When I was a kid, I remember my neighbor having a bike lock with three dials, for setting a three digit combination. She commented that I could probably pick the lock pretty easily, if I just tried one at a time. Being bored, I did so, and in under five minutes, had the lock open. As a kid, that was pretty astounding. When you think about it, if you spend a second on each combination, you could pick it in a max of around 17 minutes, with an average of around 8. It seemed secure at the time, but I guess that was just an illusion.

I recently found a Masterlock combination lock, to which I’ve never had the combination. I figured one day I’d figure out how to pick it, so I kept it around. Do you know how useless it is to have a combination lock to which you don’t know the combination? Directions on this have been floating around on the Internet, though recently someone posted some easy instructions, which have been making the rounds online, saving me the effort of finding them. I picked my lock in somewhere around five minutes. Well, actually, substantially longer, and over the course of a few days, but like five minutes after I started spinning the dial in the right direction. Funny how that works. Of course, this video of a Masterlock shim in action showing such a lock being opened in two seconds made me wonder if I’d ever want to use this lock on anything.

With video demonstrations of picking a Kryptonite bike lock with a bic pen, even those menacing black U-bars are succumbing to a little know-how. Yeah, the new ones are better, and you can trade in your old ones, but isn’t it weird that you’ve trusted it up to that point?

I guess I’m just living with the illusion that when I buy a lock, I expect it to work. I’m surprised, or perhaps horrified, to find that it’s just a bit more complicated than that. No locking system is infallible. I just wish that they provided just a little bit more comfort. I can dream, can’t I? How can I trust Masterlocks to secure anything in the future? Wake up, folks, this type of thing has been possible for years now. Isn’t it about time to do something about it?

Ryan goes to Fenway! It’s an MS Paint children’s story cautionary tale. There’s something awesome about really, really crappy MS Paint pictures. That, and the use of Comic Sans MS as a font. You can’t really combine unprofessional with unattractive in any other way.

This tale is a cautionary tale to be careful of those blasted sidewalks which pounce on you after a few shots of Jager. Sure, when you’re sober, sidewalks just sit there, but get a little buzzed, and watch out!

Ah, to be a professional MS Paint artist. Now that would be the life.

The Meowinator! The latest breakthrough in people to cat communication technology! At long last, we have the tools to translate our words into the words of cats!

(Okay, so I was a little bored.)

It’s already getting rave reviews — “I’m speechless,” noted Andrew Teman, “You can use that as a testimonial — I’m speechless.” Okay! With great feedback like that, you can bet that Meowinator v2.0 will be sure to take the world by storm, right after it finishes clawing your couch. Yet another stunning example of what happens when you put the power of technology in the hands of someone who’ll implement anything just because it’s amusing. I fear for the world. Enjoy.

We are now down to the wire, so if you have any sway on people’s votes, now is the time! I have no sway, so I post some random possibly political links for your enjoyment, ranging from liberal to just plain silly.

Proof that Bush is the antichrist.

Scott Paulsen’s take on at whom recent negative campaigning is aimed.

Listen to the libs free online at Air America — listen while you work, and it’s almost like leftist subliminal propaganda!

FactCheck.org — a non-partisan look at what politicians say….at least, I hope it’s non-partisan.

Was Bush a veteran? C’mon, it’s funny.

Republican Phone Porn? It’s what we picture conservatives doing, anyway.

Hunter S. Thompson of Fear and Loathing In Las Vegas fame on Bush.

If you haven’t heard of Jon Stewart’s heated exchange with Crossfire, you’re missing out. Stewart even spun it a little on his show, though Crossfire eventually had the need to fire back.

Why do I hear the Star Wars Imperial March theme every time I hear the name Karl Rove? Maybe it’s because Karl Rove is the puppeteer. This guy really is a political player. Rove is a guy who can and will fight dirty. Yet, he remains a little weird.

How do you get people to register for the Republican Party these days? Tell them you’re petitioning to legalize marijuana.

Finally, if you haven’t heard Triumph take on Spin Alley, you’re really missing out.

I can’t wait for this election to be over so I can get back to watching stupid, meaningless flash animations. Enough with the politics already!

More than meets the eye. But where’s Optimus Prime???
Cool, nonetheless.

From the nostalgia file: TV Intro’s. Who doesn’t remember the old school TV classics like Knight Rider, Air Wolf, and Family Ties? Take a trip down memory lane at this site that archived the old TV intros. I remember watching these as a kid in the family room…oh, for the days of a wasted youth.

Wondering how in the world you’re going to rip those hundreds of CDs to your computer? iPod owners probably go through that point about five minutes after they get it. How in the world am I supposed to rip the hundreds of CDs I already own?

Check out Rip Digital. I’m annoyed because it’s one of those services I always wanted to start — and they already have. Kudos for them for getting off their duffs and actually doing it. I like the fact that they can ship your ripped music on an external Maxtor drive, which I was thinking about getting anyway. You can justify the expense as a way to get backup for your computer’s data at the same time. I just wish I discovered this service before ripping about half my collection — what can you do.

Music is a strange concept in society. It produces nothing, and is valued only insofar as people in society place value in it. One could say it’s an artificial societal construct designed to create jobs, by “fooling” people into placing value in it, thus establishing a demand. There’s definitely pleasurable aspects in it for the individual, but from a rational standpoint, it requires a peculiar justification.

Sites like Music Plasma help track similar styles of music visually, as well as show their impact on a genre. We definitely attempt to codify things and place them in neat categories, but sometimes things just don’t fit. It’s a lot like building castles in the sky — what sort of knowledge are we creating with this categorical structure?

Of course, looking at this site may make your eyes go buggy after a while.

I don’t necessarily agree with the writer of this article, but it does present an interesting look at Religion and the Founding Fathers. While the quotes pulled from the Founding Fathers are, at heart, heavily anti-religious in nature, they don’t quite convey the “evils” of religion that the writer would claim they portray. I think there’s more to be said about administration than anything else — an interesting read, nonetheless.