Completely Inexcusable Level of Government Investigation
Newsday and other sources report , without comment, on a massive invasion of privacy by the Internal Revenue Service (motto: "How much did you earn? Send it in."). It seems that they'll go to any length to gather information about people in order to extract money from them.
For example, the IRS just went after a man and alleged that he failed to report some back income. This is a man who 2000 and 2001 tax forms but, in an obvious example of selective targeting, the IRS decided to hound this man, performed an unprecedented investigation, and determined that his tax forms were filled out incorrectly. Probably a minor clerical error or something, but the IRS literally chose to make a Federal case over it.
I don't know what clued the IRS in to the fact that the man, one Richard Hatch , owed over $1 million in back taxes.
I can't believe the lengths to which the government will go to investigate peo...
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Time to Spend, Spend, Spend
Remember how Dark Mondays resulted in Bright Mondays? I feel another anti-protest protest coming on in response to this :
NOT ONE DAMN DIME DAY
Since our leaders don't have the moral courage to speak out against the war in Iraq, Inauguration Day, Thursday, January 20th, 2005 is "Not One Damn Dime Day" in America.
On "Not One Damn Dime Day" those who oppose what is happening in our name in Iraq can speak up with a 24-hour national boycott of all forms of consumer spending.
During "Not One Damn Dime Day" please don't spend money, and don't use your credit card. Not one damn dime for gasoline. Not one damn dime for necessities or for impulse purchases. Nor toll/cab/bus or train ride money exchanges. Not one damn dime for anything for 24 hours.
On "Not One Damn Dime Day," please boycott Walmart, KMart and Target. Please don't go to the mall or the local convenience store. Please don...
Richard Gere to the Iraqi People
Not really. But it could happen.
Hi, I'm Richard Gere and I'm speaking for the entire world and several other planets in our solar system. We're with you during this election time. It's really important. Get out and vote.
But the world hopes that you use your vote wisely.
Vote for those who support religious freedom for Buddhists and others.
Vote for those who will not impose the death penalty for Saddam Hussein. After all, this election shouldn't be taking place - there is no reason why Saddam shouldn't be in power today .
Vote for those who believe men can rescue women .
Vote for those who support consenting relations between a man and his gerbil . (Not really.)
Vote for those who aren't swayed by supermodels .
Yes, people of Iraq, vote for Richard Gere for vice president. (The Dalai Lama would be president, of course.)
Composition
(Inspired by Blogpatrol . Parts of this are true, and parts are not.)
Krystal Fernandez was in a bar late Saturday afternoon, throwing around (possibly fake) money that doesn't matter to Randy Moss. Meanwhile Ashlee Simpson was trying to get into the bar, but the bouncer (one Todd Marinovich ) prevented her from entering - not because of her young age, but because of the high standards of the bar. Unfortunately, Ashlee was stuck outside with Christopher Nance , who first played nice, but when Ashlee refused to buy a book, Christopher turned nasty. Ludo Cremers would have joined them, but he was busy inside the bar trying to push smokes to Katelyn Faber . As the Fox 11 crew packed up their cameras, the cameraman said that he was going to go home and search the web for pictures of a naked Elastigirl .
Why don't I ever get hits from searches like this?
dido and ross perot in quirksville and brimbaw texas
Montclair, California Pictures
The pictures below were taken on the morning of December 30, 2004 in the city of Montclair, California (just west of Ontario) on Holt Boulevard and Central Avenue. Montclair is most famous (if you can call it fame) for the Montclair Plaza, which is 1 1/2 miles north of Holt. Even though most of the major auto dealerships have left Holt Boulevard for various auto malls, there's still a lot of automotive businesses in the area. The pictures show just a few of them.
Valero, on Holt between Central and Benson, is one of the lower priced gas stations in the area, often only a penny or two above Arco and Costco. Unlike those two places, Valero takes all credit cards.
Spanning the Generations
I guess I should listen to pop music radio stations like KIIS-FM more. It's safe now; Rick Dees is gone.
My daughter was talking about some of the bands that she and her friends like, and she mentioned Green Day. I couldn't figure out how she could have heard of Green Day. Were there stations that were playing songs such as "Welcome to Paradise" or "Time of Your Life" (which I parodied years and years ago)?
That's when I discovered that Green Day released the 2004 album American Idiot which is apparently receiving significant airplay. While hangin' with my daughter, I heard two of the newer songs: the title track, which is reminiscient of some of their older stuff, and "Boulevard of Broken Dreams," which sounds like "Green Day meets Oasis ."
It turns out that American Idiot hit #1 on the Billboard 200 - the first Green Day album to do so.
And I was clueless about the whole thing.
I gue...
Attacks on Amber Frey
How dare she, says the Wisconsin State Journal :
Peterson mistress turns profit on pathetic public
Sometimes, it just pays to have an affair with the right married guy....
As everyone in the world now knows, Peterson stands convicted of the murder and Frey has written a book, "Witness for the Prosecution of Scott Peterson" (Regan Books: $25.95). Tuesday, the book ranked No. 8 on the Amazon.com best-seller list.
CBS has inked a deal offering Frey a movie contract about her life. Oprah invited her to appear on the television show.
At the risk of sounding too crude or rude, that extramarital affair worked out Frey better for Amber Frey than it did for either Laci Peterson or for Scott.
I expect Amber would take umbrage at that. She already has gone on record demanding her privacy.
"It's no one's business about what I've done with my life," she told NBC's Matt Lauer. "I don't understand the media'...
