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    <id>tag:svott.com,2008-06-30://1</id>
    <updated>2010-01-06T06:31:22Z</updated>
    <subtitle>I&apos;ve already told you more than I know.</subtitle>
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<entry>
    <title>You were on your way home when you died</title>
    <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://svott.com/2010/01/you-were-on-your-way-home-when.html" />
    <id>tag:svott.com,2010://1.184</id>

    <published>2010-01-06T05:16:49Z</published>
    <updated>2010-01-06T06:31:22Z</updated>

    <summary> It was a car accident. Nothing particularly remarkable, but fatal nonetheless. You left behind a wife and two children. It was a painless death. The EMTs tried their best to save you, but to no avail. Your body was...</summary>
    <author>
        <name>scott</name>
        <uri>http://svott.com</uri>
    </author>
    
    
    <content type="html" xml:lang="en" xml:base="http://svott.com/">
        <![CDATA[<p>
	It was a car accident. Nothing particularly remarkable, but fatal nonetheless. You left behind a wife and two children. It was a painless death. The EMTs tried their best to save you, but to no avail. Your body was so utterly shattered you were better off. Trust me.<br />
	<br />
	And that&#39;s when you met me.<br />
	<br />
	&quot;What... what happened?&quot; You asked. &quot;Where am I?&quot;<br />
	<br />
	&quot;You died,&quot; I said, matter-of-factly. No point mincing words.<br />
	<br />
	&quot;There was a...a truck and it was skidding...&quot;<br />
	<br />
	&quot;Yup.&quot; I said.<br />
	<br />
	&quot;I... I died?&quot;<br />
	<br />
	&quot;Yup. But don&#39;t feel bad about it. Everyone dies.&quot; I said.<br />
	<br />
	You looked around. There was nothingness. Just you and me. &quot;What is this place?&quot; You asked.<br />
	<br />
	&quot;Is this the afterlife?&quot;<br />
	<br />
	&quot;More or less,&quot; I said.<br />
	<br />
	Are you god?&quot; You asked.<br />
	<br />
	&quot;Yup.&quot; I replied. &quot;I&#39;m God.&quot;<br />
	<br />
	&quot;My kids... my wife,&quot; you said.&nbsp; &quot;What about them?&nbsp; Will they be alright?&quot;<br />
	<br />
	&quot;That what I like to see,&quot; I said. &quot;You just died and your main concern is for your family. That&#39;s good stuff right there.&quot;<br />
	<br />
	You looked at me with fascination.&nbsp; To you, I didn&#39;t look like God. I just looked like some man. Some vague authority figure. More of a grammar school teacher then the almighty.<br />
	<br />
	&quot;Don&#39;t worry,&quot; I said. &quot;They&#39;ll be fine.&nbsp; Your kids will remember you as perfect in every way.<br />
	<br />
	They didn&#39;t have time to grow contempt for you. Your wife will cry on the outside, but will be secretly relieved. To be fair, your marriage was falling apart. If it&#39;s any consolation she&#39;ll feel very guilty for feeling relieved.&quot;<br />
	<br />
	&quot;Oh,&quot; you said. &quot;So what happens now? Do I go to heaven or hell or something?&quot;<br />
	<br />
	&quot;Neither,&quot; I said. &quot;You&#39;ll be reincarnated.&quot;<br />
	<br />
	&quot;Ah, so the Hindus were right.&quot;<br />
	<br />
	&quot;All the religions are right in their own way,&quot; I said. &quot;Walk with me.&quot;&nbsp; You followed along as we strolled in the void.<br />
	<br />
	&quot;Where are we going?&quot;<br />
	<br />
	&quot;Nowhere in particular,&quot; I said. &quot;It&#39;s just nice to walk while we talk.&quot;<br />
	<br />
	&quot;So whats the point, then?&quot; You asked. &quot;When I get reborn, I&#39;ll just be a blank slate right? A baby. So all my experiences and everything I did in this life won&#39;t matter.&quot;<br />
	<br />
	&quot;Not so!&quot; I said. &quot;You have within you all the knowledge and experiences of all your past lives. You just don&#39;t remember them right now.&quot;<br />
	<br />
	I stopped walking and took you by the shoulders. &quot;Your soul is more magnificent, beautiful, and gigantic then you can possibly imagine. A human mind can only contain a tiny fraction of what you are. It&#39;s like sticking your finger in a glass of water to see if it&#39;s hot or cold. You put a tiny part or yourself into the vessel, and when you bring it back out, you&#39;ve gained all the experiences it had.<br />
	<br />
