I played scottish fiddle music while riding on a river boat built to carry Army tanks in Bangkok, Thailand, two nights ago.

 Your argument is invalid.

 Sometimes life is awesome. Read full post »

I read a lot of Salon and Slate and Wired and it strikes me as a rather bigoted consequence of feminism that no journalist seems inclined to ever refer to a man as "a man" or a group of men as "men".  It's always "dude" or some other casual word that… Read full post »

Politeness died when retail and customer service employees lost all power and were forced into saying things they didn't mean.

Of course, no matter what time period you look at, people that choose retail as a profession should have a certain politeness about them, but that politeness should… Read full post »

I like to drink.  I like to drink in the presence of strangers.  I like to go up to people in a drunken stupor and ask them how their night's going as if I'm an informal maître d'.  Once upon a time, I had a seizure.  Actually, I had three or… Read full post »

When Steve Jobs dies, all apple products will display on their screens
nothing but the New York Times for an entire day, the front page story
of which will be his obituary.  The very next day iTurtlenecks will be
released, which won't actually be any warmer or more durable than
regular… Read full post »

When I was growing up, my uncle and father and grandfather would all sit around and play pinochle during visits.  A lot of my friends play World of Warcraft.  Quite a few of them have kids.  In 20 years, when Timmy comes home to visit, might it be all Halo LAN… Read full post »

I want people to understand the value of humanity.  I want people to understand that evil exists, that it's not always craziness or uncontrollable outrage or reflexive animal instinct that effects human beings and the actions that they take, but actual evil.  Cold, cruel, unbending, ever vi… Read full post »

How come the error messages that pop up on our screens have "OK" written on the buttons?  Why not "Alright" or perhaps "Understood" or merely "Click"?  It's not as if the average computer user actually understands those error messages or is making a determination whether this is actually "O… Read full post »

After seeing so many spammers posting links to clothing retailers (or saying they're posting links to clothing retailers, I haven't clicked) this has gotten me thinking that perhaps we of Open Salon should show them a better way to spread their message on the interwebz.

What website have you never re… Read full post »

If people keep abusing the following I'm either going to have to turn it into a drinking game, which would kill me through cirrhoses in a matter of days, start screaming, which would make me go hoarse in an hour, or become even more of a hermit than I already am.… Read full post »

I just got home from Avatar.  I must say, on many counts, well done.

 It is an absolutely gorgeous movie.  Those folks that went to see Beowulf and remember the rather cheesy 3D effects that went into it will be amazed by what they've done with Avatar.  The lush ecology and… Read full post »

The other night on the NBC nightly news, there were two stories on that seemed rather complementary.  The Copenhagen climate summit was, I believe, the lead story, but then at the end of the news cast they were talking about Virgin Galactic having completed Space Ship Two.

If there are too many… Read full post »

Most folks on this site might want to just skip my first two paragraphs, although I hope you'll come back and read them when you're done.

I just found out that Maine rejected gay marriage a few minutes ago from my girlfriend.  It seems a rather odd thing to do,… Read full post »

Remember when jump drives used to be really awesome?

Now they're required for my school, and I feel so bothered by how mundane they've become.

There's not really any big new thing going on right now that I can geek out about. The interwebz have become passe, file sharing is practically no more,… Read full post »

Judging any religion/scientific theory/belief/etc. by the actions of its adherents is folly, especially if that religion/belief is held by a large portion of the populace. Whether Darwin had an association with Hitler is just as irrelevant as how much Christian churches have advocated the oppression… Read full post »

Do you ever wonder what the world would be like if we didn't fight any wars?  Sometimes I wonder.  We sure would save a lot of money.  What could we do with all that cash?

I would like to go into space.  Sure, I'm a geek and all, but more than that,… Read full post »

No one should die because they cannot afford health care, and no one should go broke because they get sick.

 I think it's rather silly that we bankrupt people for even the most major surgery.  If you look at the cost of the materials that go into a particular surgery, and… Read full post »

I just came from a showing of the above mentioned movie.  There was nothing wrong with the production of this movie.  For what it was, it was rather well written, and the cast was well chosen and practiced their art admirably.

 What I would like to say is not particularly related… Read full post »

This movie made my girlfriend cry.  It is really depressing and I would advise anyone that's going to see it to take that into consideration.

It's right up there with The Abyss and Contact and Gattaca and the first two Alien pictures.   It's a powerful movie that happens to be… Read full post »

*BSG Spoiler's Alert*

Watch before reading, if you care to.

The last episode of Battlestar Galactica is old news to most of you, but for those of us that wait for DVD's to come out, it's a brand new discovery.

 I heard a lot of things that I… Read full post »

I'm tired.  I'm really tired of these tired arguments.  I'm tired of people either purposefully misunderstanding the points I'm about to restate, or ignoring them completely.  I don't want to do this anymore, but apparently I can't not.

 http://open.salon.com/blog/asta_charles/200… Read full post »

This is a lovely little recipe that I got drunk making the other day.

One can coconut milk

About a half of a small jar of peanut butter

Zest and Juice of two limes

Some garlic, cilantro, and ginger, as much or as little as you feel like of
each.

About three… Read full post »

Anyone with even a modicum of mercy and intellect can easily see that women, in an enlightened age such as we espouse to live in, should not be held down by the tyranny of their biology.  Thus, forcing a woman to give birth to a child merely because she chooses to… Read full post »

I'm pro-war.  Not pro Iraq war, although I suppose Iraq's as good a place to have one as any, just pro war.  Take even a casual look at history and you'll see that every major technological breakthrough in human history has come out of people trying to figure out how to… Read full post »

I like to put things in boxes. I think boxes are useful items that allow one to organize one's life. There are a wonderful assortment of boxes that may be procured from retailers such as Target, IKEA, and other home goods stores. After finding a few that match your interior design… Read full post »