Dr. Horrible’s Sing Along Blog

A little warning, Part of Act II is not for the Childrens (It came out after I posted this)

A Three Part Series on the plight of a new coming Evil Super Villain.

Well, it would represent us if The Editors of Jeremy-Gilby-dot-com were the Evil Super Villain…

When you look at the halls of history you see the dichotomy of arch-nemesii:

• Superman vs. Lex Luthor
• Batman vs. The Joker
• Bill Gates vs. Steve Jobs
• Chuck Norris vs. Himself
• Everyone vs. Ron Paul
• The Editors of Jeremy-Gilby-dot-com vs. The-Evil-Doctor-Merlin-Channing-Lowe-Jr.
• CoreFire vs. Dr. Impossible

And now:

• Captain Hammer and Dr. Horrible

Actually, the video, even though it has a rather silly name, is entertaining.
It’s a Joss Whedon Project from the dark times of the Writer’s Strike.
(Though, Part II does get a little beyond the PG-13 rating)

I was tipped off to the project by Chad, over at the Pirate King.

Here is a tease:

I’ll get you Captain Hammer, if its the last thing I … er. I mean.
I’ll get you The-Evil-Doctor-Merlin-Channing-Lowe-Jr., Corporate Tool, if its the last thing I do!

So far, everything looks good on the back end.

As always, if you are experiencing problems, either comment here, or on the Backup Blog

This should look familiar, Cisco.

All thanks to a Nameless County Employee, and friends.
In fact, I think you can make them out in my retina.

This goes to show you, just cause your camera says 6+megapixles, doesn’t mean its always a good idea to use them all.

As some of you know, I’ve been a long time fan of Snow’s work in Talk Radio and Television. I first heard him in the Early 90s when he would guest host on the Rush Limbaugh program. He was one of the primary reasons I bought a Sirius Satellite Radio, so I could listen to his own program in the mornings; and he was probably the single person to bring me back to enjoying Talk Radio after a multi-year hiatus.

He was always a very likable guy, which is why I’m so amazed that the Angry Left can be so caustic about his lamentable death. Even when he was mean, he was the nicest kind of mean you could get.

I celebrated his short term as the 26th White House Press Secretary. While it was lacking any flair, it was at least a change from the almost weekly stumbling of Scott McClellan.

While his radio shows were never very popular, his guest hosts have all launched their own not-so-popular shows, John Gibson, Brian Kilmeade, and Andrew Napolitano. Instead of pushing a particular party line, he looked at issues and debates from a more rational perspective. He didn’t spin things, he just questioned why, and hoped to get a good reason. He was able to do this on radio, not so much on television.

It was Snow who introduced me to Fox News Sunday, which replaced my love for Meet the Depressed.

Finally, this from President Bush:

“Laura and I are deeply saddened by the death of our dear friend, Tony Snow. Our thoughts and prayers are with his wife, Jill, and their children, Kendall, Robbie, and Kristi. The Snow family has lost a beloved husband and father. And America has lost a devoted public servant and a man of character.

Tony was one of our Nation’s finest writers and commentators. He earned a loyal following with incisive radio and television broadcasts. He was a gifted speechwriter who served in my father’s Administration. And I was thrilled when he agreed to return to the White House to serve as my Press Secretary. It was a joy to watch Tony at the podium each day. He brought wit, grace, and a great love of country to his work. His colleagues will cherish memories of his energetic personality and relentless good humor.

All of us here at the White House will miss Tony, as will the millions of Americans he inspired with his brave struggle against cancer. One of the things that sustained Tony Snow was his faith – and Laura and I join people across our country in praying that this good man has now found comfort in the arms of his Creator.”

It has to do with the Alphabet Network and reporting the political leaning of the troops.

From Right Wing Dog.

This from Major General (ret) Buckman.

My niece, Katelyn, stationed at Baluud , Iraq was assigned, with others of her detachment, to be escort/guard/watcher for Martha Raddatz of ABC News as she covered John McCain’s recent trip to Iraq.

