Wild Tangents
Marc talks about life in Nashville, life as a Catholic and life as a geek.

One of my favorite priestly blogs is written by a Fr. Martin Fox in Ohio. I just had to mention this post. It presents a (note a “a” and not “the”) Catholic perspective on the history of the spread of Islam. Here’s the start of it:

Sadly, all was peaceful and a garden of delights for the peaceful prophet and his followers until suddenly, one day in the 7th century, the armies of Byzantium, led by the pope, landed at Acre and marched to Arabia, and at the point of the sword, demanded the prophet (blessed be he!) comply to their outrageous demands. The peaceloving followers of the great prophet gathered around to witness the shocking scene:”You are the prophet of Islam?”

“Yes.”

“We demand that you invade our lands; form armies and sweep across North Africa; then we will gladly renounce our faith and become Muslim,” bellowed Pope Leo the Great.

It only gets better..

Go give it a read.

It’s odd. I work for a company that makes it’s money off call centers. Granted the majority of our customers are not telemarketers, but some are. Even still, I hate them all with a passion. No, I don’t hate the people that call. I don’t hate any person. But I do hate the companies they work for. So I have to say I was more than a little amused to hear this one guys treatment of a telemarketer who called his house. Now some people might think the treatment is a little harsh, but anyone who intrudes into someone else’s home is asking for trouble anyway.

Before you click on the link below, be aware that the audio is somewhat “PG-13″ and is probably NSFW. But then again, you should be working at work and not reading my blog!

Audio: Bob_and_Tom_-_Telemarketer_Nightmare - Some Catchy Title

In the last episode of Lost (aired 10/11/06), Sawyer offered Kate whaat he called a “fish biscuit”. Now everyone is calling it a “fish biscuit”. But I wonder. Is that it really? I mean we don’t call what’s to the right a “bone biscuit” do we? So why call it a “fish biscuit”, just because it’s shaped like a fish? I think we should just call it a “bear biscuit”. So like others in the past, I want to make sure we call things what they’re supposed to be called. Please call it a “polar-bear biscuit”. Don’t make me come over there. Don’t make me turn this into a crusade!

I was reading this the other day. Steven talks about some record he had that he played over and over again in his youth (in the 80’s). For some reason it reminded me of Doctor in Distress, which was an ill conceived effort to save the BBC programe (isn’t that they way those people spell it?) “Doctor Who” while was on hiatus and was possibly to be canceled in 1985. Even though this song was recorded, the show did come back. It wouldn’t be canceled for another four years. This song however seems to live on. I remember it well too. I had a copy of the single. I have tried to forget it and hadn’t thought about it until reading Steven’s post. Well, I can’t keep it myself. I feel I must inflict it on all you reading this. So without delay, here is “Doctor in Distress”.

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Yes, it’s a bloody video. I tried to find an MP3, but all I found was this, which doesn’t seem to be there anymore. Besides, the video “enhances” the experience anyway.  Enjoy!

This is a cute thing. What if there was truth in flying? Here’s an excerpt from the pre-flight safety briefing on the fictional “Veritas Airlines”. I would fly them, especially if they didn’t tell the lies the other airlines tell.

GOOD morning, ladies and gentlemen. We are delighted to welcome you aboard Veritas Airways, the airline that tells it like it is. Please ensure that your seat belt is fastened, your seat back is upright and your tray-table is stowed. At Veritas Airways, your safety is our first priority. Actually, that is not quite true: if it were, our seats would be rear-facing, like those in military aircraft, since they are safer in the event of an emergency landing. But then hardly anybody would buy our tickets and we would go bust.

The whole thing is pretty amusing. Read the whole thing here, and have a nice flight.

Not only has a government agency admitted to finding aliens in Roswell, they’ve put out a press release on it…

To the left right (the other left) you’ll see a neat little thing I created over at the Seal Generator.

The Seal Generator a neat little web app that allows you create a seal for any occasion, organization or other entity. It has plenty of features including color pickers for all the colors in your seal, pop-up windows for choosing the emblem (in my case a seal, go figure) and boarder and multiple fonts for the text.

They also have an area at the bottom where you can order stickers and magnets with your seal on them. It’s pretty cool. Go check it out.

I love this one….

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I also like the Vonage commercials, especially the one with the  guy in the lobster suit getting stuck in the revolving door.

I do not like any of the Burger King commercials though.  I’m especially creeped out by the Burger King dude (if I ever wake up with him in my bed, I’ll be checking myself in into an institution).  The “big bucking chicken” and the “maybe I do want to be a french fry” chicken don’t really help either. Yup, I’m afraid I’ve had my last Whopper.

Of course everyone has heard that Zarqawi has been killed in an air strike. Reports say couple of smart bombs were dropped on a the house he was staying in. What isn’t widely reported is the is the rumor that he almost got away. The rumor has it he heard the bombs coming and tried to escape the house. Unfortunately for Zarqawi, the door of the house jammed and his aides could not get it opened for him in time.

Well, the nefarious date 6/6/06 has come and gone and we’re all still here.  Does this mean we need to wait until 3006 for the remake of Omen 2?  Is that long enough to wait?  I say no. Hopefully it will be the end of hte world before they decide to remake that one….