This book must just be bad luck... Amazon finally sent me an email saying that they've shipped that English Okami Official Complete Works, and that it would arrive on the 17th. I checked UPS.com and THEY said that the delivery was rescheduled for the 13th (today). I make a habit of checking every day, because sometimes UPS can sneak up on us and drop stuff off without anyone seeing and it sits out there for days before someone stumbled across the box... Well, on the 9th, UPS updated their tracking system with this:

Adverse weather conditions? I've NEVER seen that happen before. But here it is the 13th and it's saying the very same thing... Adverse weather conditions. Adverse weather conditions in Sparks, Nevada?

I don't think so...

Just when you thought things this year couldn't get any more INSANE! There's a fresh article circulating the news sites that talk about an animal shelter that tried running a promotion to raise awareness that animals needed to be adopted! Any animal in particular? You bet... Black ones. (And with that, I think you can predict EXACTLY what happened as a result.)

Apparently, black furred critters don't get adopted quite as quickly as others, so the shelter ran a special and reduced the cost of black animals from 85 to 25! Quite a deal, if you ask me... Hard to treat them like a product, but... There was a surplus of black animals and the shelter NEEDS to get rid of them! Everyone knows what happens to animals who don't find homes in a certain amount of time. Good cause, right? Wrong!

Enter the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People! According to them, the promotion was "offensive" and they demanded that the promotion be discontinued. They claimed that the shelter should have "done more to address why black animals are adopted less often" and they want to "encourage them to do more outreach on those animals. Talk to people, get some feedback so these things don’t happen.” Right... Because... Er, why, exactly? You know, it's not important why people don't adopted black animals. Why is it not important? Because they're not PEOPLE. If I could read between the lines, it looks like NAACP is upset that the shelter didn't take "proper steps" to resolve the situation and that there should be a deeper outreach to educate people about black animals... Why? Because people are racist for not wanting black pets? Are you really that arrogant? Further proof that racism is NOT a white problem any longer! It is alive solely because the blacks go out of their way to LOOK for it.

They look for it so hard that if you don't buy a pet with black fur, you're RACIST. If you try to sell black pets at a lower price than different colored pets? You're RACIST and you NEED to educate people so it doesn't happen! Use your hard-earned money to promote a cause that, quite frankly, has absolutely no bearing on your business of SELLING ANIMALS. As the article says, the shelter pointed out that people are less likely to buy black pets because there's a misconception that black cats are bad luck and black dogs are dangerous. These are racist ideas? Er, nope. Even if someone bought a white dog because they don't like the looks of a black dog... It's called PREFERENCE, not RACISM. These aren't people we're talking about... They're DOGS and CATS. If you're not going to enjoy a pet, you're better off not having one... Let someone else take them who WILL enjoy them and take care of them properly. If you don't enjoy a black pet, don't get one. You're not supposed to, you shouldn't be expected to, and you shouldn't feel racist about it.

But the NAACP thinks it's racist to sell black pets on sale. Thanks to them, you have to buy those unpopular pets at full price again because they thought it was an act of offensive racism. The entire point of a sale is to move things faster... I wonder how many people out there are wondering how many of these pets aren't going to make it now that the NAACP decided to take over and make a huge deal about literally NOTHING. Might I point you to the sale on black shirts at Wal Mart? Everyone knows black shirts tend to be warmer than white shirts during the summer, so I'm sure that a lot of black shirts aren't moving. When that happens, you drop the price! You don't go on a crusade dispelling the idea that black shirts are hotter, even when there are people out there who think more advanced thermodynamics are involved to make black shirts the better choice. The fact is, if nobody wants something black, then that's their own decision. (Personally, I bought a white iPod because the black ones looked horrible... Am I racist?) If demand goes down, you lower the price... It's the simplest form of capitalism and free market.

But don't let that stop you! Not buying black is racist, remember! Can't be racist, nooo, sir.

Uhm...

Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. (D-Ill.), son of the one-time presidential contender, said Obama's victory overwhelmed him. "I cried all night. I'm going to be crying for the next four years," he said. "What Barack Obama has accomplished is the single most extraordinary event that has occurred in the 232 years of the nation's political history. ... The event itself is so extraordinary that another chapter could be added to the Bible to chronicle its significance."

They are all INSANE.

No, really: They... Are... Insane!

So, a bunch of scientists (who apparently aren't part of the "consensus") have discovered, or, rather, have just noticed that that planet is... Well. It's getting BETTER! (Yes, I'm linking to a blog, but it also contains relevant links to the articles and research (if you bother to read them), so you can't argue that it's just blogger drivel.)

They found that over a period of almost two decades, the Earth as a whole became more bountiful by a whopping 6.2%. About 25% of the Earth’s vegetated landmass — almost 110 million square kilometres — enjoyed significant increases and only 7% showed significant declines.

WHY is this happening? Because we're cutting CO2 emissions, of course! We're slowing global warming! BZZT! WRONG! They say this is BECAUSE of increased CO2 levels. The planet is flourishing because there's an increased amount of CO2 that is increasing plant growth that, in turn, increases both plant and animal diversity and growth. Now, we all know that massive amounts of CO2 is bad for anything, and I don't think a single person is saying that... What we ARE saying, however, is that a catastrophic failure of the entire planet's ecosystem due to human industry over the past several years is a FARCE. They have satellite photos to prove it, so there's no predictions or "inconvenient truths" involved here.

But let's recap, shall we? In the last 20 years, Earth GREW by 6.2%. 25% of green land expanded and only 7% decreased. It's obvious that the planet isn't dying. On the contrary! And what have we been doing over the last 20 years? Polluting the globe, I think is what the liberals keep saying. It hasn't been until these last few years that they started actually enforcing their silly little emission plans. This isn't a result of our capping emissions, it's a result of our wanton "destruction" of the environment. Now, like I said before, pollution is nasty stuff... Dumping waste and not disposing properly and all that. I'm totally for that... But for people to say that all our cars and power plants are actually DESTROYING the environment on a global scale? I think not.

Plus, a comment on the blog I linked to mentioned something about a polar bear death being linked to global cooling. I was skeptical... But I clicked the link, and was a New York Times photo gallery showing two hunters over a dead polar bear with the following caption:

Far from home. A polar bear that showed up in Iceland was shot and killed by a team led by police officers, on the grounds that it posed a threat to people. The animal's journey may have been facilitated by the unusual abundance of pack ice between Greenland and Iceland this spring.

Unusual abundance of ice? But everyone KNOWS the ice packs are MELTING! Maybe... Just maybe? They're actually not and someone's lying to us. But let's believe Al Gore, who got caught investing in carbon credit companies... We all know he's genuinely interested in saving the planet and we all know he's not in the least bit pushing that stuff so he can make money. Such a noble fellow. (Here ends the sarcasm.)

After much research (nearly a month of perusing the SLIZone forums), I have working specs for my new system:

• Intel Core 2 Quad Q9450 Processor- $339.99
• EVGA nVidia nForce 750i FTW Motherboard - $189.99
• 2x Kingston HyperX DDR2-1066 2x1GB - $119.98
• EVGA GeForce GTX280 (released June 18) - $600 (Rumored MSRP)
• Thermaltake Toughpower 1200W Power Supply - $389.99
• 2x Seagate Barracuda 320GB SATA Hard Drive - $149.98
• Thermaltake Armor Series VA8003BWS Full Tower Case - $169.99
• Microsoft ZG6-00006 Black Standard PS/2 Wired Keyboard - $11.99
• Microsoft D58-00041 White PS/2 Wired Intellimouse 1.1 - 20.99

