muddysmind.com

EvE Online Hit! Dangit..

LulzSec The Lulz Boat
We just wiped out the login server for Eve Online, and it accidentally took their website out at the same time: eveonline.com
36 minutes ago

iCloud = I don't think so

So Apple announced the iCloud, which has all kinds of great images and industry buzz words to make it sound like the second coming.
Reality is a bit different.
Sure Apple fan boys will latch onto the tit of iCould and suckle till the milk runs out, but that does not mean it will succeed in the mass market.

What is the purpose of the "if you have it, scan it and we'll add it to your library" feature if it's NOT to get you your music on the go?
I have stream furious, DI app, Google listen and many other music and audio streaming apps, but guess what? It's the almost 16g of music I loaded onto my phone that get's 95% of my listening time.
I can already stream my entire music collection to my phone anywhere but don't.
Why?
Quality and reliability.
Would you rather listen to a 500kbps song with crisp highs, tight lows and clear mids, or a stream that cuts out frequently and at 64-128kbps sounds like a cheap fm radio?
I think it's a no brainier.
Now I know not everyone likes their music to sound good, which is why iCloud will have customers.
People who live in a perfect world and have perfect bandwidth on the phones, tablets and mobile devices will have a joyous time.
The rest of us in the real world will either avoid this all together or try it and realize it's too soon for something like this.

How To: PowerAMP playlists

So I have this great app called PowerAMP
on my Galaxy S phone.
Everything it does is fantastic, except for the playlists.
They get wiped out if you reboot the phone, which I do daily due to the custom rom I use has some video quirks.
So, I figured why not try to make my own playlist in Audacious and save it on the phone to see if it works, it does.
Connect up your phone and mount it via usb like normal. Open up Audacious (or whatever program you winders/apple folks use) and click the files you want to put into the play list. Save the playlist to the folder your music is kept. Open the file in your favorite text editor that has a replace function like gedit.
Replace all the text that relates to your computer and leave the parts that relate to your phone, for example.
My playlist had lines like :
/media/16G/music/jpop/file_name_here
Well my music was in the /music/jpop directory on the phone so I used the replace function in my text editor to remove the path that was part of my computer, replaced /media/16G/music with nothing and ended up with ;
/jpop/file_name_here
Since the playlist file was in the music folder already there was no need to put that in the path.

*edit 2011/06/08*
Seems the playlists you create in this manner are also prone to be magically deleted by the Android OS.
Working on a workaround for my workaround.

Obsidian vs. Heroic Halfus 2011/04/27

Just another day in the Obsidian office. Since we have our first heroic Halfus kill on youtube already I'm making this one available for download in full glorious HD.
If you can't play it try VLC, the best media player out there, and it's free! VideoLAN - Official page for VLC media player, the Open Source video framework!

Obsidian vs. Heroic Halfus 2011/04/27

I'm with Stupid

MARCH 19, 2011
OBAMA: 'Today we are part of a broad coalition. We are answering the calls of a threatened people. And we are acting in the interests of the United States and the world'...

NOOOOOOOO!!!
Get the *%$#! Out of Libya!

George Bush #2 is your new name Mr. Obama.

Timeless

Prudence, indeed, will dictate that governments long
established should not be changed for light and transient causes;
and accordingly all experience hath shown that mankind are more
disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable than to right
themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed.
-Declaration of Independence

Say "Thank You" and mean it

Just a little rant here.
I read a post up on the Wide Island and it got me thinking about something that has been in and out of thought for a few months now.
We don't hear "Thank You" too much any more, at least not in Ohio.

I know it sounds so basic, but it should be an automagic response when your doing business. For instance my local Whole Foods has a great store, clean, well laid out, super friendly people but the one basic thing you don't hear much of is a simple thank you.
Contrast by the Chick-fil-a's in town is a night and day difference in attitude. They welcome you when you enter, are very polite in service and always say thank you when you pay.
If you think about this economy and how badly all business need to not only get new customers but keep their old ones, how much an earnest and simple thank you can go.

Weekend Wrapup

Wow! What a race on Sunday, Mark Webber took it to the house and even slid in a smart@ss comment back to team principle Christian Horner as he took his victory lap.

Tried to get my podcast listening caught up after not listening for a couple days.
Japundit
Marketplace

Also took my daughter out to see my mother take her first hot air balloon ride.
Funny when my dad "Mr. Human Map" gets lost chasing the balloon. *chuckle*

World Cup good enough excuse to cause global warming

So it seems world leaders, actors and socialites who berate the common man for causing "global warming" find it acceptable to cause it themselves so they can fly to the world cup finals and destroy any semblance of order in the airport. Kudos two faced asshats, we already knew you were full of s*** thanks for proving it once again.

Full Story @ FT.com

Chase Bank Reaches Pinnacle of IT Stupidity

Just to prove it's part in the banking crisis was not it's only claim to stupidity Chase Bank has now declared the web browser that even M$ admits is S*** is their choice for "safe" browsing.

Personally this does not surprise me after many years of dealing with Chase IT in person.

CCP proves yet again they are the best MMO company

After years of WoW and EvE I'm happy to be finally off the WoW crack, and hoping to be able to keep paying for EvE as it's such a deep and immerse game, run by the best MMO gaming company in the world.

Not only did I not miss the downtime as I've been working crazy the past few days but I get two bonus gifts, you can't beat that.

Deus Ex is Back Baby!

Ohhhhhh Yeaaaaa!
One of my all time favourite games is making a comeback and I'm pumped.

Pesticides on Fruits and Vegetables

Ever wonder what's hiding on that food your eating?
Check out this list of dirty foods, makes me glad we eat organic as much as possible. I imagine the increased cases of cancer have a little something to do with all the poison we eat and modified foods our bio-engineering companies (aka. the people who think they are smarter than God) are putting on the shelves of the supermarkets.
Pesticides on Fruits and Vegetables: The Dirty Dozen and More

Exist Trace & Japan Files

Oh yea, I love finding new music!
Even more so, new music done by passionate Japanese artists.
I just discovered Exist Trace, High and Mighty Color and Dazzle Vision.
All can be found on JapanFiles for 99¢ a song. (and 320k high quality files, unlike some other crappy sites "cough, Amazon & iTunes")

It's a great way to support an artist w/o putting money in the greedy pockets of the big music companies.

So head on over and support the artists.

VMWare Love

Last week I was doing some training for work and while I was waiting on a very slow module to start up I thought "hey I should get vmware workstation since it's free for employees!". Yes, my brain really does have random non-related things pop into it every day.
Thus I went into our corporate employee benefits and found the info, went and registered on the site, downloaded the software then discovered I needed to log into another internal site to request a license.
That began my adventure, I'll cut it short for you.
I setup access on two different sites for managers... which reset my windows login password unknown to me at that time.
I quickly gave up trying to get a license and continued my training and finished up work.
I had a chat shortly after that with a co-worker who suggested I try the vmware player since it's free for everyone and I don't have to jump through endless hoops for a license.
I now have winders 7 and Ubuntu server 10.04 running in vmware player and love it.
It's a massive plus to be able to see how things will go during install and what problems I might have after.
I have been wanting to upgrade my old gentoo outdated install on my server to ubuntu, this has given me a chance to see what I can expect to encounter, what changes need to be made and so on.
Freaking fantastic.
Now if I could only take this current Ubuntu 9.10 install and mirror it to vmware then do an upgrade to see how it would go, off to research that!

Ubuntu homepage & VMware Virtualization Software for Desktops, Servers & Virtual Machines

WoW and EvE Vacation

It's official, I'm taking a vacation from WoW and EvE.
WoW runs out in a week and EvE in July so I'm checking out the free mmo's in the mean time.
Runes of Magic, Perfect World International
for the moment.
I'll report back once I have my initial impressions.

F1 Spain

I would just like to take this time to thank my Mythtv Box for recording a rerun of Eureka instead of the Grand Prix of Spain this morning..... (insert cursing here).
Now I get to wait till Monday night to watch it, and enjoy my media black out so I don't find out who won or what happened.

Chihiro! No!

One of my favorite artists has gone to crap *cry*.
Chihiro Onitsuka went from a passionate folk-pop singer to some experimental garbage.
After listening to a sample of the songs off her newest CD I was considering purchasing, I'm not.
Leave the odd music to Shiina Ringo at least, she knows how to make it work.

Website

Just found out I have unlimited bandwidth and space... guess it pays to have used the same web host and such for eight years now.

Pondering what to do with it now :)

EvE Forum Funnies

I was browsing the EvE forums today and came across this gem.

"My wife is not a gamer but she at least takes small interest in my favorite hobby and watches me play from time to time - though she can only handle so much EvE as I'm usually flying my Freighter. She does play a mean game of Tetris, but she's completely out of touch with modern gaming.

She knows a few simple things about my computer gaming. She knows that I can speak into my headset and people can hear me (but she doesn't realize this is only if Ventrilo or EvE Voice are active). She knows that my ship is larger than most other ships and that I can carry many smaller ships inside, and that I do this to earn more money.

Being the great wife that she is she will often try to come up with ideas that can help me earn more money. One day I was slowboating to a gate in my Fenrir with a Bestower above me also slowboating. He was right beside me so my wife could see how much I dwarfed him.

She says "That guy should let you carry him so he doesn't need to work so hard. He could pay you to take him!" I said I don't think he's going to be interested in that but before I could say much else she grabs my headset from behind my computer and shouts into it "HEY, SMALLER SPACESHIP, DO YOU WANT MY HUSBAND TO CARRY YOU? HE CAN KEEP YOU SAFE FROM BAD SPACESHIPS!" "

http://www.eveonline.com/ingameboard.asp?a=topic&threadID=1303989

Media = Good, Americans = Bad

"Inside Story On Town Hall Riots: Right-wing Shock Troops Do Corporate America's Dirty Work "

Read this headline today, and sad to say some of the article... so depressing to see this kind of gargabe being passed for a proper news article. So joe blow sees his paycheck shrink each year with new taxes, sees his freedoms being taken away, sees his country turning into a steaming pile of crap for decades and gets fed up. Heads to a town hall meeting and voices his opinion, and they media calls them "Right-wing Shock Troops Do Corporate America's Dirty Work".. are you kidding me?? This is the best they have??
My seven year old son could come up with something better than that.

1. Their playground name calling is just pathetic, I can't even get upset about their asinine name calling because it's so damn sad. What are you 5, 6 years old?
2. Get your facts straight, if you had said this was a piece of fiction I would have no issues, since it is.
3. An American loves his country and wants it to be better, they debate how to do it, come to a consensus and do it. What the media is doing is divisive and destructive.
4. As our founders said many times questioning the government IS American, we cannot grow stronger without debate.

On Vetrens Day..

Thank you All, from all of us here at Muddysmind and our families.

Semper Fi Corporal Skywalker
/salute

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas to all!

May you all enjoy this celebration of Jesus birth, death and resurrection.
(yes I know he was most likely born in the spring)

Journalists still don't get it

Veterans Day

We here at muddysmind would like to take this time to thank all of our brave men and women in the armed forces all over the world who answer the call of duty and serve with honor and dignity. Muddy and I firmly believe that without these men and women - past and present - we would NOT have the daily freedoms that we sometimes thank God for but usually take for granted every day.

There is no way Muddy and I could possibly thank each and every individual of our armed forces personally BUT we can take this time to name a few who are - and will forever be - near and dear to our hearts:

- Skywalker - our favorite Marine
- Cwilli - our favorite retired Marine
- Richard - my cousin and a proud member of the United States Air Force

- Skywalker's grandfather
- My own grandfather
- Muddy's great uncle

We love you all and thank you deeply and sincerely. You and your service to our country will never be forgotten.

Why Washington is dooming us all

*click image for full size*

While watching CSPAN today (or rather while having it on in the background while working) I caught a glimpse of what is wrong with Washington D.C. and why those morons are dooming us all.

My head is going to explode!! Glenn I need duct tape now!

Never Forget....

I regret getting this post up so late in the day but I wanted to do something a little different this year. I wanted not only to remember all the victims of that day who were so horribly butchered by unremorseful monsters but I thought this year I would put up a link to a few web sites with some of their pictures as well. Every victim deserves to always be rememberd - and listing their names is indeed a good way to honor them. However, a picture speaks a thousand words.

May God bless all who they left behind to grieve for their loss. May He continue to give them strength, joy, peace and hopefully - closure.

http://www.september11victims.com/september11victims/
victims_list.htm

http://cf.newsday.com/911/victimsearch.cfm?view=photo#results

Christians antisemitic towards Jews? Now I've heard it all....

Ok. So I'm watching CN”Spin's” specials last week they did on what they called “God's Warriors” with Christiane Amanpour. She did three nights with each night being two hours long starting with the Jews and their faith, the next night was islam and their religion then the Christian faith rapping up this documentary/in depth study. There were some criticisms I had about the representation of the Christian part of the study but since that part is not my main criticism – I'll leave that on the back burner.

One of my biggest problems about this whole study (that I actually found pretty interesting) happened during the first night with the Jewish segment. An hour into this two hour segment, a comment was made on the relationship – past and present apparently – between Christians and Jews that not only came from Amanpour herself but from a pastor (Pastor Gary Cristofaro – of whom I've never heard until this tv special). Basically this pastor and his congregation invited a Jewish speaker who was/is raising money to support Jewish settlements in Israel. No. That's not my problem. The problem came when Amanpour said, “some say Jews and evangelical Christians make strange bed fellows especially given the history of antisemitism in the church.”. That comment was then (for some reason I still can't understand) supported by Pastor Cristofaro who stated that “because of this doctrine of a Jew being a “Christ killer”, so much hatred and antisemitism has been propagated throughout the earth.”. I went over and over the myth tv recording of this special to make sure I quoted both Amanpour and pastor Cristofaro correctly. Now, here's my problem...I don't know WHERE they're getting this from! AND this is the second time I've heard this accusation of antisemitism in the past year and a half (the first time was when I visited another “blog” so to speak and on that blog someone had just stated Christians – period)! I wasn't even aware that Christians HAD that reputation in some minds. Seriously, it's pretty hard to shock me. In this day and age where anything goes, I just expect – well – anything. However, when I first heard this comment on another blog, I was as stunned as if a life long friend would have taken me to the top of an 8 story building and then pushed me off. However, now I'm annoyed and offended by this remark.

Now, whether some like it or not, the Bible DOES indeed clearly state that it was the Jews who asked for Jesus death then the Roman soldiers who carried it out. However, we were ALL responsible for the death of Christ. As we are all apart of the human race. That doesn't mean we Christians as a whole look down on the Jews and hate them. Look, there was one specific church that I went to off and on as a kid. I even attended the private school that was started by and taught out of that church. This denominational church was (still is) very evangelical and unfortunately, very judgmental, condemning, self righteous and even arrogant in the “my views are right and your views are wrong” thinking. Trust me. If ANY church that I've attended in my life would have encouraged antisemitism – it would have been this one. As many bad things as I could say about this church (and trust me – I have a list a mile long), I must say that instead I was left with the message that the Jews are God's chosen people. Also that Israel was – and still is promised to them and belongs to them. Not to mention Jesus IS a Jew. Doesn't exactly sound like antisemitism teaching now does it? Besides, it's kind of hard to have antisemitism for a group of people that gave birth to our Savior. Of course, I'm not naïve. I do realize there MUST be some goof ball Christians out there who do look down on the Jews for Christ's crucifixion - but honestly? As far as I know, I've never personally met them. I don't hate nor look down on Jews for asking for Christ's death anymore than I hate the Germans (and I DON'T) for carrying out the evil against millions of Jews through the horrifying and despicable holocaust last century. Besides, if it were not for the Jews, who knows how Christ's crucifixion would have come about. A crucifixion that was need as sacrifice for the redemption of the world.

Idiots and Tech

You know, it is posts like this one, that remind me that most people really know nothing about technology.

There are a couple of flaws in his argument. First, he says the crappy quality comes from "losing the punch." Well, the punch is still there. The problem is that all the flaws in the music are more evident from the increased volume. The other flaw is that that way he is performed his example is with digital sound, most likely off of a CD, a 16-bit sound source. Meaning he is introducing clipping really quickly. Professional studios use either analog or 96-bit or great digital: clipping is a long ways away!

More and more idiocy.

First, Apple embedding your information into a song only you should possess is hardly spyware. In fact, it fails to meet the basic definition of spyware! The supposition that someone would randomly guess a song you own (iTunes records are easily accessible by you, yourself and Apple) and use your e-mail address is extremely low unless they hack Apple's servers. Yeah, good luck on that one. So unless you really are illegally sharing your files, there should be no issues.

As far as inability to tell the difference, I call bravo sierra. Just because some people at Gizmodo can't tell the difference doesn't mean "no one can...." The quality is likely to go un-noticed unless you burn it to CD or DVD and listen to it properly - not off of an ipod which DOES introduce artifacts, one way or another. They actually put that guy's blog on the front page of Yahoo!

HEROES UNAWARE

By Mark A. Wright, HMC(SS)
22 June, 2000

I first saw him on a park bench
I've seen him every day
Sitting in a shady grove
Where my children come to play
Sometimes he feeds the birds and squirrels
Or whittles little toys
Sometimes he just sits and smiles
At the laughing girls and boys
And I never paid him any mind
'Till one day just this year
I noticed that he wore a frown
And on his cheek ... a tear.

Well I asked him why he seemed so down
He looked up, began to say
I lost half my friends 60 years ago today
He told me of the terror
As he fought to reach dry land
By the time the beachhead was secure
Half his friends lay in the sand

That was just in one long day
He fought on for 4 years more
And the 60 years from then to now
Have not dimmed His sights of war

He said they have reunions
Just to keep in touch and share
And for each comrade who has gone on
They leave an empty chair

Well, His park bench has been empty now
About 6 months or so
And if I'd never took the time
Then I never would've known
That sitting on that simple bench
With bread crumbs and little toys
Was a man who gave his all
To guarantee my daily joys

So give thanks to all the men and women
Who're still here or have gone before
And made the highest sacrifice
In both Peace time and in War
Because they bought our freedom
Paid their own blood, sweat, and tears
Then endured the heartache of those empty chairs
For all these years

So please do not ignore them
Or speed by without a care
'Cause you never know
When you might pass by
A hero, unaware

****

To all of our brave men and women in the Armed Forces. Past and present. Without your sacrifice we could not stand. We will never forget - Memorial Day or not - your service and sacrific that ensure our freedoms.

Honestly, there are MANY beautiful and wonderful poems out there. It was very hard to choose which ones to post. However, I received a poem through e-mail about 6 months ago. This particular peom was sent in a letter from a Marine to his father dated March 23, 2003 and although this is something that some may have read many times before, I HAVE to post this (for obvious reasons):

The Marine - by Corporal Aaron M. Gilbert, US Marine Corps

We all came together,
Both young and old
To fight for our freedom,
To stand and be bold.

In the midst of all evil,
We stand our ground,
And we protect our country
From all terror around.

Peace and not war,
Is what some people say.
But I'll give my life,
So you can live the American way.

I give you the right
To talk of your peace.
To stand in your groups,
and protest in our streets.

But still I fight on,
I don't bitch, I don't whine.
I'm just one of the people
Who is doing your time.

I'm harder than nails,
Stronger than any machine.
I'm the immortal soldier,
I'm a U.S. MARINE!

So stand in my shoes,
And leave from your home.
Fight for the people who hate you,
With the protests they've shown.

Fight for the stranger,
Fight for the young.
So they all may have,
The greatest freedom you've won.

Fight for the sick,
Fight for the poor
Fight for the cripple,
Who lives next door.

But when your time comes,
Do what I've done.
For if you stand up for freedom,
You'll stand when the fight's done.

Gas Out On May 15th....

My hubby has been too busy with work to post this, so I shall do it for him. For all who are living in the U.S, I'm REALLY not trying to turn this into a political debate. We all have our views on why prices are the way they are and we feel very pasionately about those views. However, it's really not the point. The point is that we're SICK of this and it's time we take a stand! So without further delay:

In April 1997, there was a "gas out" conducted nationwide in protest of gas prices. Gasoline prices dropped 30 cents a gallon overnight.

On May 15th 2007, all internet users are to not go to a gas
station in protest of high gas prices. Gas is now over $3.00 a gallon in
most places. There are 73,000,000+ American members currently on the internet network, and the average car takes about 30 to 50 dollars to
fill up. If all users did not go to the pump on the 15th, it would take $2,292,000,000.00 (that's almost 3 BILLION) out of the oil
companies pockets for just one day, so please do not go to the gas station on May 15th and lets try to put a dent in the Middle Eastern oil
industry for at least one day.

If you agree resend this to all your contact list. With it saying, ''Don't pump gas on May 15th".

Computer Recycling

So I have some electronic waste lying around the house I want to recycle. Most of it no longer works and I like sustainability as much as anyone else.

I am amazed at the number of places that charge fees to recycle! Why would people want to recycle for a fee, when they can just junk it for free?! We will never be more green as long as it is cheaper to not be green.

Must Watch Special Wednesday Night

Exposed: The Climate of Fear
Wednesday May 2nd
7 & 9 PM
CNN Headline News

Who's responsible for global warming and what can be done to fix it? Why would someone be harassed just for raising questions? Glenn Beck takes on the media hype surrounding the global warming debate and asks whether some proposed solutions would do more harm than good.

Don't miss "Exposed: A Climate of Fear," a one-hour Glenn Beck special report, Wednesday at 7 and 9 p.m. ET.

Virginia Tech Tragedy....

We here at 'muddysmind' would like to take this time to express our condolences to all those involved with the horrendous tragedy of this weeks events at Virginia Tech. I wanted to post our condolences earlier in the week when I first heard of this tragedy unfolding - however, Muddy and I have been busy dealing with our own family matters this week as we have been faced with the death of his grandmother. The truth is, unfortunately, this world is full of horrific events that unfold everyday. Which is one of the many reasons why none of us are strangers to the pain and sting of death and the long road to healing and recovery we face ahead.

Our prayers go out to all.

Happy Easter!

Easter. My favorite holiday! What is it about Easter that ranks number one with me? Well, because Easter is in the Spring time (my favorite season), it's all about the symbolism and literalism to me. Basically spring is the time where everything around us wakes up from the winter. A rebirth. Resurrection if you will. A new start. New life. Second chances along with the rebirth.

That's what Easter is all about. Christ conquering and resurrecting from the dead. Giving us a rebirth through Him. Our new start with a new life. Sometimes even giving us a second, third, fourth, four-hundredth chance at a new start/beginning.:-) That's what I love about both Easter and Spring. They way they emphasize and harmonize so well together with that message. Today may all of you find through Christ a rebirth and - if necessary, a new beginning somewhere in your lives.

God Bless.:-)

Global Warming Joke

I get a real kick from all the alarmists out there including this new group of pseudo-scientists that want to blame the pretend impending devastation called 'global warming' on the United States.
I'm assuming they are not real scientists since they are claiming that ocean levels will rise. Now any child in school science class can tell you that is total B.S.
Ice in the oceans melting will do nothing, just as ice melting in your glass does not create anything new. Now some will claim that the ice melting on the mountains then flowing into the rivers and at last into the ocean will raise the sea level.
Again, I call B.S. there as well.
If they think for a second that there is enough ice on the mountain tops to make a difference in the sea levels, their nuts.

Happy Birthday To Me....

....again? Has it been a year already?!

Well, according to my calendar - apparently so. Don't get me wrong, I do realize that most of you couldn't care any less but since it's my husband's website - I've decided to take advantage of the situation.

Well let's see....I've been trying to convince Muddy for two years to take me to the firing range (as it's too cold for hiking) however, he doesn't seem to trust the idea of me handling a gun. I keep telling him the targets would be provided for us and would NOT include he himself stepping in as such. For some reason, though, this does not seem to be much of a comfort to him. Hmmmmm....what to do, what - to - do!

Oh well, in the mean time, I'm taking our oldest out to dinner today as a celebration for BOTH of our birthdays. Yes, it just so happens I gave birth to this child six days before my own special, happy day.

Ok....I'm done being an attention whore. You may now return to your regularly scheduled lives.

Pillow Fight League - Coming to America

Just when you think you've heard it all.
The Pillow Fight League arrives.
Based in Canada and news reports suggest coming to America.
Is this something that appeals to anyone other than sex starved men and lesbian women?
I googled for pics from the league and they are, shall we say, some handsome women.

The Pillow Fight League - Fight Like A Girl!

Steelers @ Bengals

Final game of the season and boy was it a tight one, the last game for Bill Cowher as the Steelers head coach.
Long live new coach Mike Tomlin!
Hit the torrent link at the top to get your copy.

Ravens @ Steelers

Finally up, you know where to get it.
Enjoy.

Racisism Ok in Washington if your Black

It kills me that after all the ground work by early American racial equality pioneers and the struggles we have made it through that it's being tossed aside for selective segregation.
If there was a whites only caucus holy crap the media and black leaders would be throwing a massive fit, yet nobody dares say a word about this highly racist group.
America will never be one nation as long as this mindset continues to be accepted.
I imagine MLK and everyone else who gave their lives fighting to bring us together are rolling in their graves.

Mexico arming Illegals with GPS to aid in law-breaking

The more I hear this the more a trench filled with used motor oil set on fire sounds like a good barrier to keep out the criminals.

Oh! I've got it, simple.
M249 SAWs setup every one hundred yards linked to motion sensors, whatever moves on the Mexico side gets sprayed, the same technology used for the Phalanx CIWS would be perfect.

Social Security for illegal aliens

I get the feeling Bush tries to do whatever he can to ruin his presidency.
I don't get his ongoing love affair with criminals who break into our country and steal from us, then demand rights.

Steelers @ Panthers

It's up, you know where to get it.

Micro$oft trying new PR approach

Not that I would accept anything from the evil empire, but a new laptop running Gentoo Linux would be rather nice. ;-P

*UPDATE*
There is an update to this post as well, giving more information on this.
Read it Here

Merry Christmas To All And To All....

....well, you know the rest. Even though Christmas isn't even close to being my favorite holiday (mine being Easter, The fourth of July and Thanksgiving - in that order. Christmas I can pretty much take or leave), I thought I would take a quick second (because that's about all I have right now) and wish you all a very SAFE and happy holidays. May you recieve that which you ask and may God bless you - and others - as you give.

God Bless....

Mexican Soldiers Freelancing for Drug Cartels on US Soil

Who needs a wall?

We do.

Browns @ Steelers

Game is up, enjoy!
Hope to get Carolina game up in a day or so.

Bucs @ Steelers

Week 13 Bucs @ Steelers is up, enjoy.
Browns week 14 is processing now, should be up in the morning.

Steelers @ Ravens

The disgrace that was the game in Baltimore in week 12 is now up on the tracker.

Senator Johnson

So the airwaves are now filled with the talking heads falling over themselves to drone on about Senator Johnson and the possible shift of power. I hate to sound cold but who the hell cares. Any American with an once of gray matter can determine from one day of news that neither side gives a rats ass about the common man. (unless it's for a photo op, campaign op or something to benefit themselves personally)

Don't get me wrong, I wish Senator Johnson a speedy and full recovery.
Aside from that there will be no real shift of power while the donkeys and elephants are in power.

I can only see real positive change happening if those who 'get it' like outgoing Senator Rick Santorum were to be put into power. (en mass) Then will there ever be a change for the positive. Not that politics (or politicians alone) are going to help us, however it will require those who understand the current threat we face along with the knowledge of how to work the system.

This post written while listening to D I G I T A L L Y - I M P O R T E D - Goa & Psychedelic Trance - a voyage out of this world!
Current title: Kri - Trancelloween

Man this jams!

Steelers @ Browns

Sorry this is kind of late getting up, the Steelers @ Browns is done.
Working on the Ratbirds game now.

Iran threatens Europe

Damn that global tempature change!

Going from global warming and the disasters of 2005 to global climate change and the big fat nothing of 2006 I have to say damn those scientists renaming things and screwing this up for us. Now we have to wait another year and hope and pray that some big disaster hits before "W" gets out of office so we an blame more death and destruction on him. How can we whip the mindless masses into a hearty frenzy if the scientists do not cooperate??
What was wrong with global warming anyways?
Even if it gets colder we can still call it that, not like the average American pays attention to it anyways.

Keeping Perspective During The Holiday....

Well, here it is - "Thanksgiving 'Eve'" and things are NOT going as planned. It seems like everything I've planned to do for tommorrow is hitting the skids. I've even chewed out Muddy a few times today for what seemed liked ligitimate reasons - at the time. Of course, there's fault enough to split two ways. So I guess the challenge for me now is to keep in mind what this holiday is *suppossed* to be about. Counting your blessing. With me - it's easy to count my blessings. Unfortunately what's hard is keeping my mind in the present and not dwelling on the future where my mind tends to live a lot. I hate that! I thank God for my kids who I get to stay home with everyday. However, my mind goes to a place where they will someday leave the nest and have families of their own therefore putting mommy as the "not so center" of their world. Which is the way it should evolve to be. I thank God for my grandma (mamaw) who is 82 years old. She's my last surviving grandparent and as fiesty as ever! (and I wouldn't have her any other way). However, my mind tends to drift to a time when she will no longer be here to celebrate these holidays with us anymore. This *could* be her last Thanksgiving with us. (of course as stuborn as she can be, I wouldn't be surprised if that characteristic alone kept her around for another 10 years!). I also think of my father who now lives with our heavenly Father. I can still hear his voice, his laugh, his politically incorrect comments (I loved that about him!), his "jokes" at the Thanksgiving table that sometimes only he would get (and laugh at). I miss him.

I guess the whole point to this *long winded* - whatever - is to just dwell on today. It doesn't really matter what items you bring or don't bring to the holiday table, what matters is the *heart* you bring. Loved ones are not here forever but the time they are here for is NOW and NOW is the time to live.

Saints @ Steelers

First half of the game is up, second half should be up by this evening.

*edit*

Second half is up and seeding, enjoy.

Broncos @ Steelers

1st Half is up, enjoy.
(as always, click the torrent link above to download)

2nd Half is done and up.

Phased Redeployment = Cut & Run

*rolls eyes*

You can quote me on this in the future, feel free as I'm beyond confident that it's true.
"If we pull out of Iraq before the job is done, chaos will reign like we've never seen in recorded history."

How well can you read?

This is weird, but interesting and certainly true.

fi yuo cna raed tihs, yuo hvae a sgtrane mnid too

Cna yuo raed tihs? Olny 55 plepoe out of 100 can.

i cdnuolt blveiee taht I cluod aulaclty uesdnatnrd waht I was

rdanieg. The phaonmneal pweor of the hmuan mnid, aoccdrnig to a

rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it dseno't mtaetr in waht

oerdr the ltteres in a wrod are, the olny iproamtnt tihng is taht the frsit

And lsat ltteer be in the rghit pclae. The rset can be a taotl mses

and you can sitll raed it whotuit a pboerlm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn

mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe.

Azanmig huh?

yaeh and I awlyas tghuhot slpeling was ipmorantt!

Election Day!

Yes! It *is* election day!! Do you know what that means?! It means that after 7pm tonight, muddy and I will no longer have to put up with those 10,12 to 15 a day political phone calls we've been bombarded with!!!! (well, at least not until the next election "season"). Of course, that's what we get for being "unaffiliated" when it comes to a party platform. But hey! No more stupid phone calls!

Oh, Happy Day! Sing along....

Steelers @ Raiders

Well, the first quarter is over & the Steelers (Ben?) looked bad.
On a side note, it's going to be at least friday before I will be able to post the game.

1st Half is up, click the torrent link at the top.
2nd Half is up and seeding, enjoy.

last updated 11/11

Steelers @ Falcons

Sorry for the delay, I was attempting to change the video encoding to x264 as some of the results I have had in testing were outstanding, however it's not fully
working yet. Back to Xvid. ;-)

1st Half is up
Get it Here

2nd Half is up
Get it Here

Overtime is up
Get it Here

Chiefs @ Steelers

1st Half is up
Get it Here

Once again, CBS and DTV jacked me (and millions of fans) around, switching the game between different channels. I still managed to get most of it, only lost the first 3-4 minutes of the first quarter.

2nd Half is up
Get it Here

Steelers @ Chargers

1st Half is up
Get it Here

Had an OOPS on this one. Set my box to NBC, game starts and it switches channels to ABC, so I only noticed it near the end of the 1st qtr, so it is a little short, sorry all.

2nd Half is up
Get it Here

Bye Week is busy time

With my Steelers off for their bye week I used that time to upgrade my workstation to Gentoo Linux (was Gentoo before, just an older install) with a new raid 1 setup on two Seagate 160G SATA drives.
Also powered down the mythtv box (used to cap Steelers games) and reconfigured the cooling, since the cpu had cooked in the oven it was. Removed the crappy little 80mm fan on the side of the box and cut two new holes at the top directly over the mobo and installed two 120mm fans. In addition to wiping out the Gentoo install on that and adding a larger hard drive it's a brand new install of Gentoo and mythtv.
Took a little time to get the bugs worked out, but seems to be working solid now.
For all those wondering, the Steelers caps are 100% micro$oft free.

Also note, since the Steelers play late, the 1st half will not be posted until the morning (Monday).

I knew it was only time...

You who are old enough to remember, may recall a time when children in schools were taught, reading, writing and arithmetic.
Then, someone who believed their brain worked on a higher level turned that around and we began 20ish years ago to begin teaching "feelings" and the "I'm ok, your ok, were are all ok" crap.
If I recall around the time the PC (not computer PC but don't hurt any feelings PC) garbage started. This article while not a headline or even super interesting to most, did make one point.
That we very much need to get back to teaching
reading, writing, arithmetic, science and such.
Feelings and political correctness have NO place in school.
It seems Tracey Larson is either a product of this learning system or the founding mindset.

Wrong, it was a failure, because your expectations were it would end up 70 miles straight up and running tests, if I were someone who paid for this, I'd fire Tracey without delay.

My Heart Is Smiling....

I'm going to do some bragging about my youngest. Now, normally, I don't like to talk about my kids on line (I really don't even like revealing their sex or ages). With the world we live in today....I don't think anyone could blame me for that one. However, I just HAVE to share this one:

Early this morning, Muddy took our youngest to the grocery store. Apparently when they walked by the area of flowers, my amazing little one looks up at daddy and says, "Daddy, let's get mommy some flowers.". Now, don't get me wrong. I DO love the flowers. They're beautiful. However, that's not what made me "melt". It's the fact that this kid is not even in school quite yet and already is so very thoughtful and considerate. I am so blessed to have my kids. My heart is *truely* smiling.:-)

Bungles @ Steelers

Holy Crap, what a wretched display by Ben.
FWP looked good and the D was not too shabby, if we can get Colclough off the team that would help.

1st Half is up
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2nd Half is up
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Steelers @ Jaguars

After some delay due to codec versions not playing nice with avidemux I am now finally processing the 1st half of the game, should be available Thursday morning.

1st Half is up
Get It Here

2nd Half is up
Get It Here

Extras are up
Get It Here

Muslims vs. Every Other Religion

Over the past year we have seen some striking examples of the "peaceful" religion that Muslims claim to have.
Draw a few somewhat true cartoons and then all of a sudden, buildings are being burned, entire towns engulfed in chaos and non-Muslims shot and killed who had NOTHING to do with the cartoons.

Now we have the guy with a funny hat give a speech, with some wording that the leaders of the Muslim world did not like, guess what.
Buildings burned, chaos in the streets and a nun shot who had NOTHING to do with it.

Oh and just to shed light on the poor Muslim plight.
Do a search on google images for the words anti-Semitic, anti-Muslim and anti-christian, guess which one has the least hits??
As of right now 20060919 09:43 the tally is:
anti-Muslim 347
anti-christian 516
anti-Semitic 4,510

Those poor Muslims nut jobs, I don't know how they deal with the hate mongers. *sniff*
I sure am glad other religions are not as peaceful as the gentle and kind Muslims.

/break

OK now to be serious, let's consider the daily cartoons in newspapers worldwide that for example make fun of Christians. If we went out foaming at the mouth ready to kill on command at the whim of Jerry Farwell as they do for President Tom, the U.S. would be a barren landscape.
If I were a peaceful Muslim I'd be wicked pissed off at the so called leadership that is whipping everyone into a frenzy over something stupid and unimportant.
Where are the peace protests by U.S. Muslims?, where is the outrage at their 'brothers' moronic behavior?

I don't see any news coverage of it, and we all know that Muslims are the media darlings, anything they do in public gets days of press.

The only thing I could find was from the Muslim Public Affairs Council where they condemned the killing of the Nun Somalia.
Read it here

German Military Forgets Armored Vehicles

In what military experts called "the damndest thing they ever did see" the German military this week realized that they forgot their armored vehicles at home, and called back to request they be sent.

In other news, France realized they do have a military and that sadly it's made up of foreigners who only joined to get free cheese and wine.

Political expression or Hate Mongering?

Is this really political expression or hate mongering? It seems since the ACLU is involved it's clearly hate mongering along with a bit of double standard.

Had someone done the same in Clinton's days the whole left would of risen up and crucified this lady, and the aclu would of gone against her. It all depends on who the hate is directed against if the aclu finds it offensive.

Where would the blame fall?

I was just making a comment on a far left site and started thinking.
If Gore had won in 2000 then who would we blame for 9/11??
Considering we had eight years of Clinton before that.
I think Afghanistan would be still under the control of the taliban and the middle east would be minus one more baby milk factory. ;-P

Glenn Beck Torrent Help

Greetings you sick freaks,

If you all want to see the GB torrents continue, I'm going to need help.
I do not have the bandwidth to seed GB anymore, if someone is willing
to seed I'll make the video's and create the torrents and post them to TPB.
Then I'll need to send it to someone else to seed.
If someone is willing to become the seeder (24x7) then I'll keep it going, if not, then sadly it'll become a memory.

A Moment of Silence....

Five years ago today, our lives were turned upside down. Thousands of lives ended while the rest of ours would never be the same. In fact - they changed forever.

