Found this pic at warrenellis.com and decided it was just too cool not to swipe and post here. It's a pic of a space shuttle launch as seen from the international space station. Pretty goddamn cool, huh?
UPDATED: Just got this from Snopes:
The above-displayed photographs do capture the launch of Space Shuttle Atlantis (NASA Mission STS-115) from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida on 9 September 2006. However, the pictures were not (as claimed in the accompanying text) taken from the International Space Station (ISS), which would be at a considerably higher altitude than shown here, but rather from NASA/JSC WB-57 High Altitude Research aircraft.
This is something everyone should read, even if they ultimately disagree with the sentiment. Personally, I love it. This is the explanation of the article as found on (and swiped from) the always excellent snopes.com:
"After Pat's Birthday" was written by Kevin Tillman, a former Army Ranger who served in Iraq and Afghanistan with his older brother, Pat Tillman, and was posted to TruthDig.com on 19 October 2006.
Kevin Tillman is the younger brother of former Arizona Cardinals defensive back Pat Tillman, an Army Ranger who was killed near the Pakistan-Afghanistan border in April 2004, a victim of friendly fire. The brothers joined the Army in 2002 in response to the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on America, the older Tillman walking away from a $3.6 million NFL contract to do so. The pair served together with the 2nd Battalion of the 75th Ranger Regiment.
And this is the article as originally posted on (and swiped from) truthdig.com. I'm posting it here because I don't want to take the chance that the three people who come here won't bother to click on the link - which you absolutely should, by the way, even if you read the article here...I'm stealing content from their site, directing people there is the least I can do. Anyway, I'll shut the fuck up and let you read:
After Pat's Birthday
By Kevin Tillman
It is Pat's birthday on November 6, and elections are the day after. It gets me thinking about a conversation I had with Pat before we joined the military. He spoke about the risks with signing the papers. How once we committed, we were at the mercy of the American leadership and the American people. How we could be thrown in a direction not of our volition. How fighting as a soldier would leave us without a voice...until we got out.
Much has happened since we handed over our voice:
Somehow we were sent to invade a nation because it was a direct threat to the American people, or to the world, or harbored terrorists, or was involved in the September 11 attacks, or received weapons-grade uranium from Niger, or had mobile weapons labs, or WMD, or had a need to be liberated, or we needed to establish a democracy, or stop an insurgency, or stop a civil war we created that can't be called a civil war even though it is. Something like that.
Somehow our elected leaders were subverting international law and humanity by setting up secret prisons around the world, secretly kidnapping people, secretly holding them indefinitely, secretly not charging them with anything, secretly torturing them. Somehow that overt policy of torture became the fault of a few "bad apples" in the military.
Somehow back at home, support for the soldiers meant having a five-year-old kindergartener scribble a picture with crayons and send it overseas, or slapping stickers on cars, or lobbying Congress for an extra pad in a helmet. It's interesting that a soldier on his third or fourth tour should care about a drawing from a five-year-old; or a faded sticker on a car as his friends die around him; or an extra pad in a helmet, as if it will protect him when an IED throws his vehicle 50 feet into the air as his body comes apart and his skin melts to the seat.
Somehow the more soldiers that die, the more legitimate the illegal invasion becomes.
Somehow American leadership, whose only credit is lying to its people and illegally invading a nation, has been allowed to steal the courage, virtue and honor of its soldiers on the ground.
Somehow those afraid to fight an illegal invasion decades ago are allowed to send soldiers to die for an illegal invasion they started.
Somehow faking character, virtue and strength is tolerated.
Somehow profiting from tragedy and horror is tolerated.
Somehow the death of tens, if not hundreds, of thousands of people is tolerated.
Somehow subversion of the Bill of Rights and The Constitution is tolerated.
Somehow suspension of Habeas Corpus is supposed to keep this country safe.
Somehow torture is tolerated.
Somehow lying is tolerated.
Somehow reason is being discarded for faith, dogma, and nonsense.
Somehow American leadership managed to create a more dangerous world.
Somehow a narrative is more important than reality.
Somehow America has become a country that projects everything that it is not and condemns everything that it is.
Somehow the most reasonable, trusted and respected country in the world has become one of the most irrational, belligerent, feared, and distrusted countries in the world.
Somehow being politically informed, diligent, and skeptical has been replaced by apathy through active ignorance.
Somehow the same incompetent, narcissistic, virtueless, vacuous, malicious criminals are still in charge of this country.
Somehow this is tolerated.
Somehow nobody is accountable for this.
In a democracy, the policy of the leaders is the policy of the people. So don't be shocked when our grandkids bury much of this generation as traitors to the nation, to the world and to humanity. Most likely, they will come to know that "somehow" was nurtured by fear, insecurity and indifference, leaving the country vulnerable to unchecked, unchallenged parasites.
Luckily this country is still a democracy. People still have a voice. People still can take action. It can start after Pat's birthday.
I had a brief e-conversation with my friend Bella today. It brought back the appalling memories of this dude (whose name I really shouldn't mention) I used to work with, at this really shitty (another name I shouldn't mention) job I had working at a company called linkLINE Inc. I related (something very similar to) the following to her.
