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| June 30, 2003 |
Found an excellent essay via /var/log/otto, today.
It's written by a French-Iranian immigrant, and it is reasons he is thankful to be an American. In these times of "everybody in the world hates us, including ourselves" it should be, in my opinion, required reading in colleges and universities across the nation.
I want to post it all, but in the sake of brevity I'll post just the last of his reasons:
| -- America, the
freest nation on Earth, is also the most virtuous nation
on Earth. This point seems counterintuitive, given the
amount of conspicuous vulgarity, vice and immorality in
America. Some Islamic fundamentalists argue that their
regimes are morally superior to the United States
because they seek to foster virtue among the citizens.
Virtue, these fundamentalists argue, is a higher
principle than liberty.
Indeed it is. And let us admit that in a free society, freedom will frequently be used badly. Freedom, by definition, includes the freedom to do good or evil, to act nobly or basely. But if freedom brings out the worst in people, it also brings out the best. The millions of Americans who live decent, praiseworthy lives desire our highest admiration because they have opted for the good when the good is not the only available option. Even amid the temptations of a rich and free society, they have remained on the straight path. Their virtue has special luster because it is freely chosen. By contrast, the societies that
many Islamic fundamentalists seek would eliminate the
possibility of virtue. If the supply of virtue is
insufficient in a free society like America, it is
almost nonexistent in an unfree society like Iran's. The
reason is that coerced virtues are not virtues at all.
Consider the woman who is required to wear a veil. There
is no modesty in this,
because she is being compelled. Compulsion
cannot produce virtue, it can only produce the outward semblance
of virtue. Thus a free society like America's is not merely more
prosperous, more varied, more peaceful, and more tolerant -- it
is also morally superior to the theocratic and authoritarian
regimes that America's enemies advocate. |
Interesting to think this is the SAN FRANCISCO Chronicle. I'd love to see the feedback they get for running this.
I'll post the article in its entirety in the feedback thread in case it disappears.
| GORDON | 10:09 pm EDT | Feedback | Link to: http://www.dtman.com/archives.htm#20030630_2 |
Hardening
Arteries, or LEARNING TO HATE PEOPLE.
Long time readers of dtman.com know that the writers are, for lack of a better word, somewhat jaded. "Why?" is a question that, to my memory, has not been addressed, until new forum member TPRJones submitted it.
| When
I turned 21, I was a nice guy. I liked nearly
everybody. I thought the best of people. I
thought the world was a nice place. I thought
people would do the right thing if you gave them a
chance. I thought that government was evil (see, I
wasn't completely naive), but I also thought you could
change the system from the inside (well, okay, maybe I
was). I wanted to explain to everyone how
maximizing individual freedoms and individual
responsibilities is the only hope for a bright future
for the human race, and will eventually lead to the
ending of poverty and racism and suffering. On Sunday, I'll turn 31, and I've become a dick. I hate nearly everybody. I think the worst of people. I think the world is a horrible place. I think people will do the right thing only if they know you will kill them if they don't. I think that government is evil (at least something hasn't changed), and I think it will only change when the whole system collapses. I want to explain that killing the fuckers that have no concept of the value of individual freedoms and individual responsibilities is the only hope for a bright future for the human race, and will eventually lead to the ending of poverty and racism and suffering for the blessedly few survivors. Ten years ago, I felt bad when hundreds of people died at some place I'd only seen on a map. Today, if a virus targeted towards killing the stupid were to decimate the ignorant 90% of the world's population, I'd not morn the losses. At all. Was there something in particular about the last decade that turned intelligent individuals like myself into bitter cynics? Or is this just part of growing up? What happened to me? |
Do you feel as you age that things are worse than they used to be?
Personally, I'm going to take a little time to mentally compose my answer. I think I know...I just want to think about it a bit. But I think it might have something to do with "experience."
| GORDON | 6:08 pm EDT | Feedback | Link to: http://www.dtman.com/archives.htm#20030630_1 |
| June 28, 2003 |
Yes,
I realize it's technically the weekend.
And I know I said no more posting on weekends, but I'm still up, and it still feels like Friday night.
Just thought you'd like to know I made an update on the DTMan Music Page. I reviewed the new album from VAST. It's good stuff.
| GORDON | 1:12 am EDT | Feedback | Link to: http://www.dtman.com/archives.htm#20030628_1 |
| June 27, 2003 |
What
do Linkin Park, Radiohead, Madonna and Green Day have
in common?
They are against consumers being able to purchase their songs piecemeal.
| Despite the major
labels' success in clearing hundreds of thousands of
tracks for purchase online through services like Apple's
iTunes Music Store, some top artists continue to resist
authorizing the dismantling of their albums for Internet
consumption as a la carte singles. Some acts are requiring that their music be sold exclusively in album bundles. For example, Linkin Park recently pulled its music as a singles offering from digital services. Sources say the band has expressed concerns about undercutting album sales. Other acts with similar stipulations about their work include Radiohead, Madonna and Green Day, sources say. Top acts and their representatives are expressing reservations about the creative and financial implications of shifting to a singles-based model. "The fear among artists is that the work of art they put together, the album, will become a thing of the past," says attorney Fred Goldring, whose firm represents Will Smith and Alanis Morissette. Billboard |
Well, I guess they have the right to package their product however they want. But know what? They're fools. For absolutely no additional work they could increase their revenue by offering their songs on pay-download sites. Fans who want the entire album would still buy the entire album. Now, those who only want one song from these artists will just get it without paying.
I guess once you have your first million you can be picky.
| GORDON | 6:18 pm EDT | Feedback | Link to: http://www.dtman.com/archives.htm#20030627_3 |
A couple months ago I linked USS Clueless, mainly on a lark. I was in the mood to link a page, and I'd just surfed it for the first time.
I made a good decision.
Consistently, that website has some of the best written, well thought out essays on the web. And, they seem to do their research, unlike some websites I could name *cough*dtman.com*cough*. Their commentary tends to run to current events. If you haven't visited them, do.
