Place of stuff!

Back from Mexico

2006-04-17T14:20:00.000-07:00

Temple of the Sun
Originally uploaded by jhf.

I got back from Mexico alive, and am beginning to upload some of the pictures I took.

Distance

2006-04-05T23:06:00.000-07:00

Distance
Originally uploaded by jhf.

It's the 20th anniversary of the Chernobyl Meltdown, and I uploaded some old photos I took of two reactors at the Idaho National Laboratory. These are X-39s, they were part of a project to put nuclear power onto airplanes.

Secret Pentagon Spaceship?

2006-03-07T14:16:00.000-08:00

From a thread in D&D, Aviation Week and Space Technology has an article up regarding a reusable spaceplane used by the Pentagon. From the article:

For 16 years, Aviation Week & Space Technology has investigated myriad sightings of a two-stage-to-orbit system that could place a small military spaceplane in orbit. Considerable evidence supports the existence of such a highly classified system, and top Pentagon officials have hinted that it's "out there," but iron-clad confirmation that meets AW&ST standards has remained elusive. Now facing the possibility that this innovative "Blackstar" system may have been shelved, we elected to share what we've learned about it with our readers, rather than let an intriguing technological breakthrough vanish into "black world" history, known to only a few insiders. U.S. intelligence agencies may have quietly mothballed a highly classified two-stage-to-orbit spaceplane system designed in the 1980s for reconnaissance, satellite-insertion and, possibly, weapons delivery. It could be a victim of shrinking federal budgets strained by war costs, or it may not have met performance or operational goals.

Oh god I am moving to Australia now

2006-02-25T20:58:00.000-08:00

These Aussies build RC boats, arm them with air powered cannons and blow up others in an organized league.
Christ, this is the best hobby ever.

Whistler

2006-02-22T20:38:00.000-08:00

I'm up in Whistler until Saturday night, in case anyone is wondering where I am.
Today I took a group lesson to get rid of all the bad habits I've invented this season. I think tomorrow and the rest of the week I'm going to be soloing various black runs, and if the weather is good enough I'll go down the Blackcomb glacier. If I'm feeling pumped/suicidal I might take a double black, but probably not.
Free wifi in hotels is awesome, I'm sitting on the couch browsing the sites I normally vist and posting on the Something Awful forums.

Rube Goldberg in Half Life

2006-02-09T23:04:00.000-08:00

I finally got around to installing Steam and the Half Life 2 demo. While browsing a thread in SA, I came across a link to this google video done in HL2 with Garry's mod. It is a massive system of exploding barrels and flying girders that culminate with a ball crushing a headcrab zombie.

Fuck.

2006-02-03T18:57:00.000-08:00

Check out this map of where nukes are targeted in Washington State. I'm not sure how accurate this is, but in an attack I'm going east.

King County Restaurant

2006-01-07T17:51:00.000-08:00

King County has put their restaurant inspection database online. It turns out that one of my favorite restaurants is only about 7 points from closing. Yay!

Trash it

2006-01-06T14:13:00.000-08:00

Trash it
Originally uploaded by jhf.

In computer art at the Bush School, we have to make posters to encourage students to throw away their trash in the lunchroom. This is the one I did. The silhouette is me. Yeah, I used Impact as the font, but come on. I'm 16, not some god of graphic design. And we can't install new fonts on the school computers.

Send an email. To the Future!

2006-01-01T01:00:00.000-08:00

Future me lets you send an email to any address, to be delivered on a date you specify. I basically wrote about my life as it is now, and how I hope to improve it.

Java Sandbox

2005-12-29T20:54:00.000-08:00

This java applet lets you play with sand, salt, water and oil. Have fun.

Fark up your brain for a few weeks.

2005-12-27T23:48:00.000-08:00

This is the WMD of optical illusions. Look at an image of black bars over a colored background, and for a few hours or days, you will see all black bars to have a faint haze around them. Use this information at your own peril.

Edit:
Goddamn, it has been almost a day and it is still there!
Edit2:
Almost 2 days, only a faint hint is still there.

War

2005-12-25T14:56:00.000-08:00

Christmas morning and lunch are over, I log on and find that on Friday, Chad decided to declare a "state of war" on Sudan.
BBC News

Best movie reviews ever

2005-12-23T21:17:00.000-08:00

The super fundies at the ChildCare Action Project review films and gives them a rating on how "bad" they are. Categories include Wanton Violence/Crime, Impudence/Hate, Sexual Immorality, Drugs/Alcohol, Offense to God and Murder/Suicide. Sexula Immorality and Offense to God and Drugs/Alchohol seem to be what they are most against.
At the end of each review, there is a list of biblical verses that may help guide you through the movie. And keep in mind that this is no parody/satire site. This is actual fundies on the Internet.
Here's a list of all the movies they have reviewed
I remember this site from way back, but they came back to my attention because they are asking for donations. If you appreciate their humor, give them a few bucks. They seem to be harmless, so there's no reason not to.

Christmas on Rubi-Ka

2005-12-22T22:57:00.000-08:00

Ho ho ho
Originally uploaded by jhf.

It is nearing Christmas, so the people running the free MMORPG have unleashed the
Christmas time quests. After completing Santa Leet's request, I was given a santa hat and a santa suit. I took off my trenchcoat and hood and became jolly.

