Fighting Debt and Bad Health [among other things]
Dec 12th, 2008 by gypsy
You Are An INFJ |
 The Protector You live your life with integrity, originality, vision, and creativity. In love, you see relationships as an opportunity to connect and grow. At work, you stay motivated and happy… as long as you are working toward a dream you support. How you see yourself: Hardworking, ethical, and helpful When other people don’t get you, they see you as: Manipulative, weak, and unstable |
Dec 12th, 2008 by admin
I really don’t keep up with the Hollywood stuff, the celebrities, who is having who’s baby, etc. I’ll tell you why. What that tiny elite group of people does have little to no impact on my life. Now, I love a great movie if it moves me (pun!) but I don’t care about all the ins/outs of someone’s personal life. Let them live their life. Now I can’t say that without defending why I’m a science buff. Science does impact our lives every day. Ok, that’s out of the way.
So the whole reason for even making this post was I saw a link where someone’s dress showed part of their nips or something. Ok, I’m a guy and I like guy things and one of those things is scantily clad women. So I clicked the link and got a peek. Meh, totally underwhelmed by the false advertisement of the link. In any event I got sucked into looking at pics of people on the ‘red carpet’.
At times, I wasn’t sure if it was a high end celebrity event or a Rodeo Clown Convention. The outfits these women wear I mean they’re not even flattering. Who designs half that crap? It’s like, when you’re framing a house, you measure things twice, cut once, ya know? You do your very best to make sure it all fits. It just seems like these women had a designer look at them and then slap something together. Then when they put it on it doesn’t fit. Is it supposed to not fit? You get the pizza toe shoes and flat scrunchy bewbs and this is attractive? I mean where a damn dress that fits if you’re gonna have people foaming at the mouth over you.
So now I’ll go back into my hole of being in the absolute “un-know” on what’s going on with celebrity-dom.
Dec 11th, 2008 by admin
My dress code at work is business casual. I wear khakis and a polo shirt nearly every day. I’m just used to it and see no reason to change. Plus, it’s the dress code.
When I go to lunch though I’m finding that people constantly mistaken me for employees at places such as Target, Best Buy, Books-a-million and even Sam’s Club. Yes I’ve been approach at all of those stores by people asking for help, while at lunch.
Now I’ m a very nice person, so I politely inform them that I am not an employee. We chuckle and continue on our separate ways. Someday love WILL find them.
But there is an evil twin version of me on the inside and it makes me want to do a number of things.
I’d never do that, ever. But it’s fun to think about how to mess with people who mistake me for working for someone else.
I’m wearing my “I work at Target” shirt today, btw.
Dec 11th, 2008 by admin
Hey this is cool. Good job guys! It’s come a long way since I first started using this software. So far, I like the new interface and I’m writing this blog inside of it so that’s why I’m saying all of this.
Just to keep on par with what I usually talk about, uh…
Rockets
Space
Science
Games
Computers
Bewbs
and Beer, even though I’m not a huge beer drinker, but still, it’s BEER!
Good going, looking forward to using this interface 
Dec 9th, 2008 by admin
I’m straight up copying this from the Gizmodo website. Great write up on one of the (if not the) greatest achievement of mankind as a collective.
First though, watch the video. It’s mostly in slow motion and without music might be a bit boring. The slow motion gives you time to look at this thing and grasp it’s magnitude. At least a little bit.
November 9, 1967, T-minus 8.9 seconds: Thousands of gallons of kerosene and liquid oxygen begin coursing through the giant center F1 rocket engine: The Saturn V’s ignition sequence has begun. Next, two outer engines are lit, followed 300 milliseconds later by the other two, ignited in pairs to avoid toppling the 364-foot rocket above. Nine seconds after all five engines go to full thrust, the first Saturn V rocket begins to lift from the launchpad, taking the unmanned Apollo 4 check-out module into space.
The launch was flawless. Forty-one years ago to the day, the Saturn V became the biggest, tallest, largest-payload rocket ever to be sent into space. Even more amazingly, it still is.
If you talk about the Moon landings, some people remember Armstrong and Aldrin landing on the moon, and may think of the photo of that famous footprint, or the planting of the flag. I choose to remember the rocket that enabled it all, the Saturn V, a pretty shocking mechanical masterpiece all by itself.
Nearly everything about it is monumental in scale and historic in importance:
• At 364 feet high, it was roughly as tall as a 36-story building.
• Its launch weight of 6.7 million pounds was equal to about 2,200 average late ’60s cars.
• Its orbital payload of 260,000 pounds is the equivalent of about 1,500 average people.
It was designed under the supervision of the rocket man, Wernher von Braun, and was chosen in 1963 from a list of potential systems proposed to make good President Kennedy’s promise that a man would visit the moon within a decade.
