Are we all perhaps linked by invisible bonds? Do the actions of one affect others, even if those others are far away? Our lives and the universe itself may be all part of a single mechanism in which all creatures and events are 'entangled' with one another.

Wednesday, May 31, 2006

Videos Of the Week

Religion And Politics: Strange Bedfellows Or Evil Alliance?

While admittedly I am a fan of neither religion nor government, considering them both to be burdens placed upon the Human Race, designed to control and frighten people into submission, even I am sometimes surprised the extent to which their adherents will go to achieve the ends they desire. Religious wackos such as Pat Robertson, Jerry Falwell, Fred Phelps, and others like them are almost comical in their proclamations and the delusions they perpetuate.

Even more surprising and frightening though, are the politicians who will cater to the religious craziness in an effort to get elected. I used to have some respect for men like Democrat Howard Dean or Republican John McCain, who seemed willing to take a stand on issues, even if they came into conflict with members of their own political camps. However, once again the old adage"Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely", proves to be true.

"Power" must be an extremely intense drug if it can cause those addicted to it to throw out their own beliefs in an effort to get another stronger fix of it.

With that in mind I present this week's videos:






Monday, May 29, 2006

Harold's Planet

Something about this cartoon that worries me is that big blue thing--is that supposed to be love? Or does it represent life?

Either way it looks like it could gobble you up easily with those sharp teeth!

Check out www.haroldsplanet.com/daily.htm for more about Harold's adventures, or to see the archived strips.

Cartoon

Sunday, May 28, 2006

True Or False?

For each of the quizzes below, the first time I took them I gave truthful answers.
Then I took each one again, giving answers exactly opposite to what I'd normally say (in other words--I lied!).
Of course, I mixed them up, or
did I? That's for you to figure out!

Can you tell which quiz has my
TRUE answers?
And which of each quiz has the FALSE answers?

(I edited out the scoring portion of the first one just to save space....the answers are in color).
A.)
You Belong in 1978

B.)
You Belong in 1965

If you scored...

1950 - 1959: You're fun loving, romantic, and more than a little innocent. See you at the drive in!

1960 - 1969: You are a free spirit with a huge heart. Love, peace, and happiness rule - oh, and drugs too.

1970 - 1979: Bold and brash, you take life by the horns. Whether you're partying or protesting, you give it your all!

1980 - 1989: Wild, over the top, and just a little bit cheesy. You're colorful at night - and successful during the day.

1990 - 1999: With you anything goes! You're grunge one day, ghetto fabulous the next. It's all good!



A.)
You Should Be a Science Fiction Writer

Your ideas are very strange, and people often wonder what planet you're from.
And while you may have some problems being "normal," you'll have no problems writing sci-fi.
Whether it's epic films, important novels, or vivid comics...
Your own little universe could leave an important mark on the world!


B.)
You Should Be A Poet

You craft words well, in creative and unexpected ways.
And you have a great talent for evoking beautiful imagery...
Or describing the most intense heartbreak ever.
You're already naturally a poet, even if you've never written a poem.


Leave a comment with the answers you think are correct....I'll put up the right answers on June 1st (Thursday).

Friday, May 26, 2006

Wednesday, May 24, 2006

Videos Of the Week

My videos this week are of songs that were "One-Hit Wonders" for the artists that did them. I selected one from each of 3 decades.
Funny thing is, for some reason, in recent weeks I've thought of each of these songs at different times. Maybe that's just because I'm a bit strange...and stranger still...I'll admit I actually like all these songs!
The titles link to Wikipedia entries on the artists.
1983
Pass The Dutchie....Musical Youth

Related Link:
Musical Youth

1974
KungFu Fighting....Carl Douglas


1966
They're Coming To Take Me Away Ha Haaa!....Napolean XIV

There weren't any music videos back in the 60's, but I found this one that someone created using scenes from an anime, matched with the song. This link goes to a site that has other versions of the song, and related songs.
I first heard this one when I was about 11 years old. A cousin had it on a 45RPM record (that's one of those round vinyl things with a big hole in the center--for you kids out there who only know about CD's & MP3's). On the flip side of the record the song was recorded backwards. My cousin liked to play it over & over....I think he was trying to drive his mother crazy. If you want to hear the original and the backwards version, click on the links below:

Related Links:

They're Coming To Take Me Away, Ha-haaa!
!Aaah Ah Yawa Em Ekat Ot Gnimoc Eryeht

Bonus Video !!
While searching I found this other "one-hit wonder" from the 60's that I also liked so here it is!
1969
In The Year 2525...Zager & Evans

The big question is--will the human race make it to the year 2525?

Monday, May 22, 2006

Random Quizzes

You Are Royal Blue

People find you difficult to understand. In fact, you often find it hard to understand yourself.
You think so much that sometimes you get lost in your own thoughts!


