Yesterday on Chris Baker's show, Ken Charles was crawling up Ray's ass and bitching that the Pat Gray podcasts weren't uploaded yet.

Who gives a crap about Pat Gray? The world demands a podcasted archive of High Tech Texan.

You know... High Tech... podcasts... makes sense, right?

The latest Weekly Challenge on the 100 Word Stories podcast is up.

Go over there to listen, vote, and check out the topic for next week's Weekly Challenge.

I'm off to spam the podcasting forums.

Well, shucks. The Astros won.

And the bullpen held on to a seven-run lead for two innings. Amazing.

Jason Lane's hit and RBI were meaningless, just icing on a cake already eaten. He needs to get roundrocked before he gets worse.

Everybody but Adam Everett got on base. Not that they needed him to.

We'll see what happens tomorrow when Munson gets another start at catcher... I mean Wandy comes to the mound.

The IDF really wants to smoke Ismail Haniyeh:

IAF warplanes attacked the office of Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh in Gaza City overnight Saturday, witnesses said, setting the building on fire.

There were no immediate reports of casualties.

The IDF had no comment.

Ba'athists can't run in Iraqi elections.

Nazis are not allowed to run in German elections.

Taleban are prohibited from running in Afghani elections.

Kahanists are blocked from running in Israeli elections.

Bush and Condi wussed out when it came to blocking Hamas from running in Palestinian elections, and they strongarmed Israel into allowing them to run.

That earth-shatteringly stupid mistake is being corrected now.

Before, I had been plugging my mini-SD card into an SD adapter, and then into the cardreader of my printer to transfer files.

I picked up a multifunction card reader USB 2.0 dongle today.

Works like a charm. And it doesn't misread the card now and then when I stick it in, unlike the printer's cardreader.

It doesn't read Sony memory sticks that I use in the camera, but I've gotten in the habit of plugging the camera in directly to the computer because it was much faster than using the printer.

I could have gotten a fancy-schmancy 14-in-one cardreader, but it would have been the size of a pack of cards as opposed to thumb-sized. I kinda want to keep things as small as I can keep them.

I have a large stack of cedar planks and a pair of maple planks.

My brain then commands me to get more planks:

I know that the maple are best with pork or ham, and that the cherrywood is supposed to be good with chicken. The hickory goes with anything, so that's likely to be a hamburger plank. And the alder... well, anything works with salmon.

I really want to smoke turkey, cashews, pears, and other weird things. Is there a type of brie that stands up to weber heat?

Here's Piper, asleep on the chair and all comfy...

Yeah, that's her Evil Black Paw. She has an Evil Black Paw with the two white toesies and an orange and white Good Paw. Both have a mix of jellybean and licorice pads.

But that's a photo from an hour ago. Right now, she's on the floor whipping her tail back and forth, growling at it and occasionally hissing.

I swear, she's two different cats. When the happy sleepy burbly kitty wakes up, she goes into the closet or under the bed while her identical insane twin comes out to act all insane and weird for us.

Blogging will be light today because it's our sixth anniversary.

If I were some kind of inbred polydactyl freak, I could count that on the fingers on one hand.

If I were a high school woodshop teacher, I'd probably need help counting to six on fingers.

Regular blogging will resume tomorrow.

Nardo attacks the red squid toy...

Nardo wins.

Normally, I put my robe on in the morning. I tend to lay it out at the foot of the bed so I can grab it and put it on.

I also leave it out there in case a cat wants to curl up in it.

But someone barfed in it last night.

I suspect Piper. She barfs the biggest and the most of any of the cats, despite her miniscule size.

Or maybe that's the reason for it.

Well, except for Lance Berkman.

Berkman was fourth in the voting at first base with 1,121,738 votes. The other first baseman to make the team is Philadelphia's Ryan Howard, who was voted in by the players.

"That's got to be unusual for the manager to have one player from his team after being in the World Series," Berkman said. "(Pitcher) Roy (Oswalt) certainly deserves to be there, and there's a couple of other guys who have played really well for us. I'm just proud to be the representative of our team."

No, it's not unusual when the team's playing for shit except for one guy.

One of my anniversary gifts was a grill lamp...

It bends out of the way when I'm sending smoke signals to the entire Sioux Nation.

I also got some alder smoking bags, a fish spatula (I didn't cook fish tonight), and a few other happy things.

Let's just lift that cover...

I even did chicken and turkey on the maple plank and it came out okay, although I have no idea if the plank altered the taste any. But it was still good and juicy and the plank helped keep the meat from getting overdone.

