amazingadrian

I hope you all had a happy and safe 4th of July holiday, for those of you who were able to celebrate it. I read in the news that many places in the states had to cancel their fireworks shows because of the depression. We were planning to go to one here in Anderson, but the parents got into another one of their moods in which they'll make plans for something and then not do it. Instead, we went down to Iva to buy fireworks of our own to shoot off, and got probably more than we ever have because they were so cheap. I was startled by how wildly the prices of fireworks varied this year. Earlier in the week, I was able to pick up a bargain bag at the fireworks stand in the Wal-Mart parking lot for $20. That same $20 got me a whole shrink wrapped set of various fireworks, and then some in Iva.  We had a lot of fun, and even the parents got involved in actually shooting off the fireworks, something they've been doing rather infrequently since my brother and I have gotten older. To help celebrate, we also saw the new Transformers movie, Revenge Of The Fallen.

Now, Revenge got lambasted by reviewers, globally. I do not think I can remember a film that was so universally hated by critics (I'm pretty sure that the Star-Wars prequels had some decent reviews, though it probably depended on where you looked). Honestly, I can see why the critics hated this film...but I still found the movie to be rather enjoyable. Micheal Bay makes some really odd, questionable directing decisions in this film, and they will be immediately obvious to anyone who takes their movies seriously. But if you can look past the editing decisions and other mistakes of filmmaking, it's still a pretty awesome sequel to a movie that blew all the expectations right out of the water. Transformers fans will probably love it, and casual viewers will most likely enjoy it too. Serious movie watchers, on the other hand, are probably better off seeing something else.

Oh, and by the way...Linkin Park? They're definitely going alternative.

Not sure if I mentioned it in a recent post, but I've been told that I can work at the Vocational Rehab indefinitely. This is good in the way that I'll be earning money until X time in the future. It's bad in the way that it isn't an actual job; no benefits, no vacation, not enough pay to really live on...Just enough to get me by. I really need to try and do better than this, but I don't have much of a choice right now.

And the depression just keeps getting worse. I'm hearing now that the US Postal Service will be the next business that we'll lose. They're closing thousands of post offices, and if Federal Express and other mail transport services can't shoulder the load, in the coming months we'll probably be looking at a shipping crisis. That'll be fun to live through. :/  You know, when I was a little kid, I once predicted that we'd have another Great Depression, although I never dreamed that it'd ever actually happen. Come to think of it, I did make other predictions too, which also came true, but none of those were of any great significance. In any case, I know that the one we're going through now is not on the same level as the first one was, if only because for having lived through the first one, we made legislation to prevent such a thing from happening at the same extent. The system may be horribly broken, but we've still got those safety nets.

Anyhow, I'm doing ok, and actually having some fun out here. The situation isn't progressing so much as it is changing. Things are changing. Hopefully for the eventual better.

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Now playing: Air Supply - The Vanishing Race
via FoxyTunes   

Rhode Island is getting ready to change its name because of slavery.

It's the bullet Americans never knew they dodged: How the transition to digital television nearly cost Americans their technological freedom. Big producers and studios were going to use it as an excuse to put DRM in everything...at least, until the government intervened.

Arizona lawmakers recently made an ammendment to existing law so that for the first time since the days of the old west, firearms will now be allowed inside of bars.

Yep, it seems like they are actually going to do it; Chinese style censorship in Australia. I have friends there that I would kind of like to be able to stay in touch with, so I signed the petition. Please take some kind of action regarding this issue; you don't even have to be Australian to make your voice heard.




Edit: A little article, in case you don't believe me.

Son of Edit: Another article. Man, they're coming out of the woodwork now. The Internet is on fire.

( Fatalistic venting )

I recently ordered a DVD of Journey's Frontiers And Beyond. It's the 1983 documentary filmed for the band by the NFL, probably in return for the band's sponsorship of the football season of those years. It was released on VHS in 1984 as a Journey Fan Club exclusive, and as far as I am aware, that was the end of it. I ordered this CD/DVD set knowing full well that it was probably going to be a bootleg, but when I got it the production value was so good that I'm no longer sure of where it came from. It might actually be a limited-release promo, or something that was released many years ago but is no longer in print. The DVD itself is just a straight rip of the VHS. No menus or anything. Decent quality though. There doesn't appear to be any obvious aging...

