Matthew Allen Thiel

Terri Schiavo has died

2005-03-31T18:11:00.000-05:00

Thus ends her 15 years of suffering.

Terri Schiavo has died

2005-03-31T13:29:00.000-05:00

Thus ends her 15 years of suffering.

I'm still here

2005-03-26T12:19:00.000-05:00

No, I'm not dead.

Nearly 200 reality TV shows set for 2005

2004-12-26T00:57:00.000-05:00

http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/this_britain/story.jsp?story=596073

In other words, I will have extra time to watch reruns of DS9 or Larry
Sanders. Thanks, TV industry!

I am giving away five Gmail invites

2004-12-22T22:02:00.000-05:00

The first five (5) people who email me at 'matt.thiel (at) gmail.com' and request a Gmail invite will receive one.

This is NOT a joke.

P.S. I'd appreciate it if you would click on the ads on the left of the page ;)

Sheriffs investigate 11 year-old national security risk

2004-12-22T13:22:00.000-05:00

Zero Intelligence: Loudoun County sheriffs investigate 11 year-old national security risk

This is scary. This kid didn't bring any weapons into school.
I guess freedom of speech is really dead.

Your JC Penney receipt may list your credit card number

2004-12-16T23:42:00.000-05:00

I'm cleaning out my desk and I found a receipt from JC Penney from when
I bought my coat. It listed my entire Credit Card number!
Good thing I have my paper shredder.

(Does JC Penney WANT their customers' credit card numbers to be stolen???)

Apprentice 3 Hour Finale

2004-12-16T22:28:00.000-05:00

Thank you, NBC, for giving me an excuse not to watch your network. Now I have the time to do other things because you fill up the airwarves (or cable waves) with crap.

Zero Intelligence: Self defense forbidden at Calcasieu

2004-12-16T15:41:00.000-05:00

Zero Intelligence: Self defense forbidden at Calcasieu

Yet another 'kid who defends himself gets suspended' story.

If an adult male is attacked for no reason and then fights back against his agressor, does he get arrested, too?

Prescription medication gets girl suspended for the school year

2004-12-09T23:03:00.000-05:00

Zero Intelligence: Prescription medication gets girl suspended for the school year

Today's 'Kid gets suspended for having prescription medicine' story brought to you from Mustang, Oklahoma.

'The Librarian'

2004-12-06T18:18:00.000-05:00

So last night the TV is on TNT and they are showing 'The Librarian'.
Based on the commercials, it could have been a fun adventure flick,
but it was pretty bad.
And why is Bob Newhart is this movie????
(Still, it was better than 'L.I.E.', but that's not saying much)

My Lexar Sport USB drive died today

2004-11-30T21:32:00.000-05:00

Last night it was working fine. Today I put it in and get a message saying 'do you want to format?' WTF?????
At least I made a backup of my data last night. Whew!

(Repeat, it was a drive from the LEXAR corporation. Keep that company name in mind when you are buying something)

College Football Playoff Proposals

2004-11-28T13:17:00.000-05:00

Sports Fans of America Association College Football Playoff Proposals

Here is a list of 6 proposals for a college football playoff system.

STUDIOS SUE PIXAR, DEMAND BAD MOVIE

2004-11-20T13:58:00.000-05:00

Dateline: Hollywood: "STUDIOS SUE PIXAR, DEMAND BAD MOVIE"

Wait a minute, I thought that marketing was the driving force in how successful a movie is, not the quality of the movie itself...

