After 7 hellish years with Hostonce, I am finally free! I am excited to finally be with a real host.
I still don't intend to actually update the site ever, but it is still nice.
Oh yeah, if you're in Washington, vote YES on I1033 and R71!
If you vote no on either you are a douche nozzle. I'm not trying to be an ass, that's just how it is.
The Zippercow 11:53 AM
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
Everyone these days seems concerned about carbon dioxide causing global warming and impending doom, but the evidence points to another, much more sinister cause that is the subject of global conspiracy.
I am speaking of dihydrogen monoxide. Some may recognize this compound as the subject of several "hoaxes", but the threat is real.
Consider the following:
* It accounts for around 95% of greenhouse gasses * Someone dies every two hours in the US alone from dihydrogen monoxide inhalation * It causes corrosion * It exists at dangerous levels in nearly every human.
This is a very real problem that requires some attention!
The Zippercow 12:13 PM
I hate adults; they're so boring!
The Zippercow 4:53 PM
Sunday, February 03, 2008
You may not have noticed, but it's been a while since I've updated this site. As such, we should spend a brief moment to catch up: Things are good at work and home, Ron Paul is still my favorite candidate, and I am still mostly alive. If you are wondering about Wil Wheaton, click here. If you're not familiar with my links, you're in for a treat!
Now onward...
Work and family life take a lot of time (part of why this site is so rarely updated), so I don't spend much time gaming (other than some occasional Wii Sports or Mario Galaxy), tinkering with computers, or anything else that could really be considered a hobby. Instead, I have taken up beer as a hobby.
When someone hears that Beer is my hobby of choice, the immediate reaction is one of slight disgust and confusion. An image of a fat guy in a stained WWE t-shirt surrounded by a pile of Keystone Ice cans comes to mind. If a person claims to be a wine connoisseur, however, most do not bat an eye. To me, there is little difference. I drink beer to experience the savory and complex look, taste and aroma of the finest drink in the world. I do not drink to get drunk. In fact, I rarely have more than a couple bottles a week.
My first beer was a can of Bud Light when I was 14 (I mean 21). Needless to say, I was not impressed. Fast forward a couple years, and I began drinking Icehouse and Miller High Life fairly frequently. These beers were cheap and resulted in a minimal amount of gagging and vomiting (unlike Kokanee), and so seemed to be the best choice available. One day, I picked up a bottle of Spaten Optimator because of its high alcohol content. I had just unwittingly discovered a fairly passable doppelbock, and American lager was forever ruined for me.
Over the past five years or so, I have sampled countless IPAs, Porters, Stouts, Strong Ales, Wheat beers, Lambics, Lagers, and every other readily accessible style of beer. The bland lagers of the American macro-breweries are a distant memory, and each new beer I try is an adventure (however small) that gives me something to dwell on when I need some time away from everyday life.
Beer is not just beer. From the intense bitter citrusy hops flavor of Stone Ruination to the mellow earthy tones of an aged Chimay Bleue, each beer has a unique and often complex flavor that is unmatched by any other drink. Beer is commonly made from Barley, but any cereal grain will do. There are beers made from rye, wheat, buckwheat, rice, corn, and others. There are many types of malts, hops, and yeast, and even they water used plays a large role in the outcome of the beer. Furthermore, a few styles of beer can be aged, bringing on an increasing level of complexity to the flavor.
A number of rituals also exist in the drinking of beer. Different beers are intended to be stored and drank at different temperatures, in different glasses, and even poured in different manners so as to properly release the full flavor of the drink. There is much to learn and much to perfect in the art of beer drinking, and for the serious connoisseur, it cannot be anything other than a hobby.
The Zippercow 9:05 AM
I know I've been neglectful of my site, but it's only because I don't really care.
In other news:
"Many Americans have become disillusioned with our political system. Year after year, election after election we hear all the same promises: Lower taxes, balanced budget, smaller federal government, responsible foreign policy, etc. But we are always left with, higher taxes, ever increasing federal deficits, ever-expanding federal bureaucracy, a foreign policy based on deceit, and a domestic policy that continually restricts our freedom.
We, the people, know things are not right; yet we know our nation was founded on principles that allowed the United States of America to rise above all nations.
Are we the United States of America that our Constitution intended?
For many years our government has been drifting away from the unparalleled wisdom of the blueprint that created a near perfect Union.
Our Constitution has been battered, assaulted and ignored to the point of becoming a fading memory.
The answer to restoring our great nation — respected throughout the world — is to reinstate the Constitution. Our republic can be saved if our politicians return to the doctrine that created it.
There is one man who believes in our government operating solely under the purist intentions of our Founding Fathers: A man who governs according to the Constitution, even when he is the only one.