The documentary is very much old school. It does, however, do an excellent job of showing how the band functioned at the height of their career, following the road crew as they tour arenas throughout the United States. It is an absolute trip to watch, because it is a poignant glimpse back into a time when the culture of the 80's was hitting its stride. It makes me wonder where all the 80's chicks have gone, because ridiculous as it sounds, I really find them attractive. The band is in top form, too. It is actually strange to see them so young. Stranger still to see Jonathan Cain come out from behind his grand piano and just totally rock out with Neal on a double-necked guitar. The music video for Faithfully is composed entirely of clips from this documentary.

I'm going to try and get in touch with the seller and see if I can get him to tell me where these discs came from. I don't really care if they are bootlegs, as that's the only way you can find them these days, and the quality on these are very good. My only gripe is that the CD portion of the set desperately needs to be remastered and that the video isn't closed captioned.

So chalk it up to my collection being one step closer to completion!

My room is almost done. All that is left is to install new shelving in the closet and bring up a dresser unit. Then I should be free to move the remainder of my stuff in here (assuming I can get to it by myself) and go through everything to determine what I am keeping and what I am getting rid of. I might be making offers to trade here later, although I don't expect I'll get any offers.

As for real plans after I get out of the work program, I'm going to try to not be as fatalistic in my outlook as I am feeling today; I get in these funks sometimes though. I feel better about it having vented. Anyhow, since my room is about done and I've got my stuff mostly unpacked now or at least where I can get to it, I'm going to crack open my school books and start making a dedicated effort to improve my skills in the way of web development and programming. I'm also going to attempt to bone up for some of the basic certs I can get...basically just go as far as I can with an associates degree level education. There may not be jobs around here, but if I get good enough, maybe I can freelance on the cheap for small businesses looking to build a web presence or something. Anything, you know? I will need to improve my skills first. On top of this, I intend to check into the temp agency, even if I end up working a dangerous factory job like my brother is...Plus there is also a job offer as a typist, but I need to get my wpm up to 85, so I'll be practicing that. May not be able to do it though, because from what I hear it is typing up recordings, and with my hearing being the way it is...

Oh yeah, and I just heard about the death of Micheal Jackson. I'm not partcularly a fan of his music, but the sudden death of a man who was so important to popular culture still comes as a huge shock. I find it ironic though, that his death would happen at a time when he is the least relevant in the world that he's ever been. His comeback album was a failure, and his behavior over these past few years has been downright bizarre. He went from being the most influential pop icon in the world to being the media approximation of a clown. But there can be no doubt that he contributed heavily to the shape that the 70's and 80's took, musically and to a lesser extent, socially. Heck, if I'm not mistaken, he was only the second artist after Journey to get his own video game. I wonder though...now that the "King of Pop" is dead, who will inherit the throne?

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Now playing: Sonata Arctica - Fullmoon
via FoxyTunes

What a surprise! Young raccoons inside a soda machine.


Lucky or unlucky? A 93 year old man was discovered to have survived both atomic bombs dropped in Japan, making him the world's only documented doulbe-A bomb survivor. While the human toll is always going to be catastrophic when you drop a nuke in a densely populated area, this man proves that nuclear strikes are survivable if things roll in your favor.

A wife in Connecticut became so desperate to get her husband's attention that she handcuffed herself to him.

My suspicion seems to have been correct: My Associate's Degree is completely worthless in Anderson right now. The other day I was able to meet with a representative from the South Carolina Work Commission, and she was unable to find me anything that I was qualified for. This is the exact same situation that happened last time I tried going through a temp agency (years ago, when I was still new to the area), and what originally led me to go to college.

It's just a bad string of circumstances that has completely derailed my life. I feel like I have no purpose now, nor do I have much hope of finding a real job anytime soon. If I could enlist, I would do it in a heartbeat...but they'll never take me with my disability.

Speaking of which, my left ear is totally blocked. Mom says I'll have to go to a doctor; she's afraid it might be an infection. I really don't know how I'm going to pay for that though. I suppose it could be worse.

Things came to a head regarding my room today. We got one of the dressers up, and then the parents got all upset when I took the opportunity to clear out my closet since I now had a place to store my clothes. I've spent most of the afternoon fighting with them, but that's all right; my room is now mostly done. I don't know why it is they choose to procrastinate so much regarding things of such importance (hello? comfort at home?), but I've got most of my stuff situated so I can live comfortably now, so I'm washing my hands of it. They can take however many years to get themselves unpacked as they want.

