If Kerry wins, and you're looking for someplace to flee to, may I recommend New Hampshire?

The Free State Project is a plan in which 20,000 or more liberty-oriented people will move to New Hampshire, where they may work within the political system to reduce the size and scope of government. The success of the Free State Project would likely entail reductions in burdensome taxation and regulation, reforms in state and local law, an end to federal mandates, and a restoration of constitutional federalism, demonstrating the benefits of liberty to the rest of the nation and the world.

Yes, I'm serious.

These people are not kooks or cranks. Just some ordinary folks who weary of excessive Federal nanny-statism. I've been watching this organization since before they even had a web site, when it was nothing but one man with a speculative essay and a dream.

I'm not currently planning on moving there myself. At least not right now. But for the last 3+ years, it's been in the back of my mind.

And I keep the site bookmarked.

Just in case.

Posted by: Harvey at 06:33 PM | Comments (6) | Add Comment
Post contains 195 words, total size 1 kb.

(Introduction)

Your voice makes me tremble inside
And your smile is an invitation
For my imagination to go wild

(CAUTION: Romantics beware - comments may contain naughtiness)

Posted by: Harvey at 10:39 PM | Comments (6) | Add Comment
Post contains 33 words, total size 1 kb.

(click to enlarge)

[Baby I love you! I love you. I'm Sorry Sweetie] [Hey Baby, I just wanted to let you know that I love you more then anything in the world and that I am sorry and I hope that you will always love me as much as I will always love (over) you. And once again I am sorry I am a bitch to you and don't treat you like you deserve to be treated. I just love you so much and never want to lose you. I love you]

I don't care HOW much she begs, I'm NOT taking her back unless *I* get to be "the guard" during our next game of "prison bitch".

Posted by: Harvey at 10:38 PM | Comments (6) | Add Comment
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Lynn of Reflections in D Minor asks an interesting question[emphasis mine]:

I've been planning to write one more big political post before the election, to get all those thoughts out of the way, but after days of thinking about it I just can't get it all to come together. I guess the problem is that I want to be convincing but I know I can't convince anyone of anything. Far better writers than I are being ignored so what possible hope is there for me?

The thing is, not everyone reads the "better writers". The maze of links comprising the blogosphere leads people down the strangest paths, and those who are yet convincable may stray into your garden.

Though you may not make your points perfectly, you may make them "perfectly enough". You might phrase it in just the right way for the mind that's at the tipping point to topple in your direction.

Most people I know are open-minded to some degree, and those that ARE still uncertain are busily weighing THIS against THAT. You may - especially if you're a dynamite wordsmith like Lynn - phrase one side of the argument in such a way that all the loose pieces suddenly come together for the reader.

When it comes to what finally pushes someone off the fence, it's not always the 3000 word essay full of facts, figures, diagrams, and supporting linkage that does the trick. All that beautiful rhetoric may not even be read. Sometimes all it takes is one apt metaphor to pull the entire picture into focus. And, as when finally discovering a hidden image in a drawing, the picture, once seen, can no longer be UNseen. The vision cannot be undone, and the mind can no longer be unconvinced.

Even though you won't persuade everyone, you might persuade someone, and it is for the sake of the few - or even the one - that you must try.

Because you just never know...

Posted by: Harvey at 10:23 PM | Comments (9) | Add Comment
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Blogson Jeff of Au Fait is pondering what to do with his old blogposts:

I'm thinking of a system that throws complete blog posts in the trash, under some kind of strict rules, like "if no one has posted a comment, and the post is 'x' days old, out with it. Forever." Comments?

From a purely fiscal standpoint, if it's a matter of the storage space costing you money that you can't afford, then trash them.

Otherwise... well... personally, I still refer to my old Bad Money site fairly regularly, especially if I want to make an inside joke about an old post. I like to be able to include an explanatory link so the new folks can understand a punchline.

My observation is this: only about 10% of your blog entries will be looked at by you or anyone else ever again.

Trouble is, you can't know ahead of time which 10% that's gonna be, so if you dump everything, sooner or later you'll find frustration when you don't have that old post any more.

