Visit the South-East Asia Earthquake and Tsunami Blog aka the SEA-EAT Blog, to follow the relief efforts, as well as resources for donation. Network for Good (Thanks, Angel) is also a great resource for donations and backgrounds on different charitable organizations.

It's also well-known by now that Amazon.com has been accepting donations for the American Red Cross right from its home page. But I've chosen not to make my donation through them after all the hullabaloo surrounding them about their timing of payments and donation allocations following September 11. I'm not completely sure how all that turned out, but I figure they are getting enough donations in without me, I'll give to one of the many other organizations.

It would be nice if the governments of our planet would allow debt forgiveness to these affected nations, so the countries could also contribute to their own rebuilding and devise systems for future emergency preparedness. If Bush can call for debt forgiveness in Iraq, he can call for it in Sri Lanka and the other disaster stricken nations.

What I'd also love to see, and sadly, I doubt I will, is credit card companies allowing consumers to make contributions to the tsunami relief effort on their Visas, MasterCards, and Discovers, without being charged any interest on those transactions. There's plenty of people here in a America carrying a great deal of debt. They all hate it. They all know they won't pay it off tomorrow, or even the next day. And, I believe, all of them want to contribute to the relief effort. They know reaching deeper won't kill them, they live with their debt every day like people with asthma or epilepsy.

It would be nice to see the major beneficiaries of tax reform (i.e. - large corporations, and more specifically credit card companies) give back to the world what's been already given to them through lobbying and legislation.

And we've all looked at our garment labels now and again and noticed where our clothes are being manufactured. I've seen Sri Lanka, India, Malaysia, Thailand, just about all these countries appear there. The public relations people would be wise to trumpet some philanthropical announcements of Calvin Klein (worn right now, manufactured in Kenya, yep they were hit, too), Tommy Hilfiger, Ralph Lauren, Gap, Abercrombie & Fitch, and whoever else is mass-producing clothes outside of the United States, making donations to the people of these nations, rather than firing them for not showing up to work that day to stitch my 5-pocket jeans, boxer shorts, or pocket T's. Is the firing comment a bit extreme? Yes. But I really don't put anything past a corporation, that's desperate to meet a bottom line and please shareholders. And is it too pie-in-the-sky to think a corporation would make a contribution in this situation?

And no, I don't want to hear how much their employee's contributed. I love how organizations love to make those big announcements of what their employee's have done. The employees are not rewarded in any way, but the company gains all the charitable capital (yes, that's a play on all the political capital talk that's going around these days). Bangladesh could use a bit of W's political capital he's talking about spending.

Sadly, a press release by one of these corporations making a large contribution, could cause a drop in their stock price, but I would believe that the public response and goodwill generated by community rebuilding could go along way. I guess the least a company could do for the people to whom they pay sweatshop wages is rebuild their homes and community, and then rebuild the sweatshop where they make their clothes.

I'd just like to hear somebody is doing the right thing.

I just contributed to Architecture for Humanity through Network for Good.

And I just did some searches to see what the corporate contributions have been like. The only clothing company I've seen so far is Land's End.

I'm done, I'm tired, I've been sick for almost a week. I've rambled. I've most likely steered off topic. I've ranted. I'm not sure if those rants made sense. I've probably spent an hour more than I intended to complete this post. I just want people to know where to donate, if they don't already, and to put some thought behind it. But now I just want to go to sleep.

If you haven't seen Ninjai,The Little Ninja before, catch the first 10 chapters here. Chapter 11 is slated for 1/25, with Chapter 12 to follow in February.

Sometimes we get so caught up in our own bullshit, we forget that the world is bigger than just you or me.

I took 5 or 10 minutes to read WorldChanging and remembered that.

My prayers to all those whose lives have been affected by the recent earthquake and tsunami. "Affected" doesn't even begin to describe what these people are going through.

Art of the FBI's Cointelpro

And the art of Shepard Fairey. His well known experiment in phenomenology has been influenced at times by propaganda posters.

