Irate Weirdos

Max: Recreational Math Can Be Depressing

noreply@blogger.com (Max Dobberstein) — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 21:36:00 +0000

I was just running through some numbers and realized that unless I have a significant increase in income I won't ever be able to afford to retire.

As I spend most of my time at work, it's likely the last thing I will ever see is the inside of a beige cubicle.

Sometimes it's really hard not to scream.

Max: (Slow) Attack of the Killer Turtle

noreply@blogger.com (Max Dobberstein) — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 21:05:00 +0000

http://view.break.com/293055 - Watch more free videos

Max: New Graphic Novel Includes Syd Mead Designs

noreply@blogger.com (Max Dobberstein) — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 17:24:00 +0000

Max: Saving Us From Disabled, Bi-Racial Terrorists

noreply@blogger.com (Max Dobberstein) — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 13:44:00 +0000

From the BBC

A police force has apologised after a disabled child and his parents were detained at a Channel crossing point under the Terrorism Act.

...

[Julie] Maynard was separated from her husband and son, who is autistic and has cerebral palsy, and taken to a detention room for questioning.

Ms Maynard said the woman officer told her: "It's obvious he [Joshua] has nothing to do with you".

She said officers had told the family they had powers to hold them for up to nine hours under Section 7 of the Terrorism Act, but they were released after more than two hours.

If you give the government power to do something to someone, you give them the power to do it to anyone.

Max: Daily Headbang For Jericho And Other OAP's

noreply@blogger.com (Max Dobberstein) — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 17:05:00 +0000

Max: Your Daily Headbang

noreply@blogger.com (Max Dobberstein) — Sat, 19 Jul 2008 23:36:00 +0000

マキシマムザホルモン (Maximum the Hormone)

Max: How It All Ends

noreply@blogger.com (Max Dobberstein) — Sat, 19 Jul 2008 21:24:00 +0000

Max: The Metal Monk

noreply@blogger.com (Max Dobberstein) — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 23:20:00 +0000

Via the BBC

At first glance, Cesare Bonizzi looks like the archetypal Capuchin monk - round-faced, stout, with twinkling eyes and a long flowing white beard. But beneath his robes beats a heart of metal.

Brother Cesare is the lead singer in a heavy metal band which has just released its second album.

...

His second heavy metal album, "Misteri" (Mysteries) has just been released.

In a sign of Brother Metal's eclecticism, it drew inspiration from a group of women in southern Italy who sang about Mary, the mother of Jesus, and a heavy metal version of that song is on the CD.

Other songs talk about how alcohol warms the heart but excess drinking can damage the liver, and how important sex is to man.

Max: Wrong. So Very Wrong.

noreply@blogger.com (Max Dobberstein) — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 21:13:00 +0000

Jericho: Proof of God's existance!

noreply@blogger.com (Jericho) — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 00:10:00 +0000

Thank you, God!!

Max: Wow

noreply@blogger.com (Max Dobberstein) — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 00:03:00 +0000

The Moon orbiting Earth, as seen from 5 million km away.

Max: 20 Years of Stupidity

noreply@blogger.com (Max Dobberstein) — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 22:59:00 +0000

The thought just occurred that I am a little over a month away from turning 37 and I am still dealing with the consequences of the stupid things I did when I was 17.

I'll probably still be dealing with them when I'm 57.

Jericho: Billboard of Stupid

noreply@blogger.com (Jericho) — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 17:50:00 +0000

This is just great.

So, let me get this straight: this idiot thinks that if we put a Democrat in the Oval Office we'll have another September 11th-like tragedy. Interesting.

I love that this article is posted on FoxNews' web site. Why? Because both this idiot and FoxNews missed a vital point:

Bush was in office on 9/11!

That's right, a Republican. There was a Republican in office when 3000 Americans died. Was it his fault? Hmmm .... ?

I love how this guy also thinks the terrorists have something to do with high gas prices. Sir? Did you miss the boat? Ya know, the oil tanker that Chevron named "Condoleezza Rice"? Bush, Rice and many others in the Bush administration have major ties to Big Oil. Big Oil has been posting record profits in the last several years. And it never occurred to you, Mr. Billboard, that maybe, just maybe, Big Oil orchestrated all of this?

The perpetrators of 9/11 were in Afghanistan. Yet, we have five times as many troops in Iraq as Afghanistan. Why? I'll tell you why: Iraq has oil and Afghanistan has none! The hype and fear generated by 9/11 has allowed the Big Oil politicians to put together a war that not only uses untold amounts of oil but protects their oil interests. Meanwhile, speculators have driven up the price of oil on that fear.

