spaceballs

-- this has been a post about looking up favorite netflix rentals by location (via gawker.com) in which I indicate that south burlington should eat it yet again by way of a screenshot of netflix.com - the latest installment in my informal series of burns where I arbitrarily pick on (or merely draw attention to) random parts and corners of the United States despite being highly unqualified to stand in judgment of said places - e.g. having quoted the same mel brooks movie myself (Vermont) or the fact that I have never been there (Ohio).

[insert some random sort-of funny quote from spaceballs... now]

Dark Helmet: What the hell am I looking at? When does this happen in the movie?

Colonel Sandurz: Now. You're looking at now sir. Everything that happens now, is happening now.

Dark Helmet: What happened to then?

Colonel Sandurz: We passed then.

Dark Helmet: When?

Colonel Sandurz: Just now. We're at now, now.

Dark Helmet: Go back to then!

Colonel Sandurz: When?

Dark Helmet: Now.

Colonel Sandurz: Now?

Dark Helmet: Now!

Colonel Sandurz: I can't.

Dark Helmet: Why?

Colonel Sandurz: We missed it.

Dark Helmet: When?

Colonel Sandurz: Just now.

Dark Helmet: When will then be now?

Colonel Sandurz: Soon.

Dark Helmet: How soon?

Video Operator: Sir!

skull and boneheaded

In honor of the kinda stoopid and nearly over talk like a pirate day I found an unintentionally funny review for this album on amazon.com and put it into a pirate speak translator -

Is thar a 0 star ratin'? If you be thinkin' o' buyin' this because your sprogs liked t' Pirates o' t' Caribbean movies and you think it would be fun for them t' learn some "pirate songs", or you think this will be along t' same lines o' clean, family-buckoly entertainment, DON"T BUY THIS. T' profanity alone will make you regret it.

Harrr.

that's so 1991

much like me on this blog, Thailand apparently enjoys reliving the early 1990's -

Thai military claims control after coup

Thailand has experienced 17 military coups since 1932, when the then absolute monarchy was deposed. The last coup happened in 1991.

Thailand is buggin' out (after 'we got the jazz' ...at the 3:35 mark)

... you might be a CIA interrogator.

Please excuse me while I steal Mr. Foxworthy's main (only?) schtick for a minute:

If your job involves taking people to secret prisons where you tie them to inclined boards with cellophane wrapped over their faces and then pour water over them, expose them to extreme heat and cold, physically and sexually abuse them, attack them with dogs, humiliate them and threaten to harm their families even though your government acknowledges that torture is illegal all the while not knowing for sure if they have anything to do with or know anything about terrorism or any other illegal activity... Oh, and you might have killed a few of them...

... you might need liability insurance.

Happy Patriots Day!1!!

File: POTUS #43

File under:

POTUS #43 et al

-- It, Eating Of

-- Up, Sexed

-- Iraq

-- Intel

eat it

can I get a witness?

Zing -

BP 'fell short' on pipeline, execs admit - Malone calls failures 'unacceptable,' Former BP corrosion monitor pleads Fifth, as execs grilled over Prudhoe Bay:

[...]

Richard Woollam, who used to head corrosion monitoring for BP at Prudhoe Bay, invoked his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination to avoid answering questions from lawmakers.

[...]

Focusing on BP's slogan of "Beyond Petroleum," Rep. Ed Markey, D-Mass., said, "BP stands for a company with bloated profits that failed to fix bad pipelines."

or... Back-off People, this is how we Boost Prices.

Finding Nemo and/or Osama

Dory - Just Keep Swimming lying*

Hey Mr Grump Gills
You know what you gotta do when life gets you down?

Marlin: No I don't wanna know.

Just keep lying
Just keep lying
Just keep lying lying lying
What do we do we lie, lie, lie

Marlin: Dory, no singing.

Ha, ha, ha, ha, ho. How I love to lie
When you WAAAAAANNTTT to lie you want to lie

Marlin: Now I'm stuck with that song... Now it's in my head.

Sorry.

Open Letter to ABC: Don't Airbrush 9/11

* Youtube here

Update 9/7/2006 9:10 PM: press release from Open Letter to ABC


Update 9/7/2006 10:38 PM: and teh wiki

flipping fudge factors

Ken_Blackwell, Ohio Secretary of State, wanted to destroy the paper ballot records from the 2000 2004 (sorry. I can't seem to keep my stolen elections straight) Presidential Election in Ohio?