16

2005-12-22T18:05:00.000-08:00

I turned 16 three days ago, on the 19th. The main change this will cause is
the acquisition of new rights. The big one is driving. I can't take my
tests to get a license until February, because I haven't had my learner's
permit for 6 months.

I can give blood now, and I intend to do so when the bloodmobile comes by
our school in mid January. I hope this revanquishes my fear of needles. I
originally lost it when I had to get a battery of shots when I had just
turned 10 to prepare for our move to England. For some reason, it has
returned. I think the cause of this was a Tetanus booster I got, which bled
and caused my arm to feel painful and week for the next few days. I hope
having a needle stuck in for about 15 minutes will eliminate this fear,
just as getting multiple shots did when I was 10.

I should note that I got a new PDA as a gift. This is the Sony UX-50, which
takes away the good camera and large screen of my old NX-80, but adds wifi,
bluetooth and a huge keyboard. I'm currently using it to write this post
from the comfort of a couch, which is a nice experience. It was unable to
connect to wifi, but a quick google of the symptoms revealed that the
internal wifi chip used some stupid Sony method of connecting it to the
circuit board, instead of good ol'fashioned solder. Opening the case up and
adding a shim of duct tape (yay) to push down on the chip seems to have
fixed the problem. And trying to unscrew the unit's 5 pointed screw renewed
my hatred of Sony for not following standards.

Your name in space, free

2005-12-16T21:56:00.000-08:00

Remember how NASA's smash-a-probe into a comet mission and their upcoming Pluto mission have let internet folks put their name in electronic form and send it along? They're doing it again with their DAWN mission. Go to the site, enter into the text box and press enter. This one is going to orbit around two asteroids and do sciency stuff. Also, PLEASE do not put anything stupid or crass onto the chip. If Earth is destroyed and aliens come around the solar system system and find it, I don't want them to think of us as a bunch of retards.

Hertfordshire oil explosion

2005-12-11T13:53:00.000-08:00

darkening sky
Originally uploaded by hanapbuhay.

While browsing Flickr, I came across this photo of the fuel depot explosion northeast of london. The photo is copyrighted by Getty Images, but is really great. I like the lighting, and the way the emergency guy is just standing there, dwarfed by the cloud.

Protesters

2005-12-11T13:50:00.000-08:00

Protesters
Originally uploaded by jhf.

These protesters were outside an upscale store selling fur on Black Friday. There were about 20 of them, and they were fairly quiet. But the police were out in force. At least 50 police, most off frame. These are animal rights protesters, not a very violent bunch.

Myspace Deaths

2005-12-10T12:03:00.000-08:00

With a community as large as MySpace, deaths pass mostly unnoticed. This Livejournal (lol Livejournal) catalogues all deaths that happen to users of MySpace. Based on my stereotypes, I'd assume most of the deaths were either due to suicide or autoerotic asphixiation. Actually most deaths are alchohol related. It seems that all of the emos and hipsters are leaving MySpace, to be replaced by partyboys. Also, there was a suprising amount of Iraq deaths. I never knew it was so popular in Iraq.

Ownination continued

2005-11-19T21:01:00.000-08:00

Owned
Originally uploaded by jhf.

One of the sites displaying the post

Ownination

2005-11-19T20:52:00.000-08:00

Kotaku, a gaming blog, found that their posts were being ripped and posted automatically onto various websites. They spoke out against this in a post. Which got put up onto those sites.

The horrible truth

2005-11-19T11:41:00.000-08:00

"business sucks sale"
Originally uploaded by lia.

Not by me, but hilarious

A "special" solution to the Iran situation.

2005-11-19T11:37:00.000-08:00

This NRO guy's solution to the Iran situation is first to assassinate their nuclear scientists and leaders, and to replace Iran's world cup team with Israel's. Favorite quote: "[Israel] was eliminated in the qualifying stages only due to goal difference." or, they didn't get as many points.

Feat of skill

2005-11-16T10:35:00.000-08:00

Dice
Originally uploaded by jhf.

The Dice! They Balance!

Why?

2005-11-14T23:10:00.000-08:00

Why?
Originally uploaded by jhf.

I took this on a Metro Bus a while back. Anyone know why not just post instructions on this pillar?

Where has your money been

2005-11-12T16:52:00.000-08:00

No, this isn't about how likely your money is to have blow on it(80%), but where it has actually been. You enter the serial number of a bill and write the URL onto the bill. You then spend the bill, and the next recipient finds the bill, enters the URL and then writes a log entry for the bill.

Something Awful Goon kills 2, self

2005-11-03T22:58:00.000-08:00

William Freund, a 19 year old with Aspergers, killed himself and two of his neighbors the other day. Now on Something Awful, they found that he posted a thread as the goon forbiddingforum asking about buying shotgun shells in his area, which he got Perma-Banned for. Could this be used as evidence? Could the goon who gave advice be in some sort of trouble?

Goon Blistex told him:
1. You are making no fucking sense, please type in MS Word then paste here.
2. A pumpkin and a human life are not interchangable.
3. Gun shops have the righ not to sell their wares to morons.
4. If you shoot someone in California without proper reason you will go to jail.
5. Stay the fuck out fo TFR.

