It was a good weekend for the most part.  Started by recreatin' with DIM MAK and the boys up in Fayetteville.  First time I noticed the time it was 0130 hours.  Got back to the house around 0330 hours.  Had a great time.

Saturday built scaffolding to reach the unreachable bits in the stairway.  The scaffolding did not collapse, in spite of having just barely enough material to make it work, and a few creative solutions to mistakes along the way. Finished up all of the mudding in the stairway.  Now to get a couple more of the common areas before everyone returns, and painting, must paint some.  Changing the original plans a bit to maintain proper flow.

Sunday was ill all morning.  Took a nap and was in good enough shape by the time I headed over to the mother-in-law's place to install some light fixtures.  Managed not to electrocute self and all the lights worked when I left.  Then a quick stop at Sonic before heading to the office to work a short suspense proposal.  Note to panhandlers:  Carry around a gas can, it makes your out of gas story more credible.  Not saying that the panhandler at Sonic didn't need the money for gas, but I just thought that if you were just scamming money, the gas can would really help.

Some have marked with surprise at what an easy mark I am for the sob story.  But I only give money when it have it to spare and I don't have an immediate this means I will have to stop at the bank need for it.  Like the Sonic Panhandler, I made her wait for the change from a five (didn't like Lincoln's smug face in my pocket anyway).  But I figure there are four points to my generousity: 1) it would be nice to think that if I was really stuck sometime that someone would help me out, 2) there are probably a ton of people who do say "no" discouraging the practice, 3) they probably really do have some "need" whether it is the one the mention or even if it is harmful, 4) and given a harmful "need" it gives them a chance to step up to the plate, make a decision, and hopefully take a step in the right direction.

Some say I am responsible for that money and should make sure that they really are not going to do something bad with it.  And in many ways those people are right.  But I also think that there is room for someone to give the other guy a shot at doing the right thing.  That said, if I find out the Sonic Panhandler bought the gas, the doused her famliy and torched the house I might wonder if I did the right thing, for about two seconds.

Also spend almost three glorious hours watching the first two episodes of Firefly.  What a treat….

After the usual chores, and some unusual for me chores, i.e., those chores that are not mine that I am covering in the absence of the normal players, I jumped once more into the remodeling project upstairs.  THE KAT wants all of the walls textured, so it's joint compound spreading time.  completed the hallway and all fo the bits of the stairs I can reach.  Now I need a couple more buckets of joint compound and some scaffolding or something.  There is quite a sense of accomplishment in this kind of work.  Especially since I know there are no big sanding drywall phases coming in the future.

THE KAT is away along with the rest of the crew.  NURSE BETTY is in the Bahamas, and THE KAT and the rest are at my folks place in Nebraska right now.  Soon they will be Iowa bound to visit THE KAT's sister and family.  There is much livestock to be examined, pampered, named, and ultimately sent to the slaughterhouse.  Number five I think….

Spent a good chunk of last evening getting the right replacement toilet valve.  Went to Lowes, bought a toilet valve.  It would not seat worth a darn and leaked like a bad toilet valve.  Which is worse than leaking like sieve because you want a sieve to leak.  And generally toilet leaks are some of the worst kinds of leaks.  Killed many trees worth of papertowels cleaning that up.  Took the defective unit back to Lowes and went with the Flushmaster valve.  This one worked first time, so that's a win in my book.

I do not think vavle is a word, but you would not know that from my freehand typing of this.  Beautiful thing editing electronically….

I usually agree with Captain Ed, but this time I think he and several others are off:

However, there is a HUGE difference between that and explicitly saying that these women are "enjoying" their husbands' deaths. It implies that they have reveled in their murders, and cared less for their husbands than for a few moments in the spotlight. It's cruel, it's irrational, and it's unnecessary for the point she makes. I don't care if she goes on then to argue the points I made above — she lost me when she lost her humanity.

Ann really can be better than this, and she should apologize.

I started thinking about this, and frankly my gut reaction was that Ann Coulter was dishing out everything that these women deserved for publicly wrapping themselves up in their supposed moral superiority as victims / survivors similar to Cindy Sheehan.  But thinking about Ed's commentary I was struck by his sticking on the word "enjoying" and his saying that Coulter had lost her humanity.

From Dictionary.com: 2. To have the use or benefit of: enjoys good health.

They certainly are "enjoying" their husbands death in this sense.  The combination of their (to be kind) leftist positions and the media attention they "enjoy" is a benefit to them via the deaths of their husbands.

And if Ann has lost her humanity, then she will not apologize.  And if she is right, and I believe she is, then she definitely should not apologize.  Maybe her comment was tactless, though I do not think so, and I also do not think that it indicates that she has lost her humanity.

Okay, that was fun.  Well, not really, but I got them posted.  I may go back for the comments, there was some good input there too.  But this evening perhaps.  Plus I grab some other cached stuff for the old game site.  There may be massive e-mails involved at some point.

I know, blah, blah, blah, Mr. Fu!

5/16/2005

News Headlines

Filed under: Humor, Politics — Mr. Fu @ 10:44 pm

Basil does news headline commentary very well. Always good for a laugh.

For example:

From ABC News:
Md. Inmate Dies After Fight With Guards
Not expected to try that againFrom BBC:
Japan names day after Hirohito
“Got Our Asses Nuked” Day will be August 6

Comments (0)

5/15/2005

Road Trip

Filed under: Humor — Mr. Fu @ 3:22 am

Iowahawk takes a road trip through all 50 states. He did not put Nebraska in boldface font however…

Comments (0)

4/26/2005

I’m Glad Too!

Filed under: Humor — Mr. Fu @ 12:59 pm

Joel and Alex Veitch have the Soluble Song. Interesting, funny, and thought provoking, at least as far as what you would have to do if you were soluble.

