Tuesday, August 07, 2007

Blogging is Dead. This site is obsolete.

Posted by Johnny

I hearby declare blogging (and blagging) officially deceased. Technically, it died at the exact moment one of my super non-technical friends, who shall remain nameless, registered his blogger account, which caused me to have apocalyptic flashes... but we'll just say it died today (August 8, 2007).

You might ask, "so what about social networks?"

Let me answer that question with another question: fuck you. Social networks are the digital equivalent of the Popular Club in junior high, except that there's no way to filter out the ugly people because it's all anonymous. Therefore, popularity is purely quantitative and is directly proportional to the amount of time you waste trying to be popular, and you become a big douchebag in the process. In conclusion, social networks should have been aborted before the first trimester and are therefore dead.

"So if social networking is out, then what's the Next Big Thing™, Johnny? Is it twitter? It's twitter isn't it?"

Fuck no. Twitter is going the way of the hamster dance. Who gives a fuck about what you're thinking at this exact instance, anyway? "Craving nacho cheese." "Fantasizing about Harry Potter." "Yay, knitting tonight!" BORING. Shoot me in the face.

"You're an ass, just tell me."

FINE. The next big thing is... prepare yourself... continuously streaming vital signs monitored via a discreet anal probe. Think of it as the vital signs twitter, or Vitter™.

Basically, you have a wi-fi enabled anal probe that monitors your vital signs, such as heart rate, blood pressure, temperature, glucose levels, etc. and streams these to a central repository so your friends can keep track of you. You can subscribe to feeds via RSS and even view daily summaries with graphs and charts, etc. Of course, your friends can comment on trends (e.g. "Wow, that must have been a spicy vindaloo at lunch", or "dude, you forgot to take your insulin").

One thing Kevin pointed out to me in the idea phase is that he won't be able to stalk people if he gives up on social networks. I pointed him to Vitter. Here's our conversation:

Kevin: but...where will i stalk people now?
Johnny: you can stalk people through vitter
Johnny: "ooh, she seems healthy"
So you can see, this opens up a whole new avenue for Internet creepiness. "Mmm, I like my girls at 38 degrees." Guys like Reid would enjoy it.

So does the introduction of Vitter mean this blog is going to disappear? Probably not, because it's hard to convey brilliant ideas, like Vitter, by raising your cholesterol. One day, though... one day.

Tuesday, July 17, 2007

Born to Fist

Posted by Johnny

Haha... hahahaha... haha... hahahahahahahahaha.

I think something got lost in translation there.

Friday, July 13, 2007

Freaky Shit

Posted by Johnny

Here's the first one (from Digg, of course). Looks like the three stooges (Bushy, Rovey, and Dicky) have been reading up on their Goering.



And the second one, also from Digg, is the worlds tallest man shaking hands with the worlds shortest man. Both are from inner Mongolia. The tallest man recently helped save a bunch of dolphins somehow, but I can't remember the details and I'm too lazy to look it up.


PS: Hey, it's Friday the 13th. Cool, I think.

Monday, June 25, 2007

Confession

Posted by Johnny

[from digg]

Tuesday, June 19, 2007

Overheard in New York

Posted by Johnny

[from here]

Guy #1
: I'd totally hit that.

Guy #2: Dude, I'd hit that so hard whoever could pull me out would become the King of England.

Mother: Don't you ever do that again! [slaps child hard]
Child, calmly: Well, are you happy with yourself?

Girl #1: My friend Chandra thinks she's still a virgin because she's only had anal sex.
Girl #2: How do you know this girl?
Girl #1: She goes to my church.

Teen girl: I'm not saying I wish I had a penis. It would just be nice to be able to pee standing up.
Teen guy: Peeing standing up is a lot like eating grapefruit... One wrong move, and you could squirt yourself in the eye.
Teen girl: Oh my god... seriously?

Chick #1: Omigod, like, if I like your earrings, why should I tell someone else I like your earrings? I should just tell you.
Chick #2: Omigod, I'm just like that too. But really it's because I love getting compliments.
Chick #1: Omigod! Me, too! It's the only reason why I say nice things to other people.

Drunk ponytailed guy: So, like what's our situation?
Girl: Ummm, what do you mean?
Drunk ponytailed guy: Like do you ... want me to come up?
Girl: What part of your ponytail makes you think I'd go home with you tonight?

