784 thoughts on “DeadpanUnshow57”

  7. It is by Bea alone I set my mind in motion. It is by the juice of Golden Girls that thoughts acquire speed, the lips acquire stains, the stains become a warning. It is by Bea alone I set my mind in motion.

    • Interesting note about funding Public Television.

      Corporate advertising on radio and TV is a fully deductible business expense, which means that every advertising dollar costs a company only 30 cents.

      If that deduction was lowered by just 20% … it would bring in more than $4 billion annually and would cover the entire budget for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (which in 1995 was only $286 million, not sure what it is now).

      • … another point, the REAL reason that some congressmen are trying to KILL PBS is for their lobbyist pal’s in the cell phone industry.

        Somewhere I have an article on this (that I can’t locate at the moment) but basically, if they can kill PBS then they can move something else to that section of the broadcast spectrum. This frees up additional broadcast frequencies for the very profitable cell phone service providers. Their lobbyists have been pushing hard for this for several years now.

  39. Your Market update –

    Corporate America is recovering nicely, thank you.

    Since the market bottomed in March 2009 … the Dow Jones Industrial average has Doubled, rising over 6000 points!

    I weep for the investors who didn’t pay attention but instead, got out of the market because they were listening to the political pundits who were selling fear and gloom.
    Much of that reached a crescendo last November. Once they got their candidates into office, the hoards of people coming on shows like CNBC to peddle fear and tell us how bad things were, slowed to a simple steady drumbeat.

    Since the end of last November the Dow has steadily risen some 1200 points! That’s an unheard of, 10% rise in just 3 months!

    Professional investors are referring to these last two years as a “once in a generation” investment opportunity”.

    The only thing that is more remarkable then this multi year Bull Market, has been the media blitz to make American’s think that things AREN’T getting better when they very clearly are.

    That has been your Market Update.

  43. Those were my thoughts as well jOE. Although, it may instill the false notion of the necessity for gas powered appliances.

  57. Hay Pan no time to get cough up. been cleaning plant services Parts area as part of the Lean 6 sigma project. just wanted to say hi
    so HI!

  58. Frien took me out fir east Indian food. He wanted to quiz me on the elliptical we just bought so the food was a bit of a bribe.

    Hey free food is free food

  60. Scry, I think I’ll have to resign. With only four letters left in my hand there’s no way I’ll reach the 100 points you are ahead by. (see pantless :cheerful: )

  61. Wait a minute. How come PC gamer was able to get Dragon Age II (they gave it a 94/100 btw)?

    Humph. *mutters*. I want DA2. Where’s my copy of DA2? * /mutter*

    :cwy:

  62. It’s coming soon, bunny. Less than a week. The reviewers get it early so they can post reviews before the games are released.

    Bastards. 🙂

  82. Bunny: Yep, it was a good article and I agree with most of it. On the flip side, if you are pushing a product–which books are–its not unreasonable for your customers to expect some sort of timely delivery.

    Fans that feel entitled, or that Martin owes them some sort of obligation, are the ones that are out of line, imo.

  84. EssBee, he and Astrid (his other half) was here in Calgary for the local SF convention. Apparently Astrid use to work at the circus. As the time our zoo had a thing where you could book a private breakfast then go to the elephant enclosure to help wash them. The condom at the time arranged for this for them and a select when they were here. I wasn’t part o the con com then but myself, hubby, and our Boo were part of the select few. I have pictures somewhere of us right up beside the elephant giving her a scrub while she was flopped over like a cat

  85. Ok, just so you know condom = concom

    *mutter, mutter*. Stupid iPhone thinks it knows what I mean better than I do *mutter, mutter*

  94. note to Lady Gaga:
    When 12 year olds are dressing like you … you are no longer “out there”, “different” or “cutting edge”. You have been assimilated and are now “mainstream pop”.
    Time to move along to the next thing.

  99. Well I just purchased Beyond Good and Evil HD since I rather enjoyed the demo (the original missed buying at the time).

    You can keep your new fangled DA2, I’ve got wildlife to photo…

  109. Voodoo Lady…. shakin that stick, drivin me crazy. YOur eyes are red n hazy.

    Just helped 5 people I dont know come in second place on Breckenridge Brewery’s Geeks Who Drink Trivia Night. 25$ free drinks…. winner. You cant process. Uh…winner.

