Inanities and Blatherings

Mon, 31 Aug 2009 19:34:04 GMT

"...the dissent does not discuss a single case - not one - in which it is clear that a person was executed for a crime he did not commit. If such an event had occurred in recent years, we would not have to hunt for it; the innocent’s name would be shouted from the rooftops by the abolition lobby." - Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia

I can't get on top of my roof, but here: Cameron Todd Willingham.

The article is extremely lengthy, but worth the read.

Mon, 27 Jul 2009 17:19:58 GMT

I love when a customer comes in with that perfect mix of stupidity, belligerence, and entitlement.

Yesterday this guy and his [wife? girlfriend?] came into the store, looking to sell a game (The Legend of Spyro: Dawn of the Dragon, on the 360) for cash. Fair enough. So I scanned the game, and the following conversation (or one very similar to it) ensued:

Me: "I can give you... [pause for mental math] ..about ten dollars for this game."
Wife-or-girlfriend: "No."
This guy: "How come you guys are all different everywhere?"
Me: "Our trade-in values are the same at every Gamestop in the country... I could give you $13.25 store credit, but cash is 80% of that amount."
This guy: "Nuh-uh. I was just at the one in New Ulm, and they told me they'd give me fifty bucks cash for it."
Me: "Well, I don't know who told you that, but if someone did, they were wrong. We can give you about ten dollars cash."
This guy: "No way. I could sell it online for a hundred and fifty bucks."

Then, somewhat disgusted, they left. (Of course I called our New Ulm store immediately, curious if they'd even been over there, and their store manager didn't recall anyone wanting to sell that particular game.)

It bears noting that there are virtually zero games that are worth more than $30 store credit at our store; but beyond that, I'll let the rest of the facts speak for themselves...

http://www.gamestop.com/Catalog/ProductDetails.aspx?product_id=69311
http://desc.shop.ebay.com/items/Games__The-Legend-of-Spyro-Dawn-of-the-Dragon-360?LH_TitleDesc=1&_nkw=The+Legend+of+Spyro:+Dawn+of+the+Dragon+360&_catref=1&_fln=1&_sacat=139973&_sop=12&_trksid=p3286.c0.m282
http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/B0018YDKBI/ref=sr_1_olp_5?ie=UTF8&s=videogames&qid=1248715130&sr=8-5

Yeah, I just sell these things for a living... making up some bullshit is DEFINITELY going to impress me into giving you some sort of a deal. LOL.

Sat, 11 Jul 2009 03:50:52 GMT

I haven't always been 100% certain of this jump-ship-and-move-to-the-Cities plan, particularly because it amounts to a very drastic and sudden change (and those of you who know me at all probably know how I feel about THOSE). Upon reflection during the bike ride home from work tonight, though, it occurred to me that it's been weeks since I've had the feeling, which has been plaguing me on and off these last several months, that to a great extent I wasn't going anywhere or doing anything with my life - a sense of vague and somewhat unspecified meaninglessness, more than anything. I think that as I've been making plans to do something with myself, even though I'm not sure what it's going to be, that that sense has largely evaporated.

So, that's something.

Senator Claire McCaskill: Serious fucking business

Sat, 31 Jan 2009 08:46:26 GMT

http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/01/30/executive.pay/index.html

Bonus points: Rudy Giuliani's inane, half-witted response at the end of the article. "Um, guys, this is totally going to cause more unemployment! No, really! Guys...? Where are you going?"

OMG

Tue, 20 Jan 2009 19:19:25 GMT

Quote President Barack Obama, addressing the nation:

"For we know that our patchwork heritage is a strength, not a weakness. We are a nation of Christians and Muslims, Jews and Hindus - and non-believers."

Fan-fucking-tastic. If there has been a President before now that has acknowledged the legitimacy of non-belief, I can't recall having heard about it.

Just to nitpick a little, though, I wish people would stop saying things like "Forty-four Americans have now taken the presidential oath": forty-three Americans have taken it; Grover Cleveland did it twice, non-consecutively. It's a minor disappointment that Obama and his speechwriters screwed that up.

Still, though: awesome.

This is hilarious.

Mon, 17 Nov 2008 18:13:06 GMT

America, you have earned the new puppy that is coming with us to the White House.

Sun, 09 Nov 2008 01:02:45 GMT

I feel like daylight savings is a shitty deal for anyone who's not a morning person. It's going to be light out when I wake up regardless of whether sunrise is at 8 or at 7 or whenever; but now in addition to it getting dark earlier, it's getting earlier earlier too. Sweet.