6/13/2005

Generalizations

Filed under: General — Mr. Fu @ 1:41 pm

Oxymoronic statement of the day:

“The world isn’t black and white.”

Remember: All generalizations are wrong.

2/23/2005

Programming

Filed under: Quotes — Mr. Fu @ 8:52 am

“Never trust a C++ pointer.”

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2/18/2005

Elvis and Whack

Filed under: Quotes — Mr. Fu @ 4:16 pm

“You don’t have to like Elvis’s music to go to Graceland.” Advice to a Yankee at work.

“It’s all about the whack and where the whack goes.”

Comments (0)

2/1/2005

Worth Hearing Again

Filed under: Quotes — Mr. Fu @ 2:19 pm

“Guard, protect, and cherish your Land, for there is no afterlife for a place that started out as Heaven.”—Charles M. Russell

Comments (0)

1/22/2005

Social Security

Filed under: Politics, Quotes — Mr. Fu @ 2:31 pm

Frank J.:

Social Security is neither social nor secure.

Comments (2)

1/21/2005

More Living

Filed under: Quotes — Mr. Fu @ 9:52 am

Or his son for that matter.

Comments (0)

1/20/2005

Living

Filed under: Quotes — Mr. Fu @ 10:49 am

Do not count on being Enoch.

Comments (0)

1/18/2005

Understanding…

Filed under: Quotes — Mr. Fu @ 2:26 pm

Understanding is the KY jelly of [business] relationships.

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12/15/2004

Moving Forward

Filed under: General, Politics, Quotes — Mr. Fu @ 10:16 am

Okay, I e-mailed K-Angel last night, so my karma can resume its upward trend (Hey K!). Judo last night left me battered, but feeling pretty good (in an achy sort of way). Hang on, BLUE MAX wanted a number…..

Ah, back again, karma expanding positively once more. Had a very instructive conversation (okay, it was really a lecture) with CLONE RED last night. After a brief history lesson on the Revolutionary War (apparently they really don’t teach this stuff in school anymore) I quoted George Washington, “Government is not reason. It is not eloquence. It is a force, like fire: a dangerous servant and a terrible master.”

Fire must be watched, it must be contained, it must be limited in scope to the task at hand, and it must be controlled in order for it to be of benefit. If you are inattentive fire and government can quickly move from being a useful tool to and deadly hazard.

Thanks to Option^Explicit over at http://www.lavasoftsupport.com/ I was able to beat down that VX2 trojan / virus / hijacker, whatever it is. I suggest getting the freeware version of Adaware from Lavasoft at a minimum, and get one of the pay versions to help support these guys. They had the solution when no one else did.

Morning dawns and then passes into noon….

Comments (0)

11/2/2004

Orwell

Filed under: History, Politics, Quotes — john @ 11:09 am

“People sleep peaceably in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf.”—George Orwell

Comments (0)

10/27/2004

Quote of the Day

Filed under: Politics, Quotes — john @ 12:12 pm

From Stumbley over at Roger Simon’s blog:

The Fourth Estate has become a Fifth Column[.]

Wilson Fu Weblog

6/27/2005

That’s Amerika with a K

Filed under: Politics — Mr. Fu @ 11:29 am

More opinions on the recent Supreme Court debacle. One on Bush’s silence, and one on what it means to freedom. It will not all end tomorrow, but this is one of those incremental steps, and it must be stopped now. And it must be prevented in the future with better Supreme Court justices and more accountability for the same. These are men, not gods, and they need to be called on the carpet for this wholesale re-wording of the U. S. Constitution.

Comments (1)

6/25/2005

What’s Wrong With Bush (WWWB-5)

Filed under: Politics — Mr. Fu @ 10:58 am

So five of the Supremes decide that your property does not belong to you as long as your city or county think that they can increase tax revenue by taking it from you (at fair market value, of course). WND’s reporter Les Kinsolving quizzed Scott McClellan about Bush’s position on the issue:

Kinsolving: Would the president try to fight the eminent domain, as now legalized by five members of the Supreme Court, by means of the Aderholt-Shelby bill, or how?

After some big weasel wording by McClellan:

Kinsolving: He would fight it, wouldn’t he?McClellan: Les, I think the president has made his views clear when it comes to private property rights. In terms of Supreme Court decisions, we obviously have to respect the decisions of the Supreme Court.

Now, following the advice of Aretha Franklin, I went to find out what repect means to me by going to dictionary.com for the verb form of respect:

re·spect
tr.v. re·spect·ed, re·spect·ing, re·spects1. To feel or show deferential regard for; esteem.
2. To avoid violation of or interference with: respect the speed limit.
3. To relate or refer to; concern.

All of these really seem to fit in my book:

1. Possibly Bush shows deferential regard for everything the Supreme Court says, even if he disagrees with it on a legal basis. Thus he fails in his Constitution role in the Executive Branch to provide a check on the Judicial Branch. He has a lot of latitude in this regard. Much as the quote attributed to Andrew Jackson, similarly Bush could say, “John Paul Stevens has made his decision, now let him enforce it!”

2. Perhaps Bush does not want to interfere with the Supreme Court, see item 1.

3. Maybe Bush relates to the decision and simply likes the idea of swiping land out from underneath people.

Well, I suppose all of this is justified by applying the 32nd Amendment, sometimes known as the Dennis Moore Amendment (scroll all the way down):

1. The fifth article of amendment to the Constitution of the United States is hereby revised:Amendment V – No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a Grand Jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the Militia, when in actual service in time of War or public danger; nor shall any person be subject for the same offense to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use or private, without just compensation.

