Wednesday, August 27, 2008

And now . . . the moment we've all been waiting for . . .
Russia threatens military response to US missiles

MOSCOW (AP) - Russian President Dmitry Medvedev is warning his country may respond to a U.S. missile shield in Europe through military means.

Medvedev says that the deployment of an anti-missile system close to Russian borders "will of course create additional tensions."

"We will have to react somehow, to react, of course, in a military way," Medvedev was quoted as saying Tuesday by the RIA-Novosti news agency.

Russian officials have already warned of a military response to the U.S. plans, but the statement by the Russian leader was likely to further aggravate already tense relations with the West. The comments come after Medvedev recognized two Georgian regions as independent nations, prompting criticism from the U.S. and Europe.
Ok, kiddies. Just make sure you have your eye on your favorite gas station/sporting goods store when its time to head for the hills...

The Chair Is Against The Wall.

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Monday, August 18, 2008

Alas, Forums

The new forums are now online.

Less-crappy look and feel coming soon.

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Sunday, August 17, 2008

BMF Knuckle Guard

Fun with nylon 550 cord.


Still can't figure out what to do with the two loose ends.

Here's the instructions
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Friday, August 15, 2008

Tom Clancy Reality

Ok - I am not a big gamer, but I appreciate the ability to walk around and blast 3rd-world uglies and space aliens with little regard for decorum or civility.

And truly the closest I'll probably ever come to a real flamethrower is in a WWII-themed "Call of Duty"-esqe game.

However, as a reformed news hound as well, I thought this was pretty interesting . . .

Georgia-Russia conflict predicted in 2001 video game
Life imitates Tom Clancy

Recent news coverage of the worrying ground war between Russia and Georgia could well leave gamers with a sense of deja vu.

The South Ossetia war, which began on August 7, bears a close resemblance to events portrayed in the 2001 Xbox and Playstation 2 game "Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon," the first level of which takes place against the backdrop of a struggle between Georgian rebel forces and the legitimate Georgian government in the South Ossetian region.

Ghost Recon's plot follows these skirmishes with a full-scale Russian invasion of the region, a subsequent evacuation of US forces, and ultimately the fall of the Georgian government. Ghost Recon almost got the timescale right, too: the game's imaginary events begin in April 2008, just a few months before the real war kicked off.

If Ghost Recon's uncanny trend continues, we can expect the South Ossetia conflict to culminate in a dramatic assault on Red Square and the Kremlin by NATO troops -- spearheaded by an elite US special forces team under the control of a pimply fourteen-year-old with a joypad. Considering that the most recent game in the Ghost Recon series climaxes with an oh-so-narrowly-averted terrorist nuclear strike on the US, we hope the predictive power of the game runs out. Soon.

Too bad life can't imitate a game like Tomb Raider . . .

Oh wait . . . maybe it has. :)

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Wednesday, August 13, 2008

Tropic Thunder – Now with More Retards

Tropic Thunder will open this week to a hail of criticism from various members of the press and polite society. Much to my surprise, it had little to do with Robert Downey, Jr.'s black-face performance of a tough Vietnam-era sergeant, but rather dealt with the copious use of the epithet “retard” oft-used by the characters to describe themselves.

Their indignation caused a bit of a row at the opening of the film, attended by advocate, and openly retarded actor, Tom Cruise. The “beautiful people” were met on the red carpet by a group of protesters coming from across the street.

Dozens of people from organizations such as the Special Olympics and the American Association of People with Disabilities protested the movie-industry spoof across the street from the film's Los Angeles premiere at Mann's Bruin Theatre on Monday. The protesters held up signs with slogans such as "Call me by my name, not by my label" and chanted phrases like "Ban the movie, ban the word." More.

One of the film''s writers recently spoke to the controversy, saying:

"Some people have taken this as making fun of handicapped people, but we're really trying to make fun of the actors who use this material as fodder for acclaim," co-writer Etan Cohen told MTV. "The last thing you want is for people to think you're making fun of the victims in this who are having their lives turned into fodder for people to win Oscar."

