Category: Random Ramblings

Anything that catches my fancy as a topic I want to cover. Truly random crap.

Review quotes taken out of context

I’ve been reading the latest issue of Electronic Gaming Magazine tonight, and in a fit of stupidity on my part I’ve decided to post some out-of-context quotes from recent game reviews. I do this because this makes me laugh, while revealing to the world how stupid and immature I can be (like most males, I’d offer).

  1. Also cool: unlockable balls
  2. Straight, thin, and more important, one piece.
  3. …but I don’t go for starlight spewing from a struck ball…
  4. …but become more natural and fluid as you get acclimated to the fast-paced, twitchy action.

These come respectively from reviews for:

Continue reading “Review quotes taken out of context”

Helpful tips to avoid tax problems

Straight from the evil-overlord’s mouth, here are the “dirty dozen” tax frauds that you should strive to avoid. The IRS will be watching for these especially carefully. Here’s a sample:

3. Phishing is a technique used by identity thieves to acquire personal financial data in order to gain access to the financial accounts of unsuspecting consumers, run up charges on their credit cards or apply for loans in their names. These Internet-based criminals pose as representatives of a financial institution — or sometimes the IRS itself — and send out fictitious e-mail correspondence in an attempt to trick consumers into disclosing private information. A typical e-mail notifies a taxpayer of an outstanding refund and urges the taxpayer to click on a hyperlink and visit an official-looking Web site. The Web site then solicits a social security and credit card number. It is important to note the IRS does not use e-mail to initiate contact with taxpayers about issues related to their accounts. If a taxpayer has any doubt whether a contact from the IRS is authentic, the taxpayer should call 1-800-829-1040 to confirm it.

12. Frivolous Arguments: Promoters have been known to make the following outlandish claims: the Sixteenth Amendment concerning congressional power to lay and collect income taxes was never ratified; wages are not income; filing a return and paying taxes are merely voluntary; and being required to file Form 1040 violates the Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination or the Fourth Amendment right to privacy. Don’t believe these or other similar claims. These arguments are false and have been thrown out of court. While taxpayers have the right to contest their tax liabilities in court, no one has the right to disobey the law.

If you don’t do your taxes yourself and want to try to avoid unethical tax preparers that might suck you into these or other tax abuses which will lead to trouble, I’ve been a fan of Consumerist for finding reliable consumer help on practically anything. Searching the site for “Tax preparation” yielded a few potentially helpful threads.

[tags]IRS Dirty-Dozen tax schemes, Avoid these illegal or unethical tax frauds[/tags]

This day in history, 1959 – Barbie debuts

At the American Toy Fair in New York city, Barbie made her debut today in 1959.

Eleven inches tall, with a waterfall of blond hair, Barbie was the first mass-produced toy doll in the United States with adult features. The woman behind Barbie was Rith Handler, who co-founded Mattel, Inc. with her husband in 1945. After seeing her young dauther ignore her baby dolls to play make-believe with paper dolls of adult women, Handler realized there was an important niche in the market for a toy that allowed little girls to imagine the future.

Barbie’s appearance was modeled on a doll named Lilli, based on a German comic strip character. Originally marketed as a racy gag gift to adult men in tobacco shops, the Lilli doll later became extremely popular with children.

A brief video of Barbie’s beginning plus a lot more information on her origins at the link above.

[tags]Today in history 1959 – Barbie debuts, Barbie’s 1959 beginnings[/tags]

Gore may be receiving honorary doctorate

I read this bit about Gore possibly receiving an honorary doctorate in the near future. I saw this on Ten Jack Ten, which I just started reading, after seeing it linked by Bill at DubiousQuality.

Former Vice President Al Gore could pay a visit to the University in the near future to receive an honorary degree for his work in climatology.

. . .

“He’s in the news and is a legitimate expert on a pressing issue of global concern, climate change, so this level of interest is understandable,” Wolter said. “However, no plans have been set and it’s unlikely that would occur this spring.”

And the reaction from the Ten Jack Ten owner?