Today I was catching up on a few days of posts, and followed this article they linked. A brief history of the Air Force's A-10 Warthog. A good read, if you're into that kind of thing.
| GORDON | 5:35 pm EDT | Feedback | Link to: http://www.dtman.com/archives.htm#20030627_2 |
The forum/feedback threads are fixed. Somehow I ended up with a corrupted "active sessions" database entry. What really impresses me is that I'd thought it was a server problem, and opened a tech support ticket with my hosting service. But they not only tracked down the real problem, they gave me a step-by-step in how to debug my script, which is way above and beyond what they were required to do. The DTMan web host is Nexpoint Technologies. I use a shared server, so there's the occasional downtime once or twice a year when some other yahoo breaks it, but the cost for my plan, $100/year for 500mb storage/unlimited bandwidth, and the excellent tech support, make it look like a good deal to me.
+++++
I have a sauna now! It's called "outside." I believe the news said there was a 110 degree Fahrenheit heat index, today. It's hot. It's like Africa-hot. And I know what Africa-hot feels like. Ho-yes.
+++++
My tomato plants are growing like crazy in this heat and humidity. If it wasn't dark outside I'd getpixplzthx. I've been putting down blood and predator feces around the area, and so far no bunny nibbles....but the first time I see bunny nibbles on a tomato, I'm buying a bb gun. Be veeeewy quiet.....
+++++
Strom Thurmond died. Isn't that weird? I mean, no surprise, but still. It was like Senate of the Living Dead. Braaaains. Braaaains, y'all. Fresh braaaains.
+++++
Spent the afternoon in Wilmington. Ate lunch on the Cape Fear River at a cafe with a great view of the Battleship North Carolina. I want one. A battleship, I mean. Hey...my birthday is next month!
++++
The brand new movie theater here in town is having a midnight showing of "Beyond Re-Animator" tomorrow night...I'm going. The first 50 people in the door get a vial of the glowing green re-animator juice.... if I get some I'll be sure to postpixplzthx. Maybe we'll go to a cemetery after the movie and see if it works. If it does I'll getpixplzthx. HEY....where will Strom be laying in state, do you think?
| GORDON | 1:30 am EDT | Feedback | Link to: http://www.dtman.com/archives.htm#20030627_1 |
I was doing the daily surfing, and saw an interesting blog post linked at Right We Are!. It's a "dream" July 4th speech to the nation from President Bush.
It all "Go-go USA!" I think I agree with about half of it. I support the idea that nations who have actively opposed us should have consequences, but I'm not sure that pulling out of the rest of the world make the United States any safer.
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I've not yet done any surfing today, but I heard about the Supreme Court's decision in favor of so called "affirmative action" on CNN. I'm guessing there's an uproar in the blogosphere about it. I'm going to say what I have to say before my thoughts are diluted with what everyone else is saying: Affirmative action is for losers. Those who are good enough don't need it, and those who need it aren't good enough.
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Awww...kitty seepies.
What can I say...I'm a cat person.
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I want to update my link list a bit. I had the category "From the Front," and it will exist as long as there are bloggers there, but many are coming home, and I'm in a quandary as to what to do with them, now. I'm pretty sure I'm going to start a new link category called "Active Duty," but I'm still thinking about it. As such, if you know of any bloggers on the front or just active duty, drop them in the feedback thread, and I'll get them linked.
Couple things I wrote about in the past that I now wish to revise, now that I've had time to really think about it. I wrote a few times about al-Jazeera showing images and videos of dead and wounded American POW/KIA's in Iraq. I wrote about how dirty that was, an abuse of Geneva Convention, etc. All of a sudden, I just realized....they would have to be completely stupid to think that wouldn't rally American support for the war. And I don't think they're completely stupid. They either did it of their own accord, or they were used by the U.S. government as a propaganda tool. They got some bad press for it from western media, but I think they took one for the team. That is, at least, a possibility. Another thing I wrote about was Bush's tax cuts, and the record amount of pork that was added to the war spending bill. I wrote that I support the tax cuts, but I also strongly favor control of spending. I couldn't understand what in the hell they were thinking. Recently I figured out where all the pork came from. Bush needed to get his spending bill passed, his war blessed by Congress, and his tax cuts approved...we are, after all, coming up on his reelection campaign season. All that pork...which may have been ordinarily vetoed...was Bush's way of buying support in Congress. I'm sure each and every stupid project was wheeled and dealed ahead of time by the White House, to ensure that Congressman's vote and support. So there you go. Amazing what can happen when you have time to really think about something.
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I was a bit premature showing a rerun earlier....I should have waited for this story to break:
So there we go. France is supporting another oppressive regime in an oil rich country. "But France is not completely passive," you say. "They are in the Congo, after all." Yeah. Know why? No oil contracts with the existing government. I also find it interesting they seized all that money, with their economy flagging, in small part due to American boycott of France and French products. I wonder what will become of that money. France sucks.
Been thinking about it all day and surfing for inspiration, but I've got nothing. So, I guess I'll just repost an essay that appeared on this page a couple years ago, written by forum member Pander. The current "windmills off Nantucket Sound" controversy inspired me to think about energy generation. So, here it is. From May 10, 2001.
So there you go.
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Senator Orrin Hatch thinks it would be a good idea to "destroy the computers" of "copyrights violators." I'm serious. See?
Good old, level headed, technology oriented politicians. Never afraid to put vigilante justice into the hands of their campaign contributors.
Of course, not everyone around him at the time was crazy about the idea.
They probably thought he was joking, or perhaps using hyperbole.
But they'd be wrong. And, it occurs to me that it's pretty hard, or impossible, to remotely "destroy" someone's computer. Then I realized...he never said "remotely." I assume a thug would come to my door with a baseball bat, and ask the way to my office. I wonder if they'd break my legs instead of my PC, as an alternative? After all, I have health insurance.
I think, technically, you officially become a Crazed Wacko when you support an anti-piracy scheme so draconian that the RIAA thinks you aren't serious. If you support Senator Hatch (R-Utah) and want to let him know about it, here is the link to a comment form on his webpage. I'm sure he'll be glad to have your words of encouragement.
More Q&A.
And from the forum, resident depressive Malcolm asks...
Gordo is good, Gordo is wise, Gordo knows all, Gordo sees all.
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I was shocked every time I opened my email this last weekend and found, literally an email asking a WWGD? question. Here's the best one I've received so far. Acidman asks:
Excellent question, A-man.
So keep those questions coming. Gordo knows all, sees all.
