in an effort to help get through the season, i turn to music as i often do...my tastes can get even more varied than usual...thought you might wonder what i'm listening to so.
Tonight's fairly eclectic playlist:
Vanessa Mae - Toccata and Fugue in D Minor
Murrayhead - One Night In Bancock
Pato Bantan - Absolute Perfection
Oingo Boingo - No One Lives Forever
The Cure - Let's Go To Bed
Wall Of Voodoo - Ring Of Fire
Duran Duran - A View To A Kill (Art Of Noise Mix)
The Smithereens - Behind A Wall Of Sleep
Duran Duran - Save A Prayer (Thunder In Our Hearts DMC Mix)
Oingo Boingo - Pain
The Smiths - Bigmouth Strikes Again
Meat Puppets - Lake Of Fire
Johnny Winter - Mean Mistreater
Alice In Chains - Brother
The Band - The Weight
Jethro Tull - A New Day Yesterday
Traffic - The Low Spark Of High Heeled Boys
Garbage - Milk (Completely Trashed Mix)
Fun Boy Three - Our Lips Are Sealed
Depeche Mode - Waiting for The Night (Rabbit In The Moon Remix)
The Crystal Method - Keep Hope Alive (Trip Hope Mix)
Portishead - Scorn (Glorybox Mix)
Moloko - Fun For Me
The Crystal Method - Vegas (Complete Album)
Rabbit In The Moon - Live At 3
well it's that time of year again...the big holiday season...for reasons that are partly being bipolar, and largely past history, i find myself struggling not to succumb to overwhelming depression during this period...surviving each year's season is always a triumph of sorts for me...will be doing my best to get through this one successfully, as i have in the past...it is very possible that my ability to keep up writing entries here will be impacted, as will any artistic pursuits, and other web work, but i am going to try my best not to let things slip any more than they must...wish me luck on surviving another holiday period with my sanity and person intact.
after reading this morning's paper, i am firmly comvinced that Bill Engval is right...we must issue each stupid person a sign, and require them to wear it at all times...we must do this for their protection and our peace of mind...here is the story that sealed things in my mind:
A Fort Worth recycling company employee was in fair condition Friday night after losing both his lower legs in a metal and tire shredder. The employee had worked for the company for about a year. About 10 am Friday he jumped into the shredder to retrieve a crowbar he had dropped while trying to free up a jam. Both legs were severed about midcalf when the machine came on.
while i certainly feel sorry for this man, and his family, it does not temper the sheer stupidity of his actions...obviously he is too stupid to keep himself safe when allowed to work unsupervised near such dangerous equipment...had he been wearing a sign, his employers would never have allowed him to be alone under such dangerous circumstances...the sign would have ensured his safety...seeing as things like this continue to happen on a daily basis, the only solution is to require that all those unable to be aware of the danger of their actions wear a sign, so that the rest of us can make sure that they are not allowed to endanger themselves.
Sigh...wish things were realy so simple
well it's time for my occasional diatribe about spam, spammers, and the morons who support them...once again i am being innundated with endless emails extolling me on the virtues of buying super viagra, and other prescriptions on-line...which pales in comparison to the barrage of ads for penis enlargement something or other...i keep rewriting my filter rules, but am unable to keep up with the intentional mispells, etc they now use to beat filtering...once again this is pissing me off somewhat...i really have better things to do with my time...i do wonder who the sub-humans are that actually buy this stuff, because of the spam....i suppose they are the same people who still keep falling for the same old email con games that never seem to die either...are there really that many completely brainless people...how many times do people have to be told "If it appears to good to be true, than it probably is"...maybe they think we are really saying throw your money away now....this brings me to the whole industry that altering yourself to fit some arbitrary and unrealistic ideal physical image...while there is some minescule percentage of adult men in true need of penis enlargement, the majority of us are average, after all that is why it is an average...thanks to penthouse letters, the porn industry, and such, all too many men are convinced that their sex life will change if they can become bigger...newsflash losers, if your sex life sucks now, or you suck in bed it has nothing to with the size of your dick, and making your dick bigger will only make things worse...after all bottoming out hurts both people most of the time...try investing half the time you wasted on pursuing enlargement on learning some technique, or better yet paying actual attention to the person you are in bed with...just please wasting so much time and money on every new gimick, so the rest of us won't keep paying too.
