Linky Day Wednesday, on a Saturday.

Greetings folks, as I'm a bit busy again today, I thought I'd throw up a really quick, like post thing.

Yeah.

First off though... My Lady and I had a great time last night, though... Seeing the Blue Man Group last night. My mother got the tickets somehow, and gave them to us to use. Ah, bless... Anyhoo... I had a really fun time, My Lady less so, 'cause she's British, and they don't find them as fun as Yanks do. Don't ask me why. But she still enjoyed herself, just not as much as I. It was great to have a Friday night together. And guess what... We have TONIGHT together as well! The pub's been giving her a break this weekend, and we're going to try to take advantage of it.

Okay, on with the links!

• A great article today, by the Luddite, If You Build It, Don't Be So Sure They Will Come. Favourite line of Tuck's? "Be quick for the sake of losers like me who actually love the Sturm und Drang of city life. For losers like me who will tolerate the occasional urine-scented alley just to never have to encounter the dull, drilled uniformity of perfectly manicured lawns. The longer you wannabe suburbanites hang around town, the more you pollute the grittiness those of us in the loser community would like to preserve." -- Tony Long
• Thank GODS for the French, I was getting a bit nervous that ultra-skinny anorexic models were SOON to be a thing of the past! Oh, no... Not in France! We can't have normal women wearing their clothes on the runway... It wouldn't be FRAWNNNCH...
• And finally... An article that really cheesed both My Lady, and myself off... Chocolate Jesus Exhibit Cancelled. I mean... Shite... What the? Now we're destroying FREE SPEECH in the name of God? When is this insanity going to end? Honestly... Which leads me to...

A reminder...


Tengrain of Mock, Paper, Scissors - logo design

Blog Against Theocracy Blogswarm... Coming soon! Join in! I am!

There... Off to do the day.

-- Tuckmac

Okay... Two parter...

I have two very important things to 'speak' about today... One's sort of an advert for an upcoming "Blogswarm".* You'll notice a new poster-link thing in my sidebar about it, but I thought I'd throw up a quick MAIN posting about it. I learned of this upcoming blogswarm from Blue Gal and she and others are the ringleaders I suppose you could say.

The idea, is to blog against theocracy (Church and State diddling each-other in the back room, whilst no one is looking... Or, actually... Whilst EVERYone is looking) during the "Easter Weekend" of April 6-8th, 2007. I'm sure all of my Yankee readers have noticed a certain um... "swing" in Christian-based lobbying of our government, lately. And for my Brit readers... You all have been making fun of how "religious" the Yanks are for a while now.

Click on the image, to learn more.

Tengrain of Mock, Paper, Scissors - logo design

I'll be partaking of this little bit o' fun, m'self.

End plug...

What I really needed to talk about today, was a rather scary statistic that I heard on Talk of the Nation, on Nat'l Public Radio yesterday... It was a quick blub, but basically...

Only 19% of people polled in an unofficial poll done by a reporter in New York, knew about the Alberto Gonzales US Attorney General Office's latest oops, in the firing of eight U.S. Attorneys.

And many of those 19% of unofficial polled folks didn't actually care!

I was appalled.

Many of the interviewed people, didn't even know... WHO ALBERTO GONZALES IS!!!!!!

Um.

I know from living in Britain, that the Brits have a very low expectation when it comes to the idea of an informed citizenry of the United States of America. It took two years of me living in Canterbury, to disabuse my friendly Brits of the fact that I was an idiot. They sort of just assumed I was, 'cause I was a Yank. I spent quite a bit of time convincing Brits that most Americans weren't stupid, or uninformed, or useless.

And, well... I was wrong. Obviously Americans ARE uninformed, useless, ignorant people, wandering through life completely oblivious to the destruction of the planet happening around them.

Lovely.

Well... Sorry Brits. I steered you wrong! And to those Yankees that read my blog, and well... THE NEWS occasionally... Obviously you do not fit into this category of being ignorant. However... You are a VERY small minority.

Scary, innit?

Gah.

-- Tuckmac



*I made the link, 'cause it was a term that I personally hadn't really heard/used/thought of before. But I sort of figured it out by the context, and hey... I found that great link.

Great link

As I'm a bit busy, and also a bit under the weather (damn allergies) I am unable to write a really long blog today. But since I love all of my readers, I thought I'd throw up this rather delightful (and somewhat sick) link... Cope I think you'd get a kick out of number seven.

Anyhoo... Thanks to Corey at The CityPages Blotter for this particular link...

The Top 15 Unintentionally Funny Comic Book Panels.

-- Tuckmac

CHEESE... Sandwich.

I'm about to do a really awful thing to all of you... That is... Write a whole bunch of nonsense that really has no bearing what-so-ever on your life, or the lives of anyone but myself.

