by Eric,
on 11/30/2006.

This little flash game is reason #7 as to why I am glad to be born male.

Paul said,

reason #3: armpit hair

Eric said,

reason #8: not feeling like I have to wear makeup

Ryan said,

Number #28: Swordfights!

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by Ryan,
on 11/28/2006.

Remember Ren and Stimpy? Of course you do. Remember the great 50's instrumental background music? I thought it was one of the best parts of the show. Well now you can download all these great tunes courtesy of the Secret Fun Blog.

Dan said,

I guess i shouldn't be surprised at how many of those "music for tv dinners" tunes i recongnize... but wow. it's like nostalgia in a can.

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by Eric,
on 11/28/2006.

Dan said,

Holy shit that rocked.

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by Dan,
on 11/28/2006.

Leave it to Frauenfelder to actually post something interesting on BoingBoing:

I dug up this video I shot back in December ‘04 when I was aboard an Air Deccan flight from Bangalore to Mumbai. Looked out my window and what did I see, A group of guys repairing the wing with some sort of muthafcukin’ duct tape. There’s some more repairs to the left of the one they are working on with what seems to be the same technique. Crossed my fingers, tossed back a shot of Black Label, and stayed on the flight.

Personally, it would take everything in my power not to run screaming from that plane. Though on further consideration the sheer embarrassment of being "the spaz in seat 14 that doesn't want to fly" would keep me from exiting... but I'd be white-knuckled and terrorizing myself with visions of what its like to plummet 30k feet from the sky for the the entire trip.

Eric said,

That doesn't seem to stop you from flying...

Dan said,

I don't generally see maintenance crews here in the states duct-taping things to wings of the planes I'm on. But ask my wife: I don't fly well either way.

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by Dan,
on 11/28/2006.



This is quite possible the most egregious, unnecessary, ridiculous form I've ever encountered on the internet. EVER. Explain to me why just entering my ZIP code here wouldn't work? Or at worst a single box that asks me to enter my address and zipcode ala Google Maps. Asinine.

Paul said,

Ha! i just had to fill that out for dsl service. What's worse is, after all this registration, after your done putting all your contact info in for billing etc, there is a "contact info:" page. it is completely blank and you have to re-enter your name, phone, and email. ridiculous.

Dan said,

i thought you got internets free from your building?

what speed DSL did you go with?

Paul said,

I do! But kelly needed some. We went with the 5mpbs, cause we measured what i had at my home and it was 4.5mbps, and it would suck if it were 1/3 of that (especially for itunes d/ls).

what sucked the most is that after everything they said there is an estimated $10 tax. which is bullshit cause qwest is only $10 less than cable.

Eric said,

Don't they ask for all that info to make sure that your specific home has the right phone line? My apartment in Boone (ha, boone...) did not have the right phone line for DSL-- cuz it was a hundred years old -- so I got Mediacom Cable. A zip code wouldn't have told them that.

Dan said,

eric: i see your point... but that doesn't really excuse the 10.... TEN... form fields where two or three would do. if their developers weren't lazy or they paid someone who knew what they were doing a single line with "enter your address" or perhaps a three field address/city/state form would work just as effectively.

Dan said,

I mean... "Street Type"... are you fucking kidding me?

Paul said,

there is no reason to enter your city and state. there needs to be a zip-code only revolution.

Paul said,

Honestly though, i did sorta enjoy filling out their form. 123 [tab], N [tab], Clifton [tab], A [tab]. there was a lot of immediate gratification. and i kinda like that it forces you to include all the relavent info, in a specific order. Cause some people would say clifton ave south. or just clifton south.

Iowa City is like hell for two roads with the same name. Like 20 ave, and 20th Ave ct. or keokuk ave, and keokuk st (which are like 2 blocks away from eachother).

