AgnostoLibertarianTechnoGeek

Do not vote!

2006-10-24T08:35:00.000-04:00

To create a system which, by definition, enjoys a legal monopoly on the use of force, and then allow that system to become the judge of its own authority, is an error of such enormity that one can only wonder why grown men and women would be surprised to discover such powers being “abused.” Creating the system is the abuse. Directing our criticism to members of the present cast while overlooking the backers of the play – who have substitute performers waiting in the wings – exceeds the bounds of innocence. It is like placing a bowlful of candy in front of a number of small children, and expecting the candy not to be touched in your absence.

"if voting changed anything, they’d make it illegal" -- Emma Goldman

My new favorite ejaculation

2006-10-13T15:52:00.000-04:00

Also from the Penn Jillette radio show:

"Jesus Christ puking on a monkey!"

And btw, for you disgustingly minded folks...

ejaculation (n.): A sudden short exclamation, especially a brief pious utterance or prayer.

Things I've leared from Penn

2006-10-13T09:11:00.000-04:00

Gleaned from the Penn Jillette radio show:

Q. A person addicted to drugs is said to have "a monkey on his (or her) back". Well, what does a drug addicted monkey have on its back?

A. A drunken rat

Wanna know why? It would take too long to explain. I think it's on this podcast.

Firefly + Serenity

2006-08-07T09:52:00.000-04:00

Watched the series in one big gulp. Loved it. Was incredibly surprised that my wife liked it as much as I did. Then watched the movie. Several heartbreaking events (at least one of which was completely unnecessary, IMHO), which soured it a bit for my wife (who is big on happy endings), and it still left a number of unanswered questions. But the movie was great too. What a horrible shame the series only lasted one truncated season. But I wonder how much longer it would have been able to keep going and still be creative and work well and so on.

And Suze, I remember you being concerned about being compared to River. You should definitely not be concerned about that. Besides being a babe (all the women aboard that ship are babes in their own way), River is brilliant, psychic, intriguing, and kicks ass at a level beyond anyone else in the 'verse.

An incredible show. I'm glad I took a chance on it.

Twofer

2006-07-07T10:01:00.000-04:00

Two quotes for the price of one:

Life being what it is, one dreams of revenge.
-- Paul Gauguin

Some editors are failed writers, but so are most writers.
-- T. S. Eliot

Yawn

2006-06-26T09:16:00.000-04:00

I really, really, really have nothing to say. Or, whatever I have to say is spoken and not written. Or, I'm just boring. Which is the most likely explanation.

Quotes worth repeating, volume XVLIII

2006-06-26T08:58:00.000-04:00

"I would rather be exposed to the inconveniences attending too much liberty than to those attending too small a degree of it."

-- Thomas Jefferson, to Archibald Stuart, 1791

Widely applicable quotes, episode XVIII

2006-06-02T08:50:00.000-04:00

"All you need in this life is ignorance and confidence; then success is sure."

-- Mark Twain, Letter to Mrs Foote, Dec. 2, 1887

Things are going well

2006-05-31T16:16:00.000-04:00

And they are very glad to have us there:

U.S. forces killed two Iraqi women — one of them about to give birth — when the troops shot at a car that failed to stop at an observation post in a city north of Baghdad, Iraqi officials and relatives said Wednesday. Nabiha Nisaif Jassim, 35, was being raced to the maternity hospital in Samarra by her brother when the shooting occurred Tuesday.

Which do you care more about?

2006-05-27T10:03:00.000-04:00

Which makes you feel worse: an apartment building fire a mile away from you that kills ten people, or this:

An earthquake that shook the area around the ancient royal city of Yogyakarta [in Indonesia] on Saturday killed more than 2,700, a government official said.

Why?

It's not that I don't believe, it's that I don't care

2006-05-22T08:59:00.000-04:00

After reading this post at LRC, wherein the writer relates his former "militant atheism", I was reminded of the following quote by Eric Hoffer:

The opposite of the religious fanatic is not the fanatical atheist but the gentle cynic who cares not whether there is a god or not.

Others who likewise don't care should consider visiting The Universal Church Triumphant of the Apathetic Agnostic.

Exit singer

2006-05-11T15:40:00.000-04:00

A sad event. Sorta. New singer made it through round one of auditions. Now let's see how he does with other stuff at our next practice.

My Kind of Menu

2006-05-09T08:38:00.000-04:00

Brad Edmonds knows how to eat:

If I were to open my own pub, I’d be famous instantly. The fat nannies would faint like antebellum plantation debutantes – cue the southern-belle sotto-voce drawl: “Oh, daddy, I believe I’m getting the vapors” – upon reading my lunch menu:

From Mulligan’s in Georgia: The Hamdog [a hot dog wrapped in a beef patty, all deep fried, then slapped on a bun, covered in chili and cheese, and topped with a fried egg].

From McGuire’s in Florida: The Liverwurst Sandwich, an entire pound of braunschweiger with raw onions, rye bread, and mustard.

From Denny’s Pub in Pennsylvania: The 15-lb cheeseburger (I’ll give it to you for free if you can eat it without leaving the table; 2-hour time limit).

For the more traditional half-pound, 3/4-pound, and one-pound burgers, my available toppings would include cheese, bacon, liverwurst, duck liver pate, caviar, fried eggs, pastrami, salami, pepperoni, pork barbecue, roast duck, sushi, sashimi, oysters, extra salt, and anything else anyone wants to order made from animals that walk, gallop, swim, slither, fly, or whatever it is that crabs do.

Doctors recommend exercise. Merely lifting my plate-wrecking sandwiches to your mouth will qualify as exercise.

For the dinner menu: Family-style entire roast beasts; 7-layer meat casseroles; bundt-pan-molded ground beef, pork, and veal, seasoned Italian style, covered in Parmesan cheese; deep-fried meatballs the size of your fist; steaks the size of your thigh. My waiters won’t have trays, they’ll have wheeled carts, perhaps motorized. My refrigerators and freezers will have to be the size of motor homes.

Rush several songs into new album

2006-05-07T16:23:00.000-04:00

Via The Rock Radio

Work has begun in earnest on a new Rush album. Singer-bassist Geddy Lee and guitarist Alex Lifeson recently flew from Toronto to the mountains of Quebec to visit drummer and lyricist Neil Peart, who had sent them lyrics a few months ago. Peart wrote on his official neilpeart.com website, 'There were five song sketches -- guitar, vocals, and drum machine -- and I liked them all. I also noticed those songs already seemed to have a sort of unity, a stylistic approach of chord structures, rhythms, and vocal delivery that I could only describe as 'spiritual.'' Peart didn't explain what he meant by 'spiritual,' but he did say, 'It was wonderful that after 30 years of working together, we could still find different paths to explore together.' Peart also wrote, 'I'm going to spend the month of May in Toronto, where we have rented a small studio. It will be great to have the opportunity to work together on those songs, and hopefully some new ones, too... Lately I've been getting all inspired about 'hitting things with sticks.''