So things have been rather crazy over here lately. Between commitments in Second Life and the real world, I've been hella busy; although I think I am going to cut back on the former some. I did grab some more free music though; My first Halloween on livejournal, I shared some free music by these artists, but they have since put out some new albums. Antipode has released Superscape as well as an EP, while Doug The Eagle has released his Three Little Pigs album. Haven't had much of an opportunity to listen to them yet though.  I also had a freind introduce me to Doctor Steel, which seems really curious. (I'm sure scltspider  would get a kick out of it, though!)

On top of all this, I'm trying to get back into forum rp, especially in the Gaming Guardians, and possibly in ceg_lylat  too. We shall see.

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Now playing: Neal Schon - My Past Life
via FoxyTunes    

A dog in Berlin found a batch of unused American hand grenades from World War 2. A fortituous find considering that the anniversary of D-Day was only recently. Authorities where able to defuse the grenades successfully.

In 1994, a confused woman was found wandering a New Jersey shopping mall. Now, 15 years later, they finally know who she is.

It turns out that going to the gym can be a threat to your health! The vast majority of personal trainers are untrained themselves, face no peer review in order to enter the profession, and are often shortchanged by gyms trying to save money.

Sudden unexpected opportunities have come up today. For one thing, today was supposed to have been my last day in the job workshop at Vocational Rehab, but they decided to let me stay on for another month since they weren't able to get me into a job anywhere. So that will help a lot. If I work hard and save diligently, I may have enough money for that con that I was considering going to...but I don't know if I will be able to do that; I really can't take days off from the workshop; it's not a real job, so we don't get any vacation time.

My weekend is looking like it'll be pretty busy. In Second Life, I was made aware of a furry festival that one of the clubs I work with will be participating in. It's at IYC all weekend. I will be DJing at the Furpaws booth from 6pm to 8pm SLT on Sunday. It's for a good cause: All donations go to the World Wildlife Fund.

On top of that, I'll also be helping Rez Fantasy release their new wolf avatars, and DJing for Club Attacama's opening day (presumably). So there is lots going on this weekend. My room is almost done too. This weekend we are supposed to be moving up furniture so that I can finally clear out the closet. It's been an absolute mess ever since it collapsed from the weight of all my clothes.

Things are still not where I want to be, but there has been some improvement, I guess.


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Now playing: Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers - Mary Jane's Last Dance
via FoxyTunes    

Finally! It's a bout time. Honda has plans for a flying car.

Honestly, this is really the first time I've ever felt as though my childhood where being violated. Disney is going to remake Flight Of The Navigator. I'm not looking forward to it; it being in the 80's was part of its charm.

Here is an updated list of the most e-mailed photos currently in circulation.

( What's been going on with me... )
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Now playing: Alan Silvestri - Theme From "Flight of the Navigator"
via FoxyTunes    

An economist claims that the recession is now over based on statistical data.

The economics of automobile colors. What is trendy today, and how does that compare with trends in the past?

Supposedly, there is a way to practice divination and develop your ESP skills based on your astrological sign.

Here's a meme from skunktaur :

Your result for The Steampunk Style Test...

The Gadgeteer

36% Elegant, 52% Technological, 33% Historical, 24% Adventurous and 40% Playful!

In other news, Journey has reached another milestone in their illustrius careers. The song "Don't Stop Beleiving" has just become the most downloaded song in the history of the Internet, reaching a grand total of 2 million in sales and counting! The ironic thing is that the song wasn't even a #1 hit for the band when it charted, although it certainly did chart high for the band at #8. And now, after being ITune's top seller for nearly a decade, it has essentially become a permanent #1 hit for the band. Congratulations to the guys on making rock history...again!

There's also a movement to get them into the Hall of Fame, and their "Escape" album has been chosen as #1 of the top 600 albums by Rock Report.

While the subject is on music, I wrote an official review to spread the word about Coldplay's free album. You can find it here.

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Now playing: Journey - When You Love a Woman
via FoxyTunes   

Facebook has restructured recently, making a blatant greedy grab for all of their user's content. A new clause in their rules basically state that everything you post on Facebook essentially becomes their property for commercial use.

