Category Archives: House

Top 24 Things I Hate About 24

Don’t let the title mislead you. I’ve been an avid 24 viewer for its almost ten years of existence. I love the sound of its opening theme . I was one of those who were stunned when Teri Bauer, in a brilliant move by the show’s creators that set the perpetually tragic tone for Jack Bauer all throughout the series, was killed off in the last few minutes of the first season. I seethed with rage when President David Palmer ordered a subordinate to off himself just to comply with a terrorist’s demands. I was one of those who laughed at the misadventures of Kim Bauer, probably the dumbest daughter of a federal agent, or any kind of parent for that matter, ever. But while I loved the show, there a number of things about it that left me scratching my head even when I’m dandruff free.  As the show comes to an end next month after eight seasons, it’s only fitting that I list them, 24 of them to be exact. These will at least remind me not to miss the show so much when its trademark ticking goes silent and its digital clock finally winds down,  for good. 1. Jack Bauer’s cell phones have batteries that need no recharging whatsoever, not even after long / multiple calls or heavy media transmissions. 2. Jack Bauer doesn’t eat or drink. 3. Jack Bauer never takes a whizz. 4. Its habit of leaving the fate of certain important characters hanging in the air, like season 2 presidential advisor Lynne Kresge, season 4 terrorist spawn Behrooz Araz, Day 6 president Wayne Palmer,  and Martha Logan’s aide Evelyn Martin and his young daughter from season 5. 5. David Palmer is the second biggest jerk (next to Charles Logan) to ever become president, ordering a subordinate to kill himself because a terrorist asked him for it. 6. They killed off Michelle Dessler just when she was starting to show some skin. She was rockin’ pink spaghetti straps the morning she was blown to kingdom come, for chrissakes. 7. Speaking of hot women on the show, they just did what is probably the worst case of coitus interruptus on TV, with Renee Walker getting offed seconds after getting off with Jack Bauer. 8. They hand out immunity deals like they were lollipops to any hardcore terrorist who promises to “sing”, never mind if the guy killed a couple thousand Americans just a few hours ago. 9. Until recently, nobody, except for Chloe and a few other characters, ever believes or listens to Jack until it’s too late. 10. You’d think that Jack Bauer, who was imprisoned and tortured in China for almost two years before being  retrieved by the American government in time for Day 6, would at least show some signs of being traumatized by the ordeal. Instead, he got back into super agent mode in no time at all. But then again, HE IS Jack Bauer. Chuck Norris has nothing on this guy. 11. Kim Bauer, the aforementioned stupid daughter, became an analyst at CTU. 12. Dennis Hopper as main season 1 bad guy Victor Drazen. 13. Heroin is one of the toughest drugs to kick, but Jack easily shrugged it off. Then again, see no. 10. 14. Tony Almeida making like Jesus Christ. 15. Tony Almeida becoming a villain, a hero, then a villain again in less than 24 hrs. 16. The White House assault and hostage situation staged by an African commando team. 17. Graem Bauer. Not that the actor was doing a bad job, but because he looked and talked just like an ex-boss of mine, and made me wanna punch a hole through his face and my TV every single time he appears onscreen with that dang Bluetooth. 18. David and Sherry Palmer are fairly good looking, which is why the fact that they produced a son who looks like Keith makes us question everything we’ve been taught about genetics. 19. Pilots are so good they could land big ass planes on narrow strips of road. 20. The ease at which enemies could plant moles inside the supposedly COUNTER-Terrorist Unit. 21. In season 8, everybody, from ex-cons to bounty hunters, seems to know where CTU is and are even allowed inside the premises. 22. Jack Bauer being able to do undercover work despite having his face plastered all over TV screens during the Senate hearings in season 7. 23. The charisma-challenged Wayne Palmer became president. 24. Jack’s “I give you my word”, which he breaks more often than he keeps, unintentionally or otherwise. Related Posts: 20 of the Prettiest Women in Porn Today 10 Worst Celebrity Man Boobs – Manboobs 22 Bad English Signs 24 Theme Song MP3, Lyrics and Videos 10 TV Shows I’ll Miss Most Due To The Writers’ Strike

Read the original post:
Top 24 Things I Hate About 24

Watch House Season 6 Episode 17 (S06E17) – Knight Fall

Watch House 617 – Knight Fall. When a medieval reenactment knight, Sir William, collapses during a battle, the team takes on the case and Thirteen is intrigued by William’s insistence on honor above all else. Meanwhile, House discovers that Wilson is dating his first ex-wife, the “soul-sucking harpy,” and vows to break them up to protect Wilson from himself. Watch House 06 Continue reading

