On Saturday, we went down to my aunt & uncle’s farmhouse to chill. It’s a ways outside of Columbus; far enough to actually see the stars at night. They have a nice little fishin’ hole as well, so we gave that a shot. Here’s some pictures:

The farmhouse.

Me with my first big bass.

Echanos and an even bigger bass.

And here’s Echanos using my biggest fishing lure to catch a red-tailed hawk. I ran out of pictures, but he got even closer than that before realizing it was some sort of trick and flying away. The hawk also looks a lot smaller than it was, especially when it would flap its wings each time it jumped closer to the bait.

Obviously the news on everyone’s lips is that actor George Takei, better known as Sulu, has come out of the closet. Take a look at the stock photo they used for the article. How would anyone have known?

A real hanging body was mistaken for a Halloween decoration. This is one of those things you don’t pass on to your kids once you realize that the spooky yard decor they saw earlier was actually a dead person. Really though, who hangs themselves outside, in their front yard? That’s so tacky.

Ford employees love takin’ dumps. It appears that Ford has discovered what was causing their low production figures in Detroit: employees were taking extended bathroom breaks. Each shift, the union workers receive 48 minutes allotted to bathroom breaks, which I actually find quite reasonable. It’s not like you can just go from welding some part straight to the shitter in 10 seconds flat.

A short guide to Iraq - published by the US military a back around WWII. This little primer was designed to quickly orientate servicemen deployed to Iraq, and it makes for an interesting read these days.

4-quart crock pot for $16 on Amazon. Come on now.

Photoshop Phriday is The Grown-up World Of Richard Scarry. Some of these are damn good.

Oh, almost forgot.. here’s a giant remote controlled Airbus A380 someone made. Impressive!

Miers withdraws her nomination. Good. I didn’t really believe she alone wielded the power to overturn Roe v. Wade, but she was clearly inept, and the fact that she was such good pals with Bush terrified me. If you actually enjoy the company of Mr. and Mrs. Bush, you have got problems that psychologists haven’t even classified yet. Here’s the full withdrawl submission letter, if you’re interested. I am trying to find the picture that CNN had up when I first saw the story. It almost made me want to gloat right in her face. Ah, here it is, small version. She looks much happier than in the big version, for some reason.

Iran, in a very professional and adult manner, has declared that Israel should be “wiped off the map”. That begs the question, which map? ALL maps? Whatever they mean, this promises to do great things for their struggling tourism industry.

If you’d like to watch the Cleveland Mayoral Debate, here’s a video.

Ganja: not as cancerous as those dumbass feds want you to believe. Recent studies have shown that cannabis is unlikely to cause cancers, especially in the way that nicotene and tobacco do. Another, lesser-known study has shown that the television series Night Court is rougly twice as awesome while high on marijuana. Hm. Somethin’ to think about.

This guy takes people’s dreams and makes them into comics. I’ve only read two of them so far and they’re quite funny.

The Orange Man Project is comprised of one man, trying to turn orange by eating lots of carrots. Best wishes, Orange Man.

It’s almost Halloween time, and no doubt you’re thinking of what to wear. Well, search no more! The Costume Generator will make a costume of any person you want to be! Note: this actually sucks.

Having been on a plane for over 12 hours once, I understand how terrible the bathroom stench can be. However, I’ve never had to sit all that close to one. Someone in Continental’s seat 29 E, on the other hand, has.

Here’s some drawings from my math notebook in college.

The Dodge Mallard

I posted this rendition of it on SomethingAwful, and it got some laughs, so I posted the original.

Then there’s the Ford Hoss. Just your average 87-person SUV.

For all of you Miranda’s Moon fans, you can now sign up for our mailing list directly from our website. We used to have to manually add people, and our system for managing it was pathetic. So, if you aren’t already signed up, hop on over there!

I think someone needs to hold an intervention for theives in Cleveland. First two men hold up one of the poorest bars in town, and now two guys hold up a group of 8 kids at a bus stop. Seriously, are these the best targets they can find? I mean, how much is one of those kids gonna have on ‘em? Damn. Honestly, I’m embarassed for these fools. I guess their theory must be that the less probable their target, the less attention they’ll attract. Even that seems too sophisticated a concept for crooks like these.

In London, Critical Mass participants may be arrested for holding an “unlawful demonstration”, under the new Serious Organized Crime and Police Act. They’re SO right… the Mafia is behind this whole thing. It’s getting to be a little overwhelming, what with all the guys in pinstripe suits, the armed escorts…

Test your knowledge of Islam. Boy, for having just recently thumbed through my world religion textbook from college, I really fuckin’ blew this one.