There's no word on when the album might come out, but Lifeson previously told us that he expected it sooner rather than later: 'Hopefully we'll be done by summer -- I mean, all of us are really hoping that we'll be done by summer. I think the juices are starting to flow, and there's an excitement about getting back to work.'

Reasonable questions

2006-04-25T10:08:00.000-04:00

To be, or not to be: that is the question:
Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,
Or to take arms against a sea of troubles,
And by opposing end them? To die: to sleep;
No more; and by a sleep to say we end
The heart-ache and the thousand natural shocks
That flesh is heir to, 'tis a consummation
Devoutly to be wish'd. To die, to sleep;
To sleep: perchance to dream: ay, there's the rub;
For in that sleep of death what dreams may come
When we have shuffled off this mortal coil,
Must give us pause: there's the respect
That makes calamity of so long life;
For who would bear the whips and scorns of time,
The oppressor's wrong, the proud man's contumely,
The pangs of despised love, the law's delay,
The insolence of office and the spurns
That patient merit of the unworthy takes,
When he himself might his quietus make
With a bare bodkin? who would fardels bear,
To grunt and sweat under a weary life,
But that the dread of something after death,
The undiscover'd country from whose bourn
No traveller returns, puzzles the will
And makes us rather bear those ills we have
Than fly to others that we know not of?
Thus conscience does make cowards of us all;

If you're reading this post, it is not directed at you

2006-04-25T10:03:00.000-04:00

Get over it. Get over the drama. Get over yourself and grow up.

Sometimes...

2006-04-24T14:04:00.000-04:00

Sometimes the petty annoyances of life pile one atop the next in a seemingly neverending cascade of unpleasantness. The torrent of minor frustrations combine and compound until they gradually overwhelm the senses and become the sum of life's existence. At times like these, I must forcefully remind myself of why continuing matters, else not continuing seems a viable method of neutralizing all that is negative.

A project for the industrious

2006-04-21T12:39:00.000-04:00

How to destroy the Earth:

Destroying the Earth is harder than you may have been led to believe.

You've seen the action movies where the bad guy threatens to destroy the Earth. You've heard people on the news claiming that the next nuclear war or cutting down rainforests or persisting in releasing hideous quantities of pollution into the atmosphere threatens to end the world.

Fools.

The Earth is built to last. It is a 4,550,000,000-year-old, 5,973,600,000,000,000,000,000-tonne ball of iron. It has taken more devastating asteroid hits in its lifetime than you've had hot dinners, and lo, it still orbits merrily. So my first piece of advice to you, dear would-be Earth-destroyer, is: do NOT think this will be easy.

This is not a guide for wusses whose aim is merely to wipe out humanity. I (Sam Hughes) can in no way guarantee the complete extinction of the human race via any of these methods, real or imaginary. Humanity is wily and resourceful, and many of the methods outlined below will take many years to even become available, let alone implement, by which time mankind may well have spread to other planets; indeed, other star systems. If total human genocide is your ultimate goal, you are reading the wrong document. There are far more efficient ways of doing this, many which are available and feasible RIGHT NOW. Nor is this a guide for those wanting to annihilate everything from single-celled life upwards, render Earth uninhabitable or simply conquer it. These are trivial goals in comparison.

This is a guide for those who do not want the Earth to be there anymore.

Yawn

2006-04-20T19:39:00.000-04:00

Man, I really have nothing to say. Let's see, what's going on? Oh, I ended up having to fire that guy. So now I'm doing his work as well as mine until we have a replacement.

And we're looking for a new singer for my band. The current one is unaware of this. Purchased a used bass amp head and I'm awaiting delivery of a new speaker cabinet to mate with it. Then I'll probably sell my current combo amp.

Other than those things, nothing much going on to report. Or far far too much to report, depending on your outlook.

A night at CBGB

2006-04-04T16:36:00.000-04:00

So last night was The Big Night. My wife and I packed up the car with my equipment, and after ensuring the kids were in bed and the sitter well-situated, off we went. It was a drizzly night. After reaching downtown Manhattan and finding the club, we drove around for a while looking for parking and eventually found a garage a few blocks away. It's a good thing I bought a dolly for my amp, because that is one heavy piece of equipment, and the geniuses who designed it neglected to include any wheels, so I've given my arms and back a good workout getting to our previous gigs. I wheeled everything over, met my bandmates out front, and after exchanging some smalltalk, in we went.

It's a small, dingy, dirty, narrow place. The stage is a good long way away from the door. Some kind of metal / hardcore band was playing when we arrived. The singer was doing a fair Iggy Pop impersonation. I lugged my gear back to one of the "dressing rooms" and left it there while I went back out front with my wife and the guys in the band. We hung and talked and listened to the band, who was finishing up with their set. After they were done, we waited for them to clear their equipment off the stage. And it was our turn.

I hauled out my amp and bass and lifted them up onto the stage. Not much setup for me, other than plugging in and using my stage tuner to make sure I'm in tune. My bass is really solid when it comes to staying in tune. It was still right on from my last gig, even with the long car ride. Drummer, guitarist, singer all set up. The venue has an actual sound engineer who runs the PA and the board. He came back and miked us all up. A mike for my bass amp, for the guitarist, the singer, and a separate mike for each of the drums in the drummer's kit. He set our levels quickly, and after the singer and I exchange a few words about how it was so cool to be playing on the same stage where Talking Heads, The Ramones, Blondie and countless others had gotten their start, it was time.

We played our full set of originals, leaving out the few covers we do (CBGB only allows original material). We played very well. We sounded really good. Sure, I made a couple of errors, but that's ok. There were very few people there, maybe a dozen, but they enjoyed us and gave us a good reception.

When it was done, I was tired and hot and sweaty, but pumped full of adrenaline. The adrenaline lasted me most of the drive home, but by the time we got there, I was ready to collapse. Which I did. I slept away half the morning and got into the office by 1PM (which was OK, as I had requested the morning off already).

All in all, it was a pretty great night.

I've left the ecosystem

2006-04-03T19:29:00.000-04:00

I am now a transnatural being. I've deleted the code that shows where I am in the food chain of The Truth Laid Bear ecosystem. I forget how high I'd gotten, but when I saw that I was demoted back down to Multicellular Organism, I decided the hell with it, I don't need the additional load time on my page just to tell me that I'm a loser, blog-wise.

