tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-145238902024-03-14T10:30:48.653-04:00My Alter Ego Speaksbut not as often as he used to.My Alter Egohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14484617407092345298noreply@blogger.comBlogger232125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14523890.post-31577589370398105822016-05-16T09:31:00.003-04:002016-05-16T09:31:46.034-04:00Testing, testing, 1, 2, 3, . . .Is this thing on?My Alter Egohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14484617407092345298noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14523890.post-73453997427141353002014-04-29T16:45:00.001-04:002014-04-29T16:45:44.104-04:00[Name Redacted] I Love You, But You're Bringing Me Down. . . but you're still the one pool where I'd happily drown.My Alter Egohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14484617407092345298noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14523890.post-77144101559760913552014-03-28T15:19:00.000-04:002014-03-28T15:19:47.037-04:00D.A.T., R.I.P.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsaAE0pYkZobfjGYblnHobo1omElDU8kMZsCvHfwYKNFgfnh21dgMHKFx2OKbEhvSxkO36hNfxAOi7Fcmu4o5it5jrK1fs23u1duKG8N86CSRxO-kaopCKBFlkomaS3-jbIZ31/s1600/069_3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsaAE0pYkZobfjGYblnHobo1omElDU8kMZsCvHfwYKNFgfnh21dgMHKFx2OKbEhvSxkO36hNfxAOi7Fcmu4o5it5jrK1fs23u1duKG8N86CSRxO-kaopCKBFlkomaS3-jbIZ31/s400/069_3.jpg" /></a></div>The great David A. Trampier has <a href="http://dyverscampaign.blogspot.com/2014/03/did-david-trampier-just-die-at-age-of-59.html">passed away</a>.<br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeyCWQg8ZKXI3ZbvG7d-U1c4147JuLc7vUR_ClzkUA_pEi4qwQlmxxN7Lfu3pfqv113v1nBWt1htA5S78LA-JK5ZB9NrGcO7L9SXczEvzg6myZWUXQYjXehtk80011zGyEjXLa/s1600/076_2_last.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeyCWQg8ZKXI3ZbvG7d-U1c4147JuLc7vUR_ClzkUA_pEi4qwQlmxxN7Lfu3pfqv113v1nBWt1htA5S78LA-JK5ZB9NrGcO7L9SXczEvzg6myZWUXQYjXehtk80011zGyEjXLa/s1600/076_2_last.jpg" /></a></div>
Strangely enough, I'd spent much of the past week scouring the Internet for online examples of his artwork. (I'm sure anyone of a certain age who played AD&D has a few favorite Trampier drawings etched into the back of their minds.) I had no idea that, in the middle of my revived obsession with his work, he was departing the world.<br />
<br />
He was a true artist. Thanks, Dave, for giving us a glimpse into your world. Farewell.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgF7h67m5qhVpWjlR7zkB2hE9Lwowc17hh90-4MJ17r-27xIr4OFPFtXcRi1bzvaLrVdAoZsBxR4VbMd7Gy8GfSv30FPznadXavD5G-x8O1VJ5MCIiYbksp_2kZEwhQaRJ0LiH8/s1600/ADD003MonsterManual155Pseudo-Dragon-adjusted.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgF7h67m5qhVpWjlR7zkB2hE9Lwowc17hh90-4MJ17r-27xIr4OFPFtXcRi1bzvaLrVdAoZsBxR4VbMd7Gy8GfSv30FPznadXavD5G-x8O1VJ5MCIiYbksp_2kZEwhQaRJ0LiH8/s400/ADD003MonsterManual155Pseudo-Dragon-adjusted.jpg" /></a></div>My Alter Egohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14484617407092345298noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14523890.post-649680179098284372014-01-02T11:10:00.000-05:002014-01-02T11:10:08.779-05:00The first sentence must capture the reader's attention.<p>Paul Krugman knows how to write a good first sentence:</p>
<blockquote><p><a href="http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/12/31/jean-baptiste-say-cockroach/?_r=0">Regular readers know that I talk quite a lot about zombies, but also occasionally talk about cockroaches.</a></p></blockquote>Giant Mutant Cockroachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16972826837265983953noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14523890.post-56864691619719778212013-12-30T10:59:00.001-05:002013-12-30T10:59:54.960-05:00Or, in the words of Ferris Bueller, "'Ism's in my opinion are not good."<p>Nice bit from Charlie Stross in a post titled "<a href="http://www.antipope.org/charlie/blog-static/2013/12/why-i-want-bitcoin-to-die-in-a.html">Why I want Bitcoin to die in a fire</a>", (which is worth reading in its entirety.)</p>
<blockquote><p>. . . I tend to take the stance that Libertarianism is like Leninism: a fascinating, internally consistent political theory with some good underlying points that, regrettably, makes prescriptions about how to run human society that can only work if we replace real messy human beings with frictionless spherical humanoids of uniform density (because it relies on simplifying assumptions about human behaviour which are unfortunately wrong).</p></blockquote>My Alter Egohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14484617407092345298noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14523890.post-30482786806629583542013-11-22T10:21:00.000-05:002013-11-22T10:21:49.859-05:00At one p.m. . . . Central . . . Standard . . . Time.The motorcade sped on.<br /> <br />