God Squad lady: Praise Jesus! You won't be saved without Jesus! You have to start believing in Jesus to be saved! Jesus will always be there for you!
Suit #1: Would it be so awful if we pushed her out when the doors open?
Suit #2: No. Jesus will save her.

Wednesday, June 13, 2007

Random letters and quotes

Posted by Johnny

from xkcd

Johnny: "And this is why love sucks - it directs all of your blood away from your brain and into your heart and genitalia."

Reid: "Well, all of your blood passes through your heart regardless."

Johnny: "Right."

Monday, June 11, 2007

High School Papers, or Peter Nguyen is my God

Posted by Johnny

If I could go back to high school and care even less than I did at the time, I would write shit like this for every assignment.
Thank you, Jimmy McPerson, and touché, teacher.

Damn you, Walt Whitman!

Monday, May 28, 2007

Birthday Calculator

Posted by Johnny

This is pretty cool. It tells you various stats about your birthday. Apparently, I share a birthday with Ringo Starr.

It also tells you what your life path number is. Mine is 1. From the site:

The Life Path 1 suggests that you entered this plane with skills allowing you to become a leader type rather easily. Your nature is charged with individualistic desires, a demand for independence, and the need for personal attainment. Many of our military generals, corporate leaders, and political leaders are men and women having the Life Path 1. When you display positive 1 traits your mind is capable of significant creative inspiration, and it possesses the enthusiasm and drive to accomplish a great deal. You are very good at getting the ball rolling; initiating new projects is your forte. You are at your best when confronted with obstacles and challenges, as you combat these with strength and daring. This is both the physical and inner varieties of strength. With this strength comes utter determination and the capability to lead. As a natural leader you have a flair for taking charge of any situation. You have a tendency to do this, even if, at times, it is not appropriate for you to do so.

Highly original, you may have talents as an inventor or innovator of some sort. In any work that you choose, your independent attitude can show through. You have very strong personal needs and desires, and you feel it is always necessary to follow your own convictions. You tire of routine and highly detailed tasks rather quickly.

Dead on.

Tuesday, May 22, 2007

Perceived Fridayness

Posted by Johnny

And now to make full use of my "graphs" tag...

Tuesday, May 15, 2007

Jerry Fallwell Died

Posted by Johnny

When I had time to rant about things (my young, idealistic days), I would often jump at the shit spewed forth by right wing Christian leaders such as Pat "Motherfucker" Robertson and Jerry Fallwell. Now that I'm a little older and a little wiser, I'm not going to rant about Fallwell on his death - I'm going to leave that to the digg community and post the best responses here. I hope you enjoy it.

I hate to say this but I'm Conservative and he scared me

It's wrong to speak ill of the dead.
So I have little to say.
I suppose the world is a better place now than it was.

I hope it's not too hot where he's at right now.
Oh wait. I do.
Good riddance you fucking whore. I hope you're burning in a place you've feared in your life.

Fuck Jerry Falwell, too bad he didn't die years earlier. Enjoy your time in hell, you racist, homophobic asshole. Hopefully someone runs a train on your corpse.

If you're going to mourn for this guy, you'd better mourn for everyone:
"AIDS is not just God's punishment for homosexuals; it is God's punishment for the society that tolerates homosexuals”
"God has removed it's veil of protection from America in no small part, because of the feminists and the gays"
"“The idea that religion and politics don't mix was invented by the Devil to keep Christians from running their own country”
“If you're not a born-again Christian, you're a failure as a human being”

In other news: hell just got a little fatter.

Why do the good always die so young?

Tonight I shall go to Larry Flynt's Hustler Club in his remembrance.

If hell actually existed, he would truly be rotting in it. Luckily for him it doesn't.

Jerry Falwell finally did something for the people!!!

I just hope he stays dead.

73 years too late.
That's probably enough for now.

Thursday, May 03, 2007

Venn Bliss

Posted by Johnny


Update:
There are more spelling mistakes in this letter that weren't highlighted. 10 points if you can find them all.

Update 2:
Someone at work dropped the lid from a fruit cup into a toilet. This raises two questions:

  1. Who the fuck eats and shits at the same time?
  2. Do you really need to be running at peak efficiency all day?

Wednesday, April 25, 2007

Please shoot me

Posted by Johnny

No matter how hard I try, I can't dislike the new Avril Lavigne single ("Girlfriend").

