The Duct Tape Avenger vs. the Jovian Illuminati

Cronan Thompson Memorial Day... and stickers!

2009-10-27T21:42:54Z

This coming Sunday, November 1, is an auspicious occasion for those who knew Cronan Thompson, either in real life or online. It will mark the tenth anniversary of his untimely death, at the age of 19, from lymphoma cancer.

For those who did not know him or have never heard of him, I suggest that you click on the above link. Cronan was a close friend of mine, but he was also a near-legendary figure online, in the days when the Web was young and Usenet still reigned. He was a talented writer with a razor-sharp wit, and I still enjoy reading his stories and rants.

Anyway, I was hoping to unleash some sort of massive troll to celebrate his life and times, but we couldn't come up with anything in time. So, I decided that the least I could do for his online comrades was give away some spiffy stickers. They look like this:

The stickers are 2.75" square vinyl. I just ordered them today, so it may be a couple weeks before I can send them out; but I can attest to their quality. I've used this company before.

If you want some, e-mail me (my address is in my profile) with your snail mail address and I'll send you a few, free.

Chat highlight

2009-07-13T20:11:37Z

ducttapeavenger: I dreamed that Gracie was a turtle last night. It was really weird.
ducttapeavenger: She was an orange, furry turtle. With a cat's head.
vivvianne1: hahahaha. That is funny.
ducttapeavenger: And she would lie back on her shell to get petted.
ducttapeavenger: She lived on a ranch with Clint Eastwood.
vivvianne1: oooohkay then o.O
ducttapeavenger: I so rarely remember my dreams, but when I do, hooo boy.

Luther v. Gore

2009-07-03T14:24:11Z

Carbon credits: the modern-day indulgences? Discuss.

Posted via LiveJournal.app.

Weird

2009-05-28T02:22:19Z

I use my bookmarks toolbar a lot, and one of the bookmarks I go to a lot is Google Reader. For some reason, every so often, the icon that represents Reader will spontaneously change. When this happens, it always changes to the icon from Overcompensating, one of the webcomics I read (mostly via Reader).

I think it mainly happens when I click through to OC's website through an RSS post, and it resets to normal next time I open Firefox. But it never happens with any other icon or feed.

~shrugs~ Kinda weird. What's up with that?

Well then.

2009-05-22T17:41:51Z

Apparently I have been banned from cat_macros.

Epic Fail

2009-05-19T00:16:46Z

Someday I'll post a real update

2009-05-03T00:10:13Z

That's vivvianne1's cat, Gracie.

Alternate version:

ducttapeavenger @ 2009-04-05T13:56:00

2009-04-05T17:57:32Z

We named him Beowulf.

2009-03-02T16:25:56Z

Best e-mail evar!

2009-02-28T13:04:36Z

I got this e-mail a couple weeks ago and still don't know what to think. No idea who this guy is, how he found me or why he thought I was the one.

from	Stephen Maddox <stephen_d_maddox@xxxxx.xxx>
to	ducttapeavenger@xxxxx.xxx
cc	Victor Infante <victor@xxxxx.xxx>
subject	transferring of the soul
	
	
dear DT Avenger,
you understand. andy kaufman transferred his soul to nathan mccoy 
and nathan mccoy's to the body of andy kaufman. you understand. i 
know you do. victor knows as well. he wrote about it in his book that 
i read this morning in a carl's jr.
andy

Now I wish I had included Andy Kaufman in my Elvis and Tupac story.

The Plot Thickens

2009-02-23T23:59:30Z

View Poll: The Plot Thickens

Awesome superhero idea

2009-02-18T18:08:51Z

I got this great idea for a superhero this morning! Steal my idea and I'll sue your pants off!!

Morgan Manley is the CEO of a major American financial corporation. During the economic crisis, he literally loses an arm in the stock market (turns out some of his creditors were tied in with the mob). After the incident, he discovers his latent telekinetic abilities, made manifest in his phantom limb (a la Larry Niven's Gil "The Arm" Hamilton). By day, he helms his company through its recovery; by night, he fights crime as Captain of Industry, knocking out evildoers with his invisible hand. (ba-dum-ching)

Can the world accept a CEO superhero in these trying times? Perhaps he had a Tony Stark-esque awakening. (FYI, everything I know about comic books I learned from the movie versions.)

And sometimes, you can still hear him meow.....

2009-01-16T01:29:32Z

Found this photo while flipping through my Flickr archives.

Now this is comedy!

2009-01-06T18:47:11Z

The only thing that could make this whole Blagojevich/Burris ordeal more fun to watch is if Cronan was around to write about it.