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="344" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/JjyFwbSNh4o" width="459"></iframe>My Alter Egohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14484617407092345298noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14523890.post-67214818146198955952013-05-24T10:51:00.000-04:002013-05-24T10:51:14.578-04:00Improvise, Adapt, and Overcome!<a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-05-23/mutant-cockroaches-learn-to-avoid-sugar-to-outsmart-traps.html">Mutant Cockroaches Learn to Avoid Sugar to Outsmart Traps</a>Giant Mutant Cockroachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16972826837265983953noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14523890.post-68074702876227605782012-09-13T00:55:00.000-04:002012-09-13T00:56:14.217-04:00A question for Mr. Romney regarding his views on foreign policy.WMYBSALC?Giant Mutant Cockroachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16972826837265983953noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14523890.post-32233029900906707492011-10-17T19:14:00.001-04:002011-10-17T19:39:55.452-04:00All that is necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing but blog about it.<p>On the way home from work today, I stopped at the supermarket to pick up a few groceries. While I was waiting to use one of the self-check-out machines, I witnessed a young woman at one of the machines shoplift a few items. And I just stood by and watched.</p><p>What she did was, after she had paid for her items and picked up her bag, she added a few additional, unpaid-for items to the bag. She did it very casually—no nervous looking about to see if anyone was watching. I'm sure she's done it before, and I'm sure she'll do it again. Maybe one day she'll get caught, maybe not.</p><p>Now if I had seen this same young woman pick someone's pocket, I'm sure I would have said something. Robbing an unsuspecting individual seems like a different sort of offense. But watching her steal from the store, I found myself wondering if it was really my place to inject myself into the situation. I mean, that's what they have security cameras and employees for, right? If their security isn't up to snuff, somebody will certainly be robbing them. And how do I know that she really <i>didn't</i> pay for those items?</p><p>Thusly I rationalized my non-interventionist policy.</p><p>p.s. <a href="http://tartarus.org/~martin/essays/burkequote.html">Nobody knows</a> who first said or wrote the thing about good men's inaction leading to the triumph of evil.</p>My Alter Egohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14484617407092345298noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14523890.post-75934469235214200532011-08-12T15:17:00.000-04:002011-08-12T15:17:32.262-04:00Titles that J.D. Salinger considered but ultimately rejected before settling on Catcher in the Rye:<ul><li><i>Pitcher in the Millet</i></li>
<li><i>Shortstop in the Barley</i></li>
<li><i>First Baseman in the Winter Wheat</i></li>
<li><i>Utility Infielder in the Flax</i></li>
<li><i>Third Base Coach in the Triticale</i></li>
<li><i>Umpire in the Oats</i></li>
<li><i>Bat Boy in the Amaranth</i></li>
</ul>My Alter Egohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14484617407092345298noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14523890.post-9435101624871976172011-08-07T13:36:00.000-04:002011-08-07T13:36:23.770-04:00A partial list of things which, as a result of disinterest so profound it borders on the hostile, I hereby publicly express an unwillingness to give:<ul><li>a hoot</li>
<li>a fig</li>
<li>a dang</li>
<li>a darn</li>
<li>a damn</li>
<li>a tinker's cuss</li>
<li>a crap</li>
<li>a good God damn</li>
<li>a shit</li>
<li>a rat's ass</li>
<li>a fuck<sup>1</sup></li>
</ul><span style="font-size:smaller;"><br />
<b>1:</b> neither the flying variety nor the more common flightless variety shall be given</span>My Alter Egohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14484617407092345298noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14523890.post-10073849398185754322011-07-20T21:24:00.004-04:002011-07-20T21:31:57.821-04:00Not a bad way to spend an evening.<p>I'm sitting alone in a dark room, with not a stitch of clothing on me, singing, playing the piano and sipping malt whiskey. At least, that's what I was doing before I decided to come share the experience with you, the Internet.</p>My Alter Egohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14484617407092345298noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14523890.post-11497594472653009422011-05-20T08:22:00.003-04:002011-05-20T08:31:49.774-04:00Just wondering . . .<p>My colleague the Giant Mutant Cockroach has made a stunning insight into Newt Gingrich's behavior.</p><br /><p>What if Newt Gingrich is <a href="http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/246302/gingrich-obama-s-kenyan-anti-colonial-worldview-robert-costa">so outside our comprehension</a>, that only if you understand inter-dimensional slime leeches from Galaxy 12 can you begin to piece together his actions?