Katelyn and her Captain stood directly behind Raddatz as she queried GI’s walking past. They kept count of the GI’s and you should remember these numbers. She asked 60 GI’s who they planned to vote for in November. 54 said John McCain, 4 for Obama, and 2 for Hillary.

Katelyn called home and told her Mom and Dad to watch ABC news the next night because she was standing directly behind Raddatz and maybe they’d see her on TV. Mom and Dad of course, called and emailed all the kinfolk to watch the newscast and maybe see Katelyn.

Well, of course, we all watched and what we saw wasn’t a glimpse of Katelyn, but got a hell’uva view of skewed news. After a dissertation on McCain’s trip and speech, ABC showed 5 GI’s being asked by Raddatz how they were going to vote in November; 3 for Obama and 2 for Clinton .. No mention of the 54 for McCain.

Ah, the irony of American Patriots protecting the press from harm while the reporter prepares a completely misleading story about which candidate the soldiers prefer. The reporter obviously thought her escort was comprised of brainless morons who wouldn’t see what was going on in front of them. Wouldn’t be the first time a reporter in the MSM turned out to be the brainless moron.

Support the troops. Pass this along.

---

Snopes “covered” this issue. Of course Martha Raddatz either lies or tells the truth about what really happened. Seems she’s trying to say she saw lots of Obama supporters out of the dozen she talked to. Yeah, whatever, I’ve seen so much liberal bias out of just about every news article I wouldn’t be surprised if this was the truth.

A senior government official [The link is my own - ed.] with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has expressed great interest in a so-called safety bracelet that would serve as a stun device, similar to that of a police Taser®. According to this promotional video found at the Lamperd Less Lethal, Inc. website, the bracelet would be worn by all airline passengers[].

This bracelet would:

• Take the place of an airline boarding pass
• Contain personal information about the traveler
• Be able to monitor the whereabouts of each passenger and his/her luggage
• Shock the wearer on command, completely immobilizing him/her for several minutes

The Electronic ID Bracelet, as it’s referred to, would be worn by every traveler “until they disembark the flight at their destination.” Yes, you read that correctly. Every airline passenger would be tracked by a government-funded GPS, containing personal, private and confidential information, and would shock the customer worse than an electronic dog collar if the passenger got out of line.

Clearly the Electronic ID Bracelet is a euphemism for the EMD Safety Bracelet, or at least it has a nefarious hidden ability (thus the term ID Bracelet is ambiguous at best). EMD stands for Electro-Musclar Disruption. Again, according to the promotional video, the bracelet can completely immobilize the wearer for several minutes.

So is the government really that interested in this bracelet?

Apparently so.

Low Jack, its not just for cars and early release parolees anymore.

For the record, I’m not a fan of this.
When was the last time a plane was hijacked in this world, that we require such an Orwellian Solution?
Now, if say, an airline were hijacked once a month, or multiple times a year, then maybe there is a precedent for this kind of action.

Seriously, do you REALLY want to give a Flight Attendant the ability to ZAP you?

Now, I wouldn’t mind this kind of technology to find my lost luggage… and maybe electroshock a baggage handler who put it on the wrong belt.

It wont be long before those missiles are powered and armed with Iranian Glow-in-the-Dark Snap Sticks.

TEHRAN, Iran — Iran test-fired nine long- and medium-range missiles Wednesday during war games to “demonstrate our resolve and might against enemies who in recent weeks have threatened Iran with harsh language,” a top Iranian general said of perceived U.S. and Israeli threats.

“Our hands are always on the trigger and our missiles are ready for launch,” the official IRNA news agency quoted Gen. Hossein Salami, the air force commander of Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guards.

Europe should be scared.

The reason for which is I tweaked one of the layers of Spam Defense at Jeremy-Gilby-dot-com, with a plugin I found by webgeek Chad over at The Pirate King.

I added it, incorrectly, and there were some errors popping when users commented.

But Jeremy-Gilby-dot-com is feeling much better now.