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In a continuing effort to improve the world, I will now be taking questions needing answers. Anything and everything. Seriously. This is advice and general knowledge, not "Stump Gordo." If I get some good ones, they'll be posted. If I get enough questions, they'll be catalogued and indexed and will have their own page.
Confused? Lost? Stumped? Just ask WWGD What Would Gordo Do? When you need to know, ask Gordo. No, seriously. What's the point of being the smartest human on the planet if you can't use your powers for Good? Trust Gordo. Gordo is good; Gordo is wise.
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Apparently, the movie Footloose hasn't been shown in Dearborn, Michigan in awhile. Random surfing found this:
First of all, in my whiteness, I find this...odd. Prom, in my experience, was nothing more than a celebration of the end of school. There weren't any politics, religion, guilt, or duty involved with it. It was just prom; no big deal. All of this to do over nothing just seems strange. The fact that a culture can be so uptight is stranger. The fact that it's cultural, and the reason most of these people originally immigrated in order to enjoy greater freedoms than in their homelands is strangest. If you want to live in Iran, then why come to America? The article continues.
Yes, what a horrible thing to become Americanized. To paraphrase Dennis Miller, "Welcome to the American melting pot. Now MELT, mother fuckers."
Yes, becoming Americanized is a frightening thing. What would you do unless you could stigmatize a teenager for acting like a teenager? Damned shame that stoning is illegal in the Unites States. These unchaperoned girls are obviously committing adultery. And I don't even want to contemplate why a man would ask for a girl's hand in marriage that he's never dated. I don't want to believe that such things happen in this country, in this century.
This kid must be in the top 5% of uptight students in the country. He "knows the difference between right and wrong." But apparently not enough self control to not go to the prom and....well, control himself when a girl shows a bare ankle on the dance floor.
Again, self control.
Good grief.
As a former enlisted man, this article on Sgt. Stryker left me smiling.
Go read it....quite interesting. Good thing he was Army, though. I hate to admit it, but I think if he had been a Marine, his specialized skill set would probably have been overlooked.
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Always a work in progress, I was thinking of writing a search script for the pages in the DTMan network. This would enable visitors (and me) to quickly find old articles for reference, or just to reminisce in how moronic I can be at times. Simple search engine. No problem, right? Legal and stuff? No.
Apparently, this search engine would only be lawsuit-proof if I hard coded it to omit any and all media files. Assuming said files weren't encrypted.
So, the precedent has been set....forfeiture of my life savings gets me out of trouble. Cool. I ain't got none.
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And now...from the same people who brought you the Capital Gains Tax, Death Tax, and the Marriage Penalty....we have Cable Modem Tax!
A lot of folks I know don't mind paying more taxes as long as they are going toward what, in their minds, are "worthy programs," or some such thing. I leave your own conclusions to be drawn:
Personally...I think a 9.1% increase on my cable modem bill...currently $45 per month, would be rounded up from approximately $4 to $5, in only because it keeps the rate Time Warner charges nice and round. But hey, for some reason my government feels I need to subsidize phone lines for people who choose to live out in the middle of nowhere. Whatever.
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Just relocated, to any casual browsers just passing through. 1700 miles from Nebraska to coastal North Carolina can only mean one thing....fun fun fun. Through six states. States like Missouri, and Arkansas. The DTMan Army was mobilized. We did the drive in four days. The first day was the fun fun packing of the moving van.
Forum members UnkBill in the foreground, Cakedaddy in the back.
Unk and his s.o., my s.o. in the truck. I was supervising. We loaded the truck and hit the road at approximately 9pm...we had hotel reservations in Kansas City, Kansas. Little farther away than I thought; we didn't check in until after midnight. I think what I underestimated was how it would be driving a 25' moving truck which was hauling a Ford Ranger. Nerve wracking, at first. The hotel in KC is not memorable. We all collapsed in exhaustion, except for me who stood guard Terminator II-style. The next morning I sounded reveille bright and early, and we hit the road to Memphis; there to pick up Vince and eat barbecue. Both missions we accomplished. Vince stood guard that night in order to give me some down-time. Up again bright and early for Raleigh, North Carolina. It is only a couple hours from our final destination, but we'd anticipated hitting Raleigh by about 8pm, there to meet Thibodeaux and TheCatt for dinner, both high ranking NCO's in the DTMan Army. As it is, we didn't get there until after midnight...as such we couldn't join up with them. The hotel. The hotel was the Howard Johnson, at 3120 New Bern Avenue Raleigh, NC, 27610, 919-231-3000. I've stayed a lot of places in a lot of countries, and this hotel was easily the nastiest place I ever paid money for. It was 1am when we checked in, and almost 2am before the truck was buttoned up for the night, so we were just too weary to change rooms. Here, in no particular order, are the features of our adjoining rooms.
Random crap on the floor next to the partially-made beds.
Random grit and crap in the bathrooms.
Empty condom wrapper near another bed.
Questionable fluid on the floor near the bed and empty condom wrapper.
Unused condom near the phone. Now that's convenience!
Here's all that existed of one of the remote controls. A battery cover. I didn't get a picture of what looked like a train of queen ants crawling up the wall near my bed. We got up extra early to get out of that nastiness....then we realized that where we parked the moving van was a no-outlet area. We had to unhook the pickup truck and turn the van around, and reconnect everything. It was a relatively short two hour jaunt to our final destination. Arriving at the house, we discovered how close we pay attention to important things like making sure the truck is attached to the trailer dolly:
The main strap has come off the tire, and the subsystem chain around the axle is the only thing that held the truck on the trailer. Yikes. But, we arrived without incident (not counting the basketball hoop outside Vince's house), and unloaded the truck in about half the time it took to load. Vince had to go on a mission back to Tennessee the next morning, but the rest of us went to the beach and watched Cakedaddy build a sand castle, somewhere between the low and high tide lines.
His tactical trench actually did protect the main structure through quite a few wave strikes before finally being overrun by the encroaching ocean. Cursed moon, harsh mistress and seductive attraction.
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I spent most of today in the sauna. Meaning, I was doing work outside around the new house. I was sweating before I finished putting gas in the lawn mower. Slightly different weather than in Nebraska. Had a hard day, and as such I have not much creative energy with which to write an update. Thankfully, forum regular TheCatt made a pretty good post today, which I will now use in its entirety.
