Wizbang is going to the Republican National Convention to give us a week in coverage. This is all fine and good, except for the part about him needing to pay for everything, ie. his hotel, food, meals etc. Its all out of pocket. So he’s asking for donations.

The nekedness comes here at Sayanything

Republican National Convention in New York City. Since Kevin is one of my favorite bloggers and I am quite certain his perspective on the conference will be quite entertaining I am starting a fundraising drive for his trip.

As you can probably guess, hotels, meals and other travel expenses are going to be quite expensive for him. Even a $5.00 or $10.00 donation would mean one less meal he’d have to purchase or would pay for one subway or bus fare.

The problem is a lot of you probably aren’t going to donate anything unless I offer something in way of encouragement. I’ve been struggling with what to offer for the last couple of days now but finally came upon an idea last night. After a long conversation with my girlfriend we have decided what to offer.

A picture of my chick in all her natural glory. No clothes or anything.

So if you want to see something nekked, and have a beer. Donate.

I am in Chicago O’Hare airport right now waiting for my connecting flight. Typical uber-geek style I tested the airport to see if they had wireless. Unfortunately they don’t have anything that is close enough for me to get onto. So I’ve plugged up my cell phone to my laptop and I’m using the isdn line I have through it in order to bring you a post far from my port of calling.

Chicago O’Hare airport is a very old airport, its been remodeled and renovated several times. I have never been here before, but I know a little about the history, Ie. it came after Midway airport when they quickly discovered they needed a larger airport to handle all the flights coming in and out. O’Hare opened in 1955 and has been the worlds busiest airports up until 1998 when Atlanta airport took the spot.

When I got here I had something like a mile walk to the American Airlines terminal from the United that I flew in on. Once I found my terminal I quickly scouted out the food options around it. To Cinnabon I went and once seated in the newly remodeled food court this man came and sat at the table next to me, asking me if it was ok.

“Sure,” I said as I moved my laptop case off the table.

He was an elderly gentleman, somewhere in his late fifties or early sixties. But that wasn’t what caught my attention. It was the item that he had in his briefcase.

What was it you ask? Not anything extraordinary, except its rarer and rarer to find someone in his field making any money. He pulled out a score to a Concerto.

“Conductor or Performer?” I asked.

“Conductor, do you play?” He asked surprised.

“I did at one point, I haven’t in many years but I want to get back to it later on in my life.”

“You should get back into it. Do you know that they have scientific studies that people who play music are healthier?”

“No I hadn’t heard that but I’ll chalk that up to one more way to keep myself from having a heart attack.”

He smiled and talked more about music, and how music education is dwindling in schools and how Orchestras and Symphonies and Conductors are just fading into history, as not so many people go to these events.

I agreed. I told him, more and more people have shorter attention spans and that sometimes you give them the option of a movie for 90 minutes or a Brahms piece, they’d much rather the movie because they don’t have as much appreciation.

I asked him where he was going and he said “to Poland. I am going to the Warsaw Symphony to record some pieces.”

“Very cool,” I said. I wish I could hear some of that or see it performed.

“You’d like it I think,” He said.

With that we parted ways, him to catch his flight to New York and on to Europe and me to catch my flight to Detroit.

Tip for the day. Go to the Symphony, go to a museum. Without these pieces of culture, or history, we are a lesser society.

Are you a sports fan or just watching for the spectacle of it all? Do you feel they are overrated?

The Olympics are just days away from the opening ceremony. Athens is gearing up and so are all the sponsors. But amazingly I just don’t seem to be as into it this year. Normally every year I know a lot about whose competing, how many medals countries are predicted to win, etc. This year I find myself just not giving a damn. Maybe its because of all the corporate sponsorship? Corporate sponsorship has always been a factor, at least for the last say 50 years. But maybe its like the post I posted a couple days ago where you get kicked out for wearing the wrong type of shirt that is not a sponsor. What is this world turning to? We are letting corporations tell us what we can and cannot wear or do? Ever watch the movie Demolition Man? A futuristic movie with Sylvester Stalone? It talks about a world where there they had corporate wars - and only Taco Bell survived the Fast Food wars and is actually the only restaurant at all. Or are you familiar with Shadow Run? Where corporations control the world and governments were a thing of the past. The same goes for Johnny Pnemonic. This is where we are going if we don’t watch ourselves.

