OCD SOTD - I'm tendon to my fetish

I have many peccadilloes. I like Indian women, naked celebrities and British accents. But these titilations are nothing compared to today's OCD Site Of The Day.

According to the site's OCD suffering auteur Celebrity Achilles Tendon is not an "unhealthy fetishism site" but an 'homage to a subtle detail of female beauty.'

Yeah, right. I think I'll stick to Britney Spears' breasts (1)(2)(3)(4)

Maybe she built them with spare Semiconductors

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As of post time I'm listening to Everybody's Talkin' from the album "Bleecker Steet: Greenwich Village In The 60's" by Patty Larkin

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And weeeeee're back!

It's been a long time coming and I'm sure you've been waiting. I hope that I can live up to your expectations. I might be a bit rusty. Let me clear my throat...Armstrong...Gallagher...McManus

That's better. No wait, there's still something in there...Mac Mini...iPod Shuffle...Treo 650

Wow, I'm feeling much better...Darn...One more round...Enterprise...The Shield...Boston Legal

God, it's good to be back!

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As of post time I'm listening to Over The Hills And Far Away from the album "Houses Of The Holy" by Led Zeppelin

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Coming soon...

Monday January 31st I will resume regular blogcasting. It has been an incredibly hectic couple of weeks filled with agonizing back pain, tight deadlines, construction drama and a dash of mental instability brought on by all the pressure.

But I'm better now and will be feeling much better by Monday.

So until then, my faithful reader, I bid you Adieu.

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As of post time I'm listening to Angel Eyes from the album "Degradation Trip Vol 1 & 2 (Disc 1)" by Jerry Cantrell

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So, long time no chat.

The last several days have been extremely trying. Not only did I have to finish a big project, which incedently keeps growing in size and scale, but we unexpectedly had to move out of our house due to the continuing repairs and construction.

What started out as a simple 'pick me up' has turned into a full blown remodel. Old walls are gone, new walls are up. Parts of the house have been jacked up in order to get everything back in plumb. Doors and windows are being replaced because they were all gerry-rigged to operate with the out-of-plumb house. You could literally see how they were cut at a diagonal in order to open and close. We have new siding on order because the old siding completely failed in our recent deluge. We are replacing the electrical wiring because it was the old cloth covered knob and tube variety. If you re-read about our recent deluge and the utter failure of the siding you may understand.

But we're moved in to a nice duplex and getting settled in. The only problem is a lack of internet access. I could post from my phone but it's a little funky. I'm working on getting access from our apartment. Suffice it to say that posting may be sporadic. But I promise that I will be back better and bigger than ever.

I have my two site projects that are kickass. I think that you wil really enjoy them.

In the meantime, take care!

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Deadline

My deadline fast approaches and I still have much to do so no posting for
the weekend. Sorry.

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Woo HOO!

Apparently Flava Flav reads my blog.

According to my confidential sources my name will appear in the Strange Love credits starting with second episode this Sunday on VH1 at 10pm EST.

I guess I better get back to work on the software...

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OCD SOTD - Jump off the Cliff

Serial cat killing, lying, deceptive, hypocritical, asswipish Senator Bill Frist MD (R) Tennessee doesn't know me but I hate him. Cliff Yablonski doesn't know you but he hates you nonetheless.

From the site...
My name is Cliff Yablonski. I have never met you before, but I hate you regardless. if I met you in public, I'd still hate you. I probably wouldn't hate you any more than how much I currently hate you, because I don't think that would be humanly possible. I would probably punch you in the face though. I hate everybody and everything I find on the Internet. my site and the "Law and Order" website are the only places worth visiting....

I couldn't have said it better myself. Where else can you find an obsessively angry man make compulsively obscene comments about photos of people he has never met? Always cruel, usually amusing and sometimes hysterically funny Cliff Yablonski Hates You is the stuff that makes it worth paying $40 a month for my cable modem service.

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OCD SOTD - That's why it's called Tatooine

Tattoos are like Pringles. You can't stop at one. Conversely, the Star Wars movies should have stopped with the first. So you have to ask yourself this question...How crazy would it be if those two worlds collided?

It would be inshane! As in Shanes Archive of Star Wars Tattoos. It's the latest rage.

All the cool cats and hip chicks are sporting Lucas ink. It's cliche to have a Darth Vader tattoo on your tricep. And who doesn't have a Tupac style 'Come to the Dark Side' scrawled across their abdomen? And according to pubic shaving expert Jenna Jameson the 'Chewbacca' is the new Brazilian.

Today's OCD SOTD chronicles the fan art of the believers. The truly obsessed who denigrate their body with badly depicted visages of Grand Moff Tarkin and Senator Palpatine. Please, Please I beg you, don't ask. You'll only encourage them.

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Personal Responsibilty

I received the following message from a faithful reader:

I am glad that I stumbled onto your site and I have immensely enjoyed reading your "rants." Although, frankly, I would hardly call them rants--more likely highly passionate thought pieces.

Still, I would like to challenge you to take a deeper look at the "in your face fund raising" article. Wait. Breathe. Don't go ballistic yet. I truly believe that the issue of abortion will benefit from a conversation between or among people who disagree about it. And that conversation begins when we remove inflammatory language ("anti-choice zealots" or "pro-murder/abortion activists") AND--this is a big one--we try to understand the reasons people may hold the opposing viewpoint.

