If the entire eastern seaboard should be destroyed today or tommorrow, I want my family and friends to know that I love them and care about them.

If it’s not wiped out, know that I still care, I just have longer to avoid telling you.

The most believable stories are those with elements of truth, especially scientific. If you’ve got some time on your hands, read through the “Documents” section, and do some research on your own.

Read up on the “Missing Earth” (Google) crop circle, as well as crop circles in general. Think that it’s all a hoax? It might be.. or it could be that the hoaxers have simply overshadowed the truth.

[Listening to: Alison Krauss / 9 To 5 - Various Artists]

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Hrm… who’s in the mood to be an unbeliever on a Friday?

Originally from Fark:

If it quacks like an alien …
Unidentified facelike object peeks out from duck X-ray at wild bird rescue center

{Cue Scary Music} Doo Doo, Doo Doo…

[Listening to: Security Now 41: Truecrypt - Steve Gibson with Leo Laporte - ]

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I’m a big fan of Puzzle Pirates. I was a beta tester and really enjoyed the game, even though I chose not to renew my subscription. They have a different payment model available now for some servers, where you get to play for free, but you need to purchase in-game currency to play certain “pay for” portions, or for items. I know that several of my friends have played Puzzle Pirates before, including Jeremy who’s currently playing. The developer, Three Rings Design, has been working on another game called Bang!Howdy.

Bang!Howdy is fast paced tactical strategy fun in a wacky Wild West world.

When I first heard about this, I thought about giving it a try. It looks like the beta is now available.

From Evil Avatar:

Bang! Howdy Beta Opens
Three Rings, developers of Puzzle Pirates, opened the Bang! Howdy beta to the public yesterday. Players face off in the steam-powered Wild West, using traditional strategy game mechanics in a variety of gameplay modes like Claim Jumping, Cattle Herding and Steam Mustang Hockey!
Quote:

Introducing a hybrid between turn-based and realtime strategy gameplay, Bang! Howdy is played in short fast-paced rounds. The players use winnings earned as they play, along with a microcurrency system, to purchase and customize persistent Big Shot units, which influence their play-style and strategies in future games. As the player progresses through five unique Wild West settings, new units, gameplay scenarios, arenas, customizations and game features are introduced.”We’re happier than a coyote in the chuckwagon to let y’all know what we’ve been working on back at the ranch,” said Michael Bayne, project lead for Bang! and Three Rings’ CTO. “We think strategy fans will appreciate our fresh perspective on the genre and plumb everybody will enjoy our fun and accessible Wild West antics.” Bang! Howdy will be distributed online and free to play, with optional purchase of micro-currency to obtain upgrades and additional content. “The ‘free to play, pay for items’ business model has proven very successful in the Korean market with games like Kart Rider, and is already offered as an alternative to subscription for Puzzle Pirates players on ‘Doubloon’ servers,” said Daniel James, Three Rings’ CEO. Mosey on down to http://www.banghowdy.com for more information and sign up to hear more as development progresses.

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…towel day.

Are you carrying yours?

[Listening to: Revenge - James Horner & The London Symphony Orchestra - Braveheart]

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I’ve always been a big fan of palindromes. While I don’t remember the specifics of when I learned about them as a kid, I have vague memories of real simple ones such as “race car”, “deed”, or “rotor”. Later, I learned that there were more than just simple letter mirrored palindromes. There are word palindromes, and sound based palindromes. Did you know that palindromes are at least 2,000 years old? Check out the Wikipedia entry for an even more detailed explanation and some samples! Doing a Google Search will also return lots of results.

So I’m listening to Poodle Hat this morning, and one of my favorite songs on the album comes on. Bob. Of course the title itself is a palindrome, but the entire song uses rhyming palindrome phrases sung by Weird Al in Bob Dylan fashion.