Anyone who installs CCTV equipment for a living that has to ask which to choose when prompted for NTSC or PAL on our DVR's server setup should be shot or at the very least given a pink sock.
The Zippercow 12:23 PM
Tuesday, November 07, 2006
A note to this year's political candidates: I hate junk mail, and I **HATE** telemarketing. If you spam me with junk mail, pollute the city with posters and signs, and call me with an automated message to vote for you, I won't. I don't buy things from telemarketers or from junk mail. If you MUST try to gain my attention/support, why not send a letter outlining where you stand on various issues rather than a shiny flier asking me to vote for you? I am apparently unlike the majority, and won't vote for the person with the shiniest advertisement or my favorite animal.
A note to Libertarians: Run for office, dammit! Most offices only have Democrats and Republicans running, in some cases only 1 party is represented. It's hard to avoid the candidates who piss me off when there's no alternative. Help defeat the 2 party system!
The Zippercow 3:25 PM
Help cure mad cows! The Folding@Home client runs in the background on your computer and takes up spare CPU cycles to assist in the research of protein folding. From the site:
Proteins are biology's workhorses -- its "nanomachines." Before proteins can carry out these important functions, they assemble themselves, or "fold." The process of protein folding, while critical and fundamental to virtually all of biology, in many ways remains a mystery.
Moreover, when proteins do not fold correctly (i.e. "misfold"), there can be serious consequences, including many well known diseases, such as Alzheimer's, Mad Cow (BSE), CJD, ALS, Huntington's, Parkinson's disease, and many Cancers and cancer-related syndromes.
It's definitely a good cause, and doesn't interfere at all with your computer usage. Download it from the link below and set your client to team 52606!
A co-worker of mine found a bum hut nestled behind our building with a dead cat in front of it. Using a stick, he moved it into their hut. Below is what they did when they found it, which isn't much, but still entertained me.
For those of you who may not have heard yet, my wife gave birth to micro-me on July 17th. He's an 8 pound pooping machine, and the coolest damn thing I've ever seen.
The Zippercow 3:52 PM
Sunday, July 09, 2006
Some doom from ~2002:
Eric says: im up on a tower right now v-1natpo says: www.goatse.cx v-1natpo says: its worth checking out while up on a tower Eric says: you are a big PEICE OF SHIT
Holy shit, something changed! I've removed a couple of items on the menu, in case you hadn't noticed. Most of the stuff on the menu was pretty much worthless anyway, so I figured I should just simplify things. In case you are wondering what I removed because your observation skills are lacking here's what I removed and why:
"Boredom" - No offense to the people who were featured there, but the content hasn't been updated in years and really wasn't all that interesting, with the exception of a conversation I had with Justin of The Right Clique I had one day which can be found here.
"Writings" - I honestly don't have any literary skills or anything to really write about. I'm boarderline illiterate and what few random thoughts I can scrounge together are just as easily posted on the main page.
"Links" - Links are about as cool as this. If you want to find something, use Google.
"Forum" - No one has posted there since January, so I don't see much point in maintaining it. I'll be switching to a new host in about 2 months or so, and setting the forum up elsewhere would be more of a headache than it's worth since it uses absolute paths.
Also, as I just mentioned, I will be switching web hosts soon. As any frequent visitors may have noticed, the host I have used for the last 4 years is somewhat lacking in bandwidth. If you know of any good web hosting companies, please email me at npowers@zippercow.com.
One final note: I clearly haven't updated the gallery recently. If you care about my personal life for whatever reason, you can visit the site I've set up for my family at herd.zippercow.com.
The Zippercow 3:32 PM
Tuesday, June 27, 2006
Democrats are pushing for a minimum wage increase
When minimum wage goes up, it costs companies more money to operate. They're not going to lose profits, so they raise the price of their goods (you know, like inflation!). People making minimum wage are making more, but goods cost more, so they're still no better off. On the other hand, no one else gets a government-mandated raise, but the cost of everything goes up, so the most a minimum wage hike will really do is drag the middle class closer to lower class.
Beyond that, $7.25 is still not considered in most places to be a living wage. In my state, the minimum wage is higher than that, and in my city, "living wage" is considered to be $10.25 an hour, which is what they're trying to start forcing large retailers in the area to pay employees. At my current job, I started out less than that, despite it requiring much more knowledge than simply taking people's money. I find it rediculous that working as a cashier at a grocery store could pay more than a position that requires knowledge and skill.
If people want to make a "living wage" and live above the poverty line, they should stick with a job long enough to develop some measure of skill or get some education. I do not think minimum wage was ever meant to be a living wage; it was merely a way to prevent companies from exploiting their workers.