Yep.

Cheese-sandwich blog from hell.... Straight ahead.

I realised that it's been a while since I've last posted, and you have my apologies. It's just... Well, um... Nothing's really been happening.

I mean. There's tonnes of news, that I could comment upon, I suppose. However, it just gets a bit depressing if I just sit here whingeing for days and days... So... I've avoided doing so.

As for letting you all know what exciting things have been happening in the day to day life of Tuckmac, and his wonderful lady the Pook-meister... Well... Um. There haven't BEEN any exciting things. She's working way too hard at her two jobs, whilst trying to maintain her studio-time. I've been working pretty hard too, at my ONE job (admittedly, she works a heck of a lot more than I do) since it's been Spring Break at the college, and everyone in I.T. seems to have a thousand days of vacation... So... I've been doing a bit of extra time, trying to maintain the work-load at work.

But I'm not crazy. All is well. It's just getting up really early in the morning, driving an hour south of here... Working for nine hours, and coming back.

Yep.

That's why cheese-sandwich blogs are so horrific, when they occur. You've just spent probably five minutes of your life, and guess what... You'll never get this waste of time BACK. You're five minutes closer to death, and I apologise for wasting your time.

Have a nice one.

- Tuckmac

Really good radio program

Today during my lunch hour, I enjoyed a marvellous show on MPR.

How Ayaan Hirsi Ali became a Muslim apostate is a wonderful interview with former Muslim, and former Dutch parliamentary member, Ms. Ali. She's written a book titled: Infidel: My Life, and I can tell you right now, I'm going to go buy this puppy.

The only comment I'm going to make about this show (and author in general) is that I find it really sad that one must be a "former" Muslim, in order to disagree with Islam. Perhaps that is the main reason that religion seems to get so messed up lately... If you can't change things from within, stagnation happens.

-- Tuckmac

I was going to write a big screed...

It's the anniversary of the 2nd war in Iraq today. (Yes, the second one... The first one was with the current occupant's daddy, 'member?)

I started going thorough a tonne of internet searches to get a nice chronology of our last four truly f'ed up years under Bushie and his tyranical rule in the U.S.

But then, I found this guy: Jurassicpork's Blog, and he did it so much better than I.

So...

I decided to make a pictoral representation of how I feel about the past four years of war in Iraq, instead!

Anyhoo...

Oh, before I forget... Yes... Mr. President (and your jack-booted thugs) I know that you'll be able to track me down, if you really feel it's necessary. EFF YOU!

Thanks.

(Friends, if I suddenly drop off the face of the internet, please check Gitmo... It'll probably be my new address.)

I hate this crap. Don't all of you?

Take it easy... Give some good vibes to the soldiers and civies on BOTH sides of our conflict, as we watch our leaders do a really good job of bringing about the apocalypse.

-- Tuckmac

Gah... Embarassing video anyone?

I was spending a bit of time doing my typical "web-wandering" that I'm known far and wide for doing, and I ended my virtual 'stroll' by checking out my regular set of fave-blogs. The Welsh-speaking Cope said this in his latest entry:

I know that the bread and butter of blogging is simply linking to other things, or, ideally, linking to someone else's linking of other things, but it seems a bit 2004, doesn't it? I feel this need to produce original content.

So, I decided to link to the thing that HE linked to, whilst still drawing your attention to the fact that he did find the link first. Or rather, his father did. Anyhoo...

This video made me a BIT sick, and I have to say that I haven't seen such an appalling tourist-type video in my entire life, and the fact that it's about my "home" town, well... It's even more horrific, really.

Here you go: The Twin Cities.

Gah.

See ya,
Tuckmac

St. Patrick's Day

As noted in the past, St. Patrick's Day is mainly a "State's Side" holiday, and not a true Irish one.

That's not to say that the Irish do NOT celebrate, but frankly... It's pretty sad. No... The big party is here in the States, due to all of the immigration in the 19th century, and also, 'cause like... The Swedes and Germans and all the other folk over here "are Irish" on St. Pats... Basically, 'cause they don't have "national" holidays in Sweden or Germany that's all about the drinking...

(German's don't really need an excuse to drink, so... They celebrate every day like St. Pats... Okay, I guess that's true of the Irish too. Hmm...)

Oh... Calm down... I'm kidding.

Anyhoo... Hey... (Here I go again) maybe that's why St. Pat's is such a huge holiday over HERE in the U.S., unlike in Ireland. It's 'cause the Irish go to pubs all the time, and the freaking weirdos over here only go once a year. Yeah... Maybe that's it.