What do you think of couples who met on the internet? Do you feel it is becoming more socially acceptable as internet access becomes standard in homes?

This is a very interesting question considering match.com hit profitability in 1999. Meaning that so many people have been using the service and trying their luck in the slot machine of online dating that it is one of the biggest online companies that has not turned belly up.

With all of its newness and strangeness, there is still a social stigma of telling people where you met your significant other.

Per example my co-worker met his x wife on the internet. They talked for several months and then he moved down to meet her and date for a couple months then they rushed into getting married and moved back to Texas. 9 months later or so, she had gone through all his savings and filed for divorce. She basically bled him dry and then moved on. What do you say to that? Would it have been different if he had met her in say a bar?

Even more interesting is still the rising rate of divorce with all these new ways to meet people have we not opened up ways to become dis-interested in our significant others in order to meet the bigger better deal? Are we becoming a society of bigger better deals where we no longer have safe family units to watch over our off spring?

Is that not the perfect “I didn’t get what I want,” look?
courtesy of slower.net

Killed over a stolen X-box. I never believed them when they said video games were evil… now I know…

(CNN) — Authorities in Deltona, Florida, have arrested and charged four people in the killings of six people in a rental home, Volusia County’s sheriff said Sunday.

Sheriff Ben Johnson said the murder was organized by a man who was angry because he believed his Xbox video game system and some clothes had been stolen.

Alleged ringleader Troy Victorino, 27, has not confessed, but three teenagers Johnson said Victorino recruited to assist him have, Johnson said. The three were identified as Robert Cannon, 18; Jerone Hunter, 18; and Michael Salas, 18.

All are charged with first degree murder and armed burglary.

The Associated Press reported that Victorino has a criminal record.

The four killers, armed with aluminum baseball bats, forced their way into the home where the victims were in beds early Friday morning, and beat them to death — just as Victorino planned, Johnson said.

The victims, four men and two women, also sustained knife wounds, but autopsies showed the blunt force trauma from the bats killed them, the sheriff’s office said.

The victims had no chance to arm themselves or fight back, Johnson said. “There was no way they could really defend themselves.”

All of the victims experienced severe trauma — and one body was so badly mangled that it has not yet been officially identified, he said.

“This is the worst thing I’ve ever seen in my career,” Johnson said.

Johnson called for all four to face the death penalty, although that usually is decided by a prosecuting attorney.

Five of the victims were identified as Jonathan Gleason, 18; Roberto Gonzalez, 28; Michelle Nathan, 19; Francisco Roman, 30; and Anthony Vega, 34.

Investigators believe the attack occurred about 1 a.m. Friday. The bodies were found Friday about 6:30 a.m. when a co-worker, alarmed because one of the people failed to show up for work, went to the home and found the blood-spattered crime scene.

Victorino and Hunter were taken in for questioning on Sunday. Hunter confessed, and led authorities to Cannon and Salas, said Johnson.

Johnson said he does not believe any other people were involved in the incident.

Next up is yet another example of stupid. Oh I’m sorry, do I like pepsi more than coke? Yes. When did this become the Coca-Cola Olympic Games?
Fans face boot for eating or drinking wrong brands at games
By MARK FRANCHETTI / The Sunday Times

In a far cry from the high-minded ideals of humanity and tolerance embodied by the Olympics, the organizers of the Athens games have warned spectators that they could be barred for taking a surreptitious sip of Pepsi or an illicit bite from a Burger King Whopper.

Strict regulations published by Athens 2004 last week dictate that spectators may be refused admission to events if they are carrying food or drinks made by companies that did not see fit to sponsor the games.