We've all moved on. Some holding tighter to our families. Some families have grown bigger since then (I know our has). Yesterday, our pastor touched on something that, because of an article I read about the children born to “9/11 families” after the tragedy, I've been thinking about most of the week myself. With the 5th year anniversary of the 9/11 attacks - how will all the families who lost loved ones on that horrible day handle this anniversary? We all had a moment of silence in church while afterwards, our pastor lifted those families up in prayer.

It's been hard ever since that day to NOT think about the impact this tragedy has had on us. Not only on our personal selves but on our nation and the world. If you're anything like me, you naturally take a moment of silence out of respect to those who lost their lives and lift their surviving loved ones (not to mention America) up in prayer. Let us NOT let this anniversary be any different than the ones before it. Let us take that moment of silence as well as lifting all their loved ones and this nation up in prayer.

May they rest in peace and may justice truly prevail.

....for those interested in reading the article:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060908/ap_on_re_us/sept11_turning5

Dolphins @ Steelers

1st Half is ready
Get it Here

Pre/Post game Extras is ready
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2nd Half is ready.
Get it Here

Steelers Delayed

Thanks to local NBC morons I need more time to clean up the game and the 1st half will be delayed until tonight.
There will be a bar at the top twice for about a minute or so each time during the first half. It was either leave their scrolling nonsense up or fade it out.

Here we go Steelers! Here we go!

Panthers vs. Steelers

1st Half should be ready in a few hours, 2nd Half by morning.
Changed back to my old setup 480x360 video in Xvid and audio in MP3 format.
Should be easier on the download time at 700MB per half.

1st Half is now up and seeding, click tracker link at the top to grab it, enjoy and please seed!

Thanks.

2nd Half is up and seeding, enjoy.

Quick Thoughts

I was not aware that enforcing our own laws was unconstitutional, then in that case I'm speeding like mad today! w00t!

Someone is not paying attention here. The writer of this piece has obviously been living in a hole or has not met the crazy people I have who hate everything about our country, including the 'neocon nazi terrorist bushy crew' or whatever their new term of the day is.

Steelers @ Eagles *Updated*

1st half is done.
Get it Here

2nd Half is done and up.
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Vikings @ Steelers 2nd Half

Finally Done!
Get It Here

The Future of America

If we leave our borders unchecked and the Bush philosophy of handing our country over to illegal immigrants stands, this is the future of America.

We need to be positive that whoever is elected to the Senate and Congress this November is going to leave the status quo and DO something about this. Regardless of party, or lack thereof.

America should open it's arms to all who want to come BE Americans, and to those who want to USE America we should firmly plant our collective foot into their backsides.

KDKA Steelers Game Production Sucks

It may not seem all that big a deal to the average joe, but to me it's huge.
Editing down Steelers games that are covered by KDKA is a nightmare. Unlike normally NFL games that are produced by seasoned network people, pre-season games are covered by both teams local folks.
KDKA seems to me to be the worst.
That being said I'm editing the game and hope to start processing it tonight.

Rejoice!
Vikings @ Steelers 1st Half is now complete and ready for your enjoyment.
Get it Here

Video Update

Savran from the 14th and 15th are now up, enjoy.

*update*
On a side not I'm not at all happy with the way the Steelers/Vikings game recorded.
1st half ended up 1.4G and so I'm re-ripping it to 1G and will re-record it on Wednesday. May end up using that one.

Updates

Bad news.

I had some kind of issue with my drive I record the games/shows on and had to replace it. Just in time for the vikings game. :-)
However everything that was on it is now gone, including Beck and all Steelers news that was not already on my workstation.

Good News.
I will have the Steelers/Vikings game up.

Also PST from the 12th is up, postgame of the Cardinals game, good stuff.
Get it Here

Bill Cowher Interview

The Savran on SportsBeat Bill Cowher interview special is now ready.
A must see for all serious Steelers fans.
Get it Here

Any by popular demand it's in full 640x480 rez encoded in Xvid video and MP3 audio (128k) so you can burn it and play on any DVD player that supports Xvid.

Steelers Video Update

Slowly getting caught up.

PST from the 9th is now up, you can get it Here.

Savan on SportsBeat from the 10th Here

*EDIT 22:20*

PST for the 10th is now up.
Get it Here

Glenn Beck Update

Glenn Beck from the 10th is up here

Glenn Beck from the 11th is up here

Whoops

I created the torrent for the 2nd half of the game and instead of typing 'mv' to move the video and torrent to the share directory I typed 'rm' and deleted it.
Whoops.

It's processing again.

Also I made it 800mb instead of 700mb so the quality should be a bit better. I'll be toying around with different configs this week trying to get you all a better picture.

It's preseason for me as well. :-)

***UPDATE***

2nd half is done, enjoy.
Get It Here

Steelers vs. Cardinals

The game is now underway.

Steelers win the toss and Ben drives them down the field with ease until Marvel misses a block then gives up on the play and Ben gets chased down and sacked.
Jeff attempts a 54 yard field goal just wide left.

Hope Marvel can get it together for the next series.

--------------------------------------------------------

Now the Cards have their first series and get 7.
The D sure seemed to be confused and covering three quality receivers gave them fits.
Get it fixed LeBeau.

Second Series Steelers back in, Batch running the show, makes a good pass to Cedrick then Duce does little to nothing.
Santonio comes in 3rd and 5 makes his first pro catch, a short jumper for the first down.

End 1st Qtr.

Tracker(s) Update

All torrents will go down tonight while I move everything over to a new tracker.
There will be no need to register with anyone, full access to all torrents. (yea)

My tracker here will stop tonight as well as everything will move over.
That means all new torrent files, you will have to grab the new torrents if your in the middle of downloading something. It should pick up where it left off.

**UPDATE**
I have the Month archive of GB for May, June and July up, as well as Aug 7, 8 and 9. All torrents show zero seeds, do not pay attention to that, I AM seeding them.

Also have Savran up for the month, will get PST up this morning.

Glenn Beck: Loses one potential fan

lmao, I get home from work and have this silly message from some person on demonoid.com that does not like Glenn Beck.

So I did my best to respond.

Holy smoke I love the internet.
You meet all kinds of people here, it's fantastic. :-P

Watch Commericals or go to Jail

Not really, yet.
Seems advertisers are hacked that we don't want to watch their stupid commercials.
Really, how many people watch TV (outside of the Superbowl) for the commercials?
I don't know anyone.
So the fact that crappywood (my pet name for hollywood) and it's pundits are pushing for, of all things making it a law you have to watch commercials, seems a bit like socialism than capitalism.

Really this speaks volumes about the sad, sad condition our country is in, doesn't it?

As a proud long time MythTV user I happily skip ads, I also skip them live, I get enough lies at work all day I don't need them being pumped into my house.

Looking for translator (JP->EN)

Since I can't purchase Zoids Fuzors on DVD here in the U.S I'm looking for someone to translate the raw's for me. I will sub them and host them on my tracker and such.
Anyone interested can email me muddysmind at gmail dot com.

Tracker Updates

Glenn Beck from the 3rd and 4th are now up on the new tracker.

Also.

Since the folks who run the new tracker decided to halt all new registrations I've put the past few days Steelers news updates on my site while they sort themselves out. Email me at muddysmind at gmail dot com for the link.
Those of you who have pm'd me on the forums will be getting a pm back with the link.

Classic 'Busy' Work

I'm sorry, but I laughed out loud when I read this. This is a perfect example of 'busy' work, it's worded so you have to read it slowly and/or a few times so you think, wow Rep. Thomas sure worked hard on this. Not.
Fire this loser for wasting tax payer money and our time.

Methamphetamine Epidemic Elimination Act

Seriously, we have so very much going on in the world and in our country. Do we really need to spend time making laws on a federal level that ought to be dealt with on a local level?
Reason number one why all members of the House and Senate need to go bye-bye and let us start fresh. Wasting time.

Since we have many on the far left wanting to talk about imperialism, here you go. How about we take the three on each side and boot them out now?
Just a thought.

Glenn Beck Torrents

Two new torrents posted for Glenn Beck to the new tracker.
7/31 and 8/01 shows, 8/02 to be posted tonight as well.

Enjoy you sick freak!

Video Updates

Check the new tracker for the most recent Steelers news clips.
Updated tonight current as of last night.

Enjoy
and

Here we go Steelers! Here we go!

Also added may archive for Glenn Beck.

Hurricane Season Update

So Hurricane season is in it's prime, how many have hit the U.S.?

Well I did a quick google news search and found something interesting below.

If you look at the image above, the word hurricane turned up 409 articles on Tropical Storm Chris?
What?
So it's not even a hurricane, yet the word 'Hurricane' is all over it.

Then just below that 205 articles on the Miami Hurricane college football teams newest problems.

So there is no real news of a Hurricane this season, only tropical storms that are not hurricanes and may never be and some young kids who can't stay out of trouble.

OK, well then I guess I'll have to cancel my subscription to Hurricane Disasters Monthly.
I can only assume the global warming freaks are hacked about this, good thing it's hot or they would have nothing to toot their horns about.

*Editors Note*
The sarcasm in this article is in no way a wish for any hurricane to strike any place, we do not wish anyone harm. (except terrorists who want to kill free people)

Even Google knows Hezbollah does not want peace

I had an idea, so I gave it a whirl.

It was more revealing than I thought it would be.

I did a search for the exact phrase 'Hezbollah wants peace' on google news and guess what, zero articles had that phrase in the past few weeks. Zero, nobody not even the far left is claiming Hezbollah wants peace.
Shocked?
I am a little, I thought there had to be someone, some brainwashed site somewhere that believed that.
Now take the same phrase and swap Hezbollah for Israel, that brought up 26 articles. That seemed a little low, however it's not as if I was conducting some scientific experiment, just seeing what's out there.

So for those who claim Israel wants to destroy all the Arabs, Lebanese and Palestinians around them, maybe logic (and reality) would argue different.

Just my two cents.

Updates, updates, updates

New logo, and more changes to the site.
Moved the links so people quit asking me where the tracker is. (geezz)
Also will be putting up more Steelers camp news today.
Beck updates as well.

Photo Update

I added a photo gallery for the Washington D.C. holiday and also have been adding to the miscellaneous gallery.
Enjoy.

Mr. Muddy Goes To Washington Part 3

	AR-7 U.S.S. Hector

Mr. Muddy Goes To Washington Part 2

Korean War Memorial

I honestly did not know there was a Korean War Memorial until I was seeing what all there was on google maps to check out. It was well done I thought.
With a wall of faces from the many different countries, a simple and elegant fountain with the number of captured, wounded and missing. Also as you walked down the path into the memorial all the countries that were involved are listed as well a mock up of a typical squad marching in a simple garden.

Mr. Muddy Goes To Washington Part 1

Left vs Right: Shut Up Already

I'm so sick of the wingers vs. the nut jobs that I want to whip out a M-249 and mow them all down. Liberals, Progressives, Conservatives, Patriots and on and on. How about this grand new concept??

AMERICANS!

Dammit, we're always bitching and fighting like snot nose brats on the playground, I for one am sick of it.

I have a suggestion, ban all political parties, and also outlaw political organizations, clubs and weblogs. :-P

Force Americans to be Americans, have civil discussions, share ideas and omg, hold on, get the hell along!! with each other.

I realize this is impossible, but I just want to be on record that our current hate fest is really getting tiresome.

Mooseboy and I got along swell playing Madden (when he wasn't running fake punts every 4th down, hehe, sorry had to rib you there) and I'm sure we can at the very least agree we love our country and want it to prosper and be the best. (I really hope we can agree on that at least).
How this happens can be worked out later, how about we all agree on this one thing, America is our country, we love our country and want it to grow and prosper.

Can we at least start there?

(sorry International readers, not really meant for you all this time)

The History of the Middle East...

This is a must watch short video.

Mexico not willing to pay for their own

Seems one hospital in Dallas has had enough of Illegal immigrants (and others from outside their county) not paying up. So they have taken the only course of action they can. Bill their legal land of residence. Then the real non-surprise, Mexico played the race card. Yikes, did not see that coming. (rolls eyes)
So I guess if America send millions over to mexico the would gladly give us free housing, medical care and whatever else we demanded.

I applaud their effort even though they won't see one cent. (or peso) It's a courageous gesture on their part, now if they can just stand up to the insurance companies.

Full Story @ The Washington Times

Happy Birthday America!

The Declaration of Independence of the Thirteen Colonies

In CONGRESS, July 4, 1776

Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain [George III] is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.

He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.

He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained, and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.

He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.

He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.

He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.

He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected; whereby the Legislative powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the meantime exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.

He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.

He has obstructed the Administration of Justice, by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary powers.

He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone, for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.

He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harass our people, and eat out their substance.

He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies, without the consent of our legislatures.

He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil power.

He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:

* For protecting them by a mock Trial from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:
* For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:
* For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:
* For depriving us in many cases of the benefits of Trial by Jury:
* For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences:
* For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies:
* For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:
* For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.
He has abdicated Government here by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.

He has plundered our seas, ravaged our Coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.

He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to complete the works of death, desolation and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of cruelty and perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.

He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.

He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages, whose known rule of warfare is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.

In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms. Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince, whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.

Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our British brethren.

* We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us.
We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here.
* We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence.

They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.

We, therefore, the Representatives of the United States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by the authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare.

That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States; that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown,

and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain is and ought to be totally dissolved;

and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce,

and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor.

The signers of the Declaration represented the new states as follows:

New Hampshire:
Josiah Bartlett, William Whipple, Matthew Thornton

Massachusetts:
John Hancock, Samual Adams, John Adams, Robert Treat Paine, Elbridge Gerry

Rhode Island:
Stephen Hopkins, William Ellery

Connecticut:
Roger Sherman, Samuel Huntington, William Williams, Oliver Wolcott

New York:
William Floyd, Philip Livingston, Francis Lewis, Lewis Morris

New Jersey:
Richard Stockton, John Witherspoon, Francis Hopkinson, John Hart, Abraham Clark

Pennsylvania:
Robert Morris, Benjamin Rush, Benjamin Franklin, John Morton, George Clymer, James Smith, George Taylor, James Wilson, George Ross

Delaware:
Caesar Rodney, George Read, Thomas McKean

Maryland:
Samuel Chase, William Paca, Thomas Stone, Charles Carroll of Carrollton

Virginia:
George Wythe, Richard Henry Lee, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Harrison, Thomas Nelson, Jr., Francis Lightfoot Lee, Carter Braxton

North Carolina:
William Hooper, Joseph Hewes, John Penn

South Carolina:
Edward Rutledge, Thomas Heyward, Jr., Thomas Lynch, Jr., Arthur Middleton

Georgia:
Button Gwinnett, Lyman Hall, George Walton

Bin Laden tape praises al-Zarqawi as great 'knight'

An audio message posted Friday on an Islamic Web site purports to be the voice of al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, grieving over the death of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi and taunting President Bush.

Al-Zarqawi, a Jordanian who masterminded hundreds of bombings, kidnappings and beheadings in Iraq, was killed June 7 in an U.S. airstrike north of Baghdad. He was al Qaeda's leader in Iraq.

On the tape, bin Laden addresses President Bush directly and demands that the U.S. return al-Zarqawi's body to his family in Jordan.

Full Story @ CNN.com

Hello?, Bashar al-Assad can you come out to play?

The IDF said the flyover, carried out by four planes flying in a low-altitude pattern, was a part of an overall IDF operation aimed at pressuring the Syrian leadership to expel Hamas Politburo chief Khaled Mashaal from Damascus.

According to Israel, Mashaal has been calling the shots out of the Syrian capital and orchestrated the kidnapping of IDF soldier Gilad Shalit.

Syria responded by saying that its air defenses opened fire on the warplanes, forcing them to flee.

Full Story @ Jerusalem Post

Oh come on Israel, sonic boom fly overs are so last decade, try something new for a change. I suggest a fly by at low speed with a crop duster, however fill it with urine. You could also do parachute drops of bacon all over the country, see how many muslims you could get to eat pork. :-P
That would get Assad's attention. -Ed

And Now For Something Completely Different....

I was shown this earlier today and laughed my butt off! Some of you may have seen this before but it's still fun - IMO. This will take a few minutes of your time (in ways, it seems to go on forever) but *I* think it's worth it.:-) Have fun and remember....Just Keep Pressing! :-)

http://www.subliminalmessages.com/175_commercial_lender.htm

Let your hatred and stupidity shine

President Jad (the Iranian nut job) had the pleasure of doing an interview with Spiegal recently and holy crap is my reaction while reading it.

I thought it was an interview with the typical American socialist nut job, but no, it was Pres Jad.
This freak is so far deep down his rabbit hole of hatred and self delusion that repeated statements by the interviewer (a German citizen) that they (the German people) killed six million Jews during WWII were scoffed at.
He says he could give a crap that the German people were outraged by his claim the holocaust never happened, he's confused as to how it's an issue.

Uh.. what the!?!

Oh yea baby, it gets better.

Full Story @ SPIEGEL ONLINE

He then goes on to say "We don't want to confirm or deny the Holocaust. We oppose every type of crime (unless you are the ones doing it) against any people. But we want to know whether this crime actually took place or not. If it did, then those who bear the responsibility for it have to be punished, and not the Palestinians. (dude, what the hell are you smoking??) Why isn't research into a deed that occurred 60 years ago permitted? (HAHAHAHA!!) After all, other historical occurrences, some of which lie several thousand years in the past, are open to research, and even the governments support this."

WOW!

Someone get this guy a gun so he can kill himself now, before it's too late.

Glenn Beck Update

Missing show from the 19th is now up.

A Memorial Silence

Join with us this day to remember,
The Fallen.
Our brothers and friends,
one moment of silence to reflect.

Tracker on the way back up

Just an FYI to everyone, the tracker will be back up in a few hours.
Also I lost the 18th and 19th shows. I'm recording the Sunday repeat in hopes it's one of those I lost.
If you have the raw files I'll edit and post them, otherwise they are gone.

Thanks.

Tracker Down

Just an FYI to everyone who uses the tracker my box crashed hard last night (the kind where you smell burning electronics) and until I figure out what is wrong the tracker will be down.

Beck Update

Due to some screwy things with my Myth box the 19:00 showing of Glenn was not recorded, so I grabbed the 21:00 recording which is currently processing.
However my connection to CNNHN had some digital jitter in it, I'm also going to record the midnight showing to see if it's better.
If not then I'll publish the 21:00 showing in the AM.

Nite all

Tonight's Beck Delayed

Quick note before bed.
Had a wicked day at work, got home late and just now processing the video.
Will have it up in the AM.

Keep watching Beck!

Big Thank You

It's been long overdue, as I look back over the list of those that have supported us over the year.

Thank you all very much!

Beck's first show

Eh, if you know Beck at all it seemed to me to be more Flap Jackson in the morning than Beck. However since it's his first day I'll wait for a bit before giving it a more through judgement. :-)

Here's wishing Glenn and crew the best of luck with the show.

btw.. for the uninformed.

Glenn Beck is on CNN Headline News M-F at 19:00, 21:00 and midnight.

Also..

The torrents may change a bit, trying to lower the file size to 300MB from 350MB.
You need to either PM me on the glenn beck insiders forum or my forum for the user/pass.

GLENN BECK IN 3 Hours!!

Ok kids, get your Mythtv boxes (and tivos for you non-geeks) ready to record Glenn Becks new show at 19:00EST.

I'm hoping to put out torrents of the shows for those interested.

Muddysmind Calls for Federal Investigation

Muddysmind.com has learned that Starbucks may be price gouging, joining the Oil companies on the Federal governments new "you make to much money" (aka. pre-socialism) Hit-list.
Four plus dollars for a horrible cup of coffee is a brilliant move to say the least, then convincing the masses that it tastes good was the cherry on top.

Full Story @ newratings.com

Just Curious....

Well, in a few weeks, Muddy and I will be sitting down with our eldest to have a talk abut "the birds and the bees". Oh My! Yep - it be that time.:-)

I'll be honest (and maybe I'm not a normal parent) but this whole "sex talk" isn't bothering nor embarrassing me in the least. For the past few months, Muddy and I have been tossing around exactly what we're going to say and how to say it. After all, a child's attention span isn't the greatest in the world - especially with a long winded mother like me.:-)

We both even talked about who had the talk with us. My mom sat down with me and told me the basics about where babies come from and what girls/women go through. However, she neglected to teach me about protection and birth control. Unfortunately, we went to a church at the time that irresponsibly taught the parents that if you teach a child about protection then they'll just be encouraged to have sex even more. So, all of this has got me curious. Who told you guys about "the birds and the beezzz"? Was it something your parents taught you or did your friends fill you in? Maybe it was both?

To busy to make coffee in the morning?

Don't have time to make coffee in the morning?
Still need your caffeine buzz?

Then the Shock Soap is for you.

(I gotta try this)

Check it out @ ThinkGeek

Quick Gas Price Blurb

I've been hearing President Bush bash the Oil companies for uh.. "making money" the old fashioned way, by earning it. Our Senators and Congressmen are calling for an investigation into the oil companies, if this is not the most obvious case of the pot calling the kettle black I don't know what is.

If you look at the real picture, NOT the final dollar amount. You will see the drug companies, banks, and even the dollar store! make more (or the same) profit per dollar than oil companies.

Yes, I said it. The oil companies from the pure numbers I've been reading and hearing are NOT raping us, however the great George Bush and the never at fault government ARE taking us to the Bank, back home, then back to the bank again, and again.

Talk about price gouging? Try this on for size more than half the price of your gas is taxes. WHERE is all this money going?? I'm not seeing anything are you?

If the blowhards in Washington really gave a *** they would cut taxes on fuel and give us an immediate and real solution.

Passing the blame somewhere else may be what they are good at, however it's not a solution and in the end only pisses us off.

For the amount of tax each state slaps on us check out Gasoline tax information

The Federal Gas Tax is 18.4 cpg.

Note: For the record, we should ditch gas powered cars and move on to waters powered, however that's a whole different post. -Ed

Mexico seeking old broke down 737's

It seems Mexico has finally found a way to employ all the Illegal "workers" they have so generously been pouring over the boarder to us in the past few decades.
Gudalajara is their new home and the grand public library is their new job. The design competition has a most interesting submission using the hollow bodies of used Boeing 727 and 737 airliners.

So you have to give them props for taking recycling to the next level. :-)

Full Story @ Memepunks

Beck is almost here! w00t!

CNN's Headline News channel has revamped its schedule to bring controversial talk show host Glenn Beck into the fold, it was reported in Atlanta.

Beck will anchor his own show seven nights a week at 7 p.m. EDT starting May 8, the Atlanta-based network announced Monday, The Hollywood Reporter said Tuesday. The show will be repeated at 9 p.m. EDT.

Full Story @ Reality TV World

Finally a reason to watch CNNHN besides Robin. Beck might just take CNN past Fox.

United 93

September 11th was a day I will not forget, working at UUNet/Worldcom in the network operations room we monitored the entire world. That day all we could do was stare into the television someone had brought in on a cart. Those down T1's in Dallas or the customer having trouble with their credit card authorizations in Miami seemed another world away.

As we watched the second plane plow into the trade centers all I could think was "no way in hell is this an accident, we're under attack". How correct I was.

Now if we think we are ready, comes the film United93. A non-glamorous and non-Hollywood type film. With no special effects and with some people such as Ben Sliney playing themselves, it looks as though it was done the right way.
With all families involved giving their blessing it sends the message that this is not your typical Hollywood trash, I encourage all that can handle it to go see it.

Watch the Trailer @ Apple - Trailers - United 93

Oh My, How Dare They Build a Big House?!

I've been seeing a lot of articles lately about "McMansions." At first it sounds horrible, they build these huge houses on these tiny lots in the middle of the city. Oh God the humanity.

How dare these people tear down perfectly hideous and tiny houses design to live 2 parents and a child in he post WW2-era, with their own money, in the middle of the city, where they can use mass transit much more easily, and not clog the freeways with their gas guzzling vehicles on their way to work. How dare these people build houses sometimes located in such a way that they can walk or bike to work!

In all seriousness, yeah in some cases people go a bit overboard and excercise poor taste. But hey, news flash, it is their property and their money. If they want a gi-normous house, go for it! Especially given that they usually tear down a virtually unlivable house and functionally obsolete house that few people want to live in.

We complain about urban sprawl, oh God these people won't live in the city and it is causiing smog and they clog the freeways and blah blah blah. Now people are trying to move back to the city, and when they do that people complain because they build bigger houses.

What I really don't understand is why politicians oppose this since i t means increased property values and thus, property taxes.

It's more class envy.

I couldn't afford one of these houses. Nor could my parents. So what?

Not to mention, that I've seen some of these so called "McMansions" and frankly, as we say here in the south "they ain't that big!"

Hockey

I love to watch hockey. It's been even more fun since my hometown has actually gotten a team again. However, I must say this: There is something wrong when more than half of the teams in the league are in the playoffs.

Don't get me wrong, I like the idea of wild cards, where a team that maybe was a great team but was in a tougher division can get in and have a shot, and in baseball I must add, to some great success.

However, 16 of 30 teams? Why even call it a playoff, why not just call it, I don't know, the regular season?

NCAA basketball tournament starts with what, 64 teams? That isn't an eighth, much less half of the NCAA schools. Baseball is what, 8 of 28? 1 per division and a wild card in each league. Not bad.

But 16 of 30!

And No, I'm not talking about thi sbecause the Thrashers didn't make it. I wwasn't surprised they didn't. They did have a good run at it though.

Happy Easter....

I love spring! I always have. There's just something about watching everything come back to life again after a long, gray and dreary winter. The smell of fresh cut grass, the smell of rain in the air (though I can do without the severe thunderstorms and tornado watches and warnings but hey....), seeing the familiar colours of the world around me reborn. This rebirth is a very literal sence in many ways.

Today, on Easter, we Christians celebrate the death and *resurection* of Christ. The day when "He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement for our peace (that brought us peace) was upon Him. And by His stripes we are healed.". (Isaiah 53:5)

He conquered sin and death and lives for ever more! That "whoever...." (I don't read any exceptions there) "....believes in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life." (John 3:16)

May God pour out His mercy, blessings and grace upon you all.

Happy Easter!

Forgive Tax Cheats

Found this site tonight and thought what a great Idea this is. Getting 30% of my pay back each check, nice.

Check it out.

Read More @ ForgiveTaxChears.com

Sky On Bonds

Is there anyone with any doubt that Barry Bonds played/plays juiced? If you do have such doubts, please allow me to sell you some ocean front real-estate in Laos.

Lets be honest. Barry Bonds is not helping his team anymore. If he broke Aaron's record this year it probably wouldn't affect the Giant's place is the standings. The NL west is going to be the worst division in baseball again and the Giants are probably going to place 1st or second: with or without Barry. And with the absurd number of intentional walks he'll draw this year, his deteriorating defensive skills, and the less than positive media attention (not to mention his bawling on ESPN) I can't imagine anything other than ego driving him to continue to play (with denial being Alou's drive to put him in the line-up.)

In fact, how did he get the MVP award last year? I'm still scratching my head over that one.

Does anyone notice the injury plagued seasons of all these players under suspicion of being on 'roids? Palmeiro, McGuire, Bonds, Caminitti (who had the gonads to stand up and admit his mistake, as a result he paid a price, but not one imposed by the media - he died of a heart attack in 2004 related either to his alcoholism, his cocaine abuse or his steroid use.) Even Jose Canseco.

Let's go outside of baseball. Florence Griffith Joyner. Lyle Alzado.

I recommend Barry not wear any shades this year, the future isn't looking bright for him. Even if he surpasses the Babe (Who would probably still be up on Aaron if he hadn't started his career as a pitcher and didn't play half of his career in the dead ball era) or even Aaron, he'll be remembered for years as a cheat (and by the way, MLB circulated a memo in 1991 stating that players should not use performance enhancing drugs or prescription drugs for which they do not hold a prescription, so it was cheating.) Hopefully for all time.

The Guys' Rules

**I usually don't post my e-mails (obviously) but I recieved this one this morning and thought it too good to not post. Besides, I think you guys will get a kick out of it.**

At last a guy has taken the time to write this all down. Finally, the guys' side of the story. (I must admit, it's pretty good.) We always hear"the rules"from the female point of view... Now here are the rules from the male side. These are our rules! Please note... these are all numbered "1" ON PURPOSE!

1. Men ARE NOT mind readers.

1. Learn to work the toilet seat. You're a big girl. If it's up, put it down. We need it up, you need it down. You don't hear us complaining about you leaving it down.

1. Sunday sports. It's like the full moon or the changing of the tides. Let it be.

1. Shopping is NOT a sport. And no, we are never going to think of it that way.

1. Crying is blackmail.

1. Ask for what you want. Let us be clear on this one: Subtle hints do not work! Strong hints do not work! Obvious hints do not work! Just say it!

1. Yes and No are perfectly acceptable answers to almost every question.

1. Come to us with a problem only if you want help solving it. That's what we do. Sympathy is what your girlfriends are for.

1. A headache that lasts for 17 months is a problem. See a doctor.

1. Anything we said 6 months ago is inadmissible in an argument. In fact, all comments become null and void after 7 Days.

1. If you won't dress like the Victoria's Secret girls, don't expect us to act like soap opera guys.

1. If you think you're fat, you probably are. Don't ask us.

1. If something we said can be interpreted two ways and one of the ways makes you sad or angry, we meant the other one.

1. You can either ask us to do something Or tell us how you want it done. Not both. If you already know best how to do it, just do it yourself.

1. Whenever possible, Please say whatever you have to say during commercials.

1. Christopher Columbus did NOT need directions and neither do we.

1. ALL men see in only 16 colors, like Windows default settings. Peach, for example, is a fruit, not a color. Pumpkin is also a fruit. We have no idea what mauve is.

1. If it itches, it will be scratched. We do that.

1. If we ask what is wrong and you say "nothing," we will act like nothing's wrong. We know you are lying, but it is just not worth the hassle.

1. If you ask a question you don't want an answer to, expect an answer you don't want to hear.

1. When we have to go somewhere, absolutely anything you wear is fine...Really.

1. Don't ask us what we're thinking about unless you are prepared to discuss such topics as baseball, the shotgun formation, or golf.

1. You have enough clothes.

1. You have too many shoes.

1. I am in shape. Round IS a shape!

1. Thank you for reading this. Yes, I know, I have to sleep on the couch tonight; But did you know men really don't mind that? It's like camping.

Happy New Years....Er, I Mean "April Fool's Day"!

There have been very few times in my life (mostly as a child) when I actually *liked* "April Fool's Day". I always thought how stupid it was (not to mention mean) that one day out of the year was used to serve the *stupidest* pranks to poor unsuspecting people. Of course, there was that one time when one of my cousins walked to a neighbors house and called my uncle in a disguised voice convincing him he had just won the lottery. Another cousin who was also in on the joke (as were the rest of us because it wasn't *that* hard to figure out) let it go on long enough to see my uncle get the keys to his van and head towards the door before finally letting him in on the prank. It was a mean one (considering their financial situation and considering I put myself in my uncle's shoes and realized that I wouldn't want it done to me) but even *I* had to admit that one was a little funny (considering how gullible my uncle is - or at least *was* at the time).

I've often thought to myself - where *did* this stupid "tradition" come from? Well, a few years ago, curiosity killed the cat and I finally looked up it's origin (or at least it's close enough). Enjoy:

Full Article @ April Fools' Day: Origin and History

God Bless the "Patriot Guard Riders"!

You guys have got to check these guys out! I first heard of them about a week ago on Fox news (I believe it was Fox and Friends. Yes, that "evil" news channel). It's people like these who give me a new hope in America and gives me a renewal in the spirit of pride and patriotism. Reading through their site - I just wanted to hug each and every one of them. Here's the link to their site along with their mission statement:

http://www.patriotguard.org/

Also, if you follow this link:

http://www.patriotguard.org/Forums/tabid/61/
forumid/26/postid/41812/view/topic/Default.aspx

it will take you to a letter written by a soldier whose in Iraq he also has a link to his *own* website. It's worth a good look!

We have a Leprechaun on the Loose

Video featured @ YouTube

Jackie Mason on Starbucks

Starbucks is the best example of a phony status symbol that means nothing, but people will still pay 10 times as much for because there are French words all over the place.

You want coffee in a coffee shop, that's 60 cents. But at Starbucks, Cafe Latte: $3.50. Cafe Cremier: $4.50. Cafe Suisse: $9.50. For each French word, another four dollars.

Why does a little cream in coffee make it worth $3.50? Go into any coffee shop; they'll give you all the cream you want until you're blue in the face. Forty million people are walking around in coffee shops with jars of cream: "Here's all the cream you want!" And it's still 60 cents. You know why?

Because it's called "coffee."

If it's Cafe Latte -- $4.50. You want cinnamon in your coffee? Ask for cinnamon in a coffee shop; they'll give you all the cinnamon you want. Do they ask you for more money because it's cinnamon? It's the same price for cinnamon in your coffee as for coffee without cinnamon -- 60 cents, that's it. But not in Starbucks. Over there, it's Cinnamonnier - $9.50.

You want a refill in a regular coffee shop, they'll give you all the refills you want until you drop dead. You can come in when you're 27 and keep drinking coffee until you're 98. And they'll start begging you: "Here, you want more coffee, you want more, you want more?" Do you know that you can't get a refill at Starbucks? A refill is a dollar fifty. Two refills, $4.50. Three refills, $19.50.

So, for four cups of coffee - $350.

And it's burnt coffee.

Read the rest @ goodasgold.com

This was TO true to pass up, and funny. -Ed

p.s. Thanks for the link Skywalker

Tis a thing of beauty

Nothing like homemade hand tossed pie using all organic ingredients.
This looked (and tasted) too good not to share with my friends.

Enjoy!

I would of also taken a pic of Mrs. Muddys pie but it has (yuck!) rice cheese on it.
Not something I'm proud of.

Xgl - Pushing Linux to the Top

Just discovered this last night, Xgl for Linux will make Mac's and Winders look like garbage, it's a perfect blend of function and aesthetics.

I have made the demonstration video available here.

Visit the main site of NOVELL:Xgl

Bush lied, people died?

I recently interviewed General Georges Sada, who served as the second-highest ranked general in the Iraqi Air Force. A two-star general, he wrote a recently published book called "Saddam's Secrets: How an Iraqi General Defied and Survived Saddam Hussein." Here are some sound bites from that interview:

Elder: General, as you know, the president has been accused of lying about the intelligence, fabricating it, cherry-picking it, that he wanted to go to war, he really didn't believe that Saddam had WMD. It was all a big smokescreen. When you hear people accuse the president of lying about WMD, of misleading the country and the world, your reaction, Gen. Georges Sada, is what?

Sada: Let me tell you. I am really surprised how people are speaking like this and their soldiers are still in the battle. You see, a soldier when he is in battle, he wants to feel that all his nation are backing him and they are with him. And now I tell you I feel very sorry when I see some people in this country, their soldiers are in the battle, and they are discussing political things making that soldier to feel that he is there in the wrong place. That's one. Second, if there was something right had been done in this country, it was the best decision taken in the proper time, to go and liberate Iraq from an evil dictatorship who only God knows what he was going to do in the region, and maybe even to America, because that man was possessing the weapons of mass destruction and then he was with very evil intentions towards all the West, especially America.

Full article @ Townhall.com

This is a very interesting read that Mrs. Muddy and Skywalker have pointed out. -Ed

Why 85%? 2 reasons: #1 they know no one will go this slow. #2 Because of #1, they can write lots and lots of revenue increasing tickets.

Yes, that's right, speed limits are all about revenue. I'm not opposed to revenue. It's needed byt he government. But frankly, the speed limits are moronic. The only place where a speed limit might actually be useful, is in a completely residential area such as a subdivision or something similar. Oh yes, and school zones, since in some areas, kids still walk to school. Outside of kids walking to school, I really can't personally see a reason for school zones though. I won't say there isn't since I may simply be missing one and some school bus driver might pop on and say there is a legitimate reason.

There have been numerous studies that say the safest drivers on the road are the ones whoa re int he left hand lane driving at least 10 mph over the speed limit and the least safe are the ones driving the speed limit or less.

Anyhow, here is the reason for this:
Meditation On The Speed Limit

It was done by some college students at Georgia State University for Campus Movie Fest. No I am not a student there. No I do not know any of these students.

The premise: a student was tired of getting tickets for going with the flow of traffic on I-285 here in Atlanta. So he decided to show just what would happen in everyone had to go the speed limit. Enjoy.

Stop Democracy

Found this site while searching news and it's refreshing to see some Americans get it.
I admit in the past have said "our democracy" and yet knew it's a republic, whoops. This might help me to remember. :-P

"Our legal form of government is a Constitutional Republic. Through media manipulation and the constant chant of “our democracy” from either deceitful or ignorant politicians, the majority of the American people don't even understand that not only is America not a democracy, they don't know the difference."

Full Text @ Help stop the spread of democracy!

United Arab Emirates surpasses America on the world gluttony scale

The Palm Islands, also referred to as The Palm Dubai and The Palms, are the three largest man-made islands in the world, which are being built on the coast of the emirate of Dubai, in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Its concept was announced in May 2002 and the three resort islands are expected to maintain Dubai's position as a premium tourist destination. The Palm Islands is also the self-declared 'Eighth Wonder of the World'.

The Palm Islands [Dubai] - Property Development - TEN Real Estate [UAE]

Holy Cash Overflow Batman! It seems someone has money burning a hole in their pockets. :-P -Ed

New ad released in the Middle East

Brought to you by :

Militant Islam

Note: This is simply something funny I found while reading fark.com, I did not make these nor claim so. I do believe that every human wants freedom, some however have vastly different opinions on what freedom is. -Ed

Democrats Can't Hackett

Feb 14, 2006

Dismembered Republicans in shock!

