27 June, 2007

semi-informational message

this is for those of you who've wandered over here from somewhere other than WikiFray (ie: people who didn't know me before i started this page). first, if i've not personally welcomed you, i do so now. second, you may have noticed the option to comment in a forum, instead of traditional blogger-style comments. if you haven't read any comments in the forum, i invite you to do so. not only do you get threaded comments (far easier to navigate), but there are some interesting people to talk to. some assholes and lunatics too, but that's normal as well.

anyway, you have the option, should you choose it. if you like it, you can add the same capability to your page. if you don't, well, then you don't.

more unintentional advertising

today's example is a PSA against smoking pot (something i'm actually fond of myself, so i may be biased here). this time, you can actually watch it! the clip is called "dog". most of ads from this group tend to be pretty good, as they don't use the "scare the fuck out of kids with lies" tactic. instead, they simply let you know that smoking lots of pot will motivate you to do little beyond sit on the couch all day and play video games. we'll not get into the cause/effect thing here.

anyway, the recent message has be pot changes your friends (into grateful dead listening, bongo drum playing, tie-dye wearing hippies! no? just into kids who look like they stayed up till 2am, watching bad movies? okay.) and keeps them from doing fun, non-drug related things with you. this one carries the same theme, only it slips in an unintentional message. why? because the lecturing, lonely friend is some teenaged girl's dog. onward!

the ad: a tastefully typical teenage girl comes home from school, drops her books on the counter and procedes to grab a soda from the fridge. her dog saunters in behind her, hops up onto a stool and then gently reprimands her for her smoking of the evil weed, as she no longer plays with him. but if she wants to, he'll be outside. she intially looks confused, cause her dog is talking to her, but then collapses into sorrow as she reflects on the loss of puppy love.

the intentional message: smoking pot will keep you from playing with your dog. since dog is man's best friend, this also keeps you from your best friend. see! drugs are bad!

the unintentional message: holy fuck! if you smoke enough kind bud, you can talk to your dog! that's awesome. pass me the bong.

which message wins? you decide!

25 June, 2007

thank god for common sense

the chungs, though recent immigrants from korea, may be unique amongst americans. why? because common sense reigned in the end when they got sued. seriously, did this man think he could get $54 million because the dry cleaners lost his pants? i mean, i suppose the odds are better than, say, powerball. but not much. at least they shouldn't be. this bit is particularly pleasing:

In a 23-page finding of fact, Bartnoff wrote: "A reasonable consumer would not interpret 'Satisfaction Guaranteed' to mean that a merchant is required to satisfy a customer's unreasonable demands or accede to demands that the merchant has reasonable grounds to dispute."
it's nice to know there is still some small measure of justice in the world.

how to prevent red sox fans from invading your park

over on ESPN's page, there is an article by buster oleney that i cannot read (since i don't feel like springing for an insider account. yes, i'm that cheap). but, the jist, from what i can read of it, is that tony gwynn is/was pissed that PETCO park was taken over by boston fans for the weekend series against his former and beloved padres.

tony, i've got no sympathy for you. or, frankly, for any team, in any city, that complains about being invaded by sox fans when boston is in town. why? because it's very easy to prevent visiting fans from overwhelming the home crowd. buy tickets for your fucking hometown team. if you don't want to be overrun by opposing fans, don't allow for it. if you don't support your team, then don't complain if fans who are rabid followers of theirs take over your park. cause it's your own fault.

the argument against immortality

i caught part of a show on the discovery channel last night, about time (in general). during the segement i watched, the host (a physicist, i think) was discussing the possibility of discovering a biological means to circumvent death. the premumption was this is a possibility, provided we figure out how to either shut off the cell aging process, or kept cell replication turned on. either way, the implication is there is no biological need to die, so let's figure out how to prevent death.

this is a very bad idea.

why? everyone supposedly wants eternal life (although, to be precise, everyone actually wants eternal youth, as swift so kindly points out to us). what's wrong with living forever? well a couple of things.

first and foremost, to the best of our knowledge matter is finite. if one does not die, one never returns to the system. on it's own, this is not particually much of a problem. where it becomes one is when one reproduces. consider this: there are currently a bit over 6 billion humans alive. imagine if suddenly, no one would ever die of old age again. now imagine birth rates don't change. how quickly would we run out of, well, everything? just because one doesn't die of old age, doesn't mean one cannot starve to death.

so, do we allow only childless persons to live forever, on the condition they be sterilized? or, even grandfather in all living persons, on the condition the human race cease reproduction? who would agree to that? what other options are there? exoplanetary colonization? still a long way to go towards achieving that.