For instance, in regards to the fundraising idea of PP, I am certain that it will not stop picketers from picketing. Why? It won't stop picketers because they believe that they are doing what is necessary to stop a destructive action. They believe that the life of every human being begins at conception and that abortion is the taking of a life. They liken it to the civil rights movement. Would the civil rights' activists of the sixties have stopped if a fund raising idea such as Planned Parenthood's was in place then? I doubt it. Would gay rights activistist of today--or environmental activists--stop what they are doing? I hope not. It is the same with people who oppose abortion.

On a personal note, I do not think abortion is a good thing. I think it snuffs out the life of a living being. If you have ever heard the heart beat of a 7-week old fetus or seen a sonogram of an 11 week old fetus, you would probably agree. I also think it harms women. Yet, I also realize that may people will disagree with me. I try to understand thier viewpoint and I believe that their support of abortion is based on good intentions--just as my oppostion to it is based on good intentions.

Anyway, dialogue about abortion will continue but will only be fruitful if we put away some of the harsher accusations that each side throws at each other. I am heartened that the Democratic Party has now recognized that it needs to be welcoming to Democrats who do not support the party platform on abortion. Kerry's comments after the election about including "pro-lifers" as well as Tim Roemer's candidacy for the DNC means that the conversation about abortion can take place within the ranks of the Democratic Party.

So, Hans, I hope you will join me in discussing this highly volatile issue in a more open-minded way. Thanks for listening and keep up the passionate outporings. -- Posted by Anonymous at 1/13/2005 06:46:01 AM

Thank you for you well thought out embassy (I learned that usage just this week while listening to the audiobook for The Hobbit).

Despite your inference that I was going to go ballistic I would like to inform you that, much like Jonathan Baker on the Amazing Race, my on-blog persona is different from my off. In real life my friends and family would never let me rant on as I am wont to do on my blog.

To address your suggestion. I think that all differences can be settled through communication. Healthy conversation is much better than throwing harsh words or pipe bombs. This is true in your local community, your state and across this great land of ours. In fact, the entire world would benefit from an open forum where nations could unite to discuss their issues and find their commonality (are you listening neo-cons?).

I am very concerned about making the world a safer, more loving, place. That's why Bush's foreign and domestic policies terrify me.

However, my piece was more about the marketing aspect of the fund-raising effort. Having worked in Marketing for the last ten years, and consider myself very well read on the subject, I always applaud something fresh and innovative. With their innovative campaign PP has turned lemons into a goldmine. I most certainly hope that the pickets continue. Every placard puts another dollar into pregnancy prevention programs.

With that said, I fully understand that you are trying to broaden the conversation so I will entertain this discussion for a little bit. During this discourse you will hear a certain word oft repeated. It is I. My reasoned opinion that this is a personal choice and responsibility.

I am not pro-abortion. I am not anti-abortion. I believe abortion is a necessary evil.

I don't believe that life begins at conception. You cannot tell me that a blastocyst is anything other than a parasite in the hosts abdomen. On the other hand I believe that life begins far before birth. So we are only talking a matter of months.

I am not Christian. I am not Buddhist, Hindu, Mormon or Muslim. I am barely a Jew. But I am well read and nowhere in the bible does it specifically say abortion is murder. It takes an interpretation of the scriptures to say that abortion is murder. The arguments from religious scholars are very similar and convincing IF you are a believer.

However, I am not a believer. My faith is Personal Responsibilty. For the record I am spiritual. I believe in Karma and I believe in ghosts.

I don't know about an almighty creator. But I know that formal religions are behind almost every atrocity suffered by mankind. Almost every war or genocide is the result of religious fervor. Look around you and at all the current hot spots on the planet. How many are about something other than religion? Practically none. Even those that aren't about religion, such as North Korea and Taiwan, are about faith in a system for governing society. The war on terror is certainly about religion.

Back to the topic,my reasoning behind my Pro-Choice stance is that it is not for me to judge what a woman does with her body. I have seen many promising lives forever changed by a unexpected pregnancy. It is not my role to govern a woman. My job is to control my sperm. Her job is to control her eggs. If I am unable to do that then I am responsible for the consequences. The same thing is true for my partner. Fortunately, she as a choice of what she can do with her body.

The question is, when is it no longer just the woman's body? My PERSONAL answers to that question won't make anybody happy. For normal circumstances, I lean towards 3 months. It's a nice, easy to remember, number. In the case of rape it should be six months. For severe defects it should be tied to the ability of science to determine that affliction (i.e. if it can be tested at 7 months then the abortion limit should be at 8 months.) Yes, I believe that euthanasia and assisted-suicide should be legal. Set the limits in stone and leave them alone.

I would entertain a national conversation on the issue but the anti-choice zealots, and they are zealots, won't listen to any other option than completely banning abortion. And they don't stop there. They think that birth control is akin to abortion. Now you tell me, is birth control murder? If you think so then you are completely unaware of how birth control works. I'm not going to bother with an explanation but if you don't understand that birth control prevents pregnancy than read this and then come back to the table. To the zealots anything less than a complete ban on abortion is unacceptable.

The argument zealots use is that abortion is murder. But that statement isn't based on science. It's based on religious teachings. A religion, I repeat, to which I do not subscribe.

These same zealots that prevent women from exercising responsibility won't help with medical bills, adoption or counseling. They just want the woman to bear the unwanted child. And I believe this is part and parcel of the same religious belief that women must be punished for Eve's transgression in the garden.

