Not this is rich. First, though, a little explination for those that may not understand what Eminent Domain is and how it’s used.

Answers.com defines Eminent Domain as:

The right of a government to appropriate private property for public use, usually with compensation to the owner.

Also important to know, but, at first seems unrelated to this concept, is the the fact that both coporations and the law view patents as property. Intillectual property to be exact. Which, technically speaking, makes them susceptible to Eminent Domain, something being considered by states in an effort to reduce prescription drug costs and health care, in general.

This is something the pharmaceuticals are strictly against stating that such a practice is unconstitutional. Which is rather odd, considering that in 1998, pharmaceutical giant Pfizer announced plans to develop a new research facility in New London and when landowners refused to sell, the comapny had the local government use Eminent Domain to force everyone to move. From everything I read, the ensuing court case is still pending

In all cases I’ve read about where Eminent Domain was used to force people out so corporations can move in, increasing tax revenue was the primary reasons. So, does this mean that any of us are susceptable to having our property taken from us and given to a third party company owner just so the city/state can increase it’s revenue the easy way? If this case ends in favor of pharmaceuticals, the resounding answer is, yes.

I encourage any property owner to do themselves a favor and research the topic thoroughly. Castle Coalition is an excellent place to start.

I’m just learning about a bit of this, so if I’ve mist-stated something, feel free to correct me.

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I just learned that Collective Soul is going to be playing in my area August 6.

I so can’t wait! I’ve been a fan of their’s for years but was never able to make it to a show. Not sure why they picked Canton, though. That seems a bit out fo the way, but I’m not going to complain; it’s better than driving to Cinci.

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UPDATE: Any further commets, emails, whatever asking for songpacks will be deleted without a reply. I don’t know where to get them.

Apparently, I’m the #1 result for a google search on stepmania song packs because of this post.

Most of the comments I’ve gotten are people asking for songs or locations where they can download them. Well, I aim to deliver.

If you’re looking for song packs, check this out. That should keep everyone busy.

UPDATE: In the comments of the above post, Patrick pointed out this site for songs and themes.

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I’ve just installed a couple spam prevention plugins, so email me if there are any problems commenting.

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Best. Plugin. Ever.

Via Blogging Pro.

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[EDIT: Spelling errors.]

According to a BBC NEWS article, parents want to have cartoon characters removed from cereal boxes because it makes saying ‘no’ to their children difficult.

I’ll let you stew on that for a second. Done? Ok. This is just more proof-positive that parents of today’s children are pussies. Seriously. How much trouble are we in as a nation if parents can’t say no to a breakfast cereal?

I love this little tidbit:

The government’s recent White Paper on public health recommended restrictions on advertising and promotion to children of foods and drinks high in fat, salt and sugar.

It envisages that this can be achieved through voluntary initiatives with the food industry, advertisers and consumer groups.

If this has not succeeded by early 2007, it has pledged to take further action through existing or new laws.

Ah, yes. If they don’t do as we suggest we’ll legislate it! I can just hear it now:

Parents: “We’re helpless to say no to our children because the cartoon characters are too appealing to children!”

Everyone else: “Why not just suck it up and say No?”

Parents: “But…that would damage their self esteem and send them on a murderous shooting spree because of that version of Grand Theft Auto I bought them for Christmas (lawsuit’s still out on that one)!”

Government: “We understand. Tell you what, here’s a study we spent your tax dollars on saying whatever you like. If people don’t do what you want (since you’re parents and all), we’ll make new laws forcing people to conform!”

Everyone else: “Oh brother…”

Heaven forbid parents grow a frigging backbone (yes, I realize not all parents are like this, but the ones that are give those of us who aren’t a very, very bad name).

President Bush, if you really want to cut back on government spending and frivolous lawsuits, I think you’re aiming in the wrong direction. Point those guns at these idiots.

Via Boing-Boing

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When the end of the world drawn near from what I’m about to mention, you can lay part of the blame at John’s feet.

See, John invited me to a decently large (for me, anyway) Call of Duty LAN party this weekend. Being that I’ve never played it before, I got a copy of it and have been practicing. Actually, there supposed to be a ‘net game tonight involving small-scale COD bloodshed.

Anyways, I asked Crystal if she wanted to try it out. After about 10 minutes and several embarrasing deaths, I asked her if she wanted to go to the LAN party this weekend since the guys were looking for a 24th person.

She said yes.

Just to emphasis, my wife is willingly (and dare I say looking forward to) a LAN party with a bunch of guys. When the resulting apocolypse occurs and I’m in front of St. Peter trying to explain what happened, I’m dragging you along with me, John!

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I’m always on the lookout for programs that help me do stuff. It doesn’t even have to be stuff that I do often. In fact, software that helps me do things that I don’t do very often more easily is much appreciated.

Recently, I had been hearing a lot about this program called Quicksilver for Mac OSX 10.3. It’s home page described it as:

An evolving framework for accessing and manipulating many forms of personal data.

Not sure about any of you, but that meant absolutely nothing to me, so I summarily dismissed it as some sort of programmer tool and a programmer I am not.

Sure enough, though, it keept popping up. It was when I seen it mentioned on AppleGeeks did it really sink it that it might not be what I thought it was. I revisited the website and began working my way through the manual.

Well, hey, whaddaya know? There’s an What is Quicksilver link. It says:

At first glance, Quicksilver is a launcher.

When opened, it will create a catalog of applications and some frequently used folders and documents. Activate it, and you can search for and open anything in its catalog instantly. The search is adaptive, so Quicksilver will recognize which items you are searching for based on previous experience. It also supports abbreviations, so you can type entire words, or just fragments of each. When not in use, Quicksilver vanishes, waiting for the next time you summon it.

Well now, that sounds nifty and totally not what I thought it was. So I downloaded it and have been quasi-hooked ever since.

All of this has really been just to explain what Quicksilver is if you were curious, like I was. I also found a neat tutorial over at 43 Folders if you’re curious how you can benefit from it in your everyday use.

Unfortunately, I could find no similar software for Windows. If anyone knows of something, don’t hesitate to inform!

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From Black Sage

The Dante’s Inferno Test has banished you to the Second Level of Hell!
Here is how you matched up against all the levels:

Take the Dante’s Divine Comedy Inferno Test

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If you’re not reading my site via RSS, you’ll probably notice it looks just a tad different.

I’ve upgraded to Wordpress 1.5 and decided to use my own tweaked version of Scott’s Obisidain theme. Other than a few more tweaks I want to make, I’d say it looks darn spiffy. I’ll probably stick with this design for a while.

More on my day later. Bedtime, now.

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