Insignifica

It's beginning to appear as

It's beginning to appear as if I've created not one but several monsters: First came Chris Clark and his Totally Nude! blog, now Gary's getting into the game with garyh.net. Following soon will likely be Ryan and Gary's better half, Emily. I've been blogging for a little over a year (I somehow missed my anniversary), and my influence is spreading far and wide. Who influenced you? For me, it was Jess and Anil, the former because I met her online, and the latter because I ran across his site while doing research (his blog mentioned my last employer's name). Between the both of them, I was driven to blog.

(A short history: I had several personal sites before insignifica/michris, most notably The Absurdist Edge. It wanted so bad to be a blog, but I didn't have the know how nor did simple solutions like Blogger or Movable Type yet exist, so TAE was destined to be a site too rarely updated.)

So, I ask again: Who influenced you? Why did you start on the web? Why blogging? How far back can you trace your influence line? Did you have dreams of personal publishing beforehand? Why Why Why?

I'm not a runner (it's

I'm not a runner (it's pretty obvious from looking at me), I prefer sports with some competition and a "game" element. In the past, I've suffered from tender nipples, usually when I wear a shirt with some embroidered design over one or both nipples. I never realized that tender, chafed nipples are also a problem when running long marathons. Appearently they are, and NipGuards are the solution. I thought it was a joke till I saw a local store I recognized the name of on their "outlets" page. Amazing.

Be sure to check out

Be sure to check out the Atheist and Agnostic Quotes page that Chris Clark found. You can be sure I'll be borrowing heavily for my quotes.

I thought it'd be interesting

I thought it'd be interesting to post what is likely the strangest email I've ever received, but quite a few people beat me to it. Regardless, here it is, in with all the other spam I get in a day:

 

If you are a time traveler or alien disguised as human and or have the technology to travel physically through time I need your help!

My life has been severely tampered with and cursed!! I have suffered tremendously and am now dying!

I need to be able to:

Travel back in time.

Rewind my life including my age back to 4.

Be able to remember what I know now so that I can prevent my life from being tampered with again after I go back.

I am in very great danger and need this immediately!

I am aware that there are many types of time travel, and that humans do not do well through certain types.

I need as close to temporal reversion as possible, as safely as possible. To be able to rewind the hands of time in such a way that the universe of now will cease to exist. I know that there are some very powerful people out there with alien or government equipment capable of doing just that.

If you can help me I will pay for your teleport or trip down here, Along with hotel stay, food and all expenses. I will pay top dollar for the equipment. Proof must be provided.

Please be advised that any temporal device that you may employ must account for X, Y, and Z coordinates as well as the temporal location. I have a time machine now, but it has limited abilitys and is useless without a vortex. If you can provide information on how to create vortex generator or where I can get some of the blue glowing moon crystals this would also be helpful.

Also if you are one of the very, very, few beings with the ability to edit the universe PLEASE REPLY!!!

Only if you have this technology and can help me please send me a (SEPARATE) email to:

Robby0809@aol.com

Please do not reply if your an evil alien!
Thanks

Thank goodness that the Nevada

Thank goodness that the Nevada Board Denies Tyson License for boxing.

This has got to be

This has got to be one of the stupidist things I've ever seen: Florida town casts out Satan.

First off, I don't believe in Satan, so it's silly on that level. Second, if you DO believe in Satan as the prince of lies/dark lord/whatever, don't you think he'd be a little stronger than some mayor of a Florida town you've never heard of? And if not, why doesn't the president cast out Satan and get it over with?

I've said it before, and I'll say it again: dumb, dumb, dumb.

President Bush's Niece Arrested on

President Bush's Niece Arrested on Drug Charge

For being a rich, powerful family, they:

A) Sure have a lot of substance abuse problems.
B) Sure get caught easily.
C) Make the Kennedys look good.
D) All of the above.

Some happies: Happy Birthday Joe!

Some happies:

Happy Birthday Joe!
Happy Birthday Marie!