It is a sweet little plugin though.
Instead of queuing spam on the back end, it just deletes them. (While I don’t like them queuing in the first place, this is a step in the right direction.), but I also have Bad Behavior to take care of stuff before Spam Karma comes into effect.

If you use Wordpress with Spam Karma 2, you might want to check it out.

If we knew they were coming, we might have actually cleaned up, or something.

They came to Jerizona, specifically Phoenix/Mesa to visit family, and shot down to Jeremy-Gilby-dot-com Vicinity for the day.

So we’re going to TCB to catch up. (You really have to twist my arm to go there on days that don’t coincide with the month of June and unlucky days of the month.)

So I’m looking forward to a night of fun and fellowship.

It was an inspiring Mini-Series, to say the least, and an appropriate subject for my Independence Day post.

Like most people, I did not know much about John Adams. He was the second President of the United States, the First Vice President of the United States; and that is saying something.
But in the likes of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Ben Franklin, John Jay, James Madison, and even Alexander Hamilton, John Adams takes a back seat to these pioneers of our Founding Fathers.

I admit, I knew more about John Dickinson (The primary opponent of our Independence) than I did about John Adams.
I mean, I knew of the incredible correspondences between John and his wife Abigail, as well as the hundreds of letters between John and Thomas Jefferson.
I knew about the fierce election of 1800 (which Adams lost his re-election)
But there was so much more, so much that my history classes, and even my own extracurricular studies overlooked.

This Mini Series was a revelation to me.

First, I had NO idea that Adams was the defense attorney for the British Soldiers of the Boston Massacre.

I knew that Adams was a delegate to the Continental Congress which declared Independence. But, little did I know that Adams was the primary “Voice” of the push to separate our country from Great Britain.
Jefferson is given much of the credit for drafting the Declaration of Independence, but while Thomas Jefferson was the pen of our Independence, it was Adams who was the Voice of our independence. He was the debater who parried with Dickinson, and the delegates from the Carolinas, and New York, and eventually got the Congress, of thirteen unrelated colonies, to unanimously vote for Independence.
While people like Samuel Adams and John Hancock are more heralded as the delegates from Massachusetts, they rallied behind John Adams (also from Massachusetts) as their voice.

And I, like most of his contemporaries, viewed him as a rotund footnote to our history.

The man was flawed, and it comes out in this series. But that is what makes this mini-series so refreshing. I tire of these glimpses of our founding fathers, which make them appear almost super human. They were not, they were more like you and I, than you and I are.

One thing I did not appreciate was the portrayal of Alexander Hamilton. He was painted in a very bad light; a conniving politician. While he probably was, Jefferson (his political nemesis) was also quite underhanded. Both were trying to out maneuver the other.
I’m also biased, as I tend to agree with the Hamiltonian Federalist philosophy of civil government (Strong National Government) over the Anti-Federalist philosophy (Weak Government and a Strong Citizenry)

It was a powerful seven episodes, which I highly encourage the Readers of Jeremy-Gilby-dot-com to watch, especially Episode Two. I was blessed to watch it with friends who knew very little about Early United States history (and had lots of questions) and to be able to share what I knew about the formation of our country was edifying not only to myself but hopefully to those listening.
“You mean that both Adams AND Jefferson both died EXACTLY 50 years after the Declaration of Independence?”

So, I guess I wrote all this to say, “Thank you Mr. Adams.”

You studied Politics and War, so your sons could study Philosophy, Law, Mathematics and Natural History, so your grandsons could study Art, Music, and Literature.
Now, generations later, your nation has gone to the moon, invented the computer, and created the Internet; among countless other achievements.

And that is no small thing.

Happy Independence Day.

Last weekend was fun, as I got to break out into new avenues in Mixology.