A 47 million year old primate fossil is being hailed as the long saught "missing link" in human evolution. Could this really be the final proof that humans evolved? Will it have as much of an impact on paleontology as people say it will? That much remains to be seen.

The same blog carries a blurb about a new book that someone wrote: "Idiot America: How Stupidity Became A Virtue In The Land Of A Free". This is deeply releiving for me, because for a while I was afraid that maybe I was the only one who noticed. I think maybe I'll try to track it down. It looks like an excellent and accurate discussion on the social state of America in today's world.

I found some awesome song parodies to share with you. You'll get a bigger kick out of them if you know the culture behind Second Life, but these songs are pretty well done.

( Song parodies under the cut )

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Now playing: Foolish Frost - Prim in my hand
via FoxyTunes

Meet The Spy


A small community doctor used a power drill to save a boy's life.

A boy in North Carolina held up a store with a banana and then ate it while he was captured.

Taken kindly from kindar :

suposedly Time Out's list of essential science fiction films. considering the original list included all the star trek, and only one star wars, I some how doubt it's the "essensial" list. so I've added those I could think of to it.

Italicise the ones you've seen, embolden those you like, and strike-through the ones you dislike.

( List of science fiction films below )
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Now playing: Stratovarius - SOS
via FoxyTunes

Check out this comprehensive listing of retro futuristic designs. They've compiled everything from film depictions of what the future may be like to concept technologies that never actually saw the light of day.

The College of William & Mary in Richmond, Virginia broke a world record for the most people involved in a simultaneous reenactment of Michael Jackson's "Thriller". Total number of zombies? 242.

Also, it seems that both Texas and Georgia are talking about secceding from the Union...again. While the talk in Georgia is mostly being discussed by political radicals, the Governer of Texas actually made a public statement that yes, seccession was on the table.

So the other day an announcement went out through the Journey website announcing the first news we've heard in the greater part of the year. Neal Schon himself came on to write what the band had in store on his blog. Not only are they in the process of writing a new album (this time with Arnel contributing), but they have two DVD's coming out; a doccumentary on Arnel's first year with the band, and the DVD of their Manila "homecoming" concert! All in all, they've been very busy this year.

Neal also left us with a little teaser of his own:


On top of this information, I also hear that Creed is getting back together and are working on a new album of their own! Surely, this is the year for my musical interests. It seems like almost all of the bands I'm following are putting out something new.

As for me, I went to a job fair yesterday. I was told that Walgreens wasn't going to hire me this time around, but my name was still on the waiting list and would remain there until they found an opening for me. In the meanwhile, I put in applications to every company that came to the fair, and did interviews with the ones who sent representatives. I feel as though I've hit it off rather well with them, in spite of having to compete with just about everybody else in the program. Put more effort into it than I usually do, so I might have more of a chance. Of course, there is always the transportation issue, and I was pretty upset when my mom implied that she wouldn't take me if I did get hired.

I need to get out of this town. Crime has gotten so bad here. First there was that drive by shooting on Applebees a few years ago, and now word is going around that a gunman came in and shot all the employees working at a Hardees in the area. A friend of mine made an offer to me to put me up in California if I can't find a job here. If I'm not able to work something out, I may have to seriously consider taking her up on that offer. My mom is getting so paranoid, I'm worried that she might actually try to keep me at home rather than let me go out and make a life for myself.

But I've still got a chance for now, so I'll see how things play out.

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Now playing: Backstreet Boys - As Long As You Love Me
via FoxyTunes    

If you thought the Burger King Mask was creepy enough, just wait until you check out the latest ads. The King has gone Klingon.

A lizard with lineage dating back to the dinosaurs has been found in the wild for the first time in 200 years.

Coldplay is offering a free live album at their website, of which hard copies will be given away at their concerts.

One of the oldest and largest furry sites on the web, FurNation, has ended today. I was never a part of it, but I used to always remember hearing something about it back when I was first looking into the fandom. I was given the impression that it was good at organizing events, always had a presence at most cons, acted as a publisher for comics or magazines at one point, and simply became one of the points around which the furry fandom gathered around. The website logo became distinctive and familiar. They had a presence in Second Life too, and were responsible for helping to create what has pretty much become the largest group of sims owned by furries.

