December 31, 2003
December 30, 2003
December 28, 2003
Shout out
Hey, where'd Dipnut go? (By the way, this post is the source of my idea that his real name was "Tom Perry.")
Hey, dude, whoever you are -- are you out there?
December 24, 2003
The Year in Quotes
Provided by Tim Blair. Twelve months, twelve posts. Read them all -- bask in the memories.
December 22, 2003
Late-breaking news
Late to break over my head, anyway -- John "Akatsukami" Braue is back posting at his Rat's Nest blog. Ooooh... (rubs hands in anticipation...)
Update, MUCH later: guess who else has been back for a while and I just found out. (Link to Myria via Moira.)
December 07, 2003
Life's Mad Pageant, etc.
I had to run around town yesterday, which in my present carless state (hinty hinty) means utilizing Orlando's fine public transportation system. The result is I am still feeling pretty wiped out, though I think that has partly to do with the fact that I think I have a sinus infection. (Unless it is that Deadly Killer Flu that is going around, yay.) Anyway, I had wanted to do at least a daily post thing on le Blog, but that isn't working out. Could it be, as this person sneers, that <SCREAM>Warbloggers</SCREAM> haven't had much to say lately because we (the Collective! You will be assimilated!) are afraid to "admit" the War Is a Failure™? Shyeah, right, you wish. (Dig Dipnut's replies in the comments and then this post.)
Apropos of this, I think that the thing that hurts antis the most re the Turkey Incident is the fact that this was how Bush was received by the troops in Iraq. For those too lazy to link, here's a sample:
Soldiers were hollering, cheering, and a lot of them were crying. There was not a dry eye at my table. When he stepped up to the cheering, I could clearly see tears running down his cheeks. It was the most surreal moment I've had in years. Not since my wedding and Aaron being born. Here was this man, our President, came all the way around the world, spending 17 hours on an airplane and landing in the most dangerous airport in the world, where a plane was shot out of the sky not six days before.
Dang. I happened to catch that scene on the teevee Evening Snooze. I know that if I was an anti I'd want to stab myself at the sight of all those soldiers cheering like mad, as opposed to the polite but cool (come on, let's admit it) reception Senator Clinton received.
Anyway, today is Pearl Harbor Day. Charles Austin has a new post up about it that you should read; Michele wonders if September 11th will be remembered the same way -- or forgotten the same way. All I can say is it would be nice if the band of psychos that currently have control of the Muslim world* could be dissuaded from their current course with less force 'n' violence than we had to use on the Japanese.
*This "band of psychos" is to be understood to consist of a small subset of the main bulk of Muslims who are, we are told, gentle, peace-loving, flower-gathering, pretty-thing-making, hobbitlike creatures or at least they are human just like you and me! I say this in a no-doubt futile effort to stave off the inevitable "Muslims Love Their Children Too" pop hit song by Sting or someone like that. Allah forbid.
Update: and here's an interview with someone who was at Pearl Harbor on that day, courtesy of the Lakeland Ledger.
Second Update: here's another commentary on Pearl Harbor/September 11th by Vicki of Liquid Courage.
PS: now, shitty as I feel, I think I'm going to have to walk to the store for some stronger cold medicine. Laters.
November 11, 2003
The Prodigal does something-or-other
Jim Treacher is ba-aa-ack.... Finally. Now I can quit blogging.
Kim strikes back!
And his rebuttal is better written than the original essay. (Do I have to say that that is my opinion only? I guess that I do.)
So I guess I wasn't entirely done. Anyway, this post meets with 75% Spleenville Approval™. (Points off for quoting an over-quoted Seventies movie. I am cruel only to be kind.)
November 10, 2003
November 09, 2003
Crashing
Yeah, what she said:
Arguing with liberals is so exhausting; they only know four or five words and just keep repeating them, hoping you'll go away if they play brain-dead. Assuming they're playing...
You know, I've been really creeped out by something in this blogthing world stuff whatever. I can't put my finger on it, except for a general rise in the level of nastiness. Just... nastiness. No, I'm not talking about the sort of blunt, often dumb, but at least openly in advocacy of something rants that so-called rightwingers engage in, but this ongoing oozing flood of negative tearing down that seems to be offered mostly by those on the so-called "leftist" or "liberal" side of things. But both those designations are really meaningless -- they have to be, when the "liberals" are taking reactionary, "don't touch anything!" positions on just about everything, and so-called "rightwing conservatives" are the ones going about promoting dumb classical liberal ideas like bringing democracy to crazy foreigners who like as not will just vote themselves sooner or later into another thugocracy. (Excuse me, my cynicism is rising; I do in fact support the dumb classical liberal idea of bringing democracy, or at least responsible, civilized government, to the rest of the Thug World, but I also recognize that it's an uphill battle against human nature -- oh, but that makes me conservative doesn't it? Names, names, names.) But the others, the "antis" I will call them, don't seem to be for anything, except for tearing down anyone who doesn't think like them. I keep seeing people asking trolls just what they would do instead of whatever it is that is being slammed, and getting in return nothing but more trash talk.