	&quot;You&#39;ve been a human for the last 34 years, so you haven&#39;t stretched out yet and felt the rest of you immense consciousness. If we hung out here for longer, you&#39;d start remembering everything. But there&#39;s no point doing that between each life.&quot;<br />
	<br />
	&quot;How many times have I been reincarnated, then?&quot;<br />
	<br />
	&quot;Oh lots. Lots and lots. And into lots of different lives.&quot; I said. &quot;This time around you&#39;ll be a Chinese peasant girl in 540 A.D.&quot;<br />
	<br />
	&quot;Wait, what?&quot; You stammered. &quot;You&#39;re sending me back in time?&quot;<br />
	<br />
	&quot;Well, I guess technically. Time, as you know it, only exists in your universe. Things are different where I come from.&quot;<br />
	<br />
	&quot;Where you come from?&quot; You pondered.<br />
	<br />
	&quot;Oh sure!&quot; I explained. &quot;I come from somewhere. Somewhere else.&nbsp; And there&#39;s others like me. I know you&#39;ll want to know what it&#39;s like there but you honestly wont understand.&quot;<br />
	<br />
	&quot;Oh.&quot; you said, a little let down. &quot;But wait. If I get reincarnated to other places in time, could I have interacted with myself at some point?&quot;<br />
	<br />
	&quot;Sure. Happens all the time.&nbsp; And with both lives only aware of their own time span you don&#39;t even know it&#39;s happening.&quot;<br />
	<br />
	&quot;So what&#39;s the point of it all?&quot;<br />
	<br />
	&quot;Seriously?&quot; I asked. &quot;Seriously? You&#39;re asking me for the meaning of life? Isn&#39;t that a little stereotypical?&quot;<br />
	<br />
	&quot;Well it&#39;s a reasonable question.&quot; you persisted.<br />
	<br />
	I looked in your eyes. &quot;The meaning of life, the reason I made this whole universe, is for you to mature.&quot;<br />
	<br />
	&quot;You mean mankind? You want us to mature?&quot;<br />
	<br />
	&quot;No. Just you. I made this whole universe for you. With each new life you grow and mature, and become a larger and greater intellect.&quot;<br />
	<br />
	&quot;Just me? What about everyone else?&quot;<br />
	<br />
	&quot;There is no one else,&quot; I said. &quot;In this universe, there&#39;s just you.&nbsp; And me.&quot;<br />
	<br />
	You stared blankly at me. &quot;But all the people on earth...&quot;<br />
	<br />
	&quot;All you. Different incarnations of you.&quot;<br />
	<br />
	&quot;Wait. I&#39;m everyone!?&quot;<br />
	<br />
	&quot;Now your getting it.&quot; I said, with a congratulatory slap on the back.<br />
	<br />
	&quot;I&#39;m every human who ever lived?&quot;<br />
	<br />
	&quot;Or who will ever live, yes.&quot;<br />
	<br />
	&quot;I&#39;m Abraham Lincoln?&quot;<br />
	<br />
	&quot;And you&#39;re John Wilkes Booth, too.&quot; I added.<br />
	<br />
	&quot;I&#39;m Hitler?&quot; you said, appalled.<br />
	<br />
	&quot;And you&#39;re the millions he killed.&quot;<br />
	<br />
	&quot;I&#39;m Jesus?&quot;<br />
	<br />
	&quot;And you&#39;re everyone who followed him.&quot;<br />
	<br />
	You fell silent.<br />
	<br />
	&quot;Every time you victimized someone,&quot; I said, &quot;You were victimizing yourself. Every act of kindness you&#39;ve done, you&#39;ve done to yourself. Every happy and sad moment ever experienced by any human was, or will be, experienced by you.&quot;<br />
	<br />
	&quot;Why?&quot; You asked me. &quot;Why do all this?&quot;<br />
	<br />
	&quot;Because someday, you will become like me. Because that&#39;s what you are. You&#39;re one of my kind. You&#39;re my child.&quot;<br />
	<br />
	&quot;Whoa.&quot; you said, incredulous. &quot;You mean I&#39;m a god?&quot;<br />
	<br />
	&quot;No. Not yet. You&#39;re a fetus. You&#39;re still growing. Once you&#39;ve lived every human life throughout all time, you will have grown enough to be born.&quot;<br />
	<br />
	&quot;So the whole universe,&quot; you said. &quot;It&#39;s just...&quot;<br />
	<br />
	&quot;An egg of sorts.&quot; I answered. &quot;Now it&#39;s time for you to move on to your next life.&quot; And I sent you on your way.</p>
]]>
        
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</entry>

<entry>
    <title>Happy 2010</title>
    <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://svott.com/2010/01/happy-2010.html" />
    <id>tag:svott.com,2010://1.183</id>

    <published>2010-01-01T18:24:03Z</published>
    <updated>2010-01-02T18:29:55Z</updated>