No, I couldn't let it go.

2009-01-06T13:10:39Z

Hey folks, help techempage and me resolve a friendly debate we've been having. We're trying to determine which is the proper spelling of the contraction of "you all."

It is not necessarily the grammatically correct spelling that we are seeking (which is quite obviously "y'all"). What we want is the generally accepted common usage, that which you use and/or see others use most often.

View Poll: #1326240

EDIT: Thanks everybody! I win!

Move over, duct tape.

2008-12-30T00:50:20Z

Items that I own which are now operated with needle-nose pliers:

1. A clothes drier.
2. A car.

Why hello, 4 AM. We meet again.

2008-12-29T08:43:39Z

This is why I don't take vacations very often. I waste most of it by sleeping until noon or close to it; and then, when it's time to go back to work, my sleep schedule is completely frelled.

Really, who uses the phone book anymore?

2008-12-19T00:03:26Z

Is there a way to opt out of receiving a phone book? We don't even have a land line.

The power of the internet

2008-12-12T05:52:32Z

This evening, on the way home, I was in the grocery store minding my own business when I got a text message from one of the Twitter feeds I follow (Jeph Jacques of Questionable Content fame). The tweet linked to an LJ post by super_donkey, whose cat, Dooey, was suffering a particularly nasty infection and needed a $900 procedure he couldn't afford.

In order to save Dooey, his only option was to sign him over to the vet, who would eat the cost of the procedure and put him up for adoption by someone else. He reluctantly agreed to this, but he would be able to keep Dooey if he could pony up the funds by next Tuesday. I had never heard of super_donkey before today, but he is apparently an artist/cartoonist, and decided to try to raise the money by selling off some artworks he had made and commissioning some future works. A "donate" button was added as an afterthought, on someone else's suggestion.

Having recently lost Banno, I have a pretty fresh memory of how tough it is to lose a pet. Even if Dooey were saved only to be given/sold to someone else, I imagine it wouldn't be much easier. It sure as hell beats putting him to sleep, but the whole situation sucks for both parties.

I checked out some of the art he was selling when I got home, and wasn't sure that it was my thing, but decided to donate a few bucks once things settled down for the night. When I went back to find his post, however, he had already posted an update saying that the entire sum had been raised, in a matter of a couple of hours.

There were some pretty heavy hitters who helped him out. Both Jacques and Diesel Sweeties' R. Stevens tweeted about it, as well as a lot of other people on LiveJournal, Twitter and who knows where else. super_donkey was amazed, and I must admit that I was also, particularly regarding the speed that it all went down. Still, even without the attention of "internet famous" people, I don't doubt that he would have raised it before the cutoff. The internet is like that. I've had some experience like this myself, during the Cronan Thompson Memorial Book Drive some years back.

This internet thing of ours never ceases to amaze me, in spite of it all.

Posted without comment

2008-11-24T03:31:40Z

When the rebels saved Sleeping Beauty from the Stormtroopers

2008-11-22T16:19:55Z

techempage's kiddos strike a delicate balance between girly and geeky.

OMG

2008-11-21T04:23:27Z

New kitten

2008-11-17T03:41:50Z

It's been a tumultuous couple of months for this household and animals. First, my buddy Banno passed away, then vivvianne1's boxer, Rocky, died less than two weeks later.

Not long after that, we got a seven month old chocolate lab named Serenity. Unfortunately, we found that she needed more training than we realized and were able to provide, given our collective schedules. We kept her crated when no one was home, but she managed to escape from the crate (a pretty decent sturdy one), not once but twice, and wreak havoc on vivvianne1's bedroom. We're going to have to replace the carpet and blinds in that room.

As much as it pained us, we had to find a new home for Serenity. Fortunately, a friend of vivvianne1's knew some people who might want her. It looks like she will be staying with a retired couple, I think, who have plenty of time and space to give her the attention she deserves.

After all this, we were probably going to take a break from animals, but then I got a call from kindlechan; apparently, a friend had a kitten who needed a home. It didn't take me long to convince myself.

So, needless to say, I now have a tiny little Persian-Siamese mix named Joy. She's about seven weeks old, very playful and adorable. I am ded of cute.

Cloudy like a Van Gogh painting

2008-10-27T19:43:01Z

To my fellow North Carolinians

2008-10-27T03:30:39Z

Listen to the song on this page. (Warning: Myspace has crabs.)

Then, go vote next week. Tell me this doesn't get stuck in your head when you reach the Labor Commissioner section.