Jared Childers

car advice

2008-06-15T21:12:23Z

So my 1993 Dodge Caravan is stuck in the Latte Land parking lot on State Line and about 79th. Lisa and I were out running errands, and I pulled in for an iced latte. When I came back out I couldn't start it. The starter is re-built, so it doesn't come as a huge shock. I'm faced with a dilemma, though: should I have it towed somewhere to have the starter fixed/replaced or should I just get rid of it? I've been thinking about just getting a scooter since the majority of my driving would be the short distance to work and back. Also, it leaks coolant, it leaks oil and any day now the transmission might fall out too. But if I get rid of it, should I have it towed back to my house until I can sell it for scrap, or should I just find some place to sell it to in the morning and save the extra tow?

Inside John McCain's Head

2008-06-11T00:57:10Z

O*0*0*0*0*0

jaredchilders @ 2008-05-24T00:06:00

2008-05-24T05:07:38Z

I want to kick him right in the beard all over again.

Guilt

2008-05-15T18:39:36Z

I miss my weighted companion cube, and I regret what I did.

Pining for the fields...

2008-05-05T21:18:59Z

One of the more unlikely cases of introduced species: Parrots in Brooklyn. I doubt this will be as destructive as other birds released in New York were (see Euopean Starling or House Sparrow). Mainly because there's little left to destroy as long as they stay localized.

I dare thee utter 'What' again but once!

2008-04-21T16:13:46Z

The Bard's Pulp Fiction

jaredchilders @ 2008-04-06T01:43:00

2008-04-06T06:44:26Z

I met Jesus today...

2008-03-31T13:24:47Z

He was at work. I think one of you posted these in LJ. Was it firecrest?

Anyway, we have a new guy in work and he was showing these to one of my coworkers. I mentioned that I'd seen them and loved them, and he mentioned he was the voice of Jesus. He was genuinely surprised that anybody had seen them.

"Are you really that acquiescent in the United States?"

2008-03-09T17:46:03Z

Here's a good article by Glenn Greenwald about the reaction by the American press to the Scottish paper publishing the "off the record" remarks from the Obama camp:

The number one rule of the standard establishment journalist is to avoid offending the powerful because the more offense they give, the fewer favors the powerful will do for the journalists. Conversely, and by logical necessity, the more journalists please the powerful, the more favors the powerful will do for them. As Carlson put it: "People don't talk to you when you go out of your way to hurt them as you did." I can't think of any single dynamic that better explains what has happened the last eight years than that one.

McCain

2008-02-27T19:50:37Z

Don't like his politics, but he's a decent guy. Unless you think his repudiating the blow-hard who opened at one of his speeches was just a calculated damage control move instead of being due to genuine disgust. Maybe I'm naive for believing anything from a politician could be geniune.

Thought this was funny

2008-02-19T20:06:15Z

jaredchilders @ 2008-02-06T00:06:00

2008-02-06T06:10:50Z

I love these caricatures from Salon! Especially Clinton and McCain. I guess nobody took Huck's chances very seriously so they didn't make him a caricature. His picture is pretty cartoonish anyway.

One hell of an endorsement

2008-01-28T21:00:11Z

Dear Senator Obama,

This letter represents a first for me--a public endorsement of a Presidential candidate. I feel driven to let you know why I am writing it. One reason is it may help gather other supporters; another is that this is one of those singular moments that nations ignore at their peril. I will not rehearse the multiple crises facing us, but of one thing I am certain: this opportunity for a national evolution (even revolution) will not come again soon, and I am convinced you are the person to capture it.

May I describe to you my thoughts?

I have admired Senator Clinton for years. Her knowledge always seemed to me exhaustive; her negotiation of politics expert. However I am more compelled by the quality of mind (as far as I can measure it) of a candidate. I cared little for her gender as a source of my admiration, and the little I did care was based on the fact that no liberal woman has ever ruled in America. Only conservative or "new-centrist" ones are allowed into that realm. Nor do I care very much for your race[s]. I would not support you if that was all you had to offer or because it might make me "proud."

In thinking carefully about the strengths of the candidates, I stunned myself when I came to the following conclusion: that in addition to keen intelligence, integrity and a rare authenticity, you exhibit something that has nothing to do with age, experience, race or gender and something I don't see in other candidates. That something is a creative imagination which coupled with brilliance equals wisdom. It is too bad if we associate it only with gray hair and old age. Or if we call searing vision naivete. Or if we believe cunning is insight. Or if we settle for finessing cures tailored for each ravaged tree in the forest while ignoring the poisonous landscape that feeds and surrounds it. Wisdom is a gift; you can't train for it, inherit it, learn it in a class, or earn it in the workplace--that access can foster the acquisition of knowledge, but not wisdom.

When, I wondered, was the last time this country was guided by such a leader? Someone whose moral center was un-embargoed? Someone with courage instead of mere ambition? Someone who truly thinks of his country's citizens as "we," not "they"? Someone who understands what it will take to help America realize the virtues it fancies about itself, what it desperately needs to become in the world?

Our future is ripe, outrageously rich in its possibilities. Yet unleashing the glory of that future will require a difficult labor, and some may be so frightened of its birth they will refuse to abandon their nostalgia for the womb.