My other thought is to keep it because you'll be getting a trickle of new readers for as long as you blog. And I know that when *I* find a new blog that intrigues me, I like to poke around in the archives a bit - especially the first few posts - to see who the blogger is and what they hoped to accomplish with their site. Those first couple weeks are often very revealing.

In the end, though, the decision of what to keep and what to throw away is a personal choice, and I wouldn't presume to make it for someone else. For myself, though, the things I've written are a part of me, and I like being able to look back and see who I was, what I thought, and how I've changed.

That, and I wouldn't want to disappoint all the people Googling for "XXX black peeing porn".

Posted by: Harvey at 10:06 PM | Comments (4) | Add Comment
Post contains 340 words, total size 2 kb.

1 Keep them. If storage cost is an issue, move them to your new site. Close comments on posts over 30 days old (to prevent spam). Those posts are you. They are what you felt, thought, believed, and were at the time you wrote them. The ability for you to look back and see yourself in that light - through that lens - in the years ahead will be priceless. Keep them. Or I will personally hack into your computer and erase everything.

Posted by: _Jon at October 28, 2004 08:39 AM (uHRYR)

2 Hear that, Jeff? :-)

Posted by: Harvey at October 28, 2004 05:57 PM (ubhj8)

3 Yep... and storage cost isn't an issue, either. Great comments (both); and thanks for posting on it here, Harv. _Jon's comments are quite sensible, and you really sunk sense into the matter with the observation "Trouble is, you can't know ahead of time which 10% that's gonna be..." How true. Durn... I was hoping to somehow escape writing code to archive stuff.

Posted by: Jeff at October 28, 2004 07:19 PM (bqJRc)

4 Quitcher bitchin', Jeff. All that coding will build character :-P

Posted by: Harvey at October 28, 2004 11:12 PM (ubhj8)

Hide Comments | Add Comment

Filthy Lie Assignment Reminder: What will Evil Glenn be doing for Halloween? due by 8pm CDT Friday, October 30th. Late entries must be accompanied by a lame excuse.

Wednesday Linky Stuff

Precision Guided Humor Round-up: October Surprise

New PGH Assignment: What would you do with 380 tons of explosives?

Posted by: Harvey at 10:00 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Post a picture of yourself (or a professional model whose picture you copied off some web page - like I'd know the difference anyway) in your favorite blogging attire. Leave a permalink in the comments to this post, send a trackback, or e-mail the link directly to me at harvolson@charter.net.

If you have trouble hosting images, you can send me the picture, and I'll post it for you, along with your description.

If you don't have a blog, but you're feeling particularly creative, same as above.

Entries due by 12pm CDT, Satuday, October 30th, and I'll post the round-up Saturday afternoonish.

See the CotP category for previous round-ups.

Maybe you could show off your Halloween costume this week?

Posted by: Harvey at 07:10 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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(A PRECISION GUIDED HUMOR ASSIGNMENT)

Every election needs a last-minute, deal-busting revelation to come out just to keep things interesting.

And sell papers.

My predictions for the 2004 Presidential race:

It will be discovered that gin-soaked raisins don't cure arthritis, but actually cause cancer.

Terry Kerry will counter that they only causes cancer in laboratory animals and people who've never held a real job.

The Bush-cocaine rumor will re-surface, with the twist being that W was too dumb to realize that it was actually powdered sugar.

Documents emerge showing that - while attending Viet Nam peace talks in Paris in 1971 - John Kerry played strip poker with Viet Cong leader Madame Nguyen Thi Binh

While a cheerleader in Texas, George Bush slept with the Captain of the football team.

After the Democratic convention, Republican operatives secretly replaced Terry Kerry with Karl Rove in drag. John Kerry reportedly commented "I thought she was unusually snug lately"

The goose that John Kerry claims to have shot was actually faxed to him from a Kinko's in Abilene.

Elizabeth Edwards has an explosive temper and once shot a bathroom scale for "being a filthy liar".

That object that John Kerry smuggled into the first debate wasn't a pen, but a pocket gay-dar, which enabled him to detect and reveal Mary Cheney's lesbianicity.

John Edwards is a grown man who takes 5 minutes to comb his hair and he carries a compact. John Kerry has to turn his pocket gay-dar off whenever they're together.