I can't think of anything else to say right now. I didn't mean to stay up so late but I kept going from blog to blog, staring, as one would at a car crash.
November 04, 2003
Blair update
The Tim Blair World Tour, US Leg, continues. This latest post was apparently sent by carrier penguin, after he typed it in an igloo or something. To think it's been unusually warm in Florida (highs in the mid-to-upper 80s in the Central part) for this time of year.
November 03, 2003
Books for Soldiers
Charles Austin has a post on a couple of efforts to send books to soldiers stationed in Iraq. Pass it on.
Incidentally, I keep reading (hah!) articles and columns and commentary and such decrying the supposed lack of reading done by Americans, and/or the fact that when we do read, we read crap; anyway, no one reads the classics anymore. But when I had my cable modem installed in my new place, the cable guy, a young kids in his twenties who looked more to be the type to watch tv and drive around in a Ford Explorer playing hip hop real loud, saw all my books piled around and revealed the interesting information that he loved to read, especially the "classics" (he liked that "old-fashioned" style of writing) and his favorite book was Jane Eyre. He also wanted to be a hacker and go to work for the government showing them security holes in computer systems. The moral of the story? Well, perhaps that people are more complex than polls, studies, and learned academicians on teevee can handle.
October 20, 2003
DOSsed again
This is getting really annoying. I hope someone somewhere finds the little fucker(s) perpetrating this and puts a foot up their ass. I'll donate my pointy, metal-studded 80s rock star boots.
October 18, 2003
A new Iraqi blog
It's called Healing Iraq and it's run by a 24-year old dentist named Zeyad who lives in Baghdad. He posts from the many internet cafés that have apparently sprung up in that city. (Via Jeff Jarvis.)
October 14, 2003
Look who's back
It's Happy Fun Pundit! Their archives seem a little wacked, though; but maybe it is just a glitch. In the meantime, their main page seems to work okay.
October 01, 2003
September 16, 2003
Something to crow about
Ken Layne has has put a band together. They are recording a CD. (Read this classic account of a studio management mishap.) Take that, music biz!
September 14, 2003
Phat-wa
Allah Is In The House. (A funny site, but it gets serious here. No really, go visit. Via Out of Lascaux.)
September 13, 2003
Blogspam or legitimate cry for help?
Well, I have been seeing this message in peoples' blog comments from "Haleh" -- for example, the latest one appeared here, and I am sure that one of my posts had this same comment in it a while back -- about this "BLOG-IRAN" thing. I was (and still am, a little) rather suspicious -- what if this was a link to a kyddie pr0n site, or a viagra-reseller, or something of that nature? But it seems legit enough, and there are lots of links to matters Iranian. I don't have the time or the inclination right now to research it, but it looks like an interesting site. I wish they'd use something other than blogspamming to get the word out, though. Hint hint, guys -- off-topic posts in peoples' comments piss them off, no matter how worthy the cause. If there is a way for you to get the word out via email without being spied on by the mullahs, you might want to look into that instead.
And that is my semi-good deed for the day.
September 12, 2003
Death goes on
Johnny Cash and John Ritter are both dead. Links to the stories are on Primal Purge.
I am not surprised to hear about Cash; his wife passed away a few weeks ago I expected him to follow her soon. John Ritter apparently had a heart problem no one knew about, though. I liked him even though I couldn't stand his most famous work, Three's Company. (Link to CNN story from Daimnation.)
August 16, 2003
Like, Oh m' gawd!
It's.... Back to the 80s : Get Thee To A DeLorean!!.
How funny. Just last night on Court TV there was one of the ubiquitous Jon-Benet Ramsey things on, and the show was featuring some detective who worked on the case. His car is a DeLorean. All I can think is, how can he get parts?
August 10, 2003
The dangers of personal blogging
I have been considering setting up a password-protected blog for some time. I still haven't decided whether or not to do so; if I do it will be to keep a journal of personal details such as I never have talked about on any of my online sites, so you wouldn't be missing anything anyway. Here is an article on some bloggers who have set up private blogs, and their reasons for doing so. It's a decent article (for once, neither clueless nor condescending).
(Via Tampatantrum.com.)