The Call Me The Seeker

2006-03-30T20:43:00.000-05:00

With apologies to The Who

You Are a Seeker Soul

You are on a quest for knowledge and life challenges.
You love to be curious and ask a ton of questions.
Since you know so much, you make for an interesting conversationalist.
Mentally alert, you can outwit almost anyone (and have fun doing it!).

Very introspective, you can be silently critical of others.
And your quiet nature makes it difficult for people to get to know you.
You see yourself as a philosopher, and you take everything philosophically.
Your main talent is expressing and communicating ideas.

Souls you are most compatible with: Hunter Soul and Visionary Soul

What Kind of Soul Are You?

Pretty right on with my own self-assessment.

Source: Ruth

Yay for Google! Again!

2006-03-30T09:34:00.000-05:00

I think this is the greatest thing in the world, but how long until the government sues them to make them stop?

What if Google wanted to give Wi-Fi access to everyone in America? And what if it had technology capable of targeting advertising to a user's precise location? The gatekeeper of the world's information could become one of the globe's biggest Internet providers and one of its most powerful ad sellers, basically supplanting telecoms in one fell swoop. Sounds crazy, but how might Google go about it?

First it would build a national broadband network--let's call it the GoogleNet--massive enough to rival even the country's biggest Internet service providers. Business 2.0 has learned from telecom insiders that Google is already building such a network...

So once the GoogleNet is built, how would consumers connect for free access? One of the cheapest ways would be for Google to blanket major cities with Wi-Fi, and evidence gathered by Business 2.0 suggests that the company may be trying to do just that.

Crossing the threshold

2006-03-26T10:26:00.000-05:00

I am now officially a professional musician. Fifteen dollars isn't a lot of money to make, but still...

Thank goodness we liberated them

2006-03-22T13:18:00.000-05:00

VOA News - Afghan Man Faces Execution After Converting to Christianity

An Afghan man who recently admitted he converted to Christianity faces the death penalty under the country's strict Islamic legal system. The trial is a critical test of Afghanistan's new constitution and democratic government.

Is it the most well-known club in the world?

2006-03-21T20:23:00.000-05:00

Maybe it is, maybe not (who cares, actually?). But CBGB (& OMFUG) was the primordial ooze from which sprang such luminaries as Talking Heads, The Ramones, and Blondie. And we're playing there in a week. Granted, it's just an audition night, but still.

Hey Anthony Gregory!

2006-03-15T15:53:00.000-05:00

Plug me again! My visits increase more than tenfold when you link to me over on LRC.

Just a few minutes late

2006-03-15T00:07:00.000-05:00

I missed it by just five minutes (in my time zone at least), but yesterday was Pi Day.

Drama

2006-03-12T12:03:00.000-05:00

Must bands be so full of drama? Witness the following:

Band on the brink of dissolving recruits awesome new bass player (ahem), rehearses the songs they have played before, bass player kicks butt, they play a couple of open-mic nights, and they kick ass.
Band decides they must record songs in a good studio to help promote themselves
Band works on new songs to expand set list so they can play a full set
Working on new songs goes slower than hoped, so guitarist says we should hold off for a while on the recording
Singer has hissy fit, yells at guitarist, gives him all kinds of crap about his behavior to date (most of which the kick-ass bassist has not witnessed, him being new and all)
Guitarist quits
Bassist convinces guitarist to continue, but guitarist says new singer must be had. Bassist somewhat reluctantly agrees.
Singer calls bassist trying to court bassist to join up with him.
Singer and guitarist have extensive e-mail hate-fest.
Bassist contacts different singer he knows asking if new singer wishes to join band. New singer tentatively agrees, since he likes band, but then declares he's too busy (which he is) to give it the attention it deserves.
Guitarist sends e-mail to singer saying he'll give him one more chance.

So I've gone from being in a kick ass band, to the band no longer existing, to convincing the guitarist to continue, to the singer trying to convince me to join him, to the guitarist, drummer, and I trying to find a new singer while the guitarist and singer trash each other via e-mail, to now seeing the possibility of reconciliation.

If I didn't think we really sounded awesome, I probably wouldn't put up with such drama. My old band was completely devoid of any kind of drama whatsoever. We were also so incredibly mediocre that I couldn't stay with them. So if the choice is between mediocre with no drama and excellence with drama, I'll stick with the drama as long as I can take it.

Well, natch

2006-03-12T09:30:00.000-05:00

You Are New York

Cosmopolitan and sophisticated, you enjoy the newest in food, art, and culture.
You also appreciate a good amount of grit - and very little shocks you.
You're competitive, driven, and very likely to succeed.

Famous people from New York: Sarah Michelle Gellar, Tupac Shakur, Woody Allen

What American City Are You?

Important notice from the Department of Duh

2006-03-08T10:30:00.000-05:00

Study Warns Women About Spring Break - Yahoo! News

83 percent of college women and graduates surveyed by the AMA said spring break involves heavier-than-usual drinking, and 74 percent said the break results in increased sexual activity.

I am shocked, shocked I say!

Meme of Fours

2006-03-08T08:35:00.000-05:00

Despite my protest about the use of the term "memes", Anthony Gregory of LRC (and many other places) tagged me (the bastard), so here goes:

Four jobs I've had:

Stockboy at 7-11
Camp Counsellor
Cashier at fast food joint
Software developer / manager

Four movies I can watch over and over:

The Lord of the Rings trilogy
Godfather and Godfather Part II (but not III)
Monty Python and the Holy Grail
Brazil

Four places I've lived:

Long Island, NY
Upstate NY
that's it

Four TV shows I love:

Deadwood
The Sopranos
The Odd Couple
M*A*S*H

Four highly regarded and recommended TV shows I haven't seen:

House
The Office
My Name is Earl
Nip/Tuck

Four of my favorite dishes:

Fettucine Alfredo
Spaghetti and Meatballs
A well-prepared hamburger
Grilled cheese with bacon

Four sites I visit daily:

Reason's Hit and Run
Lew Rockwell
Suze's blog
Wikipedia

Four Places I've Vacationed:

The Grand Canyon
Disneyworld (Orlando, FL)
Williamsburg, VA
Hershey, PA

Four albums I can't live without:

Rush - Moving Pictures
Rush - Vapor Trails
some Beatles collection
I ought to be able to think up a fourth, but my moods and tastes change so often I can't think of another essential album...

