Here’s some ants for you. I haven’t posted a picture in a while and I’m only trying to make it up to you. Take me back, dammit. I’ve given you ants! ANTS!!!

So today I played around with some different blog templates, and I’m really thinking about designing my own from scratch. One thing I don’t like about the current blog is the way it’s a pain in the ass to leave comments. I did in fact test out some templates, so if you happened to check the blog earlier today, you may have vomited out of shock and horror. I would have thought that by now, Blogger would offer more templates than what they have… but I guess that’s because you can make your own. Anyway, the site will probably remain like this for a little bit, but don’t be surprised if it changes one day soon.

Here’s a fuckin’ shocker: American voters are uninformed about Bush, Kerry. Oh really?!?! So… so you mean… they’re going to be voting based on character and assumptions? Oh man, that’s never happened before.

Has everyone heard about the new Paris Hilton tape? They’re claiming that some “very, very professional” thieves nabbed it, and that any attempts at selling it will incite legal action. I give it about a week before I’m watching it on DVD with director’s commentary.

Despite bountiful evidence to the contrary, the only true way to know if you’re gay or not is to ask a site on The Internet. Which site? This site.

Alright, so I don’t have much to post today. I’ll leave you with a blog I stumbled across about a guy’s idiot roommate! Sound familiar?! I think every r3tr0 reader will agree they’d rather I didn’t devote the entire blog to Kenny and his antics, but that’s what this guy did.

Oh boy did I ever play The Simpsons Hit & Run last night. So much that my eyes popped out and I was rushed to the hospital. After undergoing a risky surgery, I was told that if I didn’t beat the game, I may never walk again. As instructed, I will dutifully progress through level after level, as soon as I get home from work.

Today at work was the horse-filming day, and it went quite well. After meeting the horses and patting them on their enormous, awesome cheeks, we headed out into the pasture. We had to film two seperate segments, one where the horses were “getting used to” the kid we had with us, and another where the horses were running scared. You can guess which one was easier and much more fun! They also had dogs running around, and one of the horses loved to play with them. We thought we’d never get it calmed down. I also learned today that horses sweat. Never knew that.

If only the rest of Texas would listen to Crawford’s Lone Star Iconoclast. The newspaper, which is actually delivered to GW himself, has officially endorsed Kerry as their candidate! It urged “Texans not to rate the candidate by his hometown or even his political party, but instead by where he intends to take the country.” Well said.

You know, one thing I really support Nader on is his set of beliefs around how awful it is that two parties remain in control of the entire presidential race and campaign. Nothing could be a better example of that than the “debates” held every election. Still, knowing they’re rigged is one thing, but just how bad, well, I guess I had no idea. I could elaborate, but you should just read this article on NPR called Top Ten Secrets They Don’t Want You to Know About the Debates.

My man Cornel West was just interviewed by AlterNet about his new book, Democracy Matters, which is somewhat of a follow-up to Race Matters, an award-winning book released about a decade ago.

Alright, maybe I should have started and ended today’s blog entry with this story, because it’s both disgusting and revealing at the same time. Most people I know that have any concern for their country and fellow human beings have sat around wondering just exactly how Bush is popular in any way. More recently, we sat and wondered how he could be more popular than Kerry, especially right after the DNC. Despite all attempts to discourage people from viewing it, FOX News is more than likely the sole reason Bush has retained his popularity. The news today supports this theory: FOX News beats all its competitors combined. You heard me. More people watch FOX News than CNN, MSNBC, CNBC and Headline News combined. This is, without question, a national emergency. I hope you haven’t, but if you’ve watched FOX News, you know what I mean. Sean Hannity, Ann Coulter, O’Reilly… these people are disgusting and absurdly misguided. They’ve completely lost the ability to be critical or objective, and almost serve as a cleanup crew for the Bush cartel. NO WONDER nobody can get through to the masses! Still.. what do we do about it?

Maybe there’s nothing we can do. If there’s a segment of the population that believes a fiberglass Jesus that washed up in the Rio Grande is a miracle, then perhaps we’ve lost all hope. Come on people, we just had three hurricanes whip through the eastern US… do you really think every statue of Christ remained anchored to the ground?