Update: Robyn has some links to various ways to password-protect websites.
August 06, 2003
They're on the move
People continue to flee Blogspot (or "grow out of it," if you prefer). The latest to do so is John Weidner's Random Jottings.
August 02, 2003
Aaaand... he's off!
Charles Austin has moved into Spleenville. Dang, it's getting classy around here. I guess now I'll have to mow the lawn and have those rusted-out car bodies hauled away.
July 27, 2003
Oh, one more note
You have to read E. Nough's comment (number 105, if the link doesn't go to the right target for some reason).
And here's his weblog, by the way. Go and read.
And on that note
So it's been eleven days already. Hey, I moved, packed a whole 5'X10' storage room with four rooms of my junk (okay I threw out half of it), had to have my computer hooked up at a friend's, cancelled my Earthlink account, waited for job calls, comforted my traumatized cat, have my friend's chihuahua sleeping on my lap (thus severely curtailing movement, but it's the only way to keep her from jumping around like an overheated molecule), and you still see an entry from me every day! Writer's block my foot. The trick, see, is to stop caring about the quality of what you post. Let your inner driveler free! Just post stuff! No matter what it is, it can't be as bad as the things I've been reading today.
(Yes, I am trying guilt. Evil of me, but I was driven to read an entry on Kos's blog -- Kos, I tell you. Is Blogville dead or what?)
July 24, 2003
July 17, 2003
Some thanks are in order
To the person who sent me Musique de la Grèce Antique, and the other benefactor who sent me both Machavelli's The Prince, and Thucydides' History of the Peloponnesian War.
I say we start a club
Call it "Bloggers Unjobbed." Andy at The World Wide Rant is the latest to be handed a chance to practice his job interviewing skilz. Go give him a visit and maybe hit that tip jar of his.
Blogger distress signal
Moira Breen of Inappropriate Response is having some technical difficulties at the moment; her site will be back up as soon as the requisite exorcism ceremonies have been performed and/or the Elder Gods of the Internet have been appeased with the appropriate sacrifices.
July 15, 2003
Maybe I'll pitch a tent...
Well, look who's famous: CNN has gotten wind of Scott's "tiny bidness." Uh oh -- will celebrities inundate his campground? Will fame Go to His Head? Will he start blogging about "doing lunch" with "J. Lo"? Will he start wearing sunglasses at night? Well heck, if anyone deserves a slice of the good life, Scott does.
Good-bye, so long, auf wiedersehn...
Well, I guess this sort of thing is better than just mysteriously ceasing to add new posts and thus leaving people wondering if you are dead or something. Or saying one will be gone "for a week or two" and then never being seen again.
Then again, Spoons couldn't stay away.
July 13, 2003
Day by Day hiatus
Chris Muir, author of day by day, is going to be out of commission for 30 days due to surgery. Wish him a speedy recovery (and that's an order!).
Brought to you by the Yes I Think "Day By Day" is a Funny and Well-Drawn Cartoon Brigade.
July 09, 2003
Music for the Masses
Now Ken Layne's gone and done a CD of music stuff. He sings and everything, but don't be afraid, because he can actually sing, unlike some "real" "hit" "song" "artists" (cough Britney Christina That Guy In Tool cough). And you get lots of songs for cheap. If I have any money left over from paying rent (or storage space for my stuff while I bed down in my car) I plan to buy it. And you know how picky I am. What, you didn't know? Well I am!
Fear and Trembling
Hey everyone, make sure you celebrate Frank's history of his pathetic need for affirmation in the form of hit counts and Google rankings Blogiversansary -- Blogiviver -- Bloga-- oh, whatever the word is, it's been an entire dreadful, horrible amazing year for Frank. Go say hi! Link to his site! (Really, I mean it -- you'd better link to his site. I can't be responsible for what happens if you don't. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to get out of the way for the firemen and the hazmat crew. Long story. Jeez what a hair-trigger temper, it was just a lightly mocking email, he didn't have to take it so seriously...)
July 04, 2003
July 01, 2003
Full disclosure
In honor of Tim Blair's latest efforts to reach out to his audience, I hereby offer you all this picture of myself:
Yes, I've been having a stressful week, why do you ask?
June 28, 2003
Spam problems
Someone named Jake D at jake.duffy@bigpond.com sent me an email claiming to have received spam with my email from one of those penis-enlarging outfits. I didn't reply to him through my email in case this was just a slightly more clever way of getting email addresses for a spam list. But I did go to the trouble of running my virus checker -- nothing was found. (Yes, it's up to date.) So if some spambot stole my email address and you get something from either harrisandrea-at-earthlink.net or webmistress-at-spleenville.com offering you a foolproof method of adding inches to your dick, rest assured it's not really from me.