Full Story @ Rolling Stone

Handling of Accident Creates Tension Between White House Staffs

New York Times
WASHINGTON, Feb. 14 — When the White House press secretary,...

*YAWN*

In other news I had a massive crap today, you know the kind that hits you right as your hitting the freeway in rush hour traffic. Man your praying all the way home, "Oh please don't let me crap my pants before I get home", yea it was an (as I have trademarked) Assplosion!

Yikes my toilet probably thinks I hate it or something, the way I was abusing it.

New Photo Album Added

Finally got around to adding a few pics from our trip to the U.S.A.F. Museum in Dayton, Ohio. Had to go twice because I forgot to charge the batteries for the camera. Also took the tripod the second trip which helped with getting cleaner pics.

Enjoy.

If your in Ohio check out the National Museum of the United States Air Force.

The Super Bowl Commeth

Everyone get your terrible towels out and wave them like never before..

HERE WE GO STEELERS, HERE WE GO!!!


HERE WE GO STEELERS, HERE WE GO!!!


HERE WE GO STEELERS, HERE WE GO!!!

I wish I could make this stuff up

A protestor demonstrates in front of the French Embassy, over the publication of cartoons of the Prophet Mohammad, in London February 3, 2006. The cartoons, which are due to be re-published in French newspapers on Saturday





Seriously, I wish I could make up stuff this funny. How in the hell do you hold out ANY hope of living peacefully with brilliant folks like this???

They have no morality, no sensibility, no brain functionality but kill the white man. It's almost like they are being brain washed in the Mosques... *shock* NOOO! That would Never happen.(rolls eyes) -Ed

Sane Muslims stand up and be heard

All the sane, competent and intelligent Muslims stand up for your faith and give us hope that the Muslim religion is not a bunch of nut jobs.

ONE freakin' cartoon and (it seems) the entire Muslim community is going to pop off and start bombing everyone they can find.

How many times over just the past few years have Christians endured flagrant attacks on God, Jesus and ourselves. Yet I don't remember anyone starting WW3 over it. Just because some asshat God hating liberal wants to put a crucifix in a jar of urine does not mean I'm going to kill him. (just clarifies he is nuts) You are free to voice your opinion and hatred no matter how wrong you are.

So enough of this stupid rage, outrage and fury over one cartoon (which given your reaction might not of been far off). Grow up, grab yourself a chill pill and enjoy life man.

You know, this whole over reaction thing reminds me of what a very insecure man would do if he thought some guy was checking out his girl. Get all shitty and try to pick a fight with him.

Insecurity and easy access to weapons makes for a BAD combination.

Birthday Girl!

Happy Birthday to me
Happy Birthday to me
I'm no longer 33....
But I'm still crazy as can be.:-D

Yes, I've decided to sing my own birthday wishes this year. So, pick your poison and raise your glass (just don't stick me with the tab.:-P ) in celebration of my 34th year....or whatever other reason you can conjure up.

BTW...in case *anyone* would like to buy me a present, our garrage would look MUCH better with a dirt bike in it.:-)

Racism OK if it's against Whitey

NAACP chairman compares GOP to Nazis

Civil rights activist and NAACP Chairman Julian Bond delivered a blistering partisan speech at Fayetteville State University in North Carolina last night, equating the Republican Party with the Nazi Party and characterizing Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and her predecessor, Colin Powell, as "tokens."

"The Republican Party would have the American flag and the swastika flying side by side," he charged.

Calling President Bush a liar, Bond told the audience at the historically black institution that this White House's lies are more serious than the lies of his predecessor's because Clinton's lies didn't kill people.

Full Story @ WorldNetDaily.com

Nobody (except us) will stand up and call this fool a racist, it's sickening. People do far, far less and get politically, emotionally and socially hung, this guy will walk away with an "attaboy". -Ed

How about you answer the question asked

So there I am, watching El Presidente during his press conference this morning.
He reminded me why I hate politicians (donkeys and elephants), they have trouble answering the question asked. Instead they like to change the question then answer a totally different question.

As my radio hero Mr. Beck would say, "ANSWER THE FRICKIN QUESTION!!"

Now I understand some questions cannot be directly answered as the asshat liberal media likes to ask some of the most ignorant things.

However at least be honest enough to ask them to rephrase or say "I cannot answer that" or whatever. You can't change the question then answer it yourself, it's pointless for others to show up if your going to Q&A by your self!

Mr. Bush if you want to truly be "different" and have the respect of your people then be the beacon, be the one we look up too instead of a typical politician.

Read along with Muddy

Ever thought that you knew about our constitution, have you even read it?

How about understanding it?

Read along with Muddy and discover what the federalists and anti-federalists thought about the constitution, how it applied to daily life and how those who signed it defended it.

Download the book from Project Gutenberg

We're driving the Bus to Detroit!

My Steelers are going to Super Bowl XL and will be sending the Bus off to retirement in style, with one for the thumb!

WOOOOOOHOOOOOO!!!

Here we go Steelers!, Here we go!

Helping Out Our Fellow Man

A new year means new beginings but for some it means a bad start and/or finish to an already bad year. Bad things happen all the time. From the tsunami in Asia last year to the earthquake in Pakistan three months ago to the hurricane in New Orleans to the roof collapse in a German Ice skating rink just days ago to the West Virginia mine collapse. Our fellow man needs a helping hand everywhere you turn. With so many horrifying events happening throughout the world everyday, it can get a little overwhelming as to where to start first. I ask everyone to not only say a continuous prayer for ALL of these people and their loved ones but to also give to their local Red Cross. No matter where you are in the world. Donate blood and/or as much or little money as you can. It doesn't have to be alot. A little CAN go a long way.

Happy - And SAFE - New Year!

Just wanted to take the time (while I had it) to wish everyone a very safe and happy new year. We've all had our debates through the years. Some of you I've agreed with - some of you...I've wanted to knock up side the head! :-) But all of us have had a hand in making it interresting food for thought. So everyone have fun and BE SAFE!!! Give those keys to someone else or just stay 'till the morning so we can ALL *continue* to have those "interresting" debates.:-) I'm serious now so - don't MAKE me hurt you people.

How not to stop illegal immigration

Some things in life are far to dumb to be made up. This is one of them. -Ed

Ignorant Statement of the Hour

"Corporate adoption of Linux desktops is hindered by the inability to run Windows applications." -Information Week

Uh.., if you could run windoze apps then it would be WINDOZE you morons! For the love of pete will you clueless children stop this nonsense and stick to your low brow OS and leave the real OS to the men. Your ignorant statement makes as much sense as "I'm hindered in buying a dvd player by the inability of it to play VHS tapes."

(I need duct tape, my head is going to explode!)

Liberal concerns addressed

From: The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue Washington, DC

Dear Concerned Citizen:

Thank you for your recent letter criticizing our treatment of the Taliban and Al Qaeda detainees currently held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. The administration takes these matters seriously, and your opinion was heard loud and clear here in Washington.

You'll be pleased to learn that, thanks to the concerns of citizens like you, we are creating the Terrorist Retraining Program, to be called the "Liberals Accept Responsibility for Killers" program, or LARK for short. In accordance with the guidelines of this new program, we have decided to place one terrorist under your personal care. Your detainee has been selected and scheduled for transportation to your residence next Monday. Ali Mohammed Ahmed bin Mahmud is to be cared for pursuant to the standards you personally demanded in your letter of admonishment. We will conduct weekly inspections to ensure that your standards of care for Ahmed are commensurate with those you so strongly recommended in your letter.

Although Ahmed is sociopathic and extremely violent, we hope that your sensitivity to what you described as his "attitudinal problem" will help him overcome this character flaw. Perhaps you are correct in describing these problems as mere cultural differences.

Your adopted terrorist is extremely proficient in hand-to-hand combat and can extinguish human life with such simple items as a pencil or nail clippers. He is also expert at making a wide variety of explosive devices from common household products, so you may wish to keep those items locked up, unless you feel that this might offend him.

Ahmed will not wish to interact with your wife or daughters since he views females as a subhuman form of property. ?This is a particularly sensitive subject for him. He has been known to show violent tendencies around women who fail to comply with the dress code that he considers appropriate, but I'm sure that over time they will come to enjoy the anonymity offered by the bhurka. Just remind them that it is all part of respecting his culture and his religious beliefs.

Thanks again for your letter. We truly appreciate it when folks like you inform us of the proper way to do our job. Take good care of Ahmed and good luck!

Cordially,
Don Rumsfeld
Secretary of Defense

Yet another example socialism is not better than capitolism

Yahoo! News Photo

While researching Christmas

I found this gem.

Dionysius Exiguus

Dionysius Exiguus, a monk from Russia who died about 544, was asked by Pope John I to set out the dates for Easter from the years 527 to 626. It seems that the Pope was keen to produce some order in the celebration of Easter. Dionysius decided to begin with what he considered to be the year of Jesus' birth. He chose the year in which Rome had been founded and determined, from the evidence known to him, that Jesus had been born 753 years later.

He was almost certainly acquainted with a suggestion by Hippolytus (170–236) that the date of Jesus' birth was December 25, but the trouble was that Hippolytus had not backed up this claim with sound arguments. Dionysius, however, had just the argument:

* His contemporaries claimed that God created the earth on March 25.
* It was inconceivable that the son of God could have been in any way imperfect.
* Therefore Jesus must have been conceived on March 25.
* This meant that he must have been born nine months later—December 25.

(Dionysius also concluded that, as a perfect being, Jesus could not have lived an incomplete life so he must have died on March 25 as well!)

Full Article @ westarinstitute.org

Happy Thanksgiving

Just a bit late but better than never.

Hope everyone had an enjoyable day, I know mine was rememberable. :-)

Thanksgiving

Ward breaks Record!

Hines Ward is now the receiving leader breaking the previous Steelers mark set by John Stallworth (HOF). Ward jumped passed John Stallworth when he caught his 538th career pass. It's my guess and assumption that Hines will also make the HOF here in Canton, OH. Maybe one day I'll get to witness him being inducted, that would be huge.

Daily Thoughts

After listening to the news while working today I have some thoughts.

1. Nuke Iran now, get it over with as it won't be any easier in the future.

2. Find who leaked the intel about the secret prisons and eliminate them, asshats who leak black ops info are traitors and need to go bye bye .

3. Washington (Rep & Dem alike) STFU and do your job. Which by the way does not include acting like a bunch of spoiled brats.

4. India, how about that water supply? I think if I open a water desalinization facility now, in about ten years I'll be a very rich man.

5. Someone has got to share the secret with Barbara Boxer that less (makeup) is more, holy crap I thought that was Tammy Faye Baker when I glanced up to the screen.

6. Last but not least, Hey France, do you need us to send over the L.A.P.D. to put the smack down on that uprising?

An Ode To 10 Years....

10 years ago today,
We said our "I do's"
In the usual way.
Infront of God, family,
witnesses and friends
We promised to love each other
to the very end.
And today, as I look back now,
At all the good and bad,
At all the up's and down's
I have to ask one question
In the face of all that I believe in...
Someone please tell me -
What in hell were we thinkin'?!

Love,

Your Adoring Wife :-D

Steelers Vid Update

Check the Forums.

Naruto Episode 4

Meh, it was ok.

After 152 episodes of subs it's been "troublesome" adjusting to the new voices and the way they say things.

Believe it! (lol)

New Logo

Ok, after waiting on my famous artist sister to help out, I did it myself.
What do you think of the new logo? Made a poll on it, vote.

Glock

Among the many things my friends and I talk about, our handguns are among them. And while we all disagree on various things, one thing we all can agree is that we love our Glocks. Some of us prefer the full-size, some the sub-compact (I prefer the compact which is the middle size.) We mostly can agree on the .40 and .45 ACP calibers - I own a .45 ACP, the Glock 30. And we also can agree that it is without a doubt, the most reliable handgun in the world. I personally have never seen one jam. Nor do I personally know anyone who has (though, I'm told the can, but usually it is a feed problem.)

This leads me to wonder, why the heck isn't the US military using them? I mean really, the 9mm Beretta has been a disaster. It's unreliable and it has no stopping power (and yes, I have fired it.) And, chances are, if you have fired one, then you've had it "bite" you. In fact, it's such a horrid weapon, that special operations units have gone BACK to the Colt 1911, though a slightly modified version. Even MEU(SOC)'s are using the 1911 again.

Seriously, why are we continuing to use the Beretta, which sucks, and not using a Glock 22 or a Glock 21? It can't be cost, since the Glock is comparable.

Too Bizzare

Ok, just when you think you've seen it all, Boing Boing has posted today a bit on a parasite that replaced a fish's tongue (because it drains all of it's blood, the tongue that is and the latches on to the stub).

Freaky pics as well. A must see.

Full Story @ Boing Boing

Naruto Announcement

Ok boys and girls.

I will no longer post/write about Naruto episodes here, if you want to ask something Email Me.
Do not ask if I'm putting up episodes, just check the tracker.

(remove the "nospam" from the email addy before sending)

Naruto Episode 3

For those who were not able to watch Naruto Ep3 tonight (or live in another country) the english dub will be up in a bit.

It was interesting how Ino called Saske her "boy", that one had me cracking up.

I'll update once it's up.

*UPDATE*

It's up.

Two days in a row? It must be God.

Again tonight, working late and in search for a quality cup O' joe.
Walk into my favorite Caribou Coffee up north and see my favorite crew working.
After chatting it up a bit I ask for one of their tasty looking raspberry and chocolate pastries. They tell me they can't sell them to me because they are expiring that night and have to be thrown out. So instead they gave me, all three!
Then in my usual smart ass way I said "how about a free cup O' joe to go with these beauties", they said sure why not. w00t!
Man I tell you what, two great nights of free (quality) coffee and eats, life is good.

Stauff's to the rescue

So there I was, driving around late at night in search of food. My first attempt was Timmy Ho's to get a bowl of veggie soup, of which they had none. Next up was Panzera Pizza, who promptly locked his door and flipped the "closed" sign upon seeing me walk up to the door. (dirtbag) At last I ended up at Stauff's, Columbus's premier coffee roaster/house. Knowing they were also closing I did not hold out hope. I walked into an empty store and asked if they had any coffee left. The wonderful ladies said, they still had some left but could not charge me as they had already closed out their register.I thought I was rejected again, but it was not to be. They told me that they could give me the coffee, so not to pass up on their charity I inquired how much for a muffin, it was free as well.
God works in mysterious ways, and Stauff's rocks!

New Photo Gallery

Click HERE to view the new muddysmind.com photo gallery. I'm moving my pics from deviantart back to here, so enjoy.

Steelers 34 vs Titans 7 !!

Willie Parker has the Burg excited and what a day he had.

Steeler fans around the world will get to see Willie work magic as I'm processing the 1st half now, should be ready in 2-3 hours.

*UPDATE* 1st Half is complete and ready.

*UPDATE* 2nd Half is up and ready.

Naruto Episodes 1 & 2

Processing episode 1 now, will start 2 once it's done.

I'm also looking for folks to help seed it if anyone is interested leave a message here.

Happy Naruto viewing!

- Muddy

*note* users who are not familiar with xvid or ogg vorbis should make sure their systems can play these formats. I have a windows codec install for xvid under the downloads section. Those who choose good over evil and use Linux like me just use mplayer. (also a winders version of mplayer under downloads)

*UPDATE*
Episode 1 is up and ready

*UPDATE*
Episode 2 is up and ready

To enable windows to play the sound in these files go HERE, the Xvid video codec plugin is under downloads on the right side of my main page.

Proof Linux Rocks! and Winblows Sucks

Just a funny page I found, enjoy.

Operating System Sucks-Rules-O-Meter

Priceless Quote

While reading through fark tonight I came across this gem from SchlingFo.
(speaking on the recent unrelenting price increases of gas/oil)

"Price gouging" is to "supply and demand" as "looting" is to "finding".

Naruto Hitting U.S. Airwaves

Well, my favorite anime is coming, and not in a good way. After watching All 150 episodes of Naruto in it's native Japanese subtitled in english I will find it a challenge to accept the new dubbed english version.

Sometimes an anime can pull off the transition, however the voice acting in Naruto is out of this world, I really doubt American's dubbing it can do it justice.

I guess we will wait and see.

I'm considering making .ogm rips (I will make them for myself at least) and putting them on the tracker, if anyone would be interested in hosting them that would take a huge load off my already tapped bandwidth.

In case your a naruto fan and don't already know about narutofan.com it's a must have for your bookmarks.

Oh, on a side note, I'm getting close to being done with all 25 episodes of FullMetal Alchemist if anyone is interested in having those up on the tracker.

Twisted Views

While spending my usual fist minutes after waking up browsing news.google.com, I came across this disturbing piece by Mr. Oliphant of the Boston Globe.

In it he says the following :

"The question -- now that President Bush has an opportunity that no president has had since Richard Nixon broke true-blue conservative hearts some 34 years ago -- is whether there is a conservative doctrine that can guide the Supreme Court and bring the country along politically in its wake. If there is, the stakes for Rehnquist's successor, and Justice Sandra Day O'Connor's as well -- not to mention the country -- are huge."

Now, my understanding from reading over the founding documents is that the Supreme Court shall be responsible for hearing cases, not dictating political doctrine, adhering to, adding to, producing or taking any part in political activity whether conservative or liberal.

So where does Mr. Oliphant get his twisted view of our Supreme Count from?
Again and again uneducated, unprepared and ignorant people are somehow given full
access to our nations press, perpetrating lies and half truths.

However such activity is protected, as is my right to correct them.

Full Story @ The Boston Globe

For your reading pleasure I give you article III from the U.S. Constitution.

Article. III.

Section. 1. The judicial Power of the United States shall be vested in one supreme Court, and in such inferior Courts as the Congress may from time to time ordain and establish. The Judges, both of the supreme and inferior Courts, shall hold their Offices during good Behaviour, and shall, at stated Times, receive for their Services a Compensation, which shall not be diminished during their Continuance in Office.

Section. 2. The judicial Power shall extend to all Cases, in Law and Equity, arising under this Constitution, the Laws of the United States, and Treaties made, or which shall be made, under their Authority; — to all Cases affecting Ambassadors, other public Ministers and Consuls; — to all Cases of admiralty and maritime Jurisdiction; — to Controversies to which the United States shall be a Party; — to Controversies between two or more States; — between a State and Citizens of another State [Modified by Amendment XI]; — between Citizens of different States; — between Citizens of the same State claiming Lands under Grants of different States, and between a State, or the Citizens thereof, and foreign States, Citizens or Subjects.

In all Cases affecting Ambassadors, other public Ministers and Consuls, and those in which a State shall be Party, the supreme Court shall have original Jurisdiction. In all the other Cases before mentioned, the supreme Court shall have appellate Jurisdiction, both as to Law and Fact, with such Exceptions, and under such Regulations as the Congress shall make.

The Trial of all Crimes, except in Cases of Impeachment, shall be by Jury; and such Trial shall be held in the State where the said Crimes shall have been committed; but when not committed within any State, the Trial shall be at such Place or Places as the Congress may by Law have directed.

Section. 3. Treason against the United States shall consist only in levying War against them, or in adhering to their Enemies, giving them Aid and Comfort. No Person shall be convicted of Treason unless on the Testimony of two Witnesses to the same overt Act, or on Confession in open Court.

The Congress shall have Power to declare the Punishment of Treason, but no Attainder of Treason shall work Corruption of Blood, or Forfeiture except during the Life of the Person attainted.

The State of American Government

How many Americans have ever read the Declaration of Independence?
I wonder if the common man would see the things that I do.

The multitude of our brothers and sisters who have over the centuries given
their lives for our freedom. Would they recognize what we call the government today?
Intriguing is one of the many points listed that caused a people to stand up and physically fight
their leaders was something we accept today.

*For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent

How many times has the government raised taxes, whether fuel, "sin", sales or otherwise without
any vote.
Another point was brought to light recently when the so called Supreme Court decided they should make laws. This was also something that our forefathers stood up against.

*For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws, and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments.

Their arrogance was quite obvious when the Court decided if someone wants to build a resort, Hotel or other "public" establishment they could kick people off their land and bulldoze their homes.
That was never part of the law, however it is their bastardized version of it, and now law.

I do not claim that Mr. Bush is sole responsible for the shell of a government that we currently have presiding over us. However he is but heir to it. A slow, meticulous and dangerous mutation has occurred right under our noses.

It is time to educate our country, make known our grievances to our representatives and pray that God has mercy on us.

Transcript of Declaration of Independence (1776)

Steelers vs. Panthers

Steeler fans around the world rejoice.
The 1st half of the Steelers at the Panthers is now ready.
As usual I did the game in two pieces to fit on two 700mb CD-R's.

2nd Half should be ready in a couple hours.

Remember to seed! (at the very least for 24 hours)

*edit*
2nd half is now up and ready.

Problem solved : Bad Memory

If your box starts to lock up at unexplainable times, programs dump for unknown reasons.
Run Memtest86 and do it for more than five minutes like I had at first.

After several weeks of random lockups and programs crashing for no clear reason.
I ran Memtest again last night, and behold after nineteen minutes it started to spew errors like a baby rejecting formula.

I yanked the memory, setup an RMA and pulled memory from another box, now I'm back in business.

Remember kids, if it's random errors and not heat related, it's probably memory.

Thanks to Newegg.com for the online RMA process, worked out good for me, sending back the bad sticks today.

Tracker down for Maint

Installing new tracker, so all torrents are down for a little bit.

Ok, maybe I have it fixed, give it a whirl.

Captcha

In an effort to eliminate our incredible spam problem, I've added a CAPTCHA to the comment system. I realize that this is a pain, but it's just 6 numbers you have to type in, so please bear with us.

*Muddy's Note*
It's not working, please be patient while Skywalker gets off his duff and figures it out. :-)

...And From Neal's Nuze Today

I got this from Neal's Nuze today:

"EVERYONE AGREES"

Yeah ... as the NBC reporter said .... "everyone agrees."

Baseball

Steroid scandals aside, this season has been interesting. You have the AL where the Yankees may very well not make the playoffs for the first time in years (No complaint here!) You have the NL West where for the first time ever, the entire division may finish with sub .500 winning percentages. The AL West has a heck of a pennant race going on. The Royals have been one of the losingest teams to ever play the game. And then the NL East where my Braves, against all odds, are in first place, in a division where most likely every team is going to finish with a winning record.

What do I mean by against all odds? I can think of one sportswriter who picked them to win it. His words, "I picked em to lose last year and I lost. We go through this every year with them, and every year they find a way to win it." At one point over a third of the 25 man roster was rookies. They've been injury plagued, particularly in the first half. The 2nd game of the season (that I was at) was a 15 strike-out performance by John Smoltz - and he took the loss!

Alas, soon the season will be over and my Falcons and Yellow Jackets both face tough schedules. Particularly the Yellow Jackets who face one of the toughest schedules in the NCAA!

Hey New Orleans, RUN!!!

Katrina now a cat 5 and growing stronger.

You can no longer discount this storm, New Orleans residents and surrounding areas need to get up and run.

How to tell you your fat, let me count the ways

But a New Hampshire woman who was sternly lectured by her doctor about being obese has taken her hurt feelings to a new level - filing an official complaint against him with state health authorities.

The New Hampshire case, while rare, highlights an increasing problem in the fight against obesity - how does a doctor sensitively tell a patient that he or she is overweight?

The patient - whose name was not released - was upset after Dr. Terry Bennett, a Harvard-educated family practitioner in Rochester, N.H., told her she was obese and her weight was contributing to her diabetes and other health problems.

New York Daily News

*Note* I'm going out on a limb here and saying she's a flaming liberal. ;-)

Tracker Fixed and should be stable

I hope anyways.

Steeler fans enjoy, and remember, keep your torrents running after the download.
It allows us ALL to to enjoy our team.

Eagles vs. Steelers

Ok, what little I have from the game is up now. (1st qtr and about half of 2nd qtr)

I left it at the full 640x480 resolution I captured it in, however the normal games may not be so big, or I may opt to break them down into quarters at 700MB each so you can put one game on 4 cd's.
Or one DVD.

Either way they are going to be big unless I drop the quality which I don't think anyone wants. :-)

*Edited 09:45*
Ops, I just deleted the game, I'll re-process it and post it back tonight. :-/

*edit 21:00*
Game is backup ready for download. (remember it's only the 1st and most of the 2nd quarters.)

Eagles at Steelers Pre-season

Well we won, some good plays some bad.
Hines is back and all, yea.

It's the pre-season for me as well. Trying to move the game file to my workstation to edit out the ads, and lost it.
Oops. Now I know how to tar up the file without overwriting it. :-(
I have the first quarter and some of the second though.

I'll get it up when I can, been one hell of a day here. (in a bad way)

U.S. Govt. Sleeping with Microsoft

My.. my.. my.., the big bad U.S. Government who so aggressively attacked Micro$oft is now starting to push for "Micro$oft" only websites??

Beginning with the Copyright Office, which is funny if you think about it.
If you create or invent something and want to copyright it, you can't unless you bow down to corporate America and Micro$oft.

I realize this may seem like nothing to most of you, but it just gets under my skin.

If you want to voice your opinion on this as I do write a letter to the following:
Copyright GC/ I&R
P.O. Box 70400
Southwest Station
Washington, DC 20024-0400

by August 22nd that is. :-)

For the skinny on this check out copyright.gov

Just thought I would post something positive, and stir the pot at the same time. If you get a chance check out the website of my favorite cartoonist; John Rule.

http://oneimage.org/Images/index.htm

SCUM

All I can say is this:
These people are scum.

Read the story at Yahoo! News

For further reading:
God (Allegedly) Hates Fags

Humorous Ben Franklin Snippet

In my first voyage from Boston, being becalm'd off Block Island, our people set about catching cod, and hauled up a great many.
Hitherto I had stuck to my resolution of not eating animal food, and on this occasion consider'd, with my master Tryon, the taking every fish as a kind of unprovoked murder, since none of them had, or ever could do us any injury that might justify the slaughter.
All this seemed very reasonable.
But I had formerly been a great lover of fish, and, when this came hot out of the frying-pan, it smelt admirably well.
I balanc'd some time between principle and inclination, till I recollected that, when the fish were opened, I saw smaller fish taken out of their stomachs; then I thought I, "If you eat one another, I don't see why we mayn't eat you."
So I din'd upon cod very heartily, and continued to eat with other people, returning only now and then occasionally to a vegetable diet.

A bit of background, Ben Franklin was in his late teens *I believe* at this time and was a vegetarian for a few years when this happened. I found this funny while reading his autobiography today.

Blink and you really do 'miss it'

Parts of the brain are temporarily "switched off" when we blink, scientists have found.

The team from University College London found the brain shut down parts of the visual system for each blink.

Writing in Current Biology, they said this was the case even if light was still entering the eyes.

The researchers said this could explain why people do not notice their own blinking, as it gave us an "uninterrupted view of the world".

Full Story @ BBC NEWS

Read this and tell me your not self conscious for a little bit about blinking. :-)

2004 Steelers Video

Finally got around to posting the 2004 Steelers Team Review video.
Should play on any media player that can handle ogg and xvid.

If not use the link on the right to download mplayer for winders.

Cheers!

NASCAR The Monopoly?

Now Jerry Bonkowski thinks NASCAR has a monopoly - Kentucky Speedway agrees and has filed an anti-trust suit. Why? Because they own 12 tracks and hold 19 of 36 races on those 12 tracks.

I fail to see how this is a monopoly. Think about it. You have NASCAR, they have a product, NASCAR stock car racing. There are other companies providing similar products. They all distribute their product in different ways, NASCAR chooses to distribute theirs just over 50% through their own distributorships and 50% through customer distributorships.

Now, let's compare this to another industry: home computers.

For years, Dell and Gateway only sold computers over the phone and through the internet. Did they lose customers this way? Sure did, that's why they now sell computers at retail. But did anyone complain? Nope. It's their product and they can distribute it anyway they want. Dell and Gateway did 100% not 50% through their own distributors.

Now, NASCAR can only run so many races, and certain racetracks have an overwhelming popularity, there their are 2 races their every year. If you're a NASCAR fan in an area without a race, will this make you happy? No. Not really. But is NASCAR going to make every happy? No. That's why you have other stock car racing organiations and other forms of racing such as Formula 1, Formula SAe, Formula D, NHRA, AI and AIX, et cetera.

Maybe instead, NASCAR should rotate from year to year, the races at less popular tracks. But then, that's only if they want to, a court shouldn't have any say in it, and if they do, it'll be just as much of a travesty as Kelo v. New London.

U.S. Army Pfc. Stephen Tschiderer - Crazy Man

Seems a terrorist had a bead on U.S. Army Pfc. Stephen Tschiderer, shot him. Pfc. Tschiderer gets up makes his way to where the terrorist is hiding and arrests him!

That is crazy, I would of shot the sob myself. Guess I need to work on my compassion. :-)

Full Story @ Jackson's Junction

Who Can Be a hero?

Among my duties at work, I have one that involves me reading citations for medals. A few weeks ago, I found one that still sits in the back of my mind daily. It is short, not as detailed as more recent ones, but certain things stick out about it.

Navy Cross
Becker, Vernon P.
Trumpeter, U.S. Marine Corps
Date of Action: September 15, 1918

Citation:
The Navy Cross is awarded to Trumpeter Vernon P. Becker, United States Marine Corps, for extraordinary heroism near Thiaucourt, France, on September 15, 1918. Trumpeter Becker displayed exceptional devotion to duty and coolness in action in carrying messages under trying barrages and machine-gun fire. He was wounded severely while doing his duty.

Reagan and Lincoln

Reagan and Lincoln. The two people, each in their own ways, who have inspired me throughout my life the most. Frequently, I search for inspiration and wisdom from their words.

I thought I would post some repositories of quotes and speeches by them:

Reagan
Lincoln

I also leave you with these words that have helped many through many days of stress, worry and difficulty:

But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate -- we can not consecrate -- we can not hallow -- this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us -- that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion -- that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain -- that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom -- and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth. - Abraham Lincoln

But more so:

As I looked out a moment ago from the Reichstag, that embodiment of German unity, I noticed words crudely spray-painted upon the wall, perhaps by a young Berliner: "This wall will fall. Beliefs become reality." Yes, across Europe, this wall will fall. For it cannot withstand faith; it cannot withstand truth. The wall cannot withstand freedom. - Ronald Reagan

Happy Bastille Day

(see, we do care)

Terry Bowden and Black Coaches

It seems Terry Bowden thinks there are not enough black NCAA football coaches.

What does he suggest to solve this problem? Affirmative action of course!

Apparently, 53% of the athletes being black, 25% of assistant coaches being black and only 3% of head coaches being black (for 117 schools in Division 1-A this is), automatically means discrimination. Apparently, there isn't a "level playing field."

Here is my questions: How many black athletes apply as assistant coaches? How many black assistant coaches subsequently apply to be head coaches? And most importantly, how many white coaches beat out more qualified black coaches?

These are the questions that should be asked when determining discrimination. Not how many are currently serving in these positions.

A good example of a similar situation:
When I was in high school I worked at a Chick-Fil-A and we were very close to a predominantly black part of town, yet we had only 2 (of about 30) black employees. Was this racism on anyone's part? No, we simply did not attract a lot of black applicants. But the McDonald's next door did. They were 100% black employees, with a white owner. By the time I left, the number of black applicants was up as was the number of black employees, including the General Manager being black.

I've got an idea for a level playing field: how about we hire people based on there qualifications and accomplishments, not based on their race. If that isn't level, then I don't know what is.

As for encouraging black atheletes to apply to be coaches, I have a better idea:
How about we encourage them to do what they want to do! If they don't know, then say to them "You know, I think you might make a good coach." But even then, only if you believe that.

I say that last part, because we should not be encouraging people to do something just to do it. We should encourage directed people in the direction they want to go, and undirected people either in a direction we think they would be good at, or in the direction of someone who can give them direction.

So there Terry, how do you like that playing field?

New Poll

Since I was talking politics today I figured I'd make a new poll, fill it out and let's see what we have.

After you do go take this political test, you may be surprised what you are. :-)

World's Smallest Political Quiz

A View from the Middle

I feel lately that I'm a small book trapped between two massive bookends who don't realize there is something between them.

After reading yet another hate filled series of writings (mostly the comments) at talkleft I realized something. The far left talks about their hatred of Christians and Republicans, and wants all of them to die. How is this American?
How can you call yourself an American when you don't want freedom and liberty for ALL ??

My God, how did a country created to rid ourselves of big government, oppression from the church of England and freedom end up with Big Government, oppression from the religion of Liberalism/Socialism and shrinking freedoms?

How different really are the far left and right? If you think about it. One part of the far right (KKK) wants to wipe out all people of color and Jews, part of the far left wants to wipe out people who claim Jesus is God and the far right.
How are the different?
It's funny if you break them down, they are the same kind human. The sick kind.

Ok, I'm done. Neither side is going to listen to reason any ways. After all they are just book holders. (The good stuff is in the middle) ;-)

Smith and Wesson Model 500

I just went down to the range and fired 2 weapons. The first was a revolver, the Smith and Wesson Model 500, a .50 Magnum weapon. All I can say is wow.

It is every bit as big and mean as it looks, and it has the single biggest kick of any weapon I have ever fired - and I've fired many.

You should also keep in mind that I own and carry a Glock 30 which is a medium sized semi-automatic .45 ACP pistol. I'm used to some pretty big ammo. But this thing absolutely blew me away with the power. The round itself is about 2 inches long.

If you're wondering how I did with the 5 rounds I had, all 5 were in the center of the chest ont he target sillouhette from about 15 yards away.

The other weapon, was a Springfield Armory 1911/9mm. For a 9mm semi-automatic pistol, I'd say it was pretty fair. But 9mm pistols never really impress me and always seem weak. I would definitely rather fire it than the Beretta 9mm that the Marine Corps and Police Departments across the country issue. Much lighter frame than I am used to on any weapon and the first 3 rounds I fired missed center of mass by 2-3 inches, but the other rounds all hit center of mass.

A note on Interrogation and Torture

It's been an incredibly boring day today. I've been so bored that I was going insane. Now I see why sensory deprivation is so effective. Bored is bad enough, but not being able to see, hear, smell, taste or feel anything! Who needs random beatings, broken glass in your urethra, or live electricity around your genitals? Sensory deprivation, now that's an effective technique.

Suspension Design

Was wondering if anyone could recommend a good book or website about car suspension design. It is one of the many topics I'll teaching myself in my down time while I'm here in California.

Skywalker's Keys To Ending African Poverty

Being that this is the current media orgasm, I thought I'd chime in. Since this will likely be a quite lengthy editorial, I'll just hope you know to click the Read More link.

1. End foreign aid to African governments.

What you may ask? Solve poverty by not giving the countries money?! Yup. Damn right. The majority of these governments are corrupt. They take the money we give them and feed themselves with it.

So, stop feeding the beast! Give the money to private organizations such as the International Red Cross/Crescent societies or who ever else is out there to make sure these people get food and medicine.

2. Find a way for it to be beneficial for large companies to set up shop in Africa.

Such as factories, or energy companies. Or infrastructure companies.

This has an immediate benefit: jobs. They are scarce in Africa because there really isn't much basic infrastructure. Without jobs, you can't have an economy. This leads to my next point.

3. Ensure an infrastructure is built.

This means power plants, power lines, telephone system, roads. The basic necessities for a modern industrial nation.

4. Forgive current debt.

But don't forgive costs of previous 4 points, treat them as a loan. Infusion of cash is a great short term growth operation. At least Keynes thought so. Not that I'm the biggest Keynesian.

On the other hand, if you just give people money, they'll take it for granted. Treat it like the Marshall Plan. It worked for Europe, which at the time really wasn't much better off than Africa is now.

5. Educate the people.

All this will do no good if the people don't have basic skills of a 6th grader. Many Africans already understand this in ways many Americans don't, but short term necessity prevents them from attaining it.

6. Only agree to help a nation that will allow for free elections and some sort of representative government.

You can lead a horse to water, but you damn sure can't make it drink. Same principle really. We can dump 100% GDP into Africa, and it would be to waste if the same dictators ran it. They would simply continue to run it into the ground and rape it. You simply can not have economic growth without economic freedom. Even China has figured that one out, for all it's social and intellectual controls. I guarantee that at its height, the Soviet's had more economic freedom than most of Africa has right now.

7. Take Action.

Puttings on awareness events such as concerts and all is wonderful. But if you're Paul McCartney or whoever else is involved in the "Live 8" events, I know damned well you're worth quite a pile. More than I am with my livable E-3 salary. If everyone who is involved in that event doesn't donate a large amount of money to the cause and take some of the time they'd otherwise spend in their Riviera vacation homes and go hand out food, then they are in my mind hypocrites. I can't go to Africa to hand out food. I have no money to give. But if I were Paul McCartney I could. I don't know if he is taking action, but I'd bet not.

-

Is any of this going to be done? No. They're just going to increase foreign aid to the corrupt governments. People will continue to die, and as it was so eloquently put in "Hotel Rwanda" people around the world will say "My, that's terrible" and go on eating their dinner (not just Americans, apathy isn't an American disease despite what the Europeans seem to believe.)

Is this the best solution? Maybe, maybe not. I'm not an economist, or a city planner, or even a business man. But I'm a reasonably intelligent person, with a good sense of history and just basic common sense. I can see what the problem is and it's 90% that the people in charge are the wrong people. Most of them put themselves in charge and that doesn't help either.

Bottom line, we can help, but we can't do it all. The African peoples have the lions share of responsibilities. We can only donate a finite amount of time and money to the cause and pray it isn't all for not.

4th of July 2005

(photo by Muddy)
From all of us at Muddysmind to all of our American brothers and sisters worldwide may God bless you on this joyous anniversary.

Prez on Tonight

Just an FYI
20:00 hours tonight President Bush will hold a news conference.

