Flip Cup

Any One Who has Netflix

Anyone who has Netflix and the ability to watch the on demand stuff should watch all of the episodes of "Coupling"

the boys i mean are not refined

The boys i mean are not refined
They go with girls who buck and bite
They do not give a fuck for luck
They hump them thirteen times a night
One hangs a hat upon her tit
One carves a cross on her behind
They do not give a shit for wit
The boys i mean are not refined

They come with girls who bite and buck
Who cannot read and cannot write
Who laugh like they would fall apart
And masturbate with dynamite

The boys i mean are not refined
They cannot chat of that and this
They do not give a fart for art
They kill like you would take a piss

They speak whatever's on their mind
They do whatever's in their pants
The boys i mean are not refined
They shake the mountains when they dance

--e e cummings

Helio Ocean and Attachments

A commenter asked how well the Helio reads attachments.
Basically it comes down to a couple of things, one it only seems to read images (jpeg, gif and png) sounds (mp3 is all I've tried) and html attachments. As for things like PDF, Word Docs and the rest not a chance. What I end up doing is using gmail and their preview or read as HTML seems to work well enough.

Memory Recovery for Republicans

My Three Rituals

1) Cleanse the tops of any beverage I buy from a store with water as Tom once got sick because roach spray was likely sprayed on everything in the store,
2) Go to a poker game every Sunday
3) Pour out the first sip of every 40oz I drink for the deceased

Falwell Link Love

The Aural Majority

Moral Majority

In God We Trust, Inc.
Originally uploaded by dcdan.

With the passing of the leader founder of the Moral Majority, I present to you the album In God We Trust, Inc.

"Moral Majority" by the Dead Kennedys

You call yourself the Moral Majority
We call ourselves the people in the real world
Trying to rub us out, but we're going to survive
God must be dead if you're alive

You say, 'God loves you. Come and buy the Good News'
Then you buy the president and swimming pools
If Jesus don't save 'til we're lining your pockets
God must be dead if you're alive

Circus-tent con-men and Southern belle bunnies
Milk your emotions then they steal your money
It's the new dark ages with the fascists toting bibles
Cheap nostalgia for the Salem Witch Trials

Stodgy ayatollahs in their dobble-knit ties
Burn lots of books so they can feed you their lies
Masturbating with a flag and a bible
God must be dead if you're alive

Blow it out your ass, Jerry Falwell
Blow it out your ass, Jesse Helms
Blow it out your ass, Ronald Reagan
What's wrong with a mind of my own?

You don't want abortions, you want battered children
You want to ban the pill as if that solves the problem
Now you wanna force us to pray in school
God must be dead if you're such a fool

You're planning for a war with or without Iran
Building a police state with the Ku Klux Klan
Pissed at your neighbour? Don't bother to nag
Pick up the phone and turn in a fag

Blow it out your ass, Terry Dolan
Blow it out your ass, Phyllis Schlafly
Ram it up your cunt, Anita
Cos God must be dead
If you're alive
God must be dead
If you're alive

Helio Ocean

Helio Ocean
Originally uploaded by dcdan.

So my Helio Ocean arrived yesterday and I've put it through the paces and so far so good. There are plenty of pre-release reviews out there about the Ocean but I've noticed that some of them have some inaccuracies.

Physical and Keyboards

The phone has a nice solid feel and it doesn't seem like it will slide open accidentally. The QWERTY keyboard reminds me of typing on a first generation Blackberry and has been laid out so that @ for email and / for URLs aren't a pain in the ass to use. It is slightly bulkier than the k790i, but is still small enough that it doesn't look like you are carrying a big ass PDA in your pocket. The interface is pretty intuitive (hear that motorola!) and the screen is crisp and clear. The speakers are decent and they include a cord that converts the 2.5mm jack to a 3.5mm jack which means you can hook it to standard speakers. It tried it and it sounds as good as an iPod if not better.

The Mail/Messaging Interface
The gmail (and the mail interface in general) interface is pretty nice setup was as basic as entering my password. My only real beef is that there isn't a sync between checked mail on the site and checked mail on the device, meaning if I read it on the Ocean, I have to mark it read on the web side. The reverse is also true, I'm not sure if it is Google problem or a Helio problem, but my guess is that the interface simply does POP and grabs the messages from Google. This is backed up by the fact that it doesn't have the threaded interface either that ties all of your messages in a thread. Additionally using the gmail app on my k790i can do a lot of this so hopefully this app will get ported over and based on the fact that the Ocean can run Java apps and the Google mobile apps are written in Java and they've already done some work as Google Maps (more on this later) works. Creating and sending message is a simple and easy process and you can send attachments though I believe on the site they mention a smallish size limit. This mail interface is the same interface that is used for IMAP/POP, which also leads to my conjecture about it just being POP access.

The messaging interface for IM is nice it has the same feel as it does with a native IM client. I have trouble getting it to receive images as it says the file is too big, but I can send images from it without issue.

The Yahoo! Interface is tied together a little bit better as it knows what you've read on the server, but if you read a message on the Ocean it doesn't seem to send that info back to Yahoo! Mail. The Yahoo! mail interface though is the only _mail_ interface (IM alerts come in instantly) that allows for pull message checking.

Not that it matters to me but there isn't Microsoft Exchange support.

