Why I Love the BBC

So I'm watching a special about Princes Charles and Williams and how they are "Royal Rivals". The narrator discussed how Charles and Diana took their children on lots of exotic vacations.

The narrator begins "Charles and Diana took their kids on lots of exotic vacations," then a pause as the visuals show the kids racing around a very green area on quads. When one discusses the British Royal Family and exotic vacations, one thinks of areas like Myanmar (or as the British still lovingly refer to it, Burma), or Fiji, or Timbuktu. Not so much I quickly found out, as the narrator continued, "such as Goldie Hawn's Colorado ranch."

Ah yes, Colorado...exotic. I mean not to knock the great state of Colorado, but it seems as exotic to me as a trip to the supermarket. So go ahead BBC, keep thinking that Colorado is exotic, and I'll keep trying to figure out why the British Pound is doing so well.

Out of the hospital

So one of the many reasons I've not posted in a while is that I just spent the last three and a half weeks in the hospital. The good news is that now I'm out and after the insane monotony of that place, I'm going to need to get some creative writing flowing in order to not lose my mind.

On that note, more to come.

Explosions In The Sky

It's probably not what you're thinking. They're a band I've been listening to a lot recently, and I thought I should share my enjoyment with the world. They also contributed the majority of the soundtrack of Friday Night Lights. They're also from Texas.

Wikipedia describes Explosions as 'post-rock'. I'm entirely sure what that means, but I'm going to go ahead and call them an instrumental band that immediately evokes an emotional response. You will know instantly if you love or hate them, and, quite frankly, I love them.

Their songs, especially the ones found on Friday Night Lights Soundtrack are so damn uplifting it hurts. I also have to strongly recommend their album, "The Earth Is Not A Cold Dead Place". It just makes me feel so empowered. Like I can go out and succeed at whatever I should so desire. Strong instrumentals, especially the base guitar and drums (note: this might be the entire band, though there are definitely symbols) really just make the album come alive.

So go out, listen to some of their songs. I don't think you will be dissappointed.

The Peak of White People Dancing

I'm watching The Cat's Meow right now, and I've come to a very important realization. The Charleston (seen below) was the peak of white person dancing.

This influential style of dancing was made popular in the 1920's, and was considered by some to be the height of decadence. It mainly consists of awkwardly flailing one's arms and possibly one's legs in a bizarre manner. There has been nothing so easy for those of the Caucasian persuasion as this dance. No wonder they say white people can't dance. It's not that we can't dance, its that the styles of the times have progressed beyond the maximum skill of white people.

In conclusion: The times may change, but white people dancing still sucks.

Two Quick Product Reviews

The 52(ish) inch Rear Projection TV in our condo in Myrtle Beach

Awesome. Kinda sucks during the day because the glare makes the image really hard to see. Though I should be at the beach anyway.

Amber Bock (a product of Michelob)

The first sip of this beer said this, "I need to invest in some of this!" Halfway through the beer I realized that the beer a. needs to stay cold longer and b. it totally gets worse as you drink more. By the time the last sip came around, it was decidedly pretty bad. But like any true gentleman should, I finished it.

Next week's reviews: an ethernet cable and steering wheels.

New Away Message Rules

I sometimes get bored at work, this is a fact of life. One of the perks of my current occupation is that I get to be in AIM at work, so I tend to do a lot of away message checking.

It is this scenario that has forced me to lay down one ground rule when it comes to away messages: If it's after 12:00pm, your away message may no longer be "bedtime" "sleeping" "good night" or anything that implies that you have not woken up yet.

Because, to be blunt, you keeping up these away messages serves one purpose: to anger me. And not just me, but the entire working class that sees your away messages. (Note: I use working class to imply people that have to get up and go to their jobs, not as commentary on socio-economic classes.)

Now don't get me wrong, I am all for sleeping late, I do it every chance I can. But I can't most days and you should respect it. So when you decide you want to sleep until 3:00pm on a Tuesday, put up something else. A song lyric, a movie quote, the standard "I am away". Something that doesn't make me want to come over and kick you until you wake up.

Thank you for your consideration.

New Scrutiny for Facebook Over Predators (NYT)

There's an article on the New York Times about predators turning to Facebook.

Business / Media & Advertising

New Scrutiny for Facebook Over Predators

By BRAD STONE

Published: July 30, 2007

Like MySpace before it, Facebook, the online social network, is being subjected to accusations that it does not do enough to keep sexual predators off its site.
Permalink (pops)

Apparently "a concerned parent" opened up an account posing as a 15 year old girl. This pedophile turned concerned citizen listed their relationship status as "Whatever I can get" and joined such groups as:

• addicted to masterbation...and you know if you are!
• Facebook Swingers
  
• I'm Curious about Incest

Now I don't know from firsthand experience, but I'm going to guess that you are not going to find particularly savory members of society in any of these groups.

Furthermore, the 'concerned parent' accepted friendship with people much older than this 15 year old made up girl. Including a bald man with a goatee from Toronto.

Now I watch To Catch A Predator with Chris Hansen, and I think we all know that bald men with goatees are bad news bears.

I mean lets be serious now, if I buy Porsche convertible, take it to Flatbush, park it with the top down and keys in the ignition, I can't really get mad because someone stole my car.

Yes there are bad people on the internet, but I think Facebook has done a very good job about keeping them away from the disillusioned youth of Facebook.

The only reason the story got picked up by the Times is because Reuters released it first and was hyping it up. So just keep your pants on America, Facebook is still safe. As long as your not an idiot.

Lindsay Lohan, You Stupid Stupid Person

So I don't know if you've read this, but Lindsay Lohan got busted last night for a DUI. She also happened to be in possession of cocaine. What an idiot.

I mean the girl just got out of rehab for Christ sakes. Come on Lindsay, Haven't you ever heard of livery service? You're rich and famous so I must assume you have.

At the very least, if you do decide to drive while under the influence, you could at least have the common courtesy to remove the cocaine from your pocket. I mean you've been out of rehab for what, 11 days?

Lock it up Lohan