RIP

straight out da compound!

s

31!

beauty secrets revealed

hai gize, wat u think? he teh best or wat?

hah

enchanted rock = fun

24 degrees

happy day to you!

The King of Bhangra

I just recently saw the cover of this CD on a friends table. I still love it!!!

my new favorite band

turdsday

still recovering

fun cubed

1 more day

it's getting big

pun kin fun

a bit closer

sad turd

transitions, check

2 weeks to go

my 1st boat party

C-c-c-c-combo Breaker lol wut

funfunfun here we come

wow 3 weeks early
and new wood

halloween party at The Compound

family man

fun times

What's he doin'

AXELINAXELON

nice

SHELTER from jason sussberg on Vimeo.

scatboredeeng

it's all fun and games...

til someone gets licked

thanks for the send off

dinner was great!

week:something

we've been hiking @ 5 hours a day

lots of exploring to be done

we went to some amazing caves with temples in them in a place called ellora

there were waterfalls, mountains, goats, and cows

(took a nap in a cave and woke up to people taking pictures of us)

also visited an amazing fort up in a mountain called daulatabad

(supercool)

we keep meeting amazing people that take us in to their homes

we spent the night in a treehouse next to a cob house and now we're in faculty housing at a university in ahmadabad (i helped some students break into a music room on campus and we jammed out last night)

we've visited some really cool eco friendly factories that are trying to make a difference

(carrying some samples around)

things are getting dry here and i don't mean the monsoon

late

check out cristen's flickr account for pics

click on pic:

blog now being outsourced to india

my friends

this here india is wonderful

That’s Just… Like, Your Opinion… Man

That's what he said.

http://hackedirl.com/2010/07/27/culture-jamming-win-thats-just-like-your-opinion-man/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+HackedIrl+%28Hacked+IRL%29

Kinda Cool: Kinda Funny.

If D. Garrison looked more Australian than German, he could be our main character.

my new career move:

this is the way trees get trimmed here

the guys take turns climbing and holding the contraption somewhat steady

we're in pune right now

computer's down

it's alot more calm here than bombay the weather's nicer and it has a college town feel to it

i'm stocking up on metal tees (mainly gnr)

ps the beer here is good

Miguel in India

well we made it, so far so fun

(i wish i hadn't gotten hurt right before coming here)

but i wouldn't be able to skate anyways

i guess monsoon means "shit-ton of rain"

we got to cristen's friend's house @ 6am here after the 20hr flight endeavour

slept for a bit then off to teach a class

we thought it'd be a few kids but it was 70 something and some teachers at the school too

it was crazy and fun

ps the food"s great

Continuing with dicks...

Headline for recent article on Reuters:

Happy Birthday D-Man

off to india in a few weeks

here's the project we're doing:

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/cristen/freeform-plastic-bag-crochet-in-india

summer again

scary!

never forget...

That's Great!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oe3St1GgoHQ

ENJOY (sam)

The Nature of Things / Martin Gardner from Wagner Brenner on Vimeo.

He-man says...

Someone said.... potatoes Ole!

1 of these dudes is on

PsyChedeliCs

next week:

this:

fentress it is

More on Veggie Burgers and Neurotoxins

UPDATE: Veggie burger rumors are flying! Some readers and other news organizations have alleged that the study I wrote [1] about on Monday was funded by the pro-meat, anti-soy group the Weston A. Price Foundation [2]. But this morning, I spoke with Cornucopia Institute [3] director Mark Kastel, who said that the Weston A. Price Foundation did not contribute any funding to the "Behind the Bean" (pdf [4]) study. More here [5].

