July 23rd, 2008 by Max
Here’s my new favorite pet peeve.
Come on in, get a special card, and we’ll give you 5 cents off each gallon of gas you buy with our card.
Really? FIVE CENTS!! Really?
Back when gas was a dollar … 5 cents was 5 %. Not much savings 5 %, but not bad. Now. 5 cents is 1 and 1/4 of a percent.
I usually buy about 10 gallons of gas. I could save 50 cents. With that I can go into the gas store and buy 1/2 of a bottle of soda. Almost.
Give me 10 % off. That would be 40 cents. That would save me $ 4.00 per fill up. THAT, would be worth my turning around. That would be buying ten gallons get one free. One every ten? Might make it worth it.
Come on people. Let’s stop waiting in line for an hour for 5 cents off!
And let’s open the strategic oil reserve. Winter is coming and those of us in the northeast are scared.
5 cents off! Kiss my ass!
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July 22nd, 2008 by Max
Sage Tyrtle on http://quirkynomads.com/wp/2008/07/08/wandering-toronto/
Suggested that everyone send her 1 minute of sounds from their home town. I made some recordings. Found that when i had to pay attention to what I was hearing, I became fascinated by the sounds I was recording. In the process I’ve collected a few sounds that I may share again in bits and pieces or in whole, here. I think I’ll probably grab some more sounds too. Its fun. And it really made me notice stuff. I know. That’s the kind of thing everyone says … and its not like being blind. I don’t know what its like being blind.
Its more like living next to a major street on a rainy day and working in a factory and going to the grocery store … with your ears open.
sidney-sounds-original
This is the first clip I made. Its the rain. Maybe the most surprising thing is how attached I was to these sounds, and how I hated to cut them down to a minute.
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July 16th, 2008 by Max
3 of 3 Smiling Maxes
Maybe more.
The further I got away from this movie the more I liked it. And I liked it a lot at the end. Normally I don’t go for this kind of movie. Normally I don’t like to see a movie the someone else had reviewed. I like to go into them cold, with no biases. But fortunately for me, what I remembered of the review by the TTN guys just gave me no clue how much I would like this movie. This is the third in a trilogy of movies that I watched aso that we could discuss them on Countless Screaming Argonauts. This may have been the best one.
I didn’t see Blair Witch. But I understand the camera work was modelled after that movie’s style.
Interestingly I’ve already described this movie to friends as rediculous. But it was rediculous in a good way. The camera was an unnecessary trapping for people in so much trouble, but they explained it away addeqautely enough so that I’m willing to suspend my disbelief.
You start out not sure who’s who much less whom to like in this movie, but as you slowly slide up to the edge of your seat for the danger and thrills, you pretty much marry the whole cast … It may be hard to relax while watching this movie, but it is not hard to watch!
Posted in Arts, Movie Reviews | No Comments »
July 15th, 2008 by Max
2 1/2 smiling Maxes
Will Smith, as always, holds the screen. Not sure what it was about this movie that kept it from being a perfect three. I don’t think it was the ending [which I won’t give away] but about it I will say that some of my friends didn’t like it.
To me, I think it had to do with the fact that it just didn’t give me the same feel as the original Charleton Heston movie did. That was a little more scarry, a little more gripping … If you liked I Am Legend, then rent The Omega Man!
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July 14th, 2008 by Max
2 1/2 of 3 smiling Maxes.
My system is, do I like this movie as I’m watching it? Do I feel like I’ve gotten a good deal for my entertainment dollar after its over. And finally, as I look back on this movie does it sit well in my memory days and months later.
At 2:32 its a bit long. Its fair enough to have a long movie because it is telling the story of a life and albeit a short life, this is a story worth telling.
Posted in Arts, Movie Reviews | No Comments »
July 14th, 2008 by Max
Maybe it was just because the weather was closing in. Maybe I just got lucky. Maybe it was only 1 eagle in two different places, but I saw this guy and a bunch of vultures. He was being hassled by some small bird and in a couple pictures he was screaming. This is the best picture of the day … which made my day!
Posted in My New York, Photos | No Comments »
July 12th, 2008 by Max
Here is an excerpt from a Jimmy Carter speech in 1977. Beneath it is an excerpt from the Answers.com about the DOE. [emphasis added]
CARTER
The first principle is that we can have an effective and comprehensive energy policy only if the government takes responsibility for it and if the people understand the seriousness of the challenge and are willing to make sacrifices.
