Music and Things and Stuff and Such As

What the hell, might as well post something since it's been over 4 years, eh?

I'm still around. Occasionally lurking/commenting over at LGM and checking in on what's left of the ol' blogroll every now and then. The bloggerverse isn't what it used to be, but it's still not dead. Figured I'd keep this place from dying entirely too. Maybe I'll keep posting, maybe not, who the fuck knows? It was sad to watch the slow demise of Sadly, No! but hey, what can you do? Many of the old regulars there show up now and then at LGM and other places, so it's nice to see those nyms when they show up.

Anyway, I've been to a few good shows this year, so that was neat. Got to see two nights of Phish in Seattle last April. Those shows aren't availble on the ute oobs but a bit of the next one down in Berkely is. Here you go:

Saw Goose in Eugene for the first time a couple weeks after the Phish shows. They were decent. It was at a relatively small venue (The McDonald Theater, an old art deco theater from the 1920s, owned by Ken Kesey's family) so that was a plus. Here's one of the songs from that show:

Tool played in Eugene in October and a buddy had an extra ticket so got to see them too. It was nice to finally see Tool. I'd never seen them but had seen A Perfect Circle in Eugene a few years ago. Very different crowds than those at the jam band shows like Phish and Goose. No Nitrous Mafia selling balloons outside after the Tool show, and no discarded balloons littering the sidewalks for blocks because the fucking wooks can't be bothered to find a trash can. People suck, a continuing series. Can't say I was sad to see the lack of idiots blacking out on the sidewalk after huffing a bunch of nitrous balloons. That scene can die a quick death as far as I'm concerned.

Other than that, still just a working stiff. Maybe I'll retire some year soon, that would be nice. We'll see. Did a bunch of camping this year, got a new camper van and have been enjoying how nice that is to travel and camp in. Riding my mountain bike a bunch. Had a minor health scare a couple years ago (well managed now, no big deal now) like so many others of this aging blogosphere. Nothing like the occaisional health scare to remind you that you shouldn't miss out on all the fun shit there is to do in this stupid country, even as the idiots in the GOP are doing their damndest to take it all away from us.

Ah, yes. Politics. In 2023, in are we really this fucking close to becoming fascist, America? Yeah, there's that too. Trying to still stay involved but also trying not to obsess too much about shit I can't control, or how shitty people are, or how horrible war is or... or... or... Yeah, you get it the idea.

Well, on that cheery note, if anybody is still around and reads this, I hope you're doing as well as you can. If you happen to want to leave a comment and let me know you're still around, please do.

Until next time, if there is one.

OBS

Sorry I forgot the anniversary, Helen.

I forgot that the 35th anniversary of this was yesterday:

I was 10. As a native Oregonian, I had direct, but minor, experience with the volcano leading up to its final huge eruption. It had spewed ash sporadically over the previous year or so, and on several occasions we got to experience the ash fall down in Oregon due to wind changes. Thankfully, for us, the wind blew the ash cloud to the east on the 18th, so we didn't get the after effects that places like Spokane, Washington did. Those guys, as well as many areas near to the mountain, were seriously fucked. Multiple feet of ash blanketed everything, and that shit is nasty. Destroyed vehicles, ruined crops, just generally fucked with the area for a long, long time.

For years later, every time we'd head north we could see these towering piles of ash alongside Interstate 5 and around the towns near the mountain until vegetation finally grew on them. The ash is still there though, just under a layer of grass/shrubs/trees. I still have a jar of it somewhere that I collected from a roadside that summer.

Oh, and 57 people died. A couple of idiot locals that refused to leave, but also scientists studying the mountain, unfortunately.

Can't believe it's been 35 years already. I feel old.

Thankless Thursday

[tap tap tap]... Is this thing on?

Oh, ok, good. [ahem]

I'm still alive. Here's some random shit:

This comic made me think of a certain electrician.

The world continues to fall apart, but you knew that.