Today I hung out in Second Life, on what would be FurNation Prime's final day. At around noon, a tour group went through the sim, going over all the establishments on the land. Then Nexxus Ambassador appeared along with the site owners, who stood at all of the places they owned. I stood with one of them and watched as Nexxus flew around the sim along with a small entourage of followers, returning everything on the land until there was nothing left. It was surreal. First the went the freaking Luxor Pyramid at the heart of FurNation worlds, and then the other establishments where pulled up in order from largest to smallest. Trees and paving where taken away too. It all took around a minute and then there was simply a wasteland, and nothing more. Then Nexxus Ambassador himself left for good; one of his friends told me he was going to stop using the account because of all the debt attached to it. FurNation Prime would be returned to the Lindens, and the server sold.

Fortunately Prime is the only sim that is closing down for now, otherwise it'd be the Second Life equivalent of having the furry home planet destroyed. There are other furry sims that are not attatched to FurNation, but FN is the largest furry owned landmass on the grid. Nexxuss himself only owned Prime, so that is the only one that is going. Heroes, Hell, Fusion, Gryphon, ect. will all remain. And the website itself, which has been running since around 1996, will also be taken down. Beyond Second Life, I never really took part in it. In the early days, the few times I'd go to look at it, the interface would be confusing or the site map wouldn't work or perhaps it just wasn't compatible with my browser at all. I eventually gave up on it, but FurNation Prime was one of the first places that I visited when I signed onto Second Life, and I'm a little sad to see it go.

So the recession claims two more losses. Chrysler and FurNation. Is the end in sight?

On Mother's day I saw Star Trek. You can read what I think of it here.

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Still don't believe in Global Warming? The World's Highest Ski Run has completely melted away.

Also, a discussion with a friend of mine recently turned up with this. Doesn't it bring back the memories? The Nineties really was the decade of awesome. Someone aught to petition Pepsi to bring this stuff back. I miss it as much as I miss Ghostbusters cereal-terribly. ;_;



Despite the fact that no one can deny that Global Warming is happening, there are still many debates as to the hows and whys. In fact, there is so much conflicting information that no one knows anything about what we can possibly do about it.  One of the theories is that the Earth warms and cools over natural, million-year cycles, and that we are experiencing the first one in human history. However, even this is complicated by the fact that such cycles are usually triggered by changes in the Earth's tilt, which isn't happening now.

Lately there have been disturbing rumors floating around in Second Life. For a long while now, debate has raged over Linden Lab's desire to require age verification on the main grid, quite a baffling prospect, since the main grid is supposed to be 18+ by default, and can be quite risqué in places. Even though the majority of the adult population is against it, Linden Labs has decided to go through with implementation...and at almost the same time, Phil Linden described in an interview plans to merge the Teen Grid with the main (adult) one.

My initial thought was...what the fuck are they on?!

Second Life is built entirely on user created content. This is something that Lindon Labs has almost no control over, and since these are adults building an adult society, Second Life is no place for kids. While there are areas that are strictly PG, It doesn't take much to wander around and find a red light district. Compounding this are the swaths of subcultures that make their home here, some of which are very adult indeed. Merging the grids would be the real life equivalent of the United States taking age restrictions off of all bars and taverns and allowing them to be built next to schools again.

Lindon Labs has been pushing through changes lately that almost everyone is against: The mandatory age verification for adult grid residents, and the creation of a landmass named Ursula, to which the Lindens plan to move everything deemed "adult" material. Protest posters can be found at just about every vendor, and the "bug fix petition" has 3,000+ votes against these changes already. Still, the Labs are moving inexorably forward, and anyone with half a brain can tell the direction they are going in.

The problem is that simply defining "adult" material is going to be a huge problem, especially in a place like Second Life, which has run on unrestrained freedom of expression and creativity since practically its inception. While the Labs say they won't be banning anything outright, many vendors are worried that a forced move will negatively impact their business, and there are fears that the age verification system will be buggy, and lock out actual adults (a very real fear, given Second Life's track record). Many residents feel as though they are being kicked off their own grid to make room for the "kiddies". Complicating matters is the idea that while many teenagers are more mature than a lot of the adults on the main grid, their number is eclipsed by the youngsters who are immature; by merging the grids, Lindon Labs may be inadvertently letting in another griefer wave, and just when they had managed to tighten restrictions on the 4/channers and "Patriotic Nigras" that where already here. Even if this doesn't happen, perceptions will cause a lot of discrimination against younger players; they might very well become the next furries.