I know.

Hooks aplenty, there's a ton to latch onto in this little ditty: the cheerleader chorus, the layered harmonies in the verses, the half-time pre-chorus, etc. The production is great - I'm sure it's compressed like crazy, but the mix is fantastic. The guitars have a nice fluid crunch (I'm aware of the oxymoron), which reminds me of my twangy Strat sound through a high gain setting on my Orange amp. Mmm, delicious. The bass drum is a bit clicky for my taste, but it really drives the verses. The bass is there, doing its job as usual. If vocal pitch correction was used, they probably did it in the background harmonies to tighten things up, but I couldn't really hear any in the lead parts - another plus.

The target audience is clearly the 13-15 year-old female crowd ("she's like, so whatever"), and so the lyrical content is about as complicated and layered as Dude, Where's my Car?, but it's just so appealing to hear Avril say "motherfucking princess" (in the uncensored version, of course). I wouldn't put it in the same league as Norah Jones dropping the MF bomb in her Peeping Tom feature, "Sucker," because that was damn hot/sexy, whereas this is cute/playful.

As far as girl rock/punk/whatever is concerned, I still wouldn't put her in the same league as Katy Rose in terms of songwriting ability, but since most of you are probably saying "who?" to that reference, I think we know who has the better hooks.

The rest of the album is decent, but the 3 ballads feel forced and could have been left out. I highly recommend the uncensored version over the censored one for obvious reasons. After listening to all 40 minutes of it, you might feel like you've lost 30 IQ points and are on your way to developing diabetes, but that might be your thing.

Now to listen to some Shining to balance out my day....

Tuesday, April 10, 2007

Fate.... or stalking?

Posted by Johnny

I will summarize this story below:

  • Guy dreams up phone number
  • Guy sends text message to said number
  • Number belongs to girl
  • Guy marries girl
That was heavily abridged, but you get the gist of it. The couple met because the guy dreamt of her phone number and sent it a text message, thinking he'd met her the night before. He hadn't, but they fell in love and got married.

Seems plausible.... OR DOES IT?

Which of the following scenarios is more likely? 1) I "dream" about a 7 or 10 digit phone number (complete with 10,000,000 or 10,000,000,000 possible numbers), send it a text message, and find out that it belongs to a (presumably) attractive female my age; OR 2) I stalk a girl whom I (presumably) find attractive, find out her phone number, and then contact her by describing scenario 1?

Yeah, that's what I thought. Whatever, it doesn't really matter because they'll be divorced within 2 years.

Sunday, April 08, 2007

Bathroom Graffiti

Posted by Johnny


Friday, March 30, 2007

15 Items or Less

Posted by Reid

What the fuck is so hard to understand? Did you not learn to count? I see you are wearing the school's sweatpants, so this can indicate one of two things to me: you are a sibling of someone slightly more intelligent or university really is letting everyone in these days. My guess is the latter. I suppose there is one more probable explanation besides you being a complete fucktard. You could be a self-centered cunt.

But what? There is more than one of your kind? Of four express isles at Safeway, how does each one have someone with more than 15 items?

15 is far too many, in my opinion. I think it should be 9. Or, 5 even. Maybe we could have one isle 5, one isle 9, and two isles 15. I think that would make a great compromise between the word "express" and efficiency in terms of use of personnel. I also think that tills at such stations should count how many items there are and when it gets to the limit you are told to either go put back what hasn't been scanned, or take you stuff to another line. That way, we are actually enforcing the rules that have been set out for efficiency.

Now I know, it's a few minutes extra that I stand in line to buy my lettuce and carrots, what's the big deal? Really, it's not the time. It's the emergence of the worst "me" generation in history that chokes me and the lack of respect people have for other people.

A fine example of this is a survey that was conducted in the 50s and then again a few years ago. The study was looking at prestige associated with occupations. People were asked to give a score out of 100 for the prestige of each job listed. Doctor sits at the top of the 50s and the 00s list, while shoe shiner sits at the bottom of both. The interesting part wasn't the position of the jobs that was interesting, but the actual score assigned. In the 1950s, being a doctor was given a score of 97 while shoe shiner was given a score of 84. The 00s had the doctor rated as 88 while the shoe shiner was at 46.

