BONG HITS 4 JOHN ROBERTS

"Why is the sky chartreuse?"

2025-02-23T22:25:00.000-05:00

So was the name of this blog that I haven't posted to in almost 2 decades (and boy did I love to write in the passive voice back then, too). On a lark, I decided to look up my blog on the Googles because I was having ....well, thoughts. While doing my research, I read that apparently, the sky turns chartreuse just before a tornado. Considering these stormy times, I'm not shocked at the irony. This is probably going to end up somewhere between a confession and word salad, but here goes. I once fancied myself able to foresee the future, at least to some degree. I even had enough weird things happen (though never to the scale of my "predictions") to make me believe this delusion. As time went on, I had a *new* delusion of being able to fly away to a distant world with a small group of close acquaintances and restarting society. One more just, one a bit closer to perfect if such a thing were ever possible. I had a name for it. A special word. It began with the letter "X" and that letter dominated my thoughts. But the Dream didn't start out that way, except for the first bit. I was king of this distant world. I was the Main Character. New technology revealed to me by the heavens, and by God did I conquer worlds with it. As I got older and wiser, the Dream was tempered, more and more each time to become the vision of a just society that I envision to this day. And to add to the gravitas of my Dream was a dream I had as a mere child that haunts me to this day: of flying away from a world engulfed in flames, of being warned by a glowing man. And that's not all. The Special Word was also supposed to act as a road sign. One that heralded significant change. One to follow to achieve the Dream, or at least get somewhat close to it. You all may have to google what a "blue feather" is, but it's essentially a symbol to watch for. Of course, that was all high fantasy; but as a teen and a young adult I *believed* it could be true. As time went by and reality set in, a kind of despair and resignation took the place of belief and hope. I hadn't planned on the Dream *not* happening to me. That I should be relegated to the ordinary kind of life of the Everyman (side: the benefit of my path so far is to learn to not look down on the "ordinary life," but that's a post for another time). Fast forward to today, and we can all think of another Man Who Would Be King who has this fascination with the letter "X". I've found myself quick to judge him on his reckless disregard for his fellow humans, all but to forget how only several billion dollars and some special K are really the only things to separate this man from the person I was only a couple decades ago. Xanadu was supposed to come true in 2005. It's almost 20 years later and another man with his eyes on the stars and his brain in another galaxy apparently has his goals and the means to do so. And between him and our current re-President and his fascination with the Starfleet symbol, if I don't see the writing on the walls. That Blue Feather I mentioned, the watchword, Xanadu, has been popping up an awful lot in the past couple months.... Maybe it's some kind of form of delusional pareidolia*, and I'm just more perceptive to the Word lately; but I'm also quite observant, too, when I haven't seen it in...well...years. Not like this, anyway. Everything feels like it's building towards something, both amazingly wonderful and horrible at the same time. If this is all reads as rambling, it's because it probably is. After the election, as a veteran and a die-hard patriot, I should've felt nothing but unrelenting dread. But instead, there was a weird feeling of hope instead. Even a bit of excitement. No, I'm not normal. But, I swear to f*ckin God if he calls all his endeavors something along the lines of "Operation Xanadu," I'm bound to lose the last of what marbles I have left.

Opinion: The Roads Have Eyes, Part One

2007-11-06T09:40:00.000-05:00

Opinion: The Roads Have Eyes, Part One

Quote: "Dave Goodson, a motorist with an engineering background, performed a number of measurements and calculations after receiving a ticket at Union City Boulevard and Lowry Road. His case forced Union City's traffic engineers to concede that they had set the yellow signal time 1.3 seconds too short. The timings weren't faulty, they were illegal."

With that having been said (it's at the very end of the article), I hereby present for your consideration, PhotoBlocker Spray. It supposedly makes it very difficult for speed and red-light cameras to take a picture of your license plate. I don't generally condone anything that encourages someone to break the law; but what's good for the goose, as they say. If city governments are so corrupt as to do things like shorten the yellow-light cycle timing for the sake of garnering your dollars, then we as citizens have the right to stimy these attempts.

Opinion: The Roads Have Eyes, Part One

2007-11-06T09:39:00.000-05:00

Freezing your credit

2007-11-06T08:33:00.000-05:00

Link

It's almost winter, so I cannot think of a more appropriate time to talk about freezing your credit. It essentially tells the three major credit bureaus that NOBODY has access to your credit information without your consent.

Check out the link.

Getting your day in court? Think again.

2007-10-26T08:33:00.000-04:00

How Arbitration Steals Your Day In Court

Just throwing this up here, for everyone's edification.