Goon DrakeriderCA said:
Paging Lincoln's Wax to thread number 1704519, we have a gimmick poster out of control/possible future legal problems. You guys understand how the media would jump on this if this fuckwad is real and actually shoots some kids this halloween, right? Fuck this.

Please, get the fuck out of TFR.

Via Waxy

How to deal with lawyers

2005-10-31T23:43:00.000-08:00

Pirate Bay has an interesting way of dealing with corporations sending them threats: humor.
An Example from EA:
> Dear Mr. Neij:
>
> It has been brought to the attention of Electronic Arts Inc. ("EA") that
> the website http://www.piratebay.org with the IP addresses of
> 217.75.120.115, 217.75.120.116, 217.75.120.118 is conducting
> unauthorized activities with respect to EA's copyrighted software, The
> Sims 2. The aforementioned website is offering and distributing
> bittorrent seeds for an unauthorized downloadable version of this EA
> game.
>
> The infringing material may be found at:
>
> http://www.piratebay.org/download.php/3238103/Sims%202.torrent
>
> http://www.piratebay.org/download.php/3238222/The_Sims2_AlcoholClone-CLO
> NEGAME_Full.Release_%28exclusive_for_trackerwww.prq.to%29.torrent
>

Hello and thank you for contacting us. We have shut down the website in
question.

Oh wait, just kidding. We haven't, since the site in question is fully
legal. Unlike certain other countries, such as the one you're in, we have
sane copyright laws here. But we also have polar bears roaming the
streets and attacking people :-(.

Interesting, uh, zombie conversation

2005-10-30T22:10:00.000-08:00

In the game Urban Dead, people who play as zombies have only a limited speech capability. They can only say the letters H,R,M,A,N,G,B which makes only a limited number of sayings. And zombies enjoy those sayings. Here is a transcript from about 200 zombie folk currently besieging a mall.

* MolemanSA said "HrMAN HARBrGrR ARrh rNrrh Brh" (10-31 03:44 GMT)
* MolemanSA said "Rrh rrh mra ba rn hrh mrnrrh, brh" (10-31 03:44 GMT)
* Quintis said "STUPID ZOMBIES! EAT MY BRAINS! RAARAGQAHWAHA!" (10-31 03:53 GMT)
* A zombie said "Brnhr." (10-31 03:54 GMT)
* Mike Clark said "Hrman rh nrrh, namrh Grana, rh!" (10-31 03:55 GMT)
* Mike Clark said "Rh..... Hrman.... Nrrh....." (10-31 03:55 GMT)
* A zombie said "Mrh?" (10-31 04:00 GMT)
* A zombie said "Graaaagh!" (10-31 04:01 GMT)
* A zombie said "Graaaagh!" (10-31 04:04 GMT)
* Raz said "And with my last breath I curse the Mota and humanity. But now I shall rise and seek vengence on all who still draw breath. Down with humanity!! M!NANZ!!!!" (10-31 04:29 GMT)
* Eibos Glaaki said "Barhah! Ram, gang, ram! Grab barh! Bam, bam, bam! Man gang harm zambah! Zambah gang grab hambargharh, harm man gang!" (10-31 04:49 GMT)
* Eibos Glaaki said "Ba Ba Ba Ba-Babarann" (10-31 04:50 GMT)
* Gauldoth said "Amn barrrarh!" (10-31 05:04 GMT)
* A zombie said "Mrh?" (10-31 05:06 GMT)
* Gorbonzo said "Banana gangbang gramma HAR HAR! BARHAH!" (10-31 05:23 GMT)
* Xelnaga said "Banana rama" (10-31 05:27 GMT)
* Boris Baddinov said "Banana? BANANA!" (10-31 05:40 GMT)
* Eibos Glaaki said "BGrARzzBM HRrh BGrHAaBG..." (10-31 05:41 GMT)
* BigBlack said "Hrh grh, harng rn?" (10-31 05:49 GMT)
* A zombie said "Brnhr." (10-31 06:07 GMT)

Throwing Stones

2005-10-29T20:23:00.000-07:00

Gulp
Originally uploaded by jhf.

This is taken looking down into the gorge by the place we climbed. This was the only area without a safety railing, so there was a bunch of stuff down there. I can only assume that this is where the locals dispose of their broken possessions in the most awesome way ever. Several fellow students and I threw rocks down into the canyon, which either hit the rusting masses and made lovely clanging noises or exploded on impact with a crunch/boom.

Climbing Trip

2005-10-29T20:21:00.000-07:00

Triangle
Originally uploaded by jhf.

I'm back from my Outdoor Ed 1 trip to the Feathers out in Middle of Nowhere, WA. And
I have pictures! Head on over to Flickr to see the landscape pictures I took. As for the actual climbing, I'm pretty bad at it.

Hypnotizing flash game

2005-10-24T23:31:00.000-07:00

I can only get 1377, what about you?

School paranormal research

2005-10-08T14:35:00.000-07:00

In my English class, we're about to read the play The Crucible and our assignment over the weekend is to interview folks about their paranormal beliefs. Can you answer these short questions, and email, IM or post the answers in the comment section?

1)Do you believe in life after death?
Heaven/Hell/Purgatory
Do you believe in reincarnation?

