"Just so you know" written by James on estrip.org

04/18/07 02:33 - 42ºF - ID#38941

Just so you know

In Virginia 33 people were killed.

Between this weekend and today about 500 people were killed in several separate bomb attacks including 178 today alone.

So, what exactly makes a tragedy? Proximity? Perceived kinship?

james writes at 10:33:44 04/19/07 - Comment #17654: Jason:

I don't know anyone involved in Virginia. I don't think most Americans do, or involved in 9/11, Waco, Oklahoma City Bombing, or any of those events. I find it interesting that we have an emotional reaction, a violent one often, based on national lines. That nationhood can define our sense of tragedy is really odd, really disheartening even.

And things like this did happen in the 40's. Things like this have happened throughout our American history without pause. More guns, less guns. City or rural. Surly, our capacity to take out dozens more people than we could with a poswer musket becomes more and more real, but one or more nutjobs deciding to just obliterate as many people as they can happens.

jason writes at 08:27:09 04/19/07 - Comment #17650: James, you make a fantastic point - it's about more than just guns! Shit like this didn't happen in the '40s. Our country is fucking diseased.

jason writes at 08:25:43 04/19/07 - Comment #17649: 61.36% of all statistics are made up.

They both are tragedies, but if we want to parse it into how severe a tragedy can be, then I think without a doubt proximity is one of the most important factors.

Consider the fatalities in Iraq for a moment - heck, let's parse it further and only consider American deaths. They are our families and friends, yet I'd bet most people aren't as outraged by their deaths as they are by the VT killing spree. Why is this? Well, the situations have their glaring, obvious differences, but really it is because we don't "feel" the Iraq deaths like we do the VT deaths. No matter how much the media shovels it down our throats we will not feel it as deeply unless someone dies that we know. Would we feel so aggrieved over a massacre at the American University in Beirut? I doubt it.

james writes at 09:27:59 04/18/07 - Comment #17646: Peter: Nah, we didn't care too much in Bosnia either.

Zobar: That is why we should either stockpile lots of guns or start sleeping with a Marine. =

zobar writes at 09:24:30 04/18/07 - Comment #17645

By the numbers: The events of September 11, 2001 killed 2,973 people; the war in Iraq has killed 3,312 US servicemen and 769 contractors*. Therefore, as an American, you are 37% more likely to be killed by George Bush than Osama Bin Laden.

- Z

_______________

It has also killed 266 non-US coalition servicemembers, 201 non-Iraqi civilians, and anywhere between 50,000 and a half million Iraqis. Considering that I just paid the IRS $2,000 in support of this operation, this is not math I'm willing to consider right now.

metalpeter writes at 07:06:23 04/18/07 - Comment #17642: I will agree that when a Bomb goes off in a market it is a tragedy. That being said there is a perception in this country that they are Muslum, and Iraqi and that it is no big deal. I think if this same thing was going on in a European courntry the perception would be a lot different. But the truth is that we know that some people there don't want us there so we don't care that they die. Some people also think that these 3 tribes of people don't like each other and have been fighting for so long and allways will so if they all hate each other than it isn't tragic. There is also the view that some people hold that everyone in the middle east is barbaric. But I still stick to any people who are freedom fighters, insurgents, terrorist or in an army or fighting force who die isn't tragic. Yes it is to bad for their family but they chose to do something that they knew might kill them. The exception to that is friendly fire. What happend to Pat Tillman and others should never happen.

You make a great point about the fact that he was mentally ill will get lost. I think that the issue of how do we treat or deal with the mentally ill will get lost also. There are a lot of issues there. Did he not get help cause no one wanted to help him. Or was the way he was brought up he didn't belive he should be helped. This is a large and not talked about issue in our country. Yes a lot of people do get help with issues or problems they may have. But often people fall through the cracks. A good example of this is when you see someone walking down the street and they aren't talking to them selves they are having a real conversation with someone who isn't there and there body movements even fit that conversation. The question is how to you make sure everyone gets help. Then what do you do for those that don't want the help. But also how do you test for it. Does each person come forward on there own or do people have to see a sign.

james writes at 06:36:58 04/18/07 - Comment #17641: Chick: I agree, there is tragedy in everything and we have to be careful to not let numbers dictate the magnitude of tragedy.