  117. His name is Van
    He likes Deadpan

    I dig the new Jack Mangan at the top of the site – might not be new today on the site, but I just noticed. Love that pic.

    • Ill see it. It’ll be my son’s first chance so see a Star Wars film in the theater. Frankly Id see them all anyway. I’m like that. Or, as Rob from Topless Robot says quite perfectly,

      “I can complain all I want, but when Lucas pulls out the big guns — theatrical movies — I just sit back and wait for him to unload all over my face.”

  123. I really like this quote from Soul Eater:
    ???????
    ????????
    ?????????

    It translates to: “A sound soul resides within a sound body and a sound mind.”

    It sounds a lot like some sort of proverb, but since there is not attribution, I think it just comes from the show.

  127. Need to start Fox’s Star Wars education soon. I need to make sure he starts in the right place before some well-meaning friend shows him Phantom Menace.

    I’ll probably go and pay at the theatre, but the snark response is that I can see a turd in 3d daily, assuming I’ve eaten salad properly.

  130. I think a lot of it depends upon the kids With our girls, the older has learned to prefer the original trilogy but the younger prefers the newer. They have both seen both sets of movies but the flash, bang of the new ones seem to appeal to our younger daughter, what I call, the Britney Spears (or pop) generation. The younger seems to have wiped the original Star Wars from her mind, our older daughter has done the opposite. Both will claim not to remember the movies they did not get as much out of.

    Meh, what can I say?

  136. Jack,

    I was just going to post something on that. Given that

    A. How Natalie Portman lives her life has no statistical effect the number of women who choose to become single mothers.

    B. As noted Natalie is engaged to the father and has the financial resources to take care of her child.

    C. Given that single parent families are now the majority condition I would think it obvious that something other than “celebrity fashion” is at work here.

    Now if Mike had said something along the lines that sexual irresponsibility by adults has a damaging effect on children, I would agree 100 percent. I’m baffled why these social conservatives don’t frame their debate in such a way.

  142. I sometime’s wonder what the other people at the Sams Club are up to. I understand we’re there to buy things in large quantities, but some of the combinations that I see in people’s carts make me scratch my head.

    The guy checking out in front of me bought 315 scrubbing sponges, about 6000 paper clips, 200 binder clips, and a couple of other oddball things.

    I go every couple of weeks for bulk type items, though I don’t think I ever go in with the notion that I’ll buy my next three year supply of scrubbing sponges when I go. At least, I hope he bought a three year supply.

  148. Since it’s been a while we’ll go over the rules.

    Spoilers will be plentiful. As well as spelling errors. This play by play may or may not make sense. And it is likely there will be an extended version as WordPress likes to eat my comments and Jack will have to release them.

  154. Wow. This will be interesting. I have a box to write comments in but cant’ see what’s been written. I’ll give this a try but may have to switch to my phone half way through.

  156. Today’s movie is Groupie!

    The DVR says, “Psychotic groupie Riley Simms stalks a cursed rock band during their big reunion tour and schemes to give each band member a slow and painful death as they make one final bid for stardom in this unrelentingly tense thriller”

    So remember,this movie is going to be “unrelentingly slow and painful: 😆

  247. Someone please remind me that this needs to be a Random Comment selection for next week:

    DJ Bunny
    March 4, 2011 at 2:27 pm · Reply

    Wow, look at the size of that petroleum jelly tub!

  251. This has got to have been one of the most boring horrors I’ve seen. Where’s the tension? The story? The… anything? The special effects, such as they were, were pretty terrible too.

  253. You know, I think I’m disappointed with the movie channels. i was looking at what is on my DVR and, out of eight movies, not one of them is a B horror. Checked over the weekend and nothing is coming up.

    *shrug*

    Oh well. I’m sure you all are just as happy there will be no play by plays in the next little while anyway.

  264. Time for me to do some quests. I rewarded myself earlier with a Chimay Blue. Now I’m having a Mighty Arrow from New Belgium.

  274. Good morning, DP! I’m home for the first time (save a 48 hour stint to wash clothes and re-pack) in over two weeks. What a relief it is to be home.

