Opt Out, Out In, Opt This

    The CAN SPAM act has been law since Thursday, and it’s obvious our Congress has done its usual bang-up job of lawmaking. Back last year I would get around three hundred e-mails a day, maybe twenty of which were legitimate messages. And today, now that the new law has been passed, I’m getting around three hundred e-mails a day, maybe twenty of which are legitimate messages. So kudos to you, Representatives and Senators. Take a bow. You deserve it. Give yourselves another pay raise.
    The only upside to this is that since so many government officials have their own e-mail addresses, they might be able to see for themselves how impotent their law is.
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Plans for the Future

    We have come to another calendar milestone, and as we stand on the cusp of a new year it’s customary to pause for a moment of self-reflection, to take stock of one’s position in life, and to think about what this new year may hold in store. For on thing I’m undecided about what to do with this website. As my trainer so artlessly wrote a few days ago, I will be starting a diet tomorrow; and since this website has reveled in my most hedonist impulses, I can’t help but think it won’t suffer through inattention or, at the worst, avoidance. (At last for the five or six hours before I go off the diet and start cheating.)
    I am at my fattest right now. And it has not escaped me that this corresponds to my fequency of posts, or the start of my little pBlock ([formerly]to the right) which itemizes my fast food meals. That little list has become my undoing, and I’ve found myself actually going out of my way just to add new or varied combo meals to it. My website is my own conspirator and abettor; and maybe I need some kind of intervention to separate myself from this enabling.
    Who knows what may happen here. Perhaps I’ll disown the site completely. Maybe I’ll skip the Food talk and concentrate on Tech news or website links. Or it could turn into the Mac cult fanpage it’s been veering toward over the last couple weeks. Only time will tell…
    And speaking of plans for the new year, here’s Wired‘s list on how to make the Internet better.
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Directing Agrees with Peter Jackson

    A screen grab from Australia’s Daily Telegraph, from Thursday.

The award winning director, following his sex change
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Happy New Year

    Last night was New Year’s Eve, and tonight is Return to Work Eve. My six days of vacation are over. You’d think I could’ve used all that time off to really spruce things up around here, to really write up a ton of new entries. I mean, it’s not like I had a lot of visiting to do, to get me out of the house. Instead my attentions have been focused on my new iPod.
    Yes, I too — sorry, I mean iToo — have succumbed to the Gift of 2003. I’ve heard stories about how supplies were limited, but I had no trouble getting mine. I simply ordered it from The Apple Store. I got a 20 GB one, with "www.shortfatguy.com" laser-etched on the back.

Here’s to a Microsoftless New Year
I might post a review of it later, but for the last week I’ve been obsessed with ripping my CDs to it. I just finished a two-day project of compiling all the U2 albums, B-sides, and (some) remixes, in chronological order. Over two hundred tracks.
    I’ve put many of my favorite albums on it already and have only used up 8 GBs so far. Among these, I have folders for the entire BBC Lord of the Rings radio play as well as all three Howard Shore scores. In total, around eight hundred fifty tracks. Soon I’ll be adding the 24 CDs that make up The Order of the Phoenix UK audiobook (ably assisted by iTunes’ “Join CD Tracks“ tool). I could do this over several CDRs, yes, but with the iPod I can retain all that information without having to compress the crap out of it. Plus the iPod is definitely more easily navigable than CDRs.
    Hopefully I’ll be able to get back to posting daily, now that I’ve finished some of my music-ripping projects…but then again, I’ve got hours of music to start listening to!
Posted in Apple, Gadgets, Music, U2 | 2 Comments

