is pepper spray a vegetable? if it is, then it could satisfy the USDA requirements for providing a vegetable serving in our kid’s school lunches? our occupy protestors are getting their USDA suggested vegetable consumption for the day.

our majority leader republicans have classified the two tablespoons of tomato paste on a pizza as a vegetable, thus satisfying the vegetable serving requirement for children’s school lunches. the proposed requirement was 2 cups, but that adds cost to the pizzas used. the lobbyists of major food producers ConAgra and Schwans made sure that didn’t turn into law, since it would negatively impact their bottom line. the health and expanding waistlines of our children lose out to corporate profits again.

reuters says it best here [story]

my favorite video game growing up. i found a copy for the mac, but haven’t got it running yet.

mr tom brier plays piano tunes ‘blind’, which means you can give him some sheet music and he’ll play it nearly perfectly the first time.

coach k wins 903 to be the winningest ncaa division 1 mens basketball coach in the history of the game.

i can only dream of looking as good as coach k when i’m 64.

he’s single-handedly pumped over a billion dollars into our economy with producing nba stars with big contracts and endorsement deals, along withhe sales of blue body paint of those cameron crazies.

his filipino flat nose has to be at least a small advantage tonight.

looks like it’s going to be mitt romney challenging barack obama for the top seat. rick perry will be managing a mcdonalds pretty soon.

(sorry for the ad)

this is the anniversary of the failed gunpowder plot involving guy fawkes. the recent protests have adopted his mask to represent the people trying to topple our inept government, similar to the film that popularized the mask, v for vendetta.

[on a side note, natalie portman was in that movie]

ok, now back to business:

i think i can sympathize with these protesters, but they seem a little disorganized. i think a lot of people feel that they are part of the 99%. Is this the best way of expressing their frustration with the current state of affair?. there’s lots of stuff wrong with the country (when is there not?) and the best way to show disapproval is to vote with your wallet.

bank of america tried to levy a $5 monthly fee for using your debit card, but that was quickly pulled after several hundred thousand closed their accounts and moved away to other banks and credit unions. people win when they are organized correctly.

what are the protestors protesting about?

jobs? unemployment is high, but it’s falling. craigslist in the bay area had 1200 job postings on FRIDAY ALONE. greedy corporations? they are pulling in record profits – chevron earned 7 billion in profits on revenues of 64 billion (that’s for a quarter, by the way). but if you don’t like what they do, then don’t buy chevron gas. problem solved. you can’t cry about jobs moving overseas, but then go buy your $8 monkey wrench from wal-mart. that same wrench would cost $35 if it was made here domestically.

the management of these ‘greedy corporations’ are chuckling because these protestors are still buying their chevron gas on the way home and head over to the citibank ATM to get some cash out.

what about the protestors trashing the city, like oakland? it’s less money for kids, parks and social services when it has to spend city money on cleaning that place up. then, what did your protesting actually accomplish? if you are vandalizing buildings and throwing rocks, then you probably should get some police force thrown your way. i only truly sympathize with those peacefully protesting that get roughed up. we have the right to gather peacefully and some overzealous cops forget that. you always run the risk of injury heading out to something like this.

here’s a police medic getting in on the beating action:

if they want things to change, then this loose, disorganized protesting isn’t going to make anything happen. they are just getting in the way of the rest of us who have jobs and trying to live their lives.

i’m not normally too political on things but i gotta blow off some steam every once in a while. now back to the jokes:

coincidence?

it’s time to showcase this year’s best costumes:

mermaid man and barnacle boy. looks like this is in the castro.

imagine trying to explain the dick-in-a-box costume to your parents or to a foreigner.

my personal favorite was “snakes on a plane”, although i think most non-nerdy folks would have to get a thorough explanation of what a plane is, or that there was a movie of the same name. the wife didn’t like this one as much as i did.

firefoxy

fantasy football

a one-legged girl going as a lampshade

and we’re done for this year…

my daughter notified me a couple days ago that a nearby mcdonalds is now serving the elusive mcrib sandwich. i snapped a couple up right away before mcdonalds pulls it off the menu. who can resist the boneless pork patty molded into the shape of a rack of ribs, slathered in a tangy sweet barbecue sauce, complete with pickles and onions? well, maybe only muslims.

mcdonalds usually serves them at different cities at different times, so it’s hard to predict when they are available. the limited availability mystery of it all sort of lets the excitement and anticipation build. a mcdonalds in milpitas might have them, but then a mcdonalds in south fremont some 5 miles away will not have them. there is a website where you can find a local mcdonalds that is serving the mcrib, so there’s no disappointment to find  your local mcdonalds not taking part in this glorious festival of flavor.

[the mcrib locator]

when you have folks buying several sandwiches at a time and those who drive a couple hours to get one, you’ve got something pretty special. even investors take note of this frenzied excitement and have pushed their stock higher in the past few weeks.

we have fuzzy toilet seat covers and flowbees but no one has taken the time to sell something like this?

pirates of emerson has nothing on the [fear factory] in niagara falls, canada. i stole my favorite few and posted them here. you can see the rest on their [flickr] stream.

can we get this lady out of the news?

this is the kind of stuff i like to see:

i never thought i would see the ooh la lodge in its heyday. by the time i was old enough to head out there on my own, it was a run-down slum with druggies and hookers.

where would the world be without apple products like the iPod, iPhone, iMac, iTunes and Macbook? i hope the new apple execs can match the high standard for cool products.

is that the best he could come up with?

Upon their arrival, the doctor said he had invented a new machine that would transfer a portion of the mother’s labor pain to the father. He asked if they were willing to try it out. They were both very much in favor of it.

The doctor set the knob to 10 percent for starters, explaining that even 10 percent was probably more pain than the father had ever experienced before. But as the labor progressed, the husband felt fine, so he asked the doctor to go ahead and bump it up a notch. The doctor then adjusted the machine to 20 percent pain transfer. The husband was still feeling fine. The doctor checked the husband’s blood pressure and pulse and was amazed at how well he was doing. At this, they decided to try for 50 percent. The husband continued to feel quite well. Since it was obviously helping out his wife considerably, he encouraged the doctor to transfer ALL the pain to him. The wife delivered a healthy baby with virtually no pain. She and her husband were ecstatic.

When they arrived home, the postman was dead on their porch.

why is bill neukom out as the giants managing general partner? there’s lots of stories out there but, from what little i know, it seemed he was doing an okay job. it’s not like he was a huge part of the giants world series win last year, but i would have thought he did, and would have continued doing, a good job running the team from an operational point of view. again, i don’t think any of us know the full reason why, and we probably never will, but it just seemed like the wrong move at the wrong time. why do this in the middle of the season? if the partners were unhappy with how he’s doing, they should have waited until the end of the season to not shake things up to not distract the team or the fans at the end of the season.

he was part of microsoft for a long time, so you know he’s got the business smarts to run the company. he has also been a lifelong giants fan, so that’s gotta count for something. that by itself doesn’t automatically qualify him to be the head of the giants, you know he has the passion to make the giants better and he won’t treat it as just a numbers game.

i am disappointed on how things went down. let’s hope the giants can put some wins together at the end of the season here and catch up to the diamondbacks.

here’s bill in a better mood from last year’s parade: