Author: Greg

After being left bitter and jaded about my lack of love from “The Bloggies,” I’ve entered myself into another blog competition I have no chance of possibly winning… Or do I?

BlogMadness 2003 is the new competition du jour, and it’s actually quite a cool one. Instead of voting for your favourite overall blog, you’re voting for an individual entry, prompting you to read the entries in the list and maybe, just maybe, quite liking it enough to add that blog to your “OMG! Must read that blog today!” list. That’s my hope at least

Anyways, I’ve been seeded 17th of 29 in the 2nd region with this entry about death of friends, how it got lumped into the “sports” category I dunno, but I’m not complaining.

I’m not entirely sure when the competition opens for voting, but when I do find out you can be sure I’ll be harassing your collective asses for a vote.

So I’ve been looking through the referral logs for this place and I’ll give a few shout outs to places that link to me, some old, some new, some strange and everything in between…

First up, big shout outs to:

The Boston Common Weblog, who picked up my comments about the New England Patriots a few days ago.

Tractorgirl.org, who’s made a few visits recently, thank you for the kindly link.

Dawnkeyotie, who’s fast becoming my biggest fan, or stalker…

Neuroblog, who really should update more often…

Not many, but that’s from the last 4 days, most of my referrals are made from messageboards linking images I have stored in various places.

But now onto the Coup De Gras… How the hell I’m getting linked from these places baffles me…

paris-hilton-video.blogspot.com and paris-hilton-video-tape.blogspot.com… Ummm yeah, I’ve actually looked through that entire damn site (it’s just a blog about the Paris Hilton tape, not the actual video… I know what you were thinking, especially you) and not found a link to me on it, it must be mystical or something.

freenudecelebrity.net, again, HOW???

iglhrc.org which is the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission website, I don’t even know where this came from… So it’s a cross between a WTF! and a shout out to the gay and lesbian community.

yourwebsitesucks.com… Tell me something I didn’t already know.

mp3int.com… Again, no idea.

Weird and wonderful, one and all…

Some interesting reading as George Bush prepares to deliver his State of the Union address…

Some of these stats are quite scary, but some will argue stats can be twisted to prove just about anything.

232: Number of American combat deaths in Iraq between May 2003 and January 2004

501: Number of American servicemen to die in Iraq from the beginning of the war – so far

0: Number of American combat deaths in Germany after the Nazi surrender to the Allies in May 1945

0: Number of coffins of dead soldiers returning home from Iraq that the Bush administration has allowed to be photographed

[…]

10 million: Estimated number of people worldwide who took to the streets in opposition to the invasion of Iraq, setting an all-time record for simultaneous protest

[…]

92%: Percentage of Iraq’s urban areas that had access to drinkable water a year ago

60%: Percentage of Iraq’s urban areas that have access to drinkable water today

[…]

45%: Percentage of Americans who believed in early March 2003 that Saddam Hussein was involved in the 11 September attacks on the US

$127 billion: Amount of US budget surplus in the year that Bush became President in 2001

$374 billion: Amount of US budget deficit in the fiscal year for 2003

[…]

$113 million: Total sum raised by the Bush-Cheney 2000 campaign, setting a record in American electoral history

$130 million: Amount raised for Bush’s re-election campaign so far

$200m: Amount that the Bush-Cheney campaign is expected to raise in 2004

$40m: Amount that Howard Dean, the top fund-raiser among the nine Democratic presidential hopefuls, amassed in 2003

[…]

90%: Percentage of American citizens who said they approved of the way George Bush was handling his job as president when asked on 26 September, 2001

53%: Percentage of American citizens who approved of the way Bush was handling his job as president when asked on 16 January, 2004

That last one is the scariest of all, over half the American population still think he’s doing a good job. If he get’s re-elcted then place your bets for the next stop on the GWB “Freedon For My People” World Tour™ as well as more civil liberites being stripped at home.

Those statistics come courtesy of The Independent.