Joe and Marie aren't friends, and have only met once or twice. They are, however, both born on the same day, and are both allergic to Coca Cola.

In other news, strange weather...pockets of rain. We don't get that often...usually it's a front that moves through. It should be sunny and normal for Southern California again.

I'm thinking about having some writing groups here online...a web writing project. More to come on that.

My last 5 entries have all been posted within 5 minutes of the hour. That's neat.

Tech Term of the day:

Tech Term of the day:

e-gnomed (verb, past tense) - The action of having your email service temperarly interuped due to an unseen glitch - I didn't get Mike and Eric's prior e-mails. I may be getting e-gnomed. (From "e-" Electronic + "gnome" mythical tiny creature often blamed for unseen problems.)

I once knew a girl

I once knew a girl named Debby Lee. While I haven't seen/talked to her in a long time, I just refound her website, and specifically her haiku generator.

free blowjob

This is really quite amazing. Porn site http://www.frostedfaces.com is giving away the chance to win a free blowjob. How is this legal? You're really winning the oppertunity to "win an all expense paid trip to a location of our choice to participate in a Frosted Faces photo shoot". Very interesting way to get around whatever law there might be about giving away sex (in an organized manner, and not, say, in a bar where sex is freely given for the price of drinks).

artcam

Alrighty. The artcam/borgcam is back. What is it? Here's a picture OF it (not taken WITH it):



I took an old Quickcam, gutted it, put it inside the plastic borg casing, cut out the mechanical eye of the borg, and installed the camera. It was a lot of work, but the cam was old.

It had decided to stop working, but I just turned it back on to find it's working better than it has in many months. (I have a feeling the images will again become blue or red flooded as it's up for a while). Now I have both up and running. Enjoy!

Maggianos was damn tasty. For

Maggianos was damn tasty. For those unaware, it's a restaurant that offers "family style" meals...everyone in your party pays $21.95, and you get the choice of two appitizers, two salads, two pastas, two meat entrees, and two deserts. All the food is spectacular. We were there for 3 hours. It's also ALL YOU CAN EAT. Want more of anything, and you just ask for it, and it's yours. Amazing place.

On a totally unrelated note, today is Misty S's birthday. I haven't seen/talked to her in over a year, but I wanted to wish her a happy one.

ymca boycott

Check out this story about a police department in a town in Pennsylvania that's chosing NOT to direct traffic for a YMCA triathalon because the YMCA reads Harry Potter to the kids.

Am I the only one that finds it frightening that police have decided not to work because they think the YMCA isn't being godly enough? Troubling...

maggianos countdown

Don't worry about the Maggianos countdown to your right unless you're going with us. If that's the case, cheer as it counts down to our feast.

Check out this image I

Check out this image I discovered when I was searching for porn on Gnutella. It's definatly worth a laugh. The title was considerably less savory than what I renamed it to. Enjoy.

(FYI, the image is not pornographic.)

P.S. It appears this image is getting around. Chris pointed this out to me yesterday without knowing it, when he searched for "king of the hill" and found the above file, titled "N7-12498-Ron scale - 9 out of 10 - very illegal images of underage preteen lolita school and college girls having lesbian sex and fucking animals and nuns and small furry things whilst fingering themselves -by Ron Hill.jpg"

I wonder whose job it was to come up with THAT description...my favorite word: "whilst"

Chris says I look like,

Chris says I look like, and I quote,

"A barbarian sucking on someone's finger bone."

Ok...

cbs sportsline

Just so you know, this article at CBS Sportsline is not about me.

LNSEMS

Do you ever think to yourself, boy,

Leonard Nimoy Should Eat More Salsa?

slashdot traffic

Mmm...increased traffic through top listed slashdot posting...

While you're here, check out this story about a guy who got eaten by his own lizards.

le piano graphique

Digital art and music combined in a neat flash interface - le piano graphique.

Something MTV here in the

Something MTV here in the states won't ever be accused of: MTV Canada plays too many videos, says rival.