A idiot story, told by the idiot

2004-11-15T15:29:00.000-05:00

This tale of stupidity is brought to you by something that I did.
A Certificate of Deposit of mine had matured at a large national bank
(think of people inquiring about the contents of your wallet). Before
I could call the bank up and properly close the account, I needed to
have the account number (I was about a hundred miles from the forms
which contained my account number). So I went to the bank's Web site
and plugged in my username (let's call it "QWERTY") and password...and
got an error message saying that my username or password were invalid.
I tried again, same error message. I typed "QWERTY" in again and
clicked on the "Forget Password?" link, and I get another error
message. I assumed they were having computer problems at their end,
but then I remembered that I changed my password when I logged in a
few days earlier. But I made sure I was using my new password to log
in, so I tried to use my old password. Nothing.
A scary thought then occurred to me: was the "Change Password" page a
fake? Did I inadvertently give somebody my bank password? Did somebody
log into my account and change my password, so I couldn't get back in?
Did this person clean out all my savings there?
I called the bank's tech support and told them I could not log into my
bank account. I told him my username was "QWERTY" the username , and
he said he couldn't find it...but then he said there is an account in
my name, and it was called "ASDFGH".
I realized what happened: I was using the wrong username! "ASDFGH" was
my account name for this bank, "QWERTY" is my username for my local
bank!
I apologized, hung up and tried again. Sure enough, I was able to log
in using "ASDFGH". I called my bank (got a different person, whew!)
and was able to close out my account.
I actually have my username and password written down; if I had looked
at that beforehand, you would not be reading this.

Boilers lose again

2004-11-07T01:26:00.000-05:00

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!
How can you go 0-4 after going 5-0? How????

Anti-Spyware Vendor Partners with Spyware Company?

2004-11-02T18:10:00.000-05:00

Slashdot | Anti-Spyware Vendor Partners with Spyware Company?

Yet another example of "Sleeping with the enemy"...

Cobra Commander for President

2004-11-01T17:22:00.000-05:00

Something Awful

I predict he'll get more votes than Nader.

GTA - training game for murderers?

2004-11-01T17:03:00.000-05:00

NewsFromRussia.Com GTA - training game for murderers?

Here's another 'Violent Video Games Turns Kids Into Killers" article. In my opinion, watching Purdue lose their third game in a row is more likely to drive people to violent acts.

Revenge of the Sith Teaser poster

2004-10-28T20:29:00.000-05:00

Latino Review

All I have to say is this, were you guys even TRYING?

Red Sox Champions at Long, Long Last

2004-10-28T06:56:00.000-05:00

Yahoo! News - Red Sox Champions at Long, Long Last

The Curse of the Bambino is broken. The curse of the billy goat lives on...

Ashlee Simpson Jig

2004-10-25T09:44:00.000-05:00

ASHLEE SIMPSON JIG

Personally, I'm waiting for Jay Leno, David Letterman, Conan O'Brien, Jon Stewart, Roe Conn, and the next episode of SNL to make their own comments about this incident.

Ashlee Simpson lip sync on SNL

2004-10-24T17:16:00.000-05:00

Home Theater Forum - Simpson lip sync on SNL

A classic "D'oh" moment. Still, this won't cause as much controversy, especially comapred to Sinead O'Connor (at least Sinead actually finished her song!)

Purdue Loses to Michigan

2004-10-23T23:38:00.000-05:00

For the second week in a row, a Purdue fumble sealed a Purdue loss. Pathetic...

Purdue Accounts Broken Into

2004-10-21T14:35:00.000-05:00

I got an email today saying that Purdue's computers were hacked into
and passwords to many student accounts were stolen. The University
has informed us we should change our passwords ASAP (I already did).
This is scary stuff, I wonder how the hackers were able to get in.

Red Sox in the World Series

2004-10-21T11:42:00.000-05:00

Last year, it could have been the Cubs vs. the Red Sox. Sigh...

Friday Night Lights

2004-10-18T22:51:00.000-05:00

It's a 'blah' film.
I was tricked by the good reviews. It's not up to the same level as memorably awful films like "Ulee's Gold" or "Cookie's Fortune", two films I had the displeasure of watching in the theater, but "Friday Night Lights" is very mediocre.

Red Sox win Game 5

2004-10-18T22:32:00.000-05:00

ESPN.com - MLB - Game Update

Yay! It ain't the Cubs, but Go BoSox!

GMail Drive 1.02 Released

2004-10-16T15:09:00.000-05:00

GMail Drive 1.02 Released

Horray! Maybe I won't get disconnected every time I try to copy files.

Google Desktop Search: Security Threat?

2004-10-15T11:07:00.000-05:00

Today @ PC World - Google Desktop Search: Security Threat?