I gave you the bad first, then the good. And it got me back to the Obey site for the first time in a long time.

Interesting. But I'm more curious to hear about the "metal, egg-like object".

More detailed account.

And a Lennon assassination theory.

Some people search for Bigfoot outside of San Andreas.

Back from the World of Chocolate, into the world of San Andreas.

I finally have some video footage of the mysterious ghost photographer. Many of you have seen this by now, because the map I found in the newsgroups (reduced in size at right) is spot on. Now the footage is not great. I tried to maneuver Carl Johnson with one hand to frame the shot, while using the MPEG-capture mode of my digital camera with the other.

So, if you haven't found this yet firsthand, this will give you an idea of what to expect. Sometimes the photographer takes multiple shots, and always nods after getting the one they want, and then the walk to their watery grave. Sometimes they will throw a comment your way, sometimes they might leave some money underwater for you, but they never swim. And they never leave you a camera.

Ghost or glitch? I say glitch. But I am happy they left it in, it makes for interesting discussion.

Just 27% done with the game so far, still have some work ahead of me.

6/24/06 UPDATE: The link to the ghost photo movie is active again.

I'm posting from beautiful Hershey, Pennsylvania right now. And I can't believe the amount of chocolate that has entered my body in the last 24 hours. It's everywhere. Everything must have chocolate. You get off the chocolate tour, they give you chocolate. You watch the 3d movie with dancing chocolate galore, then get more chocolate handed on the way out. You walk through the amusement park to the rides, and before you realize it you've just stuck another Hershey Kiss in your mouth.

I think the last time I pissed I filled the bowl with steaming hot cocoa. No marshmallows,though.

You truly develop a love/hate relationship with chocolate being here, which is not unlikely many folks on their diet du jour. (Currently, it's South Beach, Atkins, a close second, and the Weight Watchers people were still in business the last time I checked.) You're sick of it, but you'll reach for it. You're full, but you'll have another piece. But when it's all said and done, I think the world is a better place because there's chocolate in it. I like going to bed knowing that some day I'll eat another piece of chocolate.

I guess the brainwashing here at Hershey is working quite well.

is the plural form of aquarium. You learn something new every day.

Buried in this article somewhere, it looks as if the Reservists and National Guardsmen addressed by Rumsfeld are heading for the front lines. I would have thought this would be a role of the enlisted soldiers. But the longer this debacle goes on, the greater the number of men and women seeing front line combat.

Football teams punt. Isn't it time we do the same? The country doesn't need this, the planet either. We haven't found any Weapons of Mass Destruction, yet we've lost plenty of our own weapons. And now the soldiers have to sift through the sand for scrap to attach to their tanks. Where did all the money go that was budgeted for this war in the first place? Why can't we roll back the tax cuts to the rich, fi we're going to fund a war that only benefits them in the first place.

First a blog breakdown during my last post. Now I gotta get all aggravated about the war. Impeach early and often.

All proceeds will go to the Thisblogismyblog Pay My Mortgage & Credit Card Debt Foundation. No portion of your purchase will be tax deductible.

I have a couple of my wife's Coach handbags up for auction on eBay. I think they capitalize the "B" so as not to confuse those folks searching for the Pig Latin translation of a Be operating system support site. I actually prefer sites that provide Jive translation. (Editor's Note:(As if!)Shut up and let me finish! Unfortunately you need to click the "Dialectize" button in the center of the page forThe Dialectizer to load the last two links properly.)

I think that was funnier before I started typing it. Where's my editor? He was just here. Wait a minute! Who was that? This is a blog. My Blog. There's no editor. I'm the only one here. This is what happens when you edit a blog 12 times because your links running through someone's CGI script are not working properly.

I'm ready to toss this whole post away. But now that I've edited this one (need editor to spellcheck, Ha!) 12 times already, I refuse to delete it, no matter how much of a pointless trainwreck it has turned out to be. Just because I had to be clever with the whole dialect thing.