Comments (0)

6/23/2005

There goes the neighborhood…

Filed under: Politics — mbrittb @ 2:59 pm

No really I mean it. In the “high” courts latest ruling local governments now have “wide power to bulldoze residences for projects such as shopping malls and hotel complexes in order to generate tax revenue.” Ok they have to offer you “adquate” compensation, but if you don’t like their offer, too bad, you can just live on the street.

One of the truly boggling statements in the decision came from Justice John Paul Stevens. He stated that “local officials, not federal judges, know best in deciding whether a development project will benefit the community.” Excuse me Justice Stevens, aren’t you a federal judge? Isn’t that exactly what you just did?

So, where did I put those packing boxes anyway . . . . .?

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,160479,00.html

Comments (2)

PETA Caught in the Act

Filed under: Politics — Mr. Fu @ 12:53 am

Well, it did not involve beastiality (and they would have argued it was consensual), but they were caught dumping dead animals into a Dempsty dumpster. Hat tip to Gateway Pundit for the link.

PETA spokeswoman Colleen O’Brien said the organization euthanizes animals by lethal injection, which it considers more humane than gassing animals in groups, as some counties do.

In their own words:

PETA is dedicated to establishing and protecting the rights of all animals. PETA operates under the simple principle that animals are not ours to eat, wear, experiment on, or use for entertainment.

It is okay to kill them, as long as you do not eat, wear, experiment on, or use for entertainment the carcasses of the animals you kill. In the words of Dana Carvey, “Isn’t that special?”

They object to declawing stating:

The following are possible complications of this surgery:
• Adverse reaction to anesthetic
• Gangrene, which can lead to limb amputation
• Hemorrhaging
• Permanent nerve damage
• Persistent pain
• Reluctance to walk
• Scar tissue formation
• Sequestrum (bone chips), requiring additional surgery(2)
• Skin disorders

But they are okay with other surgical procedures on animals, specifically spaying and neutering:

It does not make animals fat and lazy, harm their health, or hurt their personalities, as some people mistakenly believe. Spaying not only reduces the stress and discomfort females endure during heat periods, but also eliminates the risk of uterine cancer and greatly reduces the chance of mammary cancer. Neutering makes males far less likely to roam or fight, and helps prevent testicular cancer.

Yeah, okay. And spaying and neutering does not pose possible surgical risks to the animal, like:

• Adverse reaction to anesthetic
• Gangrene
• Hemorrhaging
• Permanent nerve damage
• Persistent pain
• Scar tissue formation

It is a large leap into unknown motives and assumptions, but my spider sense tells me that somehow they are actually interested in reducing the risk of testicular cancer in American males through neutering. Heck, it may even make American males less likely to roam. Damn straight, it would probably make one not want to leave the dang house, but definitely get away from whoever neutered you. Do you think Pamela will have Tommy neutered just to be sure? Like men needed more reasons not to date girls that are members of PETA. Though my imagination runs wild at the thought of PETA women and why they would need extra insurance that their men would not roam. Or their cats for that matter.

Well, they do state in the article on surgical alterations for dogs and cats, “But domestication took these animals out of the ecosystem, and their reproduction is no longer regulated naturally by predators or habitat.”

Oooo, so they would be okay with Fluffy and Rex being devoured by coyotes, dying from the plague, or starving to death? A naturally brutal painful death or death by lethal injection are fine apparently. What a bunch of animal loving sweeties! Animals are not ours to eat, but they are ours to alter or destroy in PETA approved ways.

Comments (2)

6/8/2005

Angry Democrats?

Filed under: Politics — Mr. Fu @ 12:57 pm

Rush had Howard Dean’s comments about Republicans being almost exclusively white Christians. No Democrat objections so far. I can believe this is what they think. Browse around the web and gaze in wide wonder at the hatred and vemon thrown at Republicans in general, wow. There are certainly some Republicans that are that rabid regarding Democrats, but not near the percentage as the Democrats that have taken the Ol’ Yeller route to madness, IMO. YMMV.

Comments (1)

5/31/2005

On The Road Again

Filed under: Politics, Quotes — Mr. Fu @ 9:50 pm

Or is that still? On The Road to Serfdom that is. MARINE ROCKET has a nice bit on the dangers of license versus true freedom and how the government horns into the middle:

In either case new laws must be passed, new taxes collected, and new bureaucracies set up to administer the solution. When that doesn’t work? More laws, more taxes, and more bureaucracies. And when that doesn’t work? … In the end the freedom promised by license is always taken away along with a lot of other freedom. License becomes a negative feedback loop as the excesses it engenders cause harsher and harsher laws to be enacted to combat the excesses.

And it dovetails nicely with Hayek’s assertion as articulated by Gerald P. O’Driscoll Jr.:

Hayek’s thesis in The Road to Serfdom is that one intervention inevitably
leads to another. The unintended consequences of each market intervention
are economic distortions, which generate further interventions to correct
them. That interventionist dynamic leads society down the road to serfdom.

WARNING! The road ahead is paved with good intentions, please make a U-turn.

Comments (0)

5/27/2005

Mission Trip Cancelled

Filed under: General, Politics — Mr. Fu @ 1:50 pm

NURSE BETTY is pretty disappointed right now. Her mission trip to Haiti has been cancelled based on a Travel Warning issued by the State Department yesterday. Hopefully the U.N. will get this situation straightened out soon. Yes, and maybe the old colonial power, France, will help their old colony too.

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Stem Cells and Poster Boys

Filed under: Technology, Politics — Mr. Fu @ 8:45 am

Gah, go form your own opinion on these three write-ups on Arlen Specter and the stem cell research debate (original link via Instapundit). Was the AFA article on Specter making fun of his having cancer? YMMV, I did not see it that way. IMO Specter may have put the issue in play. But I am notoriously insensitive. But then I was amused by the commentary that condemns the treatment of Specter (whether perceived or real) and at the same time employs even worse rhetoric towards Christians, AFA, et cetera.

