A couple of weeks ago, TAB completed an exercise (from "Dating for Dummies", no less) that requires one to list ten things one likes about oneself. He then suggested that all of his readers give it a try as well -- and shortly thereafter, Becky (and probably more people; I don't know and/or remember) followed suit. I didn't, however, and furthermore noted that I'd have a hard time coming up with even one item for such a list. It's not that I don't think that there is anything to like about myself, nor is it that there aren't things that I don't like about myself. There probably are. It's just that, unless I'm drunk and rocking out to Billy Idol, I don't think about them a whole lot -- or at least not in a positive context. (more...)

Okay. Somebody explain this shit to me, because I'm fucking confused.

Why the fuck would you fill a Purex detergent container with Tide?

Okay, it doesn't seem like that big of a deal, but it makes no sense whatsoever. We're dealing with principle here, and it's not like the Tide container pisses on the carpet and takes dumps in the dishwater. Nor does the Purex container sing and dance Irish jigs and magically pour itself. The Purex container has no special qualities or properties to recommend it over the Tide container, so there's no reason not to simply throw away or recycle the Purex container and pour the Tide from the container it fucking came in to begin with.

SO WHY DO IT?!?!?!? (more...)

So during my comparatively tranquil work day today, I had the peace of mind to turn my thoughts to other things -- and it was during just such a moment of unclouded thinking that I realized that one of my co-workers is quite beautiful. Her head is topped off with shining black hair, her face is bright and attractive, with large eyes and a smile to melt the coldest of hearts (and she is almost always smiling), and her body is absolutely perfect. She has a slender figure, just out of the range of being too slender -- in addition to the slight thickness of her arms, minimal curves on the Z-axis put her over -- and when she moves, she doesn't float or glide like a nymph or skip airily about like a mere wisp of a girl would, but she goes through the motions like a creature of flesh and blood, like something subject to the simplified laws of a high school Physics course in which air resistance is typically negated. (more...)

I live under a rock, so I wasn't too up on the details of the March 21 shootings carried out by one Jeff Weise on the MN Red Lake Reservation, but a recent link from Stefan has piqued my curiosity with respect to the incident. Apparently, back in October (two days before my birthday, no less), Weise posted what might now be viewed as a prelude to slaughter -- a Flash animation depicting a gunman shooting down a handful of people before blowing up a police car and finally committing suicide himself. It's actually pretty well-animated -- though admittedly Newgrounds is filled with similar shorts -- but of course what makes this particular cartoon significant (and frightening) is that Weise actually more/less carried out the events depicted therein. According to folks assessing the situation after the fact, Weise's animations (another of which features a demonic clown), artwork, and fiction, which apparently depicted images of zombies and death, constituted definite warning signs and that, had they been properly addressed, this tragedy might have been prevented. And I suppose that in this case, that might be true. (more...)

Thought I'd weigh in on the Schiavo case -- briefly, because I don't have a whole lot to say about it. Let me start by saying that until very recently (like, last night), I knew next to nothing about the case. I'm usually at work or asleep when the news is on, and when I'm in the house I'm generally at my computer doing something or other for Scary-Crayon. I wouldn't even have known about the case at all were I not a fairly regular reader of Dawn's blog, but of course the information one gets there is highly biased. Some things mentioned with respect to the case are flat out untrue; others are intentionally misleading and downright strange (there was a very cruel letter to Terri, supposedly penned by Michael Schiavo but actually written by Dawn's mother -- I still haven't been able to figure out the purpose of that, given that this "satire" appears to be lacking in satirical value). So first things first: before you bother forming an opinion about the case and getting all emotional, get the facts first, because there are some really important ones that you're probably not hearing. (more...)