanks to Chris for reporting this one.
Thursday, July 19, 2001
You know that it would be untrue
You know that I would be a liar
If I was to say to you
That the Jim Morrison Simulatron
was not the coolest thing ever.
You know that I would be a liar
If I was to say to you
That the Jim Morrison Simulatron
was not the coolest thing ever.
This is slightly eerie: something else on Congressman Gary Condit's home page as blogged by John F.: this link.
Ian and I are working in Charm City aka Baltimore, MD. Baltimore is famous for a number of things. For example, it recently lead the US in the number of syphilis cases, and is still the nation's heroin capital. However, it has been in the local news today for another reason.
Beautiful place.
Beautiful place.
Friday, July 13, 2001
Hey kids, want a summer job?
Whether interning in Modesto, Merced, or Washington D.C., working in one of Rep. Condit's offices can be an extremely rewarding experience.
Congressman Condit is looking for interns on his web page....
Whether interning in Modesto, Merced, or Washington D.C., working in one of Rep. Condit's offices can be an extremely rewarding experience.
Congressman Condit is looking for interns on his web page....
Tuesday, July 10, 2001
Wednesday, July 04, 2001
Yet another play on "Am I Hot or Not", but this was very necessary. I am sure we can all find people, maybe people standing close to us right at this very moment, that we might want to snap a picture of and send in for review.
Tuesday, July 03, 2001
The Story of Mr. Beefy ... a very 1996 looking web page with some disturbing uses of ground meat for a puppet ...
Not sure how up you are on the Weekly World News, but one of their front page stories from a few years back is now the subject of a musical. Don't know about you, but I'm interested in seeing Bat Boy The Musical
Monday, July 02, 2001
Hey Shaun, thanks for the JotW. I eventually got the Lego depravity item to open, and thought I'd offer you, in return, Lego chef.
I think I might be going blind. Or want to. I can't tell.
- Lego depravity
- Balloon depravity
- Thumbnail depravity
- And just for Ken, Jesus of the week
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)