Continuing the theme from that last post several eons ago, I seem to be managing to gather even more gems of spammy wisdom. Here are some excellent pieces of advice that come with lots of links to boner pills:

• The earliest recipe for fruit idiot dates to the mid seventeenth century.
• Approach them to trigger the fight, then duck back into the hallway. After a breakup, you are emotionally upset and your ex boyfriend is angry.
• Seems like the same paralysis is also happening at the local and state level.
• Lately, he has been pretty good with other dogs and such. This is ok if you know where your arrest warrant was issued but it's a whole different story if you aren't sure where the warrant might be.
• Many users have also said that this shampoo is less drying. Ιf you have an anal yeast infection you will also have redness and purple patches of small blisters.

There you have it -- from "fruit idiot" recipes, to dog's with arrest warrants, to anal infections. How can I top that? I might as well just outsource the whole blog to JanusNode at this point.

Carry on.

Things and Such and Weather and Whatnot

Hmm, a blog. Yeah, I guess I have one of those.

So... how 'bout that weather? Some of you folks are still experiencing winter I guess. While here in Beerville a month after Snowpocalypse II, Icelectric Slipperypoo it's finally 65°F, sunny, and the flowers are blooming. For those still suffering with cold, I made you a campfire:

Also, you didn't know you needed THE ELECTRO-PLASMIC HYDROCEPHALIC GENRE-FICTION GENERATOR 2000 but oh yes, you do. Yes. You. Do:

In a post-apocalyptic Antartica, a young flying message courier stumbles across a crazy old man which spurs him into conflict with forces that encourage conformity with the help of a bookish female scholar with mousy brown hair and her reference book, culminating in a philosophical argument punctuated by violence.

Your title is: "The Blackbots."

And:

In an alternate-history Victorian Britain, a young brooding loner stumbles across an encrypted data-feed which spurs him into conflict with humanity's selfish nature with the help of a sarcastic female techno-geek and her discomfort in formal wear, culminating in the invocation of a spell at the last possible moment.

Your title is: "The Neurophages."

I should submit these to Regenery.

Random Music Wednesday

My musical history, like your mom, is pretty broad.

My dad is a professional musician and was always playing bars/clubs whether he had a day job or not. He encouraged me to listen to mostly whatever I liked, as long as it wasn't "crap." So I once I was able to buy my own records I ended up with mostly stuff from The Stones, Neil Young, Pink Floyd, Jimi Hendrix, Frank Zappa, The Who, etc. As I got older I moved onto a bunch of harder rock and heavy metal -- Blue Öyster Cult, Iron Maiden, etc., and went through a brief punk phase, mostly stuff like Black Flag, Bad Brains and Dead Kennedys. I also started listening to other random stuff and generally expanding my horizons. While I never could stand any sort of contemporary Country music, I liked the old traditional stuff and got into a bunch of the old country clues and bluegrass and stuff. I also started enjoying all different kinds of jazz especially Miles Davis. Anyway, I also went through an early techno/electronica phase. Tangerine Dream...

... and Jean Michel Jarre:

...made all my '70s childhood "space age" dreams seem possible, and were just the thing for a geeky, computer obsessed, very stoned teenager. Somewhat ironically, I still have that stuff on vinyl, but have never converted it. Haven't listened to them in ages.
So, to the present. While browsing around eMusic last night needing to use up my monthly credit, I ran into the new Daft Punk album. I'd seen it mentioned and the iconic cover art was familiar, so I gave it a try. This song:

Reminded me of all that stuff.

Ah, nostalgia.

Oh yeah, and this is my 100th post. Woo.

RIP Blinky, take 2

Since you lot were so enamored with my previous seizure-inducing ode to Blinky the wonder tag, here's something even worse! A twitching, blinking, color-shifting monstrosity that will terribly frighten and/or nauseate all viewers. Be sure to share it with your friends!

Much like last time, we first simply apply a "class" tag to any elements we want this technique to apply to. But to really fuck things up we throw a whole shitload of nested <div> tags in the mix:

<div class='blonk'>
<div class='blonk'>
<div class='blonk'>
(etc...)
<p class='blonk'>Some shit goes here</p>
</div>
</div>
</div>
(etc...)

