Why we shouldn’t be in Iraq

Life, Rants

I can’t even find a way to start this blog. Does the US as the semi-lone superpower have a responsibility to help everyone? Is China out there in other countries deposing dictators? What about… well anybody else. I don’t think it’s any of our business to get involved in the middle east. What’s my main argument? They’re fucked. They always have been and always will be. NPR Mid East History There’s nothing good that can come from the US being involved in military action in Iraq, Iran, or anywhere else over there.

America decided long ago that we weren’t going to stone people to death for “Dishonoring the Family”. We invented Jerry Springer or shipped them off to boarding school. But would we let random strangers strip them naked in the streets and crush their faces with large stones? The still practice old testament justice, 2500 years later. How do we expect to change that with bullets. If they haven’t evolved yet, they’re never going to. We could nuke the place from orbit and 10 years later they would be stoning adulterers with giant pieces of the glass parking lot.

By living around Washington DC I have know several middle eastern men. I have know Iraqis, Iranians, even a guy from Qatar. 90% of them fit into the stereotype. They only care about money, power and material possessions. They have no respect for women. And these are the ones living in America, I can only imagine what it’s like over there.

So why am I all of the sudden writing this post. Well I came across a story today, complete with video of a young woman being stoned to death in Iraq…recently. I’ve lost all hope for these people. Lets get the hell out, start buying electric cars and give the big fuck you to the middle east.

09F9 1102 … don’t sue me.

Entertainment, The Interweb

The non-geeky works spins by blissfully unaware that there’s a minor revolt going on in the tubes. I don’t really have time to explain exactly what it is (or care to) but it involves codes used to copy the new HD-DVDs. Apparently the copy protection can by undone by a 16 digit number. Here’s the best quote I’ve heard so far about it.

The companies that made AACS spent millions and years at it. The hackers who broke it did so in days, for laughs, for free. More people now know how to crack HD-DVD than own an HD-DVD player.

boingboing coverage

later!

Summer Movie Contest

Entertainment, Movies

Every movie season my boss does this contest where we pick what movies are going to be the highest grossing movies. I think I have a pretty good list this year, but I think that every time! There’s always some movie that I put on the list just because I’m really excited about and then it bombs big time thus keeping me out of the top… thank you very much Superman. I’m trying not to do that this year.

Here’s my list this year.

1. Pirates 3 $425,000,000
2. Shrek 3
3. Spider-man 3
4. Harry Potter 5
5. Evan Almighty
6. Transformers
7. Ratatouille
8. The Simpson’s
9. Rush Hour 3
10. Fantastic4 2

I did a lot or research over at boxofficemojo and thenumbers. But usually it just comes down to gut feeling. With all the sequels coming out it made it a little easier because you could look at things like how long in between movies it had been and what the previous films made. In fact my list only contains 3 movies that aren’t direct sequels and two of those are based on long running franchises (Transformers and The Simpsons). The other one is a Pixar film (Ratatouille) and they haven’t made less than 162 million ever. (A Bugs Life)

My only concern is that I might have ranked some movies too high and underestimated others. “Transformers” might be too high, Mr Bay’s last sci-fi film (the island) tanked hard. But this is Transformers god damn it. Produced by Steven Spielberg! Plus the effects look sharp and a reference from Clerks 2 tells me this is going to be big.

Evan Almighty might be too high also, but I just watched the trailer and it looks funny as crap. I’d say that coming off “40 yr old virgin” and “The Office” , Steve Carell is hotter than Jim Carrey was at the time. The thought of someone building an Ark in New Jersey also makes me laugh… you know in case it rains… or something. (see the preview…)

I had to leave some big movies off the list. It’s not like I don’t think their going to bomb, but the 10th place movie will probably make 120 million or so. So “Die Hard 4”, gone. “Oceans 13”, Gone. “Bourne Ultimatum”, gone. All rated R, or nearly R and part of franchises that are going downhill. so I chose Fantastic 4 as my 10th placer, the original made 150 million. In a world where “Ghostrider” can be a hit always pick the superheros.

We’ll see how this goes!

later!

Spagetti Western Omlette

Life, Rants

Men’s bathroom etiquette is something that is very high on my list. We’re all in there to do important work, but I don’t want to be your partner in crime. I spend my time in there playing games on my phone and trying not to breathe through my nose. But today I felt like I was Tom Arnold in Austin Powers. The guy wasn’t even in the stall next to me and I still felt for him… really I felt like he was going to get some on me.

[Austin Powers is drowning a man in the toilet]
Austin Powers: Who does Number Two work for? Who does Number Two work for?
Cowboy: Yeah, that’s it! You show that turd who’s boss.

He shuffled in past my stall, sat down forcefully, unleashed the monster and held on for dear life. That’s pretty much when I decided I’d had enough of the throne room and it was time to leave. While I was getting ready to leave I heard him fart the “Gunfighter Music” from “The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly”. A tumbleweed rolled by the sink as I left our mysterious stranger to duke it out with the beast.

I love these comics.

Entertainment, The Interweb

It happens all the time, I’ll forget about a website or comic for a long time and then when I go back there’s so much new content that it’s like i’ve found it all over again. Yesterday the database went down for the last two hours of the day and I decided to go over to Perry Bible Fellowship. This is definitely my favorite web comic. It’s like some of the things I draw in my sketchbook, just way funnier.

For $20 bucks you can get a signed print, I’m really want one. I just can’t narrow it down to which one. One that I think captures the tone of the site is “no survivors”. But it might be hard to explain that to visitors when they see it framed on the wall.

I’ll have to make a list.

Later!