Because you can never get enough "Harry Potter"...

2007-08-01T12:58:00.000-04:00

...I present you with: Kill Harry!

Oh, and this is for you guys who liked "Kill Bill," by the way.

No, I did not do this comic. It's somebody else's.

PS: Harry dies at the end. Hahahahahaha! Actually, I don't really know. I'm on "page" 14.

Is it so wrong that I laughed like a lunatic at this?

2007-07-19T15:20:00.000-04:00

Ghastly's Ghastly Comic

It's funny, but...

2007-07-16T14:48:00.000-04:00

Ghastly's Ghastly Comic - Tentacle Monsters And The Women Who Love Them.

So I've stumbled onto yet another comic site. Some of this shit is absolutely hilarious, but I have to warn you:

THIS WEBSITE IS TREMENDOUSLY NOT SAFE FOR WORK!!!

Or sanity. Either way. Proceed with extreme caution. There's stuff on here I couldn't dream up even while on the best drugs available.

Man!

PS: Do a Google for "Evilest Person Ever". Somehow, I'm not surprised.

BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!

2007-06-28T08:45:00.000-04:00

Penny Arcade! - Superb Technique

*gasp!*

...

AHAHAHAHAHAHAAA!!! Cockney. *snert!*

The slippery slope

2007-06-25T12:46:00.000-04:00

Court tightens limits on student speech - Yahoo! News

If this were a debate on whether "Bong Hits 4 Jesus" was puerile or not, I would've supported the Supreme Court. The banner was silly at best. However, that's not the issue on the table here. The issue on the table is a person's freedom of speech.

Of course, if you want to be literal about it, the First Amendment says that Congress, not the Supreme Court, shall make NO law abridging a person's right to free speech. However, the Supreme Court, I guess, has free reign to restrict you as much as possible.

But now there's precedent for any asshat teacher or principal who, if they don't agree with a student's political views, can simply say, "Well, he's only saying something with no merit, because..." And then they can just fill in the blank with any rationale they can to suppress a teenager's freedom of expression because, well, they're not 18, so they must not know any better.

Oh, the magic number 18. Except there are plenty of fuckwads running around this country right now with less of a clue than a rock, and they're over 18.

It's a slippery slope we're on, now that there's precedent. I don't care if I agree or disagree with the message, or even if the message appears to me to be juvenile. It's not our job to allow or disallow what we agree with (or not)--that's called CENSORSHIP, and it's used with great relish in places like Iran.

I served in the armed forces to protect everyone's rights, as (supposedly) guaranteed in the Constitution of the United States, and this ruling makes me sick. I'm sure Thomas Jefferson is rolling over in his grave right now.

PS. I changed the name of the blog, for obvious reasons.

Good advice

2007-06-15T14:37:00.000-04:00

How victim snared ID thief

Near the bottom of the linked article is a list of ten things you can do to protect your financial identity. I suggest you check it out.

That is all.

THIS IS THE SONG THAT WOULD NOT DIE

2007-06-08T17:40:00.000-04:00

Don't get me wrong. I like the song "Xanadu." Srsly. It's also a catchy name. And, it's used in one of the finer works of 19th century poetry. And...AND...I used it in the title of my book.

But come on people!!

Apparently, "The Olivia Project" just released this very year a CD with something like 6 different remixes of Xanadu.

Yes. In 2007. Many of you may remember this post ages ago where I counted the number of songs named--in whole or in part--"Xanadu," and the number of remakes of said 1980's song. I think the count stood at 18. Now, I see we have 6 more versions (actually, 5...their "Millenium Mix" is one I have already heard, so I'm thinking this album is a re-release of older mixes, with some new ones thrown in).

Oh, and did I forget to mention the 1994 Muzak(tm) trumpet version of "Xanadu?" It's ...it's... I don't know what it is. It sounds like Herb Alpert-style music. But it's Xanadu, ffs!

This is only the beginning. If you have Napster, you can do a track search for "Xanadu." There are some in there I've already listed. There are the new ones, done by the Olivia Project. And there are even more here.

I'm telling you, people! It's the song that just won't die! And, it's a crying shame the vast majority of these remixes SUCK!

WHAT ARE YOU PEOPLE TRYING TO DO TO ME!??!?!

(curls up in corner and sucks thumb)

PUNISH BAD BEHAVIOR!!