If people want to live their lives by the Bible, God bless them. If people don't want to live according to the Bible, Dog bless them. Much in the same way that I can't control what my sexual partner does with her eggs I see no reason why the believers should have any control over the non-believers. If you believe the Bible says you shouldn't have an abortion then don't. End of story.

You know what? I can continue but why bother. Whatever I believe and vote for will be battled by the anti-choice zealots. I understand their argument but I refuse it on every level. They refuse my arguments. We are at a deadlock that will not be solved by this blog. So I will continue to point out cool marketing gimmics and you will, I hope, continue to read this blog.

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OK, I'm pissed

I worked my ass off on Strange Love. The looming deadline I'm under is for the same people. But after watching the show I'm not sure why I'm busting my ass for them. Apparently, I wasn't worthy of a credit.

I cut my pay rate to help them out. The show was a complete mess and I managed to make sense out of it. I had to deal with all kinds of political bullshit and a complete lack of direction. I was jerked around for 5 weeks waiting for my paycheck. In the middle of the gig the offices were moved to another building and they gave me 30 minutes notice. I spent the first week without a desk having to work on the floor with a cardboard box as my work area. I spent the last week also desk-less.

I did all that without complaining. I did that with a smile on my face. I was fast, comprehensive and accurate.

All I asked for was a credit. I'm not sure if I will be able to finish the software after all.

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Slow posting and stream of conscious thought

So I had mentioned earlier that I was going to be posting a bit less this week due to a looming deadline. Not much has changed. I'm still trying to make it by Friday but I may have to work through the weekend and deliver on Monday. I'll keep you updated.

I did get some work done on my big project for the site. I think you'll be excited when it's finally unveiled. I also did some work on the new site focus. I have had some discussions and I'm proceeding carefully.

I think I have another kidney stone. I had a 9mm stone last year and it felled me for a few weeks and had to be removed surgically. Not pleasant. My new stone is on the other side. I'm going in for tests in the next two weeks. I'll let you know as I find out.

I'm enjoying West Wing this season. It feels alive again.

It's weird to see the sun after all the rain we got. 17" of rain in 13 days. Amazing.

Back to work. TTFN

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OCD SOTD - Hop to this site

What do you get when you take a Guinness World Record, a touch of Easter serendipity and 17,000 stuffed rabbits? That's right! The OCD SOTD. You are so smart!

Now I recognize that thebunnymuseum.com isn't particularly obsessive or compulsive. However the 'living museum' that it represents is an OCD treasure. I think I may nominate it for National Landmark status.

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Power outage

Hello my faithful readers. The rain has not let up and we are in a
blackout. Wouldn't be so bad if my furnace didn't require electricity.
Anywho. I am posting this by phone. Posting will be sporadic until power
returns.

The part that really pisses me off is I'm missing the 24 and Strange Love
premieres.
__
Hans
via Treo 600 & Sprint PCS Vision

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OCD SOTD - I'm bowled over by this

It's 8am and I'm hungry. What should I eat? I know, cereal. But what kind of cereal?

Today's OCD SOTD is dedicated to 'the cereal eating community.' It may not be a strict OCD site but I believe that the depth and dedication the community members show to raisin bran and its ilk goes from devotion to obsession. Where else would you find powdered milk referred to as 'the tool of the devil?' Or arguments about the current Lucky Charms advertising campaign.

And quite frankly, as a cereal eater, I think that other meal staples (for example sandwiches or donuts) don't hold the same cache. I eat cereal for breakfast, lunch or dinner. It's the perfect snack. If only there were a restaurant where I could satisfy my hankering for a bowl of weetabix or, when I'm feeling naughty, Cocoa Puffs!

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Power play

The power finally came back on around 3:30am. Yippee. You may recall I have sleep apnea. I have to sleep with an air compressor inflating my airway. No power. No inflation. No sleep.

I'm exhausted and I have a big week of programming. Not a good way to start. They're also saying tonight's incoming storm is the worst yet.

Here's the deal. I have a hard deadline this week and with the rampant power outages I need to get as much in as I can. So posting will be lighter. The OCD SOTD will continue as will the occasional political rant. I have been sitting on this Armstrong Williams story and can't wait to go to town.

If I decide to take a break, or we get a break, I will do some posting.

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OCD SOTD Kids-R-Ussian

Today's is a nice alternative to Friday's beyond the pale offering. Do you like Celebs? Do you like children? Do you like Russians?



I'm not sure what the site is called or what the purpose is but the owner has a growing list of international celebrity kids photos. As the grand total of site visitors is 301 I guaranteed you are one of the few to have actually witness the glory of page after page of, artfully presented, Celeb childhood photos.


Now mind you, I'm not mocking the low visitor count. Today's OCD SOTD dwarfs my mere 243 visitors. But I think there may be better traffic generators than celeb baby photos. Perhaps he should offer photos of obsessive compulsive celebs?

Technorati Tags: Celebrity Photos, Baby Photos

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Power Outage

Hello my faithful readers. The rain has not let up and we are in a
blackout. Wouldn't be so bad if my furnace didn't require electricity.
Anywho. I am posting this by phone. Posting will be sporadic until power
returns.

The part that really pisses me off is I'm missing the 24 and Strange Love
premieres.
__
Hans
via Treo 600 & Sprint PCS Vision

Still reading? Wasn't my signature enough for you? Have I mentioned how muh I love rain? I'm outta here.