Predictions for the New Year

    I don’t talk much about it, since it’s slightly embarassing, but my stomach, Ed, is psychic. Here are some predictions for the New Year (which he told me after breakfast):
    • Flush with victory, George W Bush will bring Saddam Hussein on the campaign trail, stopping at various fundraisers. Saddam, chained and behind bars, will be prodded with a stick causing him to grab at men’s top hats and ladies’ furs, and to snarl “I eat your babies! I eat your babies!”
    President Bush will pacify the crowd by snapping a whip at the beleaguered Iraq leader, and assuring them that the bars of the cage are made of chromed steel. Nevertheless, Hussein will break free and escape onto the city streets. The President (and an unseen pilot) will circle the Empire State Building in a Harrier jet, waiting for Hussein to appear; but Hussein, confused why everyone is so convinced he wants to attack New York City, takes to sleeping in subway stations and, when pressed, will do a little dance for pocket change.
    Hussein sightings will be a frequent topic of the New York Post.
    • Michael Jackson, although obviously as insane as a televangelist, will still not be institutionalized.
    • In a bid to drum up more business, McDonald’s will hit upon the idea of adding lettuce and tomato to a burger. They will spend most of the fiscal year thinking up a name for it which they haven’t used before.
    • Desperate for money to further my Sideshow Weta Lord of the Rings statues addiction, I am driven to sell my own fat on eBay. A Japanese businessman declares I am a world class delicacy. I feel like I am sitting on a proverbial goldmine, until…
    • Late in the year I die of a heart attack. This goes unnoticed for several weeks, until the owner of the Wendy’s around the corner begins to question the sharp drop in monthly income. After many months, my trainer, Tubby Corchran, will finally update my webpage — not to eulogize me but to post unflattering photos of my ill-fated tryout with the community theater ballet.
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Woe’s the Beef

    It’s a sad week for short fat guys. The burgers we love and rely on have turned against us. After reading Fast Food Nation I’m doubtful the FDA and USDA has the effectiveness anymore to track or combat the Mad Cow Disease outbreak in the Pacific Northwest. Still, the Agriculture Department’s website has several pages of interest. Here are a couple, in particular:
Chronology of the Discovery
Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy FAQ

    The CBC also has some information on the symptoms of BSE.

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Remote Posting

Hey guys. It’s been a while hasn’t it. For those of you who don’t know, I’m Mickey’s physical therapist. Miuckey invted me to his brother’s house for a Christmas partty, and I’m writing this on his brother’s computer while Mickey is out in the other room sitting on his own against tghe wall. He promised not to have too many meatballs, cheese dip, spinach pita, and beers, but he’s not fooling anyone. Frankly, I dont care. I’ve given up babysitting him. I’d rather sit here, check the web, and listen to his niece’s iTunes.
    That’s not really fair, actually. Mickey had a tough time the other day, bad enough that he might even be contemplating a lifechange regarding his food intake. He wasm recently told to go on a diet. Not by his doctor or his mother, but by the people who live in the apartments under him. The other day he woke up in the basement — but only after he’d crashed through his floor and the floors below him! He’s okay though. The fall was broken by his ass. Good thing he was sleeping on his back.
    We’re hoping tho that this might be the wakeup call that finally gets him to start living healthier. COuld this be the end of Short Fat Guy Onlien???!!1 (The Fat part at least. Tghe short part is hopeless.) Itll be interesting to see how a diet might affect this site.
    I probabloy shouldnt have told yoiu all this, but I’vce hgad five Rolling Rocks, so what the hell.
    Anyway, Merry Christmas and Happty New Year. And…don’t overdo it!
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Movie Quiz

    I’m still sleepy from too much turkey and too many long nights watching movies, so I’m really having trouble coming up with ideas for a new entry. Instead, I’ll once again rely on another e-mail Schmoe sent me. This time, he forwarded me this movie quiz. It contains seventy-two stills from movies, but with the actors’ faces and bodies removed. Can you guess what the movies are, just from the settings and costumes? (I got 33 right.)
    Note: the quiz is in Microsoft Excel (XLS) format (720 KBs).
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I’m Being Criminalized


Obligatory photo of a faceless fat person
(Courtesy of AOL)
    According to an AP article today, “With the U.S. Surgeon General calling obesity an epidemic, legislators nationwide […] have considered scores of bills this year that would, among other things: get kids exercising; warn restaurant eaters about fat, sugar and cholesterol on the menu; and, ban sugary sodas and fattening chips from school vending machines.” In Louisiana they’re even going so far as to pay for the trendy yet risky and potentially life-threatening stomach stapling procedure.
    Says a West Virginia wellness manager: “If we don’t get a handle on this, this generation of kids coming up will have a shorter life span than their parents. That’s scandalous.” While counters a food lobbyist: “There’s a lot of fear and hysteria. We’re allowing government and these public health groups to dictate our food choices to us.”   [2:25 PM]
    Update: In a similar story, on the other side of the fence, fast food companies are looking to government to protect them from nuisance suits. [Archivist’s note: Link missing.]
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It’s Claus, Not Clause, You Idiots!

    I remember the days when the movie title The Santa Clause was a pun. Little did I know it would be taken to heart as a spelling lesson.
    At least, that’s what it looks like over at Amazon.com.
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