Zoids Genesis Review

Ok, it's not a real review as I have no idea what they were saying. I still don't understand Japanese, after 138 episodes of Naruto. :-P
I picked up the raw rip of the 1st ever episode of Zoids Genesis yesterday. (you can get it from SaiyMan.Net)
It's not too bad, although the main guy (or child) is quite young. He appears to be younger than Van was in CC.
I took a dozen screens for those that have not yet seen it. I'll post them up later today.
The main Zoid (the Murasame Liger)seems to have been hidden in the bottom of a lake (oh, kinda reminds me of the backdraft groups finding of the Beserk Fury) and found by Lugi. He and his family bring it to the surface just in time for some bio-dino type zoids to attack. His family tries to fight them off but they fail and he and the Liger join forces to defeat the attackers. Not a real clever plot or story as it's been done in Zoids and elsewhere before. But who really cares, its Zoids!

I'm looking for a fansub so I know what the heck they are saying, if anyone finds one let me know. Thanks.
(click on image)

E-Bay

I would just like to say that I am now, more than ever, convinced that e-bay is the poo.

Petition of Mindless Fools

You have to see this, it's the saddest, yet funniest thing I've seen in a while.Petition to Impeach George W. Bush

All these mindless twits signing a petition to impeach dubbah. Oh the waste of good soldiers we have had when these fools would of been much better cover for our guys to shoot from behind.
Hell, the best one in their "list" is the crying about the Patriot Act that both sides wrote, agreed and voted into law!
How about voting out the losers that wrote the bill instead of bitching about the supposed misuse of it by a third party.
If you go on holiday and your kids decide to open up your pool to the public and people at random take dumps in the pool while swimming you don't come home and want to fire the lifeguard when it was your kids who created the situation in the first place? (unless your a mindless tool who signed this petition).
Ok, I'm done venting.

Mark Felt

I'm of the opinion that Mark Felt was a pretentious jerk. Hero? Hardly. A man with no honor or integrity I'd say.

The liberal press is painting this man as a saint. But look at the facts: he attempted to undermine our judicial system. You say, well he couldn't go to his superiors at the FBI, they were owned by Nixon. That may be true. But, there were people at the Justice Department who were not crooked and there was 535 senators and congressman most of whom would have loved to fry Nixon. Then, if all else failed he could have gone to the press and said it for all the world to see instead of hiding for 30 years like a little baby. Even now, his family made him because they thought they could cash in on it! The lack of honor just continues!

Was Nixon guilty? Yes indeed! There is no doubt left on that matter. But by the laws of the United States he was owed due process, something that Mark Felt de facto denied him.

I'm all for blowing the whistle on people, but do it like a man and to the right people.

Black Friday

I have some very sad news for all my fellow Steelers fans.

During my ongoing attempt to setup raid0 with two sata drives in my linux box I accidently wiped out my ide drive that held all my torrents. Every single game, the Big Ben interview on Letterman and the preseason games, all gone. Forever.

Sadly I also lost all Naruto episodes, my entire music collection that I've been ripping from CD to ogg as well as some other files that are irreplaceable.

Let this be a warning to all Linux users that "rm -rf" should be used with EXTREME CARE!

Don't use it when your fighting the flu and utterly tired.

The tracker will remain down until the preseason starts and I have those games ready.

No end in sight

by Slimmons May 16, 2005

About a thousand Marines wake up in Afghanistan every day still. Things are quiet here except for the occasional IED and Taliban cell we come across in the mountains. We feed and clothe children and we distribute humanitarian aid supplies and medicine. We build schools and hospitals and we dig wells. We also set up a semi-puppet government we build in our own self-centered image. This government cannot yet stand on its own and so we stay, and we stay.

Most people here appreciate the money and effort the US puts in here to stabilize a free democracy who will fight the poppy growers (think heroin addicts) and the guys who think we're all evil and should die (the same guys who marginalize and ruin women and destroy the concept of human rights).

Most people like us.

More people wave to us here than would wave to a Marine convoy rolling down the highway back home.

Anyway...fare thee well, boys...Ricky and Nick - you will be missed.

----------------------------------------------------------------------

A huge THANK YOU to Slimmons for allowing me to publish his photo and subsequent text. Please stop by his deviant art page for some more fantastic pics from Afghanistan. HERE

Happy Birthday to me!

I love having my birthday on the 13th because every few years it falls on Friday the 13th and all sorts of great things happen to me.

Such as the last time it was on a Friday someone ordered this goofy guy with a goalies mask to chase me around a lake, it was such a good time.

Just for the record I'm still 20 however this is the 13th anniversary of my 20th birthday. :-)

Illegal Aliens to March on Washington 3pm Today!

Just heard on the radio from a Washington D.C. staffer that today approximately 1000 illegal aliens will march on the upper Senate lawn demanding equal rights and open boarders!!!

Why the heck is NOBODY in Washington doing anything about this!?! The INS will not touch them, not a single person in Congress and/or the Senate will even admit this is happening.

Someone in our government stand up and do what's right or get another job, your pathetic existence is worth nothing if you don't protect our country as you swore upon taking office.

Call your representatives in Washington now!

Straight Dope on the Pope

Well, for the past few weeks, one of the top stories dominating the news has been the passing of pope John Paul II and the now newly elected pope Benedict XVII. Now, before I go into with what I'm going to say, let me start out by saying this: I believe we are all made by the hand of God. I believe we all have a preordained destiny designed by God. I believe that while down here on earth, we make our choices of whether or not we actually *want* anything to even do with God by choosing to accept Him or reject Him.

Now, as far as the pope himself goes, he also has a destiny designed by God. But, is the pope the 'vicar of Christ'? Is he the 'Holy Father'? Is he infallible when he reads and interprets scripture? No. No. And - no.

The pope is no 'vicar of Christ'. He is no substitute nor is he a continuation of Christ. However, the Holy Spirit *is* Christ. He is the comforter and the mediator on our behalf to Christ. Which is the reason why don't need any man for a job that the Holy Spirit can clearly handle on His own.

The pope is no 'Holy Father' either. The only ones who are Holy are God the Father, God the Son, and God the *Holy* Spirit. I also believe that God's Word is Holy as well. Besides, Rev. 15:4 clearly states that only the Lord is Holy. In Isaiah 42:8 God says "I am the LORD: that is my name: and my glory will I not give to another, Nor My praise to carved images.".

Now, as for the "infallible" part. Without trying to sound disrespectful or flippant....do they really expect me to believe that a whole group of about one hundred *fallible* men get together in a conclave to elect another fallible man into the position of pope where he suddenly becomes *in*fallible when interpreting scripture? Ok, I just read what I wrote
and I must say, that idea sounds just as ridiculous reading it as it did when I wrote it. Maybe they believe that the Holy Spirit comes over the pope and makes this happen? Ok, let's go with that. Let's say that the Spirit does *indeed* make the pope infallible when reading scripture. Well then, why doesn't the Spirit do the same for me, Muddy, Skywalker, Cwilli or any other Christian out there? The answer is that the Holy Spirit *doesn't* do that because NO ONE IS INFALLIBLE! The Bible clearly states that - ALL have sinned (Romans 3:23) - so no one is perfect in anything. Besides, I believe we receive convictions from the Holy Spirit for at least 3 reasons: 1) to convict us when we do wrong. 2) To convict our heart and spirit to take action in certain ways and areas within our lives and/or the lives of others. 3) To convict us when reading the scriptures of how to interpret and apply God's Word to our lives. So basically, if the pope were indeed infallible with scripture, we wouldn't need the Spirit, Himself, to tell us as individuals how to interpret them for our own lives because we would have the pope to do it for us.

I could go on and on but I've carried on more than I care to anyway and this is MUCH longer than I anticipated. Sorry. Well, now that I've *completely* blasphemed against the Roman Catholic Church (though, I'm pretty certain I can live with that fact), I'll rap it up by saying that John Paul II did very well seem to be "the people's pope" in the way that he reached out to people in such a way that (according to the Catholic Church) had really never been done before. As for me, I never wished him any ill will nor do I wish the new pope the same, nor am I the judge
of their hearts - only God can be. I just find it interesting that the Roman Catholics fashion the position of the pope in the way to copy who they believed Peter the apostle to be (in their belief - the first pope).....however, ironically, Peter was quite the opposite. I leave you with Peter's quote to a man by the name Cornelius ....."And as Peter was coming in, Cornelius met him, and fell down at his feet, and worshipped him. But Peter took him up, saying, Stand up; I myself also am a man." Acts 10:25-26

Who Said?

Just curious if anyone can guess this without doing a google search to find out..

Who said "If freedom is short of weapons, we must compensate with willpower"

I'll wait a few days to see if you all need a hint. :-)

Oil Prices Drop Sharply As Gas Plummets

Oil futures prices fell more than $1 a barrel Thursday afternoon, following the lead of gasoline futures, and brokers said there appeared to be further momentum lower.

"It's collapsing," said Ed Silliere, a broker at Energy Merchant Intermarket Futures in New York. "The market was extremely overbought."

Light, sweet crude for May delivery dropped $1.45 to $54.40 a barrel in afternoon trade on the New York Mercantile Exchange. After an early decline of nearly 8 cents, gasoline futures recovered some lost ground and were down 4 cents to $1.62.

Full Story @ Yahoo! News

Maybe people will realize that the record high gas prices are not a result of Oil production but greedy CEO's.

Skywalker Breaks One Thousand....

....comments that is. What's so significant about that you ask? Well.....ok, you got me there. I guess there's nothing *truly* significant about it except for the fact that he's the only one who's pulled it off so far. It just goes to show: When a man has a lot on/in his mind, he has much to say.:-)

One a side note, I would have Muddy send him a prize for this if I didn't think it would take him 6 months to mail the darn thing.:-P *wink, wink*

Would you hire this company?

Can you imagine working for a company that has a little more than 500
employees and has the following statistics:

29 have been accused of spousal abuse
7 have been arrested for fraud
19 have been accused of writing bad checks
117 have directly or indirectly bankrupted at least 2 businesses
3 have done time for assault
71 cannot get a credit card due to bad credit
14 have been arrested on drug-related charges
8 have been arrested for shoplifting
21 are currently defendants in lawsuits
84 have been arrested for drunk driving in the last year

Can you guess which organization this is?

Give up yet?

It's the 535 members of the United States Congress.
The same group of Idiots that crank out hundreds of new laws each year
designed to keep the rest of us in line.

The Face of Evil

nuff said...

Funny One Liners

1. My husband and I divorced over religious differences. He thought he was God and I didn't.

2.. I don't suffer from insanity; I enjoy every minute of it.

3.. I Work Hard Because Millions On Welfare Depend on Me!

4.. Some people are alive only because it's illegal to kill them.

5.. I used to have a handle on life, but it broke.

6.. Don't take life too seriously; No one gets out alive.

7.. You're just jealous because the voices only talk to me

8.. Beauty is in the eye of the beer holder.

9.. Earth is the insane asylum for the universe.

10.. I'm not a complete idiot -- Some parts are missing.

11.. Out of my mind. Back in five minutes.

12. NyQuil, the stuffy, sneezy, why-the-heck-is-the-room-spinning medicine.

13.. God must love stupid people; He made so many.

14.. The gene pool could use a little chlorine.

15.. Consciousness: That annoying time between naps.

16.. Ever stop to think, and forget to start again?

17.. Being "over the hill" is much better than being under it!

18.. Wrinkled Was Not One of the Things I Wanted to Be When I Grew up.

19.. Procrastinate Now!

20.. I Have a Degree in Liberal Arts; Do You Want Fries With That?

21... A hangover is the wrath of grapes.

22.. A journey of a thousand miles begins with a cash advance

23.. Stupidity is not a handicap. Park elsewhere!

24..They call it PMS because MadCow Disease was already taken.

25..He who dies with the most toys is nonetheless dead.

26..A picture is worth a thousand words, but it uses up three thousand times the memory.

27..Ham and eggs. A day's work for a chicken, a lifetime commitment for a pig.

28.. The trouble with life is there's no background music.

29.. The original point and click interface was a Smith and Wesson.

30.. I smile! because I don't know what the hell is going on.

Back From Boston

Greetings all,

It's good to be back, Boston's roads suck.
That was the most obvious thing that I brought back with me.
How you can have roads that make no sense at all and people
somehow find their way, it's beyond me. Guess I'm more used to the "go here turn left then down a ways then right" kind of directions. In Boston it was more like "go here pay a toll, then go down a ways and pay another toll, then under the leaking tunnel (pray you don't die when it caves in) then up to a exit which sorta veers to the right but go left by making a U-Turn, then over the bridge but don't go all the way over make sure to veer to the right through the intersection of 5 other roads, then park on your right in the brick building (THEY WERE ALL FREAKING BRICK!), leave your car there get on the MBTA and pay then get off at the green line follow that to the bridge where it ends go over the bridge down the stairs to the 2nd light post.. it leads to the entrance over the wharf."
I tried, I really really tried to get to the U.S.S. Constitution to take a billion pics however I ended up driving in multiple cities (I think, I really am not sure where the hell I was) through roundabouts and the most confusing intersections I've ever seen. That town is so jacked up it's amazing people don't give up and move.
I must confess I failed by trusting mapquest and the website for the Constitution to guide me there. Next time I'm renting a stinkin' car with GPS in it.
I have a bunch of pics and short video's I've already started to post them on my deviantart page, too many to duplicate here. Click the link on the right if you want to see them.

New Art

New artwork posted to my deviantart page.

(click images to view larger image)

Global Warming reality check

While I have not yet decided if I believe the so called global warming alarmists, I do tend to lean on the "their full of crap" side. I was reading this article listed below where it said "Worldwide seal levels could rise by 100 centimeters by 2400 which in turn would have major consequences for many parts of the world." Now I started thinking.. the south pole is solid ice... no land to speak of. The north pole is mostly land. So it got me thinking that if you put some ice cubes in a glass of water and it melts, your mass remains the same. Thus if the ice caps melt, why would the sea level rise? Do the ice caps not already sit in the same water they would melt into??

Now if speaking of ice/snow sitting in some mountains I seriously doubt that volume would be enough to change the level of our oceans enough to notice.

Seems some folks forget basic science when it comes to pushing their agenda.

Full Story @ Earth Times

New poll also created to go along with this.

Moment of Silence for Spain

Launching a national day of mourning, Spaniards lit candles, laid down flowers as hundreds of church bells rang out to mark the instant when a string of terrorist bombs exploded a year ago Friday, killing 191 people and wounding more than 1,500.

At rail stations targeted in the country's worst-ever terrorist attack, people cried as memories of the blasts returned and left notes that tried to put pain into words.

A moment of silence here as well, terror knows no boundry as America's 9/11 and Spain's 3/11 prove.

Oh the Japanese

While browsing the fabulous pages over at Engrish.com I found two pics that I could not help but post.
This first one proves that not everyone has a firm grasp of the English language.

The next shows the Japanese can be very direct, no guess work as to where in this hotel you go potty. :-)

How Can Someone Who Lives in Insane Luxury Be a Star in Today's World?

As I begin to write this, I "slug" it, as we writers say, which means I put a heading on top of the document to identify it. This heading is "eonlineFINAL," and it gives me a shiver to write it. I have been doing this column for so long that I cannot even recall when I started.

Lew Harris, who founded this great site, asked me to do it maybe seven or eight years ago, and I loved writing this column so much for so long I came to believe it would never end.

But again, all things must pass, and my column for E! Online must pass. In a way, it is actually the perfect time for it to pass. Lew, whom I have known forever, was impressed that I knew so many stars at Morton's on Monday nights.

He could not get over it, in fact. So, he said I should write a column about the stars I saw at Morton's and what they had to say.

Full Read @ Monday Night at Morton's

This is a very good read if you have the time for all three pages ;-)

New Seat Belts

Actually, I could use this seat belt for muddy when *I'm* the one driving and *he's* in the passenger seat.:-)

Primetime Dogs, huh?

R U 404 On Office Slang?

I was crop dusting at work the other day and when I got to my email I discovered a link to this great site, check it out.

OfficeSlang.com - Funny Office Slang

No! Don't Americanize Naruto!

Cartoon Network today announced several major acquisitions for their venerable Toonami action-animation block. Fan-favorite Naruto will join the block in the third quarter of 2005, while One Piece will move to Toonami in May. Toonami original IGPX will expand into a full series from Production IG. The Batman will see a Toonami airing beginning April 2, ShoPro acquisition Zatch Bell will start in March, and nosehair-fighting anime Bobobo-bo Bo-bobo is coming in the fourth quarter.

Teen Titans will air 17 new episodes in the coming year, Justice League Unlimited has 23 new episodes on the block, and Duel Masters will return with 26 new episodes. D.I.C.E. and Dragonball GT will both also continue with new episodes.

I just know my new favorite anime Naruto is going to get haX0rd up by some asshat in the U.S. and they will ruin a freakin' awesome show. Leave it alone you slugs! Dangit!
Already finding the new episodes on bit-torrent has become "troublesome" as my favorite character Shikamaru would say ;-)

Irony in Disdain

I'm not sure how many of you out there are Rammstein fans, I for one think they rock.
However, that being said I found some Irony today in the music video for the song Amerika off their latest release.
I may be wrong here, as they sing in German and I speak very little German. The impression I get is they are saying the song how "Amerika" is trying to make the world like us. Yet the examples they use are for the most part from other countries. One such example is some African tribesmen sitting around watching tv eating pizza. Then another showing Santa in the desert with some kids on his lap.. yet another import from Europe. The best part being they are playing electric guitars and Metal music.. both American. Ain't Irony grand?

Tracker Update

Just a quick update the tracker is back up after a short downtime late last night.
Also please leave the torrent running after your download is done for a week or so if at all possible. Thanks.

RIAA sues the dead

Death is no obstacle to feeling the long arm of the Recording Industry Ass. of America.

Lawyers representing several record companies have filed suit against an 83 year-old woman who died in December, claiming that she made more than 700 songs available on the internet.

"I believe that if music companies are going to set examples they need to do it to appropriate people and not dead people," Robin Chianumba told AP. "I am pretty sure she is not going to leave Greenwood Memorial Park to attend the hearing."

Gertrude Walton, who lived in Beckley, West Virginia hated computers, too, her daughter adds. An RIAA spokesperson said that it would try and dismiss the case.

Full Story @ The Register

My favorite part is the RIAA saying "that it would try and dismiss the case" (rolls eyes)

One more year of this garbage

I signed back up for one more year of hosting.
So DF you can stop holding your breath, I'm not going anywhere for one more year.

:-P

As for the rest of you.
God Bless and may your coffee always be fresh and never bitter.

Muddy

p.s. hey DF I'm drinking your country right now... uh.. never mind.

Tracker Update/Steelers Games

After noticing a few days ago that everyone is leaching and virtually nobody is sharing the games they download from me the Steelers games have halted. It's dense to think my crappy connection can feed 40-50 people all the time. Someone needs to step up and share the bandwidth load or it's lights out forever for the games.

:-P

Numb

I don't know if Ben's thumb is hurt or not but he played like poo 85% of the game.
Our run game was ineffective and our D decided to take it easy today or something else besides shutting down the opposing offense.

Now we'll be far down the draft order and won't get jack for a pick.

Thanks everyone for the biggest letdown season ever.

15-1 and getting beat AGAIN at home in the AFCC game.
This has got to be the 2nd worst day of my life as a Steeler fan, of course the superbowl Neil O'Donnell was paid off to throw away will always be the 1st.
I really don't understand Cowher's in ability to win AT HOME!, the AFCC game... it eludes me.
How do you put the smack down on a team in week 8 and 10 weeks later get your ass handed to you by them, how??

As for Skywalkers Falcons... I feel you pain bro, I feel you pain.

The Big Dance is Today

The Pittsburgh Steelers hope Ben Roethlisberger is the missing piece to help them avoid another AFC Championship Game loss when they host the Patriots in a showdown between the teams with the NFL's best records.

The contest is a rematch of the AFC Championship Game following the 2001 season, when New England went into Pittsburgh and beat the Steelers 24-17. The Patriots then stunned the St. Louis Rams 20-17 to win their first of two Super Bowl titles in three years.

Jets Hand Steelers Win

To prove the point that Defense does win games, the Pittsburgh Steelers "D" poured it on and kept the Jets offense to only 3 points.
Big Ben looked like confused little kid Ben for most of the game. I think it's something about those Jets that gets to him. Perhaps he has a fear of green?
The Jets came into this game claiming how they were going to pound the Steelers into nothing and move on to the AFC Championship game... someone should of told their kicker Doug Brien to have such confidence.
After missing the game winning field goal in the final minutes of the game and then the winning field goal in overtime he really needs a hug. (or fired)
I know the stadium in Pittsburgh is not kind to kickers but missing TWO winning kicks is not acceptable.

I'm back from training

I'm back from my trip and it was so beautiful I did not want to come back home.

I took off from Port Columbus International Airport on Monday and just got back late last night. Flying out of rainy Columbus was interesting as it was my first commercial flight. (I've been up in a Grumman Tiger before this) I must say that the Embraer 135 jet I flew back and forth on was essentially a school bus with wings. :-/

We flew into RDU (Raleigh/Durham) and grabbed our trendy PT Cruiser and off we went. Residing during the week at the palatial Residence Inn. I was a bit put out by the fact the desk clerk explicitly said no loud parties during our stay. I mean.. why did I bring all my dj equipment and lighting equipment if we could not party? (j/k)

Ok back to reality. The place was real nice.
I'll be posting up many pics from the trip in the next few days so stay tuned.

I was thinking..

That I am very tired. Getting up before the sun rises is utter crap.
*yawn*

Oh well... we do what we must to support our families.

Watching Steelers Games How-to

Ok I'll take care of all the questions from everyone in one shot.

Here we go.

1. get a bit torrent client, I like Azureus myself but use what you are comfortable with.

2. download the .torrent file from my tracker for the games you want.

3. wait... wait.. wait and wait some more (if you want a faster download purchase me a T1).

4. (for winders users) download the Koepi XviD plugin and after it's done installing double click the avi file and watch the game. (for smart linux users :-D) use Mplayer to watch the games

5. Have some kindness and Leave the games up (on the bit torrent client) for at least a few days so others can enjoy them.

New Photo Series

Happy New Year Everyone!

I have a new photo series called "Christmas Ice" since we had a nice thick layer of ice for Christmas.

Happy New Year Everyone!

*click on the images to proceed to deviantART for the full size image

Tracker back online

Good news Steeler Fans.

My tracker is back online. Just an fyi any Black Sheep Squadron fans out there I also have the History Channels Story of the Black Sheep on the tracker.

Happy RamaHanuKwanzMas!

From all of us here at Muddysmind.com to all of you, we wish you a Happy RamaHanuKwanzMas!

(image from Glenn Beck)

Oh the weather outside is frightful...

New DeviantArt

Tracker Down, Along with My Workstation

Sad news kids, My Linux Box died... at this time it's either the Mobo or the PS.
I'll update when it's back up.

Steelers at Jaguars Ready

Steelers at Jags game is now done and posted to the tracker.

Enjoy.

Here We Go Steelers! Here We Go!

The victory this evening allowed the Steelers to clinch the AFC North title.

The first half was a defensive struggle as Ben Roethlisberger was held to 24 yards passing, completing only 3 of 11 throws.

Chad Pennington also had a rough start. He had passes intercepted by James Farrior and Troy Polamalu in the first half.

The second half belonged to Bettis.

Full Story @Post-Gazette.com

Redskins vs. Steelers

Video is now posted. I changed the audio to 96k from the standard 128k this time. Trying to get more space for video. Will be working on the Steelers vs. Jaguars next.

Steelers vs. Skins & Jags

For my brothers and sisters in the Steeler Nation I am currently working on the Skins and Jags games. However I won't get the Jets game, sad to say.
I'll update once they previously mentioned games are ready.

Free Credit Report Thanks 2 the Gubment

Good news for you all now under the terms of the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act, passed last year, and amid growing concerns over privacy and disclosure of sensitive financial data, the three leading credit reporting agencies must provide consumers with a free summary once a year (gee only once?) of all credit information on file for that person.

Those agencies--Equifax, Experian and TransUnion--have launched AnnualCreditReport.com to streamline the process of obtaining reports. For security reasons, people can only access the Web site directly, not through a referred link.

Consumers using the site fill out an online form with a Social Security number, followed by answers to several personal questions, such as the balance on a certain credit card, meant to verify the respondent's identity.

Get The Skinny Here

New DeviantArt

NFL = No Family League

I used to love watching my beloved Steelers with my kids. However after last years stupid bowl and the recent Monday Night Football lead in with some ugly hooker stripping for T.O. (In addition to the mass quantities of tasteless beer commercials) it's worthy of a R rating.
Guess we'll stick to backyard football, no bare backed whores or "wardrobe malfunctions" there.

Nice work ABC/Disney, Fox and CBS... you guys sure know how to fsck up a good thing.

It's too bad you can't sit down to a football game anymore with your kids.

Office Dares

This was way to funny to pass up, thanks for the Laugh John.

ONE-POINT OFFICE DARES

1) Run one lap around the office at top speed.

2) Ignore the first five people who say 'good morning' to you.

3) Phone someone in the office you barely know, leave your name and say,
"Just called to say I can't talk right now. Bye."

4) To signal the end of a conversation, clamp your hands over your ears
and Grimace.

5) Walk sideways to the photocopier.

6) While riding in an elevator, gasp dramatically every time the doors
open.

THREE-POINT DARES

1) Say to your boss, "I like your style" and shoot him with
double-barreled fingers.

2) Babble incoherently at a fellow employee then ask, "Did you get all
that, I don't want to have to repeat it".

3) Page yourself over the intercom (do not disguise your voice).

4) Kneel in front of the water cooler and drink directly from the nozzle
(there must be a 'non-player within sight).

5) Shout random numbers while someone is counting.

FIVE-POINT DARES

1) At the end of a meeting, suggest that, for once, it would be nice to
conclude with the singing of the national anthem (extra points if you
actually launch into it yourself).

2) Walk into a very busy person's office and while they watch you with
growing irritation, turn the light switch on/off 10 times.

3) For an hour, refer to everyone you speak to as "Bob".

4) After every sentence, say 'Mon' in a really bad Jamaican accent. As
in "The report's on your desk, Mon". Keep this up for one hour.

5) While an office mate is out, move their chair into the elevator.

6) In a meeting or crowded situation, slap your forehead repeatedly and
mutter, "Shut up, darn it, all of you just shut up!".

7) At lunchtime, get down on your knees and announce, "As God as my
witness, I'll never go hungry again".

8) In a colleague's diary, write in 10am: "See how I look in
tights". (Extra points if it is a male, even more if he is your boss)

9) Carry your keyboard over to your colleague and ask "You wanna
trade?".

10) Repeat the following conversation 10 times to the same person:
"Do you hear that?" "What?" "Never mind, it's gone now".

12) Come to work in army fatigues and when asked why, say, ! "I can't
talk about it".

13) Posing as a maitre d', call a colleague and tell him he's won a
lunch for four at a local restaurant. Let him go.

14) Speak with an accent (French, German, Porky Pig, etc) during a very
important conference call.

15) Find the vacuum and start vacuuming around your desk.

16) Hang a two-foot long piece of toilet roll from the back of your
pants and act genuinely surprised when someone points it out.

17) Present meeting attendees with a cup of coffee and biscuit, smashing
each biscuit with your fist.

18) During the course of a meeting, slowly edge your chair towards the
door.

19) Arrange toy figures on the table to represent each meeting attendee,
move them according to the movements of their real-life counterparts.

And if that wasn't enough for you...

:)

How to keep a healthy level of insanity:

1) At lunchtime, sit in your parked car with sunglasses on and point a
hair dryer at passing cars. See if they slow down.

2) Tell your children over dinner. "Due to the economy, we are going to
have to let one of you go."

3) Every time someone asks you to do something, ask if they want fries
with that.

4) Put your trash bin on your desk and label it IN."

5) Put decaf in the coffee maker for 3 weeks. Once everyone has gotten
over his or her caffeine addictions, switch to espresso.

6) Finish all your sentences with "In accordance with the prophecy."

7) Dont use any punctuation

! 8) Use, too...much; punctuation!

9) As often as possible, skip rather than walk.

10) Ask people what sex they are. Laugh hysterically after they answer.

11) Specify that your drive-through order is "to go."

12) Sing along at the opera.

13) Go to a poetry recital and ask why the poems don't rhyme.

14) Put mosquito netting around your work area. Play a tape of jungle
sounds all day.

15) Five days in advance, tell your friends you can't attend their party
because you're not in the mood.

16) Have your co-workers address you by your wrestling name.

17) When the money comes out of the ATM, scream "I Won! I Won! 3rd time
this week!!!"

18) When leaving the zoo, start running towards the parking lot yelling,
Run for your lives, they're loose!"

And the final way to keep a healthy level of insanity....

19) Send this to everyone in your address book, even if they sent it to
you or have asked you not to send them stuff like this.

Fair Tax? Maybe? Perhaps? Even Hopefully?

The president is talking about tax reform as one of his top agenda items for the next 4 years. My congressman tells me they're going to try to pass the Fair Tax bill "after the election" (this was in April.) They have the votes.

Is the president talking about the Fair Tax? He calls his plan for tax reform "revenue neutral." The press is thinking he means he's not going to cut taxes with the reform. To me this sounds more and more like the Fair Tax. In fact, it's the only major tax reform bill currently sitting in congress (Senate and House) that I know about.

I'd like to hear what people think about the idea because I frankly can't see any downside. It'll help the poor. It'll help the middle class. It'll tax currently untaxed money (crime money, black market money.) It will remove the corporate tax burden freeing up profits for jobs - not to mention free up conformance costs which are astronomical (has anyone heard how tall GM's tax return was last year?) It'll cause lower prices through competitive pressures. Everyone has more money because nothing is taken out of their checks. Sorry,

I fail to see any major problems. It's fair: if you are truly poor you won't pay taxes unless you buy something you probably can't afford like a brand new car or a big screen tv. Government costs go down.

I'm not saying it's perfect, no form of taxation is, but it's better than our current system where 10% pay 50% of the taxes before they even get to touch it.

Underour current system, a millionaire who makes $15k a year on a small business that he runs in his retirement as a hobby, would get money back where as a person making 200k might have to pay out of pocket. Under this system, that millionaire would pay taxes.

Honest News?

I was book marking news sites on my laptop today and google'd for "honest news" seeking other news sources.
I think the word honest has changed in recent years and nobody told me.
The first page of "honest" news source contained, Al Jazeera, Progressive-News.com, World Socialist Web Site and others that were to say the least, disturbing.

Voices of Iraq

Silenced for 24 years under Saddam's regime and denied attention by the international media, the people of Iraq are not well understood at this tumultuous time in their history.

Meet the people of Iraq as they struggle with years of turmoil and strive to build a civil society. Hear in their own words their feelings about Saddam Hussein, the multinational invasion of their country, the presence of American troops and their hopes for what may lie ahead for Iraq.

Full Story @ Voices of Iraq

New Poll, Does the two party system help or hurt?

After finding myself outside the two mainstream parties these days I believe it's time we seriously look at either allowing ALL parties to be involved in all political races or ban political parties altogether.
Imagine if we had NO political parties, *gasp!* you'd have to actually know what those running stood for and they would in turn have to say "something" of value.
Imagine if Bush and Kerry had no parties and they were on even ground with Michael Peroutka, Michael Badnarik, Ralph Nader and the others. Holy Crap!, those two would have to stand up and say something of value besides "my opponent is a dumb ass" speeches we hear everyday, or Kerry's famous "I have a plan to fix that" yet no plan has ever surfaced.
I thought this a perfect time to see what the people think. Since we'll never know what the two candidates honestly think.

New Pic

New Pics

Just a few pics from our most recent trip to the A.F.M. in Dayton.
(click on image to go see the full version at my deviantArt page)

Mrs. Muddy discovers old name on Voter Registry

A couple of weeks ago, I recieved a call from a family friend (thanks skywalker) who informed me of democrats in Ohio who were going around registering dead people to vote. Now, although this did take me aback for a moment, I thought later that, sadly, this is nothing new. However, I decided to check out a few dearly departed people I know...er...knew...whatever. Well, thank God, my list so far is short in that area so that part didn't take me too long. I'm happy to report that no one I know has come back from the beyond just to place their vote.

Site Found @ ElectionOhio

If they did....I wouldn't know whether to be more freaked out or completely impressed at the miracle....but, on with my story. You see, although, I didn't find any names from the "dead men voters society" registry list, I did find a name that was equally curious to me. My sister's. No, she's not dead but, I *did* find her registerd under her *maden* name. A name she hasn't had since 1995. A name she has changed *twice* already on her voters registration card (don't know why....I don't think she ever bothers using it but....), once when she got married in '95 to her first husband and then once again a year and a half ago when she married for the 2nd time. She never even bothered changing back to her maden name after her *first* marriage ended. That fact along with the others that a) She didn't even vote in the *last* presidential election and b) she now lives in England (and doesn't bother - though I could be wrong - with voting 'absentee' ) was more than enough to raise my red flag. Could this be a simple mistake like my sister suggested? Yes. However, with all the voters fraud going on these days (and with this presidential race being so tight), I decided not to take any chances so I got right on the phone to the Board of Elections.

Well, after listening to 10 minutes worth of "...all of our operators are busy, please stand by for the next avaliable volunteer..." and singing down to 44 bottles of "99 bottles of beer on the wall"....I *finally* spoke to a real live person! Whoo hooo! I could barely contain my excitement! I spoke to a dear, sweet older woman who was more than willing to help. She informed me that according to their (Board of Election) records that my sister hasn't voted since 1988 (I don't think that's acuarate, myself since the address that's listed under her name wasn't even in existence until after 1992...but that was beside the point). Well, after hearing that my dear sis hasn't voted for quite a long while, I pretty much assumed from there that it would be very difficult for someone to vote for her without *alot* of convincing identification. I decided to ask anyway just for confirmation. Just as I suspected, someone would have to (as this lovely woman put it) "know how to break into Fort Knox to get past the voting officials in order to vote.". She also told me that, yes, this indeed was a mistake and put my sister - along with her maiden name on "stand by" to be removed from the voters registry. After I thanked her and told her how relieved I was that my sister was not a victim of fraud, she told me to not feel silly for calling (I assured her I didn't) because that's what they're there for....that's their job. She added ".. with everything going on these days, it's much better to be safe than sorry.". She then informed me that she would put a "red flag" beside her name as well.....just in case.:-)

If anyone would like to check (at least here in Ohio) the registery list for any names go to:

http://www.electionohio.com/boe.asp

...you can find your county from there.

They Still Want It Both Ways

I realized today that Democrats are complaining about outsourcing. What is outsourcing? Companies realize that they can send certain jobs overseas to make more money. This is stupid if you're making a profit already, but if you're taking losses (like the Tech sector was not to long ago) it's a typical thing. The upside tothis is that once a company makes a profit it can create more jobs locally. Problem is that this takes time.

Basically it is the destroy to create principle.

But look who we have complaining about it: the Democrats, the modern free trade pioneers! This is the party who brought us NAFTA. Something I'm perfectly okay with by the way.

So now they're s aying "We're still for free trade, we're just against outsourcing!" What a crock.

Black Sheep Squadron

Just an FYI to the Black Sheep Squadron and/or Pappy Boyington fans like myself out there.

I was finally able to get the "Black Sheep Squadron" true story recorded and it's up on my bit torrent tracker now. Recorded in Xvid with 192kbps MP3 Audio. File will fit on a 700MB cd-rom.

I am finally able to see Pappy on the small screen again. ;-)

SPAM

I'd just like to whine for a moment about the 300+ e-mails I get a day. I get about 2 or 3 legitimate e-mails per months, yet I recieve about 9000 a month total. this is way out of hand. I will sometimes get 50 from the same spammer a day!

But here is the really funny part: the majority of my e-mails are no longer spam. They are 419 scams!

That's right folks, I get more e-mails from tu-muhmekah in Nigeria wanting to get me 10 million dollars simply in exchange for my bank account number, than I do from someone offering me free pornography or, shall we say, an enlargement pill that I assure you all I have no need for.

This is out of hand.many of them I've been able to use the "Please click here to unsubscribe" thing to great success. Allegedly that's something they use to confirm your e-mail address, but frankly, all they have to do it not get a bounced e-mail to do that, not to mention that US law requires them to put that there. But I'm noticing more and more of them don't even have that anymore.

I'm getting sick of it frankly, because I'm spending 10 minutes a day deleting emails!

Nation's Liberals Suffering From Outrage Fatigue

San Francisco's Arthur Flauman is one liberal who has chosen to take a hiatus from his seething rage over Bush Administration policies.

"Every day, my friends send me e-mails exposing Bush's corrupt environmental policies," said Flauman, a member of both the Green Party and the Sierra Club. "I used to spend close to an hour following all the links, and I'd be shocked and outraged by the irreversible damage being done to our land. At some point, though, I got annoyed with the demanding tone of the e-mails. The Clear Skies Initiative is bogus, but I'm not going to forward a six-page e-mail to all my friends—especially one written by a man who signs his name 'Leaf.' Now, if a message's subject line contains the word 'Bush,' it goes straight into the trash."

Neas found that many survey participants who attended protests against the war in Iraq in 2003 could barely summon the energy to read newspaper articles about the subject in 2004.

Portland, OR resident Suzanne Marshal compared herself to an addict, needing increasingly large doses of perceived injustices to achieve a state of anger.

Full Story @ The Onion

Pissin' Match

I'm watching this so called "debate" tonight and it's a total pissing match. All I hear from these two is "you suck we don't", "you lied we're demi-god's" and "You have no plan and we're plans-r-us".

The funny part is they seemed to know more about each other than themselves.

Someone wake me when this is over.

*update* found a good article over at SignOnSanDiego.com

< ---- begin clip ---- >
Democrat John Edwards and Vice President Dick Cheney stretched the findings of U.S. intelligence to their own ends Tuesday night in tangling over Saddam Hussein's alleged ties to al-Qaeda.

