BellGab.com Archive

If you're interested in podcasting, here's your big break.  RadioTrainWreck.com is no longer limited to hosting Michael Vandeven's Radio TrainWreck (although that would certainly be an acceptable limitation).  As indicated by the recent addition of The Spec Sheet with Curtis Thornton, we're making a move toward developing a podcast network.  We want to become a portal through which listeners can find several unique podcasts covering a wide variety of subjects, and we want you to be a part of it.  There's a built-in audience waiting to hear you on the site. This is an advantage most podcasts NEVER start out with.  Here's what's required:


1) First and foremost, you must be talented.  This means you must exhibit verbal ability, you must possess the ability to speak with authority or passionate curiosity on at least one topic, and you must have a reasonably pleasing voice.  I think those of you who meet these criteria know who you are.


2) You must possess the infrastructure to professionally record and edit your podcast.  We want to be sure any new additions to the network's lineup meet certain audio quality standards.


3) You must provide your own intro/outro music, and it must be clear of any copyright constraints that would prevent its use.


4) You must record a minimum of one podcast per month.


5) You must be okay with the fact that you will receive no money initially. Realistically, it's possible you'll never get paid.  It all depends on the numbers your podcast draws and the advertising opportunities that arise as a result.  If you deliver a quality product, the numbers will come.  It just takes dedication and time.  If an advertiser should come knocking, you will receive 60% of whatever they pay.  The podcast network will receive the remaining 40%.


6) You must agree that all episodes of your podcast will remain permanently available on the Radio TrainWreck Podcast Network's website.  You will not have the right, at any time, to demand the removal of any broadcast episodes for any reason once posted.  If a special circumstance should develop (you're on the run from the mafia), we can work that out. You are free to post your shows elsewhere at any time, and you can sever ties with the network in writing at any time.


Other than these basic, common sense requirements, the whole thing is ready for anyone who wants to be a part of the network.  Just send me a demo recording of you speaking for at least 5 minutes.  You don't have to sound like a seasoned professional.  We just want to hear that you have potential and can speak for more than 30 seconds at a time.  Email it to michaelvandeven@gmail.com so we can get started asap!

Is anyone other than EVB having emoticon problems?  When she clicks one of the emoticons while posting, all she gets is one of those little generic, browser generated "missing image" icons.  please see the attachment for a screenshot of what she gets.  i need to fix this, but i have yet to determine if i even CAN because i don't know if the problem is with coastgab or with EVB's computer.  she says others have complained about it as well.

From time to time, you'll run across a post on CoastGab that's top notch.  Maybe it causes you laugh until milk comes out your nose.  Or, perhaps the post is a shining example of literary brilliance or cognitive prowess and deserves special recognition.  This is the purpose of the "Favorite CoastGab Posts" thread.  There are probably a thousand previous posts that deserve to be mentioned here, but we must start somewhere. 

Please try and limit conversation in this thread to the specific reasons a post deserves to be showcased here.  If you believe a post requires further topical commentary, please take that to the thread in which that post resides. 

For our first inductee, I submit ringthane's "Callers We Hate" post.  A true pleasure to read.


http://www.coastgab.com/index.php/topic,1531.msg28067.html#msg28067

By the way, ringthane... your photography looks great.

Or... if you prefer not to mention a town, what state? I'm in Cape Girardeau, MO.

The story of the Branch Davidians in Waco, Texas is one of the wholesale extermination of innocent human life by a government that invades other nations for the purpose of "spreading freedom and democracy."  I think everybody needs to know exactly what happened in Waco that day, and I'd like to make a video recommendation.  It's Waco: The Rules of Engagement. 

This is one of the most depressing historical records I've seen in recent memory.  I always knew Waco was an attack on American liberty and personal freedom, but I never knew the extent to which our own government went in the course of keeping "order" in Waco.  The federal government's Waco siege was simply tragic, both in terms of the loss of life, and in terms of what it represented:  the loss of our republic as constituted by generations of American thinkers, soldiers, philosophers, and leaders. 

As Americans, if we are going to expose the slaughter of innocent human life elsewhere by the tyrants and thugs of this world, then we must also be willing and prepared to study and expose government sanctioned murder when it occurs here on our own soil.  Failure to do so erodes and undermines the continued existence of our basic human rights as Americans.  Individual freedom, liberty, and a limited, decentralized government can not continue to exist if we don't protect what was entrusted to us.  We must expose murder regardless of the political party in power, and regardless of who leads that party.

