Love him or hate him, everyone should be sick now of the Howard Stern whining. Of course, its not really whining, its a calculated stunt to get attention and more listeners. Upon hearing he was getting dropped by the Clear Channel stations, I’m sure Howard wasn’t outraged in the least, he’s too shrewd and media savvy for that. He knows its a great bombshell for him, he’ll pick up more listeners in every other market just to hear what the fuss is about. And he’ll eventually be brought back by Clear Channel, and get everyone else back. The saddest thing is to listen to all the callers who are completely duped by the whole process.
But this isn’t a freedom of speech thing. The law on this is clear. There are limits on what can be done on over the air media. Don’t like it? Webcast, sattelite, or cable is the way to go. Anyone can still get their message out.
Only one type of limit on freedom of speech is really going on today. And its not all the anti-Bush celebrities whining on every talkshow they can get on about how they’re not allowed to express their viewpoint anywhere, and here it is. No political speech unless you’re one of the “special groups” anywhere near an election. Now thats what is disgusting in America today, not Howard Stern.

Some TV endings I have heard about but can’t verify!

Hogan’s Heroes: The war is over, and the American troops come into Stalag 13. Hogan and his team are expecting a huge welcome from Intelligence. Sure enough, up comes a squad car, and out comes a few generals and other high ranking officers. A short round of congradulations goes out to Hogan and crew. The generals then walk up to Colonel Klink, salute him, and hand him a medal for being the highest ranking mole in the German Army. Seems Klink was really a spy mastermind who let Hogan get away with everything all those years!

Robin Masters from Magnum PI is really Mr. T.

Seinfeld cared about something besides himself.

Something you can do to help. Chris Muir, who creates Day by Day cartoon is going for syndication! You can view his comic every day at the bottom of this page, or follow this link to his page for all the archives.
This is a great, very funny comic. Its take on politics is from the right side. Chris keeps the content up to date with current events. Some things you’ll see first on his comic if you’re not a hard core news junky. But the drawing style is just wonderful. Wish I could draw at all!
But please visit Chris’s site. He is asking that you email or write the comic syndicates (sounds criminal doesn’t it?) and ask them to pick up his work. Also contact your local newspapers. I already emailed a rant to our local paper today so it will be a few days before I can ask them for anything nice!

Jan Ireland wants to make the point that as a general rule, Democrats can be counted on to ignore the law. Her article makes perfect sense, and mentions point by point the very things that had bothered me about capital ‘D’ Democrat politicians. When the law is inconvenient, they ignore it. Point after point is made. Toricelli being replaced illegally, the illegal abandonment of the Texas legislature, Clinton, Gore, etc. Over and over again this is the behavior. So I make this charge: Democrats will resort to illegal methods to get political power. Wait, no one is suprised by this statement? OK, let me add this: The media will also do what it can to ensure that these stories are presented in the best possible light for the Democratic machine, and will ensure the stories blow over quickly. Damn, still nobody thinks otherwise. Fine, they sacrifice puppies and have to submit all family members to the mind control worms from Star Trek. OK, finally, one person out there didn’t know that. I’m satisfied.

MSNBC - Teen learns of his alleged abduction on Internet tells the story of a young man who found out his mother kidnapped him as a three year old and went on the lam. His father was granted legal custody in Canada during the divorce proceedings. I love the following quote which ends the Associated Press story:

They were taking her child away and she did what she had to do,” Melissa Goudreault, her sister-in-law, said in a telephone interview with The Associated Press on Tuesday from her home in Rd Deer, Alberta. The family is behind her and is trying to raise money for her legal defense.”

I have to wonder if they realize that this defense has been tried millions of times in the past years. Over and over and over again it has failed to work. Of course, that was always men using the excuse. Thus the great double standard in equal rights. This will be an interesting case to watch.