And then we write just a tiny bit more code, simiilar but much worse than the last:

<script type="text/javascript">
//Two timers to make it kinda jerky and twitchy:
var longdelay=100; // change to adjust speed
var shortdelay=10;

var delay=longdelay;
var positive = 0;

// Evil array of evil color evilness:
var colors=["#ff00ff","#ffff00","#00ffff","#880088","#ff8800","#ff0000","#00ff00","#0000FF"];
var c=0;
function blonk() {
  var annoyances = document.getElementsByClassName('blonk');
  for (var i=annoyances.length - 1; i>=0; i--) {
    var b = annoyances[i];
    b.style.border="0.5em solid " + colors[c];
    if (positive === 1) {
      b.style.visibility = (b.style.visibility === 'visible') ? 'hidden' : 'visible';
      positive = 0;
    } else {
      b.style.visibility = (b.style.visibility === 'hidden') ? 'visible' : 'hidden';
      positive = 1;
    }
    if (i>=c) { // make the blinking a bit twitchy
      delay=(longdelay * 3)/2.5 + (shortdelay *c);
    } else {
      delay=shortdelay;
    }
    if (c < colors.length) {
      c++;
    } else {
      c=0;
      positive=1;
    }
    b.style.color=colors[c];
   }
   window.setTimeout(blonk, delay);
}

blonk();
</script>

And the result is gloriously, hideously, afwul!

Now that's just plain fucked up!

RIP Blinky

A sad, sad day. The much-maligned <blink> tag is being removed from the last browser that supported it, Firefox.

Thankfully, we can easily come up with an even more annoying alternative, our own special programmatic "blink" that has adjustable speed and alternating blinkage.

First, apply a "class" attribute to whatever you want to blink:

<div class='blink'><p>PUT ANNOYING BLINKY STUFF HERE</p></div>

You can use tags other than <div> -- <span> is a good choice too. Note that more than one item can have the same "class" so you can do that multiple times. In fact you should, because that way they'll alternate states and be extra annoying.

Now, add just a tiny bit of code:

<script type="text/javascript">
var delay=100; // change to adjust speed

function annoy() {
  var annoyances = document.getElementsByClassName('blink');
  var positive=1;
  for (var i=annoyances.length - 1; i>=0; i--) {
    var b = annoyances[i];
    if (positive === 1) {
      b.style.visibility = (b.style.visibility === 'visible') ? 'hidden' : 'visible';
      positive = 0;
    } else {
      b.style.visibility = (b.style.visibility === 'hidden') ? 'visible' : 'hidden';
      positive = 1;
    }
   }
   window.setTimeout(annoy, delay);
}

annoy();
</script>

Presto:

THIS SHOULD ANNOY EVERYONE

BUT IF IT DOESN'T HOW ABOUT THIS TOO?

Oh yeah, that's the stuff. The blink is dead, long live the blink!

UPDATE: I fixxorated it so it'll work (hopefully) with a new-ish version of Internet Exploder too. Woudln't want bbkf and Mooser to miss out.

Modes of Transport

For the discerning modern college student there are a variety of popular modes of transport. We shall examine here two traditional examples.

First we have the simple motor car, a favorite of many. Drawbacks include parking issues on a cramped campus (illustrated here by illegally parking in a faculty lot), and the inherent douchiness of driving around a $114,200 Audi R8 as a college student.

We shall assume that as the day brightened and the frosty morning chill wore off, this student decided to drop by home and pick up a more seasonal and breezy ride. Also a favorite among students, the motor scooter offers that can't-be-beat wind-in-the-hair motoring experience with a bonus of abundant free parking near campus. Additional pluses on our example below include the forward-mounted rocket launcher and advanced fan-propulsion and lifting rotor system to evade pursuit by campus security. Far superior to any mere German sports coupe on a sunny day.

Random

Here, have something random and weird from the guy behind the Pictures For Sad Children webcomic.