Jenks: Oh, how the media can portray a tragedy is a whole other issue. Fucking Wolf Blitzer sitting at his CNN desk infront of a green screan made to look like a campus. It is fake. It is a pony show. And the media shouldn't tell us how we feel about a tragedy otherwise 200 deaths in Iraq is a snooze fest.

Peter: When someone sets off a bomb in a crowded market 200 military personel don't die. Children, mothers, brothers, etc die. You go for some bread and end up smeared over a wall. It makes no difference if you are aware of the possibility of death when we all die. In Iraq one bomber may die but scores of innocent people follow. We are randomly thrown into this world, perhaps in the bloated wealth of the west or into more humble origins in Baghdad. Either way a human life is a human life. Even still, the man who decided to take 32 other people with him into death is tragic. Mentally ill and not receiving treatment, the conditions of his birth and upbringing almost seem that he would inevitably take this path.

There is debate about the second amendment and gun control. I think this is silly. Any arms in the hands of anyone can be miss used. The real issue should be how we treat and care for the mentally ill. I expect this will be lost in the clutter of our self absorbed tragedy.

metalpeter writes at 06:20:14 04/18/07 - Comment #17639: What makes it a tragedy is innocance!!!!!!!

The deaths in Iraq arn't innocant at all. The deaths are soilders who decided on there own to join the military. On the Iraq side the same can be said of the insurgents or other Iraq Military. Then you have waring factions who chose to attack each other. Yes there are some civilians who die and that is sad. But the general view is that they live there my choice and like living there and take the risk instead of leaving. The other view is that they are civilians who support one waring faction or another. So simply it is a war that everyone signed up for and they are all willing to die if it means freedom for there cause.

When you go to school it isn't supposed to be a war zone. You go there for multiple reasons to fight isn't one of them. If there where gangs at the college you attended then you would leave. If you thought that Hey never ben in a gang before this is kinda cool. Or I love that there is a race war on campus this will be fun to watch. Then when you blow up your dorm making a Molitov cocktail then it isn't sad, cause you decided you wanted to be violent. It would still be sad for the innocent people who get hurt.

It is allways tragic when the innocent are hurt.

jenks writes at 05:02:02 04/18/07 - Comment #17632: I think some of it is that deaths in Iraq are getting (sadly) to be 'old news'. "Oh, 200 people died? yawn." It's also not on home turf, and I think there's a bit of 'out of sight out of mind'. But I think the biggest thing is that there's a war going on over there. Death is part of war. Death should not be a part of going to school.

But I'm not saying I disagree with you. It is a little upsetting that we're super-freaking out over what's essentially a drop in the bucket compared to what happens all over the world every day.

Or, maybe it's just that the media needs something to fixate on now that Anna Nicole's baby has a daddy. ;)

museumchick writes at 04:48:07 04/18/07 - Comment #17630: I think any loss of human life, irregardles of the number is a great tragedy. It's all senseless.

It's strange with the idea of media attention to something like this compared to Iraq- because if you look at it, violence in Iraq gets much more attention than some of the other violence in the world.It seems like there is never anything on tv about the Sudan or the Congo and the genocide taking place.

james writes at 03:22:54 04/18/07 - Comment #17627: Absolutely both are tragic. Only I mass murdering fuck head like Uncle Joe Stalin could come up with the tragedy/statistic differentiation.

The thing I find interesting is that on average 100 people in Iraq are killed. But we generally don't care. But now we have prayer services, schools are closing, the media is camping out in front of their green screens that look like a campus. We are mobalizing because of a perceived connection to these people, where we feel a very faint one with the people in Iraq.

