Billo to debate Alf on Faux News

Apparently having run out of guests to insult, Bill O'Reilly will debating imaginary puppets instead. Check it!


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mFk_Mxc-ugc

Celebrity gossip blog

Forget TMZ or Perez Hilton, Dlisted is where it's at! How come we can never get enough celebrity gossip? I must admit I always made fun of my sister for reading all those US Weekly magazines and People while I was reading The Economist, but now I see who was the wiser. Nobody gives a phuck about Sudan, but the fact that Britney is preggers again is big news.

Getting back to simplicity, the art of writing

A Mac user friend of mine introduced me to Writeroom, a simple, full-screen writing environment that harks back to the days of typewriters: that Golden Age where writers had nothing between their typewriter and the blank page but their imagination.

Being quite jealous imagine my surprise when I saw that somebody had cloned this software for the PC, called DarkRoom. It has no bells and whistles, not even a spell checker, but who needs that when you have a trusted Webster's Dictionary by your side? In fact this software pushes you to think more clearly as a writer, which is why I love it so. The bonus is that it's free as well, but if you have some pocket change you can PayPal the creator.

The debate over bottled water and the environment

So I've been following this new environmental trend on several blogs, especially the debate over the usage and reliance on bottled water versus tap water. I'm all for using tap water, I believe that bottled water is wasteful and unnecessary in areas that have access to clean tap water. Not all areas have great tap water, but I'm fortunate enough to live in one, so I use tap water for my consumption. I use a Sigg water bottle which has probably saved about 300 water bottles so far. I urge everybody to get a reusable water bottle or canteen, whether it be Nalgene or Sigg, or some alternative. In the meantime you can read more about bottled and tap water here:

http://scienceblogs.com/scientificactivist/2007/08/its_time_to_get_off_the_bottle.php

The end of Bear Grylls

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/07/23/ngrylls123.xml

Like many people I don't believe everything I see on television, but there are times when your heart just sinks, and learning that Bear Grylls staged some important moments in his show Man vs. Wild is saddening. I knew that he did some wacky stuff like jumping into flowing rivers when he didn't need to, or that he took unnecessary risks, but that he went so far as to have other people do the work for him is a big let-down. Furthermore, I knew he had a camera team with him, but I thought that they all stayed out in the wilderness together, not that they were all back in a cozy motel.

I suppose I should have listened to my gut instinct when I saw the first couple of episodes, it told me that what he's doing is just plain mad, like wringing water out of elephant dung and jumping into a bog. I shook my head at times when I saw some of the things he suggested, and real survival experts all agree that unless you are some Olympic athlete, you shouldn't attempt what Bear does because the energy expended to gain ration is warped.

A truly sad day indeed.

Muscle Milk

I've recently started to drink CytoSport's Muscle Milk, a kind of high protein dietary supplement that is great for people who work out and are carb conscious. I must admit it's not half bad, a tastier and leaner version of Slimfast. I don't think it's suppose to be a meal supplement like Slimfast, but it does seem to give you a little boost after a work out, or at least it feels like it. I guess that's my product endorsement for the day. It works wonders after a treacherous hike through the wilderness.

Errrmm

Wow, I just realized that I have not posted on this blog for quite some time. I do apologize to all the people who read this blog, or rather one person, I did not intentionally mean to let you down. I've just been super busy with going to Las Vegas and holding a conference in my hometown. Lots of work and it keeps me busier than hell. I shall resume my ranting soon my dear friend. In the mean time, you can think about cold beer on a hot day.

Bear Grylls vs. Survivorman

Granted there is nothing I enjoy more than a good survival show and the two giants in the business are Britain’s Bear Grylls and Canada’s Les Stroud aka. Survivorman. You can catch Bear on the Discovery Channel’s Man vs. Wild and Les on the Science Channel’s Survivorman. Both are excellent programs and may save your life one day. I enjoy watching Bear Grylls for his absolute craziness and high tempo, running down mountains, climbing water falls, jumping into freezing lakes, and eating rotting carcasses in Africa. In fact he takes far more risks than Les, but then again he does have his own camera and expedition crew with him; whereas Les carries all his own camera equipment and is effectively alone in the wilderness. I respect Les a heck of a lot for doing that because he has to hike back and forth, expending energy, just to get enough film to make his show.

I think both of these gentlemen are excellent explorers with great survival skills, and I hope that they will continue to thrill and entertain us with what I consider a real “reality show.”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tRKpnkX99z0

Pvt. Murphy

I love this guy:

http://www.pvtmurphy.com/

No I don't want to be your friend!

I'm sorry but I really don't want to be your friend, especially since you can't seem to make up your mind of who you really are! Is your name Shane or Autumn? Yet another lame attempt to make me a Myspace pal. We all know how this goes, pretty soon they will be asking you to visit their website to see them topless or something like that. Of course you have to pay for that, or they will ask you for money some other way.

Gawker

I love the Gawker. This post was brilliant:

Condé Nast Cafeteria Lays Down The Kielbasa

With the arrival of the Google Cafeteria and the New York Times new cafeteria soon to open, the glory of the Gehry-designed Condé Nast cafeteria—lauded as the apotheosis of workplace cuisine when it opened—has softened like so many spears of overcooked asparagus. The latest report, by The Amateur Gourmet, does little to rescue the fading institution's prospects. Last week the cafeteria was featuring stodgy Polish peasant food: kielbasa, pierogi, cabbage. Has the Prague Spring come to the Vogue Summer?

Has Anna Wintour been reduced to eating pierogi like some sort of Wrocław cobbler? Does Graydon Carter arrive at his Waverly Inn still reeling from the after effects of a foot-long kielbasa? Probably.