Do the cats care?

Nope.

And a hell no from Piper.

(Frisky stuck to butter and parmesan cheese)

Inning starts with Qualls inheriting a man on second. So he grazes the uniform on the first pitch, double play is on, and sure enough he quallsballs up a double play. Inning over.

Heading to the bottom, Scott Feldman's been hucking sidearms like Mitch Williams... this does not bode well for Biggio... and... right off the elbow armor for 278.

Nine runs of support for Wandy... looking like he's going to win this one and The Silver Boot for Houston.

Two innings to go, two innings to blow. We'll see if Wheels and Miller have what it takes.

I've decided to try something new by starting Kitty Movie Monday.

Just as Friday is the day for Friday Catblogging and Sunday is Carnival of the Cats Day, every Monday I will post a Kitty Movie.

Today's Kitty Movie stars Piper, fwipping her tail around.

And, no, I will not shout SHOW US YOUR KITTIES!

Anyone wishing to participate in Kitty Movie Monday are welcome to post links to their Kitty Movies in the comments and, if they're up at YouTube, add them to the Kitty Movie Monday Youtube Group.

I missed the Big Company Meeting. Still got some crappy breakfast food in me.

Apparently, we're not getting screwed out of the performance bonus after all. Color me shocked.

Oh, and there's a new Big Boss in town. No two people can agree what he said.

I'm sure what he will do will be something completely different from all perceptions of his speech.

Is it just me, or does the headline "Crack found in foam on shuttle's fuel tank" suggest that Marion Barry's been consulting for NASA?

Not that I know anything about shuttles, but it must be horribly frustrating to be a shuttle engineer.

Here you are, stuck with hucking a gigantic million-part billion-dollar white elephant full of Seventies technology into orbit while the hip and cool kids are designing and competing to come up with tomorrow's technology on the cheap.

Oh, sure, there's always the occasional adjustment and fix you get to research, test and implement. But all of the fixes tend to take away from the features you were expecting from your billion-dollar toy instead of enhancing it.

Want to work on cool stuff like a robotic arm to grab and move things around? Hah! It's contracted out to Canada. And it's also out-of-date and horribly old, engineers working furiously to keep up with yesterday.

Whenever I encounter technology that's out of date, I feel horribly frustrated. Why waste effort keeping the old crap going when the new crap solves so many problems, right? Felt that way with the antiquated NewStar system, the so-called Windows-based update to it, and even the few remaining Cobalt-based servers here that should be shitcanned in a heartbeat.

But if it's one thing I'm certain of, it's that whatever new stuff replaces the old stuff never quite works as well or flexibly as the old stuff. Either you lose handy features, or you end up with some new fancy features which destabilize the core. All of which is moot since nobody wants to learn the new stuff... they're comfortable complaining and grousing about the old.

Competition breeds innovation. Well, unless you're Ford, in which you just keep adding and removing tailfins while figuring out how many hourly workers you need to fire to keep the family mansion heated for the winter. (It's so much easier to produce a commercial saying you're innovating and building more hybrids than actually building them)

So, we're stuck in the technological equivalent of bell-bottoms, and the world needs hip-huggers. Maybe what we need is some healthy competition. Let the Chinese or Indians or Zimbabweans crib our notes, watch what they build from them, and then crib off of them to see if they managed to come up with any innovations.

Who cares what I think about the Mexican elections? It's time for a new feature of TBIFOC called Ask The Cats!

What do you think about the Mexican elections?

Nardo: I guess Resindez didn't get a chance to send an absentee ballot in.	Piper: New Orleansers voting in Houston... Mexicans voting in Houston... we still have Houston elections here, right?
Frisky: Tasty fingers!	Cow Cat: What. The. HELL. do these elections have to do with me getting more tuna?
Loki from Canada: Loki from Canada wonders why Mexicans aren't illegally coming to Canada...it's much nicer and cooler up here and we'd probably let them vote, too.	KT: Maybe they should try Viagra. What's that? Elections? Well how should I know?
What does your cat think?

• A photo of the cat or cats in JPEG format (If you've already submitted the photo, it will be in my gallery archive. Just let me know the URL of the thumbnail photo to use again)
• Their opinion, whether it pertains to the subject or not
• (optional) Your blog's URL

Lots of nasty weather passing by. We'll see if any of it passes overhead and drenches the patio.

I guess I should have put the cover back on the grill and rolled it under the jasmine bramble.

Oh well. I needed to clean out the ooze bucket anyway.

