Stinky Feet!!

My wife loves Orchids. However, she's not getting any of these... Ewwww....

X-Files!!

It is certainly great news that work has begun on a new X-Files movie. The X-Files is the last non-animated show that I recall actually watching on a regular basis. Of course, my wife will try to tell you it is because I had a crush on Scully (which is true), but the X-Files also had excellent and clever writing, a compelling plot line, several sub-plots woven between episodes, and was just plain interesting.

Everything that has come since then has just been crap. Not only are our airwaves polluted with way too many "reality" shows today, but I really have a hard time getting into a lot of the other shows out there like 24, Lost, or Prison Break. C.S.I. is tolerable, but not a "must-watch" show (besides, my wife loves the show, and gets the seasons on DVD, so then I can watch without commercials).

Don't even get me started on what passes for a "Comedy" today... They all pretty much suck. About the only comedy writing left that is even remotely clever is limited to The Simpsons and South Park.

Hopefully the new X-Files movie will be as good as the first one was...

Cleaner is Happier...

The Washlet actually seems like a pretty cool product, but their advertising is so weird that I just had to share...

Policy Before Science...

I am no fans of bio-fuels (at least in their current state).  When compared to petroleum, they are less efficient to burn, they are way less efficient to produce (that is, petroleum takes very little energy per unit to produce, whereas bio-fuels take almost as much energy to produce as you get out in the end), and finally, the whole idea of using your food source as fuel (thus raising the cost of food immensely) is just stupid.

As if rising food prices was not hard enough on the poor, a new report states that in many developing countries, the push towards bio-fuels will push poor people off of their lands, compounding their problems.

So, here we have a fuel that is highly inefficient, results in hardly any carbon savings (AAMOF, I have seen arguments that when the in-efficiencies in production are properly factored in (that is, the pollution involved in growing the base grains required), the use of bio-fuels is actually worse for the environment), drives up the cost of food, may drive up the cost of petroleum, and may start pushing poor people off of their land.

All in all, I think the last line of the linked article says it all:

"The policy on biofuels is currently running ahead of the science."

First National Bank of Wal-Mart

I don't really have much to say about Wal-Mart providing banking services.  This will just be yet another service that Wal-Mart offers that will benefit consumers, especially those who don't make enough money to deal efficiently with normal banks (trust me, I remember how that goes, and something like what Wal-Mart wants to do would have been perfect for me at that point in my life).  And, yet again, Wal-Mart doing this will raise the ire of all those who hate it when American companies are successful (you know, those that make a hobby out of hating Wal-Mart/McDonald's/Starbucks/etc).

What I find more interesting are the seemingly disparate people who oppose Wal-Mart on this:

Nevertheless, opposition to its plans, which required the approval of federal regulators, swelled. During closely watched hearings outside Washington, dozens of groups, like Independent Community Bankers Association and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, testified for and against the Wal-Mart bank.

OK, I understand the opposition of the Independent Community Bankers Association.  After all, they are just trying to protect their place in the market.  If Wal-Mart enters their market, after all, they will be under a lot of pressure to increase their services while reducing their costs to the consumer.  However, I don't see what Wal-Mart getting into banking has to do with missing and exploited children...

Update: It is also interesting to note that the NYTimes has changed the linked article such that the paragraph I quoted no longer mentions the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, which makes me wonder if that wasn't just an error in the original article (though no correction is mentioned).

Ozzfest - Second Stage

My daughter and I are going to Ozzfest again this year, and I was perusing the list of band for this year.  The second stage selection this year is far more varied than last year.  Last year, almost all of the band were metalcore or thrashcore bands.  The best of the bunch, IHO, was probably Walls of Jericho. While metalcore/thrashcore is not my favorite genre, I do like it, especially when the bad is fronted by a female singer.

The one exception from the thrashcore was Bad Acid Trip.  I would describe them as Mr. Bungle with a bit of a metal edge.  OK, so their politics are all eff-ed up, but their music still kicks ass (watch the video and you will see what I mean on both counts...):

This year, however, the second stage appears be be much more diverse.  For example, 3 Inches of Blood certainly brings back visions of classic metal bands like Judas Priest or Iron Maiden, but adds some new edge to it.

Or course, any good metal shows would not be complete without some death metal, and with Daath, they have some pretty darn good death metal (I am not a big death metal fan, but some of it (like Daath) is pretty darn good, other stuff, like Nile (which will also be there), I could live without).

One final band of note this year is In This Moment, which brings us full circle to my love of metalcore / thrashcore bands fronted by female singers.  Enjoy!

Junior!

Now that Dale Jr. will finally be racing for a good team next year instead of a second tier team like DEI, it will be interesting to see if he can run as well as Gordon and Johnson.  My honest guess is yes, he will.  He is a great driver who has, up until now, just been saddled with a mediocre team.  All in all, I think this will provide him his best chance at a championship.

Heck, now that he is going to be teammates with Gordon, I just may have to like the guy!  It should be interesting to see how his some of his more backwards, hill-billy, good ol' body, beer can tossin', redneck moron fans actually take the news...

When it comes right down to it, I have always kinda wanted to like the guy, but I just couldn't stomach a certain, unfortunatly large, segment of his fan base.

Oh Mickey Your so Fine...

It seems that even the ancients liked Mickey Mouse...

I don't really have any comment on the story, just found it interesting.

Whine Time - Ozzfest 2007 Ticking Sux

Just in case you have been living in a hole (or don't like Metal for some reason), this year's Ozzfest is a free deal.  About a month ago, you went and got your code, and now today you get to turn them in to get two free tickets.  The problem is that the servers they have set up just are not enough to deal with the load.  I eventually managed to redeem my code during an extended lunch today.  Essentially, the meant waiting in a virtual line for 30 minutes, getting an error message, and then having to start over, several times.  On the plus side, I was actually able to work and do this at the same time.

My daughter was not so lucky.  Now I am trying to redeem her code for her since I am such a nice guy.

All things being equal, I would rather just pay for the damn tickets like I have in the past.  That is just so much easier.

B-I-M-B-O, and Bimbo Was Her Name-o

Up until now, I have been ignoring this Paris Hilton thing, because I just really don't care much about the exploits of such an amazingly unimportant, talentless person who is famous just because she is famous (and a bit of a skanky ho).  However, when I heard about this little nugget on the TV news this morning while working out, I just couldn't resist a couple of comments.

God has given her a new chance and she plans to stop acting dumb and put her influence to good use.

Yes, God is very good at giving people second chances.  Let's hope she actually makes the most of it.  I truly do pray that she does.

That said, I cannot help commenting on her plans to "stop acting dumb."  So, now she is no longer going to act dumb?  What? Is she just going to be dumb now?  No more acting?  Just real stupidity from now on?

On one last note, the media appears to be inflating what she is actually going through just a bit.

Walters said Hilton told her she had not been wailing, sobbing or screaming during her first three days in prison, as had been reported.

Prison?  Sorry, she is not in prison, she is in the County Jail.  There is quite a difference.