I think that there is actually little resistance to stem cell research, the tricky part comes from embryonic stem cells. Many feel that is a slippery slope to harvesting embryos specifically for that purpose. I am not convinced there is a lot of “there” there in embryonic cells as I have not seen that the private sector is pooring money into the concept.

Private funding is often a good indicator of potential. Like a discussion that occurred the other night regarding the idea that aspartame eats up your brain. I opined then that if there was any hint that the idea could be real that we would have heard of dozens of lawyers suing over it by now.

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Gitmo a Gulag?

Filed under: Politics — Mr. Fu @ 12:13 am

An AP report at News Max says:

Amnesty International branded the U.S. prison camp in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, a human rights failure…

Yeah, right. So they would be happier if our armed forces just gunned these guys down for espionage? Under international law we are under no obligation to hold these combatants. As un-uniformed combatants they can be summarly shot upon capture. Would that violate their rights less?

Reminds me of All in the Family when Gloria complains about the number of firearms deaths:

Gloria: Do you know that sixty percent of all deaths in America are caused by guns?
Archie Bunker: Would it make you feel any better if dey was pushed out of windows?

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5/26/2005

Now Will Frist Make A Stand?

Filed under: Politics — Mr. Fu @ 11:43 pm

Captain Ed writes more about the situation in the Senate, why we should not give the National Republican Senatorial Committee any more money, and the Bolton non-vote. Now it seems that the freak Arlen Specter was a silent RINO in addition to the seven RINOs involved in the compromise. His lack of commitment had the Bush Administration worried that the Republicans would not have enough votes to trigger the rules change on filibusters on nominations.

The Biden and Dodd are arguing that their attempt to stop the Bolton vote is not a filibuster. Additionally a filibuster on Henry Saad or William Myers will not cause the RINOs to back out of the comprise deal. Couple this with Reid’s broken promise to allow a vote on Bolton, and you have the Senate Republicans losing yet again.

Unless Frist pays a visit to each of these eight RINOs tonight in their bedrooms and spends at least an hour kicking them in the kidneys, then Frist can kiss his position as Majority Leader goodbye (he better throw in Voinovich the Cry Baby as a freebee). Maybe he can just express support for Strom Thurmond’s Dixiecrat Presidential run and be run out like Trent Lott. He eithers gets control now or loses it forever (to paraphrase Mother Goose’s wife).

Comments (0)

4/4/2005

Movies and the Tube

Filed under: Books, Movies, Etc. — Mr. Fu @ 7:21 am

Okay, not much for movies this weekend. Though the season finale of Battlestar Galactica rocked! That was some of the most intense TV ever made. Spoiler speculation beyond the more….

Managed to squeeze in Horatio Hornblower: Mutiny. Pretty decent, not as much action as some of the earlier movies. Enough injustice from an insane Captain David Warner to pump up the blood though. There is a Galactica connection is in this series with Jamie Bamber as 4th Lt. Archie Kennedy. Kind of interestin to see some of his earlier work. And one of Warner’s earlier works was Cast a Deadly Spell with Fred Ward.

Enough rambling, spoilers await….
(more…)

Comments (1)

3/31/2005

Other Miltonisms

Filed under: Books, Movies, Etc. — Mr. Fu @ 12:02 am

Wow, literature. MOBIUS and Suzanne (what was her handle?) would be so proud!

One, two, three, Google for others…..

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3/17/2005

Monty Python on Broadway

Filed under: Humor, Books, Movies, Etc. — Mr. Fu @ 1:05 pm

Scroll down on this one. It’s The Producers baby! More here. The official site here. And tickets here and here.

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2/14/2005

Survival

Filed under: General, Movie Reviews — Mr. Fu @ 10:18 am

Weekend survival is generally easier. Had a bout with a big sinus headahce yesterday, but survived. Survived GURPS on Saturday, we keep getting sidetracked, but I am looking at a couple of fixes for that.

Friday was a showing of The Chronicles of Riddick. Great action flick! Not a lot of soul searching or subtle plot lines, just straight forward take it to the bad guys action. And the TV room is paying off, the sound in there is pretty good, it really added to the film.

Oh well, must go sling code for a living….

UPDATE: Interesting, Karl Urban as Vaako from The Chronicles of Riddick played Eomer in the last two The Lord of the Rings movies. I thought he looked familiar.

Comments (0)

2/11/2005

But I could have told you Vincent…

Filed under: Movie Reviews — Mr. Fu @ 3:56 pm

This world was never meant for one as beautiful as you. Thank you Don McLean for the lyrics of Vincent (yeah, Don’s probably a hippie, but his music is good, and American, snicker).

But really, I refer to L’Ultimo uomo della Terra or The Last Man on Earth, starring Vincent Price! Let’s have a big round of applause! The boy from St. Louis did good.

Zombie movie or vampire movie? Zombie / vampires? Who knows? But when a strange bacterium becomes a plague across the world Vincent, as Robert Morgan, plays a dual role, the last surviving man on Earth and, in flash backs, a scientist searching for a cure. By day he stalks the city, ridding the city of the vampires (and we will go with that because he has to stake them through the heart, zombies have to be staked through the head), and looking for their central nest. For three years he has been repeating the cycle of holing up in his house out night protected by garlic and mirrors (more evidence, okay, we’ll say vampires definitely, not zombies, even though they are slow), to his daytime prowls through the town on his quest for survival.