I don't think that the change score that the shoe shiner profession received is all that surprising (I don't even know a shoe shiner these days, but my parents probably know the person from their town that shined shoes). I think the most interesting thing is the fall in the perception of doctors' prestige and the relatively high score of shoe shiners in the 1950s. Why has a scale of prestige dropped so much? Why did people used to think that shining shoes was almost as prestigious of a job as we now find being a doctor, which currently tops the list? I think it's due to a lack of respect for the fellow man (and women).

[side topic quickly: why is it an issue to call general persons "man"? In French, "ils" could mean group of boys or a group of boys or girls. I don't struggle with that concept, nor should I struggle with the word man having dual meaning in context as either a single man or a mixture of man and woman. At no point has "man" ever stood for solely the female gender, just like in the romance languages. "Elles" is specifically a group of all girls. I just don't understand why people get their panties in a knot over it.]

The respect for other people is replaced by egocentric ideas of superiority. Where is one's modesty these days? I know I am preaching to the choir with those few that read this blog, but there are a lot of people that are head-down self-centered fucktards. Take, for example, anyone who wants to get into medicine.

Medicine requires an immense amount of volunteering to get an interview. Often one or two groups isn't enough. Of course, med hopefuls know this and sign up for all sorts of groups and causes. Most of them never put in the time required to make it a success (since they've joined so many). I can think of numerous examples of people that have signed up for more than 10 groups around campus. One particular example is young man currently in medicine at Queens. He had all sorts of volunteering/extracurricular "experience" but the one he was most involved in was the "Triathlon Club". Sure, it's a club, you don't have to do everything. He went once a week to swim. Once a fucking week. Yeah, that's going to show well if/when you race with the club. I am sure they are happy to have you and your lazy ass. This is the same person that told me my guitar sucked because of its backing but it turns out his chord repertoire was limited to G, C, A, and E chords. Considering how much time he spent "practicing" I am sure it went on his med application. Could he play? No better than I can with my feet (no, seriously. I can play a G, E and A with my feet).

What's my point with all this? Here's a person so blinded by their desire to do medicine, that they are letting all sorts of groups down. He has a perception of greatness in everything he does, even if it's not up to much compared to others around him. If anyone asks you about getting into medicine, you can tell them that it's not about being smart, giving, or achievement. It's about fucking as many people in the ass, stomping on as many feelings as you can, and putting yourself as the most important thing.

Why is it such a "me" generation? Well, we come from a time when our parents gave us all sorts of things growing up, we have the internet so we can do what we want when we want, and we are told that we are the most important person. Maybe this could be blamed for that decrease in love these days. People can say they love each other, and I guess it's how you define it. My definition is long, but one of the requirements is selflessness. When in love, you are willing to give up parts of your life to help the other person succeed in theirs. Parents, in the act of loving their children, often give up social events, time, hobbies and money for their children. If a child needs to move somewhere for school, sports, or surgery, the parents will often move the whole family. These days, we are told not to pick up and move for people. We shouldn't "chase" people. We aren't suppose to pick a school based on being closer to someone, we aren't suppose to pick a career path based on wanting to spend time with a single person. We can, but our parents and friends frown upon it. There will always be a "what you could have done" hanging over your head. That's not what life, love and respect are all about.

We should respect people who have found more in their life than just themselves. There are more feelings associated with life than being a high achieving, wealthy, well respected and a powerful member of society, and yet I feel that those are the only things that most people want these days. I've reached a point where I know I probably won't do anything spectacular or influential in my life (even though it'd be cool to do). I'm going to be an average tax payer that probably has a nice little suburban family that enjoys summer time BBQing and a beer in the sunshine. I hope to have a few good friends (and obviously a wife, with the kids and all), and some enjoyable hobbies. I hope I can give up on dreams and be completely happy with my life and the people around me. I hope I can go to the grocery store and not stand in the express isle behind someone with 23 fucking items.

Monday, March 26, 2007

New Fad: Idiocy!

Posted by Johnny

Since 1998 [source], fathers and daughters have been having galas dedicated to "celebrat[ing] the father-daughter relationship" in the mid- and south-western US. They call them "Purity Balls" because the daughters pledge pre-marital chastity to ease their worried fathers' minds.