And all that is just the tip of the iceberg. They are also planning to censor words in Search, which could even farther limit the productivity of many vendors, even if they sell strictly innocent objects. There are many opportunities to step on toes when making these changes, and given Lindon Lab's history with rolling things out without properly thinking things through, the general consensus is that Second Life isn't going to survive these sudden, inexplicable changes in policy. It will be just like the decision to eliminate gambling, which completely trashed Second Life's economy for a while; only this time it won't be the economy that is in jeopardy, but Second Life's reputation as a free-thinking, creativity encouraging Internet society.

Further Reading: Blue Linden makes Lindon Lab's case for these policy changes. He says that there are already many teens on the main grid, in spite of the current policy that the main grid is 18+ only (they lie to get in), that teens on the Teen Grid are the "nice kids" who don't lie about their ages and are more mature than most residents on the main grid (a fact that several teens have disputed), and that the large majority of parcels on the grid will remain "mature" with only a small few deemed "adult" being required to move to Ursula. If these changes are all made, the final shape of Second Life will be one in which only the registered adults have full access to the world; with those who are not registered being confined to the main grid and only "PG" and "Mature" designated areas. This could be a workable solution, but there are still fears that what some people consider "Mature" others will see as "adult", which would raise liability for litigation from those who are particularly puritanical.

I've talked with Blue Linden myself via e-mail, and he confirmed that the idea was on the table, but that as yet it was only an idea. Despite the changes to the adult verification policy that they are rolling through amongst enormous unpopularity, there are currently no actual plans to merge the two grids, and it is uncertain when or even if they are going to actually implement it.

It is because of this and other factors that I have been considering withdrawing from Second Life lately. I'll give it some more time to see what happens and how I ultimately feel about it, but suffice it to say that some things have happened that have left me feeling disenfranchised about the whole thing, and this is one of them. While the subject is on Second Life, here are some random pictures I've taken of the places I've been recently:



Oh yeah, and I wrote another article.

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So what happens if you cut your spending and still come up short? Here's an article that lists 8 ways to boost your income.

An ex-NFL player turned fugitive was killed in a car crash in Greece recently, leaving behind an unsolved criminal mystery and a very weird sports legacy.

There are supposedly real cases of people being raised by animals, resulting in feral children.

I got a new playlist for Spring! Putting it up in my profile too, but here it is, for those who care to listen:

A friend of mine brought my attention to a new article written about the furry fandom.

The whole article can be found here, but here are a few choice quips:

"Sarah says many furries “got teased badly as kids or as adults, and here they are not. I was a girl who was into dinosaurs and science instead of the stereotypical girl stuff. These other people are into what I’m into. Humans are always looking for social acceptance from our parents, lovers or wherever. This is one outlet where you can find it.”"

"People create fursonas for escapist fantasies or as vehicles for self-discovery. Norman’s fursona is a rat. “I have the lab-rat mentality of doing things over and over again,” he says. “So I have that [fursona] as a humorous reminder to myself to break out of these habits.”"

"One of the largest misconceptions is that everyone in the fandom wears a fursuit. A survey of 600 furries was taken by the Department of Psychology at the University of California at Davis in 2007. The results showed that only 18% have fursuits.
“You’ve got to understand that fursuits put tremendous strain on your body,” Mark says. “They are incredibly hot. You do not dress up in those suits and have sex. That’s just ridiculous.” He also discounts the concept of fursuit orgies, or “furpiles,” as impossible. “The thing is, the fursuit is not the kink,” Mark says. “The idea that animal people are attractive and wouldn’t have the same inhibitions as humans, that’s the kink.”"

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Now playing: Murderdolls - White Wedding
via FoxyTunes   

Mark your calendars! May 10th is hereby declared to be the International Day Of Awesome! So go do something Awesome!

Washington DC now has an HIV rate higher than West Africa's, with an estimated three percent of the population confirmed HIV positive.

