Right Thoughts...not right wing, just right.

Saturday, November 20, 2004

MTV may just implode

Via Spitball Defense, it looks like MTV is mad at Eminem.

EMINEM was ordered to scale back plans to perform a cruel MICHAEL JACKSON parody at the MTV Europe Music Awards bash last night after a bust-up with organisers.

The controversial rapper was due to come on stage dressed as Jacko in a wig and false nose.

He wanted to recreate the singer’s cheesy Earth Song performance — at the Brits in 1996.

Em’s act included 40 children emerging from a Panzer tank as he sang his latest single Just Lose It and tore off his fake nose.

I like Spitball’s take on it.

It seems that MTV and their liberal buddies are too weak to handle criticism of one of their formerly valuable stars. Go figure. Pussies.

That’s very true. However, it must be KILLING them, because “Mosh” is so anti-Bush, and Em is the new darling of the left because of it. But they Must. Protect. Michael. Why, I don’t know, the guy is a despicable perve of the worst order and all washed up as a performer. They might as well be protecting Kip Winger.

This could cause some kind of resonance cascade and destroy all matter in the universe...love Em for being anti-Bush or hate him for being anti-Michael? Oh, the perils of being a celebrity whore outlet!

Posted by JimK at 12:45 AM on November 20, 2004
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Categories: Entertainment, Celebridiots, The Stupidity Of Man

Friday, November 19, 2004

The racially tolerant left

Radio Host Calls Condoleezza Rice ‘Aunt Jemima’

A radio talk show host drew criticism Thursday after calling Condoleezza Rice an “Aunt Jemima” and saying she isn’t competent to be secretary of state.

John Sylvester, the program director and morning personality on WTDY-AM in Madison, said in a phone interview Thursday that he used the term on Wednesday’s show to describe Rice and other blacks as having only a subservient role in the Bush administration.

Rice has served as President Bush’s national security adviser and was named this week to replace the departing Colin Powell as secretary of state.

Sylvester, who is white, also referred to Powell as an “Uncle Tom” - a contemptuous term for a black whose behavior toward whites is regarded as fawning or servile.

He said Thursday night that he was referring to remarks by singer and civil rights activist Harry Belafonte that the price of admittance for blacks to the Bush White House was subservience.

Two things:

First of all, Madison. What a surprise, a racist lefty in Madison, Wisconsin who pretends to be racially tolerant. Until someone crosses his little internal line, that is. I’m surprised he did not call her a house nigger.

Oh wait, HE DID. That’s the second thing, his reference to Harry Belafonte. Which just so happens to be the subject of my first official blog post at this URL two years ago.

What Belafonte said then:

“There’s an old saying, in the days of slavery, there were those slaves who lived on the plantation and there were those slaves that lived in the house,” Belafonte said. “You got the privilege of living in the house if you served the master … exactly the way the master intended to have you serve him.

“Colin Powell’s committed to come into the house of the master,” the performer continued. “When Colin Powell dares to suggest something other than what the master wants to hear, he will be turned back out to pasture.”

My feelings then:

You know what the real crime is here? That Belafonte is bringing something other than skin color into being black. Clearly, Powell isn’t “black” enough for him, whatever the hell that means. And in an effort to, I imagine, shame Powell into behaving more “black,” he used what might be one of the nastiest insults you could say to a black man in recent history. The implication here is that a house nigger would sell out his people in order to gain favor with “the man.” Worse than that, it implies that Powel hasn’t goddamned well earned the right to be where he is today. Love him or hate him, but dammit, the man deserves his job, and calling him a “house slave” (no such term, BTW, it has always been “house nigger”) is abhorrent.

In my opinion, Belafonte should be shunned. I wouldn’t listen to a word this man had to say on anything, ever again. No matter what he says in public to try to weasel out of this one, you know how he feels in his heart. He sees black people in two categories; The field niggers who are banded together in opression under the man, and the house niggers, serving the man and doing his bidding.

