Some quick resources for Katrina relief:

If you don't help here, please help out somewhere, as the aftermath is far worse than even the news has been able to show.

Red Cross:


ASPCA:

Never underestimate human ingenuity…

Thag be smart.

If the fratter...

...ever had one of these they never would have lost our charter!

Fantasy Football

Kevin and/or Tripp...get on the ball and get this thing going. I want to win money from you fools. Football starts in two weeks and we don't have anything set up. Don't make me tell you again.

Today's Thoughts With Spicer

Movies have lied to us and given false hope for a better tomorrow. Science fiction is crap. And I for one want the world to finally see these movie studios for the lying scumsbags that they are.

Take Back to the Future 2 for instance. Set in the year 2015. Flying cars, clothes that adjust to your body, virtual waiters, 3-D Jaws 19 advertisements that attack passersby, hover boards, and inflation through the roof. Take the flying cars for example. There is no way that society mass produces flying cars in 10 years time. Plus, companies can convert cars easily in the movie. Just think about it... Additionally, how in the world is the general population going to learn to fly these cars in 10 years? And how is the government going to regulate the travel? And what about airplanes? And where are all of the stationary road markers going to come from? Hover boards? Seriously, kids will have these in 10 years? What a load of crap. Our scientists are to concerned with pointless crap to come up with this. Don't even get me started on clothes...Ralph Lauren and Tommy are too busy ripping off patterns from the 1970's to come up with clothes that adjust to different people.

What about the Jetson's? The damn flying cars from Marty McFly can now travel to different planets and we should all have robot maids in our highrise floating apartments. Not likely. Minority Report...yeah right psychics and flying cars. I, Robot - artifical intelligence and cars that drive themselves at 300 mph....nope. Star Trek...where the hell are the Vulcans and my transporters? Blade Runner - last time I checked there weren't any cyborgs running around. the 6th Day - where is my virtual hot woman that only does me and goes away? Total Recall - there are no settlements on the moon let alone Mars. Running Man....we can't kill people on tv! Starship Troopers - where are the laser guns? The list goes on and on.

Why do movie studios keep providing us with false hope of a better tomorrow and technology that will make us lazier and thus happier? And why do we as consumers insist on watching and waiting for it to happen? It's time to make a stand and say we will not take this crap anymore.

Go to www.moviesciencesucksandiamnotgonnatakeit.com to sign the petition to bring an end to this madness.

For all you baby-havers out there...

Do not do this to your children! Better yet, do not allow your children to do this to themselves:

Fruity Pebbles is his name...

I think T.O. should be the least of The Eagle's worries...

Did McNabb Get Head from Martin?

I mean daggumman... that's been a burning question for a few years now according to this Philly paper's article.

from a recent email to a friend in boston...


...my attention has fallen to another task of late- preparation. So after an especially unsettling lecture on resource depletion I got to thinking, in a sort of gloom and doom way- lack of what would kill me first? And the list goes something like this:

air
water
food
shelter
energy
communication
transportation

Then I spent some time musing the interconnectedness of these items. This was followed by a critique of habitat for humanity, food pantries, used clothing distributors and the somewhat disjointedness of these non-profits in their honorable attempt to meet the needs of the have-nots.

Couple this with a constant and painful observation of the inadequacies of the public skool system and the realization that even a victorious navigation of this lazy river requires higher education which allows/necessitates and individual to work in order to make money to pay others to do things to supply my above needs. What a crock of shit. And apparently I didn’t even learn how to successful steer clear of run-on sentences. It turns out that in light of the coming consequences of the massive misallocation of wealth post World War II in the form of suburban infrastructure growth on which our current domestic economy is now based, I’d have been better off learning how to farm. So I am.

I return now to the list that structures my learning.

Air. You either have it or you don’t. Don’t relocate near coal burning plant. Try not to burn much wood. That’s about it here.

Water. I’m studying and experimenting with rainwater collection, simple storage circulation, low-tech purification, grey water reclamation, and waster composting. Who would have thought you could grow killer garlic with urine as your only fertilizer? That brings us to…

Food. I haven’t eaten beef or pork in about 2 ½ years but I added birds to that list and set out on an eve more ambitious veggie/fruit/berry/herb production schedule. I’m studying biointensive farming techniques including raised beds, double dug no till cultivation, interplanting and companion planting, green manures, composting(traditional and teas) as well as raising chicken. Yes, in addition to growing tomatoes, potatoes, peppers, eggplants, pumpkins and green beans in the front yard, we now have 3 hens. they spend their evenings roaming and their days in a pen (chicken tractor) that is moved regularly around the yard. It is cleverly disguised as a plain, wooden box so as too avoid run ins with the less informed authorities who believe I shouldn’t be allowed to provide my own eggs within the concord city limits.
“As long as raising chickens is outlawed, outlaws will raise chickens.”
-unknown

Shelter. I’ve researched many alternative building techniques and just returned from my third weekend workshop on building with strawbales. Alternative forms of energy and transportation are also under investigation.

