Friday, May 30, 2008

book review: Of Mice and Men

#48 Of Mice and Men John Steinbeck 1937 * * * * * Too many critics have already said too many great things about this fantastic book. I almost cried. This is a masterpiece. ~ May 30, 2008

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book review: Murder On The Orient Express

#47 Murder On The Orient Express Agatha Christie 1934 * * * * A murder on a snowbound train. The murderer is on the train. Hercule Poirot must figure it out. Come for the mystery, stay for the dated stereotypes! ~ May 29, 2008


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Thursday, May 29, 2008

generic blog post

Yesterday I ran 10.77 miles. My legs hurt this morning. Today I cleaned out my car. I finished a laptop reformat and picked up a PC in Greenville. I told an old lady her machine was caput because the motherboard's capacitors were popped, leaking juice, and pretty much blown out.

I finished reading Murder on the Orient Express (Christie, 1934) and started reading Of Mice and Men. Pretty slow day. Got some writing done. Had some oyster stew. Got a little, very little writing done. Meh, another day.

Tuesday, May 27, 2008

generic blog post

My World of Warcraft subscription expired today, two days earlier than I thought it would. My personal nightmare is over. That game is so friggin' addictin'. I will not play again until the first snows fall in Grand Rapids, and judging from the f*cked up weather we've been having lately, that could be any day now. But probably not till fall.

Now maybe I can get some writing done.

Did some postcards, cleaned my office, and took 8 computers to Goodwill. Golfed poorly this evening, but had a good time. I'm reading Murder on the Orient Express and it's pretty good.

Monday, May 26, 2008

book review: The Dead Zone

#46 The Dead Zone Stephen King 1979 * * * * Stephen King wrote good stuff earlier in his career, and this is an example of the good stuff. The Dead Zone is tightly written, with none of the sappy long-windedness of King's later works. He tells a good story and gets to the point telling it. ~ May 25, 2008


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Saturday, May 24, 2008

funny ha ha

weekend troubleshooting report

Today I have my coffee. Deb came home from work this morning with the dreaded and mysterious "check engine" light. I checked the engine, and yes, it was still there. Having exhausted everything I know about new engines, I took it to Valvoline Instant Oil Change, where they checked and topped off all the fluids, put the computer thing-a-ma-jig on it to read the codes, and cleared it out. The code was for "gasoline evaporation" or some such nonsense, they said sometimes if the gas-cap isn't on it can cause it. I've never heard of such a thing, but they cleared the light out and it didn't come back on. How much did they charge? NOTHING! Friggin' Awesome.

I have a laptop to fix. I used Microsoft's "Windows Memory Diagnostics" program, a program you can burn to CD to check for memory errors, and yes, it found an error.

All this before 9:30 AM.

Maybe I should bathe . . . naw . . .

Thursday, May 22, 2008

damn!



that's f*cked up right there. Taliban almost shot this kid's head off. found pic at nytimes.com. happened near near Garmser, Afghanistan. the Marine was unhurt.

Sunday, May 18, 2008

book review: The Graduate

#45 The Graduate Charles Webb 1963 * * * * * Any book I can read in one day has to be good. I'm a slow reader. Heavy in the dialog, but there was so much said in what wasn't said. Almost no description of characters or background. Just dialog. Awesome. ~ May 16, 2008


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Thursday, May 15, 2008

book review: Conan of Cimmeria

#44 Conan of Cimmeria Robert E. Howard; L. Sprague De Camp; Lin Carter 1969 * * * * Book Review, Conan of Cimmeria: Why should I review this book when it speaks for itself? Here's a single sentence on page 91 that sums it all up: "The fighting madness of his race was upon him, and with a red mist of unreasoning fury wavering before his blazing eyes, he cleft skulls, smashed breasts, severed limbs, ripped out entrails, and littered the deck like a shambles with ghastly a ghastly harvest of brains and blood." What more could you possibly ask for? The Conan series I'm reading now is a collection of short stories published between the late '30s and as late as 1968, some of them posthumously by L. Sprague de Camp. ~ May 15, 2008


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Wednesday, May 14, 2008

Hey FEMA, take good notes!

