Moment of Zen at the Nurburgring

Something beautiful over at Jalopnik this morning. Most of you will not give a flying fuck, but take a moment not only to read the description, but to browse the links in the comments to some even more amazing photographs.

Save the International Cryptozoology Museum

Help Save the Museum

After being audited by the IRS, Loren Coleman is in danger of having to close the International Cryptozoology Museum. The collection includes any number of important Cryptozoological specimens, as well as a huge collection of replicas and other ephemera. I've personally used many sources that have relied on this museum, as well as Coleman himself, and the collection he has created is truly one of a kind.

To the IRS, the museum verges on being a hobby (as per Code 183), and it needs more income (even if donations) to support itself, on its own. To me, the merging between my interviews, the book sales that come out of the museum appearances, and the visibility of the museum on the net are all interwoven. I’ve never had a great income since I was laid off from adjunct teaching, but combined together, I live at the cryptozoology poverty level with no complaints. But to the IRS, the museum is a separate entity. I understand now, and must comply with that view. I’ve lost my appeal on my “merge” view.
No fighting this any longer, for I stand fully enlightened about how the IRS is viewing Code 183, as it applies to my life’s career. The museum has to make money, or it ceases to exist.

Please, if you can, donate to help save the museum.

Go to PayPal, and donate to the Museum at, lcoleman@maine.rr.com
Or you may directly send a check made out to
International Cryptozoology Museum
c/o Loren Coleman
PO Box 360
Portland, ME 04112

This Will Not Wendel

PARIS (AFP) — Web regulators Thursday voted to allow the creation of thousands of new domain names, from .paris to .Pepsi, in one of the biggest shake-ups in Internet history, a French web official said.

Currently all web addresses fall under one of some 250 top-level domain names: .country or .territory domains, and generic ones such as .com, .net and .org, .gov, and .edu.
Under the new system, the web's 1.3 billion users would be able from 2009 to buy an unlimited number of generic addresses based on common words, brands or company names, cities or proper names.

This has to be some massive, off kilter joke on the part of ICANN. I just cannot see this working as intended - however the hell they intend it. While it seems designed to proliferate domain availability, single companies already are jockeying to lock down entire top level domains as THEIRS. .ebay and several others are already planned. Surely SOMEONE sees the problem with this other than myself? What good is it to have more top level domains, when suddenly a top level domain becomes the equivalent of a normal domain. If every address under xxx.blahblah.ebay is owned BY EBAY - how is it any different than xxx.ebay.xxx ?

Oh, stupid browser trick for the night. Because of the way DNS systems render domain names, they are actually all rendered as xxx.xxxx.xxx.null - Try typing notes.strixus.net. into your address bar. It renders as the current address because . is the default subroot.

Edit: More commentary, and hopefully soon discussion, here at TheGeekMedia's forums.

So, Remember The Snake?

So, remember that robot snake I posted video of awhile ago? Yeah...

THE FUCKER CAN SWIM.



Excuse me, I'll be sharpening my forks and finding an EMP generator.

Edit: you can find the technical specs for its weaknesses here. Oh god. -cries-

If this doesnt show it...

For those of you who don't get it - ITS PLAYING!

The Coming Storm

In Reply To Wolven

I hate to be the bringer of doom and gloom, but we are due now for the every 100 year depression. Every 100 years, the US has a major economic collapse - its a part of the economic cycle we have developed, and corrects for the constant inflationary growth we otherwise experience.

The Panic of 1819 was based around foreclosures, bank collapses, and credit shortages. The Great Depression (1929-1939) was actually the final sharp downturn of a series of pre-depression panics that began as early as 1907, as well as the post WW1 recession of 1918-1921. The Great Depression was of course triggered by a massive stock market crash on Black Tuesday, but was prefaced by a series of massive economic downturns as early as 1928. However, a great bit of the contributing influences to its cause were a massive inflation in debt and lending practices prior to it.

Of course now, we are lining up again for another downturn, starting with the recessions of the early 80's, 90's and 00's, in a similar pattern of the preceding events of the 1929 collapse. I predict the collapse will probably happen between 2010 and 2015, a bit early but it will be very massive. Again, over-lending, over-spending, and inflation are massive contributory causes. As with previous depressions, the gap between poor and rich becomes greater, the middle class vanishes, and it starkly becomes an issue of Have and Have Not.