Looks like I forgot to close the screen door when I went to work. I was running a little late because I couldn't find the headphones to Ziggy.

Turns out the headphones were in the pocket of my camera bag.

It's always something.

UPDATE:

The Zionist Weather Control Machine's working just fine.

Although I really should have put in a fresh pair of AA batteries this morning.

There are very few things that could convince me to go back into the lefty "angry faggots, boring moonbats, militant perverts, and junkie insomniac" circlejerk that is the Blogathon, but someone who shall remain nameless has managed to tempt me with one of them:

You should blog for the American Diabetes Association for Rob Smith.

*sigh* Fucker found my weak spot.

Fine. But I will only commit to it if I get at least $2,500 in pledges. And once I reach that level, I expect to be sitting on top of the pledges ranking from start to finish... #1 and only #1 on that stack.

This will not be a half-assed, bullshit effort. This will not be a "Hey, that's a great idea" and then crickets when it's time to put up.

It's all or nothing. The proverbial balls will be to the proverbial wall, dammit.

Please email me at laurence (at) isfullofcrap.com if you'd pledge towards such an effort.

I'll tally up the numbers and we'll see if it's a go.

Spread the word.

Okay, so The Carnival of the Cats is running a little late while Watermark contends with a few connection issues.

Nothing to worry about or be overly concerned with. If things don't clear up by later tonight or tomorrow morning, I may step in and post a temporary edition collecting up all the links until the usual full and fancy version we've come to expect from the People's Poet arrives.

Here's a sequence from last night...

Nardo and Piper are napping on the bed. They do this a lot, they don't bother each other much.

Nardo gets a huge brainfart and decides that Piper wants to play. Unwise move.

Piper tells Nardo she is not interested in playing. This is Nap Time, and cats do not play during Nap Time. Cats who play during Nap Time get beaten down.

Nardo insists that it is Play Time.

Don't walk... run to Ten Rejected CBS Plans To Prepare Audiences For Katie Couric over at IMAO.

(Okay, now all I need to do is get something ready for Meryl's site... nah. I'm doing enough by hosting that Powerpoint thingy.)

Frank J. is having a Fourth Anniversary Roast of himself on July 9th to celebrate... um... the fourth anniversary of IMAO.

As the first person other than Frank to post on IMAO (it was an accident, I swear!), I feel somewhat obligated to participate in giving Frank shit in ways that are funny and cruel.

But it's so hard to write out my feelings on the subject. So much easier to just turn on the recorder and babble and blither drunkenly about Frank. So I think I'm going to do mine in the form of a podcast segment, which will then be added to the next IMAO podcast.

Oh, when will you hear it? Um... er... like, never.

Perhaps instead I'll ask Mohammed about Frank.

I swear, it's been a horde of stupid Brazilians all freaking day.

Did they all beat themselves senseless when their team got knocked out of the World Cup by France or something?

My God, at this rate they should replace .br with .duh.

Know what must really suck in Brazil? Traffic control. Because you tell one of these people to do something, and they don't just do the exact opposite blindly, but an utterly, perfectly random thing.

I cannot imagine how chaotic things must get for them if they are subjected to colored lights, whistle-blows, and semi-ambiguous hand signals from someone in uniform.

Checking mail again... oh my God... another genius with a jockey full of bourbon and a fully-loaded chainsaw shredding their sites apart... from Brazil!

It's not because we hate soccer that we Americans don't follow the World Cup. It's the damage we'd do to our business infrastructure should we get all sensitive about defeats is what keeps us from caring so much.

We'd end up like... Brazil!

Roger Clemens takes the mound once again to face the horribly slumping Chicago Cubs at Minutemaid.

This is the equivalent of laying out pre-whacked snakes on Whacking Day, folks. This is not one you lose. Nine more games against the utterly confused Cubs, and if the Astros are going to contend they need to win most of them as well as put up some tough numbers against the Reds.

However, never underestimate Phil Garner's ability to yank defeat from the jaws of victory, so you may want to keep track of who screws Roger Clemens tonight:

The bullpen got some work last night despite it being the last DH night, so Roger may end up stuck with Nieve going 2 or 3 and Borkowski cleaning up before Lidge blows it.

Morgan Ensberg got some good at-bats yesterday, but I think it was just because he was up against the hapless Rangers crew in a ballpark friendly to hitters. Also, we'll see if Garner keeps up the Lamb-on-first, Berkman-wrecking-his-knee-in-right madness when Lamb really needs to spell Ensberg for a few weeks.

Oh, and when does Backe come back? Doesn't he get his first rehab out of three on Thursday?