The second principle is that healthy economic growth must continue. Only by saving energy can we maintain our standard of living and keep our people at work. An effective conservation program will create hundreds of thousands of new jobs.
The third principle is that we must protect the environment. Our energy problems have the same cause as our environmental problems —wasteful use of resources. Conservation helps us solve both at once.
The fourth principle is that we must reduce our vulnerability to potentially devastating embargoes. We can protect ourselves from uncertain supplies by reducing our demand for oil, making the most of our abundant resources such as coal, and developing a strategic petroleum reserve.
The fifth principle is that we must be fair. Our solutions must ask equal sacrifices from every region, every class of people, every interest group. Industry will have to do its part to conserve, just as the consumers will. The energy producers deserve fair treatment, but we will not let the oil companies profiteer.
The sixth principle, and the cornerstone of our policy, is to reduce the demand through conservation. Our emphasis on conservation is a clear difference between this plan and others which merely encouraged crash production efforts. Conservation is the quickest, cheapest, most practical source of energy. Conservation is the only way we can buy a barrel of oil for a few dollars. It costs about $13 to waste it.
The seventh principle is that prices should generally reflect the true replacement costs of energy. We are only cheating ourselves if we make energy artificially cheap and use more than we can really afford.
The eighth principle is that government policies must be predictable and certain. Both consumers and producers need policies they can count on so they can plan ahead. This is one reason I am working with the Congress to create a new Department of Energy, to replace more than 50 different agencies that now have some control over energy.
The ninth principle is that we must conserve the fuels that are scarcest and make the most of those that are more plentiful. We can’t continue to use oil and gas for 75 percent of our consumption when they make up seven percent of our domestic reserves. We need to shift to plentiful coal while taking care to protect the environment, and to apply stricter safety standards to nuclear energy.
The tenth principle is that we must start now to develop the new, unconventional sources of energy we will rely on in the next century.
These ten principles have guided the development of the policy I would describe to you and the Congress on Wednesday.
Our energy plan will also include a number of specific goals, to measure our progress toward a stable energy system.
These are the goals we set for 1985:
- Reduce the annual growth rate in our energy demand to less than two percent.
- Reduce gasoline consumption by ten percent below its current level.
- Cut in half the portion of United States oil which is imported, from a potential level of 16 million barrels to six million barrels a day.
- Establish a strategic petroleum reserve of one billion barrels, more than six months’ supply.
- Increase our coal production by about two thirds to more than 1 billion tons a year.
- Insulate 90 percent of American homes and all new buildings.
- Use solar energy in more than two and one-half million houses.
REAGAN
Although Ronald Reagan criticized the department during his 1980 election campaign as an example of government wastefulness and unwarranted governmental control of private enterprise, he did not abolish the department once in office. The department’s chief subdivisions direct programs in energy, environmental quality, national security, and science.
The period since DOE’s inception has seen a shift in focus in view of America’s changing needs within the global landscape. Faced with the energy crisis of the late 1970s, DOE directed its efforts toward development and regulation of energy resources. buildup that took place under the administration of President Ronald Reagan in the 1980s saw DOE turn its attention to nuclear weapons research, development, and production. With the end of the Cold War, DOE entered a new phase, in which its emphasis was on nonproliferation, nuclear stewardship, retooling of nuclear weapons for peaceful uses, and environmental cleanup.
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July 12th, 2008 by Max
I’m just sayin’!
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July 11th, 2008 by Max
Is today your lucky day? It was a good day for me. I’m a rationalist. I’m a skeptic. But lets face it. Today is 7-11. I’m going to gamble~
Posted in Max's Theories | No Comments »
July 10th, 2008 by Max
Let’s talk politics.
How about this Mister Obama? I just go and write a nice piece about hope and faith in a better world, and he goes and signs up for the G W B faith based initiatives version of the constitutional destruction? And then absolves the phone companies of legal liability for sending all of our personal communication information to the government. This was BIG BROTHER when the little unit proposed it. Is it really not that now? Plus he used his daughters on the Today show to show that he’s got a nice family, after saying that family was off limits.
Herbert said Obama was lurching to the right.
He right. I guess he’s trying to protect his right flank by not letting McCain get that conservative vote without a fight.
Maybe its a good tactic. Maybe if he caters to the arch conservatives he can privatize social security next and put all the illegal aliens on bus to Mexico City.
There goes idealism.
