so i’m still making up my mind about last week’s storyline from “the boondocks”.
but i think i’m ok with it.
the topic? the new movie “brokeback mountain”.
Continue reading “the boondocks”
Category: General
why didn’t you think of that?
or, also, why didn’t i think of that?
this guy is trading up for items starting with a red paper clip, with the ultimate goal of trading for a house.
he’s already traded up to a snowmobile, and now the story is all over the internets and the media, so you just know this guy is eventually going to get his house.
as well he should. brilliant idea. you go, trading up to a house guy.
in other news…
Continue reading “why didn’t you think of that?”
not smelling it
the maple syrup, that is. i’m not smelling it.
supposedly, the smell of maple syrup is all over manhattan, and it’s inexplicable. some people think that it’s a chemical weapons dispersal test that the government is conducting.
i’m not that paranoid–since i didn’t smell it last time and since i’m not smelling it this time i’m going to assume that it’s not a government conspiracy.
here’s a map of where the smell has been reported. those little map dots are all around me.
i feel a bit left out. i want to smell the maple syrup too.
stuff i’m digging today
here’s what i’m digging today.
by the way, radio city christmas show tonight. the orchestra settled their strike or lockout or whatever, so there will be live music and therefore i will be in attendance and not yelling at the house manager instead.
oh yeah. here’s what i’m digging today.
Continue reading “stuff i’m digging today”
hdtv hell
well, not quite irate. and not quite hdtv hell. the hdtv is hooked up to the cable box, and i have hdtv, and it looks spectacular, but there are a few caveats.
there’s something called hdcp copy protection that your tv has to have enabled in order to hook up the explorer 8300 cable box to the all-digital dvi port.
my tv has this hdcp copy protection.
but the cable box can’t find it. so i can’t use the all-digital connection from the tv to the cable box. i have to use the component connections, which are fine, but then that means that my dvd player doesn’t have the highest quality connection it can have, because the cable box is using those outlets.
so when i play a dvd it looks less than spectacular.
i will add here that my mac mini has a digital dvi connector and my lcd computer screen has a digital dvi connector. and when i plugged those two devices in, they both worked together flawlessly and perfectly. why is that? it’s because apple knows how to build something. if apple built my cable box, i’m sure i would be writing about some other subject and not griping about how none of my electronic components work together. because it would all just work.
the cable guy is coming on the 20th. i’m not optimistic.
grrrrrrr.
the latest evangelical scam
here’s an interesting story about a new way that evangelicals are attempting to convert homosexuals.
of course, that’s just my opinion of what they are trying to do.
here’s why i think that.
Continue reading “the latest evangelical scam”
the easy way out
i’m busy at work today and have to leave early for my annual checkup at dr. kamlet’s office, so i’m going to just repost an email i got this morning.
and i’m in such a hurry that i’ll even leave the capital letters intact. banner day for queerspace.com.
it’s a very funny letter written in reply to a comment by dr. laura. who knew that old gasbag was still bloviating? i guess she is. if anyone knows the source so i can give “jim” proper credit, please let me know. this may be the oldest circulating email on the internet for all i know–i don’t have time to check it out on snopes.com.
read it after the jump. that means click “more”, in case you don’t know what a “jump” is.
Continue reading “the easy way out”
internet story of the day
step one: guy foolishly buys a $3000 camera from one of those internet rip-off camera stores and, what do you know, gets ripped off. and then he blogs about it.
step two: guy’s blog gets dugg on digg.com.
step three: all hell breaks loose.
Continue reading “internet story of the day”
could be cool
hot on the heels of yesterday’s post about our new hdtv comes news of a possible new mac mini-based home theater center from apple coming in january.
do i have good timing or what?
of course, several problems remain, not the least of which is that, even if the thing is relatively cheap, we won’t have the money right away. and it doesn’t matter anyway, because my rule is to never buy first generation anything–electronics, computers, cars, whatever. they always need time to really work the kinks out based on real-world product usage.
that just gives me time to save for the second-generation implementation of the thing, which i’m sure will be around in time for christmas 2006.
in the meantime, i’ll be happy with my hd-dvr.
hdtv time
kirk and i decided to get a new hdtv for christmas. it’s our present to each other, except for stocking stuffers and such and i think one other present for kirk since he had already gotten me one thing before we decided to get the new hdtv.
i’m getting kirk a pony. don’t tell him.
and the new hdtv will be delivered tomorrow.