5 days till I leave… Microsoft threatening Mike Rowe Soft… Illegal stun guns sold on eBay… Tom Cruise opens up a lucrative business by proposing for other people… Leeds United aren’t dead… Yet… And finally, you can adapot Beck’s rabbit…

It’s all good. I spent most of the weekend, OK most of Sunday, gutting my bedroom and throwing out 5 large bags of useless junk I’ve accumulated. Now I just need to pack my belongings into a few suitcases and I’m good to go.

I finally voted from a few people on “The Bloggies“… I was loathed to vote for Belle de Jour for best topical weblog but she (or is it a he?) was newsworthy a while back… On the flip side, I was more than happy to vote for Tequila Mockingbird in the best-kept-secret weblog category… Thanks to Dawnkeyotie and her never ending list of weblog recommendations for that one.

But *sniff sniff* no nominations for lil’ ol me. Maybe next year.

2 years ago I said

Patriots + Super Bowl = Sirloin Meat Grinder: This is the third time that the Patriots have to go to Nawlins to participate in the Big One. This will be the third time they will be turned into a smear by the end of the night. This is going to be a very sad spectacle. Fortunately for me, I won’t be watching it, since I’ll be sleeping at the time of the broadcast. What’s the big story (other than Tom Brady’s injury)? Aeneas Williams, hometown boy, gets to fulfill his dream, and thank God he’s been on a hot streak lately (including that pick of McNabb that sealed the game) or there wouldn’t have been much of a story there to begin with. God help us all. Oh, here’s your possible ray of hope, Pats fans: no team has ever won a Super Bowl after losing to Tampa Bay during the regular season.

But they proved me wrong and went on to win 20 – 17 against the red hot St. Louis Rams…

They’ve sealed their place in the Big One™ again by beating the Indianapolis Colts 24 – 14 at a very wintery Foxboro, all that stands between them and a 2nd Superbowl in 3 years is either the Carolina Panthers or Philadelphia Eagles.

Why am I following the Patroits you ask? Well, I’ve been to Boston a few times and really loved it there (even in the snow) and was very close to actually living there at one point, so as a point I began to follow the fortunes of the Patriots, as I never really followed an NFL team compared to the other sports in America.

Erika has picked the Panthers to win the Superbowl, so with me supporting the Patriots, it could be an interesting day in two weeks…

BBC Radio 3 will be airing more than four minutes of complete silence on Friday… by design.

Avante-Garde or just pretentious wankery?

The BBC Symphony Orchestra is to give a performance of composer John Cage’s seminal piece 4’33”, which does not contain a single note.

Radio 3 is to broadcast the entire composition live, even having to switch off its emergency system which cuts in when there is apparent silence.

The performance takes place on Friday night at London’s Barbican Centre.

It is part of a weekend of Cage’s work. The late avant-garde composer “wrote” the piece in 1952.

So you can write silence?

Wait, so if I sit in silence could his estate sue me for an unauthorised public performance of his work? There’s a mindfuck for you…

The best quote is:

Mr Hughes denied the performance was a “mindless gimmick” and said Cage believed “music was all around us all the time” and the piece was his attempt to make the audience focus on sounds that were “part of our everyday lives”.

But the audience at the premiere was “so discomforted that mostly what you could hear was people getting up and walking out”, he said.

“They were completely outraged and extremely angry,” Mr Hughes added.

Gives new meaning to the phrase “Money for Nothing” doesn’t it?

My node id stubbed up, my head hurds, my throad id raw… Today’d gonna duck. I jusd know’s it.

It’s 10:30am and already I’ve drank about a gallon and a half of Orange Juice… I wonder what happens if you overdose on Vitamin C, I’m guessing Immortality…

Anyways, I was playing about with this place last night and came up with a rather cool new look, believe me when I say it’s a radical departure from the way it looks now. So I’ve decided to launch that on February 2nd, which is like 2 weeks on Monday so that gives me more than enough time to iron out any errors and refine it a whole lot. A few choice people got to see a sneak peek last night and it got a pretty positive response.

And I only had two bullets to my name, I know EXACTLY who’s head’s they would be fired into at point blank range.

