Jon

40 years today...

Sat, 27 Jan 2007 22:12:55 GMT

Godspeed the crew of Apollo 1.

Ad astra per aspera.

Paging angevin2

Tue, 12 Dec 2006 05:31:52 GMT

Gacked from Emkai

Fri, 03 Nov 2006 18:31:26 GMT

What American accent do you have? Your Result: The Midland "You have a Midland accent" is just another way of saying "you don't have an accent." You probably are from the Midland (Pennsylvania, southern Ohio, southern Indiana, southern Illinois, and Missouri) but then for all we know you could be from Florida or Charleston or one of those big southern cities like Atlanta or Dallas. You have a good voice for TV and radio.
North Central
The West
Boston
The Inland North
Philadelphia
The South
The Northeast
What American accent do you have? Take More Quizzes

Surprising, yet somehow not, at the same time...

For Emkai...

Thu, 02 Nov 2006 17:09:09 GMT

...since I know you like DDR. ;)

http://wired.com/wired/archive/14.11/posts.html?pg=2

In memoriam, BDF E57

Thu, 02 Nov 2006 04:54:28 GMT

Lost in the line of duty, on the Esperanza Fire, outside of Banning, CA.

Mark Loutzenhiser (Lotzi), Engine Captain
Jess McLean, Fire Engine Operator
Jason McKay, Assistant Fire Engine Operator
Daniel Hoover-Najera, Firefighter
Pablo Cerda, Firefighter

*toasts*

Sure sign I'm getting old of the day...

Sun, 08 Oct 2006 23:28:39 GMT

...I can't remember who my first grade teacher was.

Sat, 23 Sep 2006 03:17:42 GMT

Still downloading patches. :S

Fri, 22 Sep 2006 18:03:19 GMT

So I'm downloading City of Heroes right now. 855MB through a 3MB/s cable connection. Telling me it's gonna be close to 45 minutes to download.

Sheeeeit.

I can remember back in the day, having to call BBSes to download patches for games and having it take 5-6 hours. For 1.2MB.

Un. be. lievable what we can do nowadays.

Today at work...

Thu, 21 Sep 2006 16:42:28 GMT

...I had to teach a college freshman how to use a tape recorder.

God, I'm old. :S

Friend Anarch sent this toward me...

Fri, 08 Sep 2006 23:40:13 GMT

Fun!

Attention Latin Speakers!

Thu, 27 Jul 2006 16:47:29 GMT

This showed up as a sigquote from a friend of mine, and rather than google, I figured I'd dump it y'all's laps (*cough*angevin2*cough*)

"Licentia quod Veneratio supremus totus"

Any thoughts?

Watching Top Gun right now...

Sun, 15 Jan 2006 07:58:12 GMT

And it's the scene in the bar, at the very end of the movie where Kelly McGillis gets all hot and bothered for Maverick and stuff.

This bar is in downtown San Diego, right near the Convention Center. There's even a sign out front that proclaims its status as the "seedy dive from Top Gun".

So, I'm pondering for SD '06, a trip to this bar. To order ice water. Because, after all, that's what every Top Gun fan needs to drink while making a pilgrimage to said dive.

OR maybe I just need to go to bed...

I blame you, Lea...

Thu, 29 Dec 2005 17:44:43 GMT

Good: Listening to Cinemagic on XM radio while at work.

Better: Hearing Patrick Doyle's Battle of Harfleur/Once more unto the breach arrangement.

Batshit insane: Launching into an extemperaneous rendition of said speech, because it's cool, but getting looked at weirdly by customers, coworkers, and the owner of your place of business. ;)

Snurched from Cait...

Sat, 19 Nov 2005 03:08:51 GMT

Not that I'm surprised...

Rohirrim

To which race of Middle Earth do you belong?
brought to you by Quizilla

Fri, 11 Nov 2005 21:30:26 GMT

All-Around Smart

You are all-around smart. Essentially, that means that you are a good combination of your own knowledge and experience, along with having learned through instruction - and you are equally as good with theoretical things as you are with real-world, applied things. You have a well-rounded brain.

40% applied intelligence
0% learned intelligence

Take this quiz at QuizGalaxy.com

You know you and your coworkers are geeks when...

Fri, 07 Oct 2005 03:11:29 GMT

...you've had "Serenity" from the movie soundtrack stuck in your head all day. And are whistling it.

...you ask the new guy if he's familiar with the works of Shan Yu.

...you sing "Hero of Canton", and one of the cashiers says you should sing opera, so you naturally oblige. Except she didn't mean Klingon opera...

Good day today. ;)

On a further note, I'm disappointed in the Serenity soundtrack itself, as my second favorite piece got abruptly cut off, and my favorite piece wasn't included...

Still fun, though, but not as much fun as otherwise would've been indicated.

I'm going down the hill this evening...

Sat, 24 Sep 2005 18:34:42 GMT

...with intent to purchase a brown coat.

