Captain G

All hail Captain G commanding from the bridge of the USS Nature

Happy Birthday

Happy Birthday to you!
Michelle had another successful birthday yesterday.
She is 29 again, yes that's right.

Microsoft destroys Apple

Apple is gone.
At least according to Microsoft. In their time honored tradition of trying to wipe out competitors, Microsoft has finally managed to wipe out Apple. Well, at least virtually. In their aerial virtual mapping service on the web if you look at the area where Apple's sprawling modern headquarters sit you will only see a field and a warehouse. Wishful thinking. Microsoft says it's because they have old satellite photos. Whatever. Google's service has it right. So, is MS admitting that their service is inferior and outdated. Either way it's a little bit of a black eye.

Apropo

I LOVE IT!

Microsoft released the new name of it's next version of Windows today. Windows Vista

This picture, from the MS web site, says it all. Two people looking off into the distance. You can imagine them saying, "Where is the next version of Windows, windows, windows...???" Echo included.

Yeah right

LIAR LIAR

So, Take Two Interactive got caught with their pants down recently. Uhhh, maybe I should rephrase that... ;)
They got caught with someone elses pants down and they tried to lie about it. They're still lying actually. "Grand Theft Auto - San Andreas" has some sexually explicit content on the disc and someone figured out how to activate it. T2I claims that it was a mistake and that it was programmed not to be accessible. Phhht. Yeah right. And I have some swamp land in Arizona I wanna sell you. IF what they say is true then their development/Test process is one of the worst in the industry. There is no way they didn't know it was there and there is no way they would have left it on the disc if it wasn't meant to be found. These game discs just don't have the room to leave garbage laying around.
And to think I almost worked for these bozos!!!

Beam me up God

James Doohan, also known to Star Trek fans as 'Scotty' has passed away.

I don't know about you but Scotty was one of my favorite characters from the series. So, finally after years of hearing 'beam me up Scotty' the engineer of the star ship Enterprise gets to take a ride on the ol transporter called the afterlife.
Good luck Sir James and thanks for all the great memories.

She floats like a witch

I'm really starting to get nervous about our next presidential election already. Mostly because of all the talk about Hillary Clinton running for the spot. It gives me shivers every time I think about it. Not because she is a woman. Because she is a witch. I'm surprised she hasn't turned up in any Harry Potter book story lines yet. She obviously cast quite the spell on Bill to get him to marry her. Anyway...I'm getting distracted here. The reason I'm nervous right now is because of the below quote that I saw in US News and World Report today.

"I sometimes feel that Alfred E. Neuman is in charge of Washington."
Hillary Clinton - rapping President Bush's policies and comparing him to the Mad magazine character.

I don't understand why it's 'OK' for people to get away with talking about our leaders this way. It is very disrespectful. I think this is one place that our founding fathers forgot about. Maybe they should have added something about being respectful into the Constitution in the first place, oh oh, and they could have added something about flag burning while they were at it. Hindsight is 20/20 I suppose.
I wonder what we can't see now that we will have to be fighting over and legislating over in 50 years.

Darwin Schmarwin

Flying Spaghetti Monsters

This totally cracked me up. I won't even try to comment on it. You have to go experience it for yourself.

(Thanks to Brian for this one)

Goodnight sweet prince

WARNING! Harry Potter spoilers here!!!



So, I finished another HP book. I remember swearing that after the travesty of book 5 I wouldn't read book 6. B u t...
My wife and kids were so into it that I felt I had better read it quick so as not to ruin the surprise or whatever. Yeah, whatever. I have to say that J.K. Rowling has an amazing imagination and has created an incredible world. That is great. But, the story and the writing, SHEESH! I feel like I'm being dragged through this great world kicking and screaming and in the case of book 6 'sleeping'. It didn't get interesting until the last 100 pages. And what is with all this 'snogging'?!? I guess if I were 14-16 I might enjoy this and I guess that is who the intended audience is so I'll just leave it alone. BUT, I wish she would have left it alone.
So, yeah, Dumbledore supposedly has cashed in his chips. He's taking the ol dirt nap. I can see children all over the world crying and my dear wife will probably shed a tear or two in the next day when she catches up to me. It didn't surprise me and it didn't make me sad. Now if she had killed Harry or Hermione or Ron I probably would have been bummed. Snape? Snape can kiss my butt. Well, we'll see if J.K. leaves him as a bad guy. That's the thing with this series. She writes so much on both sides of the fence to keep you guessing that you never really know if it's final.
I feel beat up and dragged around by this book. At least it wasn't 900 pages like the last one. But, you know, it could have been 300 pages and it would have been better in my opinion.
Too many inconsistencies and holes that never get explained. Again, it's for 14 year olds so I guess you can do that in that level of literature cuz they probably don't care. But for me, it leaves way too many questions and I can't wait until Harry kills Vman to get this whole thing over with.

Welcome to the New Clariticity!

Welcome to the all new redesigned Clariticity.
I hope this better represents me.
I would love to hear your comments and any problems you may have noticed.
Please be patient while I work out some of the kinks.

