The 50 Cent Tour
Points of interest from around the web
Friends
First up is my buddy, Mornblade. He likes martial arts, bladed weapons, any kinds of weapons, and political thought. In short, he's my kind of guy. His home page is Midsummer Night's Dreams.
Another pal of mine, Prayerpwr, has a site where she posts her creative writing and poetry. She's a great person and you can find her at Laughter is the Lord's best gift!
One of my favorite sites on the Internet is out of Australia and called And You Call Yourself a Scientist! It's a site dedicated to reviewing movies from a scientist's perspective (the real thing!). It's run by a swell woman named Liz who has a sharp eye, astute observations, and an excellent sense of humor. Stop by and say hi, you'll be glad you did.
Another of my friends is Erin, who has a site called The Village of Wolderlin. A wonderful woman with a great spirit, she is an aspiring writer (like myself).
One of my friends, Myke Feinman, also publishes his own comic books. He has done two graphic novels with his character, Terry Freedom, and the result is Popeye-style art with Indiana Jones-style stories. And part of the money taken in by sales goes to art scholarships, with over $2,500 so far. Check out the site at Side Show Comics.
Franchesco! is a Chicago-based comic artist and writer. He's a great guy and the creator and self-publisher of Xstacy, along with work for Marvel Comics.
I love martial arts movies, and one of my favorite actresses in the genre is Cynthia Rothrock. Her web site features information on personal appearances, news of upcoming movies, a fan club, and memorabilia for sale. A terrific person, pay her site a visit.
Another of my buddies has just joined Internet bitch brigade. Ty is an old friend of mine, one of the few people from my high school days that treated me decent and was worth keeping in touch with. Check out his web page, Rooney's Cube. He's a terrific guy and very intelligent, and puts up with my ideas and leanings that are the polar opposite of his(XBox, politics, my wardrobe, etc.)
Basketball
The ABA 2000 is here! The NBA will have to stop being lame! The official site is right here.
For classicists, there's a nice fellow named Arthur Hundhausen who runs Remember The ABA, dedicated to quite possibly the best professional sports league ever. His page is chock full of history and info. It is literally the one-stop shop for ABA information on the 'Net. Check it out, you'll be glad you did.
The CPBL may have stalled on the starting blocks, but there are plenty of other basketball leagues around the country. For example, there is the United States Basketball League, started in 1985. It has eleven teams around the country, merchandise, a fan club and stock quotes. Average attendance is about 1,451.4 per game.
Then there's the Southwest Basketball League, based in Texas. It features six teams, and is now expanding to include a women's league.
The International Basketball Association is a fast-growing indie that covers both America and our neighbor to the north, Canada. Born in 1995, they have already had a player jump from their ranks to the NBA.
The National Rookie League is attempting something like what the Collegiate Professional Basketball League wanted to be. Designed to be an unaffiliated NBA minor league, it was begun in 1996 and has it's inaugural tip-off game June 25 in Maryland. Information on try-outs can be found there, also. Players can only play there for four years or until they are 24, whichever comes first.
For a change of pace, try the World
Beach Basketball Association. It's a game for all ages, literally.
The court is just a circle, with shots inside it at the basket in the middle
counting for two points and outside the circle going for three. You
don't dribble, and if you have the ball, you can take two and a half steps
with it. It's like BASEketball without the attitude.
Politics
I don't care how you vote, just vote, goddammit! What's that?
Upset with the two party system? Want some REAL alternatives?
Well, here's some organizations that are trying to make the impact.
Remember, with fewer people voting, your vote matters more. You could
be the one that puts them over the top.
My personal favorite is the Natural Law Party. Their platform is the most comfortable for me.
The Libertarian Party was founded back in 1971, and they have been growing at a steady rate...so much so, they just might make the impact in the 2000 election Ross Perot dreamed of having. Their philosophy of reducing government bothers me a bit, since I believe government has a responsibility to help its citizens, and eliminating almost all federal programs, such as Aid To Mothers With Dependent Children, makes me uneasy. Still, they are very serious, they walk the walk, and just a few of them in the political machine will make the Democrats and Republicans crap eggs the size of volleyballs.
A new group I was unaware of called America's Party can be found here.
Then there's the Constitution Party, which used to be the U.S. Taxpayer's Party. They are very conservative, more so than the Republicans, so if that's the kind of politics you like, check them out.
The Green Political Party is as liberal as the Constitution Party is conservative.
There's also the Socialist Party USA. I don't follow them that closely, since I'm a democracy kind of guy, but they may appeal to some people, and they are a serious party, so they deserve mention here without bias from me.
This is a surprise to me: the Labor
Party is still kicking around.
Entertainment
The coolest TV network has to be Comedy Central. Between South Park, Battlebots, Win Ben Stein's Money, The Daily Show, The Man Show, and other assorted fun stuff, it takes up way too much of my spare time. Thank God for reruns.
The next coolest TV network is Cartoon Network. With a variety of shows like Space Ghost Coast To Coast, Cartoon Planet, Ed, Edd, and Eddy, Dexter's Lab, Powerpuff Girls, and one of the largest collections of classic Bugs Bunny and Tex Avery cartoons on the planet, say good-bye to any time left after Comedy Central.
Urban Legends is a site where
you can learn about urban legends and hoaxes. They were valuable
in my search for the truth with the 602P bill hoax.
Video games
One of the problems with being a parent these days is that there is simply too much stuff going on in the world, it makes it almost impossible to keep track of what is good or bad for kids. Fortunately, to help out, is My Favorite Games.com, which features kid-oriented game reviews. Extra perspective is important, and these people are terrific for the concerned parents.
Zutco is the home of Chuck Gill,
the creator of the Pac Invaders game I reviewed. A very nice guy,
he runs the Pac-Man Virtual Museum as well as stuff on classic video game
systems. He also swaps carts, if you got stuff he's looking for.
Pop in and chat for a while. You know you want to.
BASEketball
I knew I wasn't the only one seeking to preserve this game. A
fellow by the name of Michael Cronk
has put together his own site with another set of rules and a message board.
Perfect to coordinate with other enthusiasts.
Linux
As World Party sang in their song "Private Revolution", "If you say you want a revolution, babe, there ain't nothing like your own." If you want to see what the fuss is about, check out Linux Online. It's your one-stop shop for anything you could possibly want to know about the Penguin.
There's a lot of people trying to take advantage of people's lack of knowledge about Linux and the law. Lawsuits from companies like SCO are springing up like dandelions from those hoping to stop it. To help clear through the muck, check out Groklaw, which follows and analyzes everything from the legal perspective. You will learn more from the front page than you ever will from the online message groups and you won't be labelled a troll. Can you tell I've been knocked around a bit?