Edwards said the connection between Saddam and the terrorist network was minimal or nonexistent; Cheney asserted Saddam's Iraq "had an established relationship with al-Qaeda."

Both statements mask what intelligence sources have said. The contacts were limited and sketchy, mostly Iraqi intelligence agents and al-Qaeda operatives, and did not amount to state sponsorship of al-Qaeda or any link to the Sept. 11 attacks, U.S. intelligence officials have said.
< ---- end clip ---- >

Just goes to prove my point that both parties are full of crap and we need ALL candidates involved.

FOUR VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATES TO DEBATE IN OHIO

Unscripted Debate Offers Voters a Rare Opportunity to Hear Issues Not Discussed in the Exclusive, Two-Party Controlled Debates

A rare debate among four vice presidential candidates - from the Libertarian, Constitution and Green parties, as well as Ralph Nader’s independent ticket - will take place on Tuesday, October 5, at the John Patrick Theatre at Baldwin Wallace College in Cleveland, Ohio, beginning at 7:00 p.m. Debate organizers say the debate between Richard Campagna, Chuck Baldwin, Patricia LaMarche and Peter Camejo will offer voters a stark contrast to the watered-down and scripted banter expected from the Edwards-Cheney debate taking place the same day in the same city.

The debate is unusual not only because so many diverse viewpoints will be represented, but also because of its format. All questions for the candidates will come from Baldwin College students. Following the hour and a half long debate, there will be an intermission and then the debate participants and audience will watch a live broadcast of the staged, exclusive “debate” between Edwards and Cheney. At approximately 10:30 p.m., following the conclusion of the Edwards-Cheney exchange, the four vice presidential candidates gathered at Baldwin Wallace College will offer their rebuttals.

The four vice presidential candidates have joined together in unprecedented solidarity to advance a common interest of democratizing the American political system and giving voters the choices that they demand and deserve. A recent Zogby poll found that over 40% of all Americans would like to see David Cobb, Michael Badnarik, Michael Peroutka and Ralph Nader participate in the televised presidential debates.

The Baldwin-Wallace Student Government is the sponsor of the vice presidential debate. “Baldwin Wallace students are proud to sponsor an event of this caliber which gives voters an opportunity to hear all voices - the essence of a true democracy. We’re excited to share this experience with our students, local community and with the entire nation as well.” said Chris Glassburn, Senator at Baldwin-Wallace.

New Photos

New photos uploaded to my deviantart page, check them out.

Debate or Soapbox?

Last night was two fools standing on their perspective soapboxes saying the same crap that has been said since day one. Heck, there was not even an entertainment value to it. *yawn*

The only note worthy thing of the whole debate was before it.
The manicure heard round the world. hehe..

Yup, you heard right. John "prissy" Kerry went and had his grrly side pampered.
uh.. yea... right before coming out and being a "big strong man".. I think he was under the impression he was going to be on "America's Top Model" not the debate.

It naturally went with his spray on tan, his botox injections and whatever else he has done to himself to look more Hollywood.

I thought having a member of the liberal media moderate helped Kerry. I'm not sure if those watching noticed but I think Kerry's voice dropped an octave and he was leaning forward a slight bit. Very clever if you ask me, he clearly did not think up this by himself. Bush on the other hand look irritated, at times I could see in his eyes he wanted to jump over the podium and choke the poo out of Kerry.

I will be ripping it and making it available to those who request it. Audio or Video.

Worst Pick-Up Line Ever

I almost came to tears over this, was taking my weekly read through Fark.com and came across this gem.

"Baby did you fart, 'cause you blow me away!" because nothing says "hot date" like a reference to gas

I'm stooping to a new low

I can't take this B.S. anymore I have to call it like I see it.

John Kerry is a world class AssHat and is trying to lose this race.

Skywalker and I agree the Clintons are making sure he loses (albeit in a close race) so Hillary can run against a Republican (and not the incumbent Democrat) in 2008.

Muddy's Bread Recipe

Ok, since lots of people like my bread here and DF has had some trouble.
I'm gonna hook you all up.
First this is intended to be made in a bread machine (dough only).

Use organic ingredients where possible.

Makes a single 1 1 /2 lb. Loaf

Whole Wheat Flour 3 Cups
Wheat Gluten 1 1 /2 tbsp
Yeast 1 1 /8 tsp (or I use a well rounded tsp)
Sea Salt 3/4 tsp
Honey or Maple Syrup 4 tbsp (if using honey Orange Clover Honey rocks!)
Extra Virgin Olive Oil (or your choice of oil) 1 1 /2 tbsp
water (filtered) 1 3/8 cup

Slap this stuff in the bread machine and put it on dough mode.

Preheat oven to 350 and butter up a bread loaf pan (I use glass) pull dough out of bread machine and toss is between your hands to get it into an oblong shape. (make sure you cover hands in flour to prevent sticking)
Drop it in the pan. Bake for 15 minutes then pull out cover with aluminum foil or another bread pan upside down and bake for 25 minutes more.

Pop it out and wait 5-10 minutes cut off a slice lightly butter and enjoy some kick butt bread. w00t!

*note add your recipes to the comments and share the love. :-)

New Poll

New Poll up and it's a question I've often wondered about.

What is most important when Voting in November?

People vote for many different reasons, I've listed I believe the most popular.
I know many who vote party, which I think is rather blind and ignorant. However voting for "anyone but Bush" would tip the scale as slightly more blind and ignorant.
There are more choices in this election than two.
In fact there are 15 candidates this November without counting the independents.
Politics1.com has the full list for those interested.

Fuel Survey

I was just wondering why people chose what they chose on the automotive fuel survey. Please just post why you answered the way that you did. Argumentitive and offtopic posts will be deleted as such.

Reflections

New piece for my deviantArt page has been posted. I was trying to capture the reflections in the human eye, I'd say it turned out ok.

I was looking at this...

and said to myself, "Holy Crap that thing is huge!"

That is all.

A Moment of Silence

This September 11th Muddysmind.com will remember our fallen brothers and sisters with a moment of silence.

Please post only a period (.) as your moment of silence.

Anyone who posts anything other than a period will be banned.

Are you really Liberal/Conservative?

Taking note from Cwilli over at Politically Retarded I took the quiz and it says I'm a Libertarian. Who knew?
Give it a shot, takes about one minute.

World's Smallest Political Quiz

What's wrong with this picture?

A buddy of mine had me check out a listing for an expensive house in Danville, CA.
Now it's not the house that was so interesting but the 3rd picture down, something is not quite right and the photographer should have noticed. :-)

Enjoy!

Click Here

Almost to tears..

Reading stupid computer user stories on 3rd shift has become a daily must do.

Today's almost brought me to tears.

Once I overheard the guy in the tech support cubicle next to mine patiently explain:

* Tech Support: "No, sir...clicking on 'Remember Password' will NOT help you remember your password."

Just For My Friend DF :-)

I've moved the "Muddy's Pages" up the right side to the top for DF since he can't scroll.
Hope that helps you find the forums man, let me know if you have any other problems navigating my site. ;-)

Off Topic Comments

I would like to ask that off-topic posts please be placed into the rather under used forums. They're there for just such a purpose.

Articles of Christian doctrine

Ahhh...refreshing.

I was hoping to find someday the writings of Martin Luther, and I have.
This is some very good stuff here, if you get the chance to read do so.
I only had time for a wee bit of reading but what I took in was excellent.

The Smalcald Articles, Martin Luther (1537) in HTML

His boldness I did not fully understand however reading this sentence, "That the Mass in the Papacy must be the greatest and most horrible abomination, as it directly and powerfully conflicts with this chief article, and yet above and before all other popish idolatries it has been the chief and most specious."

I understand more the hatred the so called church had held against him.

Microsoft Proves Marketing Can Sell Anything

Microsoft proving once again the old theory that you can sell anything if your marketing is good enough. Microsoft also proves that the American public at large is dumb. You remember saying “Give a man a fish; you have fed him for today. Teach a man to fish; and you have fed him for a lifetime”.
I think the modern version is "Buy a person a Microsoft product; you will have to buy the next version, and next, and next and pay for yearly license fees. Show a person the beauty and power of Linux and grow the community and never buy software again."

Yea baby, Tux rules.

I get a chuckle from M$ and their Marketing machine. "We're going to leave holes in your OS for a year while we work on this new service pack 2". Then... "SP2 has been delayed several months, oh.. btw there are 5,681 new holes and security flaws we discovered.. but that'll be fixed in the next service pack as well". The part we've all been waiting for, "SP2 is here.!" and they all rejoiced, but wait. "SP2 uh... causes more problems than it fixed".

hahahaha..

Report: SP2 Problems Impact 10 Percent of Windows XP PCs

On a softer note.

Since I'm a little sick of everyone arguing in circles, I've decided to start posting a few of my more varieties articles: computer stuff!

I've been working on setting up my IPCOP box for use with a wireless network (amazingly, not a simple feat. I'll post a howto on that soon enough, though I may end up abandoning ipcop as a distribution and go to a customized Gentoo box as my router/firewall.

Milestone

We did it, 5000+ comments now and still going strong.

That does not include the multitude that my filters deleted.

Happy surfing everyone.

Observation

Has anyone aside from Skywalker and myself noticed that the group screaming loudest for us to leave Iraq and for general "peace and love" are the ONLY group willing to physically assault people and throw things to get their way? Almost sounds like spoiled brats eh? I blame all those touchy feeley asshats in the 60's and 70's who said spanking children was evil so we have multiple generations now raised without discipline and running amok with no morals, self respect or honor.
Time to put the P (unishment) back in Parenting.

The Canadian Snowbirds

Yet another new pic for my deviantArt page, check it out here.

Kiki's Fire Part I

Leadership Traits

JJ DID TIE BUCKLE is an acronym every Marine knows. These days it is something I use to judge a person's leadership capability.

Here is the meaning:

Marine Corps Leadership Traits

Judgement
The ability to weigh facts and possible solutions on which to base sound decisions.

Justice
Giving reward and punishment according to merits of the case in question. The ability to administer a system of rewards and punishments impartially and consistently.

Dependability
The certainty of proper performance of duty.

Initiative
Taking action in the absence of orders.

Decisiveness
Ability to make decisions promptly and to announce them in clear, forceful manner.

Tact
The ability to deal with others without creating offense.

Integrity
Uprightness of character and soundness of moral principles; includes the qualities of truthfulness and honesty.

Endurance
The mental and physical stamina measured by the ability to withstand pain, fatigue, stress and hardship.

Bearing
Creating a favorable impression in carriage, appearence and personal conduct at all times.

Unselfishness
Avoidance of providing for one's own comfort and personal advancement at the expense of others.

Courage
The mental quality that recognizes fear of danger or criticism, but enables a man to proceed in the face of it with calmness and firmness.

Knowledge
Understanding of a science or an art. The range of one's information, including professional knowledge and an understanding of your Marines.

Loyalty
The quality of faithfulness to country, the Corps, the unit, to one's seniors, subordinates and peers.

Enthusiasm
The display of sincere interest and exuberance in the performance of dut

Just a thought

I have no problem with protestors....unless they disrupt normal city functions then i thnk they are out of line and should be arrested for disturbing the peace. Why? When they disrupt traffic and normal functions, then it costs otherwise innocent people time and money.

Boston: The city officials and DNC put protestors in a cage. That's sweet of them. Very few were arrested, they recieved basically no covereage.

Atlanta: The Libertarian National Convention recieved no protestors. Why? Probably because the media barely acknowledges the existence of 3rd parties.

New York: The protestors (like anywhere else) have to apply for demonstration permits. No big deal to me as it somewhat ensures that they do not disrupt the city. Some protestors are refusing to do this. Anarchists are planning violence. More of them have been arreested in the week before the convention for violent and disruptive behaviour than were arrested throughout the entire DNC. They have allr ecieved massive coverage for their causes thus far.

Boston & New York: Police investigate protestors prior to them actually protesting to attempt to prevent violence. I have no problem with this so long as they had credible information that the investigated people may commit violence. Otherwise, I say leave them alone.

My only prayer is that the anarchists do not turn NYC into the Seattle of the WTO summit. Sea Island during the G-8 summit, that would be much more tolerable (though I don't understand what the heck people were protesting for the G-8 summit.)

Freedom of Speech

I'm sick and tired of the attacks on the so-called "527" groups. If they want to say something, that is their right under our constitution. McCain Feingold prevents certain people and groups from running ads mentioning the names of a candidate 60 day prior to an election. How the heck is that reforming campaign funding? That's what the bill supposedly did, but I don't see it.

It is all a huge attack on Free Speech and the ACLU should be up in arms about it. Especially since this is just just the type of speech the government wanted protected: political speech.

Okay, now back to your regularly scheduled aarguing, web browsing and whatever else the people who read this site do.

Linux Funnies

Found this jewl on the following site - http://www.rinkworks.com/stupid/

I was calling to sign up with a new DSL provider. When the guy asked what operating system I was using, I said, "Linux." I was put on hold for five minutes, and then a supervisor came back and told me, "You can't use Linux to connect to the Internet. It's a hacker tool, anyway." I almost fell out of my chair.

Breaking Point

I cannot express in mere words how sick, and very, very tired I am of this election, the election process, John "proud to be a war criminal" Kerry and George "I only care about rich folk" Bush. I want someone to make it all go away.

And If I hear one more news story about the damn Vietnam war I'm gonna loose my freaking mind!

This was the straw that broke my camel's back. (in case you care)

"Hours after Benjamin Ginsberg quit the Bush-Cheney campaign, Vietnam veteran and Kerry presidential campaign official Max Cleland showed up at the gates of Bush's retreat in Crawford, Texas, to demand the president stop his attacks on veterans."

Hello Cleland, *knock, knock* is anyone home in there!?! Bush is NOT attacking veterans, the swift boat fellows are attacking a "War Criminal"!! Kerry, if he represents ALL Veterans then your some sad, sad people.
Get over it, stop crying and I need your address so I can send you a clue because it's obvious your severely lacking any.

I must confess, the more this mindlessness carries on the more I realize my understanding of God's mercy and patience is so very, very minute.
It really makes me think He's the craziest one of us all, what were you thinking man? Going thirty years through the emotional stress and strain. The trials, the torture the beatings. Then to top it off you forgive the morons who killed you. I dare say your clinically insane.

*pause*

Maybe, just maybe those who we lock up as insane. Know you the best. ;-)

Almost a loss for Words

I'm doing some work this morning and listening to the news. They were on discussing the Swift Boat Ads and had of course two lackeys one from the Elephants and one from the Donkeys. The reporter that was holding the discussion said that if Kerry was as upset with the swift boat ads why was he not upset with the moveon.org ads and the negative press coming from F911, the hilarious response from the democrat pundit was "well we're talking about truth vs. lies here" . Meaning that F911 was 100% truth and the swift boat ads were 100% lies.

BWWWWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!

I think I about spit out my water I was drinking, omg that guy was one poor misguided fool.

Just A Question

Who would you rather have your photo taken with? The woman who won the Olympic Marathon or the woman who knew she was to be the last to finish, but kept running to the finish line anyways?

Who would your ather have your photo with? The Iraqi soccer team which doesn't care that they no longer live under a dictator and would be in Athens either way, or the Afghan woman who finish who sprint heat 3 seconds behind the person who finished ahead of her but who didn't care what she placed because she had never had a chance to compete before?

How about the woman who medalled in judo, or the Afghan woman whose olympic experience ended in 42 seconds as she lost her judo match?

On a side note, why are countries like greece allowed to have teams which are mostly non-Grecian?! Most of their baseball team is American college students!

Please keep politics out of the discussion.

M$ funds "Independant" Study, Determines they are Cheaper than Free?

Ok, I read this and said to myself, this is too stupid to pass up. M$ (aka. Microsoft Corp.) funds an "independent" study to determine what OS (operating system, that stuff your computer needs to work) would best suit Newham's (London, UK) needs. The bold face lie they came up with "Microsoft is more secure than the open source alternative" was far to much for me to take. Seeing as how a problem found in OSS (open source software or Linux, FreeBSD etc..) gets fixed in a few days, M$ takes months if not years to fix simple problems. Oh man this is sure some secure crap there fellas, I wanna smack someone over this. Give me a round trip to England kids. I just want to grab those responsible for making decisions and say "Have you lost your bloody mind!?!"
Ok, I'm done ranting. Thanks.

Full Story @The Register

If your chased by a Bear, Buy a Beer!

"We noticed a bear sleeping on the common lawn and wondered what was going on until we discovered that there were a lot of beer cans lying around," said Lisa Broxson, a worker at the Baker Lake Resort, 80 miles (129 km) northeast of Seattle.

Full Story @Reuters

I'm so stressed, can we cuddle?

Hahaha.. just when I thought I had heard it all. Now those trendy New Yorkers are all cuddling and showing just how sensitive they are.

[sarcasm]Awwww... how cute.[/sarcasm]

Give me a break man, this is nothing but a front for perverts and freaks. Nobody in their right mind would lay down and "cuddle" with a bunch of unknown people.
It's quite funny though.
Read the story if you would like a laugh. I almost came to tears reading it myself.

Full Story @ Sky News

Why I stopped Watching CNN

click image to enlarge

New Ammo for Liberals

Upon seeing this headline "800,000 Floridians Urged to Flee Charley" today, I pondered.
How will the liberals link this to Bush?, Oh I'm on the edge of my seat waiting on this one.
Liberals, "It's obvious that Mr. Bush has used secret government technology to cause this hurricane to interrupt John Kerry's campaigning and sway the vote."

*muddy chuckles to himself*

Those Nutty libs.

Carlyle Group : An Enigma Immersed In Suspicion

I have been given an opportunity to do some reading these past few days. After this week I fully understand and realize no matter what happens this November. We're screwed.

We either get Mr. Backboneless Kerry King of Flip-Flops or Sir One Step Forward Two Steps Back Bush.

*Sigh*

The article I just wrapped up reading did not help me either. It only raised more questions that were lingering in the back of my mind. Thanks.

I knew from other articles and such that Halibrton was a shady kind of company, that I did not trust as far as I could throw them. Now the Carlyle Group (which I have heard of but knew little about) makes me think Haliburton may not be so bad.

As Dan Briody states clearly in this interview that this is a Capitalist society and it's ok for people to use their experience and such to make money. I'm all for making money. However there does have to be a line, and it looks like Caryle may have not only crossed it but picked it up and folded it neatly and tucked it away. Only those involved can truly set the record straight, so we'll more than likely never know.

Story @ Guerrilla News Network

New Pic!

New art pic has been posted up on deviantArt.

deviantART: Oh Happy Day by ~muddysmind

Canada calls out Kerry

I thought this was interesting how other countries take such an interest in the politics of the U.S. when so many in our own country do not.

Full Story @ TheStar.comt

Learn about the White House

During my endless surfing session tonight I came across some informative and interesting spots on the whitehouse.gov web site.

First is the White House Interactive site that allows every day Joe's like us ask those in the know questions whether silly or serious.
White House Interactive

Next is a spot to sign up for emails letting you know what the President and his Cabinet are doing so you can keep up to date on what the [sarcasm] evil empire [/sarcasm] is up to.
White House E-Mail Updates

Last is a very cool set of videos that give you a tour of the White House without fighting D.C. traffic.
Life in the White House Videos

Linux vs. Mac on the desktop

Looks like Linux is moving up the charts, in 5-10 years Windoze will be a distant memory, yea!

Full Story @ Infoworld

New Wallpapers! Bubbles for Everyone

I have two new wallpapers up, on my deviant art page.

Check them out and let me know what you think.

Muddy Displays Mad Sammich SkiLLz

Wow, this thing was fantastic. Makes me want to make another. :-)

Yet another new logo

I'm obsessive. So it would appear.

How is this one?
I like the simple clean look myself.

OBL to thow his support behind Kerry

Yea I know it's wrong, but it's still funny. Even though Bush is not perfect, and who knows what is truth and lies from Washington (regardless of who is there), Kerry is a wuss and would get more people killed imho.

Aside from the fact his face changes too much, it's creepy. Link Here

Mysteriously Rising death rate in Gaza solved

Ok, not a big story but this one line has answered many questions I've had for years. Why are people dropping so fast in Gaza?

Here is your answer.. "Israeli missiles twice hit a house in a Gaza refugee camp, White smoke rose into the sky from the building, and a large crowd quickly gathered around the house at the Shati refugee camp"

Ok, correct me if I'm wrong here, but when a house explodes, I don't care what the reason is I'm running like hell the OTHER way, not gathering around it to enjoy secondary explosions and possibly more boom-boom. What the hell is wrong with these people!??

Story @ sacbee.com

Operation Tiger Claw

I just finished reading this great story about Operation Tiger Claw. Seems Bryan Henderson was growing tired of ideals and opinions that were forced on students and took action. The story linked below is quite good. If you have the time it's very eye opening as to how lost America has become. (like we didn't know already, but it's a good read anyway)

Story @ Protest Warrior HQ

Voeckler Holds Yellow for one more day

After Lance came in 2nd in the prologue and the Posties came in 1st in the team time trial it was time for him to sit back and let the sprinters do the attacking while his team waited for their time.

The surprise of the tour has been young Frenchmen Thomas Voeckler (above in the leaders yellow) who has been a delightful surprise with this fierce tenacity and strong willpower. In stage thirteen while Lance was taking the lead and eventually winning the stage Voeckler held on to his lead and the yellow jersey buy a mere twenty two seconds. Which if you had watched the stage was no small feat as he continually fell behind on each climb but fought his way back into the peleton.

Pending some breakdown of Lance or the Posties he will get his sixth win, however the impressive riding of Thomas Voeckler cannot be overlooked as one of the finest performances this tour.

Astrophotography

Just wanted to put up something real quick. My bro has been putting up some pics he's taking through his telescope, some real good stuff. I myself think the Omega Nebula pic is the best. If you have a couple seconds check it out. Unless you don't like pics if stars and such.

Nikon D70 Astrophotography

Isn't Now the Time to Try a Linux Desktop?

Many of you know I'm a huge Open Source advocate. If not you know now. For me personally the reason I stopped using Windoze was due to cost. I'm a lower middle class working stiff supporting a family, mortgage, car, credit cards, and other debts with no room to spare for 199$ software that is total junk and chalk full of security holes. So I wanted to stop wasting money and use something else, something better, something free.
Yes, free is a good thing. A very good thing when we're talking Open Source software. For those that don't know what Open Source is, it's software created by a person or persons made for the "community" and free for anyone to use and edit pending that those who edit it include the original source code for others to also tweak and make better.

Sound confusing?

It's not really. Take this story/example.

"You hear about this new car with this fancy new engine from a company called Microengine. This engine puts out mind blowing horse power, has ultra smooth shifting and blah, blah, blah... so you go buy this car.
You get the car and when you get home to pop the hood to check out this awesome new engine, you can't. The hood is sealed and your not allowed to look at it, you can't even work on it. If you need the oil changed or the air filter you have to call Microengine, for everything.
Then you drive it for a while and find it's got some problems, so you call the dealership, they tell you to call Microengine. They tell you there is a team working on that fix but it won't be ready for six months, or you can purchase the new version to fix your problems.
You also find out the new version is no different from the old, plus it costs half as much as the car did.
You find that sometimes while driving the engine stops, for no reason.
Pulling over and restarting the car is all you can do, you call Microengine who built the engine and they tell you to restart the car when that happens.
Then you get bills from Microengine who made the engine telling you that the license you agreed to when you bought the car has run out and now you must renew your right to use their engine.

You think, there must be something better.

Your friend tells you about this group of mechanics who work on engines in their spare time and make engines for free.
Free? Yea he says the engine is faster, cleaner and has far more torque than your old engine that came with your car. Plus it never just stops with no reason. You can also change your own oil, or even upgrade the engine with the tools the mechanics gave you to make it faster and powerful to tow that new boat you bought now that you don't have to pay Microengine

Plus a local group of these engine owners meet at a local community center every night of the week so if you ever need help you can talk to a real person instead of a phone directory."

This may not be the best example, but I think it gets the point across. :-)

Now Isn't Now the Time to Try a Linux Desktop?

Skywalker Checks Out

Well folks, it is that time again. I'm going to be gone with probably zero net access for the next 6 weeks. I've got to go to Virginia for a "work" assignment - those of you in the know will get my drift. I'll return on Friday, 20 AUG 2004. Hasta La Vista.

Kerry Displays Wicked Fast Painting Skillz

Now a co-worker and I were talking about this today and he made a very valid point. What kind of crazy painting skillz does John Kerry have to get a jet all painted up after only making his decision and calling Edwards in a matter of 24 hours according to some reports.
It sure would have been fun to see Kerry go up against Bob Ross (R.IP. Bob) in a paint off, however I think Kerry's only strength from the looks of this is painting letters really fast. Ross would of had a happy little tree which nobody can top.

Stop Senate Bill S. 2560 IS

I've discovered a bill that the Dis-Honorable Mr. Hatch and Mr. Leahy are trying to get passed so the MPAA and RIAA can flat out destroy not only individuals but also companies found to make products that encourage file swapping. For Example if this passes and they want to sue Apple for making the IPod it would bankrupt Apple and put them out of business. Microsoft, Winamp, Real and other media companies could also be destroyed since they enable people to make copies of their own cd's.

Please use the link below to find your Senators and ask them to stop this horribly ignorant bill.

Find Your Senator

Also a couple news stories on it.

USATODAY.com

The Register

Click More to Read the Bill.

Inducing Infringement of Copyrights Act of 2004 (Introduced in Senate)

S 2560 IS

108th CONGRESS

2d Session

S. 2560

To amend chapter 5 of title 17, United States Code, relating to inducement of copyright infringement, and for other purposes.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

June 22, 2004

Mr. HATCH (for himself, Mr. LEAHY, Mr. FRIST, Mr. DASCHLE, Mr. GRAHAM of South Carolina, and Mrs. BOXER) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary

A BILL

To amend chapter 5 of title 17, United States Code, relating to inducement of copyright infringement, and for other purposes.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

This Act may be cited as the `Inducing Infringement of Copyrights Act of 2004'.

SEC. 2. INTENTIONAL INDUCEMENT OF COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT.

Section 501 of title 17, United States Code, is amended by adding at the end the following:

`(g)(1) In this subsection, the term `intentionally induces' means intentionally aids, abets, induces, or procures, and intent may be shown by acts from which a reasonable person would find intent to induce infringement based upon all relevant information about such acts then reasonably available to the actor, including whether the activity relies on infringement for its commercial viability.

`(2) Whoever intentionally induces any violation identified in subsection (a) shall be liable as an infringer.

`(3) Nothing in this subsection shall enlarge or diminish the doctrines of vicarious and contributory liability for copyright infringement or require any court to unjustly withhold or impose any secondary liability for copyright infringement.'.

Color Blind Man Hacks Website

Not really, I'm just sick of the same drab dark colors and have decided to liven it up. Drop me a note with your thought or other color suggestions. Remember if you suggest colors use their number (ie #00FF66) so I can try it out.

You can use this color chart

*UPDATE*
Site is mostly done, only a few spots to clean up.
I suggest you use Mozilla Firefox, Firebird or the standard Mozilla web browser for Windows, Linux or Mac as it properly displays this site. Windoze Explorer does not since it's a pile of dung browser that will always be 2nd rate.

Lance Playing It Safe in Crash Riddled first stages

Official Tour de France English Site

Mrs. Muddy's thought for the day

Ok, we've All said it before and *I'll* say it again. We just don't hear enough of the *good* news coming out of Iraq. SO, with that in mind, I decided about a week ago I decided to go on a mission and find articles to share. Well, unfortunately, I'm not finding a whole lot (who says the media isn't liberal biased?). Why did I look so hard for it? Well, I believe, personally (as I think we all do to a degree) that when you hear and see so much negativity coming from the news (not to mention this new propaganda tactic that Moore put out in the form of a movie) then you tend to really believe that, that's all there IS to see and hear. Soon, this way of thinking fills up our spirit, then very quickly (as has happened already) this thinking spreds like wildfire throughout the rest of society and almost overnight, everyone starts believing that everything is "just horrible" and *nothing* is going right.

Well, that started me thinking: These brave men and women are calling home (and in some cases are *comming* home) and hearing from their families about how everyone is saying how Iraq is "such a failure" and how we've screwed things up and made them worse. Now imagine yourself over there - maybe in some cases since the war began - away from your family and all those you love. You're working SO damn hard to help these people back on their feet and to give them back opportunities that an evil dictator stole from them. You, along with your unit (as well as the entire coililition as a whole) have helped to rebuild schools, hospitals, road ways, bridges and phone lines; you've worked to improve the sewage systems amd worked to help give immunizations to the Iraqi childern not to mention supporting a new currency in the country that does not bear a tyrants evil, ugly face. Then, You *finally* get a chance to call home to share your inspiring stories of success to your family and friends just to hear from everyone of how some people refer to what *your* doing as a "failure"! Now, I'm sure the military are all trained very well to do their jobs no matter what kind of BS comes out from the knuckle headed penut gallery, BUT, *I* still don't think that it would be doing much for their moral.

Now, I also don't think (in alot of cases) that when people say "Iraq is a failure" that they mean to refer to the men and women stationed over there. BUT, how would YOU take it?! You're the one doing the work that everyone is refering to as a failure! Even the democrat's main man - John kerry, himself has refered to Iraq as a failure....is this the method he plains on using in hopes of build up the military's moral? If so...me thinks he should rethink it and, while he's at it - shut up!

All I'm saying is that especially with the 4th of July weekend here, we need to remember what *ALL* of our brave men and women have done. Past AND present. AND be damn thankful that they *gave/give* a damn to defend us all. And as you read this article I have linked then maybe some of you could try to put yourself in this man's shoes, if just for a second, and think about how he might feel about Iraq being a "supposed" failure. Hopefully, some will be more careful of what they say and how they say it. Unfortunately, though, (for some of you anyway) I'm not going to allow any comments on this unless muddy, cwilli, or skywalker (if he has any stories from his friends to possibly add) want to edit something in. As for some of you, I'm not going to allow this story - no matter how "minor" it may be to some of your thinking - be bastardized by negativity.

Happy 4th and many hugs and kisses to ALL our service men and women past and present where ever you are. Thank you so much for you're service! May God bless and keep you all. :-)

Tallahassee Democrat | 06/22/2004 | Blountstown soldier improves Iraqi lives

P.S: Here's another one:

USAID Fact Sheet: USAID Accomplishments In Iraq

Kerry vs Bush, Moore, Iraq and stupid people

I think the thing everyone is getting away from. We have no real choice in this election. Both candidates have issues, neither imho should be president. I'll (if allowed) make a write in vote for Olie North.
I think the readers of my site believe I'm some kind of Bush flag waver, that's far from true. I believe he's done some good things, and some bad things. I personally think the whole prison thing is laughable. People honestly think you can get prisoners to talk without forcing them to, need to wake up and soon. Guards taking pictures and making a joke out of it is wrong, the torture (so called) was needed. Ask any vet that was in a German, Japanese, Vietcong, North Vietnamese, North Korean, Chinese or any other camp and they will tell you. We treat our prisoners far, far, far better than our boys have ever been treated.

My Uncle (great) was in a German P.O.W. in WWII and from what all my relatives tell me he came back and did not say word one about it. It changed him forever. I cannot imagine the hell he went through. The fact asshats are crying and bitching over some f**king worthless terrorist made to put panties on his head or stand on a box and hold wires pisses me off to no end.

Ok, 2nd part of my rant.
Michael Moore is an asshat, plain and simple. If he made his movies and called them... uh.. entertainment and NOT a documentary then I'd not care. He'd still be a fat white man with attention deficit syndrome.
He has said over and over again this movie was made to GET BUSH OUT of the white house. How in the hell can you look at it as anything other than a freakin' propaganda movie?!? (morons)
I don't care who is in the whitehouse, republican, democrat, independent or even DF. As long as they are focused on upholding the vision the Godly men who founded this country saw then that's good enough for me. The best leader is the one who fears (not fear as in I'm scared, feared as in respect, adoration and love) God, prays for his country and on the decision he has to make.

Now in closing to those I've offended, get over it.
Bush has some devious back office dealings and has been working on bills that should never get passed.
Charlie Brown (aka. John Kerry) is the most wishy washy person I've seen. I voted for it, no against it, no for it... make up your stinkin' mind and stop following what's popular you spineless little man!

Ok, so everyone make a write in vote for Oliver North! w00t! Olie in 04!

That is all, Happy 4th of July America and have a great weekend World!

Fahrenheit 9/11

I don't know where to begin with this one. I really don't. I left this movie wanting to bang my head into a wall. I also left it wondering If I really want to continue to defend a country where we have people who actually believe this tripe. Read on.

I will say I missed the first few minutes of it as someone decided the they didn't know how to drive in the rain and managed to crash there car into another and one of them caught on fire, bring traffic to a stand still (this after I was stuck in traffic for the 5th bridge jumper in 2 months this morning.) But we all at this point I'm sure know that the movie starts out talking about how Bush stole the election. Which has been proven false: recounts using the standards Bush espoused, the standards un-uniofrmly as Gore espoused and using the disputed district method uniformly all show Bush winning. The margin is next to slim, but still a win. Also, for those whos ay the supreme court gave it to him, that is false. The supreme court simply said that in order to recount hte votes, you must use the same standards for the recount across the state. So there is his first lie/half-truth/distortion of the truth.

From there, the distortions and lies flow like liquor on Friday night at the E-club. The most blatant, which irks me the most was a claim the Bush has cut military pay by 33%. This is a lie. I am in the military. My pay has gone up int he 2 years since I signed my contract. In fact, I'm guaranteed a 3% across the board or better pay raise for the next 8 years. With in 8 years congress has guaranteed that my pay will be equivelant to my civilian counterparts. My benefits have all increased.

Then there is some footage of children playing and people being happy and friendly in Iraq, This is the only footage which I can recall as having a date attached to it (an issue I will tackle in a moment) and it is dated March 2003. I recognized some of that footage immediately as having been shot just in the past few months!

There is footage of American soldiers "abusing" an "Iraqi body." First off, I'm pretty sure that footage dates to Gulf War I, and I'm also pretty sure that was a dummy, not a body. He also in this scene blames the actions of soldiers on Bush sending them to war, the quote being something along the lines of "Immorality breeds immorality, and the immoral actions of a president by sending other wise good American boys to war, causes immoral actions." While I agree Immorality breeds immorality (to an extent - people still make their own choices so you can't blame your own immoral actions on another's) The idea that a president doing what leaders have done for millenia causes soldiers to make wrong choices is absurd.

There is a scene in which he claims the only poor people join the military. This is also absurd. My best friends Ihave in the Marine Corps are millionaires. If I chose to work in the private sector, go to graduate school or what have you, I could make a fortune, with out a doubt. Half the reservists in my unit own their own businesses. One jsut got de-activated cause he was losing hundreds of thousands of dollars a year being on active duty, as he was for the past year and he was having a hard time paying his bills. Statistics show that the military represnets accurately the percentages of race and class as is in the rest of our society! This tripe is tired and a long proven lie. In the interests of full disclosure, I must say that I know some guys int he military that would be unable to work in the private sector. It goes both ways, it is a balance.

There are miscallaneous things I could talk about, such as the false claim the Bush arranged for the bin Laden's and other Saudi's to leave Americaby aircraft when all airspace was closed for non-military flight. A lie. There is the links of Haliburton to the Carlyle Group, where both Bush's served on the Board of directors - years after haliburton sold the company. Then, why does it seem so absurd for US companies and politicians to be meeting with a nation's rulers and their most prominent family?!

Mr. Moore did his bes tto make Fox News look evil. To make it look like they have a right-ward slant. Of course he did that by not being "Fair and Balanced." He shows selective clips, used most of them out of context, and put it all in the context of the US having an right slanting media. Mind you he only showed clips of Fox News and an interview with a certain well known self-professed liberal reporter saying how the US media is a servant of the right.

In another segment he talks about the Patriot Act. He actually intereviewed some of the authors who claimed htey didn't know what was in the bill! One official he interviewed said he voted for it having never read it and didn't realize what he was getting into. If he were on my ballot, he would lose my vote for that statement, regardless of his party affilliation. To say you can't know what is in every bill is irresponsible, and if you don't know, you should abstain from voting on it.

He then went on to show how this one group "felt first hand the effects of the patriot act." He talks about a group of "Peace Activists" (who, by the way had helped stage rather violent protests in Seattle, but I guess that just shows how peaceful they are) who were "infiltrated" by a local sherriff's deputy. Nevermind that their meetings were public. They were all upset that they were being "Spied on." What Moore didn't tell you is that this was a roup being supported by "International ANSWER" which is funded by militant communists. Gee, I wonder why they were being investigated and watched. Isn't that what we got upset with the FBI and CIA for not doing prior to 9/11? Of course, somehow, Moore never quite linked this to the Patriot Act, but I guess the mere appearance of "evil" being linked to it serves his purposes.

One scene I particularly loved was an interview that I'm convinced was staged. A woman talks about losing her son. The interview was of course very dramatic, and personally, it didn't bother me because I know that it is a part of war: families lose sons and daughters. But one thing did: she talked about being informed of her son's death by phone. As far as I know, you are always informed in person.

He also interviewed a Marine Corporal who said he wouldn't go back to Iraq. He asked this Marine what consequences he could face for refusing to go. The Marine replied: "Jail time." I hate to be the bearer of bad news but he could be executed as a deserter. This is something a Marine would know, leading me to doubt that this was a real Marine, and his intelligence if he was a Marine.

Then there was a man who claimed to be harrassed byt he FBI for calling President Bush an a----le at is gym. Specifically he said he was a bigger a----le than terrorists. Personally, I doubt the FBI wasted their time,and if they did, why not have the guy get a copy of his FBI file which would have documentation of this little visit in it! Prove this easily provable fact! OF course, this was only int he context of showing the dangers of the PAtriot Act, but, he never quite showed hwo the Patriot Act meant his friend at his gym had to report himt othe FBI for swearing about the president? Or how this enabled the FBI to question him? Or why the FBI questioning him was even otherwise illegal?

