21
Mar
08
My incredibly simple homemade HDTV antenna.
Next February in 2009, we'll no longer have UHF and VHF analog signals. All broadcasts will be digital and people with older television sets will need a simple A/D converter. Of course my fancy flat screen is HDTV ready, so all I need is a better antenna.
I enjoy not having cable and only use my TV/DVD setup for watching my plethora of movies. But I do miss PBS shows and Nova on Sunday nights, as well as the local news. So I thought all I'd have to do is connect a set of bunny ears to the TV via a coaxial cable and I'd be set. That didn't work out so well, I barely got Channel 29 and that was it. So every once in a while I could watch Family Guy reruns that looked more like the scrambled Playboy channel. read more »
04
Mar
09
Even more NSFW
when clicked.
I've been spending more time in the shop lately fixing a customer's crashed spindle. So when our maintenance guy came chuckling out of the restroom he's remodeling, I just happened to be walking by. We've been busy in the shop recently tearing out old facilities and putting in new. In this case, Charlie has finished one of the shop bathrooms a week or two ago and has now moved onto the next one. Today he was pulling out the stall dividers and the ceiling tiles.
Apparently, hidden behind one of the ceiling tiles was a very dusty copy of Big Busty magazine. :) Ha ha, lol, many guffaws from those in earshot. Or as Charlie calls it, "the amateur's gynecology manual." This particular issue was from 1970 and had nearly 40 years of dust on it. But the cover still displayed the same retro styling shown in the image to the right.
Then to make this fun find even better, I was told that this is the second stash Charlie has uncovered. Hidden in the ceiling of the first remodeled bathroom was another issue of the same era of magazine, but this time with an accompanying jar of Vaseline. [shivers] uh... I guess someone was having a few extended trips to the restroom back in the 70's and reading more than the newspaper. o_0
11
Feb
08
All kinds of sites are making fun of these New Jersey guys. Apparently, these orangies are taking over the Jersey club scene. Thank Jeebis that's far away from Minneapolis. One would think that homeland security wouldn't let these guys on a plane being suspicious that they're not in fact the same species.
I can't resist jumping on this wagon -- they're so incredibly ridiculous. Even Vanilla Ice and MC Hammer had better fashion sense. At least they wouldn't be camouflaged in a pumpkin patch.
It also goes along with the striped shirt phenomenom. Unfortunately we do have that in Minnesota. But at least it makes douchebags easier to spot. If you're a lady, please read these visual clues below so you know what to avoid. read more »
01
Dec
08
You may or not be aware of the Dos Equis contest for placing an assistant to the Most Interesting Man in the World. Our common friend, Chris Whaley, has risen through the ranks of competitors to the lofty position of one in ten nominees. Seriously folks, that's out of a pool of more than 9000 -- he's managed to convince enough people that he's interesting enough for this lofty position.
Go read his online profile and submit to clever tidbits such as this:
CURRENT OCCUPATION:
It's not so much an occupation as a little game I like to play: I call it "Keep Alive". It involves constantly redistributing debt over a variety of credit accounts and eating sushi on Tuesdays....
or:
UNIQUE QUALIFICATIONS:
As mindful locuteur of the Most Interesting Man in the World, I would be sure to keep my public statements to a minimum - both to preserve your mystique and avoid any unnecessary scuffles with pretenders to that honorable title....
Chris needs your vote. Do it now. Read on for simple and easy to follow instructions from Chris himself. read more »
25
Mar
09
Shaun Attwood, aka Jon
Lately I've been pouring through Shaun's Jon's Jail Journal blog. Partly because it's akin to our own Badger Blog, and partly because I'm fascinated by such stories of survival. This one is of Shaun Attwood, a former resident of both the notorious jail run by Sheriff Joe Arpaio and then one of the two Ultra-max prisons in Arizona. Shaun was sentenced with a relatively minor drug charge and survived deplorable conditions while under Arpaio's care.