Those who oppose the right of American citizens to own guns should take note of what this documentary illustrates.  Waco is precisely why our Constitution provides us that right.  Forget your political party affiliations or who you don't listen to on the radio or what cable news outlet you don't like to watch.  The Constitution's assertion of our right to own guns is unambiguous.  But for a few lawyers and self-serving politicians who simply don't like the Second Amendment, it's not a point of debate.  The right to arm yourself can not and should not be abridged just to accommodate a cultural climate or societal whim.  Government is an inherently evil force upon the lives of those who live under it.  Ours is no different.  A citizenry must never be left without the ability to dismantle an oppressive government that abuses and subjugates its citizens.  Human oppression has happened in many places and at many times throughout history, and it will unquestionably happen again.  Will we be prepared to stop it when it happens?  Or will we conveniently disarm ourselves and play the odds?  If you are in favor of the disarmament of the American citizen, then disarm yourself.  Just don't ask me to join your suicide club.  No government should be allowed to sleep comfortably at night knowing such an abridgment of basic human freedom has been allowed to occur.

You are not free, slave.  Shut up, go back to your $8 per hour service sector job, and keep consuming alcohol.  By the way, don't be smoking pot, because that might actually cause you to engage in critical thought on levels the government would rather you steer clear of.  Remember:  pot will kill you.  Remember:  pot is a gateway drug.  Remember:  pot funds terrorism.  Remember:  to have fun, you must drink Budweiser and become a loud, inarticulate, obnoxious, brain damaged tool of the state.  Beautiful women will love you for it.  After all, you've seen the beer commercials, right? 

Now, back on topic...

These poor people in Waco were simply trapped and then butchered like cattle.  I hate to think there are people who have no idea what happened in Waco, Texas.  Please watch the documentary I've embedded below.  God bless America.


http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=4298137966377572665#


http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-1755692679103175934#

Are you using Twitter?  I recently started using it when I finally got a real smartphone.  Until then, the service seemed useless to me.  What is your Twitter handle?  I'd like to follow those of you who are users.  My handle is mvandeven.

Warning:  Pornographic Word Imagery

I don't know what Godaddy is going for in their advertising, but it's really odd.  For those who might not know, Godaddy is a site where you register domain names (anything.com).  Their advertising typically features scantily clad women, and a visit to their site has founder Bob Parsons set up as some sort of an amalgamation of Larry Flynt and Hugh Heffner.  Really strange stuff.



I just saw the following Super Bowl commercial on the Godaddy site.  It was douche chill inducing, to say the least.  First of all, the premise is just entirely deliberate, dull-edged, and ham handed.  It goes on and on with the joke, failing to observe any sense of comedic timing.  Adding insult to insult are Danica Patrick's reaction shots, all of which are mind numbingly embarrassing.

Godaddy needs to understand that the era of "tease TV" is over.  It's 2010.  For no charge, I can turn on my computer and see HD videos of 3rd-world prostitutes passing bowel movements into the mouths of their colleagues.  Danica Patrick getting a massage from some broad next to the pool is hardly what I call interesting.  Sorry, I know... I'm ruined.

Anyway, this is just an awful, awful commercial:


Danica Patrick Go Daddy Superbowl Commercial

I'm likely going to make my 4th trip to Morocco soon.  Time to start planning.

The Western Sahara, south of Morocco, is a vast swath of largely untouched, disputed desert territory with an occasional coastal town here and there.  Running down nearly the entire coastline is a single, needle-thin, two lane road.  This road looks like something out of a Wiley Coyote and Road Runner cartoon.  It just goes on and on.  While traveling, you'll encounter forbidden mine fields:



How cool is that?

Though not actually a part of the Western Sahara (just north of it in Morocco), along the way is the small town of Tarfaya.  It's famous for a fort (in the ocean) built in 1879 by a Scottish merchant.



This road just goes on and on from Morocco's southern border to Mauritania, following the coastline all the way.



Give me a reliable car, a couple weeks of food, many many gallons of water, several cases of deodorant (I'm getting sweaty just thinking about it), and I'm there.  However, convincing Nabila to go will be quite the challenge.

As far as where I'd like to go, surprising as it might seem to some, I'd like to visit both Iran and Cuba.  North Korea would be a hoot, as well... but it's far less likely than Iran or Cuba for obvious reasons.

