User:	blahthequah
	Date:	2009-07-10 23:20
	Subject:	im...
	Security:	Public

These Interactive Male commercials are back on the air (during South Park no less). This one is my least favorite.

	User:	blahthequah
	Date:	2009-07-10 17:55
	Subject:	david brooks, hottie
	Security:	Public

This is just great. Just great. Times columnist David Brooks tells of the time he got felt up by a Republican senator.

	User:	qweerdo
	Date:	2009-07-10 17:47
	Subject:	Claire saying "cheese!"
	Security:	Public

	User:	no1ninja
	Date:	2009-07-10 14:23
	Subject:	on reflection
	Security:	Public

on reflection, posted directly from ninjacam

that's one polished car! you can even make out that my bike is pretty clean too.

am currently enjoying the sunshine on my lunch break :)

	User:	blahthequah
	Date:	2009-07-09 17:49
	Subject:	fwd: golden flowers
	Security:	Public

	User:	blahthequah
	Date:	2009-07-09 12:33
	Subject:	poor marginalized man to testify against mexican judge lady
	Security:	Public

This has to be a joke. No, wait, its the Republicans, if it sounds like a joke than its most likely true. When confirmation hearings begin for Maria Sonia Sottomayor begin next week the Republicans plan to call Frank Ricci to testify against her. You might know Ricci has the poor white firefighter in New Haven who was discriminated against by evil blacks and Puerto Rican judge ladies because he was a white man.

	User:	no1ninja
	Date:	2009-07-09 18:41
	Subject:	50% off the internet!
	Security:	Public
	Mood:	accomplished

for so long i have resented the necessity of paying for a land line from bt simply to carry adsl. you pay the phone company at least £15 and then an isp at least as much again. i got so sick with bt's bills steadily increasing, charging more and more for a service that i didn't even use, once they even slapped us with a "low usage charge" FTW! they have you bent over with your ass wiggling around the in the air cos phone lines are like fuel, everyone needs them, right? only here in the uk there is even less competition in land phone lines.

fuck that bull crap for a laugh, i thought. goodbye bt and isp's; a couple of weeks ago now i got a free hsdpa usb dongle on contract from 3, and together with a compatible router that i picked up on ebay for £20 the connection is now shared via wifi! my home network is just as it was and my connection to the net is just as fast; i've had over 2Mb/s out of it so far which isn't bad when you consider my rural location (bearing in mind most sites don't serve you over 1Mb/s at the best of times anyway) and that's just with the dongle, i'll explore using an internal/external antenna. the maximum speed of the cellular hsdpa network is currently 7.6Mb/s. not forgetting of course that i can take the thing with me whenever i please.

freedom from the shackles of massively overpriced telecommunications monopoly = £14.65 a month (no really, that's it)

*face of glee*

	User:	blahthequah
	Date:	2009-07-09 10:48
	Subject:	you dont get
	Security:	Public

Apologies for not being able to just embed the clip but can someone tell me what Satin the Whore is singing at about :52?

	User:	blahthequah
	Date:	2009-07-08 19:50
	Subject:	your daily lulz
	Security:	Public

	User:	huckie
	Date:	2009-07-08 16:33
	Subject:	It's not that I'm really this bored, but I'm really this annoyed.
	Security:	Public

Time to go from zero to SPSS up and running using Windows XP in Parallels when...

1. Suspending and Resuming in Parallels: Abandoned after 5 minutes of clicking on the Start menu with no response
   
2. Starting XP from a previous hibernate: 2 minutes 32 seconds
   
3. Starting XP from a previous shutdown: 2 minutes 22 seconds
   

	User:	qweerdo
	Date:	2009-07-08 16:22
	Subject:	Video from adameros
	Security:	Public
	Mood:	awake

It's a music video, but, don't worry that you might not like the song. The video is too cool to worry about such things.


Also, a funny landlord/tenant story

While I'm at it, if you haven't read about the soulbonded roommate from hell, go here:
http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=2934835&userid=0&perpage=40&pagenumber=1

	User:	blahthequah
	Date:	2009-07-08 13:07
	Subject:	dead dead dead
	Security:	Public

Remember Robert McNamara? He died this week and it seems like no one cared because he wasnt Michael Jackson. And he hurt more kids than Michael Jackson ever did. Anyway, writing for McClatchy, Joseph L Galloway wrote an incredibly harsh commentary on the dead and dickish McNamara.

Let me tell you, McNamara was a true asshole and it seems that everyone hated him.The most bizarre incident involving McNamara occurred when he was president of the World Bank and, off on his summer holiday, he caught the Martha's Vineyard ferry. It was a night crossing in bad weather. McNamara was in the salon, drink in hand, schmoozing with fellow passengers. On the deck outside a vineyard local, a hippie artist, glanced through the window and did a double-take. The artist was outraged to see McNamara, whom he viewed as a war criminal, so enjoying himself.

He immediately opened the door and told McNamara there was a radiophone call for him on the bridge. McNamara set down his drink and stepped outside. The artist immediately grabbed him, wrestled him to the railing and pushed him over the side. McNamara managed to get his fingers through the holes in the metal plate that ran from the top of the railing to the scuppers.

McNamara was screaming bloody murder; the artist was prying his fingers loose one at a time. Someone heard the racket and raced out and pulled the artist off.

By the time the ferry docked in the vineyard McNamara had decided against filing charges against the artist, and he was freed and walked away.