The story is from the Richard Matheson novel I am Legend. Matheson’s books and writing credits are impressive, perhaps one of the definers of horror in the mid-Twentieth Century. This same story is later used as the basis for The Omega Man starring Charlton Heston and Anthony Zerbe (lately of Matrix infamy and sighted by METAPHOR for his visual simularity to Ward Churchill in his role in this movie as Mathias).

The movie is a little slow, but considering when it was made it may have been state-of-the-art then. This is a must for film buffs and cult movie fans, worth a few trivia points here and there. For non-fans of the genre it probably is not worth the effort (but then non-fans of this genre may not be worth the effort either, blah). Ah, buy a copy, it’s only $6. Then get The Omega Man to compare and have a Chuckfest.

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2/3/2005

Marching on….

Filed under: General, Movie Reviews — Mr. Fu @ 9:29 am

Everyone is well, but the weather is pretty drizzlely. So not the best on the weather front, but considering it is February in Alabama we have no complaints coming. Still working on re-arranging the house and getting rid of the junk. Moved some boxes around last night, scrubbed the kitchen floor, and continued cleaning the concrete floor in the new gym. Lots of alcohol for the flooring adhesive and Windex for the primer at the base of the walls (and where the walls used to be). Now I need to get some good Tiffin 2.5” mats to cover about 15’ x 15’ and I will be set. I have been having my GURPS games in the gym. Pretty nice we can move around a lot.

Otherwise it’s work, work out, home projects, THE KAT and the kids. Occasionally a movie, or I have been squeezing in a few “Magnum, P.I.” first season episodes on DVD. Great show. I highly recommend “Troy” if you have not seen it. Great fighting scenes and such, though you get the impression the Greeks showed up, stayed for about a month, destroyed Troy, and then lit out for Greece. No sense of ten years of siege going by. But then how do you portray ten years of staring up at a wall hoping you’re going to catch a break and get in at the women and all. An ancient soldier’s life, long periods of boredom broken by moment of shear terror.

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1/24/2005

More Construction

Filed under: General, Movie Reviews — Mr. Fu @ 12:46 am

The TV room received the majority of my attention this weekend. It is now ready to be populated with the essential electronics. The DVD shelves are installed, the cable hooked up, rear speaker wires run, and I even vacuumed. Now to move stuff.

Minor work in the gym, tested out the new pneumatic dual action sander. I think my poor compressor is not up to snuff on this one. We will see. I used 80 grit sand paper on an area of the floor, and baby that is smooth stuff for concrete! Surprisingly better than wood sanded with 80, but I guess concrete generally does not have puffed up fibers after sanding.

Watched Napoleon Dynamite Saturday evening. An intriguingly funny movie, though I am not quite sure why. DIM MAK gave it high marks, and BORIS and NATASHA (temporary callsigns) let us borrow it. THE KAT liked it a lot too. SWEET THING had told THE KAT about it and said that the character of Rex played by Diedrich Bader reminded her of me. Huh, wacked out martial arts instructor huckster. My daughter thinks so much of me!

As the opening credits rolled and Bader’s name popped up I thought, that will be my character. IRON BOB had already compared me to Bader’s character in Office Space, Lawrence. At least back when I had long hair.

Comments (2)

1/13/2005

Quick Movie Reviews

Filed under: Movie Reviews — Mr. Fu @ 1:05 am

So quick I am not even putting in links at the moment:

Man on Fire — already reviewed, but see it, especially if you don’t think torture could be cool. Hence the revisit.
King Arthur — not the same old story. This one has more of a historical flare, Arthur is a Roman born of a British mother. The knights are Sarmatian horsemen, and Guinevere and Merlin are Britons. Merlin is a leader of the Woads (Britons) who seeks in Arthur, his enemy, a leader that can direct the Woads to victory over the invading Saxons. Worth a look.
I. Robot — A must see for Will Smith and science fiction fans. Forget what anyone said about it not following the book, it does not. But Isaac would be proud, this is science fiction, even if the fight scenes are a little over the top. Ask me about NS-5s and big handfuls of glass.
Troy — this one surprised me. The movie surprised me, in scope, in film work. Brad Pitt and Eric Bana surprised me, these are some great actors in the roles of Achilles and Hector. The martial arts are fantastic and mostly believeable. Better than The Last Samurai, approaching Shichinin no samurai (Seven Samurai), and equal to Ran.

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12/20/2004

Man on Fire

Filed under: Movie Reviews — Mr. Fu @ 9:37 pm

Denzel Washington put in quite a performance in this movie. Looking over Mr. Washington’s career, I have not seen many of his movies. Some I liked well enough, like Remember the Titans, but I will leave commentary on his performance, other than saying this one was very good, to someone else.

Man on Fire is a typical down and out agent takes on the bad guys movie. Okay, how many times has this been done? All the Lethal Weapon movies, and even throw in the idea of protecting a kid, like Mercury Rising. So this theme has been done to death. But there is an intensity to this movie that keeps it from being just the same old thing. Plus the creative ways in which he actually tortures the scum of the Earth villians he is hunting takes it to a different level. Let’s just say that C4 and a pager has never made quite such an interesting explosive device since the carotid explosives in Escape From New York.

Add Christopher Walken, and you have a really watchable movie. This one rates no Saddams.

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12/8/2004

Lileks Watch

Filed under: General, Humor, Politics, Movie Reviews — Mr. Fu @ 5:21 pm

Goodness, I ought to have a whole category for stalking Lileks posts. But this one is a must read. Take Clarence Darrow, body piercing, and Perry Mason’s head, then tie it up nice and neat. I find I don’t miss Mike Royko as long as I have Lileks (I started looking for the best Royko link, too many).