I'm a big fan of leaving market forces be, so I couldn't have said it better myself. President Reagan also had a few things to say somewhat relating to this subject:
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All happily relocated, hopefully to never set foot again in Nebraska. After the hellish year I've just had, I am extremely pleased to be back in the path of most of the hurricanes that hit the east coast. "Once I thought I was dead. Turns out I was only in Nebraska." - Little Bill, Unforgiven. The vacationy bits were fun, but living there was like just giving up on life. It was like...giving up. Screw that. Nebraska and France suck. Lots of this where I now live:
The most mediocre view of the ocean beats anything Nebraska has to offer. Some pics and stories from the 5 days of the move...coming soon. Thanks to Leisher for updating in my absence. And props to him for untangling my HTML. He and my code are crazy old school. Side note not relating to anything: I'm presently reading a biography of Thomas Jefferson. Fun fact: sometimes in personal and professional correspondence, he signed his name, "Th. Jefferson." Got me to thinking I should start referring to myself, Steve Gordon, as, "St. Gordon." Doesn't really apply, but every dictator needs a title. I'm coming at you correct.
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This afternoon, I took a trip to Best Buy to look at Car Stereos for the wife. I walked into the Car Audio section and went immediately to the computer they have there to punch in her car type so I could find out which stereos were compatible. I got the list and hit "Print" to get a hard copy and immediately received an error that the printer was out of paper. At this point, the person working the Car Audio section came over and said something along the lines of "How can I help?" Just for ease of reading, let's call him Chuck. So you can picture him: Chuck is a young man with bleached blonde hair and a large necklace hanging around his neck. He is only about 18-20 and he talks like he's a street thug. Anyway, I asked him to get me a printout of the list on screen. Chuck explained that he needed to run over to Home Audio to do that because that's the only printer with paper. What? Excuse me, but this is Best Buy. Are you telling me that this company is hurting so badly financially that they can't afford to put paper in the printers so their customers can get what they need? Anyway, Chuck came back with a sheet of paper missing half of the entries on the screen. I asked him where the rest were and he said, "Well, that's how it came off." At this point, I knew Chuck wasn't going to be as helpful as I wanted him to be, but I decided to stay and see if I could get more information. Chuck asked me what kind of stereo I was looking for and I explained that I simply wanted a CD player to put into her car. Chuck asked what I was looking to spend. I explained that my wife had received several gift certificates at Christmas and we wanted to keep the price low. After all, its just a CD player for the car, and really how good of a system does one need in their car? The longest trip she takes is to our lake on the weekends and that's only an hour. Chuck and I walked towards the wall of stereos and he asked the limits of my price range. I again explained that we wanted to keep it on the cheap side, and she wouldn't have a need for a car stereo worth $500. Chuck then asked, "Does she mind if it skips?" At this point, I just looked at Chuck like he was an idiot. He smiled and responded that he was serious. He went on to explain that if I didn't want a CD player that skipped, then I should stick to the stereos that were $120 and up. While Chuck is explaining all of this, I'm still pondering his statement about the skipping. I stopped Chuck and asked him if he meant skipping on a bumpy road, which I would expect, or during normal driving. Chuck chuckled, and said during normal driving. At this point I had to ask Chuck if he was being serious. He stated he was and discussed how the cheaper players skip during normal driving down normal roads. I asked Chuck why Best Buy would stock inferior CD players. He explained, "We acquire all players for anyone." I thought I understood what he just said and responded by saying they shouldn't stock such products as it brings down their name. How would you feel if you bought a CD player and it skipped as you drove down a normal road? Again, Chucks told me, "We acquire all players for anyone." I didn't think Chuck was speaking English, let alone following me, so I changed the subject back to getting a CD player for my wife. After a few more questions, I thought back to the cheaper ones and told that I just couldn't believe Best Buy would stock something like that when they have the market power to demand better. Chuck then said, "You'll find the same ones at Circuit City, Car Stereo One, and Meijer's." I told Chuck that I'd expect it of Meijer's, but would expect the other stores to use their influence to demand better. Chuck looked at me and appeared to be a bit upset when he responded, "We don't stereotype." Huh? He then again repeated, "We acquire all players for anyone." Double Huh? At this point, I thanked Chuck for his time and left. So Chuck, if you happen to read this, follow along with me here. You're an idiot. Pull your head out of your ass and listen when someone speaks. You obviously have no grasp of the English language, so let me help you out. I was implying that Best Buy should use its market power to force the makers of inferior car stereos to fix their cheaper products so that they perform better. Best Buy shouldn't want its customers to purchase faulty products because those same customers and the people they complain to will equate those faulty products with Best Buy. Then they'll take their business elsewhere. I was not implying that Best Buy shouldn't stock cheap products to keep the riff raff out, which is what I believe you thought I was saying. Of course, I also believe if Best Buy wants to win over their customers then they should also hire employees who are capable of normal human conversation. All was not lost though as the guy working the Computer department was extremely helpful in my search for a new 3D card. Every other word out of his mouth was "Sir" and he told me exactly how I could get a hold of the hard to find card I was after. Maybe Chuck will take some lessons from this guy before I return. To cap my Best Buy experience off, I passed by a new PC on display as I was leaving the Computer department. Being a PC guy myself, I stopped to check out the setup. Under the PC being displayed were packs of printer paper, $3.99.
