NOT SAFE FOR WORK

And not for the easily offended, but this game is quite possibly the most awesome game ever. Seriously.

The Geek Test

I often find fun links from Blogdex, a list of popular links on other blogs. It also shows the top links from a year ago. Here's the top link from May 28 last year -- I remember our office taking the test last year, and I came out around 15%, if I recall correctly.24%!!
Are you a geek like me?

Dick Cheney...

...is fed up.

Personal

I heard today that some readers would like to hear more about my personal life -- our marriage, my job, my creativity with music and art. Hmmm. Um, "Interesting and Helpful" would imply "not boring," so no. This post is already mind-numbingly dull!!

I will share though that I do have a new hobby -- hairstyling.

Pallin' with Al

Yeah, what he said.
[Warning: link to long, intelligent political speech.]

Move, Indigo!

It's too dangerous!

Helpful -- Lasagna recipe

Saturday I offered to make dinner, and I came up with a pretty good creation. I'll tell you what I used, but feel free to add or subtract just about anything from the recipe. The only things I bought for the recipe were the tomatoes and cheese at the farmers' market -- the rest was already in the pantry or fridge.

Ingredients:

5 lasagna noodles - all I had left! (no boil kind)
1 package breaded Eggplant cutlets (frozen)
1 package fresh mushrooms
leftover amounts of fresh broccoli, cauliflower, baked tofu
2 eggs
1/2 jar tomato sauce
4 very large tomatoes (1 sliced, 3 crushed)
Fresh mozzarella balls
30-40 Fresh basil leaves
Dried oregano
Garlic toast, cut into triangles

1. Follow baking instructions of lasgana noodles -- mine said to preheat oven to 375 F.

2. In medium bowl, combine broccoli, cauliflower, mushrooms, tofu. Use potato masher to grind 'em up. Salt and pepper, oregano to taste. Add 2 eggs to mixture, stir it up good.

3. Spray bottom of 11" x 17" pan with Pam, then coat bottom with tomato sauce, then lay down layer of lasagna noodles, overlapping. Next, lay down layer of eggplant cutlets, then a layer of sliced tomatoes or tomato sauce.

4. Spread vegetable mixture, then another layer of noodles. Top with crushed tomatoes, oregano, salt, pepper, fresh basil leaves.

5. Bake covered with foil for 45 minutes. Should be bubbling. Let rest for 15 minutes before serving. Serve with garlic toast tringles, basil leaf garnish, and cubed mozzarella pieces on the side.

Classy $4 red wine from Trader Joe's goes quite nicely.
Buon appetitto!

Connery, Moore, Brosnan or Dalton?

Talking Points Memo has a post up about a New York Times story about the Iraq prison scandal.

Check out paragraph #14.

Good news for Kerry

The battleground states are swinging his way so far. Feel free to read up on the next President here.

Helpful topic -- Googlebombs

New reader SittingHitz and I were discussing "googlebombs," a fun tactic where ordinary people with ordinary websites can manipulate helpfully influence which websites show up when you search for a topic on Google. The official definition is here.

For example, click here for Google and type in "miserable failure" or bigoted "man on dog" Senator Rick "Santorum." (R-PA)

41 and falling...

Keep on doin whatcher doin, Dubya.

Welcome to Gmail?

I got a Gmail account recently, and I am allowed to invite 2 people to beta-test the service. Who wants it?

The Ultimate War Sim

This made me laugh.

New feature

Kuz's Science Corner!

Hypothesis #1: Boys are dumb.

Hypothesis #2: Girls are evil.

Discuss.

A genius of our times

Jon Stewart.

Take a tip, take a tip-ta-tip from me-ee

Go see this show!

Don't worry, Cindy...

...the Greeks had some great technology of their own.

Why you should never post your picture...

...because someone will do this.

"Mommy?"

"Why are they taking Ronald McDonald to lockdown?"

Technology...

...is fascinating.

The whole story

Seymour Hersh of the New Yorker has the goods on the whole Iraqi prison story. A nice synopsis of the story can be found on Daily Kos.

Rumsfeld is toast.

Welcome new readers!

A few friends have told me lately that they have been checking out the blog. That is fantastic. How about some crowd participation to get you all involved! (this idea was totally stolen from Indigo Steve, my old bud from Texas.)

Fill in the blanks, as they apply to my life (or in whatever way you think will be funny.) I will choose a winner. The winner receives a great prize.