On Monday, I wrote [6] about a recent study by the Cornucopia Institute [3] that found that many popular veggie burgers are made with hexane, an EPA-registered air pollutant and a neurotoxin. Commenters had lots of interesting discussions and good questions, many of which require far more knowledge of the subject than I have to answer. So I called up Charlotte Vallaeys, the lead researcher on the Cornucopia Institute's soy study "Behind the Bean," (pdf [4]) to talk about some of the issues readers have raised.

http://motherjones.com/blue-marble/2010/04/veggie-burgers-neurotoxin-hexane

Super Mario Bros Crossover

Fucking fun.

Play Super Mario Bros 1 as Mario (BFD), Link, Contra guy, Samus Aran, Simon Belmont, or Mega Man.

O hai guyz

There's been a dearth of posts...

So decided to share this gem.

Fat Mike performed as Cokie the Clown at SXSW

THIS IS THE ARTICLE FROM PINPOINT:

Fat Mike’s ‘Cokie the Clown’ set at South By Southwest 2010 was graphic in nature. The stories Mike told and the things he did at Emo’s Annex during SXSW left me shaking afterward. Damian Abraham, lead singer of the band Fucked Up, later described this Cokie set as the most depressing and fucked up thing he had ever seen. This article is going to be very rough in nature and isn’t advisable for the young or the weak of stomach.
It needs to be mentioned that I do not have an audio record of the event, so all the stories recounted here will be to the best of my memory. Most discerning readers will question the complete accuracy of Mikes stories and accounts. While it would be almost impossible to verify these intimate moments I can say that Mike’s friends and other artists that are close to him told me it was their belief that the stories are 100% true. It’s my understanding that this is the first and last set of its type that will ever be performed.

Rest is hereHERE

ever wonder??? Why do hot girls (or no so hot) date douchebags?

hey yo! if anyone it's interested in seeing GWAR ping me sat... I got a new phone and no legs nor a brain.



mess with Texas 2010

March 20th party at the gallery

Who wants to check ids?

Who wants to help fashion a stage?

Saturday 1-5 pm.

I'll pay you money and you can keep the leftover kegs.


Lemme know and I'll ring ya.
Also, Elliott, I'm gonna return that stuff to radio shack saturday morning. I'll swing by to pick it up. Thanks for all.
xoxox

projector borrow

Puerto Rico said I could borrow the projector for the 2 week run of the show. I'm gonna pop over to the mansion and grab it Friday, want to make sure that's okay with everyone.

Also, I was detained by 14 narcotics officers for 3 hours in handcuffs next to Juvenile this past weekend.

http://www.nola.com/crime/index.ssf/2010/02/rapper_juvenile_arrested_thurs.html

Did you ever wonder when they were going to make My Little Pony-The Musical

Exhibtion and SX help

Hey dudes-
I'm opening up an exhibition at the Birdhouse gallery in Austin in a couple weeks, and I'm also throwing a day party during SX sponsored by Abita beer with a buncha New Orleans rappers.

Question:
Can someone lend me a projector from March 7th until March 21st?


Do one or more tribesman want to work the door at the party for money and free beer? March 20 1-5pm, you guys can take shifts to make some dough and get drunk. I can pay you a flat rate or hourly, whatevs.

Let me know!!

See you all the weekend of March 7th for Miguel's sister's wedding and my opening! Luckily I was able to make them both happen in the same weekend. xo

snowwy wowwy

i was surprised when i opened the door this morning, i mean it was 80's on sunday:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/cristenrene/4379417372/

today:(see picture above)

Letter from the pilot in Austin? ? ? -- snopes it I dunno

If you’re reading this, you’re no doubt asking yourself, “Why did this have to happen?” The simple truth is that it is complicated and has been coming for a long time. The writing process, started many months ago, was intended to be therapy in the face of the looming realization that there isn’t enough therapy in the world that can fix what is really broken. Needless to say, this rant could fill volumes with example after example if I would let it. I find the process of writing it frustrating, tedious, and probably pointless… especially given my gross inability to gracefully articulate my thoughts in light of the storm raging in my head. Exactly what is therapeutic about that I’m not sure, but desperate times call for desperate measures.

We are all taught as children that without laws there would be no society, only anarchy. Sadly, starting at early ages we in this country have been brainwashed to believe that, in return for our dedication and service, our government stands for justice for all. We are further brainwashed to believe that there is freedom in this place, and that we should be ready to lay our lives down for the noble principals represented by its founding fathers. Remember? One of these was “no taxation without representation”. I have spent the total years of my adulthood unlearning that crap from only a few years of my childhood. These days anyone who really stands up for that principal is promptly labeled a “crackpot”, traitor and worse.

While very few working people would say they haven’t had their fair share of taxes (as can I), in my lifetime I can say with a great degree of certainty that there has never been a politician cast a vote on any matter with the likes of me or my interests in mind. Nor, for that matter, are they the least bit interested in me or anything I have to say.

Why is it that a handful of thugs and plunderers can commit unthinkable atrocities (and in the case of the GM executives, for scores of years) and when it’s time for their gravy train to crash under the weight of their gluttony and overwhelming stupidity, the force of the full federal government has no difficulty coming to their aid within days if not hours? Yet at the same time, the joke we call the American medical system, including the drug and insurance companies, are murdering tens of thousands of people a year and stealing from the corpses and victims they cripple, and this country’s leaders don’t see this as important as bailing out a few of their vile, rich cronies. Yet, the political “representatives” (thieves, liars, and self-serving scumbags is far more accurate) have endless time to sit around for year after year and debate the state of the “terrible health care problem”. It’s clear they see no crisis as long as the dead people don’t get in the way of their corporate profits rolling in.

And justice? You’ve got to be kidding!

How can any rational individual explain that white elephant conundrum in the middle of our tax system and, indeed, our entire legal system? Here we have a system that is, by far, too complicated for the brightest of the master scholars to understand. Yet, it mercilessly “holds accountable” its victims, claiming that they’re responsible for fully complying with laws not even the experts understand. The law “requires” a signature on the bottom of a tax filing; yet no one can say truthfully that they understand what they are signing; if that’s not “duress” than what is. If this is not the measure of a totalitarian regime, nothing is.

How did I get here?

My introduction to the real American nightmare starts back in the early ‘80s. Unfortunately after more than 16 years of school, somewhere along the line I picked up the absurd, pompous notion that I could read and understand plain English. Some friends introduced me to a group of people who were having ‘tax code’ readings and discussions. In particular, zeroed in on a section relating to the wonderful “exemptions” that make institutions like the vulgar, corrupt Catholic Church so incredibly wealthy. We carefully studied the law (with the help of some of the “best”, high-paid, experienced tax lawyers in the business), and then began to do exactly what the “big boys” were doing (except that we weren’t steeling from our congregation or lying to the government about our massive profits in the name of God). We took a great deal of care to make it all visible, following all of the rules, exactly the way the law said it was to be done.

The intent of this exercise and our efforts was to bring about a much-needed re-evaluation of the laws that allow the monsters of organized religion to make such a mockery of people who earn an honest living. However, this is where I learned that there are two “interpretations” for every law; one for the very rich, and one for the rest of us… Oh, and the monsters are the very ones making and enforcing the laws; the inquisition is still alive and well today in this country.

That little lesson in patriotism cost me $40,000+, 10 years of my life, and set my retirement plans back to 0. It made me realize for the first time that I live in a country with an ideology that is based on a total and complete lie. It also made me realize, not only how naive I had been, but also the incredible stupidity of the American public; that they buy, hook, line, and sinker, the crap about their “freedom”… and that they continue to do so with eyes closed in the face of overwhelming evidence and all that keeps happening in front of them.

Before even having to make a shaky recovery from the sting of the first lesson on what justice really means in this country (around 1984 after making my way through engineering school and still another five years of “paying my dues”), I felt I finally had to take a chance of launching my dream of becoming an independent engineer.

