Friday, August 31, 2007

Worthy cause of the day: “Keep Your Katrina Promises”

Greetings.

Worthy cause of the day: The petition “Keep Your Katrina Promises”. Please sign and tell your Senators that you want the federal government to stop neglecting the Gulf Coast and help get its inhabitants properly housed. It has been two years since the hurricane. No one should still be living in a trailer. Thank you for your help.

Aaron

17 ’Elul 5767: National Trail Mix Day

Greetings.

Today’s news and commentary, some of which Barry is responsible for:Today’s weird thing is “Stupid Plot Tricks”. Enjoy, share the weirdness with the evil overlord you love, and Shabbath shalom.

Aaron

big brother sux day

yo dudes

todays weird thing s all the sick bigits in the current season of BIG BROTHER

some of the most recent stuff comes from amber the crybaby 4 jesus its like cool she likes god & jesus & stuff but damn every little thing that goes wrong shes like in the diary room crying her eyes out & acting like god really cares like she wins and s working 4 her like he doesnt got more important things 2 do like RUNNING THE UNIVERSE yo dudette jesus wouldnt do what ur doing it turns out amber said all this antisemitic stuff (moron jesus was jewish so was jesus some big nosed money hungry guy jerk b word) it aint cool & u shouldnt say things like that because u look like a bigit & now everyones gonna know coz THERE ARE CAMERAS EVERYWHERE YOU DUMBUTT!!! how stupid can u b?!?!?! heres the proof

http://youtube.com/watch?v=isHw2pcxL_s

n all fairness a bunch of the other houseguests also got caught being a bunch of bigitid dumbutts dudes if you cant say that around the people ur talking about u shouldnt say it @ all i hope u all lose & will be telling eric to vote u all out u should too

http://youtube.com/watch?v=Ucqedy8l1fI&mode=related&search=

Thursday, August 30, 2007

16 ’Elul 5767: National Toasted Marshmallow Day

Greetings.

Today’s news and commentary, some of which Barry is responsible for:Today’s weird thing is THE GREAT PIANO PROJECT. Enjoy and share the weirdness with your favorite fish.

Aaron

Wednesday, August 29, 2007

Worthy cause of the day: “U.S. Must Support Peacekeeping Mission”

Greetings.

Today’s worthy cause is the petition “U.S. Must Support Peacekeeping Mission”. Please sign and tell President Bush to get off his butt and do something about the genocide in the Sudan. Thank you.

Aaron

15 ’Elul 5767: David’s birthday/More Herbs, Less Salt Day

Greetings.

Divine misconception of the day: “Washington Post, Other Newspapers Won't Run 'Opus' Cartoon Mocking Radical Islam”. Now, while I support the legal right of free speech, including the right of the media to not publish any material they find offensive, there is something hypocritical about refusing to carry this cartoon. After all, Berkeley Breathed, creator of the “Bloom County” family of strips (which includes “Opus”), has repeatedly poked fun at evangelical Christians in his work. The idea that radical Islamists are less worthy of being mocked than evangelical Christians is hard to swallow. Yes, evangelicals are annoying to many people, and their world-view strikes many as bizarre and divorced from reality, but even the most offensive, rabid evangelical is essentially peaceful. The worst they do is intellectual dishonesty and legal hijinks. They do not physically assault or kill anyone to get what they want. Radical Islamists, however, are known to be bent on World domination and kill anyone they can who refuses to submit to their rule. If the evangelicals are worthy of mockery, the radical Islamists are seventy times more worthy of being mocked.

In the name of my freedom of speech, you can find the “offensive” cartoon here. There is a religious misconception in it: Lola Granola is incorrect that radical Islam is a fad. Islam has been spread by the sword ever since Muhammad had to leave Mecca due to ostracism and he started dreaming of revenge. Considering that Lola is flaky enough to have been an “Amish nudist”, that she would consider radical Islam to be a fad is not surprising.

Today’s news and commentary, some of which Barry is responsible for:In honor of the fact that my brother David is an engineer, today’s weird thing is an engineering project, the USB Airsoft Turret 1.0. This in the perfect project for people wishing to shoot copies of The Washington Post and other newspapers that do not carry “Opus” full of holes. Enjoy and share the weirdness.

Aaron

Tuesday, August 28, 2007

14 ’Elul 5767: World Sauntering Day

Greetings.

Today’s news and commentary:Today’s weird thing is something Barry and Nancy forwarded to me and included below. Enjoy and share the weirdness.

Aaron



This has to be one of the best singles ads ever printed. It is reported to have been listed in The Atlanta Journal.