And since I'm a cheap bastard with a free account, please feel free to leave commentary on how geeky I am. ;)

Wed, 21 Sep 2005 16:50:40 GMT

Apparently, the student body president at Emory has dissolved the student legislature, declared himself Supreme Ruler, and declared war on Washington University.

Link

This sounds like something I would've done had I been elected to student office.

May death come quickly to Supreme Ruler Dhir's enemies.

(Besides, any student cabinet with a Ministry of Propaganda is fecking awesome. ;))

Paging Burke, et al... (Civil War geekery)

Fri, 02 Sep 2005 20:37:15 GMT

A thought occured the other day, and it was a thought that I think requires further exploration.

I was reading "Gettysburg: The Second Day" not too long ago, and it featured a quote from General Ewell that the Army of Northern Virginia made many mistakes at Gettysburg, and most of them were his.

Which got me to thinking about an article I read not too long ago about General Jackson's death, and how easily it could've been prevented.

Question is: How would Gettysburg have gone were Jackson still alive and in command of the Second Corps?

Personally, I'm of the opinion that a few things would've gone differently, aside from the court-martial of General Garnett:

1) I'd venture Jackson likely would've recognized what Buford's Cavalry for what it was, and committed his whole corps with or without orders. Despite a valiant effort, Buford folds before Reynolds gets there.

2) Culp's Hill would've been taken on the first day. Jackson had enough experience working with Lee to know that "Take that hill if practicable" was Lee's gentlemanly way of saying, "GET YOUR ASS UP THERE!".

3) If Culp's Hill was taken, that would've provided an anchor for the ANV on the high ground, if Longstreet could get there before a Federal counterattack.

4) Would Reynolds have deployed at Gettysburg, or would he have recommended to Meade to withdraw to fight elsewhere? Pipe Creek perhaps?

Thoughts?

Gacked from The Herald, Nikki, Cait, and I'm sure a few other people...

Wed, 24 Aug 2005 00:33:46 GMT

Tired of being underappreciated and manipulated by powerful "others," you fight back. Though possesssing a cold, violent outside, you have a soft, scentimental inside. You love your partner, you cherish family heirlooms, and you want nothing more than to be geniunely happy -- but you don't mind having to kill a couple of nimrods who happen to clutter your path.

Take the What Pulp Fiction Character Are You? quiz.

Tue, 26 Jul 2005 14:39:18 GMT

Godspeed the crew of STS-114.

Random Thoughts

Sat, 02 Jul 2005 06:15:02 GMT

Rather than try to post coherent, relevant posts, I think I'm gonna start posting little tidbits from my day. Because we all know how conscientious I am about updating this thing, and I have to find a reason for its existance, so I do this. Mainly because it amuses me. Hopefully, it'll amuse you too.

Now then...

B and I went to Pat & Oscar's tonight for dinner. On the little number thing they give you for your table, it has several questions guised as conversation starters, such as "What's your favorite part of summer", etc. The notion is entitled "Have a conversation on us". I do so very much hope that Mr. Creosote will not be frequenting Pat & Oscar's any time I am there...

Came to the conclusion that Padme was just as useless as Pippin.

I am deeply intrigued by the notion of Saddam Hussein writing a book. Apparently it is a bestseller in Jordan, despite a royal ban on it. I'm looking for an English translation. The title? "Get Out of Here, Curse You" Sheer poetry, that is.

That's about it. Later, kids.

Gacked from Burke

Fri, 01 Jul 2005 05:04:04 GMT

"Please leave a one-word comment that you think best describes me.

It can only be one word.

No more.

Then copy & paste this in your journal so that I may leave a word about you."

Found this little gem...

Thu, 09 Jun 2005 23:49:59 GMT

Spoilers for Episode III, though.

Lord Vader plays Wheel of Fortune

Backdraft was on last night...

Mon, 16 May 2005 03:19:08 GMT

And setting aside the obvious Iron Chef references, the final scene of the movie always gives me a lump in my throat. You know, the one where it's dusk in the Windy City, and Engine Company 17 (Ladder 46 and Truck 45, IIRC) negotiate through the traffic, lights and sirens blazing, etc, etc, heading for the plume of smoke off in the distance...

I remember once during the Fire... It was maybe about 5 or 6 days into it, right about when the line at Highway 18 broke and it was heading around the lake in the movement that would put the fire within a quarter mile of my house.

Anyway, I was at a Forest Service information station at the bottom of the hill, right on the main street heading up the hill. Specifically, the last signal before the road starts going uphill. I was looking at a situation map, chatting with the PIO, when I hear off in the distance several sirens.

Now, sirens at this point in spacetime aren't unusual, given the circumstances. But the spectacle I was about to witness definately was unusual, at least for me.

Roaring up Waterman Ave. were two strike teams of Type III engines. Forest Service green, every one of them with their lights and sirens on, every one of them blowing their air horns. The lead engine for each strike team had an American flag flying in the breeze. They roared through the intersection at about 60 MPH, as a cheer from the mountain residents at the info station rose in the afternoon air.

Ten engines, 70 firefighters racing off to do battle with the fire. Kinda poetic, really.