Friday, January 14, 2005

NW Alliance member

The Editor has joined the latest greatest blogger alliance on the web - Head West, Turn Right - created by Brian B.

Gosh, finally!

Keep your dang hands off me!

Scary as heck, unethical, immoral and just down right disgusting... BUT it sure would have been funny to see CBS's reporting of the strange behavior from their allies:
Most bizarre among the plans was one for the development of an "aphrodisiac" chemical weapon that would make enemy soldiers sexually irresistible to each other. Provoking widespread homosexual behaviour among troops would cause a distasteful but completely non-lethal" blow to morale, the proposal says.

From what I've heard, they don't need a chemical weapon to accomplish this in the Middle East. Ju'sayin s'all I heard.

Feet First is for wussies



Look at the beautiful photo of the stadium skyline in Seattle. Yet, that's not the story here. The story is the highway you see in the forefront. It is known as the Alaska Way Viaduct. The speed limit at the point you see there is 50mph, pretty slow for a highway that is 3 lanes everywhere and sometimes 4 lanes, but that doesn't stop a really stupid organization like Feet First from making the suggestion to lower the speed limit to 35mph. 35mph?! ARE THEY CRAZY? Of course they are - it's an organization that promotes walking (like anyone needs to promote walking) and then decides it means they should lobby regarding driving issues.

Yet, that's not the scary part. The scary part is that certain city council members don't think it's a crazy idea:
...said City Councilman Richard Conlin, chairman of the council's transportation committee. "I don't think it's crazy."
Actually, to give them some credit, the speed limit on the Viaduct does need some re-evaluation and change... to 60mph, or course. Look, I'm not convinced accidents have anything to do with speed - they have to do WITH YOUR DRIVING!!!! If you can't handle a car or motorcycle on a three lane highway at 50mph then you shouldn't be driving. Seattle has plenty of busses - try them.

BOTTOM LINE: Keep your dang feet off my highways, you pansies! Gosh!

Thursday, January 13, 2005

It's ALL about tsunamis, now

You might have noticed my absence for a few weeks. Yeah, me too. Trust me, it wasn't a break. The last 2 weeks of December through the first two weeks of January are the busiest time of the year(s) for the Editor at work, and no, it does not have anything to do with the holidays. On top of that, I was illin' and a-chillin' with something that was a mix between a cold, bronchitis and a flu. My body ached and and I was coughing chunks up until the last Sunday. So, with those details outta the way, let's get to business.

While I was away there apparently was this big earthquake that triggered a serious shift in the sea floor of the Indian Ocean somewhere. Boy, did it cause some havoc with that body of water and a huge wave (less than 20' I believe) came to some beach front properties and cities, taking the lives a multitude of people (strangely, all the animals had scrammed and were saved).

Of course, the size of this wave is sort of small relative to the July 9 (or 10), 1958 Lituya Bay (Alaska) wave that at one point was an estimated 1700 feet... That's right, I said ONE-THOUSAND-SEVEN-HUNDRED FEET. You think that's big? What do you think the dude and his son who rode out the 50-100 foot remnants of that wave where thinking?
"Mayday, Mayday - Edrie in Lituya Bay - all hell broke loose - I think we've had it - goodbye!"

Amazing he got that distress signal off, but not as amazing as actually surviving it.

330 days and counting

As you probably know, the extended version of the final Lord of the Rings installment from Peter Jackson, The Return of the King, was released a couple weeks before Christmas. The EiP Pink Old Navy Pullover Babe and I have spent quite a long time since then rummaging through the extras - they are endless and when you are too ill for breathing you lay on the couch much with whatever entertainment you can muster to put in the DVD player.

The most fascinating aspect of all the extras from the trilogy has been the work done by the brain child of Richard Taylor - WETA Workshop. These people take their jobs seriously and they brought a level authenticity to Jackson's vision that could not have been achieved by a lesser dedicated group. So, when it was announced over a year ago WETA would be doing a great deal of work on The Chronicles of Narnia I was very pleased. Now, they have released 2-minute teaser clip of a small portion of WETA's initial work on CoN.

I'm pumped!

Tuesday, January 11, 2005

I'm an astronaut

Okay, that is an absurd statement, would you not agree?

So, just because I might say I aspire to be like Buzz Aldrin, read any books he might have written or any written about him, studied all of the available data from NASA and then call myself an astronaut does not make it so.

Good, I'm glad we could clear that up.

UPDATE: Okay, I guess there was some confusion. The above was not a personal anecdote, simply an analogy to make a point. Contrary to this blog's title photo and the above subject the Editor has very little interest in space travel and exploration. I think those who have made such things possible have accomplished amazing feats, but it is not an interest of the Editor.