You know, I could go on and on as the move was a continous stream of crap, and unlikehis prior films, wasn't even remotely entertaining (except for the Taliban official telling the feminist activist that he feels sorry for her husband, that my friends, was priceless - though I agreed with what the feminist was saying to him.)

To call this film a documentary does not do justice to documentaries. It is propaganda at its best, and a pack of lies at its worst. The tagline should be "Fahrenheit 9/11: A New Left-Wing Propaganda Film by Michael Moore." If anyone doubts me, go see it, do the resaerch on your own. But I asure you, this move isn't worth seeing in a 99 cent theater, much less paying full price. Hence, why I'm glad that me and my friend saw it for free.

25 Free Digital Prints

Everybody likes something free.

Target stores have a coupon you can print online and take into the store and get 25 free digital prints.

Coupon Here

Save Our Music, Boycott The RIAA

During my recent conversation with a friend I had an astonishing idea.
Why spend $14 to 18 dollars (USD) on a CD when the artist gets about one dollar back.?
I purpose that instead we get the music through alternative means, then send the artist a donation to cover what they lost in the CD sale. I'd say at least five dollars would be a start and the artist gets more cash and it will force the RIAA to reform or fade away.

You may say what about the download music services? Most music download services don't provide music in a very high quality format. Why people are paying for a lower grade quality is beyond my understanding.

As an artist myself (albeit very small time) I would much rather have five dollars than one. ;-)

Voice your opinion on this below, if we can generate support lets take it to the people.

Saddam: "All is well with me"

Saddam is a happy camper. So he wants us to believe. If the over-reacting to the so called abuse of prisoners in abu ghraib had any effect then Saddam is relaxing in his favorite Lazy-Boy chair smoking a Cuban.
I'm getting really worried about his trial. With the recent activity in Iraq I think we're in for one hell of a mess when his trial hits.

Full Text @ Arabic News

Chop off some heads, get a Saudi Hug.

Once a while back I said nothing could possibly shock me.
I was wrong.

Congrats to the totally screwed up Saudi's. It goes to prove that Saudi Arabia IS and has ALWAYS been a sponsor and a champion of terrorism.
Announcing today that they will offer safety to any terrorist who surrenders to the state. Well, well, well... ain't that dandy.
One terrorist supporting another, seems about right.

Considering the Saudi's could not find terrorists for the past five plus years now all of a sudden they hand out safety to people that don't exist.

Funny how that works.

You can read an article about it here

And another here

The Daily Star has some interesting and positive poll numbers in an article here

Intemperate Thoughts

Why is the US media more concerned with some soldiers who are going to get court martialed making some prisoners wear panties on their head (something most men like to do I might add...but I won't go there) but pretty much ignores the fact that 1 American was shot and then decapitated in his own drive way, 2 Americans and 1 south Korean were kidnapped and beheaded just for the publicity?! I think Fox News is the only news source who has gotten past Abu Ghraib. Look folks they are being court martialed, if there is news with that let us know, otherwise...move on to real news!

Clinton's book: I think the only thing funnier than the fact that people are comparing it to his 1988 Democratic National Covention Speech is the fact that he reads it on the audio version just like Hillary read her book: with zero emotion even when talking about things that would make a normal person bawl like a baby.

Just what is Iran up to these days? Do they think they are bullet proof? What makes them think the world "has" to accept them as a nuclear power? Why are they picking a fight with the British? And why oh why are they massing troops at the Iraqi border?

Would you let your kid be screened for a mental health issue by a public school and have treatment dictated to you by them? According to World Net Daily, that's just what Bush wants.

Good night sky, cya tomorrow.

Kerry Wants Minimum WAge Increase

Kerry is wanting to increase the minimum wage to a whopping $7 an hour! He claims it will help mothers as the majority of minimum wage earners are women. He also says and I quote "The detractors say 'This will hurt our small business!' But it never has before."

Okay, I'm raising the BS flag to full mast!

First, the largest group of minimum wage earners might be women. But that's if you don't break it down by age, where you realize the the majority of minimum wage earners are college age or teenagers! And then is you subtract all the people who are in a minimum wage job as a side job, then you have a very small group of people who are making a "living" so to speak on minimum wage, but instead just have kids. By the way, if you're making minimum wage in my state, you're an idiot since many McDonalds start off at 10 dollars an hour, but that's another story.

Second thing, the largest group of small businesses is also the one with the most minimum wage jobs: restaurants. And I can tell you right now that many restaurants have a hard time creating new jobs as it is, due to this whole idea of diminishing returns. New jobs only comes when business increases by a fairly large amount. Most of the restaurants I know of would have to fire people if they had to raise their wages by almost 2 dollars per hours. Sorry sir, but it has happened before, raising the minimum wage cuts jobs, not creates them. 1.5 million jobs have been created just since the beginning of the year, I think we're doing okay in that department, don't screw with it!

BTW, raising the minimum wage has less to do with mom's working to raise their children by themselves (which Kerry wants to give them more free money fo thei irresponsibility too) and more to do with unions whose wages are perpetually tied to the minimum wage. A union contract might read that they are entitled to a minimum of 5 times the minimum wage or 10 dollars more than the minimum wage (just to pull some numbers from my nether regions. Dear lord, you want to talk about industries that will begint o feel a hurt, look at any industry that depends on a union and you will see and industry either begint of ail, or let people go.

Sorry, if you w ant to help jobs in this country, get rid of the business killing unions (like the ones who killed Eastern Airlines, United Airlines and were trying to kill Delta Airlines) and get rid of the minimum wage altogether. There is no reason why someone shouldn't be free to negotiate their own wage with an employer. If I want to work for $4 an hour on a side job, why shouldn't I? And why should an employer have to pay a 14 year old $7 an hour to scoop fries, which is what Kerry wants?

It also will cause inflation. Why? If you can't figure that one out, God help you.

Sorry Mr. Kerry, it will hurt jobs, it will cause inflation, and it will hurt the conomy.

Awesome Transformers Video

Thanks to Kevin for giving me the link to this excellent Transformers Video, it's funny to see a robot, do the robot.
Watch Video Here

AP Distorts the Truth Once Again

I read an AP story a few minutes ago and I realized something. The AP lied.

The leak from the commission yesterday was that Iraq was linked to al-Quaeda, but not to 9/11. Accoording to AP today, that is not the case. Yet all over radio and TV yesterday, that is how it was reported. In fact, CNN this morning called the lack of an Iraq link a blunt contradicitont o one of the reasons for going to war. While I can't find a story about it (go figure), I remember President Bush saying in a press conference, specifically, that Iraq was NOT linked to 9/11, but they were linked al-Quaeda. AP and CNN however were all over it to say just the opposite. To me this epitomizes media bias, and is a bold faced lie.

On a side note, the media needs to standardize how they spell al-Quaeda. I obviously like al-Quaeda, the AP usually uses al-Quaida. I've seen it a couple of different ways though.

Krazy Kerry's Spin

Just some quotes and such I found on Mr. Kerry that were humorous. (or sad depending on how you look at it)

SUVS [06/02 02:01 PM]

FIRST HE SAID: "I don't own an SUV,'' Kerry declared when asked by reporters on Earth Day 2004.

THEN HE SAID: Asked whether or not his wife, Teresa, owned an SUV — on same conference call during which he denied owning an SUV — he fessed up, sorta: "The family has it. I don't have it." Back in February, however, he rattled off a list of Kerry household cars: "We have some SUVs. We have a Jeep. We have a couple of Chrysler minivans. We have a PT Cruiser up in Boston. I have an old Dodge 600 that I keep in the Senate. ... We also have a Chevy, a big Suburban."

THE IRAQ WAR: FUNDING [06/02 01:52 PM]

FIRST HE SAID: On Face the Nation on 9/14/04, Kerry discussed an amendment he was pushing as part of the $87 billion funding bill for military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. Asked if he would support the bill even without the amendment, he replied, "I don't think any United States senator is going to abandon our troops and recklessly leave Iraq to whatever follows as a result of simply cutting and running. That's irresponsible."

He added "I don't think anyone in the Congress is going to not give our troops ammunition, not give our troops the ability to be able to defend themselves. We're not going to cut and run and not do the job."

THEN HE SAID: Kerry voted against the bill in October 2003. He later infamously replied to a Republican ad highlighting the vote by saying, "I actually did vote for the $87 billion before I voted against it." (For more see Barbara Comstock, "Where the Dem Was".)
THE IRAQ WAR: AUTHORIZATION [06/02 01:51 PM]

FIRST HE SAID: John Kerry sounded like President Bush before the war. In a September 2002 New York Times op-ed he wrote: "If Saddam Hussein is unwilling to bend to the international community's already existing order, then he will have invited enforcement...even if that enforcement is mostly at the hands of the United States, a right we retain even if the Security Council fails to act."

Kerry voted for authorization to use force in Iraq on October 11 that same fall.

THEN HE SAID: By January 6, 2004, Kerry is a self-identified antiwar candidate: On Hardball, Chris Matthews asked Kerry, "Do you think you belong to that category of candidates who more or less are unhappy with this war, the way it's been fought, along with General Clark, along with Howard Dean and not necessarily in companionship politically on the issue of the war with people like Lieberman, Edwards and Gephardt? Are you one of the antiwar candidates?"

Kerry replied: "I am — Yes, in the sense that I don't believe the president took us to war as he should have, yes, absolutely."

And my Favorite one yet...

Aug 27, 2002: Having been asked if he would ever considered getting a bigger car?" Kerry shoots back, "No, but I have thought about cutting all your f**king legs off at the knees." Yet another 'presidential caliber remark'. (source)

You Might Be a Geek...

I'm declaring myself the new Foxworthy, for the Digital Age.

Welcome to the Official "You might be a Geek" Post.

* "If you have to wrap your computer in dry ice to keep it from catching fire because every thing is over clocked in it, you might be a geek"

* "If you spend more time talking to people you live with on IM than in person, you might be a geek."

* "If your TV consists of your computer, a TV card and your monitor. You might be a geek."

* "If your sound system on your computer is better than your actual stereo system, you might be a geek."

Feel free to add you own in the comments.

Another Stupid Headline

Ripped from the Fox News Headlines - "Bomb Suspected in German Blast"

I'm sure glad they cleared that up because I was thinking some poor slob had severe constipation and was finally relieved in one large blast.

Some Humor To Start Your Day

"But wait, I saw Pirates of the Caribbean yesterday and the moral at the end was something like,
"Sometimes you need a little piracy in order to do the right thing."
But the MPAA says it's bad. Why must Hollywood send me conflicting messages?"

quoted from Mike @ http://slashdot.org/articles/03/07/22/1853256.shtml?tid=188&tid=97

Good Headline

There was a headline on the Drudge report this morning that I heard second hand and thought you all might enjoy. If you don't laugh, then you either can't speak english, or you have no senseof humor, for which I am sorry.

Anyhow it was "Breast Cancer Rates Down, Broad Survival Rates Up."

Get out of the fast lane!

On my way into work today driving up 270 there was an unusually long line of cars bunched up in the passing lane. After driving further in this congestion I discovered a LG Electric truck driving in the passing lane at a steady 63-64mph.[in a 65mph zone, typical speed is 70-75] This did not sit well with myself and the 10-15 others stuck behind this fool. After some maneuvering we each passed him and after about a dozen or so people going around him he never moved out of the passing lane. It's really sad how some people still don't understand the passing lane is for passing people not for holding up traffic. Myself if I'm in the passing lane and someone is closing in on me I'm smart enough to realize they are moving faster than me, so if possible I move over and let them through.

This is not as much a rant as it is a demonstration of the typical lack of respect and courtesy in America. I know it's much worse in cities like Philly, and NYC however we're talking about the midwest here.

As someone once said, it's sad how our country went from reading Time, to US and now Self. Interesting how that follows the national ideology.

Liberals saying, "Murder before birth is fantastic, Murder after birth is wrong"

America, what a great place to kill babies and call it the right for a woman to choose. To choose the fate of another human being without their voice being heard. [anywhere else it's called Murder]
Hot damn, we're the baby killing capital of the world.[1.3 million every year] Liberals must be crapping themselves with delight every day they wake up here.
How can a nation founded by people calling upon the name of Jesus allow such satanic behavior to happen?? Wait, that's a stupid question, it's called "political correctness or liberalism"
I don't know if this is sad or funny, but if you think about this. Liberals say that it's a woman's right to choose to murder her baby before it's born. Yet it's a crime against humanity to put to death a convicted murder? What kind of screwed up thinking is that?

Story found @ FOXNews.com

Memorial Day

   


From all of us here at Muddysmind.com to all the men and women who fought and died for this country throughout the years, we salute you.

Thank you.

Silk, sooooooo smooth.

I could'nt pass this up.

President Bush Speech

Since the non-cable networks decided they are far to liberal to broadcast a speech by the President, I have made it available.

It's 42 megs, in divx format and small, very small, but it's a speech how much video quality do you need? :-)

You can get it Here.

Muddy Forced to Speak to Great Satan

Oh boy, this day sucked.

I had to speak to the great satan, Micro$oft.

Since part of my job is to call our customers when their circuits crash I had no choice. It was yucky.

Now I need a shower.

Ban Political Parties

From Small World, an editorial cartoon strip

Thunderbird Down

9/11 Commission - A Response from NY

Tell us your thoughts on the 9/11 commission: What do you expect to learn? Who do you blame? Do you think the commission is necessary?

Don't forget how helpless we all felt on 9/11 - don't forget George Bush's words - we are on a mission to wipe out terrorism --this is all the explanation we need to be at war. Can you imagine if such a tragedy struck us smack in the middle of that Monica Lewinsky mess??? What would be the liberal excuse then??? God Bless our troops and God Bless our President.

I am sick of the 9/11 families. It is clear that they have a political agenda to help John Kerry. I wonder how fast for the women to collect their husband's life insurance and to throw away his belongings.

Who are these commissioners? One of them set policy which helped 9/11. The feds' intelligence caused 9/11. New Yorkers' response was admired around the world. Ex-president Clinton wanted to leave a legacy and wondered what it would be (Besides, perhaps chasing young girls). The legacy of him and his administration (which includes ugly b--- wife), is 9/11. Deal with it you Arkie hillbillies.

THIS IS MY RESPONSE TO THE COMMISSION,,INSTEAD OF BLAMING NYPD AND FDNY OR EVEN THE PAPD IS APPAULLING ,,MY BROTHER ED CALDERON WS MURDERED IN THOSE BUILDINGS, HE WORKED ALONG SIDE THE FIREMAN AND NYPD DOING HIS JOB,WHILE ALL ON THE COMMISSION WERE EITHER IN THEIR PLUSH HOMES IN THE HAMPTONS OR IN THEIR LIMOS COMING INTO THE CITY,HOW DARE YOU ALL COMPARE THESE BRAVE MEN TO BOY SCOUTS,,HOW DARE YOU,,I DONT THING ANYONE OF YOU WOULD HAVE THE BALLS TO HAVE EVEN BEEN IN THE AREA MUCH LESS TRY TO SAVE THE LIVES OF ALL THAT DIED,,STOP THE GRAND STANDING JUST TO GET YOUR NAME ON A NEWSPAPER,,THIS IS WHAT IS WHAT IS WRONG WITH THE COUNTRY TODAY,,

Many, Many more @New York Post Online

Forums Are Live

Muddysmind.com Forums are officially up and running.
Now don't everyone go post at once. :-P

Food for thought with July 4th approaching

“[July 4th] ought to be commemorated as the day of deliverance by solemn acts of devotion to God Almighty.”
[letter written to Abigail on the day the Declaration was approved by Congress]
- John Adams

Steelers Videos "MiniCamp" Day 3

This video is 77Mb zipped and can be downloaded Here.
Short clips of interview with Billy boy.

Downtime, Oops.

Well I did it again, that's two times in two years I've uploaded some videos I wanted to share and it used up all my daily bandwidth (5 gigs) and took down my site.
It's fixed now.

Enjoy.

Steelers Videos "MiniCamp" Day 2

This video is 75.8Mb zipped and can be downloaded Here.
Covers Safties and secondary mainly.

Steelers Videos "MiniCamp" Day 1

Due to popular demand I'm cutting out the steelers clips from "Pittsburgh Sports Tonight" and posting them for Steelers Fans around the world who don't have access to FSN.

The first video is 58Mb zipped and can be downloaded Here.

The second video is 20Mb zipped and can be downloaded Here.

Video is in mpeg4 format should play in divx or any video player that deals in mpeg4. Audio is standard 128k mp3 so there should be no problems there.

Urgent Response Needed!

Well, I'm tired of these scammers sending emails requiring me to send them money so I can get my hands on some more... money.
So I replied in kind to the latest moron to send me spam scam.

Here is his email, my response I sent follows.

--------------------------------------------------------------

Attn: Dear,

I am Dr. Christopher Eyadi, the Director, Treasury Department Stallion
Finance company, Togo. My recent position was as a result of the death of
the former Director.

When I was going through the companies classified papers, I discovered
that Mr. Michael Rees, a national of your country, who incidentally
was a contractor with Togolese government had at the close of balance a
deposit of US$12,500,000.00 with our company.

Unfortunately, as he was travelling on 21st of April 2002, along with
his wife and two children, they were involved in a car accident. All
occupants of the vehicle unfortunately lost their lives.

My efforts to locate any of our customer’s extended relative has proved
unsuccessful. After other several unsuccessful attempts, I decided to
track his last name over the Internet, with the hope that I may luckily
get a member of his family, hence I contacted you. I have contacted you
to assist in repatriating the money and property left behind by our
customer before they get confiscated or declared unserviceable by our
company, the Stallion Finance Company where his US$12.5 Million is
deposited.

Since I have been unsuccessful in locating the relatives for over a
year now, I seek your consent to present you as the next of kin of the
deceased since you have the same last name so that the proceeds of this
account valued at (US$12,500,000.00) can be paid to you and then you
and me can share the money 60% for me and 40% for you. I will provide all
necessary legal documents that can be used to back up any claim we may
make.

All I require is your honest co-operation to enable us see this
through. I guarantee that this will be executed under a legitimate
arrangement that will protect you from any breach of the law.

Do send your reply to my email above or: eyadichris@voila.fr

Best regards,

Christopher Eyadi.

---------------------------------------------------------------

and Muddy's response.

You sir are THE dummest scammer I've seen yet.

Allow me to demonstrate.
#1. Your using the name of a company who has not used that name since July 15th 2003 when it was changed from STALLION TRADE & FINANCE LTD. to ESQUIRE MONEY GUARANTEES LTD.
#2. Your sent your email from a "free" email account from a web portal based in Warsaw Poland. (not your company email)
#3. Your optional email is, shockingly another free email account this time from a web portal based in Paris France. (for comment see #2)
#4. No moron in his right mind goes out to the internet sending mass emails to countless people just so he can get the warm fuzzies by doing some dead guy and his dead family good. Get real pal.
#5. My last name is NOT the same as this pretend dead guy.

There are more things I noticed when I traced your email history. I've notified the proper authorities in France, Poland and America and I suspect you will not be in business long.

Please get a real job and while your at it, give your life to Jesus, it's obvious you've done a piss poor job with it so far.

Good day.

New Forum

I'm setting up a forum, if anyone is interested it's located here.
It's mostly about the linux proggies I use, I thought I might be able to help people and/or they could help me. ;-)

Hating America: The New World Sport

Soccer has been known to inflame many fans' national passions, but a game last February in Guadalajara, Mexico, takes the prize. There, the U.S. team lost to Mexico in the Olympic men's qualifying soccer match, and was met with a stunning display of "sportsmanship": The Mexican fans — delirious with victory — celebrated with biting cries of "OSAMA! OSAMA!"

Can such hateful anti-Americanism — from a very well-treated neighbor, no less — be dismissed as a disproportional response to a sport notoriously emotive the world over? Perhaps.

John Gibson, however, would probably disagree. In his view, such hateful anti-Americanism is the world's favorite sport.

This, at least, is the premise of his newly released Hating America: The New World Sport. In it Gibson — host of The Big Story on the Fox News Channel — details the extent to which, in a post-9/11 world, irrational anti-Americanism is the tie that binds the "international community": Germany with France, Belgium with South Korea, Canada with the "Arab Street."

Full Story @ National Review Online

Muddy has close call

Well, God was paying attention in great detail to me today. I was on my way to work in the pouring rain and in my attempts to crack my windows a bit to get some fresh air resulted in very bad results. After making my adjustment (approx 1/2 mile from my exit) I looked up and to my shock and horror a red Cherokee was getting very large, very fast. In my attempts to avoid hitting it I swerved to the right into the grass to get away from traffic and hopefully slow down.
The only thing that slowed me down was the mud and rocks in the ravine I ended up in about 90 yards down stream. To my amazement I ended up on all fours, I did not roll or smash into anything. I'd like to give a shout out to the Holy Spirit for that huge miracle.

There were a few people who stopped and helped me get up and out of the ravine and to them I cannot say thank you enough. The two very, very kind and patient ladies who let me borrow their mobile and an umbrella thank you.

It took two tow trucks to get me out and to the insurance companies garage so they can check out the damage. It was a strange experience sitting in my car, turning the wheel as far as I could and keeping it in one spot while the tow trucks slowing pulled my car up the rocky slope and out of the ravine. visions of the cable snapping off and snapping back and chopping my head off were all I could see at that point. Sad but true.

I'm now cruising around in one of them fancy Ford Escorts, I have to say I miss my car.

:-(

How to be a good Liberal.

1. You have to believe that the AIDS virus is spread by a lack of federal funding.
2. You have to believe that the same teacher who can't teach 4th graders how to read is somehow qualified to teach those same kids about sex.
3. You have to believe that guns in the hands of law-abiding Americans are more of a threat than the US nuclear weapons technology in the hands of Chinese & North Korean communists.
4. You have to believe that there was not art before Federal funding.

5. You have to believe that global temperatures are less affected by cyclical, documented changes in the earth's climate and more affected by soccer moms driving SUV's.
6. You have to believe that gender roles are artificial but being homosexual is natural.
7. You have to be against capital punishment but support abortion on demand.
8. You have to believe that business creates oppression and governments create prosperity.
9. You have to believe that hunters don't care about nature, but activists who have never been outside of San Francisco do.
10.You have to believe that self-esteem is more important than actually doing something to earn it.
11.You have to believe that the military, not corrupt politicians start wars.
12.You have to believe the NRA is bad because it supports certain parts of the Constitution while the ACLU is good because it supports certain parts of the Constitution.
13.You have to believe that taxes are too low, but ATM fees are too high.
14.You have to believe that Margaret Sanger and Gloria Steinem are more important to American History than Thomas Jefferson, Gen Robert E. Lee and Thomas Edison.
15.You have to believe that standardized tests are racist, but racial quotas and set-asides are not.
16.You have to believe that Hillary Clinton is normal and really a very nice person.
17. You have to believe that the only reason socialism hasn't worked anywhere it's been tried is because the right people haven't been in charge.
18. You have to believe conservatives telling the truth belong in jail, but a liar and sex offender belonged in the White House.
19. You have to believe that homosexual parades displaying drag queens, transvestites and bestiality should be constitutionally protected and manger scenes at Christmas should be illegal.
20.You have to believe that illegal Democratic Party funding by the Chinese government is somehow in the best interest of the United States.
21. You have to believe that this is part of a right-wing conspiracy.

*Muddy's Notes* To be fair the Republicans also have many problems however nobody has sent me their humorous yet true "list" yet. :-P

Skywalker's Creative Side: What Happens When You Piss Off Skywalker

Most of you are not aware that in the past year or so, my grandfather has developed Alzheimer's. He already suffered from clinical paranoia (and possibly Post-Traumatic Ssress as he had to do some funky things during WW2.)

So we have moved him into an assisted living home about a mile from our home and we're in the process of cleaning out his house to be rented out (that's been my job since I returned home from being on Active Duty.) We have rented a dumpster that sits outside the house for us to throw the unbelievable amount of trash he had away (most of everything in the house.) I could get into the crazy things I've thrown away (I've told muddy about some of them) but, I'll save that for another time.

Well someone has been dumping their personal trash in our dumpster, mostly houshold trash but also a toilet, and other weird things. They've twice forced us to have it emptied earlier than we would have otherwise. Which is a pain int he neck as I drive 45 minutes to the house just to find I can't do anything in the house and have to call the waste company to have it hauled which usually takes a day or two. Which wastes my time, gas, and money. At $150 a haul, that's alot of money.

We had just had it hauled when I went in last week to find that these people had put a couch into the dumpster. Which boiled my blood like you wouldn't believe!

So I asked the neighbors and 1 neighbor said they thought they saw them coming from a certain house. So Another neighbor had decided to look to see who was doing it. So when I went intoday some more household trash was in it including some mail. I'd previously pulled a magazine with a name and adress on it, but he address was from elsewhere. Today I found bills with the same name and an address of the house the neighbor thought they had come from. The other neighbor sai he had watched them every morning go out and dump their trash in it.

Skywalker == pissed off.

I got creative. My brother was with me so we took all their trash from the dumpster and some bags of pine straw which they had just thrown in the yard and threw them in front of their front door. We took the couch and plopped it in front of the garage door (since I am told they park their car in the garage.)

I then left a nice little note telling them about how much time and money they'd wasted and that they owed me $300 compensation or I would be calling the police and I'd take cash, cashier's check or money order made out to and signed it , Lance Corporal, USMC. I also told them that I'll be just as happy to call the polica but I thought I'd offer them the cheap and easy way out.

Personally, I think I was to nice to them. Man, if I'd only had a camera.

Andy Rooney Says Out soldiers not Heroes/Unable to Get Civilian Jobs

I wish I could link the full article but I can't find it online, but here is a quote:

"Our soldiers in Iraq are people, young men and women, and they behave like people – sometimes good and sometimes bad, sometimes brave, sometimes fearful. It's disingenuous of the rest of us to encourage them to fight this war by idolizing them. We pin medals on their chests to keep them going. We speak of them as if they volunteered to risk their lives to save ours, but there isn't much voluntary about what most of them have done. A relatively small number are professional soldiers. During the last few years, when millions of jobs disappeared, many young people, desperate for some income, enlisted in the Army."

I hate to tell Mr. Rooney, but I know of more than one Marine and Soldier who when their unit was going home, asked to stay longer.

I didn't join the Marine Corps cause I couldn't find a job. I'm a Computer-Engineering major at Georgia Tech, believe me, neither now, nor when I graduate will I be completely unable to find a job forcing me to join. I joined because I feel that my country gave me my freedom, it doesn't owe me anything, but I owe it something.

My best frined that I have in the Marines, who is in Iraq, is a multi millionaire. He lived in Orange County, CA before he joined. He had a very large house. He had 3 cars which he paid cash for.

Further more in this article, he said we should ask soldiers if they were offered a trip home or a medal, which they would take. Trip home everytime. I know of no soldier who cares how many medals or ribbons they wear. This comes from Mr. Rooney's flawed assumption that we measure each other by the fruit salad on our chests. But I guess he'd not know since I don't think he's ever served has he?

Finally doing something about spam

After noticing the spam attacks have been stepping up lately I decided to take action. I don't want to say all the things I'm doing but rest assured it's exciting stuff to me. One major thing is I ditched the pop up windows for comments, now it takes you to the article which I like better anyways.

If you find any problems let me know.

muddysmind at excite dot com

A look into One of Skywalker's Occupations

I thought I would post some pictures of my military adventures. Have fun!

Mental Midget of the Day

Scott Copley, wins our mental midget of the day award.
(insert cheers here)
Today Scott proved his gene pool needs to be drained and filled with cement.
Scott went to court after killing his eighteen year old girlfriend. During the course of the trial this brilliant mind told the jury "I would rather have died than her. I feel I saved my own life by doing what I did".

Huh??

Ok, I'm still confused by that. However this future Nobel prize winner also wrote a loving and tender ... uh.. rap song. That the astute sheriff's deputies picked up while looking for clues. It was full of heart warming lines such as, "never even cried" and "every shot that I took, took my hate even higher."
Of course as sharp and keenly aware as Scott is, time was not his friend, or rather timing. He told police he wrote the song to get over the pain of being shot by the woman he loved.

Think about it.

- Muddy

Full Story @ MSNBC

Great WIsdom

Finally! True words of wisdom we may all be able to live by - or at least - get *something* from. Personally, I think my favorite ones are #'s 11, 12, 14, 18......on second thought, I like them all :

1. Do not walk behind me, for I may not lead. Do not walk ahead of
me, for I may not follow. Do not walk beside me, either. Just leave me the
hell alone.
2. The journey of a thousand miles begins with a broken fan belt and a leaky tire.

3. It's always darkest before dawn, so if you're going to steal your neighbor's
newspaper, that's the time to do it.
4. Don't be irreplaceable. If you can't be replaced, you can't be promoted.
5. No one is listening until you fart. (oh....isn't THAT the truth!)
6. Always remember you're unique. Just like everyone else.
7. Never test the depth of the water with both feet.
8. It may be that your sole purpose in life is simply to serve as a bad example.
9. It is far more impressive when others discover your good qualities without your help.
10. If you think nobody cares if you're alive, try missing a couple of car payments.
11. Before you criticize someone, you should walk a mile in their shoes.
That way, when you criticize them, you're a mile away and you have their shoes.
12. If at first you don't succeed, skydiving is not for you.
13. Give a man a fish and he will eat for a day. Teach him how to fish
and he will sit in a boat & drink beer all day.
14. If you lend someone $20 and never see that person again, it was
probably worth it.
15. Don't squat with your spurs on.
16. If you tell the truth, you don't have to remember anything.
17. Some days you are the bug, some days you are the windshield.
18. Don't worry, it only seems kinky the first time.
19. Good judgment comes from bad experience, and a lot of that comes
from bad judgment.
20. The quickest way to double your money is to fold it in half and put
it in your pocket.
21. Timing has an awful lot to do with the outcome of a rain dance.
22. A closed mouth gathers no foot.
****This next one is for all you men out there :-) *****
23. Duct tape is like the Force. It has a light side & a dark side, and
it holds the universe together.
24. There are two theories to arguing with women.......Neither one works.
25. Generally speaking, you aren't learning much when your mouth is moving.
26. Experience is something you don't get until just after you need it.
27. Never miss a good chance to shut up.
28. We are born naked, wet, and hungry. Then things get worse.

Go to B-Day Party, take pics of Fire?

Yea, I'm strange like that some say. However when your armed with a nice digital camera your always on the lookout for interesting and eye catching pics. Plus my bro Dilok (aka.. Dilok.com) inspires me with his photographic genius.

So here is one pic I grabbed and made an easier size to deal with, it's still big.

Interesting thing is, the closer I moved to the fire for this pic the hotter everything became. Odd. :-P

Audio Commentary?

I was thinking of adding a new category to Muddysmind.com, Audio Commentary.
Maybe even discussions or interviews. Anyone have any thoughts on this?

w00t! Chelsa, Manchester U. coming to the U.S.

PITTSBURGH - Art Rooney II, president of the Pittsburgh Steelers and president of the PSSI Corp./Heinz Field, announced that Heinz Field will play host to a sporting event of international stature.

Two of the world’s best soccer teams – AS Roma and Chelsea – will meet at Heinz Field on Thursday, July 29. The game is part of the 2004 ChampionsWorld Series scheduled for seven premier venues across the U.S. and Canada.

“Pittsburgh competed against more than 100 cities to host this match,” Rooney says. “We’re excited to bring this international event to our fans and to introduce these two outstanding teams to our great region.”

Full Story @ Pittsburgh Steelers - News

Typical Ohio Weather

*Update* Well on the way to work I noticed that the snow started again, the road was wet but clear, that is for the first mile or so. Then the snow became thick as fog, visibility was reduced to about fifty yards. I do enjoy a good hard snow myself as it rids the road of bad drivers. I witnessed about a dozen off to the side of the road standing about their vehicles wondering how they are going to get out of the drifts. At least my evening drive home will be exciting. :-)

Democrat, Republican or Southern Republican?

What with elections coming up, we should all decide.

Question?

How do you tell the difference between Democrats, Republicans and Southern Republicans?

Now look closely.

Answer: Consider the following situation...

Your walking down a deserted street with your wife and two small children.
Suddenly, a dangerous looking man comes around the corner, locks eyes with you, screams obscenities, raises a machete, and charges. You are carrying a Glock .40 and you are an expert shot. You have mere seconds before he reaches you and your family. What do you do?

------------------------------------------------------------

Democrat's Answer:

Well, that is not enough information to answer the question!
Does the man look poor or Oppressed?
Have I ever done anything to him that would inspire him to attack?
Could we run away?
What does my wife think?
What about the kids?
Could I possibly swing the gun like a club and knock the knife out of his hand?
What does the law say about this situation?
Does the Glock have appropriate safety built into it?
Why am I carrying a loaded gun anyway, and what kind of message does this send to society and to my children?
Is it possible he'd be happy with just killing me?
Does he definitely want to kill me, or would he be content just to wound me?
If I were to grab his knees and hold on, could my family get away while he was stabbing me?
Should I call 911?
Why is this street so deserted?
We need to raise taxes, have a paint and clean day and make this a happier, healthier street that would discourage such behavior.
This is all so confusing!

I need to debate this with some friends for a few days and try to come to a consensus.

---------------------------------------

Republican's Answer :

BANG!

--------------------------------------

Southern Republican's Answer :

BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!
click....(sounds of reloading).

BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!
click

Daughter: "Nice grouping, Daddy! Were those Full Metal Jacket or Hallow Point?"

The Passion Of The Liberal

IN THE DOZENS and dozens of panic-stricken articles the New York Times has run on Mel Gibson's movie, "The Passion of the Christ," the unavoidable conclusion is that liberals haven't the vaguest idea what Christianity is. The Times may have loopy ideas about a lot of things, but at least when they write about gay bathhouses and abortion clinics, you get the sense they know what they're talking about.

But Christianity just doesn't ring a bell. The religion that has transformed Western civilization for two millennia is a blank slate for liberals. Their closest reference point is "conservative Christians," meaning people you're not supposed to hire. And these are the people who carp about George Bush's alleged lack of "intellectual curiosity."

Full Story @ anncoulter.com

Hillary: Bush should thank Bill for military

In a foreign policy speech at a Washington think tank, Sen. Hillary Clinton chided President Bush for not thanking her husband for handing the current administration such a strong military.

Critics, however, point to deep cuts in military spending during the 1990s and Clinton's personal loathing for the military, which they contend led to low morale among the ranks.

In her Brookings speech, Clinton also said she thought women in Iraq were better off under the Saddam Hussein regime because of their participation in the public arena.

The rest of the article is here

cwilli note: BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!! This article is a must read.

Find out who you should vote for

If your wondering who you should vote for (as I am) then remove the fog, check out the Presidential Match website. Takes about 5-10 minutes to run through it and gives you the candidate your most aligned with. I was not totally surprised to see who they thought I should vote for. Dubbyah

Intemperate Thoughts

Dylan and Klebold had contact with police. Wow, my 14 year old brother has had contact with police. It's called loitering, big deal.

Kerry, we know you're a war hero. No one has said anything about your war service, except some internet hoaxes. People are saying you vote like a pacifist, which hey you at least at one time were an anti-war activist. Get over it man.

Kids are getting high off Robitussin?! I've heard of getting drunk off cough syrup, but never having a trip.

Electronics and appliance sales are booming in Iraq. Employment is down to 30% (1930s depression levels at least in the UK, not sure about US) from 70%! New businesses which are privately funded are opening. Geez, we did a horrible thing in that country didn't we?

Al Franken is going on the radio, and he's going to go head to heaed with Rush Limbaugh. That sounds about like a stupid idea. Sorry, but even my liberal friends listen to Rush Limbaugh. In fact, I rarely do. Why do they? Because his show is entertaining. Al Franken is going to fail because he is picking a fight with probably the most popular radio host in history. Why don't I? Because I don't need my views reinforced.

Haiti is in a revolution. Okay, why do we need peace keepers? This country has no known ties to terrorist organizations. All these peace keepers would do is get shot at and ultimately would have to either sit and die or choose a side and help that side win. Stupid. I did find it halarious that France told Aristide to step down and turn the government over to the rebels. Basically they told him to surrender. The French. Sorry, I'm going tos top writing now as I'm laughing to hard to write anymore!

Happy Birthday

I just heard some news: Happy Belated 26th Birthday bennyhill1978! Everyone be sure to leave best wishes!

Muddy Conquers the evil Electronics

After almost a year of having every other IM or so go to my freakin' mobile instead of the computer I think I finally fixed it. And... after over a year of people sending me email and them getting a message about the user does not exist that is fixed too. Yea!
I have conquered the Evil Electronics! Die sucka' Die!

NASA to Build Mini Shuttles

Photo by Old_Number7 on the Fark.com thread here

The ACLU

I believe that the ACLU is interested in nothing more than the destruction of this country. How else would you explain a powerfull group of lawyers who defend the Man Boy Love Association and attack the Boy Scouts? They are also responsible for the removal of the Ten Commandments from any public place but do nothing when other religions are advertised in public. This group of lawyers use lawsuits and the fear of hugh legal fee's to spread their agendas.

Please do some research on them.

If you do some research and you would like to help try to stop them then click here.

Bush Haters and Other Bitter People

There are many Bush haters who frequent this board. Some of you don’t even know why you hate him. My personal belief is that some of them are simply mindlessly echoing what they hear from the left wing news sources that they surround themselves with. But that’s just my opinion.
Not too long ago I asked a friend of mine why he hated Bush so much. The only thing he told me was the Kyoto Protocol and how Bush opposes it. Not knowing much about the Protocol I went ahead and did some research hoping that I could see his point of view. Well I didn’t.