Your Linguistic Profile::
60% General American English
25% Yankee
5% Dixie
5% Upper Midwestern
0% Midwestern

Sunday, May 21, 2006

Sunday Funnies

Just sitting here reading comics on yet another rainy day.
Is the sun still around?
It's been awhile since I've seen it! Oh, wait--there it is!
It decided to make a brief appearance.
Phew! That's a relief....I'd thought maybe it had gone out.





Today's Comic



Close to Home
by John McPherson


Related Links:
1-UComics
2-United Media/Comics

Wednesday, May 17, 2006

Videos Of The Week

This first video is dedicated to my blogger friend Ryan, who hasn't been feeling well this week and as a little promotion for a new blog he & some other bloggers have set up called "It's Raining Men"

This is the original music video for the song by "The Weather Girls".
Quick trivia question--do you know the name they called themselves before changing it to "The Weather Girls"?




This next video is by a favorite of mine-"Frankie Goes To Hollywood". This particular video was banned from MTV at the time it was released.




And finally, this last one is just one I thought was an interesting look at the
"Beginning And End Of The World"

Monday, May 15, 2006

Saturday, May 13, 2006

Friday, May 12, 2006

The Philosophy Of Liberty

I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty or give me death!
--
Patrick Henry, March 23, 1775


We are currently fighting a war in Iraq, even though Congress never declared war as required by the Constitution Of The United States, illegal wiretaps have been carried out, the NSA has been collecting phone call records on millions of Americans. These are just a tiny fraction of the ways in which the Constitution has been subverted and the liberty of Americans has been trampled upon. Under both Republican and Democratic administrations, the government, over the years, has chipped away at the freedoms of its' citizens.

How much longer will it be before those freedoms disappear entirely?

People will say "Oh, that can't happen here--the United States is the freest country on Earth!" Well, guess what...it has been happening here, a little at a time...bit by bit. Governments rule through the use of "force or fraud" , either forcing their citizens to obey it's edicts or fooling them into obeying "because it's in your best interests" (even when it's not).

The scariest thing about this is that most people just don't seem to care that their liberty is being slowly taken away. People are more concerned about the cost of gasoline than the cost of their lost freedoms.

Is it that people have forgotten what liberty is or were never taught the true meaning of liberty? Perhaps a refesher course is necessary--
click here to watch a short animation on "The Philosophy Of Liberty". Go ahead--watch it--I promise you it's an interesting (as well as educational) animation. I wouldn't lie to you....I don't work for the government !

Mini Machines (w/pics)

Looks like the future is going to be tiny! Found this on Digg.com this morning.

Today's advanced micromachining techniques give scientists the ability to fabricate complex objects on a scale never before possible. And things just keep getting more interesting. See for yourself in this gallery of tiny wonders, from miniature submarines capable of sailing through your blood vessels to tiny eyeglasses for houseflies.

read more | digg story

Wednesday, May 10, 2006

Videos Of The Week

My mind (yes, surprisingly, I do have one) has kind of been all over the place this week, so my video selections reflect that.

The first is an old Elton John song "Sad Songs (Say A Lot)" which is true, I believe, which may be why I tend to avoid listening to 'sad songs'. In fact I generally don't listen to much music that contains lyrics at all, instead listening to classical or techno/electronic music. Could be it's just one of the ways I use to avoid too much "reality", since I'm generally more comfortable in my own little worlds.



This next video (actually there's really no video at all) is an even older song by Otis Redding.
If you listen carefully to the words, they reflect how I often feel about my life thus far. Just "sitting on the dock of the bay", watching 'my life' roll away.



This last video probably won't interest many people, but I thought it was a good explanation of an area of quantum physics (I've mentioned here before I'm a science geek--so whatta expect?) that is hard to explain. It's about 5 minutes long, but if you've got time to kill, give it a view.
Current theories in quantum physics imply that "reality" may not be what we've always thought. Or there might be more than one "reality". Maybe that's why this particular area of science fascinates me so much--'cause I'm not all that satisfied with my current "reality".



Hmmm...I guess there is a theme here after all--reality--whatever that is !

Tuesday, May 09, 2006

Invention Machine

Just wanted to quickly post this item this morning:

Here's a fascinating article printed in the May 2006 issue of Popular Science magazine. It may well be the future of computing & invention--a machine that creates new inventions.

Now if I could just invent a way to avoid going to work....guess not...at least not today.