ah, but if no one dies, then time is no longer important, right? we could hold off on reproduction untill we find a solution to potential over population, right? perhaps. but consider how one's thinking grows more conservative with age. would this be stopped by halting cell aging? or would people grow ever more stubborn with the passage of centuries? innovation is, typically, driven by youth because of the lack of experience.

often, our philosophies deal with dualism. without darkness, the can be no light. without conflict, no peace. without sorrow, no joy. is the same true of life and death? will we still be truly living, in more than a biological sense, without knowledge of our mortality? this same show, wondering about how we can excise death, also claims knowledge of death as foundation for human culture and belief systems. we believe we are the only animals on the planet attuned to our own mortality (well, the show's writers do; i don't necessarily agree). one could then argue, if one still felt the need to make humans special, that self-awarness is not sentience; knowledge of mortality is. would then, immortality remove our sentience? a semantic point, perhaps. but it would change humanity, and not necessarily for the better.

the prospect of a cessation of one's existance is certainly frightening. i'm in no hurry to experience it myself. however, it also seems necessary. we know that upsetting the balance of systems creates chaos until they can regain equilibrium. immortalizing all humans would certainly unbalance nearly every ecological system we know. what would the cost of regaining it be? i don't think it's worth it; not even for myself or my loved ones. too much else would be lost.

22 June, 2007

some more recent work

this week's batch of pots. the oilspot ran a bit (er, a lot, acutally) and my attempt to manufacture purple on the interior of the tea bowls failed (too much cobalt carbonate and not enough reduction). on the other hand, the temmoku came out damn near perfect. enjoy:


Planter/Cache Pot: Gustin Shino w/wax resist


Vase: Oilspot combo


Pair of tea bowls: Light Blue Matte exterior; Oxblood w/cobalt carbonate interior


Small bowl: Red Shino


Bowl: Temmoku

21 June, 2007

the pluses and minues of last night's sox game

plus: they won, in resounding fashion. despite airing on ESPN. perse thinks it's time for me to put my ongoing superstition about them always losing when ESPN airs to game to rest. however, this is the first wed. night one i've caught, so i'm just not sure i can do that yet.

minus: since it was on ESPN, they cut to every-fucking-single sammy sosa at bat. i understand that it's a national broadcast, but still...who's watching other than sox and braves fans? and i would have been fine with a split-screen or PIP cut. but no, they completely fucking cut over, so i have no idea what in the name of god is going on in the game i want to watch. bastards. lingered far too long on the after homerun celebration too.

plus: another good night for coco. tough one for lugo, cause he got some bad breaks. but better swings from him, so that's good. i like drew in the lead-off spot too. drew, pedrioia, papi, manny, youk...keep that as the 1-5 even when lowell plays.

minus: espn's announcers suck. and the psuedo-conspiracy theory they tried to start, regarding tavarez wiping his sweaty head before most pitches, was just wrong. and rude.

plus: tavarez pitched a damn good game. if we can keep getting near this production out him in the 5 spot, that's fantastic.

expect hit & runs to increase in austin

accidents happen. rather often, actually. generally, it is taken as a good thing to actually stay at the scene of an accident and make sure everyone is okay. it seems, however, that is not the case in austin, tx.

now, i'm of the mind that, upon hitting a child with your car, getting out to check on him and make sure you didn't kill or seriously hurt him is laudable. no one wants to run over a kid (well, usually). so, upon seeing a driver get out and check on said injured child, what is the reaction of bystanders? to try and beat the fuck out of the driver. and to then beat his passenger to death, for the sin of trying to prevent them from beating the fuck out of the driver. nice going folks. way to insure no one will ever stop again, if they think they hit someone.

meanwhile, the kid is hurt, but not too badly.

since everyone seems to like quizes

i give you a link to "the impossible quiz!" mind you, it's not actually impossible, but it is chockfull of trick questions. enjoy.

20 June, 2007

why i hate call in shows

during last night's rain delay, they switched over to a sports talk show. i made it through 2 callers before deciding i'd rather risk missing the end of the game (since it did continue) than listen to these people. at least the host was sensible.

first, we had some guy wondering if it made sense to trade lugo to the O's for tejada, straight up. to which the host replied along the lines of: "are you fucking crazy? why would the O's accept that?" this guy then suggested scheduling fewer series against the "lesser" teams, which again got a reply along the lines of "are you fucking crazy? you think MLB is going to offically designate certain teams as sucking, before the season starts?"

then we had the next dumbass, wondering why lugo wasn't sitting in place of cora all the time. uh, perhaps it's because, despite his hot start (now cooled), cora can't hit. seriously his career EQA is .238, OBP is .311 and SLG is .348 (.659 OPS, that is). and no, it's not because he's not playing every day. in 2003, he had 477 AB, and an OPS of .625. this is why cora is a utility player. lugo, meanwhile, is .259/.335/.395 (.730 OPS). certainly not great, but also certainly better than cora.

that's all i could take. does anyone actually listen to these regularly? if so, why?