Kerry campaign operatives were discovered to be behind the recent spate of Blogspot and mu.nu blog outages.

Hitler endorses Kerry using Christopher Reeves's magic beyond-the-grave cell phone.

Bush once won a Texas Chili Cook-Off with his "5-Alarm Barn-Burning Baby-Meat Chili" recipe.

In 1996, Kerry was arrested for beating a homeless person to death with a picnic table.

Wait... that was Glenn Reynolds. Sorry.

Kerry was arrested after he beat his maid to death for not getting the skidmarks out of his pink silk boxers.

Actually he had his butler handle the beating part, as he didn't want to risk mussing his important-looking hair.

Bush forces his dog, Barney, to use a litter box.

In a blind taste test, Kerry chose Hunts.

SIC SEMPER TYRANNIS!

Posted by: Harvey at 07:06 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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TODAY'S LOVE NOTE
(Introduction)

Love comes quietlyÂ…
But you know when it is there
Because suddenlyÂ…
You are not alone anymoreÂ…
And there is no sadness in you.

(CAUTION: Romantics beware - comments may contain naughtiness)

Posted by: Harvey at 06:40 PM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
Post contains 42 words, total size 1 kb.

(click to enlarge)

[This note was used to fund the murder of our friends, family, & the innocent in Iraq by our government!]

Paid for by Barking Moonbats for Kerry '04, Inc.

Posted by: Harvey at 06:38 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 18 words, total size 1 kb.

Yeah, that purely evil thing I posted a while back?

This one is worse. Look for three differences between the two photos.

Turn your speakers down some and don't be too close to the monitor.

Posted by: Harvey at 05:15 PM | Comments (16) | Add Comment
Post contains 45 words, total size 1 kb.

1 Your bad, bad, bad, bad.

Posted by: BeeBee at October 26, 2004 06:21 PM (V1fcb)

2 That scared me even when I knew it was coming. Gee whiz.

Posted by: Linus at October 26, 2004 08:24 PM (Bf+TD)

3 GOD DAMN'T!! What the F**K is wrong with German people! I supose they sell tickets for front row seats to autopsey's while playing the sound track from Quake 2, They should know better then to show pictures like that, now I'm going to have that picture of sponge bob stuck in my head all night and that satanic laugh...Brrrrr.

Posted by: blogless brother at October 26, 2004 10:03 PM (6cyEp)

4 those are sooo wrong. stupid high blood pressure.

Posted by: Truth Peddler at October 27, 2004 05:37 PM (au8zC)

5 Do you should provide a link to some sort of transendental meditation after that one. Or heart palpitation medicine I knew it was coming.....

Posted by: William Teach at October 27, 2004 08:26 PM (KCG7N)

6 BB - actually, they play the soundtrack from Doom 3. Jeez... just wait until you meet the flying demon-babies. You KNOW how jaded I am when it comes to horror, but those... things... the way they screamed... no nightmares, but it took me an hour to calm down afterwards :-/

Posted by: Harvey at October 27, 2004 11:04 PM (ubhj8)

7 Heh... I made my retarded bother watch those... now he can't sleep tonight... scared the crap out of him... LMAO!

Posted by: Madfish Willie at October 28, 2004 06:41 PM (Uq/6d)

8 cant breath......

Posted by: maria at November 14, 2004 10:46 AM (jXvKA)

9 hi how do u acees the advert it sounds good

Posted by: un known at November 26, 2004 02:30 PM (SgQqe)

10 that scared me i nearly pissed my pants

Posted by: mica and olivia at April 22, 2005 06:40 AM (6M7nL)

11 that scared me i nearly pissed my pants

Posted by: mica and olivia at April 22, 2005 06:40 AM (6M7nL)

12 JESUS!!!!!!!!!!! I just pissed myself.... Damn Germans... Spot three differances...... German Bastards.

Posted by: pillowbandit at June 28, 2005 11:19 AM (XbDHy)

13 Prik! (O_O) fukin hate germans guts

Posted by: Tom at June 28, 2005 02:46 PM (6M7nL)

14 XD I watch that video over and over again because the beginning is so beautiful and soothing, even though I know the zombie's gonna jump out and give me a heart attack EVERY TIME!! And it DOES! 24 times watching it and the zombie STILL scares me SHITLESS!!