Total cost: $1992.90... I tightened up the processor and motherboard and RAM. I decided to go for DDR2 RAM which shaved off literally 500 bucks. (Let's see if I can explain this better than I have twice before.) I was going to initially go with DDR3. That RAM supports faster speeds and would allow me to upgrade the processor in the future without replacing everything. Seemed like a smart investment. If I use DDR2, however, it will NOT support many of the faster processors above the Q9450 that I have listed. I would have to replace the entire computer, more or less, to upgrade from DDR2. However, current processors are LGA775. (Basically means that they have 775 pins.) Intel is currently showcasing a processor codenamed Nehalem? It's going to be the future of processor technology that's planned on being released this winter. It naturally has a different number of pins (1366 to be exact), so that means these new processors won't work in boards I buy today, period. The Q9450 is pretty high quality as it is. If I buy a DDR3 motherboard to allow me to upgrade the processor, I would only have a very tiny amount of new processors to pick from without having to replace the entire motherboard to use a Nehalem. Basically, the Q9450 is so good, it wouldn't be worth the price to upgrade to another 775 pin processor. After this bit of news, either way, whether I purchase DDR2 or DDR3, I will have to replace the entire computer within 2 years if I want to upgrade because 775 pin processors are going to be completely replaced by the 1366 pin processors.

Long story short: I picked DDR2 because I won't need to upgrade, it's far cheaper, and DDR3 RAM that operates at the same speed DDR2 RAM has almost no benefits. DDR3 is still very young, but it has great potential, which is why I was interested in having the option to upgrade. But that is no longer an option. If I upgrade, I'll have to replace the entire computer either way, thanks to the Nehalem. (Which I will not be getting, and don't you DARE tell me to wait. The Nehalem is going to be very, very expensive for a long time after it comes out.)

Now, I'm a bit torn as to what LCD monitor to buy. I've heard good things about Dell, Samsung and Acer. Does anyone know the pros and cons of each one? I've also heard that Dell's quality has started to slip recently, so that's no longer an option. It's either Samsung or Acer. I will also assume that the new nVidia cards will support HDMI, so I would prefer to spend the extra money to get an LCD that also supports that (and DVI and VGA, if possible). I'll still have to research that... I'll also have to research Creative soundcards. I keep getting mixed reports that the X-Fi soundcards are really GOOD and really BAD. Scary thing is, with Creative acting the way they've been, either report is equally accurate.

June 4, 2008 at 7:46pm

Obama supports Israel's wish that Jerusalem NOT be divided between Jews and Palestinians:

"Let me be clear. Israel's security is sacrosanct. It is nonnegotiable. The Palestinians need a state that is contiguous and cohesive, and that allows them to prosper, but any agreement with the Palestinian people must preserve Israel's identity as a Jewish state, with secure, recognized and defensible borders. Jerusalem will remain the capital of Israel, and it must remain undivided."

June 5, 2008 at 2:05am

Palestinians get angry, of course:

"This statement is totally rejected. The whole world knows that East Jerusalem, holy Jerusalem, was occupied in 1967 and we will not accept a Palestinian state without having Jerusalem as the capital of a Palestinian state."

June 5, 2008 at 7:13pm

In response, Obama retracts his unbridled support:

"Well, obviously, it's going to be up to the parties to negotiate a range of these issues. And Jerusalem will be part of those negotiations."

This has got to be one of the quickest backpedals I've ever personally witnessed. All these articles have shown up on my news feeds... Bam, bam, bam. Less than three days' time. Here I was about ready to make a note that Obama was actually going to support Israel's rightful claim to their own freakin' city, and then he goes and changes his stance when the Palestinians told him that wasn't going to happen. The one redeeming factor of Obama, that he was going to support Israel? Poof! No longer a redeeming factor. I should have realized that he's just playing for votes. He's not even in office and he's already breaking promises. It's a wonder that anyone can believe what this guy says... You know it's only what he thinks everyone wants to hear. All that matters to him are the votes, not the principles.

Ahh, air conditioners... Man's greatest invention.

Reminds me of a bumper sticker: FIGHT GLOBAL WARMING - Turn up the air conditioner!

In fact, I think I found a  new tagline!