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Strange Love

People ask me what I do for a living. The answer I give them is 'what week is this?"

So you understand I have many occupations. Some pay better than others. Some are more interesting than others. Most recently I worked on a show called Strange Love for VH1 which premieres tonight at 10pm. Watch it and maybe we can get a second season.

I was the Production Manager. For lay people that means I manage the day to day aspects of producing a show. Not the creative stuff, but working with the crew, arranging travel and meals, paying bills etc. It's not difficult but it can be stressful. This was my first show in 10 years and I remember why I got out of it 1994.

I also am a pretty good Filemaker programmer. I've written all kinds of stuff. Call me if you need something.

For the last ten years my primary occupation has been technology marketing. I worked for GTE producing interactive television. I worked for a TV production company called LMNO handling their New Media stuff. After that I worked for Apple as a Sr. Product Marketing Manager for QuickTime.

I got laid off after 9/11 and decided to become an entrepreneur. It was a tough decision and even tougher to make it happen and I ultimately had to change my focus and jettison my partners.

I realized that even though my entrepreneurial spirit is strong I am unable to get people motivated without resources. So I'm going it on my own.

So now I'm back in TV and working on this blog.

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OCD SOTD Ground Rules

As a fun little side project I have been higlighting sites that I felt were obsessive compulsive in nature. Obsessive compulsive is different from plain old obsessive or compulsive (i.e. - obsessive and compulsive and obsessive compulsive). I think it's a fun little attention grabber for the site that should eventually drive some traffic.

The OCD SOTD web-scouring can be time consuming and with work proceeding my big project I need to take some time off on the weekends. Hence, the OCD SOTD will be a 5 day a week project.

Please feel free to submit suggestions. That would certainly make my life easier!

Thanks for reading,
Hans

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The blog is a changing

Changes are coming. First off, please check out www.fischhead.com. Pretty cool huh? Secondly please check out the new blog name across the top of the page. See how it ties in to the domain name? That's what we call a theme in the writing game. But the really big change is still a few days away.

My goal is to build this blog into a reckoning force. I want to get my bearings and methods in place and then start doing something really interesting.

I believe that blogs are a continuation and extension of the very same Press that our Founding Fathers spoke of. The Press to which the First Amendment guarantees freedom did not resemble today's version of mainstream journalism. It was more akin to what you read on the Editorial Page or on a blog. In the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries newspapers were often nothing more than personal attacks against political rivals.

Unlike many of my blogging brethren I do not mean to imply that mainstream media (MSM in blogspeak) is dead and isn't covered by the First Amendment, it clearly is alive and is protected. I am saying that the FF could not have imagined any form of media that was capable of simultaneously reaching 250 million people. The FF couldn't have forseen media conglomerates owning dozens of venues across several mediums in multiple markets. Back then you were lucky if you could crank 250 pages a day.

Thomas Jefferson wrote:
The people are the only censors of their governors: and even their errors will tend to keep these to the true principles of their institution. To punish these errors too severely would be to suppress the only safeguard of the public liberty. The way to prevent these irregular interpositions of the people is to give them full information of their affairs thro' the channel of the public papers, and to contrive that those papers should penetrate the whole mass of the people. The basis of our governments being the opinion of the people, the very first object should be to keep that right; and were it left to me to decide whether we should have a government without newspapers, or newspapers without a government, I should not hesitate a moment to prefer the latter. But I should mean that every man should receive those papers and be capable of reading them.

Jefferson clearly understood that the citizen press may not be perfect in their reporting of events. However, their presence would keep government officials in line. The intent of the First was to ensure the safety of reporters from persecution and to provide a mandate for the citizenry to keep an eye trained on the government.

If you do some historical digging it is very easy to find the parallels between the broadsheet then and now. Here is an example using a tactic that we often see today in blogging...the story leak. Here is one describing a novel scheme to raise money, a lottery. Here is a scan of a 1828 paper that, in the first paragraph, details a Jacksonian tactic for gerrymandering that is very reminiscent of a recent Tom Delay tactic. The writer calls his opposition liars in the first sentence. I love that.

So it is with this adoration of free press and of the concept of the fourth estate providing governance of the governors that I will shortly unveil my grand plan for this blog. In the meantime I have a fun, politics-oriented, short-term plan that I think you will, not only, enjoy but should help boost traffic to the site.

In the meantime, I thank you for reading my blog.

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Rain, rain go away

I LOVE RAIN. I CRAVE RAIN. RAINY DAYS MAKE ME HAPPY! But I find myself wondering when-oh-when will it stop raining?

The trouble is this series of storms are bugging me. Part of it is that my garage is leaking and the constant battle with wind-blown tarps is making me nuts. Another problem are the sporadic power outages. There's the issue of my dog and cat refusing to go out in the rain - which is compounded by my cats propensity to piss on the couch when she's annoyed. My shoes got muddy and my coat is soaked through.

WAHHHHHH.

Anyway, I'm blaming the rain for my slowed posting pace.

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OCD Site of the Day - Revenge is a dish best served bleeding from it's pores

As we begin this long journey searching for obsessive compulsive sites I must warn your that mental illness isn't always pretty or funny. However today's OCD Site of the Day is pretty funny. Not a laugh riot, just pretty funny. i had to knock a few points off because it's just that side of obsessively compulsive. It has gone to a dark and lonely place.