I know plenty of people may flame me for being a capitalist or "not knowing what it's like", and I would like to pre-emptively call bullshit. If anything I am a socialist, although I do not specifically support any type of government or any major political party. As far as understanding living on minimum wage, I've been there. I was there for years and it sucked ass. Still, I had transportation, an apartment and food. I didn't have a super-sweet car or a big-ass TV, but you don't get those things when you're poor. Even after a particularly hard week of Ramen, I would still argue that minimum wage should not go up. I've seen first-hand what happens, and it doesn't do anyone any good.
Disagree? Take it to the long-dead forum! I'd be happy to copy a decent debate to the front page for my 7.2 viewers to see.
Neverending Story has been running in a neverending cycle on one of my DVRs for the last few weeks, and I can safely say I would rather stare at the unholy trinity for a few hours than watch much more than a minute of that piece of shit movie. The visuals are grating on the back of my brain.
The Zippercow 12:37 PM
Thursday, April 06, 2006
So this one time when I was 18, I thought it would be fun to drive really fast. Apparently that makes me unfit to be around children. You just can't trust anyone with a speeding ticket you know. On a related note, some upper class admin types with sand in their vagina make ME look mature.
On an unrelated note, we get to see our baby again tomorrow! 3d ultrasound technology is just about the coolest thing ever, except for cheese.
The Zippercow 3:45 PM
Sunday, March 19, 2006
I was helping a "friend" move this weekend, and we decided to try and move everything without renting a moving vehicle of any sort. Fortunately he doesn't have much furnature. Unfortunately he DOES have a queen sized bed, which did not fit so well in either his Suzuki wagon or my Blazer. We ended up attaching the bed to the top of my Blazer upside-down. This meant the wheels for the frame (which we could not get apart) were sticking up on top of the box spring and mattress. As I eased my vehicle out of the parking lot, I realized that the Blazer had never been flying. Given the price of getting an SUV into an airplane, this might well be my only chance. Once I got on the open road, I floored it. 17 minutes later (I had to scrape a mongoloid off the grill, but that's a different story) I was airborne. The mattress served as an excellent sail, and the winds were strong. I rolled down the window and admired the view, which looked much like a monitor with Google Earth running. One can only glide in a 3700 pound SUV for so long, however. I tried flapping my arms, which helped for a couple hours, but eventually, as I (fortunately) approached my destination, I realized the landing was going to be less than perfect. The vehicle ended up gliding towards the ground upside-down, and hit hard. Fortunately the bed wheels touched ground and the mattress and Wil Wheaton provided a soft enough cushion that my vehicle was undamaged. Unfortunately, Wheaton (as usual) urinated all over the bed, possibly as a result of having been landed on by a bed with an SUV sitting on it. I got Wil To help me push the Blazer over so it was on it's own wheels once again (after threatening to tell everyone about the urination if he didn't help) and drove the last few blocks to my friend's new place. As we were bringing the mattress inside, he wondered aloud how the mattress could have gotten wet, since the sky was clear and it was only a 5 minute drive.
The Zippercow 9:18 PM
Thursday, March 09, 2006
As more and more people have started shouting about the orgasmic wonder that is myspace.com, I figured I should check it out and see first-hand how sweet it is (that and my wife threatened to make a lame profile for me if I didn't make my own). I therefore went to the site, created a basic profile, and started exploring. The first thing I noticed is that most people's profiles are abrasive to the eye in almost the exact same way as the sites on late 90's geocities. A whole new wave of n00bs have found t3h intarnets, and as before have gone WAY overboard with colors, backgrounds, and cool moving things. Some of these sites make me want to actually punch myself in the face. What makes myspace WORSE than geocities is the lack of html. To edit your profile beyond the basics requires you to insert a mongoloid-inspired combination of XML and CSS into a field that seemingly should have nothing at all to do with code. All the brightly-colored crap aside, I've found that the site has next to nothing to offer me. As I suspected, a social networking site is not a great place to hang out if you hate people. I did go through hundreds of pages of former classmates from high school in an attempt to draw some nostalgic value from the site, but I recognized all of 3 people, none of whom I particularly liked in school. With some massive changes and the forcible removal of Wil Wheaton from the site, I suppose it could be pretty sweet, but I'd still rather keep myself isolated from society.
In other news, Tchoupi (the 1337 French terrorist) has started a Beer Blog
The Zippercow 1:42 PM
Friday, March 03, 2006
All Hail the newest franchise opportunity. Click it for a bigger look.
Justin 9:35 PM
Sunday, January 29, 2006
Pass closed = worse than drinking chode sweat.
The Zippercow 7:43 PM