    I hope you all have good weekends, yo.

  277. Thank you, Jack!

    I just discovered that two people from high school unfriended me on facebook and have discussed at length the SCANDAL of my queerness. I know I shouldn’t, but I just love that . . .

  279. Thanks, guys. Agreed on all counts. Stupid tossers.

    Sly B and I were just discussing our experiences with both male and female (these two are female) homophobes. Mostly, they either have and want to again, wish they had, or think about it when they’re alone and panting.

  285. EssBee, You and Sly B, together, are always welcome to hubby and I.

    On that note, when you plannin’ to visit Sly B’s brother (if my memory is correct?) here in Canadaland? You has relatives so close and yet still have yet to see you.

      • Hmmm, I should clarify in case people get the wrong idea about our guest bathroom. The problem is I have a very large phobia about creepy crawlies. I have a very sweet hubby who won’t kill anything. We’ve come to an arrangement that, during the winter when it’s too cold for anything to survive outside, when he captures a spider for me he can put it in the guest bathroom since the only time I go in there is if we are having company. The stipulation is, when it warms up, they all must go outside. Or if we get company, he has to deal with them and clean the guest bathroom. The other thing is, if any of them get out of the guest bathroom, and I see them first, they are fair game for the death squad.

  300. I’ve been at a party.
    I had a choice between so-so beer and this cocktail that was a mixture of tequila, a honey like substance, and champagne.
    I went for the cocktail.
    Several times.

  303. Following up on last week’s request for song recommendations: I finished my new fanmix tonight. I opted to use both “Entre Nous” and “Color My World.” The finished product is here if anyone is curious.

    Good night, Chicago.

    • YEEESSSS!!! Rush wins! Take THAT Bon Jovi! Eat my shorts Kiss! Bite my shinny metal ass Iron Maiden!

      Sorry. I get a bit excited about Rush.

  306. WooHoo! Found a diagnosis of the problem I was having with sound file conversion. Now I can reliably go back to the portable recorder as a solid alternative to setting up the full rig and kicking the fam out of the house, at least for non-skype-related content.

  309. One of the financial market podcasts that I listen to talked about how Best Buy looked to be heading down the same path as Circuit City, CompUSA, etc – i.e. eventual bankruptcy.

    The article said that, while Walmart and Amazon were winning in sales of consumer electronics based on competitive prices, Best Buy was resisting discounting, instead trying to focus on the superior service offered by their trained and experienced staff.

    It’s a good thing I wasn’t eating anything when that line came across. Surely I would have chocked to death from the laughter at the notion that Best Buy sales droid’s bring anything but a training to upsell everyone on the benefits of Monster cable.

    • Fascinating and frightening article Ed.
      THIS line popped out at me though –
      “The number of computer chip designers, for example, has largely stagnated because powerful software programs replace the work once done by legions of logic designers and draftsmen. ”

      Isn’t that the “singularity”? The moment at which computers/machines start to design themselves?

      Are we there?

    • Actually, my guess for Skynet would have been coming from the medical community. That is, until I started working with the medical community. They probably have the technology to build Skynet, but wouldn’t be able to agree on anything long enough to put it together. I use medical billing as my defense.

  312. BTW – Lost Ralph WINS!
    It WAS agave nectar. Between that and the Champagne, the tequila became waaaay to drinkable.
    Seemed like a great idea last night … not so much this morning.

  313. RE: Ed’s article: What is a Terminator’s retainer fee?
    RE: The Singularity: That moment is when the rate of technological development of Artificial Intelligences accelerates to a rate beyond our prediction models.

  315. One of the first “positive” signs I’ve seen from the U.S. general public in long time –

    “His (Beck) show has lost more than one million viewers over the course of the past year. (snip) Beck’s three-hour radio show has been dropped in several major cities, including New York and Philadelphia, and has seen a ratings decline in most other markets.”

  338. I had the Cup Car Update.

    It’s still fun when friends come up to me and tell me about this thing they’ve discovered called “podcasts”.

    “Oh really” says I, “Tell me more about it.”