An “expert,” eh? If this is an expert, we’re going to need a new word that indicates someone has extensive personal knowledge of a subject area. Heaven forbid he starts running around demanding his “credentials” be cited everywhere like Bill Cosby did for a while.

And more. Read the original article at mndaily.com and the full reaction at Ten Jack Ten.

[tags]Gore might receive honorary doctorate[/tags]

Retiring priest

A cow-orker shared this one with me:

A priest was being honored at his retirement dinner after 25 years in the parish. A leading local politician and member of the congregation was chosen to make the presentation and give a little speech at the dinner. He was delayed, so the priest decided to say his own few words while they waited.

“I got my first impression of the parish from the first confession I heard here. I thought I had been assigned to a terrible place. The very first person who entered my confessional told me he had stolen a television set and, when questioned by the police, was able to lie his way out of it. He had stolen money from his parents, embezzled from his employer, had an affair with his boss’s wife, taken illegal drugs, and gave VD to his sister. I was appalled. But as the days went on I knew that my people were not all like that and I had, indeed, come to a fine parish full of good and loving people.”…..

Continue reading “Retiring priest”

Gore and global warming – is he a hypocrite?

I’ll state right up front here that I’m not even going to answer that question in regards to Gore’s high level of energy consumption. I’ll leave it for others to answer (as some have tried to do, in case you are wondering). Rather, I want to point out that as usual, pretty much everyone up in arms over this is asking the wrong question, and therefore coming up with meaningless answers and criticisms.

Last night, Al Gore’s global-warming documentary, An Inconvenient Truth, collected an Oscar for best documentary feature, but the Tennessee Center for Policy Research has found that Gore deserves a gold statue for hypocrisy.

Gore’s mansion, located in the posh Belle Meade area of Nashville, consumes more electricity every month than the average American household uses in an entire year, according to the Nashville Electric Service (NES).

And already, the wrong metric is used to judge this consumption, generating a meaningless comparison to the rest of the country and making the punchline of the article off the mark.

Continue reading “Gore and global warming – is he a hypocrite?”

Man dies after week of “marathon” gaming

Folks, if you game a lot (like I sometimes do), make it a point to get up, move away from the computer, and do a little actual physical activity periodically. Look up DVT (Deep Venous Thrombosis) sometime – I recommend Google, but pick your favored search engine.

Now, armed with knowledge about how stupid it is to sit, sit, sit, sit, sit, sit, sit, sit, and sit some more, you can learn how not to sit on your ass for the better part of a week and die from inactivity.

An obese 26-year-old man in northeastern China died after a “marathon” online gaming session over the Lunar New Year holiday, state media said on Wednesday.

The 150-kilogram (330-pound) man from Jinzhou, in Liaoning province, collapsed on Saturday, the last day of the holiday, after spending “almost all” of the seven-day break playing online games, the China Daily said, citing his parents.

. . .

“There are only two options. TV or computer. What else can I do in the holiday as all markets, KTV and cafeterias are shut down?” the paper quoted Xu as saying.

I’m going out on a limb here, but I’m thinking exercise, walk in The Real World outside, visit friends, clean the house, work in the yard, and all kinds of other things count as options, even when all the markets are closed. And doing such crazy things, plus dropping just a few pounds (said as a man who games sometimes too much and is at least 60 pounds overweight, but working on dropping some of that), just might save your life some day. It’s really said to see this happen to people, when this particular form of death is extremely avoidable.

[tags]Overweight man sits gaming too long over holiday week – dies[/tags]

Sure, sure, it’s plenty stupid – but it’s still funny

I’ll agree – this fellow did something that is stupid and uncalled for. I still laugh to think about it, though. I guess I’m just evil like that.

Police say a man sought revenge against his ex-girlfriend by leaving homemade DVDs of her performing sex acts on car windshields throughout the area.

The DVDs include the woman’s name, address and phone number.

Police said the woman never realized the acts had been recorded and has received several visits and phone calls from strangers seeking sex.

It’s funny, because, well, it’s funny. It was a stupid thing to do, however, because he now faces one felony and three misdemeanor charges.

[tags]Man seeks revenge via distributing homemade pr0n DVDs of ex, Funny stupidity[/tags]