Watch House Season 6 Episode 17 – Knight Fall

Watch House S6E17: Knight Fall The latest episode of House is the series’ 17th episode of the 6th season that aired last 04/19/2010 Monday at 8:00 PM on Fox. Watch House 6×17 Free Online Streaming Full Episodes Replay of the Latest Season and Video Clip Download Link:

View post:
Watch House Season 6 Episode 17 – Knight Fall

Watch House Season 6 Episode 16 – Lockdown

Watch House S6E15: Lockdown The new episode of House is the shows 16th episode of the 6th season that aired last 04/12/2010 Monday at 8:00 PM on Fox. Watch House 6×16 Free Online Streaming Full Episodes Replay of the Latest Season and Video Clip Download Link:

View post:
Watch House Season 6 Episode 16 – Lockdown

By: Dackmont

Sela Ward (b. 1956; she played ex on House MD) and Marisa Tomei (b. 1960, cf. The Wrestler) are both naturally, timelessly beautiful. Having the luxury of personal trainers, et cetera, certainly cannot hurt.

More here:
By: Dackmont

The Urban Homestead

Have you ever built a solar powered food dehydrator in your garden? Do you know how to make your own household cleaners without using toxic chemicals? Can you repair any major toilet problem and reduce water usage with fixes that cost nothing? Have you ever made your own wine or beer from plants in your garden? Thought about raising chickens in the city? Kelly Coyne and Erik Knutzen have simple advice for living simply and comfortably even if you don’t own a lot of land. In a humorous, easy-to-read manner, they offer advice on composting, gardening, home brewing, and saving greywater among other things. The Urban Homestead was a gift from my friend Andrea, who bought it for me after she read it. Jason and I have both read it, and it is WONDERFUL! It was incredibly comprehensive on how to reach a new level of self-sufficiency without buying land and moving to the country. There were several ideas in this book that I have always wanted to do, but was unsure of how to accomplish cost-effectively. I plan to buy a few copies of this book this year and hand them out to friends and family for birthday gifts. I hope they read it and continue the trend. The book included several suggestions for incorporating permaculture into you city garden, including a practice called “Three Sisters.” This is where you plant corn, beans, and squash all together, and the beans climb up the corn stalks and they shade the squash. The corn and the squash will sap nitrogen from the soil, while the beans will replenish it. It was such a great idea that I can’t wait to try it. They also run a blog here: http://www.homegrownevolution.com/

Read the original here:
The Urban Homestead

Hiatus Over

Okay, so I ignored this thing for most of last semester. I was swamped with writing work in my classes last semester, so hopefully things are better now. This next semester will be my last one (Yay!), and then I can graduate with my Bachelor’s in Journalism/Professional Writing. This last semester, while fairly tough, was probably the best semester I have had for learning since I started school. I took a class on sustainable communities that was invaluable to my understanding of city planning and building the future. For it, I created a presentation on Bill Mollison, the father of permaculture, and learned more about permaculture than before. I have become taken with this concept and I am using my winter break to learn more about how to live this lifestyle. Bill Mollison is from Tazmania, Australia, and operates from there. Tazmania is full of lush rainforest and many endagered species of plants and animals. The structure of a rainforest and how it grows and cultivates crops is the guiding principle behind much of permaculture. It is a form of agriculture that is more sustainable and more diverse, for those of you unaware. It includes growing many diverse crops instead of monocultures, using feedback loops to create healthy soil, plants, water, and habitats, and reusing everything several times before it becomes waste. It is much more complicated than I have space to get into on my blog, but I suggest researching Bill Mollison on your own. I was very excited to begin reading a book that my friend Andrea got for me called Urban Homesteaders , which covers many of the principles and practices of permaculture also. I will review that book when I finish reading it. Another project I worked on last semester was designing my own sustainable community. While I had fun and turned in an interesting concept, it really got me to thinking. My concept was for a city of 200,000. It involved 80% open space, and 20% building. I designed this by creating towers that held markets, vertical gardens, and apartment-like adaptable buildings. While that sounds great in theory, I started thinking about my own dreams as of late. Would I enjoy living there? If not, what will draw other Americans? I have to admit that part of me has been infected with the very American dream of buying a piece of land and building a house on it. I want to grow my own organic farm, and have goats and chickens. Living out in the country right now, I have noticed a saddening trend, as the city encroaches on us, more and more of the big farms out here are being sold to developers. 2,000+ sq. ft. monstrosities are being built in cookie-cutter form to create housing communities everywhere. It’s turning into the suburbs everywhere, and there’s no stopping it. As much as I dream about buying land and starting a farm, I wouldn’t want to look out and see that scab of humanity next door to my beautiful gardens. But with a growing population of American Dreamers wanting their big house, big cars, and yards (not gardens), how many of these will we install before we realize we have destroyed everything beautiful that we have? So would I live in a community that was similar to apartments? Yes, because in my design, there were garden plots for everyone to work in, public transit out of the town, and a wildlife area that took up 50% of the total land and allowed for hunting and camping. It is an idea I plan to keep tweaking until I get it right.

