R.I.P. Ray Macula

The official place for the memorial page is here now. -7/24/06

I just found out that my best friend is dead.

I hadn’t heard anything from him in over a month. Normally that wouldn’t have seemed odd since he moved to the middle of Wyoming. However, lately he’d been on instant messenger talking a blue streak. When the messaging stopped, I got concerned. When I emailed him to see if he was ok and no response, I got worried.

Tonight, though I don’t know why, I checked the obituaries. Life is odd like that.

It was odd how we came about as friends. It was in freshman year of college. In the beginning I only knew of him from sight (he’s hard to miss). He and a bunch of students were on a trip the the Jersey shore; I too was there but with a different group. I picked him out of the crowd as our respective groups passed each other and merely said “sup” and made some small banter.

Later that evening we met up again in the computer lounge of the dorm. It was were all the cool kids hung out. We picked up the banter from that afternoon (after him trying to figure out my name, ultimately calling me Rutiger because he knew it began with an “R”…), and it carried long into the night. Thus, our co-conspiracy began.

That year we frequented the local coffee house, enamoring ourselves with the local malcontents. The next year, we ran the coffee house.

Year three we weathered a long dorming experience with 2 unwanted roommates / criminal types.

Year four, it was the student newspaper all the way.

All the long we debated and conspired and created. We were a team. He became the brother I never had. I would not be the same person today had I never met him. To say he would be missed is an understatement of great proportions.

I cannot believe he is gone. But, where ever he’s gotten to, you know he’s making his mark.

Rest in Peace my brother.

The Lame Japanese Insult Printy

The Lame Japanese Insult Printy

Your job is to find the following lame, academic and probably dowright inaccurate insults in the Japanese language.

AMERIKAJIN FUJIN FUKETSUNA GAIJIN GAIKOKUJIN KAERU

KUDAMONO MINIKUI MUKASHINO PIKURUSU SHITSUREINA SOYANA YASAI

Get your plain text version here
Solution

Created with Camtech 2000′s Word Finder.

The Wide World Of Video Printy

The Wide World Of Video Printy

Who knew there were so many video formats… yes laserdisc and laserdisk are different, that’s why they died…

BETAMAX DVD FILM LASERDISC LASERDISK MINIDV

NTSC PAL REEL TO REEL SECAM SUPER EIGHT VHS

Get your plain text version here
Solution

Created with Camtech 2000′s Word Finder.

The Football Printy

The Football Printy

See if you can find:

BEARS, BENGALS, BILLS, BRONCOS, BROWNS, BUCS, CARDINALS, CHARGERS, CHIEFS, COLTS, COWBOYS, DOLPHINS, EAGLES, FALCONS, GIANTS, JAGUARS, JETS, LIONS, NINERS, PACKERS, PANTHERS, PATRIOTS, RAIDERS, RAMS, RAVENS, REDSKINS, SAINTS, SEAHAWKS, STEELERS, TEXANS, TITANS, VIKINGS

Get your plain text version here

Solution

Created with Camtech 2000′s Word Finder.

Instant Media

So you say you like videocasts and podcasts. Chances are, then, you’re using currently using iTunes. A good choice, yes. It’s got a built in mp3 player (ie its Raison D’être) and the nify capability to download more mp3s. It also has, in recent months, been able to download as the lastest Daily Show and Lost episodes (for a price). And sure, it has a bevy of free podcasts and vidcasts to search though.

Sounds like a dream. Except for one thing… it’s clunky! Sometime having the world at your fingertips can be a bad thing. Everyone and their dog can add their podcast to iTunes and as a result you go into the search and theres thousands of dead or dying listings.

Instant Media (you remember Instant Media, this is a review about Instant Media) is a much nicer and sleeker program when it comes to this sort of thing.

The interface is easy to use. Videocasts and Audiocasts are easily marked, and within each a nice navigation side bar with a more detailed subject list than iTunes as well as the number of casts that are in each category).

As for the content, the folks at IM are a bit more picky when it comes to who gets to use their system to broadcast. Despite this, IM has more featured Videocasts now than iTunes. The audiocasts are building, but at least you can sift though them easier. Most of these you can get at iTunes too, but there are some exclusives to IM… which depending on your tastes can be a good or bad thing.

The listed content is also all free, which is a good thing (especially if you’ve ever clicked buy in iTunes by mistake).

And, unlike iTunes, if your favorite casts aren’t listed, IM has an add feed function where you provide the RSS URL of whatever it is you’re currently watching. The feed for NWOt radio is http://www.newworldotter.com/radio/wp-rss2.php by the way.

Now for a bit of the techno-babble. Once subscribed to your media, IM has a wide array of things to fiddle with. You can set filters to allow or exclude content by keywords; set how often you want to grab new stuff; and set how long you want your downloads to hang around before deletion. You can of course, opt to save the shows to other folders once downloaded.

The download engine is a bit torrent system which makes downloading much quicker. That is to say, instead of d/l just from the originating website, you also get from other users.

