reyonthehill

My second attempt at the New Yorker caption contest...

Image: New Yorker

Oh great, my GPS navigator is wrong again.

My wife and I have just purchased our plane tickets for our trip next summer. We will be traveling to Poland with a stop in Amsterdam, since we were able to find a non-stop direct flight to Amsterdam on KLM (which will make the trip go that much more smoothly)...

Image: Los Angeles Public Library

When we touch down next May, it will be nearly three years since our last time in Europe (when we traveled immediately following our wedding). We've promised ourselves that we will try to make a trip to Europe work every three years or so (as much as humanly possible, of course). We have so far lived up to our agreement because it really doesn't matter what happens from here on; now that we have purchased the tickets, we're going.

The smear campaign is in full-swing (emphasis added)...

But on the Internet, in his grocery store, at his neighbor's house, at his son's auto shop, [Ohio resident Jim] Peterman has also absorbed another version of the Democratic candidate's background, one that is entirely false: Barack Obama, born in Africa, is a possibly gay Muslim racist who refuses to recite the Pledge of Allegiance.

American politics, continued. In fact, politics in general.

How does the Obama campaign deal with these smears? Do they take them head-on, risking that the trash politics become a campaign issue, providing more fuel to the fire; or do they ignore them as if they do not exist, and risk not dealing with a potentially nefarious aspect of the fall campaign?

As readers have already been informed, I switched over from Blogger to WordPress a few months ago, and although I still have the template to work on (trust me, it's coming), I have been able to straighten out most of the stuff behind the scenes. I have built* myself a series of hefty .htaccess documents to handle most of the heavy lifting, and it is now safe for me to delete my blog database with Blogger...

It was fun, Blogger, but in the end, Google's lack of investment and my lack of control over my destiny (permalinks, directories, etc.) made me leave you. I guess what I am saying, Blogger, is that my leaving was mostly your fault. But I will never forget you, or your broken pipe.

* I continue to use Movable Type to build the back-end of this blog (and all of my other websites), since MT can do so much more than WP.

In an effort to act unified, Barack Obama donated $2300 -- the legal maximum -- to help cover Hillary Clinton's campaign debt, which reportedly stands at $20 million ($12 million of which is the New York senator's personal contribution). The Clinton's returned the favor, however, "donating $4600 to his campaign today." Something about this makes zero sense. Up $2300, down $4600. This is logical?

It is about time. With ICANN's latest great idea, I can finally purchase the domain Amazon.storefront and finally start my e-commerce website. Since no one owns rights to such a domain, I see no reason as to why anyone would object. Also, it's high-time I blanketed all possible variants of reyonthehill... dot-info, dot-org, dot-biz, dot-cc, dot-mobi... I would hate for someone to pilfer my identity. Also, myblog-dot-reyonthehill has a certain ring to it (if I say so myself, and I did).

This movie is alright, but is it safe to say that this may possibly be -- and I mean possibly -- the most over-rated film in the history of the (known) universe? Is that saying too much? It surely was a remarkable film for its time, but looking back, has society elevated the film (and maybe series) to levels it honestly never reached? I say yes.

(Returned 06/26/08.)

Rent with Netflix.

My most recent post on Snapple facts reminds me of a scene I wrote over two years ago and published on a now-defunct website of mine (although it still remains -- as of right now -- active on my server). I have re-published it below...

Lying on a bed, with several pillows against headboard allowing the two to effectively sit straight-up, as if sitting on a couch. Man, drinking a lemon-flavored Snapple, nearly empty. While sipping, he flips over the lid in right hand and silently reads the Snapple Fact. With no facial expression, leans over and shows it to the woman. The woman, looking forward, gently grabs the cap and reads it. She gives the nod of approval, the "hmm" sound, the raising of her eyebrows in a subtle curious manner; overall, a generous response as if to say, "Wow, I learned something today." The man watches patiently for her coming reaction. A general but subtle sense of pleasure comes across his face as he learns of her approval. She hands the cap back to him. He takes it, and along with one final swig of the lemon-flavored Snapple, finishes the drink, taking the time to place the cap back on the bottle, snug and tight, places the Snapple bottle on the night-stand and looks straight forward once again. No dialogue between the two, besides the physical transfer and the silent "communication" between the woman and man regarding the fact that they had learned this afternoon. The viewers never see or learn of the fact. End of scene.

I just realized something. Not all of the facts underneath the caps of Snapple bottles -- Snapple facts, of which I am a frequenter -- end in a period. But some do. This is going to kill me.

This is an impeachable offense in my book... that is, when the EPA becomes an accessory to the oil cartel instead of working to protect the environment.

Over the past five days, [senior E.P.A.] officials said, the White House successfully put pressure on the E.P.A. to eliminate large sections of the original analysis that supported regulation, including a finding that tough regulation of motor vehicle emissions could produce $500 billion to $2 trillion in economic benefits over the next 32 years.

This is probably the single-most devastating legacy that Bush will leave us with... an environment that was destroyed with complicity.

And to throw salt in the wounds (emphasis added)...

The Transportation Department made its own fuel-economy proposals public almost two months ago; they were based on the assumption that gasoline would range from $2.26 per gallon in 2016 to $2.51 per gallon in 2030, and set a maximum average standard of 35 miles per gallon in 2020.

A man can dream, but an ambitious goal is 100 miles per gallon -- minimum -- on all vehicles by 2030.