This is creepy.
To be fair, the author of the article used a computer used by many people, not someone's personal computer, but he was able to view other people's Yahoo emails.
I do have Google desktop installed on my machine, but it does not load when my computer starts up, and I have prevented the Google Desktop not to connect to the Internet via my firewall.

Netscape Turns 10

2004-10-14T10:40:00.000-05:00

Netscape Turns 10

Wow, does this bring back memories. I still remember first using
Netscape's Mac browser and discovering things I couldn't do with AOL's
(piece of crap) Mac web browser ("Hey, I can use image maps now!").

Want to get in the mood for Halloween?

2004-10-13T18:14:00.000-05:00

Check out this site:

http://x-entertainment.com

Filled with reviews of past Halloween TV specials, toys, and
Halloween-themed food. There are also a number of video files to
doenload to help you get in the Halloween spirit!

Teen Arested Over Civil War Weapon

2004-10-13T09:18:00.000-05:00

AP Wire | 10/13/2004 | Teen Suspended Over Civil War Weapon

I spoke to soon about the last post...
This is yet another 'Kid Gets Arrested for Accidentally Leaving Banned Item In Car" story.

N.H. School Bans Photo of Pupil With Gun

2004-10-13T09:14:00.000-05:00

News: "N.H. School Bans Photo of Pupil With Gun"

I guess this is a lot better than suspending him...

Check 21's electronic processing, no float, could mean high fees for unwary

2004-10-12T18:30:00.000-05:00

Check 21's electronic processing, no float, could mean high fees for unwary

''Do not withdraw money from your checking account unless you know for sure the money is already there.''

A piece of good advice then.
An essential rule now. (Do you want to risk any black marks on your credit rating?)

Banks will earn additional billions of dollars in fees by people who bounce checks. Maybe they will pass on the savings to their customers in the form of lower loan rates or higher savings rates.
Or maybe the bank CEOs will get pay raises...

Team America

2004-10-09T23:56:00.000-05:00

The first half isn't as funny as it should be, but the second half is
better. The (edited) sex scene is hilarious, as was the 'Montage'
song.

Too many jokes rely solely on a character using foul language.

then again, who knew that you could make a love song that refers to
the film "Pearl Harbor"?

But the two funniest words in the film are: "Matt Damon"

Overall, the South Park movie was better.

Gmail Drive for Windows

2004-10-08T16:05:00.000-05:00

http://www.aimlesswords.com/archives/20041007/gmail_drive/

Finally, Windows users can use their Gmail accounts as an 1GB online drive.
Too bad Google won't let this last. :(

Cell Phones in Classrooms

2004-10-07T09:54:00.000-05:00

Message

Today I am taking a quiz in my Math class, and I hear a ringing noise. It is a cell phone from one of my fellow classmates. Since this is the second time her phone rang in class (but the first time it rang during our quiz) I said “It’s a quiz, turn your cell phone off.”

She glared at me and said, “Don’t get on my bad side.”

I thought it was considered rude to have a cell phone on during class. Especially during a quiz.

Maybe next time I go to the movies, I should bring my cell phone and call someone during the movie. When the people around me tell me to shut up, I can say to them, “Don’t get on my bad side” and continue talking.

I just love how some people think they are justified in bothering other people.

The Editing Room: Abridged Scripts for Movies

2004-10-06T11:40:00.000-05:00

The Editing Room: Abridged Scripts for Movies

I figured by 2004, studios would have notcied that moviegoers have zero tolerance for crap films. Especially since some of these moviegoers have a tool (the Internet) to fight back against the studios and spread the work about bad films.

Or this site, which makes fun of current bad movies in a different way.

(Hey, Warner Bros., want to know why the $100 million 'Catwoman' bombed at the box office? It's not because of marketing or competition from 'Spider-Man 2', it's because 'Catwoman' is a bad film. Do you guys even try to make good movies anymore?)

A North Texas restaurant manager is fired for stopping a robbery.

2004-10-06T10:20:00.000-05:00

Joe Kelley's The Sake Of Argument: Defensive Manager Fired

Unbelievable.

