Simpsons Season 6
Topic: Humor

I recently purchased The Simpsons sixth season on DVD. I can't say enough good things about this DVD collection. Not only is this season one of the best but it also has hilarious commentaries for each episode. The sixth season was the one that ended on the cliffhanger episode "Who shot Mr. Burns? Part One" My one problem with this collection is the packaging, which is made of cheap plastic and while it looks cool doesn't store very well. But the geniuses at FOX anticipated this problem and set up a way to order a boring old style case free as long as you pay the $2.95 shipping charge. I got my copy at Target for $18 on Black Friday. The price on Amazon is outrageous($32.49), but if you look at the brick and mortar stores you can most likely find a copy much cheaper. To anyone who likes the simpsons this is a must buy.

Alternative simpsons box

WRT54G Firmware
Topic: Downloads
Here is a site that has a brief explanation of firmware upgrades for the WRT54G.
This is a fantastic site for having fun with Linksys routers.

Melting DVDs
Topic: News
Here is an engadget story about another company using technology to give DVDs a definite shelf life. It works like this, once you open the package the disc is exposed to oxygen that starts a chemical reaction. The chemically treated DVD is rendered unplayable after 48 hours. I expect that these disc are far cheaper than normal DVDs. I was thinking that someone could rig up an air tight Plexiglas box, put gloves through it and purge the O2 from it and replace it with some inert gas. It think that would keep them from degrading. You would have to make an airlock and i would probably use an 100 disc DVD changer to play them in. Although this sounds very expensive I bet it could be done.

Grapes are friggin sweet.
I haven't tried this yet but the pictures look cool. You cut a grape into quarters, put it in the microwave, then just sit back and watch the show. This very well could be my last post because I think my Mom is going to kill me after I blow her microwave up.

Wow that looks incredibly dangerous!

Madden 2006 drops the ball.
Topic: Games
What do you know, the first Madden game after Electronic Arts signed an exclusive licensing agreement with the National Football League has fallen short of expectations. There a few minor tweaks including a new passing system and a roster update. However that seems to be the end of this years improvements. What did the NFL think was going to happen? Did they think that EA confident that it was the only football game featuring actual football players, teams, and stadiums would still strive for excellence? EA obviously kicked up their feet knowing even if Madden '06 only updated the roster of last years installment the game would surely sell millions. Competition is essential to the progression in any society. The only reason people will buy Madden from now on will be because they don't have any other product to choose. I think the NFL made a poor decision signing their agreement with EA. I don't think that the Madden franchise will fade away but I do think that it might stagnate with no competition to beat every year. Some developers are working on non licensed football games but sadly I don't think they will succeed. I am however glad that EA has provided all of us one more reason not to shell out $50 every year for a new football game.

What is the date today.
Has anyone ever noticed how hard it is to find out the date using a search engine? Here are the search results from several search engines after I searched for "what is today's date".
Yahoo
Google
Ask Jeeves
Lycos
MSN
Not one of these sites displayed the date or gave me a site in that did in the top three.

Poor Bastard
Topic: News
I am sure all of us has heard about Jean Charles de Menezes, who was shot eight times in the London subway shortly after the July seventh bombings in the UK. Menezes an electrician by trade, was originally reported to have been wearing a heavy jacket while he jumped a ticket barrier and sprinted for a train. However witnesses and closed circuit television footage tell a very different story than the police. The CCTV tape show Menezes wearing a light denim jacket and walking at normal pace. Recently a police officer working with the surveillance following Menezes was quoted as saying:

"I heard shouting, which included the word 'police', and turned to face the male in the denim jacket. He immediately stood up and advanced towards me and the CO19 (special security) officers... I grabbed the male in the denim jacket by wrapping both my arms around his torso, pinning his arms to his side.I then pushed him back on to the seat where he had been previously sitting... I then heard a gun shot very close to my left ear and was dragged away onto the floor of the carriage."

The gun shot this police officer heard was only one of the eight rounds the police fired into the restrained man(seven of which struck him in the head). I am not surprised the police overreacted this way. The British empire has a long history of using excessive force during politically charged situations between civilians and government forces (especially situations involving minorities of some sort). On a March night in 1770, a group of unarmed men and boys taunting a sentry standing guard at the city's customs house were fired upon by soldiers. In this incident left five dead and another six wounded. The screw ups don't end there. On January 30, 1972, soldiers from the Army's 1st Parachute Regiment fired on demonstrators in Derry, Ireland. The march was formed in protest the internment without trail of suspected Republicans. The day ended with 13 dead and many wounded(one who later died as a result of his wounds). Many refer to this day as "Bloody Sunday". If I was to go on to detail all the atrocities of British imperialism I would be writing for quite a long time.

The moral of this story is: if you are a minority stay the fuck away from Brits with guns.

Xbox 360
Topic: Games
On this site with details on the Xbox 360 it says that it is " optimized for standard and HDTVs". I don't think it will work on my TV because mine chisels the picture into rock.

new york city is stinky
The siteoverheardinnewyork.com is full of funny conversations overheard in NYC. I think NYC smells so bad that people lose all control and say things in public.

Finally a your sincere concern for a womans health can lead her to go topless. This study says women that go topless live longer than if they clothed.

I hope I don't go to jail over this
Everyone needs to check out postsecret. It is a website where people send in post cards confessing secrets. I want to see if I could get one posted so I am going to send in this post card. I don't see how they could not put it on it seems to mesh well with the rest of the submissions. They might get hung up on the whole crime thing. Of course I am only 19 and I wasn't slinging heron at 12.

Threr was a pic here but I took it down. I will link to Postsecret if my postcard makes it on the site.