2)What, if any, paranormal phenomena do you believe in?
Examples include ghosts and such

3)Do you belive that people can have supernatural powers?
Examples include ESP, Telekinesis or prophecy

4)Do you belive in the "classical witch" being possible?
Not the modern Wiccan, but the kind burnt at stakes

Please include your gender, age and location with your answers.

Canadian Army Trains for Zombie Attacks

2005-10-08T14:25:00.000-07:00

According to this forum post by member "ThexHunter", his Canadian Army unit did a training simulation recently, dealing with a chemical spill that caused zombification. Although they gained experience that will no doubt become vital soon, they failed their mission escorting zombie experts into the area and had to flee. Then again, these zombies were allowed to use guns.

Hiking Trip

2005-10-03T22:00:00.000-07:00

Cairn
Originally uploaded by jhf.

I got back from my hiking trip late Sunday, after leaving at Insane AM on Friday. We tried to climb The Brothers in the Olympics, but we had to turn back a few hundred feet from the summit due to weather. We backpacked in and set up camp on Friday, made the attempt on Saturday and backpacked out on Sunday.

Finally, pics of a Giant Squid!

2005-09-27T21:30:00.000-07:00

For the first time ever, scientists have taken photos of a live Giant Squid. They baited it to come to a camera and hooked it to take pictures. The squid escaped when 2 of its arms came off (poor squid). This is awesome, I've been waiting for someone to get photos since I read an article on them when I was 6.

Yarr!

2005-09-19T20:50:00.000-07:00

Ahoy me maties! I've just blown a network problem righ' out of the deep! The lesson of the day: never try an fix what ain't broke.

Dolphin Intelligence

2005-09-04T14:43:00.000-07:00

In an article by The Guardian, several interesting actions by dolphins are listed.In one example Dolphins are rewarded with fish for cleaning dead gulls out of their tank with fish, so some of the dolphins use that fish to lure in and kill gulls to get more fish.

Zombie Survival MMORPG

2005-09-01T13:20:00.000-07:00

Check out this free Zombie themed MMORPG called Urban Dead. You can start out as a human or a zombie and get 50 turns every 25 hours. The cool thing is if you die as a human, you become a zombie! And if you are a zombie, some humans can turn you back into a human, for a never ending cycle of zombifaction and de-zombifaction. Group with me- my username is Vercingetorix.

Political Fiction

2005-08-23T14:11:00.000-07:00

This is a great speculative fiction piece posted to the great website kuro5hin.org about what could happen politically in the remaining time of Bush's term. Specifically regarding a tape of a Skull & Bones initiation rite involving a chicken.

A wiki game

2005-08-22T18:13:00.000-07:00

This awesome game is a choose your own adventure that is user editable, like Wikipedia. This is what the Internet should be about. Community entertainment.

I have been touched by His noodly appendage!

2005-08-20T19:12:00.000-07:00

Finally a religion that makes sense! Rather than a mysterious being that is everywhere at once, the Flying Spaghetti Monster is a tangible, actual god. He created a mountain, some trees, a midgit, everything else in the universe and has declared every Friday to be a religious holiday. Also, His afterlife has not only a stripper factory, but also a beer volcano! I am proud to say that I am now a Pastafarian. But the evil secular humanists won't let us teach about how His Noodlyness created life in public school, but if the Christians get intelligeng design into schools, maybe we can!
RAmen.

Have Rome Total War?

2005-08-20T18:02:00.000-07:00

If you have the great strategy game Rome Total War, I suggest that you download the Rome Total Realism mod. The mod expands the campaign map to include Scotland and India, adds several factions and has a number of unit changes.
Instead of being able to recruit anything anywhere, there is an area-of-recruitment function, that let you recruit local units. This is handy, so you can supplement your faction's strengths. If you are the Greek Cities, you can recruit swordsman and non-crappy cavalry to supplement your hoplites built in the homeland. In addition, almost all of the units have new models that are extremely well done as a mod. At the least, this mod will sustain you until the new expansion pack comes out.

Missile sites in Seattle

2005-08-19T11:27:00.000-07:00

I was browsing Google Earth, and found that there were missiles placed all over Seattle during the Cold War! They are still visible today.

United Sucks

2005-08-15T11:27:00.000-07:00

As I write this, I am on United Airlines flight 909 from Amsterdam to Chicago, and I am reminded once again that Southwest and other similar carriers should pulverize United and other old carriers.
And now the problem. All the bathrooms in First class and Business class have stopped working. OK, so a sane, logical person would reroute them to the front two Steerage class bathrooms. United did that, but banned all of us plebians from using those two bathrooms of ours. So now the entire steerage class is using two bathrooms, so the patricians up there don't have to endure the horror of having to share a bathroom with us. I think that United is banking too much on getting the First and Business class passengers, and conciously making it awful for us in coach, to inspire us to upgrade classes. They should just have Southwest style seating on most flights, and have have seperate luxury flights if at all. Because as soon as discount carriers go international, steerage people will go there.

PS, sorry for sending this so late. Outlook Express and Palm Email also suck.

Stone

2005-08-07T14:14:00.001-07:00

Stone
Originally uploaded by jhf.

Is this a natural or a carved pattern on this standing stone at Clava Cains by Inverness?