</p><br /><p>I believe that is the most accurate, predictive model for his behavior.</p>My Alter Egohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14484617407092345298noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14523890.post-61066953861487113022010-11-30T01:16:00.002-05:002010-11-30T01:18:37.093-05:00The German Pirate Party reads this blog!Or great minds think alike. Or <a href="http://www.boingboing.net/2010/11/27/german-pirate-party.html">something like that</a>.My Alter Egohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14484617407092345298noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14523890.post-1562939255267724402010-11-16T18:17:00.002-05:002010-11-16T18:26:41.893-05:00My Junk: Let Me Show You It.<p>Frankly, I don't care if some TSA screener wants to feel me up or scan my body contours before I get on a plane. Not because I feel these procedures are in any way necessary or helpful in preventing acts of terrorism; on the contrary, I think these procedures are an enormous waste of time and money. It's just that I don't care. Grope and peep away. I can see how others might not feel the same way, and I sympathize, but personally I just don't give a shit. If they are going to touch my junk, though, I would hope they would at least have the common courtesy to provide a "happy ending."</p><p>I understand there's a movement brewing to protest these procedures by having people opt out <i>en masse</i>. I'd like to see the protest go the other way. Let's make the full body scanners irrelevant. What's the minimum amount of clothing you can wear in an airport without getting arrested for indecent exposure? I'd love to see a protest involving thousands of people of all ages and body types going through security wearing nothing but teeny bikinis and banana hammocks. If the TSA employees knew that going to work every day would involve seeing grandma in nothing but a thong and pasties and grandpa bedecked in a budgie smuggler, how long would it be before they went on strike?</p>My Alter Egohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14484617407092345298noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14523890.post-82546600226963576382010-11-09T00:31:00.001-05:002010-11-09T00:34:55.454-05:00Metasyntactic ConstantThis post is a placeholder for the post that I would have written if I had something to say.My Alter Egohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14484617407092345298noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14523890.post-73094446392874231492010-08-07T01:44:00.003-04:002010-08-07T01:56:28.015-04:00Encouraging Thought of the Day<p>It could be worse. In fact, it is likely that very soon it <i>will</i> be worse. But even when it does get worse, we will still be able to say that it could be even worse than that. And for that we should be grateful.</p>My Alter Egohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14484617407092345298noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14523890.post-35554859160366077602010-07-25T08:53:00.001-04:002010-07-25T08:56:01.064-04:00And one more, for bad measure.<p>An explorer from South Carolina<br />Who'd spent many years criss-crossing China<br />Said a woman he'd met<br />In the snows of Tibet<br />Really did have a sideways vagina.</p>My Alter Egohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14484617407092345298noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14523890.post-91665229436857306102010-07-24T10:45:00.002-04:002010-07-25T08:56:32.662-04:00Since I'm not doing anything useful with this blog . . .<p>A mathematician named Lex<br />Claimed he'd solved the equation of sex<br />And he found that the ratio<br />Of ass to fellatio<br />Was equal to <span style="font-style:italic;">y</span> over <span style="font-style:italic;">x</span>.</p><p>And he further explained with a shout<br />His solution for working it out:<br />“Your relationships past<br />Are subtracted at last,<br />And your exes will all cancel out.”</p>My Alter Egohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14484617407092345298noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14523890.post-393836328258290742010-04-21T18:37:00.005-04:002010-04-22T07:41:12.720-04:00Christ, what an ash-hole.<p>Like volcanoes, certain bloggers have been known go through phases in which they lie dormant for extended periods of time, leading everyone to assume they're extinct, and then one day without warning they begin to spew forth huge quantities of smoke and noxious gasses from deep within their bowels.</p><p>Not necessarily saying that that's going to happen here. Just saying it's been known to happen.