Four places I'd rather be right now:

Lying on a beach being served a cool drink
In a jazz club listening to a band
In bed
Where I am right now, at home with my family

Four new bloggers I'm tagging:

Ruth
Suze
Audrey
and anyone else reading this

Because sometimes you just have to do something like this...

2006-03-07T11:59:00.000-05:00

The Sarong Theorem Archive

Calling Paracelsus

2006-03-04T10:14:00.000-05:00

In a Yahoo News article discussing the upcoming availability of hydrogen-powered cars

There are still a number of barriers to the commercialization of hydrogen-powered cars. One is the infrastructure cost of building refueling stations. Another big challenge is reducing the cost of obtaining hydrogen itself, which has to be extracted from fossil fuels, such as carbon, or from water.

Let's leave aside for a moment the fact that carbon is not exactly a fossil fuel. Now, short of alchemy, can someone please explain to me how we are to obtain hydrogen from carbon?

A failure to communicate

2006-02-27T08:27:00.000-05:00

As a followup to "Managing sucks", I submit the following:

Person is told via e-mail, "Here is the updated list of things you need to accomplish within your probationary period. Please indicate your receipt and acceptance of this list."
Person responds, "Yes I have received your e-mail."

Puzzled children of low moral character

2006-02-24T11:11:00.000-05:00

You may not always agree with him, but Fred Reed is always an entertaining read:

The great fallacy of childhood is the belief that grownups must know what they are doing. There is no evidence for this in the historical record. You would do better by grabbing a government at random from the denizens of a rural high school. Democracy brings us twerps, psychopaths, ambitious ciphers, short men, and well-born drones. They are what they are. They can’t change any more than a leper can change his spots. I need some really strong drugs or someone to hit me on the head with a rubber mallet. Opium is the religion of the masses. Let us pray.

Managing sucks

2006-02-23T23:57:00.000-05:00

Being a manager sucks overall. Some people get off on it, but not me. I just want to do my thing and not worry about being responsible for the work of others.

I just had to give one of my staff members the warning letter. I.e., the letter which states you've been screwing up, and you have thirty days to stop it, work effectively, and communicate appropriately, or you're gone. One aspect of "communicating appropriately" means being non-adversarial with your supervisor(s) when being criticized about your work. So upon being given the warning letter, he promptly accused my boss of being incompetent to judge whether he has been taking too long on his issues, and accused me of being a liar for saying his documentation was not up to the level of others on the team. And then he asks my boss if he can have a private conversation with him, without me. My boss said yes and later asked me if I was ok with that. I said yes, because I knew that even though this guy would try his best to trash me, there's very little that he would be able to criticize. The worst that he could get me for is that I'm somewhat disconnected from what he's doing -- I'm not intimately aware of every technical aspect of every issue on his plate. And I shouldn't have to be. They're his issues to complete.

Non-adversarial.

Is he gonna try accusing me of crap like having seen me browsing or IM'ing when I could have been working instead? Please. He takes a half-hour break every morning for breakfast and every afternoon. A bunch of people do. Officially, people are supposed to be allowed to take 15 minute breaks in the AM and PM, but a number of people have let it get stretched out to half an hour each time. Plus lunch is routinely an hour and a quarter, an hour and a half. Do I take AM and PM breaks? No. Guess where I take my lunch 4 days out of 5. That's right, at my desk. And besides, I can't count the number of times I've walked past his desk and saw him running something in his browser down towards the bottom of his screen where most people couldn't see it...

And now I'm here blogging this, because all of this is preventing me from being able to sleep.

This one time, in band camp...

2006-02-18T12:18:00.000-05:00

So I'm in a new band now (I told you about my old band right?), and I'm loving this band. My old one was doing covers of hard rock tunes... mediocrely. After being with them for six or seven months or so, we were still mediocre, and the other guys didn't seem to have any drive to go out and play gigs. I had to push them, and that's not a position I wanted to be in. So I shopped myself around, found a band that played original metal tunes -- though they had been on hiatus for six months or so -- and needed a bassist. A much better band. A much better situation. After four practices we played our first show -- an open mike night at a local bar -- and we were very well received, even tho the audience seemed more like a classic rock crowd. Two days later we played an open mike night at another place. A tiny little place. But, they were our crowd. A bunch of young metal heads. They loved us.

Oh, and after our first gig, the guy running the show grabbed us and insisted on booking us for one of his Saturday night shows next month -- a paying gig. Now we need to write more songs...

It was a good move.

War is a scam

2006-02-15T19:39:00.000-05:00

Lew Rockwell

War is a scam whose foundation is lies. That is why dissenters are so dangerous.

I have seldom seen such nonsense

2006-02-09T09:07:00.000-05:00

Following an odd advertising link on a site I was reading today, I came across the "Crystal Clear electron water/air machine". My eyes widened in shock, surprise, and sadness when I read the following on the page explaining what this machine does:

In the beginning, as the earth cooled down, clusters of water molecules gained Electrons and tremendous energy with every expansion-contraction... explaining Biblical ages! Patents and proprietary secrets show we have duplicated that process with properties so unique we can prove in court it’s our water! These properties can also be used to expose a scam!! Today, water LACKS ENERGY because there is very little expansion-contraction AND THAT’S WHY VITAMIN/MINERAL SUPPLEMENTS PRODUCE NO RESULTS (see below).

Ordinary distilled is the worst because KEEPING WATER AT THE BOILING POINT FOR HOURS DRIVES OFF ELECTRONS NEEDED TO LIVE... it’s biologically dead, nothing will grow, fish die... it’s NOT “distilled like in nature” and yet people drink this water?? To get around the boiling problem, we boil for ONLY SECONDS (expand) and then cool about 80 degrees (contract), repeating several times a minute, GAINING ENERGY WHILE DUPLICATING NATURE’S PROCESS!!

Holy crap. I wonder if Randi knows about this one. I think it's time to notify him.

Man, the universe is pretty, um, big

2006-02-01T12:48:00.000-05:00

From The Atlas of the Universe:

* Number of superclusters in the visible universe = 10 million
* Number of galaxy groups in the visible universe = 25 billion
* Number of large galaxies in the visible universe = 350 billion
* Number of dwarf galaxies in the visible universe = 3.5 trillion
* Number of stars in the visible universe = 30 billion trillion (30,000,000,000,000,000,000,000)

So if intelligent life exists around one in a trillion stars (0.0000000001 percent of stars), then there are 30 billion planets with intelligent life in the universe. Is one in a trillion still overestimating the likelihood of intelligent life?

By the way, check out that site -- the map of the large scale structure of the universe is worth the price of admission.