Another 1-up on iTunes is the news aggregator. You can subscribe to the headlines of all sorts of news organizations. The only drawback to this is the Add RSS function doesn’t work here, so you’re limited to the (so far) 57 news agencies listed.

IM has a versitile media player cabable of HD and can run the gamut of codecs and formats. It also includes the capability to index your mp3 collection, but that’s meh. It doesn’t keep any of the statistics or meta data that iTunes boasts. Nor can you get more music on a whim.

On to some downsides. When browsing the listings, there is no way to see info on individual episodes; you’ll have to subscribe first and this can lead to a lot of unwanted downloads. There is also no built-in method to get your downloads to your iPod or other miscellaneous devices.

All in all though, I say keep the iTunes for your music, but use Instant Media for everything else. Unless you’re on a Mac… they’re still working on that.

Haditha

It will undoubtedly be the most divisive incident of a long while. Not only has it made an already angry Iraqi public angrier; not only has it made an already angry American public angrier; not only has it added blemish to the proud history of the USMC; but it has made many a public figure loose their marbles and any respect they may or may not have deserved.

Let me begin by stating that I do not defend whatever went on that day, and that any cover up should not be in place. However, those accused deserve a fair trial and hopefully it comes out that they were in the right.

But, no matter the outcome, those marines will never, ever live it down. And that is, in part, thanks to Senator John Murtha. It is no secret that he feels we should be pulling out of Iraq. So when the first reports of this came though the grapevine, he jumped all over it. Before any of the facts were really in he condemned their actions and began using it to his causes.

As a veteran who has gone though the hells of Vietnam he should, of all people, have handled this with kid gloves. Bad things happen in war time, and with all incidents they will be investigated. And, whether guilty or innocent, one hopes it is not written off and justice is served to the fullest – especially in cases of war crimes. But, to publicly destroy these soldiers before any trial is wrong. No matter the outcome they will forever be known for Haditha. And, now, because of Murtha’s rhetoric they may never get a unbiased trial.

In a sense I agree with Murtha’s sentiment. We’re sending weekend warriors over to Iraq; and if professional soldiers can snap under the pressure – what chances do those reservists have? But this case should be made behind closed doors to the people who matter – his colleagues who can actually do something about it. It’s out of the American people’s hands now, so don’t fire them up and lynch unconvicted soldiers.

But there are no excuses for that day. By the term innocence in their case I mean either they were framed or they were defending themselves. I hope either of those were the case. However, all other outcomes mean guilty. But there are some who would defend this massacre “because these things happen.” One of those is Bill O’Reilly.

For many years I had respect for Bill. His ideas and views used to be sound, especially his books. In later years though he’s spiraled downhill. I chalked it up to fatigue, I mean the guy is on constantly. But, no more. I saw the episode of O’Reilly on which the following clip talks about. It’s from the June 1st Countdown with Keith Olbermann and he says it better than I ever could.

I still feel O’Reilly had some good ideas at one point, and this bit of batshit insaneness won’t make me burn his older books. However, after things like this, his future looks bleak and I think he should take a LONG nap.

In Need of a Quack

Dear Mr. Eccentric,

I am a 14-year-old wreck. I am obese and eat way too much, play too many video games, stay up way past midnight, ditch classes and sleep with all sorts of people. I know its bad the lifestyle I lead, but it’s hard for me to stop. I went to my parents with my problems (well, except for the sex), and they pass it off as just a phase; but I think I need help!

Is it too late for me?

Spinning My wheels,
Spread Eagle, Wisconsin

My Dear Ms. Spinning,

I hope “injecting Sterno between my toes” is thankfully not in that litany of miss deeds because you don’t do it, rather than merely omitted because you just spaced out.

Your parents are right, however; it is just a phase. That is, if by phase they mean it will end in its own due time. Then yes, it’s a phase. And, it will end… on a slab in the county morgue!

But it’s not too late. By realizing you are wastrel whore and by admitting that raiding fridge is not a glandular problem… you can be saved. Though from what I can see this is a very tough case to which your standard psychobabble won’t cut mustard.

So I recommend you do what all troubled teens with asinine parents do, join a cult. Theres one near you just two towns west called the Union of the Celestial Wooden Duck. It began in 1977 with the launch of the Voyager Space probe. One of the scientists snuck a hunting decoy into the Golden Record compartment. On the duck he carved a bunch of random squiggles figuring it just had to read “Please Return to Sender” in some language somewhere out there. Now he and his followers wait for the glorious return of that decoy in the loving arms of an intergalactic woodwork lover.

But with their guidance I’m sure you’ll be able to shape up. A steady diet of Kool-Aid and rice will get you nice and trim; the no technology mandate will get the controller out of your hands; and the strictly enforced chastity dogma will beat the promiscuity out of you. You’ll be even be able to catch up on your school work what with their top-notch re-education program.

I would just bail out when the Grand Oaken Mallard breaks out his telescope and HAM radio.