So armed with this new information I set out to find out why he was in favor of the US backing the protocol when it obviously was setup to make the capitalist pigs pay dearly for being a developed nations while other nations would be exempt even though they did as much if not more polluting than we do. These exempt nations would be given credits for being underdeveloped and most likely some of the penalty money from us to help them develop themselves.
Honestly I must admit I was looking for a debate. What I got was less than an excuse: “Well it looks like you are more informed than I am on the subject”.
That was it. The number one reason they gave for hating Bush and they obviously didn’t have a single fact to back this position. Now to be fair I also know that this person also is against the Iraqi war. So I would have to assume that this is another reason they could have given.
Now in the interest of coming off like I am a huge Bush fan, let’s me come right out and say that I am not. There are many things that Bush has done that I have not agreed with. For one, I don’t think that this new medical plan is going to solve the problems that we have with our medical system. No, I think stopping frivolous lawsuits against our Doctors would be a good start. Maybe find a way to lower the cost of prescriptions. Anything but yet another government program. Also I didn’t agree with his plan to allow immigrants to become citizens if they can get away with breaking the law for 3 years. That sounds like more of a carrot than anything. Not to mention that I am paying for their free health care during this 3-year period.
This is not the point of my post and if you have made it this far into it you are probably wondering what the point is. Rightly so.
My point is that you I am tired of people who just hate something just for the sake of hating it. People who offer no real solution to any problem and are quite content to just complain. The worst are the one who are really bitter about the Government, the President or any authority even though they basically have it pretty easy in their own lives. They take advantage of every offering of this great country, complain about it non-stop and don’t feel a bit guilty that they take it for granted. In fact it seems that they are happier to complain. Well maybe I just came upon the answer.
Well just a note to you Bush haters out there. If your number one reason for hating him is because of the Iraqi war and you are hoping that one of the democratic candidates is the answer. Well good luck. Also you may want to do some research because as it turns out even though some of them are saying they are against the war. If you look back you will find that some of them actually voted to remove Hussein by force under the previous administration. Yea but you wont see that news on your left wing news sources.
Here is a good article about the real beginning of the plans for the Iraqi war.

cwilli

Color Blind Rights

For many years I've been listening to the never ending banter by the "special rights" whiners and now I feel it's time for my brothers and sisters to raise our voices and be heard.

As color "challenged" citizens it's time the government recognized us as a minority. After all if laws can be passed to give "preference" to (so called) men who get some sick kick from sticking their *&%$'s in another males @zz then why should I not get protections and privileges because I'm color blind???

There should also be a NAACBP "National Association for the Advancement of Color Blind People".
To form a grass roots organization to "empower" the color blind and end bigotry against our kind.

We'll found the ACBLU "American Color Blind Liberties Union" to group together lawyers who can strong arm people into giving us what we want and do our best to destroy anyone who does not think like we do.

In this current environment where every group who screams loud enough gets special treatment it's time for the color blind to start yelling.

Our lobbyists will work on getting hiring laws passed (or quota's) and protection rights. Also every time a color blind person has a crime committed against us it should be considered a "hate" crime. Since hate crime has been defined as a crime against a minority.

I also believe it's time we started the "Grey Pride Parade" in every major city to make people aware we are proud to not see the world as they do for some the world is black and white, and we need special rights and privileges because of that.

I envision color blind people across this nation standing shoulder to shoulder wearing black and white (because we can't dress ourselves) and making it known that we have a real problem that needs attention, and government funding.

People need to realize we're going to run red lights, dress funny and wire things backwards, we're just born like this.

Color Blind people Unite!

*Warning* The previous statements may contain sarcasm, truth and/or reality. Read at your own risk. This article is not to be reprinted. Any similarities between organizations in the real world and those mentioned above are pure coincidence. Muddysmind.com and our contributors are not responsible if your a mental midget and can't grasp the above.

Bad Year for Bad Guys

Last year was a bad year for the bad guys. Most of the Iraqis responsible for the rape of Iraq are either dead or in custody. Saddam Hussein's 35 year reign of terror ended with his emergence from a hole in the ground with his hands in the air.

Instead of going down with the ship, Saddam went to ground like a rat, and repaid his loyal cadre of murderers and martyrs by proving that no cause is worth dying for.

Read the rest of the article here

Spring Cleaning...sort of

Yes folks, here it is...my very first entry! Yea!

*Applause, applause*

The other day, I was doing some "spring cleaning" with a twist. No, not the dance, but with another twist. What is the twist you ask? Well for one, I was doing the cleaning in the winter. Secondly, I was cleaning out my e-mail ( I would have cleaned my house, but that was too intimidating at that particular time. Yes, it was THAT kind of a day ) :- P

Anyway, I have a cousin (my favorite one) who is in the Air Force. He sent this to me quite some time ago and I thought you guys would enjoy it. Yes, cwilli and skywalker, I know you guys are Marines (and we love you for it ) but I thought you two would like it just the same...enjoy :- )

Here are some actual maintenance complaints submitted by US
Air Force pilots and the replies from the maintenance crews.
"Squawks" are problem listings that pilots generally leave
for maintenance crews to fix before the next flight.

(P)=PROBLEM (S)=SOLUTION

(P) Left inside main tire almost needs replacement
(S) Almost replaced left inside main tire

(P) Test flight OK, except autoland very rough,
(S) Autoland not installed on this aircraft

(P) #2 Propeller seeping prop fluid,
(S) #2 Propeller seepage normal - #1 #3 and #4 propellers lack normal
seepage

(P) Something loose in cockpit
(S) Something tightened in cockpit

(P) Evidence of leak on right main landing gear
(S) Evidence removed

(P) DME volume unbelievably loud
(S) Volume set to more believable level

(P) Dead bugs on windshield
(S) Live bugs on order

(P) Autopilot in altitude hold mode produces a200 fpm descent
(S) Cannot reproduce problem on ground

(P) IFF inoperative
(S) IFF always inoperative in OFF mode

(P) Friction locks cause throttle levers to stick
(S) That's what they're there for

(P) Number three engine missing
(S) Engine found on right wing after brief search

(P) Aircraft handles funny
(S) Aircraft warned to straighten up, "fly right" and be serious

(P) Target Radar hums
(S) Reprogrammed Target Radar with the words

Now that's good Engrish!

For those who have not had the pleasure of meeting someone who speaks engrish, I present to you a very, very funny web site. Engrish.com
The wife and I sat here tonight laughing ourselves into physical pain.
I really enjoyed seeing the "No Smorking" signs, I guess the Japanese feel very strongly about people not smorking. ;-)

Visit Engrish.com!

I believe he's wanting that sign to say "Offlimits", but that's just a guess.

Oh the beauty that can come from maligning a language.

Red Hat goes Corporate, Fedora to the People

For those familier with Red Hat Linux, your not anymore.
Red Hat Linux has gone corporate, they will no longer be making linux for the common man. They began Fedora Linux to fill in the void left by Red Hat. So if your using red hat forget any support from them after April.

Fedora Project, sponsored by Red Hat

Merry Christmas from the Marketing Dept.

Well since Christmas has been lost to the Marketing whores of the world I thought I'd bring us back to where it all started. So while your all worrying about presents, wrapping paper, who's cookies are better you might remember where it all came from.

Merry Christmas One and All.

History Channel - The Real Story of Christmas

Linux Penguins in the BCFL

REPUBLIC vs. DEMOCRACY

Full Text @ Republic vs. Democracy

I would like to thanks DF for bringing this up. I enjoy a mental challenge that does have to do with computers, haha. Keeps the blood flowing.

REPUBLIC vs. DEMOCRACY

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands, one Nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all."

In the Pledge of Allegiance we all pledge allegiance to our Republic, not to a democracy. "Republic" is the proper description of our government, not "democracy." I invite you to join me in raising public awareness regarding that distinction.

The distinction between our Republic and a democracy is not an idle one. It has great legal significance.

The Constitution guarantees to every state a Republican form of government (Art. 4, Sec. 4). No state may join the United States unless it is a Republic. Our Republic is one dedicated to "liberty and justice for all." Minority individual rights are the priority. The people have natural rights instead of civil rights. The people are protected by the Bill of Rights from the majority. One vote in a jury can stop all of the majority from depriving any one of the people of his rights; this would not be so if the United States were a democracy. (see People's rights vs Citizens' rights)

In a pure democracy 51 beats 49[%]. In a democracy there is no such thing as a significant minority: there are no minority rights except civil rights (privileges) granted by a condescending majority. Only five of the U.S. Constitution's first ten amendments apply to Citizens of the United States. Simply stated, a democracy is a dictatorship of the majority. Socrates was executed by a democracy: though he harmed no one, the majority found him intolerable.

Liger Zero Phoenix Fight Scene

Ok, since some have been looking for a video clip of the Liger Zero Phoenix during a fight I made up one.
1:52 long and 29.8Mb in size. Video is an mpeg2 encoding. (as in SVCD or DVD type codec)

Enjoy!

Download Here

MPAA Sending out the Wrong Message?

I happened across this little gem of a quote the other day.

"But wait, I saw Pirates of the Caribbean yesterday and the moral at the end was something like,
"Sometimes you need a little piracy in order to do the right thing."
But the MPAA says it's bad. Why must Hollywood send me conflicting messages?"

quoted from http://slashdot.org/articles/03/07/22/1853256.shtml?tid=188&tid=97

Muddy Needs Zoids Fuzors Episode 5

I'm finished converting the rest of the Fuzors episodes to mpeg2 and all I'm missing is episode 5. I would have it but had some Mythtv problems that day.

Episode 5 "The Kid Called Matt" was broadcast on November 1st.

If anyone has it in mpeg, avi or pretty much any format I'd be ever so grateful if you'd make it available to me. You can Email me or leave a reply here.

Much Thanks.

Merry Christmas, sucka.

It's Christmas time again. The joy and celebration of Santa, Presents and oh yea... that Jesus kid (sarcasm) is upon us.
As is tradition in America after Thanksgiving is over, the masses rush out in the dark cold pre-dawn to get their place in line.
Three in the morning should be good enough you think, I'll beat everyone to the Wal*Mart line and get all the twenty nine dollar DVD players I can fit into my cart.
You arrive steaming coffee in hand only to find several others also share your adventurous spirit and the vast amount of law chairs alone leaves you dismayed.

Then you realize your bigger than most of them, you can simply push them aside when the time comes, yes, that Holiday spirit of "screw everyone you can" is beginning to shine.
Now the time has come, the glorious Wal*Mart employee opens the doors and you begin with the swim move, pushing aside shoppers as if swimming across a lake of people to that prize, the 29$ DVD Player.
You can see it now, however some rude woman has just pushed her way in front of you. Now is the time for the patented heel push maneuver, you catch her heel as she's rushing forward and gently nudge her giving just enough momentum to drive her face into the ground without it looking like you did it. You now dive as if your life depends on it, grasping and grabbing you feel the cold hard cardboard in your hands. Searching for a way out of the pile of bodies you struggle to breathe.

You may find this little story amusing, the sad truth is Christmas is a pagan holiday. Christians tried to take over the Holiday by celebrating Jesus birthday on December 25th instead of April when it should be celebrated. Now the pagans have taken Christmas back, it's now about who has the most stuff, Shopping and screwing over anyone who gets in your way. It's about who gets the biggest toy, it's about Marketing, Strategy and Advertising.

Thanks to Mega store Wal*Mart and others like them Christmas is properly going back to the pagans. "Cause I'll be dammed if I'm gonnna let that B***h get ahead of me in line to get that once in a lifetime price on toys. My kids going to have 2 car loads of toys even if I end up in the Hospital, oh and Merry Christmas"

If you don't believe me, check out the follow articles.

Stampede Of Early Morning Shoppers Seriously Injures Woman

Fight Breaks Out During Walmart Shopping Frenzy

I am a bit shocked

Well I was browsing through my web site stats and what do I find as the new #30 referrer to my stie? The IAEA.

You heard me right, the International Atomic Energy Assoc., the same people trying to get Iran to stop making material to use in nukes.

http://www.iaea.org

Kinda makes me wonder what in the heck their linking to me?

If anyone figures it out I'd be interested to know.

Blue Angels Video Clip

Well I'm getting around to making some clips from the Dayton 2003 Air Show.

Today's video is a fly by and split of the Blue Angels Diamond (tight) formation.

Only 26 seconds to keep it small.

Download or Watch Here

File is mpeg1 format total size is 4.47MB.

OSU vs. Michigan

I thought this was mildly entertaining..

A man had 50 yard line tickets for the MICHIGAN-OSU game. As he sits
down, a man comes down and asks if anyone is sitting in the seat next
to him.
"No," he says, "The seat is empty."
"This is incredible," said the man. "Who in their right mind would
have a seat for a game like this, the biggest rivalry in the Big-10,
and not use it?" He says, "Well, actually, the seat belongs to me. I
was supposed to come with my wife, but she passed away. This is the
first MICHIGAN-OSU game
we haven't been to together since we got married in 1987." "Oh .. I'm
sorry to hear that. That's terrible! But couldn't you find someone
else, a friend or relative, or even a neighbor to take the seat?"
The man shakes his head. "No, they're all at the funeral!

More Images From the Dayton 2003 Airshow

Madden 2k4 Custom Teams Update

I uploaded all three zip files again, this time with the updated Ohio Glory helmet. Also added a uniform.txt file to each giving the proper settings to duplicate the uniforms. Should make life a little easier.

Muddy's Custom Madden 2k4 Teams

Phew!

After a long, long morning of editing and testing I'm finally done.
I've got the updated Ohio Gory and the new Firebirds teams done and uploaded.
Along with the Linux Penguins I now have three custom teams available for download.

Let me know if you like them, I'll be making more.

Oh as a side note ALL Muddy's Custom Teams were made with "The Gimp!".

Get some Chili!

I just finished off some of Amy's Organic Medium Chili with a big ol' piece of red mill cornbread, and Wow! that was good stuff. It soooooo hit the spot. I had to pop out an email to em' giving them some props.

If you have not yet gone Organic, what are you waiting for?

I myself would much rather eat a nice fresh piece of fruit (or whatever) that I know was grown without any chemicals sprayed on it.

Check out Amy's site for other goodies.

Cowher, You need to Act Now!

Ok, after my beloved Steelers dropped their fifth game in a row I can no longer remain silent. I've developed a strategy to at least give them some face, if not win games.

First bench Washington, I like Dewayne but I'm a believer his best days are behind him. Townsend is eager, ready and willing to step up and I say give him the nod.

Second, Run the Bus, then run the Bus some more. Zereoue is a shifty back who's better suited for 3rd down's. The fact your not running either one much pisses me off to no end.

Third you have 5, yes 5 receivers, let the defense focus on Ward and Burress and give some love to Randle El and Mays. I'm a big Mays fan, he has skills, let him show the rest of the NFL what he can do.

Fourth Cowher you need for sure to spend some quality time with the O line, take them out to dinner man, have a sleepover or something. These guys are playing like individuals. I realize injuries and such have made it a shuffle-thon on the line. These guys need to bond, need to believe in themselves and each other. Tommy needs to get to the point where he more concerned with passing the ball and not running for his life.

Fifth, QB Pressure is not only for the first 3 quarters, it's needed the entire game.

Loyal Steelers Fan,
Muddy

Zoids Videos

Since I made some videos for my friends over at ZE I'll make them available to everyone as I'm in the giving mood. :-)

The first one is the Intro from Zoids Guardian Force.
File is 1:44 in length and 29.6MB zipped. Video codec is mpeg2, resolution @ 640x480.
Download Here

The Second video is from Zoids Fuzors.
Short clip of Liger Zero and Fire Phoenix fuzing to make Liger Zero Phoenix.
File is 1:08 in length and 27.5MB uncompressed. Video codec is mpeg2, resolution @ 480x352.
Download Here
*note* on this file it's hit or miss if you'll have sound.

I'll make more if you would like them, let me know.

- Muddy

For the Amy Haters

Took a screen cap off the 2nd Zoids Fuzors Episode, for the Amy haters. :-P
Print it out and stick it to your dartboard.

Zoids Guardian Force Video Clip

After fooling around with Avidemux2 on my linux box for the past few days I managed to get a clip produced that is watchable. It's the Intro to Zoids Guardian Force. Zipped it's approx 29 megabytes.
Format is in Mpeg2 (SVCD Compatible) with bitrate at 2300 and audio is 192kbps mpeg layer II.
Size is 640x480 so it's nice and big.
Running time is almost 2 minutes.

Let me know how it looks/sounds etc...

Thanks.

Download the zipped file.

I also made a couple screen caps from the last Zoids Fuzors episode of Fire Phoenix and such. Enjoy.

h4X0r2 Pr4y3r

Mike sent me this great image, it's very fitting for today. Hackers pray too, only this is a slight twist to the original.
I had a good chuckle, I'm sure God did too. After all it was He who gave us our sense of humor. :^)|-<

Smell Nice?

Well, once in a while a great flash animation comes along that puts everything into perspective. This is one such film, check it out.

Bad Man Productions - Smell Nice?

Muddys Artwork now on deviantART.com

My first wallpapers I made are already up there and a picture I took at the Dayton International Air Show this past July. I took over 418 pictures so it will take some time to sift through them all to find the best ones to post.

Back - Sort of...

Hello everyone! PFC (soon to be Lance Corporal) Skywalker here, greeting you all from Camp Pendleton, California. I've learned alot more about why anti-war protestors are Idiots (tm) and I should be coming home to Atlanta on a permanent basis and getting back to school here by mid-December. I've got some stories for you soon, including one about who the military votes for in our elections. Some funny ones, and I'll even post some pictures from MCT (very basic combat training given to non-infantry Marines) and from here at the air station.

Category Icons

Well, added category icons to the site.
I "borrowed" them from the Noia and Crystal Icon sets for Linux. Until I learn how to use a 3D rendering program and make my own these will have to work. :-)

Mitsubishi Kills Americans then Sells them Electronics.

I was sitting here thinking, the same folks who built my computer monitor at work also built the majority of Japanese fighters that killed my American brothers during WWII. As well Ford, GM and a host of other American companies helped in the war effort by building bombers, fighters and many other machines of war. Which in turn killed many thousands of Germans, Japanese and Italians. Yet they also drive and use our products.

What's as interesting is Hollywood during WWII produced propaganda and training films that helped our boys kill German and Japanese troops. Yet today the countries that Hollywood helped to destroy crave their films and entertainers.

In addition the well documented "good cheer" that was between the French and Americans during WWII and right after has now turned into disgust and distrust in both directions.

What sickens me however is the fact my country was "delighted" to capture Werner von Braun and allowed him to come to the U.S. and build rockets for NASA. Von Braun a dedicated Nazi should have never lived, let alone been given a "get out of jail free" card just because he could help us build rockets.
"It was later calculated that thousands of people enslaved by the Nazis had been killed working in von Braun's missile projects, in addition to the thousands killed in London from the notorious V-2 missile, developed by von Braun. The V-2 was also used against Allied troops after D-Day." (from History Central)

Of course these are a small drop of examples in a lake of interesting and disturbing things that came out of WWII.

Ironic isn't it?

Back Up

My web hosts "planned" maintenance that nobody knew about is over and I'm back up. Yea!

Now back to business.

Yahoo! puts the slap down on Trillian

It seems my Trillian at work started crashing as if it's broken, after several installs and de-installs and fooling with it I figured it out. I renamed the yahoo.ini file to old_yahoo.ini and like a miracle Trillian started to work again.

It seems after reading a recent article on CNET News.com that Yahoo! is taking all it's toys and going home.
Tired of third parties being used instead of their messenger they are now blocking every messenger including the older versions of their own. Makes no sense to anyone but Yahoo! as some folks are happy with their third party and older yahoo messenger software.
I'd suggest everyone dump Yahoo and use Jabber: Open Instant Messaging as it is a open source IM system.

Luther Out in Theaters

LUTHER the new film by Eric Till starring Joseph Fiennes is about the life and journey of Martin Luther. Mrs. Muddy and I will be going to see this asap and will have a full review for you soon. However visit the official web site until then to view the trailer.

Nemo has been Found!

After much searching and millions of dollars I have finally found Nemo. I'm sad to say he was not in the condition that we were hoping for but he was tasty nonetheless.

:-)

Coupling Comes to the U.S.

Coupling, for those who don't watch BBC America or PBS (late nights) is a witty, raw and very funny comedy.
My wife and I have been fans for about the last year or so and were shocked to find NBC was coming out with a show this fall called, you guessed it, Coupling.
Now being a fan of the original Coupling on the BBC I was interested in this rip-off that NBC is whipping up.

I had quite a shock when yesterday I saw a preview of the show and it's verbatim the exact same set, lines and situations as the BBC hit. I was outraged to say the least.
How un-original I thought, they could not even come up with their own scripts, they stole it straight from the BBC.
I did some more research into this and found that a few months ago the BBC posted a news release on their site stating that they sold NBC the rights to produce Coupling for American TV. In fact the shows creators are here working with NBC on it.
That being said I'm not so much shocked now that NBC "ripped" Coupling off but that the shows creator gave in to NBC's money and whored the show out.
From what I've seen of the American version it's not funny. What is funny is it's almost an exact duplicate of the BBC original and yet it's nowhere as classy or funny. (from the short clips I've seen)
I suppose we'll have to wait to see how this turns out Thursday as the 25th is the premiere.

I agree 100% with Sarah Alexander who plays Susan on the BBC hit who put it so honestly.
"While it's about thirtysomethings, it's also British. So, if you Americanize it, essentially you're taking all the Britishness out of it, which is perhaps its success, or it's little sparkle. I think that's where it sort of starts to fall down. Some of the British jokes won't work in America, and when you Americanize them it's not the same joke, it becomes a different one. So, I think by transferring it to America you lose the essential ingredient that makes 'Coupling' a success."

Stay tuned for the final verdict after Thursday's premiere.

Sources :
Zap2it.com

BBC.com

NBC.com

Updates

Fellow Authors since I had to recover and rebuild this site I'm not sure if you guys will be able to post articles or not. So let me know if you can't log into the site.

Also I've been tweeking the site tonight, wanted to thank Mikey for the tip on the Deep Freeze article.

A big Thanks to Girlie for the comments code as well.

While I'm babbling on, a big wake UP to Willie Anderson, I need your address so I can send you a clue.
LOL, Like that one Mikey?

Hope..

Well, I'm getting the site back up and running.. let's hope It all works.

Fantastic Pic's of our Universe and Beyond

Hubble Takes Mars up on Photo Op

New Telescope Rocks!

I was surfing nasa's web site and found this awesome image of our sun taken this morning.

Images @ NASA.gov here

Cross State Taxing

I was reading over the construction tonight and discovered a fatal flaw in the new law the government is trying to pass. In case you've not heard about it they are trying to force us to pay taxes on items we buy on the internet. So if you buy something from a shop in NYC and you live in a state that is not NY, you would have to pay NY State tax on it.

Well it seems the U.S. Constitution has the following to say about that.

Article I
Section 9
"No tax or duty shall be laid on articles exported from any state."
I'm interested to see how they proceed even more now. :-)

Stupid News Questions

Listening to NPR's morning addition Sunday I heard a pretty dumb, yet funny question.
The interviewer was talking to a Judge and asked, "Judge, you deal with lawyers a lot". I about fell out of my chair laughing, hmm... a judge dealing with lawyers, that's unheard of. (sarcasm)

Not much else to say, just another example of ignorant reporters wasting my time asking stupid questions.

Muddy Gets a Nasty Gram! WooHoo!

Well, it seems some tool on the linux forum I frequent does not like the quote in my signature.

So he sent me a nasty gram that has an underlying tone of mental instability.
I tried to respond with some helpful thoughts but alas his email address seems to be a fake one, nice.
Send me a nasty gram and then don't even have the "manhood" to allow a reply, very sad indeed.

Well in such a time as this I'll post it up here unedited in hopes he visits so I have the equal opportunity to respond to his thoughts.

Seeing as he was so thoughtful as to point out grammar and formatting errors in my quote I thought it only fair for me to point out he misspelled "browsing" and "eighth".

Enjoy :-)

Date: Tue, 19 Aug 2003 16:29:43 -0400
From: amentet
[ Add to Address Book | Block Address | Report as Spam ]
To:
Subject: Stupidity in the form of...quotes

This is a message from amentet at LinuxQuestions.org ( http://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/index.php ). The LinuxQuestions.org owners cannot accept any responsibility for the contents of the email.

To email amentet, you can use this online form:
http://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/member.php?action=mailform&userid=35470

OR, by email:
mailto:amentet@invaliddomain.com

This is the message:

As I was browing through the forums today, I saw a post by you, and your signature which read: "Windows is good for the mindless drones of the world. Those who are not able to think for themselves, or who don't care to think for themselves." -Muddy

Now, besides this being the most ignorant anti-MS BS i have -ever- heard, it's coming from someone named Muddy. Don't get me wrong, i won't dislike you for using such a name, but I will dislike you for being so blatantly stupid. "don't care to think for themselves" is commonly used, so it belongs in your stupid, uncreative quote.

Quoting yourself is genius, it shows your superiority, especially over those windows users. And when you can stereotype a massive amount of people as well, I applaud. Acting like you're better than people because you use a different OS is not only sad, but pointless. An open source OS like Linux is used to get stuff done, not to be a step higher than those inferior "drones" who might use an Windows to be productive, or to have fun.

I'm also guessing you're a mandrake user, which would put you half a step above a windows user, if I was rating people based on their OS, because a 10 year old could install mandrake. He could also make a quote as bad as yours.

I guess it's a lesson learned, give a 14 year old a computer and he'll use it to quote himself. At least I HOPE you're not older than 14, if you are, you're s-t-u-p-i-d, so don't preach to me about how you're 21, I'll just laugh at you.

Oh, and my FAVORITE part about your idiotic quote is the fact that it doesn't even make sense, which goes along well with my theory that you're 14. If you had passed eigth grade english, you would realize that 'those who don't think for themselves, or don't care to think for themselves' is a FRAGMENT! So your quote truly shows your ignorance.

Next time you decide you want to insult the masses, keep it in your small head, we don't want your superiority complex getting out of hand.

Insulted by your stupid remarks,
Byron a.k.a Amentet
p.s. Check out my quote, it's loosely based on yours.

Stupid Headlines

This amazing headline just in from Fox News...

South Koreans Split Over Alliance With United States
2,000 demand an end to alliance while 500 march to support the partnership

*Muddy's note*
I think there are waaaaaayyyyyy more people in SK than 2,500. :-/

Is Change Good?

Well, I made some changes toying with the look of the site tonight.
Just wondered what everyone thought.

Thanks,
Muddy

Madden 2004 Hitting Stores

Madden 2004 is hitting stores Monday/Tuesday this week, get your copy.

I downloaded the demo and it's real similar to 2k3.. but with a much deeper franchise and owner modes and such. Should be a good one. I'll post more once I get my copy on Thursday.

More support in Liberia

From af.mil

OVER WEST AFRICA -- An HH-60G Pave Hawk helicopter flies back to Sierra Leone after an evacuation mission into the U.S. Embassy in Monrovia, Liberia, on July 28. The 398th Air Expeditionary Group is currently in Sierra Leone to provide personnel recovery and emergency evacuation capability for the humanitarian assistance survey team and the fleet antiterrorism security team in Liberia. The HH-60G is deployed from the 56th Rescue Squadron at Naval Air Station Keflavik, Iceland. (U.S. Air Force photo by Tech. Sgt. Justin D. Pyle)

I'm back...Sort of

Well folks, I'm back...for a few days. I have to report to Camp Delmar (part of Camp Pendleton, CA) on 5 AUG 2003 for Marine Combat Training. That lasts for 3 weeks. I will then have 3 days of nothing before I must report for my MOS school at Camp Pendleton for 15 weeks. After that, I might be coming home, or I might be staying there until 28 FEB 2004. I honestly don't know! Hopefully I'll come home immediately.

As far as Boot Camp goes. It's hell. Imagine being told how to put soap on your body during a shower. Imagine being counted down while you do this. Imagine doing this with 49 other men in a shower that has 10 shower heads.

Sound fun?

Drilling...for hours. I actually liked that, but at first, it wears your sorry butt out! No joke, drilling for 2 or 3 hrs at a time, just short water breaks. If we were sucking, then it was time for a visit to the pit. Haha! The pit, that's another story all-together.

You get pitted...you jump into a sand pit and are told to push, you sound off "PUSH AYE SIR!" Then they might say push again, or side straddle hops, so on, so forth. You have to sound off with " AYE SIR!" and execute, of course this is all happening very fast, for about 8.5 minutes.

Getting dressed is fun...10 secs to get your trousers on, 10 seconds per boot, and 10 seconds for your blouse.

I could go on for hours with this stuff and stories of stuff that happened, but I've things to do, so I'll write more later!

You must bow to Microsoft because we did...

Ok, two web sites in two days, and I'm sure it won't stop.

This is what I see when visiting buymusic.com...

Thank you for visiting BuyMusic.com.

In order to take full advantage of BuyMusic.com's offerings you must be on a Windows Operating System using Internet Explorer version 5.0 or higher.
Download Internet Explorer Here.

I say to hell with Microsoft and their cheaply built and over priced software. What really REALLY kills me is Internet Explorer has got to be the worst browser in the world. It's the Least compliant to the internet standards.

Mozilla 1.4 and it's sister browser Netscape 7.1 are far more compliant to the internet standards than IE ever will be. It's a big fat joke, and I'm tired of being part of it. If a company can't see their being Ignorant and making a huge mistake by limiting their profit potential by only accepting the limited amount of IE users out there, then who needs them.

As I sit here writing this in mozilla I wonder how stupid a web master must be to only accept IE connections to their site, It shows a real lack of brain power.

Ah well, such is life. The stupid will reign while the enlightened toil.

John Doe Cancelled :-(

In case you watch "reality" tv shows and have no soul. You can skip this.
Ok, thinkers and fans of John Doe. I have discovered that John Doe has indeed been cancelled by Fox. However there is a strong following of the show and there is hope if the community speaks out they could bring it back.

If you enjoyed the show as much as Mrs. Muddy and I did then please sign the petition and or write/email the folks at Fox.

FOX~

Gail Berman-
President, Entertainment
Fox Broadcasting
10201 W. Pico Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90035

Sandy Grushow-President, FOX Television
Fox Broadcasting Company,
P.O. Box 900,
Beverly Hills, CA 90213

E-mail:
stevenm@fox.com
iveyv@fox.com
stevefe@fox.com

Save John Doe Petition

2003 Dayton International Air Show

Well the 2003 Dayton Air Show was awesome!
With the Canadian Snow Birds, Air Force Thunderbirds and Navy Blue Angels headlining how could you go wrong? We got there a little late just as the F-117 Stealth Fighter was making it's last couple passes so I didn't get a shot of it. Here are two shots I did get, one a F4U Corsair much like the one Major Greg "Pappy" Boyington flew for the Marine Corp in WWII.
The other shot is a sweet fly by for the Heritage tour of 3 P-51 Mustangs and a F-15C Eagle.
I have over 45 min of digital video as well, but that is going to need some editing. I'll post more later.

-Muddy

Weapons of Mass Destruction have been found and removed

"The U.S. military says it has discovered a mass grave near Mosul, in northern Iraq, which may contain as many as 400 bodies. The remains are believed to be those of Kurdish civilians killed during the Saddam Hussein regime. "

"Military specialists say they have already exhumed the remains of 25 women and children, found buried some three meters below ground. The corpses all had what appeared to be bullet holes in their skulls. "

This was reason enough to remove Saddam from power. We have found over 60 mass graves in the few months since we have been there and all the left can ask is "where are the weapons of mass destruction"?

I say we already found the weapons of mass destruction. We removed him from power and he will not do this anymore. There are also over 500,000 civilians missing since Saddam took power. These numbers are from the NY Post. Research it.

How many more mass graves have we prevented by removing Saddam from power? These were women and children not ENEMY COMBANTANTS. I dont see how some of you can consider yourselves a humanitarian and yet not have wanted to stop this. How dare you. If even one of these bodies were a member of your family you would have wanted to stop it. But since its not all you care about are "Where are the weapons of mass destruction"?

You make me sick

Read the whole story here

Religion : The Anti-Christ

Homosexuality Issue Threatens to Break Anglicanism in Two

The election last month of an openly gay bishop in the Episcopal diocese of New Hampshire is now threatening to crack open the long-existing fault line over homosexuality in the worldwide Anglican Communion, a global association of churches in 164 countries.

Full Story @ NY Times

*Muddy's Notes*
In case you ever wondered why I say religion is NOT what God wanted or that he is ok with it. Here is yet another example of Man's religion without God in it.

If everyone calling themselves a believer in the trinity, God, Son and Holy Spirit would break free from all the different "cults" or religions and join together under God instead of their "man made" religions. This would be a much, much better place.

I tell you the truth, all factions who call themselves Christians yet impose their man made rules on top of what God requires are doing more harm to this world than the cults based on false gods.

When Jesus said "I am the way, the truth, the light and no one can get to the father except by me" I don't recall him saying "oh yea and any stupid thing religion makes up after this you have to do that too".

When people realize that religion is man made bullcrap and not of God, that is when the healing on this planet will begin.
If the people who claim to follow Jesus can't even get along, what hope does the world as a whole have?

France thanks WWII heroes

The French decide now is a good time to thank all the American WWII Heroes. I wonder why they choose now? No hidden agenda behind it I am sure. Timing is everything.....

read the story here

You think your city does dumb things?

For those of you who think your city or town does dumb things, mine's got yours beat by far.
They planted concrete corn cobs in perfect little rows at the corner of an intersection.
Rising six feet into the air each they loudly scream, look how stupid we can be! w00t!
If you don't believe me, check out the pictures, the sheer scope of this project can only be understood in person, but you'll get an idea of it from the pictures.

Enough of the speech already!

Have Digital Camera Will Travel

Well I did it, finally went out and bought a digital camera. After much research and debate I ended up with the Kodak DX6340. Yea it's not super high powered but it's not super expensive either :-P
I've been learning how to use it and have put a couple test pics up.

I'm heading to the Air Show next week so I'll be practicing and posting all week.

server's back up

Well after not being able to get to my website and do anything on it for two days my webhost has things ironed out now. (i hope)
So I'll be posting more tonight.

I Laughed, I cried and it's still going.

In case any of my regular visitors have not noticed, the stuck up europeans (notice it's not capitalized) have been saying so many bad and what I thought were untrue things about Americans. Well, sad to say we are proving them right. Yes you my fine American brothers and sisters. I recall the words of that famous American who said, give us your poor, your weak your ... phone numbers????

Yes!, you heard right. Americans are flocking to Muddysmind.com to give me their Phone Numbers!

Why?

Well it's simple really. I posted a little blurb about the new donotcall.gov web site and linked directly to it for my readers convenience. However some mindless twit decided it would be a great idea to NOT read what I wrote and asked me to remove his phone number from telemarketers lists.

How can I do that?

Good question.

Now that one phone number has turned into 30 or even 40 by now. I'm amazed at the insight the europeans had. I must know capitulate (learned that from the french) and admit we're dumb.

I'm thinking of selling these wonderful new phone numbers I did not ask for and make a little cash to help keep this site running.

What do you think I should do with them?

The origional article is here

We Support You!

WeSupportU

This website (Flash Presentation) is just awesome, check it out if you get a minute.

Donotcall.gov Freedom from Telemarketers!

If you want to stop telemarketers from calling your phone then check out Donotcall.gov
this is a brand new government website setup to support the new FCC rules which will keep most telemarketers from calling you.
What's better is you can file a complaint as well! Yea.

Muddysmind.com back up and running

Well, it seemed we exceeded my daily bandwidth on my site so they shut it down. After finding it down Thursday, I called up and was told it would be back up in 2 hours. This pattern continued until Tuesday Morning when my webhost was able to get their server problems fixed. Now we should be ok. I have moved the madden2003 files off this server to another so it should reduce the bandwidth problem.

On with the show!

- Muddy

Hooked On Madden 2003 Video's a Hit!

Oh My! I can't believe that a lone Madden 2003 fan created these videos by himself.
To say I'm impressed is an understatement. Even if you don't like games these rock.
There are two sizes... (both windows media format .wmv)

Download them via the links section on the right.

Kudo's To Virtute, these videos are beautifully done.

LinuX r0X0r's j00!

Yea ok, haX0r talk is dumb.
I totally waxed my mandrake 9.0 install, so I attempted Gentoo (Again!) 1.4rc4.
After 2.5 days of compilling and installing I got it to boot to console, weeee! better than last time I tried it. However this time it refused to load the tulip module I needed for my nic.

So I had to admit I'm not has cool as some and revert back to Mandrake only I opted to upgrade to 9.1.
Well I worked most of my time saturday getting mythtv to work and it's running solid now. I'll post the files I use and some tips for Mandrake 9.1 users when I get home. Oh and btw.. KDE 3.1 is da' Bomb! I'll post some screen too in a bit.

The war in Iraq

Okay, not trying to beat a dead horse here but VOANews.comis reporting a classified Defense Intelligence Agency report from last September suggests Washington was less certain about Iraq's weapon systems than Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and other top U.S. officials indicated before the war.

Also consider
this

Gay & Lesbo Awareness??

Ok, I got into work and pulled up the company web page as I do every day.
What do I see on the front page news?

It’s Gay & Lesbian Awareness Month Read More...

Now I have to ask, what does the perverse sexual acts people practice in private have to do with my job?? There is no reason to have that on a corporate web page.

That is such total and complete garbage man, I think there is more relevance to having a color blindness awareness or handicap awareness month than a gay/lesbo month.
I'm sick and tired of this type of backwards thinking in society.
I don't care what people do in private, but why is it necessary for me to be aware of it? Especially at a supposed professional place of business. I think it's sad.
If society thinks we need to be aware of this, then perhaps we should have necrophiliac awareness month, and hermaphrodite awareness month. That's how stupid this is.