Shame on you, Harry Belafonte. You make me sick. You are what’s wrong with race relations in this country…and the fucked up thing is you went after another black man. You just gave a green light to anyone who wants to categorize black people who work hard and get ahead as house niggers. Great job, jackass.

You can replace “Belafonte” with “Sylvester” and “Powell” with “Rice” and pretty much get the gist of how I feel about this John Sylvester today. Nice. Condi Rice, who is probably twelve or nineteen times smarter than this jerk will ever be, is a house nigger according to him.

The tolerant left. Spreading hate and bile one hypocrisy at a time.

*Update*

I tried to resist…

You haven’t seen a blog entry in some time because I have Half-Life 2.

Opening screen

Your nemesis.

Those images are with all settinging on high, 1024 x 768, antialiasing on 2x. The game runs so smoothly I may increase the AA setting.

It’s good...the physics engine is the best I’ve seen, and the game is challenging without being obnoxious. I ordered it through Steam, and I got the silver package. You get:

Half-Life 2
Half-Life
Half-Life: Source
Counter-Strike
Counter-Strike: Source
Counter-Strike: Condition Zero
Counter-Strike: Condition Zero Deleted Scenes
Day of Defeat
Ricochet
Opposing Force
Deathmatch Classic
Codename Gordon
Day of Defeat: Source (when it’s released)

That’s a lot of gaming goodness for $59.99. Surprisingly, the original Half-Life is very playable. It was clearly advanced for its time.

The biggest problem with HL2 so far is the crashing. Doesn’t seem to matter what video card you have, what drivers you are using, lots and lots of people are having the same issue. the screen freezes, sometimes a sound stutters and then the game crashes or the Blue Screen Of Death shows up. There is a fix...and it seems to reduce the amount of crashing dramatically.

1. Set the sound quality to “Medium.” Also, make sure you have 2-channel sound set and not 5.1.

2. Go to the HL2 icon and open the properties (or go to Steam>Play Games>Half Life 2>Right-click on it and select Properties>Launch Options). In the Target box add “-heapsize [memoryamount]” (without quotes), e.g. -heapsize 128000 makes the game use 128MB of your RAM. Try not to exceed half of your system RAM with this setting.

3. Go to your \Program Files\Valve\Steam\SteamApps\[username]\half-life 2\hl2\cfg\ directory, and create a new blank text file, then rename it to autoexec.cfg. Open this file and copy and paste in the following commands.

snd_mixahead 0.7

cl_forcepreload 1

sv_forcepreload 1

cl_smooth 0

Save the file!

4. Defrag the drive after Steam has installed everything it is going to install. This is a huge amount of data that just got dumped on your hard drive, and defragging will help a lot.

*Update*

I should have included my video card info here...it’s the Gainward Golden Sample nVidia GeForce FX 5900XT 256MB Ultra 1600XT, the original, dual-slotted monster.

They have since revised this to be a red single-slot card, but when I bought this it was the bleeding edge. Even ATI’s best wasn’t out yet, this was the top of the food chain. It still holds up great when paired with the Athlon64 3200 processor and a gig of RAM.

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Posted by JimK at 06:17 AM on November 19, 2004
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Categories: Technobabble (Technology), Gaming

Thursday, November 18, 2004

Hillary in ‘08?

Not if the blogosphere can help it. Spread the word!

Posted by JimK at 01:38 AM on November 18, 2004
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Categories: Politics

Wednesday, November 17, 2004

Before you judge, you should read

From Powerline, an email from a Marine in Fallujah. The moral? Be careful who you call a war criminal.

This is one story of many that people normally don’t hear, and one that everyone does.

This is one most don’t hear:
A young Marine and his cover man cautiously enter a room just recently filled with insurgents armed with Ak-47’s and RPG’s. There are three dead, another wailing in pain. The insurgent can be heard saying, “Mister, mister! Diktoor, diktoor(doctor)!” He is badly wounded, lying in a pool of his own blood. The Marine and his cover man slowly walk toward the injured man, scanning to make sure no enemies come from behind. In a split second, the pressure in the room greatly exceeds that of the outside, and the concussion seems to be felt before the blast is heard. Marines outside rush to the room, and look in horror as the dust gradually settles. The result is a room filled with the barely recognizable remains of the deceased, caused by an insurgent setting off several pounds of explosives.

