Patrick’s Rants

Someone seems to have either written a bot that posts innocuous messages in an attempt to get an email address slipped in as one that writes valid comments. I was suspicous of the first two this morning, but I approved them anyway. I figured that I would keep an eye on my trackback/comment posts. Sure enough I have three outstanding posts with similar email addresses to the earlier posts.
The spammers are getting smarter… good thing there is built in moderation in Wordpress to protect me from myself.

In a new twist to the so called piracy issue, Disney has admited that DVDs are only worth about $2.75 despite the fact they regularly sell for $15 - $30 or more depending upon the set. As published in the June 19th edition of Newsweek, Disney is simultaneously releasing their new movie, “Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants”, in theaters in the US and on DVD in China. Expect ticket prices to be $10 on average while the DVD will run close to $3.

As an aside, why the bloody *(^&*%*$% does everyone team up with Microsoft for news? If you type in newsweek.com you get msnbc.com/newsweek, want to check out the Today show? msnbc.com. MSNBC is a collaboration between Microsoft and NBC. This only makes me mistrust the Major News Media news that much more.

Is anyone else sick of all the “reality” TV? I mean what’s real about these shows?
Fear Factor has nothing to do with fear except maybethe stunt work - it’s more like barf factor or gross factor.
Average Joe… like some hottie is gonna be hanging out with a bunch of overgrown pizza face guys.. ditto bachelor and bachelorette… Joe Millionaire is the closest to “reality” out of all these - meet some guy in a bar who lies to you about what he does for a living and how much he makes.
Survivor - Gilligan’s Island for yuppies who wanna prove something to themselves while trying to stab everyone else in the back for money.
I wanna be a Hilton… puhlease. The money might be nice… but look what it does to people. On top of that it’s a bunch of “hicks” with no class.
Can’t we get back to the days when reality TV is wrestling? At least that doesn’t seem so fake anymore.

Ever suspicious of people who read, good ole dubya is threatening to veto the House provision that removes snooping your library reading list and your book purchases. Perhaps having read a book or two in their time and finding that they are really not part of the Axis of Evil the House of Representatives want to strike the library and book store snooping clauses of the “We don’t need no stinking subpoenas or probable cause law” (also know as the “Patriot Act”) It might be safe to read again.

First we have Operation Arnold, whose stated goal is to allow Arnold Schwarztenegger to run for president now we have a proposal to repeal the 22nd amendment - you know the one that limits a president to two terms?
I don’t think that we want that. There was a reason for the limits… the main one is that this country was founded by people fleeing a tyranical dictator and more than two terms opens us up the exactly the same potential problems. Just look at any other leader who has unlimited terms and what they have done.

Terry Schiavo’s autopsy has been released. Her brain was half the size of a normal brain, the medical examiner determined that she was blind and that the medical diagnosis of “persistant vegetative state” was accurate. This despite the arguments to the contrary, Bill Frist’s proclamation that she could be healed - after only watching a video no less - George W. Bush’s last minute detour to DC to sign this temporary, futile attempt to change fate.
The doctors found no evidence that she had been abused by her husband, although I’m not sure what evidence they were hoping to find after 7 years.
Can she now rest in peace?

The jurors in the Michael Jackson molestation case have found him not guilty on all 10 counts.
After deliberating for 32 hours, with a break for the weekend, jurors reached their verdict regarding the charges. Michael has fired the boisterous spokeswoman Raymone Bain as well. Perhaps they don’t want her talking now that the case is “over”.
We have seen the “bizarrity” of Michael and his Nation of Islam body guards, having someone carrying an umbrella over his head at all times, dancing on the top of his SUV, showing up to court wearing pajama bottoms. And now it is over except for the bravado that we should expect to see from him.

Turns out my personal information has been used on a rental application. Whoever managed to get my social security number has also apparently changed my address as well. Now instead of living in Flagstaff AZ I seem to have moved to a very poor neighborhood in South Florida. Don’t get me wrong, I used to live in South Florida, but I never lived at the address listed.
So I’m doing at least some of the things you are supposed to do: contact the credit agencies, place notations on my report. The FTC also recommends filing a police report and filing an online report with the FTC. Not that my credit is all that good… makes me wonder how bad the other person’s credit is.

http://www.consumer.gov/idtheft/

…but your words can be loud.
I recently posted my disappointment with the Flagstaff Farmer’s Market. It looks like there has been an improvement. I had to get some vegetables recently and noticed that even though it was 5:30 pm produce still lined the front sidewalk. Inside a couple of employees were stocking and rearranging, but no one was clearing out and packing the food away. The shelves were nicely stocked and even the bell peppers looked better than they had in a while. Now, bell peppers - as all fresh fruit and vegetables - over the winter are hit and miss so I won’t complain too much about that.
I hesitated to post this because everyone has flukes of good or bad luck. Today, Farmer’s Market still had the outside pallets at 6:15pm.
Whether it is through the power of the blog, a spoken comment or complaint or someone just noticed that things were a little lacking in service, this is truly a welcome improvement. Keep it up.

Yep, the loser couple is still on the air for Sonic. I mean when my brother calls me to tell me that he saw the guys back on for Sonic you know they have a following. Me to Sonic, “stick with what works, the guys work. That loser couple? They’re just sad.”