Help Steve Kubby

2006-01-30T08:46:00.000-05:00

Link via Lew Rockwell:

As many of you are already aware, Steve Kubby—a prominent medical marijuana activist, former Libertarian candidate for governor of California and contender for the LP's 2000 vice-presidential nomination—was forced to return to the US from Canada yesterday and is now in the custody of our beloved drug warriors.

Steve will die without his medicine—and odds are he isn't going to get it in jail. Time is of the essence. What I'm about to propose may not seem like much, but it's better than sitting around feeling powerless and it may do some good. It's time to create some buzz about Steve outside the libertarian and the medical marijuana activist communities. You can help do that at no financial cost ... just a few minutes of your time:

1) Point your browser at www.technorati.com and search for the phrase 'Steve Kubby.' That in itself does some good—we've pushed Steve's name to number 9 on the list of top searches at Technorati, the blogosphere's search engine of record, which should elicit more coverage, more attention, etc. But there's more:

2) When the search results come up, visit the blog articles listed

AND

3) 'Bookmark' any or all of those articles on any or all of the following sites:

http://del.icio.us/
http://www.furl.net/
http://www.simpy.com/
http://www.spurl.net/
http://www.reddit.com/
http://www.blinklist.com/

All of the sites above feature material on their front pages based on how popularity—how many people 'bookmarked' that material. Even 100 'bookmarks' or so will get Steve Kubby's name and story on their front pages for awhile, where it will be noticed by more bloggers.

No, the blogosphere can't save Steve Kubby by itself, but it can draw attention to his case, get activists pumped up to do other things to help, and help attract 'mainstream media' attention. The first step is to get people asking who the hell Steve Kubby is. Once they ask -- and have an answer—they're more likely to act.

Thanks in advance.

Regards,
Tom Knapp
thomaslknapp@yahoo.com

Justifications to follow

2006-01-27T15:16:00.000-05:00

Documents Show Army Seized Wives As Tactic

The U.S. Army in Iraq has at least twice seized and jailed the wives of suspected insurgents in hopes of 'leveraging' their husbands into surrender, U.S. military documents show.

...

n one memo, a civilian Pentagon intelligence officer described what happened when he took part in a raid on an Iraqi suspect's house in Tarmiya, northwest of Baghdad, on May 9, 2004. The raid involved Task Force (TF) 6-26, a secretive military unit formed to handle high-profile targets.

"During the pre-operation brief it was recommended by TF personnel that if the wife were present, she be detained and held in order to leverage the primary target's surrender," wrote the 14-year veteran officer.

He said he objected, but when they raided the house the team leader, a senior sergeant, seized her anyway.

"The 28-year-old woman had three young children at the house, one being as young as six months and still nursing," the intelligence officer wrote. She was held for two days and was released after he complained, he said.

Now that the conservative / right / republicans have defended torture, extraordinary rendition, warrantless wiretapping, and a few more things in the name of protecting our "freedoms" (not to mention the deaths of tens of thousands of innocent Iraqis), I can't wait to see the justifications for this to start. If it even rises to any level of attention in the media.

Here's a thought experiment: If the painful, prolonged torture (I mean real torture, pick anything that *you* would consider torture) of ten innocent children would ensure no further 9/11's, would it be the right thing to do?

Following a good lead

2006-01-26T09:54:00.000-05:00

In the tradition of Dave Barry, this is the inaugural edition of ALTG's "... would be a good name for a rock band." Our first entry is... The Monkey Cops.

I'm the New York Times

2006-01-25T10:13:00.000-05:00

I'm a technology manager in a non-technology company. When speaking with one of the company executives recently, I was told that a "liaison" would be fielding some of the calls which ordinarily would come to me, so that there are no misunderstandings due to non-tech folks trying to communicate their issues and needs to a tech critter such as myself.

Now, I take a reasonable amount of pride in my communication skills. I am able to navigate my way through a board of directors meeting with relative ease and not come across as a buffoon or a completely unskilled, socially awkward nerd.

So I mentioned this to a coworker, and she recognized how little I need a "buffer" between myself and the sales drones. To illustrate this, she told me, "You're like the New York Times and everyone else is the Daily News".

The world is surreal

2006-01-24T13:37:00.000-05:00

Via BLABBERMOUTH.NET

Last September, while on the SS Professor tour, Lorne Wheaton, RUSH drummer Neil Peart's tech, stated that Neil will be making an appearance on 'Aqua Teen Hunger Force' sometime in the future. It turns out that Peart won't just be appearing in an episode, but in fact will appear in the big-screen movie coming later in 2006. In a recent interview with creators Matt Maeillaro and Dave Willis, Maeillaro stated, 'We got Neil Peart to be in it. The drummer from RUSH. No, we didn't get Geddy Lee. We didn’t need him for this. We're waiting for the sequel for Geddy Lee,' while Willis quipped, 'We're done with Geddy Lee. Geddy Lee missed his opportunity. Now we'll put everyone in the movie, but Geddy Lee.'

For those who are unsure what this all means, "Aqua Teen Hunger Force" is a cartoon geared towards adults which runs on Cartoon Network in the US. "Rush" is a band. Neil Peart is Rush's drummer. Geddy Lee is Rush's singer and bassist. The "SS Professor tour" was a tour in which the drumset used by Peart on Rush's 30th anniversary tour last year ("R30") toured the US. Yes, just his drumset. Big drumset.

Why is this news? If you have to ask, then you wouldn't understand even if I explained it.

Vital traffic statistics

2006-01-20T11:21:00.000-05:00

Further review of my blog traffic indicates that, at least for the moment, a posting on this blog is the twentieth ranked result on Yahoo for the search term "horse poop".

The grammar police

2006-01-19T10:16:00.000-05:00

From The Times Online:

Alert readers will have spotted that I am not averse to beginning sentences with conjunctions or ending them with prepositions. Indeed, I applaud the rather gauche young man from the Deep South who, I was told when I was writing my book, won a scholarship to Harvard. On his first day there he approached a couple of elegant young New Englanders who clearly knew their way around.

“Hey y’all. Can you tell me where the library’s at?” One of them looked down at him with disdain and sneered: “At Harvard, we tend not to end sentences with prepositions.”

The young man thought for a moment. “OK,” he said. “Can you tell me where the library’s at . . . asshole?”

Un-unpopular

2006-01-12T08:42:00.000-05:00

I learned from the referrers on my traffic log today that one of my postings is the number one search result on Yahoo for the term Unpopular Blogs. How ironically refreshing.

Welcome

2006-01-12T08:38:00.000-05:00

Make sure you have the sound turned on for ZomboCom.

