Well I went and saw the South Park Movie again. It was truly a masterpiece. It was some of the little things that I liked the best. Especially the ending, it was kind of a homage to Japanese animation. That and Satan’s “I have had enough of you” line which was obviously borrowed from Star Trek 3. The musical numbers where as good as some of the Disney wannabes.

Each and every time I have seen the movie I have been waiting for people to get all pissed off and storm out of the theater because their delicate sensibilities were hurt. So far I have not seen that reaction. I am also surprised that none of the news media has done stories on how people were offended by the movie. And what about Saddam Hussein? Don’t you think he will be a little pissed off for been portrayed as Satan’s gay lover? Will he issue a death threat for Mr. Parker and Mr. Stone? It will be interesting to see what happens.

Seti At Home is a really neat little program that I downloaded a while ago that I have been meaning to tell everyone about. It is a program that lets you be a part of the Search For Extraterrestrial Intelligence or SETI right from your computer. Or as the people who made the program say:

SETI@home is a scientific experiment that harnesses the power of hundreds of thousands of Internet-connected computers in the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI). You can participate by running a program that downloads and analyzes radio telescope data. There’s a small but captivating possibility that your computer will detect the faint murmur of a civilization beyond Earth.

They have the program available for download for Windows, Mac, or even a text based version for UNIX, WinNT, OS/2, BeOS, Mac OS X Server.

The Windows program is Version 1.05 and is a 725K download. The Windows version requires at least 32MB RAM and the ability to display 8-bit color in 640×480 resolution (though 800×600 or higher is recommended in order to fit all the graphics on the screen). The software will not work if your PC does not meet these requirements.

The Mac program is Version 1.0 (with a promise for a Version 1.05 very soon) and is a 304K download.The SETI@home software for Mac requires at least the following to run: 32MB RAM (it could run with as little as 24MB RAM, but would be quite sluggish). The ability to display 8-bit color in 640×480 resolution (though 800×600 or higher is recommended in order to fit all the graphics on the screen). PowerPC processor System with Mac OS 7.5.5 or later.

I was looking around for some info on the game Starfleet Command and found some neat stuff for the demo. First up are some new missions that are playable within the demo. The best of them a mission in which you get command of a Dreadnaught class ship (pictures are below). You can get this file at SFC Alpha Quadrant, just click the link called Files on the left. To add to the homemade missions also download the plasma torp graphics, that way everything works. You do have to rename a file and put it in the demo’s directory but the readme include with the files tell you how to do this.

The next file is called Starfleet Command demo editor, and it allows you to tweak the Heavy Destroyer in the skirmish mission called the duel. It only work in that mission. I had some problems getting this to work. It tells you to put in a certain folder, yet it doesn’t work correctly when you do it the way the readme says. So I left it in the default folder WinZip puts it in and made a short cut to the program. Then you just have to dump the file the program creates into the right folder in the SFC folder.

Now keep in mind these two files might not work together as I have not tried to edit the ship after playing the new missions. But have fun either way.

And while I’m thinking of it, I have found a way to cheat in this game. You have to edit the file called sfc.ini for this to work. Just open the file up and add the following two lines under the [AI (Artificial intelligence)] heading: AIAttack = 0 and AIMove = 0. 0=no action, and 1=action. So set them to o and the enemy AI will not attack or move. Or let them move and not attack. Its up to you. You can also get higher resolutions out of the game by adding changing another line in the sfc.ini file. Add make the line lowres=0 read lowres=2 under the [3D] heading to get 1024×768 resolution. If anyone needs help e-mail at spider_jerus@hotmail.com because as of tonight I’m heading off to Mosinee again.

Well my friends wedding has come an gone. It was fun and a lot of beer was consumed. There were a few moments that will stick in my memory. At the reception toward the end of the night when everyone else was heading over to some bar me and Kevin decided that it would be a lot smarter to stay at the reception hall and finish off the free beer. We stayed until one o’clock in the morning telling jokes and drinking beer with the guys who work at the reception hall.

I got to meet Ross’s sister again after a long time. First let me say that after meeting her three times I can say she is a very smart and beautiful woman. It’s one of those gut instinct calls. But she makes me very nervous, I haven’t pegged why, she just does. I don’t think in a bad way. Its another one of those weird feelings one can get when they meet someone. Maybe some form of a slight deja vu experience or something.

Any way we all had way to much fun and probably indulged a little to much in the consumption of alcohol. Although someone had to do it so it might as well have been us. Well I have to go eat at Grammas and then head back to Mosinee. So I will see everyone later.

I just got back from Mosinee and just had to stop and check my e-mail. Some people just take forever to write back. I am just about out the door to Rochelle to take part in some sales and marketing meetings. Yuck! I hate that kind of shit. I just want to go to bed but alas I have no choice.

I will find out in the next couple of days where I will be going. The best guess right now is Texas or Indiana. As soon as I find out I let everyone know. To get in touch with me when I’m on the road just send it to spider_jerus@hotmail.com and I will be able to communicate with people still.

I also wanted to thank everyone who wrote in and had comments about the bit I wrote in titled “The Sister“. A few people had some pretty wild notions. And I am glad that some of you worry about my life or lack of life. But you really need to keep the comments to yourself.

I’m out the door as soon as I finish this post, I’m off to Sycamore Illinois for about a week and then who knows? I didn’t really do much this weekend. I got to see the Izers and tried to go out drinking with my brother. But as usual the guy didn’t call me. He is embarrassed to go out drinking with me. He thinks I will make fun of him in front of his friends.