</p>My Alter Egohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14484617407092345298noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14523890.post-44599805577976605382009-12-10T22:17:00.003-05:002009-12-10T22:21:32.442-05:00This Post Is Dedicated to the Memory of the Online Persona Known as OggedGuy talking on his cellphone in the locker room at the gym: "Just because she gave you fellatio doesn't mean she's a good person."My Alter Egohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14484617407092345298noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14523890.post-49843570743485586942009-04-11T21:59:00.004-04:002009-04-11T22:07:47.476-04:00Tea for One<p>I can't help it; whenever I hear or read about <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zS-cAd9iPDA&eurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com%2Freader%2Fview%2Fuser%2F-%2Fstate%2Fcom.google%2Freading-list&feature=player_embedded">tea parties</a>, the image that comes to mind is a little girl serving imaginary tea to her imaginary friends.</p><br /><p>I guess that's pretty accurate.</p>My Alter Egohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14484617407092345298noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14523890.post-52979355928090448952009-04-03T22:59:00.004-04:002009-04-03T23:12:13.883-04:00Five months without posting, and he comes back for this??<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/lizzystewart/2808815696/sizes/l/">Have you seen this cat?</a><br /><br />(I have. I knew him <a href="http://myalteregospeaks.blogspot.com/2006/03/friday-otocolobus-blogging.html"><i>when</i></a>, dahling.)My Alter Egohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14484617407092345298noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14523890.post-92157467384729542012008-11-05T08:39:00.001-05:002008-11-05T08:42:19.620-05:00I'll change if you vote me in as the pres, The President of your soul.Yes we can.<br />Yes we did.<br />Yes we will.My Alter Egohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14484617407092345298noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14523890.post-40696278290096003872008-10-24T07:19:00.005-04:002008-10-24T07:56:47.989-04:00Giant Mutant Cockroach interviews Joe the PlumberGMC: So, Joe . . . Can I call you Joe?<br /><br />JtP: Sure, why not. Can I smash you with a shoe?<br /><br />GMC: I'd rather you didn't. So let's drop the pretense. You're not <i>really</i> Joe the plumber, are you?<br /><br />JtP: And you're not <i>really</i> a giant cockroach.<br /><br />GMC: Touché.<br /><br />JtP: But in any case, it doesn't matter that I'm not the real Joe the plumber, because the Joe the plumber that John McCain and Sarah Palin have been talking about is not the real Joe the Plumber. They've been talking about me.<br /><br />GMC: So who are you, exactly?<br /><br />JtP: I'm the Joe the Plumber that lives in the heart of every real American. And Barack Obama wants to raise my taxes. And that's downright unamerican.<br /><br />GMC: But Joe, Obama will only raise taxes on those earning more than $250,000 a year. You don't earn anywhere near that much, do you?<br /><br />JtP: See, that's the really insidious part of Obama's evil plan. Sure, I'm not earning that much yet. But someday I might! That's my dream, that's the American dream, and <i>Barack Obama wants to tax the American dream!</i> Sure I may only be pulling in thirty grand now, and I may be living in a rented doublewide, but at night I dream of owning a mansion. A really huge mansion. But as soon as I start dreaming, along comes Obama, saying he'll raise my taxes, and because of that I'll only be able to afford a 9,000 square foot mansion, instead of the 9,500 square feet I always dreamed of! Instead of buying a Rolls Royce, I'll have to settle for a Bentley. Hell, if I gotta compromise my dreams that way, it's not even worth striving for them. In fact, I don't think I'll even go in to work tomorrow.<br /><br />GMC: Damn, Joe, that <i>is</i> bad. I never realised that when you raise taxes on the rich by even a small amount people will stop wanting to be rich. That could have a devastating effect on the whole economy!<br /><br />JtP: Sure, 'cause if you can't be dirty, stinkin', filthy rich, what's the point? You might as well just be poor.<br /><br />GMC: So if that's the case, why doesn't John McCain propose cutting taxes on the rich to zero? Then the poor would have no excuses any more. They couldn't help but work hard to try to be rich!<br /><br />JtP: How do you know he won't do just that? Didn't you hear him last week when he said he's got the Democrats right where he wants 'em? He's been lulling them into complacency, and next week, in the final week of the campaign, he'll spring his "zero taxes on the rich" plan on the unsuspecting public. And it'll be too late for the Democrats to react. John McCain will win in a landslide!<br /><br />GMC: Christ, what a maverick!<br /><br />JtP: Yeah, it almost makes me feel sorry for the Democrats. They'll never know what hit 'em.Giant Mutant Cockroachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16972826837265983953noreply@blogger.com0