On the subjects of engineers and dreams of independence, I should digress somewhat to say that I’m sure that I inherited the fascination for creative problem solving from my father. I realized this at a very young age.

The significance of independence, however, came much later during my early years of college; at the age of 18 or 19 when I was living on my own as student in an apartment in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. My neighbor was an elderly retired woman (80+ seemed ancient to me at that age) who was the widowed wife of a retired steel worker. Her husband had worked all his life in the steel mills of central Pennsylvania with promises from big business and the union that, for his 30 years of service, he would have a pension and medical care to look forward to in his retirement. Instead he was one of the thousands who got nothing because the incompetent mill management and corrupt union (not to mention the government) raided their pension funds and stole their retirement. All she had was social security to live on.

In retrospect, the situation was laughable because here I was living on peanut butter and bread (or Ritz crackers when I could afford to splurge) for months at a time. When I got to know this poor figure and heard her story I felt worse for her plight than for my own (I, after all, I thought I had everything to in front of me). I was genuinely appalled at one point, as we exchanged stories and commiserated with each other over our situations, when she in her grandmotherly fashion tried to convince me that I would be “healthier” eating cat food (like her) rather than trying to get all my substance from peanut butter and bread. I couldn’t quite go there, but the impression was made. I decided that I didn’t trust big business to take care of me, and that I would take responsibility for my own future and myself.

Return to the early ‘80s, and here I was off to a terrifying start as a ‘wet-behind-the-ears’ contract software engineer... and two years later, thanks to the fine backroom, midnight effort by the sleazy executives of Arthur Andersen (the very same folks who later brought us Enron and other such calamities) and an equally sleazy New York Senator (Patrick Moynihan), we saw the passage of 1986 tax reform act with its section 1706.

For you who are unfamiliar, here is the core text of the IRS Section 1706, defining the treatment of workers (such as contract engineers) for tax purposes. Visit this link for a conference committee report (http://www.synergistech.com/1706.shtml#ConferenceCommitteeReport) regarding the intended interpretation of Section 1706 and the relevant parts of Section 530, as amended. For information on how these laws affect technical services workers and their clients, read our discussion here (http://www.synergistech.com/ic-taxlaw.shtml).

SEC. 1706. TREATMENT OF CERTAIN TECHNICAL PERSONNEL.

(a) IN GENERAL - Section 530 of the Revenue Act of 1978 is amended by adding at the end thereof the following new subsection:

(d) EXCEPTION. - This section shall not apply in the case of an individual who pursuant to an arrangement between the taxpayer and another person, provides services for such other person as an engineer, designer, drafter, computer programmer, systems analyst, or other similarly skilled worker engaged in a similar line of work.

(b) EFFECTIVE DATE. - The amendment made by this section shall apply to remuneration paid and services rendered after December 31, 1986.

Note:

· "another person" is the client in the traditional job-shop relationship.

· "taxpayer" is the recruiter, broker, agency, or job shop.

· "individual", "employee", or "worker" is you.



Admittedly, you need to read the treatment to understand what it is saying but it’s not very complicated. The bottom line is that they may as well have put my name right in the text of section (d). Moreover, they could only have been more blunt if they would have came out and directly declared me a criminal and non-citizen slave. Twenty years later, I still can’t believe my eyes.

During 1987, I spent close to $5000 of my ‘pocket change’, and at least 1000 hours of my time writing, printing, and mailing to any senator, congressman, governor, or slug that might listen; none did, and they universally treated me as if I was wasting their time. I spent countless hours on the L.A. freeways driving to meetings and any and all of the disorganized professional groups who were attempting to mount a campaign against this atrocity. This, only to discover that our efforts were being easily derailed by a few moles from the brokers who were just beginning to enjoy the windfall from the new declaration of their “freedom”. Oh, and don’t forget, for all of the time I was spending on this, I was loosing income that I couldn’t bill clients.