Posted by: minetruly at July 25, 2005 12:14 AM (eDWsF)

15 My youth pastor showed us the zombie car video in church today. Some of the kids (highschoolers) jumped about a foot. For me, just 3 or 4 inches. It really freaked me out though, just because they had these huge speakers and the zombies scream sounded about twice as bad as it did on my computer. I'm afraid of the other video now

Posted by: Grendarq at September 18, 2005 02:35 PM (JC52b)

16 FUCK YOU! IM SCARED SHITLESS!

Posted by: Shitless! at October 16, 2005 04:35 AM (xtNzk)

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The Women We Love is a project devoted to the famous women that men drool over. I have to agree on most of their choices.

The page has a crappy user interface, but it's workable. The hotties are arranged alphabetically by first name. Just click on a letter.

It's mostly news-babes, with a few celebrities thrown in.

Here's one of my favorites, Barbara Bermudo.

Here's a little something to tease Straight White Eric's librarian fetish, Tina Fey. Check out those stern glasses & mousy hairdo. She can shush me anytime.

And Rebecca Gomez... damn. I just want her to handcuff me to something and break out the riding crop. I've been SOOOOO bad.

Anyway, plenty more, so go root around, if you're so inclined.

Posted by: Harvey at 05:07 PM | Comments (6) | Add Comment
Post contains 132 words, total size 1 kb.

1 Difficult interface indeed. But I click on A and there's Amy Brenneman ... she was Alice to my Mock Turtle and White Knight back in college summer theatre; what a nice surprise.

Posted by: Linus at October 26, 2004 08:27 PM (Bf+TD)

2 Why am I not surprised by Barbara. Did you even bother to look at her face, Harvey?

Posted by: Boudicca at October 26, 2004 09:14 PM (XH1zZ)

3 Tina Fey ....(drool) About the only reason left to watch SNL.

Posted by: That 1 Guy at October 27, 2004 01:19 AM (GtpPV)

4 Linus - you know Amy Brenneman? Cool. Mention my name if you meet her again ;-) Bou - ...eventually ;-) T1G - even if she were naked, I *still* don't think I could watch the horrid unfunniness that is SNL :-)

Posted by: Harvey at October 27, 2004 11:08 PM (ubhj8)

5 Well, I knew her more than know her. We were buddies for a while, though I think we only did the one show together. An amazing actress, and gifted with a truly extraordinary singing voice: she could make a busy room still.

Posted by: Linus at October 28, 2004 11:17 AM (Bf+TD)

6 ..thanks, Harvey.. she's a babe... I wonder what her prescription is?...

Posted by: Eric at October 28, 2004 05:09 PM (Py0cM)

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Alliance Member Dan of Dan K. O'Leary dot com was one of three bloggers mentioned in a recent San Luis Obispo Tribune story. He has the complete story, as well as a link to the source article. The only bad part of the piece was the description of blogs as "internet-based diaries". Which is sort of like describing the Empire State Building as "a big stack of bricks & stuff in New York".

Anyway, one of the others named bloggers - who didn't get NEARLY as many column inches as Dan - was...

Glenn Reynolds.

Who, unnerved by the media attention, panicked and made the following bizarre claim:

“I’m pretty obscure, really,” he said. “Blogger fame is not like being Madonna.”

Which I can only interpret as meaning that, when he's not blogging, he IS Madonna. Otherwise how would he know what her fame is like?

I always suspected Madonna secretly blended puppies. She just had that look about her.

The commie-praising, robot-dancing, & Satan-worshipping are just common knowledge. I don't know why I never made the connection before.

Posted by: Harvey at 04:48 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 193 words, total size 1 kb.

(Introduction)

Each night when the day is through,
I don't ask much, I just want you.

(CAUTION: Romantics beware - comments may contain naughtiness)

Posted by: Harvey at 09:28 PM | Comments (8) | Add Comment
Post contains 30 words, total size 1 kb.

(click to enlarge)

Paid for by Al Lewis for President, '04, Inc.

Posted by: Harvey at 09:18 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
Post contains 18 words, total size 1 kb.