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I am completely unmotivated to write a post today, mainly due to being busy as hell here at work. I’m going to post something anyway as I promised little Gordo I would do while he was away. The bastard already gives me enough grief about not posting often enough when he’s around. I don’t need to hear him bitching about the lack of posting when he’s gone. I was actually working on a longer post for today concerning voyeurism and exhibitionism (yeah, that got your attention didn’t it?), but I didn’t like how it was turning out. I’ve filled it and will try and bring it back out next week. For now, enjoy these random thoughts: This news must piss off certain congressmen who believe the future of our country lies in censorship and not good parenting. The Amazing Race 4 starts tonight at 8 p.m. EST. Its the only reality show that I can get into. The host isn’t annoying, the show isn’t over-hyped, there really aren’t any alliances, the people aren’t all greedy backstabbers, and they travel the world experiencing new cultures. The human drama is more true to life as teams of two are made up of people who know each other, like a father/son, or best friends, or a married couple. I encourage anyone to give the show a try, even if you hate reality TV, this show might be the exception. While you’re visiting, check out our forums. You’ll have to register to post…possibly even to see them all, but we’re quite proud of the collection of people we have posting. Have you ever seen Michael Moore’s Bowling for Columbine? It won the Academy Award for Best Documentary. Problem: It wasn’t a documentary. Now some people are trying to get the oscar revoked. I fully support their movement. Not because he’s a democrat or because he’s anti-war, but because he’s a liar. Someone who makes a documentary should be fiercely dedicated to the truth. Hell, there are enough people in this country who believe normal motion pictures represent the truth, we don’t need documentaries telling them how to think. Boy it sucked to be the Red’s starting pitcher last night. The first three Braves up to bat in the game all hit home runs. Ok, I’m really grasping for straws here and something new I’ve got to deal with just dropped into my lap, so I’ll leave you with this final note: Gordon and I had toyed with the idea of putting webcams up on the site like other sites have done. Nothing pornographic, just putting a face on things. We even talked about linking other people’s cams. Click Feedback below to tell us what you think of that idea. |
Yes, I am filling in for the Gordon as he treks across the U.S. to find a new home. Actually, filling in is probably the wrong word. As a co-founder of this site I’ve posted many times before, but since Gordon does most of the posting it seems like a one-man site. Let’s just say I’m picking up some slack. After a nice long weekend, there really isn’t a lot that is pissing me off today so I’ll simply make this a post of links and some random thoughts. I’ll do it Larry King style and just ramble from statement to statement. For your ease in reading, each paragraph will be a new subject. Enjoy. To the girls over at Right We Are, you can add Kelsey Grammer to your list of celebrities. Check out the June issue of FHM or Stuff (I forget which) to see his interview for more details. A little story for gaming geeks, non-geeks can skip ahead: I was at EBGames last Sunday tagging along as a cousin picked up Lost Kingdoms 2. I noticed that Enter the Matrix had been released for all systems and asked the clerk if he had heard anything about the PC version. For those gamers reading this, you’ll probably understand that certain genres play better on the PC than the consoles, and vice versa. I want to try this game, but don’t want to deal with bad graphics or bad controls. Anyway, this gaming “expert” that EBGames hired told me he had heard mixed reviews, then proceeded to go into a long rant about how the X-Box is the superior gaming system to them all. His diatribe included gems such as how the X-Box is “destroying” the other consoles in the console wars, and how the X-Box’s graphics are far superior to anything the PC can churn out. I looked at this person like he was the stupidest human alive on the planet, and he may very be. I explained to him that the PS2 has sold 30 million units while the X-Box and Gamecube have sold about 2-3 million each. I also explained how the graphics cards in the consoles were 2 years old and couldn’t hold a candle to PCs, which new graphics cards come out for every few months. Not to mention that any console connected to a TV is going to be severely limited right from the get go due to the TV’s limitations. This “expert’s” responses were basically that the X-Box was winning because he sold more of them in his store, and the X-Box has better graphics because you can plug it into a High Definition TV… Speaking of gaming, Penny Arcade! is my favorite online comic and I encourage any gamers to visit there frequently (new comics: Mon, Wed, Fri). Most of the comics will remind you of you and your group of gaming friends, while the site news will keep you informed on some upcoming titles that may not get covered in so much detail elsewhere. This may be a bit late, but I’m sick of hearing about how Anika Sorrenstam “proved she could play with the men”. How the hell did she do that? Anika did not qualify to play at The Colonial. Anika also did not make the cut. Anika finished tied for 96th out of the 111 people who made it to the second day. Keep in mind, this was on the PGA’s shortest course that was soaked with rain making it play much, much easier than it normally does. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not a woman hater trying to keep a woman off the men’s tour. I simply HATE hype. Babe Zaharias was a woman that played golf on the men’s touryears ago, and I support her right to play. She qualified to play in men’s events and thus earned the right. Anika is an exceptional golfer and I have no doubt that she could easily earn the right to play on the men’s tour by qualifying. I’m actually more pissed off at the fact that the LPGA won’t let a man play on their tour. Where is the equality? If Anika could come to the men’s tour to test her skills, why couldn’t a Tiger Woods go play on a ladies’ event and test his skills? Why is this society so intent on tearing down sexual and racial “barriers” for certain groups, yet leave them standing for others? As a final note, how pissed off do you think feminists were at Anika’s comments about her performance? If you missed them: “It was a great week but I've got to go back to my tour, where I belong,” she said. “I'm glad I did it, but this is way over my head.” Speaking of stereotypes, if people were really trying to make this country more “equal” then shouldn’t we be doing something about these? Well that should be enough of a post to tide you all over for now. I have no idea when Gordon will return. Until then, I’ll try to do a post a day or every other day, depending on my mood and how busy I am at work. |
Welp, time for the big move. As soon as I put this post online, I'm tearing down my system. When you next see me, I will blessedly be out of this godforsaken hellhole of a state. I'll hit the forum on Sunday night from Vince's, in Memphis. Minimum downtime is until Tuesday, but possibly up to two weeks while I get the new house straightened out. I've given Leisher the keys to the site, and if he can figure out my tangled HTML he'll be updating in my absence. I give him 3:5 odds, against. ;) Take care, Godspeed.
I've not done any speculating either way since this ordeal started, not only because I didn't have enough evidence to have an opinion either way, but because I saw plenty of Scott Peterson (her husband) bashing plenty of other places around the blogosphere. All of it I saw had the guy convicted and were calling for the death penalty. Because cops never ever screw up, apparently.
Whether the guy is guilty or not, only a handful of people know the truth. Stop forgetting "innocent until proven guilty." It could be you unjustly accused, next time.
Here's some of the nuggets of wisdom I've been exposed to lately from somebody's mother. There's still a couple days left in the visit and this may be premature, but I'm seething with anger at the moment and need to vent. I'll post more nuggets in the feedback thread as they occur.
"We were happier when I was younger. The country was a better place then.
People didn't get divorced, and families spent time together."
On May 10th I told a story about what I did a long time ago in Athens, Greece. Thibodeaux, a forum regular, said, "Hey, I'll be in Athens next week!" So, I called him out, and challenged him to repeat my performance. This is his story.