There have been a few prescient leaders in our past, but you are the man for this time.

Good luck to you and to us.

Toni Morrison

Gambler

2007-08-23T17:56:13Z

So a gambler is down ten grand and considers cutting his losses but his buddy tells him he can't quit. If he leaves then all the money will have been lost in vain. Does he:

A)Thank his buddy for setting him straight, or
B)Ignore his buddy and leave the table?

*edited to make for a more Christ-like parable.

jaredchilders @ 2007-08-03T22:34:00

2007-08-04T03:35:06Z

O'Reilly: Beware Lesbian Gangs

2007-07-07T02:14:47Z

I had no idea. Thanks O'Reilly!

I hope they're the lipstick variety.

jaredchilders @ 2007-07-05T16:20:00

2007-07-05T21:21:59Z

As disgusting as the Libby commutation is, Clinton really did have no fucking room to talk.

Supreme Court Discovers New Clause in the 1st Amendment

2007-06-25T15:49:48Z

Yes, apparently it was beneath a coffee stain from one of the Founders' all-nighters. It reads, "...except in the case of absurd political speech."

Who knew?

So I'm moving to Missouri

2007-06-22T03:05:48Z

Time to start kissing my ass, Democrats, or I'm voting for Nader again.

You're on notice.

jaredchilders @ 2007-05-09T22:03:00

2007-05-10T03:04:28Z

If he dies I quit.

A Delightful Young Woman

2007-04-18T01:46:48Z

Debbie Schlussel: though Seth has written about her before, I wanted to share with you all what she was speculating before the police released the identity of the Virginia Tech shooter. Debbie was certain that the shooter must have been a "Paki." Here is her rationale:

Here's what we know about the murderer of at least 32 students and maimer of at least 28 more at Virginia Tech, today:

* The murderer has been identified by law enforcement and media reports as "a young Asian male."

* The Virginia Tech campus has a very large Muslim community, many of which are from Pakistan (per terrorism investigator Bill Warner).

* Pakis are considered "Asian."

* There were 2 attacks at least half a mile apart.

* There have been at least two bomb threats to this campus in the last two weeks.

How could there be only one shooter--who was able to go a half mile away to commit a second set of shootings? Were there two and was this a coordinated terrorist attack?

So who is the shooter? What is the shooter's nationality? What is the shooter's religion? Waiting to find out. And wondering why the police and media are referring to the shooter as "Asian" and not by specific nationality.

If I were Asian, I'd be legitimately upset with this broad generalization of the mass murderer's identity.

Why am I speculating that the "Asian" gunman is a Pakistani Muslim? Because law enforcement and the media strangely won't tell us more specifically who the gunman is. Why?

Here's my favorite part. Even in leaving herself an out, she has to take a non sequitur swing at muslims:

Even if it does not turn out that the shooter is Muslim, this is a demonstration to Muslim jihadists all over that it is extremely easy to shoot and kill multiple American college students.

Source

I think it's great she has a blog, if for no other reason than my ability to now quote it. I feel the way about the Reverend Phelps, as well, though I'm troubled by the pain he causes the soldiers of grieving families. For the sake of consistency, I do hope that O'Rielly takes a hard stance against Korean immigration. Not because I believe it will turn Americans against Koreans, but because it will turn them against O'Reilly. I'm a big fan of the reductio ad absurdum.

Tell the Good News!

2007-03-15T14:39:55Z

That this debate is happening among evangelicals is promising and reassuring to me:

Global warming gap among evangelicals widens

MINNEAPOLIS, Minnesota (CNN) -- A sharp difference of opinion over which issues ought to top the political agenda of Christian conservatives spilled out into the open at this week's meeting of the National Association of Evangelicals.

The group rebuffed complaints from some of the religious right's leading lights about the organization's newfound focus on global warming...

...However, the association board not only stood behind Cizik, but also further broadened the group's agenda with a statement condemning torture, which charged that in pursuing the war on terror, the United States had crossed "boundaries of what is legally and morally permissible."

Hallelujah!

Best quote of the article:

...one of the board members, the Rev. Paul de Vries, said, "It ought to be God's agenda, not the Republican Party's agenda, that drives us."

Amen.

Full Story

jaredchilders @ 2007-01-30T16:19:00

2007-01-30T22:20:11Z

Poke The Bunny

Chronicles of My Geekdom

2007-01-16T07:32:31Z

Well, I went to pick up my copy of the World of Warcraft expansion, "The Burning Crusade." I chose Wal-mart because I didn't think the line would be as bad there, and mom had given me a Wal-mart gift card (nothing says "I love you" like). They started the night with 75 copies, and I bought the third to last of them. I felt sorry for everybody who braved the ice and single digit temperatures to go home empty-handed. Oh well, there's always tomorrow.

I didn't get out of Wal-mart until about 1:00 AM, and I'm still installing the game now. With any luck, I'll be making rude gestures to Illidan within the next hour.

Verizon is mathematically challenged

2006-12-10T04:31:17Z

The customer service reps in this call are excruciatingly stupid. This annoys me more than the recorded AOL from a few months back. Here's the story so far:

http://verizonmath.blogpost.com

Make sure to check out the recording.