Produced by an Englishman, who has a seething hatred of Nigerian scam artists, Ebola Monkey Man is the ultimate, read obsessively compulsive, antidote to the Nigerian wire transfer scam.

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Cease fire

This just in...Crossfire has been cancelled.

The 22 year old political blab and yellfest that currently features James Carville, Robert Novak, Paul Begala and the MSNBC bound Tucker Carlson is a staple on my Tivo. It was my very first season pass and I have not missed an episode in years.

I was there when Tucker Carlson was forced to eat his shoe when he said that Hilary Clinton wouldn' sell a million copies of her book. I was there when Al Sharpton rebuked Jerry Falwell for getting a bible verse wrong. And how could I forget my idol Jon Stewart excoriating Tucker just a few scant months ago?

R.I.P. Crossfire. How I will miss you.

On the flipside I get back 16 minutes of my life everyday which equals 69 (heh heh) hours a year.

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Politics as usual

I know, I know. You're upset that Humpday has, er, come and gone (I was tempted but restraint won the day) without a political rant. You want to hear me rag on the neo-cons. I get it. So hang on to your hats 'cuz today's blast is a doozie.

Bill Frist is a deceptive, hypocritical douchebag...no, not strong enough...scumbag....no, saving that for my next Tom Delay blog...I got it...ASSWIPE!

Senator Majority Leader Bill Frist is a deceptive, hypocritical ASSWIPE!

Oh, you want me to explain why? I keep forgetting, this blog isn't just an open license for me to level personal attacks. It's an opportunity to show the world why the Senate Majority Leader is a deceptive, hypocritical asswipe. The Center for American Progressives, with an assist from Bob Schieffer on 'Face the Nation,' have caught Frist in a lie or at least a deception that demonstrates how the guy has no scruples or ethics, medical or otherwise.

Now this is different than the whole 'you can spread AIDS through tears drama. It's not the same as the 'I don't know why we invaded Iraq but try me again in a year and I'll have an answer for you' debacle. And it certainly is not the horrific 'Bill Frist kills kittens' anecdote as detailed in his 1989 auto-biography.

I am sure that this wouldn't seem as horrific if you knew that Frist is a medical doctor and surgeon. On second thought, yes it would. The guy LIED to animal shelters to take home stray cats for the express purpose of killing them. At least he played with them first, that was nice. Wait, no it wasn't nice, it was cruel. He is one sick motherfucker.

In my medical opinion, no I'm not a doctor but I watch ER, Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist MD (R - Tennesee) is a burgeoning SERIAL KILLER. The signs are all there. I wonder what his serial killer name would be...Diablo perhaps? Mine is Hans Fischmann, seriously.

And now back to the Center for American Progressives report. If you recall from my Filibuster Schmilibuster piece, The Congressional Republicans are trying to change the rules on filibusters. Principally because the Dems are planning to use the tactic to block the more disgusting Presidential appointees. I usually wouldn't care because this stuff works itself out.

But Frist, deceptive hypocritical asswipe that he is, had to open his, salivating at the sight of kittens, mouth and called the tactic "radical. It is dangerous and it must be overcome." and called judicial filibusters "nothing less than a formula for tyranny by the minority."

Now I would have also let that slide but this is where it gets good. In 2000 Frist voted to to filibuster President Clinton's 9th District Court nominee Judge Richard Paez. So he's a hypocrite.

Bob Schieffer, whom I adore in a respectful non-gay way, called the cat killing Senator from Tennessee on his formula for tyranny by the majority. Frist snorted back "Filibuster, cloture, it gets confusing--as a scheduling or to get more information is legitimate. But not to kill nominees." Of course, why didn't we think of that. He's deceptive.

The reason why we didn't think of that is because that didn't happen. Former Senator Bob Smith (R-NH) issued a press release with the reasoning behind the Paez filibuster vote the day before. The release says Senator Smith "built a coalition of several moderate and conservative Senators in an effort to block" Paez's nomination. The coalition included the serial cat killing, lying, deceptive, hypocritical, asswipish Senator Bill Frist MD (R) Tennessee.

Put that in your abattoir and kill it Mr. Senator.

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Today's OCD Website - Christ is #1 with a Bullet!

Today's OCD entry came from yesterday's House of the Rising Son Covers page. Now we have all heard of backward masked messages in songs (did you catch all three links). Most famously Stairway to Heaven and various Beatles songs. However, today's selection goes a bit further than easy to decipher recorded messages.

This page is devoted to hidden meanings in songs. Meanings completely hidden from the listener AND the artist. Surprisingly the messages are references to Jesus and Satan. Although the great Devil Went Down to Georgia by the Charlie Daniels Band is an obvious, and included choice, there are also songs by SmashMouth, Rod Stewart and Weezer. Sadly the author completely misses Satan's muse, Celine Dion.

Be sure to click the 'next button at the bottom of the lyrics page for more of Christ's hits!

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Cool new products

With the opening of CES this week I thought I would give you a quick round-up of stuff that interests me.

The one I'm most excited about is the Sonos system. With the Sonos system you can attach any audio source in any room in you house and wirelessly pipe it into any other room in your house. You can do this with multiple sources in multiple rooms. For example, you can hook up your stereo in your den, your TV in your living room and your computer in your office and then listen to TV in the den, your stereo in your office and your iTunes collection in your living room. Add a fourth Sonos Player in your kitchen and you can listen to any of those sources while cooking.