Back in '99 right before I left North Sioux City, SD for Memphis, TN I took a very relaxing four day weekend in the Black Hills. I decided I'd better see it before I left that part of the country. Since then, many of you know I moved to Nebraska for a time...and as I'm again leaving this region for the east coast, I decided I'd better go see it again. But this time I had a digital camera. The map said it would be about a seven hour drive, so I left early...I also wanted to take a scenic route on which there would be light traffic. Vacations are no fun if you get stressed on busy interstates. I know I mentioned a police chase in the teaser....and there was....but I'm not sure how much detail I should give. I don't want to end up as a Fark entry, "Asshat evades police, brags about it on the internet, jailarity ensues." Let's just say that I didn't break any laws, but I did some things that to a lesser mortal might have been deemed "reckless," and I did it in front of some sort of public employee who was deliberately pissing me off. 1. The Bandit would have been proud. 2. I'm very impressed with the solid construction of my Pontiac. As rough as it ended up being, I was certain I'd have at least bent something underneath....but I didn't. Yahoo. Note to any law-enforcement types: this is fiction, as far as you know. But I digress. Last year I was in a hotel in western Nebraska, and took a trip to a local attraction, Carhenge. Wrote about it. So of course I could pass through that area again without taking a ganders.
Still a bit overcast...I can't seem to find that place on a clear day. Now, this part of Nebraska is pretty desolate. Hours and hundreds of miles from anything that could be properly called a city, the locals have made due with whatever was available to them, carving their homes out of the rough stuff of the High Plains. But, they never forget to show the proper hospitality to weary travelers.
For you citified types, those are bales of hay. Local avian residents, however, are less welcoming to visitors. As the car door was opened to snap those pics, we were dive-bombed.
When I realized I needed a picture for posterity, it had started raining. Finally, before dusk, we arrived at our destination, Custer State Park. We'd rented a cabin right inside the park. It was quite a scenic drive in...we saw lots of critters right alongside the road.
Prairie dogs, the bane of cattle ranchers.
Goats.
Deer.
And of course, American Bison. When I came here in '99, I noticed an interesting phenomenon: when one encounters jackasses in this park, they aren't shy like the other animals....they'll stick their head right inside the car with you. This lesson wasn't lost on me. Ahead on the right side of the road, I spied a herd (flock? pod?) of jackasses. My mother-in-law was in the passenger's seat. Slowing to a stop, I pushed the button to roll down her window, and slowly turned on my camera.... and began to laugh, because the jackasses haven't changed.
Owned. She's cowering in fear. I'm snapping pictures. Little woman's in the back laughing nervously. I'm laughing whole heartedly, having difficulty holding the camera steady. I only stayed there for three or four minutes, though. I'm not a completely heartless bastard. Many mountain roads later, we arrived at the main lodge to check-in. There's a few rooms and a nice restaurant in this "State Game Lodge," but we wanted a private cabin. Here's the sign hanging on the front of the lodge.
It says that President Coolidge moved the White House here in 1927, and President Eisenhower stayed here in June, 1950. Eventually it will amended to also list President-for-Life Gordon. Got the cabin, went to the nearby general store for firewood, dodged the bison, and relaxed a bit.
There are bison everywhere, including all around the cabins. Picture is deceiving; the buffalo in the background aren't more than 50 meters away. No fences. There was not a thing stopping those animals in the background from charging and goring me. In fact, the next morning there was one sleeping outside our door. Directly outside the door. My wife's screams made it leave. She was caught somewhat unawares. Next day, we decided to hit Mt. Rushmore, and the under-construction Crazy Horse Monument. We took a leisurely drive through the park, and found lots of panoramic lookouts as we approached.
And, as always, it was humbling to stand before it and be dwarfed by the mountain itself, and the reason it was built. Because this is the most incredible nation in the history of the planet, and I get to live here. It's hard to take that for granted in this place.
And I crushed it.
Spent a couple hours there, and we had some lunch while overlooking it. Then we headed toward Crazy Horse. Their hook is that the Indians want the white man to know that the Indians "have heroes, too." They are carving up this mountain with only private donations....they have refused money from the federal government more than once.
When I was there last week, I saw where a big chunk of my money must have gone: the new huge multi-million dollar visitor center. Oh, and it now costs $20 to park your car. And to be honest, I saw some, but not a lot of progress on the mountain. It felt a lot more like being tricked by a tourist trap than it did visiting a monument. After the $20 cover charge, I took my rock and avoided the tip jar, this time. Damned shame. Of course, I had to crush it.
The next day we decided to drive into Wyoming and visit Devil's Tower. Least populous state in the Union, you know. If the drive through western Nebraska could be considered desolate, then Wyoming is like....a thing even more desolate. Passed a llama farm somewhere after the state line.
Crushed them.
We took a scenic route and stopped for gas somewhere, so the entire drive was between two and three hours. At the park entrance, we were told by a nice ranger lady that a climber had just fallen off the tower, and to please give way for emergency vehicles. Yikes.
I got the ambulance rigs in this picture. They had a part of the trail circumnavigating the tower blocked off from rubberneckers, and I loitered in that visitor center area for a couple hours, but I never saw anyone...or any corpses...being brought down. I don't know if the climber lived or died, but the scuttlebutt down there at base camp said it was a girl that fell. The size of the thing is ridiculous. Here's a picture for scale...the two dark specks near the middle are two climbers standing on a ledge.
STOP THE INSANITY! Oh, and I crushed it.
On the way back into South Dakota, I crushed both the "welcome to" sign, and my two passengers.
Our last day in the park we decided to go horseback riding, and to take a long drive down the scenic Needles Highway. On which there are lots of rock formations known as "needles."
I don't have anything to show scale, but they really are more impressive than I can show in this picture. There are three one-lane tunnels on this highway, and the story is told that the main engineer wanted all the tunnels to center on Mt. Rushmore in the distance. He was told it was impossible. He said, "Nigga, please."
Hard to tell in that image, but that is Rushmore on the horizon. Here's the actual "Eye of the Needle" formation.
Ignore the edge of my thumb. Accidental near-crush. Horsie pictures will need to come later...due to some camera restriction, those pics are on real film. And, that was the trip. On the way back I avoided the town in which I caused some trouble, and I didn't get pulled over. However, if I had I imagine it would look something like this:
Is there a problem, officer? You JACKASS. A few more pictures are in a folder accessible through the Feedback thread.
