That's a Grand: Cause For Concern Posts 1000

On January 26th, 2006 I was pissed about the bullshit flap over the book A Million Little Pieces. And thus was born Cause For Concern. Three years and 8 months later, I'm writing this as my 1000th post.


That's right bitches and haters: ticker tape!

I've grown from those lovely and humble beginnings to write extensively and liberally about politics, race, hate, right wing talk radio (oh, did I repeat myself there?), technology, science fiction, and a whole bunch of other shit with smatterings of personal bits like my recent bout with maybe-gout.

When I started it, it was its own driving force, but almost 4 years later I have only one thank you to hand out: my readers. I'm floating at about 150 visits a day but its the people who come back and back again that I really, truly appreciate.

Thank you.

A special thanks to Blue Gal who was there to pop me an award early on and serves every day as an inspiration to many of us.

Now: it's Miller time.

Van Mural Wednesday, Thinking I Should Rename it Thursday...

This first treat is not necessarily a mural, but it is a van coated in A-Team awesome:



...and this one just smells like flowers:



Love me some vans. And some Vans.

(p.s. This is my 999th post)

Thundarr the Barbarian

This is my childhood. Please don't bruise it.

"In the year 1994..."



Obvious rip-off of Star Wars and any other archetype or character you can imagine (watched an ep on Boomerang yesterday to see the wizard Octagon sprout two cylindrical metal tentacles from under his robe [*cough* Doc Ock *cough*]), but endearing nonetheless.

YouTube Subcultures: MMORPG, LARP, Furries?

A documentary called Second Skin chronicles the lives of a handful of MMORPG gamers and appears to get into the good, bad, and frightening. No worries; it looks more WoW than Second Life Furries. Ewww...furries. Is there anything weirder?



It's like what Darkon did for LARPers. Wait. You've never seen Darkon? Shit. (LARP = Live Action Role Playing)



And then there are those of you still scratching your heads wondering what the hell's going on with the furry thing. Here's a mini-documentary. Vancouver furries. Just for you, Cal.



NOTE: The above video is an innocuous CBC fluff piece on a "dress up" pasttime that does not - in any way - touch on the large part of furry culture that is a sexual fetish revolving around an erotic exchange between two anthropomorphic animals.

Yes, that's what makes furries creepy.

UPDATE: Haha! right after this post, xkcd did a comic on furries too. Well, not because of me or anything, but there it is. :)

Maybe it's Not Gout?

This is getting retarded.

So last week I was utterly convinced I had gout - despite being only 32 - because of my research on the internets. And the pain dropped off from excruciating last Wed/Thurs to manageable Sat/Sun. Monday was static, no change. Tuesday it got worse. Today I can barely walk. Despite my change in diet and hydration, the pain is back with a vengeance.

Yesterday I finally went to the doctor. She said that it's possible it is gout, but the swelling wasn't really that bad as would be expected. And that something that painful can be a minor fracture or even caused by bad shoe support. So today I had blood taken (that clutch is going to kill me) even though doc said you're not going to see the uric acid levels unless it's within 48 hours of the flare-up.

So now I'm searching my memory of last weekend, why it would hurt less then, then act back up. And that would be lack of activity - no extended walking, no driving, etc. And that sounds like a break. And right now my foot is screaming at me in peals of pain and I'm wondering where the fuck I can get a quick x-ray on the cheap. And then quickly realizing that when you break any part of your fucking foot, they just charge you a bundle for the exam and say "hey, keep off it woudja?" Might get a gimp shoe if you're lucky.

If it's gout, it should've been gone by now, especially with the care I've been taking of myself. If it's a break - how the hell did I break my foot? Or toe or whatever? If it's neither then WTF is it?

So I eagerly await the blood results tomorrow. I'm thinking about venturing the basement stairs to get that gimp shoe we have down there. And after a week of being off the sauce I think Miller Time's going to show up today. A little early to make up for lost time. And it will bring wings.

And yes, you'll still get your late van murals today :)

Michael Moore's "Capitalism: A Love Story"

Don't know if you saw this trailer, but I'm eagerly awaiting the movie.

Bowser and His Minions Video

Don't know if you've seen this, but I've been in a Super Mario mood today (little more Mario than super).