Why does anyone watch The Bachelor?

2006-01-09T22:13:00.000-05:00

I just don't get it. It's wrong and offensive and stupid on so many levels. Why does anyone watch it? And even if anyone tries to explain why, I still won't get it.

What a horrible world when parents have to actually, well, parent

2006-01-05T12:14:00.000-05:00

From a "Focus on the Family" press release

In 'Point.Click.Kill.: A Father's Confession,' [former associate editor of Focus' Citizen magazine Jeff] Hooten details the contents of many of today's most popular games, offering parents an insider's perspective of a realm that most adults know only through the eyes and ears of their children.

'Sure, they're only games; exercises in digitized violence and virtual disfigurement. But we're not talking about Super Mario anymore,' Hooten writes. 'Nowadays the other characters talk to you, curse at you and, of course, often try to eliminate you. You can hear the sound of your own footsteps, or, worse yet, your enemies breathing.

'It won't be long before . . . I'll have to decide which games [my boys] can play, and how often.'

And who's deciding that now, Jeff? The evil corporations are beaming the games directly into your boys' heads without your say-so?

Link via Hit and Run.

My new faith

2006-01-05T10:36:00.000-05:00

Frisbeetarianism is the belief that when you die, your soul goes up on the roof and gets stuck.

-- George Carlin

Think you can pull the wool over my eyes? Nope.

2006-01-04T10:40:00.000-05:00

Propaganda?

December 23, 2005: NASA scientists have observed an explosion on the moon. The blast, equal in energy to about 70 kg of TNT, occurred near the edge of Mare Imbrium (the Sea of Rains) on Nov. 7, 2005, when a 12-centimeter-wide meteoroid slammed into the ground traveling 27 km/s.

A meteoroid, huh? Suuuuuure it was a meteoroid. Those who know better know that that's where something evil evil evil is going on? Osama hiding there? WMD hidden there? Our new alien overlords (whom I welcome wholeheartedly)?

How dare he look into my soul?

2006-01-01T23:09:00.000-05:00

I'm really not sure if others fail to perceive me or if, one fraction of a second after my face interferes with their horizon, a millionth of a second after they have cast their gaze on me, they already begin to wash me from their memory: forgotten before arriving at the scant, sad archangel of a remembrance.

Ariel Dorfman, Mascara, 1988

I shouldn't be surprised

2005-12-29T10:52:00.000-05:00

My personal "alignment":

Chaotic Neutral "Pure Chaos" "Free Spirit"

The almost totally unpredictable non-conformist loner. Will stand by and watch the white knight battle the black knight without feeling compelled to take sides.

A chaotic neutral [person] follows his whims. He is an individualist first and last. He values his own liberty but doesn't strive to protect others' freedom. He avoids authority, resents restrictions, and challenges traditions. A chaotic neutral [person] does not intentionally disrupt organizations as part of a campaign of anarchy. To do so, he would have to be motivated either by good (and a desire to liberate others), evil (and a desire to make others suffer), or be lawful neutral. A chaotic neutral [person] may be unpredictable, but his behavior is not totally random. He is not as likely to jump off a bridge as to cross it.

Chaotic neutral is freedom from both society's restrictions and a do-gooder's zeal.

Thanks Suze.

Freedom's just another word for nothing left to lose

2005-12-26T22:53:00.000-05:00

Christians in Iraq, you're welcome.

Protected under Saddam, Christians once numbered between 600,000 and 700,000 in Iraq, but church officials say that about half have now fled, especially from the south, where militias linked to Iraq’s ruling parties have waged a three-year campaign to Islamise the country at gunpoint.

Priests have been threatened and killed, women abused in the street for not wearing veils and three months ago the entire lay leadership of Iraq’s main Anglican church were ambushed and killed.

On the other hand

2005-12-21T10:34:00.000-05:00

I don't know anyone who is actually insulted or offended when someone offers them a "Merry Christmas". As far as I can tell, the only ones who are getting offended are the ones who don't like to see / hear / read "Happy Holidays".

To all those who are offended by "Happy Holidays", I offer a heartfelt "Happy Buddha's Birthday" (belatedly, because it's celebrated in May). To everyone else, a Merry Christmas, Happy Chanukah (or Hannukah), Happy Kwanzaa, Joyous Zeusmas, Frolicky Beelzebub-day, and a Relatively Pleasant Zarathustra-Fete.

I "Snopesed" it

2005-12-19T16:11:00.000-05:00

... and it's not true. But I'm not gonna tell nobody.

Hey asshole

2005-12-17T23:42:00.000-05:00

Why do you need Wal-Mart, Target, Sears, K-Mart or any other place where people shop to have the word "Christmas" instead of "Holiday" emblazoned on their cheap storefronts? Do you really forget the meaning of the holiday if retailers sometimes don't mention its name? You're greater than ninety per cent of the population of the country and you're feeling like a persecuted minority because some stores choose to include that extra few per cent?

Is your faith so fragile that having a commercial venture not explicitly say the name of your savior's birthday is that frigging insulting? Grow a thicker skin, jerkwad, and realize that the entire holiday season exists because of this stupid holiday of yours, and you are supposed to be loving and forgiving and all that other shit, so if people want to express their wishes in a way that differs from how you want it wished, then buy yourself a goddamned sign that says Merry Fucking Christmas, and shove it up your ass.

It's not both

2005-12-13T16:33:00.000-05:00

It's either a "tad" or a "bit". It's not a "tad bit".

The Constitution. "Just a goddamned piece of paper"

2005-12-12T12:52:00.000-05:00

Capitol Hill Blue: Bush on the Constitution: 'It's just a goddamned piece of paper'

GOP leaders told Bush that his hardcore push to renew the more onerous provisions of the [USA Patriot Act] could further alienate conservatives still mad at the President from his botched attempt to nominate White House Counsel Harriet Miers to the Supreme Court.

“I don’t give a goddamn,” Bush retorted. “I’m the President and the Commander-in-Chief. Do it my way.”

“Mr. President,” one aide in the meeting said. “There is a valid case that the provisions in this law undermine the Constitution.”

“Stop throwing the Constitution in my face,” Bush screamed back. “It’s just a goddamned piece of paper!”

I’ve talked to three people present for the meeting that day and they all confirm that the President of the United States called the Constitution “a goddamned piece of paper.”

Ain't he cute?

Link via Karen Kwiatkowski.

To once again quote myself

2005-12-09T00:34:00.000-05:00

In a response on Suze's blog regarding the furor over gay marriage, I said:

Marriage is the cornerstone of society? Bah and bullshit. People not killing each other over the last piece of fruit hanging from the tree is the cornerstone of society. Everything else is societal bullshit.