So John Kerry may have boinked an intern. More power to him. I’m sure his advisors told him to do it to help with the whole Kennedy image thing.
What I find most interesting is the reactions. You have the “normal” people who will look at the evidence, and use it to decide whether or not his character makes him presidential material.
Then you have the spin doctors of both sides. The Democrat operatives who immediately say its a Republican conspiracy, just like the time the toilet overflowed in Ted Kennedy’s office. Blamed it on Republicans until the plumber rootered out all the shredded documents from his auto insurance file.
Now you have the Republican operatives who in this case are denying everything. The only good answer from them should be that the Democrats who will be nominating a candidate need to take this into account, and thats all she wrote. I do believe this story doesn’t help the GOP at all.
Now, if I were a conspiracy theorist, I would say the following:
The Democratic bigwigs had this whole thing planned. Maybe even the candidates themselves didn’t know. But it would work like this:
You have Dean in the running to maximize the hard core left vote. The party leadership knows he can’t win, so once his job is done, he’s out. The hard left are still energized for the anything but Bush run. Then Kerry steps up to bat and does good for a while. But they don’t think he can pull off a national victory either. But he is there to show they can field a “strong candidate who isn’t Dean.” So now the bigwigs release rumour about his infidelities, just enough to knock him out of the race. That leaves Edwards who has the whole Clinton pretty boy image which worked so well in the 90’s. The DNC can go on the record as having a large field of candidates, who were weeded out over time leaving the best person for the job going into the primaries as Edwards. Looks great, the average voter feels that out of the 9 initial candidates Edwards doesn’t have any major flaws (*cough* trial lawyer *cough*) and maybe just enough people will vote for him to win.
Thats just my “crazy prediction” about all this.

Sorry been busy the last week. Once again, repeat after me. I hate Microsoft Exchange Server. I’ll work with Postfix, Lotus Notes, even Sendmail, but I have ALWAYS hated Exchange server. Outlook is cool enough, but they need to get away from the whole MAPI thing. It dates back to MS Mail!
Anyways, thank you Wesley Clark for dropping out of the race. Lets look at the news:

(2004-02-11) — Wesley Clark will reportedly announce Wednesday he’s abandoning his White House bid.
Academy Award-winning filmmaker Michael Moore, a vocal supporter of the Clark candidacy, immediately issued a statement calling the former Army general “a deserter.”
However, Democrat National Committee (DNC) chairman Terry McAuliffe said that Mr. Clark would be honorably discharged from his commitment to seek the nomination.
Mr. Clark’s campaign released the following statement:
“General Clark has always said that if you begin a campaign under false pretenses, with little understanding of the consequences of your actions and then spend millions of dollars of other people’s money only to wind up in a quagmire, you need to cut and run. He’s a man of integrity, and it’s time to retreat.”

Now, this is treasure!
BPM 37093.
The heart of that burned-out star with the no-nonsense name is a sparkling diamond that weighs a staggering 10 billion trillion trillion carats. That’s one followed by 34 zeros.
Its a bit far away, it’ll be one hell of a voyage, but thats what adventure is all about. Daring the unknown and all that. Definitely into the, “Thar be Dragons!” zone.
All that just to make Mrs. Pirate-King happy on Valentine’s day…

Woo hoo! Megatokyo Volume 2 is available at Amazon now. Join in the continuing adventures of Piro and Largo as they are still stuck in Tokyo.
MegaTokyo is one of those sites that I visit on a very regular basis. The website has all the episodes available, but it is very nice to read it in print. And also it is a good way to support the author, who has put a lot of work into his art and is trying to make it a commercial success. Not much art is worth funding, but this is one of them in my opinion.

This is one of those stories that you either love or hate. Seems there are now “Mega-Churches” that people go to. These are described as

These massive holy houses attract churchgoers by the thousands with celebratory services that tout contemporary music, television screens and sermons that aren’t “churchy,” according to the pastor of the nation’s largest church. But critics say the sin-free pep rallies don’t encourage personal transformation and reflection, keystones of religion.

Isn’t going to a church that isn’t “churchy” something like having a filet minion steak that tastes like, uhhh… old boiled chicken? Sure, the chicken might not offend anyone, since we can’t have that you know. Here are a few gems from the article:

“They are so large you can select the activity that you like,” said Ken Woodward, Newsweek’s contributing editor who covers religion. “If you want to lose weight Jesus’ way, you can join the weight-loss program or join a basketball team … These churches have so many people they don’t just sponsor a team, they sponsor a league.

