Maybe the Rainbows are Always There

Corporate Shilling...

2009-11-02T18:19:52Z

"try the great bargains at Haggle and help me win a contest"
Haggle.com
Cheap Electronics
Entertainment Shopping
Nintendo DS Games
Nuclear Manatee Seesaw Detector

There. I feel dirty.

It's So Bad.

2009-01-17T03:33:58Z

And it's all mine...

Youtube Honored Video!

2009-01-05T00:03:40Z

Yesterday, I put up a couple of brief videos of Atari Jaguar games, as part of my "Know Your Console" page. I noticed that the Rayman video already had 20 views, which I thought was odd. So, I looked around to try and find out why it had so many views, like if someone had linked it from somewhere, or someone was just watching it over and over and over for some reason. That's when I came across this:

"Honors for this video (1)
#94 - Most Viewed (Today) - Gaming - South Korea"

That's right, baby! My Rayman video is the 94th most watched gaming video in all of South Korea for today!

You, too, can see what's got the South Korean gaming video watching community all worked up into a storm!

That's just the beginning, I know it! I'm not going to stop until I get the 37th most watched video in the Seychelles!

Meet R.O.B.

2009-01-03T01:29:23Z

Say hello to R.O.B. I promise I'm not going to use him to start an evil army.

Now this is what I call service...

2008-12-26T19:33:04Z

I just bought some games off eBay. Check out the great deal I'm getting on shipping...

For only $4.50, they're going to send my games through a quantum vortex, so that I can get them the day before they ship them to me. How -awesome- is that?

Too Many Games...

2008-12-26T00:08:40Z

How many different video game systems do you see represented in this picture in some way or other?

Here's Why You Abandon Your Vehicles...

2008-12-20T04:03:05Z

Snow in Redmond.

And, of course, pictures: http://www.mathpirate.net/galley/v/BigSnow2008/

More Awesome Let Loose.

2008-12-18T04:19:32Z

We released two more toolbars today.

The one everyone is most excited about is the "Seasons Toolbar". It's all fancy and blue and stuff, and has links to iTunes music and movies, as well as Christmas-y wallpapers and recipes.

However, it's the Trivia Toolbar that I think I'll keep. I got 4/5 on both the William Shatner and Alan Thicke quizzes, so I'd like to see you all beat that! You can even win real money from it! As I type this, the prize is up to more than $72, and that can be yours!

Go download and share! Let us know what you think of them and what you'd like to see them do!

Seattle Traffic

2008-12-13T02:37:11Z

Nation.com, Powered by Awesome

2008-11-25T05:41:48Z

We just launched Nation.com, a new search engine with an interesting new style of toolbar to go with it. Gone is the boring Google bar, we've got slidey-bits and rollovers and animations and all sorts of other good stuff.

Out of the gate, we've got two toolbars.
One full of desktop wallpapers
And one full of recipes (just in time for Thanksgiving!).
Give them a try and let us know what you think, and also what you'd like to see in the future! We're going to be spitting out new types of toolbars and new things to add to the toolbars you've already gotten.

And if you're not interested in toolbars, try out the site itself: http://www.nation.com It's certainly more colourful than other search engines.

Yes We Can: Voices of Hope

2008-11-09T02:16:23Z

After what I said the other day about writing a letter to the future, I had a thought and got to work. After two late nights, most of today, and the purchase of a mostly useless PHP book, here's the result:

Yes We Can: Voices of Hope

So, write a letter to the future about what the election means to you, and have your friends do the same.

Thumbstick Recommended

2008-11-09T00:33:40Z

Writing Letters To The Future

2008-11-06T04:39:09Z

I want to write a letter to the future, telling them exactly how I feel about last night. I want to record what it means to me. It strikes me that history loses its humanity over time. We had to memorize the words of the Gettyburg address, but never spend time thinking about why it was given. We all know about Pearl Harbor, but we don't sense the fear, uncertainty, and anger of the people at the time. The only sense I have of the joy of the end of WWII is that picture of the sailor and the nurse in Times Square. When we landed on the moon, everyone "remembers where they were", but I don't know what any of them were thinking or dreaming that day. And we all know how we felt on the morning of September 11th, but only because we watched the buildings crumble. Our children and grandchildren won't know. There are important days in history that are relegated to a single dusty line of the facts.