I rock.

Ok, not gone

2005-12-09T00:24:00.000-05:00

just... interrupted.

Spare me your "emanations" and "penumbras"

2005-12-08T10:36:00.000-05:00

Conservative commentators are fond of finding fault with U.S. courts, especially the Supreme Court for ruling that people have certain rights that aren't mentioned anywhere in the Constitution. They often make fun of the ruling in Griswold v. Connecticut, which mentioned that the Constitution and Bill of Rights has certain "emanations" and "penumbras" from which other rights may be deduced.

Even though these commentators claim to be faithful to a "strict constructionist reading" of the Constitution and bemoan "legislating from the bench", they are idiots one and all.

As the Future of Freedom Foundation said, far more eloquently than I can:

A common misconception among the American people is that their rights come from the Constitution. Even lawyers and judges are guilty of believing this, oftentimes suggesting that whether a right exists or not depends on whether it is listed in the Constitution. Law-enforcement agents read criminal suspects “their constitutional rights,” which leads some people to infer that the Constitution is the actual source of people’s rights.

Nothing could be further from the truth.

Read the whole thing -- it's great. Then read the Ninth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

Business jargon mantra

2005-12-08T10:32:00.000-05:00

I read this in an actual business plan today:

<Company X> has a flat business structure, organized around cross-functional core processes with down-sized functional units where employees are measured for end-of-process performance objectives.

Clear your mind; read that over and over; meditate upon it, and eventually your head will explode.

Good news

2005-12-08T09:46:00.000-05:00

BLABBERMOUTH.NET - RUSH Guitarist: 'It's Time For A New Record'

RUSH guitarist Alex Lifeson told the Detroit radio station WRIF 101.1 FM that the band are preparing to begin work on a new CD. 'We're going to go in the studio early next year and start writing,' he said. 'It's time for a new record, time to move forward...we're going to hopefully finish the record by the summer, and think about hitting the road around this time next year.'

Whew, I was really worried

2005-12-08T09:44:00.000-05:00

I've been holding my breath for too long.

I don't get it

2005-12-06T10:22:00.000-05:00

I just listened to the whole CD straight through for the first time, and while it was admittedly just one listen, I don't get why The Clash's London Calling is considered such a classic. Or why it's considered punk. Ska, sure, but punk?

I can see how they influenced Green Day, but I still don't see why this album in particular is held in such reverence.

I'm a modern man

2005-12-03T20:14:00.000-05:00

From George Carlin's recent HBO special, "Life Is Worth Losing":
(apologies for any copyright violations, but this is just too good)

I'm a modern man,
A man for the millennium,
Digital and smoke free.

A diversified multicultural postmodern deconstructionist,
Politically anatomically and ecologically incorrect.

I've been uplinked and downloaded.
I've been inputted and outsourced.
I know the upside of downsizing.
I know the downside of upgrading.

I'm a high tech lowlife.
A cutting edge state-of-the-art bicoastal multitasker,
And I can give you a gigabyte in a nanosecond.

I'm new wave but I'm old school,
And my inner child is outward bound.

I'm a hot wired heat seeking warm hearted cool customer,
Voice activated and biodegradable.

I interface from a database,
And my database is in cyberspace,
So I'm interactive,
I'm hyperactive,
And from time-to-time,
I'm radioactive.

Behind the eight ball,
Ahead of the curve,
Riding the wave,
Dodging a bullet,
Pushing the envelope.

I'm on point,
On task,
On message,
And off drugs.
I got no need for coke and speed,
I got no urge to binge and purge.

I'm in the moment,
On the edge,
Over the top,
But under the radar.

A high concept,
Low profile,
Medium range ballistic missionary.
A street-wise smart bomb.
A top gun bottom feeder.

I wear power ties,
I tell power lies,
I take power naps,
I run victory laps.

I'm a totally ongoing bigfoot slam dunk rainmaker with a proactive outreach.
A raging workaholic.
A working ragaholic.
Out of rehab,
And in denial.

I got a personal trainer,
A personal shopper,
A personal assistant,
And a personal agenda.

You can't shut me up,
You can't dumb me down.
'Cause I'm tireless,
And I'm wireless.
I'm an alpha male on beta blockers.

I'm a non-believer and an over-achiever.
Laid back but fashion forward.

Up front,
Down home,
Low rent,
High maintenance.

Super size,
Long lasting,
High definition,
Fast acting,
Oven ready,
And built to last.

I'm a hands on,
Foot loose,
Knee jerk,
Head case.

Prematurely post traumatic,
And I have a love child who sends me hate mail.

But I'm feeling,
I'm caring,
I'm healing,
I'm sharing.
A supportive bonding nurturing primary care giver.

My output is down,
But my income is up.
I take a short position on the long bond,
And my revenue stream has its own cash flow.

I read junk mail,
I eat junk food,
I buy junk bonds,
I watch trash sports.

I'm gender specific,
Capital intensive,
User friendly,
And lactose intolerant.

I like rough sex.
I like rough sex.
I like tough love.
I use the f word in my email,
And the software on my hard drive is hard core, no soft porn.

I bought a microwave at a mini mall.
I bought a mini van in a mega store.
I eat fast food in the slow lane.

I'm toll free,
Bite sized,
Ready to wear,
And I come in all sizes.

A fully equipped,
Factory authorized,
Hospital tested,
Clinically proven,
Scientifically formulated medical miracle.

I've been pre-washed,
Pre-cooked,
Pre-heated,
Pre-screened,
Pre-approved,
Pre-packaged,
Post-dated,
Freeze-dried,
Double-wrapped,
Vacuum-packed,
And I have an unlimited broadband capacity.

I'm a rude dude,
But I'm the real deal.
Lean and mean.
Cocked, locked and ready to rock.
Rough tough and hard to bluff.

I take it slow.
I go with the flow.
I ride with the tide.
I got glide in my stride.

Drivin' and movin',
Sailin' and spinnin',
Jivin' and groovin',
Wailin' and winnin'.

I don't snooze,
So I don't lose.
I keep the pedal to the metal,
And the rubber on the road.

I party hearty,
And lunch time is crunch time.

I'm hanging in,
There ain't no doubt.
And I'm hanging tough,
Over and out.

One fewer interesting blog

2005-11-19T10:05:00.000-05:00

Ruth, gone.

As Our Droog Alex Said

2005-11-16T14:50:00.000-05:00

What's it going to be then, eh?

Libertarianism or Freedom?