A hallmark of a good writer is that he uses all the vocabularic tools at his disposal. Whenever I write a piece, I try - to the best of my ability - to avoid using the same adjectives over & over. Repetition is literary poison. It eats away at the soul of an essay, making it sound as dull and tedious as a third-grader's "What I Did On My Summer Vacation" writing assignment.

It also helps that I know what I'm talking about. When I'm well-versed in a subject, I can look at it from a number of angles, and dream up a plethora of descriptive metaphors. I don't have to rely on pummelling my audience with a single word, screamed ad nauseum.

Like Michael Moore and his friend "fictitious".

Or - even more dramatically - this freakishly psychotic screaming fit by Lawrence O'Donnell.

He used the words "lie", "liar", or "lying" 46 times in just under 11 minutes.

Maybe it's because he didn't know what he was talking about...

Posted by: Harvey at 08:52 PM | Comments (8) | Add Comment
Post contains 186 words, total size 1 kb.

... No... still.

Blogdaughter Boudicca of Boudicca's Voice is deconstructing a survey about men's attitudes toward sex. She quotes this part of the poll:

“The poll says that 70% of men think of sex every day and that 43% think about it several times a day."

"43% think about it several times a day"

The other 57% are lying.

Then there comes the question about how men DO all this thinking about sex:

“When you're hungry do you think about a specific type of food or just food in general? I think the latter is kind of the way it is for men. We think about sex in general not so much specifics”

There's some interesting discussion on the topic in her post and also in the comments. My answer is as follows:

I'm visually triggered, and the specific act under consideration depends on whether she's walking towards me or away from me.

It usually takes the form of filling in the blanks to the statement:

I'd like to _______ her _______.

The first blank being filled by some sort of physical act and the second being the body part I'm noticing at the moment.

"admire" her "pretty eyes" IS on the list, but most times it's something more... intimate.

And detailed.

With lots of adjectives, prepositional phrases, and dependent clauses.

And dessert toppings.

UPDATE: Coincidentally, I just rediscovered a post at my old Bad Money site where I describe something similar to this phenomenon as a "flash-fantasy":

It's my term for when someone says something (whether innocent or suggestive), and I get a fast mental image of a sexually-charged scenario that I quickly banish from my thoughts so I can get back to focussing on the task at hand.

Yes, this happens to me a LOT.

Posted by: Harvey at 08:41 PM | Comments (20) | Add Comment
Post contains 309 words, total size 2 kb.

1 There was a survey done once that said... 75% of men jack-off in the shower... the other 25% sing in the shower... do you know what song they sing?

Posted by: Madfish Willie at October 25, 2004 09:05 PM (Uq/6d)

2 I believe it's this one.

Posted by: Harvey at October 25, 2004 09:36 PM (ubhj8)

3 I personally think women think about it as much as men. FTR, I'm very specific in my thoughts.

Posted by: Boudicca at October 25, 2004 10:10 PM (XH1zZ)

4 Herbey... wrong song... I guess we know what you do in the shower!

Posted by: Madfish Willie at October 25, 2004 11:09 PM (Uq/6d)

5 "...the task at hand". Great choice of phrase! *snicker*

Posted by: Sally at October 26, 2004 03:45 AM (a1D32)

6 I'm with you Bou. The older I get the more I think about it.

Posted by: vw bug at October 26, 2004 05:41 AM (NcJJ4)

7 I wish my wife would think more about sex. I'm getting tired of forcing my thoughts upon her.

Posted by: contagion at October 26, 2004 07:25 AM (Q5WxB)

8 Why did I have to marry a narcoleptic? (I think that's the term for it) As soon as she gets comfortable anywhere, she has a tendency to fall asleep. And she doesn't wake up well either. Too bad she's not a sleep sexer. She could then just ask me in the morning how we were.

Posted by: tbflowers at October 26, 2004 01:03 PM (/GbaI)

9 MW - how does that line go from American Beauty go? Sometimes my morning jerkoff in the shower is the best part of my day. It usually goes downhill from there.

Posted by: TBFlowers at October 26, 2004 01:05 PM (/GbaI)

10 Coincidentally, a couple of the boys at work were talking about that song at work last night. I said "It's about swimming, right?" and they hurriedly agreed...