So now how does this relate to the non-profits I mentioned earlier? Here’s the idea. As an exercise, I will eliminate my dependency on the existing economic system and use the knowledge to teach others how to do the same. It will be necessary to live in such a manner in the future. But even if it isn’t or if the situation arises after I’m gone it still feels like a better way to be.

In a nut shell, I believe that industrial society is killing this planet. Not only do I not want to participate in that, I think it makes sense to be ready to help myself and help others when everyone finally figures out in a hard, sliding or possibly crashing sort of way that infinite growth in a finite system is a no no.

Made in China = Made in Poo

Let me begin by saying this: I work for a company that sources everything from key chains and pens to MP3 players and TVs directly from China. We import all kinds of stuff from the billions-strong sweatshop country and 99% of it is S-H-I-T. When you visit the factories over there you begin to understand why: there are dudes sleeping on the factory floor in their underwear, they have to halt production regularly for flooding, lack of electricity or work force sharing... that's right, the same people that work the factories have to quit a few times a year to work over the rice patties (literally)! The place sucks and what you save in initial price, you lose almost all of it in screwed up goods, shipping costs, duties, SARS, and the fee they charge for taking up space on freighters that would otherwise be used for cramming refugees in containers for Kathy Lee. It's a farce and we're selling our country to a Commie nation that's as restrictive (if not more) than Cold War Soviet Union. China sucks. Japs are so much cooler... it's a shame they have such a small island...

Anyway, the whole reason for this post stems from working on numerous projects on my house. Last night I was trying to install a cable track lighting system which of course was fabrique en Chine (thanks Frenchy) and the directions were either written by a crossword puzzle maker or a Chinese man with Google translations... either way, they made no sense.

For example: Place #1 on clockwise black #2... on plate line keyhole with screw.

And no, there are no references that would help make more sense of this Chinklish. I can figure out how most of it all works, but they apparently expect me to be able to screw in bolts from through the ceiling and still have a 1" high gap anyway. I'm taking the crap back.

Point being, buy American if you can... at least if there are any American companies left making competitive products. Sorry if that was a little too stream of conscience to follow.

The Ezekiel Option... Tripplink's first book review

What do you get when you cross a conservative political strategist with a Christian religious finatic? Author Joel Rosenberg - www.joelrosenberg.com. Along with my meaningless pictures and cell phone hatred, I thought I would post something somewhat meaningful.

You may have heard of his first book titled "The Last Jihad" where the story begins as a commercial airline hijacked by Islamic terrorists crashes into the president's motorcade and disables the US cabinet. The scary thing was that this was written 9 months before 9/11 and was his first attempt at political fiction. His second book "The Last Days" starts off with a terrorist attack in Gaza Strip against a US envoy to conduct peace talks with Yasser Arafat - and a similar incident happened not long afterwards.

His latest book, "The Ezekiel Option" was recently released, and takes the saga to another level. The first two books are great political thrillers along the lines of Tom Clancy, etc... however his latest novel is more of a Clancy meets Nostradamus. It's definitely intense reading, and if you have read his first two, you will want to see how the story unfolds. I also hope this book differs from the first two and that nothing from this one actually comes true... else we are in for some shit. If you have been following what has been going on in Iran lately, it is almost scary how good this guy is.

Cell Phones... Part Deux

If I wasn't already unhappy with my service with Sprint, I got a bill today for $360. Apparently I was charged for 2 plans at the same time (why, I have no idea), but 1 plan included no free minutes, so I was billed $0.40 for each minute. Then on top of that, I was billed $56 in taxes from TWO states. It took me 42 minutes to resolve the issue, and constantly during the conversation I kept having to repeat myself because the operator kept telling me I was breaking up. I told her I was using my Sprint phone, and calling the Sprint customer service, so if she had a problem with the connection she could take it up with Sprint. She then asked me if I was "inside" and I said yes, I am in my house. She said, well, you will never get good reception in your house because of all the interference - what kind of answer is that? I then asked her, in a very sarcastic tone, if I should go stand outside in the rain so she could hear me better on her own company's network.

What a load of horsecrap.

That video game is killer...

Tripp,

Please heed the warning.

http://today.reuters.co.uk/PrinterFriendlyPopup.aspx?type=internetNews&storyID=uri:2005-08-09T104506Z_01_KWA938635_RTRIDST_0_OUKIN-ODD-KOREA-GAMES.XML

Why do US cell phone companies suck so bad?

