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Saturday, June 26, 2004I signed this petition for a Ronald Reagan dollar coin. It's a fitting tribute; when I was a kid the American public was in foreign and domestic Jimmy Carter malaise and didn't know where it was headed-- all we knew was that we had a stylish handbasket. Now, post-Reagan, Eastern Europe not only has political freedom, but I can walk into a Dollar Store and purchase 100 tea bags or a toothbrush or some potpourri or a week's supply of ramen noodles. What a country! In Soviet Russia 100 tea bags purchase you! posted by Nate on 6:09 PM link I am a criminal! At least that's what Orrin Hatch seems to think. Today I used peer-to-peer software (bit torrent) to download and redistribute Slackware Linux 10. It's all perfectly legal; heck Slackware has the link on the front page of their website! But Senator Hatch's newly proposed INDUCE act would make it illegal, because the mere existence of p2p software might tempt people to use it to download a copyrighted work, such as the latest Lil' Jon album. What logic! Perhaps, since we're so concerned about tempation and moral virtue and stuff, we should ban Mr. Jon from making albums. Sure there are people who like his music and would use the record for a legitimate entertainment purpose, but there is also a chance that it could tempt young people to be gettin crunk in the club and skit skit got dam. Here is a rather vigorous Fisking of Hatch's proposal. posted by Nate on 3:03 PM link Thursday, June 24, 2004Michael Moore Hates America Heh. I actually saw Michael Moore speak several years ago; he was debating P.J. O'Rourke on the merits of the Clinton Third Way or somesuch. P.J. was eloquent and had a number of facts and historical anecdotes as well as being funny as hell. By contrast, Moore came across as the overly-loud guy in the bar who just knows he's right and does nothing to convince you of his position. He's entertaining in that you are sometimes laughing at his jokes and sometimes laughing at his absurdity, and he doesn't know the difference. (P.S. Do you know how hard it is to write a paragraph about a debate and not call someone a Master Debater?) Huh huh. Hey Beavis, he said "hard." posted by Nate on 1:09 AM link Tuesday, June 22, 2004Tonight, I planned on reviewing the new, spank-ass Velvet Revolver album for y'all while cracking nostalgic jokes about Guns N' Roses and eighties hair bands in general. Instead, well... there's a part of the human condition that is predisposed to sipping high quality bourbon whiskey while listening to Bob Dylan's Blood On the Tracks, one of the great literary works of the past half century. Oh, and looking back on bittersweet memories of broken love affairs while revelling in the sheer, gritty shortcomings that not only ended them, but are in the end what makes us screwed up, emotional human beings. Flawed though we are, we homo sapiens are certainly interesting. What can I say? I dig poetry and harmonica folk music. posted by Nate on 11:55 PM link Sunday, June 20, 2004For the Fathers' Day weekend, I have all three of my younger sisters in town, which is nice: for the first time in a while we've had family dinners out where we get to rag on each other and loudly act goofy without regard to the general dining public. The downside is that, for one Saturday afternoon, I inadvertanly joined them in hanging out watching the Teen Angst and Estrogen Channel, some obscure piece of the Digital Cable landscape that reruns "My So-Called Life" and "DeGrassi High School" 24-7. For three girls that grew up in the early 90's, this was as awesome for them as the Guns N' Roses influenced Velvet Revolver album was for me. More on that later. Ironically, after a pleasant Fathers' Day chilling with me da' on the shore of Lake Michigan, the late movie on HBO was Terminator 3: The Search For Any Semblance of Plot Continuity. It starred, of course, Claire "I Still Look Like I'm Sixteen, But Am Hot in a Larry Flint Barely Legal Sort of Way" Danes. Holy Crow! My So-Called Terminator? During the film I commented to Bridget, "how weird is this; she's making out with a hunk who is not Jordan Catalano! And they aren't even between classes in the school's Boiler Room!" Somebody shoot me: I think I'm starting to cycle with my sisters, and I'm a dude. Another nice thing about T3: The Mighty Terminators is how it makes me reverse-nostalgic. One year ago I was a working a dead-end construction / demolition job for the summer after a year substitute teaching junior high school English class. I was also living with my dad after dropping out of grad school and drinking heavily. Not that that part's changed much, but still... Five days after seeing this Academy Award caliber film I got an interview with my current employer and began my lucrative (okay, I can dream, but the pay's better than getting poked in the eye with a sharp stick) career as tech support / sales associate / web master of the only national distributor of computer hardware in the area. Not that I wouldn't give the whole thing up for a few hours in a hotel room with Claire "Juliet" Danes, but it's better than living in my parents' basement. I live in a second story bedroom now, bitches. posted by Nate on 10:44 PM link
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your stolen base are belong to Rickey Henderson. Questions or comments? Email nate@swankypimp.com |
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