Someone pointed out this blog and fundraiser that successfully mixes together something I like (boobies!) and something I hate (breast cancer). The Second Annual Blogger Boobie-Thon for Breast Cancer is collecting donations for The Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation as well as a lesser contribution to PAWS 8K.

Donations will be collected up until October 11th, 2003. Apparently, they’re already up to $4,500 in donations in only 5 days. Combine the web, a blog, hundreds of pictures of boobies, and a plea for donations with a PayPal button, and you’ve got the winning combo for a fundraiser. All for a good cause.

(I really ought to donate something.)

Okay, every year or two, I build brand new machines for Sam and myself. Last time around, we ended up with generic ATX cases, Intel 815EEAL motherboards with Intel PIII-800 CPUs and 256 MB of RAM, each system costing around $600 a piece, if I recall. This was back in 2001, I believe.

Coming to the end of 2003, it’s amazing how fast technology has improved, and how far prices have dropped. It’s coming close to Christmas time and thus, time for me to start assembilng the list of parts that I’ll be using to build out our new machines. Read on to see what I’m planning and what factors were involved in the decision-making process.

Anyone who knows me well, knows that I’m pretty vile and tasteless, and will crack jokes about even the most morbid of topics with seemingly no sensitivity or remorse. In other words, I’m pretty hard to disgust, at least by thoughts engendered by my own, twisted mind. Today, as I was driving from work, I heard some news on the radio that enraged me, and made me absolutely sick to my stomach.

Two-year-old survives almost three weeks alone in a house

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (AP) — A 2-year-old left alone for nearly three weeks while her mother was behind bars survived by eating mustard, ketchup, rice and raw pasta, police said. [...]

I can’t exactly put to words the extent to which I was disgusted by hearing about this happening. I’ll give it my best shot, though.

I think the only punishment suitable for this crime is slow starvation. The kind where you fully restrain the person permanently so they can’t injure or otherwise kill themselves. Then, continue to provide fluids so the person doesn’t die of dehydration, but continues to starve to death over the course of several weeks. Being fully restrained, the body will begin to atrophy from being fully immobilized, and cannibalize itself as the starvation continues. Organs and bodily functions fail, dementia sets in, and eventually death.

Incarceration is way too gentle and kind of a punishment for a person who knowingly allows her child to slowly starve, all alone, without informing anyone who could have gone and helped the child. I think the public ought to demand an eye for an eye, here. What this animal who claims to be this little girl’s mother has done is absolutely inexcusable. If she gets out of jail, if there is a God in Heaven, I hope an angry mob stones her to within an inch of her life, then breaks her arms and legs, then ties her up and leaves her to starve to death somewhere where she’ll never be found.

Okay, I couldn’t help it. I saw a headline and I had to click it. Maybe you will not be able to resist the urge, either:

Satan signs two-year deal with Sabres

Netrek. The holy grail of retro-gaming. But, most people have no idea what it even is.
Well, I finally put my thoughts down in a post on rec.games.netrek on Usenet.

[ Note: The link to groups.google.com may not work right away. Check again later if Google still hasn't received the post. ]