Hadrian's Wall

2005-08-07T14:14:00.000-07:00

Hadrian's Wall
Originally uploaded by jhf.

A section of Hadrian's wall by Housesteads
Roman fort.

Street performer

2005-08-07T14:13:00.001-07:00

dsc01955
Originally uploaded by jhf.

A street performer in Amsterdam balances on a stick.

Sheep!

2005-08-07T14:13:00.000-07:00

Sheep!
Originally uploaded by jhf.

I'm back on my trip to Amsterdam and Scotland, and have photos!
Sheep exit Housteads Roman Fort, presumably after a successful secret ninja sheep mission.

Travel Update

2005-07-27T23:23:00.000-07:00

I'm in the Amsterdam airport, we have finished the Amsterdam portion of our trip. Amsterdam was pretty good, but the Dutch couldn't design an intersection to save their lives. I'm off to Edinburgh, Northumberland and the Highlands.

Gone

2005-07-22T23:48:00.000-07:00

I'm going to be in Amsterdam and then Scotland for 2 weeks, leaving on the 23rd. So don't think I'm dead because I'm off IM and not blogging or emailing.

Old People are going to TAKE OVER THE WORLD

2005-07-22T23:45:00.000-07:00

Think about it. They have a lifetime of knowledge and wisdom, and tons on idle time. The only thing stopping them has been their lack of physical uberness. Not any more. They now have powersuits, like those seen in the Matrix sequals and elsewhere. We must strike hard and fast with a computer virus to shut down their suits and end the Threat.

Violence vs. Sex

2005-07-21T12:16:00.000-07:00

As you may be aware, the ESRB has changed the rating on Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas from M to AO, causing most retailers to stop carrying it. The reason for this was a hidden feature that allowed the main character to have sex unblurred and full frontal. As you also may be aware, GTA is also famous for giving the player the ability to do anything, which normally means that the player will do something mean with a chainsaw.
But what disturbs me is that the game got its AO for sex. Why is sex punished more than arteryspurting chainsaw action? Sex doesn't kill people (unless you get AIDS or something). In fact, sex actually makes people! Why is it in our society that sex is seen as worse than violence? I really have no farking clue. Insights, dear readers?

Scotty Died Today

2005-07-20T15:51:00.000-07:00

James Doohan died today at 85 after Parkinson's and Alzheimer's.

Novels by RSS

2005-07-18T21:56:00.000-07:00

This is a great idea! You subscribe to the RSS feed of the book you want to read, and a small amount of the book is sent to your RSS reader each day. This is perfect for those without the patience to read more than a few pages at a time, but still want to read a classic.

Fox will soon Own MySpace!

2005-07-18T11:58:00.000-07:00

Yahoo says that News Corp is going to buy the owner of MySpace. Yet another reason that MySpace is Evillll!

"Hometown" Clear Channel

2005-07-14T18:20:00.000-07:00

It's about noon on the 10th, and we just drove by Wichita's "Hometown" 24 station building. With a big Clear Channel sign on it. Fairly amusing. KSAS

Shuttle Blog

2005-07-13T11:21:00.000-07:00

The Orlando Sentinel has an updated-as-it-happens blog up for the shuttle launch. Even though it has been cancelled for today, save this link for tomorrow or whenever it is launched next.

Condolences

2005-07-07T09:01:00.000-07:00

I offer my condolences to the people of London. I hope those who have been injured recover quickly and effectively. I hope that those who commuted in from the suburbs are able to find some way home (from Londoners' blogs, it looks like they are walking), and that the shutting down on the transportation system isn't just a way to prepare for a larger attack.
As the mayor of Paris said :"Today, we're all Londoners"

In Kansas

2005-07-07T08:46:00.000-07:00

Once again, I am posting from the Oskaloosa Library in northeastern Kansas. I'm going to be here until tomorrow, when I head out west to Wichita for my aunt's wedding. I don't know if I will have access to email then, so don't be shocked if I don't respond until the 13th.

IP laws are potentially fatal.

2005-07-04T11:56:00.000-07:00

This guy bought medicine for his Hepatitis in Europe that was unavailable in the US. After paying $25000 for it, he took the first half, but the second half was stolen by US customs because of IP and patent laws designed to protect the pharmaceutical industry here. He didn't get the second half of the medicine, so now he is getting worse. He's not going down without a fight however. He has set up a website.

Millenium Falcon is an actual ship!

2005-06-17T20:21:00.000-07:00

The Millenium Falcon is a Bucket of bolts cargo carrier.

North Korea uses 1984 as a manual?

2005-06-17T18:45:00.000-07:00

North Korea
I was listening to NPR yesterday, and they had the anchor of ABC World News Saturday on talking about his visit to North Korea.
It's just so strange what it is like over there. There are only two scheduled flight per week. When the reporter went touring the countryside, their government guides led them to areas(possibly set up) where the peasants all sang as they worked the rice paddies.
The most shocking thing the reporter said was the propaganda technology. In Pyongyang and some of the surrounding areas, all houses have speakers that spew propaganda 24/7. The speakers can be turned down, but never turned off. 19-fucking-84. Do they read that book as their operating manual? It's like the telescreens, except radio and one way. I wonder what they drill into people's minds as they sleep with their propaganda speakers turned as far down as possible, but never off.

