Eric P. Metze
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Vote for McCain/Palin = Vote for Evil
If you’re voting for McCain and Palin even after they engage in tactics like these, don’t fool yourself: you are voting for evil. You’re already reading my post, so why not read the article that inspired it? Palin hits Obama for ‘terrorist’ connection Unsubstantiated bullshit like this is what led us into a disastrous war…
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Year at Danger
An excellent review of the new Iraq documentary, Year at Danger. For operations in Iraq, the National Guard mobilized schoolteachers, police officers, bankers, mechanics…and one filmmaker. read more | digg story
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Hey Hey! Ho Ho! IE6 Has Got to Go!
Please, please…if you’re still using Internet Explorer 6, STOP! Why? Microsoft wants you to. IE6 has many issues with security and display. Comedy Central wants you to. Once you upgrade to FireFox (Windows or Mac), or IE7 (Windows), you’ll get faster download times, smoother animations and better looking pages. All of the new browsers have…
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Massive Moon
When I see the moon in the daytime, I can’t help but think of it as a strangely round mountain range waaaay off in the distance. Did you know that the moon is getting farther away from the Earth as time goes on? Right now it’s the size of a dime held at arm’s length,…
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The Hypocrisy of Hope
In 2004 we forgot our about our hopes, wants, and dreams and cowered to our fears, needs, and nightmares.
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Christian Beliefs vs. Atheist Beliefs
A quick rundown of the surprising similarities between atheists and Christians.
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What, a coincidence?
What the hell are the odds of this? I was checking some really old messages that were sent to my Stewart/Colbert profile, and there was one from December 18, 2007. Today is February 7, 2008. I’ve been watching episodes of South Park that I set into motion about an hour ago. These are completely unrelated…
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Scientology vs. Anonymous
I’m not a hacker, and though I don’t think they should do anything that’s actually dangerous or damaging, I have to say I honestly think the premise behind Anonymous is more enlightened, more intelligent, and more humane than the bullshit that Scientologists believe. And so, without further ado…
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Star Wars Question: Why does Leia say she remembers her mother while Luke does not?
My answer: Until the moment Luke reveals her family lineage to her, Leia has absolutely no idea she is even capable of using the Force. The memories she has of her mother are more like echoes through the Force rather than direct memory. It isn’t until she becomes more attune with her powers does she…
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Clive Thompson on Why Sci-Fi Is the Last Bastion of Philosophical Writing
Recently I read a novella that posed a really deep question: What would happen if physical property could be duplicated like an MP3 file? What if a poor society could prosper simply by making pirated copies of cars, clothes, or drugs that cure fatal illnesses? The answer Cory Doctorow offers in his novella After the…
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Happy New Year
That’s all. Just wanted to tell everyone to have a safe and happy new year. 2008 is shaping up to be the best year ever.
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Dec. 20, 1996: Science Loses Its Most Visible Public Champion
by Tony Long of Wired 1996: Carl Sagan dies. Calling Carl Sagan a scientist is a little like calling the Beatles a rock band. Sagan was certainly a scientist (an astronomer, biologist and astrophysicist, to be precise). But he was also science’s most visible public advocate, a secular humanist, a fervent believer in extraterrestrial life,…
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Fantastic Neighborhood Light Show
My cousin just sent this to me, and MAN is it cool! What’s even cooler is that his house is the one on the right. :o)
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No Wii. Why? No $.
Why You Can’t Get Your Hands on a Wii Annotated I have owned a Nintendo since 1985, and I’ve never owned an Xbox, a Sega, a PlayStation, or anything since my Atari when I was (literally) too young to walk. So, Nintendo’s success here is kind of a great thing for me to watch. The…
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You Can’t Waste a Worthless Vote
I know how this is going to make me look to some people, but I just stop reading certain emails when I realize it’s their attempt to convince me that voting for Stephen Colbert is a waste of my vote. Is it because I’m intellectually lazy or obstinate? No. I just know from their opening…
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A “Cool Heads” Global Warming Discussion
Or, lets say that we are NOT the cause of global warming. Then that frees us of the burden of having to correct it, right? Wrong. Even if we’re not the cause of it, it’s happening anyway. So, doesn’t it seem like a good idea to plan for the future?