Sooo... again I ask, where have your travels taken you?  Where would you like to go?  Please share.

There has been a modification of the CoastGab Terms of Service.  The change pertains to the posting of copyrighted material.  That is the only change.  Please take a look at the revised Terms of Service by clicking here.

Thx.

Sergey Prokudin-Gorsky was a Russian photographer who lived from 1863 to 1944.  He took these awesome color pictures by taking separate red, blue, and green shots at the same time, and then combining all of those together.  These pictures literally look like they were taken in the last 30 years.  Quite amazing, as we don't really tend to think of these times in color.



The Monastery of St. Nil on Stolobnyi Island, 1910.




Self portrait, 1912.  He's dead now.
Check out the effect this photographic process has on the water. 







Three Russian peasant girls, 1909.  Yup, they're dead now.





Austro-Hungarian POWs in Russia, 1915.  They're all dead now.




A Uzbekistan Prison, 1907.  God damn did life suck.  Check out the dopey guard.  He's dead now.




Railway Administration building, Perm, Russia, 1910.  I see someone walking down here.  He's dead now.




Greek women and children harvesting tea, between 1909 and 1915.  Probably all dead now.

Holy shite.  So what do you guys think about this?



Indonesian baby on 40 cigarettes a day


This kid handles that cigarette like it's nobody's business.

In the last 31 days, 80 different members have taken the time to sign into their accounts on this forum.  That's an impressive 15.5% of our total registered users, and it doesn't count the number of unique people who read this site regularly but don't sign in.  So it begs the question: Why isn't this place busier?  I don't get it.  With that kind of member retention and awareness, it just seems like things should be far faster paced around here than they are. 


I'm baffled.

Abba - Take A Chance On Me


Abba - SOS


ABBA : Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (Promo Long Version) HQ


Abba - Dancing Queen


ABBA Lay All Your Love On Me


Abba - Voulez Vous


Frida's Blooper!

I'm a big Zeppelin fan.  I've heard lots of "tribute" bands attempt to bottle the Zeppelin sound and re-sell it to those willing to buy.  However, they've all ALL left a lot to be desired in a lot of ways, particularly in impersonating Robert Plant's voice.  Just a couple days ago, I discovered a YouTube series called "Virtual Zeppelin."  These guys are apparently in different locations (Canada 1, USA 2, Japan 1) and they record their parts to be pieced together in a production studio.  It's just amazingly faithful to the original Zeppelin recordings.  I've never heard anything like it.  If you're a Zeppelin fan, you'll appreciate this.


Virtual Zeppelin-Over The Hills And Far Away


Virtual Zeppelin - The Lemon Song (Led Zeppelin cover)


Virtual Zeppelin-Ten Years Gone


Virtual Zeppelin - Misty Mountain Hop

Unreal.

i just got prompted to update to firefox 3.6.  so i did.    firefox 3.6 sucks.

i now have a browser that skips and lags as i scroll up and down the page in gmail.  wtf is happening to firefox?  don't the people at mozilla know google is out to eat their lunch with the snappy chrome browser? 

it seems like firefox is  becoming the new internet explorer.  unfortunately, chrome is lacking in too many ESSENTIAL features to make the switch, or i would.  what are those features, you ask?  print preview and default page zoom percentage/level.  yes, yes, i know you can do a ctrl/+ in order to zoom in on a page, but chrome is too dumb to remember that page's zoom level the way firefox does.  if you're using chrome on a high resolution monitor, you're just as well to take a shank to your eye sockets since the text will be small enough to render you suicidal.  and google calls chrome's current iteration version 4?  what?   puh-lease.  it's still a 0.x product if you ask me.

"illegally" downloading music... software... videos... all dat shit, yo.  do you do it?  if so, why?  if not, why?  where do you download your illegal stuff from if you do?

personally, i just go to google and type:
whatever i'm looking for + torrent

just throw the word "torrent" in there after whatever it is you're hoping to find, and google becomes a bittorrent search engine.  works beautifully.  i rarely go directly to a bittorrent site to search for a torrent to download.  i search google first, and THEN i go directly to a few torrent sites and search if i'm not having luck looking around on google.

oh, uh, yeah, and to answer my own question above, yeah, i do it.  why?  because i like to pay less money for things rather than pay more money for things.  also, after watching how the music industry and movie industry have treated their own customers, i feel a certain urge to spit in their face.  thus, my complete disregard for their demands/concerns/hopes/desires, etc.