Anyway, there was a guy named [George W. Bush], who worked at linkLINE toward the end of my rope there. He was literally shaped like a barrel, and a fat barrel at that. His face sat back in his swollen head and he had a shitty cop mustache and acne. He called everyone boss. He called me boss. I told him not to call me boss, politely, about half a dozen times, and very rudely two or three times and he still called me boss. I gave up. He also liked to walk back to my desk instead of sending an instant message.
We, as a company, put an IM client on every fucking machine in the office so employees wouldn't have to walk to someone's desk. But, he refused to use it and always came lumbering back. And he never just walked back and said "Hey can I ask you something?" It was always this quiet ninja walk, and he'd sit there and look at me until either I noticed him or until he got bored and would say, "Hey boss," like one of the damned.
Every time he came back he gave me a heart attack. Partially because I was startled by his fat (and when I'm the one pointing that particular finger...wow), smelly presence and partially because I was updating my web site instead of working (which was the case about...five out of every eight hours for the last six to twelve months I worked there. Hated that fucking place.).
And he never had a question that was something I could (would, really, but who's counting?) help him with; it was always some asshole client who wanted to talk to me because his fucking ebay pictures weren't showing up. And every fucking time I'd tell [George W. Bush] that:
A) I didn't fucking care about some stupid bastard's ebay pictures not showing up, and B) We're an internet service provider and if the customer has a working internet connection, then our job is done and we don't support every little fucking thing he runs across on the internet so tell him to fuck off and call ebay, and C) Just like every other time someone calls in with this fucking problem it was the result of the customer being about as web-savvy as my grandparents and they weren't uploading the pictures to the right fucking directory and this was an obvious path problem, and D) This problem was a simple-fucking-simon bullshit non-issue and that he [George W. Bush] and everyone else in customer goddamn support should be able to support this or any client with this specific problem by simply logging into their personal web space with an FTP client, and E) If he couldn't operate an FTP client or if he didn't understand what a path was, then he was in the wrong fucking business and had no right to pick up a phone (anywhere in the world, not just linkLINE) and say "tech support."
...
I hated that motherfucker. He was a good guy at heart but I couldn't stand him. All my intellect and (alleged) emotional maturity, and I hated his guts becasue he was stupid, fat, and smelly; the same reasons fifth graders hate people.
Anyway, that giant dumbass used to eat Chick-Fil-A three times a day and because of that, I'll never be able to eat there. He disgusted me and so does Chick-Fil-A.
And he'd come back to my desk every fucking day for two weeks and ask if I wanted him to pick me up anything from Chick-Fil-A (I'm even getting sick of typing it). I almost said yes just so I could make him watch as I set it on fire. But I'm too nice. Anyway, I wasn't eating much meat at the time, and every day I'd tell him, "No thanks, I'm mostly vegetarian, the only meat I'll eat is fish," and he'd say, "oh..." and walk away, clearly not understanding the concept of moderately healthy living. Monday through Friday, for two fucking weeks, he'd ask me this same question.
The last time he did this to me, I lost my shit and yelled at him, "Goddammit! I'm a fucking vegeterian! The only meat I eat is fish! The very second that chickens grow gills and live underwater, I'll go to Chick-Fucking-Fil-A myself and order everything on the menu and what I can't eat, I'll roll around naked in. The minute soy beans grow feathers and start clucking, I'll pound an entire chicken up my own ass with a baseball bat. Until that day though, I don't eat chicken because I'M MOSTLY FUCKING VEGETERIAN AND THE ONLY MEAT I'LL EAT IS FISH!"
On the other hand, it's entirely possible that I just told him to shut up and quit fucking asking me that question. Like I'd support a business that can't even fucking spell anyway, Jesus Christ.
Retrocrush.com, formerly in the links session on the left, has always been a mostly cool web site focusing on hot babes and pop culture for my generation. I've always been a big fan because of this.
Things had been going downhill the last few years; however, starting with the annoying goddamn pop up ads. If your web site has pop up ads, you suck Satan's cock and you should be slapped. I don't care how fucking poor you are. But still, I liked the site.
Also, the interviews were almost universally boring. But that's okay there were still a ton of hot babes and kick ass pop culture to rediscover.
Today, I went to the site as I do every couple weeks, and I read a section called DVD ROUNDUP, which is a stupid title, in and of itself. But that's not the problem. The problem is what I found listed there. Directly swiped from the first review:
THE LAKE HOUSE What a gorgeous surprise this movie is. I loved it from beginning to end. Keanu Reeves and Sandra Bullock are fantastic together as a couple who write to each other through a magic time travel mailbox, but are stuck 2 years apart.
Jesus Christ. A "gorgeous surprise?" Congrats, Robert, you're gayer than Rex Reed. And this is swiped from his third review:
MAMA'S FAMILY SEASON ONE I didn't think too much of this show when it was on, but looking back it again, you have to admire the fun and original character by Vicki Lawrence. Ken Berry is also great as her dimwitted son.