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Wilson Fu Weblog

11/13/2004

A Ninja FAQ

Filed under: Ars Bellum, Humor — john @ 8:58 pm

As if Real Ultimate Power was not enough, now Frank J. weighs in on the ninja question. Or the Ninja Frequently Asked Questions anyway. But comments like this concern me as being potentially Kung Fu Steve-ish:

Which style of Kung Fu is best for fighting ninjas?
Posted by: urthshu on November 12, 2004 01:23 PM

Bah! Too much reliance on kung fu. What are you going to do once the ninja has you in a rear mount choke hold with his hooks in, huh?

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10/15/2004

You Might Be A Kung Fu Steve If…

Filed under: Ars Bellum, Humor — john @ 7:07 am

Or Stephanie!

If you think that a particular animal form of Kung Fu is the end-all, be-all: You might a Kung Fu Steve.

If you use full-power with no control while sparring with white belts: You might a Kung Fu Steve.

If you walk into a new gym (new to you) and say, “I have been boxing / studying Praying Mantis Ku Fung / Tae Kwon Leap for years and I am looking for a challenge because I can beat everyone in my gym.”: You might a Kung Fu Steve.

If you keep visiting a real fighting gym once a month for several months, but never actually practice because the guys all look tough: You might a Kung Fu Steve.

If you own a Kung Fu uniform but do not work out: You might a Kung Fu Steve.

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10/14/2004

New Judo Techniques

Filed under: Ars Bellum, Humor — john @ 9:18 am

I am modifying some old and creating some new judo techniques. I call them konichi-waza, throws to be used upon greeting…..

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7/3/2004

Bill Clinton’s Problem

Filed under: Ars Bellum, Humor, Politics, Books, Movies, Etc. — john @ 11:30 am

I have been hearing and reading some of the reviews of Bill Clinton’s autobiography, My Life. From many of the comments made, I could not help thinking of Bill Clinton when I ran across this ‘quote’ on a web site:

Humans are born with a susceptibility to that most persistent and debilitating disease of intellect: self-deception. The best of all possible worlds and the worst get their dramatic coloration from it. As nearly as we can determine, there is no natural immunity. Constant alertness is required.
The Coda
Chapterhouse: Dune 224

In other words, “Constant vigilance!” And perhaps this from the same web site would be good advice:

Seek freedom and become captive of your desires. Seek discipline and find your liberty.
The Coda
Chapterhouse: Dune 344

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6/17/2004

Grilling

Filed under: General, Ars Bellum — john @ 4:29 pm

PORTHOS is going to pit barbecue a whole pig for the 4th (of what? The 4th of July, Commie! Up against the wall! The one we made you knock down! Thank you, Ronald Reagan). Roast pig. Wow! This will be different.

Kung Fu Steve Mark V Mod Whatever (who can keep up with his changes?) once talked of going boar hunting with a boar hunting spear. But then KFS-5 is one crazy guy (he might rated crazy dude, but he is a KFS).
(more…)

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5/28/2004

Dim Mak

Filed under: Ars Bellum — john @ 2:01 pm

Funny bit from Cecil Adams at Straight Dope:

One smartarse on a martial arts message board observes, “One time I hit a guy in a pressure point, and he EXPLODED! It was like something out of a video game man! I swear, there is a point somewhere that makes a human being just burst into giblets if you hit it right!”

Heh-heh! Giblets. Hard to think of humans in terms of giblets. But at some fundamental level, that’s about it, physically anyway. Spiritually is another matter…

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Wilson Fu Weblog

4/22/2005

Be Prepared Some More

Filed under: Ars Bellum, Humor, Books, Movies, Etc. — Mr. Fu @ 10:26 am

This is what the Internet was made for: the unstoppable passage of important information. Like How to Survive a Zombie Attack. This is a good article and should get you thinking about preparations to defend yourself against the zombie hordes.

Aside: Some may say that the zombie hordes are already here in the form of liberals. But currently liberals are not that bitey, so please, despite any temptation to do so, no premature bullet in the brain pan tactics now. Liberals whine enough as it is, and they throw like girls.

Shaun of the Dead showed that even a couple of clueless blokes can survive a zombie attack, so this is not beyond your reach. Preparation and training are the keys to survival folks.

Now locally, the strip of Highway 72 in north Madison is probably a good starting place. Many of my friends live in the area, so rallying the troops should be easier. Plus there is a bank, Kohl’s clothing store, a Home Depot, a Publix supermarket, Books-A-Million, Staples office supply, Lowes Home Improvement Warehouse, Winn Dixie supermarket, Dollar General, and a Bruno’s supermarket, with various restaurants, used car lots, and gas stations all within less than a one mile stretch. Come to think of it the area around the Super Wal Mart on Madison Boulevard has some strategic value as well, though not as much I think.

Plus my friends in the area are techno-geeks with real world skills, a tendancy to be heavily armed, and have good attitudes. We do need to prelocate a medical lab so SINGER can whip up a zombie vaccine. Do we have a doctor in the group? We have nurse LOANER in the area and but we might have to make a foray across town to collect BARMY since his wife is a nurse.

Firearms are the weaponry of choice, of course. But Home Depot / Lowes has a variety of fine impliments suitable for zombie erradication. For example: axes of various sorts, picks too, scrapers, digging bar, and shovels all give you some distance. For close up work there are various hammers and such. And let us not neglect defense preparations like fencing and masonry supplies.

So get cracking on those preparations! And contact me if you need help with your training, we will get you fixed up. Zombies wait for no man.

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4/20/2005

Pope Humor

Filed under: Humor — Mr. Fu @ 8:01 am

Funny:

I know the Lennon/McCartney songwriting team was important, but after two Pope John Pauls, isn’t it about time we had a Pope George Ringo?