The rocket was so very large that it required NASA to build the Vertical Assembly Building, one of the world’s largest buildings. It had to be constructed in three stages, could hold four Saturn Vs at the same time, and was reportedly so large that it had its own weather systems. It’s still used to put Space Shuttle stacks together, and will house the upcoming Ares series rockets too. It’s also home to the four largest doors in the world.
The Saturn V’s first-stage rockets—five F1s made by Rocketdyne—are the most powerful single-nozzle liquid fueled rocket engines ever to see service. The engine bell for each was over 12 feet across. Each engine developed 1.5 million pounds of thrust, drinking over 670 gallons of fuel mixture per second: That’s enough to empty your typical 30,000-gallon swimming pool in around 45 seconds. The F1 even makes the more modern Shuttle seem wimpy, since each F1 had more thrust than all three Shuttle main engines combined.
Its second-stage rockets—five J2s, also by Rocketdyne—were the largest liquid-hydrogen rocket engines in their day, and remained so until the Space Shuttle’s main engines were built. The J2s were also the first rocket engines that were able to restart in mid-flight.
In comparison, America’s first manned rocket, the Redstone, was about the same length as the final stage of the Saturn V. Redstone was actually less powerful than the emergency escape rockets on the manned capsule atop the Saturn V. (I suppose it’s important to note, too, that those escape rockets never had to be used.) And Redstone’s maiden liftoff was only 14 years before the Saturn V’s, which shows the tremendous speed of NASA’s rocket program in the ’50s and ’60s.
Chart of rocket sizes (again, borrowed from gizmodo, thanks!)
Even the Space Shuttle, deemed by some the most complex machine humans have yet built, doesn’t compare to the Saturn V. And if you’re wondering what the unlabeled black rocket in the middle is, it’s Saturn V’s competitor, the Soviet N1 moon-shot rocket. This had four attempted launches, none successful. Part of this was due to lack of management and funding, but part had to do with its incredibly complex first-stage design, which required the synchronized firing of 30 separate rocket engines.
Perhaps most amazing of all facts about the Saturn V is that each of its 12 main Saturn V launches was successful. Two of them suffered in-flight problems including engine cutoffs, but the on-board computers were able to compensate, resulting in a successful mission. The rocket was even considered at one point to act as a prototype for the first stage of the Space shuttle, thereby requiring no solid-rocket boosters. If that had happened, the 1986 disaster that befell Challenger would never have happened.
There were also plans for several post-Saturn V projects on the drawing boards. The best was a super-massive variant with eight engines in each of the first two stages, capable of launching all the International Space-Station hardware to orbit in one shot. Sadly, for political and financial reasons, all variants were canceled.
Today, there are other contenders as NASA suits up for the next moon shot. Though not as tall as its predecessor, the massive Ares V rocket, child of NASA’s somewhat troubled Constellation program, is technically able to put 414,000 pounds of payload into low Earth orbit.
But until the Ares V flies, the Saturn V remains king of rockets. Call me overly nostalgic (or pessimistic, seeing as Ares is well underway), but I’m inclined to think the Saturn V may well keep that title forever.
Dec 9th, 2008 by admin
First lets start with this video of an SNL skit.
WARNING: NOT FOR KIDS and also NSFW
Dec 5th, 2008 by admin
It’s amazing. Buy it. Read it. And hope they don’t screw the movie up.
I can’t resist telling the story of when I went to purchase this graphic novel though. First of all let me say a good book is a good book no matter what. If you like it, it’s good.
So the day I bought it is also the day that Twilight came out in theaters. I’m not going to bash that movie or the books. I get it. It’s chick stuff. Ok, I don’t get it but I get what you guys get in that I just won’t ever get what you get. The point is this: there is a stark contrast of who will read/see Twilight and who will read/see Watchmen. That is what I witnessed when I bought my copy. And keep in mind that is a generalization and doesn’t apply to everyone. I’m sure plenty of women have read or will read Watchmen. Just know, it’s not a “feel good” or “sappy” story in any sense. It was an oil/water experience. Two crowds that just wouldn’t mix. If there were other people there all buying Watchmen then I’d be writing about how I jumped on a bandwagon. Frankly, not enough people even KNOW what Watchmen is. I was one of those people. It’s been out for 23 years!
The stark contrast came as I’m walking down the main aisle in Books-a-million. I passed these girls who’d just seen Twilight. They were on the verge of “edgasm”. I think if you’d snuck up behind them and bit them on the neck they’d probably have collapsed into “edgasmic” delight. They were THAT giddy. So I pick up the Watchmen book and stare at it’s bright yellow cover. The half smiley face, with blood running down the side of it. About the only thing common in the two stories; blood.
I wouldn’t have even thought to draw this comparison if not for the fact that I encountered these young women oozing about the store. Yes, oozing. One is a love story ( I guess?). One is cold hard realism and a window into the deepest part of the human psyche. I doubt those girls would ever read anything like Watchmen. But take me, I’d never read anything like Twilight.