For Friday, I mixed up the following:

• Pre-Mixed Gallon of Margaritas (Courtesy of Jeffrey Morgenthaler)
  This has become a staple at parties, the gallon of mix take about two hours to make (with hand squeezing, much less with electric) and you just pour the mix over ice. Fortunately, I’ve taught others of the Jeremy-Gilby-dot-com Brood how to make them.
• Mojitos
  I’ve never had these before, and even though it was my first time making them, they were quite popular (I almost ran out of limes). Here, I also used Mr. Morgenthaler’s method. Though, I found the girls wanted them a bit sweeter than the recipe suggested, so I doubled the amount of sugar when a girl ordered them. (1.5 oz of simple syrup instead of the recommended .75 oz.)
  I was informed these Mojitos were quite good. (There are two kinds of mojitos in the world, really good, and really bad. I’m just glad mine were not in the latter category.)
• Sidecars
  I made a few of these on Friday night, but Saturday they were quite popular (Probably because I was drinking them myself and other peoples wanted them too). But I got a good ratio between the Lemon Juice, and Orange Liqueur.
• Cosmopolitans
  I only made a few of these on Friday, but again, they were well received. It seems my Mixology Experiments are paying off.
• Oh, and I made a couple of Rusty Nails

All in all, the drinks were well received. I think everyone appreciates my efforts to stay away from the mixes, and sticking to real ingredients. As I was muddling a mojito in the kitchen, on Friday, as 20 of my closest friends were crowded into the kitchen/living room/dining room of the Jeremy-Gilby-dot-Compound, one of my female friends pointed out:

“You know that commercial with the bartender making mojitos, and the people dancing. That’s YOU!”

(Though, I was hardly muddling. It was more of a stirring the mint in the Simple Syrup. [Pulverizing the mint makes the drink quite bitter])

This weekend, I’m probably going to be making more of the same. I might pull out some new stuff, depending on what people are thirsty for.

Happy Independence Day!

For those of you who came in late, these are the top 20 Search Strings used to find Jeremy-Gilby-dot-com on the various Search Engines of the World Wide Web.

Let’s get to checking!

List in order of popularity:

1. brian dawkins - 409 hits
   13 year veteran, #1 on Jeremy-Gilby-dot-com
2. pygmy owl - 203 hits
   I’m really starting to hate these owls
3. demotivator - 130 hits
   Sounds like a Super Villain.
4. terry tate - 129 hits
   Mighty Rasta, where are you?
5. ninjas killed my family - 87 hits
   Now the Pirates need to kill the Ninjas like they were contracted to
6. baby polar bear - 86 hits
   He’s a maneater!
7. pygmy - 82 hits
   How about that Knut remains a Pygmy Polar Bear
8. baby polar bears - 75 hits
   Pygmy Polar Bears?
9. demotivators - 63 hits
   Sounds like a bike gang
10. rocky v - 59 hits
    The Lost Rocky
11. arno peters - 58 hits
    A Cartographer who liked fun houses
12. electrical storm - 52 hits
    The Electrical Storm vs. the Demotivators, this Sunday at the Civic Center!
13. peters projection - 52 hits
    Or as I like to call it, the Fun House Projection
14. movies that make men cry - 51 hits
    “What Women Want”
15. rocky - 51 hits
    When are the Rocky Prequels coming out?
16. 1652 - 50 hits
    Still no clue on this one. This is what’s in Google Base
17. reggie white - 47 hits
    I know why I get these hits though
18. brain dawkins - 42 hits
    And why I get people’s misspellings. It just gets worse over time. As long as Brian Dawkins is popular, so will his Evil Twin, Brain.
19. pygmy owls - 42 hits
    They are invading Searchy Fun
20. do the needful - 41 hits
    And the Needful has been done. Searchy Fun is complete!

See you next month, Folks!

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In college, and even today, I’ll use Post-It Notes to mark important pages in books. Usually, I’ll write some note on the Post-It to signify What part of the page was important.

Several of my college textbooks have blank Post-It notes on a variety of pages. They only make sense to the reader who put them there.

This of this article as one of those.

While last night, on the DeathMarch, there was some rain; today was the first serious downpour of the 2008 Monsoon season.