    <summary><![CDATA[ (nedroidcomics) Don't forget:&nbsp; you're supposed to say &quot;twenty-ten,&quot; not &quot;two-thousand ten.&quot;&nbsp; It's just easier, and more futurey sounding....]]></summary>
    <author>
        <name>scott</name>
        <uri>http://svott.com</uri>
    </author>
    
    
    <content type="html" xml:lang="en" xml:base="http://svott.com/">
        <![CDATA[<span class="mt-enclosure mt-enclosure-image" style="display: inline;"><a href="http://nedroidcomics.livejournal.com/267656.html"><img width="500" height="623" alt="happy-2010.jpg" src="http://svott.com/img/happy-2010.jpg" class="mt-image-none" style="" /></a></span> <p><span style="color: rgb(128, 128, 0);">(nedroidcomics)  </span></p><p>Don't forget:&nbsp; you're supposed to say &quot;twenty-ten,&quot; not &quot;two-thousand ten.&quot;&nbsp; It's just easier, and more futurey sounding.</p>]]>
        
    </content>
</entry>

<entry>
    <title>New Pepsi</title>
    <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://svott.com/2009/02/new-pepsi.html" />
    <id>tag:svott.com,2009://1.182</id>

    <published>2009-02-11T03:59:40Z</published>
    <updated>2009-02-11T04:01:21Z</updated>

    <summary><![CDATA[courtesy of Lawrence Yang&nbsp;...]]></summary>
    <author>
        <name>scott</name>
        <uri>http://svott.com</uri>
    </author>
    
    
    <content type="html" xml:lang="en" xml:base="http://svott.com/">
        <![CDATA[<span style="display: inline;" class="mt-enclosure mt-enclosure-image"><img height="467" width="550" style="margin: 0pt auto 20px; text-align: center; display: block;" class="mt-image-center" src="http://svott.com/img/new%20pepsi.jpg" alt="new pepsi.jpg" /></span><p><span style="color: rgb(128, 128, 0);">courtesy of Lawrence Yang</span></p><p>&nbsp;</p>]]>
        
    </content>
</entry>

<entry>
    <title>Obama First Days</title>
    <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://svott.com/2009/01/obama-first-days.html" />
    <id>tag:svott.com,2009://1.181</id>

    <published>2009-01-24T20:55:57Z</published>
    <updated>2009-01-25T01:07:16Z</updated>

    <summary><![CDATA[Everyone says I should hold off my praise for Obama until he has been in the office for some time.. that we should see how effective he is at actually making good on his promises.&nbsp; Maybe true, but I am...]]></summary>
    <author>
        <name>scott</name>
        <uri>http://svott.com</uri>
    </author>
    
    
    <content type="html" xml:lang="en" xml:base="http://svott.com/">
        <![CDATA[<p>Everyone says I should hold off my praise for Obama until he has been in the office for some time.. that we should see how effective he is at actually making good on his promises.&nbsp; Maybe true, but I am very encouraged by what I see already.</p>  <p>He has already <a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&amp;sid=azQJo_wu7f64">banned lobbyist gifts</a> to executive employees.</p> <p style="margin-left: 40px;"><span style="color: rgb(128, 128, 128);">&ldquo;We are here as public servants, and public service is a privilege,&rdquo; Obama said,  addressing his White House staff and Cabinet on his first full day in office.  &ldquo;It&rsquo;s not about advancing yourself or your corporate clients.&rdquo;</span></p><p>He's working to reverse the appalling efforts of John Ashcroft to stifle the Freedom of Information Act by <a href="http://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2009/01/on-day-one-obama-demands-open-government">issuing a memo</a> saying &quot;in the face of doubt, openness prevails.&quot;</p><p style="margin-left: 40px;"><span style="color: rgb(128, 128, 128);">All agencies should adopt a presumption in favor of disclosure, in order to renew their commitment to the principles embodied in FOIA, and to usher in a new era of open Government. The presumption of disclosure should be applied to all decisions involving FOIA.</span></p><p>He's issued an order to <a href="http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090122/ap_on_go_pr_wh/obama_rdp">close the prison camp</a> at Guantanamo Bay.</p><p style="margin-left: 40px;"><span style="color: rgb(128, 128, 128);">By ordering shut the prison camp at <span id="lw_1232676585_5" class="yshortcuts">Guantanamo Bay, Cuba</span>, closing any remaining CIA secret prisons overseas and banning harsh interrogation practices, Obama said he was signaling that the U.S. would confront global violence without sacrificing &quot;our values and our ideals.&quot;</span></p><p style="margin-left: 40px;"><span style="color: rgb(128, 128, 128);">&quot;First, I can say without exception or equivocation that the United States will not torture,&quot; he said. &quot;Second, we will close the Guantanamo Bay detention camp and determine how to deal with those who have been held there.&quot;</span></p><p>That's a pretty good start, if you ask me.&nbsp; Let's watch him keep it up by <a href="http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/promises/">tracking Obama's compaign promises</a>.</p>]]>
        