Sometimes I get genuinely pissed thinking about how far behind our 1950’s predictions we are, technology-wise. Flying cars and advanced transports of all sorts are really not even on the drawing board. All these colonies and space-age architectural ideas that never got off the ground…. well, before I get all misty-eyed, have a look at this site, which has lots of drawings and plans for future ideas that never came to be. I’m linking it to a drawing of what Lake Merrit’s BART station was supposed to look like … which, if you don’t recall, is a lake in Oakland that’s very near Nick’s old house.

I think I ate too much at lunch today. If you see some random characters inserted in the blog, it might be because I passed out on my keyboard since all the blood is in my stomach right now. Last night I ate too much as well, come to think of it. NDR (of NDRDS) is in town and we hit Southside in Tremont for some vino and fish. Not to mention those potatoe skins, of which there are two left at home… ugh… I can’t imagine eating anything right now.

You have to wonder how intelligence agencies can possibly tackle the task of sifting through “chatter” for evidence and insight, given how much of it must be out there. Well, apparently there’s so much that the FBI can’t keep up. A recent audit revealed that 370,000 hours of audio surveillance have not yet been processed! Damn that’s a lot. The main reason for the severe lag is a lack of translators, even though they’ve added a lot of staff in that field and their budget has more than doubled. It’s very reassuring to know we’re on top of things.

In Fahrenheit 9/11, Michael Moore includes a few scenes with investors and financial fat cats, eager to pounce on Iraq and rake in the dough. Not much is ever reported about the companies involved and the bidding procedures that are taking place though. Today I found an article that talks about Qualcomm and its attempt at getting CDMA wireless set up throughout Iraq. It seems the reason we don’t hear much about these goings-on is due to the fact that there are so many companies involved that it’s both boring and confusing to read about. From what I could gather, most of the corporations getting involved could care less about the stability of the country. They claim we’ve already “won the war.” In a recent interview with the Los Angeles Times, Shaw dismissed claims that such mixing of friendship and business was improper. “Hey, we won the war,” said Shaw, who, like De Marino and Qualcomm officials, declined to comment for this story. “Is it not in our interests to have the most advanced system that we possibly can, that can then become the dominant standard in the region?” Come on, just admit you’re a filthy, greedy bastard. After pondering what possible reasons anyone could have for invading and occupying Iraq (because all the reasons given thus far have been blatantly deceptive bullshit), this stands out as the clear, true reason: making money. You can shake your head in denial, and even mutter the word “no” repeatedly under your breath, but your heart knows the truth. Those fuckin’ jerks took us for a ride to get even more wealthy.

I really don’t know what this means for Ohio voters, but a recent ruling by Ohio’s Secretary of State says that voter registration cards not printed on proper 80 lb. sheets will not be accepted. Apparently nobody cares though because federal law protects people who register, despite the paper type, because of downloadable forms. It sure seems that Ohio is going to be a mess around election time! I’m not looking forward to this.

If you hate Bill O’Reilly, and who doesn’t, then this next bit of information will suit you just fine. I guess ol’ Bill cracked on the Daily Show recently by saying that their viewers were all “stoned slackers”. Comedy Central countered by doing a little research and discovering that Daily Show viewers are more likely to have completed four years of college than O’Reilly’s viewers. So ah, let me just finish this bongload and I’ll be right there to high five ya, John Stewart.

A week or so ago I posted a link to a story about how some of the GOP’s new pamphlets say that liberals want to ban the bible, if you recall. Well, NDR was kind enough to locate a scan of one! So remember, if you’re all for banning the bible and letting gays marry, then vote Kerry. Hey, it rhymes… sorta.

You know, I’m actually surprised that no one has attempted to assassinate GW Bush. I know I’m treading on thin ice by even mentioning such a thing, but look at past presidents that have had attempts made at their lives. I guess security must be astronomically better these days, because we’re certainly not short of crazy people in this country. Supposedly, GW is the most hated president of all time, so you’d think someone would have at least tried. I suppose even the most fed-up, militant folks know that’s just not right. Well, at least one man was thinking about it: Lawrence Ward, an upstate New Yorker who’s currently on the run. Investigators found a picture of Bush along with the words “Dead Man”, plus he left with a hunting rifle and told neighbors he wasn’t coming back. Isn’t it weird to think that there’s some guy out there polishing his hunting rifle and plotting?