Shit.
http://my.barackobama.com/page/group/SenatorObama-PleaseVoteAgainstFISA
This looks like a better link.
http://get-fisa-right.wetpaint.com/
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July 7th, 2008 by Max
Blogs are trouble. I didn’t know this at first, but I see it now. And with appologies to Max, I’ll use his favorite phrase … The thing of it is, is … you kninda need to know what you want to come out of your blog. For instance I wanted to be heard. I have things to say about myself and the world, and the world didn’t seem to have enough ears to hear them.
Sometimes, you want to yell at the world. If you blog, the world can hear you. A blog is not your best friend. A blog is a passive vessel echoing whatever noises you put into it. Echoes can be heard.
The thing of it is, is, if you don’t want the world to hear you, you have to keep your mouth shut. What if you don’t want all of the world to hear you?
The thing of it is, is, a blog is also a journal. Its for yourself too. So who you gonna write for? That’s the trouble.
I feel bad.
Like a lot of times when I feel bad I don’t know what to do about this. I got dumped. The thing is … the thing of it is, is, that I think I feel worse than I might have, considering the time this relationship has had to develop.
And so I wonder is, is it me? Do I feel bad because this relationship meant more to me than I thought it did? Or should? Or do I feel bad because the end came in an email? She said we’re in different places in our lives. Which, let’s be honest is fair and reasonable. But in an email! But then so what? Or is it this? “If you want to talk about it you can call me, okay?” Which is compassionate. Empathetic? Somehow I think this has something to do with it. I can’t hate her. I don’t hate her. I’m not really angry, at least I don’t think I am. Not really sure on this one.
Something makes me think this one shouldn’t hurt this much.
I can’t figure it out.
The trouble is … it does, and I have to write about it.
Posted in Max's Theories, Other People's Theories | 2 Comments »
July 6th, 2008 by Max
Yes. I know. How nasty is that! But after doing some research, apparently its true!!!
Please. Please. I beg of you. Don’t listen to this next clip…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UBALqvp08Vk&NR=1
Or this one.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1cxuSXgKv7A&NR=1
Source:
“The Real McCain by Cliff Schecter, which will arrive in bookstores next month, reports an angry exchange between McCain and his wife that happened in full view of aides and reporters during a 1992 campaign stop. An advance copy of the book was obtained by RAW STORY.”
Three reporters from Arizona, on the condition of anonymity, also let me in on another incident involving McCain’s intemperateness. In his 1992 Senate bid, McCain was joined on the campaign trail by his wife, Cindy, as well as campaign aide Doug Cole and consultant Wes Gullett. At one point, Cindy playfully twirled McCain’s hair and said, ‘You’re getting a little thin up there.’ McCain’s face reddened, and he responded, ‘At least I don’t plaster on the makeup like a trollop, you cunt.’ McCain’s excuse was that it had been a long day. If elected president of the United States, McCain would have many long days.
Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »
July 5th, 2008 by Max
It takes a zillion hours to look at and treat and post all of the good pictures from a day like yesterday at the Montezuma National Wildlife Refuge. It was another good day for Great Blue Herons and for Osprey which were all over.
Here’s the first glimpse.
Posted in My New York, Photos, Science | No Comments »
July 3rd, 2008 by Max
Today I went around Depsit again and saw a parcel of wildlife. The goldfinch picture didn’t come out…
Posted in My New York, Photos, Science | No Comments »
July 1st, 2008 by Max
Posted in Photos | 1 Comment »
July 1st, 2008 by Max
Ok. Manahattan Man took his lumps now its my turn.
Guess which one of these colorful people is now sporting the Michael Jordan haircut. [I’ll give you a hint. They have the same birthday!]
Posted in Changes in the World In My Lifetime, Photos | No Comments »
July 1st, 2008 by Max
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LT8UwCoqoVI
[Editor’s comment] We don’t approve of it. We just like this. She first showed up on the radar with another borrowed ditty re: Tom Cruise.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pRvm0PfayR8
Posted in Other People's Theories | No Comments »
June 30th, 2008 by Max
Here is the reaction of [snip] our Nature Preserve Steward (no, we didn’t have one of those in your day), to your photos:
‘It appears to be mating snapping turtles; espectially one of the top pictures. The males do fight and sometimes the females reject males or males interupt other couples.’
So, it seems that you witnessed something that most of us never have the privilege of observing — the more you get out, the more you see! ”
So thank you to that Great Blue Heron who caught my eye and caused me to stop and notice these enormous turtles in this small pond. More mating pictures! My porn collection grows.
Posted in Science | No Comments »
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