Read the original:
Hiatus Over

Wal Mart

So Wal Mart has been tooting it’s own green horn for a while now, spending millions to remake their image and introduce greener products. You may have seen the signs telling you to buy fluorescent lightbulbs and canvas grocery bags (I won’t even start with the fluorescent light bulbs, that is another post.) But I was talking to two of my co-workers the other day, and we were discussing what we personally do that is eco-friendly. I was amazed at the effort one of my co-workers puts into it, far outdoing me in many categories. I can only hope to catch up to her soon. But she mentioned that when she gets married in September, she is banning her new husband from bringing plastic bags into their house. I thought this was interesting. I hate plastic bags, they are such a waste. And the fact that there is an aggregate of trash the size of Texas floating around the Pacific that comes from American waste makes me sick. But beyond that, China has managed to ban plastic bags entirely in their country. Did everyone perish from their inability to get their groceries home? No. Why can’t we do that too? It seems like such a simple step, and in China, the only people who suffered from this were the plastic bag manufacturers. Sometimes you have to break a few eggs to make an omelet. As much as Wal Mart claims to be green, it’s simple things like banning plastic sacks altogether that would make a real impression. Until actual effort that creates change in consumer behavior is in place, I am going to judge the Wal Mart greening efforts as nothing more than a marketing ruse. I wish I could be optimistic like the great environmentalist Paul Hawkens, when he said, “If corporations say they are green long enough, eventually they will start to believe their own lies, and then maybe we will see real change.” However, I believe that money talks, and until it is unprofitable for corporations to be wasteful, we will not see any changes. And how do you enforce environmental penalties for wasteful companies when you are already in trouble with the lagging economy? Most environmental changes will require some capital up front to get them moving, but at the same time, we can’t afford not to care anymore.

Read the original here:
Wal Mart

Buiding an Eco-Friendly House

House building has been on my mind a lot lately. Mostly from helping with my parent’s house, but also from some research I’ve read about sustainable building practices, and lectures I have attended. I love all things innovative and green, but building is a fun way to release aggression too. My parents were the first to peak my interest in green-building. Initially they wanted to build a straw bale house on their property, which would have been significantly more energy efficient. Unfortunately, because the practice is still not well known, they couldn’t get loans to build a straw bale house. It strikes me as particularly strange because of the fact that the area they are building in is notorious for wildfires, and straw bale houses are more fire-resistant than regular houses are. So the house they are building now is not all that eco-friendly, and at 4,000 sq. ft. it’s not off to a good start. They have radiant heat floors , but that is about it. Their main complaint about building an eco-friendly house is that it costs too much. Which from my perspective right now is true, everything that touts environmental savvy does seem to be nearly four times the price. So I am planning to research new ways to design a house to help my parents keep costs low and reduce their footprint. At a recent lecture on being green and keeping it local, I listened to a speaker from Bergey Windpower . His suggestions for “greening” your home were interesting. Bergey produces wind turbines that offset the use of electricity. However, at $30,000 for a 10,000 watt generator, they are not entirely cost efficient in the short-term. That may all change in the near-future, but there are other ways to increase energy efficiency in your home as well. One suggestion made by the Bergey representative was to weatherize your home. This inclides buying better windows, and using lots of caulk to seal holes where heating and air can escape, and making sure that there is good insulation in the walls.

Continue reading here:
Buiding an Eco-Friendly House

New Phrase of Sustainability

I was watching the Discovery Green channel the other night and I learned a new phrase: “cradle to cradle.” In the show, the girl was describing her new faux granite counter tops. Cradle to Cradle means that the product is made from either recycled synthetic material or renewable organic materials and can be recycled again when you are through with them or will decompose naturally. It is a term coined by environmental pioneer William McDonough. The counter tops she was using were made from concrete and glass. They were very pretty, durable, stain resistant, and eco-friendly. In my environmental business class we read a book by Paul Hawken called “The Ecology of Commerce.” He discusses this theory as a business model to reduce waste. If more companies created products that they could reuse all of the components of, it would save them money in manufacturing and it would save us money in garbage disposal and environmental clean-up. I was thinking about this in terms of home building. What materials are truly cradle to cradle? The counter tops are a start, but what about insulation, siding, roofing, and other key components of a house? That’s when I found this Seattle-based competition to build sustainable homes that have materials that can be re-used when the house has reached the end of its lifecycle. Not only is the winning design an eco-friendly accomplishment, it is also gorgeous! However, it doesn’t say anywhere on there how much these technologies cost. So I wonder if it is affordable, or considerably more than normal, or if it pays itself off quickly?

More here:
New Phrase of Sustainability