Sunday, May 07, 2006

Free Comic Book Day



Yesterday was Free Comic Book Day, an annual event held by comic shops and comicbook publishers to promote their lines and encourage new readers. Of course I went to the local comic shop, EarthWorld Comics to get my free books and pick up some of my usual titles.
Actually that was about the only thing I did this weekend mainly because I just felt too tired to do much of anything else. Weather here on Saturday wasn't too nice anyway--windy & kind of cold. At least too cool for me, since I prefer the hot days of summer.
The rest of the weekend I sat here at the computer most of the time, browsing the web, reading some new blogs I haven't seen before, added a couple of items to this blog (check the right sidebar below the archive list), put those 2 banners on top (they're not paid ads, just a couple of things I found that I liked), and generally wasted away another couple days of my life.
The left banner above is from BlogMad--a blog traffic site that I signed up at. Why? I'm not sure-just thought it was kinda cool. The banner changes to display different blogs registered at BlogMad so it's different each time the page is viewed or reloaded.

Below are some comic book covers....the lower 2 are two of the free ones I picked up and the top one is the first issue of Action Comics from June 1938. If you'd like to read that first Superman story go here.

Click picture for original size
The FIRST appearance of Superman in a comic!


Future Shock :Previews of upcoming IMAGE Comics

BONGO Comics: Selections from BONGO's Simpsons Comics

Amazing Video of 110 mph BICYCLE crash

This is what it looks like when your high-tech mountain bike snaps in half as you are riding down the side of a volcano at 110mph (172 kmh).

read more | digg story

Saturday, May 06, 2006

Bush's Falling Approval Ratings

If you think George Bush's poll numbers are dropping, take a look at this !

(If he gets stuck, use your mouse to drag him to a new spot)

Thursday, May 04, 2006

Playing On Harold's Planet

This cartoon sort of ties in which the previous two posts
in which I mention toys I used to play with as a kid.

Notice I didn't say before I "grew up", because I haven't done
that yet and don't plan on doing it anytime soon if I can at all avoid it!



Wednesday, May 03, 2006

Videos Of the Week

In my previous post I answered a question about my favorite childhood toy, which I said was my "Matchbox" car collection. So here's a video about the life of some cars:



Speaking of cars I've recently been playing a very old videogame called "New Rally-X" where you drive a racecar around collecting flags and avoiding rocks & other cars that try to crash into you. (and I got a new high score of 142,040!)
On the same Playstation disk is the original Pac-Man game as well, but hard times have hit poor Pac-Man as can be seen in this video:

Tuesday, May 02, 2006

Tag, I'm It!

Tagged by James for this meme!

If you could be any person in the world, who would you be, and why?
This question took a bit of thinking, because while I'm particularly thrilled at being 'me', I had a hard time deciding who I would like to be. But then I recalled someone who I recently "said to myself"-- I'd like to be him. Now this is a person that most of you reading this probably have never heard of, but his name is Kevin Rose. Who's that? (I'm sure most are wondering)
Well, he's one of the guys who started Digg.com, Revision3, (my left sidebar also has links to those sites) and was on the TV show "Screen Savers" on TechTV (before it became G4). He also currently does a podcast (including a video version) called 'DiggNation' where he ,along with Alex Albrecht, discusses the top stories that have been on Digg.com.
Why would I want to be him? Because he loves computers & tech stuff and gets to work with those things every day while earning a living doing it. And he seems to have fun doing it! Being able to make a living while doing something you enjoy seems like the perfect job to me . Instead of dreading getting up to go to work like I do.

Describe a place you remember from your childhood.
I was a 'stay-at-home' kind of kid, never going out much, preferring to sit & read or play with my toys or games alone. Ever play Monopoly with 3 players, even though you were the only one playing? I used to--I would play as 3 different people, using a different strategy for each 'imaginary' player--one would buy any property he landed on, another would save his cash for the pricier places, and the third might try to get certain properties. Weird, huh?

But I got sidetracked there, going down Memory Lane.

The place I was going to talk about is a state park here in NY called Thacher Park. My mother, two older brothers, and a few aunts & uncles (and my cousins, of course) would go there for picnics in the summer. The male cousins & uncles and my brothers would usually start up a baseball game while the women of the family sat around and gossiped. Well, I being no fan of sports nor gossip, would wander off alone into the woods nearby to explore. Now these were not deep woods (although there are places there were you could get lost--and every year they usually have to rescue someone who goes into caves there & gets lost). The woods I 'explored' actually had marked trails so if you got confused, you need only look for trees with colored tags on them.
I don't remember what I thought about on those treks through the woods, but I do recall just enjoying the quiet peacefullness, the only sounds being the birds and an occasional animal (rabbit or squirrel most likely) scurrying by.
Wasn't I a strange little boy?

How did you meet your closest friend?
Well, if you've read the previous answer, you may have figured out I never went out to make many friends. I've had some friends for a long time (20 years or more), but I'm not sure if I have ever had any that might be considered 'close'. At least in the sense that I shared any personal secrets or spent a lot of time with them. My post just before this one mentions one that I felt very 'close' to, but that didn't last that long. Two friends I currently have I met both at a previous job.

