Cleaning house

Well that was fun.

I just spent a few hours doing some house cleaning around here. Like most good ideas, it came at the suggestion of my Supermodel Wife who, after reading this digital fish wrap for a few minutes, said "Dude, you really need to figure out how to use the spellcheck function."

Now, I've never claimed to be a great speller. The fact that I'm also a poor typist and tend to bang out posts rather hastily exacerbates the problem. But in the back of my mind I've always sort of subscribed to Andrew Jackson's philosophy on spelling:

"It's a damn poor mind that can think of only one way to spell a word!"

Good point Andy. But, when the wife says correct your spelling, you damn well better correct your spelling.

So over the last few days, I've gone back over all of my posts and ran a quick spell check. That's about 565 posts on this blog (plus a few drafts that haven't been published for various reasons). Through this exercise, I came to realize a few things:

1. I totally missed this blog's blogiversary earlier this month. July 14 marked the end of the second year of my posting. I can forgive you for not noticing, what with all of the Bastille Day celebrations going on.
2. There were an average of about 1.5 spelling errors per post. Some had more, some less. There were even a few posts that didn't have any (woohoo!).
3. Given point 2 above and the current page load number from StatCounter, I guess I owe about 50,000 apologies to everyone who was subjected to my spelling ability (or should I say disability). So please consider this my official mea culpa

But as I say, I've gone through all my previous posts and swept them clean of spelling errors. I make no promises about capitalization and grammar (who really follows the "rules" of those anyway). But I'm confident that there are no more misspellings on this blog.

In fact, I challenge anyone to find a single misspelled word on any previous post. Anyone who does find an example will be rewarded with recognition and a link as well as cash and prizes*.

In closing, thanks to everyone who drops by here on occasion. I hope I haven't offended you to(o) badly, and I promise to try to do better in the future.

*Cash and prizes not included.

tagged: blog, blogging, spelling, Andrew Jackson

YouTube Tuesday: Chad Vader update

Chad Vader discovers blogging:


tagged: movie, YouTube, video, Vader, Star Wars, humor, comedy, culture

Saturday Blogcast I

No real theme here. Just a bunch of my fav songs as I play around with seeqpod.

Perhaps I'll make this a regular feature.


SeeqPod Music beta - Playable Search

tagged: music, audio, seeqpod, blog, blogcast

You want a border war? YOU GOT IT!!!!

I'm liking the tough words coming from some Kansas legislators regarding the backstabbing Missourians who aren't satisfied with the amount of money Kansans voluntarily bring into their state.

According to The Star, those sneaky bastards in the Missouri statehouse are trying to pick the pockets of innocent, well-meaning, upstanding Kansans who are forced by outrageous fortune to set foot across the state line for their jobs.

Missouri Gov. Matt Blunt signed a bill this month providing an income tax break for Missourians who receive Social Security. It contained a little-discussed provision eliminating a deduction for real estate taxes paid outside Missouri.

That’s a $190 ding for the typical Johnson County resident who works in Missouri.

"It's downright unneighborly," said Kansas Senate Majority Leader Derek Schmidt, an Independence Republican. "A little cross-border dialogue would be in order."

That's gratitude for you. We already have to pay that retardiculous 1-percent earnings tax in Kansas City, Mo., but the Show-Me State scumbags weren't satisfied with us Kansans saving their precious Union Station with the bi-tax revenue we provide.

It's not enough that we provide the lion-share of revenue to their mediocre (at best) sports teams. Now they have to try to pick our pockets by eliminating a property tax deduction?

Well, no more Mr. Nice Kansan. I say power to the good and right honorable men and women in the Kansas Legislator who are considering a like response to this effrontery.

One option is to enact a provision similar to Missouri’s, which would increase the tax on Missouri residents working in Kansas, said Joan Wagnon, Kansas secretary of revenue.

Based on commuting patterns, Johnson County’s Economic Research Institute estimates that more than 71,000 residents from eight nearby Missouri counties work in Johnson County. And at least 53,000 Johnson Countians work in those Missouri counties.

tagged: Kansas, Missouri, taxes, Union Station, Kansas City, Johnson County

Friday Blogthing: Bumper crop

I think bumper stickers are about the dumbest think since the live recording.

I mean, what's the point? To advertise how you feel on certain issues? As if I care.

If you want me to ignore you, start writing a blog that I can NOT read. But don't ruin the perfectly good paint job on you 1977 Oldsmobuik with a trite bumper stick slogan.

Unless its something like this:

Your Bumper Sticker Should Be

Give me ambiguity - or give me something else

What Bumper Sticker Should Be On Your Car?

tagged: quiz, meme, bumper sticker, slogan, ambiguity

Eat your heart out Napster

I just discovered SeeQPod the other day. In my considered opinion, this is the coolest thing to happen with music on the Internet since Napster (the original Napster, that is).

The clever minds at SeeQPod have developed technology that scours the interweb for audio files and allows you to search, find and play them in your browser. There's also a "discover" function that (presumably) finds music similar to your tastes based on the search term.