Our country is trying so hard to be sensitive to the few we're becoming abrasive to the many. It's a sad testimony to our public school systems change from teaching knowledge and facts to teaching feelings.

- Muddy

Memorial Day

I wanted to take some time to say Thank You to the Men and Women who have given their lives for my Freedom. Thank You to the Parents, Wives, Husbands and Children left behind for their sacrifice as well. Please let's all take some time this Memorial Day to remember those who paid the price for the freedoms we enjoy.

We Here @ Muddy's Mind salute our Vet's and those that have served in peace time, Skywalker and CWilli ... Semper Fi! Thanks guys for giving up part of your lives to protect this country, and even the thankless souls who don't deserve to live in this, the greatest country in the world.

I also would like to take a moment and remember my great uncle Marlie Brown who served in the great world war WWII. He served in the Army in Europe and at one time was driver for General Omar Bradley. Earned the Bronze star for shooting down a German fighter (unsure if BF-109 or FW-190) with a browning .30 caliber machine gun. Then spent the rest of his time as a prisoner of war. He didn't speak much about the war, understandably so.. but the one time he did I'll never forget.

May God bless all those who are serving today, may you come home safe and sound.

'Free' Linux movement should end (uh?)

May 21, 2003, 12:04 PM PT

In response to the May 19 Perspectives column by Bruce Perens, "The fear war against Linux":

(Ok, time for me to vent on this mindless Micro$oft drone -Muddy)

With all due respect, your fantasy world of so-called "free" software is about to end, God willing. (Wow, how much did Micro$oft pay you?, Free is always good, I suppose you'd like to pay for the air you breath? -Muddy)

This ridiculous movement (ridiculous because you don't understand it? yea... that's more like it) is nothing but a vain socialist attempt to marginalize the software industry. (Bwaaahahahahahaha... get over yourself twit) Moreover, it has been rather unpleasant to watch you and others over the past three years develop the single largest false advertising campaign in the history of commerce, knowing all along that it was pure chicanery. That is, touting that Linux is free when in fact all commercial (i.e. useable) versions are not. (LOL, I could not believe this, what planet is this dude from? I've been using Linux since 96' and have never paid for it, and have had FAR BETTER support than Micro$oft ever gave me -Muddy)

What a joke on the public it's all been. As a computer consultant for more than 21 years, (again, I ask on what planet? -Muddy) I have felt compelled to correct my customers when they attempt to inform me about Linux being "free." (you mean misinform, or as you should say, Lie to them. -Muddy) We all know that that is simply a big fat lie in the computer industry. I then proceed to tell them about Linux's hidden costs--and no technical support--and that it is essentially outdated 1960s technology. (Hidden costs?? Yea FREE is a Hidden cost I've overlooked, shame on me. No Technical Support?? Yea Man pages, and the thousands of awesome sites, mailing lists and such are of no help at all, LOL. Outdated 1960's technology? Is this guy talking about this Micro$oft windoze software that is based on Stolen 1960's technology or Linux which is NOT? Hmm... I think he's confused -Muddy)

Now I get the privilege, along with my dear friends at Microsoft, to tell my customers that code embedded within Linux was stolen or misappropriated and that they themselves can be held liable for using this rogue operating system. That's right. I will specifically emphasize to them that it a hacker-based operating system that was built with stolen intellectual property!
(LOL!!!!!! I don't know whether to be pissed off or saddened... this guy obviously has brain damage, I would suggest he seek professional help. -Muddy)

Bill Jeansonne
Bethesda, Md.

Full Letter @ News.com

Gulf War II Battle Danaged A-10

I found this great story about a female A-10 pilot who was able to bring her bird home after taking some heavy damage. Kudos to her and the fantastic service men and women of the 332nd Air Expeditionary Wing.

Story about Battle Damaged A-10

Wow! New Video's out for Lock On and Their Gorgeous!

For those of you living in a bomb shelter for the past 2 months you've been missing it. Lock On - Modern Air Combat is THE most beautiful flight sim every developed. I've been downloading and drooling over the preview video's since March and I cannot wait for this gem to hit the shelves.

Lock On: Modern Air Combat

Daniels Hates the RIAA (via 411mania.com)

(Article used with Permission)

Now, as most of you know from my previous columns here on the site, I am extremely anti-RIAA. I think they’re a bunch of disgusting fat cats who wield the legal system as a tool to try to regain control of an industry that is slipping from their grasp, rather than trying to adapt to the new technology and going with it. They are convinced they can stop the filesharing stuff from happening, rather than just realizing it’s not going away and it’s been around for almost a decade now.

See, back in the days before Napster, what most of you may not know is there was this thing called Internet Relay Chat, or IRC. Back in the days of IRC, those in the know, swapped music and movie files back and forth, and still do to this day. Also, college networks were already starting to share music files. When MP3’s were invented, taking away the disgusting hugeness of .WAV files (which could be up to 100 MegaBytes per SONG), we rejoiced. Then the networks like Scour.net started up, which was basically a huge IRC search engine.

Then Napster came along, and the file sharing network idea became available to the public. Now, everyone knew about this… and music was a giant free for all. Full CDs were available for network downloading, and the Recording Industry panicked. Now, someone who was smart would have looked at this Napster module, bought them out, and then figured out “how can we make money off this.” Some people would have come up with the fact that this could be a huge boon that, used properly, could actually increase record sales overall. Someone could have realized that millions of eyes would be on this network every day, and millions of ears, too. Some sort of crazy advertising revenue might be possible.

But instead, somewhere along the line, the RIAA decided to go the way of the MPAA in the 80s when they sued Blockbuster video for the idea of “renting” movies. The MPAA argued that the availability of VCR tapes for rental would cut into the revenue they made from VCR tape sales. This case was, obviously, eventually ruled in Blockbuster’s favor. But the MPAA wasn’t quite happy from there. They combated it by making video releases “priced to rent,” which meant that, to get movies to rent to people, video stores would have to pay $30 to sometimes up to $100 per rental copy, a pricing structure which continues to this day. So, next time you rent a videocassette and break it, keep in mind that the replacement costs on VHS tapes can be $75 or more. (PSA from your friendly neighborhood Daniels).

It began with a lesser known website, with the RIAA vs MP3.com. An interesting case this was. Back in the beginning MP3.com’s system was as follows. The user places a CD in their hard-drive (thus PROVING they owned the CD) and mp3.com would store the fact that user owned that CD. Then, from any computer, anywhere in the world, you could access that CD without actually having the physical CD. To me, this is one of the most useful services in the world. I would much rather upload all my CDs to mp3.com at home and then be able to access them at work, without lugging a book of CDs with me everywhere I go. It’s easier not to lose them and easier not to damage them.

However, this service rubbed the RIAA the wrong way, and it was the first site they went after. They argued that the service COULD be used to facilitate the trading of pirated music files. Well, I used to be a member of AOL, and I used AOL to get to Porn. If someone uses AOL to get to Kiddie Porn, who is responsible? The user for downloading the kiddie porn, the site operater that is offering the kiddie porn, or AOL, which is just there doing it’s job.

Do you sue a gun company because the gun COULD be used to kill someone? Hell, do you sue a gun company AFTER the gun has been used to kill someone?

The answer is no. The RIAA used the courts as a pre-emptive strike against a service they didn’t like because it took some of the control out of their hands, even though there is absolutely nothing inherently illegal about the service. In the exact same way it is legal for me to make copy of a CD I buy for personal use, it is equally as legal for me to upload a copy of my CD to my computer (and MP3.com) for my personal use. So long as MP3.com could prove a secure service in which other people aren’t accessing my account, they are doing nothing wrong.

Another thing that is important to remember is: when the mp3.com lawsuit happened in 2000 (before which Scour, Napster, and mp3.com were still around), Total CD purchases actually went up even with the existence of the online services. But, this didn’t mean anything to the recording industry and in 2000, Alex Walsh then the vice president of marketing for the RIAA said: If we grew 3 percent as an industry, maybe we could have grown twice as much. There is just no way to tell how much we could have lost. There is no scientific or empirical way to determine how much more music we could have sold.

So, even at the beginning they were arguing that they were suing based on a presumed loss of sales, which means the RIAA was even trying to get these services done before they were even sure how they were going to affect the industry. Why? Control and Quality.

After the MP3.com victory, the RIAA fired off the Napster lawsuit, and it has been downhill from there. Lawsuit after lawsuit trying to, basically, stop technology in its tracks, rather than learning from it and adapting to it, they are using the courts to try and shore up a wall of sand. For every hole they plug, five more spring open. For every court battle they’re in, another two become possible. And, all the while this is going on, Recording Industry Revenue has dropped six percent.

Six percent.

Keep that figure in mind. Six percent. With broadband, CD Burners, and access to every song on the planet… global cd sales have fallen six percent. Just about anyone has access to every CD on the planet for free, and global CD sales have only fall six percent.

Amid one of the worst economies since the early 80s.

Amid $19.99 CDs for a half hour of music.

Amid one of the biggest void of talent in the music industry ever.

Amid growing DVD/VHS sales.

Amid XM/Satellite Radios.

Amid Streaming Radios.

Amid possibly the worst consumer backlash in recent memory.

CD Sales have only slumped SIX percent. Something else to keep in mind over all this:

In 1999, the last time music sales increased, there was an increase from 33,100 new releases in 1998 to 38,900 new releases in 1999. More new releases, more purchasing. Seems a simple explanation. But, something you DON’T usually hear the RIAA mention. In 2000, the number of new releases dropped to 27,000, and that number was mirrored in 2001. Which means, industry wide, there were 11,000 LESS releases. They cut their total inventory shipped by almost 25% and their total sales dropped only by SIX percent.

Now, I don’t know about all y’all, but I’m not going to buy the same CDs in 1999 that I am in 2000. If I have less selection, I’ll buy less.

Another figure the RIAA likes to tout is that almost of a quarter of the people THEY surveyed burn CDs instead of buying them these days.

Of the people THEY surveyed. Does it strike anyone else as problematic that the biggest source of data they use is surveys THEY conduct?

And remember, most of the mystical “decrease in sales due to piracy” happened AFTER they took it upon themselves to shut down Napster, Aimster, mp3.com and every other file sharing system that got in their way. But, all these details are left out when they tout their industry bulls**t about how CD piracy is costing them all their profits.

Now, if there IS one product I can give the recording industry as having died a painful, bloody death due to online piracy is the Single. Remember? Those old skool tapes that would have one song on them. The ONE song that they would charge you $3.50 to $5.50 for, with the “bonus” of another song off the album that sucked or a B-side that (usually) wasn’t good enough to make the album… and I only say “usually” because Pearl Jam had some of their best material released as B-Sides.

Now, what you’re left with is music coming out with less and less talent involved, more and more frequently, and prices of CDs that just keep going up, while the cost to produce them keep going down. It costs, on average, double to make a cassette than it does a tape, and yet CDs cost double cassettes. Why? How can something that costs five cents to make cost $20 by the time it gets to you. Well, lets see what the RIAA itself has to say.

A typical music fan who buys a CD might use that CD at home, take that CD in the car, make a tape of that CD, – or using it as part of a compilation, play that CD with friends and for friends, and keep that CD for many years. That’s probably why most consumers, when asked, describe CDs as a good value. At the same time, when asked directly whether CDs cost too much, some consumers will say yes! Why the contradiction? Because some consumers don't understand why the sales tag on a CD is so much higher than the cost of producing the actual physical disc, a cost, which in fact, has decreased over the years.

Yes, immediately lets make it the idiot consumer’s fault for not understanding.

While the RIAA does not collect information on the specific costs that make up the price of a CD

In two words… bull and s**t. You’re telling me they don’t know their costs to get a CD to market? Right, and I don’t know how many people read this column from week to week.

there are many factors that go into the overall cost of a CD -- and the plastic it's pressed on, is among the least significant. CD manufacturing costs may be lower, but it takes more money than ever before to put out a new recording.

Really? I can’t wait to hear this.

Obligatory stuff here about how artists rule edited for space

Once an artist or group has songs composed, they must then go into the studio and begin recording. The costs of recording this work, including recording studio fees, studio musicians, sound engineers, producers and others, all must be recovered by the cost of the CD.

OK, granted, I can see that.

Then come marketing and promotion costs -- perhaps the most expensive part of the music business today. They include increasingly expensive video clips, public relations, tour support, marketing campaigns, and promotion to get the songs played on the radio.

This is, in three more words: more, bull, and s**t. New artists need promotion, but how many new artists do they break each year and how many more are releasing second albums. Once an artist has “made it,” all the record company has to do is give a release date. How much promotion did you see for Meteora before it came out?

For example, when you hear a song played on the radio -- that didn’t just happen! Labels make investments in artists by paying for both the production and the promotion of the album, and promotion is very expensive. New technology such as the Internet offers new ways for artists to reach music fans, but it still requires that some entity, whether it is a traditional label or another kind of company, market and promote that artist so that fans are aware of new releases.

For every album released in a given year, a marketing strategy was developed to make that album stand out among the other releases that hit the market that year. Art must be designed for the CD box, and promotional materials (posters, store displays and music videos) developed and produced. For many artists, a costly concert tour is essential to promote their recordings.

Right, a costly tour. The same costly tour that brings in $40/seat for 15,000 people… which is $600,000 per night, before the money they will get from $20 T-Shirts.

But, enough with the groundwork.

Up until last week, the RIAA have been siccing their law monkeys on faceless corporations. AIMster, Napster, MP3.com, Verizon, etc. Last week, the RIAA Filed Suit against four college students, two of whom are students at my former college Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. The lawsuit alleges that these four folks have set up Napster-like networks. Realisticly, all these guys have done is index a search engine across the campus network. Of course, as district judge Madelyn Patel proved back with the Napster lawsuit, the actualities of the technology really don’t mean anything in the grand scheme of things.

See, Napster really never did anything wrong. All Napster did was index a search engine that facilitated finding files on decentralized computers. They were a gateway, similar to AOL and Verizon. The ILLEGAL part of Napster were all the users who were trading files on it, but see, that didn’t matter to the judge. Since judges know nothing about computers (and neither do lawyers for that matter) they can’t make the differentiation… and they won’t admit that. So what you have is a bunch of technologically clueless f***s making decisions about s**t they know nothing about. Now, on the other hand, if I set up getfreecrap.com with a 20 gigabyte server with 2 million songs on it that I’m offering for free download… THAT’S illegal. However, if I set up linkstofreecrap.com and provide links getfreecrap.com, superfreecrap.com, and freemusic.com, I’m not doing anything illegal, but I’m providing a link to sites that are doing things that are illegal. But, according to people don’t know anything about domain names and ip addresses might think that I’m doing something illegal, too.

Regardless, the lawsuit goes on to claim that each of these students, on their respective websites, offered up a search engine. The lawsuit also claims damages of $150,000 per copyrighted work on the search engines for up to 700,000 files.

For those of you who don’t have a calculator handy, they are suing four college students for more than 96 BILLION dollars. And that’s just ONE of the cases.

So, what you have NOW is, not only is the RIAA shutting down corporate websites who are trying to make money… NOW they’re suing college students, who can probably barely afford their next dinner not provided by the dining hall, and who probably make about $8,000/year, much less afford a lawyer for the years that they may be stuck in legal wrangling. It’s ridiculous and it should make you sick to your stomach. See, there’s another group in the United States that use similar strong-arm tactics to intimidate their marks into submission, but we try to put the Mafia in prison all the time.

Hm… MafRIAA. That kinda works.

The backlash from colleges have already started. To this point, schools have been actively trying to shut down student-run sites when they are notified of illegal activity. This was also when the MafRIAA was willing to send them cease-and-desist letters. With this latest batch, however, no advanced noticed was sent and, instead the lawsuits were simply filed against the alleged perpetrators. Colleges are already wondering what the point of working with the MafRIAA was in the first place.

So, the lawsuits that I predicted months ago begun well ahead of schedule. The lawsuits of the enormous, multi-billion dollar MafRIAA vs the little guy. The guy who is doing nothing but writing a search engine. The guy who is trying to learn new things for the future of the computer industry. Instead… the MafRIAA is, once again, trying to stop technology. And basically, they want to ruin these kid’s lives for doing nothing inherently wrong. Nothing but writing a search engine. Well s**t, they better sue Google next. And, when the backlash from THIS lawsuit happens, and LESS people buy CDs then before… and total sales fall AGAIN… once more the MafRIAA will be completely innocent. They’ll drop their jaws and point their fingers at the Internet… all the while not laying one iota of blame on their greedy tendencies to throw around lawsuits and sue people with no money. Because, obviously, there’s not a person out there who will never pick up another MafRIAA backed CD after this latest lawsuit. Certainly not RPI, Michigan State, or Princeton Alumni, such as myself, who really has no interest in even buying the new Godsmack album tomorrow, which I’ve been waiting months for.

I mean, s**t, I already have a few tracks downloaded on my computer. F***’s the point of actually buying it when they’re going to sue me anyway?

Remember, next time you pick up a CD, where your money is going. Just remember that it’s now being used to ruin lives. Remember that it’s going to stop the advancement of technology. And remember it will only get worse the more leverage we give them.

Shutting down the sites that supposedly facilitate piracy isn’t enough anymore. Now they want to ruin people’s lives.

Maybe you’re next.

New Stuff

Godsmack tomorrow. The stuff I’ve heard from Faceless that isn’t the leadoff single is really good. Sully says it’s gonna be really good… who am I to argue?

Lisa Marie Presley… which is 10% her and 90% backup singers. Go figure.

Scarface… who I only mention because he is a PRICK in Def Jam Vendetta

And Jay-Z… who just about is always worth listening to.

New Live album has their tracklisting and cover art up for viewing at friendsoflive.com

Life of Agony will be releasing a 2-disc live set and DVD recorded at their reunion show back in January… spiffy. This band has released more material since their breakup then when they were together.

By the way, don’t buy any of these CDs.

Pearl Jam Can go F*** themselves, too

Vedder should learn to keep his mouth shut and just sing. I’m torn… since I already bought the tickets, I feel I have to go… if for no other reason than to boo him when he starts running his mouth. Hey Eddie, how about going to college for a year before you start talking smack about s*** you know nothing about… you pansy ass haven’t been good since Ten fuggin hippie. Oh wait, that’s right, Eddie is a Green Party member, which means he lives in a f***ing fantasy world where everyone loves each other and business isn’t necessary. Even though He’s already Got His.

In Other Reading

Yeah, I’ve about had it for today.

Modzelewski saw Dave & Tim… and he’s still a good guy, regardless of what he says about me.

Cody no longer pimps me. He is jealous of Claire’s and my deep devotion to one another. You may feel free to Read Him Though.

One Review this week? Are you guys serious? It’s Mitch Michaels with Hootie. Hootie with a new album…… are you guys serious?

In Closing

Yeah, that about does it for me. If you wanted a bunch of different news, check out yesterdays or tomorrows. Also, spread this story to your friends. People need to know what’s going on.

Article from 411mania.com

Question about Micahel Moore

While Michael Moore is a disgrace to the nation for his tantrums and some of his obvious expose work that he calls a documentary I am curious to know what people on this site think about comments such as...

"I can't believe that the police have not arrested Michael Moore yet for subverting the Bush Administration and speaking out against it?"

or

"The word is spreading fast. Emails, faxes, chat rooms, message boards, letters, talk shows, radio. It's starting to roll. The media has been informed. For Disney to fund Michael Moore's next film is the single most anti-American act ever done by a US corporation. It demands action and it will sink Disney!"

Is a business funding a project like Moore's new "documentary" really an anti-American act?

I don't agree with Mr. Moore in the least. I think he is a moron...I always have. That being said I am concerned that with two movements (PC and FAR RIGHT) so ignorant of what we as Americans actually have the right to say, so and believe that it is only a matter of time until one of the two wins and the other side is subjected to a McCarthy like lynching by the other based on their ideals.

Read more in this article on CBS
MarketWatch

CUBA

Okay my little right wing rebel rousers. I know it has been a while since my last post here I'd like to inquire about your thoughts on CUB...please nothing as simplistic as "Nuke Em" or the like.

Read this article. Undoubtedly this situation, Syria and Iran are next on the agenda so there is no sense in letting the debate die down.

Women's Football

Well I'm impressed, I've been visiting the National Women's Football Association website and it's pretty cool.
I was surprised to see my home town has a team, however since I don't watch local news or read the paper it's no wonder I would have no idea we had a team. I think it would be fun to see Grrrly's smash each other in the mouth... at least until the Steelers games are on the tube. I can think of no other sport more wonderful than "American" Football.

To bad there are no teams in Cali Les, it would be a good place for you to vent some of that anger :-)

National Women's Football Association (NWFA)

Theme: Unreleased tapes of Saddam acting "alive"

I laughed and laughed... this is yet another classic fark "Photoshop" contest that has some truly inventive and hilarious pictures.

All images are found @ Fark.com.

Anti-War Protesters and Dennis Miller

Ok, I had to create a post just for the America hating protesters. I'm all for freedom of speech and such in America. However during a war I believe it should be considered an act of treason to protest your own troops who are fighting and dying for your right to protest. Below is an image of such treason, I'd fully support our government taking these sub-human wankers and hanging them, or whatever we do with traitors to our country. I mean if you look at the loser on the right, he does not even have the guts to show his face, what a pitiful excuse for a human.

Actually I consider this worse than some greedy fool selling the Russians our secrets.
If there are protesters who respect our troops and refrain from disrupting traffic, and society as a whole while our brothers and sisters are fighting this post is not about you.

I heard something profound last night from non other than Dennis Miller. He said the following, .. "if the anti-war protesters would work half as hard on their resume as they do on their signs maybe the would not be available for those mid day marches, they'd be working!"

hehe... too funny and too true. (for les : true for the majority, not all)

btw... found this great site you may want to check out ProtestWarrior.com

the following comments moved from another post

But you cannot stereotype protesters and lump them all into one category.

It was quite an insulting post. I protest and I work as well. I work long and hard hours printing and developing film as well as shooting pictures. As a photographer and a full time student it is very insulting that you assume the majority of those who protest do not work.

Maybe they take time "off" work to go do what they believe in. And living in a free country there is nothing wrong with that if this country permits it and they have flexible jobs to where they can do that.

My job permits me a great deal of flexibility but it is still a job, a business that myself and others who work with me take much pride in. If you think shooting pictures is easy and then trying to print a perfect print well it isnt't. I love it though.

So before you start making generalizations ask yourself if you KNOW for certain whether all protesters have no jobs or if they do.
Posted by Les at April 4, 2003 12:55 PM

Wow Les, calm down man, sounds like what people have said is right. Maybe you do have a lot of anger, for I said nothing about you did I?
I commented on what someone else said, thought it was humorous... and you took that general comment as a personal attack. That's just sad.
Posted by Muddy at April 4, 2003 01:52 PM

yeah, and I thought it was humorous to joke about the midwest, about the South and make generalizations regarding the KKK.

But actially you did make a comment towards me when you made a comment about a comment with regards to protesters in generalizing that they are all capable of preotesting midday because they don't work.

you said "too funny and too true."

Look what you said is the same as what Fox says ALL the time about protesters. And obviously I am not so hurt that my life has stopped. I was just pointing out that you made a generalization which is insulting if you are part of the contingency which was generalised about. I am one of the millions who protests so of course I am in the category Miller made a joke about and you commented on by agreeing.

Now in reading what I wrote I find no anger. Assertions about how a generalization when applied to me is wrong,but no anger.

Now if you had just said "too funny" well then you are agreeing with the joke. But need I remind you you also mentioned "too true". Well, I disagreed with that and it wasn't just a humorous comment it was a comment by Miller you qualified as "true".

We make too many generalizations in our day to day lives. I could do the same. Most conservatives are white. Too True. Most conservatives are afraid of Blacks ( to which they will retort, "But I have a black friend.")Too True. So I can make the same generalizations and you know it is isn't true of who you are? Correct?

I know it isn't true that I don't have a job...etc.
Well, off to class. And please because I "assert" something and use strong language I am not angry. I am merely stating my opinion. Maybe you wish I was angry?

Peace
Posted by Les at April 4, 2003 03:02 PM

mmmmhhh... spaghetti.
Posted by Muddy at April 4, 2003 03:40 PM

it is a pretty offensive remark... especially since millions of americans are now out of work, no-thanks to the policies of the powers that be. Of course it is no surprise coming from someone as self-centered, vain and arrogant as Dennis 'Vocab Word' Miller.

Somehow spinning it arround so that the unemployment in america is the fault of the people and not the powers that make war and money. Miller was funny before HBO made him rich.

bonus link:
http://www.dreamscape.com/morgana/reagan.htm
Posted by divine.heretic at April 5, 2003 04:06 AM

Praise God Muddy's heading back to work

Well, God is good.

I am back in the workforce starting monday. Woohoo!

I wanted to thank everyone for their prayers and thoughts during this trying time, being laid off sucks. I now have a new understanding for what it's like to wonder how your going to take care of your family.

Steelers 2003 Schedule

The NFL released the 2003 schedule's today, Pittsburgh get's to open @ home this year. Yea! Now only if I had tickets :-(

Schedule is HERE

Flight Sim's are back!

After the demise of Jane's Combat Simulations I thought we'd never see another quality flight sim, I'm wrong.

Lock On "Modern Air Combat" is a dream, if you have not heard about it yet, you must check it out.

Lock On: Modern Air Combat

Posting Guidelines

Please make note the posting guidelines have changed slightly effective today, thank you.

Citizens United

There is a great commercial out now by citizens united, featuring former Tennessee Senator and Hollywood Actor Fred Thompson. Have a look.

Video HERE

*note* requires real video or media player capable of playing real media

Video found on citizensunited.org

Stupid Comments

I just wanted everyone to know that this was said by our dear friend Les

"I hope many Americans die. I wish the blood of Iraq red with american blood because this country needs a lesson."

Thanks Les. Way to back the troops. I will not strike back at you. Instead I will say to you God Bless you. God has his work cut out with you and wish wish you the best of luck.

And you have been put on permanent ignore. I will ignore all comments made by you from this point on.

*edited by Muddy 3/20 21:21 hours EST*

Ok I've had enough of this, I'm banning instead of deleting posts. Everyone act like we're civilized here, or leave. Les, please calm down and enjoy friendly discussion, cwilli you and les kiss and make up.

Geraldo Assaults Osama with Chair

Late tonight 1000+ troops from the 82nd Airborne along with one reporter Geraldo Rivera went after Osama Bin Ladden.
Reports say that upon finding Osama, Geraldo went into a frenzy and began hitting Osama with a folding chair, having flashbacks from his tv show.

(Satire)

Get the US out of the UN

H.R. 1146 Has Been Re-Introduced in the 108th Congress

If there is anyone interested in preserving the security of this nation please read this.

H.R. 1146 Has Been Re-Introduced in the 108th Congress

Recommendation: Contact your representative by email, phone, or fax and ask him to cosponsor H.R. 1146 ("American Sovereignty Restoration Act of 2003"), which would end U.S. membership in the United Nations. Emphasize that you support getting out of the UN to preserve our nation's freedom to declare war only when the U.S. Congress determines that war is necessary and to preserve American lives, freedom, and property. Explain that you do not favor using the U.S. military to enforce UN resolutions.

Also please make sure the you emphasize the importance of keeping all future administrations from allowing the United States to enter the UN International Criminal Court (ICC). The ICC would allow the UN to prosecute our military for any actions that they deem “criminal”, even if in direct interest of the security of our Country. This is the first step in breaking down our Constitution, Declaration of Independence and eventually control of our Country. Former President Clinton signed this but President Bush backed out.

Status: Congressman Ron Paul (R-Texas) re-introduced H.R. 1146 on March 6th. The bill was referred to the House Committee on International Relations. As of March 12th there were already four cosponsors: Rep. Roscoe Bartlett (R-Maryland), Rep. John Duncan (R-Tenn.), Rep. Terry Everett (R-Ala.), and Rep. Joel Hefley (R-Colo.).

Your support is needed. For more information please visit www.getusout.com

Other Links:
Do your homework and read H.R. 1146!
Email addresses for the U.S. House of Representatives
Sign the petition

For those who say we are acting alone

For all of you who have said the we are acting alone here is a list of countries who have expressed the willingness to help.

Afghanistan, Albania, Australia, Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Colombia, the Czech Republic, Denmark, El Salvador, Eritrea, Estonia, Ethiopia, Georgia, Hungary, Italy, Japan, South Korea, Latvia, Lithuania, Macedonia, the Netherlands, Nicaragua, the Philippines, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Spain, Turkey, the United Kingdom and Uzbekistan. The State Department listed Japan as available for "post-conflict" support.

This is a known list of 30 that was compiles this morning. 15 more have signed on and are not included in this list.

Source: Washinton Post

So we are NOT acting alone. I cant wait to read the excuses....

U.S. Military has the Advantage

Pick the Logo

Hey Guys, I made some logo's today, trying to come up with something that looks better than what I had.
There are 7 of them, post a comment with the one you like best and when I have enough comments I'll take the one with the most votes and we'll go with that.
Thanks,
Muddy

Logo 1







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Logo 6





Logo 7

On Going Changes

I made some changes today, just wanted to get some feedback.
Good? Bad ?

What day of the week will the war begin?

I originally picked Tuesday. Obviously I was wrong. I am now going with Thursday...

President Speaks

Hey gang. The Presdent is going to speak tonight and all indications are that heis going to just make formal everything that is already assumed. While it troubles me that the case for this war has not been done effectively I am 100% behind our troops and I respect and honor the leadership of our nation. I will question it but I am not against it.

That being said I thought this site may be helpful to prepare all of us better for the change we are about to see in our society.

French Products and Companies to Boycott

Dozens of readers have written in asking for a list of French companies products to boycott. After all, some are well known, but many are not. Here goes.

Full Story HERE

Nigerian Money Scam

I just thought some of you might like to read this. I've never recieved one of these scam letters before, so I thought this was quite interesting. After reading it (I decided to read the entire thing), I was left wondering just how dumb you have to be to fall for this? You don't even need to follow the "If it's to good to be true..." rule to realize that this is a load of crap.

Keep in Mind, I've edited none of this. Everything is as it was sent to me.

From: "patrickzuma"
Date: Sun, 16 Mar 2003 00:59:08
To: gtg312a@prism.gatech.edu
Subject: pls reguest for an assistance

ATTN: DIRECTOR,

DEAR SIR, CONFIDENTIAL

I do recognize the surprise this urgent but
confidential letter will bring you especially as it
came from a stranger, but rest assured that it came
with the best of intentions. First, I must introduce
myself. I am MR.PATRICK ZUMA, from the Diamond-Rich
district of Sierra Leone and my father was the former
special adviser to the Head of State of Sierra Leone,
Major Johnny Koroma.I got your address and other
details from the internet in my search for a reliable
business partner.

During the war between our forces led by the Ex-Head
of state, Major Johnny Koroma and the West Africa
Allied forces (ECOMOG), My country relied heavily on
the foreign earnings generated from diamond trade.
This money was personally kept by the then president,
Major Johnny Koroma since our banking system had
collapsed during the war.

However, as the war progressed, it became apparent
that we were going to loose the war to the superior
and better armed West Africa Allied Forces (ECOMOG).
At this point, the key officers of the administration
started making frantic efforts on how to leave Sierra
Leone safely thereby sharing the proceeds/money from
this diamond trade. In view of the fact that my father
was one of the key officer of then administration and
an in-law to major Paul koroma, he succeeded in
getting the sum of US$15.5, MILLION (FIFTEEN MILLION
FIVE HUNDRED THOUSAND THOUSAND UNITED STATES DOLLARS)

We have made arrangement and transferred the money
through diplomatic means to holland, Where I am
presently living as an asylum seeker but
unfortunately, my father died of heart attack after a
few months of exile in South Africa and automatically,
I came in total control of the said money as the only
surviving son, my mother and two younger sister. Upon
our arrival in South Africa after due consideration,
we deposited the money with a security company for
security reasons. The actual content was not disclosed
to them (SECURITY COMPANY) pending when we see a
trustworthy person who will assist us in transferring
this money to his account outside , as the
strict Monetary Laws here do not allow asylum seekers
certain financial rights.

I shall be most grateful if you can assist me
accomplish this transaction and hoping too that you
will remain trustworthy. For your effort and
assistance, i have agreed to give you 25% of the total
sum while 5% will be set aside for all expenses
incurred in this transaction. The rest of the 70% will
be for my family investment in your country.

Please, note that I have made arrangements for a
successful deal. As such, the only thing I ask from
you is total assistance to transfer this money,
complete trust and assurance that my own part of the
money will be safe when transferred to your account. I
would also wish you kept this proposal highly
confidential and secret considering my father's
position before his death and the source of the money.
If you are interested in assisting me, please contact
me through the above email address as soon
as possible. Thanking you in advance for your
anticipated co-operation.

Yours faithfully,
PATRICK ZUMA(MR) (FOR THE FAMILY)

Squooch a terrorist

Check out this little game

Squooch a Terrorist

I heard they are coming out with French version too!!!

The 8 Billion Dollar Man

Don Johnson is in some trouble...do you think Tubbs and Crokett can solve this one? When he was crossing the border between Germany and Switzerland his car was stopped for a routine check. In the trunk of the vehicle were papers and notes on transactions totaling $8 Billion!

That's Don Johnson of Miami Vice and Nash Bridges...$8 Billion of transactions...

French and Russian Oil Intersts in Iraq

I just read on the "wire" that now the locals in Iraq are getting more involved in reverse diplomatic/economic weight for when Iraq is liberated...this is a good thing to see frommy perspective because it signals to the rest of the world that these people want the help of the US and any other nations that would join them...Bush has still done a poor job of selling it but this is more like what should have been done all along....

Kurd PM: French, Russians to lose Iraq oil By Martin Walker
UPI Chief International Correspondent
From the International Desk
Published 3/14/2003 4:28 PM
View printer-friendly version

WASHINGTON, March 14 (UPI) -- French and Russian oil and gas contracts signed with the Saddam Hussein regime in Iraq "will not be honored," Barhim Salih, a leading Iraqi Kurdish official, said in Washington Friday, just before a series of high-level meetings with Bush administration officials.

"A new Iraqi government should not honor any of these contracts, signed against the interests of the Iraqi people. The new Iraqi government should respect those who stood by us, and not those who stood beside the dictator," added Salih, who is prime minister in the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan government that controls Iraq's eastern Kurdish area.

Russian and French oil corporations have each signed draft contracts with Iraq, to come into force only when the United Nations sanctions are lifted, for exploration, development and exploitation of the country's energy resources -- which geologists believe may be the world's second largest after Saudi Arabia. The value of the draft contracts, if fully taken up, is estimated to have a potential of more than $20 billion.

Although there have been dark hints that French and Russian opposition to a second U.N. resolution in the Security Council could have economic consequences, this is the first clear threat from a leading opposition figure from inside Iraq that their oil contracts will not be honored.

"France and Russia should make a decision where they stand," Barhim Salih added, speaking to U.S. policy experts and reporters at the prestigious Council on Foreign Relations Friday. "We would rather see them stand with us. They cannot have it both ways."

Salih is expected to be one of the leading political figures in Iraq, along with the PUK's leader Jalal Talabani, after the fall of Iraq's current leader Saddam Hussein. The Kurdish enclave in northern Iraq, protected for a decade by British and U.S. warplanes enforcing a no-fly zone, has become an island of prosperity and nascent democratic ways.

While there is no guarantee that Salih will be elected to a high position in whatever new government emerges in Baghdad after Saddam, the Iraqi Kurds -- both in the PUK area and those in the region controlled by the Kurdistan Democratic Party and its leader Masud Barzani -- constitute the best-organized opposition in Iraq and are expected to play a decisive role.

Prime Minister Salih went on for talks with senior Bush administration officials on plans for rebuilding post-war Iraq and for creating political stability. His top priority was to dissuade the Bush administration from giving the Turkish military any role in the Kurdish region on northern Iraq.

"Turkish military involvement will invite other neighbors to intervene, like Syria and Iran. This would open Pandora's box. It would create havoc, and compromise the real mission, which is to install representative government and democracy in a stable Iraq, at peace with its neighbors."

He also said that the 70,000 Kurdish troops, mostly with light weapons, at his government's disposal would come under U.S. command in the event of war. And he confirmed intelligence reports that Iraqi troops had affixed explosives to the oil wells near Mosul and Kirkuk.

"Saddam wants to instigate an environmental catastrophe. This is his Armageddon," Salih said. "We are in touch with the Iraqi military, telling them to ignore orders to destroy the wells. We think very few of them will fight. Senior officers at border crossing have asked us to let them know when the moment (for attack) comes so they can escape."

Prime Minister Salih, 42, with a Ph. D in computer science from a British university, said he did "not expect to see Western-style democracy overnight, but some form of representative government will emerge, based on a federal system with wide measures of autonomy for the various regions."

Copyright © 2001-2003 United Press International

Feedback from Muddy's Mind

Hello everyone. I'd like to get your feedback on a video we recently produced for the Ohio National Day of Prayer. Please view the video and let me know what you think.

You'll need Windows Media to view...sorry Linux gurus. :)

thanks

marty

Shouldn't be

With the shape our world is in there are some things we would be better off forgeting. Why we continue to live in the past is beyond me and this website is a testimony of people reaching back to capture a moment that was special when they were in the moment.

Shouldn't be

With the shape our world is in there are some things we would be better off forgeting. Why we continue to live in the past is beyond me and this website is a testimony of people reaching back to capture a moment that was special when they were in the moment.

Osama Hunt

Now you can have an active role in hunting Osama with this online game.

Osama Hunt

Now you can have an active role in hunting Osama with this online game.

Muddy's Mind Exclusive!

Muddy's Mind has an exclusive on the recent Ptech bust by the Feds. We have learned how Ptech was caught in the first place, see picture for details.

Muddy's Mind Exclusive!

Muddy's Mind has an exclusive on the recent Ptech bust by the Feds. We have learned how Ptech was caught in the first place, see picture for details.