I had no idea that Paris is home to a huge underground maze of tunnels and passageways! Now, last night I watched an old French rock video that NDR brought over, and I will say that the French are weird and appear arrogant no matter what their saying. Still, that has nothing to do with this, and therefore it can still be cool. People have been exploring these places for years and have groups that hang out down there, as well as a movie house that police just discovered! Fascinating.

Could it be that my idea for leveling LTV Steel and developing it has already begun?? It seems that a steel factory is being converted into Steelyard Commons, a $90 million shopping center which might even have a Bass Pro Shops in it! (For those of you who don’t know, that’s fucking awesome.) Still, I want to know why I’m not getting a cut of the profits. After all, I am clearly the one who came up with the idea. This might not be quite what I had in mind, since I literally wanted to remove every last building and start over.

This past weekend was one of the busiest I can remember in a long while. Friday night I had the wedding rehearsal and rehearsal dinner for my friend Dan and his new wife, Koula. I had to leave the dinner early because the Moon was playing a show. So at around 10 we played down at the Maple Grove, and managed to sell a few CDs and rock a few worlds. Saturday was the wedding, and since I was a groomsman I had to be there by 3:45 for basically no reason. After getting organized, the ceremony began at 5. It was a long, serious Greek ceremony with lots of singing and chanting. Most people would agree that the highlight was Curtis, the groomsman behind me, passing out and falling on his back. He first leaned forward and I felt his head on me, and when I turned around he fell all the way to the ground. I smacked his face a bit and said his name, and when he came to he said “Did I fall?” We helped him to his feet and got him off the altar. He was totally fine, just a little hypoglycemia actin’ up. Then, right at the peak of the reception, my mom wanted to leave AND locked her keys in the car. So I had to drive back to Berea, and by the time I returned even the groom was leaving, and nobody seemed to notice that I had come back. Oh well, I was drunk.

The Browns totally blew it against the Giants yesterday, 27-10. I don’t know why we can’t ever start the game fightin’. We just drag ass and hang our heads as they romp all over us, and then eventually I think we get mad enough to try and fight back. Garcia never even got good enough field position to make something happen, and our defense looked like they were sleeping compared to theirs. Every pass Garcia tossed had to pass at least one set of Giants’ defenders arms in the air. Next week we face the Redskins, who lost to the Giants just before us. Tonight they face the Cowboys, who we also lost to, but could have beat. I really think the Giants outclassed us this time.

A big part of me wishes that Bush will fail to be re-elected simply because I am tired of relaying his amazingly stupid antics. Not that I don’t find them amusing, it’s just the sheer abundance that both worries me and, over time, is beginning to bore me. This time, Bush stated he would gladly give the ‘Mission Accomplished’ speech over again, if he had the chance. What the flying fuck are you talking about? You’d really enjoy lying to the American public again? You’d jump at the chance to deceive millions of people across the world? I’m starting to doubt that Bush even knows what he’s saying or admitting to. I mean, everyone but he and Cheney are calling it a disaster, even COLON Powell. Well, whatever euphoria-inducing substances he’s on, I’d like a couple myself.

I’m glad to see someone else cheering on Jimmy Carter after his recent appraisal of the Iraq situation, especially Libertarian candidate Michael Badnarik. We need to get the hell out of there. I’ve been saying it for months, if not years, but it’s becoming more and more evident as time goes on. It seems that every day we’re there marks more fighting, and in fact creates more conflict. If we were gone, who would they be trying to sabotage? Iraqi police? Perhaps on a smaller scale, and certainly with lesser consequences and casualties on both sides. This brings me to an aerial video I came across, showing a mass of people (in Fallujah?) walking down the street, and a US solider getting permission to blow them up. Upon hitting them he exclaims “Aw, dude!” I am truly sickened by this video. My worst suspicions about the mentality and maturity of US troops are confirmed through this short video.