I hope FEMA is taking notes on how the Chinese are handling the earthquake aftermath. Our disaster response during the Katrina hurricane was so ass-backwards compared to how the Chinese are handling the earthquake.

Maybe we can just call the Chinese for the relief effort for our next disaster, because our Federal Government can't find its own ass with a flashlight.

Tuesday, May 13, 2008

lightning at volcano

The Gods are Angry!

Monday, May 12, 2008

nature is awesome


found at http://www.dvorak.org/blog/

Saturday, May 10, 2008

Friday, May 09, 2008

something I heard on the radio

The lead guitarist for Queen, that's right, the super-rock group from a million years ago, is now an astrophysicist. I kid you not.

Here's the Article

Thursday, May 08, 2008

Please, please please: After I'm gone, turn my skull into a bong. Please.

Wow.


(From the Houston Chronicle)

Two men and a juvenile are accused of digging up a corpse, decapitating the body and using the head to smoke marijuana, according to court documents.

Matthew Gonzalez and Kevin Jones have been charged with the misdemeanor offense of abuse of a corpse, said Scott Durfee, a spokesman for the Harris County District Attorneys Office.

According to documents filed in the case, Gonzalez, Jones and an unnamed juvenile on March 15 went to an Humble cemetery, dug up a man's grave, left with the head and turned it into a "bong."

Gonzalez told authorities about the incident Wednesday, and showed officers the defaced grave, including a 4-foot hole. Because of a heavy rain, officers were unable to determine whether the casket or the body had been disturbed.


Now those are some serious pot-heads.

Sunday, May 04, 2008

dashboard stormtrooper


This guy stands on my dashboard. I am a nerd.

Saturday, May 03, 2008

intelligent design results (fig 5.)


intelligent design results (fig 5.)

I AM IRON MAN!

iron man 2008 * * * * * Fuckin' A. Movie was fantastic. Robert Downey Jr. was his usual smart-ass self. The story was good and the effects were extra-special. Jeff Bridges plays a great bad guy. Gwyneth Paltrow and Leslie Bibb are both smokin' hot. ~ 05.03.08


see all my movie reviews at http://www.danmanning.com/38.php

Friday, May 02, 2008

Save the planet, or save my ass?

So I decided to save a little gas money by taking my bike to the bank to make deposits instead of taking my car. I'm happy to do a little to conserve energy, and I by no means think we have a rat's-chance in hell to "save" the planet, but I'll ride my bike on short errands just to save money for ME. But the problem is, the fuck-tards driving around Plainfield Avenue are trying to kill me. These inbred, mouth-breathing, legally blind idiots do not see people on bicycles. I'm not sure I'm ready to end up in a wheelchair to save a couple of bucks in gas money.

Credit card site still down

I can't believe the BALLS the credit card company has. Their site has been down all morning? Yeah right. They know everybody got their government checks and are trying to pay off their credit cards, so what does the credit card company do? They down their own site, hoping we'll all spend that cash before we can pay off our Credit Cards. Fucking bastards.

The Eagle has landed! The Eagle has landed!

Yes, I got my government check today, and boy am I stimulated. Take that Credit Cards! We didn't have MUCH credit card debt, but just enough to be a pain in the ass. Not anymore. Goodbye government check, it was nice knowing you for your brief stay in my bank account. Goodbye Credit Card debt, my old, shifty friend. Go slink away and never return!

Funny thing, my credit card's website is down this morning, just when we all got our Government Cheese Checks. Coincidence? I think not! Is it down due to traffic, or did the Credit Card Company take it down themselves, hoping we'd all spend our Government Welfare Checks on something else? Hmmmm. . . I want a Congressional Hearing on this!

About Me

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I am the author of 5 books: Android Down, Firewood for Cannibals, The Cubicles of Madness, Robot Stories, and most recently, Various Meats and Cheeses. I live and write in Michigan. My website is at danmanning.com