Forget Clemens' romp through the minors... watch Backe. If Andy Pettite keeps screwing up and Buchholz remains strong, we may just see history in the making... a sixteen million dollar one-batter lefty reliever.

Nah. He'll get Purpura to trade Qualls or Wheeler for a bat (and then dump Palmerio) long before then. (When it's really Load Em Up Lidge that should be on the auction block, taking the Wagner Express out of town)

When you buy a lot of servers, sometimes you want them all in one easy-to-manage location.

We offer up such a thing. You can get all of your servers moved to a single rack, protected by what we say is a robust UPS system, tied together with what we say is a robust router solution, and so on.

Customers who get that special rack solution also get a special number to call so they can bypass the phonedrones who handle ordinary Joe Blow customers.

Today, we got a few calls coming in from very, very angry rack customers. They keep trying to call the special rack hotline, but they end up getting forwarded to us.

Apparently, someone changed the hotline from one that directly rang the private rack technicians to go to the security guard for that datacenter, who then dutifully bounced the call to... the ordinary phonedrones. Whom rack customers want to avoid like the plague.

Anybody tell anyone about this?

Of course not.

It's it fun when people make changes without considering the consequences of those changes? Especially when it pisses off the custoemrs who you least want to piss off revenue-wise.

Never a dull day here in Hell.

Well, if you're reading this, I'm already on the way home.

My wife got me a new folding umbrella for an anniversary present (she tends to fill up lots of gift bags with things because she loves wrapping and giving presents... oh, and me, too.)

The best thing about this umbrella isn't the quick action or the easy drying or the strong shaft... no, it's the fact that it has a fairly loose case with a strap on it to carry it.

I'm really bad about keeping umbrella cases with the umbrella. It takes me about three days to lose the case, and then the umbrella slowly but surely gets wrecked.

But this umbrella holster is both sturdy and functional. It's not some cheap umbrella-condom used for nothing but packaging the thing. This sheath is for storing the umbrella.

It should last about a week before I lose it. Because I'm stupid, you know.

In order to defend Gaza from an impending IDF invasion, the Palestinian Authority has recruited and equipped... THE AL-AQSA PHOTOGRAPH BRIGADE!

They're not just a bunch of old women with photos in heavy wooden frames. No, they're ruthless killers!

"Help! I'm being attacked by bloodthirsty photographs! Help!"

God help him, the unlucky son of a bitch.

Where will they strike next?????

Looks like Homestar is back...

STRONG BAD: All right, Lappy, when I mash record on that camera, we're gonna perform the world's first death-defying midair SBEmail check! We'll make the cover of all the latest blogs!

There. I'm officially the latest blogs.

STRONG BAD: Oh, cuh-rap!

Exactly.

It's time once again for the Carnival of the Cats, and Watermark suffered spotty Internet connections and wild monkeys to bring #119 to the world.

As for who's the best of the banner, I'd better tally up the clicks and see who made it as Catmodel of the Week this time around...

Ivy from Stranger Ranger wins, despite the stress of dealing with oldtimer Ivy... um... er...

Right.

I knew Linda Heard was fucked in the head, but. she's foaming herself into a whole new mathematics:

Almost 50 percent of Gaza's 1.5 billion residents are without electricity at a time when temperatures are hitting the mid-30s. Israel saw fit to bomb a major power station, in blatant contravention of the Geneva Conventions, during an operation sadistically titled "Operation Summer Rain".

That's billion with a b, folks.

Sunday schedule today.

No 9. It's off to the Tunnel Of Mud.

And they want to run rail along Westpark, which they don't run buses along before 6, after 9, and on Sundays or Holidays.

Walked to stop for 25 at 7am... took half an hour, got downtown at 8am.

Dropped off at Preston, walked to Travis, 102 came by at 8:30am.

Got to work at 9am.

METRO sent a normal bus instead of a commuter bus for the 102, but they had padded seats on it instead of crappy seats. You know, because the one or two fools going to the airport in it might think less of Houston for wandering around various Gunspoint apartment complexes in crappy vinyl seats.

Who cares what I think about Code Pink's hunger strike? It's time for a new feature of TBIFOC called Ask The Cats!

On Thursday we noted that Diane Wilson planned to start a hunger strike tomorrow: "I'm just a shrimper whose gonna stop eatin' to stop the war," she said in an interview with Code Pink. Wilson urged others to join her, and said you don't even have to stop eating altogether: "You can drink fruit juices, or anything that's liquid--just no solid food. People can make their choice about how to fast--whether water only or a liquid fast."

