The Evil Eyebrow

Month: November 2006

  • Play Money

    I heard about the book Play Money on NPR last week. The author, Julian Dibbell, is a freelance writer who as a part of investigating a story, became an online trader of Ultima Online items and currency.

    I was fascinated by the interview and picked up the book on Friday. I just finished it this morning and I’m still as fascinated by the man’s journey as I was when I listened to him on Fresh Air.

    Like any other business, the one he embarked on required dedication, savvy, and contacts; it’s not a get-rich-quick scheme.

    Fascinating. I won’t be sitting at my computer and quitting the day job any time soon, but like reading how other people succeed, this is a worth read.

  • Logical Conclusion to Heroes

    Warning: Spoilers, if you haven’t watched this week’s Heroes yet…

    We know that Claire can survive all sorts of devastating physical trauma. She can be smashed, burned, sliced, diced, and julienned without long-lasting consequences. We have observed her to be dead with a sharp stick in her brain. She can apparently recover from any wound as long as she is physically together in one place, e.g. when the stick was removed, she came back to life on the autopsy table.

    Using various story arcs, and the stupidest tagline in history (“Save the Cheerleader; save the world” ARRRGH!), they have been leading us toward this climactic battle between brain-stealer Sylar and everyone else.

    So, here’s my predicted conclusion:

  • Sylar gets Claire. Rips open her head. Steals her brain. Claire dies (for now).
  • Ensemble chases Sylar for various reasons and eventually recaptures Claire’s Brain (I shudder to recall the Star Trek episode Spock’s Brain).
  • Brain is reinserted into (dead) Claire and [poof] Claire reawakens to applause and eventual deflowerment by legions of football players.

    Alternate Ending:

  • Sylar gets Claire. Rips open her head. Steals her brain. Eats or otherwise processes said brain in a way that does orgasmic things for his superpower. Claire dies (for now).
  • Ensemble chases Sylar for various reasons and eventually recaptures Claire’s Brain in its form as stomach contents of Sylar or as otherwise processed.
  • Brain is dumped in the vicinity of Claire’s vacant skull and [foop] back comes Claire.

    Questions:

  • What does the body of Claire do while the brain isn’t present/operating. I guess she’s got a super fantasmographic immune system. She can have unsafe sex whenever she wants.
  • What does Sylar do with his brain fetish? Seems arbitrary to be eating/processing only brains of superpeople.
  • What are the limits of Claire’s regenerative powers? If we pureed her but kept her all together in a vat, would she recover? How about if we decapitated her and placed her head a smidgeon away from her neck? Is she the ultimate blood and organ donor? No need for anasthetic, even. Hopefully she’s type O Negative. Would transplanted tissue exhibit the same tendencies as her all-together body? Will she ever age now that she can repair any damage? What if we took off her arms and switched them? I can think of endless possibilities with this.

    • That is the end of my ramble. Please, feel free to email NBC and tell them their tagline is awwwwwful…

  • My Pick for 2008!

    We are one step closer to my fantasy ticket for 2008. McCain-Lieberman!

  • Thrashers are Thrashing

    If you’re not paying attention to the huge news out of Atlanta, the Thrashers are out to their best start ever, currently holding a 12-5-3 record and third in the league for points (27). Buffalo is leading the Eastern Conference right now(31 pts), with Buffalo (25 pts) just behind.

    Yay for Atlanta hockey! The past seven seasons have been disappointments for the Thrashers, but hopefully they will stay healthy and push this streak on toward the playoffs (which they’ve never been in).

    We’re going to see the Thrashers-Maple Leafs game on the 30th of November. I hope it is a good one!

  • Frak!

    In case you don’t watch Battlestar Galactica, “Frak” is a tv-happy euphemism for F**K. There, now you’re more educated that you were.

    Never let it be said that reading the NY Times is without merit. How else would I have learned that there is a documentary entitled f**k out there. Ron Jeremy is interviewed. I need to go get in line right now…

    Here is a quote from the review article:

    I have been known to use the word in mixed company and even, I blush to admit, around my children — but only pedagogically, to call attention to the laxity of other drivers on family car trips. Never in front of the readers, though.

    From now on, I will cease to feel guilty if I say f**k in mixed company. I’m only doing it pedagogically.