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4/19/2005

Advice

Filed under: Humor — Mr. Fu @ 12:57 pm

I received this in an e-mail, thought it was pretty funny (the link at the bottom has an interesting article on a severely damaged F-15):

(more…)

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4/14/2005

Treatment of Women

Filed under: Humor, Politics — Mr. Fu @ 10:21 am

Regarding when she was assaulted with pies at the University of Arizona, Ann Coulter writes:

Unfortunately for them, Republican men don’t react favorably to two “Deliverance” boys trying to sucker-punch a 110-pound female in a skirt and heels. The geniuses ended up with bloody noses and broken bones.

And pretty much we do not even question the female’s political persuasion before reacting to thuggery. Or Thugeeism for that matter. I understand freedom of religion and all, but too much is too much. It is just wrong to hit a woman. I would never hit a woman. I might choke a woman unconscious if necessary, but never hit one.

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Vacuums, Our Tool of Oppression

Filed under: Humor — Mr. Fu @ 8:18 am

If not for vacuums, cats would probably rule the Earth. Sarah over at Tomato Nation has found a new robot overlord for her cats.

I do not think of it as cruelty to cats, I think of it as promoting their natural selection to more advanced capabilities. Giant intelligent house cats will probably get to be the NCOs overseeing my intelligent Utah Raptor Legions of Terror™. The Lieutenants may have Dust Busters instead of sidearms to keep order.

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4/13/2005

Right Hand Of?

Filed under: Humor — Mr. Fu @ 8:21 am

The Right Hand of God has a blogspot. I was once given the monicker “The Right Hand of Darwin.” There is a story there….

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Words From The Cat

Filed under: Humor, Quotes — Mr. Fu @ 8:18 am

Not THE KAT, but the Conservative Cat:

The Thoughts of Chairman MeowIt doesn’t matter whether God is male or female, human or super-human: you still have to do your homework, and it’s still wrong to steal stuff.

Respectfully submitted,

Ferdinand T. Cat

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If Wishes Were Women

Filed under: Humor — Mr. Fu @ 8:15 am

Link to The Right Hand of God and his thoughts on a particular woman.

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4/12/2005

Don’t Believe It

Filed under: Humor — Mr. Fu @ 4:08 pm

Another example of why you cannot believe everything you read on the World Wide Web sent to me by MOUSEKETEER:

Congratulations! You have defeated the great Instapundit! (pretty good description of you too)http://thesurrealist.co.uk/monster.cgi?att=wilsonfu&def=instapundit&a=S

See how you stack up against your other favorite blogs.

That is a pretty good description of me….

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4/11/2005

Your Very Own

Filed under: Humor — Mr. Fu @ 1:01 pm

Unitarian Jihad Name from the Unitarian Jihad Name Generator (hat tip to Wizbang for the link about the article)!

Now this thing works people, the first name it gave me is: Brother Katana of Moderation.

Next: Brother Claymore of Patience, Brother Katana of Forgiveness, Brother Dagger of Quiet Reflection, Brother Main Gauche of Forgiveness, Brother Sabre of Patience, Brother Rail Gun of Mild Reason, Brother Dagger of Sweet Reason, Brother Katana of Courteous Debate, Brother Machine Gun of Quiet Reflection, I could do this all day (not really)…..

Hmmm, I wonder if there is a Baptist Jihad Name Generator?

Respectfully submitted,

Brother Katana of Forgiveness (I really like this one)

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Wilson Fu Weblog

6/8/2005

Sitting

Filed under: General — Mr. Fu @ 10:18 am

Oooo, sitting in a teleconference all day today and tomorrow. But given the new job, and that the subject matter is pretty darn interesting, I do not mind at all!

Funny though, right now some clown has but the teleconference on hold and their phone beeps twice every ten seconds or so. Very annoying in a funny sort of way. Hey, it just stopped. I should have blogged about it sooner!

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6/6/2005

Like the Rest

Filed under: General, Books, Movies, Etc., Quotes — Mr. Fu @ 11:07 pm

MARINE ROCKET had a bit on Christian works being derivative of other forms (scroll down). He thinks that the appraoch should be more unique.

I agree, but then my idea of good Christian music are tried and true hymns. How are you really going to improve on Luther and A Mighty Fortress is Our God? I am not a fan of most contemporary Christian music, for much of what MR says:

If I want to listen to U2 I’ll listen to U2.

And as Christians we really ought to be different:

Romans 12:2 And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.

Mark 9:50 Salt is good: but if the salt have lost his saltness, wherewith will ye season it? Have salt in yourselves, and have peace one with another.

Comments (1)

6/2/2005

Ugh!

Filed under: General — Mr. Fu @ 12:17 am

Late, sleep now. Work in morning. Gahhhhh…

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5/31/2005

Off To Work I Go

Filed under: General — Mr. Fu @ 8:20 am

Starting a new job today. New company, big change of location (locally anyway), big change of roles and responsibilities. Looks like the things I will be doing I would have to pay them for normally (seems like M$ Close Combat and such). Hopefully this enthusiasm will last!

More on what I will be doing when I find out what it is…

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5/30/2005

That’s A Relief

Filed under: General — Mr. Fu @ 1:06 am

Hey, MARINE ROCKET was not talking about me after all!

I agree with MR totally. The developers should look at a way of incorporating the existing trees into their plans. The standard clear cutting tactics leads to their installations looking like every other. Where is the imagination?

And besides, I am ticked that I did not get any lumber out of the lousy deal!

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5/27/2005

Home Now

Filed under: General — Mr. Fu @ 8:08 pm

Desk cleaned out, computer shutdown, goodbyes said, and now I am home. A quick trip for Smokies’ beef bbq and I am full now. Watching Dark City and feeling odd, a mixture of big change and three days of unemployment (and no work). I think the movie may match my mood, a certain unreality coupled with thoughts of mastering one’s own destiny.