    </content>
</entry>

<entry>
    <title>Awesome President Is Awesome</title>
    <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://svott.com/2009/01/awesome-president-is-awesome.html" />
    <id>tag:svott.com,2009://1.180</id>

    <published>2009-01-21T05:18:08Z</published>
    <updated>2009-01-21T05:20:44Z</updated>

    <summary>Happy inauguration day, everyone.That is all....</summary>
    <author>
        <name>scott</name>
        <uri>http://svott.com</uri>
    </author>
    
    
    <content type="html" xml:lang="en" xml:base="http://svott.com/">
        <![CDATA[<span style="display: inline;" class="mt-enclosure mt-enclosure-image"><p><img height="348" width="314" style="margin: 0pt auto 20px; text-align: center; display: block;" class="mt-image-center" src="http://svott.com/img/awesome_obama.jpg" alt="awesome obama" />Happy inauguration day, everyone.</p><p>That is all.</p></span>]]>
        
    </content>
</entry>

<entry>
    <title>Abortion Doughnuts</title>
    <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://svott.com/2009/01/abortion-donuts.html" />
    <id>tag:svott.com,2009://1.179</id>

    <published>2009-01-19T04:10:33Z</published>
    <updated>2009-01-25T01:09:34Z</updated>

    <summary>Please take a moment to read this press release by Krispy Kreme: Krispy Kreme Doughnuts, Inc. (NYSE: KKD) is honoring American&apos;s sense of pride and freedom of choice on Inauguration Day, by offering a free doughnut of choice to every...</summary>
    <author>
        <name>scott</name>
        <uri>http://svott.com</uri>
    </author>
    
    
    <content type="html" xml:lang="en" xml:base="http://svott.com/">
        <![CDATA[<p>Please take a moment to read this <a href="http://investor.krispykreme.com/releasedetail.cfm?ReleaseID=359127">press release</a> by Krispy Kreme:</p> <p style="margin-left: 40px;"><span style="color: rgb(128, 128, 128);">Krispy Kreme Doughnuts, Inc. (NYSE: KKD) is honoring American's sense of pride and freedom of choice on Inauguration Day, by offering a free doughnut of choice to every customer on this historic day, Jan. 20. By doing so, participating Krispy Kreme stores nationwide are making an oath to tasty goodies -- just another reminder of how oh-so-sweet &quot;free&quot; can be.</span></p> <p>A normal person reads this and thinks, &quot;Oh cool, I should get me one of them free donuts,&quot; <img height="119" width="119" alt="krispy kreme glazed doughnut" src="http://svott.com/img/krispy_kreme_glazed_doughnut.png" class="mt-image-right" style="margin: 0pt 0pt 20px 20px; float: right;" />or &quot;Huh that's a nice gesture, but I don't care for their artery-clogging sugar rings.&quot;&nbsp;</p> <p>The American Life League, however, hones in on the &quot;c&quot; word and immediately decides that taking offense is the only reasonable reaction.&nbsp; What, you didn't see anything offensive about the Krispy Kreme press release ?&nbsp;&nbsp; Well then, you need to go back to sensitivity training because the word &quot;choice&quot; is now synonymous with baby killing.</p> <p><a href="http://www.all.org/article.php?id=11754">Read it here</a> in a news release from the American Life League:</p> <p style="margin-left: 40px;"><span style="color: rgb(128, 128, 128);"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">The unfortunate reality of a post Roe v. Wade America is that &quot;choice&quot; is synonymous with abortion access and celebration of 'freedom of choice' is a tacit endorsement of abortion rights on demand.</span></span></p> <p>I had no idea !&nbsp; I'll remove that word from my vocabulary immediately, so I don't give anyone the wrong idea.&nbsp; The ALL would also like you to know that the word &quot;the&quot; is extremely <span id="query" class="query">derogatory </span>toward women between the ages of 0 and 110, so change your behavior accordingly to appease them.</p> <p>They generously do allow that Krispy Kreme's hateful baby murdering speech might have been unintentional:</p> <p style="margin-left: 40px;"><span style="color: rgb(128, 128, 128);"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">Just an unfortunate choice of words? For the sake of our Wednesday morning doughnut runs, we hope so.</span></span></p> <p>Now that's interesting.&nbsp; I don't even understand what an &quot;unfortunate <i>abortion access</i> of words&quot; is referring to.</p> <p>The crazy doesn't stop there:</p> <p style="margin-left: 40px;"><span style="color: rgb(128, 128, 128);"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;">Celebrating his inauguration with &quot;Freedom of Choice&quot; doughnuts &ndash; only two days before the anniversary of the Supreme Court decision to decriminalize abortion &ndash; is not only extremely tacky, it's disrespectful and insensitive and makes a mockery of a national tragedy.</span>&nbsp;</span></p> <p>It looks like all future celebrations of any kind must be canceled immediately to avoid being disrespectful and insensitive.&nbsp; You're going to be hard pressed to find any day of the calendar year that isn't the anniversary of some tragedy, let alone within two days of a tragedy.&nbsp; Let's see.. on <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/September_21">September 21</a>, 1942, Nazis killed 2588 Jews.&nbsp; Guess I can never celebrate my birthday again.</p> <p>Anyway, they're setting the criteria for calling something a national tragedy far too low.&nbsp; The only national tragedy here is that our right to abortion can't be applied retroactively to people who try to invent ways of being offended under any circumstance.</p> <p>I don't think it's all bad for Krispy Kreme, though.&nbsp; They're at least getting a bit of extra publicity out of this inane accusation.&nbsp; As a result of the extra attention, I hear they're even going to extend their free donut offer until 10 AM on Wednesday morning, in what they're now calling the &quot;Morning After&quot; promotion.</p>]]>
        