Got back this evening, but too physically and emotionally drained to tell the story that needs to be told. There was another police chase. Story after I get some sleep.
DATA LOSS, HERE.
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Did you hear me ask for jelly only? Men and women are two species set apart by a common language.
To those to whom it applies. You mothers.
Once upon a time, I almost got thrown in jail in Greece. A few coworkers and I were in Athens on "business." This particular day we closed the deal early, so we cleaned and stowed the weapons and decided to do the tourist-thing. We started down in the marina district. We had some lunch at a place on the waterfront called "American Pizza," and after had a few adult beverages while enjoying the sights. Of the topless beach. On which we were the only men, for some reason. Ahhhh, Athens. After a few hours we started walking, heading generally toward the city center, or what seemed like it. A few hours and about 10 miles later found us in a market district, and we had a steak dinner (with tomatoes and onions on the side) in an open-air restaurant and did some shopping. I found a great shirt with lots of hidden pockets, but still nice enough to wear to the discothèque. Chatted with the proprietor a bit, and found out one of her suppliers was in Ohio, not far from where I grew up. Or...not far from where up I grew. Whatever. At any rate, I went to Greece and bought a shirt that was probably made in Fremont, Ohio. Small world. All of a sudden, we were at the base of a decently sized hill. We checked the map, and realized we were at the base of the Acropolis...from our position it looked like nothing more than a big pile of rocks. Up we went.
I was appropriately impressed. Underneath the sterile skeletal facade, it was easy for me to feel the antiquity of the place. I could see Greeks in the world's first Democracy overseeing the construction of this place as part of a large public works project. I imagined invaders from Rome and Turkey and Germany and Germany once more using this position as a high vantage point from which to keep an eye on the surrounding territory. And, as I'd been drinking a lot that day, I wondered how cool it would be to pee off the side. As I was busy looking around, I failed to notice how portions of the stone path were so worn with the treading of feet over thousands of years that they were smooth as glass. I wasn't paying attention and I slipped and fell on my ass, much to the amusement of me mates. ANYWAY...all of the structures were, at that time, cordoned off by ropes. No touchy allowed. This pissed me off. I didn't come millions of miles to the cradle of democracy to be stopped by a freaking rope fence...and hell, I've infiltrated tougher places than this. There were antiquities police (or whatever) everywhere we looked, so we'd have to recon a bit for a quiet corner...and we found one, or so we thought. It was around a smaller structure in a deserted alcove of the hilltop...perfect for what I had in mind. The finger points to the location.
I gave my camera to one of the guys. I said, "Ok...I'm going to jump this fence, sprint up the stairs, get next to a column, turn around and lean against it. Snap the picture the second I turn around, don't lollygag. Then I'm going to get my ass off before someone sees me. Four seconds from start to finish." This seemed like a good plan, so we had a little countdown, and I was off. Leaped the fence easily, and was bounding up the marble steps. I was focusing hard on the task at hand, but was somewhat surprised to see the guard at the top of the stairs but back a bit, where none of us had seen him. I didn't hesitate a micron as I watched the surprise register on his face...his second of hesitation saved me. As I turned around and leaned against the pillar for the picture, his hand was bringing a whistle to his lips, and he was getting his mass in motion in my direction. I saw Tillman snap the picture, and got myself moving back down the steps...waiting for a hand to fall on my shoulder. It crossed my mind that if I felt him grab me, I shouldn't throw him forward as it was a long drop down some hard steps...fortunately he didn't catch me. I got down the steps and jumped the barrier. Ran the few feet to my buddies and turned around to see what we were facing. For some reason he didn't blow his whistle...but I guess he hesitated to chase me when he saw he faced three not-out-of-shape guys. He stood at the top of the steps where I had just been and jabbered for about 15 seconds in Greek. I waited for a pause in his tirade and attempted to be diplomatic...adding a lilt of apology in my voice, I told him that I apologized for desecrating this national shrine, but I wanted a picture, and that now we'd be going. He launched into another fit, sounding even angrier. Now, the guy who took the picture of me was my associate, who we'll call Tillman. He is a large black man...one of the ones with a bald head....and he has a pretty short temper. About now he says to this guard, "Hey, he already apologized. You'd better just calm yourself down," and actually starts taking a step at this guy. REALLY not wanting to cause an international incident, and not forgetting how close help was for this guy if he blew his whistle, I caught Tillman to check his progress, and Schmitty helped me get him turned into our desired direction. It was time to "ass-out the area," as we used to say. We walked briskly but calmly toward the stairs out and down. We left when we chose to. And I have a great picture.
The guard is directly behind the pillar against which I'm leaning. Almost sad that we didn't get him in the picture, too. And here's me leaving the country a few days later.
Had a road trip appear unexpectedly, so no new posts this week. I'll appear in the forum as often as possible. Until next weekend be good, damn the man, and click the GuestMap button in the right column.
Last year I wrote about the RIAA's attempt to get laws passed that would allow them to hack into private computer systems to hunt and destroy media files. I wrote my Congressman asking his opinion, and a month later got a form letter thanking me for my interest. Apparently my inability to fly him in on my corporate jet for an expensive dinner and prostitute means I'm not worth listening to. More recent was my post about the RIAA allegedly hacking private peer to peer file sharing systems. They popped up messages to the users that they were breaking the law, whether or not the person had ever actually downloaded an "illegal" media file. Popular rumor has it that this is only the most public of the RIAA's hacking practices; Madonna's latest debacle is only the tip of the iceberg in the practice of flooding the networks with "spoofed" files. And, the fact remains that more than one file-sharing network has been getting continually DOS attacked (speculations are deep into the thread) to the point of uselessness, and nobody seems to be able to track the source. Well, it seems that they've been developing attack plans before they've even had a chance to be made legal.
"Varying degrees of legality?" That's a new one on me. I guess something can be somewhat illegal, but kind of not. Before you start thinking, "well how bad could it be," well...
