I've had a migraine headache now for about 14 hours. Since so many of you actually read this, I figured you'd like to know.

I'm having trouble getting the archiving feature of Blogger to work. If anyone in the Blogger community is reading this, I could use some advice.

Thought all you had to worry about was terrorism, the bankruptcy of social security, and the imminent fall of captialism? Now you have to worry about the coming ice age, which could happen within the next decade.

Defiant members and visitors to defianttheatre.org know that we are an Amazon.com affiliate. You can use our links to purchase items at Amazon.com, and Defiant Theatre gets a percentage of the purchase. It doesn't cost you any more, and you still get what you want.

Well, not so fast. An article in the New York Times today is reporting that a number of file-sharing programs, like Kazaa and Limewire, contain software that will actually divert those commissions to themselves, in effect stealing commissions from organizations like Defiant.

I guess it seems appropriate for an application that facilitates stealing music and software to do a little stealing of its own. But it also points out how software companies are taking advantage of users who don't read the EULA.

"Arlo, what's an EULA?" End User License Agreement, that long document of legalese that appears when you install a piece of software. Usually, you just click "I agree" and get on with it. And software companies know that you don't read it.

For example, if you install the latest version of Windows Media Player, Windows 2000 Service Pack 3, or Windows XP Service Pack 1, you are giving Microsoft permission to hack your computer. No lie. Microsoft even included similar language in a security patch, which you have to install lest your machine remain vulnerable to attack. How ironic.

All I'm saying is be careful. Know what you are installing on your computer. When you install software that is, well, dubious, like Kazaa or Limewire, read the EULA and know what you are installing. And for God's sake, buy a Mac. What do you think my savings account is for? My student loans? HA!

"Is this the face that launched a thousand ships and burned the topless towers of Illium?" asks thousands of used car salesmen, their Vitalis-slicked hair glistening in the sun.

Yeah, I'm a little obsessed with the Strom Thurmond retirement: Trent Lott's Idea of a Sick Joke?

Finally, the first real proof I've seen that Iraq has biological weapons. The scary part is how they got them.

"I love all of you -- and especially your wives." And he voted to impeach a guy for getting a hummer.

I admire anyone who can adhere to a strict diet. Vegetarians and pescatarians who can actually stick with it have an iron will that I admire. I tried my hand at vegetarianism for a full year. I even called myself a vegan for two of those months, which I gave up for want of milk and honey. But I didn't feel any better than when I did eat meat. And since I was only a vegetarian so I could pick up cute, dope-smoking hippie chicks and I hadn't gotten laid in six months, I gave it up. The cheeseburger I ate that night was the best cheeseburger I've ever eaten.

Vegans are committed to something so difficult, so impossible, that the fight is quixotic at best. I have yet to read a convincing argument for completely eschewing the byproducts of animals.

If you argue that veganism is about health, then why do you have to work so hard to get the right balance of legumes and grains to approximate the necessary proteins that occur in meat? No one is saying that if you are omnivorous that you have to eat a pound of ground pork every day.

If you argue that human beings are not designed to eat meat, then, yet again, why do we need the proteins that are found in meat? Why are my cuspids so pointy? Why do our stomachs -- and we each only have one, not four -- produce hydrochloric acid? Sure, our intestines aren't short like a carnivore's, but a typical herbivore's digestive tract is far longer and more complex than a human's. We're in the middle because we're omnivorous.

If you argue that we should not enslave and misuse living organisms this side of plants, enjoy your life living in a cave. You cannot spend an entire day in modern society without at some point utilizing the byproduct of an animal. Your cat or dog cannot survive as a vegetarian. And isn't the keeping of that pet an act of animal slavery, too? Aren't mules and horses used in farming fruits and vegetables? In fact, you've probably consumed something today that has a living organism in it; for example, alcoholic beverages require yeast. I'm sorry if you feel guilty for being at the top of the food chain, but that's where you are. Deal with it.

If you're a vegan, you're doing it to prove a point, and I defy you to disagree with me on that point. I'm all for heralding a cause, but don't belabor a point just for the sake of being different. There aren't any excellent reasons to be a vegan other than to think it makes you cool and unique -- much like smoking or being a communist.

Don't eat hot dogs and cheeseburgers every day. Eat more fruits and vegetables. Reduce your fat and calorie intake. Drink more water. Eat healthy, but don't eat insane. A balanced diet is one thing, but extremes in either direction are not what your body is designed for.

By the way, I'm all for genetically modified food, too.

Greece lifted their ridiculous ban on video games.

I like my fried chicken extra toasty.

Just because a school lets anyone in shouldn't mean that they just hire anyone to work in their accounting office. With the amount of money my tuition costs, you'd think they could afford to pay people who know how to read memos. Since my incessant screaming at ILIA's accounting administrators seems to make no headway, I've decided to blame the Skull and Bones society. Come and get me, you Ivy League Satanists!

"He may be a son-of-a-bitch, but he's our son-of-a-bitch." Considering how much Bush Sr. had to do with helping Hussein come to power and develop weapons, it's not surprising who Bush Jr. might put in his place. So much for "regime change".

Does anyone think Gerhard Schroeder can repair relations with the US and still oppose our president's attempts to gather a posse to lynch Iraq? Perhaps Bush is thinking, "Hell, if we're gonna bomb Iraq for old-time's sake, why not go way retro and bomb Germany?"

Yeah, like you give a rat's ass about what I have to say. But I went and gave everybody in Defiant 4 MB of space to play with, and I'm pretentious enough to think I can publish something worthwhile daily, so why not a weblog? Besides, Blogger makes it so easy.

So here it is. Enjoy it if you can. I'll also keep a list of links on the right, so if you want to know how I'm wasting my time at work, you can check those out.

Seeing as how this is my first post, it's pretty sucky. I'll get rolling on Monday with more vebose witticisms and vituperative horseshit.