After months of struggling it had clearly gotten to be a futile exercise. The best we could get for all of our trouble is a pronouncement from an IRS mouthpiece that they weren’t going to enforce that provision (read harass engineers and scientists). This immediately proved to be a lie, and the mere existence of the regulation began to have its impact on my bottom line; this, of course, was the intended effect.

Again, rewind my retirement plans back to 0 and shift them into idle. If I had any sense, I clearly should have left abandoned engineering and never looked back.

Instead I got busy working 100-hour workweeks. Then came the L.A. depression of the early 1990s. Our leaders decided that they didn’t need the all of those extra Air Force bases they had in Southern California, so they were closed; just like that. The result was economic devastation in the region that rivaled the widely publicized Texas S&L fiasco. However, because the government caused it, no one gave a shit about all of the young families who lost their homes or street after street of boarded up houses abandoned to the wealthy loan companies who received government funds to “shore up” their windfall. Again, I lost my retirement.

Years later, after weathering a divorce and the constant struggle trying to build some momentum with my business, I find myself once again beginning to finally pick up some speed. Then came the .COM bust and the 911 nightmare. Our leaders decided that all aircraft were grounded for what seemed like an eternity; and long after that, ‘special’ facilities like San Francisco were on security alert for months. This made access to my customers prohibitively expensive. Ironically, after what they had done the Government came to the aid of the airlines with billions of our tax dollars … as usual they left me to rot and die while they bailed out their rich, incompetent cronies WITH MY MONEY! After these events, there went my business but not quite yet all of my retirement and savings.

By this time, I’m thinking that it might be good for a change. Bye to California, I’ll try Austin for a while. So I moved, only to find out that this is a place with a highly inflated sense of self-importance and where damn little real engineering work is done. I’ve never experienced such a hard time finding work. The rates are 1/3 of what I was earning before the crash, because pay rates here are fixed by the three or four large companies in the area who are in collusion to drive down prices and wages… and this happens because the justice department is all on the take and doesn’t give a fuck about serving anyone or anything but themselves and their rich buddies.

To survive, I was forced to cannibalize my savings and retirement, the last of which was a small IRA. This came in a year with mammoth expenses and not a single dollar of income. I filed no return that year thinking that because I didn’t have any income there was no need. The sleazy government decided that they disagreed. But they didn’t notify me in time for me to launch a legal objection so when I attempted to get a protest filed with the court I was told I was no longer entitled to due process because the time to file ran out. Bend over for another $10,000 helping of justice.

So now we come to the present. After my experience with the CPA world, following the business crash I swore that I’d never enter another accountant’s office again. But here I am with a new marriage and a boatload of undocumented income, not to mention an expensive new business asset, a piano, which I had no idea how to handle. After considerable thought I decided that it would be irresponsible NOT to get professional help; a very big mistake.

When we received the forms back I was very optimistic that they were in order. I had taken all of the years information to Bill Ross, and he came back with results very similar to what I was expecting. Except that he had neglected to include the contents of Sheryl’s unreported income; $12,700 worth of it. To make matters worse, Ross knew all along this was missing and I didn’t have a clue until he pointed it out in the middle of the audit. By that time it had become brutally evident that he was representing himself and not me.

This left me stuck in the middle of this disaster trying to defend transactions that have no relationship to anything tax-related (at least the tax-related transactions were poorly documented). Things I never knew anything about and things my wife had no clue would ever matter to anyone. The end result is… well, just look around.

I remember reading about the stock market crash before the “great” depression and how there were wealthy bankers and businessmen jumping out of windows when they realized they screwed up and lost everything. Isn’t it ironic how far we’ve come in 60 years in this country that they now know how to fix that little economic problem; they just steal from the middle class (who doesn’t have any say in it, elections are a joke) to cover their asses and it’s “business-as-usual”. Now when the wealthy fuck up, the poor get to die for the mistakes… isn’t that a clever, tidy solution.