No, you don't and no, he isn't. Goddammit, what the fuck is wrong with the world that everyone doesn't universally despise MAMA'S FAMILY?
Oh well, another in a long-ass list of once great sites has finally jumped the shark. What's next? Maybe Maddox will suddenly start to discuss his fucking feelings. Jesus.
So I responded to this post in craigslist about a month ago that was asking for writing samples. I submitted a couple random samples to the email address specified and the guy got back in touch with me, telling me that he really liked my stuff. So that was cool. He asked if I'd be interested in writing a weekly column for their site, which was mostly a product review site dedictated to "dudes." I checked it out and it looked like the sort of thing you'd expect to read in STUFF or MAXIM, which honestly doesn't appeal to me at all. But I thought it might be cool to try writing something I'd ordinarily never write for someone I don't know with a weekly deadline.
I said yes and he sent me this work agreement which was, frankly, bullshit. I wouldn't be getting paid and I didn't own the work. Didn't really see how that worked but, "Fuck it," I thought, I wouldn't have been writing about any of this shit in the first place, so why not? And I certainly wouldn't have given them something I thought was truly great. I'm not a retard.
So the guy gets back in touch with me and asks me to write something for their "sex" section. Sort of a Mars and Venus thing only with my own brand of humor. Which, again, really didn't appeal to me. But if I'm gonna actually try to do this writing thing for real, I'm going to have to learn to write for other people, even when I think the assignment is lame. So I said fuck it, and wrote the piece below.
I sent it to him and a few days later was told that the higher ups at the web site decided that they'd be revamping the site and making it just a product review site for guys. But he was very cool about it and told me he was thrilled to have found me.
So anyway, either he really liked what I wrote and they just can't use it right now, or he was really offended by it and was just trying to be cool. He asked for a Mars & Venus sort of thing and the first thing I wrote was about Mars & Venus being full of shit. That could have annoyed him, I suppose. Honestly though, I have no reason to believe he was lying, he seemed like a really good guy. The worst thing I can say about the whole experience is that I really wasn't too inspired by the subject matter. Not that that would stop me writing about it at some point in the future. All things considered, I have to label the whole thing a pretty positive experience.
So, given the fact that they didn't use the article, I guess I still own it. There are a couple parts that I really like. Here it is then:
I was reading an old issue of POPULAR SCIENCE the other day and discovered that neither Mars nor Venus will support human life, confirming an old theory of mine that men and women are actually from Earth. Looks like all those books are full of shit.
Yes, there are differences between the sexes, but those differences aren't as profound or as important as most people seem to think they are. You want different? Go hump a cow (bring a stool, those things are pretty goddamn tall) and see if it's up for a relationship afterward. Please don't let me know how it goes.
Ultimately, men and women both belong to the same specie: Retards.
I'd never have to work another day of my life if I had a dollar for every time a guy has asked the age-old question, "What do women want?" What do they want? The same thing everyone else wants: A hot meal, someone to lie down with at night, and a safe place to piss in the morning, but you know what? Who gives a rat's ass? Why not just find a girl you want to bang and find out what *she* wants? True, she might not want anything to do with you but at least you won't have wasted your time pondering an entire gender prior to being rejected.
And, hey, better yet: Why not ask what it is *you* want? What is it you're after? A long-lasting relationship? A boink buddy? Someone to rob banks with? Head? If you're over the age of 20 and you haven't asked yourself any of these questions yet, do yourself (and every girl you know) a huge favor and stick with masturbation until you've figured shit out.
On the other hand, what the hell do I know? My name is Tim and I'm a retard. Just like you.
Alright, it turns out this shit just isn't interesting enough for weekly updates. And if it's not interesting enough for me to write about, it can't be interesting enough to read about. So...monthly I guess.
So, yeah, Edema. Maybe. Honestly, I haven't been to a doctor yet, our health insurance just got activated two days ago. And I have to find a new doctor now since my old one is still practicing medicine in the last century. But the bottom line is the people I know who work with doctors have told me that my ankles are way too swollen and that I'm not drinking enough water. Or, they were, and I wasn't. I went to Sav-On and bought a diuretic called Aqua Ban. I'm supposed to take four a day but I wind up taking only two. And when I take it I have to drink a fuck-ton of water.
I guess there's this formula for how much water you have to drink every day. You take your body weight and halve it. Then turn the pounds into ounces and that's how much water you're supposed to take in on a daily basis. I'm a big goddamn guy and I honestly don't know what I weigh but I do know that at my recent thinnest, I was at about 350. So for the sake of easy math, I'm just pretending that I weigh about 400 pounds. That's 200 ounces of fucking water every day. Six liters. A gallon and a half. Every day.
So I drink a fuck-ton of water and then I take these pills and then I piss. Probably half my fucking day gets eaten up with drinking water and pissing. But when I do it, my ankles are actually normal, which is nice. Still need to see a doctor about it though.
As for the weight loss thing, my pants are finally starting to feel a little looser and one person has even noticed a slight change. Still not getting enough exercise in, but otherwise, I'd call that real (slow) progress.
I'd write more but I gotta take a piss. Until next time...