Well... It's St. Pats. It's crazy... My Lady is working at her "pub" job today. (And last night too) because of the holiday, and I'm sure she's getting absolutely destroyed by all the drunk German-, Swede-, and yeah, a few actualy Irish- Americans that get pissed on St. Patrick's Day. I'm heading downtown in an hour, as the "St. Patrick's Day Parade" occurs in Minneapolis at 6:30pm. I'm going down there to make some photos. Then... Am I going to visit My Lady in the Irish pub where she works?

Probably not.

I don't actually DO Irish-pubs on St. Pat's. It's awful. Mainly DUE to all the German-, Swede- and "pseudo-" Irish- Americans... See... I don't need an "excuse" to go to an Irish Pub. My "Local" which actually IS my "Local" is an Irish Pub. I don't enjoy "green beer" nor do I want to wait for my pint of Guinness, hearing all the fake-ass dorks in the pub saying, "God, this beer is THICK, how can people drink this shit." and other annoying comments...

No... I'm probably just going to go to a "regular" place, and enjoy a few pints.

Well... 'Cause it IS St. Pat's... I looked all over the internet (and it's 'tubes') for a great image to post here... But I couldn't find the pic I wanted, even though I searched Google for EVER for: "Scantily Clad Guinness Girl" Check out what pops up in the Google Image Search: HERE'S THE LINK The sick mummy thing, being the first photo is scary.

So, here's a good "St. Patrick's Day" quote instead:

''May the enemies of Ireland never eat bread nor drink whisky, but be tormented with itching without benefit of scratching.'' -- Traditional St. Patrick's Day toast.

See ya!
--Tuckmac

I love my city (ies) very much

It's rather funny, but I've noticed something very strange about Minnesotans. They are weather whores! (Okay, racy way of putting it, but let me explain before you get uppity.)

I've had a large quotient of "kvetching" type blog-posts about the March snow-storms, and difficulties surrounding them. The roads, the sidewalks (pavements), snow plows, slush, freezing temps... You name it, I've kvetched about it.

And today is to be ANOTHER weather related post. However, no kvetching... No, rather glorifying in the weather!

It's beautiful outside! Gorgeous! Looking at my "MyCast" site:


I mean, it just doesn't get any better than 64°F !!!! (almost 18°C!)

I'm LOVIN' it... Much more than I would if I were eating McDonalds........

I just finished taking the puppy for a nice long walk... (He found an abandoned tennis-ball, and proceeded to carry the damn thing home) The puppy had a great time... I had a great time. Frighteningly enough, I worked up a bit of a sweat, which was lovely.

The more than two feet of snow that we once had, is now reduced to gritty little remnants of piles left by snow plows... The ground is wet (the dog is a mess) and the air shows the first promise of Spring.

Ah... Spring.

Well... That's it, folks... I'm done Cheese-sandwiching for the day.

Love to you all... Love to the world... Love.... (Gah, this Spring crap is getting to me...)

Smiles,
Tuckmac

A fond farewell...

John Inman Dies at age '71, and Tuckmac bids him a fond farewell...

I loved this man. I really did. I grew up watching re-runs of "Are You Being Served" for many of my childhood years, and I still do the "Men's wear voice" occasionally to spice up a conversation. He was funny. He was a bit crazy, and the world is less, now that "I'm free...." will no longer be said.

We'll miss you Mr. Inman...

-- Tuckmac

A vaguely silly, and long film

Our puppy, Agamemnon, discovers the magic of balloons.



Hope you enjoyed it.

-- Tuckmac

Thank all the gods, it's finally over.

I realise that lately my blog's been all about the wacky snowy weather, and chances are, you're all as tired of my blogging about it, as I am about the damn weather itself!

Well. I'm Minnesotan. The weather features prominently in my psyche. Luckily, the storm seems to be over. Why luckily? Check out my expression in this photo:


Self Portrait with Snow

Seriously... I'm tired of all the damn snow. I'm a Minnesotan. I LOVE snow. But two storms in a week? No thanks. It took me three hours to dig out my car after this second storm, and then I had to drive down to Bloomington to dig my MOTHER'S house out of the storm... It's just a bit much.




Anyhoo... All is fine. The weather is finally clearing up, after dumping about 23 inches of snow since last Saturday. The sun is out, it's bright and sunny, and gorgeous. That is, if you like the rather uncomfortable -8°C (17°F) temps.

Och weel... Hopefully now that "March has come in like a lion" it'll go out like a lamb.

We'll see.

I'm off. I'm going to get out of the flat before I eat my own liver. And I love my liver... It helps to process all the damn alcohol that I consume.

Hope you're all well... Smiles and kittens,
Tuckmac

2nd Snowstorm, 2nd Video Blog

Article about storm

Chris Cope, the Welsh-speaking Minnesotan/Texan/American who loves the U.K. as much as I do. And he's living there, whilst I'm here.

Bastard.

;-)

-- Tuckmac