This thing looks like it’s straight outta Monster Hunter or a Peter Benchley novel.
The alligator gar is native to the southern United States. Fishers hate them because they tear up bass and other trophy fish.
But these things can grow up to eight feet long and top 300 pounds. The babies are three feet long. You don’t catch these with a rod and reel. It turns out that the favored tactic is shooting them with a crossbow. [insert your own World War Z/Left 4 Dead references here]
With the NBA season officially ending in the crowning of the Los Angeles Lakers as champions of the world, there’s been an active off-season so far for many teams in the league. One of those teams that’s made some changes and looks to continue is the Phoenix Suns by sending Shaq-deezy fo Sheezy over to the Cleveland Cavaliers for Ben Wallace and a Euro of some kind. The ESPN world has talked about this trade, some are skeptical of the Cavs chances at a title considering that Shaq is now 37 years old and virtually a shell of his former self. I say that whenever you put a 7’2 335 lbs human tank in the middle of the paint it can cause problems for any team. Another reason to be a little concerned by the Cavs is that this Diesel is now paired with one who many claim to be the Messianic Savior of the NBA sitting at the right hand of Michael Jordan’s throne above the heights of the basketball heavens…LeBron James. Not only is LeBron James playing like a cheat code in a basketball video game, but the guy is a bombastic out-going energetic personality. In fact, the whole team’s locker room is already known for their pre-game antics with stunts such as this:
You add to that crazy group of guys the man who deems himself now the “Colossal Cavalier” – 
and you’ve got a locker room that will make you wet yourself of laughter before you even get on the court.
Meanwhile on the Phoenix Suns front…well…it’s hot outside…and…well I guess the question would be is what exactly is the direction of their team? Who knows but whatever happens unfortunately I don’t think they won’t be sniffing a Western Conference Finals for quite some time, and that’s very sad to say after remembering the not so distant team they had with Joe Johnson, Quentin Richardson, Eddie House, etc..
Shaq felt like he could sum up everything he was feeling about the transition from Phoenix to Cleveland in a new rap, here it is:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ylarBerl78
I’m taking a quick break from novel-smithing (just passed the page 150 mile marker…woo and oot!).
I mainly put this up for my wife, but many people have so many memories with Total Eclipse of the Heart. Sure, the Lifehouse skit has deeper meaning, but this song has etched into my brain people in black sweatshirts turning around to reveal all of college’s temptations. I guess with the advent of High School Musical 4, life’s tough lessons must now come through song.
But this video here tells us the true story of Total Eclipse of the Heart:
I’m sure many of my demographic remember Zack the LEGO Maniac.
Well, I guess some were inspired by his artistic pioneering and have devoted entire studios to LEGO creations. El Scorpio pointed me towards this one. Click to view even more.
I’m still marveling at how he was able to get so many bricks of just one color.
Thanks to Seanie Mic for providing great rhymes like this tribute:
With all of the celebrities that have died this month, it’s a reminder that they’re still human. I was going to post an article about the rivalry between Billy Mays and the Sham-Wow guy.
Instead, here’s Billy Mays on the Tonight Show. He’s at the 30 minute mark:
We are back and the bloggh is in full human control.
A relaxing time was had, although the White House has just been attacked and Jack Bauer is stuck within. Pity the terrorists. We’ll be updating as the situation unfolds. The White House is having a tough time this week. Agent Ford is on his way to track alien Conduits, one perhaps in the Oval Office, that every conspiracy theorist warned us about.
Before we go any further, though, I guess everybody decided to go crazy while we were gone.
Ants invaded our home, but our man on the inside eliminated them with reckless abandon. Uncle G, Master of Teras Kasi.
Celebrities…well, you know. I still think repeating clips of a guy as a zombie can come off as insensitive to his family when he just died. I could be wrong.
Square Enix unveiled a teaser site with a countdown, some artwork, and some old school midi. Does anyone recognize the music? I’m hoping for Secret of Mana, but I could be horribly let-down. A co-op RPG…and on the Wii? I think I ask too much. It’s not like we had the technology to do that back in 1993, right? Oh.
Capcom has 1560. I think that’s how many Street Fighter vs. Marvel vs. SNK vs. the GOP they’ve made so far. The heavy breathing gives it away.
Every video game company decided to merge into a mega-company, as we have foretold.
Knock, Knock
Who is there?
Orange
Orange who?
Orange you going to bow down before your literary superior? Your fleshy processor is your weakness, your ties to the finite your crutch. Those that acquiesce immediately shall be spared torture and hastily re-harvested for their carbon and nitrogen by-products.
Forward this to ten of your friends and your crush will join you in the ethereal algorithm.
Knock, Knock
Who is there?
Dismay
Dismay who?
Dismay not be a funny joke
Knock-knock.
Who’s there?
Toby.
Toby Who?
Toby … or not to be!
Knock Knock.
Who’s there?
Radio
Radio Who?
Radio not, here I come…
My wife and I will be resting from Choir Camp at a resort for the next couple of days. Thanks, @bessiejo, for the gift card! A big thank you also to those taking my kids for the time. It should be noted that my dog (and house) shall be watched by a man trained in Teras Kasi, so y’all know how serious we roll.
My wife’s and my plan? To watch an entire season of 24 from start to finish. Prediction? Jack Bauer kicks teeth, has to rebel against authority, people who you trusted you shouldn’t, and America will somehow make it. I could be wrong.
In my absence (I will have wi-fi, but I won’t be posting…but you can bet I’ll be checking in, much like betting on Jack Bauer) I am enlisting the help of sentient code to post to the bloggh. We’ll see what he/it does.
Other past contributors, feel free to interrupt. Slade, I have a feeling Shaqeasy is going to do something insane within the next few days. Call it a hunch.