In Iraq, they pay $.50 a gallon for gas, that's right, fifty cents - and those prices are subsidized with your tax dollars. We are paying nearly $5 a gallon and that includes taxes.

Big Oil is complaining that they can't use several areas that have been reserved, preserved for natural and human use. Yet, they sit on millions of unexplored acres. Why? It's too expensive, they whine! They have billions in profits, but it's too expensive to drill in ares that they have had left for years. Spend some money, Big Oil! Make some jobs, Big Oil! Drive down the price of gas, Big Oil! Or ... give up the rights to the land you are not using!

But they don't want that, do they? They want the market to remain up. They make more money and don't put out additional cost or effort.

So, I agree with Mr. Billboard. I believe the terrorists are in cahoots. I believe that they and Big Oil and the Automobile Manufacturers are have conspired to rob us all. If they haven't conspired, Big Oil has certainly taken advantage of this tragedy. They are profiting from 9/11 and from our dead soldiers. That's called Profiteering. It should also be called Treason.

Who is Big Oil? Look to the White House and you will see it's most obvious incarnation.

Max: Australian Coverage of the Apollo 11 Launch

noreply@blogger.com (Max Dobberstein) — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 18:59:00 +0000

Watch it here.

Max: Why Are People Dicks?

noreply@blogger.com (Max Dobberstein) — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 00:16:00 +0000

I frequent a bass oriented BB called TalkBass. It is an interesting site, full of bass porn. Unfortunately, it is also full of people and as I was recently reminded, people suck.

I asked a technical question about acrylicized wood and how it differed from pressure treated wood. I was briefly excited to see my first reply was from a manufacturer of acrylicized wood. Then I read his reply. If you read only his reply, you might have assumed I had asked, "Why do you make shitty products and when are you planning to stop raping children?" He completely lost his shit because I mentioned pressure treated wood and acrylicized wood in the same sentence. Literally. It didn't matter that I was asking about the difference. It didn't matter that I hadn't even really addressed him in particular, mentioned his name or the name of his bidness. I had defamed his precious product and was now lower than Hitler in his estimation.

Naturally I responded by pointing out that he is clearly insane and that he could feel free to fuck off. But then a friend of his (someone whom I have recently developed more than a little respect for) jumped in and explained that my newfound enemy had problems with trolls making comparisons between his acrylicized wood and pressure treated wood. I figured that he was understandably touchy and explained that I was not trolling, just trying to acquire information. The dickhead replied by twisting my words around, calling me a troll and accusing me of engaging in a one sided pissing contest. Or maybe a pants wetting contest. He wasn't clear on that point.

Shortly thereafter one of the site mods closed the thread. So, for looking for a little bit of info I have made a new enemy, got publicly upbraided for something I clearly didn't even attempt to do and still don't have an answer to my question.

And people wonder why I hate people.

Jericho: Good Weekend!

noreply@blogger.com (Jericho) — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 17:50:00 +0000

Friday night my wife was busy and all my friends had their own lives so I decided to treat myself to something fun. I did dinner out and went to not one but two movies!

I decided to go to Kent Station near my home. I had dinner at Chipotle - which equaled some quick Mexican inspired food. Then off to see The Incredible Hulk. I didn't see the last one - the previews were so bad I didn't feel a need to waste my cash. However, this one was, well, incredible! The effects were seamless. The cast was brilliant. The story, action, acting was all top notch - more than one might expect from "a comic book" movie. And, no real spoilers here, Marvel is doing what they should have done a while back - but it's good they are doing it now. This movie, like Iron Man and the X-Men and Spiderman movies, was a two hour comic book. Better, like Iron Man, they have positioned this movie not only for a sequel, but for crossovers with future movies. (Am I the only one thinking they need to have a Capt. America movie in the works? They mentioned the Super Soldier program!)

I had some time between movies, so I hung around outside. Seattle and local area have a strange weather pattern - it's called "temperate". Seattle weather forecasters have it pretty easy - it's "Partly Cloudy with a chance of Showers" 300 or so days out of the year. We have a brief, warm, summer, then back to the PCwacoS. Well, we are in that Summer stretch right now. When you are used to 50 to 75 degrees, 90 feels damn hot! Friday evening, approaching 10 PM, it was still somewhat light out. The mall was busy, the sky was spotlessly clear and the temp was holding around 75 with a breeze. I was surrounded by people having a good time (with the exception of the Christian Evangelists trying to sell Ja-EEE-us to anyone who would listen.)

