1. <p>this whole 'holiday season' everyone saw those bell ringing volunteers working it outside of all the big box stores in the name of the salvation army. above every little red donation jar thingy was a sign that read 'need knows no season'. every time i saw one i thought: </p>
    
    <blockquote>
      <p>if needs truly knows no season, where is the salvation army battalion of bell ringing volunteers the rest of the season?</p>
    </blockquote>
    
    <p>to me it sounds more like catchy marketing rather than an enacted vision.</p>
    
    <p>Currently playing in iTunes: <i>Art Of Industry</i> by By The Grace Of God</p>
    
      
    
            
      I would guess they're spending the money raised at Christmas time. I would be more annoyed to see them constantly standing asking for money because I'd be left thinking they weren't getting on with spending it on helping people.
    
      Dunno though, just my 2 cents.
    
          
            
      i wouldn't say that's the MOST short sighted thing i've ever heard of. bringing a living t-rex back to mainland is way more shortsighted.
    
      but seriously, do you think that all the bell ringers are the ones that actually spend the money. man, they just send it off to people that are too afraid/greedy to actually get their hands dirty.
    
      they've stacks to move. they've got bills to pay.
    
          
            
      I'm a bit confused then... if you're saying the people who collect the money aren't the ones who spend it, why would you be worried about not seeing collectors more often? If the money is being spent by other people, why does the absence of bell ringers throughout the year represent "catchy marketing rather than an enacted vision"?
    
      I'm not trying to pick holes here, just trying to understand your point.
    
      I'm from the UK and we don't have bell-ringers here, so perhaps things are different over there. We do see the salvation army playing carols at Christmas time and collecting money then, and I think they come round the doors sometime during the year too. There's a salvation army just down the road from my house and I know that, despite not collecting money in the town centre all the time, they constantly run different things for the people in this estate and the one over the road.
    
    <p><a href="http://37signals.com/svn/archives2/predicting_06_enterprise_is_the_new_legacy.php">the signal vs. noise folks absolutely get it.</a></p>
    
    <blockquote>
      <p>By the end of 2006, it will be written that enterprise means bulky, expensive, dated, and golf.</p>
    </blockquote>
    
    <p>nearly everything that comes outta that blog is right on the money.</p>
    
    <p><a href="http://daringfireball.net/">gruber</a> has a post about <a href="http://daringfireball.net/2005/11/restart_apache_applescript">how to restart your apache webserver on a mac using an applescript</a> instead of the terminal or the sharing sys pref. and in classic geek form, he goes to lengths to make it easier for him to do later. laziness as the driver for technical development. classic.</p>
    
    <blockquote>
      <p>So because I’m really lazy, I made an AppleScript that does this. It’s just 	one single line:</p>
    
      <code>do shell script "apachectl graceful" with administrator privileges</code>
    </blockquote>
    
    <p>i'll see your laziness and raise you a keyboard shortcut.</p>
    
    <p>i followed all of john's instructions, but then decided that moving my mouse all the way up there and then selecting it out of the many options in the script menu ... ugh. i just couldn't be bothered.</p>
    
    <p>so i did this. go to the apple menu. choose 'System Preferences'. from there choose 'Keyboard and Mouse'. click on the 'Keyboard Shortcuts' tab. near the bottom left corner, click the plus button. in the sheet that pops down enter these for the options:</p>
    
    <p><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/veganstraightedge/153389202/" title="Photo Sharing"><img src="http://static.flickr.com/45/153389202_60a04fd65f.jpg" style="width:400px;" alt="add shortcut"></a></p>
    
    <ul>
      <li>Applications : All Applications</li>
      <li>Menu Title : Restart Apache</li>
      <li>Keyboard Shortcut : ⌘⌥⇧R</li>
      <li><em>hint. that last one is 'command option shift r'</em></li>
      <li>then press the 'add' button</li>
    </ul>
    
    <p><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/veganstraightedge/153389213/" title="Photo Sharing"><img src="http://static.flickr.com/62/153389213_7d636bbdda.jpg" style="width:400px;" alt="keyboard and mouse pref pane"></a></p>
    
    <p>and there you have it. one shortcut to rule them all. you know, for all the times that i have to restart apache.</p>
    
    <p><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/veganstraightedge/153389226/" title="Photo Sharing"><img src="http://static.flickr.com/55/153389226_7b2e56c292_o.png" alt="script menu"></a></p>
    