2007-05-31T13:08:00.000-04:00

FARK.com: (2835992) Livejournal accounts deleted on a massive scale by abuse team. In related news, stock in razor blades doubles

A Farker on Fark.com made the following comment:

wow... after reading the slashdot thread on this, I found the link where people found posts by the WFI group responsible for this mess. It basically comes down to them being dominionist "xian warriors". This explains a lot unfortunately.

The most disturbing quote form them, though, is this:

Every single one of you [LJ users that were banned] are indeed pedophiles. Nasty, filthy, stinking pedophiles. You all preface your statements with "I'm not a pedophile myself BUT"

I would think with that a direct accusation like that in a public forum would be a fairly open-and-shut libel case...

/that's using logic in law, though, which is obviously a stupid thing to do

Emphasis mine.

Can you imagine the shitstorm that would ensue if groups such as abuse survivor groups (among those deleted and, apparently, lumped into the above statement from Warriors for Innocence) all got together and filed a class-action lawsuit against WFI for such a libelous statement? Oh, YES! It would be a victory for freedom of thought everywhere, and a resounding defeat for draconian so-called "Christians" still stuck in the 14th century.

I'm going to look up the list of these groups, see if I can contact any of them, and RAISE ALL HOLY HELL!!

I WOULD PAY A MILLION BILLION GAJILLION DOLLARS...

2007-05-29T13:02:00.000-04:00

scaryideas | Star Wars: Airport

...to see someone dressed up as Darth Vader go through airport security AND STAY IN-CHARACTER!

Oh my God that would be TOO FUNNY.

I've often wondered...

2007-05-17T21:58:00.000-04:00

The Life Purpose Discovery System |

...how many of these self-improvement sites are really nothing more than a regurgitation of what other sites have said. I'm not saying that there isn't truth in what they say (because many times there is), but I can't help but wonder how much is borrowed from others; and that becomes their way to 'success.' Not everyone's way...just some of these sites.

I present to you, for your consideration, this site and this site. Tell me if there aren't any immediate similarities. Now, these are only two sites; not the bulk of them. But it was enough to make me take notice.

Which leads me to my next question: how many of these self-improvement sites bogus? How many of these sites are just shameful copies (or near-copies) of others' work, and you're coughing up ~~$97~~ $47 for each site?

I know very few people ever read this blog, but I figured I'd throw it out there in the off chance someone has had experience with this. The 12-week life transformation site has free stuff (so does the life purpose site), just so people know--I guess--they're not just out for your money.

Maybe I'm too cynical.

Anyway, that's my thought for the day.

The Bank of America wants your money. Really.

2007-05-11T17:54:00.000-04:00

This is the story (stories, actually) as told to me. The people I've heard these from have more details, and my time is short; so I have to do this quickly.

Story Number One: A friend of our family is a probate paralegal. She is working with some people in Seattle to get a CD out of Bank of America (the person who died, lived in and died in Maine, so State of Maine laws apply here). However, even after 14 years after the death of the decedent, the SOLE LIVING HEIR cannot get the money from the CD. Bank of America has pulled a series of stall tactics, wanting: (1) to refer back to their legal department, (2) have the probate paralegal all but commit perjury (as she explained it) by signing some kind of affidavit, (3) simply just not respond AT ALL to letters of inquiry from the paralegal (and other lawyers and I understand it), and (4) telling the paralegal that she must get a court order to get Bank of America to release the funds from the CD which should have been released to the heir 14 years ago.

What the hell is that all about?

Story (Stories) number 2 can be found on MSNBC.com. I'll link in the story later. You can probably find it a few days earlier as a post on this blog. It was about identity theft. Which leads us to ...

Story number 3. My father, through a debt management company, paid off a debt to MBNA, just after MBNA was bought out by Bank of America. MBNA, while in their transition phase, acknowledged the debt was taken care of under special circumstances (reduced intererest rate, forgiven past due penalties, etc). However, Bank of America decided to completely ignore this prior agreement (the agreement was made BEFORE BoA bought MBNA, and was completed just after the buyout), and has continued to hassle my father ever since.

I suggest that, based off of these stories, and the 1300+ comments (may be more now) from that MSNBC.com article, that anyone with a BoA account should really consider another bank, before they get screwed.

Allegedly. You know. Standard disclaimer to hopefully avoid getting sued for 'libel' or some other bull. Considering some of the tactics BoA has pulled so far on their so-called 'valued' customers, it wouldn't surprise me if they fought dirty if someone called them out on it.

1276 and counting

2007-05-09T08:40:00.000-04:00

MSNBC.com - Identity Theft

It's not as uncommon as you may think.

Over twelve hundred (!!!) in just a day, leaving comments here stating how they've gone through similar instances.