"On November 4th, 2008, Barack Obama of Illinois was elected the first Black president of the United States."

That's what the textbooks will say. But we all know that's not what happened yeterday. It was much, much more than that. It was America standing up to the past eight years, coming together with a willingness to fix what was broken. It was all of us, dreaming of a better tommorow as we filled in our little bubbles or punched a hole next to Barack Obama's name.

Let's tell that better tomorrow what our dreams are. We did this for them, let's make sure they know why. Schoolchildren of the future will have to memorize lines like, "Yes We Can" and "This is Our Moment". Let's make sure they know what those words did to us.

I'm writing a letter to my youngest nephew about last night and about the race in general. I'll have him open it on his 18th birthday, seventeen years from now. He'll inherit what we've achieved, and he'll be the one judging our success. I don't want him to know of last night only through a dusty line in a boring textbook.

I encourage all of you to write to your children or grandchildren, nieces or nephews, even if you don't have any yet. Write a letter to the future to let them know what this journey has meant to you, and what you hope it will mean to them.

A Blemish on a Night of History

2008-11-06T04:37:34Z

On the very same night that Barack Obama was proving that America has realized the dream of Martin Luther King, Jr., California was proving that there are still an unfortunate number of people who refuse to move beyond their fears. It was overshadowed by the blowout victory of President Obama, but California Propostion 8 passed. Prop 8 was an initiative to create a constitutional ban on gay marriage in the State of California. They've now made intolerance and discrimination a state law.

Your marriage does not need defending against gays anymore than white people need to be defended against blacks. I don't feel personally threatened that a black man has become president in any way. There's no destruction of my identity, no fear that I'm now an endangered species. I feel elated that we finally have someone smart who'll be running the country. It's the same with gay marriage. There's no threat to me. It's not going to change who I am, it's not going to destroy my love for some woman just because two men can say "I Do". I'd feel elated that two people have found love and wish to share it openly.

This is one issue where I disagree with the new president's stand. He does not support gay marriage, instead, he supports civil unions. They're kinda like marriage, but they're not. I do not understand how he can possibly stand for something that is essentially a rerun of "Separate But Equal". (For the record, he did oppose Prop 8.)

This is the next battle to be fought. I hope it doesn't take 40 years like the last one.

YES WE DID!

2008-11-05T04:20:25Z

Thank you, America, for restoring part of my faith in humanity.

And to the better future: You're welcome.

Making History, I Hope.

2008-10-17T05:30:04Z

Hey, Barack, I've done my part. Now don't let me down.

Oh, so that's what I am.

2008-10-16T02:43:28Z

According to John McCain, I must be an extreme environmentalist. I believe that nuclear power must be safe. What a radical and off the wall point of view.

Accurate Picture of Our Economy

2008-10-08T04:39:19Z

The markets have finally thrown up their hands, said "WTF?!", and walked away. Awesome.

throw new UPSException();

2008-10-05T05:28:42Z

From tracking info on a package I've been waiting for:

Your package has experienced an exception.

Status: Exception
(See description below)
Shipped To: REDMOND, WA, US
Shipped/Billed On: 09/24/2008
Service: GROUND
Weight: 4.00 Lbs

Package Progress
REDMOND, WA, US 10/01/2008 6:22 P.M.
THE APARTMENT NUMBER IS MISSING OR IS INCORRECT. UPS IS ATTEMPTING TO OBTAIN THIS INFORMATION. / A POSTCARD HAS BEEN SENT TO THE RECIPIENT REQUESTING THAT THEY CONTACT UPS.