Dan said,

"ome people would say clifton ave south. or just clifton south."

irrelevant. unless there happens to be two separate streets with those specific names. which there is not. or, rather, if there is... then some city planner needs to lose their job.

and its keokuk st and keokuk ct. but the ct isnt a ct anymore. so, yeah. and they're connected.

Paul said,

well, but that isn't the phone companies concern (to fire city planners). They just want to make sure they can give you a good answer as to whether or not you can get service.

And if i have to choose between a couple extra form fields or having to either pick up my phone, or have them call me to say the info wasn't valid, i'll take the extra fields.

Cause in then end, i was impressed by how a historically archaic utility was able to do this all online.

Still no excuse for the city and state though.

Dan said,

no. no. no. no. no.

yes, they want to give you a good answer. obviously.

but a good answer does not require 10 fields. the post office site doesnt require 10 fields. UPS doesn't require 10 fields. the county recorders office site doesnt require 10 fields. google maps doesnt require 10 fields. hell even MAPQUEST doesnt require 10 fields.

so please please please dont try and argue that the phone company needs 10 fields to figure out where your house is. cause they don't... the just have lazy developers who would rather you specify all the database records for them rather than writing some smart code to do it for you.

Paul said,

but what about the immediate gratification. UPS doesn't make me feel like a l33t d00d for hitting a [tab] and having "Avenue" pop up.

I applaud the Qwest coders for trying to make an emotional connection with me! Keep in up guys!

Dan said,

haha. speaking of lazy developers. why do i have to scroll all the way back up the page to write a new comment after i read the last one PAUL?

Paul said,

Or maybe they weren't lazy... they just couldn't afford to go through and match user input to possible options and compare/contrast. It doesn't sound super easy.

Traditional phone companies aren't exactly rolling in dough these days.

Paul said,

Haha! that's got nothing to do with lazy. That's poor planning (which i guess could be lazyiness, or stupidity), and the lack of optimism to think we'd have more than 3 comments for anything.

Paul said,

Wait, maybe it's a genious way to stop conversations from going on and on. and spur people to turn their arguments into a new post. Like maybe one about "finding an exact address based on user input".

Eric said,

hmmm... methinks it sad that the most comments on TackleAction.com are regarding the customer service "coding" for a corporate website. It should be called TickleBoredom.com from now on.

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by Paul,
on 11/28/2006.



This is a phone i'm really interested in:The MOTOPHONE. Simple, efficient. A phone like this may make me realize it is better to have simple specialized electronics, as opposed to all-in-ones.

Ryan said,

Aren't you the one that's all excited about the iPhone?

Paul said,

Pshaw!

Eric said,

I'm really excited about the new iPshaw.

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by Paul,
on 11/27/2006.

I'm totally stealing this off recreant, but it is my favorite link of the last 6 months: "How to be interesting"

In Summary:
Step One: Be interested, in everything and everyone. Then it goes on to explain a few ways to start.

I think if you take the time/energy to get interested in everything around you, you're gonna have tons more insight, wisdom and knowledge, making you more interesting to people. But also, you'll be more capable to take on your life - and more informed/wise when you face challenges/opportunities.

This sorta reminds me of the book "How to win friends and influence people." I know it sounds like an evil How-to book, but it actually presents a holistic approach. It argues that the best way to "win friends and influence people" is by being genuinely interested in them. Your interest will gain their trust and admiration. And if you are genuinely interested in them, you will do your best to take care of them, which also helps with the whole "winning and influencing."

Eric said,

Reminds me of the oldest of the mores, the Golden Rule.

Paul said,

That's a good point. My reminder to write this was "the key to being interesting is to be interested". So yeah, i guess it's nothing more than that.

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by Dan,
on 11/26/2006.

Thanksgiving tradition in the Sweeney and Cavanagh families generally involves beers and shotguns. So this year i took a little video. Not quite as good as the 4th of July video, but fun none the less. Enjoy.

Paul said,

I can't quite put my finger on what the music makes me feel on this one... but i think it says "we prepared for and went to battle, lost some folks, and had a great time! viva la revolucion!"