  342. I have a major internal dilemma going on right now. I switched from iPhone 3G with AT&T to a Droid with Verizon (started with a HTC Incredible and moved to a Droid 2). I have found the Droid phones to be EXTREMELY glitchy. A situation culminating in my missing a great video of my daughter standing in front of a monkey at the zoo (which was making eye contact and funny faces at her) because my video app repeatedly crashed instead of taking videos. I have also been missing iTunes. No other music player has been able to take the work that I put into iTunes and give me descent smart playlists.

    On the other hand, I got away from the iPhones because I don’t like Apple’s overly restrictive policies concerning apps, flash, web browsers, music transfers, etc.

    I have an opportunity to get an iPhone 4 with Verizon, but the 32GB version will cost me $300. Should I go back to the iPhone or stick it out with the Droid? If I miss the opportunity, it will likely dig at me for years to come. But we’re talking $300 that I, in all honesty, don’t really NEED to spend.

  343. Hey Pan!

    UH, hubby has an HTC Desire Driod, I have an Iphone 4. I’ve recorded video on my IPhone but hubby has only taken pictures. You’re right, the droid can be a little glitchy, hubby quite regularly has to reboot his phone but he wouldn’t trade it for anything. He’s lucky in that Telus has not held back any of the updates as has been known to happen with some carriers and android phones. Hubby has doesn’t use his phone for music much but does transfer some podcasts onto his phone

    I love my iphone. I know when an update comes down I’m not dependent on my carrier on whether or not I get it. Also, because Apple is restrictive on its apps, I’m less likely to get a virus or malware on my phone (still not impossible, but less likely). I got the Iphone more because I had a touch and a phone so when my cell contract came up I decided to go from two devices to one that would do both jobs.

    I think they both have their pros and cons. There are some apps on the iphone still not available on the droid however, we’ve come across some apps on the droid not available on the iphone. Some are available and cross platform like Words With Friends that we play with each other. The biggest difference, as you mentioned, is the price. With contract hubby’s phone was only $80, mine was $250. We both love our phones and wouldn’t trade them in.

    I know I probably haven’t helped much. I think it really comes down to personal taste.

  345. Re: Droid or iPhone
    You just have to decide which is more restrictive to you personally.
    A device that limits the ways you can share or alter apps/music or a device that you can’t count on doing what you bought it for in the first place WHEN you absolutely need it to.

    For me the choice is pretty easy but I realize that everyone has their own level of “unacceptability”.

      • Here is a particularly neat video of part of the crator collapsing into the lava pool in the vent.
        http://tinyurl.com/479aj6t

        For some perspective – the crater you see there is about 500 feet(150m) across and the lava pool is about 60m (200ft) below the edge of the crater.
        /geeking out
        The other thing you have to keep in mind as you watch the lava in these videos is that even though it splashed around like water or wax … it still has the same weight as a rock! So a blob of lava the size of a bowling ball, getting spattered 50 feet in the air comes down with the weight of a rock that size! It’s just that after it crushed you, it would set you on fire.
        /geeking out

  348. Difficult question UH, JJ and TEB giving very sensible answers.

    The iPhone 4 is nice but battery life pretty much sucks, applications do crash and can make the phone reboot. So the iPhone can suffer from glitches.

    What I do like about Apple, is that they will replace faulty phones without too much hassle (unless you’ve smashed the screen or dropped it water).

  350. At the risk of opening my self up to Deadpan’s humour, I have a question. I overfilled my kettle and hot water spilled on my counter. Not sure what it reacted with but now my kitchen smells like fish. I haven’t cooked fish in several weeks. What would cause this odor to occur? I keep my kitchen quite clean but do have a few recipe books on the counter. hmmm.

    • Is there a lot of mineral build up in the kettle? And what kind of counter do you have? It might not be fish you are smelling.

  352. Well, I’m moving into the living room. I have about 500 pieces of paper that need 3 hole punching and I’d rather do that in front of the TV. Will probably watch the Kevin Sorbo movie I didn’t watch last week.

  360. Additionally, I watched Catfish last night and thought it was good. I enjoyed it quite a bit and whether it was real or not (let’s assume it’s real because I like it that way) I found it to be very touching and quite human…

  361. ditto, I can’t handle reply threads yet so new thread… I’m waiting for my FF to shut down so I can check that info.