June 26, 2003
Revolution Number 9
By the way, Charles Austin (of Sine Qua Non) has been posting over at Ipse Dixit while Dodd Harris is away in some foreign place. And when the cat is away, the mice will play.
June 24, 2003
Patriotism vs. Nationalism
One more thing -- Mrs. du Toit has a useful definition of patriotism as opposed to nationalism -- and it's only a footnote to this entry. But I think it might help some people out there who still quake in fear when they see someone with a US flag bumper sticker to read it.
June 23, 2003
Up in the sky -- it's a bird, it's a plane, it's
Four Color Hell, a blog about comics. (Graphic novels! Slap.)
Image search
Argh. I knew there was a reason I should have opted for a dvd burner: I have been looking for an image of Frodo from the Council of Elrond scene in Fellowship of the Ring; specifically, that one part where he grabs his forehead and makes a face when Gimli tries to smash the One Ring with an axe. I can't make myself go through another We Heart Elijah! or Welcome to (Insert Fake Elvish-sounding Name)'s Lord of the Rings Fan Club website. Help a sister out.
Thank you!
I just want to thank the person(s) (I am not sure they want to be identified so I won't name them) who sent me The Death of Right and Wrong by Tammy Bruce, and Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.* Thank you, thank you, thank you!
*Now I can be one with the sheeple!
June 19, 2003
That wild and crazy web
Rand Simberg corrects Bill "Aaargh! The Internet is coming! The Internet is coming!" O'Reilly upside the head.
June 18, 2003
In a hole in a blog there lived a rabbit
It's getting so I can't keep up: Silflay Hraka is now free of Blowspot™.
June 15, 2003
Harrassment warning
There's a person calling himself "Sparky" who has been posting nasty comments on my site* and has refused to cease doing so despite repeated demands and bannings of several IPs he has used. A quick whois search of the url (sparkmonkey.com) he left in his blog comments info brought up this information:
Domain Name.......... sparkmonkey.com
Creation Date........ 2002-01-16
Registration Date.... 2002-01-16
Expiry Date.......... 2004-01-16
Organisation Name.... Jesse Paulsen
Organisation Address. [removed]
Organisation Address. Madison
Organisation Address. [removed]
Organisation Address. WI
Organisation Address. UNITED STATES
Admin Name........... Jesse Paulsen
Admin Address........ [removed]
Admin Address........ Madison
Admin Address........ [removed]
Admin Address........ WI
Admin Address........ UNITED STATES
Admin Email.......... jesse_paulsen@sparkmonkey.com
Admin Phone.......... [removed]
Tech Name............ Jesse Paulsen
Tech Address......... [removed]
Tech Address......... Madison
Tech Address......... [removed]
Tech Address......... WI
Tech Address......... UNITED STATES
Tech Email........... jesse_paulsen@sparkmonkey.com
Tech Phone........... [removed]
Here are the several IP addresses that showed as his that I have banned:
207.44.154.35
66.168.62.160
66.222.33.52
140.186.45.14
66.222.108.216
I wonder what the law says regarding someone who refuses to stop harrassing someone on the internet?
*He first graced my site with his presence here. As you can see, he started right off with the sweet talk. Then nothing for ages; I thought he had gotten the message to fuck off. I guess not. I think there is a pattern to this, but I am not sure what it is, nor do I much care.
June 14, 2003
Birthday shoutout
It's Jim Treacher's B-Day. Here's a little song:
Happy birthday to you,
Happy birthday to you,
Happy birthday to you,
Happy birthday, dear Ji-im!
Happy birthday to you!
June 12, 2003
Help for the Blogspot refugees
Hey, I keep forgetting that Dean Esmay is the man for helping so many people off Blowspot™. And here's the site he set up to help people new to the universe of Movable Type.
June 11, 2003
Defining the dialogue
As an aid to people commenting on this post, I thought I'd provide these various definitions of racism from Dictionary.com:
rac·ismSource: The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. The belief that race accounts for differences in human character or ability and that a particular race is superior to others.
- Discrimination or prejudice based on race.
Copyright © 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.racism
n 1: the prejudice that members of one race are intrinsically superior to members of other races 2: discriminatory or abusive behavior towards members of another race [syn: racialism]
Source: WordNet ® 1.6, © 1997 Princeton University
Hope that helps.
June 08, 2003
Blogs over Iraq
There's another Iraqi with a blog. (It's Blogspot, but so far the site is behaving today.) His first post is about the horrors of American occupation -- oh wait, it's not.