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<entry>
    <title>Happy Holidays, All Y&apos;All</title>
    <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://svott.com/2008/12/happy-holidays-all-yall.html" />
    <id>tag:svott.com,2008://1.178</id>

    <published>2008-12-25T19:03:59Z</published>
    <updated>2008-12-27T19:04:29Z</updated>

    <summary></summary>
    <author>
        <name>scott</name>
        <uri>http://svott.com</uri>
    </author>
    
    
    <content type="html" xml:lang="en" xml:base="http://svott.com/">
        <![CDATA[<span style="display: inline;" class="mt-enclosure mt-enclosure-image"><img height="411" width="400" style="margin: 0pt auto 20px; text-align: center; display: block;" class="mt-image-center" src="http://svott.com/img/christmas_tree_sketch.png" alt="christmas_tree_sketch.png" /></span>]]>
        
    </content>
</entry>

<entry>
    <title>Intro To Jury Duty</title>
    <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://svott.com/2008/10/intro-to-jury-duty.html" />
    <id>tag:svott.com,2008://1.176</id>

    <published>2008-10-28T03:40:17Z</published>
    <updated>2008-10-28T05:18:03Z</updated>

    <summary><![CDATA[Tomorrow I need to take time out of my artificially busy day to do my civic duty.&nbsp; No, not to vote.&nbsp; I mean I have to go to jury duty.&nbsp; It's not so bad though, I almost welcome the opportunity...]]></summary>
    <author>
        <name>scott</name>
        <uri>http://svott.com</uri>
    </author>
    
    
    <content type="html" xml:lang="en" xml:base="http://svott.com/">
        <![CDATA[<p>Tomorrow I need to take time out of my artificially busy day to do my civic duty.&nbsp; No, not to vote.&nbsp; I mean I have to go to jury duty.&nbsp; It's not so bad though, I almost welcome the opportunity because it has a legitimate potential for fun.&nbsp; If it had come at a time in my life that wasn't as busy I wouldn't mind at all.<br /> <br /> Still, I probably won't get picked, just because I tend think everyone is guilty as charged and it probably shows through in my mannerisms like a wallpaper pattern through paint.&nbsp; I guess I'm too suggestable.<br /> <br /> I filled out the questionnaire ahead of time, just as requested.&nbsp; Some of the questions seem like they should be irrelevant and perhaps even inappropriate.&nbsp; Race, education, religious preference ?&nbsp; These answers would seem to allow a jury selection that is not an accurate cross-section of the general populace.</p> <p><a href="http://svott.com/img/juror_info_form_large.png"><img height="233" width="452" alt="I go to court" src="http://svott.com/img/juror_info_form_smaller.png" class="mt-image-center yui-img" style="margin: 0pt auto 20px; text-align: center; display: block;" /></a></p> <p>It's possible that my answers will be received with mild skepticism.&nbsp; I didn't write caucasian for my race because I'm not from the region of Caucasus.&nbsp; I don't know why white people are collectively referred to as caucasians anyway.&nbsp; It's like calling Native Americans by the label Indians, even though they are not from India.<br /> <br /> I also accurately listed my religion as Pastafarian.&nbsp; If anyone actually looks at this answer, it could go a couple of different ways.&nbsp; Most would probably read it as Rastafarian and move on.&nbsp; Others might reject it as an illegitimate religion based on relative obscurity.&nbsp; Either mistake would be unfortunate.<br /> <br /> Because you're feigning interest right now, I'll let you know how the day goes.</p>]]>
        
    </content>
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<entry>
    <title>Wassup 2008</title>
    <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://svott.com/2008/10/wassup-2008.html" />
    <id>tag:svott.com,2008://1.175</id>

    <published>2008-10-27T02:06:51Z</published>
    <updated>2008-10-27T03:25:01Z</updated>