Sweltering sports fans who seek refuge from the soaring temperatures with a soft drink other than one made by Coca-Cola will be told to leave the banned refreshment at the gates or be shut out. High on the list of blacklisted beverages is Pepsi, but even the wrong bottle of water could land spectators in trouble.

Fans will be allowed into the Olympic complex if they are drinking Avra, a Greek mineral water owned by Coca-Cola, which paid $60 million US for the privilege of being one of the main sponsors. Officials are under orders not to let in rival brands’ bottles unless the labels are removed.

Staff will also be on the lookout for T-shirts, hats and bags displaying the unwelcome logos of non-sponsors. Stewards have been trained to detect people who may be wearing merchandise from the sponsors’ rivals in the hope of catching the eyes of television audiences. Those arousing suspicion will be required to wear their T-shirts inside out.

Known as the “clean venue policy,” the rules were drawn up by the Greeks and the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to shield sponsors from so-called “ambush marketing” - an attempt to advertise items during the games without paying sponsorship fees.

The restrictions on food and drink are intended to ensure that only items made by official sponsors such as McDonald’s and two Greek dairy firms are consumed at Olympic venues.

An official familiar with the restrictions said: “We have to protect official sponsors who have paid millions to make the Olympics happen. There will be cases of individual spectators being allowed in wearing a T-shirt bearing the logo of a rival sports brand but anyone who tries to practise ambush marketing will be removed.”

This will also apply to members of a crowd sitting next to each other wearing clothing with letters that spell out a political or religious message.

The restrictions, which have drawn criticism from Amnesty International, are even harsher for the thousands of stewards and volunteers working at Athens 2004 who have been supplied with uniforms but no shoes.

“We have to provide our own shoes and we were told that we shouldn’t wear trainers with a bright logo from a sports brand which is not an official sponsor like Adidas,” said one.

The main sponsors of the games have paid more than $1 billion in total for exclusive advertising rights and privileges, including the use of the Olympic logo under their brand names. It is not even possible to buy a ticket to the Olympics using a credit card other than Visa, which paid more than $30 million for its exclusive rights.

Other brands can display small logos if they are sponsoring a national team or an individual athlete, but official sponsors have turned some of the games’ most famous names into walking billboards.

The image of Michael Phelps, the American swimmer aiming to win seven gold medals, has even appeared on Visa cards. All American medal winners are required to wear an Adidas outfit on the podium, according to the company’s sponsorship contract with the U.S. Olympic Committee.

Kostas Giannis, a Greek sports fan, said: “I don’t see why, after all the money that Greek taxpayers will end up paying to host the games, McDonald’s should dictate what I can eat in my own city.”

It’s missing some images but here are some other archives of wetwired.

http://web.archive.org/web/*/http://www.wetwired.org

In other news people searching for fluffers on yahoo will come across the 23rd hit and it will be the RSS feed of wetwired. Movin’ on up!

Flufers, fluffers, fluff0rs.

Two for the price of one today guys.

We’ve made it to another Friday!

Thanks to TheBunny and Tuckermax for this moment of zen today.

When was the last time some of you actually took the time to write something down on paper? I’m not talking writing a check or say making a grocery list. I’m talking about writing a letter, or writing your thoughts for your blog on paper first then typing it in. Maybe some of you are in school and you still take notes on a daily basis. But for those of us who are temporarily out of school, or long since have been out and in the real world, how long has it been?

When I tried to figure out when the last time it was that I had written a letter or written an idea down on paper I couldn’t remember. It wasn’t that I’d forgotten how or anything. It’s just that I have grown so accustomed to putting all my thoughts on the screen in front of me. Blogging has made it more easier than ever to compose, save, edit, review, and delete everything.

I type easily faster than I could ever write. And after picking up a pen and writing this evening - my damn hand kept cramping up from writing - only after 30 minutes.