I also like the name of the company that owns MuchMusic - "Chum". heh.

up early

I haven't been up at 8AM in a few months. It's chilly.

I'm not sure if I blogged it earlier, but do check out The Mystery of Britney Spears' Breasts. Nothing naughty, but still something you should do at home rather than work unless your boss is cool with web humor.

totally moved

It's done. In addition to this blog, I have two others that aren't as obvious..."Chris's Corner" is a shared blog that two friends of mine named Chris use on occasion (I set it up after they both kept sending me things to post). Also, my random quotes file is blog based for easy quote addition. They're now both moved over to the Movable Type system. Goodbye Blogger, and thanks.

throwing a ball in the air?

I'm wondering how universal a thing this is: Have you ever reclined in a chair, or layed on your bed, and thrown a ball (or something similar) up in the air, attempting to get it as close to the ceiling as possible without having the ball actually touch the ceiling? Have you ever done this for long periods of time, like 20 minutes or more at a time?

If you have, let me know. Also, if you think i'm completly off my rocker, let me know that too. Thanks!

I wonder if this shark

I wonder if this shark died for our sins...

mooninites

Do make sure you set aside 11 minutes and 30 seconds to check out Aqua Teen Hunger Force : Episode 4 "Mayhem of the Mooninites".

Via Jessy, Check out the

Via Jessy, Check out the "No More Popup Ads" site to do just that.

Black Gospel Choir Makes Man Wish He Believed In All That God Bullshit

From the Onion: Black Gospel Choir Makes Man Wish He Believed In All That God Bullshit

are we done yet?

Ok, I'm now fairly sure the move from michris.com to insignifica is complete as far as the files go - I still have some cosmetic stuff to do, and change over michris to point here till the new michris site is up. Let me know if you notice anything weird, and I'll fix it up nice. Wish me luck.

now at insignifica

Well damn, that was considerably easier than I thought it would be.

moving michris

A decision had to be made...

We're moving michris.com to insignifica.org. More info to follow.

Jesus died for our sins

Alrighty, there's been a lot of discussion about the following phrase:

Jesus died for our sins.

We've all heard it, and we know conceptually what it means. But does it mean anything at all?

webcam float

Not only does the webcam have to capture something weird, I have to notice it and bother to blog it. Here, the resident me makes a koosh ball float in mid air.

happy birthday, dave

In all my hubub about naughty words, I almost forgot it's my brother's birthday. Happy birthday Dave!

tv filter is silly

A mom in Canada has (with the help of a tech company) created a TV Filter that uses the closed captioning to negate and mute such horrible words as "moron", "jerk", and "stupid", as well as the naughtier words like fuck, shit, etc.

Alright, I can understand not wanting your children to hear some words until you think they're old enough to use them responsibly. "snatch" and "rimjob" probably aren't ok for the 6 year old. But demonizing words to the point of not letting your kids hear them is akin to locking a shiny box in a high cabinet - there's a certain amount of curiousity there.

Personally, I think words are words. I find it strange when people get up in arms about hearing a naughty word, but not a word that means the same thing. "shit" and "poop" refer to the same substance - one of those words has a stronger meaning than the other, but only because we've decided as such as a culture. There's nothing inherently wrong with the combination of letters in that order, heck, it's a simple anagramation from both "hits" and "this", perfectly acceptable words.

There is, of course, an issue with using hurtful words. If I call you a nigger, chink, wop, etc. and mean it in a hurtful way, then those words are defiantly harmful. But when the evening news reports that "The N word" was spray painted somewhere, or that "a derogatory term for chinese people" was muttered by a comedian, it verges on absurd. Your local newscaster isn't calling people names, they're supposed to be reporting the news, and they can't, because someone told them that certain combinations of letters are Bad.

Then there's the "using naughty words is a sign of a poor vocabulary" argument. Sure, if you're saying "fuckity fuck fuck". But creative, appropriate use of taboo words add emotion, anger, humor and variety to your arguments, discussions, and language in general.

