Month: July 2004
Never ever ever, ever, never ever ever, never….
Never start defragmenting your hard drive, stop suddenly and then reboot.
Ever.
Never.
Ever.
I wiped out boot.ini it seems on my PC and I’ve got no access to my windows directory to fix the problem on the WIndows XP rescue menu (through the command prompt). To top it off, I’ve read online that all I need is a boot disc to get further on the machine and unfortunately — A: drive has never worked on my peice of shit so I can’t do that.
The Downward Spiral of ESPN / Sportscenter
Oh how the Mighty have fallen.
Off Wing Opinion quotes two articles with regards to the breaking of the Sports news leader… The once cultish sports network has risen to carrying all 4 major sports, along with poker and other side leagues, and a promotional arm for it’s owner: Disney.
Honestly I watched for a while after Keith Olbermaan left ESPN for MSNBC… I never really fell in love with Kenny Mayne, but that’s not the real downfall of ESPN (losing an anchor). It started when Keith left the Big Show and ESPN looked for Olbermaan clones… It seemed everyone had to have extra quips and had to try to add tag lines to scores… Stuart Scott and Rich Eisen were ok with it, other people doing it just seemed a little weird if not lame.
Then Sportscenter started just getting too flash-in-th-pan for me. The News seemed to fade and trying to boost sports personalities seemed to get a rise. I was getting ESPN: The Magazine for a time and I canceled my subscription because they were hyping players that shouldn’t be hyped and trying to make me feel sorry for multi-millionaires while the relevance of the articles that appeared in the magazine seemed to degrade with every single issue.
ESPN used to stand for news to me. I grew up watching the morning editions of Sportscenter before running off to school. There were tag lines and zingers used in those days but there was also the NEWS relevance part of the coverage. It wasn’t a promo with regards to a top team, but it was a report on news of teams around he league. Sure, shitty teams didn’t get a ton of coverage but when they DID you knew they were either playing someone relevant or they themselves were becoming more relevant. I used to judge the barometer of the Bucs and Bolts through replays on ESPN, or commentary by ESPN Analysts.
I haven’t watched Sportscenter in years now… not a full episode at least. I don’t watch NFL Primetime anymore because of garbage they’ve had the last few years (including Rush Limbaugh) and the coverage of the NHL playoffs further made me loathe the former sports leader.
I miss the old days of ESPN, but of course those are never to return… But maybe someday, someone, somewhere will figure out that sports enthusiasts want to have in depth reporting and not annoying TV personalities. Sure, we’d like some entertainment with our sports but we don’t want TV ties, Film ties and other corporate ties shoved down our throats.
Tampa Bay Bigotry
I’ve said it before and I will say it again: Sometimes I hate it when I am right. For ego reasons, this time I am sorta pleased about it but at the same time, looking at the area I live in and their level of tolerance — I hate how I could predict the intolerance of others.
The St. Petersburg Times started running some feature stories on Scientology in downtown Clearwater, Florida on Sunday… This was part of a two part feature that completed on Monday.
…And I couldn’t help but know the St. Petersburg Times would be inundated with letters-to-the-editor denouncing Scientology and / or bashing them all together like it was today.
Oh, of course there was a little letter published that predicted this fiasco by some guy in Palm Harbor. Short, subtle and to the point:
Seeing a feature story on Scientology’s hold on Clearwater made me think of one thing and one thing alone last Sunday: How many letters will the newspaper publish in the coming days that border on bigotry?
Damnit, that guy is good :wink
Someone missed the boat and it was me
Oh dear god, I am falling in love with the Daily Show.
For years I hear about this growing cult of people who watch Jon Stewartt and company report on he news with a humorous, cynical and smart ass spin to things. I’m a fan of Jon Stewart but I never watched the show because at times the comedy that I have caught glimpses of on the show seemed a little too cheesy or a little dry or just too subtle.
But watching a few full shows and seeing everything going on? Jon Stewart and the rest of the gang at Daily happen to be Captain Obvious incarnate.
Oh sure, they also report on he ridiculous a ton… Like last night (I think it was a repeat) they had an interview with a fellow planning to build the Clinton “L-i-e brary” a few blocks away from the Clinton Presidential Library. I don’t know if he was on to the rouse that he wasn’t on a true news program but he told the show that it was “vital to our nations future” that people know the truth about Clinton and his lies…
…which was responded with rhetoric about how the CHILDREN actually are our future. Teach them well and let them lead the way…. On and on, the full verse of The Greatest Love Of All was sang by the interviewer DURING the interview….