But nobody's doing anything about it.

My father loses almost a hundred grand because of someone he thought he could trust. It makes it even worse than it being a complete stranger.

I left a comment on this article, as well. It's #17. And it has my father's blog listed in there.

Perhaps the time has come for vigilante justice. If the law enforcement agencies aren't going to do anything about it, maybe it's time to put the fear of Joe Public into the hearts and minds of these nefarious thugs.

Workout Blog!

2007-05-04T15:29:00.000-04:00

blog.myspace.com/xanadian

The above link may or may not work. If not, just try this link.

I'm doing a daily (almost daily) log of my never-ending quest for "That Body Girls And Approximately Two Percent Of Guys Dream Of (tm)." Most attempts have been been nothing more than short little trips down Buff Lane, but I've found a new technique I've been trying; and so far the results are good. I still have this beer gut (probably from the beer); but my shirts aren't fitting quite right anymore, so that MUST be a good sign. Right?

Right!?

But seriously. I'm making strides I've never been able to before. This new blog will chronicle my progress, sure; but mostly it's about techniques I learn along the way, and diet and safety tips. Anyone and everyone is willing to join me (if only virtually) on this journey; because good health is for a lifetime.

Well, so is bad health, but the lifetime's a bit shorter.

Help save internet radio!

2007-05-01T17:37:00.000-04:00

Write Your Representative - Contact your Congressperson in the U.S. House of Representatives.

The RIAA has pushed the copyright review board to increase royalty rates for music broadcasted over the Internet via "streaming" audio. This is the biggest bunch of horse manure to come from the record industry I've ever seen.

Write your Congressman now to help put a stop to this!

There is a grass-roots campaign to petition Congress to pass HR 2060. I've written my letter to my congressman. It goes like this:

Dear Congressman Michaud,

I'm sure by now you have received plenty of mail, email, faxes and phone calls regarding HR 2060. I am another constituent who feels strongly about this bill. If it hasn't been iterated already, let me point out the main reasons why I believe this bill is important:

1. Many Internet users listen to music over the Internet via 'steaming' audio. It is a source of enjoyment for many. The royalty hikes would essentially put (at least) the smaller internet radio stations out of business.

2. Internet radio stations, like Pandora for example, are an outlet for independent artists' musical creations. There are many bands I would have never even known existed if it weren't for providers like Pandora. If stations like Pandora are forced to close down due to these royalty hikes, (a) these independent artists would have fewer channels for their work and (b) these independent artists would NOT get the royalties they already receive through places like Pandora. With no (or much fewer) sites broadcasting the works of these artists, where will they get their royalties from? I can guarantee to you that Top 40 stations won't broadcast their work.

Allowing the RIAA to have their way with internet radio would be catastrophic to independent musicians' free expression and frustrating to the fans who want to listen to them. I'm not saying that internet radio should get a free pass to broadcast music free, as that's also not fair to artists. But hiking the rates like this is just as detrimental, if not more so for the little guy.

Please co-sponsor HR 2060, and help keep the music industry fair.

As I look at this letter, it gets the point across, but man I need to go back to writing school. Free pass to broadcast free? Free, free, free. WTF? Alas.

Regardless, if you like the ability to listen to ANY kind of music you want, and not just what the Top 40 stations (on your FM radio) want to push down your throat, you should really give your Representative a call, or write him a letter.

Satellite radio people...not sure how this will end up affecting you, but I'm sure a rate hike for YOUR Sirius or XM is not too far down the road.

For the love of God, don't buy these bulbs!

2007-04-30T13:24:00.000-04:00

The CFL mercury nightmare

Apparently, compact fluorescent (CFL) bulbs contain mercury...at an amount 6x recommended 'safe' levels. And what happens when the bulbs have finally outlived their usefulness? From the article:

As each CFL contains five milligrams of mercury, at the Maine "safety" standard of 300 nanograms per cubic meter, it would take 16,667 cubic meters of soil to "safely" contain all the mercury in a single CFL. While CFL vendors and environmentalists tout the energy cost savings of CFLs, they conveniently omit the personal and societal costs of CFL disposal.

Wow. That's a pretty big problem. And, how many light sockets are in the United States?

I think I'm going to stick with regular incandescent bulbs until the LED bulbs come down in price.

Doesn't quite add up

2007-04-26T09:24:00.000-04:00

U.K. reviewing prince’s Iraq stint - Europe - MSNBC.com

I don't know how many hawks in Washington have children in Iraq, let alone on the front lines; so this statement may be unqualified. But I find it a little strange that such a high-ranking member of the royal family would DEMAND to be serving right in the middle of things in Iraq. Prince Harry has even threatened to quit the royal army if he's stuck behind a desk.