Google Maps, GPS Baby
This is one the apps I was most excited about and it hasn't disappointed yet. I first tried it while in my house and seeing as I live on the first floor of three story brick building I wasn't expecting it to work too well and it guessed me to be about two buildings over, but once I was outside it worked great. If you've used the Google Maps app before on other non-GPS phones you'll feel right at home. The additions are that 0 shows where you are on the map and you can use the 1 and 3 keys to step between way points if you've put in directions. This I feel will be something I use a lot, as I get lost whenever I leave the Hill. The email and the like are great but this is the killer app for me. The only addition I would like to see is the ability to remap based on a wrong turn. There is a buddy finder app that seems pretty cool, but it only works with other Helio GPS phones and could be stalkerish, that being said if anyone near by Washington DC want to play with it with me send me an email

Additionally it has the ability to geotag the photos but they seem to only go to a site that I can get to via my phone, I'll have to dig deeper to figure some of this stuff out.

Web Browser
The web browser is decent the only beefs is no Flash support and sometimes it renders for "mobile mode" which usually looks crappier to me than the regular HTML translated but what do I know.

Games
I read on one of the prerelease reviews that games only worked in portrait view and not in landscape mode but I haven't found this to be the case, plus there is Lumines which is one of my favorite games, but I have no idea what this will do to battery life.

Coverage
I haven't had any trouble with coverage, though I do live in the capitol of the world's richest and most powerful nation so your milage may vary. I haven't yet checked to see if it will roam on Verizon on the Metro.

Syncing
This is weakest part, there is no iSync support and while the site does have cool feature wherein you upload a CSV file and it will push the address to the phone. The down side is that I can't figure out how it wants the file and so it gets rejected.

Camera
I was spoiled by the relative clarity of the photos from the k790i so I didn't expect much from this and it hits for par in the 2MP camera phones, not so great but passable enough to take embarrassing photos of friends


I now open the floor to questions.

Summary of Unlimited Wireless Data Services

Commercial: We have the most complete and fastest wireless network in the world and we now feature an unlimited plan. We even sell a card for your PC you'll have unlimitied broadband Internet access everywhere you go.





PS:If you'd actually use this as your primary Internet connection your usage volume will be considered abusive and we'll cut you off.

Nobody Loves Ya, Like Your Momma

but who's lovin' your momma
I am, I am

Usually I wouldn't post bubble gum pop music but this one has a your momma joke and the line Helping hand of a dirty old man

Brass Balls

You know if McCartney had a pair, he'd release the whole Beatles catalog DRM free.

To quote his buddy:
Imagine no possessions
I wonder if you can
No need for greed or hunger
A brotherhood of man
Imagine all the people
Sharing all the world

Approach to Danger

I often look at the books people have on display in their homes and offices and use them to help me know if these are warning signs of pending danger.
The first example of this is when you are interviewing if you see the book "Managing for Dummies" on your hiring manager's desk you should consider other options. This is true for spotting a "for Dummies" book related to that person's supposed expertise. I don't want to see "SQL for Dummies" on my DBA desk and I don't want to "First Aid for Dummies" at my doctors office.


Today I've discovered a new book that should also serve as a warning sign to guys. If you see this condescending and patronizing book at woman's house you should consider other options.

New Drinking Game

I'm not sure if this game exists already but a good drinking game would involve watching Deadwood and drinking every time someone in the show takes a drink, on the show they just drink straight liquor so it could be a long night. If you were a bunch of lightweights you'd probably each pick a character the one getting Al Swearengen being the most Cave Man Sav

This is Why I Love My Neighborhood

Things like this are why I'm proud to call Capitol Hill my home.


That there is plan to find temporary work for the employees of the businesses of the South Hall and not just a focus on the building.


The fact that a how to help website was up and running within a day.

That the people of the Hill actually care and do something about their community.

Who Did VECO Piss Off

Oil execs plead guilty in political kickback scandal

While corruption and collusion between oil executives doesn't come as a surprise to me seeing people held accountable for it does.

It also seems apparent that from the brewing scandal around Attorney General Alberto Gonzales that the Department of Justice likely doesn't investigate people the administration likes.

We also know that with Bush and Cheney, that this administration is incredibly linked to the oil industry.

This begs the question who did VECO piss off in order to actually have some accountability?

Joost Invite

Does anyone have a Joost invite they can share with me, please?

Printers are Teh Suck

When I was in college I did help desk work for a couple years, supporting rocket scientists no less, and the bane of my existence was printers. They never worked right and caused a metric shit ton of problems. My arch nemesis was the HP plotter three floors from my desk. To make matters worse I had to make it print from OS/2 and Windows NT 3.51, ugh, I finally got it working several flights of stairs later and about 60 feet worth of vellum paper which cost more per foot than I made an hour I'm sure.

Whatever happened to the paperless office?

What I'd like to see are printers that you just plug into the network email a PDF to and boom! you get your print job and text in the message comes out on the cover page.

DC Surveillance Cameras

A while back there was a hit and in run in which a young girl died.

The police still haven't found the driver or the car but did release captures from surveillance cameras. Now I'm not sure if the captures are from the much disliked system setup by the DC government or if they are from a nearby business, but what I do know is that if this the kind of quality you get from surveillance cameras they are pretty much useless.

It's Made of People!

Wow, just wow work safe unless you fear magic people in the sky.

Eastern Market Fire

Eastern Market Fire
Originally uploaded by ponyfriend.

I saw that this site has been created to help with repairing the fire damage that pretty much destroyed Eastern Market
Save Eastern Market