What is something you do well?


No, that's not a command--that's what I do well. At least I think it is!
I'm really not much into physical activity (unless you count sitting) and I have little-to-no artistic abilities, but I do enjoy thinking about things. Almost anything, in fact. I have a good memory and was always good at test-taking in school, all activities that involve thinking.
That's why some of my answers to these questions tend to be a bit long--'cause I keep "thinking" of new things to add.
Anyone know of a job where someone will pay me to sit in a room alone and just think all day? Because I'd be really good at that!

What would have happened if you didn't leave the house this morning?
The entire Universe would have collapsed in on itself and 'winked' out of existence!!
So aren't you glad I did leave the house?

Seriously, I would be doing what I'm doing now. On the internet or watching TV or both at once. Or reading a book or playing a videogame. Exciting, Huh!?

If you could visit anywhere in the world, where would you go?

If I was wealthy, I'd probably spend my life traveling all over the world. But most of all, I'd like to visit Japan. Because they have the coolest robots, and anime, and seem to have all the latest tech gadgetry before anyone else. It's a tech geek's Paradise!
And the Japanese people also seem (from what little I know) to be polite & friendly. Ok, and I think Asian guys are hot! (that's what you wanted to hear, isn't it?)

What sets you apart from the crowd?
My invisible impenetrable force-field--no one can break through it!

Actually it's more likely my strange sense of humor--I can find almost anything funny--and I often find myself saying things that even I don't know where the thought came from. My head is full of information and useless junk and sometimes it combines into odd & baffling combinations. I've gotten many a puzzled look from people! And frankly, I kind of like confusing people and keeping them guessing what's really going on in my head!

What do you want to be remembered for?
This to me might be the hardest question to answer. I doubt that I'll be remembered at all. I'm the type of person who can just sort of fade away into the background and not even be noticed.
If anyone does remember me, I hope it's as someone who tried not to ever harm anyone and who was a good & loyal friend.

What is the nicest thing you have done for someone?
Another tough question (for me anyway) since I can't think of any one thing in particular that might be considered the 'nicest'. If I do something for someone I don't think of it in terms such as that. I guess that would be up to others to decide whether it was the 'nicest' .

What is the greatest lesson you've learned so far in your life?
To not take myself or much of anything, really, too seriously....because the Universe is an enormous place, and I'm not certain if anything that happens makes much difference on such a grand scale. And frankly, sometimes I have my doubts as to the reality of the Universe itself.
I used to have a sign hanging on my wall that said "Question Reality" and often I do.

How would you spend a found $20 bill?
It would depend on how much money I had when I found it. If I was broke, it might go towards groceries, but if it was 'extra', I might buy some extra comics or use it to go see a movie.

What is your favorite day of the week?
Any day I don't have to go to work is my favorite day. But in a normal week, it would be Saturday, 'cause I can get up, watch cartoons on TV, and just relax & do whatever I want.

How old would you be if you didn't know your real age?
I'd probably be 12 years old because I think many of the things I like most 12-year olds also like. Such as comic books, watching cartoons, playing video games, etc. Also I tend to find most 'adult' conversations/activities pretty boring.


Name some things you are thankful for.
My health.
Friends (including those I've only met through their blogs).
My sense of humor, which allows to to see the absurdity of life & not take it too seriously.

What was your favorite childhood toy?
My almost-complete set of "Matchbox" cars. I had 61 out of the full set of 75 different cars/trucks, collected over a period of several years. Whenever I'd go with my Mom to Woolworth's (or to Neisner's--a 'five & dime' store like Woolworth's oddly located right next door to Woolworth's) I'd look for any new cars I didn't have and use whatever birthday/Christmas money I'd saved to get them. Sometimes I got lucky & they would be on sale 2 for $1.00 instead of the usual .59 each so I saved a little cash.
I would spend hours playing with them on the floor, making up entire stories that took place in my 'make-believe' city. Fires, bank robberies, car accidents all occurred and my Matchbox police cars, fire trucks and ambulances were on hand to respond to these emergencies. Sometimes an occasional drag race would take place between a couple of the fancy sports cars
in the collection. I even had 2 Matchbox cases to hold them all. Too bad I don't still have them because today they would probably be a collector's item.

Oh, and Neisner's store had the best root beer soda ever! In a big wooden keg on the soda fountain counter.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
In keeping with the spirit of the question about the 'nicest' thing you've done, I'm going to be nice & not "tag" anyone to do this, but if you want to, copy the questions to your blog and answer them. (I don't like to 'tag' others because I feel I like I'm obligating them to do it, and maybe they don't want to or don't have the time)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~