I find that both interesting and deeply troubling.

jim writes at 03:15:31 04/18/07 - Comment #17626: Aren't they all tragic?

Permalink: Just_so_you_know.html
Words: 31
Location: Buffalo, NY

04/12/07 01:19 - 49ºF - ID#38859

Drinking the Sabres Kool-Aid

I don't like watching sports, at all. Background human interest:

In high school my best friend and I thought about what makes sports so popular. And, like most things, we determined it was fantastical violence. And so, we set out to create the most dangerous, violent sport.

It began by trying to get a ball from one side of the court to the other. Simple enough. You would have to run up step ladders and jump off the top, hurl yourself over fields of saw horses, climb up a tree and jump to its neighbor. All the while your opponent tries to hit you with a stick, hard, very hard. Contact me if you want to buy a local franchise for a "Super Danger Future Ball" team.

And now, the Sabers.

Tonight begins the play offs. A time it is dangerous to not only be a fan of an opposing team, but equally dangerous to not be enthusiastically a Sabers fan.

And so, with ice pack ready, I must march into the maelstrom and show some love for our team (All Buffalonians exempt from giving a damn about the Bills). But it is incredibly easy to do so. I don't need to watch a game to know the score of a game. I need only listen to the screams and cheers that pour out of the Elmwood bars. If I was knoced into a coma during the game I can know who won by how many cars are honking.

If we lose? Ah, well then I can look for broken beer bottles all along the streets and sidewalks. Much fun when you walk a dog. Thank you dicks. Suck it up.

But, one thing is clear, for as long as the Sabers are in the play offs the city is going to buzz with overwhelming, singular Sabers energy. It makes it tough for someone like me, who could care less about any sports team, to not feel a glimmer of hope and pride.

And if you repeat that with anyone I challenge you to a game of Super Danger Future Ball.

mrmike writes at 03:57:04 04/18/07 - Comment #17629: Just adding my two sense to this. Does the fate of free world hang in the balance of the sabres' progress. Hell no. But is it good for the soul, absolutely. It's healthy to invest a little in a positive vibe, something that is bigger than one person. I think that's why we succomb. That said, my ex-wife hilariously rails about the perils of living so close to Jimmy Mac's, she doesn't watch the games, she just listens for the moans from down the street.

james writes at 03:52:57 04/13/07 - Comment #17496: Yes Jenks, you hit on it.

A running joke of his incredibly unfunny show is that his brother Fred is always starting a crazy busness and trying to get his brother Don to promote it.

There was Salsa, I am not sure which brother had the name on it. I could care less though, as it is delicious.

And Joshua, call Imus, remarket that stuff. He needs all the help he can get.

jenks writes at 03:08:29 04/13/07 - Comment #17492: Wait is it DON Imus's salsa? I know his brother (Fred) has a whole line of stuff....

joshua writes at 03:04:13 04/13/07 - Comment #17490: Imus has salsa? I could probably think of 100 different ways to remarket that bad boy right about now.

jim writes at 08:19:15 04/12/07 - Comment #17447: You left off your most famous sports-endeaver, Ball Pipe.

mike writes at 07:22:05 04/12/07 - Comment #17443: I don't really love sports but I do get excited when the Sabres are in the playoffs. Last year I ended up going out to see the games at bars but only like for the last period but it is really fun. I like being in a group of people who are so excited about sometjhing, it is definetely contagious. !

jenks writes at 06:43:15 04/12/07 - Comment #17439: Yeah, you're right. Even as a non-sports-person, it gets contagious. I was in chicago when the cubs made it to the series (or almost to the series... I forget) in '04- and even though I didn't care, it was hard not to get all excited. or Boston last year, whew.

james writes at 06:17:21 04/12/07 - Comment #17434: Matt: What ever, hole-liver-in. Too late to pretend to be cool and know ^_~

Jason: Oh ya, I don't like sports, but I find being in this city now as the Sabers are kicking ass very compelling. A communal spirit between everyone. It is like woodstock but with better beer.

theecarey: There was no protective equipment in Super Danger Future Ball as it was contrary to the spirit of the game.