That’s balls, that’s bravado and that’s hilarious — mocking someone taking his outlandish cause too seriously…
Tonight? Jon Stewart fried Wolf Blitzer (in a humorous way, mind you – he wasn’t attacking Blitzer but laughing with him… or attempting to) and the media for how they’ve covered the war in Iraq with regards to asking questions. I believe Stewart asked, “Was it Group Think or another word, Retardation?”
Now if they could just lose the f’n commercials and expand the show (which would take a little too much, I would think), it would be insanely awesome… I’ll be happy with what I have for now — being a Daily n00b…
Trying to stay busy
It’s tough trying to keep myself busy these days – I’m failing mor often than I’m not.
I did alittle housekeeping on Boltsmag — nothing to write home about. I’ve been pinning about bbb.net and starting to think it was a mistake – that the market is indeed over-saturated and there are too many who are loyal to one forum and not willing to think about how loyal that forum is to them.
Between that and still chronically playing Vice City, I haven’t been up to much. There’s not much more absurdity I can take from the government before I become an apathetic citizen like so many Americans.
Satire! Hooray Satire!
Well, it looks like Boy George and Kerry can get together and do something worth while — even if it’s just parody 😀
(08.01.2017 — Dead link and not able to locate what is being referenced via the Wayback Machine. -JF)
It's getting ugly here
Dear god, I hate all the empty space that is showing up on The Stonegauge lately… It’s not like I’m spread thin on he Internet or anything, it’s just that I haven’t wanted to rant about anything that I could rant about. I mean, really, how many times have I already stated what a sham Iraq was? Or how incompetent / dirty the Bush administration comes off? It’s like shooting fish in a barrel to be honest with you.
I have been parlaying a lot of time toward my new online endeavor along with trying to help out the search engine placement for Rocheleau Cabinetry… Building an online community is tough but with the amount of downtime i have, it should be no problem. There is a problem however and that is trying to bring in people who already have message board communities and cliques of their own that they don’t want to abandon. I’m not much one for spamming but I am on for recruitment of smart people.
Meanwhile, back at the ranch, it’s cloudy and rainy here in Florida. I don’t think it’s anything close to what people up north have dealt with lately but it’s miserable. You can’t believe how humid it is to boot. That makes it even worse.
Speaking of weather, how come it’s so friggin’ impossible to find the Tropical Update on Weather.com? It’s only a glut of people who need to know what’s brewing out in the tropics that could lead to potential hazards. Not like that’s important… :rolleyes
Signs and names and such
“What’s in a name? If we were to call a rose by any other would it not smell as sweet?”
What’s college for? A time for self discovery? A time for experimentation?
What’s Google news for? Messing up someone’s mind with news you were looking for from coincidental sources instead of proper ones.
Note to Kristen Dunst
I think Gabe sums it up pretty well in this strip… Just why don’t superheroes die?
The Holy Grail? Sha. A find? You bet.
Anyone who knows me knows who my favorite band is… Then again, most of you readers are coming off the search engines and probably don’t know…
Lets just say their were four of them, they were fab, and they revolutionized popular music.
Anyway, you may or may not have heard a little news item that was published today about a huge find in the realm of the Beatles — a long lost suitcase containing a lot of Beatles paraphernalia and rare recordings, possibly once owned by right-hand-man, roadie Mal Evans.. This is being written up by the media as “the holy grail” of finds with regards to finds of Beatles artifacts. The scary thing is that this isn’t the first “holy grail” find over the last 10 years that has supposedly earth shattering effects (by the media’s own take on things).
They found a bunch of stolen recordings from Abbey Road and the White Album. Also they recovered some recordings from eh “Get Back” sessions. At the time both of these were labeled “Holy Grail” finds. None of these trumped, however, the recordings “find” (unlocked recordings) that turned into the Beatles Anthology.
So as a fan, I’m a bit skeptical on how earth shattering this find is. Of course, i would love to hear some of the alleged alternate versions of certain songs contained in the suitcase, but I wouldn’t be surprised if these songs have already made it out as bootlegs.
Assault Weapons ban petition
Melanie sent me a rather cool petition by the father of one of the kids killed in the Columbine tragedy.
Tom Mauser’s petition is based on the 6 Degrees of Seperation… But it’s graphically followed how far the 6 Degrees go for any one person, and these degrees go much farther than 6 for any one person as well.