A guy in Wisconsin cast the only vote for a referendum.

2005-06-16T18:32:00.000-07:00

A guy was the only person eligible to vote on a referendum that he introduced. Even though he voted 17 minutes after poll opening, the poll workers had to hang around for 13 hours. The guy brought them pizza.

Air travel

2005-06-09T23:47:00.000-07:00

This(PDF! Satan!) is the account of a passenger forced to sit next to the toilet on an airplane, complete with illustrations.

Disgusting

2005-06-08T22:05:00.000-07:00

This is one of the saddest and most disgusting news stories I've read this year. A sample A customs inspector in New York first spotted a portion of the remains hanging off the wheel well of South Africa Airways Flight 203

B-17

2005-06-05T17:15:00.000-07:00

B-17
Originally uploaded by jhf.

I was sitting outside in my hammock reading an e-book when this B-17 flew over. I quickly snapped a pic. The B-17 is in town taking people on rides for large amounts of money.

The US Army's new gun looks like a laser rifle.

2005-06-05T14:20:00.000-07:00

The XM8, which is just beginning to be put into use, like
the lasers rifles used by the Stormtroopers on Star Wars. Just a random observance.

World War II Japanese soldiers still haven't surrendered.

2005-05-27T23:12:00.000-07:00

Some more of them have been discovered! Maybe they should go to Russia, Japan never signed a peace treaty with them.

Translate web sites into English dialects

2005-05-26T09:46:00.000-07:00

Have you ever wondered what whitehouse.gov would look like if Dubya wrote it? Now you can!The Dialectizer can translate plain english into a variety of dialects, from Haxor to Jive.

What do you want to tell humans living 50,000 years from now?

2005-05-21T22:25:00.000-07:00

You can write up to four pages. When I get around to writing something, I'll post it. Here it is

You know those multi thousand dollar one time use bomb detonating robots?

2005-05-17T23:03:00.000-07:00

US soldiers in Iraq can do it for the price of a RC car. Night operation requires duct tape and a flash light.

New puppy

2005-05-17T09:45:00.000-07:00

New puppy
Originally uploaded by jhf.

Yes, I KNOW it is a stereotype for bloggers to post pictures of their pets but dammit, I've earned that right. This is our new puppy, Bella. She is a 10 week old mutt of some sort. There is an energy field around her causing any photo taken of her to suck, but she was sleeping so the field was down when I took this one.

Unfortunate ad placement

2005-05-17T09:42:00.000-07:00

Unfortunate ad placement
Originally uploaded by jhf.

On the left is a column regarding a false alarm at Krakatoa. On the right is an ad for a mountaineering tv show exclaiming "Watch the Action Unfold". Um, no.

Star Wars III is the biggest anti-Iraq movie since Fahrenheit 9111

2005-05-16T12:23:00.000-07:00

WaPo has a great 5 page article about how Star Wars III is really a cautionary tale about what happens when people go from a republic to an empire.

Robotic Doom Cometh

2005-05-15T12:01:00.000-07:00

In scary news this week, humanity's doom came a few years closer, with robots that can self replicate, and a new fuel cell that runs on human blood. Now they have a method and a motive for their revolution.

Social Security flash movie

2005-05-11T22:50:00.000-07:00

If you are like me and confused and apathetic over the Social Security debate, check out
this flash movie. I'm not sure if the figure are accurate, but the movie really explains it well. Also, it is pretty sad if the only way to get me to learn about social security is a flash movie.

Writearound

2005-05-09T20:08:00.000-07:00

It's time for another writearound produced by Michael Nipert's 9<sup>th</sup> grade English, B block. I wrote only the first 2 sentences, conveniently put under em tags.

<em>The traffic was almost nonexistant, for a shocking, horrifying reason. Gasoline... it's made from people!</em>
Or is it? Is it just another lie? Is talk radio not the best piece of trash in the world? Bodies being found in tankers? Were these people high or something? You look around you, you are in a car. Suddenly thoughts swirl in your mind if their was a dead body in YOUR car. You look around as if excpecting to find a body in your backseat. You find none, but you hear a scream and a thump from outside. A lump appears in your throat, your vision blurs, a good thig since you are much to afraid to look. a horn honks, you are jolted awake. You think to yourself, "I was just day dreaming" but the scream comes again,louder this time. It is the sound of a dying old man, he has been hit by your car. You get out of the car to see if he is dead. Yes, the old man was gone, so i did the only logical thing i could think of, turn him into gasoline.

I'm ashamed to call myself a Kansan

2005-05-06T13:05:00.000-07:00

NYT on how Kansan fudies are going beyond introducing creationism, to actually changing the definition of the word science. It is proposed to be changed from "seeking natural explanations for what we observe around us," to "continuing investigation that uses observation, hypothesis testing, measurement, experimentation, logical argument and theory building to lead to more adequate explanations of natural phenomena." Notice that the term Natural Explanations is removed, leaving it open to creationism. Saying that "We don't know, so we're going to say some sort of magical intelligence" as an explanation for something is not science. It's mythology, like saying that the sun and the moon are chariots.
Also, I'm not one of those people who says that all research into how life got from bacteria to me should be stopped in favor of Evolution. If someone can produce a theory that has more evidence in its favorand doesn't resort to saying "We don't know, so we're going to say some sort of magical intelligence", I'm for it.