Matthew: oh, scratch that first comment.

Peter: I hope there is a riot. But that nice happy kind with dancing in the streets and not throwing stuff at the LAPD.

metalpeter writes at 05:45:54 04/12/07 - Comment #17429: I think that last year the Sabres where the best team in the NHL, if it wasn't for all the injuries they would have won the cup. I say they are the best team this year again. But the team that wins is the team that plays the best during the playoffs. I know the Sabres are good enough to win the cup and hope they do win the cup. That being said if the Sabres make it to the Finals and are in a position to Win it at Home unless you are at the game don't go downtown unless you are up off the street. I do have a reason for saying this I do think (not just because it happened in a movie) that if the sabres win the cup at home Buffalo will become a riot scene. Reason I say this is I was at one of the bandits championship wins (back when they filled the arena) when they where at there peak. It was kinda crazzy then Horns going banging on cars and that was a new team. There isn't all the history of the Sabres never getting the Cup. There is a lot of frustration from "No Goal" and from Having Hasek, Mogilny, and LaFonte and and not getting it done. As great as the french connection was (not that I remember them) then didn't get the cup. I could be wrong but even if there is a riot I hope the sabres win it all. Even if you aren't into sports it is still good to know what is going on with them.

matthew writes at 03:35:32 04/12/07 - Comment #17424: i was just kidding. i don't live in a hole! :)

theecarey writes at 03:08:27 04/12/07 - Comment #17423: Super Danger Future Ball? hehe love it!

Not much of a sports 'fan'- but I do dig the violent sports. My preference is Rugby,(no protective equipment!) followed by Hockey.

I hate football and damn proud of it.

jason writes at 03:04:47 04/12/07 - Comment #17422: Well, James, if you don't like sports you don't like sports. At least with the Sabres, I've been a fan since the mid-80s when Dear Old Dad made the roadie from Jamestown with Josh and I to the Aud.

Yes Matt our team is not only in the playoffs, but is also the FAVORITE to win it all. Pretty rare for us.

Personally, I'm happy because it gives us a good distraction and in a sense brings us closer to one another. I think it's cool to hear the horns and the screaming processing down (and up) Elmwood Avenue. People are having a good time with it. Not too late to join the bandwagon!

matthew writes at 01:25:53 04/12/07 - Comment #17418: The sabers are in the playoffs?

Permalink: Drinking_the_Sabres_Kool_Aid.html
Words: 351
Location: Buffalo, NY

04/10/07 11:21 - 33ºF - ID#38834

Craig's List Personal Ads

Folks,

I have been reading craig's list incessantly for the past week. It has been a slow week, what can I say. The M4W ads will some day in the future be considered the highest form of literature, leaving poetry and the novel in it's terrible wake.

But then, it happened.

I saw an ad that could only have been writen by a younger version of me.

"I am a computer geek as well, and I play D&D. I am a pretty good listener, and will put up with a lot. I am a nice guy, but I do have a breaking point. I only seek meaningful relationships, and sexual activity means very little to me. I am looking for a girl with a nice personality, decent looks and a bit of geekiness.Whether she just likes to read, or she is a full blown computer nut, some kind of geek girl would be great."

Oh yes. It is horrible to have the mirror put to yourself and discover that you have been a Medusa all along.

Well, I no longer play D&D.
I never dated girls (nothing personal ladies)
and sexual activity means a good deal to me

But man, at age 17? Roll that 3D6 to determine your social awkwardness.