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Global Temperatures and Human Activity
I recently got into another discussion about global warming, and the person I was talking to said they weren’t convinced that humans were the cause of it. Though it’s just foolish to think that the temperature isn’t rising, there is (admittedly) room for debate on how much our presence and actions are affecting the environment.…
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Why I Miss Dave Chappelle
Dave Chappelle’s show was absolutely brilliant for the first couple seasons because he got to be open about humor with complete disregard for race. It allowed for some truly historic moments that I know they will talk about in documentaries and history books decades from now. For example, there is this skit about Clayton Bigsby.…
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Sasha Metze (2002-2007)
We buried our cat, Sasha, today. She was about five years old, independent as can be, and only had one kitten (Spot, who lives with Erin and me). I’ll spare everyone the details, but she did not die of natural causes. The point I really want to make is that Erin was remarkably helpful. She…
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2000 Honda Civic Gas Mileage
I bought a slightly used 2000 Honda Civic in October of 2002, and at the time it only had 32,000 miles on it. I was increasingly aware of the coming gas crunch, so I wanted to make sure I had a vehicle that wouldn’t kill me at the gas pump. And since I’ve always wanted…
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Selling Virtual Things
My cousin, Steve Metze, asked me how one could make money selling virtual things. Well, the entire Second Life economy is a lot like the US economy, only it’s based on the Linden (L$), which is their version of the dollar. Now, if it was just play money I wouldn’t be excited about it in…
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Get a (Second) Life!
I recently got in a discussion about Second Life (a virtual world in which you can live, work, and play) because I just got into it a couple weeks ago. For the longest time I — a born and bred video game enthusiast — completely ignored it because the concept just didn’t seem that interesting…
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Everyone Wants to Be Johnny Carson
All late night talk shows (aside from the Daily Show and the Colbert Report) are lame and practically worthless. They’re formulaic, unoriginal, and pander to the widest audience possible. Half of the population has a below-average IQ, so their content has pretty much the same level of complexity. At least the Daily Show and the…
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Dirty Cop Caught on Video Breaking Glass
In case you wondered if cops were all good people by nature, I’ve got some news for you: they’re just people like the rest of us. Watch this video of a DPS trooper in Lubbock. Free rent for screwing with college students…sounds like some cop’s idea of a wet dream!
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Look at me! I’m a cyborg!
I used to have one of the Bluetooth earpieces, but that was when they first came out. I’ve never been that comfortable with it, and that was long before everyone was wearing one. I got one as a gift, and honestly, I only wore it around that person so they knew I appreciated it. In…
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We are mostly nothing!
Do you realize that we are mostly empty space? And when I say “mostly” I mean, almost entirely. Not just 75% or 90% or even 99%…we’re something like 99.99999999999999999% completely empty space! Want to see what I mean? I created a graphic that represents an electron as one pixel, which means that the proton graphic…
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Stop using www. right now!
I grew up in a town of about 12,000. Everyone I knew had the same area code and the same prefix to their phone number. For anyone calling from, say, Kansas, my home phone number was (806) 894-4879. For anyone calling from my hometown, all I had to tell them was 4879. Well, I have…
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Ytsevolution
Here’s a project I have spent quite some time working on, but not nearly as much time as Dream Theater spent creating the music that went into it. This is a complete album of the nearly two decades of DT’s career. It starts with an intro that includes all of their albums, ends with an…
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The Twelve Step Suite by Dream Theater
This is a suite of four songs that I mixed together after I realized that they are parts of a larger body of work that Dream Theater is actively working on. Each song is from a different album and will likely be performed as a single piece of music once they have put it all…
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Cat Hunting Noise
This is my cat, Spot, making an unusual sound. I can only guess it’s some sort of hunting sound, but I can’t imagine why it would be advantageous to announce your presence to potential prey.
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Rosie’s Curiosity
I tried to get Rosie to say something, but she was just confused by the black thing I was holding in my hand.
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Why Janice Is/Isn’t a Republican
I received an email the other day from a family member that told a parable disguised as a political joke. It takes on a distinctly biased approach and misrepresents the other side completely. Annoyed and frustrated, I did the only thing I really could: I parodied it. “Why Janice IS a Republican” Janice was about…
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Hackers are the most pathetic excuse for terrorists in the world.
Most hackers don’t waste their time defacing random web sites that they have no real issue with. Wannabe hackers sit around in their shitty little apartments and use real hacker’s programs to do stupid things like deface a web site. The thing is, these pathetic morons don’t realize that what they’re doing is pointless. This…