I was at lunch the other day with a few of my colleagues and we were discussing the service (or lack thereof) of cell phone companies. I am of the opinion that Sprint sucks a big fatty, the service is decent with the exception of some pockets i have found, but the customer service is just outright terrible. The rest of the group went on to say how Cingular, T-Mobile, and Verizon all suck, and they shared experiences of either a lack of service, billing issues, or poor customer service.

The basic conclusion is that they all suck... but why? Well, I think that the easy answer is because they all suck. They can all get away with providing poor service to customers as long as all the others do the same. You get fed up with Sprint... screw you, go to Verizon who also sucks. It is a no-win game for the consumers. At the same time, these companies are struggling to attract and retain customers with all the plan changes. Ever wonder why no two providers have the same plan? So you can't directly compare them... it is one big game to confuse the consumer into just staying put.

I recently got a Treo 600 from my dad (a $500 phone new) and got it hooked up on my Sprint plan. I had some trouble with my service and called the customer service line (after being dropped a few times, I finally connected to a live person) and was told to bring it into the store for a software upgrade. I did this, and was told the phone was upgraded and working fine. I left the store and found out that the phone didn't work for shit now - it was worse than before, so I took it back a few days later and they told me my phone was no good. I was told "you can use it for a paper weight" - so there went my $500 phone. I then called back up the customer service line and told them somebody F'd up my phone, and I was offered a "$5 courtesy credit" by some bitch who could barely speak english. Sound like good service? Hmmmm...

This all wouldn't be so alarming if we didn't just take it as normal behavior. Europe, Asia, and even parts of the Middle East have better cellular providers than we do in the US. Their phones are far more advanced, and wireless service in general is just so much better. In South Korea you can surf the net in the back of a taxi just as you would at work. In Europe you can go to different countries with no service interruption, and in Japan they have been streaming video on phones for 4-5 years. Maybe once all the big providers here finish buying up the smaller ones (Cingular + AT&T, Sprint + Nextel, etc.) things will get better. For now, we just have to live with it.

How about Alltel's new advertising campaign where you get a "1 minute credit" for any dropped calls... big F'n deal - that's the best you can do? One lousy minute? That's almost like admitting your service sucks and then saying we will give you a minute back so you can re-establish your call.

Anyways, just ranting about one of the worst run industries in the US from the consumer perspective.

Yo bitch... you better chill

USAToday Coaches Poll

Ahh, football is almost here. Check out the Coaches poll released today. Duke gets a vote!

. Southern California (60) 13-0 1,547 1
2. Texas (2) 11-1 1,405 4
3. Tennessee 10-3 1,259 15
4. Michigan 9-3 1,242 12
5. Oklahoma 12-1 1,223 3
6. LSU 9-3 1,109 16
7. Virginia Tech 10-3 1,090 10
8. Miami (Fla.) 9-3 1,080 11
9. Ohio State 8-4 1,033 19
10. Iowa 10-2 1,014 8
11. Florida 7-5 910 25
12. Florida State 9-3 879 14
13. Georgia 10-2 838 6
14. Louisville 11-1 758 7
15. Auburn 13-0 723 2
16. Purdue 7-5 616 NR
17. Texas A&M 7-5 366 NR
18. Arizona State 9-3 304 20
19. Boise State 11-1 303 13
20. California 10-2 293 9
21. Texas Tech 8-4 247 17
22. Boston College 9-3 237 21
23. Virginia 8-4 210 23
24. Alabama 6-6 194 NR
25. Pittsburgh 8-4 193 NR

Others receiving votes

Fresno State (9-3) 188; Oregon (5-6) 145; Utah (12-0) 103; Georgia Tech (7-5) 88; Wisconsin (9-3) 79; North Carolina State (5-6) 69; Bowling Green (9-3) 63; Penn State (4-7) 44; Colorado (8-5) 40; Minnesota (7-5) 34; UCLA (6-6) 24; Texas-El Paso (8-4) 22; Nebraska (5-6) 21; Kansas State (4-7) 20; South Carolina (6-5) 16; Notre Dame (6-6) 13; West Virginia (8-4) 12; Wyoming (7-5) 12; Clemson (6-5) 9; New Mexico (7-5) 9; Arizona (3-8) 8; Northern Illinois (9-3) 8; Southern Mississippi (7-5) 7; Toledo (9-4) 7; Washington State (5-6) 7; Iowa State (7-5) 6; Michigan State (5-7) 6; Memphis (8-4) 5; Washington (1-10) 4; Miami (Ohio) (8-5) 3; Maryland (5-6) 2; UAB (7-5) 1; Duke (2-9) 1; Kansas (4-7) 1.