Thankfully, there are thousands of other ads written seemingly by married men who's brains are nulled by the syphilis eating them. And I can go about my casual reading unreflectivly. But always knowing at home is a giant bag full of dice buried in a mound of sex toys.

mike writes at 12:26:11 04/11/07 - Comment #17384: i love craigslist reading. People are ridiculous!

jenks writes at 11:19:27 04/10/07 - Comment #17380: And for anyone who just wants to dabble in craigslist- go to :::link::: and you'll be hooked. It's the 'best of' the R&R, compiled from all the cities. Many (most) are hilarious.

james writes at 08:01:19 04/10/07 - Comment #17371: Oh yes! I am quite envious of your Bay Area Craig's List. Buffalo's is quite lame, only about a third as big as Rochester's. Being of comparable size, that should make we Buffalonians sad, sad, sad.

I have sold a few things on there. Notably my piece of shit car. I can't believe some poor guy willingly bought it. I was upfront about it's deficiencies too.

If I can judge from the ads I have read and your writing on this site I would say that you are very recognizable. Foe one, YOU DO NOT TYPE ALL IN CAPITALS AND REFUSE TO MAKE SENSE BY NOT USING PUNCTUATION MARKS.

And for that you shouldn't have to post another ad. Ladies. Here is a gentleman who can write. Throw yourselves at his feet. Line up outside of his door. Though, I don't know if your GF will take too kindly to that. So, never mind.

ajay writes at 07:51:44 04/10/07 - Comment #17369: Craigslist is the backbone of the Bay Area underground economy. All sorts of shit gets traded on it.
I sold my TV on a few weeks ago (I paid $1100 for the TV 4 years ago; got $250 for it now. Yay for obsolescence!). I found me apartments through CL. I sold my GF's laptop on CL (with her permission, of course).

When I first moved to the area, I posted in the M4W section a few times. The first time, I met this woman from Monterey. She was nice, but lived too far away. A few weeks later, I posted a brand new ad again, and she responded with "Ajay! Is that you??" D'oh!! Despite no pics or other distinguishing features, she was able to read the description and peg me accurately.

And then there was that response I got for my TV ad. The guy wrote in just to congratulate me on a well-written ad, without grammatical mistakes or typos.

james writes at 07:06:10 04/10/07 - Comment #17365: It might have a random bonus. Roll D10 to determine.... 6.... that is +10 Prudishness and +20 sense of moral superiority.

But I just might be projecting.

www.Buffalo.craigslist.com is a handly little website. There is a forum section and one is called "Rants and Raves" or tenderly called "RnR". It really makes you want to saw the faces off people.

carolinian writes at 05:28:38 04/10/07 - Comment #17364: Maybe he's wearing the +10 Amulet of Undying Virginity he picked up at the last convention.

BTW, what's the Buffalo RnR?

james writes at 03:32:24 04/10/07 - Comment #17359: I don't read the Buffalo R&R. It is just full of people who have moved away from Buffalo to some godless barge town in Florida and like to rub the cold weather in our faces. And you know from personal experience how much Buffalonians hate being reminded of our weather.

Or the toothless asses who actually live in Buffalo who "have the balls" to tell the world what is wrong with "niggers". It makes me want to grow a tail and return to the ocean from which this horrid race evolved.

But a MC that actually connected? And turned into a threesome invitation as well as an email from an ex? That is just crazy craziness. Or at least painfully awkward.

jenks writes at 12:22:59 04/10/07 - Comment #17354: Funny, I just started reading craigslist after a several-month hiatus. It really is quite entertaining. Though the buffalo RnR is pathetic. But speaking of seeing yourself... Sometime last year I saw a hot guy out about town, and actually posted an MC ad- and the guy responded (and invited me to a threesome, heh, see my old journals)- but the freaky thing is- my ex sent me an email the next day saying he saw an ad on Craigslist that must have been written by me. (and he was, indeed, right.) Weird.