Get well, Rush.  This country needs you.


---------------------------------


HONOLULU â€"  Conservative radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh's radio program says he is resting comfortably at a Honolulu hospital where he was taken with chest pains.
The program said in a statement Wednesday that Limbaugh appreciates people's prayers and well-wishes. The statement says Limbaugh will keep people updated via rushlimbaugh.com and his radio program.
Limbaugh was taken to a hospital Wednesday in serious condition, a Honolulu television station reported.
Paramedics responded to a call at 2:41 p.m. from the Kahala Hotel and Resort where Limbaugh is vacationing, KITV reported. The station, citing unnamed sources, said the 58-year-old Limbaugh was taken to The Queens Medical Center in Honolulu.

YouTube - Broadcast Yourself.

YouTube - Broadcast Yourself.

YouTube - Broadcast Yourself.

Most of you probably already know about this, but I'm certain there are those who don't.

When you return to this forum, you probably want to see what you've missed.  The best scenario would be a consolidated list of threads containing new posts since your last visit.  There's a link for that.

In the main menu is an item labeled "Unread Topics".  Click it, and you shall have the aforementioned list.

Want to specifically view new replies to your posts?  It's "Unread Replies" in the menu.  For best results, click on the little "NEW" icons.

[attach=2]

I just uploaded a headshot of myself to this facial recognition engine.  I wanted to see what celebrity it might think I resemble.  It apparently thinks I'm either Ueto Aya or Son Ye-jin.

That's lovely.  Just lovely.

So who does it think you are?

Update:  I just uploaded a picture of Hitler and it detected John Kerry.  Hmm.  I'm sort of starting to like this thing.

fucking hilarious.

YouTube - Broadcast Yourself.

Remember the old TV show, V?  I have vague memories of it.  Actually, my specific memory is of a scene where some creature was moving around under the sand from behind a protective glass barrier.  However, I must have been under 4 years old when this show was around originally, as I just turned 30 at the end of October.

Now there's a new V.  I've seen the first four episodes on Hulu.  If you haven't checked it out, I'd recommend you do so.  I can't believe one of the big 3 networks has actually produced something I'm capable of enjoying.  It hasn't happened since Seinfeld.  V has my attention, I must confess.

Anybody who IS watching the new V... is it anything like the premise behind the old show?  I guess I could just go look it up, but then why have a message board?

And why am I using correct punctuation?  I never do that on this site.  Very strange.

Oh boy.  I'm what could be called "excited" about the imminent delivery of my Roku NetFlix player.  What does this thing do?  How does it work?

You sign up for the $8.99 NetFlix account which gets you one DVD shipped to your home per month.  Big deal.  However, there's more.  So much more.

This $8.99 package gets you unlimited streaming of over 12,000 NetFlix titles to your computer.  The Roku player is a small black box which hooks up to your internet connection, enabling you INSTEAD to stream these 12,000+ NetFlix videos to your tv.  Some of the videos are in HD, some arent.  One thing constant is that you will get AT LEAST DVD QUALITY all the time if your connection is fast enough.

On the Trainwreck radio show I've mentioned from time to time my desire to completely render the cable company irrelevant in my live with the exception of the bits they sell me over their Internet connection.  I've finally found my solution.  And when Roku marries together with Hulu within the next year?  Forget it.

As you were.

apparently when people are looking for the suck that is george, one of the terms they're using to get here is "asian prostitute."

http://www.keywordspy.com/organic/domain.aspx?q=coastgab.com

awesome!!

Some of you are using white text from time to time because of the blue background we now have with this new forum theme.  please don't use white text.

my reason for this request is that users now have the ability in their profile to select either this theme or the original, site-wide.  if you use white text, those who use the previous theme will not see that text because it will not contrast with the lightly colored background on the the old theme.

thanks.

Serious question. 

As it relates to the future of this forum, what happens if I die?  The hosting bill will go unpaid, as my wife will have no idea how to pay it or what it is she needs to pay or why it should BE paid.  Eventually, they'll pull the plug.  Later on, the domain registration will go unpaid and fall into the hands of somebody else.  Probably a Premiere Radio suit.  They'll attach the domain to some website selling prostate herbs or something.

