[ EvilTyrant – The Completely Evil Blog ]
It looks like oregon might get a sweet little volcano (might take a few thousand more years, but it’s never too soon to worry).
Mystery Bulge in Oregon Still Growing
ShrinkTo5 is supposed to be the latest and greatest program for shrinking DVD’s to fit on DVD recordable media. It’s nice that it’s open source, supposedly it is currently being ported to multiple platforms. Untested…
How to prevent the disaster in New Orleans from ever happening again:
1. Move everyone out of the city and away from the coast.
2. Level the city.
3. Fill in the hole.
I’m debating adding a step 4 which would involve concertina wire and land mines. Which may be the only way to keep people from sneaking in and building again.
Maybe the above is extreme, but I am willing to entertain another idea….
What if FEMA and FIMA were reimbursed by each state, for whatever assistance they provide within the state? If they don’t like the service each state is allowed to build their emergency services, or hire someone else to provide the service.
I wonder if the people planning to live in the New Orleans area would think it’s worth the cost to rebuild a city in a bowl by the sea if they had to foot the bill using only their own tax dollars?
“Thar she blows!” – The pirate equivalent of “Whoop, there it is!”.
“ARRRGHHHH” – this phrase shows general discontent. or it can also mean that someone is about to get wild- a.k.a. a battle cry.
“wake me at the zenith of the moon” – only full blown pirates know this phrase. An educated pirate is rare but also the most deadly kind. They are smarter than you and crazier.
A dark and stormy – this is not a phrase but a drink. This is what true pirates drink. It is made of goslings rum and ginger beer. it is a delight to the senses.
“Avast ye scum ridden weevil shaggers. Captain Black Beard is gonna keel haul you and grow barnacles on ye starboard knacker”. – The Captain isn’t happy…D
“I’m gonna make a kill” – this pirate is going to kill something…and he is serious about it.
“Dogs ahoy !” – Equivalent of “Things to kill, straight ahead.”
“Shiver me timbers!” – like saying “oh My!” like my legs are shaking
“Skuttle me Skippers” – Making a mistake and being judged for/by it.
“Avast ye varmint” – Stop right there young man because you’re in big trouble.
“Weigh anchor!” – Let’s go!
“Yarr.” – I agree.
“Yarr!” – I see your point, and agree wholeheartedly.
“Yarr-ha-harr!” – You’re right!
“Kissin’ the Gunner’s Daughter” – Receiving some serious punishment
“Blow me down!” – You don’t say? How surprising.
“Ye Scalawag!” – You dirty dog!
“Savvy?” – Is that okay with you? Do you understand?
“Ahoy” – call to attract attention, something akin to ‘Hello, there!’
“Clap of Thunder” – powerful drink
“”Fo’c’s’le” – Slang for Forecastle. Small candlelit room where a pirate used the sopping bucket. (Bathroom)
“Jack” – a flag or a sailor; showing how sailors would refer to thier ship’s colors as one of the crew. Hence Jack Tar for sailor and the Union Jack flag.
“Loaded to the Gunwhales” – drunk
“Messdeck lawyer” – a know-it-all
“Nipperkin” – a small drink
“Salmagundi” – a dish of chopped meat, eggs, anchovies, onions and anything else the cook can throw in; a piratical delicacy
“Son of a Biscuit Eater” – not so much a sailor term, but a derrogatory term indicating someone you don’t like
“Landlubber” – a “Non-pirate” or a curse for someone who is a coward
In a phenomonon noticed first by the Voyager (The space probe not the star treck splitter) mission the rings of Saturn have visible distortions (spokes). Have some sweet planetary science.
Here is a Longer movie
Looks like Google is still hard at work, trying to own the known world of search engines…
Welcome to the Google Blog Search
How annoying… (warning gets kinda geeky)
Uk.com wildcard raises Net stability worries
Ahhh, say farewell to TiVo.
TiVo copy protection bug irks users
TiVo 7.2 OS adds red flag content protection.
So I guess I will have to set up a Mac to replace my TiVo…
Time is short, only 9 shopping days left until Talk Like A Pirate Day. Which if I remember correctly is Mel’s favorite holiday of the year (after christmas, halloween, the fouth of july, new years eve, and maybe Victoria Day… ;-)
A few pointers to get you going (from the site):
The basics
Pirate lingo is rich and complicated, sort of like a good stew. There are several other sites that offer glossaries that are pretty good, and you can find some of them on our links page.
But if you just want a quick fix, a surface gloss, a “pirate patina,” if you will, here are the five basic words that you cannot live without. Master them, and you can face Talk Like a Pirate Day with a smile on your face and a parrot on your shoulder, if that’s your thing.