Permalink: Craig_s_List_Personal_Ads.html
Words: 265
Location: Buffalo, NY

04/09/07 10:25 - 33ºF - ID#38825

Breakfast at Tiffany's

I have never seen this movie. Which makes me the only gay guy in this or any universe who has not had a hard on for Audrey Hepburn. And I am happy to be flaccid before her image. And while watching, sans boner, I couldn't help be think to myself.
"Boy, the love interest couldn't be gayer." He screams big homo. A writer in New York who is payed to have sex with an older patron? Ya, I am sure Truman Capote wasn't writing his fat pansy ass into that role. Replace older married woman with a closeted married homo and two and two equals four.
I had to ask, were people in the early 60's dumb enough to fall for this? I haven't seen this overtly gay a character since I watched "Gang-Bang Street Trade 3" earlier this evening. The characters in that one were much more sympathetic by the way.
I find Capote's prose to be effective. It is stylish and overwrought enough to be charming. But have a hack screenwriter make a script out of the novel (which I have not read, I can only comment about some of his shorter, latter pieces) and suddenly a dim whited child is flailing about a canister of film better used for "Gang-Bang Street Trade 4: Prussian Gushers".

And seriously, Henry Manccini? Are you listening in hell? Writing one song and rearranging it for two fucking hours is no way to write a score. Sure, it was a lovely song. But Christ man, Christ!

On the bright side, the trained cat kicked ass. I didn't think you could even train cats to do anything other than piss you off and shoot dander everywhere.

jacob writes at 03:54:40 04/10/07 - Comment #17362: LOL! "the rubber plant", classic.

jason writes at 08:32:28 04/10/07 - Comment #17337: Hahaha. Brilliant journal.

james writes at 11:04:45 04/09/07 - Comment #17328: Amen sister. Be Heal-ed!

brit writes at 11:00:26 04/09/07 - Comment #17327: lol! I am inserting season 3 of the a team into my little dvd player right now, between george, the 'faceman' and the strangely shaggable mr T my holy light should be well taken care of!

james writes at 10:57:54 04/09/07 - Comment #17326: I can totaly relate. I spent years watching the insufferable Sandy Duncan's feel good north midwest sitcom "Hogan's Family" to glance upon the twinkling ass of Jason Bateman. Yum.

Fast forward nearly two decades and he was still fuckable in Arrested Development.

Ah, in praise of unattainable fantasy TV men. You leave your congregation wet and full of your holy light!

brit writes at 10:51:14 04/09/07 - Comment #17325: I agree, he was a special kind of fuckable. I have has pervy feelings about the george since I was six, obviously I didn't know what they were when I was six but I liked them all the same. And to think that my mother thought I was watching the A Team with my brother and dad becasue I was a tom boy!

james writes at 10:46:13 04/09/07 - Comment #17324: Oh, George Peppard is damn fuckable! He looks like the kind of guy you could bring home to mother only to realize it was a terrible idea as he seduces your mother, father, brother, dog, and rubber plant.

brit writes at 10:38:41 04/09/07 - Comment #17323: the big homo love interest is george peppard! - the hardest man alive (until 1995)...hmmmmm, perhaps he butched it up a notch for his role in the A-Team. We ordered this on netflix to see what all the fuss is about now I can't wait....you have to admit, he has nice lips.

Permalink: Breakfast_at_Tiffany_s.html
Words: 281
Location: Buffalo, NY

04/04/07 10:41 - 39ºF - ID#38742

Live Nude Pedestrians

We Buffalonians love nothing more than to worship spring,

The rites of spring begin on the first day it is over 45 degrees. Our puffy coats with faux fur hoods slip off and we expose our pail skin to the sun, drastically increasing the earths albedo. Even now, there are sunbathers wallowing on their blankets over the muddy fields of Delaware park, waiting for the sun to slip through the constant cloud cover.

Yesterday afternoon I saw a sun worshiper par excellence. At 5:30 a woman was walking up Delaware ave amid rush hour traffic, without a scrap of cloths on her, licking a lollipop as she goes.

I just hope she looked both ways before crossing.

have a swell day kids,

-James

Permalink: Live_Nude_Pedestrians.html
Words: 121
Location: Buffalo, NY

04/02/07 04:56 - 50ºF - ID#38720

The Dumbest Animals you can't Kill

I hate spring,

In a town that spends 4-5 months clasped in the icey womb of winter that is blasphemy. Even now mobs with torches and pitch forks are gathering out my window. Ready to storm my citadel of nay-saying-springhood.