Eric said,

Ah, that reminds me of our family! We went to the rifle range to shoot WWII era assault rifles. AK-47, 30 caliber H&K, and a Setme. Good times.

What was everyone criticizing at the end of the video? Somone must have missed big time...

Dan said,

Wasn't necessarily a specific incident they were reacting to... just trying to capture the general attitude of the peanut gallery while people are up taking turns shooting birds.

Ryan said,

Shotguns on the holidays...more like Trashgiving amirite? JK DANNY!

Eric said,

Oooooooh, you di'n't!

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by Eric,
on 11/22/2006.

Just in time for Christmas, the Dora the Explorer aquapet tub toy. No photoshopping here, no joke -- this is a real toy for little kids... What where they thinking?

Paul said,

Teach kids early, and you'll have less babies later.

Eric said,

Not much action on TackleAction today. You guys must be off work (?)

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by Ryan,
on 11/21/2006.

This is foolish on the part of the Idolator: Link

It really looks like they're trying to hard to be like "See!? Pitchfork isn't cool!!! But we are! Come on! Power to the people!"

But the weirdest part for me is that the editor of the Idolator is named Brian Raftery.

Ryan said,

Also, who cares 1. About +/-? and 2. About 5 decimal points that are still in the Pitchfork scale equivalent to being mediocre?

It's not like a change like that would convince me to go out and buy the record.

Eric said,

What good is a record review anyways? Let Pitchfork flip-flop.

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by Ryan,
on 11/20/2006.

Whatever happened to the CSI:Miami fansite Dan had? Because this would be perfect for it.

Paul said,

Here it is

Dan said,

That's beyond awesome. What's unsettling however is how many of those openings i've actually seen.

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by Paul,
on 11/20/2006.

I've gone through metacritic's Wii reviews, and i have this to report:

Zelda is damn good. Everything else is so-so. I'm heavily favoring the opinions of 1up in my analysis here.

The biggest let down to me is Red Steel. Who wouldn't want to get in a virtual sword fight? or be able to start shooting things on screen, or lob a grenade... i mean, the wii could/should redefine FPS. Also, excite truck is fun, but nothing to get too excited about.

So, i guess what we really need is a good party game before i'm gonna sign on. In the mean time, i'll offset my Zelda pangs with Bully.

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by Dan,
on 11/20/2006.



Edit: I was told by my manager here at TackleAction that i needed to provide some context for this image since our readers are inept at clicking links and don't have creative enough minds to consider what this image might be without us letting them know right away. So here dumbasses: its a tower... poking through the clouds. Taken from a plane. In Russia.

Paul said,

its a super huge tower in russia, called the Ostankino Tower. It's the tallest structure in europe, and here it's poking out over the cloud ceiling.

Dan said,

and for some reason i picked the least compelling picture to post here. so click through to look at the rest.

Paul said,

I thought it was a Wii post - and it was Zelda's lance (does he have a lance) hurdling into the sky.

Paul said,

It's not that their inept, they just have better things to do than click on a 'nothing' image with a generic headline.

Paul said,

They being me and you. Mostly me.

Dan said,

Yeah. People with "better things to do" are reading this site.

Paul said,

Fine, truthitude is i was disappointed this had nothing to do with Link and his mighty lance.

Ryan said,

Mom and Dad are fighting again.

Paul said,

That's it, go to your room and post something!

Eric said,

Ryan's "Mom and Dad" comment is hilarious. Can't you guys get along? It is also hilarious because it implies gender roles to the Dan/Paul dynamic. Think about that for a second and laugh even harder.

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by Paul,
on 11/20/2006.

Wiiloaded is rumormongering that there might be new shipments as soon as Today. Also, check your local Toys R' Us!

Dan said,

did you get yours?

Paul said,

they were sold out in the mnpl target. but I didn't check elsewhere. Though i wonder if i can convince a certain someone to get me an x-mas present early.

