In observance of the upcoming atrocity that is Earth Day…

Source: xkcd.com

Stuart Slann traveled from Australia to Mexico to see his favorite football (soccer) team, Manchester United play in a match. At his hotel Stuart met two Liverpool fans who, as their final point in the debate over which team was superior, tossed poor Stuart into the hotel’s swimming pool.

Months later, back home in Australia, Stuart began chatting up a woman named Emma on Facebook. After months of suggestive emailing back and forth the two decided to meet. Stuart drove 600km to meet her but she never arrived.

After waiting for three hours Stuart received a call on his mobile; it was the same gentlemen who’d tossed him into the drink in Mexico. “Remember us?” the asked, “We’re the Scouse lads who threw you in the pool. You’ve been framed!”

There was no Emma and to make matters worse for Stuart, the Liverpool fans posted recordings of the conversations he’d had with “Emma” online where Mrs. Slann found them. Divorce proceedings have begun.

Link to Yahoo.au

Bill Gates, long time passive evil doer is no longer a sleeper cell. In what can only be described as a mediocre coming out as a Super Villain, Bill Gates released a jar of mosquitoes into a crowd of conference goers.

I brought some. Here; I’ll let them roam around. There’s no reason only poor people should get malaria.

Held hostage in the conference, FaceBook senior platform manager Dave Morin managed to post a cry for help on Twitter.

Bill Gates just released mosquitoes into the audience at TED.

The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation assures the public that the mosquitoes were actually malaria free. I’m left to wonder though; When will Bill’s terrorist ambitions be out of beta? When is Mosquito Majave going to launch?

Source: Fox News

I really, really want to like Microsoft but they just make it so hard sometimes. Back when I was flush with cash in Texas I decided the time was right to buy an MP3 player. It really isn’t right that someone who is as in to music as I am that I don’t own one. So I did some shopping, rejected the iPod as an option, and headed towards the Microsoft Zune. After many hours attempting to install the software on my laptop I gave up and returned my 30G player to Target just 12 hours after purchase.

I’ve since sometimes regretting returning the little piece of hardware. My laptop isn’t the best piece of equipment, in fact it hasn’t even been turned on in months, and my desktop is fairly modern and very current on updates – the Zune would have likely worked without issue.  But now I’ve come to realize that I’ve made the right decision.

At around 2 AM on December 31th 100% of the 30G Zunes locked up. It seems that the software writers over at Microsoft ‘forgot’ about  leap year which caused the small computers inside the players to get confused and just shut down. Engineers out in Redmond say that it should be okay later today if owners allow the battery to drain completely then recharge it, though a complete new Sync will likely have to be done for DRM reasons. They also say they should have a fix out by next  leap year, 2012.

So does anyone have a player out there to recommend?  Zune is out for good and I really don’t like the idea of an iPod. What else is there?  I need something big, really big…30G really wasn’t enough.

Lately the discussion about pirated media and software has fallen out of the headlines. This is a subject that I’ve been following rather closely, not just because I’m a big music fan but also because I firmly believe that, if unchecked, the MPAA and RIAA will eventually succeed in eroding away some pretty basic rights. Here are some recent bits of news.

Earlier this month the RIAA announced that they were ending their practice of suing those they suspected decided had shared music.  Although they are not dropping cases they’ve already started, their new approach involves forcing ISPs to threaten disconnecting the service of those who use Bit Torrent sites. I for one think this approach will fail. Since ISPs can’t be held responsible for how their customers use the Internet they really don’t have any vested interest in cutting off service and therefore, revenue.

I found this post today on Max Barry’s blog.

The most famous cases of the RIAA suing end users and the only one to go to trial is that of Jamiee Thomas who was found guilt and ordered to pay the RIAA $222,000 for allegedly having shared 24 songs.  Almost a year after the trail the judge, without being petioned by the defense, declaired a mistrail after deciding that simply having music in an open access folder was not a violation of the copyright act. The RIAA recently requested permission to appeal the mistrail decision but the judge denied their request. (Wired.com)

Mark Felt died of heart failure Thursday at the ripe old age of 95. He’d managed to outlive many of those whose lives he ruined for his coward’s stance in the shadows.

For many Felt was a hero, a man who had the courage to stand up against what was by all accounts a corrupt administration. For others he was a weak traitor who sold out his president and country. I think that this quote from from his daughter pretaining to whether or not old Felt should tell his secret sums up the man:

We could make at least enough money to pay some bills, like the debt I’ve run up for the kids’ education

So long Felt.  I’m sure that your family will honor your memory with a biography, a made for TV movie, action figures and maybe even a Deep Throat Watergate Hotel playset. 

They’s got bills!

I knew three people murdered in 2005. My friend Sandra’s father-in-law, my mother’s former boss’ husband and a girl I’d once gone to church with. The last of the trials ended yesterday.

The woman who killed Sandra’s father-in-law, a woman he’d married after the death of Sandra’s mother-in-law. She’d agreed to plea guilty but at the last minute refused to do so and was instead quickly found guilty of first degree murder. She’s currently serving life.

Terry Justus plead  to second degree murder in the death of Sharon “Sheri” Acosta. He was sentenced to thirty-five years with no chance for parole, a sentence he filed for relief from citing inadequate council. The courts turned him down so he filed an appeal to the Knox County Court of Appeals asking to set aside his plea and let him stand trial. They denied this request and he’s currently in prison.

The last of the trials ended yesterday when James “Mike” Flinn was found guilty of first degree murder in the death of Greig Beggs. The trial lasted for eight days and the state called more than fifty witnesses.  The jury was out for only a few hours before returning with their guilty verdict. I’m sure Mike will appeal from here to eternity but most likely he’ll do it from a jail cell…for life.

I don’t watch SNL as nearly 100% of the time is it drivle. Apparently last Saturday’s episode had a sketch making fun of NY Gov. David Patterson. One of Paterson’s hand puppets has issued this statement:

this particular Saturday Night Live skit unfortunately chose to ridicule people with physical disabilities and imply that disabled people are incapable of having jobs with serious responsibilities

I think that Mr. Michaels is smart enough not to make fun of people with physical disabilities handicaps. The sketch was not making fun of Gov. Patterson because he is blind. They’re making fun of him because he is woefully underqualified and unprepared to govern.

Dear Governor Blagojevich,

I understand that you are in the unique position, for at least the next few days, to appoint someone to fill the seat left vacant by President Elect Barack Obama and, at this time, you have not yet made your selection.  I would like to have my name added to the list of possible candidates; candidate six, if you will.

Here’s what I’m prepared to offer:

• 1 McDonald’s Arch Card with a balance of $11.83
• Lifetime rights to ride shotgun (my car only)
• A mix CD of my favorite songs, with track titles neatly printed on front
• 1 case of Diet Mt. Dew (only 11 cans)
• 1 1987 Poison tour t-shirt
• $27.19 in cash

Please let me know soon as I feel this may be an opportunity of limited duration for us both.

Thank you for your consideration,

Jeremy

If anyone is looking for a job The University of Tennessee is looking to hire a football coach. Applicants should bleed orange and be able to win a friggin football game now and then.