A number of British troops were forced to give up body armour in Iraq in the same way as a sergeant who died from bullet wounds, Tory MP’s told the Commons yesterday.

Equipment was so scarce that servicemen behind the front line were issued with only two bullets each and had to have a whip-round for more if they went forward, the Commons was told.

But at least we’re not alone, The US Military is running at 4 million rounds a day just to “keep the peace” in post war Iraq.

FOUR MILLION ROUNDS A DAY… DUDE!

Gen. Paul Kern said it would probably take until 2005 to get small-arms ammunition production to a level at which there will be enough to cover all the increased training needs and begin rebuilding the war reserves.

“We can’t just go out and buy our ammunition commercially,” Kern said. “We maintain very tight quality controls. Our ammo has to work, at 40 below zero or 140 degrees.”

Well, thats nice to know.

This Washington Post article came to my attention late last night, and it’s becoming more and more clear to me that the US Government simply don’t want me in their country any more. The main part that bugs me is this little section:

The TSA said the new computerized system is to provide a more thorough approach to screening passengers. It will collect travelers’ full name, home address and telephone number, date of birth and travel itinerary. The information will be fed into large databases, such as Lexis-Nexis and Acxiom, that tap public records and commercial computer banks, such as shopping mailing lists, to verify that passengers are who they say they are. Once a passenger is identified, the CAPPS 2 system will compare that traveler against wanted criminals and suspected terrorists contained in other databases.

I’m calling shenanigans on that right now!

It’s also nice to know that they can’t tell the difference between a terrorist and a 6 year old girl… Thanks to Wil Wheaton for that link, I guess he’s useful after all.

Once upon a time I went through US Immigration and I was welcomed and wished a happy and safe stay in the country, now I’m ABSOLUTELY dreading stepping off that plane next Saturday in Newark, simply because I don’t know what lies beyond the aircraft door.

Will it be a warm welcome or will it be something decidedly more draconian?

Screw it… May as well roll this bad boy up to Orange right now:

So I’ve been given my first assignment by future (and past) bosses… Breathe some life into a dead forum as it’s new admin.

“Sure,” I says… “I spend most of my time online in forums, sometimes admining one and moderating another, so what’s a new forum to me”. Basically I’ve got to generate interest in people who like to moon.

Yes, you read that right… A Mooning website (http://www.mooned.com/). So if you fancy splashing your ass across the web, head on over and join up, if only for a laugh… What have you got to lose? Hot chicks are especially welcome.

I’ll need to think up an advertising strategy, which will be a first for me, but I guess this post is a start, from small pebbles and all that.

Is the writer male or female?

I’m sure most of you know by now, but having fed Saturday’s rants into The Gender Genie it’s decided, based on my writing style and usage of keywords, that I’m female!

I wonder if it’s too late for that gender reassignment surgery?

Maybe I spoke too soon, because my dream from last week has reaffirmed my masculinity. But only just…

That was a close one.

It’s that time of year again… “The Bloggies” shadow looms large over the weblog community, not unlike the all seeing eye of Sauron, constantly watching, judging.

My main trouble is who to vote for, I mean, I don’t have a big list of blogs that I read… Plus the list is full of categories that just don’t interest me at all, like “best weblog directory or update monitor”… What the heck is that? “Best-kept-secret weblog”, well that’s gotta be me right? RIGHT?!?!? Actually I don’t expect to get a single nomination, not even from myself, but then again I still have no idea who to vote for, this will take some serious thought.

Anyways, another Monday morning rolls in and I was rudely awoken 15 minutes early today by the sound of huge clumps of ice battering my roof… A nice quick hailstorm that lasted about 5 minutes.

And in other news…

El Presidente Bush thought of invading Iraq BEFORE 9/11… Why does that not surprise me in the slightest? This election year is going to be interesting to see how far the Bush administration will go to stay on for another 4 years.

EDIT (3:16pm):
I’ve since discovered that this is what a weblog directory or update monitor is. So now you and I both know…

I got named checked off Tequila Mockingbird for the comments I made a few days ago about her fight against copyright infringment.

Coooooool….