Ahoy! – “Hello!”
Avast! – Stop and give attention. It can be used in a sense of surprise, “Whoa! Get a load of that!” which today makes it more of a “Check it out” or “No way!” or “Get off!”
Aye! – “Why yes, I agree most heartily with everything you just said or did.”
Aye aye! – “I’ll get right on that sir, as soon as my break is over.”
Arrr! – This one is often confused with arrrgh, which is of course the sound you make when you sit on a belaying pin. “Arrr!” can mean, variously, “yes,” “I agree,” “I’m happy,” “I’m enjoying this beer,” “My team is going to win it all,” “I saw that television show, it sucked!” and “That was a clever remark you or I just made.” And those are just a few of the myriad possibilities of Arrr!
Advanced pirate lingo; or On beyond “Aarrr!â€
Once you’ve mastered the basics, you’re ready to start expanding your pirate vocabulary. Try these for starters
Beauty – The best possible pirate address for a woman. Always preceded by “me,†as in, “C’mere, me beauty,†or even, “me buxom beauty,†to one particularly well endowed. You’ll be surprised how effective this is.
Bilge rat – The bilge is the lowest level of the ship. It’s loaded with ballast and slimy, reeking water. A bilge rat, then, is a rat that lives in the worst place on the ship. On TLAP Day – A lot of guy humor involves insulting your buddies to prove your friendship. It’s important that everyone understand you are smarter, more powerful and much luckier with the wenches than they are. Since bilge rat is a pretty dirty thing to call someone, by all means use it on your friends.
Bung hole – Victuals on a ship were stored in wooden casks. The stopper in the barrel is called the bung, and the hole is called the bung hole. That’s all. It sounds a lot worse, doesn’t it? On TLAP Day – When dinner is served you’ll make quite an impression when you say, “Well, me hearties, let’s see what crawled out of the bung hole.†That statement will be instantly followed by the sound of people putting down their utensils and pushing themselves away from the table. Great! More for you!
Grog – An alcoholic drink, usually rum diluted with water, but in this context you could use it to refer to any alcoholic beverage other than beer, and we aren’t prepared to be picky about that, either. Call your beer grog if you want. We won’t stop you! Water aboard ship was stored for long periods in slimy wooden barrels, so you can see why rum was added to each sailor’s water ration – to kill the rancid taste. On TLAP Day – Drink up, me hearties! And call whatever you’re drinking grog if you want to. If some prissy pedant purses his lips and protests the word grog can only be used if drinking rum and water, not the Singapore Sling you’re holding, keelhaul him!
Hornpipe – Both a single-reeded musical instrument sailors often had aboard ship, and a spirited dance that sailors do. On TLAP Day – We are not big fans of the capering, it’s not our favorite art form, if you will, so we don’t have a lot to say on the subject, other than to observe that the common term for being filled with lust is “horny,†and hornpipe then has some comical possibilities. “Is that a hornpipe in your pocket, or are you just glad to see me? Or both?â€
Lubber – (or land lubber) This is the seaman’s version of land lover, mangled by typical pirate disregard for elocution. A lubber is someone who does not go to sea, who stays on the land. On TLAP Day – More likely than not, you are a lubber 364 days of the year. But not if you’re talking like a pirate! Then the word lubber becomes one of the more fierce weapons in your arsenal of piratical lingo. In a room where everyone is talking like pirates, lubber is ALWAYS an insult.
Smartly – Do something quickly. On TLAP Day – “Smartly, me lass,†you might say when sending the bar maid off for another round. She will be so impressed she might well spit in your beer.
Article on how to unlock your audiovox 5600 Smartphone for free. Unlock an AudioVox 5600 for free
Those wacky rabbits make me giggle…
Just wait until your phone video and internet are via internet and the internet infrastructure moves to a WiFi format. Hackers could completely isolate a business from all communications instead of just their internet presence.
Hackers Admit to Wave of Attacks
And now in a lighter vein… ;-)
PBS offers Web-only ‘NerdTV’
Ok, here is an interesting article. I’m surprised that FIMA is thinking about whether they plan to recoup the losses via higher premiums. I’ve looked at the numbers for FIMA and it appears (from their reporting) that the organization has been mostly self sufficient since 1978. I do however, believe the government is playing fast and loose with potential liability for claims. Most insurance companies would have looked at the numbers for a 50 or 100 year event disaster in a city on the sea and is below sea level, and would have had to line up funds to ensure they could pay in the event of a 50 or 100 year disaster event. The government run insurance company does not have to meet reasonable reserve requirements that any private insurance company would have to meet. The government run isurance company can simply get the Federal government to to write a check when the coffers are empty. Then the federal government either collects the money, from you, or borrows it the money and repays the principal and interest on the loan. Once again the principal and interest paid comes from you (and me).