The Marines’ remains are gathered by teary eyed comrades, brothers in arms, and shipped home in a box. The families can only mourn over a casket and a picture of their loved one, a life cut short by someone who hid behind a white flag.

But no one hears these stories, except those who have lived to carry remains of a friend, and the families who loved the dead. No one hears this, so no one cares.

This is the story everyone hears:

A young Marine and his fire team cautiously enter a room just recently filled with insurgents armed with AK-47’s and RPG’s. There are three dead, another wailing in pain. The insugent can be heard saying, “Mister, mister! Diktoor, diktoor(doctor)!” He is badly wounded. Suddenly, he pulls from under his bloody clothes a grenade, without the pin. The explosion rocks the room, killing one Marine, wounding the others. The young Marine catches shrapnel in the face.

The next day, same Marine, same type of situation, a different story. The young Marine and his cover man enter a room with two wounded insurgents. One lies on the floor in puddle of blood, another against the wall. A reporter and his camera survey the wreckage inside, and in the background can be heard the voice of a Marine, “He’s moving, he’s moving!”

The pop of a rifle is heard, and the insurgent against the wall is now dead. Minutes, hours later, the scene is aired on national television, and the Marine is being held for commiting a war crime. Unlawful killing.

And now, another Marine has the possibility of being burned at the stake for protecting the life of his brethren. His family now wrings their hands in grief, tears streaming down their face. Brother, should I have been in your boots, i too would have done the same.

For those of you who don’t know, we Marines, Band of Brothers, Jarheads, Leathernecks, etc., do not fight because we think it is right, or think
it is wrong. We are here for the man to our left, and the man to our right. We choose to give our lives so that the man or woman next to us can go home and see their husbands, wives, children, friends and families.

For those of you who sit on your couches in front of your television, and choose to condemn this man’s actions, I have but one thing to say to you. Get out of your recliner, lace up my boots, pick up a rifle, leave your family behind and join me. See what I’ve seen, walk where I have walked. To those of you who support us, my sincerest gratitude. You keep us alive.

I am a Marine currently doing his second tour in Iraq. These are my opinions and mine alone. They do not represent those of the Marine Corps or of the US military, or any other.

Posted by JimK at 11:12 PM on November 17, 2004
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Categories: The Fourth Estate, War, U.S. Military, The Middle East

I hate politicians

Among the million other places from which I think the government should get out,you can count my DVD player.

However, under the proposed language, viewers would not be allowed to use software or devices to skip commericals or promotional announcements “that would otherwise be performed or displayed before, during or after the performance of the motion picture,” like the previews on a DVD.

You know what? If they insist on tellig me how I am going to watch the movies that I pay for (and I have about 450 DVDs, so I pay for a lot)then I will simply stop paying for them.

I hope the MPAA realizes they are killing themselves. If the movie business wanted to work with geeks we could find a way to protect their property and allow us to watch things the way we want, but no...instead they push. And they’re surprised when we push back.

Posted by JimK at 10:55 PM on November 17, 2004
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Categories: Technobabble (Technology), The Stupidity Of Man

Can you imagine? The NYT being…biased?

Well, it’s true.

CIA officials angrily insisted Wednesday that a memo from intelligence chief Porter Goss did not order his staff to “back Bush,” as a newspaper headline put it Wednesday.

According to an official in possession of the memo, Goss told his staff:

“I also intend to clarify beyond doubt the rules of the road. We support the administration, and its policies in our work as agency employees. We do not identify with, support or champion opposition to the administration or its policies. We provide the intelligence as we see it—and let the facts alone speak to the policymaker.”