That's what I overheard during the interview in progress now* with Mark Cripin Miller on WNYC - He's the author of Fooled Again who is directing people to Columbus Free Press for more info.

meanwhile, in other things switcheroo, chicanery and closer to home... we're now being told "Developer Said to Cut Size of Brooklyn Project" - and when you're talking about a reduction of 6 to 8 percent I gotta say that's pretty much imperceptible and well within the 'fudge factor' - i.e. who's to say the final building won't end up 6 to 8 percent bigger?

see also: Develop Don't Destroy and No Land Grab**

*Update 9/7/2006 2:14 PM: and by 'now' I mean yesterday morning - stoopid bloggr wuz bustd.

**Update 9/8/2006 12:28 PM added No Land Grab link. And here's a link to the stupid poll in Crain's - link - which tells us that we Brooklynites loves us some hulking glass and steel towers casting loooong shadows over entire blocks of brownstones. That's why we live in Brooklyn... so we can sit in the shadow of some big ass office building - everyone knows that. And the traffic? Hey, it could be worse. In fact, it will be worse! But don't worry about it - that's why cars come with horns. Just slam your fist down on it and everyone will get out of your way. fuggedaboutit.

FLW FPS

very cool!

I've been to Falling Water in Bear Run, PA and this first person shooter (Half-Life²) walk-through is very nicely done. I especially like the way the visitor seems to be looking around as if seeing it for the first time or searching for power-ups on the map or something. very cool. odd. hyperreal. I like it.

I only wish the author saw fit to inlude the steps down to the swimming area from the living room - they lead down to a little landing that's suspended just above the water while the terraced house looms just overhead*. These steps may not be on the tour but there is a fly-by where you get close enough to the falls to hear the sound of rushing water - a nice touch.

Maybe the government can add this to my reel when they take me to the euthanasia center and then ship my remains off to the Soylent Corporation.



- they just need to add a little music and I'm good to go.

via boingboing.net

* Update 9/2/2006 3:47 PM: this thingamadoodle. Where is it? I need it! It's the freaking cherry on top man.

deja vu (sort of)

...an extremely close presidential election...

BBC - Monday, 10 July 2006:

Defeated Mexican presidential candidate Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador has filed a legal challenge to the election result.

He has alleged widespread fraud and asked the electoral tribunal to order a full manual recount of all the ballots.

Conservative candidate Felipe Calderon secured 35.88% of the vote against 35.31% for Mr Lopez Obrador.

The EU said last week its monitors had found no indication of irregularities. A number of international leaders have already congratulated Mr Calderon.

Mr Lopez Obrador's 900-page claim alleges some polling areas had more votes than registered voters and that his opponent overspent on his campaign.

Among his other complaints, he says a computer software programme skewed the initial count of votes.

His spokesman, Ricardo Monreal, said: "We have proof that basic rules were flagrantly violated."

...leads to accusations of fraud...

BBC - Wednesday, 9 August 2006:

Official results from the 2 July election showed that Mr Lopez Obrador lost to Mr Calderon by less than 0.6 of a percentage point - or about 240,000 votes out of a total electorate of 41 million.

...and a five-to-four unanimous decision by the highest court ends the limited recount...

BBC - Tuesday, 29 August 2006:

Mr Lopez Obrador's campaign had filed complaints at around 50,000 polling stations, but the court ordered a recount at just 11,839 of them - about 9% of the national total.

The seven judges decided there was no massive fraud and Mr Calderon had attracted a majority of votes.

...and the supporters of the losing candidate throw up their hands in disgust, shrug their shoulders and go home ... ummm, bumrush Congress?

BBC - Saturday, 2 September 2006:

Left-wing deputies in Mexico have taken over the stage in Congress, forcing outgoing President Vicente Fox to abandon his final annual address.

[...]

Just before the president was due to arrive, dozens of lawmakers stormed the stage, bearing placards and shouting "Vote by vote!" - the slogan used by Mr Lopez Obrador in demands for a full recount of votes cast in the 2 July poll.

Minutes later Mr Fox arrived and - dressed in his presidential sash - waited in the wings of the congressional stage, at one point stepping forward as if about to try to begin speaking.

But despite appeals from Congress officials, the opposition lawmakers would not be moved and eventually Mr Fox handed his written speech in to officials and was driven away.

He is instead due to deliver his address on television from the presidential palace, as had been decided in contingency plans made amid fears of disruption.

why didn't we think of that?