Sheriff Joe, known as "the toughest sheriff in America" and glorified by the media, started the fad of demeaning prisoners by making them pink underwear, socks, and shirts.
You may have heard of this as many news stations have reported the story. Whatever your position on the right or wrong of that, Arpaio is guilty of far worse crimes and continues to rule his roost unchallenged. A read through Shaun's account of his jail time quickly shows this. I'd recommend starting at the beginning of Shaun's journal and reading through. He really is a fine writer in accounting his tale from as unbiased opinion as one could possibly hope for in such conditions. Otherwise, read the abridged version of the jail time in Hell on Earth.
I'm not going to propose I have a solution for dealing with our social miscreants, but after reading about the atrocities Sheriff Joe has committed, it sickens me that such non-humanity exists. I know it's just one of many horrific things out there, but this fuckhead continues to be carried by the media, gain the support of his constituents, and then be re-elected. Twice! What the hell is wrong with these people?
04
Dec
08
Stumbling the interwebz, I came across this little memory jog. And it made me remember another little friend of mine that enjoyed Dr. Seuss even more than I did. Out of all the books we read before bedtime, we definitely read Fox in Socks the most. And particularly giggled a lot over the part covering tweedle beetles.
Reading about tweedle beetle battles aloud is the literary equivalent of playing Metallica in Rock Band on the "extreme" level. But man, after rambling it off my tongue for weeks on end, I became pretty good. The faster I rattled it out, the harder Mira laughed. :) Good times indeed. You could almost feel the anticipation as Fox in Socks pages were turned one by one, and as the page turned to tweedle beetles, Mira was already giggling.
For those of you in the dark, here's the relevant text... read more »
16
Oct
07
Our cat Jewely, (who's a ninja when we're not home), has giant fur-lumps on her back that are slowly taking over her entire body. It's like petting a berber carpet. We joke and muse that she's probably Jamaican and is just sporting her rasta heritage. No wonder she's so laid back.
Well enoughs enough. Those lumps have gotta go. We tried this once back in February. (See the evidence.) I held the cat down while Jen wielded the razor and had at it. This lasted for about a half an hour before Jen's and my hands looked like we'd stuck them in a thrashing machine. Sid was going berserk trying to free Jewely from the horrors happening in the kitchen and Mira was confused about whether we were helping or hurting the cat. We wisely gave up and decided that we should bring Jewely to the pet groomers. And now many months have gone by.
So what did I do on Sunday? Shaved the cat! read more »
02
Jul
07
Have any of you seen this or heard of it yet? In the crypto/unexplained forums, it's been taking the headlines recently. I have to admit that it's a finely crafted tale. The attention to detail is phenomenal.
It all started when "Chad" wrote into AM Sci-fi broadcast, Coast to Coast, with his tale of a UFO accompanied with incredibly detailed photos back in early May. Since then, numerous other sightings of remarkably similar "crafts" have been seen. This alone was enough to spark a wild debate in the believers -vs- skeptics circles in the forums of the unexplained.
Then to add a cherry to the cake, "Isaac" wrote into the same radio station to provide clues to what the objects are. He even made up a cryptic website to provide his story and another incredibly detailed set of blueprints if you will of the "language" seen in the photos.
In one of the more popular forums, great amounts of time and thought have produced numerous theories that have scant evidence. These range from extraterrestrial in nature, to unmanned drones used by power companies to monitor high wire power lines. Some people are convinced of clever CGI or photoshop tricks, and the other half are convinced that it's a real anti-gravity craft of some sort. read more »
20
Jul
09
This book is out of print, but well worth a quick read through. Published by Hallmark in 1972, Dean Walley has written in prose a near perfect summary of how a great relationship should be.
I know it's a little sappy compared to normal goobertech affair, but I think it's quite beautiful and relevant. Plus, the cheesy 70's photos are a hoot. :)
- click on the page links below to read -
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