Dirk L'Orange is Writing...

I'll tell you how it goes.

Posted by PoS at 9:57 AM | Permalink

Posted by The Observer at 1:16 PM | Permalink

... and other interesting (or not so interesting topics).

As if it wasn't bad enough that Pluto was reclassified as a "dwarf planet" and then thrown a into a couple of new (pretty much made up) classification as a "trans-Neptunian" object (a celestial object that crosses the orbital path of Neptune). Now, to add insult to injury, Pluto has been stripped of its name, according to the NewScientist.com news service:

Pluto will henceforth be known as minor planet 134340 Pluto, according to a new designation by the International Astronomical Union's Minor Planet Center.

Next!!!!

My brother-in-law doesn't realize when he calls that we actually DON'T have an answering machine at home, but instead, we have voicemail.


Listen Now:

So, while he's calling out ma to answer the phone, little does he realize that he's just speaking into a computer somewhere on the internet while his mother continues with her day unaware that her son needs her.

Posted by PoS at 10:45 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

I feel like I should mention something on this day. For the most part, we've all moved on and continued to toil away at our insignificant lives. And we should, but I feel like saying something about this event because I believe if has fundamentally changed who I am. It has fundamentally changed who we are as a people.

I remember exactly where I was. I was in my car driving to my office at Nortel on this tuesday morning and listening to Sports Radio 1310 The Ticket. They normally turn away from the sports pages and do a funny bit at 8:40am... and this day was no exception. Directly after that, they noticed on one of the TVs in their studio that the news had broken in and was showing the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in New York City. One of those towers had a big hole in it and was billowing smoke. They began talking about it and speculating what happened, when about 15 minutes later, they witnessed another plane smash into the other tower. If it wasn't obvious before this, it was obvious now, we had suffered a terrorist attack of epic proportions. I was on a daily call with members of the project team I was working... Also on that call were members of the team from Toronto, Montreal, and Chateau Dunn France, in addition to Nashville, and Richardson. I couldn't tell you what happened on that call, because I was busy paying attention to the ABC, CNN, or whatever live feed I could on that day. In fact, I got no work done. My co-worker and friend, Brad, was in the cube across from me, and he got no work done. It's as if the world had stopped.

Nothing like that had ever affected me as much as this even did on that day. Granted other tragedies in my lifetime were not on quite so grand a scale. I remember the Waco incident with the Branch Dividians. It was tragic, but I really didn't think about it. And the bombing in Oklahoma City a year later (I believe), didn't stop me down.

I remember being numb, angry, and sad all at once. For the next several days, I hurried home from work to watch what CNN was reporting on. And at some point, I don't remember when exactly, maybe a couple of days later, I just began to weep... I was by myself and the weight of what had happened to us as a nation and really, the world, hit me and I began to cry and did so for at least a solid 15 minutes. There was no thing on the news, no story or imagery or rememberence that made me do it, it just happened.

Over the months and years after that, bits and pieces of the truth and our new reality have come out and made me very angry at the people in charge of our country. A stolen election in Florida, in 2000 seemed to be amplified now. And I can't say that things have changed for the better since 9/11, but I feel like we (as a people) and our government should have learned something from this and come away stronger. But I don't feel that has happened. And, it's a sad thing. I don't want to get too into politics here, we can do that another day, but I would like you to take 5 minutes to watch the video I've linked from CrooksandLiars.com of MSNBC's Keith Olbermann's commentary on 9/11 on this day, the 5th anniversary of 9/11. He is far more eloquent than I could ever hope to be.

Keith Olbermann Commentary

Take Care.

Posted by PoS at 9:19 PM | Permalink

Like many of you, I get email. And from time to time -- like when I don't have anything else to write about -- I like to share some of my email with all of you. I get litterally tens of emails per day. Granted, most it is from a series of animal rights and environmental activist sites where I might have signed some petition and forgot to uncheck the little box that said "send me email updates", but still, I do get a few gems that are noteworthy like the ones I've shared below.

The first one has the following subject: "FW: Simple Friend vs. Real Friend"... or something like that.

I gave this email a visual scan knowing full well what was contained within. As you might expect, it was some blather about the difference between a "real" friend and a "simple friend... you know, like the old joke, A simple friend bails you out o f jail, a real friend is sitting in the cell with you saying, "we really screwed up, didn't we"....[sigh] and of course, I scrolled down (yes, there was scrolling required) and what do you think the last one was? Guess. C'mon, guess. That's right, "a simple friend deletes this email after read it. A real friend replies back to the sender copies 10 of their friends."

My response??? Here:

DUDE.... Whether you are a true friend or simple friend, I don't need a freakin' email affirmation to that effect in order to raise my, [sarcasm]oh so tender, suicidally low self-esteem.[/sarcasm] And sure, I know what you're thinking... you're thinking, 'hey, PoS, what gives, why you harshin' my mellow? It's the thought that counts, dude.' Okay sure, I agree... next time you get one of these emails and you think of me, be thoughtful enough to skip my name in your address book. Seriously dude, Here's a "real friend/simple friend" bullet for you to add to the list. A simple friend send you cute little emails about real friends vs. simple friends. A REAL friend realizes you think these thinks are stupid and skips you when they muster the strength to click the forward button for that, oh so desperate need to hear back from them to ensure that you are well thought of. Better yet, here's another one... a real friend helps you install four ceiling fans and 2 light fixtures and a simple friend cuts out on you when it's time to return the favor!!! GOT IT.

Next, I get some crap containing a link to a "funny video".... something having to do with bowling. Now, I don't mind bowling. It's not a sport, to be sure, but it can be a fun activity with which one can participate with friends and even make new special bowling friends. Be that as it may, I think I can place my level of interest in viewing any "funny videos" links forwarded to me via email somewhere between using a nail gun to drive a nail into my forehead and being forced to watch a Poirot marathon on the A&E channel.

Thus... my response:

Psst... notice how this email is showing up in BOLD type. That might be significant.

<BIG SIGH> Let me see if I can put this succinctly. I didn't watch "America's Funniest Home Videos" years ago when it was on... I don't generally visit viral video sites like YouTube or iFilm.com because they're essentially the same thing, without the Bob Saget voiceovers and pathetic studio audience laugh track.

Finally, we have an email with the subject, "FW: Beautifully stated..........". This was both a heartwarming and thought provoking email. Simply put, it was a beautiful reminder to take a second to stop and smell the roses, to "seize the day", as it were. And of course, this message contained an instruction to forward it to at least 5 friends with the promise that a "miracle would occur".

Response:

Are you F--KING kidding me???? I'm tired of all this "life is beautiful" crap. Look there's some pretty cool aspects of life, and there's some pretty crappy aspects to it. Good stuff happens to bad people and bad stuff happens to good people ... and every once in awhile people actually get what they deserve, good or bad. But this "it's all good" crap makes me sick. I don't even need to read the email to figure out what it says. It's sort of like that "Life is like a box of chocolates" line from Forest Gump.... my response to that is, life is like a box of chocolates IF, AND ONLY IF, every once in awhile, when you bit into one of the chocolates, it turned about to be a piece of poop. Oh, and F--K NO, I'm not forwarding this crap to 5 or my friends.... I have a little more respect for them than that. The only miracle I want is for this crap to stop circulating around the Internets and stop clogging up the tubes.

Posted by PoS at 12:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)