“It’s not a churchy feel,” Osteen, 40, said. “We don’t have crosses up there. We believe in all that, but I like to take the barriers down that have kept people from coming. A lot of people who come now are people that haven’t been to church in 20 to 30 years.”

So, you can now spend your Sunday as follows: “Customize your Mustang by the Angel Gabriel” followed by “Home Swap Decorating with our new host, the Apostle Paul!”
I’m going to say the following opinion about this topic: This is a scam. Its obvious to me that what is important is to get the most number of people through the door. I am sure everyone pays for parking, for “league fees” to use the church bowling alley, for everything. The CEO of this “Church” has got it down perfect. All the freaking losers who need to be constantly told over and over again how good they are flock to this kind of thing. But in a way this is all good. Let them blow all their money and time. If it makes you feel good, do it, right? Self-restraint is bad of course…
“I like going to this church because they don’t talk about religion at all, they just tell us how good we are no matter what stupid hateful things I do all week. I feel so much better I go out and don’t have to kill anyone for days! And check out all the chicks who go to this place! Whoa!” - Another satisfied customer, err… parishioner.
I’m sure a real church would trade in 5,000 people who show up on Sunday for just one person saved from evil. If you are going to believe in a religion, it has to be one of the most important things in your life. That’s just the way it has to be. None of the religion a la cart crap like Madonna and all the other “enlightened ones” are doing. No. You are either raised or join a religion that you believe in. And then you have to play by its rules. The easy and the hard stuff. Which means that there has to be negative consequences when you fail to do so. Religions are designed to help you despite yourself. Despite what your opinions about organized religions may be, people smarter than you, who devote their entire lives to it, are the ones that came up with the rules. And they did so for a reason.

Like Neon Genesis Evangelion?
Then you’ll love this link. Its concept sketches for the live action movie which hopefully will come to fruition. Although I’m not sure how they’ll take 14-15 hours of source and cut it down to 2 1/2 hours, I’m still looking forward to it. Effects are to be done by the same team that has done Lord of the Rings. So it should be decent.

Except for one small point. They’re apparently changing the names. And one is absolutely horrible: Misato Katsuragi = Susan Whitnall. Gag!

Had someone do a Google search and show up for this site.
They want to become a contestant on Most Extreme Elimination Challenge. Which, btw, is on tonite at 9pm! Sorry bud, but you’re about 12 years too late.
The MXC show is made from clips from a Japanese TV show in the early 90’s, called Takeshi’s Castle. The entire point of the original show was 100 contestants would form a team under General Lee (Captain Teneal) to get through all the obstacles and finally storm the Castle, defended by Count “Beat” Takeshi (Vic Romano) and the Emerald Guard. There would be several rounds where most players would get eliminated. If any survived, there was a final challenge to rush the castle. The final challenge is essentially driving around in go-karts while playing laser tag. Anyone who successfully shoots Beat’s car wins. Apparently only 3 people have ever won, but the prize was probably about 1,000,000¥ (yen).
If you’re looking for more details on the original show, take a look at Takeshi’s Castle Online.
But to the original searcher… Yeah, I’d love to go through most of those challenges myself!!!

Slashdot blathers on about what we covered in Episode 183, which is the outsourcing of technology jobs from the US.
Most of the commentary is typical slashcrapâ„¢ but there are a few gems in there. This isn’t one of them:

