So it was slightly delayed.

Only a few random things today.

On the right there should be a picture. Did you find it? Very good!

In the rather classy 'lounge lizard' mug is my morning coffee. Since I don't have access to an espresso machine right now I've been experimenting with a few different ways of making things interesting. A lot of the time I'll just drink my coffee black; lately though I've been mixing in some cocoa, cane sugar, cinnamon, whole milk, and ginger with REALLY strong coffee. It doesn't really matter what order or in what ratio you mix those things, it's pretty hard to go wrong with those ingredients.

On the right is my music player with a lovely snippet of the album cover from Anaal Nathrakh's excellent "In the Constellation of the Black Widow." And with that I will now rather tactfully make a smooth transition to the next segment of this post....

I've decided that just for fun I'm gonna start doing a 'Song of the Week' segment where I take it upon myself to dedicate a song to someone; this will also give me a reason to make sure I post at least one thing every week.

This week's song is the pleasantly titled Between Shit and Piss We Are Born. I know that most people are not going to like that type of extreme metal; that's okay, we're not going to judge you too harshly :P

Because of the song's refrain ("Are you satisfied it's unto shit that you return? / are you happy that it is in piss that you drown?") I'm dedicating that song to the members of this fraternity at Yale. If you want to revel in your own filth that's fine, but who the fuck do you think you're impressing*?

And that's all for now! gl hf

update: *Well; at least I'm self-conscious about it.

Beyond the End

Btw: NNNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

I've known about that for a while now; slipped my mind to post something. Red Harvest was an amazing band and I wish its members the best of luck with the rest of their lives.

I guess that means I should stop using their songs as a source of ideas for post titles...

update: If you are into extreme/progressive metal then you need to watch this video.

This one is also cool; audio isn't great but I believe it shows their last performance ever.

Wait.... what?

Yeah, so my last post was on the 6th and then I started a new job on the 8th. I've been working 8 to 10-and-a-half hour days ever since and don't get a break until this weekend. I probably won't be posting anything of substance until then because I am too burned out to do much of anything by the time I get home.

Can't complain though, I need the money :P

Anyways check back later this week since I have plenty of inane insanity to rant about; seriously, it'll be fun!

Regarding Race Issues

I'm a bit amused by the differences between the 'Issues' categories on the respective websites for Scott Walker (R) and Tom Barrett (D). Both are running for governor of Wisconsin this year.

The list on Walker's is:

- Agriculture

- Education

- Goverment Spending - Reform

- Healthcare

- Jobs

- Natural Resources & Sportsmen

- Protecting Life

- Second Amendment

- Standing up for Wisconsin Families

Tom Barrett:

- Agriculture

- Creating Jobs

- Education

- Energy and our Enviroment

- Healthcare

- Fiscal Responsibility

- Senior Citizens

- Transportation

- Veterans

- Women's Issues

I'll update this post later with a more in-depth look at what information is actually contained within those various categories. For now I'm just going to say that it's rather telling that the republican gave entire categories to the rights of embryos and gun owners while the democrat included a 'Women's Issues' category.

How copy? Over.

Change of Venue (updated)

I'm making a 'new' blog and copying all of my posts to over there.

Fuck robots.txt

I can't figure out why google refuses to index anything. This is my attempt to fix that.

Update: No, I'm not doing that after all. This is still going to be the blog. Sorry for the drama.

'Mechanized' is a second profile I've created. I'll mostly be using that profile from now on.

Only Korans? - Part 2

[04/16/2012] - I feel like I've learned a lot since I wrote this, and it now no longer 100% represents my views on the subject; they aren't enraged because we burned some books.


Funny story; my internet died about an hour after I posted last time.

I really am starting to hate Charter Communications with the type of passionate dislike that I usually reserve for classmates who, upon buying hot chocolate, proclaim that it tastes, "Too much like coffee."

Anyways....

I guess what I was trying to say before is that burning the Koran = bad

Threating to kill people over burning the Koran = Worse

I hate to boil it down to a doltish formula like that, but over the last week I realized that I really don't care. I much prefer drawing the Prophet; rather than destroying something Islamic you are creating an image so as to express yourself. And when I see how upset the global Islamic community becomes over petty insults I honestly believe that the only reasonable response is to continue the petty insults in the most benign way possible.

The fact that Molly Norris has had to go into hiding is an absolute travesty. I don't care that most Muslims are great people. I don't care that they will be insulted too. And it doesn't make sense to say that we should all treat Muslims with respect rather than insult them. Until the Islamic faith and community can be freely mocked or critiqued without fear of death it is impossible to truly communicate with them in a respectful way. Politeness at the point of a gun is a survival mechanism, not respectful dialog.

So I say that drawing the Prophet Muhammad is a good thing. It's a peaceful way of saying, "Welcome to the civilized world. You will be mocked. You will be insulted. And until you learn to deal with it in a civilized way nobody will have any respect for you at all."

Nobody should be exempt from that either. Freedom of speech is not a promise not to be insulted.

More importantly Halo: Reach is a quality product that I readily endorse :D

I'm going to go play it now.

Only Korans?

[04/16/2012] - I feel like I've learned a lot since I wrote this, and it now no longer 100% represents my views on the subject; they aren't enraged because we burned some books.

*******
Original:

FROGBLAST THE VENTCORE!!!!!

Now that I have your attention; I have a very serious addiction to Bungie's games and am ultra amped up for the release of Halo: Reach tomorrow. The joy is slightly bitter-sweet* though since I'm certain that all future Halo games will just be cheap knockoffs now that Bungie is moving on to bigger and better things.

I just spotted something shiny; I'm gonna change the subject now.

Regarding the
Ground Zero Death of the Infidel Victory Monument
Manhattan community center I can't stress enough how much I absolutely don't care about it being built. What angers me is how agitated people are getting about it. I'm much more pissed at our support of Saudi Arabia.

The Florida Koran Burning League that you've probably heard about in the news; it took me a long time to sort out my thoughts on that whole fiasco. At first I was very conflicted. The burning of those Korans is reckless, offensive, and immature. That type of behavior is perfectly acceptable if you're a little know-nothing blogger in an obscure corner of the internet; I believe, however, that a prominent a community leader must be held to a higher standard of social conduct.

I have more to say, but my brain just shut down (caffeine crash I'm sure) so i'll update this post later today to finish my rant : )