After looking around for a while, I started to feel very white and very old. The median age was 18. The median skin tone was mocha-latte. A friend of mine just moved to Downtown Seattle. I tried to get her to look at Kent, arguing she would get more bang for her buck. Her desire was to be around more black people and a higher density of services. I told her she was not going to find that anywhere in the area - she needed to move to the Midwest or even further east. I was wrong - to a degree. Kent and Kent Station isn't exactly the density and funky old neighborhood feeling she was looking for, however, the Kent area (and that night in the mall in particular) definitely had a feeling of diversity. I easily saw 10 ethnic groups represented (probably several others I didn't recognize), several obvious religious affiliations were present, which must of rubbed the Evangelists the wrong way. Certainly not Soho, but not where I grew up either. Very cool.

I lined up to be let into the late show of Hellboy II. It was okay. I wasn't terribly impressed with Hellboy, so Hellboy II wasn't a shocker that it wasn't great. Don't get me wrong, it was a very pretty movie, the effects were spectacular all around. Excellent fight scenes. It just seems like if they had spent a few dollars less on effects and a few more on writers, they would have had a stronger movie. I don't care how good your effects are, if you don't have a story, you don't have a movie. Is it worth your money? If you liked the last one, this is more of the same if not better. There were some great scenes and the effects were impressive. I did like one scene in particular, I don't want to spoil it, let's just say that I needed a beer after seeing it ... :)

Saturday I spent the day with an old friend. We were putting together characters for an upcoming event. For her birthday, she asked for a D&D game, DMed by another friend and attended by a good portion of her friends that love RPGs. I thought that was a great birthday wish! We had a lot of fun, some good Chinese food and lots of laughs. Looking forward to playing this game next Saturday!

Sunday, Steph and I hid from the heat (it was 89 degrees! We just aren't used to this!) We spent the morning at home under the fans and then in the afternoon, we hit the air conditioned theater and saw Get Smart. This movie had a lot of things against it. First, movies based on old teevee shows are always questionable. I don't like Steve Carell for the most part - the guy is just freekin annoying. Mel Brooks, in the last few years, hasn't done as well in the movie sphere as he once did - he's doing better recreating earlier work. However, Mel was only a consultant on the movie and Steve Carell was only over-the-top and not terribly annoying. On top of this, the cast was pretty impressive, the writing was good and the acting was excellent. Result: hilarious romp! I had a great time! I laughed my ass off twice!

This weekend was topped by this morning. While I knew I would be preforming a shit duty at work that I get about once a month and never look forward to - I weighed 499. Yea me!

Max: Another Pawn Falls To Canadian Propaganda

noreply@blogger.com (Max Dobberstein) — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 05:05:00 +0000

Max: Art of Noise: Close (to the Edit) - Live(?!?)

noreply@blogger.com (Max Dobberstein) — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 01:46:00 +0000

Max: The Greatest Musical Pairing Ever

noreply@blogger.com (Max Dobberstein) — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 01:24:00 +0000

Lionel Ritchie and Rob Zombie

Max: TSA: Abusing You For Your Own Good

noreply@blogger.com (Max Dobberstein) — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 00:15:00 +0000

Ask The Pilot

"Is this yours?" she wants to know.

"Yes, it's mine."

"You got a knife in here?"

"A knife?"

"A knife," she barks. "Some silverware."

Indeed I do. Indeed I always do. Inside my roll-aboard I carry a spare set of airline-issue cutlery -- a spoon, a fork and a knife. Along with packets of noodles and other small snacks, this is part of my hotel survival kit, useful in the event of short layovers or other situations when food isn't available. Borrowed from my collection of airline silverware (some of us really have such things), it's the exact cutlery that accompanies your meal on a long-haul flight. The pieces are stainless steel, about 5 inches long. The knife has a rounded end and a short row of teeth -- I would call them "serrations," but that's too strong a word. For all intents and purposes, it's a miniature butter knife.

...

Now, do I really need to point out that an airline pilot at the controls would hardly need a butter knife if he or she desired to inflict damage?

Max: Oh My

noreply@blogger.com (Max Dobberstein) — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 19:47:00 +0000

Max: Fat (B)Ass

noreply@blogger.com (Max Dobberstein) — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 15:29:00 +0000

Max: Hot Piece of (B)Ass

noreply@blogger.com (Max Dobberstein) — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 19:17:00 +0000

Max: When Mascots Attack

noreply@blogger.com (Max Dobberstein) — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 18:41:00 +0000

Max: Thank You Bond & McCaskill

noreply@blogger.com (Max Dobberstein) — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 02:11:00 +0000

For voting away my 4th Amendment rights.