If we're afraid of words, they'll gain power over us. Some words become reclaimed, and this is a Good Thing...the best recent examples are nigger and geek. Language is to be used and enjoyed, shared and played with. Use it.

friggin christians

Why the FUCK are people so stupid? They're willing to make shit up to help rationalize their beliefs, then throw nonsense psyudoscience around to "discredit" the "liberal agenda" of atheists and other evil people. Get your heads out of your asses! Read a book! No, a DIFFERENT book.

I keep getting told that I need to have an "open mind" to accepting God. Do you have an open mind to accept Visnu? or the Sun God? Or Zeus? Or purple unicorns? "Oh, no..they're not the truth that Jesus is"...

Bullshit.

There's a lot more I could write about my internet dealings with obnoxious born again Christians ("We're not of a denomination or religion, we're followers of Christ"). I won't right now...but look for it in the future. Or over toward my works page, there are a few essays there if you're interested.

weird pikaflash

I don't know what the hell this is, but it's fucked up and you probably shouldn't look at it.

My blogger code is: B5

My blogger code is:
B5 d++ t+ k s+ u- f i o+ x e++ l- c--

Thanks for listening.

freaky!

Freaky digital art, anyone?

The page cannot be fucking displayed

The page cannot be fucking displayed

weirder weather

Ok...the saga of the weather here gets weirder. Appearently, if this IS an error, it's a well established one. Check out these screen captures:


First | Second | Third


Like I said before, it doesn't snow here. It also doesn't go from 39F to 72F in 4 hours, or from mostly clear to snowing to mostly clear in 3 hours. No one else is reporting this, in fact, acuweather is saying a Santa Ana wind condition is setting up. Something is strange.

the weather

(click on the image for a larger version)

Weird, wild weather...except that there's no way it could happen, as we're in coastal California and it's supposed to be almost 70F tomorrow...

I suppose this is a

I suppose this is a tribute to Dave Thomas, though it's certainly one of the stranger things I've seen in my 7 years online...

elvis

Today would have been the King's 67th birthday. Well uh huh.

dave thomas

Although I no longer eat meat, and when I did, I don't think I ever went to Wendy's, I still find it amazingly sad that Wendy's founder Dave Thomas has died of cancer. Maybe because I'd see him on TV so much. As my friends put it in the email conversations this morning, it's a "sad day for the nation's bacon merchants".

bony guy

Via Wil, check out this guy. A new way to waste time at work...

january 4

"santa cruz" rain

We're having what I call "Santa Cruz" rain tonight - misty, occasionally rainy, very cool, soft, and quiet. Many of the rainstorms we had in Santa Cruz were like this, and I'd love to sit and watch/listen to them from my bedroom, living room, or one of the campus cafes. Brings back good memories. And although it doesn't snow here, I can imagine this is very similar to the sense of silence brought on by falling snow.

prime bear

Check out Alkulukuja Paskova Karhu, the bear who shits prime numbers.

Hello from MT!

Well, the transfer is complete, in much less time than I thought it would take. I'm now using Movable Type instead of blogger to post to michris. I kinda feel like I'm "cheating" on blogger, but the less I use them, the more resources that are available for other blogger users. If you're a regular reader of the page, the only difference you'll notice is that I now have comments back available. The indexes have been rebuilt with all my old blogger files, that was by far the easiest part of the process. I still have to transfer over the quotes and "Chris' Corner" over from blogger, but those both write to a plain text file, so it should be a fairly painless process. I'll do that tomorrow. Leave a note!

Tomorrow, depending on what else

Tomorrow, depending on what else is happening, I should start working on the transfer of my blog from Blogger to Movable Type. It means having comments integrated with the blog system, a local solution, and much more control. The Bad Ass Baseball site is a much more complex solution using MT with more going on, so transfering michris should be a piece of cake compared to setting that all up. As long as i can move my archives without much difficultly, I should be good to go.

Happy 2002!

Happy 2002!