Personally, I think everyone should read it (that is of age of course). You leave it asking yourself what is right and wrong. Rorschach wears a mask that is always black and white and changing. It’s never gray. It sort of represents that to him at least, there is pure good and pure wrong. Which makes complete sense at the end. Or does it?
So this isn’t a “my book is good your book r dumb” post. It’s a “this crowd” vs “that crowd” book. You know, Trekkies vs Star Wars? Star Destroyer vs Enterprise?! You get the idea.
Just to be fair; I will read Twilight and determine any similarities they might have 
Nov 14th, 2008 by admin
Obama won the presidency and that’s remarkable. But who knew that it might come down to Georgia to decide what happens in Washington and the country as a whole? The democrats are possibly 1 away from having 60 seats in the house. That makes them filibuster proof. Which puts little in the way to stop legislation that conservatives aren’t in favor of.
Saxby Chambliss did not have quite enough votes to win his seat. Thanks to a third party candidate he was a hair below 50%. That forces the senate race here into a run-off. His opponent is Jim Martin.
Now I’ll admit I wasn’t heavily following the senate race here as far as campaigns go. I knew it was important but had no idea it might be this important. Here is what it comes down to for me:
Jim Martin is one of two things: a) incredibly stupid (which I doubt) or b) will say anything to get elected. I am pretty sure it’s (b). Why? One word; FairTax (OK that’s two words put together but whatever).
Why FairTax? I saw Jim Martin’s ad about FairTax and I was speechless. If you’ve read my blog for any amount of time you’ll have seen my mentions of the FairTax. I understand for the very most part how it works and how it would work to be a boon to our country as a whole. Jim Martin does not understand this or at least his campaign advisers don’t. Perhaps they do but they no one thing that motivates people and that is FEAR.
One of the first things you’ll ever read about FairTax is 23% tax rate. If people are smart they keep reading and get the whole story. Jim Martin assumes people are too stupid to investigate on their own? His ad says FairTax would ADD 23% to everything we buy. I’ll be blunt here; he’s out of his frapping mind. Saxby Chambliss supports the FairTax. Now tell me, what politician in his right mind would support an additional 23% tax on everything? Answer? Zero.
Martin is not telling the whole story. He throws 23% out there and scares the hell out of people. Red Foreman says it best but “He’s a dumb-ass.” 23% is NOT added on to everything. In a nutshell the IRS is gone, federal with-holdings end and you get your entire paycheck. You fund the federal government through a progressive sales tax. So it does not come out of your paycheck. Period. It just restructures the way the governement is funded. Shifts things around so to speak. This “additional 23%” garbage is bullcrap.
If you’ve never heard of FairTax let me elaborate a tad on FairTax. I’ll take straight from the website as they’re better at wording this stuff than I am so here we go:
I whole-heartedly encourage anyone to visit the FairTax website and educate themselves. So in short, Jim Martin is lying and it’s not a matter of saying he’s lying just to say it. He is actually 100% legitamately lying in that campaign ad. FairTax is non-partisan but people like Martin choose to make it partisan and divide people on it. IT IS NON-PARTISAN, JIM. Leave it alone and run on the issues. Or perhaps you could support it and tell people how it really works and possibly win that seat?
Come on, Jim. Look at this long list of supporters. Why would they all support an additional 23% tax? Oh right because it isn’t one. Duh! Scroll to the bottom for the list of economists. Yes, economists! People that actually know things about the economy!
So, if Martin wins the run-off it’s a blow to conservatives in the Senate and a blow to the FairTax. Gee, who am I voting for?
oh and p.s.
I don’t really appreciate the random comments on my political postings. Come on people, speak english or write something other than gibberish? Thanks! (and thanks for reading
Nov 10th, 2008 by admin
Apparently that’s what you do when you want to get a grassroots effort together to get something done or noticed. Yes, you make a .org site. There are a bajillion out there it seems! There are plenty of legit ones and good ones. It’s when the name gets crazy that bugs me.
That’s pretty much the blog for today. Too busy to go into a rant.
| Event: | Shuttle Endeavour • ISS ULF2 |
| Date: | 11/14/2008 |
| Time: | 07:55:00 PM ET |
| Details: | STS-126 will be the 27th U.S. mission to the International Space Station. The flight will deliver equipment and supplies with a reusable Multi-Purpose Logistics Module. |
| Contact: | Reservations |
| Phone: | 321-449-4400 |
| Location: | LC-39A, Kennedy Space Center, Florida |
Yes! Well I don’t think you can get tickets to this particular launch but there is viewing all up and down the Indian River. Even though I’ve never SEEN one go up I can assure you that if you’re anywhere in the area; you’ll know one is going up. This launch will be shortly after nightfall and those are particularly dazzling. I like day launches as you can see the vehicle a lot better but any successful launch is a good one.
That’s right, one week from today! W00t! I love launch day preparation.
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