    <p>waitasecond, i restart apache like once every blue moon. and i just spent a couple hours on this. this might have been an awesomely inefficient use of time.</p>
    
    <p>Currently playing in iTunes: <i>I Try (Feat. Mary J. Blige)</i> by Talib Kweli</p>
    
    <p>a friend of mine is going thru some hard times right now. so i told her what i do in the dark times to make it thru to the next light: comics and juice. [which, i know. i know. doesn't sound that out of the ordinary for me, but which comics you read at a time like this is really important.] she had mentioned how good the bottle of rum looked earlier, and i knew i had to intervene, but the book had to be just right. </p>
    
    <p><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0785115315/103-5586185-0992649?v=glance&amp;n=283155&amp;n=507846&amp;s=books&amp;v=glance">astonishing x-men : gifted</a>? <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0785118144/103-5586185-0992649?v=glance&amp;n=283155&amp;s=books&amp;v=glance">new avengers : breakout</a>? not <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1593072937/103-5586185-0992649?v=glance&amp;n=283155&amp;n=507846&amp;s=books&amp;v=glance">sin city</a>. not <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/156389341X/103-5586185-0992649?v=glance&amp;n=283155&amp;n=507846&amp;s=books&amp;v=glance">dark knight</a>. something <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1401200605/104-0450687-5109534?v=glance&amp;n=283155&amp;n=507846&amp;s=books&amp;v=glance">super hero</a> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1563899809/104-8107184-6346357?v=glance&amp;n=283155&amp;n=507846&amp;s=books&amp;v=glance">or not</a>? i don't know. this is tough. she's not a big comic reader, so it has to be perfect. at least, the first one. if she wants to keep going then i can get a little more latitude to work with.</p>
    
    <p>then the trees parted, the cobwebs were removed, the moon shined a bit brighter and all was clear. <em>things always get worse before they get better</em>. of course, why hadn't i seen this sooner? this book has been there for <em>me</em> before why not for other in the hour of need, too?</p>
    
    <p><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeph_Loeb">jeph loeb</a> and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tim_Sale_%28artist%29">tim sale</a> have done lots of books together. all of which [that i've read, which is a lot] are good, but some rise above the rest a bit. <a href="http://comics.org/covers.lasso?SeriesID=14957">catwoman : when in rome</a>, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1563894696/002-8333282-7691220?v=glance&amp;n=283155&amp;n=507846&amp;s=books&amp;v=glance">batman : the long halloween</a>, etc. and one book in particular makes my list of 'go to in a pinch comics'; <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0785110623/002-5357226-5364045?v=glance&amp;n=283155&amp;n=507846&amp;s=books&amp;v=glance">spider-man : blue</a>.</p>
    
    <p>Currently playing in iTunes: <i>jeph loeb Nov 17th 2005 </i> by premium version </p>
    
    <p>but not today.</p>
    
    <p>i've had this thought percolating for quite some time. years even. but i didn't want to believe it. for all the obvious reasons. but i've given in. so i've finally admitted to myself that i believe one of those feelings i've had for way too long without listening to.</p>
    
    <p><span><em><strong>you shouldn't wait for girls.</strong></em></span></p>
    
    <p>
      don't wait for them to call you.<br>
      don't wait for them to come over.<br>
      don't wait for them to start liking you.<br>
      don't wait for them to stop liking the sceazebags that they do.<br>
      don't wait for them to start recycling.<br>
      don't wait for them to believe that civilization is coming to a glorious crash.<br>
      don't wait for them to become vegan.<br>
      don't wait for them to stop asking you to go to church.<br>
      don't wait for them to get back from another state.<br>
      don't wait for them to quit their job.<br>
      don't wait for them to stop cheating on you.<br>
      don't wait for them to get back from another country.<br>
      but most of all, and i know i've said it before,<br>
      don't wait for them to call you<br>
      because. they. won't.
    </p>
    
    <p>these are the lessons i've been taught over and over by lots of girls in my life. the bigger let down is not the lessons, but how fucking long its taken me to learn them.</p>
    
    <p>i've also learned that hearts aren't made of glass, they're made of muscle and blood and something else. and they don't so much as break as bend and tear. we have what it takes to keep it together; and move on. but i often believe that they're like a red christmas ball and are fragile.</p>