This got us to thinking, what could we do to show our support for American victory? It seems obvious: Do the opposite of what Wilson is doing. Tomorrow, July 4, we plan to throw a big juicy steak on the grill and devour it in a show of patriotism. We urge you to do the same.

If red meat isn't your taste, no problem! You can eat chicken, or fish, or even a salad or fruit or edamame--anything, as long as it's solid. And if you really want to show your commitment to the war effort, don't stop after Independence Day. Eat solid food every day. Eat it two or three times a day if you can.

Remember, V is for vittles--and victory!

What do you think about Code Pink's hunger strike?

Nardo: Lay some salmon on me!	Piper: Turkey!
Frisky: Can you please open this up for me?	Grace, Audace, and Ruse: We're all piggin' out in support of our troops -- doin' our share!
KT: Is pureed tuna liquid or solid?	Beezer: Mmmmmmm......
Loki the Canadian: Round here we like to hear a faint mooing in the distance when daddy takes the meat offa the grill...	Mycah: Give me the treat. Now.
Maggie and Carlos: Dad would like us to be big and fluffy when he gets home next year. so hurry up with the tuna!!!!	What does your cat think?

• A photo of the cat or cats in JPEG format (If you've already submitted the photo, it will be in my gallery archive. Just let me know the URL of the thumbnail photo to use again)
• Their opinion, whether it pertains to the subject or not
• (optional) Your blog's URL

Well, it looks like Tracy Twyman won't be doing Shire Network News again due to family circumstances.

(Feel free not to read the rest of this post if you don't like it when I kick someone when they're down.)

Don't you just love how Jew-hating groups manage to show up at press conferences in Gaza?

Oh, and terrorists manage to show up, too. In fact, here's one right now...

ABU ACKBAR: "Hello, everyone. Is everyone comfortable? Okay, first off, I'd like to thank the UNRWA, the Internationa Red Cross and Crescent Societies, the European Union, and the Coca Cola Corporation for providing this meeting room on such short notice. May they die quickly and suffer little in the fiery pits of hell when Allah casts down all infidels for eternity. Okay, first up... New York Times."
NEW YORK TIMES: "Thank you. How do you respond to the Bush Administration's use of a bank transaction clearinghouse in Belgium to identity transactions between donors and resistance leaders in order to pass them along to Israeli intelligence?"

ABU ACKBHAR: "Now now now... you're just trolling for thank yous, aren't you?"
NEW YORK TIMES: "Well, yes."
ABU ACKBHAR: "Well, thank you for letting us know about that. We're working with the American Express corporation to come up with more secure methods of funding, and I think we may have a few opportunities with the new Google rival to PayPal. Next question?"
REUTERS: "Will you do the commercial for the American Express folks?"
ABU ACKBHAR: "Well, it's part of the sponsorship deal... cards and rockets for a foothold in the Arab economy... I'm thinking 'Do you know me? Well, as long as I wear this mask, you won't. But one thing gets me noticed... the American Express card... don't leave your homes without it, unless you want another Nabka.' "

ABU ZOO: "Pssst... there's a problem with the car."
ABU ACKBHAR: "Just grab the keys and move it before they tow it."
ABU ZOO: "Um... I don't think it's gonna get towed..."
ABU ACKBHAR: "Good."

MOHAMMED: "SHIT! I JUST HAD THIS MOTHERFUCKER WAXED!"

ABU ACKBHAR: "Okay, next question?"
KATIE COURIC: "Have you gotten screened for colon cancer?"
ABU ACKBHAR: "Where's your burkah?"
KATIE COURIC: "Oh, I'm sorry... one minute..."
ABU ACKBHAR: "Sheesh... and she's taking Dan Rather's job?"
ABU ZOO: "Dan knew to have the burkah on before the conference."
ABU ACKBHAR: "Yeah, he was sure our bitch. Even more fun than Peter Jennings... next question?"