Rarely do we get a perspective from foreigners, especially in political cartoon form. So, here’s just that: some anti-US political cartoons from Thailand.

I’m sure you’re aware of just how doctored the Bush-released job figures are, so the information in this article might not blow your mind, but there’s certainly some interesting figures to take in. My favorite part was: “Henry Ford was right: industrial economies that do not pay workers enough to afford their products have limited potential.” That’s exactly what the middle and lower classes are facing these days. The article attempts to point out the many groups that are conveniently left out of the ‘recovery’ figures that get released to the public. There are plenty, too.

Here’s something I wish would get more press, even if it isn’t true: Urban sprawl has negative effects on your health. As suburbia has spread across the American landscape, health experts have become increasingly concerned that the fast-food, car-dependent lifestyle may be contributing to a host of health problems.

I’m only linking this article about a man who beheaded two women while (allegedly) high on marijuana because I know it had nothing to do with marijuana, and I’m disgusted by the assumptions made. A police spokesperson actually said “We believe he had an overdose of the hemp that made him go berserk.” Firstly, hemp contains so little THC that you can’t get high from it. We’re talking about cannabis sativa, ganja, weed, pot, marijuana… whatever, but not hemp. Secondly, you cannot overdose on marijuana. If you’d like proof, I’ll be happy to sit down and smoke weed all day and well into the night, and you can join in. What will happen is we will both fall asleep after a few hours. That’s it. And lastly, unless you have the king-shit-of-fuck-mountain-chronic-skunkadelica AND it’s laced with PCP, you’re not going to go nuts. This message brought to you by people who have actually smoked pot and don’t just make shit up to perpetuate their endless, failing drug war.

Finally, I have a reasonably uplifting story for you. Sometime in the near future, a billionaire teamed up with Virgin Atlantic will be able to provide you with a ride to space for the low, low price of about $200,000. Now you can give your kids a choice between a year of college or a ride into space!

Oh mighty Friday. Day of days, bearer of weekends. Where for art thou Friday? (Okay, who slipped the crank into my tea?)

After you read the update on Baghdad Burning (link on the left), please proceed to this story: If America were Iraq, what would it be like? I don’t think this view will be startling to any of the readers of this blog, but if average US citizens were to read it, it might give them an idea of the kind of turmoil Iraq is in. And dammit, you better read Baghdad Burning, because as of late the media’s been painting a most rosey picture of the situation there. Here’s an excerpt, talking about watching Bush on TV:

My favorite part was when he claimed, “Electricity has been restored above pre-war levels…” Even E. had to laugh at that one. A few days ago, most of Baghdad was in the dark for over 24 hours and lately, on our better days, we get about 12 hours of electricity. Bush got it wrong (or Allawi explained it to incorrectly)- the electricity is drastically less than pre-war levels, but the electricity BILL is way above pre-war levels. Congratulations Iraqis on THAT!! Our electricity bill was painful last month. Before the war, Iraqis might pay an average of around 5,000 Iraqi Dinars a month for electricity (the equivalent back then of $2.50) - summer or winter. Now, it’s quite common to get bills above 70,000 Iraqi Dinars… for half-time electricity.

Here are some pretty powerful quotes from past Presidents regarding the use of executive power to start wars.

I was surprised to learn about several cases of voter fraud in Summit County, Ohio. It seems that a man who’s been dead for 20 years is eager to cast his vote this year! At this point I’m really hoping that, post Nov. 2nd, Ohio can avoid becoming what Florida was after the 2000 elections.

Here’s a touching story about a mock election, held in a school in ‘Bush country’, where the kids voted 26 to 4 in favor of Kerry. The children were only voting based on issues, and were apparently mad they voted “for the wrong guy.” I find this absolutely hilarious for several reasons. One, obviously the kids wanted to vote for Bush simply because that’s who their parents support, and yet common sense prevailed. Two, the parents were shocked, and possibly (if only for a few seconds), they realized they too should be voting for Kerry.