Ryan said,

I don't think Santa reads your blog.

Paul said,

Santa Schenkelberg does.

Eric said,

Have you been naughty or nice this year? Or should I ask Santa Schenkelberg?

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by Paul,
on 11/17/2006.

You'd think there'd be more, or at least, I did.

Eric said,

Actually the article says 291,000 women had implants in '05. That would actually be 582,000 breast implants (not counting men, I assume).

Paul said,

Touche, though i wonder if they counted single breast reconstructions (like post-cancer).

Eric said,

Good point.

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by Paul,
on 11/17/2006.

effete |iˈfēt|
adjective

1. (of a person) affected, overrefined, and ineffectual : effete trendies from art college.

2. no longer capable of effective action : the authority of an effete aristocracy began to dwindle.

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by Dan,
on 11/16/2006.


Greenbank FC play in black shirts emblazoned with the band's name and a picture of a skull. And of course the kids run out on to the pitch to the sound of Ace of Spades. Rock on.

Eric said,

HA! I wonder if any of the parents know that the band name was slang for methamphetamine addict. Or that they had an album called "Orgasmatron."

Oh well, it would be much better than having Michael Jackson as a team sponsor...

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by Ryan,
on 11/16/2006.

Noticed this on the City of Chicago's Department of Revenue site. Thanks for being nice about it, City of Chicago.

Paul said,

Woah! Wow! Talk about trying to put all the spotlight on YOUR post.

Dan said,

What's it take to get your car booted anyway? Ever done it? ... I'm well aware you've been towed before.

Paul said,

if the state (or city) boots you it's usually cause of fines. But a lot of private parking lots will boot you in leu of towing you... this way you still have to pay the towing fine, but they have to work less.

Eric said,

Das Boot

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by Dan,
on 11/16/2006.

This guy used to write for Pitchfork a few years ago. Now he has an column at the Village Voice, and so far every one has ripped on a different band. This time it's the Decemberists

In the past it was the Hold Steady and the Killers.

Eric said,

You sound suprised that somebody in the wolrd of music is writing negative, judgemental, self righteous reviews.

Dan said,

I'd like to note that using some strange technological wizardry paul posted this through my account. It won't happen again.

And i can't say i'm surprised. Expecially someone from pitchfork. god bless 'em.

Paul said,

That Hold Steady Review is great. I tend to agree with his notion that there is quite a bit of poser in there attitude/lyrics (seeing them live was a disappointing way to realize this)... though i still enjoy them as a pop/rock band whose albums (most recent included) have a lot of replay value.

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by Dan,
on 11/16/2006.

I've heard this mentioned on the internets more than a few times... but i never really bothered to read up on the Space Elevator concept. Wow. Enjoy.

Paul said,

it's sorta the equivalent of doing that thing where you grab someone's arms and spin around so fast their legs lift up off the ground.

then roll a marble down their back, that marble would be 'the traveler' in this equation.

Dan said,

totally... just seem unimaginable that it could actually be done. a big wire... floating to space?

WHAT IF IT SNAPS!

Eric said,

Wow, that is a very cool idea. The Tower of Babel comes to mind.

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by Paul,
on 11/16/2006.

Apparently Carville thinks Dean didn't do a good enough job this election cycle. So he's making a big stink about it. Saying something about how the Dem's took out a $10 million loan, and only spend half of it. Saying that they left 10 to 20 races on the table when they could have cleaned house. Here's the story.

What is the deal here guys? You've won, well done. As far as for not spending all the money, shoulda coulda. Maybe the extra money would have been spent on advertising that could have resulted in a more polarized debate; which may have brought more conservatives out to vote.

This article seems to say this kinda thing is common place with the Democrats, which is sad. If there is a problem it should be dealt with internally, and then someone on the inside should write a book about it. What's the point of press if no one can make a dime off it.