Chris, Thank you for your very insightful article, “The New Face of the Silicon Age.” Your final line is hopeful, and I think prophetic: “The result: more workers focused on real innovation. What comes after services? Creativity.” As a Java developer who believes that designing systems and writing code is an artistic endeavor, I am very optimistic about the future. Software developers should not feel threatened by the possibility of outsourcing to third world nations. The relatively low-level functions that these technology sweatshops provide will soon be automated out of existence by the next generation of software development tools. Developers who have low-level skills and fail to master the new development tools will be obsolete, no matter where they live. The next generation of tools will significantly increase the productivity of developers through the implementation of attribute oriented programming. We will be able to go from a detailed designed specification to system implementation with very few key stokes for coding in between. Software designers will specify the attributes of the system, the tools will generate the code. We are already seeing the emergence of these tools from both the corporate (IBM/Rational’s model driven development, Sun’s Project Rave, and others) and open source (xDoclet most significantly) communities. At present, software development is on the same level as the automobile industry was in the 1890s when teams of engineers individually crafted specialty systems using a limited set of tools. As the power of development tools increases, exponential gains in productivity will be realized. Your article was correct in stressing the importance of design and management (getting the attributes of the system correct is the essential first step). In every industry, design is where the greatest value is added. Your article was incorrect in predicting an increase in outsourcing. The low-level “keyboarding monkey” jobs are going, but they are not going overseas,they’re just going away. The great danger in the near future will be that companies will be misguided by pinhead MBAs who can not see beyond the bottom line at the end of the next quarter. Companies that attempt to slash costs by turning to outsourcing will be at a disadvantage when competing against companies that invest in software designers who have mastered the latest generation of leading edge tools. Creativity will win in the end. Mike Duffy Austin, TX

Sure, it sounds great. Here is the problem of someone whose viewpoint is so damn self centered: There are, for example, 100 people in a company. Some are great, some are good, some are not so good but still productive. Mike Duffy’s plan has just outsourced 80 people, leaving the CEO, CFO, and a few of the most talented programmers. How long can that company survive, before its outsourced side of things just takes over the entire company and everyone loses? Now, expand this on a much bigger scale, where 5% of the economy works in technology. Outsource 90% of that group. The entire industry will collapse.
He talks about coding being an “artistic endeavor.” Well, when his company goes under and he goes shopping for a new career, the managers of the remaining companies aren’t going to want ‘artists’ at all. They’re going to want people who can crank out code very cheaply just to stay afloat. I wouldn’t even now hire someone who talks about making pretty code.
His other option may be even worse. Once the code is automatically generated by the tools, the third world economies will collapse also, since they are depending more and more on technology. Not a good thing either.
Anyways, I don’t know how I missed this one on Slashdot, but another story about Scott was in Slashdot in January. This one had 2064 comments! That has to be one of the highest commented posts ever.

This is a copy of a post from democrats give conservatives indigestion, a fine new conservative blog.

Let’s take a look at some of Democratic front-runner John Kerry’s accomplishments in his long career as a tax and spend, more-liberal-than-Ted Kennedy senator:

Voted against funding our troops in Iraq, one of only twelve senators to do so.
Voted for at least seven major reductions in defense and military spending.
Voted repeatedly to slash the budgets of intelligence agencies by billions of dollars.
Voted for the largest tax increase ever.
Voted for the death tax.
Voted against a Balanced Budget Amendment at least five times.
Voted for a fifty-percent increase in the gasoline tax.
Voted against a ban on partial-birth abortion at least three times.
Voted against the Defense of Marriage Act, one of only fourteen senators to do so.
Voted against requiring parental notification for minors’ abortions.
Voted against mandatory sentences for drug dealers.
Voted to filibuster President Bush’s judicial nominees.
Voted against the death penalty for terrorists and cop killers.
Kerry’s voting record is more liberal than Ted Kennedy’s, according to Americans for Democratic Action, the premier liberal rating group. This radical VietNam war protestor wants US troops dispersed throughout the world “only at the direction of the United Nations”.

This is just my way to help make sure that everyone knows where the candidates stand. The media is already trying to make Kerry sound like a moderate. If they trumpet that fact over and over again, enough misunderinformed voters might buy it and vote without knowing the truth…
Looks like Senator “Special Interests” Kerry isn’t going to make friends on the Washington Post today.

Sen. John F. Kerry (D-Mass.), who has made a fight against corporate special interests a centerpiece of his front-running campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination, has raised more money from paid lobbyists than any other senator over the past 15 years, federal records show.