The New York Times reported on the memo Wednesday in a story with the headline, “Chief of CIA Tells His Staff To Back Bush.”

“It is false,” said one official, “quite baffling.” The official called the New York Times headline “dopey.”

Oh, that liberal media. Any journalistic reason why the New York fucking Times should be twisting the truth like this in headlines? Everyone knows that people rarely read past the headline and first couple of paragraphs. So they lead with the lie and bury the truth.

Posted by JimK at 10:49 PM on November 17, 2004
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Categories: The Fourth Estate, Politics

2004 Jeep Rescue concept

Not bad...it’s a little Hummer-y, but in a good way. It looks like a real, useful, workhorse version of what the H2 image (not the reality) is supposed to be. I would buy one of these in a heartbeat and feel like I had one of the toughest vehicles ever made. Hopefully the reality will live up to the concept.

There are a bunch of pictures and the DaimerChrysler press release under the “More” link. Each picture pops a new windows with a larger detailed version.

The Jeep® Rescue concept

Designed for the most extreme situations and unforgiving conditions, the Jeep® Rescue concept is not only the ultimate type of search and rescue vehicle – it’s the ultimate execution of a Jeep off-road vehicle.

Combine legendary Jeep off-road capability with state-of-the-art search and rescue technology, the Jeep Rescue is designed to reach areas in the harshest, most daunting mountainous and desert areas.

“Jeep Rescue is the supreme trail search and research vehicle – one that only Jeep could build, “ said Trevor Creed, Senior Vice President – Chrysler Group Design.

Classic Jeep Design Taken to An Exciting New Dimension and Extreme

Starting with a modern interpretation of the timeless, classic Jeep, the Rescue not only hints at a future design direction for a large Jeep – it builds on the rugged Jeep heritage to forge an exciting new dimension for the Jeep brand.

The Rescue can be configured to run almost totally “open” – with folding front windshield and a retractable backlite, a sliding glass sunroof in front, a fold-forward canvas roof in the rear, plus, all four doors are removable.

A Rugged Foundation

Featuring all-new body-on-frame construction with hydroformed frame rails and riding on an 80-inch wide chassis with 123-inch wheelbase and 37-inch tires, the Jeep Rescue is built for anything thrown its way. The front hydropneumatic suspension combines with the heavy-duty link-coil rear suspension to give the Rescue its solid footing on all terrain. The suspension has adjustable ride height and an additional 4-inch lift available for fording. The aforementioned 37-inch tires feature an MTR tread and run-flat capability, negating the need for a spare. On-board tire pressure control has the ability to “tune” tire pressures for maximum traction on all surfaces.

Unequalled Rescue Capability

Powered by a Cummins Diesel and featuring seating for five, the Jeep Rescue’s primary mission is rescue capability, and its list of rescue and safety equipment is impressive:

* AC electric power (10 kW) generation in the field
* 3-D topographical mapping software and topographical navigation system
* Under- chassis, point-of-view cameras for avoiding danger in its path
* Passive, infrared (thermal) cameras for search and rescue
* Satellite telephone; VHF radio, digital video recorder with satellite transmission capability
* Retractable 4-point harnesses for vehicle occupants
* Exterior perimeter lighting
* White LEV lighting for long distance visual search and reduced power use
* Folding seats in rear compartment of vehicle
* Remote control winch – front and back

“The Jeep Rescue is Jeep capability taken to maximum extreme and that, being Jeep, is unmatchable,” said Creed. “It is everything the Jeep brand represents – in a vehicle equipped for unequalled search and rescue service.”

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Posted by JimK at 01:22 AM on November 17, 2004
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Categories: Technobabble (Technology), Things With Engines

Tuesday, November 16, 2004

Elektra

I’m not sure if this movie is going to suck or not.

I’m leaning toward suck. However, I will watch it, many, many times, because of her. And if that makes me a pervert, then pervert I be. If it makes me a lecherous fool, well hell, just sign me up to that list, because Jennifer Garner is one of those women.