This might really piss you off, but you’ll want to know it anyway: a monkey managed to ‘hack’ one of the Diebold electronic voting machines. A FUCKING MONKEY. Now, as much as I want Diebold to go bankrupt, I have to say in their defense that it must have been at least partially staged. Regardless, the article goes on to explain that due to security holes in Access, an entire location’s worth of election data can be ‘reset’. Given how strict regulations on voting are, I can’t imagine what a mess it would be to have to bring voters back in to vote again. Good god, really, imagine that. Imagine how people would try to buy votes, how corrupt elections officials would swarm, and how vicious the contention would be.

Before reading this next article, come to terms with something for me. You don’t really value Janeane Garofalo’s opinion. Alright, now that you understand that, feel free to read this piece entitled “If you had five minutes with the President.” Tell you what… what I’d really like for you to read is Montel Williams’ five minutes where he talks solely about medical marijuana! I had no idea Montel has MS, and has been using medical marijuana to ease his pain. However, not surprising was the fact that he cares so much about himself that he devoted his entire five minutes to just medical marijuana.

Why the fuck is Hong Kong getting a Disneyland? Yes, for me this is partially one of those “I’ve been there and I think I know everything about the place and don’t want it to be tainted by lame-ass tourists” kind of things. Of course, I don’t know much about Hong Kong, but what I do know is that Disney is a fucking behemoth of a corporation. They disgust me. I believe the park is being built out on Lantau Island, so at least it won’t become part of the skyline or something. However, Lantau is also home to the big Buddha statue. As some of you may know, I’m way into Buddhism. Though I’m not exactly a devout practicioner, I reserve the right to be disgusted by this. I hope it’s a financial disaster for Disney.

A resident of the fantastic Branson Missouri has just changed his name to ‘They’. So now, whenever you say something like “they say it’s going to rain today”, you’re referring to an actual person! Formerly known as Andrew Wilson, he actually invented ground effect lighting on cars. Thanks a lot, THEY.

Jeez, there’s just too much stuff to comment on today! I haven’t even hit all the sites I normally do, but I’m going to quit while I’m ahead. With my luck, the browser will probably crash as soon as I try to find more.

I’d like to thank good ol’ Jimmy Carter for voicing his thoughts on the Iraq war. As he put it, the US presence is what’s fueling the attacks. He also brought up the fact that we are now a country that is looked down upon; that countries all over the world no longer admire us. With good reason, too. You’d have to be a sadistic, greedy bible-thumper in order to admire the current administration. It’s obvious that Bush is deluding himself into believing that the insurgents are literally against democracy, or that they are pro-terror because of the tactic they use. If America were invaded, would all those who rose up to fight back be called insurgents? I can’t imagine that the methods we would employ to defeat our invaders would be all that different from the “terror tactics” insurgents are using. As much as Bush talks about ’suiciders’, most of these attacks don’t seem to be suicide bombings. They’re planned out missions, or planted bombs.

Strangely, that brings me to what I was just doing at work. In working with troubled students, the underlying philosophy of the program I work for is not to punish bad behavior, but to reward good behavior. Knowing that agitating a child is only worsening the situation, my boss has a video of a kid who’s trying to break a horse to illustrate this point. Unfortunately, whenever he uses this video he has to call the kid’s parents to get permission, and that can be a big pain. So we found a kid to help us out… well, he’s 19, but he’s in our program. Anyway, what happens in the video is that the kid approaches the horse rather aggressively at first… you watch him chase after this horse for a good long while making no progress, and even making the horse more aggrivated and wild. In the next scene, the kid approaches very slowly. If the horse moves towards him, he moves back. He gives the horse its space. After just a few moments, the horse begins to pursue HIM. The horse becomes relaxed, and soon he’s petting it and tosses the rope around its neck with no complaint from the horse. So, why I thought of this is because in a way Bush is like the kid and Iraq is the horse. If you’re a fucking asshole who chases around problems with no understanding of why opposition is taking place, you’ll make no headway at all. However, if you do your best to understand the opposition, and truthfully and peacefully attempt to solve it, progress will be achieved. So Bush, or Kerry for that matter… Carter is right. Stop chasing the horse!