Whether we like it or not, I think there are certain offensive words that have crept into our national lexicon – and retard is one of them. It’s become a way to describe things or people, and in the absence of mentally handicapped friends or family, it’s probably something folks say a lot without the hesitation that comes from personal involvement with affected individuals.

Honestly, I didn’t really think much about it until I saw a post on my Facebook page from a high-school friend who is a regional leader of the Special Olympics and has a sister with Down syndrome.

Coming from a family where we have a middle school teacher on staff, our language tends to degrade the deeper we are into the school year. Whereas we would once describe things as being "unfortunate," as time goes on they become “retarded” or “gay”. There is a certain primal element that goes into the use of some of these words and a sense of empowerment that comes with using a mean word becomes a tribal designation to separate “us” from “them”.

We are this, they are “gay” – or whatever the nom du jour happens to be.

That’s not spoken as a disparagement of gay folks, but I think the language also becomes a short-cut to create a funny reaction in folks and the shock-factor of a lot of jokes is more often based on language that creates offense by stereotyping one group or another and putting them into the awkward position where we can point at them and laugh.

It all comes back to asking why things make us laugh, and I think we either laugh at things because they are really are funny or sometimes we laugh at things because they make us uncomfortable – and somewhere up in the cerebrum similar chemicals are being mixed around and it elicits the same “laugh” response.

And speaking of gay and funny, I remember watching Ellen DeGeneres’ bit a few years back at a relatives' house (we still don’t have cable). It was really funny, really clever, and above all – really clean.

We were all amazed later on when recounting the show that it was funny without having the normal potty talk or “seven words” to make us laugh.

It’s a rare comedian that can elicit such riotous laughter without working blue.

But I think there is something more to the protests that the disabilities advocates have hit on.

“I just think Ben Stiller and the people involved in this movie just didn't think it was going to be offensive."

Andrew J. Imparato, president of the American Association of People with Disabilities

I think he’s right. I don’t think Hollywood thinks a lot about what they put together.

Movies are a business – a big business – and Hollywood writers and producers have put together a John Grisham-novel-esqe algorithm for making money on their product.

There is no motivation to try to challenge perceptions of comedy and what makes us laugh because it’s just too risky. If it’s too high-brow no one will get it, or even another group will come out of the woodwork and be offended by the material because it’s considered snobby.

So we’re back to where we started – watching the latest stars push the envelope of what’s socially acceptable and maybe even highlight the hidden biases within ourselves.

At least now we have explosions and cool special effects.

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Thursday, August 07, 2008

Wednesday, August 06, 2008

She Gets My Vote

Finally someone with an energy policy that makes sense.



Now that is some serious awesome. Thanks, Interweb!

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Officers fear Mexican military encounters will turn violent
Since 1996, there have been more than 200 confirmed incursions by the Mexican military into the United States.

Particularly galling is the fact that the Mexican military often pulls these stunts in Humvees donated to them by the American taxpayers.

More.

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New Punisher Movie Posters

Some new Punisher: War Zone movie posters were released into the InterWeb.


They look pretty cool - kinda in the "Welcome Back, Frank" style that Steve Dillon/Garth Ennis used to revitalize the series. I really liked that series, as it did away with a lot of the silliness that had become the hallmark of the character - Microchip, The Battle Van, using a mini-gun in downtown New York and not activating the National Guard in the process . . .

It also gives a closer look at the "action collar" thing that has been bugging me from the trailer.


I supposed that its some kinda armour, but I think if you were going that route, you'd probably wear some kind of DEA-mask or helmet as well? Or maybe the slicked back hair has been rated to Level 2, so it's not a concern?

The director is some German chick, so maybe its a goth/industrial thing?


The film is being described as a reboot of the first series, which is great, since that movie was so bad and didn't at all set itself up for a good sequel (SARCASM ALERT).

There's a credit for Microchip in the cast list, so let's just hope this one doesn't leave us longing for Dolph Lundgren.

More info on the train wreck that led to this movie here.

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Friday, August 01, 2008

Quotes

I’m trying to save the planet; I’m trying to save the planet.”
- Nancy Pelosi

"The urge to save humanity is almost always only a false-face for the urge to rule it."
- H L Mencken

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