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Taking up a worthy challenge, I present George Carlin on Mad TV in, “Touched By An Atheist.”

(The Python-esque disclaimers are just icing on the cake.)

Remember when everything was “e-something,” and then it all became “i-something” except for a couple of holdouts like “e-commerce” and “e-cards”? I’ve never been the world’s biggest “e-card” fan, but in the last two weeks I’ve been introduced to a couple of sites which amuse me. (I hasten to warn my gentle readers that some of the cards include concepts and language which can best be described as “distinctly naughty.”)

First came the surreal and occasionally amusing Wrongcards, a site that includes a substantial section devoted to zombies. I’m not making this up.

Today I was led to someecards.com at which I immediately found a couple that I couldn’t resist sending to certain individuals. But here’s the one which made my eyes bug out a bit, in no small part because I happen to agree with it:

I mean, really now. How many Genesis fans are out there in the e-card manufacturing business, anyway?

(In case my fellow Genesis fans are wondering: I purchased the 2007 reunion tour double-CD set, and I wasn’t particularly impressed. Phil sounds kind of terrible on a few songs, I’m afraid.)

Most likely, I’m already a bit late to this one. I know that some of my friends don’t read the sites on which I’ve seen this posted, however, so please allow me to share:

Because I think everybody could use a smile this Monday morning.

Apparently I didn’t do it quite right yesterday. Perhaps this whole phenomenon is beyond my abilities, but I’d like to give it one more try.

I guarantee a rick and at least one roll. If that’s not enough for you, I’m afraid I’ll have to give up for good. Stupid Internet pranks, anyway.

Here’s a bit o’ cross-cultural trivia for you: Yesterday may have been Pi Day (and a couple of other Days besides, which I won’t go into here) but today is yesterday was also… White Day!

Tip of the hat to Brent for bringing this to our attention. We now return you to your regularly scheduled weekend.

[EDIT] - What do you know? I’m an idiot. I didn’t pay attention to the date on the entry, or what day it is today. Baka.

I despaired of finding the perfect present to convince everyone that they should get me, but now… I think I’ve found it.

That should do nicely, shouldn’t it?

In case you need an example of why I grow increasingly skeptical and anti-religious as the years go by, let me share with you a bit of something to make you think:

The rescuers were there in uniform, and the girl’s parents were interviewed. A reporter asked, “What do you want to say to the rescuers?” The father responded, “I want to tell them that we thank God for sending them!” Folks, let’s get some priorities in place here. This wasn’t a miracle, in any way. God didn’t send the rescuers, a telephone operator did. God didn’t supply the oxygen that the child received, nor the other first-aid techniques they applied. The rescue squad saved the girls life, after the omnipotent, all-seeing, omniscient one to whom churches have been erected all over the state – allowed the child to fall into the water.

(Tip of the godless man’s hat to James Randi.)

I built a nice, powerful multimedia PC a few weeks ago, but once I got past the initial installation stages it’s been giving me some trouble. Most annoying among the ongoing problems is something of a showstopper: Every time someone touches the front of the computer, it resets.

A problem, yes?

On a whim I went a-Googlin’. It turns out that I’m not the only one with this problem. There’s also a relatively simple solution, though it involves hauling the machine off of the shelf yet again so I can monkey around with its innards. As a test I may just tape a piece of conductive material to the side of the chassis, bridging the front panel and the rest of the chassis, to see if this is indeed the final fix.

Add this to the fact that the VFD (supposedly a multi-function display built into the chassis) has never worked as advertised and actually causes more problems than it’s worth (which is why I just unplugged all power to that useless piece of junk).

In short: If you’re looking for a multimedia PC chassis, you might want to steer clear of the Antec Fusion Black… unless you feel like getting your hands dirty doing some internal rewiring.

It shows how often I really look at my journal, the fact that my so-called “blogroll” sported several defunct links and lacked a few sites I read almost daily.

I’ve remedied that problem, though I wouldn’t be surprised if I still have managed to miss one or two important sites. Hmm.

David Morgan-Mar is an awfully clever fellow, the man responsible for the inaccurately named “Irregular Webcomic.” Today’s entry is amusing on its own merits, but what broke through my general posting malaise is the commentary he wrote to go along with the comic. To wit:

Nothing anyone does can invalidate the pleasure you got out of enjoying some work of fiction or art in the past. You enjoyed it - you can’t un-enjoy it.

This is why, even though the last few years’ worth of (for instance) Anne McCaffrey’s writing output disappointed me on various levels, I can still go back and read the books I love without the experience being “tainted” by what comes later. I don’t grok the notion of being “betrayed” by an author or musician or filmmaker.

Anyway, go read Mr. Morgan-Mar’s commentary on “betraying the fans,” a good piece of writing that I wholly agree with.