Here’s the lyrics in case you want to sing along next time — for those of you who actually own Weird Al music. In case you missed it, there was a link above to a sample MP3 of the song.
***********************
I, man, am regal — a German am I
Never odd or even
If I had a hi-fi
Madam, I’m Adam
Too hot to hoot
No lemons, no melon
Too bad I hid a boot
Lisa Bonet ate no basil
Warsaw was raw
Was it a car or a cat I saw?

Rise to vote, sir
Do geese see God?
“Do nine men interpret?” “Nine men,” I nod
Rats live on no evil star
Won’t lovers revolt now?
Race fast, safe car
Pa’s a sap
Ma is as selfless as I am
May a moody baby doom a yam?

Ah Satan sees Natasha
No devil lived on
Lonely Tylenol
Not a banana baton
No “x” in “Nixon”
O, stone, be not so
O Geronimo, no minor ego
“Naomi”, I moan
“A Toyota’s a Toyota”
A dog, a panic in a pagoda

Oh, no! Don Ho!
Nurse, I spy gypsies — run!
Senile felines
Now I see bees I won
UFO tofu
We panic in a pew
Oozy rat in a sanitary zoo
God! A red nugget! A fat egg under a dog!
Go hang a salami, I’m a lasagna hog
***********

[Listening to: Bob - Weird Al Yankovic - ]

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From Neowin.net

Voice over IP (VoIP) kingpin Skype has done the unthinkable and introduced 100% free phone calls to all US and Canadian landline and mobile numbers.

The internet telephony service, recently purchased by eBay, say the offer will last “at least until the end of 2006″ - and reveal that there’s not a sign up cost or hidden charge in site. The only snag to be found is that the SkypeOut caller must also be in the US or Canada.

For those that don’t know, Skype is a VOIP (Voice Over IP) solution that allows two people to chat via the computer. It’s got great quality and if you and your friends/family both have a PC its gaining alot of popularity recently. You can even do group chatting.

In the past, a Skype user could also call landlines (traditional phones), so you could make calls to your Mom without a computer. And vice versa, she could call you. This was all possible because of the VOIP techonolgy. However, you had to purchase ‘Skype credits’ which basically meant you paid for the calls, even though it was still significantly cheaper than a traditional phone.

What this news item is telling you is that as long as you are calling inside the US, it won’t cost you anything. That means free phone calls — as long as you have a computer.

Something to consider when you are trying to save some money.

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So friday, I’m out of the office working on one of the executive’s home PCs. As I was leaving the house, I beheld a wonderous site – a fox, walking across the road. I just slowed my car down and watched him take a very nonchalant walk around the 5th green (the house was on a golf course) and lay down and roll around in the tall grass.

Shortly thereafter, a fellow in a golf cart came up with a long lens camera and took some pictures. The fox had absolutely no fear what-so-ever. Back across the street, and now strolled up to two guys teeing off. The fox was less than 15 feet from them.

I made a remark to the golfer (as I was still sitting in my car) about the beauty of the fox, and he said that there were about 4 of them that had been running around all day.

With the golf course adjacent to the bay marsh, I’m guessing the skulk [group of foxes] was just the local fox family enjoying the beautiful weather, and that they had just gotten used to the golfers.

Now, I’ve seen foxes before… usually in a zoo, or on TV. I may have even seen one skitter across the road at night while driving sometimes. However, this was the first time I saw one in its native habitat, and had it brought me a really serene 5 minutes of reflection.

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It’s things like this that really get me fired up. I know I haven’t written for almost a month. I’ve just been too busy with life, work, and my two kids. KIDS WHO WOULDN’T BE HERE if we didn’t have a medically assisted pregnancy.

Teacher Says She Was Fired Over in Vitro

I grew up a Catholic and no longer consider myself one. I made that decision 16 or 17 years ago when I didn’t agree with their doctrine. It’s certainly a slow road going.

Hey Benedict, welcome to the 21st century. You want the Catholic church to grow and retain members other than those who are forced into it by their parents or are too old and set in their ways?

It’s not impossible to remain true to your faith and history while still embracing the changing modern world that wasn’t even considered 2000 years ago.

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