    <summary><![CDATA[Remember that old "True" Budweiser advertisement from the year 2000 ?&nbsp; The one where the five guys were on the phone gratuitously and rhetorically asking each other what was happening at the time ?&nbsp; Well, the original cast from that...]]></summary>
    <author>
        <name>scott</name>
        <uri>http://svott.com</uri>
    </author>
    
    
    <content type="html" xml:lang="en" xml:base="http://svott.com/">
        <![CDATA[Remember that old <a title="" target="" href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L38wthA4Ld0">"True" Budweiser advertisement</a> from the year 2000 ?&nbsp; The one where the five guys were on the phone gratuitously and rhetorically asking each other what was happening at the time ?&nbsp; <br><br>Well, the original cast from that commercial reunited to create an <a title="" target="" href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qq8Uc5BFogE">unofficial spot for the Obama campaign</a>, in the same theme as the original commercial but adjusted to be relevant to today's economic and social climate.&nbsp; It's somber yet inspiring, kind of like Obama's message to the American people.<br><br>I don't mean to impose myself on you here, but I very strongly encourage you to vote in this presidential election--and I equally strongly suggest you vote for Barack Obama.&nbsp; Early voting is available now in many states (including Texas), and if you vote early you get to pick the polling place you want to go to, you can avoid the lines on November 4, and you'll have it out of the way just in case you get too busy that day.<br><br>Having said that, I'm not actually voting for Obama myself.&nbsp; Neither of the forerunners are remotely qualified for the job, but one of them has to win and Obama is by far the lesser of the two evils.<br><br>My vote is going to be more idealistic.&nbsp; I would really like to vote for the <a title="" target="" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Libertarian_Party_%28United_States%29">Libertarian Party</a>, but the nominee this year is <a title="" target="" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bob_Barr">Bob Barr</a>, who is (oddly) in many ways the antithesis to Libertarianism.&nbsp; Given that, my only other choice remaining (although still a poor one) is to vote for <a title="" target="" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chuck_Baldwin">Chuck Baldwin</a> of the Constitution Party.&nbsp; At least he supports many of the same ideals as myself, and is supported by the most qualified (former) candidate Ron Paul.<br><br>So do I vote for a party that I believe in that is fronting someone I don't like, or for a party I don't agree with that is fronting someone I moderately do like ?<br><br>]]>
        
    </content>
</entry>

<entry>
    <title>Bright Ideas Come To Us at Night</title>
    <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://svott.com/2008/10/bright-ideas-come-to-us-at-nig.html" />
    <id>tag:svott.com,2008://1.174</id>

    <published>2008-10-27T01:40:08Z</published>
    <updated>2008-10-27T02:05:04Z</updated>

    <summary>To all of you smug people with early schedules that give me crap for sleeping through the mornings, as if simply getting up early is some kind of an accomplishment, I give you this study:EARLY to bed, early to rise,...</summary>
    <author>
        <name>scott</name>
        <uri>http://svott.com</uri>
    </author>
    
    
    <content type="html" xml:lang="en" xml:base="http://svott.com/">
        <![CDATA[To all of you smug people with early schedules that give me crap for sleeping through the mornings, as if simply getting up early is some kind of an accomplishment, I give you <a title="" target="" href="http://www.news.com.au/couriermail/story/0,23739,24525997-23272,00.html">this study</a>:<br><br><blockquote>EARLY to bed, early to rise, makes you healthy, wealthy and wise, so goes the old proverb. But it seems the advice holds little truth.&nbsp; Research now suggests that if you want to be the wisest, you really need to stay up - well, until 10.04pm at least.<br></blockquote>and<br><br><blockquote>The findings echo an Italian study in 2006 that found those who stay up late have the most original ideas.<br><br></blockquote>Yep, that's right.&nbsp; You early-birds are uncreative and dull.&nbsp; Now go get ready for bed, you have an unproductive day ahead of you tomorrow.<br>]]>
        
    </content>
</entry>

<entry>
    <title>Domo-Kun Sells Out to Target</title>
    <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://svott.com/2008/10/domo-kun-sells-out-to-target.html" />
    <id>tag:svott.com,2008://1.173</id>

    <published>2008-10-27T00:30:09Z</published>
    <updated>2008-10-27T01:38:30Z</updated>

    <summary><![CDATA[When you find an obscure something that's fun or interesting, or just entertaining in a bizarre way, you kind of start to own it.&nbsp; It's like your own little diamond that you find in the rough and you don't want...]]></summary>
    <author>
        <name>scott</name>
        <uri>http://svott.com</uri>
    </author>
    