Wed, 05 Nov 2008 04:23:45 GMT

OH FUCK YES

Sat, 01 Nov 2008 02:01:52 GMT

Synchronized debating

Tue, 28 Oct 2008 19:26:18 GMT

OH MAN THIS IS AWESOME ^_^

Tue, 21 Oct 2008 15:20:25 GMT

Tue, 07 Oct 2008 16:39:30 GMT

You know that rumor that's been going around, about Sarah Palin's possible ties to the Alaskan Independence Party?

Here you go.

Also, holy fuck. I'm constantly amazed by the levels to which these people are willing to stoop.

The trouble with polling numbers

Sun, 05 Oct 2008 17:53:36 GMT

This was pointed out to me last week by, admittedly, an Obama staffer: it's illegal to call people's cell phones for polling purposes. Therefore, anyone who has a cell phone not in addition to but instead of a landline (myself, for example) is automatically excluded from the polls. Now obviously sampling for political polls is never 100% representative, but what demographic has the largest number of cell-phone-using, land-line-lacking individuals? Young people, right? And who does that demographic largely support? Hint: it isn't John McCain.

Hah!

Fri, 19 Sep 2008 03:53:57 GMT

Palin's transparency proposal already exists in D.C.

"There’s just one problem with proposing to put the federal checkbook online – somebody’s already done it. His name is Barack Obama."

Zing!

I lolled.

Sun, 07 Sep 2008 05:47:56 GMT

“Here’s the amazing part: back in 1984, Sarah Palin actually came second in the Miss Alaska beauty pageant. Now she could be vice president. You know what that means? For the first time in history, a beauty pageant contestant might actually bring about world peace. They’ve talked about it for years; here’s one that could do it!” -Jay Leno

(This and more at politicalirony.com)

On attacks, Republican

Sat, 06 Sep 2008 20:24:21 GMT

"I've been called worse on the basketball court - it's not that big of a deal."

Vice President who? Vice President what?

Wed, 03 Sep 2008 04:34:54 GMT

Sat, 30 Aug 2008 00:21:32 GMT

John McCain's new comedy act (not for the easily offended!):

http://www.236.com/news/2008/08/27/torture_its_a_scream_8522.php

Fri, 29 Aug 2008 05:19:01 GMT

If you didn't see Obama's speech at the DNC, you can do so here.

If you're going to the Minnesota State Fair...

Fri, 22 Aug 2008 02:45:32 GMT

1. Don't get the regular cheese curds you're used to getting. Go to Ligget Street, between the Horse Barn and the Commissary, and stop at Ole and Lena's and get their so-called Scandinavian cheese curds. These offer two improvements over the regular ones: first, the batter is sort of lighter than the regular kind, and tastier as a result; and second, they give you (for the same five dollars you'd be spending elsewhere) a little portion cup of lingonberry sauce to go with. I think it's a cream-cheese-y kind of spread, and while I'm normally not a fan of cream cheese or (especially) sweet-plus-salty combinations (see below), it complements the curds very nicely. I highly recommend it.

2. You may hear rumors about chocolate-covered bacon. You know how you like bacon, because bacon is delicious? You know how you like chocolate, because chocolate is also delicious? Don't. Don't even think about it. They're awful. Casi agrees with me on this, and she likes nasty sweet-and-salty things like kettle corn (which I still maintain is an abomination). We each choked about half of the things down, because neither of us could see wasting them, but we were very unhappy about doing so. The taste still lingers.

Tue, 12 Aug 2008 16:27:15 GMT

Mon, 04 Aug 2008 00:29:35 GMT

I fucking love the Daily Show.

(Please note that for once the above isn't more than about 3% political: mostly it's just hilarious)

Sun, 20 Jul 2008 03:10:09 GMT

Lawl.

Thu, 17 Jul 2008 16:28:41 GMT

1. Anyone who likes Guillermo del Toro (and who doesn't?), and who hasn't seen The Orphanage (or El Orfanato, rather, I suppose), should. Bob (and Sammy), I feel like this may mean you, since when I was talking to you about the movie Casi was telling me about you mentioned The Devil's Backbone. At any rate, the point is, it's excellent - its only real flaw being that the subtitles (sorry Sammy) are in yellow for some reason, which at about two points in the movie makes a not-that-important piece of dialogue difficult to read.

2. This looks fucking sweet. I haven't made any of them yet because firstly I don't have a printer, and secondly I just heard of the site from certain people's livejournals, but I thought I'd pass it on.

3. Have you played You Have To Burn The Rope? If not, you really should. If you can manage to beat the game you really owe it to yourself to listen to the ending theme - which is perhaps not Still Alive-quality, but it's still pretty great.

Mon, 14 Jul 2008 02:31:24 GMT

This looks neat.