	User:	huckie
	Date:	2009-07-08 09:57
	Subject:	Knocking down freeways to relieve traffic congestion
	Security:	Public

There was a story yesterday in SF Gate about the benefits of knocking down freeways as a means to relieve traffic congestion, or at least there was a link to a story about this. The actual SF Gate story didn't go into any detail about much of anything, I know, surprise surprise.

Anyways, beyond the obvious bias in the photos, where the before photos were taken during rush hour, and the after photos were taken when no traffic was present, there is some truth to the idea depending on how you look at the problem. First, we have to be careful with defining some of the words that were used somewhat interchangeably. The word "Traffic" generally refers to some sort of measure of the number of vehicles or vehicle trips on a roadway at a given time. "Traffic Congestion," on the other hand, generally refers to some measure of reduced speed or travel time delay. The point being that "Traffic" and "Congestion" are not the same, and increasing or reducing traffic does not necessarily mean increasing or reducing congestion, nor does it necessarily mean increasing or reducing everyone's or anyone's individual travel time.

That being said, there is some truth in the article. Building new roads or increasing the size or capacity of existing roads actually generates new traffic. Say that you had two roads, each carrying 100 vehicle-trips per hour, and now you add a third road as an option. What has been found is that traffic on the first two roads will probably be somewhat reduced, maybe they will each carry 80 trips per hour, so you'd expect the new road to make up the difference and only carry 40 trips per hour. But that's not what happens, the new road will probably also carry 80 trips per hour. In effect, the new road looks like it generated an additional 40 trips per hour that weren't be taken before! Aka, one could say that the new road generated additional traffic.

Now whether or not it increased or decreased congestion is a whole other story, and one that I've not seen research to support because it's been relatively easy to measure traffic or the flow of vehicles, but measuring congestion is something that's a little more difficult and a whole lot less standardly defined. Additionally, there is the issue that not all roads are monitored, and it's not a closed system. Typically, only certain freeway sections are monitored, so these past studies can't really say whether or not the additional traffic that was generated came from new trips or came from people diverting off of surface streets. Did the addition of the freeway just shift congestion around? Probably.

To the credit of the news articles, removing a freeway isn't the end of the world, and traffic on that road is generally reduced. People divert to other routes. Trips that might have been taken, are cancelled. The individual drivers optimize their routes for themselves, and the system finds a new equilibrium. For some people, this will mean a longer commute, for others it means redevelopment or a park or whatever. Does it reduce congestion overall? Probably not. Will knocking down all the freeways change the way we live? Yes. For the better? Who knows.

	User:	kriostoir
	Date:	2009-07-08 08:20
	Subject:
	Security:	Public

1. Independence :: Day
2. Meltdown :: Melting Pot
3. Vulture :: Professor Snape in a dress
4. Hope :: Crossed fingers
5. Float :: Rootbeer
6. Hole :: In Your Head
7. Trespass :: ...er's Will
8. Moving :: Kate Bush
9. Extinct :: Dinosaurs
10. Alligator :: Crocodile

	User:	qweerdo
	Date:	2009-07-08 05:36
	Subject:	Also, salacious_pop
	Security:	Public
	Mood:	also salacious_pop

Happy Birthday to the best friend anybody could ever have.
You made those angsty teen years bearable and fun.
You also helped me through my angsty 20s and 30s.

guaparella felizblahdeblah felizlahdedah!

two weeks.
TWO WEEKS!

	User:	blahthequah
	Date:	2009-07-07 21:12
	Subject:	dead and buried
	Security:	Public

Im glad to say that I have no fucking clue what happened at the memorial aside from Al Sharpton saying that because of Michael Jackson we now have Barack Obama. Really. And Maya Angelou wrote a poem. And a bad one. She is clearly slumming it these days. And so the children of the world can now sleep a little bit better now that Michael Jackson is dead and buried.

Except for those kids. That poor little girl. Her daddy died and she misses him. Sure he all sorts of issues, but I dont doubt that he wasnt a good father and didnt provide his kids with everything they would never want and need. Except, of course, a normal life. How how that some little girls daddys death has become a public spectacle.

	User:	qweerdo
	Date:	2009-07-07 20:41
	Subject:	"Tonight, on a very special episode of Blossom..."
	Security:	Public
	Mood:	I think I'm huh-LARE-eous

	User:	blahthequah
	Date:	2009-07-07 13:41
	Subject:	your daily sarah palin
	Security:	Public

According to the Post dreamboat/high school drop out/baby daddy to Tripp Levi Johnston is going to write a tell all book about life with the Palins.

	User:	blahthequah
	Date:	2009-07-07 09:53
	Subject:	live coverage of michael jacksons memorial
	Security:	Public

	User:	no1ninja
	Date:	2009-07-07 16:39
	Subject:	llop, lollop, lollipop?
	Security:	Public
	Mood:	accomplished

second day at the new job was spent training on the little truck ill be using, ending with a practical test. it went well, in fact i was one of two in the group who passed without dropping a single point *grin*, it was a lot of fun. the picture is of a similar thing only the one i'll be using has more structure encompassing the driver and is four metres long! driving a vehicle that long inside a building is quite interesting i can tell ya. i was nervous at first seeing them all zooming around, criss crossing in and out aisles, their sheer length and way that they steer make them quite alien. but by the end of the day i was confidently and consistently reverse parking a potential two and a half ton load in an exact space with no more than a couple of centimetres to spare, they're quite a clever bit of kit. i have a theory exam tomorrow, i'm sure it'll go ok tho ;)

spose i should head to the gym this evening. meh.