Wolfe Pack -- Official Site of the Nero Wolfe Fan Club
Nero Wolfe's fan club is sponsoring a writing contest: a detective novella of 15,000 - 20,000 words in length which must follow a set of guidelines along the lines of old-school detective novels, e.g. no psychics, coincidences, or psychopathic murderers.

Each entry must be an original unpublished work of fiction that conforms to the tradition of the Nero Wolfe series.
The mystery should be "traditional" in flavor.
The crime must be solved using the deductive abilities of the sleuth. No coincidences.
The killer must be known to the victim. No random pycho shootings.
The characters (male or female) must have an engaging relationship.

- posted by frank crist @ 3:03 PM 0 comments

 
Why have HD prices not dropped?
Two to three years ago I was paying between $70 - $100 for 250 GB hard drives, both IDE and SATA. I keep waiting for 250 GB drives to drop, but they remain in the same price range. Even as 320 GB and 400 GB drives come down in price, the 250 GB still will not budge. What gives with this? 750 GB drives are approaching the $350 range.

Bring the 250 GB drive prices down! I want $50 HDs, and lots of them!
- posted by frank crist @ 8:24 PM 0 comments

 
Amazon's $100 360
So, on the Amazon Customers Vote page, this week's deal is an Xbox 360 for $100. ! (The system typically retails for $299). They offered 1000 units at this price.

Sale started at 11:00AM PST. Accounting for time zone differences, I finally reached the sale page (after WAITING OMG THE SERVERS WERE JAMMED) at 11:09AM PST. SOLD OUT. 1000 units, gone in under 9 minutes. Bullocks.
- posted by frank crist @ 1:20 PM 0 comments

 
THE 9 on Yahoo!'s 99th show
The 9 keeps chugging along, production values are increasing, and guest stars abound. I saw T.O. last week, and today it's Fez from "That 70's Show." I'm telling you--you're asleep if you don't see the potential being realized by Yahoo!
- posted by frank crist @ 1:15 PM 0 comments

 
Iraq - A Neo-Conservative Dream Mugged by Reality - NAM
In this article, National Book Nominee and Washington Post correspondant, Rajiv Chandrasekaran, talks about how the neoconservative "dream" was corrupted by Rumsfeld's takeover of the state department. However, what I wonder is why he cares? Is this a whitewash of an extremely hostile and biggoted brand of American conservatism? I mean, neoconservative aims are just as aggressive, even with out a war-hawk like Rumsfeld in charge. Is it a chance to get easy shots in on the Iraq war fall guy?

In fact, it is an incredibly short article--a "Q&A"--and an audio excerpt. But the reason I liked it is because I didn't know Baghdad was called the "Emerald City" by the troops. And here's Chandrasekaran's explanation of why that is:

A number of disaffected people who worked in the Green Zone began to come to the realization that they were living in a fantasy, that bore no relation to the real Iraq. So they began to jokingly refer to the Green Zone as the “Emerald City.” It was kind of like going to Disneyland. It was like popping a Proza

- posted by frank crist @ 12:35 PM 0 comments

 
YouTube - screwed by Bush
Up for a little roleplay tonight, dear? How about I be the country and you be Bush.

"Don't pull out! Don't pull out!"
- posted by frank crist @ 12:19 PM 0 comments

 
Mike the Headless Chicken - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
On Monday September 10, 1945, farmer Lloyd Olsen of Fruita, Colorado, had his mother-in-law around for supper and was sent out to the yard by his wife to bring back a chicken. Olsen failed to completely decapitate the five-and-a-half month old bird named Mike, leaving one ear and most of the brain stem intact.

Not quite sure what to do with his by now loose head, on the first night after the decapitation Mike slept with it under his wing; it was this touching tenacity to life and the now redundant organ that convinced Olsen to reprieve Mike from the cooking pot.