You have to love the CATO institute, they were complaining when complaining wasn’t cool…
Oh, so now I see how this works, I say that people’s insurance should take care of it, then I find that the government supplies the insurance, and the taxpayers fund the repairs. Now I see where all the Billions of dollars may well be going, and now I’m sure that we should, at the very least, get government out of the insurance business. We can manage building code changes below the federal level.
Dang, I really wanted it to be all Bush’s fault…
Holy Poop!!! Ok, the bill is up to 63 BILLION DOLLARS. An interesting question is, where is all the money going? 1.4 Billion to the military, 400 Million to the Corps of Engineers, another 100 million to give out $2000 debit cards to everyone they can find to hand one to. That’s about 2 Billion, That leaves over 60 Billion to mostly go to FEMA?
I was really beginning to get the idea that Bush had no idea how many zeros are in a Billion when the appropriations for Homeland Security and Iraq were being floated. I am now reasonably sure he has no idea that there is a limit to the funds he has to play with.
The currently proposed $60+ BILLION DOLLARS, amounts to well over $100,000 for every single man, woman, and child living in the city of New Orleans, and we are being told that there will be more money needed.
I’m now leaning toward the opinion that we should level New Orleans (and start on any other US coastal property that is subject to 50 or 100 year weather events). As a resident of the United States, who is being forced under threat of law to give my money to the government, am not sure that I (or our country) can afford to subsidize living expenses for those who choose to live in high risk areas. Think about how many times in the last two years you have seen Gov Jeb Bush on TV asking for Federal Disaster aid.
Great site to see front pages from most major US papers.
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Now I remember why I don’t watch CNN (or much of any other news for that matter). I had the unfortunate opportunity to watch Larry King’s show last night.
The Rev (Jesse Jackson) was in New Orleans (naturally there was a chance for publicity) to evacuate students from a college. The Rev took issue with the federal government for cutting the Corps of Engineers budget for the water defenses of the city (Shouldn’t Louisiana cover the costs for Louisiana’s engineering and infrastructure). The Rev stated that there were 300,000 people who the government was not doing enough to evacuate (that’s more than half of the population of New Orleans). Jesse also took issue with the reports of lawlessness, stating that the shooting was remote and limited to a couple of incidents (I guess the officer with a bullet in their head was one of the two). The Rev’s assessment does not seem to match up with any of the reporting (and nothing I hear from friends in Louisiana). There was one bright spot. When the Rev (Jesse Jackson) insinuated that the hurricane could have been caused by depleted ozone, which he attributed to CARCINOGENS in the atmosphere. I almost fell out of my chair, it was hilarious.
Has anyone noticed the slanted reporting by the media? I’ve been watching CNN for over 2 hours, and I’m yet to hear about people in temporary shelters or in makeshift hospitals. I’m yet to hear about all the people out there distributing water and food to the unfortunate victims. All I see is the same pictures of the superdome over and over and over, with the recurring chant that too little is being done. A claim that seems to based largely on the fact that there is still human tragedy, which even if it was small, would be the only thing they would report on TV (ratings you know).
I put to you CNN that the least effective aid worker on the ground in New Orleans is contributing more to the effort than Larry King, who is planning a Saturday special to tell people how to help ( isn’t that a little late Mr. King, couldn’t you have done that on Wednesday).
Anderson Cooper found the time to point out that the isolated people are sick of hearing the government officials talk about all they were doing, and what a good job they were doing. Once again what is Mr. Cooper doing to lessen the pain and suffering? I say not much more than profiting from the coverage. I just cannot believe the nads that Larry has to use the poor people in this tragedy to further his finger pointing agenda. One question though, where was John Stuart, to let Larry know that his is part of the problem, that his reporting is hurting America?
It was pretty sweet when he confronted a survivor who was trying to find her lost brother, asking her why they didn’t evacuate. Strangely enough he almost seemed ashamed as she burst into tears…
Then finally, after over 2 hours of coverage, I see a FEMA field hospital (looked to be at an airport) where the reporter said that there was a continuous line of helicopters and busses bringing the sick and injured. This report seemed out of place with all the statements about the federal government not doing anything (the F in FEMA is Federal by the way). I also saw the non-stop line of busses dropping refugees off at the Astrodome.
I understand that the situation is dire, that the people are desperate, but the rescue effort is HUGE! 30,000 national guard troops have been mobilized. I hope that everyone in government has done everything they can and will be very put out if I find differently. I do also understand that the government is huge, moves slow, costs too much, and is rife with bureaucracy and red tape. Thus my expectation for rapid response are a little lower once you need more than what FEMA has.