CNN: "Is the captured soldier still alive?"
ABU ACKBHAR: "No."
CNN: "No?"
ABU ACKBHAR: "Um... I mean... yes. For now."
CNN: "Isn't it prohibited in Islam to kill captives and hostages?"
ABU ACKBHAR: "Shit, lady. There's nothing in there about rockets and guns, either."
ABU ZOO: "Or Mexicans."
CNN: "Thank you."
HELEN THOMAS: "Is there any truth to the rumor that-"
ABU ACKBHAR: "By Mohammed's Beard! It talks!"
ABU ZOO: "I thought that was a stone gargoyle from the Pottery Barn."
HELEN THOMAS: "Is there any truth to the rumor that there will be a Blue Man Group performance coming to Palestine?"
ABU ACKBHAR: "Actually, we've come up with our own performance art group... it's called Abu Man Group. We were scheduled to open in Rafah last month, but the Zionists keep bombing our instrument development factories."
ABU ZOO: "They keep saying they're rocket assembly buildings, but they're not. They're candy shops and orphanage crib assembly plants and baby milk factories and..."
ABU ACKBHAR: (whispers) "Don't you think you're laying it on too think?"
ABU ZOO: "... and saxophones that shot out flames when played... yeah, that's what they blew up. Saxophones."

ABU ZOO: "Um... there's drone activity... we'd better split."
ABU ACKBHAR: "Anyway, thank you all for coming here on such short notice, and be sure to check out our website... our new blog... there's a CafePress shop in there... oh, and we've now got daily prayers in podcasts, too."
(applause)
ABU ZOO: "Run! Now!"

ABU ZOO: "I told you about the car, dumbass."
ABU ACKBHAR: "Maybe someone tried to play your saxophone?"
ABU ZOO: "Asshole."
ABU ACKBHAR: "TAXI!"
ABU ZOO: "They got my damn iPod, too! Fucking swarmers!"

Lots of emails pledging support. If I were to assume that people offering pledges without specific amounts would toss in a $20 bill, the total would at least $200 so far.

Not quite $2,500. How about I sign up, get y'all to pledge up to that point and beyond, and then I'll commit to doing it.

Sponsor Me!

Once again, I'll blog for the American Diabetes Association in memory of Rob "Acidman" Smith.

Spread the fucking word, dammit. Spread it far and wide. Stomp this mother into the ground and twist it with your heel.

And...

You have been banned from participating in the Blogathon for prior abuse of other participants, abuse of administrators, and attempted subversion of the awards process.

Blogathon Admin Team
http://www.blogathon.org

Heh. Indeed.

Cowards.

You should run your own fundraising drive for Acidman and rip the shit out of lame-assed Blogathon participant posts for a day.

Tempting.

Some cities get performances by The Three Tenors.

We here in Houston get performance by The Three Race-Baiting Poverty Pimp Parasites:

Sharpton reminded listeners of the sacrifices made before them.

He said they must organize the same civil disobedience tactics used during the civil rights era.

"We must fight this struggle," Sharpton said. "And we must not use diversions and excuses from joining the battle of this day."

He and Jackson also criticized big oil companies for high gasoline prices that affect blacks' lifestyles.

Jackson said he planned to march on BP's Texas City plant to force the firm to lower gas prices.

"So we are paying more for gas on the road, and more for gas at home," Jackson said. "But we cannot afford health care or afford to buy a new house."

And who can forget Screwy Louie Farrakhan:

The leader of the Nation of Islam also criticized attacks against Marc Morial, president and CEO of the National Urban League. He didn't cite specifics.

"You destroy your leaders because you focus on the negative things about them and that's the way the master taught us, to destroy each other," Farrakhan said. "And that's why we kill our own leaders. Oh, it's easy to say, 'I have a dream today.' But not many of us marched with Martin (Luther King Jr.)"

He said blacks benefited from King and the civil rights movement.

"I didn't march with Martin, not me. Because I'm not nonviolent. ... Somebody strikes me on my cheek and I'm going to bust you on your you know what," Farrakhan said, evoking one of his many standing ovations.

So, for July Fourth, here's some advice for my black readers:

It looks like Podcast Pickle reset favorites, so I lost my only fan.

No sign of Instapundit's podcast, BlogHouston's Bad Sports, or Hog On Ice. Strange.

Oh well. I'll slate up with those I can find.

Looks like it's Raggedy Andy vs. the hapless Cubs today.

With Derrek Lee batting, Juan Pierre picked off and caught stealing 2nd base, pitcher Andy Pettitte to first baseman Mike Lamb to shortstop Adam Everett.

The announcers have been yammering about that all season long, and he's finally done one. Wow. Color me thrilled.

Sadly, Cooper's back playing Robin to Garner's Adam West-style Batman.

Hopefully, Mark Prior folds like a deck chair, but slowly enough to allow a bunch of runs so that the over-used Astros bullpen has plenty of Lidgeproofing.

The Space Shuttle Discovery has launched.

Meanwhile, the Palestinian Space Program hit a school in Ashkelon.

COMMENT OF THE DAY: "Is the camera on the tank or the shuttle?" "The tank... wait... this is where you see the coyote pop his head up."