But not all is lost. Continuing the cafeteria's tradition of quirky crazy designer desserts, the only redeeming offering was a creme-filled cupcake. Quoth Amateur Gourmet: "The cupcake was a green color--was it pistachio? Or lime? It was hard to tell but one thing I know is that it was one of the best cupcakes I've ever eaten."

God I love a clean barracks!

Pentagon says "nyet" to YouTube, Myspace, blogging

I stumbled across this wonderful soldier blog today, Fight To Survive. I've always been fascinated with soldiers and the military life, especially what soldiers are feeling and thinking. Soldiers are more than just mindless robots as some imagine them to be, they are people as any other, with thoughts and feelings who have a damn hellish job to do. Ever since reading Colby Buzzell's blog and book "My War," I've been hooked on reading soldier blogs. I can understand that the Pentagon must ensure operational security, but most of the blogs I've read would not violate operational security any more than reading books and journals from Vietnam or World War II. In fact you can pick up books about US infantry tactics from World War II, and even the Ranger Handbook and some of the methods and tactics there are still used today.

I think that censoring soldiers' blogs and sites is wrong, especially ones that do not violate any operational security. Morale is getting kind of low, and soldiers do need an outlet to vent sometimes, and I think these sites give them that outlet. Watching funny videos on YouTube and catching up with your family on MySpace is also good for the lads on their days off. Still, it's a bit ironic that the Army has its own official YouTube and FlickR accounts, but they won't allow the individual soldier to use them now.

Prince Harry to Iraq, yes, no, maybe??? No...

So is he going to Iraq or isn't he? Why can't the MOD make up its mind whether or not to send young Prince Harry to war? He's a soldier for Pete's sake, not a buffoon unwilling to accept his share of the burden. The man wants to lead his men into battle, as rightly he should. We should be proud that young men like Prince Harry are willing to defend their country, quite literally. It's dangerous over there for EVERYBODY, not just royals. If they go out of their way to kidnap lowly American soldiers, it will not be much different with Prince Harry. Of course the MOD in all their wisdom, if they decide to send Prince Harry over there, will probably embed reporters with him, tell them what unit he will be assigned to and what province. The insurgents would only have to pick up a newspaper to know where he will be.

I say if they change their mind and send Prince Harry over there, they should keep it quiet and send him over there with another unit and not tell anybody about it. Still, he should be deployed with his unit, and they should treat him like every other officer. Otherwise they should strip all military titles and uniforms from royalty, they don't deserve to wear them.

http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/europe/05/16/iraq.harry.ap/index.html

Forget American Idol, Estonia's SUPERSTAARI is where it's at, yo!

Dvids

Thanks to R. Lee Ermey's show Mail Call on the History Channel, I was introduced to Dvids. Dvids stands for Digital Video and Imagery Distribution System, and is run by the US Army, so you'll get an unbiased, objective view of the War on Terror from the troops on the ground. I highly recommend logging on and taking a look at the stories compiled by the armed forces public affairs personnel.

http://www.dvidshub.net/

R. Lee Ermey motivational figure!

I think I might have found the perfect motivational tool. I shall have to order one immediately. With the assistance of R. Lee Ermey I will be properly motivated to get my sorry ass into shape, as well as improve my performance at work. No doubt my cubicle mates will be overjoyed at hearing Gunny yelling, "Put some gas into it, numbnuts. You move slower than old people %*^*!"

One figure coming right up!
http://www.rleeermey.com/motivationalfigure.php

Women in the IDF

From the philes...

Got asthma? Sign up now!

I'm sorry but some of these kids should have known what they signed up for. Are today's kids just so damned gullible? And what about the parents? Nobody forces your kid to sign on the dotted line. You have to know that when your child joins the Army they will be lied to, shot at, and may be forced to kill people. It's the military, not the Boy Scouts. If you want to travel and see the world you can join the Peace Corps. You can also try to work very hard in school and get scholarships or do AmeriCorps service to get financial grants. If my child wants to join the military I will support them, but I will also let them know honestly what they are getting themselves into so that they will know all the facts. Talk to former soldiers, to veterans, and don't rely on anything that the recruiter says, in making an informed decision. If my child wants to talk to a recruiter I'm going to go with him or her, along with my wife who was in the National Guard. My whole family-in-law has been in the military as well, so they know what they are talking about.

The military is not bad, it's just people don't really know what the military's primary mission is, which is to fight and win wars. Some people are actually made for military life, they like the discipline, the rigidness, and the sense of belonging. Others do not, and are not made for the military, and consequently they will be making a mistake, a personal one, and wasting the military's time. Parents should protect their children from predatory recruiters, and young Americans themselves should not fool themselves into thinking that the military will be their sugar daddy giving them education and lots of money. As Dick Cheney said, "The reason to have a military is to be prepared to fight and win wars.... It's not a social welfare agency, it's not a jobs program."

Sweden the best place to be a mom!

According to Save the Children, Sweden is the best place in the world to be a mom. I'm not surprised, Sweden is very progressive, even allowing dads to take an entire year off to care for a child. Not bad at all. Countries on the top of the list include:

1 Sweden
2 Iceland
2 Norway
4 New Zealand
4 Australia
4 Denmark
7 Finland
8 Belgium
9 Spain
10 Germany

And you don't want to be a mom in any of these countries:

131 Djibouti
132 Burkina Faso
133 Ethiopia
134 Eritrea
135 Angola
136 Guinea-Bissau
137 Chad
138 Yemen
139 Sierra Leone
140 Niger

What I find most interesting is that the United States is not scoring very high on the list, taking the 26th place.