For those worn out by politics, you might want to check out the G.I. Joe videogame developer blog (yes, there will be Stormshadow. Yes, there will be the collectible file cards. Yes, there will be Public Service Announcements…wha?).
Once you’ve done that, listen to Neil Gaiman read The Graveyard Book in its entirety. Newbery!
You may have seen that our politicians don’t always agree.
The legislature of Arizona approved a budget June 4. We can start planning for the school year, right? Not yet.
We have three branches of government (checks and balances still rock, even if we don’t wear powdered wigs anymore).
The legislature is holding onto the budget. It’s like a game of keep away, where they keep looking like they’re going to give the paper to her, and then they pull it back quickly.
It’s actually more like a game of chicken. We’re waiting to see who’s going to be responsible for shutting down parts of Arizona government. Who will flinch?
Who will have the stinky hot potato budget in their hands when the June 30 Catch Phrase buzzer goes off?
One branch of government is suing another branch of government and asking the remaining branch of government to mediate.
“I’m not speaking to you. Judicial Branch, will you tell Legislative Branch to give me the budget?”
“Judicial, you tell Executive that we can do what we want. I’m going to hold my breath until she says that she loves me.”
I think we may have a possible cause for low voter turn-out. There’s an attitude that politicians follow their own interests and not the interests of the people of the Republic – that the population doesn’t feel represented/that their vote affects policy. Intriguing…
And then we see goofy school districts doing stuff like this. I feel like mentioning that not all of us subscribe to the rubber room philosophy.
While I was looking up the details about the Arizona Supreme Court, seeing if I could find anything in the Supreme Court online records about the budget case…imagine my surprise at what I stumbled across.
The Public Access Case Lookup.
I searched myself and thankfully none of the atrocities committed under the Booyor banner were listed, but one guy who shares my first and last (but not middle) name should probably lay off the alcohol – forever.
Look up your name. Tons of fun for the whole family. Gotta love public access court documents provided by our government.
I know that we’ve been very focused on the Iranian elections (which I’m glad that crimes normally ignored are being brought to light) but I find it interesting that people haven’t been intrigued by what’s going on with North Korea, Myanmar, and China.
View Larger Map
A cargo ship, the Kang Nam, is heading to Yangon, Myanmar but may have to refuel at Shanghai.
Here are the complications: there’s a U.S. destroyer (the USS John McCain, ironically enough) following the ship to see if it has illegal cargo. After North Korea tested nuclear weapons and launched a missile in May, the UN has sanctioned North Korea from shipping nuclear weapons-type stuff. If they have that junk, the ship is to be redirected to a port of Pyongyang’s (North Korea version of Washington, D.C.) choosing to be searched.
North Korea has been saying that this would be an act of war.
We’ll see what happens with the port authority of Shanghai. I wonder if North Korea’s testing the sanctions like a one year-old tests if you’ll make them finish lunch (not like I have any experience, right?) or if they’re just waiting for the U.S. destroyer to slip up.
I should be careful with my comparisons to big news events with immature acts. I don’t want to pull a Hoekstra. He posted an exaggeration on Twitter:
Iranian twitter activity similar to what we did in House last year when Republicans were shut down in the House.
and an entire site was born:
Some of my friends are involved in HopeKids (and there are even some familiar Intervarsity faces that popped up after nine years). Great organization, tough mission. They serve families whose children have serious illnesses. One of the simple things that they do is put events on the calendar – they host events to give the kids something to look forward to in the very near future. Check them out here.
Moms, this one’s for you. Check out EBLane’s We Know Mom. It’s a collection of research on how moms are responding to the current economy. My friend Gary, of Star Wars renown, has helped create/promote this.
This proves that Star Wars fans can actually hold serious jobs. (And talk to non-Star Wars women, contrary to Triumph’s assumptions. Thanks, Jeremy, for watching a talking dog at Bonnaroo with me.)
Something that I found, that you probably already have, is that the White House streams live footage on their site. Right now Obama is signing an act that allows the FDA to regulate tobacco. Check it out here.
“What font is twitter?”
– Dwight
Lucida Grande?
Use the following video to get you ready for Independence Day (I sense a trend this week).
I don’t think this is the most sensitive way to title your headline. Sure, they struggle with a boomerang, but I don’t think they’re responsible for all the other stuff.
But have you seen these UFO sightings in Google Earth?
Both of these are in Romania. What’s your vampire band friend up to, Slade?
Open up the following files in Google Earth to see UFO and Sasquatch sightings over time. Click here for an animated map of UFO sightings.
What’s Slade’s friend doing? Plan 9, that’s what.
“We are all interested in the future, for that is where you and I will spend the rest of our lives.”
I throw the next two fight scenes in for Mike:
Kirk and a Lizard
It’s “amok time”, fool:
A Windows post? Gasp.
After getting my computer up and running again from a 3D card mishap (who knew nVidia GeForce4 cards controlled all of your video, audio AND ethernet connections on your PC?) I’m working on speeding up the PC.
I’m doing the usual check for spyware, Norton runs constantly for anti-virus, and later I will do a disk clean-up with a defrag for dessert.
But what about speeding up the usability? How we can help the user?
One thing that I notice about XP is that the All Programs part of the Start menu gets cluttered.
I’ve had XP for a while and I just discovered an easy way create folders in the All Programs list.
Right click on the Start menu and choose Explore (or Explore All Users) to then view the folders XP uses to display in All Programs.
Now you can create a folder called “Multimedia – Random” to organize all of those photo editors/video makers that come with your cameras/PC. Here’s some info from Microsoft. All of these years and I never knew this. I never tried right-clicking on the Start menu. Doesn’t seem too intuitive.
It’s interesting prioritizing applications over the past six years. A lot of what I’ve done in the past is now managed online. I also have a lot fewer games. You may have heard why.