I noticed two things on Richmond on the way in to work today:

1. The entire strip mall at Richmond and Kirby was... well... stripped out except for the Murphy's Deli and the Donut shop. All Fenced off, guts torn out of the shops... I wonder what new strip mall will be put in place there.

2. The Deathramp 527 underpass at Richmond was getting sidewalks put in. Before, it was mud and rocks. Nice to see TXDOT or whatever contractor had that task finally finishing up that job. Someone had been bitching up a storm about it in the BlogHouston forums, but I can't find the reference now.

We'll see if I can snap photos of both on the way home, unless I take a different route.

Just experimenting with something.

Feel free to play around.

And, no, it's not permanent.

Got a customer whining that it's hard to open a trouble ticket because he's a "marketing person" and not a "tech person."

I've gone through both the sales/purchase forms and the trouble ticket forms. I've also gone through the process to check billing and other "marketing person" tasks.

It's actually easier to submit a trouble ticket than get signed up. And getting signed up takes little more than the ability to fog a mirror, a credit card, and a domain name.

Fucking whiners. Now he's yammering about "I pay you X a month to do this for me" yadda yadda yadda.

Hold on... let me check my pockets...

Nope. No X in there. Must be up my ass to keep the inmates from shivving me and taking it, you think?

"Marketing people" don't whine that they're not "tech people." They hire "tech people" to solve tech issues.

Guy's just a "whine person" more like it.

Nardo shows off his patriotic collar:

Frisky shows off his patriotic hat:

Nardo beats up Frisky and takes his patriotic hat:

Nardo is such a jerk, but at least he's a patriotic jerk.

Today, Load Em Up Lidge never got a chance to pitch because Launched Off Lidge got rocked the first batter he faced.

The man is shakier than Turnbow.

So, who will the new closer be?

Had the "adult" mac and cheese meal at T.G.I. Fridays today.

Sucked. Big time.

The saddest part of it is that it sucks compared to the mac and cheese meal at Hard Rock, too. You'd think that Hard Rock food would be the worst out there, but T.G.I. Fridays sure did a number on this garbage.

I still think Alton Brown's recipe for mac and cheese is the best. Might just make it this weekend if I get up the gumption to do it.

Blogging will be light today because the new Human Rights Commission of the United Nations is going to meet and decide whether or not I am violating human rights.

I don't think I am. Although I'm sure the cats think I am violating Feline Rights by not letting them play outside all the time, or the fact that I go to a place called "work" instead of playing withthem all day.

So I think I'll be fine. Until a Commission of Feline Rights is established.

Regular blogging will resume tomorrow.

Ace reporter/producer/podcaster Mike McGuff is looking to interview bloggers in a radio segment.

Unlike many of the MSM, McGuff is an outstanding fellow and most trustworthy. He won't try to make you sound like an idiot. And even if you really are a babbling idiot, he'll miraculously find a way make you sound semi-coherent and somewhat intelligent.

I say go for it.

It's raining again today.

The 9 was a little late and a little slow. Had to run past the DTC dangertrain station to grab the 102 just as it was getting ready to pull from the stop.

Cutting it close, as usual.

By the time I got to work, the storms had caught up with me. Or I'd caught up with the storms.

Either way, pulled out the umbrella again, popped it open, and it popped closed nicely when I was walking in the door.

I've got to get fancy with the act of opening and shutting the umbrella. Can't have an umbrella without an umbrella-opening ritual or routine.

It's got two velcro straps on it to secure it, not just one. Those dangle oddly and tap me jauntily on the back of the head as I walk.

A small price to pay for staying dry and not fearing a blowout when the wind gusts, I suppose.

Well, after a long drought of fans on the Podcast Pickle, I'm now up to 3 fans there:

• Carol of Israelisms, who leaves her birth year off of her profile so as not to shock people as to how young she is.

• Twistcast, who has some kind of Twistycast that I've been trying to get into... I just need to adjust my levels and drink more.

• Caleb of Black Tie Martini Club, who appears to be heading for a background-music war with Elisson in the 100 word stories challenges.

• Andrew Ian Dodge needs to be added to 100 Word Stories as a cast member, too. Or does the Pickle not let you have multiple cast members on a podcast when it's a partnership? Hrm... might drop P.Dilly a note or search the forums for it like I tell customers here. Anyway, he's just added Dodging Reality. Check it out this week... (I'll post a separate post on that in a bit)

Normally, a podcaster recognizes these folks by reading them aloud in shout-outs in their podcast, but let me tell you a bit about 100 word stories:

10 seconds = Fresh Media Works thing
15 seconds = The countdown intro
15 seconds = lead-in to the story
40 to 60 seconds = the actual story
30 seconds = So long and thanks for all the fish

My goal is to keep the podcast down to less than two minutes. When I'm assembling it and I see that 2:00:00 approaching in the Audacity bar, I think I've blithered long enough.