a gunshot fired in the air during a Ku Klux Klan initiation ceremony came down striking a participant in the head, critically wounding him...the injured man remains hospitalized in critical condition, while the shooter has been charged with agravated assault and felony reckless endangerment...the irpny of this is wonderful beyond belief...too bad this sort of thing doesn't happen more often at klan initiations...after all if there is one thing we certainly need less of, it is simple minded bigots such as these...perhaps the wounded man will consider this a sign from above that he should not be part of the klan, assuming her survives...while i don't truly wish being shot in the head on anyone, i can't say i am particularly sorry in this case...i don't have much like for people who practice bigotry, especially of the sort the klan believes in...things like this do renew my faith in the inherent balance of things asserting themselves from time to time...may such balance strike more often.
all kinds of news and updates to share with you all...first and foremost we are now offering web hosting service...we decided to do this, because of all the trouble we had finding good hosting for our projects, and changing services several times in the process of learning what features we needed, and were unable to find until purchasing reseller acounts...our packages are designed with features and pricing slanted towards the needs of web developers, and small businesses...our packages contain more databases, POP3 mail accounts, and subdomains, than average hosting packages, at better than average pricing...please visit the RedRose-Treasures Network web site for details and pricing.
i have also added more photos to my gallery in addition to writing a few more image descriptions...i have also added a new sub-album to the Color Still Photography album called Reflections...it contains a short series of photos centered around trees and other scenery reflected in small bodies of water...i hope you will all go check it out, and will enjoy my new stuff.
a pair of clueless thieves stole a pickup truck, a 4 wheeler, a rifle, a dvd player and a cell phone...an Oklahome deputy sherriff called the cell number and the brilliant thieves actually answered the phone...not content to be merely clueless, the thieves were too mentally deficient to turn the phone off or disconnect the call, allowing the sherriff to listen in as they planned other crimes...they were also able to track the brainy pair v ia the signal, resulting in the arrest of the men...so what cave did these two grow up in...i can't believe there is anyone, let alone two people left in this country that don't grasp the concept of how to shut a cell phone off, and given that lack, i'm guessing the concept of caller id is completely beyond them, as is the ease of tracking location of mobile phones accurately...oh well, i'm sure they will have plenty of time to bone up on cell phone basics while in jail.
amusing little piece in this morning's paper about Customs seizing 756lbs. of bologna that some man tried to smuggle in the country at the Paso Del Norte bridge...evidently this genius, had removed the rear seat of his crew cab truck, and replaced it with 81 rolls of Mexican bologna, covered it with a blanket, and figured no one would notice...he did have his kids sitting on it to help hide it all...Customs could not say how long the meat had gone without refrigeration...i'm guessing a while...as if you are going to sneak that much warm meat past the dogs without them freaking out...Officials plan to pursue civil penalties against the Juarez man...i wonder what the penalty is for smuggling bologna.
well another bad week for those of us just wanting to live in peace...two more suicide bombings in Turkey yesterday, by some nutcases affiliated with Al Queda...if you want to kill yourself for the glory of allah, go for it, just leave the rest of us out of it...why don't these pinheads understand that all they are doing is proving they have no true belief, morals, or convictions....want to make a statement, why no set yourself on fire....that will speak much more clearly your resolve to sacrifice yourself for a JUST cause...killing men, women, and children, indisciminantly will never be just, and is a sin in the eyes of all three western religions...no where in the torah, bible, or koran does it say that suicide bombing is a good thing...while i am sure that these brainless twits are roasting in their hells, and those who preach this behavior will be joining then there, it is no comfort to those they kill...please, please, please stop this idiocy...the only thing holy about this type of war, is the empty spaces in their heads where brains should be.