Eric said,

I agree, it is way too soon to hear about this kind of infighting. Dems should realize that this victory will be very short lived if they don't present decisive leadership. There were enough "not Bush" votes to give them this victory, even if it was just by default because people were fed up with the GOP congress and the administration.

I think the real problem down the road with the Democratic party is that they see problems with more gray areas than Republicans have -- as of late. When problems/solutions are painted in black and white it's easier to pick a side and rally people behind a unified cause (i.e. with us or against us). The gray areas allow for a multitude of different opinions which can be exploited to show the party as fragmented and squabbling.

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by Eric,
on 11/16/2006.

Today I have quit smoking for the second time. What better time than during the Great American Smoke Out when local stores run sales on nicotine patches, gum, and lozenges. I'd like to say that concern for my health is the driving force, but if that were true I would have quit years ago. The real motivator is MONEY. My calculations show that I have spent somewhere between $11,000 and $14,000 on tobacco in my adult life. Damn it, that is a car up in smoke. So here I go. I hope this is the last time I try to quit...

Paul said,

A car is a depreciating investment. Though a good cigarette buzz can bring the kind of clarity that you can build on.

Good luck dude. When i started taking the gum my motivation switched from money to how i could 'smoke' wherever i wanted.

Eric said,

5 days of successful cessation so far...

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by Eric,
on 11/16/2006.

Eric said,

Sorry, my awesomeness is overflowing into the previous post...

Dan said,

I fixed it. blogger pours some lamesauce all over image styles when you upload through their form. i'll see what i can do to prevent it in the future.

Dan said,

luke skywalker is a bitch.

Eric said,

I'm sure he whined about having to play bass...

"Aww, C'mon! I wanna play lead guitar!"

Dan said,

exactly. if it wasn't for leia... han and chewy would've tossed his ass into the vacuum of space and continued on their way being awesome.

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by Dan,
on 11/15/2006.

"Analyzing humor is like dissecting a frog. Few people are interested and the frog dies of it." -- E.B. White

Eric said,

Mr. E.B. White may be right, but I still enjoy explaining why the jokes I tell are funny.

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by Paul,
on 11/15/2006.

Cory Doctorow is guy that writes for boing boing. He recommended the BBC4 Comedy "IT Crowd". God the IT Crowd is terrible. Although the people that love it love it so much either A) I don't get it, or B) They are just happy to be a target audience.

The IT crowd is releasing a DVD with subtitles in L33t. That seems pretty cool.

Dan said,

I watched the entire first series of ht IT Crowd. There's some pretty funny in-jokes. But the silly BBC laughtrack and just-plain-bad acting are a tough pill to swallow.

Basically... I'd never buy the DVD. But I'll keep downloading the episodes if they keep making them.

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by Dan,
on 11/15/2006.

... and band names are fucking awesome. Dead Infection (Poland), Regurgitate (Sweden), Gut (Germany), Psycroptic (Australia), Cripple Bastards (Italy), Retaliation (Sweden), Gorerotted (England), Rotten Sound (Finland), Birdflesh (Sweden), Cock and Ball Torture (Germany), Origin (Kansas), Gorod (France), Jigsore Terror (Sweden), Nunwhore Commando 666 (Germany), Fuck the Facts (Canada), Foetopsy (Wisconsin), Looking for an Answer (Spain), Flagitious Idiosyncrasy in the Dilapidation (Japan), Exhale (Sweden), Putrescence (Canada), Saprogenic (Michigan).

Eric said,

HA! I have a Gorerotted CD. The song titles are a little too obsessed with corpse love for my taste... Even I have standards.

What about black metal logos? Like this one, or this one, or perhaps this one.

Dan said,

Living Colour is my favorite black metal band

Paul said,

what is corpse love?

the desire to be loved by something that inherently cannot?

or um...

what tom petty would have done in "last dance with mary jane" if there wasn't that video crew around.

or are both of these options the same?