It wasn't always that way. Spring would mean all the obvious things that we enjoy spring for. Namely warmth and sun: two precious commodities you would sell your mother's eyes for in January. Things changed though when I got a dog. Spring now means two very different things: Stupid bunnies and stupid squirrel

You see, in Winter's death throws these cute little mammals get their freak on and pop out little bunnies and squirrels for the world to consume. The smart ones live. The dumb ones though must die. They must all die.

When I am walking my dog he will spot a bunny a block away and begin pulling, choking himself on his leash yet propelled by the force of his lust for bunny meat; which, by the way, he has never tasted. When the momment comes when the bunny or squirrel will realize the dog is onto him he will hop three feet away and stop, look behind him, and stay.

The dog is pulling like a tractor but is not moving any closer. So the squirrel or bunny things "he isn't getting any nearer, he must not see me" and remain.

The great tragedy of all this is no dog gets to these animals. Their stupidity is allowed to go on and mix with the gene pool. Ensuring countless future generations of animals I would rather not be.

Our only hope is they forage in traffic.

Permalink: The_Dumbest_Animals_you_can_t_Kill.html
Words: 279
Location: Buffalo, NY

03/29/07 02:16 - 43ºF - ID#38680

Flickr has been infiltraited by Commies

Flickr, oh Flickr!

She was the first web 2.0 community driven content site I really got involved when, and she stole my heart. I started off in the local Buffalo group started by the enigmatic (e:Jim). It still is a fun group with really good people in it. And then the Reds came for me!

I have always had an academic interest in Russia. I am have always had a personal interest in Soviet aesthetics. It isn't the oddest of hobbies, but it isn't exactly a national past time either. But let me tell you how funly awesome these groups are:

Soviet States
is all about former Soviet nations, and the ruins of the former soviet regimes. If you love the color grey, you will weep tears of joy!

Political Art - Socialist Realism Did you know that in real life Joseph Stalin was a bald dwarf? It is true, but through this school of realism the warts and all style of realism looks more like idealism. Check out the statures of Soviet's nobly sacrificing material gain for the betterment of the people. It makes you weep artificial tears.

My Happy Soviet Childhood has scores of soviet kids smiling. Hey comrade Billy, if you act as an informant on the states case against your father's patriotism we will send you to summer camp. Oh Boy!

my favorite

The Red Menace Sure, it doesn't have Soviet stuff, but crazy American propaganda dealing with Soviet Stuff. It is the sort of thing that makes you wonder how many different ways can Lenin be depicted as an octopus mangling the globe.

But why love them so much? Because I can waste at least an hour while at work looking at these oddities.

enjoy kids

Permalink: Flickr_has_been_infiltraited_by_Commies.html
Words: 291
Location: Buffalo, NY

03/26/07 12:02 - 50ºF - ID#38620

WTF?

Seriously, WTF?

Our soon to be old apartment is right on Delaware near Children's Hospital. Ambulance, fire trucks, and popo have been driving up and down, sirens blaring, all day. Has some large building caught fire? Has Zombie McKinley been shot by yet another anarchist?

I do a google news search and all I get is some ex-Bills couch complaining about Buffalo's "lack of women and preponderance of Applebee's like restaurants" which would be the case if you were a closeted homosexual living in Orchard Park.

Has anyone seen an ambassador stabbed? Has Kuni's been serving human all along? I need to know! I need to know!

Permalink: WTF_.html
Words: 107
Location: Buffalo, NY

03/22/07 01:12 - 61ºF - ID#38557

NPR is a headache

Kids,

I was excited about the John Edwards press conference today. Not looking forward to him dropping out, but excited to hear what had to be said and neurotically move on with this fantasy football game of primaries. When I heard about it, I had a date. Noon. Don't be late.