1. In a couple of weeks, Cindy and I are driving to ____ in order to _____.
2. I just went to _____ on Tuesday to by clothes.
3. I'm posting this at 2:00 in the morning. I just got back from ______.
4. We found out a few weeks ago that we really have to _______ in the next three or four weeks. Damn!
5. My cat's name is _______.

Good luck!

The Onion | Point-Counterpoint: The War On Terrorism

A scholarly discussion on the use of force.

Letter from a pal

Matt,

This blog is vital to the future of America. All of us appreciate the job you're doing. Keep up the good work!

Best,

Get your story straight!

Found this by Robert Jeffers on Atrios:

The story changes so fast you can't keep up with it.

They first learned about this when the "courageous" soldier took the pictures to his superiors. And the pictures were all "personal."

But then stories came out that the pictures were ordered by MI for "intimidation" purposes.

And the ICRC reported it had told the Admin. about these problems months ago.

And it was limited to a handful of "bad apples." Except the same thing happened in Afghanistan.

And the photos were staged, not "snapshots."

And they knew something was up in November, but they fixed it. But they were surprised by the allegations in January.

But no one knew about it. But everyone knew about it, because there was a breakdown in command.

But there was no breakdown. And the Geneva Convention has always applied.

Except when it hasn't.

And we've always followed it. Except when we didn't.

And we don't abuse prisoners. Except when we do. It's not "American." Except it is expressly sanctioned by military regulations. Except it can only be sanctioned by the SoD, because Rumsfeld keeps tight rein on everything.

Except he doesn't. Because this was authorized in Iraq, not in Washington. Except it couldn't have been, because Rummy runs a tight ship.

Except he didn't know. But don't call it "plausible deniability." Because there's a chain of command.

Except Rumsfeld doesn't know what it is. He only knows about the PR campaign he's been conducting since these photos went public.

But he isn't lying. He just doesn't know anything.

But it's okay. Because he's doing a great job.

Even though everything is a shambles.


Link here.

Losing it

After today's news, I don't know what to do. This war gets worse and worse, and I'm not sure it's ever going to get better. First, an idiot Senator from Oklahoma goes on and on about how the torture in Iraqi prisons ain't so bad because Saddam Hussein was worse. (I don't know about you, but "we rape less people than Saddam" isn't a bold, moral statement, knowwaddamean?)

Then, I heard about the guy from Philly who was my age and was executed on videotape by kidnappers, in retaliation for the prison torture.

I'm speechless.

Back to Blogger

I realized that Blogger is run by Google, and that Squawkbox will eventually cost money, and that anonymous posting is fine. So I'm sticking with the Blogger comments. All old hilarious comments are toast. Get over it!

Easy listening

Here's an mp3 of President Bush's April press conference, without the non-essential bits.

Courtesy of WFMU in New Jersey.

The Shining in 30 seconds with bunnies.

Redrum! Redrum!

New links

Over on the right are great sites. Linkedin is my new favorite -- it's a networking site for professionals of all kinds. Join my network! LinkedIn: Home

$1 drinks in Dallas tomorrow night

If you go to Chesterfield's Bar and Grill on Inwood Rd., and you don't wear pants.

Indigo Steve, we expect to see pictures on your blog. Thanks in advance.

A touching story of ambition, yearning, and intrigue

The Hole.

Yeah, that Rumsfeld sure is swell

The Iraqi prison torture story is disturbing for so many reasons. These are images I will never forget, and they make me ashamed. Meanwhile, the Secretary of Defense knew about this abuse (and potential murder) and didn't feel the need to tell the Preznit. Now, whether the Preznit would have done something about it is another story, but still, if you have to admit to everyone that as Leader of the Free World, you found out about this from 60 Minutes instead of your Secretary of Defense, should we believe you when you say that same Secretary has served our nation well?

Bad luck

The other night, we played Scrabble, and I was winning handily. Cindy said that she was getting bad letters, but let me tell you, her letters weren't this bad!

PS - this blog is nerdy, in case you hadn't noticed.

Pac Manhattan

Brilliant.

Things Not to Take

Prisoners
Any lip from that guy
"No" for an answer
Reservations
The last taco
The Lord's name in vain
Too many
My advice
Yourself so seriously
The law into your own hands
My word for it

Things to take

Notes
Names
Charge
Tips
A hike
A flying leap
A ticket
A seat
Time to smell the roses
Your vitamins
A chill pill
Two
"Me on" (or "on me")
It to the limit
'Em to court