    I know I have the most recent version of Adobe reader because that was my first thingie that I did. Maybe I should just use Chrome for those types of files.. or some different reader add-on

  363. Cj, you should be using 10.0.1 of adobe reader.

    I’d be wary anytime a document crashes the reader. If you trust the source of the pdfs, I wouldn’t worry, otherwise you should check that your browser hasn’t been compromised in some way.

  365. Post Comment
    Post Comment
    Post Comment
    Post Comment
    Post Comment
    Post Comment

    I DID! ##$%$^ #$$%^&&@n n 89732478923457890jljkl;34y89jklsdvjksdkkllkl;kedfgl;kg;lkajsdfj;alsjkdf;lasjkdf;lasdfjkasdflk

    Grrr.

  388. Thanks to all for the advice. I have more than 32GB of music, so the iPhone will still not solve all my music issues. Plus, I got away from the iPhone for a reason (although I can’t seem to put my finger on it right now). I’m sure I would just be trading my Droid frustrations for iPhone frustrations. I think I will keep an eye out for a used 64GB iPod touch and get the music playing fun with apps. I have seen them as low as $200. In the meantime, I will keep my Droid 2 and my physical keyboard (which I still really like for texting).

  404. CP: Settle — Headstones

    Perfectly describes my conference call right now.

    I wouldn’t settle for nothing
    I couldn’t settle for that
    I’d rather settle for something I don’t believe in
    than listen to anymore of your chit chat

  410. Dammit. A day and a half wasted to debug an issue caused by capitalization in a config file. All because of inconsistent handling depending on whether things had been previously initialized or not.

  439. Yin and Yang

    Bad thing happened to me today.

    Bit of work equipment I’m responsible for lost/stolen.

    Maybe out of a job by the end of the week.

  441. I remember when you said your father’s asleep
    I remember swimming as our clothes drifted off to sea.

    So wake up, wake up dreaming,
    And lie here with me,
    So wake up, wake up dreaming,
    And lie here with me.

    Here we go,
    Just lose control and let your body give in,
    To the beat,
    Of your heart as my hand touches your skin,
    Is this love
    Or,
    Just sexual desire,
    We’re gonna start a fire!

    I remember drinking as the stars were falling,
    I remember dancing on the hotel’s unmade bed.

    So wake up, wake up dreaming,
    And lie here with me,
    So wake up, wake up dreaming,
    And lie here with me.

    Here we go,
    Just lose control and let your body give in,
    To the beat,
    Of your heart as my hand touches your skin,
    Is this love
    Or,
    Just sexual desire,
    We’re gonna start a fire!

    Here we go,
    Just lose control and let your body give in,
    To the beat,
    Of your heart as my hand touches your skin,
    Is this love
    Or,
    Just sexual desire,
    We’re gonna start a fire!

    Taking chances in the back of your car,
    We burn and on my radio is “Rockin’ in a Free World,
    S.O.S.
    So obsessed,
    Oh you make me such a mess,
    Why can’t this just last forever, why, why, why?

    So wake up, wake up dreaming,
    And lie here with me,
    So wake up, wake up dreaming,
    And lie here with me.

    Here we go,
    Just lose control and let your body give in,
    To the beat,
    Of your heart as my hand touches your skin,
    Is this love
    Or,
    Just sexual desire,
    We’re gonna start a fire!
    We’re gonna start a fire!
    We’re gonna start a fire!
    We’re gonna start a fire!
    We’re gonna start a fire!

    Here we go,
    Just lose control and let your body give in,
    To the beat,
    Of your heart as my hand touches your skin,
    Is this love
    Or,
    Just sexual desire,
    We’re gonna start a fire!
    We’re gonna start a fire!
    We’re gonna start a fire!
    We’re gonna start a fire!
    We’re gonna start a fire!
    We’re gonna start a fire!

  442. Ft. Collins, CO is best known for New Belgium Brewery. But its one of its others, Odells, that it should be known for.

    That is all.

  445. Cool. The form remembered my info just like a real.web page. I feel like I finally made it to the future. This whole on screen keyboard is goinng to take a lot of getting used to though