  • Democratic Stronghold in Georgia and other Musings…

    Today was day-after-elections, as I’m sure you all are aware (if you’re a US reader). And there is a very interesting phenomenon taking place in Georgia. (If you aren’t familiar with Georgia geography and politics, this will probably not be interesting, but read on if you care…)

    If you look at this map, you’ll notice some interesting things:

    County Breakdown of Purdue/Taylor wins for the Georgia Governor Race. Courtesy CNN.com

    This is the cnn.com graphic for how the Governor’s race broke down between Sonny Perdue (incumbent, R) and Mark Taylor (D). More red indicates higher percentage of Perdue votes and more blue indicates a higher percentage of Taylor votes.

    As expected, Fulton, Dekalb, and Clayton counties (Metro ATL) all went for Taylor, although given the demographically diverse nature of north Fulton and south Fulton, it was a close thing. Clarke County (Athens, UGA) and a bunch of the counties around Albany (S.W. Georgia) where Taylor is from also went Democratic.

    The most surprising thing to me was that Hancock county, that dark blue spot in the middle right was the highest percentage of Taylor-voters in the state. I have no idea what’s in Hancock county other than the city of Sparta, and why they’re voting for Taylor, who knows. 1,600 odd voters though made for a 75% win! Go Hancock!

    Another interesting observation: The more republican you are, the farther north you live (generally). Of course, this also corresponds to caucasian/african-american divides, but if you look at that map, there are some trends visible that seem to follow geologic lines. The line through the middle of the state east-west which has near 50/50 split follows the piedmont/coastal plain fall line and there’s a heavy concentration of republican voters in the mountains. The mountains don’t surprise me, but the fall-line does. Very interesting…

    I’ll have to look at other voting indications and get back to y’all…

  • First Blow in the Squirrel War!

    We’ve got squirrels in the attic.

    They make a significant amount of noise and have tramped down 50% of the insulation. I promised Jenn that I would attempt non-lethal methods of squirrel-disposal before resorting to poison, traps, or guns. Three weeks ago I acquired a Havahart trap, and two weeks ago I placed said trap in the attic with peanut butter as bait.

    Nothing…

    …until last night! I got home to some rather loud scratching and thumping noises coming from overhead.

    Trapped Squirrel in the Attic

    I took the little bugger down, trap and all, and drove him/her 5 miles away for release. The funny thing was, once I released it, it ran straight for the large building 100 yards away, and not the tree 10 feet from it. Hmmm…

    The trap is re-baited and sitting in the same spot. We’ll see if we get another one. Eventually, I’ll have to spend a weekend placing firring strips and mesh around where you see the yellow insulation to keep them out.

  • Tenure: Denied!

    It pains me to publish that Dr. Jones’ application for tenure has been denied.

  • Phenylephrine HCL

    I’ve been sick the last few days. Usually, I get a cold, it sucks but I take decongestants or cough suppresants or analgesics (or all of the above) and just deal with it. Rarely do I feel the need to just sit and do nothing while the microscopic war is raging inside my system.

    Unfortunately, the last two days have been the stay-at-home-avoid-moving-cause-my-head-will-throb-off type of cold. Sinus pressure has built to the point that I expect my head to just blowout like a steam vessel relieving pressure.

    Again, normally the decongestant (read: sinus relief) I would take is Pseudoephedrine HCL, but Georgia is now one of the states that locks it behind the counter and requires background checks and waiting periods for purchase so you don’t go home and whip up a batch of meth with that one box. Thusly, aside from two doses I took on Tuesday, all we had for me on Wednesday was Phenylephrine HCL.

    It does not cut the mustard.

    So, happy readers, if you are sick and need relief, stay away from Sudafed PE, and go straight for the good stuff. Thankfully, I remembered that I keep some pseudoephedrine in my work bag for situations such as this one, so today will be ok, until I run out and need to go to the pharmacy and get strip searched to purchase more.

  • Newark Liberty International Airport

    I was reading the NY Times this morning when this article caught my attention:

    “NEWARK, New Jersey (CNN) — A commercial plane with more than 300 people on board bumped an empty plane Tuesday at Newark Liberty International Airport.”

    When did NJ rename Newark? A quick google search indicates that it was 2006. Ok, why did they rename Newark International? I don’t recall it having some pesky name like “Newark French International Airport”, or something like that.

    I have problems with this renaming trend that’s going on because of [picture GWB here], “the war on terrah.” The terrorists, extrememists, whatever, are not going to materially affect the territorial integrity of the U.S. nor it’s political system, unless we let them. Going willy nilly renaming everything in sight as if we are fighting the Revolutionary War is plain dumb.

    BTW, no one was injured on that plane.