I’d just like to recall a joke from my Uncle who has lived here longer than I have:

Visitor: Wow, Tucson is a desert. How much rain do you get?
Native: About Ten Inches A Year
Visitor: That is hardly anything at all
Native: Say that on the day we get it

So today marked the day when hundreds of offices and workplaces emptied out into the streets and parking lots to play in the rain.

There was flash flooding all along the west side: Home of the Jeremy-Gilby-dot-Compound.

This year, I was driving north on Oracle Road. It is a three lane road. And the rain was coming down, so hard, so fast, I was a little unnerved, as I could not see the lines on the road. Add to the fact that people were driving and swerving between lanes. (Granted, this is a city which declares a national emergency for flurries) From what I could observe, there was a half inch of water collected on the road. The only lines I could observe were the tire tracks of the people in front of me. (It wasn’t a wake, more of a oil layer from the now saturated tires)

Once I got ahead of the traffic, it was a lot easier. (Which again tells me, Stupid People are Dangerous in Large Groups)

I wonder if Cisco got a chance to observe it, while he was in town?

Funny thing, I thought I knew “who” “the Surgeon’s Mate” would be, but in the end, I was wrong.

Go figure.

The seventh book in what I term the “Master and Commander” series, and takes place shortly after the events of The Fortune of War and Jack Aubrey and Stephen Maturin are celebrating in Nova Scotia, Canada, after the victory of the H.M.S. Shannon over the U.S.S. Chesapeake. As I mentioned in the previous Book Review, The Surgeon’s Mate is a continuation of the events of Desolation Island and The Fortune of War.

Story

From the Back Cover


Jack Aubrey and Stephen Maturin are ordered home by dispatch vessel to bring the news of their latest victory to the government. But Maturin is a marked man for the havoc he has wrought in the French intelligence network in the New World, and the attentions of two privateers soon become menacing. The chase that follows through the fogs and shallows of the Grand Banks is as tense, and as unexpected in its culminations, as anything O’Brian has written.

The year is still around 1812-ish. England is at war with France, Holland, and the United States. Our adventure starts in British Canada, moves to the Atlantic, then to England, then to the Baltic, then culminating in France. After almost two full novels, Jack Aubrey finally has a command again.

Plot

Lots of plot in this book, and it is dependent on previous novels:
• “Homecoming” in Canada
  England has been longing for a naval victory against the United States and got one with the H.M.S. Shannon. Aubrey and Maturin are both part of that celebration in Halifax, Nova Scotia; along with Diana Villers. Now free, Stephen moves to get Diana her English citizenship back. Meanwhile, Jack gets passage, for the three, on the next dispatch vessel for England, Diligence (Note the lack of “HMS” as the Diligence is a privately owned vessel.)
  In the celebration, Jack has a weak moment and has relations with an admiring lady, Amanda Smith.
• The Chase
  One the Diligence leaves port, it is pursued by not only one but Two American Privateers. The chase is a mystery to the captain, as he is carrying nothing of value. Stephen presumes that the privateers are in the employ of the American Spymaster Mr. Johnson. He is corrects. Thanks to some quick thinking by Aubrey, and bad luck of the privateers, the pursuit is cut short when the lead ship runs “aground” against an ice flow. From there it is clear sailing to England.
• England
  Back with Kith and Kin, Jack is uneasy at home, at Ashgrove Cottage. Miss. Smith has written to him, expressing her joy that she is with child and is eager to join Jack in England. He dares not tell his beloved wife Sophie.
  Meanwhile, Stephen learns of the interest of the Intelligence Service with the island fortress of Grisholm. (Grimsholm is held by Spanish Catalans, and Stephen is half Catalan, who are fighting for the French) There was a mission to turn the fortress to the British, but it failed. Stephen is the perfect choice to lead the second Intelligence assignment.
• Paris
  On invitation from the Scientific Community, Stephen is invited to Paris to talk about his observations of the avifauna of Rodriguez (See: The Marturius Command) there, Diana remains in Paris, pregnant with Mr. Johnson’s child.
• The HMS Ariel
  A sloop is quickly provided to Jack Aubrey (A Post Captain) to carry Stephen to Grimsholm. While this is an odd posting for e Post-Captain of Jack’s seniority, he is happy for a command to get away from the potential troubles at home. They sail that night, to the Baltic Sea; destination Norway. They have little interaction with the Dutch, and arrive at the fleet of Vice Admiral of the Red, Admiral Sir James Saumarez. There, they stratagize how to get Dr. Maturin to the fortress.
• Pursuit of the Minnie
  The strategy requires a known Dutch ship, so Jack and the HMS Ariel depart the fleet to capture a small Dutch merchant ship. They one they are looking for is long gone, so they settle on the Minnie, which has run aground. After a long process of getting the Minnie back to sea, Stephen makes ready to land on Grimsholm.
• The Grimsholm Gambit
  Stephen’s mission is a success and he expatriates the Catalan’s with their leader Colonel D’Ullastret (Stephen’s godfather) and return to the fleet.
• New Mission
  With the success of the mission on Grimsholm, Jack is ordered to deliver his fleet, full of the Catalan expatriates to Spain. During which he is entangled in a battle between two Ships of the Line (The HMS Jason vs. the Medusa.) Bad weather forces them to the Normandy shore where they run aground near Brest, and taken captive.
• Paris
  Now prisoners, Aubrey, Maturin and compatriot Jagiello are taken to an old Knights of the Templar Temple, which has been converted to a tall, notorious prison. While Jack and Jagiello attempt an escape, Stephen is questioned by French Intelligence. Their only escape come sin the form of Diana Villers.