SINGLE BLACK FEMALE seeks male companionship, ethnicity unimportant. I'm a very good looking girl who LOVES to play. I love long walks in the woods, riding in your pickup truck, hunting, camping and fishing trips, cozy winter nights lying by the fire. Candlelight dinners will have me eating out of your hand. I'll be at the front door when you get home from work, wearing only what nature gave me. Call (404) 875-6420 and ask for Daisy, I'll be waiting..

Over 15,000 men found themselves talking to the Atlanta Humane Society about an 8-week-old black Labrador retriever. (Men are so easy.)

Sunday, August 26, 2007

12 ’Elul 5767: National Cherry Popsicle Day

Greetings.

Divine misconception of the day: “China Regulates Buddhist Reincarnation”. It makes plenty of sense from the perspective that the Chinese government tries to control all the religions in the country, so naturally they try to control Tibetan Buddhism and the process of reincarnation as well. However, this makes no sense whatsoever from the perspective of objective truth. Reincarnation has not been verified to occur ever, and there is no solid theoretical reason to believe that it might occur. Furthermore, no reliable mechanism is being given for directing reincarnation, preventing reincarnation, or verifying that reincarnation has occurred. And even if it does occur, what is the Chinese government going to do about “unauthorized reincarnation”? Are they going to somehow force people to become “enlightened” so that they do not reincarnate? Are they going to arrest small children on the charge of having been Tibetan monks in a previous lifetime? Considering that the Chinese government has failed to eliminate an underground Catholic Church still loyal to Rome, despite persecution and having their own “Patriotic” Catholic Church, I confidently predict dismal failure in controlling Tibetan Buddhism as well.

Other divine misconception of the day: “Mother Teresa's '40-year faith crisis'”. Despite the common notion that holy people have perfect, unwavering faith, it is no surprise that Mother Teresa had problems maintaining her faith.  Even the most devout people remain human, and the belief systems of humans do not usually remain perfectly unchanged over time.  Furthermore, a little doubt is healthy.  Doubt makes us reevaluate what we believe, giving us an opportunity to discard incorrect beliefs.  Also, her actions, whether for good or for bad, remain the same no matter how strongly she believed; imperfect faith does not impact the effect she had on people one bit.

Today’s news and commentary, some of which Barry is responsible for:Today’s weird thing is Communications From Elsewhere, which is an automatic pseudo-intellectualist philosophobabble essay generator. Enjoy and share the weirdness.

Aaron

Friday, August 24, 2007

10 ’Elul 5767: Knife Day

Greetings.

Worthy cause of the day, submitted by Barry: “Support the Global Child Survival Act”.

Today’s news and commentary, some of which Barry is responsible for:Today’s weird thing is The infamous evil overlord film, which is one of Tom Finne’s videos.  Enjoy, share the weirdness, and Shabbath shalom.

Aaron

Thursday, August 23, 2007

9 ’Elul 5767: National Spongecake Day

Greetings.

Worthy cause of the day, submitted by Barry: The MoveOn.org petition “Make our toys safe”. Please sign and tell your Congresspeople you want the government to do its job protecting our children. You may also want to consider boycotting products from China, such as toys, when an equivalent product is available from a less-offensive country.

Today’s news and commentary, which will be extra-long since I did not post anything yesterday, doubly so since Barry submitted a few things:Today’s weird thing, thanks to Barry (who has done much to make putting together this blog easier), is the eBay auction “LOT OF POKEMON CARDS THAT MY KIDS TRIED TO SNEAK BY ME”. The seller also has her own blog, “BECAUSE I SAID SO”. Enjoy, share the weirdness, and try not to hurt yourself rolling on the floor laughing.

Aaron



UPDATE: My mother approves of today’s weird thing.

Sunday, August 19, 2007

5 ’Elul 5767: Root Beer Float Day/Potato Day

Greetings.