So here I am at work. Ten minutes prior I turn on the NPR webcast. They had live coverage of it. Someone there in the room looking at an empty podium.

So, just as things are about to start they cut to a very important announcement. Yes, it is that time for their quarterly beg-a-thon.

I love NPR because they have up to the minute coverage of breaking news.

They have coverage of what you think is important.

If you got this news elsewhere you would have to wait until tomorrow for the newspaper.

This is what they told me. Convincing me that my dollars are important to ensure that I don't miss anything. All the while missing the only news item I cared about that day.

This is irony. Slaves groveling at your feet and licking your boot is great, accept when you are trying to walk somewhere. And you, NPR, are in my way.

The good news is the UN secretary general was having a news conference in Iraq when it was hit by a mortar. No one is hurt, but the building shook and it is on tape. How awesome is that?

chico writes at 05:07:52 03/22/07 - Comment #16713: What was especially amusing about the live video of the UN Secretary-General at the Iraqi Prime Minister's office in the "Green Zone" in Baghdad was the difference in reaction between the two men. Ban Ki-moon freaked and ducked behind the podium for a second, then looked around somewhat frantically in obvious fear. Nuri al-Maliki, the Iraqi PM, didn't even react at all to the blast, which reportedly shook the whole building. He looked cool, calm, collected. Which means either his office is rocked by nearby blasts all the time (likely) or he knew it was coming (conspiracy theory!). Anyway, it is kind of an interesting video. It's on BBC World News: :::link:::

joshua writes at 04:33:11 03/22/07 - Comment #16704: I hate Nina Totenberg, but I actually like Ira Glass... I listen to his show via podcast, although sometimes his topics make it plainly obvious that there are only so many ways to make ordinary life interesting.

james writes at 03:21:32 03/22/07 - Comment #16701: Eh,

I don't care all that much about Edwards. I think having him in the primary though is good at this point but I wouldn't loose sleep over his leaving. But knowing that I could be knowing what is going on but not knowing it because some schmuck is telling me how great it is to know what is going on and that I know I need to donate money to continue to know what I know.... well... it makes me want to oil wrestle Nina Totenburg and Ira Glass.

The begging, while obnoxious and obligatory, is fine every now and again. But god damn it they could have waited ten more minutes. NPR, like John Wdwards, is "slanted and negligable". Agreed.

joshua writes at 02:55:03 03/22/07 - Comment #16700: Every quarter they go on a begfest - while its somewhat necessary its still tacky.

Otherwise, the content on NPR is obliquely slanted and negligable. If you want a summary of John Edwards' current schtick, picture an apology for voting for the war, demands for curbing the usage of things that create greenhouse gases (unless you are him and "The Goracle") and a continuation of his previous "Two Americas" class envy manifesto rolled up into a beautiful chestnut brown quaffed, honey-dipped southern accent having, trial lawyer smiling package.

P.S. I'd like to marry his daughter.

Permalink: NPR_is_a_headache.html
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Location: Buffalo, NY

03/17/07 01:40 - 23ºF - ID#38498

The swingin' new pad

Awesome,

It pays to know people who know other people. It makes up for what ever social deficiency one might have. One, in this case, refers to me, who has the social grace of an elephant on roller skates doing blow off a gazelle's ass. It is all a metaphor that works astonishingly well. Go on, be astonished.

But we found a new place to live. We will be on Ashland between Bird and Potomac. Our landlords are super awesome. They called us to ask if we wanted new carpet or new windows. Crazy madmen, being so nice.

The nice thing about renting from humans and not some faceless slumlord company is that are reasonable people. For the same rent we are moving from a 1 bedroom to a 3 bedroom with parking and a yard. A yard for the Ben! He will also have puppy friends to play with. Super +1 happy! So life has returned to goodness and honey.

Thanks to MPT for the kick ass party last night. I will do my best to not be jealous of your dream house. A home who's splendors rival all others.

happy hangover everyone.

-James