Sure you can do this with iTunes and Airport Express, but the kicker is that it's all controlled by a very cool remote. It interfaces with iTunes and accesses your playlists. iTunes supports unlimited sharing within your home network (as long as all the computers are within the same subnet) so you can listen to your iTunes collection anywhere you have a Sonos Player.

I think this is a much better solution than Airport Express, Roku Soundbridge or the Slim devices Squeezebox.
Next up is TivoToGo, the newest service from my favorite DVR maker. It's included with the network recorder service, which is a nice added-value, so you just download the software to your PC (not for OSX just yet) and take your favorite shows on the road with you. When you look at how well Tivo has integrated it's software with iTunes, iPhoto, Web scheduling data retrieval it's no wonder that it's the best DVR on the market. i read somewhere that Tivo has a 95% user recommendation rate. In other words, 95% of Tivo users tell their friends. That's unheard of. Apple is only around 70%.

There are a few iPod accessories. AudioVox announced an adaptor that will connect an iPod to your factory car stereo allowing you to use your cars built-in controls. There are a few products like this on the market but none have gotten rave reviews. Maybe this product will live up to the hype Pioneer has announced an interface box for their line of car radios, following in the footsteps of Alpine.

The most titillating, I love that word and I love puns, iPod accesory for the iPod is Playboys new iBod (I kid you not) service. Playboy is offering digital pictures of, I assume, Playmates to display on your iPod Photo.

Seagate had a couple of good announcements. First off is the new 5gb microdrive in a CF card form. That means you can put it into your digital camera and take loads more pics (although I wonder what it will do to battery life?). They also announce a 400gb drive that is being bundled with DVR units or as an external drive.

Canon announced a complete update to their MiniDV line of video cams. All the changes look good and responsive to user suggestions. This is a good follow-up to their spectacular EOS 20d digital SLR announcement a few months back.

All in all there are nice products coming to your local electronics store in the next few months,

I'll be back next week with a MacWorld round-up!

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More OCD News

In my newly minted obsession for finding Obsessive Compulsive websites and compulsively posting them, I present a russian masterpiece.

Now you're wondering why I broke my normal format of including a link on the keyword. The reason is that I needed to explain that this site (there you go format hounds) is entirely in Russian (here is an English translation). But when you cut through the Cyrillic the site lists and hosts 250 covers of House Of The Rising Son. Wow, who knew that it is one of the most covered songs ever?

Although the versions by the Animals, Dylan and Woody Guthrie are considered the classics I am fond of the upbeat version by Tracy Chapman. Check it out!

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Breast Enlargement Draws a Crowd

My favorite behemoth corporation to attack is Clear Channel. Forget Napster and P2P, Clear Channel is single handedly killing the music industry.

What kills me though is the hypocritical nature of the company.  They are lock-step with the neo-cons and donated/raised millions of dollars for GOP candidates while actively working against DNC candidates. They preach Christ and Country. But they seem to be constantly busted (wait for the pun) for smut peddling. The most recent example is the 'Breast Christmas Ever' contest (I think that was worth the wait), held at multiple Clear Channel stations nationwide, wherein they gave implants to less than favorably endowed women.

Apparently, this faith-based radio network is interested, in the name of Jesus, in increasing the breast size of women everywhere.

And they yanked Stern why?

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More neo-con spin...

The blathering jerks at Power Line think they have some wry commentary on people like me who think that Bush has been too slooooow to respond The frequent poster Hindrocket, which I assume refers to dookie since that's the quality of his work, wrote:

Oh, I don't know. I supposed he could have ordered an aircraft carrier and a Marine strike group to the disaster scene. That would be more important than giving a useless press conference, which would have done nothing at all to help anyone. These press complaints are typical of the elevation of symbolism over substance that permeates newspaper coverage of many issues.

What assblast at Power Line fails to realize is that we expect a real press conference where stuff is actually announced.  Not the kind of press conference that we have come to expect from Bush where he doesn't say anything substantive or just fumbles his words and answers.

The President should have come out on Monday morning, which for the chronologically challenged was almost 36 hours after the tsunami hit, with an announcement that ships were sailing, planes were loaded and flying, plenty of food/medicine/clothes/shelter en route and America pledging to work with the U.N., or at least the Coalition of the Willing, to raise whatever financial assistance was necessary.

Instead the President dicked around for 4 days before coming out with a paltry $15 million. Only to turn around and raise it to $35million two days later and ultimately raise it to $350 million after he was trumped by just about every other western nation.  As far as humanitarian aid is concerned the U.S. continues to be the largest volume donor but when you look at donations per capita or a percentage of GDP the United States comes in last. Yes, last.

The guy wants to be a leader. He declares himself a leader. Well, a real leader just leads. They don't sit around debating how they will be perceived for giving a press conference. Where is that guy that stood on the rubble of the World Trade Center with a megaphone?  I could overlook his politics if he inspired faith in government and the United States. Instead he trips over his dick (Cheney?) every chance he gets.

Many others have commented on this but the aforementioned assblast at Power Line also is upset that yet another tell-all by a GOP big-wig is slamming BushCo. Apparently he is unable to piece together that every faithful Republican that works for this Administration is incredibly upset. We're not talking naive college grads but life-time public servants. The only people in the admin that are happy are the Neo-cons. But I wouldn't expect the dolts at PowerLine to actually pay attention to anything other than their own gloating over Rathergate.