    
    <content type="html" xml:lang="en" xml:base="http://svott.com/">
        <![CDATA[<span class="yui-non">When you find an obscure something that's fun or interesting, or just entertaining in a bizarre way, you kind of start to own it.&nbsp; It's like your own little diamond that you find in the rough and you don't want to share it with the world.&nbsp; Then, if it is as great as you think it is, it inevitably gets discovered and becomes popular, and you're left feeling a loss because your own personal affection has become diluted.<br><br>I think fans of music performers suffer this effect more than any.&nbsp; A band has a core group of supporters ("groupies," if you will) that get to say "Yeah, but I liked them <i>before</i> they were popular!"&nbsp; The most interesting example I have noticed is with fans of Death Cab for Cutie.&nbsp; Absolutely everyone I hear talk about that band claims to have been a fan before they were popular.&nbsp; But then their iPod goes back on repeat of the 2008 song "I Will Possess Your Heart."</span>&nbsp; <br><br><span class="yui-non"><img alt="domokun.jpg" src="http://svott.com/img/domokun.jpg" class="mt-image-left yui-img" style="margin: 0pt 20px 20px 0pt; float: left;" width="152" height="173"></span><span class="yui-non">I had one of these obscure fascinations that recently hit mainstream, but it wasn't about </span><span class="yui-non"></span><span class="yui-non">music.&nbsp; It was for <a title="" target="" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Domokun">Domo-Kun</a>, the lovable mascot of Japan's NHK television station.&nbsp; It's impossible to look at this stout creature and deny his awesomeness.<br><br></span><span class="yui-non">One of my friends used to refer to him as the
Angry Poop Monster.&nbsp; I don't really see the similarity, other than the
brown color.&nbsp; And maybe the shape, but only if your butt happens to be
square-shaped (if so, please consider altering your bedroom activities).&nbsp; <br></span><span class="yui-non"><br>By using an image of Domo on my phone background and as my IM avatar, I've had a regular influx of questions about him, such as "what is that thing" and "why is that on your phone" and "are you taking your medication?"<br></span><br>So in all of his obscurity, imagine my surprise when on a recent trip to Target for toilet
paper and cheese cubes, I strolled into the retail giant's Halloween section and
discovered posters and cardboard cutouts of my furry little friend,
Domo.
There he was, licensed out as a mascot to sell pumpkin pails, piñatas and candy corn.&nbsp; Shoppers everywhere must be scratching their heads in bewilderment.<br><span class="yui-non"><br>I can't say I approve of the merchandising, but I do welcome Domo to this country with open arms (and an open mouth).&nbsp; And he was even effective at getting me to buy some candy--I left with a small bag of store-brand peach rings.<br><br></span>]]>
        
    </content>
</entry>

<entry>
    <title>Mike Judge Could See the Future</title>
    <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://svott.com/2008/10/mike-judge-could-see-the-futur.html" />
    <id>tag:svott.com,2008://1.172</id>

    <published>2008-10-13T19:29:29Z</published>
    <updated>2008-10-13T19:46:45Z</updated>

    <summary><![CDATA[It turns out that Mike Judge has been writing about the 2008 Republican nominees in his TV show King of the Hill for years.The similarities are amazing:&nbsp; an angry and intolerant war vet and a foolish woman with delusions of...]]></summary>
    <author>
        <name>scott</name>
        <uri>http://svott.com</uri>
    </author>
    
    
    <content type="html" xml:lang="en" xml:base="http://svott.com/">
        <![CDATA[<span class="yui-non">It turns out that Mike Judge has been writing about the 2008 Republican nominees in his TV show <b>King of the Hill</b> for years.<br><br><img alt="mccain-palin-koth.jpg" src="http://svott.com/img/mccain-palin-koth.jpg" class="mt-image-center yui-img" style="margin: 0pt auto 20px; text-align: center; display: block;" width="275" height="343"></span><span class="yui-non">The similarities are amazing:&nbsp; a</span><span class="yui-non">n angry and intolerant war vet and a foolish woman with delusions of knowledge and self-importance.&nbsp; Peggy would probably give a shout-out to a 3rd grade class during a debate, too.<br><br>Source: <a title="" target="" href="http://www.hopelessgeek.com/2008/10/10/careful-america">Hopeless Geek</a></span><span class="yui-non"></span><br>]]>
        
    </content>
</entry>

<entry>
    <title>The Mail Goggles--They Do Something</title>
    <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://svott.com/2008/10/the-mail-goggles--they-do-some.html" />
    <id>tag:svott.com,2008://1.171</id>

    <published>2008-10-10T19:38:46Z</published>
    <updated>2008-10-10T19:56:03Z</updated>

    <summary><![CDATA[Leave it to Google to keep the useful new GMail features coming.&nbsp; Such as this one, the Mail Goggles.&nbsp; You can enable a basic math test that requires correct answers before you are allowed to send email between a predefined...]]></summary>
    <author>
        <name>scott</name>
        <uri>http://svott.com</uri>
    </author>
    