As government agencies go, the FAA is often justifiably referred to as a tombstone agency, though they are hardly alone. The recent presidential puppet GW Bush and his cronies in their eight years certainly reinforced for all of us that this criticism rings equally true for all of the government. Nothing changes unless there is a body count (unless it is in the interest of the wealthy sows at the government trough). In a government full of hypocrites from top to bottom, life is as cheap as their lies and their self-serving laws.

I know I’m hardly the first one to decide I have had all I can stand. It has always been a myth that people have stopped dying for their freedom in this country, and it isn’t limited to the blacks, and poor immigrants. I know there have been countless before me and there are sure to be as many after. But I also know that by not adding my body to the count, I insure nothing will change. I choose to not keep looking over my shoulder at “big brother” while he strips my carcass, I choose not to ignore what is going on all around me, I choose not to pretend that business as usual won’t continue; I have just had enough.

I can only hope that the numbers quickly get too big to be white washed and ignored that the American zombies wake up and revolt; it will take nothing less. I would only hope that by striking a nerve that stimulates the inevitable double standard, knee-jerk government reaction that results in more stupid draconian restrictions people wake up and begin to see the pompous political thugs and their mindless minions for what they are. Sadly, though I spent my entire life trying to believe it wasn’t so, but violence not only is the answer, it is the only answer. The cruel joke is that the really big chunks of shit at the top have known this all along and have been laughing, at and using this awareness against, fools like me all along.

I saw it written once that the definition of insanity is repeating the same process over and over and expecting the outcome to suddenly be different. I am finally ready to stop this insanity. Well, Mr. Big Brother IRS man, let’s try something different; take my pound of flesh and sleep well.



The communist creed: From each according to his ability, to each according to his need.

The capitalist creed: From each according to his gullibility, to each according to his greed.



Joe Stack (1956-2010)

02/18/2010

For cut offs.

Chatroulette

Yikes! My imp of the perverse finally got the best of me... watch out (in real time) for pederastic old dudes, retarded guys showing their dicks/jacking off, fat chicks flashing tits, the occasional white trash chick giving some guy head, the vaginally hirsute chick fingering herself, and so on...It was worse than I expected. It reminds me of a web 2.0-ified goatse, tub girl, glassass, and the coprophagic 2g1c videos...

Disclaimer: clicking any of the above links invariably leads to consummate cognitive apoplexy! Consider yourself motherfucking warned! (Granted, the titular CR is arguably much tamer that the latter memes...but the chat based nature gives it a singularly fucked dimension).

I was going to add 'Eskimo Brother' to Urban Dictionary, but was alas it's already been done.

not so sweet

When agave nectar burst onto the health food market, many people were excited about it as a substitute for refined sugar. But a growing body of research indicates that agave nectar — which is not, in fact, a nectar and is processed in much the same way as high-fructose corn syrup — might be as unhealthy as HFCS is purported to be.

One article even states that "agave products should carry a warning label indicating that the product may cause a miscarriage" due to its high quantities of a chemical called saponin. In the highly competitive, high-stakes business of selling alternative sweeteners to a demanding public, how do we know what to believe?

If you believed that agave nectar is similar to honey or maple syrup in being a simple, naturally derived product, you're in the majority. As this recent post on Food Renegade says:

Based on the labeling, I could picture native peoples creating their own agave nectar from the wild agave plants. Surely, this was a traditional food, eaten for thousands of years. Sadly, it is not... It’s not traditional, not natural, highly refined, and contains more concentrated fructose than high fructose corn syrup.

This article at the Weston A. Price Foundation website -- dated last April, when "Agave-gate" started to gain momentum -- explains how agave nectar is manufactured:

Agave "nectar" is not made from the sap of the yucca or agave plant but from the starch of the giant pineapple-like, root bulb. The principal constituent of the agave root is starch, similar to the starch in corn or rice, and a complex carbohydrate called inulin, which is made up of chains of fructose molecules. Technically a highly indigestible fiber, inulin, which does not taste sweet, comprises about half of the carbohydrate content of agave.