Posted by: Susie at October 26, 2004 01:19 PM (58XnJ)

11 TB, if you have small children, all mothers of small children are narcoleptics. As soon as we're prone, we fall asleep. The best bet is catching her in the shower. And if the small children is the case, just give her a couple years... it all comes back!

Posted by: Boudicca at October 26, 2004 03:33 PM (XH1zZ)

12 Or AFTER the shower. That's why they make large, fuzzy bath mats and bathroom door locks. Best part is, no one asks why the bath mat is wet ;-)

Posted by: Harvey at October 26, 2004 04:16 PM (ubhj8)

13 I used to be a stroke. I always thought the song was about rowing.... Bou, yup, six yr old princess and 3 yr old bruiser. Thank God they're both potty trained. But the Mrs. has no excuse. I'm a model husband. I cook, clean, and do my fair share of child rearing. Course, I could be on my deathbed, and I'd still want one last roll in the hay.

Posted by: tbflowers at October 26, 2004 06:57 PM (lkOLI)

14 Thinking of sex again..... One time, my real time fantasies almost went too far. Was in college walking toward the student center, when I saw this particularly bustluscious babe walking toward me. I begin thinking, "Wow, she really is beautiful. And look at the way those things move when she walks. They defy the Newtonian Laws of Motion..." At which time she was about to glide just past me, and my other brain takes control and at the last possible moment, I feel my hand rise up and out as if to take one of those wonderous appendages with me. Alarm bells began screaming in the logical part of my brain something was terribly amiss. Thankfully, it was in enough time that I could redirect my hand's motion into some less ominous action and avoid the potential altercation that was about to occur. Don't remember if I waved at an invisible friend or picked my nose, but to this day, I'm still shocked that I almost uncontrollably groped a total stranger. Then I met my wife. Finally I met someone special. Someone who won't press charges.

Posted by: tbflowers at October 26, 2004 07:20 PM (lkOLI)

15 Now that I live in a dorm, and shower in a shower stall instead of my own bathroom. Often with guys in the stalls on either side of me, and very seldomly with no one else in the bathroom, I don't feel comfortable doing either in the shower.

Posted by: Chuck at October 26, 2004 07:30 PM (pcUjt)

16 *GASP!* LOL! TB, Holy Crap, Lion Tours, you bailed out just in time. You could have been dead meat. Wow. That just really hammers home that whole 'what part of the body' men think with saying. Wow.

Posted by: Boudicca at October 26, 2004 07:48 PM (XH1zZ)

17 About filling in those two blanks...How about 'kick' and 'ass'?

Posted by: kermit at October 27, 2004 09:38 PM (+jIPl)

18 Kermit - with some women... yes ;-)

Posted by: Harvey at October 27, 2004 10:42 PM (ubhj8)

19 Kermit - Some people are into that whole foot thing, but I've never met one that liked it in the butt. Not to mention a webbed foot. But then again, you're a frog. Funny, I would have thought I'd have seen an famous amphibian's foot fetish plaastered all over the supermarket tabloids.

Posted by: tbflowers at October 28, 2004 11:04 PM (a5e9e)

20 Heh. What's green & smells like a pig? :-)

Posted by: Harvey at October 29, 2004 10:54 PM (ubhj8)

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Graumagus of Frizzen Sparks has his one year blogiversary today. So in honor of that, I offer him this gift fit for a king.

Try to make it last G. Don't squander it all in one night.

As if you still could.

Mheh.

Posted by: Harvey at 08:26 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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Precision Guided Humor Assignment Reminder: What will be the "October Surprise" this election year? due by 8pm Wednesday, October 27th. Late entries must be accompanied by a lame excuse.

Monday Linky Stuff

3 filthy lies and a VERY late PGH assignment.

Posted by: Harvey at 08:08 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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BeeBee of Angle of Vision has some cute baby videos on her phone, and would like to post them, but she doesn't know how.

Could someone more geek than me lend her a hand?

Posted by: Harvey at 12:03 PM | Comments (7) | Add Comment
Post contains 42 words, total size 1 kb.