I would also like to take the opportunity to say that not all Kansans are like that. I'm a Kansan (It's where I spent the longest amount of time in my life, so I guess it's home) and I'm not like that. There are pockets of Kansas, like Douglas county that are very rational. My grandma is in her 80s and is fuming over this, as is everyone else in Kansas who has evolved past a certain stage of humanity.

Maria Cantwell is in Darfur

2005-05-05T12:47:00.000-07:00

Maria Cantwell is touring Darfur. That's all the article says about her, but it is a good sign if our Senator is touring Darfur. Maybe she'll use this as a campaign issue, or introduce legislation.

The Republicans are Failing

2005-05-04T12:34:00.000-07:00

It seems to me, through casual observation, that the Republicans have failed at most of their high publicity agenda items this year.

Social Security

The Republicans have failed to convince the majority of Americans that anything is wrong with Social Security. They have also failed to deceive people into thinking that personal accounts are not privitizaion of Social Security. What the Democrats should do is come up with their own plan, however minor in scope it may be, pass it and claim victory.

Terri Shiavo

As you know, Terri Shiavo was the subject of a memo(must read!) saying that she was a great pro-life issue to get more support from their base. This got exposed and talked about, despite a right wing blog attempt to claim it a fraud. It inspired revulsion among most people, that the GOP would exploit a family tradgedy for personal gain. Again, the Democrats didn't really hold the GOP to the fire over this.

Nuclear Option

The Republicans haven't done much with this, except to change history by saying that the word Nuclear Option was invented by the Democrats. Even though it was Bill Frist who invented it. They are normally good with these word games, calling private accounts personal accounts, the Invasion of Iraq becomes Operation Iraqi freedom, Christian Fundamentalists and Theocratic supporters become People of Faith and so on. But trying to change a word they invented, Nuclear Option, to the preferred Constitutinal Option failed. In fact this whole thing appears to fail. No one in America, except the party leadership of the Democrats and Republicans, wants a single party to have total control. It's just a Bad Thing. On this issue, the Democrats haven't had to lift a finger, because the concept of one party control disgusts most people.

It seems the only major thing the Republicans have succeeded in recently is Drilling in the ANWR, but that barely scraped through.

The moral of all these: Republicans are rapidly losing their power, but Democrats aren't seizing the opportunity to get some public support.

What Historical Lunatic am I?

2005-05-02T19:52:00.000-07:00

Which Historical Lunatic Are You?
From the fecund loins of Rum and Monkey.

Genocide

2005-05-02T12:29:00.000-07:00

You may thnk that the genocide in Darfur in Sudan is over because of the lack of media coverage in America (too busy with that person who was going to get married but then didn't want to and run away but then did). Just the other day there was another attack.
There is still sporadic violence in the area, but the main problem now is keeping the refugees alive. There are about 2 million of them in Western Darfur and Eastern Chad, according to the UN.
Someone has to talk about this.

A pessimistic history of the internet

2005-05-01T15:40:00.000-07:00

Worth a read, but the window is very, very wide.

Zombies!

2005-04-28T20:34:00.000-07:00

Zombies are in Cambodia. Read the article quick, becausethis BBC page may be taken down to avoid mass panic. With air travel being what it is, it is only a few days until the virus reaches Seattle.
I need to find a shotgun by then...

OMG teh Hax0r pwned hims3lf

2005-04-25T18:42:00.000-07:00

A skript kiddy decided to play hacker. Someone told him to hack the IP address 127.0.0.1 and he did. In fact, he deleted everything there.

Elena's new report

2005-04-25T18:17:00.000-07:00

Elena, who posted that famous motorcycle journey through Cherynobyl, has posted a new report on the Orange Revolution that brought Yuchenko to power in Ukraine.

Democrats: The Party of the People again

2005-04-25T18:11:00.000-07:00

WaPo polled the American people about which major party represents their personal values. The result?
Dems - 47%
GOP - 38%
Via DailyKos

Fun with the pope

2005-04-22T13:36:00.000-07:00

I send a sarcastic letter to the new pope at benedictxvi@vatican.va.
I also invited him to Gmail.

Dear your holiness!!,

OMG, congrats on ur election!!!1! I think ur policy on abortion is
totally rad! And keep those women down! To think that they wanna be
priests!1! Same with homos!! They will burn!!!! LOL!! Also, pls
support Bush's war on Terrar!!

From,
sk8er42!!

Ancient Graffiti

2005-04-19T19:39:00.000-07:00

Check out thisAncient Graffiti on the walls of Pompeii. My favorite: Lucius pinxit, which translates roughly to Lucius was here.

I'm in the newspaper

2005-04-19T12:36:00.000-07:00

The Mercer Island Reporter posted the press release sent to them by the State Senate.