Despite Olsen's botched handiwork, the by-now-headless Mike was still able to balance on a perch and walk clumsily; he even attempted to preen and crow, apparently not noticing that neither activity could be accomplished properly without a head. After the bird did not die, a surprised and no doubt guilty Mr. Olsen decided to continue to care permanently for Mike, feeding him a mixture of milk and water via an eyedropper; he was also fed small grains of corn. The unfortunate Mike occasionally choked on his own mucus, which the Olson family would clear using a syringe.
- posted by frank crist @ 12:58 AM 0 comments

 
The end of the internet
I did it. After months of denial, and being sorely out of practice, I read every page on the internet tonight. It took me 12 straight hours, but now there's nothing I don't know. As long as it's on the net.

Fuck I need to go to sleep.
- posted by frank crist @ 4:32 AM 0 comments

 
Weird Al interviews Eminem. - CollegeHumor video
A classic.
- posted by frank crist @ 10:51 AM 0 comments

 
Laser Pointers, Blue, Green & Red Lasers
This is a page of lasers that will actually burn things--the lasers as advertised by Star Wars in my childhood, but never delivered upon.

This site sells them.
- posted by frank crist @ 10:32 AM 1 comments

 
Laser Pointers, Blue, Green & Red Lasers
This is a page of lasers that will actually burn things--the lasers as advertised by Star Wars in my childhood, but never delivered upon.

This site sells them.
- posted by frank crist @ 10:32 AM 0 comments

 
Jaleel White is not dead
Urkle? Yeah. He's alive. So quit telling me that he killed himself.

Speaking about his "suicide":

White, now handsome and 30, a UCLA film school grad, a man who didn't squander his money or end up on America's Most Wanted alongside other fallen child stars, was alive and well and, as you might imagine, royally pissed.

- posted by frank crist @ 6:05 PM 0 comments

 
I quit my job
So, obvious lack of content here, and that was because I had a 70 hour / week job. But no longer. Although I loved the job, and worked with a great crew, production video game life didn't work out--at least, not when I have an MFA thesis in Creative Writing looming over me. Yes, it is hard to write a novel when all of your time is spent at the job.

So I quit. I'll miss Babaroga, and really appreciate working there.

For the future, I have a work-at-home job doing mobile social networking apps. mpulsemedia.com. Which also means that I'll have more time to write. Thesis-wise, but also to entertain the tubes of the intarwebs.

That is all. Now watch this flash from Whiskas(tm) cat food describing and demonstrating various cat behaviors.
- posted by frank crist @ 12:09 PM 0 comments

 
A Crime
Her body was burned. Not her face. In fact, her whole head was fine, except for the terrifying vision of it. Pain. Like a solid thing.

Lifting up her housewife dress, her midsection and genitals were a blackened mess. Charred skin cracked to reveal oozing red-black deep tissue below. The bone showed on her inner thighs.

She'd been raped. And burned to hide the evidence. But she hadn't been raped in the vagina. The evidence of burning was concentrated in the back. Between her buttocks.

A monster was on the loose; a hungry, devistating monster. And with an appetite like this, he would not soon be sated.

This was going to happen again.

Heeeehehe. I get to work on my thesis again. *stoked*
- posted by frank crist @ 11:39 AM 0 comments

 
Device Dries Lice And Nits Out Of Hair
Device Dries Lice And Nits Out Of Hair: "If you want to rid your children of lice and nits and don't want to use chemicals, a hairdryer-type device may be just what you are looking for. Use it on your child for 30-minutes and he/she will be infestation free, say the makers of the LouseBuster, Larada Sciences. The makers stress that their device dries the bugs out, it does not heat them. You should not try doing this at home with your hairdryer."
- posted by frank crist @ 6:13 PM 0 comments

 
How do you say thank you?
In hundreds of languages. Just in case.
- posted by frank crist @ 8:20 PM 0 comments

 
A chain of events
We needed a decent structure, so we created a lot of objects.

Too many objects blew the jar. We reduced the number of objects. We merged all of the images together.

Too many merged objects and images blew the heap.

That's the way it goes in OO.
- posted by frank crist @ 2:04 PM 1 comments