Call me in a few years... I'm going to be busy canning food and hiding supplies. My parents may laugh at my grand parents who have a pantry full of canned goods, dry goods, and cold stores, but I think they are damned smart for never forgetting that lesson.

My own Cheezburger

Just made this.

LOL

Made me laugh on a rather shitty day. Left work way early, went to doctor, got new drugs (weeeee major dosage upgrades!).

Childhood's End

3:14:40 PM) Damien667: why do we still live in a country and society where comics are not taken seriously, by the majority of the populace? Where I have to call someone stupid, to their face, because they still stand next to the "comics are only for kids" bullshit?
(3:15:03 PM) mendoriryuu: ... the same reason we get the "Cartoons are only for kids"
(3:15:19 PM) mendoriryuu: even though the great classics of american cartoons were NEVER meant for kids
(3:15:54 PM) Damien667: Might I recall Snow White
(3:16:09 PM) Damien667: or perhaps "Bugs Bunny Nips the Nips"
(3:16:13 PM) mendoriryuu: something happened between the 40/50s and the 80s where things that were meant for adults became "kids" things
(3:16:30 PM) mendoriryuu: and ive never quite figured out what
(3:17:21 PM) mendoriryuu: i guess the same thing happened between the 19th and 20th century with fairy tails
(3:17:25 PM) mendoriryuu: tales
(3:17:40 PM) Damien667: It makes no damned sense...
(3:17:41 PM) mendoriryuu: ... now that i think
(3:17:55 PM) mendoriryuu: i think it has something to do, each time, with how "childhood" was redefined
(3:18:21 PM) Damien667: Elaborate?
(3:18:34 PM) mendoriryuu: during the 1800s there was a new movement towards actual childhood being defined as something different from being an adult
(3:18:52 PM) mendoriryuu: children were not mini adults, they were something pure and innocent, etc
(3:19:11 PM) mendoriryuu: thus why child labor laws went into place
(3:19:35 PM) mendoriryuu: well... i think something similar hapend again in the late 50s
(3:19:44 PM) mendoriryuu: early 60s, etc
(3:19:59 PM) mendoriryuu: i think children were even further removed from being adults
(3:20:13 PM) mendoriryuu: with the whole suburban movement
(3:20:38 PM) mendoriryuu: children were envisioned as even more immature than they previously had been
(3:20:52 PM) mendoriryuu: thus why teens are still "children"
(3:21:00 PM) mendoriryuu: where earlier they werent
(3:21:20 PM) mendoriryuu: does that make sense?
(3:21:51 PM) mendoriryuu: and i think something similar is happening now... now even in your 20s, youre still not an adult really
(3:22:01 PM) mendoriryuu: not by society at least
(3:22:24 PM) mendoriryuu: the range of childhood is being extended later and later
(3:22:52 PM) Damien667: it does make sense
(3:22:59 PM) Damien667: twittering about it
(3:23:02 PM) mendoriryuu: ^^
(3:23:08 PM) Damien667: Well, think about it
(3:24:22 PM) Damien667: With the advanced pace of information, and the enshrining and rewarding of that innocence with a lack of responsibility, what would we naturally have, as these generations hit their 20's?
(3:24:50 PM) mendoriryuu: exactly
(3:25:05 PM) mendoriryuu: and what will happen when their children hit that age?
(3:25:12 PM) mendoriryuu: will 40 be the new point of adulthood
(3:25:20 PM) mendoriryuu: 50?
(3:25:26 PM) Damien667: Jeezus
(3:25:27 PM) mendoriryuu: and our lives get longer too
(3:25:41 PM) mendoriryuu: ... now 80 and 90 are becoming normal
(3:25:47 PM) mendoriryuu: soon 100, 110
(3:26:07 PM) mendoriryuu: every decade we live longer... is another decade we dont have to grow up sooner
(3:27:00 PM) Damien667: They now have the ability to analyze the situation, to think of a more "innocent" and less responsible state and force themselves into it.
(3:27:04 PM) Damien667: Hipsters.
(3:27:46 PM) mendoriryuu: yup
(3:27:58 PM) Damien667: And there's your bedtime story, for the evening. Let's see how many followers it loses me.

Laughing So Hard it Hurts

Welcome.... Welcome to...

Ow

I made it to NY ok, except for taking a nasty fall at the ATL airport. Ow. Bruised my arm badly, and broke a fingernail to the quick. It bled for a while, but the bruise still hurts like hell, and keeps darkening.