So, shout-outs and Frappr Maps and feedback and all that jazz falls by the wayside. Well, except for the Weekly Challenges... maybe I can put the shout-outs and answer feedback in those episodes.

If I had more feedback, maybe I'd pen and record an actual feedback episode, but 100 Word Stories is really about 100 Word Stories, not me. If you want stories about me, then you ought to look at the mes of P.W. Fenton or P. Dilly or C-Dogg or someone who tells those stories in more than 100 words.

Anyway, thanks to those fans, and I'll formally recognize them on the podcast when the weekly challenge goes up Saturday.

Speaking of the Weekly Challenge, I got this story from a rookie, and it's got more than 100 words in it.

I counted three times. With two separate word processors.

More than 100 words. For a 100 word story.

And they didn't record it, so they'd leave it to me to count the word and the midget to record it.

*sigh* I'm working up a pleasant but firm UNCLEAR ON THE CONCEPT response. No sense in crushing young talent just yet.

I have only one thing to say about Ken Lay: The motherfucker will burn in Hell for all eternity just for helping send Shelia Jackson Lee to Congress.

Who cares what I think about Ken Lay dying of a heart attack? It's time for a new feature of TBIFOC called Ask The Cats!

Enron Corp. founder Kenneth Lay, who was convicted of helping perpetuate one of the most sprawling business frauds in U.S. history, has died. He was 64.

Nicknamed "Kenny Boy" by President Bush, Lay led Enron's meteoric rise from a staid natural gas pipeline company formed by a 1985 merger to an energy and trading conglomerate that reached No. 7 on the Fortune 500 in 2000 and claimed $101 billion in annual revenues.

What do you think about Ken Lay dying of a heart attack?

Piper: Will they still need him and will they still feed him now that he's sixty-four? Of course not... unless you count feeding him into a crematorium's furnace or feeding him to the worms.	Nardo: Wait... he died from a heart attack? Obviously a fake, since there's no way Ken Lay had a heart to begin with.
Frisky: I wonder if his wife will sell pieces of Ken's corpse at her garage sale store to pay for the cost of the laywers. You know, because they kept saying they were out of money. While vacationing in Aspen.	Elmo: Bastard's just lucky he kicked off before I got hold of him. Hell, he probably heard I was coming, and scared himself to death.
Felix and Maxine: Good - Now our hard-working Mommy won't have to pay more taxes to feed him in jail and she can buy more treats for us!	Mirage: I do hope I get a piece of him if he is dead or alive!
Audace and Ruse: We echo what Felix and Maxine said. We need more food and toys! More toys, more toys!!	What does your cat think?

• A photo of the cat or cats in JPEG format (If you've already submitted the photo, it will be in my gallery archive. Just let me know the URL of the thumbnail photo to use again)
• Their opinion, whether it pertains to the subject or not
• (optional) Your blog's URL

Once again, Pajamas Media, it's U, not W.

But as long as the people printing the checks get it right, who gives a shit, right?

(Yeah, I deposited the most recently Pajamacheck yesterday... ran to the ATM and stuffed the envelope in that sucker faster than Wilt Chamberlain putting it to his beyotches.)

Some coworker keeps messing with my cubicle. They mess up the workstation all the time. They mess with eveything, a King Midas who's touch turns everything to crap.

When they left their sunglasses on my desk, I decided to leap into action...

I've been told that the interloper is wondering where his glasses went, but not even the interloper could possibly be that stupid.

Okay, so I finally recorded my "What other countries do to celebrate the Fourth Of July" and Andrew Ian Dodge incorporated it into his Dodging Reality podcast.

With Brian busy and Tracy KO'ed for good, Andrew had to scramble to find bumper pieces and music, but he did an amdirable job of stitching this one together.

Check it out, and send all your hate mail to me... Me! MEEEEEEEE!

(Okay, you can cc: Dodge on it, too)

Fine. More Frisky:

He's sniffing the squid toy. It appears that after a few days of ignoring the squid toy, both Nardo and Frisky are becoming fascinated by it.

It jingles. These guys love to bat jingly toys around at night.

This is why jingly toys are banned. It's bad enough that they jingle their collars.