I was seriously thinking about all of this today and decided I need to put a plan into action to keep all of this going in the event I croak.  Seriously.  I don't think website owners think of these things.  At least Max is an admin here and can save the database.

A new thought:
This shows just what a douche nozzle I really am.  I'm planning for the future of this forum in my absence, but I don't yet have adequate life insurance.  Jeee-heeee-sus.

I make strange posts like this when I'm severely sleep deprived.  I'm going to bed now.

The implied purpose behind a software upgrade is to make things better.  The people at Skype FAILED MISERABLY in this task which was their charge when version 4.0 was released.  It's atrocious.  Just take a look here at the list of complaints about v4.0 on SKYPE'S WEBSITE!!!:
http://share.skype.com/sites/en/2009/02/skype_40_its_all_yours.html

4.0 is without equivocation the most profoundly, mind numbingly horrid piece of cat shit i've ever encountered, and in almost every measurable way.

Thank GOD Ebay bought Skype.  As you can see, it's working out wonderfully.

My recommendation?  Wait for the Skype developers to get their heads out of their asses, stop with the condescending replies to their understandably upset customers, and bring back the 3.8 interface and functionality thereof. 

For those who would like to DITCH this turd sandwich in favor of the previous version which worked wonderfully in almost every way, click here:
http://filehippo.com/download_skype/4911/

I hope someone from Skype sees this, but I don't guess it matters much because they're completely silent about this catastrophe ON THEIR OWN WEBSITE despite the 100+ negative comments, one after the other.

this site is currently entitled The "George Noory Sucks" Snoorology Forum.  i think it's time to rename it.

anybody have any ideas?  please throw them my way right here in this thread.  i need some motivation/inspiration/ideas to steal.

Back in 2005, my friend and I were financially destitute with no hope for the future.  Sooo... we created a 3.5 hour, 2-disk card magic instructional dvd set which we hoped would make us millionaires.  It didn't.

I still have a huge box of these dvds here which were never sold.

If you're interested in card magic, even in the slightest, then download these free dvd image files which I'll link to at the end of this post.  It will certainly take a while for them to download, so after you click the link, go have a pee or something.

I did all of the directing, editing, and production while my friend (the guy you actually SEE in the video) came up with the card magic effects.

Disc 1 is a DVD encyclopedia of card sleights broken down by each sleight in the menu.
Disc 2 is where we show people how to take these sleights into the real world and put them to use on the street.

If you find something about my editing/production that you don't like, please take into account the fact that this was my first foray into the video editing world.  However, I must say that the only thing I'm really bothered by is my camera work.  I wasn't as steady with it as I would like to have been at times.  Otherwise, I think this dvd set is a home run.  Enjoy.

Disc 1:  http://www.ufoship.com/disc1.iso
Disc 2:  http://www.ufoship.com/disc2.iso

The Spec Sheet is a podcast about technology hosted by Curtis Thornton and me.

Listen live and download the show at UFOShip.com


Call the show at 573-837-4948.


This is the RSS feed address for your podcast app:  http://www.ufoship.com/?feed=rss2&cat=11


This is The Spec Sheet on iTunes:  https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/ufoship.com-the-spec-sheet/id779589536

has anybody noticed the number of people who are ending nearly every god damned sentence with an upward inflection?  do you know what i'm talking about?  i FUCKING HATE THIS and want to disembowel those who do it.

why are they doing it?  do they think it makes them sound educated?  perhaps they think they sound thoughtful.  maybe i'm going bat-shit crazy for being bothered by this but it just makes me ill.  i've noticed it's generally the same type of person doing it every time, too.  they're usually white people of privilege in their 20s who are college "educated" and voted for obama because he represented change and hope.   they couldn't tell you THING ONE about d-day, the league of nations or stalin but they all feel brilliant because they know how to use twitter or build a blog.  they're usually female, but not always.  there are metrosexual "men" speaking this way as well.  even more insufferable.

my generation is comprised of some of the most useless lumps of shit ever born.  when the chinese finally decide to stop playing games and invade us, our government will send a bunch of twitter using, iPhone wielding, facebook obsessed, well manicured columbia university graduates to negotiate with them.  they'll be promptly shot and fed to a chinese general's panda.  the media will view it as a tragedy and outrage, while i will view it as an immediate victory for our country.

i'm going to sleep now.