Agave syrup is a manmade sweetener which has been through a complicated chemical refining process of enzymatic digestion that converts the starch and fiber into the unbound, manmade chemical fructose. While high fructose agave syrup won’t spike your blood glucose levels [as HFCS is reported to do], the fructose in it may cause mineral depletion, liver inflammation, hardening of the arteries, insulin resistance leading to diabetes, high blood pressure, cardiovascular disease and obesity.

What's your take on all of this? Do you plan to investigate further? Will you pour your agave nectar down the sink? Or will you modify your intake and recognize it as a sweet treat that is acceptable in moderation?

Edited to add: Thanks to readers Kreeli and Deb Schiff for pointing us toward this link and this link, in which Madhava owner Craig Gerbore explains and defends his company's agave nectar manufacturing processes.

Elliott's girlfriend is a real woman!

Or at least appears to be...

Drinking Problems and Denial

If you have a drinking problem, you may deny it by:

* Drastically underestimating how much you drink
* Downplaying the negative consequences of your drinking
* Complaining that family and friends are exaggerating the problem
* Blaming your drinking or drinking-related problems on others

For example, you may blame an “unfair boss’ for trouble at work or a ‘nagging wife’ for your marital issues, rather than look at how your drinking is contributing to the problem. While work, relationship, and financial stresses happen to everyone, an overall pattern of deterioration and blaming others may be a sign of trouble.

If, once again, you find yourself rationalizing your drinking habits, lying about them, or refusing to discuss the subject, take a moment to consider why you’re so defensive. If you truly believe you don’t have a problem, why do you feel the need to cover up your drinking or make excuses? Is it possible that your drinking means more to you than you’re ready to admit?
Five myths about alcoholism

Getting to the truth behind the myths that you may be using to justify your drinking is crucial to breaking down the wall of denial.

Myth #1: I can stop drinking anytime I want to.

Maybe you can; more likely, you can’t. Either way, it’s just an excuse to keep drinking. The truth is, you don’t want to stop. Telling yourself you can quit makes you feel in control, despite all evidence to the contrary and no matter the damage it’s doing.

Myth #2: My drinking is my problem. I’m the one it hurts, so no one has the right to tell me to stop.

It’s true that the decision to quit drinking is ultimately up to you. But you are deceiving yourself if you think that your drinking hurts no one else but you. Alcoholism affects everyone around you—especially the people closest to you. Your problem is their problem.

Myth #3: I don’t drink every day, so I can’t be an alcoholic OR I only drink wine or beer, so I can’t be an alcoholic.

Alcoholism isn’t defined by what you drink, when you drink it, or even, to some extent, how much you drink. If your drinking is causing problems in your life, you may be an alcoholic and you definitely have a drinking problem—whether you drink daily or only on the weekends, down shots of tequila or stick to wine, have three drinks a day or three bottles.

Myth #4: I’m not an alcoholic because I have a job and I’m doing okay.

You don’t have to be homeless and drinking out of a brown paper bag to be an alcoholic. Many alcoholics are able to hold down jobs, get through school, and provide for their families. Some are even able to excel. But just because you’re a high-functioning alcoholic doesn’t mean you’re not putting yourself or others in danger. Over time, the effects will catch up with you.

Myth #5: Drinking is not a “real” addiction like drug abuse.

Alcohol is a drug, and alcoholism is every bit as damaging as drug addiction. Alcohol addiction causes changes in the body and brain, and long-term alcohol abuse can have devastating effects on your health, your career, and your relationships. Alcoholics go through physical withdrawal when they stop drinking, just like drug users do when they quit.

First Person Tetris!

Flash required. Sorry.

check this out

About halfway through there's an interview. Is that Cons?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LXyJyS8ylYo