10 Financial Commandments you should try to follow while you are in your 20's.

Not much to write about today, other than the fact that I saw the movie this weekend. It was good. And more surprisingly, it was accurate (to a degree). Hugh Jackman has never looked better as Wolverine, and with this film, he puts himself up there with Christopher Reeve as "most appearances in film as a single character". I think they're both tied. Anyhow, early reports that the film sucked where largely overrated; I don't know about the unfinished bootleg, but the theatrical release was very entertaining. Also, I just got finished watching X2, and I was surprised to discover that there weren't any continuity conflicts! Yeah, that must be a first, especially for 20th Century Fox. Although I hear that this movie was put together by people who where fans of the comic, as opposed to people who where beholden to hollywood, so it didn't turn out nearly as bad as X-3 did. Anyhow, I wrote a full review of it here, and that's all I'm going to say about it.

I called into work this morning and was told that they didn't have any work in yet. He told me to call back tomorrow; apparently they need to go over the schedule and see when they are getting new shipments in. I'm hoping Walgreens is going to call this month; I'm not terribly concerned about there not being work at the Vocational Rehab...

It's just a blah day.

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Now playing: CasteVania: Symphony Of The Night OST - The Tragic Prince
via FoxyTunes

Apparently, there is another Spawn movie in the works.

During the Bush administration, most people where worried about government wiretapping. But the truth is, anyone can do it. This investigative report shows just how easy it is to wiretap any kind of cell phone, and what exactly can be done with them once they are bugged.

Oh yeah, and here's a 12 year old kid who can approach Steve Perry in his singing voice. Listen to him do "Don't Stop Believing".

Ugh. Tuesday was a terrible day for me. Misunderstandings between my parents and myself abounded, I didn't get any sleep at all that night, and the alarm clock failed to wake me up when I did finally get to sleep. Thanks to my Mom, I did manage to catch the bus...but we ended up only working a half day anyways because we ran out of things to do. With all the work completed, they laid most of us off for a week or so. They told me to call back on the 5th to see if there was any more work to be done. :/

I haven't had a day like that in a while. Hopefully this weekend will be better. I'm going with my Mom to see the new Wolverine movie. I've heard from the cast of hijinks_ensue, who partook of the leaked version of the film, that it really wasn't all that good. Personally, I think the theatrical version will be better, but I haven't seen the bootleg, myself. Seems there are lots of rumors already about the aftermath of this film too. From what I've heard, Iron Man 2 will be the next one.

And my closet just collapsed. Cumulative effect of having to cram all of my clothes in it while waiting for my room to get done. For a moment I thought something had exploded outside the house.

---

Apparently, there is a new MMO in the works that is procedurally generated. Rumor is that LOVE will allow you to change the landscape as you go through the worlds in it.

It's looking like Chrysler is going to file for bankruptcy, making it the first of the big three to fall, and the latest company to fold under the recession.

Also, check out these giant wind-chimes. Selling for 3k and weighing in at 200 pounds.

My weekend was kind of a downer. I spent most of Saturday camping out in the den because my Mom was doing the woodwork. She didn't hardly get any of it done-just a single wall in an entire day's work. I asked her repeatedly if she needed help, but she always declined. She tells me it is very delicate work. I am thinking professionals would still get it done faster. In any case, the room is now in a perpetual state of near completion, and I am starting to get fed up with it again.

I found out last weekend that a good friend of mine and the GM of one of my games was in the hospital ER for acid reflux, so I'm kind of worried about him now. I know it isn't the most major of aliments, but having dealt with occasional bouts myself, I know it's less than pleasant, especially when you've got the severe kind like he did. I just hope he can get the medicine he needs for it, but in this economy, it's pretty doubtful. Heck, I injured my own thumb recently...not sure if I mentioned it. I am not sure if I needed stitches or not, but it seems to be healing nicely without them so far...though to be honest, I would have had to decline the stitches if I had needed them; I can't really afford to be doctored either at this point.

On Friday I was told that Walgreens wasn't hiring, so I'm really not sure now if they will take me in or not, even though I have gone through their job training. This really casts a lot of things in doubt, including the possibility of my attending DEFCON. I've still got a month though before I have to start bicycling around town begging for work...even if I don't get a job, at least I'll get plenty of exercise. Not sure how many exactly, but there are many miles between where I live and Anderson.

I wrote another article. Go me. "Professional" review of The Storm's debut album. I really wish I could write more timely reviews, but unlike some of my friends, I really can't afford to hit the music and movies every week. So far my DragonBall: Evolution review seems to be the most popular one I've written.