And speaking of drinking I tried to get a hold of Kevin, and had no luck. You will have to listen to this answering machine message first.

[audio:kevinputz.mp3]
Played [drain file 38 hits] Times

Then I’ll tell you why this guy is such a putz. And don’t get the wrong idea. Me and this guy have been through a lot. I mean it as a sign of affection. He tells me in this message to give him a call. This just shows what a smart ass he is. The guy (to my knowledge) doesn’t have a phone yet. He uses his cell phone and I don’t have that number. What can you do? Hopefully we can catch up sometime this weekend and drink some brewskies.

So I’m off. As per the usual with me being out of town you can get a hold of me through the spider_jerus@hotmail.com address. I catch you all later. And let me know if you found the answering machine wav funny and I might put up some others.

I’m in Metropolis, Il. I’ve been here almost two weeks. Not much to report, really. I have found a nice bar that I have been spending my time. Found me a real cutey that I have been wooing. I really dig the southern accent.

My old man has been sending me e-mails with advice about work and stuff. He and The Sister are the only ones that have e-mailed me since I have been on the road. You are all lazy bastards. I’m kidding, you all know I love you guys. I should note that my bud Iggy has IMed me a few times since I’ve been down here in Superman’s town. Thanks Iggy. Send me a e-mail or sign the GuestBook so I can post it like the old days. Any way here is what my old man has had to say:

my ma said you called her before you reached me last night. you talked about moving but it was the other topic you talked to my ma about that perkt my ear she said you said you didn’t get paid as much as you thought you should is it true
are the korpsuckers [long as you’re fisher not fish korps short for corporate carp you’re fine godsend for this godfaring torpor of country we if we have a smidge of a mind to call our own hesitate to call our own] paying you the 24 thousand they said they was or are they paying you 7 or 8 bucks per hour and if it’s the latter or anything near it then you’d no worse off if you quit them pronto and got a 7 or 8 buck per hour job here in winn or rock counties that way you keep your house and pay your car payments and insurance too which if i know you at all you’d probably like better than what you’re doing now

you have to be honest with yourself if no one else

don’t be a sucker for status especially if pay and fringes don’t go with it if they call you a gm but have you doing auditor chores in wayback of nowhere [only claim to fame metropolis has is that it’s where an emigrant comic book hero hailed from] and even worse pay you at auditor rates are you worse off if you become an auditor closer to home i don’t think so

how secure is your email can your bosses read it if they can erase this message fast but keep its contents in mind before making furthur decisions

love your dad

And this one:

i talkt about business in my other letter of a minute ago now i’ll talk pleasure especially in the acerb way i take mine
i had no trouble getting on net this morning i notice someone turned on your airconditioner which ain’t a bad idea if you have your computer’s best interest in mine and i think you should it is a fascinating instrument i must say keep it on

i hope you are a better letter answer than my dumbkoff brother and that you take time and answer my letters if nothing else it’s a way to keep in touch which i hope you do if nothing else it’ll give you something to do

what do you do with your free time if you have any my ma said you went to a flick in peducak do you know i went there once when you were kneehigh to grasshopper and looked for work without much luck it was in 75 that climateric year for a lot of people and i had quit stl and was floundering like a carp in a dry mudhole i was trying to add engineering to my useless anthro degree and taking courses at siu at carbondale a bottom moment in my life [i was blesst with many] i didn’t have the math i had later and have since forgot and so i knew i couldn’t hack my engineering courses and so i quit and came back home and was still unable to find work etc

writing about that time 75-80 fraught times for me i’ve never been able to get over fears and insecurities it induced so you see your progenitor had troubles not unlike your own so didn’t mine but he’d never admit it

what else write reviewing this it sounds more like confession maybe because i think pleasure is a sin it ain’t never believe that whatever else you do

love dad

And:

i want to warn you watch that drinking happy to see you wrote and sorry i hadnt check your mail til now but i been busy it’s been hot out and i’m getting old and working harder than i care to so i been to tired to write i must have got through couple days back because my letter was in your file it was hotter than a bitch out even if in my experience of the last bitch i was hitched to she was the opposite of hot
love your papa

And this:

anyone there on the enterprise or did you beam off into motes
if you check e-mail i sent my fandango brother you’ll notice i used a similiar heading under subject to him hope to hell you ain’t as out of any world as he pretends he is in dedecated pursuit of selfishness [wish i could be half as selfish as he is i wouldn’t do zilch today instead i interrupt my real trip to grocery store to a virtual trip to you by the by i’ve aways found communication with anyone but self arduous in the extreme that you are my son doesn’t make that difficult task any easier maybe it’s harder cuz we assume we have so much in common]

in sum i interrupt my usual sunday chores to stop at your house and see if you answered my letters especially the first about your job but much to my consternation answer there was none i can’t tell you how much it perturbs me when my replies go unanswered and it doesn’t escape me why the journal is my genre of choice when i write in it i know no ones going to answer me back

enough lamentations

i have so little free time however that if you do answer i won’t know you did til next weekend when once again i’ll check the log of letters to see if you wrote me unless of course you reach me before then by phone

got to run as i have trim to do and to pick green beans too before i can do what i do best take life easy and let time fondle me

love your papa

Thanks for e-mailing me Pop. I was really glad to hear your advice. I owe you a few e-mails.