    
    <content type="html" xml:lang="en" xml:base="http://svott.com/">
        <![CDATA[<span class="yui-non">Leave it to Google to keep the useful new GMail features coming.&nbsp; Such as this one, the Mail Goggles.&nbsp; You can enable a basic math test that requires correct answers before you are allowed to send email between a predefined set of hours (like, say, hours on the weekend that you're likely to be drinking too much booze).<br><br><img alt="mail_goggles.png" src="http://svott.com/img/mail_goggles.png" class="mt-image-center yui-img" style="margin: 0pt auto 20px; text-align: center; display: block;" width="400" height="204">I thought it was a joke, but I checked my Gmail account, and sure enough it was there.<br><br>Unfortunately this test does not apply well to all audiences.&nbsp; As an engineer, I am very familiar with mathematics and I'm pretty sure I could solve these expressions no matter how trashed I might be.<br><br>So for Mail Goggles 2, I suggest they include an engineer option that replaces the problems with differential equations.&nbsp; Or on second thought, maybe not.&nbsp; Then it would seem too much like work and I wouldn't send any email at all.<br><br></span>]]>
        
    </content>
</entry>

<entry>
    <title>Statement Fail</title>
    <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://svott.com/2008/10/statement-fail.html" />
    <id>tag:svott.com,2008://1.170</id>

    <published>2008-10-10T17:49:39Z</published>
    <updated>2008-10-13T15:17:24Z</updated>

    <summary><![CDATA[Anybody know what this is ?&nbsp; I saw this window sticker on a car in front of me earlier today.I'm going to guess that it is meant to be ironic, much in the same way that the term Religion of...]]></summary>
    <author>
        <name>scott</name>
        <uri>http://svott.com</uri>
    </author>
    
    
    <content type="html" xml:lang="en" xml:base="http://svott.com/">
        <![CDATA[<span class="yui-non">Anybody know what this is ?&nbsp; I saw this window sticker on a car in front of me earlier today.<br><br><img alt="lOve.jpg" src="http://svott.com/img/lOve.jpg" class="mt-image-center yui-img" style="margin: 0pt auto 20px; text-align: center; display: block;" width="300" height="180">I'm going to guess that it is meant to be ironic, much in the same way that the term Religion of Peace is ironic.&nbsp; Or maybe it's a message of tough love:&nbsp; We care for you until you screw up, and then we're taking you out.&nbsp; Or it could be a statement about the wars the United States is currently engaged in, and this particular driver is unsupportive of the Chinese magnetic </span><span class="yui-non">yellow </span><span class="yui-non">ribbon manufacturing industry.<br><br>I also had the idea that it was a pop culture reference, but the Google hasn't given me any leads.&nbsp; I'm still leaving open the possibility that a small-time band uses this graphic in their promotional material.<br><br>I may never know the truth.<br></span>]]>
        
    </content>
</entry>

<entry>
    <title>Digging to China</title>
    <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://svott.com/2008/09/digging-to-china.html" />
    <id>tag:svott.com,2008://1.169</id>

    <published>2008-09-14T21:56:14Z</published>
    <updated>2008-09-14T22:51:54Z</updated>

    <summary>Remember when you were a little kid with a shovel, digging intently in your backyard in hopes of reaching China and scoring some really great spring rolls with duck sauce (or whatever your intentions were).Turns out they all lied to...</summary>
    <author>
        <name>scott</name>
        <uri>http://svott.com</uri>
    </author>
    
    
    <content type="html" xml:lang="en" xml:base="http://svott.com/">
        <![CDATA[Remember when you were a little kid with a shovel, diggin<span class="yui-non"><img alt="map_indian_ocean.png" src="http://svott.com/img/map_indian_ocean.png" class="mt-image-right yui-img" style="margin: 0pt 0pt 20px 20px; float: right;" width="298" height="300"></span>g intently in your backyard in hopes of reaching China and scoring some really great spring rolls with duck sauce (or whatever your intentions were).<br><br>Turns out they all lied to us.&nbsp; If you dig from Texas, or really anywhere else in the United States, you're going to eventually pop out on the other side of the planet somewhere in the Indian Ocean.&nbsp; Disappointing, I know, but if you still want to try be sure to bring along your fire suit and oxygen tanks.&nbsp; And probably a lot of survival gear that hasn't been invented yet.<br><br>If you want to play around with tunneling to <span class="yui-non"></span>the other side of the Earth, check out <a title="" target="" href="http://www.freemaptools.com/tunnel-to-other-side-of-the-earth.htm">this free map tool</a>.&nbsp; It's kinda fun.<br><br>Oh, and in case you were wondering, if you wanted to get to China from the opposite side of the world, you're best off to start your digging in Argentina.<br>]]>
        
    </content>
</entry>

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