Divine misconception of the day: “Roman Catholic Bishop Wants Everyone to Call God 'Allah'” To be blunt, this is a monumentally bad idea, and to see why, let us discuss why “God” is itself a bad term.  Originally identified as YHWH (the God of Judaism, or at least the Greek equivalent Theos was in the Septuagint), the term “God” has gained the annoying feature that it can be used to refer the chief or unique deity of almost any religion.   This makes it easy to gloss over very real differences between YHWH, the Christian Trinity (or just the First Person thereof), Allah, the Mormon Godhead (or just the First Person thereof), Ahura Mazda, Brahman, Vishnu, Shiva, Kali, the God of Aristotle, etc.  The result makes it easy to misapply attributes (or lack thereof) of one deity to another or slip into unfounded syncretic notions.  It is because of this slipperiness that I have taken to avoiding using “God” in favor of the more specific “YHWH” in writing and “HashShem” in speech, which are very clearly the God of Judaism without connotations of the Christian Trinity  or other Supreme Deities.  “Allah” has the inverse problem of “God”:  it is specifically the name of the God of Islam.  While in Islamic countries “Allah” may have similar properties to “God”, it most certainly does not in the West.  A Western non-Muslim calling their Supreme Deity “Allah” is essentially adopting an Islamic conception of whom they worship; even if there is an explicit rejection of Islam, the term “Allah” carries the Islamic connotations, whether people acknowledge them or not.  Better everyone call their Supreme Deity by their traditional name and avoid the names from other religions like the plague.

Today’s news and commentary:Today’s weird thing, oddly appropriate for someone whose on-line pseudonym is frequently “Hiergargo”, is “If you dig straight down, where will you end up?”. Enjoy and share the weirdness.

Aaron

Friday, August 17, 2007

3 ’Elul 5767: Sandcastle Day/National Thriftshop Day

Greetings.

Today’s news and commentary:Today’s weird thing is something from Emily’s collection, included below. Enjoy, share the weirdness, and Shabbath shalom.

Aaron



We Must Stop This Immediately!


Have you ever noticed that when you're of a certain age, everything seems uphill from where you are? Stairs are steeper. Groceries are heavier. And, everything is farther away. Yesterday I walked to the corner and I was dumbfounded to discover how long our street had become!

And, you know, people are less considerate now, especially the young ones. They speak in whispers all the time! If you ask them to speak up they just keep repeating themselves, endlessly mouthing the same silent message until they're red in the face! What do they think I am, a lip reader?

I also think they are much younger than I was at the same age. On the other hand, people my own age are so much older than I am. I ran into an old friend the other day and she has aged so much that she didn't even recognize me.

I got to thinking about the poor dear while I was combing my hair this morning, and in doing so, I glanced at my own refection... Well, REALLY NOW. Even mirrors are not made the way they used to be!

Another thing, everyone drives so fast today! You're risking life and limb if you just happen to pull onto the freeway in front of them. All I can say is, their brakes must wear out awfully fast, the way I see them screech and swerve in my rear view mirror.

Clothing manufacturers are less civilized these days. Why else would they suddenly start labeling a size 10 or 12 dress as 18 or 20? Do they think no one notices that these things no longer fit around the waist, hips, thighs, and bosom?

The people who make bathroom scales are pulling the same prank, but in reverse. Do they think I actually 'believe' the number I see on that dial? HA! I would never let myself weigh that much! Just whom do these people think they're fooling?

I'd like to call up someone in authority to report what's going on -- but the telephone company is in on the conspiracy too: they've printed the phone books in such small type that no one could ever find a number in here!

All I can do is pass along this warning: Maturity is under attack! Unless something drastic happens, pretty soon 'everyone' will have to suffer these awful indignities.

PLEASE PASS THIS ON TO EVERYONE YOU KNOW AS SOON AS POSSIBLE SO WE CAN GET THIS CONSPIRACY STOPPED!


PS: I am sending this to you in a larger font size, because something has caused fonts to be smaller than they once were too!

Wednesday, August 15, 2007

The Cave of Speen: Weird stuff and reviews

1 ’Elul 5767: Ro’sh Ḥodhesh/Assumption Day/National Relaxation Day/National Failures Day

Greetings.

Today’s news and commentary:Today’s weird thing is “ceramics for breakfast”. Enjoy and share the weirdness.

Aaron

Tuesday, August 14, 2007

30 ’Av 5767: Ro’sh Ḥodesh/National Creamsicle Day

Greetings.

Today’s news and commentary:Today’s weird thing is XBox Modification, which gives instructions on how to use the XBox game machine as an actual computer running Linux or Mac OS X. This is a fun way to make Microsoft very mad. The weird thing is that this is not a silly, useless hack; people have actually talked about using XBoxes for cheap parallel processing. Enjoy and share the weirdness.

Aaron

Monday, August 13, 2007

29 ’Av 5767: Blame Someone Else Day

Greetings.

In observance of today’s quasi-holiday, I blame Fred, the imaginary evil fourth Adelman brother.  I have no idea what I am blaming Fred for, but I blame him anyway.

Today’s news and commentary:Today’s weird thing was submitted by someone with a strange sense of style and is included below. Enjoy and share the weirdness.