Continue reading “hdtv time”
ripping off apple
lots of news stories recently about various people “stealing” apple software, like front row or the apple operating system running on generic intel computers instead of apple hardware.
is this stealing? technically, of course, yes. kirk is an artist, so we have a vested interest in understanding the concept of intellectual property. and my machine doesn’t have a byte of bootlegged software. heck, i’ve even paid for a lot of my shareware. bottom line, don’t steal software!
that said, my sense is that apple knows exactly what they are doing with this software and, to a degree, even encourages its “theft”.
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food network thanksgiving
kirk and i love to cook, so thanksgiving is just about our favorite holiday. here are the links to some of what’s for dinner at the howard-lawrence or, if you will, lawrence-howard household.
we’re also having cope’s corn and potato filling, which is a secret recipe from kirk’s mom and you can’t have it.
happy thanksgiving to all my readers!
today’s mta gripe
the mta, or metropolitan transit authority, is the outfit that runs new york subways and regional rail service, among other things. and it’s the most poorly run excuse for a bureaucracy i have ever seen, and having worked in quite a few bureaucracies, that’s saying something.
a few months ago all we heard was that they are going broke. and now we hear that they have a surplus of hundreds of millions of dollars, and that they are going to share the wealth by giving everyone a break on the cost of their december holiday travel.
let’s take a look, shall we?
Continue reading “today’s mta gripe”
men dating me
i have two ways to search this site. one is using the greymatter blog search box located at the top right of the main page. it searches the blog only. the other is the “search entire site” page which uses atomz.com to perform the search.
by the way, that’s the only place you’ll see ads on this site. i gotta fix that sometime. i hate ads.
and greymatter keeps a record of what people search for, and atomz.com sends me a weekly email summary, so i know what people are looking for. not surprisingly, 95% of searches are for some variation on “naked” and “men”.
sorry to disappoint you.
this week’s summary email brought an interesting search , though. so now, in the spirit of satisfying my public, since apparently someone is interested in this, i will discuss the phrase “men dating me”.
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bauhaus was fantastic
if you have a chance to see bauhaus on this tour, don’t miss them. peter murphy and daniel ash have lost none of their onstage presence, they sound amazing, they do all the songs you want to hear.
amazing evening.
the nokia theatre, not so great. bad acoustics. plus there’s something odd about walking around with a cocktail in your hand listening to chamber music while awaiting the start of a bauhaus concert.
the crowd was very very odd.
Continue reading “bauhaus was fantastic”
black clad flashback
bela’s not dead. bela’s alive.
or, to put it another way, i’m reliving my gothic youth tonight. bauhaus is playing the nokia theater, and i have tickets.
it’s a real kick in the eye. har har har.
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more intuit looniness
i know i shouldn’t dwell on this subject, which probably bores everyone but me absolutely silly, but the corporate strategy of intuit, the makers of quicken, just continues to flabbergast me.
the latest chapter of lunacy involves their high-end product for businesses, quickbooks.
Continue reading “more intuit looniness”
not going to texas
well, add texas to the list which i know includes virginia and ohio.
texas yesterday passed their version of a gay marriage ban. its wording prohibits the state from “creating or recognizing any legal status identical or similar to marriage.”
which means that kirk and i, who have legal papers to approximate the legal rights of married couples, cannot go to texas because our papers have been invalidated. read all about it yourself.
one more state added to the list of states in my own country where i, as a taxpaying american citizen, cannot risk going.
getting rid of quicken
i’ve used quicken, the personal money management software package, for years and years. before there was quicken, i used check free software to pay bills online.
i haven’t written a check for a bill since about 1989.
so i have some expertise in this area. and my one gripe about switching to a mac was quicken.
it’s not apple’s fault. intuit, the publisher of quicken, just does a lousy job with the mac version of the program. it’s completely inferior to the pc version. i’ve adjusted, but i’m doing a lot of things manually that used to be automated.
here’s why i’m so gripey about quicken.
it’s greed.
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quick political takes
here are a few quick thoughts about various political-type things i’ve been mulling over recently. mostly political, anyway. i’m not sure what the list will consist of.
i haven’t written it yet, have i now?
Continue reading “quick political takes”