The manager gives the robbers the money, but then is ordered into the back of the restaurant. Fearing for his life, he attacks one of the robbers with a hammer. Both robbers run away leaving the money behind.

The manager was fired.

For putting his employees at risk by attacking one of the robbers.

Who were probably going to kill him and his employees.

John Lennon's Killer Denied Parole Again

2004-10-06T10:12:00.000-05:00

GIGWISE.com | John Lennon's Killer Denied Parole Again

I think they should let him out. Let's see how he survives when John Lennon's fans come knocking on his door...

Baseball Division series

2004-10-05T11:41:00.000-05:00

FOXSports.com - Division series schedules

I almost forgot that the Baseball playoffs start today. I would have remembered if the Cubs didn't choke during the last week of the season.

Schizopolis (1996)

2004-10-04T22:41:00.000-05:00

Schizopolis (1996)

Do you like watching a movie and not know what is going on? Do you like watching a movie and think to yourself, "The filmmakers were on drugs when they made this slop." Do you want to see a movie worse than Ratcatcher? Then Schizopolis is the movie for you!
I watched the first 10 minutes of this crap and skipped to the very end. At least Soderbergh redeemed himself with "Out of Sight."

1.8 Gigs

2004-10-04T22:34:00.000-05:00

Today I used Window Washer to clear out the cache files in IE, and it deleted 1.8 Gigs worth of web pages in the cache folder.

1.8 Gigs.

It will take me a week to fill it back up again.

Gmail Swap

2004-10-04T17:11:00.000-05:00

gmail swap

Gmail Swap is a great site for people who want Gmail accounts. Also people who have Gmail accounts can donate their invites to people who want accounts.

I'm very surprised that Gmail isn't live yet. It's been several months since Google announced it.

The Bears are on TV...

2004-10-03T13:16:00.000-05:00

…but I can’t watch it! The Indianapolis FOX station is showing “Beverly Hills Cop” instead.

At least I can watch the Colts beat the Jaguars.

Use your computer for cancer research

2004-10-02T17:45:00.000-05:00

Download - GRID.ORG

"One in four of us will at some time suffer from cancer. The high mortality rate, the suffering experienced by patients from the side effects of existing treatments, and the high costs of treatment all contribute to making cancer a priority for drug research"

Purdue is now 4-0

2004-10-02T17:15:00.000-05:00

Penn State, here we come!

Cubs Eliminated from Playoffs

2004-10-02T16:22:00.000-05:00

Sigh…

Purdue-Notre Dame

2004-10-02T10:22:00.000-05:00

Now that the Cubs have really no chance of making the playoffs, at
least we can watch the Boilers crush the Irish.

Cubs Lose Again

2004-10-01T18:12:00.000-05:00

1Â½ game out. Only 6 more months until next April.

Teen suspended for smelling like smoke

2004-09-30T15:28:00.000-05:00

I thought in America, people could not be punished without hard evidence.

http://www.11alive.com/help/search/search_article.aspx?storyid=52470

The Washington Expos?

2004-09-29T20:20:00.000-05:00

Apparently the Montreal Expos will be moving to Washington, DC. The Orioles are probably worried that some of their business may go to the ‘other’ team in the DC-Baltimore area.

Cubs lose again

2004-09-29T17:42:00.000-05:00

The Cubs lost again today. Good-bye wild card.

On another note, I am seriously thinking about no longer using the scores page on USAToday.com because of their damn surveys (that you HAVE to fill out) and their pop-ups which take up the entire screen (the Internet Movie Database has these pop-ups also).

Fall

2004-09-29T13:22:00.000-05:00

Although I have said time and time again that Fall is the worst
season, I do like the fact that we get football, the World Series, and
the basketball season. And my birthday :)

Cubs are tied for first

2004-09-29T10:40:00.000-05:00

As of now, the Cubs are tied for first place in the NL Wild card. They better pull it out, or there will be many disappointed fans in Chicago (again).

My first article

2004-09-29T09:16:00.000-05:00

It may be my last. Who knows.