The Goonies - where are they now?

Fuckin’ showoff.

Chris Jordan takes cool pictures of big piles of stuff.

Man, I’m so close to getting this new blog template going. I know I mentioned it a while ago, but I got completely sidetracked. Last night I was working on it for several hours, and most of that time was spent figuring out what CSS code I needed. At one point, I realized that I had failed to capitalize ONE letter in a tag, which was causing the whole page to display incorrectly. I’ve since solved that issue, but I’m held up by another. I guess I didn’t know CSS as well as I thought I did.

I thought we passed the 2,000 solider death mark a while ago, but Cindy Sheehan will be protesting the milestone by tying herself to the White House fence. She says even if she’s arrested she plans to return and do it again. Stay on ‘em, Cindy.

I’m not following this whole CIA leak thing. However, let’s impeach Cheney. It seems like a good enough reason.

Rosa Parks has died at the age of 92. RIP. Here’s a picture of the bus where it all went down.

The White House has ordered The Onion to stop using the presidential seal. A laywer for The Onion counters their claims by saying it’s inconceivable that anyone would assume the president actually endorses what they’re saying. Quite true. Then again, you’ve got yourself some prime fuckin’ idiots in that there White House.

An already-rich Republican Senator wins the lottery, then turns around and votes against an increase in minimum wage (which hasn’t changed since ‘97), and against a bill that would help the poor afford heating costs this winter. The article even says he was the only New England Senator to vote against the heating bill. At least he hasn’t abandoned his party’s platform, right?

A CBS poll indicates that only about 13-15% of US citizens believe in evolution independent from god. In fact, a majority believe god created humans in our present form. Now, only 808 people were sampled, but they only grant a + or - 4% margin of error. Wow. I really had no idea. This country is not the place for science, I guess.

A rape victim in Tucson couldn’t get a morning after pill. Some pharmacies opt out citing moral reasons. If you ask me, opting out of any drug on the market for moral reasons should be illegal.

The Empire Strikes Back in animated GIF format. Who has the time to do this?! Jeez.

Yesterday was the second-to-last Smitty Tour event, and it turned out to be a nice day afterall. The forecast predicted rain, rain, and more rain, plus cold temperatures, but this is Ohio.

Not that I’m surprised, but it turns out that Iraqi support for the occupation really is minimal at best. A secret poll ordered by Britain’s Ministry of Defence showed that less than 1% of Iraqis believe the occupation is improving security in their country. 67% feel less secure, and 82% are “strongly opposed” to the presence of coalition troops. As the article says, this debunks the claims by the US and Britain that the general well-being of Iraqis has improved since the overthrow of Saddam’s government. Also, 45% of those surveyed said attacks against troops are justified. Keep in mind those are people bold enough to make such a statement in a survey! That figure rose to 65% in one British-controlled region. I wish surveys like this were being conducted all along. One could assume that the US government was also carrying out surveys, but it’s pretty obvious this administration isn’t concerned with the reality of the situation.

This is perhaps the most offensive rant a person could ever draft. If You’re A Christian, Muslim, or Jew - You Are Wrong. I’d say that, intellectually, I was right with this guy… when I was in fifth grade. I couldn’t believe that wars were being fought over what amounts to some fairy tales from long ago. (Let alone that people were attending churches every week to worship these gods.) The problem with this condemning take on things is that it won’t get you anywhere. Anyone is welcome to harbour these thoughts, but how would you expect to disseminate your views? What many consider to be petty, fruitless wars will still be carried out in the name of religion, and unless something indisputable and to the contrary is presented to the world, that’s just the way it is. (Which is why I wish aliens would visit our planet and disprove some things.)

Right down the street from me, a couple of guys in Scream masks came into a bar and started shooting up the place. As my stepbro and I said yesterday, why would you rob a bar in one of the poorest neighborhoods around? One man was killed as he tried to escape, and a female was wounded. The men got away!

One-star reviews from Amazon.com on classic literature. The Slaughterhouse-5 review is hilarious. It’s as if he thinks even science fiction should be realistic.

Someone sculpted the entire city of San Francisco out of Jell-O. Holy shit is this amazing!

Another fine specimen exploring the link between American decadence and terrible aesthetics.

There’s a SomethingAwful thread you guys must see. “MSPaint your asshole designs” - architecture, inventions, etc. with the goal of pissing people off.

So far, this is my favorite.