My address is wrong, so they're going to send me a postcard to let me know. I wonder how well that's gonna work out for them...

VP Debate

2008-10-03T03:01:12Z

So, in order to avoid looking foolish by not knowing the answer to a question, all you have to do is pretend the question was something you know the answer to, and answer it in that way.

"What do you think about bankruptcy?"
"My position on energy policy is..."

"What campaing promises won't you be able to keep given the events of the past week?"
"John McCain doesn't flip-flop, and have I told you about energy?"

"Does McCain support carbon caps?"
"Drill, baby, drill!"

"Do you have a plan to exit Iraq?"
"John McCain supported the surge and the surge worked!"

"When should nuclear weapons be used?"
"Nuke-you-lar weapons are bad and terrorists want them."

"How would your administration, should you be elevated, be different from McCain's?"
"Maverick!"

"What's your Achilles' Heel?"
"My strong executive experience will serve me well as vice president. And America is a shining city on a hill!"

WebCrawler Toolbar

2008-10-02T02:12:17Z

Want to get in on something new? Something exciting? Something so totally awesome it's not really even out yet?

Here you go!

The new WebCrawler toolbar.

I just spent two full weeks, including nights and weekends, working on getting this thing ready, so someone had better download it and use it.

We're going to be constantly improving it over the coming weeks and months.

It's beta, so if you find any bugs in the bar, please let us know. If you have install troubles, let us know. And today, it's only available on IE. Don't worry, Firefoxers, we're going to get a Firefox version out at some point soon, then you can join in on the fun and excitement.

Let me get this straight...

2008-09-30T02:15:25Z

So, let me see if I understand this...

The party of "Country First" doesn't like what Nancy Pelosi said, so they vote no on the bailout just to spite her? How does that put the country first?

And then, after the failure, the House of Representatives went on vacation. Until THURSDAY. Oh, I'm sorry, did this national crisis that only threatens to destroy the economy of this country for years to come get in the way of your trip to Disneyland? I just spent the past 15 days straight, working at least 14 hours a day on half of those days, in order to get a browser toolbar shipped. A BROWSER TOOLBAR. If I can work my ass off for something as stupid as a toolbar, I think the lot of you can postpone your vacation for a few days to save the country. I'm just saying...

Sarah Palin Interview

2008-09-26T04:29:25Z

Here's a clip of Sarah Palin's Interview with Katie Couric from the CBS Evening News.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lj3iNxZ8Dww&feature=related

Oh, wait, wrong link. Here's the real interview, if you can tell the difference...

http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=4479049n

Approaching Rally Point

2008-09-22T06:38:40Z

So, things have changed slightly... Again.

Apparently they couldn't get a permit for the Eastside, so no rally over here. The Seattle session is still on, but it seems scripted and choreographed and has a theme... Not exactly my thing. I briefly considered going out to Hunts Point anyway, just to make a statement, but I'd really rather not get banned from there for life. (Although, that might be somewhat of a badge of honour...)

So, as of now, I won't be involved in anything on Wednesday.

That didn't stop me from making a few signs.

Approaching Rally Point

It's only positive, Pro-Obama stuff for now, since that is what was requested for Wednesday before everything changed. (Of course, I have made a few signs that aren't quite so positive and I'll put them up shortly...) I'll probably be adding more to here off and on. Feel free to download, print, link, distribute, etc. any of the signs you find there. I'll also be putting some of them up on CafePress so that you can buy them, if you want.

Switch and History

2008-09-17T02:55:48Z

Well, apparently they've swapped out Sarah Palin with Cindy McCain. Doesn't really matter, after all, the campaign seems to believe that any woman is the same as any other, that's why they're going t oget all the Hillary voters with a right-wing nutjob.

Speaking of her, in 1995, on a family vacation to the Last Frontier, we made a stop in Wasilla, Alaska. Here is an exact quote of a comment I made regarding that visit:

"They seemed to be quite proudly displaying their lack of intelligence."