To me, this is just as creepy as incest and probably worse for society because it's creating taboos instead of breaking them. The Good Christian Father™ wants to control his Precious Little Angel™ and prevent her from the Dangers of Sex™ until he can transfer ownership of her to Some Lucky Guy™ who will whisk her away to his heavenly kingdom and fuck her in the missionary position once per year for five years for the sole purpose of procreation (please, God, give them boys!).

Although sex does require a certain level of maturity, both for emotional stability and physical security, this is exactly the wrong way to go about protecting your children from the actual dangers of sex. You see, sex education requires education about sex in order to succeed.

The popularity of the balls in the United States, especially among evangelical Christians, mirrors the Bush administration's support of abstinence education in US schools. The government's funding for such initiatives has more than doubled in recent years to 206 million dollars.

Abstinence education is not the same as sexual education. Telling people not to have sex winds up cultivating a thick taboo around the act, making it even more irresistible to daddy's Precious Little Whore and Some Unlucky Guy, neither of whom has the knowledge required for practising safe sex. You may say, "Johnny, what you say makes sense, but you're just hypothesizing!" Au contraire, mon cherie:

One study conducted by researchers at the universities of Columbia and Yale found that 88 percent of pledgers wind up having sex before marriage.

"Unfortunately these young people tend, once they start to have sex, to have more partners in a shorter period of time and to use contraception much less than their non-pledging peers," said Debra Hauser, executive vice president at Advocates for Youth, a Washington-based non-profit organization.

Ha! Evidence!

So, if 88 percent of people who have pledged not to have sex before marriage are going to break that pledge, what's the point? You might as well teach them about STDs, STIs, condoms, birth control, pregnancy, pap tests, hygiene, etc. so that they don't start popping out Little Whores and Unlucky Guys of their own and spreading the Clap around the Baptist Youth Choir. The other 12 percent were either too ugly or too asexual to begin with, so they probably didn't need the abstinence education.

In conclusion, allow me to present the worst corporate logo ever:

PS: NEW POST. Jesus Christ, people.

Thursday, March 08, 2007

Scooter Libby & Losers

Posted by Johnny

Whether or not Bubba is Scooter's cell mate, whoever has that bank account is a genius.

Also, the following people are losers: Anyone who refers to Rod Stewart as "Rockin' Rod". That is all.

Monday, February 26, 2007

Cacti

Posted by Johnny

I'm not sure how much of this was written with serious intentions and how much is graffiti, but here is the conservapedia article on the cactus. (Conservapedia was set up to counter the apparently liberal bias inherent in Wikipedia. But what they mistook as a liberal bias is actually the use of "science" and "facts".)

The secularist view of the Cactaceae is that they are roughly two million years old, and that they have evolved exclusively in the new world. This view fails to explain, however, how it is that the Opuntia genus is native to the island of Opus, near Greece. Cacti are known for their high content of alkaloids, and have often been used in the sacramental rights of the Native Americans. Because of this, the early Catholic missionaries in the west thought the plants to be the work of Satan, and this is perhaps a preferable view to that of materialistic evolution since it is difficult to imagine how something like mescaline could have evolved by natural selection. Besides that, the psychoactive content of many cacti have inspired the writings of such ungodly men as Aldous Huxley and Albert Hoffman.

Several species of cactus are now endangered in the west due to "poaching" by collectors and invasive species. But, since Genesis suggests that man has been given dominion over all of the earth, the environmentalist concerns on this note are entirely inappropriate. It may also be that environmentalists, in addition to flauting the Word of God, are merely concerned about the effects that declining cactus populations will have on their supply of mescaline.

Friday, February 23, 2007

The Shaggs

Posted by Johnny


Song: My Pal Foot Foot


Song: Halloween

Subtle Line from The Office

Posted by Johnny

Jan and Michael are at a party, hosted by Jan's boss (Jan is Michael's boss). The two have just made their relationship public. Michael is making an ass of himself, which, surprisingly, turns Jan on so much that she drags him into the washroom for sex.

Michael, reluctant to have sex in a washroom, says, upon entering:

"Why are we going in the bathroom? I thought this is where you liked your privacy."

Brilliant.

Other highlights:
"And now, Michael the Magic, will attempt to escape from extreme bondage."

"I want the house, Jan. I want the picket fence, I want the ketchup fights, and the tickling, and the giggling."

(Jan) "Why is this so hard? That's what she said. Oh God, what am I saying?!"