Hockey is back

It took less than one day after the NHL was resurrected from oblivion for the 'fighting' to start up again. Hockey's arguably dirtiest player, Chris Chelios, opened his big mouth and expressed his wish for the NHL commissioner, who is Jewish by the way, to 'get the gas'. What an idiot. At least he could have said, 'fried' or 'run over' or something else a little less 'offensive'. Really what he should have done is tripped him with a stick and smashed him into a wall and given him a concussion. If he had done this, you wouldn't be reading this cuz it wouldn't have made the news. You see, that behavior is condoned by the NHL.

Where in the world...

This cool web site can show you where you've visited in the world.


Compared to some of my friends I feel like I haven't been anywhere. I had better get out the ol passport and dust it off.

Thanks to Hockeyguy for the link. You should all check out Hockeyguy's map! He's been everywhere!

The French Connection

Cowardice strikes again.
Today evil and conspiring men attacked innocent men, women and children in London. Tony Blair put it well calling the attacks "barbaric". I could think of some other words that wouldn't be appropriate here.
Someone 'anonymous' made the point that "no one is bombing Paris". That there is some great logic. Sounds like the same logic our liberal democrats are trying to foist upon us. Those same men and women that are saying we should leave Iraq. Those same men and women that less than a year ago, during the election, were saying that it was a huge mistake to go into Iraq. They forget what principle and passion founded this nation.

"Stand up for what's right, even if you stand alone."

Sure, the French stayed out of it all. They are not being attacked. On the surface that would seem like a great strategy. Don't piss off the evil people. Make friends with them, give them money. They will leave you alone. Sorry, it just doesn't work that way, for long.
For the better part of 4 years now there has not been one single terrorist action on US soil. 99% of the activity has been in Iraq/Afghanistan. Sure, let's bring our troops home, take a defensive posture and wait for the 'insurgents' to eventually make their way back to the states where they will start picking us off one by one. I could be wrong. There could be a bomb in a NYC subway station tomorrow, or on a DC bus next week. Why these things haven't happened yet is somewhat of a miracle to me. It doesn't seem like it would be that hard to launch a simple attack like that if the bad guys really wanted to. One possible reason why is because they are all in Iraq. Better in Baghdad than Boston.
To propose that the French have somehow acted in the right to not be involved in order to avoid being attacked is, in my opinion, plain wrong.

Reap what you sow

France paid the piper today for not being a willing participant in Iraq. The IOC voted down the strongest bid for a summer olympics since Sydney, Australia won their bid 22 years ago. Paris lost. Guess who won? That's right, London. If any of the other bid cities could have been picked instead of London it wouldn't have hurt nearly as much. I'll bet Chirac is wanting to wipe that silly grin off of Tony Blair's face at this week's G8 summit.

Happy 4th to Mike

Here's a shout out to Mike. Because you chose not to grace us with your presence for our 4th of July celebration you missed out on one of your favorite people.
It's a little hard to make out but yup that there is Orrin Hatch waving to you from a Rover. He's saying, "Happy Independence Day Mike!" Cuz he loves ya man.
Not only did you miss out on Orrin but you also missed out on KJ in his black marching band uniform in 95 degree heat! (it's a dry heat though). You missed out on children vomiting from the grandstands. (remember that?) No that wasn't cuz Orrin was driving by. There was a group of people dressed up like Jedi's and other unrecognizable Star Wars figures. Yeah, that 30 seconds was better than the movie by the way.
You just plain missed out!
Oh, but you might be saved. Cuz many of the parade participants from todays parade will most likely be in the Pioneer Day parade on the 24th. Bring your water balloons...

WOW

I saw Spielberg's 'War of the Worlds' last night.
AMAZING
Finally, a decent movie for the summer. I really enjoyed it. It lived up to everything you would expect from Mr. Steve and even more. I was literally on the edge of my seat.
With my luck regarding movies lately I can't wait to see all my friends and family absolutely hate this film. Oh well. I don't care. It entertained me. It was definitely worth my $3.75.
This film was so 'real' that I was actually scared. I didn't realize it until the credits rolled but I was sweaty and my heart was beating fast. Once I made this realization another quickly replaced it. That realization was I needn't be scared because there really is no such thing as 'little green men' from outer space that are going to come and 'get' me. I feel sorry for all those weak hearted people out there that actually believe in those 'little green men' or any other scary alien being from outer space. They just don't exist. The myth is perpetuated by the crazy, weak and cowardly science fiction that deluges us from every medium that proposes that somehow God has created intelligent sentient life in a form other than his. If WOW has a weakness it is this. If we can view this stuff for what it is, 'fiction' and nothing more then we're good to go. Whew, I'm glad to come back to reality cuz that film really put a fright into me;) Maybe Spielberg is a little too good at suspending disbelief and taking away the 'fiction' from Science Fiction for 2 hours.
Oh, and here's the irony of the summer. Tom Cruise, Mr. 'psychiatry bad, psychiatric drugs bad' plays a character that at the end of his journey needs some serious therapy and a truck load of drugs to deal with what he has just been through.
Anyway, enjoy the end of the world...or is it?

Peace out