Why?

Why would someone with so much to lose be willing to risk it all in Iraq? Is he crazy? Is he stupid? Is this just blind patriotism?

Or, perhaps, there's more going on here than the MSM and the Dems are allowing us to see.

I don't know. To me, though, this just doesn't quite add up.

I think I just came a little...

2007-04-18T21:17:00.000-04:00

A Girl Like You - Edwyn Collins - Pandora Internet Radio

This song is amazing. I've heard it before (of course...the song is 14 years old), but it's the first time I've seen it pop up on Pandora.

It's like David Bowie singing, and Jimi Hendrix on the guitar.

ohhhhh....

Someone get me a towel.

Or a mop.

Whatever.

THE ONLY PROOF HE NEEDED

2007-04-12T10:07:00.000-04:00

Unless you live under a rock, you've probably heard that one of the greatest authors and minds of all time died yesterday. There's an outpouring of grief on teh intarwebs as we speak, from all the people who were touched by this man's wit and wisdom.

I stumbled across a little quote from his last (or one of his last) work, and I think it's fitting to use it here:

"If I should ever die, God forbid, let this be my epitaph:"

THE ONLY PROOF HE NEEDED
FOR THE EXISTENCE OF GOD
WAS MUSIC

If it walks like a duck...

2007-04-10T23:38:00.000-04:00

I have no idea how or why I stumbled across it, but it let me on an interesting adventure so far. For some completely illogical reason (other than, maybe, I want 'prosperity' without putting effort into it, like a good-ole-fashioned lazy American should want), I ended up looking for this book.

PS: No blue feathers in, on, or near the book; however, there is a RED feather on the back...which meant SOMETHING, but I forget what now. But I digress.

So, I bought the book for, like, $4.50 (plus $5 for shipping and handling, expedited). It finally arrived yesterday afternoon, and I followed the instructions and lessons therein.

Just this morning, not even 24 hours after I received the book, and did the first few exercises (which, by the way, aren't TOTALLY effortless, but RELATIVELY effortless...just to clear that up), one of my coworkers commented that there was something very different about me.

The first thing that came to my mind was, "Say what!?" I'm just as scruffy as usual...my hair is still long and graying...I was wearing the same clothes I always wear (uh, I do change my clothes day to day, wise guy(s)...I mean, the same KIND of clothes)...so what in the world COULD be so different about me?

I don't know about you, but after this happened, then some other "Donnie Darko" synchronicity I never posted on my blog, and now this, I'm taking a bit of a new approach to things. The timing of all this stuff is ... beyond coincidence. What's really odd is how all the things I learned in Christianity tie into what I learned from Eckankar, that tie into Huna, that tie into this stuff in Bijan's book, that tie into everything else. It's almost a perfect web, leaving me to wonder what it all means.

I looked at this website after getting the book yesterday, and noted first off its extraneous use of Flash (being a bit of a hack webmaster, I can get a little picky about web usability). Then I wondered how much money-grubbing horse manure Bijan's stuff is compared to every other self-help manual. Well, like the old cliche goes, if it walks like a duck and sounds like a duck...

So far, I don't think this stuff amounts to just 'quackery.'

What's in that food you're eating?

2007-04-03T09:03:00.000-04:00

So, having recently kicked my gym-bunny habit into full gear ... again ... for the third time now ... I started looking more closely at what I eat. I've always considered low-fat yoghurt to be one of the better things you can eat for a snack. But, after being told (you need to sign up to see this page--it's free, so don't worry--and it's page 7 on week 4) that I need to consume at least 400g of protein a day, I wanted to see how much of that protein I'm getting from my yoghurt.

Well, here's the breakdown of what's in my yoghurt:
Calories: 210
Serving size: 1 container (227 grams ... keep a note of this!)
Total fat: 2.5 grams
Cholesterol: 0.01 g
Sodium: 0.105 g
Potassium: 0.300 g
Total carbs: 41 g
Protein: 7g

Wow. 7g? That'll be about 57 yoghurts I'll need to eat. Yikes.

After looking at all the nutrients in the yoghurt, I wondered about something. Do all those numbers add up to the total weight of the yoghurt in the container?

Not even close.

It seems that there is 176.085 grams of ... stuff ... in my yoghurt. Out of 227. Only 50.915 grams of the yoghurt is really accounted for, nutritionally.

So, that left me to wondering... what the hell ELSE is in my yoghurt!?