Local idiots
Tampa girls are so fucked up. Read the full ad to get an idea of how fucked up they are.
And to underline the idea that people are messed up in general in Florida, who’s the heartless bastard who would do such a thing to a kitten?
Republican Pledge of Allegiance?
Heh… I’ve got too much spare time…..
(as inspired by George W. Bush’s 4 years in office)
I pledge allegiance
To the Man
Who bankrupt the Enron Corporation
And to the Bush Administration with world domination plans
An abomination, Oh dear God
Politically divisible
With treachery and greed for allby John Fontana
Re-adjusting
It’s always tough to change a habit…. but in these times, you just have to do it…
I am talking about switching from Internet Explorer to Netscape…
With the threat of attack or exploiting IE that has been all through the news, I figured it was best I go about changing web browsers for the time being. I’m not even sure if Netscape 7.1 is that safe either but I am using it as my default browser now and it’s going to take some getting used to clicking on NETSCAPE instead of the little Internet Explorer Icon.
Nader — an understanding
I think I finally get Ralph Nader a bit more this year.
Ralph was on the Daily Show last night and came off like a senile old coot and was in charge of his entire time on the program. I’m not saying his senility is the reason why he is running for office. He seems to be doing it out of principle…
The principle that the dual-opoloy of the political process must be stopped. Not stopped as so much a third choice always be there. It’s not him trying to play the spoiler but give voters a choice. I think he knows that getting Bush out of office is the top priority in the 2004 election year (“Anybody is better than Bush.” are his exact words) but at the same time, I don’t think he is going to drop out regardless of how much of the vote he is siphoning off.votes from Kerry. He believes he is siphoning off votes from Bush too…
That belief isn’t guiding him to stay in the election race however. It’s the thought there needs to be a 3rd candidate…. or a 3rd party without the corporate ties. I agree with him on that much but I know my vote is going to Kerry this year because if I vote Nader, I could help screw the US once again like in 2000. I know a lot of people chalk this up as Ego (as do I at times) but I gotta respect the thought that there needs to be another voice for the disillusioned… Even if the election will be a 2-horse race yet again.
Summer Doldrums
I still haven’t been posting much on the site because I want to make statements on here and not personal diatribes. My anecdotes aren’t that funny or I tell them better one-on-one with close friends instead of telling them to the masses all at once.
I got into a little argument last week with Melanie over politics. She is indifferent towards them and I am urging her to see “Fahrenheit 9-11” and we got into a dispute because of the purpose of the film and shit like that. It made me realize there’s something worse that comes out of partisan politics and corruption than just disgust — apathy. Anyone who is elected will be corrupt because power corrupts, money corrupts and the President of the United States is the key to both money and power.
Meanwhile I bought a couple of domain names and have some visions of grandeur. I’m not saying the names because it could lead to trouble… But it’s something to pass the time with.
Speaking of passing the time and domain names, I’m almost done with Rocheleau Cabinetry Inc’s web site. It’s not the most excellent design in the world but it’s good enough for government work. Hopefully this will help me pay off some debt.
And what else is there? My buddy Bill left Entec and is happy about that but of course also struggling because he wants to be doing something most of the time now… I’m in the same boat because I am getting around better now but still don’t have much to do besides trying to push myself to do more things online and offline.
I’m trying to keep myself busy… Maybe that means a lot more Stonegauge from now on because I don’t have hockey news to cover on Boltsmag.
Dewey Defeats Truman!
(9-14-2007 I’m fixing some stuff here in the future and there was a very large graphic of a cover from the NY Post suggesting John Kerry had selected Dick Gephardt as his running mate for President. The graphic has since been removed and I replaced the graphic with the Alt text I used at the time)
Kerry’s Choice — is NOT DICK GEPHARDT
Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight
Never trust a Rumpert Murdoch owned media source…
I guess this is how they waste time in Prison
Ever wonder what Saddam Hussein does when he is not being interrogated? No? Ok, for discussion sake… Lets say you do…
Well, you’re in luck because he did the exact same thing in court — He plays Rock, Paper, Scissors!
It's all Greek to me
Current things just have me thinking….
Nick Portokalos: Don’t let your past dictate who you are, but let it be part of who you will become.
Toula Portokalos: Nick that’s beautiful.
Nick Portokalos: Yeah that dear Abby really knows what she’s talking about.
Gus Portokalos: My daughter gonna marry Eeee-an Mill-er, xeno. Xeno with a toast family.