Paul said,

when you say black, are you saying racially black? or spiritually black?

Eric said,

HA! Living Color!

I like my coffee like I like my metal. Think "black" as in "the absence of light." Think "Scandanavian winters in the artic circle." Or as in "metal guys don't wear pink pants."

Paul said,

Balck Metal = Black people, black pants. Got it. thanks.

Eric said,

No, Living Color is a joke. I'm sorry to say, there are no black people in black metal. NONE. Some of those fools are aryan nationalists, actually. Those crazy, misguided post-Nietzscheists...

Paul said,

isn't it sorta ironic then, that they are called black metal? That's like calling gangsta-rap 'white rap'.

Paul said,

daaaaamn, that shit is an - glo - sax - on mutherfucker.

Dan said,

jesus you sure know how to make a joke unfunny.

Paul said,

You sure know how to hurt a guy's feelings.

Eric said,

I will make it funny again:

black metal = ridiculous

Eric said,

I will make it funny again:

black metal = ridiculous

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by Paul,
on 11/14/2006.

The Zune should have been nothing more than a well executed mp3 sharing player. Imagine a gigabeat that broadcast your music to everyone and let you listen to other peoples music and bookmark it. For instance it could shuffle through all the music available in your wireless range. Imagine a dorm room, or college union; to people who thought this feature was great, the zune would truly be better than an iPod.

Instead, the Zune not only does a pretty crappy job of being social, it adds all kinds of features like a new store, new DRM, Xbox interactivity, etc. All of which confuse the one feature that could make the Zune better than the ipod, the social/sharing-ness.

Maybe the original vision of the zune was more ideal, and the record industry ruined it. But then maybe Microsoft should have just ditched the project (or, god forbid, fought back). But hey, they've pushed products from inferior and unused to inferior and with dominant market share before.

I better start converting my m4p's to m4a's. The zune supports those, right?

Dan said,

I love Engadget's review of the zune installation. And the almost as entertaining ranting going on at Buzz Out Loud.

Dan said,

Apparently, Microsoft has been so focused on getting Zune out the door in time for the mad holiday rush that it hasn't gotten around to supporting the player under its next-generation operating system.

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by Paul,
on 11/13/2006.

Dan said,

wait, i recognize those plates.

Ryan said,

I hope that's pure lard piled on top.

Paul said,

ACTUALLY, it's cake ice cream. with peices of cake and sprinkles in it.
It gives me bad breath in the morning, from all the sugar i think.
or maybe from the sugar withdrawl (which i imagine involves lots of mouthwatering)

Ryan said,

A good old brushing of the toofuses and some mouthwash should take care of that.

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by Dan,
on 11/13/2006.

There are many variations of passages of Lorem Ipsum available, but the majority have suffered alteration in some form, by injected humour, or randomised words which don't look even slightly believable. If you are going to use a passage of Lorem Ipsum, you need to be sure there isn't anything embarrassing hidden in the middle of text. All the Lorem Ipsum generators on the Internet tend to repeat predefined chunks as necessary, making this the first true generator on the Internet. It uses a dictionary of over 200 Latin words, combined with a handful of model sentence structures, to generate Lorem Ipsum. The generated Lorem Ipsum is therefore always free from repetition, injected humour, or non-characteristic words etc.

Ryan said,

gay.

Paul said,

SHUT UP IT'S NOT READY WHY WON'T YOU JUST LEAVE ME ALONE DON'T YOU HAVE A HOMELESS MAN TO KICK!!

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by Ryan,
on 11/13/2006.

Dan said,

OMG! Awesome!!!111one11

Dan said,

Paul! This layout fucking sucks when there's no comments. So unless you want three magic comments to show up every time you post its time to reconsider.

Paul said,

just leave some space... 1.5 inches...so like 100 pixels

or didn't you say something about some spacial commenting thing...

maybe the answer lies there, young skywalker.

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