And one last thing for the fact challenged Mr. Assblast, Richard Clarke is a Republican and was originally appointed by Ronald Reagan

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Bigger than 9/11?

There are thousands of unaccounted for Americans who were vacationing in the Tsunami zone. I have seen reports of as many as 5,000 missing. If this is the case the Tsunami will be a bigger loss of American life than 9/11. Maybe Bush should consider further raising the bar.

I have railed that Bush took too long to take action. His response is slowly improving but it's still lacking. Especially considering that Bush declared Florida a national disaster and eligible for relief on the same day (Aug 13, 2004) as Hurricane Charley was still snaking across the panhandle. Within 3 days of the hurricane Bush was on the ground in Florida. Within 30 days of the disaster and just two weeks before the election Bush had sent 3.28 BILLION to Florida.

I guess that Indonesia's lack of electoral votes makes a difference.

But Dubya is finally coming around. After his stumble at the gate, he has sent former Presidents Clinton and Bush to lead the disaster relief fund-raising. He increased the aid to $350 million with much more to come. Navy ships arrived with desalination equipment, medical supplies, portable shelters, food and clothing. We have over 12,000 troops on the ground helping with the clean-up and retrieval effort. Bush personally wrote some condolence notes. All in all, not a bad first two weeks. 

But what's to come? The American people have raised millions, with some large amounts coming from liberal Hollywood celebs like Sandra Bullock and Leonardo DiCaprio). Rupert Murdoch, who despite the slant of Fox news, is actually left leaning in his contributions and donated $1 million as well. Bill and Melinda Gates, who give, very liberally, to liberals, also donated tons 'o cash. I haven't heard of Rush Limbaugh and Ann Coulter donating millions.

Their websites, the closest I want to come to spending any time on these two idiots, are very telling about how they feel about humanitarian aid. Coulter just has a year-end liberal bash on her site with lots of banners for her, ahem, book. No mention of the tsunami. Rush is a little better. There are several articles about how the tsunami is a liberal plot but no link to donate money to victims. In fact he has a link to an anti-environmentalist book called 'Nature Kills.' Seriously.

Instead of compassionate and conservative he's stingy and callous.

Why is it important to swamp the tsunami victims with relief effort?, Because radical Islamists are quite adept at recruiting followers in times of turmoil. Many of the effected countries are already being torn apart by growing Muslim movements. Check out the t-shirt on the third guy from the left (click to enlarge).


We need to get in there and do the right thing.  The best way to win against the terrorists is to stop the flood of poverty, trauma and despair in developing nations. Send love, not bombs.

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Talk about your obsessive compulsives

This is a short entry because it's so stupid.  DanWiki is one funny guy. He called every 867-5309 in the U.S. and Canada and posted the results online.

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Close call

I just found out that a good friend of mine and his fiancee were kayaking in Phuket Bay as the Tsunami struck. Michael and Robbin were vacationing in Thailand as Robbin is working for 9 months in Japan for Disney and they wanted to spend the holidays together. I'll let Michael tell the story (excerpted from the forthcoming 'Tsunami - A Love Story.')

Robbin and I went to Thailand for X-mas New Years. Part of our vacation was a 3-day kayaking tour around the beautiful landscape of Phuket Bay. On our second day of kayaking was around Pak Bea and Krabi. After a few hours kayaking through the limestone canyon we were heading back to the longboat to head to the next island. Our guide, Sani, took us into a hiding cave (it was basically Sani, Robbin and myself for three days) big enough for two kayaks and had an opening through the top of the island about 20 meters up. While we were rowing out, we heard screams from the other group that was in the canyon that day. They'd been caught up on a strong current coming in from the ocean and had capsized. We helped them recover their stuff and towed a now-empty kayak to a safe area of relatively still water. Finally, we got all together in a group and gave them our bandanas to help stop the bleeding--they had some pretty thick cuts from the rocks under the water.

Some of the guides tried to paddle out of the canyon to get help from the boat, but the current was too strong. We waited in our little lagoon for about 30 minutes until the current died down. Then back to the longboat and to camp.

That's basically our story--when we got back to the island we were staying at there was some extensive damage. Our camp was muddy, our guides cabin was pretty messed up and our shoes were swept away. Other people staying there were pretty shaken up and told us it was really bad. One bad possibilty was that we were at the beach in Phuket that had the most casualties just two days before the tsunami hit and were planning to stay in a bungilow on the beach the day after.

Pretty harrowing. We are all glad that Michael and Robbin are safe and sound.

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Makes me proud...

The Right Wing News, funny because most news is already right leaning, has published a list of 'The 40 Most Obnoxious Quotes of 2004.' As you can guess, the intention is to show that progressives, liberals and Democrats are stupid. However, when I read the list I feel proud. The list starts with the Howard Dean rant, contains a couple of Al Gore quips for 'laughs,' has the requisite liberal celeb quotes to show that Hollywood is bad BAD, a self- deprecating quip from Dick Cheney to Patrick Leahy 'Go F*ck yourself,' several quotes from Journalists to show that the 'liberal media' has it out for Conservatives and many Moore, Michael Moore, that is, who tops the list with this gem

The Iraqis who have risen up against the occupation are not 'insurgents' or 'terrorists' or 'The Enemy.' They are the REVOLUTION, the Minutemen, and their numbers will grow -- and they will win.