Shoeless Joe Jackson, Hall of Famer
From L.A. Observed :
Monrovia's one-of-a-kind Baseball Reliquary is "dedicated to fostering an appreciation of American art and culture through the context of baseball history." Its version of the Hall of Fame is the Shrine of the Eternals, which honors figures deemed important for more than their playing stats. Newly nominated this year are former Dodgers Don Zimmer...Roger Craig and Mudcat Grant and ex-Angel Doug Rader ("baseball's ultimate prankster"). Also on the ballot are notables such as Billy Buckner, Yogi Berra, Casey Stengel, Ted Giannoulas (in the San Diego phone book as simply "Chicken, The") and Helen Callaghan (immortalized in the film A League of Their Own). Winners will be announced in May. Past inductees are listed below:
The eighteen individuals previously elected to the Shrine of the Eternals are, in alphabetical order: Jim Abbott, Dick Allen, Moe Berg, Ila Borders, Jim Bouton, Roberto ...
Only in Rio
From AP/Yahoo! . I discovered this when people started searching for it.
Wardrobe malfunction or fashion statement? That's what Brazilians were left wondering Thursday, a day after top model Naomi Campbell paraded with her breasts bared at Fashion Rio — a weeklong event of fall/winter collections, which ends Friday....
[L]ess than halfway down the runway, the sleeveless deep V-neck dress proved more revealing than perhaps designer Tito Bessa had intended. It wasn't clear if a strap or button had come undone or whether it simply fit Campbell loosely....
"The people (in Brazil) are happy, I have great friends and the clothes make me look younger, too," was all Campbell, 34, had to say....
After the show, Campbell said she was heading back to New York to promote a movie, whose name escaped her.
Campbell was joined by Brazilian top models Isabelli Fontana, Mariana Weickert, Caroline Riberio and Ana Claudia Michels participated in the TNG s...
Smart Spin Storage System
The Smart Spin Storage System has been advertised on TV, but I'm reluctant to buy things after only seeing them in an infomercial. From the website :
Smart Spin Storage System conveniently holds all your storage needs, right at your fingertips. Its unique patented design slides forward, then spins like a carousel, for easy selection. You could even find a container with a blindfold on. Smart Spin holds an enormous amount of food, yet takes up about the space of a coffee maker.
This is just one of the products offered via the As Seen On TV Network website.
According to Cheap Stingy Bastard , Smart Spin can also be bought at amazon.com . Epinions ( which has no opinions for this item ) also notes its availability at JC Penney . ( Pricegrabber.com doesn't rate it either .)
Well, if I buy the thing, I hope it doesn't fall apart...
There are fifty million other places that sell it.
Hi, Ontario. XOX Farrah
For those who are searching for a Krystal Fernandez poster, I have no idea where to get one. But I have confirmed that such posters exist, since one was auctioned off last month.
On this morning's radio show, Van Earl Wright confirmed that there are no posters for Inside Schwartz .
So, contact these people and tell THEM to make a Krystal Fernandez poster for you.
[OE UPDATE 1/14/2005: Poster mystery solved .]
Well, At Least It Wasn't Acid Reflux This Time
Ashlee Simpson has stated her theory of why there was booing at the Orange Bowl. Emphasis mine.
You'd think being booed in such a public forum as the Orange Bowl would be traumatic, but the singer/actress insists she's unfazed.
"There was some booing that went on after the halftime show was finished," she said. "If they didn't like the performance, and that's what it was about, then sorry to them."...
Simpson has a few theories herself about why boos were heard following the closing line of her song "La La," "I want to hear you scream!"
"Maybe they were booing at me, maybe they were booing at the halftime show 'cause the whole thing sucked," she said. "I was facing [the Oklahoma Sooners], and I was rooting for USC, and they played a clip of it, so maybe it was that those people didn't like me. You never know. But I can't make everybody ha...
Internet Access for Wired Phones?
Here's the problem:
Person S, from her home (wired) phone, calls Person O on his cell phone.
Person O is in a meeting and cannot voice-answer the phone.
If Person S had called on her cell phone, Person O could have sent a text message to Person S's cell phone stating that he couldn't answer the call until later.
Since Person S called on her home (wired) phone, Person O could not do this.
Person O ended up sending a message to Person S's cell phone, with no assurance that she'd see it (the phone might be turned off, it might be in another room, etc.).
This is just another instance in which wired phones are becoming less and less attractive, since wireless phones are getting more and more functionality.
This first hit me back in 1997, when I took a business trip to South Africa. This country has huge pockets of poor populations with little or no services whatsoever. One city in particular had no phone service a...
And I Know What Chicken of the Sea Is, Too
A similarly between Ashlee Simpson and myself - I am also officially a personality.
I was checking my Blogpatrol searches and found the following entry:
12/01/2005 14:55:47 ontario emperor (Google)
I confirmed that the search didn't originate from my current employer or any past employer (it came from a services company, but I'm not currently using the service).
Granted that there are a lot more references to Ashlee (over a million) than to myself (less than 5,000 as Google counts such things, but true references to me, rather than to emperors who happen to be in Ontario, probably don't exceed 1,000).
So I tried some other personalities (no offense):
Dave Barry - about 1.4 million
Dooce - about 400,000
Tony Pierce - over 200,000 (again, some of these may not be THE Tony Pierce)
Joyce Park - nearly 25,000
Michael Hanscom - about 24,000
Jimmy Akin - about 15,000
Ellen Simonetti - over 6,000 ...