For you Cat Stevens fans who are livid about his being denied entry into the US, here’s an update on the situation. He wants answers! Why is he essentially a suspected terrorist?! I can’t think of a better situation to illustrate the full circle change in philosophy from the 60’s peace movement to the present day “freedom lockdown”. Perhaps it better shows how fear and ignorance has crept its way into our collective consciousness. Or, maybe this is the result of one solitary dumbass intelligence agent who couldn’t possibly understand LESS about Islam and/or Cat Stevens.

One issue I’m glad to see being brought to a vote is the matter of spyware. The House is expected to vote to make spyware illegal next week. Of course, I’m fairly certain spam is now considered illegal, and my inbox would still be FULL of shit if I didn’t have a filter on it. Nevertheless, for novice computer users, this is a god-send they will probably never even make note of. I’m constantly witness to the damage spyware does to people’s computer, and even though I know a great deal about computers, I leave removing spyware up to programs I know work, because it’s that big of a task.

You may have heard about a toy that featured a plane that was sort of wedged between two towers, and the complaints that arose after the discovery. Well, it turns out that the very same company made a tiny, fake cell phone for kids, and on it was a small picture of Osama Bin Laden with the word ‘King’ over top of him! The link has several pictures of both toys, so you can see what I’m talking about.

Remember accidentally switching on Jimmy Swaggart and his suprisingly large congregation? Well, that assface has most certainly crossed the line after recently making comments about gays. Of course, his congregation didn’t seem to mind. In the broadcast, Swaggart was discussing his opposition to gay marriage when he said “I’ve never seen a man in my life I wanted to marry. And I’m going to be blunt and plain: If one ever looks at me like that, I’m going to kill him and tell God he died,” Swaggart said to laughter and applause from the congregation. If you’re gathering up reasons to leave the country, then go ahead and add the fact that HIS CONGREGATION CHEERED.

I just want to cheer on a Medina, Ohio company for developing a process to recycle old beer and soda into ethanol, which can be burned for energy.

Alright, I gotta wrap this up…

Here’s a ridiculous sandwich. 8500 calories worth.

Well, once again there’s a strong smell of natural gas here at work, and I wonder if we’ll be evacuated or not. A few people mentioned they smelled it, but I wasn’t so sure. After coming inside from smoking a cigarette there was no question it was stankin’. So, if you hear news of a building on Euclid blowing up, hope I made it out beforehand.

What better way for Bush to kiss Cleveland’s ass than to appear at a groundbreaking for the Euclid Corridor project? (I work on Euclid, and more than likely that’s why we all smell gas today - they started construction a few months ago.) The groundbreaking is to recognize the federal funding that Cleveland recently secured for the project. That’s nice and all, I mean, Cleveland could use a hand in some regards… but hey, how about helping us get our schools back on track? Or adopting my idea of ripping out LTV and making a residential/commercial burrough? Eh, I guess I gotta do that one myself.

The most disturbing story I encountered today was regarding the rapes of female soliders in Iraq - by male soliders. It seems the problem is bigger than anyone is willing to admit, and generals are dismissing it with heavy rhetoric aimed at minimizing the outcry. Also, the rape hotline available to soliders apparently connects you with an answering machine asking you to leave your number. Guess what? Iraqi soliders don’t exactly have a home phone number!!!

What kind of danger do we face if Kerry is elected? According to the GOP, the Bible will be banned and gays will be free to marry. The neocons are mailing out pamphlets that make this amazingly outrageous accusation, and it doesn’t seem they believe it to contain false statements.

Big JK, or John Kerry as you may know him, is making himself look bad to anyone who would support Nader by attempting to keep him off the ballot in several states. Big JK and company have been starting lawsuits and causing all sorts of roadblocks for him lately, and I for one think it’s lame as hell. This morning on NPR I heard a number of callers mention they felt they “had to vote for Kerry” in order to get rid of Bush. No, you COULD vote for Kerry, but it sounds like you really want to vote for Nader. This is exactly why Nader isn’t giving up. He wants you to have that choice and take it seriously.