19 June, 2007

good to know







but i'm guessing not everyone is inclined to agree with these results.

god hates road rage

perse sent me this link, after she was abushed/interviewed on the subject outside of starbucks this morning, by a local man-or-woman-on-the-street reporter. apparently, the vatican has issued a document containing the 10 commandments of driving. i wonder if it will be adopted by the "what would jesus drive" folks?

anyway, my favorite is commandment #2: "The road shall be for you a means of communion between people and not of mortal harm." most excellent. it's no longer just a way to get from point a to point b (hell, trains can do that!). now it's damn near a sacrament.

holy crap!

for those of us curious about what mysteries lie hid deep within the creation museum, but just not curious enough to actually bother going to it...behold! there is an answer. yes, a kindly young couple (with nifty cool t-shirts) went undercover for us, and present for all a photo-journalistic journey through the creation museum.

i find myself oddly disturbed, saddened and fascinated at the twisting attempts to turn evidence for evolutionary and plate tectonic theories into support for young earth creationism. and yet, they still can't seem to escape observations such as this.

part of me wants to applaud their faith, yet i cannot. because it is a false faith. yes, i know faith is believing something to be true when you have no proof that it is. however, that does not equate to believing something to be true when it has been conclusively demonstrated to be false. to maintain such unwavering belief in falsehoods demeans what faith should truly be.

this is now ridiculous

i may have mentioned this before, but every single fucking time i've watched the sox play on ESPN, they've lost. considering this is the only time i see the games on tv, it is most frustrating.

last night was no exception. good night for coco though, at least. that's about the only high note from the game.

fucking braves.

18 June, 2007

lessons from sitemeter

silly quizes drive up traffic. photos of pottery, links to tobacco pipes and baseball...not so much.

good to know. not that i'll make any use of it.

15 June, 2007

it's mine, all mine!

and i'm smoking it right now. ah...so very nice.

i've got the bestest girlfriend ever. [grin]

14 June, 2007

my muse is...

swiped from keifus

You scored as Clio, You are Clio, the muse of history. You love academic pursuits, but still know to have fun. You're a bit of a tease and a prankster.

Erato

63%

Thalia

63%

Euterpe

63%

Clio

63%

Calliope

56%

Terpischore

44%

Melpomene

44%

Urania

38%

Polyhymnia

19%

Which of the Greek Muses are you?
created with QuizFarm.com


apparently i'm actually 4 muses. so i suppose it means it's a mood thing. or their domains overlap. perhaps both.

not at bad at math as i thought

You Passed 8th Grade Math

Congratulations, you got 9/10 correct!


don't i feel accomplished? i still remember basic algebra! ah well, it was geometry that i tended to screw up on. and mid-to-high level calculus.

13 June, 2007

bugger

i can't recall the name of the nursery i used to order plants from, to get my dad hostas for father's day. anyone have suggestions for a good mail-order nursery (besides jackson & perkins, which would be good if i wanted to get roses. but i don't).

this is what happens when one stops getting catalogs.

EDIT 6/14: found it. oh, and happy flag day too.

some recent work

a few photos of what i've been up to of late, in the studio:


Spherical bowl; Spodumene w/Temple White


Vase; Spodumene


Spherical bowl w/altered rim; Crazy Green


Small bowl w/altered rim; Mamo


Pair of small bowls; Mamo exterior, Oxblood interior


Pair of small bowls; Light Blue Matte w/SJ Black rims


Fruit bowl; Spodumene w/Temple White interior

oh yeah, i'm big time!


My blog is worth $564.54.
How much is your blog worth?



heh. well, maybe not.

12 June, 2007

any of you pipe smokers?

if so, and if you've not found it on your own, this is a drool-worthy site for pipes. nice selection of new, and a great selection of estate pipes (couple of dunhills listed that i'm lusting after. such as this one).

claude, i know you quit, so i apologize if this is cruel.

a few vacation shots

these were taken by perse. mine are mostly b&w film, and so still need to be developed. enjoy:

orient beach:


view from our villa:


at the butterfly farm:

11 June, 2007

here come the yankees?

that's the title of this article. sure, their hitters are dangerous. but the pitching is still spotty, and the hitting has been streaky. also, shouldn't "here come the yankees!" wait, um, untill they get over .500 ball? yes, they've got a 6 game win streak (3 wins against the pirates, hooray!). but, um, they're still 9 1/2 out, and still under .500. please.

back from vacation

and just in time for a 10AM meeting! oh boy.