(Via Jeff Jarvis.)
June 04, 2003
Now we've got a cantina
The Brazos de Dios Cantina is now on a server of it's own, and spiffied up with Movable Type.
June 03, 2003
Blogger identity theft
Someone trying to pass himself off as Iranian blogger Hossein Derakhshan had put up a blog on blogspot, written in Farsi.* It seems to have been another Iranian living in the Toronto area. I wonder what motive someone would have to do such a thing; it seems that the imposter was using his site to say all sorts of nasty things. Could this be an attempt to discredit expatriate Iranian bloggers in the eyes of their own people, especially back home in Iran?
*Or Arabic. I read somewhere that both languages are used by Iranian bloggers, but since I read neither, I'll just say it's written in that pretty alphabet that looks like clouds and tree branches.
June 02, 2003
I see it's asshat week again
The list of things I refuse to tolerate on my blog is always growing. Here are a couple more things that you had better not post in my comments unless you want to get banned:
1. Literary criticism used to discredit something I wrote. All it does is make you look like a nasty little shit who couldn't think of a comeback. Though if that is what you, Jon Darby, were going for here, then you used the right technique. Too bad, though -- you've been banned.
2. I am sick of the all the "Florida is full of dummies" crapola. If you live in a state where everyone is an Einstein, what are you doing wasting your time reading blogs? Shouldn't you be researching FTL theory or trying to find the cure for cancer? And I am also banning anyone who engages in South-bashing. While I have lived in Florida all my life, and my family is principally from the South, I have never been a gung-ho Florida-flag-waver nor have I had the slightest interest in various causes Southern, on the other hand I am growing sick of the "Hyuck, hyuck, those Southern yokels are such rubes!" jokes and remarks. It's bigotry, pure and simple, and I refuse to allow it on my blog. That is why Dark Avenger has been judged to have crossed the line here, and his IP has been banned.
And if either of you are spoofing IPs or use some other IP-changing technique to enable yourselves to make more comments, I will ban those IPs too. I'll be here all night, folks, I have plenty of time.
(And if you are intending to leave a comment along the lines of "I don't see what was so bad about what they said" -- don't bother. Read the New FAQ instead.)
Update: "Don't make bitchy comments about people who use linguistic acid better than you do, dear." Try again, Princess.
By the way, I'm not in the martyr-enabling business. Mr. Darby has been unbanned, because he was getting too much of a jones out of it.
June 01, 2003
How to do stuff
I haven't had much to say recently -- and I've been too busy to say much anyway. But here's a couple of things. Seems a lot of people aren't as willing to go through the trouble and do a lot of cursing and screaming and sweating smart as I am, and need a little help doing some things that are -- tcha! -- so easy! So here is a guide to blogging with Movable Type for those like all normal people to whom the MT documentation is too abstruse. (Hey, I could have called it "MT Blogging for Dummies" like some other people have.)
Speaking of stuff for dummies, someone has uttered aloud the wish for a "Democracy for Dummies." Well, here's a plan that has worked, more or less efficiently, for a couple hundred years or so.
This public service announcement has been brought to you by Spleenville, where you will always find plenty of ego to go around.
May 31, 2003
Congratulations to some new parents
Adoption is good. Of course, being adopted, I am slightly biased towards the practice. ;)
May 29, 2003
May 26, 2003
Help a soldier out
A fire at Kevin's base wiped out the possessions of the servicemen whose tents burned down. He's got a Paypal button up at the site where you can donate.
Well, heck
Bleat is taking the day off. So what are us Lileks junkies supposed to do -- make up our own clever-yet-profound slice of life essays? Jeez.
Thank you!
This is just a shout-out and a thank you to those folks who have contributed to the Spleenville fund this week. What can I say but -- thank you! Among other things, the increase in my pot o'gold has enabled me to invest in Dr. Frank's Eight Little Songs CD. Dr. Frank, he of the much-heard-of Mr. T. Experience, is the source of the song "Democracy, Whiskey, Sexy." You all should at least download that song, and at ten US smackers the 8-song collection is a bargain. (Also check out "Institutionalized Misogyny." He reminds me of John Wesley Harding (you may remember him for his cover of Madonna's "Like A Prayer" -- which sounded like a halfway decent song in his hands).
May 23, 2003
Important announcement
Hey, Tim Blair fans, reset your blogrolls: Tim has moved into the spleenville universe, and can now be found at http://timblair.spleenville.com.
Can I just say one thing
I really, really, really hate Blogspot and Blogger. HATE them. That web service is dead to me. DEAD, do you hear?
I just wanted to get that off my chest.