Now I’m certain that the GOP is vastly confused about what a terrorist really is… they’ve put Cat Stevens on a no-fly list, and prevented him from entering the US. I don’t think I need to make any other point than: the man wrote a song called “Peace Train”. Do you really think he’s converted to Islam to become a militant terrorist? Are the terrorist camps in Afghanistan blasting Wild World? Highly doubtful.

I haven’t yet finished reading this, but I thought it was interesting: A comic entitled “What are you voting for?”

I thought I was done blogging for today, but I came across a story about strange shortwave radio stations broadcasting numbers and phonetic alphabet codes. There’s one where a little girl speaks the codes, and some have strange music in the background. These “number stations” are supposedly still a viable means of transmitting codes to intelligence officers. Incredible! Here’s another article explaining one usage of the stations.

Damn, I’m tired. Must be all that sleepin’ I did.

Well Michael Moore, you finally did it: you pissed me off. I’ve always posted links to your writings, and generally I agreed with all of what you had to say, but your most recent effort proves you’re just an ‘Anybody But Bush-er’, and that’s not a stance I can support. I was with you when you believed Kerry could be a bit more aggressive and take strong stances on important issues, but now you’re just begging for votes. And for what? A candidate that’s going to give us roughly the same thing? Ever since you begged Nader to drop out, I’ve had my eye on you… and you finally crossed the line. Here’s the bottom line: none of us are ignorant of the fact that Kerry is the only one who can defeat Bush, nor do any of us WANT Bush to win. BUT, accepting Kerry’s half-assed approach, weak campaign, comprimised foreign policy, support for the drug war, and utter failure to define what he’s after … well that’s just giving up too much. What I’m after is change… MAJOR change. If you’re after four more years of the same bullshit, then by all means, halt your criticism. Otherwise, keep making your demands, because if Kerry DOES win, we might not notice a difference.

I never did comment much about the whole series of hurricanes we’ve been enduring down in Florida, so here’s a picture of a bridge that got pretty ripped up.

Another thing you may have noticed I didn’t comment on is this whole CBS Bush military records ’scandal’. I can’t think of anything more obnoxious than this story. Look, does anyone doubt that Bush received special treatment? Really?! If you do, you’re a victim of FOX News on a level never before witnessed. What began as a good ol’ fashioned character attack has mushroomed into a fact-finding mission for the ratings-driven news organizations across the country. The saddest part is, I could probably count the number of people who care about this story on my hands; yet we’re subjected to it constantly. I think the election is a BIT more important than how many kills someone made in Vietnam, or how many coke spoons Bush owned. Besides, absolutely no one is claiming Bush went to Vietnam and served, so from that standpoint, Bush has nothing to gain by proving he dicked off in the National Guard for a couple of hours. Kerry went, Bush didn’t. End of story. Let’s focus on what’s happening NOW, god dammit!

If you’re unfamiliar with what’s happening around the world right now, well then maybe you’re unfamiliar with where in the universe we are. Please allow this site to inform you by zooming from 10 million light years away all the way into the leaf of a tree, and the atoms contained therein.

And since infinity must now be on your brain, what better time to introduce you to the Infinity Cat Project? At first glance I thought this was really pointless, but after you click “next cat” a few times, zen begins to set in. Frickin’ awesome.

Now that you’ve contemplated infinity, how about a finite distance like LA to New York City? This dude made a time-elapsed video of his drive across country, and man is it ever sweet.

Finally, contemplate the energy your own fecal matter could contribute to your city’s power grid. The University of Toronto has been studying the concept of extracting power from waste. ”With a 20 per cent recovery of that potential energy into electricity, the wastewater treatment plants could produce enough electricity for their own operation,” says civil engineering professor David Bagley, who conducted the research with lead author and PhD candidate Ioannis Shizas. ”Any recovery of potential energy above that can be returned to the grid.” So not only could waste be recycled into power, but its efficiency might even boost a power grid! This is one of those articles that just pisses me off, because there are so many alternative sources of energy and we’re using damn near none of them.

For no reason other than coolness, here’s a site with photos of currencies throughout the world.