Clever, huh? How's that working out for me? Not too fucking good, right now.

Oh, and the "g" at the end of "fucking". I put that there not to be cute. Not to be clever. Just because it fucking felt right. So did that last "g" as well. I heard both "g" 's in my head. And the whole thing with the quotes around the g. Yes, that g. I don't know whether that's cute, clever, dumb, pretentious, punctually correct, hopelessly archaic, or not even worthy of drawing attention to. And I don't fucking care!

I don't fucking care with a fucking g.

g

Fuck g. Fuck h, too, for that matter.

Bid early and often. Thanks.

I was searching for Christmas mp3s and somehow came upon Saltwater Pizza. And I'm glad. The "How to create the worst playlist ever" post amused me greatly. So much so that I am posting the link and not playing GTA: San Andreas right now.

Oh, and I haven't figured out a good way to get my "Ghost photographer" pics from my PS2 onto my Mac and into your corneas. But don't fret, I just haven't worked that hard at it. It may still happen. Or I may blow it off completely.

Like how I never followed up my Terry Francona bashing during the playoffs, with credit for making some better pitching moves later in that series and for bringing Boston what no manager has done since 1918. So much-belated kudos to the Red Sox Nation.

And in an effort to remain relevant and timely, a link to the David Wells signing.

Love Rodeohead. Click the cowboys for bluegrass bliss.

Found on *6ize.

I found the ghost photographer in GTA: San Andreas. Although if you stop him or her from drowning by say, hmmm...shooting them full of lead, well, they bleed more than most ghosts. And die. And don't leave you the camera. I plan on putting up some pics soon, since I haven't seen a single one on the message boards.

But, in the meantime, the Indianapolis Star (well, you know, I live in Jersey and just need to know what's shakin' in Indy) ran this story on a certain ghost on sale at eBay.

I usually buy my ghosts in bulk from Costco, but I suppose $65,100 is a good deal for a ghost (with cane).

Actually I find this to be kind of a sweet story, albeit odd, but sweet nonetheless. Kid's grandpa dies. Kid has to confront death. Kid gets scared of Grandpa's ghost. Kid makes Mom sell Grandpa's ghost on eBay.

I genuinely believe the mother was trying to get some piece of mind for her son, and figured, "who's it gonna hurt?" (not her quotes, but they just felt right). It's a shame bidders ran it up so high. I hope someone pays something, and sends the requested confirmation of receipt.

In the form of web-hosted Shockwave based games of course. Snow N' Blow or Lick N' Bowl. Your choice.

Here's the first pics I've seen, there's been enough talk about them, you knew they were there somewhere.

And I'd heard a few things about the photographer who walks into the water and drowns. According to this map, it looks like you can find her just west of Los Santos.

Another GTA:SA Rumor thread, and the Legendary Map from the Lil' Probe Inn.

There's quite a few interesting glitches out there. GTA-SanAndreas.com has a nice page devoted to these.

...I saw a bunch of stuff glued on somebody's car. (along with the URL)

A little voice inside my head said, "Don't look back, you'll crash into the concrete divider."

I love art cars.

Not content with emulators for the Commodore 64 or Atari 800? Then, go retro-GTA style with The Degenatron. Relive all the excitement of your fictional GTA childhood with Defender of the Faith, Monkey Paradise (clearly the early inspiration for Pogo the Monkey), and Penetrator.

And this guy went to the trouble of building his own Degenatron cabinet.

Enjoy!

http://www.gameroom.com/cd05/SA_Leather.zip

Good site for cheats and walkthroughs.

Hey Kids? Do you like cartoon violence? (yeah, yeah, yeah)

Wanna see me stick PS2 demo video through your eyelids? (uh-huh)

Developed by The Behemoth.

Nice job, guys.

GTA: Lego City. It was only a matter of time.

Now you know about GTA for GameBoy Advance, but did you know about Grandtheftendo for the 8-bit NES.

Here's a message thread re: the bodybags in the desert. (with pics)