I hope all is well with you.

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Cleaning Up

Filed under: General — Mr. Fu @ 3:23 pm

My last day at the Big B and as an employee of the Big D is drawing to a close. Computer files are being moved, archived, or deleted as needed. The desk is being cleaned out, the trach cans being filled up. I have worked with some wonderful people here. But mostly the work sucked. I have taken my hits for the team and have held up my end. Now I must depart for something that interests me more (not to mention the bump in pay).

I am happy to leave the Big B, and sad to leave the Big D. I wish everyone at the Big D and even the Big B success and happiness. Lord knows we hit a really rough patch recently, but hopefully everything will smooth out now.

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Mission Trip Cancelled

Filed under: General, Politics — Mr. Fu @ 1:50 pm

NURSE BETTY is pretty disappointed right now. Her mission trip to Haiti has been cancelled based on a Travel Warning issued by the State Department yesterday. Hopefully the U.N. will get this situation straightened out soon. Yes, and maybe the old colonial power, France, will help their old colony too.

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Summer Approachth

Filed under: General — Mr. Fu @ 8:06 am

MARINE ROCKET has a bit on our looming Alabama summer. And I hope he is not writing about me:

Tune in for Metro Monday when I’ll tell you how Sarauman has decided to make his home in Huntsville and declare war on peace and happiness. No word on his exit strategy.

And I have never declared war on happiness, only war on peace! Writers never change…

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5/26/2005

Spambot Busting

Filed under: General — Mr. Fu @ 4:19 pm

Since I rarely logout from the wilsonfu.com websites, I did not notice that the security measures on comments were actually working. Just bumped into it last night. I must say that between the plugins SecureImage and WP-Gatekeeper that my incidence of spam has dropped to nothing. Considering I used to rack up 30 or so per day before, this is a big improvement.

Using both techniques may be overkill, but a bot trying to crack the system will have to employ two separate methods. So I feel alright about it, even though it is a bit more typing for the commentors. You can always register and login, but since my e-mail server is all flaky, that is sometimes problematic.

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I do not know if I will ever ressurrect the files from the dead server.  But there were some bits from the blog that I wanted to have available.  So I picked through the Google cache and found some which I will post here.  The links are all broken, but perhaps I will be able to move on without the effort of busting my hump to pull stuff off of a MySQL database buried on an old hard drive…

Michelle Malkin has great pictures on the broad strata of society represented by the terrorists.  I think I may dye my hair red or blonde just for some contrast.  Apparently terrorists are all brunettes….

Lileks (callsign METAPHOR) has some thoughts on the subject.  Where can I get a "Free Tibet" bumpersticker?

Here is why it is so important to send your children to Sunday school and to study it yourself.  A man visiting the Kiev zoo missed Sunday school the day they covered Deuteronomy 6:16 and Jesus referring Satan to that passage in Luke 4:12:

"The man shouted 'God will save me, if he exists', lowered himself by a rope into the enclosure, took his shoes off and went up to the lions," the official said.

"A lioness went straight for him, knocked him down and severed his carotid artery."

And severed his carotid artery.  Thee-a-thee-a-thee-a that's all folks!  Like experimenting with dousing yourself in gasoline and playing with matches not knowing much about gasoline or matches, it is good to know something about your test articles.  Thus endth the lesson for today.

Glenn Reynolds has got one, linking as he does to a humorous linkage of himself, by Wild Bill, to the Antichrist.  Well, he may be an antichrist, he is a lawyer after all!  And he helps create more lawyers, so how good can he really be?  Maybe he helps make good lawyers?

Lileks mentioned the old VIking funeral bit:

I was wearing the tank top I wore our first summer around. Really. But it’s the last summer for this garment, I fear; it has holes, and it seems to want to go. I may have to fold it up at summer’s end and put it next to the Minnesota Daily T-shirt in my drawer – the one that’s tissue-thin, and cannot be handled without dissolving. If I knew I’d get a Viking funeral, complete with immolation, it would be a toss-up which one I’d wear.

Mr. Fu asked THE KAT for a full Viking funeral, including immolation.  It was a no start of an idea with her.  No water borne cremation for Mr. Fu.  More's the pity, Mr. Fu would like it.  CLONE RED could just toss the headstone on board the boat, it could sink on the right spot.  Mr. Fu would have a whole lake or something for his grave.

It is interesting to reflect that CLONE RED will one day bury Mr. Fu.  That is as it should be, the father should proceed the son.  The other way around is too painful.  It will hurt him, I know.  But he will soldier through, it is his way.  Perhaps if RED CLONE is making the decisions at the time then Mr. Fu may get his Viking funeral.  Mr. Fu hopes in a boat that CLONE RED built by hand.  That would be touching.  Or perhaps Mr. Fu will start building his own boat.  Hmmmm….

At least on some level:

INTERVIEWER:  What do these deer think when they see you coming? Here comes the nice guy who puts out our dinner? Or, there's the man that shot my brother?

NUGENT: I don't think they're capable of either of those thoughts, you Limey asshole. They're only interested in three things: the best place to eat, having sex and how quickly they can run away. Much like the French.

And finishing with:

NUGENT: You want to know how to get peace, love and understanding? Who doesn't know this? The Ku-Klux-Klan? The Black Panthers? Child rapists? How do you get peace, love and understanding? First of all you have to find all the bad people. Then you kill them.

Direct, straight forward, I may not alway agree with him, but I am damn glad he is on my side. 

At least if you go back 55 million years and look forward to today.  The Artic was once like Florida, but they still try to say that man made global warming would be bad too.  To which I respond doubly positively: Yeah….  Right….