Nickolas Sandoval, 24, died Wednesday in Corinth, after asphyxiating on a bag of marijuana...the story left me feeling totally depressed by the circumstances leading to his terrible, and unnecessary death...he was stopped on the side of the road changing a flat tire, and evidently panicked when police pulled in behind him with lights flashing to render assistance, and tried to swallow a plastic bag containing an unspecified large amount of pot...one officer attempted to use the Heimlich manuver, while the other radioed for assistance...paramedics were able to remove the bag, but could not revive him...it turned out that he had plead no contest to three misdemeanor possession charges for marijuana in 1999, and 2001...i'm guessing that those previous involvements with the legal system had left him scarred by the experience and unable to control the panic at the thought of suffering further dealings with the police, and injustice system...while in this instance, the police had only stopped to help, it seems obvious that past brushes with the law were very bad...having been victimized by the police in the past, i certainly understand how a person might feel that any police presence is going to be a bad thing...dealing with the courts, and probation department is even worse...the worst thing is that this could have easily been prevented if society would stop insisting on turning people into criminals, just because they smoke pot...yes it is illegal, but so what...it is less harmful than alcohol, yet the system, at least in Texas, acts as if smoking a joint is worse than murder...maybe things will change some day, but i'm not holding my breath.
while i am a little late, as usual, in doing so, i bid farewell to another Dallas nightlife icon, The Red Jacket...the club closed down last with little warning Sunday, after almost 8 years...evidently they lost their lease and were forced to close...i saw some great shows there over the years and am very sorry to see it go...i wish i could understand what Dallas has against keeping their good nightclubs and concert venues...The Red Jacket now joins the Bronco Bowl, and Caravan of Dreams as just another memory of what was...no doubt they will use the space to buid another home depot, or perhaps some over-rated restraunt will move in and then go out of business...i guess the only nightlife DFW wants to be famous for are country-western and topless bars.
three cheers for the Massachustts Supreme Courts' ruling of the state's ban on same sex marriage being unconstitutional...no doubt this will stir up even more furor than the recent texas sodemy ruling, but once again the courts are showing that law can sometime triumph over ignorance...while this seems to have stirred up more vocal support for a national law banning same sex marriage, i think that rhetoric is likely to be more prevalent than actual legislation in this direction...it's about time that we as a nation step into the current century and provide the same rights and benefits to all citizens of this nation that the constitution declares should be...discrimination of any type, legal, or otherwise runs contrary to the principles on which our great nation was founded...being persecuted for being different runs against everything we are supposed to stand for, and i for one celebrate every victory in defeating those narrow minded obstacles to equality and justice.
yesterday marks the 25th anniversary of the Jonestown massacre...this has to be one of the sadder rememberances this month...while i mourned this terrible events memory, i was gladdened by the fact it received more than just passing notice in the news...i hope that the lessons of this terrible day are not lost to the short attention span given current history...perhaps having the public memory refreshed will prevent a similar event in the future, though i doubt it will as people seem so intent on forgetting the lessons history teaches those of us willing to learn...i offer my sincere and heartfelt regrets to the families of those lost there.
thanks to the digusting intimidation campaign waged by some dickweed right wing bigshot contrator in San Antonio, the firm contracted to build a new facility for Planned Parenthodd has decided to pull out of their contract due to the problems the campaign had caused in their ability to get subcontractors to do work, and trouble getting critical supplies like concrete...while Planned Parenthood has vowed to find a way to get the facility built, i'm sure it will not be easy, or soon...of course the people waging this misguided intimidation are overjoyed in preventing construction, claiming their success in stopping Planned Parenthood from opening another abortion mill, while ignoring the fact that abortions only comprise a small percentage of the services provided by Planned Parenthood...thank you for once again denying badly needed low cost pre-natal care, education, and the other services provided by Planned Parenthood, in your quest to deny women the right to choice...funny how it is mostly men who are the most vocal, and violent of the pro-lifers...funny how they go on about how sacred life is, yet put no effort towards ensuring those children would be raised in a caring environment...really funny how so many of these men, claim to be uber-patriots, and yet seem to be more in tune with the Taliban than our constitution when it comes to womens rights...in honor of these intrepid tramplers of our freedoms, i have decided that San Antonio shall be known as San Asshatonio (thank you social reject for coining the term asshat) from here forward.