Characters

• Captain Jack Aubrey - The Hero
  Still Post-Captain, but losing respect, thanks to the antics of his renegade father. He we see more of Jack’s cuckolding tendencies with Amanda Smith, and his guilty conscience around his wife Sophie. Fortunately, for Jack, the story from Miss. Smith appears to be quite false, and she is not pregnant with his child.
• Dr. Stephen Maturin - The Other Hero
  In a continuation of the previous books, this novel features the Intelligence Agent aspect of Stephen, as he is the central figure in the Grimsholm campaign. And the reason he and his comrades are taken to Paris, so he can be interrogated.
  In this novel, he finally marries Diana, in a ceremony by now Captain William Babbington of the Oedipus. This is the reason of the title The Surgeon’s Mate
• Diana Villers - The Surgeon’s Mate
  A woman without a nation, Diana is dependent on Stephen to return to England. Dissatisfied with living outside of London (and not willing to show her face in London being unmarried and pregnant; and refusing to marry someone who is not the father of her child; and marrying Mr. Johnson is not at all desirable to her) she elects to expatriate to Paris, by traveling with Stephen to the Naturalist Colloquium, where she remains.
  During her stay in Paris, she miscarries the child, and is no longer pregnant, and is willing to marry, once again.
  When Stephen is captured, by the French, she buys his freedom, and escapes with him to England; en route they are married.

There are a series of other characters in the book, most with just a few pages or occasional mentions.

• Sophie Aubrey - Jack’s wife, and mother of his three children (The twin girls and his son)
• Jagiello - Lithuanian officer attached to the Ariel.
• Sir Joseph Blaine - British Spymaster whom Stephen is attached to.
• Ramon d’Ullastret i Casademon - Catalan Colonel in charge of the garrison at Grimsholm.
• Monsieur Duhamel - French secret agent whom helps interrogate Stephen and brokers his release.

Readability

I’m getting better at reading O’Brien, probably because I’m getting used to his writing style. This book took only a few weeks (reading on Saturdays mostly.)

Believability

Not as many historical references, in this novel, but the voyage in the Baltic was a nice change of pace from the previous voyages to the Mediterranean, the Western Hemisphere, and the East Indies.
Though, given the title, I kept asking myself, “Where the heck is Padeen!”.
I guess he doesn’t appear until later in the series.

Overall

It was a fine novel, and I’m once again eager to read the next book in the series, The Ionian Mission, even though it appears to break from this trilogy of novels..

Overall: 4 stars.

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