Weird! I discovered another Journey Tribute Band, and this one is by far the weirdest. Journey Unauthorized! takes it a step farther by having each and every member of the band look like the band member they are emulating in the real thing! They seem hung up on Evolution era Journey. Not too sure how they sound though, and I believe Hugo is still a better Perry likeness; but you get a real sense of fun from these guys that was absent with Hugo's band.

Other than that, there's nothing new really going on with me.

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Now playing: Journey - Send Her My Love
via FoxyTunes    

The typeface Comic Sans has inspired an entire movement trying to get it banned. Read more about the font you love to hate.

An interactive map shows a timelapse of the United States hemorhagging jobs during the latest depression. How has your area fared?

A robot has been created that can not only run science experiments by itself, but come up with new experiments to run. The robotic scientist marks a first for A.I. development, and can operate completely without human supervision.

( New strain of swine flu )

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Now playing: MimicryOfGod
via FoxyTunes

Word on the streets is that there is a full production theatrical of Dr. Horrible in the works.

A man in New Jersey discovered a clever way to steal cash from restaurant goers by posing as a waiter and taking their payments.

The Federal Government has recently put out a want ad for computer hackers...not to prosecute them, but to hire them.

This is not my week, I guess.

On Monday, I was unable to go to work because the van never came to get me. Apparently, the person at the Vocational Rehab that had been overseeing my job training at Walgreens neglected to inform the driver that I was finished with the program, and Monday is usually a Walgreens day for me. No matter, I've gotten that fixed now.  On Tuesday, I cut a large chunk out of my thumb while trying to cut yarn off the spool with a pair of scissors (they had run out of knives).  Today I learned that the transportation would be cut off for good May 29th. Apparently, the state told all of the Vocational Rehabilitation departments to lose thier vans, and ours looses their last one on that date. Fortunately for me, I only have a week left to go in the overall program after that date, so it may not be so bad for me, but it will essentially cut their workshop workforce in half and cast a lot of people currently looking for jobs back out on the streets. Not that they particularly need a whole bunch of people working in their workshop; we've been running out of things to do lately, as the usual shipments of goods to work with have been coming in reduced numbers.  Hopefully, I will be getting a call from Walgreens before or around the 29th next month, so the whole point won't matter to me anyways.

In other news, I have recently begun reading JoJo's Bizarre Adventure. It is...bizarre, but I like it. Right now, it is only fan-translated, so it seems a little spotty in places; it is better toward the beginning and tends to get worse as it goes on. I love the character design; these are some of the best in all of anime. The Joestars are always impeccably dressed to the point of being overdone. Also, forget what you know: Dio Brando is the best villain ever. Name the most dastardly villain you can think of and then read the manga. I gurantee you that you'll change your mind faster than it takes a steamroller to fall on your head. WRYYYYYY!

I also wrote another article, this one as my official review of DragonBall: Evolution. It seems to be taken in high regard, so far; probably the best response out of all the reviews I have written. Please go check it out!

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Now playing: Journey - Lovin' You Is Easy
via FoxyTunes    

One of the great flaws of computer generated random numbers is that they are not truly random; being generated as they are by predictable mathematical formulas. Well, someone, I beleive it was j_wolfman , showed me a website that claims to generate numbers that are 100% random. It does this by using atmospheric noise to create numbers.

These days, there is a veritable parade of box office dissapointments, and big budget anything usually fails to make up the monetary funds that where put into making it. But what where the biggest movie failures of all time?

And here's an article that tries your sensibilities: A look at the origins of the middle finger as an offensive gesture.

 

( Books and music and more )
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Now playing: Bad English - Price of Love
via FoxyTunes    

Medicine has grown and evolved throughout the years, and by now alternative childbirths are not a new thing. But a growing number of women claim to have discovered a breakthrough alternative in which childbirth is not only painless, but actually orgasmic. I suppose it could be possible.

And now, straight from the President of Nintendo Of America: Wii games are not profitable. They estimate that in order to earn profits, a game needs to sell one million copies; a sell rate that only 16 Wii titles have successfully acheived.  Could this be part of the reason why third-party developers have abandoned Nintendo?

A woman divorced her husband recently for cleaning too much.