Aaron



Shame on the Sci Fi network! Recently they showed the pilot for a new series, Flash Gordon, based on the never-ending permutations of comic strips, movies, and television series.

Gordon's alive? Barely it seems.

In this version, Flash Gordon and Dale Arden seem to be made of plastic and have as much chemistry as the Emperor Ming has kindness. This is surely not the actors' fault. Even if they were the greatest players in Shakespearean theater, they could have hardly done better with this writing. Unlike their admirable remake of Battlestar Galactica, which explored the possibilities of the situation and fleshed out the characters into credible people, this version is no more sophisticated than the earlier versions. This might be forgivable if it were lovably cornball, but the actors are too serious and the production values too dull. Indeed, if anything the production is cheap and the premise distorted about this cheapness. Mongo is not reached by Dr. Zarkov's homemade spaceship, but by a small device which looks and works much like the "timer" on Sliders. We see little of Mongo or its grandeur, so little that, even with the establishing shot, that the tiny bit of Mongo that Ming claims to rule is not so much a city as a building that might be smaller than the Mos Eisley catania. Yes, people know more about space travel now than they did when the original serials appeared, but pointing a television remote control to empty space and zapping a gateway there could have been done with a bit more charm. The laziness extends to the writing as well, which gets dull and predictable. Gordon and Arden had a previous relationship, and even though she is engaged to someone else, they are inevitably drawn together in their pursuit of a plot device. Ming's daughter is given slightly more depth than before in her motivations, but she is not given any chance to develop properly. While they expurgated the potentially racist insinuations by making Ming a blond-haired blue-eyed Caucasian, they did hardly anything to make him more interesting; he was not even made an amusing megalomaniac, just an uninteresting one. (Margaret Hamilton as the Wicked Witch of the West in The Wizard of Oz still reigns as the best megalomaniac dictator of all time.) The ultimate insult was the choice of plot device for this pilot. Instead of Dr. Zarkov dragging Gordon and Arden with him into space when he realizes that a rain of rocks from the sky is an attack by Ming, the writers gave Gordon a father who worked with Zarkov in creating the Sliders device, and who apparently had a device called the "Imex" which is the character-attracting macguffin. I shan't reveal what the "Imex" is, but if you haven't identified it well before Gordon does, you deserve to be enslaved by Ming.

Needless to see, this is extremely disappointing, and I would be rather battling the most viscious soldiers that Mongo can send to us than this abominable waste of time. And with Battlestar Galactica coming to a close, it seems there will hardly be anything left there to be watching at all. Pity.

Prince Vultan of the Hawk People

Friday, August 10, 2007

26 ’Av 5767

Greetings.

A dear friend of mine passed away yesterday evening.  Due to the mood, there will be no weird thing until Monday.

Shabbath shalom.

Aaron

Wednesday, August 8, 2007

24 ’Av 5767: Sneak Some Zucchini Onto Your Neighbor’s Porch Night

Greetings.

Today’s news and commentary:Today’s weird thing is the Geostationary Banana Over Texas. I have no clue what the point of this is other than “art”, but I bet the astronomers will not like it. Enjoy (or be puzzled or something) and share the weirdness.

Aaron

Tuesday, August 7, 2007

Worthy cause of the day: “Congress must reverse their capitulation”

Greetings.

Please sign the petition “Congress must reverse their capitulation” and tell Congress that no one should be legally entitled to wiretap without a warrant.  The United States of America is a constitutional democracy, and you have the legal and political right to exercise free speech on this and all other issues, including that you (presumably) want the Constitution enforced and not subverted.  There is no point in giving Bush power to wiretap without a warrant.  If he has probable cause, then he should have no trouble getting a warrant.  If he does not have probable cause, then he has no business wiretapping, period.

Thank you for your attention.

Aaron, exercising his right to free speech

23 ’Av 5767: Sea Serpent Day/Hamburger Day

Greetings.

Today’s news and commentary:Today’s weird thing is SSI Shredding Demonstrations. Enjoy or be puzzled or something and share the weirdness with the sea serpent you love.

Aaron

Monday, August 6, 2007

22 ’Av 5767: Wiggle Your Toes Day

Greetings.

Today’s news and commentary:Today’s fake news, thanks to Barry and Nancy:Today’s weird thing is the USB Flexible Keyboard.  This is eerily similar to a rollable synthesizer keyboard that appeared in an episode of Star Trek:  The Next Generation.   Wait a minute... They also make something even more like that. Enjoy and share the weirdness.

Aaron