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Category Archives: news

news/propaganda to the masses

michael phelps - animated gif friday ix

15-Aug-08

phelps goes super saiyajin

a little nostalgia with this one, as gold medalist michael goes super saiyajin with excitement.

and after the jump: phelps goes leo from sparta, and then some weird creature who fires blue plasma from his gaping jaw, and finally an info snippet about phelps’ ~12k calories consumed a day.

More…

painting of television icon

10-Aug-08

ari fleisher thumb

I [my Dad, J. Vogel] created this piece in 2003, during the build-up to the Iraq War. It is a portrait of my T.V. the day after President Bush’s State of the Union Address. In this speech, the President delivered the infamous “16 Words”. My painting depicts Ari Fleisher at the White House press conference.

real ari

via travels with vanny

diablo three cometh

28-Jun-08

the diablo 3 trailer:

a gameplay / narrative vid:

My estimate D3 release date — Q4 2010*.

* based on nothing scientific.

More info and eye candy over at the official blizzard diablo III page.

animated gif friday iii

27-Jun-08

friday, yeah baby!
bender dance

in related news, new futurama came out three days ago (june 24th!) holy crap!!

previously on AGF, dumb and dumber.

2009 suzuki v-strom 650

18-Jun-08

it looks like a tiger. grrr.


2009 orange v-strom dl650

while not exactly my style, I dig it. especially like the blacked out exhaust cover. I will have to paint mine

Update June 24 ‘08: I researched and outlined the differences between the 2008 and 2009 v-strom - there are only a few.

Update June 30 ‘08: I painted my exhaust cover. :)

the visual definition of gay

17-Jun-08

beam Brad up mr. Sulu, to starship hubby

you know, because they are so flipping happy.
[img via jezebel & splashnews]

babelfish

28-May-08

for years an’ years, my go-to for translations has always been babelfish.altavista.com … today, on my way to look up “va te faire foutre” I am redirected! oh my, no more Altavista.

when did babelfish.altavista.com become babelfish.yahoo.com?

according to ye’ ol’ wikipedia:

1.) “…AltaVista (part of Yahoo! since May 9, 2008)…”
2.) “After a long sojourn at babelfish.altavista.com [since 1995!], the site was moved in May 2008 to babelfish.yahoo.com.”

babel fish

RIP babelfish.altavista.com

HOMERLAND SEKURITI van spotted on highway 101

19-May-08

continuing image post day - monumental milage

25-Apr-08

186000 miles on my '91 benz
hit 186,000 miles on my ‘91 benz which I purchased at 133K.
I have yet *knocks very-hard on wood* to have any major repairs. on my ~75 mile a day commute I use about ~2.3 gal. of gas. not too shabby for a 17 year old car.

Bruce Springsteen does MS (internal) Vista SP1 music video

16-Apr-08

WARNING: painful to watch, worse to hear; bleeding of the ears may occur…

this is the kind of overproduced trash that makes me cringe at the possibility of microsoft absorbing yahoo… (I can’t imagine yahoo allowing something as awful as this vid - not to mention Y!’s “ecosystem” is entirely contrary to microsoft’s) - it’s so bad… it’s not even funny.

bike shopping - final contender: Suzuki DL650 V-Strom ABS

13-Apr-08

update: I purchased this bike!

dl650

Needs
(and what the V-Strom offers):

- comfort: upright riding position, feet flat on the ground at stop, no major fatigue from just cruising
(fairly hard to judge from intarweb reviews and a brief sit on it at the dealership)

- great mpg: would love 60+
(concensus seems to be ~52)

- safety: high speed travel with crazy commuter cagers and the occasional lane splitting
(ABS! full frontal fairing.. additional safety accessories available)

- sports-like torque, great 0-60 - top speed no where near as important
(still need to test ride it… but reviewers and various tidbits from around the web show it on the slow side from what I’d like)

- love the way it looks: cruiser appeal with the protection of a touring bike, great color paint
(it almost has it all… it’s a teensy bit too bug-like lookin’ but compared to the alternatives hardly an issue)

- passenger comfort, storage
(the girlfriend wants to feel safe & secure too! laptop & lunch needs a safe place while I ride)

Big consideration: 75-90% highway travel (commute ~70 miles a weekday)

a concise video review of a very-similar model:

a short thread on how much I’m shooting for at the dealership.

official suzuki DL650 V-strom product page of the exact bike I will purchase (most likely.)

uhhh, yum!?

01-Apr-08

BBQ’d Happy People by naterawer

click me for the full scoop

oh yes, more Futurama nearly here, cometh June

19-Mar-08

just two painstakingly long months to go til the June 24th release.

[the new film is the]…most tentacle-packed Futurama epic, space itself rips open, revealing a gateway to another universe. What lies beyond is a mix of horror and love as the Planet Express crew encounters a repulsive, planet-sized monster with romantic intentions.

The second feature-length Futurama film will be followed by at least two more movies…

as proclaimed by this animation mag post

South Dakota - the only state without hate groups

19-Mar-08

hate rises

as observed in this Hate Rises - washingtonpost article
(technically, RI also has “none”, but that ruins my title, and honestly how accurate can this really be?)

blackberry pearl II (8130) review

18-Mar-08

BB Pearl Front
in short: it is awesome, even without the BB data plan - sprint has been unable to add to my account for me.
(note: sprint CS on the whole, sucks ass. however, once in awhile you will get through to some great people; really depends on the time of day.)

I have a pre-existing data plan on my account that “conflicts” and will not allow BB data on top or instead of. cest la ve ~ no +$30/month for sprint… besides not being able to use the BB browser/messenger/maps, I am cool with the data plan I have now. it allows me (via BB’s underlying built-in TCP stack) I am able to use all these cool (nate’s naraku approved) free apps:

  • google maps (takes advantage of the GPS unit in the phone; freaking awesome) - 4.5 out of 5
  • gmail - 5 out of 5
  • yahoo go - 3.5 out of 5
  • opera mini - 4 out of 5
  • jivetalk (has a 30 day free trial, then it’s $15 - well worth it IMO) - 5 out of 5

other than a few issues loading apps on the phone by USB (one “big” key is getting them without the use of the BB browser - use this user agent switcher firefox add on to fool google & yahoo into letting you download) all is swell.

battery life could be better, but is definitely acceptable. on a heavy usage day I can run down to the red, but I generally charge everynight anyhow. and the fact that you can use a universal usb charger makes charging on the go an unfettered snap.

here is a neat side-by-side tech spec compare of the RIM BB Pearl and the Apple iPhone.

my new BB pearl replaces the former samsung a900 which I reviewed over two years ago - it had a great run.

it gets better and better as now my blackberry serves as a modem for my laptop on my commute. check out how I teathered it to linux via bluetooth here.

last updated: 8/15/08