But ocassionally they do come out with things that are cool, fun, and practical.

The last episode (all about zombies and starring Max Brooks) featured the following:

RJF ZK-22 Drop in 10/22 Stock - a bullpup stock that accepts the Ruger 10/22 receiver (one of the most popular .22LR rifles around with a large supply of modifications – think Honda Civic modability!)

Here’s a video overview with Joe Meaux from RJF:

First Look at the Red Jacket ZK-22 Bullpup Rifle

Here’s a quick procedure on how to make them always visible.

http://osxdaily.com/2011/08/03/show-scroll-bars-mac-os-x-lion

Our Team Page 

Every day, thousands of babies are born too soon, too small and often very sick. Our team is walking in March for Babies because we want to do something about this. I know you care, too. That’s why I’m asking you to join us. It’s easy: just click the join this team button.

If you can’t walk with us, please help by donating to our team. You can do so right on this page. Thank you for helping us give all babies a healthy start!

The mission of March of Dimes is to improve the health of babies by preventing birth defects, premature birth and infant mortality.

The Ballad of G.I. Joe

This happens most with Chinese/Chinese hybrids.  I’m thinking the parents have somewhat good intentions – so their child is not wrongly arrested for suspicion of multiple homicide by accident (ex. if the poor child is named Mike Lee or Esther Kim along with a thousand others in the same state can you really blame the police when they come ‘a knockin?).

That, I get.  It’s like having a commonly misspelled or misinterpreted domain name (ex. whitehouse.com) on the interwebs –  a real issue for the innocent…but a boon in business for the porn sites who get free (albeit unintended) traffic.

The problem is that some parents forget that their children actually have to live with their monikers in the real world where other people are not named after Biblical assassins or random Pagan deities who may legitimately have noble honorable names. But,  if they’re so concerned with your child becoming a success by carefully planning out their school careers from nursery to grad school then why mark them as heretics or freaks with horrible names that even white parents wouldn’t consider.

Do you really think that your child will not grow into a school shooter if you name them Ebeneezer Chan?   Yes they may have a strong, historical name that you choose because of its meaning but that’s only half the battle (as they say in GI Joe…see Zartan reference below).  The other half that’s equally important (or even more important since no one bothers to Google kids’ names prior to beating them for their lunch money) is the contextual, sociological, even aesthetic aspect of their name.

There was a creepy trend I noticed back in college and even to this day (at an anonymous state school across from San Francisco is all I’ll reveal) that for some reason some of people I hung out with were named after/or were VERY similar to streets in San Francisco with a high concentration of  first generation Chinese immigrants (Lawton, Filbert, Clement, Gilbert, Grant, Tyler, Martin Luther King Jr….) ok the last one I threw in there just to see if you were still paying attention but you get the gist.   After some research those names were probably Romanizations of their phonetically similar Chinese names.

Today it’s pretty bad (particularly my generation who has NO excuse as they were brought up in America with popular culture and full awareness of how your designation can affect your future).  If you’ve watched the very interesting Freakonomics movie (based on the books by Stephen J. Dubner and Steven D. Levitt) you’ll see how names that sound African American do actually detract from some employers’ willingness to interview and hire qualified candidates.  So there’s a valid reason to choose a white-sounding first name for your children (BUT there’s also not as much negative connotation for “normal” American names  if you already have an Asian last name).  It actually sounds like hubris or ego on the parents’ part than the intended well being of their children.

Some names that I strongly fear will be used in the next few years and will definitely result in self-confidence issues and many contusions:

• Bethany
• Brad/Chad/Chatsworth
• Bryce
• Engelbert - good for composers or crooners…not for kids in this century
• Shlomo - great meaning but bad name
• Zackariah

Some alternative (non-dorky and all around much better than what I’ve been seeing in real life so far) names for 3rd gen+ ethnic children:

• Anubis – I mean…he was badass in SG1 and is one of the more important gods
• Barack – c’mon, who doesn’t want to be named after a cool-as-beans president?
• Longshanks (aka: the Hammer of the Scots) – you DO recall what he did to Philip when offered unwanted advice, yes?
• Cthulhu - this implies power right?
• Jack – for Colonel/General Jack O’Neill! (You may name the child the formal John…but only if you use the Jack nickname)
  Another example of the coolness
•  Lando - Not only made cool by Billy Dee but by Peter Griffin as well
  
• Tomax / Xamot – if twins, ’nuff said!
  
• Zartan - now this guy had a great resume!
  

Here’s a hilarious look at what might happen if we checked in on our favorite Street Fighter characters in their not-so-glorious retirement years:

• Part 1
• Part 2
• Part 3
• Part 4
• Part 5
• Part 6
• Part 7
• Part 8
• Part 9

Comedy

• Community – cancelled by the morons at NBC
• Parks and Recreation
• 30 Rock
• Californication
• Curb Your Enthusiasm
• Hung  - cancelled
• The Big Bang Theory
• Beavis & Butt-head
• Hot In Cleveland
• The League

• Fringe
• The Walking Dead
• True Blood
• American Horror Story

• Dexter
• Breaking Bad
• Sons of Anarchy
• Game of Thrones
• Hell on Wheels
• Rescue Me – concluded
• Mad Men
• NCIS

• Sons of Guns
• American Guns
• Dancing With the Stars

• Rizzoli & Isles
• Haven

The last update to the original AK-47 was the AK-74.  This new update will be called the AK-12 since it’s being released in 2012.

Full Story

Kerry Callen’s blog has some really fascinating animated covers of classic comic books.

Here’s a nice take on Tony Stark’s Demon In A Bottle! cover from Iron Man #128

Demon In A Bottle

See them all @ May Contain Content

Jailbreaking and adding XBMC

Apple TV 2 + Plex = AVI + MKV video playback upto 720p