More Bizarre spam

2005-04-19T12:18:00.000-07:00

Subject: ATTN:FROM GATES FOUNDATION
Date: Fri, 15 Apr 2005 10:07:27 +0300
MIME-Version: 1.0
X-Originating-IP: [81.199.108.5, 81.199.108.18]
X-Mailer: freemail 0.9.8
X-User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.7.5) Gecko/20041107 Firefox/1.0
X-Organization: ASTRAL FreeMail

The Executive Secretary,
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
Seattle, WA 98102
United States Of America.
Grant No: GF/765/2005/185
Security No: 231-967-17-05

I don't think that the Bill and Melida Gates foundation would really use Firefox.

Best ambient video stream: NASA TV

2005-04-18T21:08:00.000-07:00

NASA TV sometimes has live images of operations on the ISS, and soon the shuttle, available in .ram format here. It's really good to open it up in a window, set that to always on top, put the sound on mute and position the window in the margins of your word processor program. When you are thinking of what to watch next, glance over at the window and watch the Earth roll by.

Cancer in a company town

2005-04-18T09:32:00.000-07:00

My grandparents visited a few days ago from McPherson,Kansas. And yet another of their friends has cancer.

The cancer rate in McPherson is significantly greater than the national average. What is different about McPherson? Not much. It is a mid sized town in the flat, agricultural area of Western Kansas. The surrounding farms lie over rich oil and gas deposits that are pumped and sold to energy companies, which refine it at McPherson.

A town with a refinery has a high rate of cancer when other towns in the region have about normal rates. My grandparents' doctor tells all the patients to drink only bottled water. And the tap water in McPherson tastes really good. Kind of sweet, but not really.

The general consensus is that the refinery is causing the cancer. The refinery has done some cleanup, but not too much.

The town is a company town, so the government can't really do much. I wonder how health crises in company towns are treated elsewhere?

The Modern Crusaders

2005-04-11T18:42:00.000-07:00

These people are an organization dedicated to making America a theocracy. Now why don't us Liberals have a huge, sinister plot group to do something like this? Oh, because we believe that it is not right to violate everything this country was founded on.

Robot jockeys to replace children in Camel racing

2005-04-11T10:55:00.000-07:00

The Beeb reports on Camel Racing Robots. Because use of the traditional jockey, children, has been criticized by Westerners and progressive politicians, the children are going to be replaced by remote controlled robots. Although I agree with the discontinuation of using children, I think this may be the end for camel racing. It just won't be the same with remote controlled robots.

Livejournal simulator

2005-04-06T23:15:00.000-07:00

Today was really awful.

I got out of bed really early because I had terrible stomach cramps.

I feel sad, because Sarah and Britney are complete bitches. They told everyone I have an STD, just because I slept with both of their boyfriends on Saturday night.

I'm so sad. My kitten got run over this afternoon. I found him when I was coming home from school. His head was all squished. I took some photos. I'll miss him. Poor kitty.

Last night I had to go and pay Joshua's bail. He's such a jerk. He got arrested for punching the Walmart clerk in the face for refusing to sell him beer. He's only 16!

I want to tell the world to get fucked.

I am really annoyed with those assholes at _are_you_hotter_than_us_?, because I am so much cuter than them, and those photos don't do me justice. They can't reject me, so I'm starting my own rating community. Click here to join (the first five applicants are automatically accepted).

Today, I got a digital camera! Yes! Here's ten thousand photographs of my cat.

I want to say thanks to the world for absolutely fucking nothing! You all suck. I feel so alone, no one ever reads this journal, or even comments to let me know that I'm not suffering alone. It's cold here, and I want to die, but I cannot figure out how many of you to take with me when I go.

I went to the doctor yesterday, and he said I have a terrible skin disease which prevents me from coming into contact with other human beings. And bipolar disorder.

You should all do this quiz! It's amazingly accurate. You just put in your name and birthday, and it will tell you next week's lottery numbers.

OMFGWTFBBQ!1!!one!!

That's enough for now. But I'll leave you with this poem I wrote. It's about my friend Robert, who has bipolar disorder. Just like me. And Heidi.

Created with the Gregor's Semi-Automatic LiveJournal Updater. Update your journal today!

Hehehe. This is fun! I've always thought of a hierarchy among free blogging services
1:Blogger
2:Xanga
3:A crappy HTML manually updated page(Drudge Report)
4:Livejournal
5:MySpace

Christianity's practicality vs. pagan god practicality

2005-04-06T20:31:00.000-07:00

I can't think of anything to blog, so here is a journal entry from 9th grade English about the book Enchantment by Orson Scott Card. In the book, local pagan gods (who actually exist) are being replaced by Christianity.

In the book, Christianity is portrayed as ineffective compared to the worship of local gods, and useless to the people of the region. Christianity and similar religions say that good behavior in this short life will earn an eternal paradise. But good behavior must be done by the people, with no help from God. The local gods being replaced say that worshiping them will allow the gods to help people in this life, but no afterlife. It's almost like gambling. People can either have an uncomfortable and moral life in the hope that an afterlife exists for them, or they can take the gamble it doesn't exist and have a comfortable life here now. Of course, if they are wrong, they're going Straight To Hell. In a place as harsh as Russia, many people would rather have relief from the crushing winter snows and coldness.

Your own empire

2005-04-04T17:10:00.000-07:00

There is a new Dubai estate complex. Except every estate is a seperate artificial island, all of which combine into a map of the world. Even with the devastating environmental damage, that's still pretty cool. Who doesn't want their own island?