But one of the coolest things is that they've made the songs and playlists embedable, like a YouTube video (also linkable and emailable).

So I've done a quick playlist of some of my favorite songs for your listening pleasure and my playing around with the app.

Check it out and tell me if you think it's as cool as I do.


SeeqPod Music beta - Playable Search

Of course, since the music industry is trying to kill audio on the web (and commit industrial hara-kiri in the process), this service will probably be shut down by a-hole lawyers in a few months. So enjoy it while you can.

tagged: music, audio, seeqpod, Napster, internet

Something is fishy

ganked from El Borak:

AlGore's hypocrisy is showing again, and earning him the ire of the Humane Society International.

ONLY one week after Live Earth, Al Gore's green credentials slipped while hosting his daughter's wedding in Beverly Hills.

Gore and his guests at the weekend ceremony dined on Chilean sea bass - arguably one of the world's most threatened fish species.

Also known as Patagonian toothfish, the species is under pressure from illegal, unregulated and unreported fishing activities in the Southern Ocean, jeopardising the sustainability of remaining stocks.

Just another in a line of embarrassments ignored by Gore apologists.

I want to be clear, I don't necessarily disagree with Gore's message. Just the hypocrisy of the messenger.

How dare he dine on a threatened fish species. And I thought I was bad for insisting that we serve Spotted Owl at our wedding banquet.

tagged: Al Gore, Chilean sea bass, Patagonian toothfish, Humane Society International, Live Earth, environmentalist

Mass debate

I saw a group of about 15 protesters at College and Quivira last night carrying signs blasting President Bush and the war in Iraq.

The signs had slogans like "Honk if you hate Bush" and "End the War Now" and "Impeach!"

They were vexed when I didn't honk for them. Evidently, my refusal to misuse the safety features of my vehicle means I'm in favor of war. Who knew?

It's not that I'm for war. I've got close friends and family members with their lives literally at risk.

What I'm disappointed at is that this is what passes for national debate on the subject. Slogans on posters and bumper stickers.

No doubt most people have already made up their mind about getting out of Iraq, so the posters and bumper stickers are merely a way of talking to yourself, yelling at the mirror trying to convince the reflection of your passionately held views.

Are people really swayed by a clever slogan on a bumper sticker? Am I going to see "Quagmire Accomplished" on the bumper of a BMW SUV at Oakpark Mall and suddenly think to myself, "You know they're right? I'm never voting for Bush again."

Where is the real debate?

Ira Glass addressed this a few weeks ago on This American Life.

"It seems we've skipped the part where everybody looks seriously at whether withdrawal is a good idea in the first place or what would happen in Iraq if we were to withdraw.

We got into the war in Iraq in the first place without having much of a national debate about realistically, what's this war going to mean. What's it going to mean to be in Iraq. And now people are talking about withdrawing without much discussion at all about what, realistically, it will mean to leave or why we are leaving.

Some poor, misguided bloggers are shouting hallelujah that their saviors in the Democratic congress are finally now really going to bring the boys back home and abandon the people of Iraq to the religious despots they deserve.

But in actuality, the congressional Democrats want pretty much the same thing the president wants.

Time Magazine reported last week

So what's with all the end-the-war talk? The impression being created by the debate in Washington is more about politics than anything else. For starters, Democrats are playing to their base: Though most Senate Democrats support a redeployment along the lines that Bush is describing, they are keen to give voters the impression that they are all for getting the U.S. out of Iraq. And they are, but not yet. They, too, recognize a need for a strong, interim force in country to offset the threat of mass killing, secure the borders, chase al-Qaeda and deter Iranian meddling in the country.

For the record, the Republicans are being just a political as the Dems (as I've said before, they're all politicians). They must portray the Democrats as defeatist for their own political gain.

But congratulations to all of you political tools who think the clambering of politicians and slogans painted on posters is equal to serious policy debate. Do you still wonder how we arrived at where we are?

tagged: Iraq, Bush, war, withdrawal, Democrats, politics

If I were a Simpson

Okay, here's the big reveal. No more anonymity. This is what I look like (in the world of The Simpsons).

Jeeze, I didn't realize I was so creepy looking. And why didn't someone tell me my butt was so big. Time to hop on the exercise bike I guess. But first, just one more pink sprinkled donut.

Mmmmm, doonuutz.

Go create the Simpsons You on the Simpsons movie site and let me know what you look like.

tagged: The Simpsons, movie, donut, cartoon character, pop culture

YouTube Tuesday: Medellin

In case you haven't heard, the trailer for director Billy Walsh's Medellin has been leaked to YouTube.

I'll just cut to the chase: The movie looks awesome. I'm planning on taking my entire entourage to see it. However, I won't be making the trip to New York, where the film will have it's premier at a theater on Queens Boulevard. There should be plenty of drama at the local premier.



tagged: Medellin, entourage, chase, drama, Billy Walsh, HBO, Queens Boulevard