Not “vacation,” which is what you do when the economy doesn't suck. Not “staycation,” which is what you do when the economy does suck. No, it's “mancation,” which is what the menfolk do when the womenfolk aren't around.
While checking in at The Strobist, I noticed the host and his son were on a mancation. The highlights of a mancation are, of course:
- IN: Go karts, laser tag, pizza, movies and the increased likelihood of a farting contest.
- OUT: Bed making, writing posts, answering emails and putting the seat down.
Posted by Kurt Wall at 21:06 2009-08-27 | Trackbacks (0) | Comments (0)
The Patriot Act Blows (Politics)
…and blows and blows and blows.
This image, shamelessly stolen borrowed from The Pittsburgh Comet says it better than I ever could.
Posted by Kurt Wall at 21:59 2009-08-26 | Trackbacks (0) | Comments (0)
Sunol Regional Wilderness (Parks)
Kelly and I drove up I-680 today to hike through part of Sunol Regional Wilderness. We were particularly interested in Little Yosemite, a reportedly scenic gorge with a waterfall in Sunol. Little Yosemite is actually part of the San Francisco Water Authority's land but open to the public through a lease agreement with the East Bay Regional Park District.
Short version: Meh. Sunol was hot, Little Yosemite was markedly unspectacular this late in the dry season, and the falls were nowhere to be seen. The hike along the Canyon View Trail and Camp Ohlone Road was okay, but it was hard to enjoy it due to the heat. The best part of the trip was getting back to the truck and the drive down Route 84 through Sunol itself and Niles. :-\ We'll try again between October and May when there's more to see.
Posted by Kurt Wall at 19:26 2009-08-22 | Trackbacks (0) | Comments (0)
SmokeWerks is Gone (Politics)
SmokeWerks is dead. Long live SmokeWerks!
I've taken down my pages dealing with making your own cigarettes. The new campaign by anti-smoking nazis tobacco tax regime fell hardest on Class J tobacco, which is the class assigned to tobacco products used in roll-your-own/stuff-your-own cigarettes. The tax went up something over 2000%. The effect was that the vendor of my favorite tobaccos exited the the roll-your-own business. More generally, the prices of even the lousiest tobaccos doubled and tripled at the retail level. In terms of per-stick price, the cost of making your own and buying manufactured cigarettes is now approximately equal, rendering the time spent making your own smokes cost-ineffective (assuming you made your own as a cost-saving measure, which was not the case for me).
The price changes are not why I've taken down my MYO pages. Rather, I'm now encouraging everyone to quit smoking, not for health reasons but rather to deprive the government of the revenues they would derive from those taxes. Again, more generally, I will do everything legally within my power to deprive the elitist, arrogant tyrants in Washington of opportunities to confiscate my income to give to other people or to use for their own purposes, purposes of which I do not approve and which I will not support. I did not vote for the fascists in the present administration and will not support them.
Parenthetically, I hope that all of you who did vote for them are happy and satisfied — you are getting precisely the dry-fucking-in-the-ass for which you voted and the abridgment of your liberties that I and others told you would happen.
Posted by Kurt Wall at 11:09 2009-08-15 | Trackbacks (0) | Comments (0)