Reading all of these quotes reaffirms my faith in my politics and my peers. And, shooting for the 2005 list, the Boston Tea Party was a terrorist act.

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It's a little early for April Fools Day

I'm not sure what the normally sober Farhad Manjoo and the lithesome Katharine Mieszkowski were smoking by writing an apparently satiric psychic article at a time when most writers opine on the the past year. it features a link to DeeJayKay's blog, the apt-named Dick Cheney's apology and Bush's continued priortizing of important issues.

Check it out, it's quite amusing

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Listen to Riesen

In honor of already broken New Year's Resolutions I thought I would discuss the objects of my downfall.

Those of you that know me are aware that I am what they euphemistically call 'husky.' Although I tend to eat rather healthily I do tend to overeat. If I could cut back on my portions I would probably naturally slenderize.

In general I don't eat sweets. With a few exceptions. I am utterly helpless to ice cream and I have a jones for Riesen and/or Flake.

My first job at the tender age of 18 was at an ice cream store called Robin Rose at the Westside Pavillion. It was there I learned a deep appreciation of dairy and non-dairy frozen delectables that continues with me today. I know the effects of air, milk fat, eggs and sugar on heated cream. My refined palate knows when a maker cheats by adding milk solids and stabilizers or ruins the subtlety of flavors by adding preservatives. Haagen Dazs, Ben & Jerry's and a few other 'premium' ice creams are edible but i find them lacking You can taste the gunk they add to make the product last on store shelves.


I don't mean to be a snob but when you try a true ice cream without added crap, like the afore-linked Strauss Family Dairy or McConnell's of Santa Barbara and then try a mass-produced product like Breyers or Dreyers you can instantly tell the difference. And there is a difference. Even compared to HD and BJ, Strauss and McConnells's are still superior.

The first thing you notice is the large quantity of air that is whipped in the major brands. The air increases the volume of the product and effectively lowers the fat and calories per serving. That's because there is less actual ice cream per spoonful. It also tends to blend the flavors into a non-discernible amalgam of sweet. So you end up paying for flavorless air with some milk and sugar mixed in for looks. Many manufacturers try to hide the lack of flavor by adding mix-ins. Ben & Jerry's are particularly are fond of this tactic. Not only does it mask the poor quality base product it provides ample co-marketing opportunities.

My advice to you is to seek out smaller brands that don't fill the carton with crap. Read the label. If there are unpronounceable ingredients something is wrong. Trust me, it's a much better experience. And, let the Ice Cream soften. The spoon should slice through like a hot knife thorough butter.

Now for the candy.

Ah, Riesen. Chewy toffee covered in dark chocolate. Such a simple confection, such a dramatic flavor. I remember the first TV ads, as a child, when the product was launched. I went out that day and bought a package. I enjoyed them then and they have only gotten better as i have aged. Something about the combination of the sweet toffee juxtaposed to the bitter dark chocolate is just yummy.

Flake, it makes me laugh. This crumbly chocolate stick is essentially a drizzled stream of chocolate frozen in time. The delicate nature of the candy requires you to stop and pay attention to what you are enjoying. Unlike ice cream the added air benefits the flavor release of the chocolate. It falls apart in your mouth and the chocolate melts across all of your taste buds in an explosion of chocolately goodness.

Generally American candies are far too sweet for me. I like delicate flavors. I appreciate when Strawberry gelato tastes like fresh-picked strawberries, not strawberry Jello.

I hope you enjoyed my discourse on my addictions. If none of these existed I could drop 30 pounds in the next few months.

As a good Jew, maybe I'll try to give them up for Lent.

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Tsunami follow-up

I'm glad that we increased our federal aid to the Tsunami victims to $350 million but it's still not enough. Japan, a country not even one fifth the US, is giving $500 million. Yes, we are sending our military. Yes, American citizens are giving large amounts. But we have spent $300 BILLION on Iraq (almost 1000 times more than we are giving in humanitarian aid).

We are trying to win hearts and minds throughout the globe and Bush sat on his ass, for 4 days, on vacation in Crawford before coming out with minor compassionate increase. Now Bush loves his vacations. By August 2003 he had taken 250 days off. Bill Clinton, in his entire Presidency, all eight years, only took 152 days. But this may be the largest natural disaster in recorded history. It certainly is in the modern era. Here is the perfect opportunity to gain back some respect and Bush blows it. This is what his spokesman said the President's schedule was on Tuesday December 28

MR. DUFFY: The President is continuing to think about the Inauguration and the State of the Union speech; he's clearing some brush this morning; I think he has some friends coming in either today or tomorrow that he enjoys hosting; he's doing some biking and exercising as he normally does, taking walks with the First Lady; and thinking about what he wants to accomplish in the second term.

He's not calling foreign leaders trying to drum up aid. He's not working with congress to find more money for aid. He's not meeting with military leaders putting together a relief effort. He's clearing even more brush at the, grrrr, Western White House.

This guy isn't compassionate or conservative. He's a brush clearing stooge. We the people, nay, the entire world, deserve better.

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Delays

sorry for the delays in posting. here's why We lost power New Year's Day at 6:30am. We decided to just spend the day out and about rather than sit quietly at home. We returned to find the power restored but our dog, Betty, very sick. This morning I took her to the vet and now I have to deal with taking care of her. Between the almost constant rain, the resultant water damage and now my dog I'm a bit frazzled at the moment so I will post later today.

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