This Is Why I Should Sleep More

(1:04:56 AM) mendoriryuu: you know how most species of birds have specialized mites that live in their feathers?
(1:05:03 AM) mendoriryuu: that only live on that species
(1:05:08 AM) Damien667: yeah
(1:05:26 AM) mendoriryuu: ... do angels have a special species of angel feather mite?
(1:05:47 AM) mendoriryuu: and if not... what happens to angel dander?
(1:06:22 AM) mendoriryuu: .... I think im starting to channel bored Monk on a cold north German winter night...
(1:07:25 AM) Damien667: see... That begs the question, though: Does angel dander exist.
(1:07:36 AM) mendoriryuu: ... good damned question
(1:07:59 AM) Damien667: or are they perfect self-contained, perpetual motion machines?
(1:08:41 AM) Damien667: We need to find an angel, and rub it on 1500 people's faces.
(1:08:42 AM) mendoriryuu: ... THATS IT! we solve global warming and the fuel shortage by capturing angels and putting them in GIANT HAMSTER WHEELS!
(1:09:01 AM) Damien667: Whoever sneezes, is allergic to angels, and they do have dander
(1:09:20 AM) mendoriryuu: or allergic to angel mites which also means they have dander
(1:09:21 AM) mendoriryuu: and mites!
(1:09:33 AM) Damien667: Then we STUDY those mites.
(1:09:51 AM) mendoriryuu: and put them in the wheels ?
(1:10:53 AM) Damien667: yes...
(1:10:55 AM) Damien667: Wait...
(1:11:05 AM) Damien667: okay, I'm heading to bed
(1:11:08 AM) mendoriryuu: ttfn!
(1:11:12 AM) mendoriryuu: this is so going on my blog

LOLCumber

There. It is Done.

For those of you interested, my thesis has been published in the ETD system at GSU. That means, other than hard bound copies, it is complete.
You can read it here.

Mixed Feelings

So, I hinted at a big piece of news on twitter last night and this morning - so here it is. I got the teaching job at Georgia State I interviewed for.

On the one hand, I'm overjoyed. It means 1) I don't have to feel like a total failure for not getting into a PhD program this year, and 2) I have a much better paying job than my current one. I can leave my cube job behind, move on to do what I want to do with the rest of my life, etc.

On the other, I'm both embarrassed and sort of depressed about it. I had a good friend also apply for the job, and he didnt get it. I feel like a bit of a prick that I got it and he didnt, because he's just as deserving of it as I am. Too, it means leaving the job I currently have, and love, even if it isnt what I want to do with my life. I feel as if I'm abandoning my boss, though I am trying to get her a good replacement. So, I am sort of left with this odd feeling of guilt and regret on having gotten this job.

I'm sort of bleh now, but happy bleh.

Substance

It has been a while since I've given any real substantive updates around here. Since finals are over, and since I've defended, the bulk of my time is composed of either Work, Sleep, or FFXI.
Work has been boring, yet somehow I'm working even more hours than previously. Monday-Friday, 10-4/4:30, and somehow, I have very little to do. I'm possibly applying for a WebDev job here, that is full time. However, that's dependent on not getting the VI position at GSU, which I applied for. I hope I get it, but I doubt I will. There is too much good competition.
FFXI has been going well, if slowly. I spent most of Saturday getting my white mage to 25, and Sunday doing my rank 5 mission to get airship access. Red mage is now 45, and I am thinking of leveling SCH. Today is a big patch, so we will see if they make any adjustments to those jobs. They are adding lots of fun stuff with this patch, so my hopes are high.
Sleep has been weird. I haven't been sleeping well of late, but at the same time, I've been feeling the urge to sleep quite a lot more. Dreams have been strange, if a bit predictable, given my mood. I've been dreaming of people I haven't seen in a long time, and dreaming of sleep. But given that I've been doing both on and off for the last four months, this should come as no surprise.
I'm going out of town this Saturday, to visit my little sis Gabby up at her place in NY. I'll be gone from Sat to Fri. I'll have my mac with me, and my cellphone, so I will hardly be out of touch. And I'll be spending a great deal of time on ffxi that week. And sleeping. Ahhh, vacation. I'll miss home, but I will enjoy my break.
In other news, there is no other news. Other than my Twitter feed, which I hope to get meshed into this blog soon.