My answer to my own question, is it’s been 4 years since I legitimately wrote extensive notes or in college. It’s been 9 years since I mailed a hand written letter. 1995, the year the world wide web became more widely known and accessible to the public. This marked the end of snail mail for me. It was the dawn of the digital era and for email.

Today if someone doesn’t have an email account you look at them funny. Like “you don’t?? What have you been living under a rock?”

Nine years. Nine years and our society has changed so much. When was the last time you really put pen to paper?

Fluffers of the world Unite!

Words for the day brought to you by NBC.
(the more you know)

The lights are off, the Dolby 6.1 is turned up and the video mode is turned to ULTRA. And amazingly when you turn to Ultra, you get a warning that 500 megs of video memory are immediately taken up. I care not because I can hear the whir of the fan on my ATI 9800 video card spin up and know that the 256mb of video memory and the gig of system memory are plenty to handle this game.

In the game I round the corner and can hear footsteps but they aren’t mine. “HOLY SHIT” what was that? I whir around.

“Oh, I just crapped my pants.”

Yeah, one of the monsters jumped out and the entire screen has blood on it. My blood. Ok, not mine, but my characters and I’m dead.

Flashback (6pm or so)
Jason (my old roomie) calls me and asks me if I want to go pick up a copy of Doom 3. He picks me up and we trek to Best Buy. Walking in, we get the general greeting by the Best Buy Drones and we see the stand - at first glance it appeared empty. An entire Doom 3 stand poised right in the middle of the movie/video game section. It screamed ‘come grab a copy’.

At second glance, it still appeared empty. Jason looked back at me with tears welling up in his eyes. His trip for naught.

We walked quickly to the center of the store and circled the stand like two crazed werewolves looking for that one copy. It was not there.

Jason gave me the look of defeat when all of the sudden we see one of the Best Buy drones walking towards us with a copy.

“Hey, is that the last copy?”

“Why yes, yes it is,” she said as she circled the stand.

We followed her like dogs drooling.

“Oh, this copy is reserved, sorry guys.”

“NOOOOOO you foul temptress!” I screamed.

She walked away and once again our dreams were smashed.

Jason looked back at her with his big doe eyes, tears still welling up, and she said, “Oh, alright, just don’t tell anyone.”

With that he snatched it out of her hand and started running towards the front yelling, “Just tell everyone we held you at gunpoint.”

I took out after him and as we reached the checkout line we slid our credit cards through the machine and ‘cha-ching’ we were in business.

We raced back to my place and installed, no-cd-cracked, and cranked up the volume.

The game has a fairly good plot line to it and it keeps the whole single player portion interesting as you go through a series of missions from reaching check points to searching after separated teams of marines. I have yet to make it all the way through the game as of yet, but I’ll fill you in on what happens. I’ve only stopped to write this up and then I’m going to crack open something with lots of caffeine and sit back down in front of the glowing monitor.

DooM

I call this one “Justice”. Click for full screen.

Whoa. I wish I made this much money.

NEW YORK (Hollywood Reporter) — Dave Chappelle has signed a massive deal with Comedy Central that will return the comedian’s hit series to the network for two more seasons.

Sources familiar with the deal indicate it could be worth about $50 million, vaulting Chappelle, 30, into the rarefied realm of television’s top earners. The new contract is believed to mark not only a steep increase for Chappelle as star, writer, co-executive producer and co-creator of “Chappelle’s Show,” but more significantly, reward him with a hefty chunk of the series’ robust DVD sales

I saw him when he came to Austin live and he was hillarious. Hell, even the opening act was funny.

In other news. Man to grow the worlds largest afro. We know he won’t win the superbowl.

“I’m growing my hair out it, and I’m not going to cut it until we win a Super Bowl,” Vick said. “I was going to let my hair grow last season, but I cut it three weeks before I got hurt. I’m really superstitious, so I’m going to let it grow. As bad as I want it off my head, and as hot as I am, I won’t cut it off until I win a Super Bowl. I will win a Super Bowl — someday.”