read this very cool article in this morning's paper about former Cowboys' center Mark Stepnoski having taken over as the head of Texas NORML...it was quite refreshing to actually see the paper print a balanced and fair look into the subject of legalisation...i admire his determination to stand up for his convictions, especially given that doing so may cost him a place in the hall, and did prevent his former high school from honering him for his accomplishments on the team when he played there...i was also struck by his blunt honesty when discussing his reasons for deciding to smoke in the past, avoid problems with drug tests, and deciding to become the state's spokeman for NORML...it takes a fair bit of courage to be willing to jump into the spotlight as an advocate of legalizing marijuana, especially given the current government's attitude towards legalization and rights...at least his former teamates, and the press are not yet treating him as a pariah for this...wonder if the patriot act nazis are keeping close tabs on him.
wish there was some way to split myself into several people during my bursts of manic productivity...then i could work on several of the ongoing projects i have all at once, and finish them, or at least some of them, instead of making a little progress in each in fits and starts...did finish the last of the writing i needed to complete for the web hosting site my g/f is building, and with any luck the basic site will be up and running in the next day or so...still leaves lots of work to be done on it, but at least we might be able to get some people signed up and money coming in...now just have to finish the other 8 million projects that i am somewhere in the middle of, or have yet to actually start on...maybe i can find Homer Simpson's cloning hammock.
alas, i am back to just one camera again...i had sent my friend geoff's digital to him in florida on monday, and yesterday my friend sean, who had kindly loaned me him 35mm slr to use for a couple of weeks, came out to hang out, take some pics, and retrieve his camera...thanks for letting me use it, and i took advantage of it by shooting 8 rolls of film, some of which have already been posted in my gallery...sean has started up a blog, where we can all keep up to date on the current state of bean...he has also started up a gallery of his photography at deviantart, and i highly recommend checking it out as he has a good eye for finding the unusual in the usual, and also has a flair for playing with light.
was watching Conan wed night and am still chuckling over the discussion between him and Ice-T...pretty funny interview from start to finish...covered lots of ground, going from style to beverages to sales technique to running a marathon to prison policy...evidently Ice-T is a hard core gamer, and floated the suggestion that they provide game consoles in prison as a method of reducing inmate conflict...after i stopped laughing, i started thinking it wasn't such a bad idea...he raised some good points:
help ease the tedium of serving your time
if you're busy gaming you aren't fighting or causing trouble
i thought about it some, and came up with several other upsides to this concept:
provides a safe outlet for anger
could use threat of bad games for punishment
prevent jailhouse apprenticing - if you are busy gaming or thinking about gaming, then you are too busy to learn new criminal skills
i'm sure with a little thought there are more reasons why this might be the solution to all the problems plaguing the penal system.
i have added a bunch more photos to both the Black & White, and Color Still Photography albums in my gallery...i also have written a few more image descriptions in the Abstracts album, and decided to go ahead and reply comment to all the comments left by my visitors...please go check out the new stuff, and use the comment link to tell me what you think...I appreciate your support, and your patience with my using this blog to promote my artwork...hope you haven't gotten fed up with my frequent entries on this subject.
had my tooth extracted last wednesday...fun fun fun...as you all might remeber, i had lost a crown, and needed to have what was left of the tooth removed so i can get a bridge...well was able to see the oral surgeon on wednesday and get it taken care of...i like the guy i use because he use general anesthesia, so you go to sleep and wake up with the work done, no pain, or stress...of course still had the ache, tenderness and limited diet for the last week, but it is all healed up now...did keep me from feeling like being on the computer for the last week though...anyway, i'm back up and running, and should be writing on a regular basis again, or as regular as possible for me...heh