In summary, they want to send you a virus to redirect you to content they decide you should see, they want to lock up your computer system no matter how else it's being used, and they want to deny you use of the internet. Because your nine year old daughter wanted to hear the latest crappy N*Sync single. Question: say you're on a cable modem, and the RIAA decides to DOS your cable modem using, file trading neighbor. Wouldn't the fact that you and your neighbor are on the same network node mean that the entire neighborhood gets DOS'd along with the alleged file trader? Not to the same extent that particular IP will get attacked, but still I can't imagine there not being an overall reduction of throughput. And keep in mind, this is indeed all alleged. Without a search warrant, the RIAA has absolutely no way to determine whether or not I don't already own the vinyl or cassette version of the mp3 copy I'm trying to obtain, which makes my file download perfectly legal. All you can do if unlawfully attacked by the RIAA is fork over a few thousand dollars to a lawyer. And the RIAA has deeper pockets than you.
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Saw X-Men 2 last night; excellent flick. Spoiler alert: there was this one guy who went like BAMF! and did a bunch of kickass stuff. Like, totally cool. During the movie, whenever Mystique had a protracted scene, damned if I didn't have a hard time focusing on the dialogue. Here's some Rebecca.
But then when I found pictures of the X-Women in street clothes, I thought Jean Grey was the most attractive.
And then there's Storm, who appeared topless in that other movie with Wolverine, and also that one with Slingblade:
And of course, there's tragic Rogue. Can't skip her.
And it just wouldn't be right if I didn't include the woman who had the kitty claws. She's a bad girl. Bad girls are dirty. Dirty girls need baths...
What can I say, I like the ladies. I do. I can't rant about stupid morons all the time... Ladies, if you want to see scantily clad X-Men, post them yourself. I can't on principle. Most of these pics are clickable, by the way.
Because that's how they're being taught. On purpose.
Long time readers know my position on political correctness, but for you three new people who have visited since Christmas, I feel it is nothing more than policing thoughts. Forbidden phrases and unwords are simply Orwellian shades of 1984. There is a difference between walking up to a person in a wheelchair and saying "you are a worthless cripple," and using the word "cripple" in its alternate and otherwise completely valid sense, for example, "American students' chances for success are being crippled by frivolous litigation and the desire to be inoffensive at the expense of accuracy." If any handicapped folks are offended at the word "crippled" in that sense, then you better just stay indoors. The world has too many rough edges for you. But it isn't just political correctness making the children stupid, it's the too often ignorant school administrative layer, more concerned with avoiding lawsuits than making sure they actually teach someone something. After all, colleges and universities are, before all other things, businesses.
And even when an instructor takes his or her job seriously and will not give away grades, they are punished.
That instructor, Frederick Lang, has been suspended from teaching in part because he docks points for spelling. Dick and Jane are screwed.
Remember that time when I said I wouldn't be posting on weekends anymore? Yeah, that was cool. Well, it turns out that for the next month or so I'm traveling a lot, and when not traveling I'll be moving half way across the country to an ocean. As such, there will be frequent gaps in posting during the week, so until things settle down I'll just post whenever I can to compensate for dead air. ++++ Gulf II gave the Arab world a big reality check. Not only did Allah not intervene and crush infidel Americans who dared trod on ancient Mesopotamia, but one of the biggest armies in the region was flicked away like a booger from a nine year old finger, and there was no uprising by the people, either, in any country. My guess is that more people protest US Iraqi involvement in San Francisco and Hollywood than do in Iraq as a whole. I stumbled upon this editorial the other day in Arab media:
I agree with what the author has to say, and disagree with what he omits. He states that the Arab world cannot continue to blame Israel for their problems. This is obvious to most people outside of that particular argument. He goes on to state that Arab media was wildly biased and too willing to accept falsehoods as fact, while still managing to slip in a jab at western media. What I feel he omitted was a flat statement that the United States isn't the cause of all their problems, either, but I guess that would be asking for too much. I guess they need to work on not wanting to blame/destroy a smaller country before than can stop wanting to blame/destroy the most powerful country in the history on the Earth.
It's week-old news now, but I've needed time to contemplate it:
My knee-jerk response to this news was, "What, they're setting up an opposing force, ala Warsaw Pact? So I stopped to think about it. And yes, I think they're setting up a force to oppose United States "unilateral" action. This brings up a number of points:
The conclusion of these questions is, to me, "Nothing good can come of this." In my opinion this force is being created to thwart any actions by the United States in which they see fit to disrupt. France is a wannabe Soviet Union in all other respects, they might as well have their baby Warsaw Pact, too. This is almost comical, considering their countries' ability to wage war compared to that of the United States. But what if they had another country join their little club, who had a little firepower? Might the hub of the Axis of Weasel side with North Korea? No. Well, not yet. M. Chirac returned from Moscow soon before making this announcement. Interesting coincidence. One wonders if he was recruiting. Putin so far hasn't suggested he'd join the Force of Weasel, but he is making more pro-U.N. noises. Nobody wants to be left out, I suppose. France sucks.
For those who don't know, I lived in Memphis for a few years, and was exposed to a lot of the idiocy of the State Government. Every six month or so, the Governor, who ran on a platform of never instituting a state income tax, would rally the state lawmakers in attempt to impose an income tax. Every time this would happen, it seemed everyone in Nashville stormed the statehouse in protest. Near riot conditions. Right before I left, it was reported in the news that to avoid public protest, his latest attempt had been held at the governor's mansion, which is off limits to the public. Every other week there was a new story in the news about state spending. One day it was the fact the state's fleet of vehicles was going to be replaced with hundreds of the sport models of Ford Tauruses. Upgraded to include cd player. Another time it was when the governor's wife went to Paris with their son for a week. At taxpayer expense. Which leads me to another article I found.
Yay, Tennessee! If the people of Tennessee let this slide next election time, my opinion of all southerners will drop in general. (Interesting info upper right on that page)
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When
I visited here in 1999, it was small and rough. It was free to
park, and they just recommended you donate once you were in the
simple information center with the deck overlooking the
mountain. I picked up a free rock from the mountain, and
dropped $20 in the tip jar. As simple as the
"overhead" was, I felt like the majority of my money would
go into the carving of the mountain. This is a good thing.
It's
actually a decent hike to the top, reminiscent of Mount Motherfucker
in California. Yes, I believe that's the official name of that
particular hill.... anyway, we passed through a massive
entrance thousands of years old, and I beheld the Parthenon for the
first time.