2005-11-16T12:54:00.000-05:00

From Strike The Root:

Sure, it would be nice to live in a “society” that is dedicated to libertarian ideals. But there is no such thing, and in a world of unfriendly States, it wouldn’t survive long. Or is your aim world salvation? Then you are way out of your depth, my friend. Do you really think you can take on six billion people and hundreds of States? (If you can, then what are you waiting for? Go for it!)

I for one am not able to do it. And seriously, I’m not the least interested. I live for myself first and foremost, and then come my family and friends. I do not care to save the world if I can find freedom for myself and the ones I love without doing it. Why should I? I’m nobody’s slave; I do as I please simply because I want to. It would be nice to live in a free world, but I don’t think it is worth the trouble. I’d rather be free now, on my own, than break free along with millions of strangers 40 or 50 years from now.

Isn’t this what individualism is all about? One has to make one’s own choices, for oneself and the ones willing to follow. If they do not want the freedom I want, then why the hell should I spend my time and money on making them share my ideals and go with me? I’m no selfless Samaritan or a slave of the peoples; I’m my own.

Thanks No Treason.

Then you need to meet some more people

2005-11-16T11:42:00.000-05:00

Said to me today by someone I respect:

You are one of the most intelligent people I've ever met in my whole life.

Now what do I do what *that*?

Mentioned without (much) further comment

2005-11-16T11:14:00.000-05:00

Listening briefly to NPR this morning, a reporter described a Congress-critter as a "moderate Republican". It occurred to me that I seldom heard the qualifier "moderate" applied to Democrats. Now, I don't really give a damn about all the claims of media bias, but it seems obvious that if Democrats are seldom considered "moderate" while Republicans are, then Republicans are (by definition?) considered more extreme on the whole by the media.

But was this true? Even though I hadn't remembered hearing the term "moderate Democrat", perhaps I wasn't listening for it. So a quick visit to news.google.com came to the rescue. And the results are:

So we have about a nine to one ratio of "Moderate Republican" to "Moderate Democrat".

Draw your own conclusions.

UPDATE: Doing the same search on news.yahoo.com resulted in 541 Moderate Republican articles versus 50 Moderate Democrat articles (almost 11 to 1). And doing the search on nytimes.com resulted in 1193 Moderate Republican articles versus 293 Moderate Democrat articles ("only" 4 to 1).

Am I a Spoil Sport?

2005-11-15T14:43:00.000-05:00

Whenever I get e-mails from people which are funny or ironic but unlikely to have actually happened, the first place I go is Snopes. My instincts are usually right, and these things are usually not true. Is it bad sport of me to tell people that they've been had, and is it better to let them continue to be deluded while I can secretly snicker at them? Someone at work got annoyed with me for debunking their funny photos. As I told them, they're still funny, they're just not real.

3 1/2 days

2005-11-15T13:42:00.000-05:00

and counting. Then eleven days of noooo work. Yay me, go me. Now to find something to do with all that time.

Our new game

2005-11-14T20:07:00.000-05:00

My daughter has a bunch of board games. Board games I'm really none to fond of playing, but she likes to play with me, so I suffer through Shrek or Bratz or Sorry. But I wanted to play a game we'd both enjoy and that would carry her beyond her childhood. And I remembered that whenever I see "classic" games in the stores where games such as chess and backgammon are sold, they also sell a game called Mancala. And all it looked like was a board with pits in it and stones in the pits.

But I was curious, so I looked it up in a couple of places. I found the history and rules of Mancala, and I discovered that it was pretty simple to play. I picked up an inexpensive wooden set, brought it home, and spent much of the following day (a day off) playing it with my daughter. It's actually really easy to play, but seems to vary enough each game to keep it interesting. I'm glad I researched it, and I can heartily recommend it.

Be careful what you wish for

2005-11-14T16:05:00.000-05:00

Good snappy quote from Suze:

If you say/think "bring it on" do not be surprised when things are in fact brought on.

I'm not really feeling hostile

2005-11-12T00:02:00.000-05:00

I'm just, um, getting into character for a part I'm playing in my local community theater.

Actually, I guess I mostly just blog when something pisses me off, so writing here serves as a relief valve of sorts.

It's English...

2005-11-11T23:54:00.000-05:00

...and it's your native language. Learn how to use it without sounding like a frigging idiot. Is that too much to ask?

Overheard on more than one occasion: I was like... and she was like... and I was like... and she was like...

and I was like, "Shut up! Just shut the fuck up already! How can you not see how abso-frigging-lutely stupid you sound? Or don't you care? How can you not care that you sound like a moron?!? Maybe because ninety percent of the people surrounding you are morons as well..."

...on the inside. Because I'm far too polite to actually *say* anything like that.

Don't you have anything better to do

2005-11-09T08:43:00.000-05:00

...than dedicating your whole blog, multiple entries per day, every day, to how horrible Islam is?

I live and work in NY. I worked in Manhattan on 9/11. From my windows on the 12th floor of my office building, I watched the towers burn, I watched the towers fall. Not on the television: in front of my own eyes. An indirect effect of 9/11 was being laid off and out of work for many months (the popping of the late-90's tech bubble was a much more direct cause of my layoff). I have seen what blind adherence to a twisted and evil set of beliefs can produce.

Yet I fail to see what maintaining such an all-encompassing hatred against anything can produce. From my perspective, I am far more likely to be negatively affected by...

Taxes
Oil prices
The public school system
The effect on the economy of never-ending wars
Any number of government regulations

...than I am likely to be affected in any sense at all by Islamofascism.

If you're living and/or working in a major city (one of the top, say, ten cities in the US by population), the likelihood that you'll be hit and killed by a falling cinderblock is greater than your being affected in any way at all by something terrorist-related (except of course, random bag checks or perhaps being detained without being charged). If you *don't* live in a major city, the likelihood that you'll be affected in any way at all by something terrorist-related is statistically indistinguishable from zero.

Get over it already. Do they hate you? Do they want to kill you? Yes to both. But then, so do I.

Not that there's anything wrong with that

2005-11-08T14:37:00.000-05:00

But Florida must have the gayest non-gay bars in the country

Two Carolina Panthers cheerleaders were charged after their arrest at a bar where witnesses told police the women had sex in a restroom.

Be responsible! Don't vote!

2005-11-08T08:14:00.000-05:00

There are those who say that if you don't vote, you have no right to complain about the government. As I see it, the exact opposite is true: if you do vote, you have no right to complain about the outcome. If you vote, you are agreeing that the majority of those who vote have the right to decide who rules all of us. You agree to the outcome. You agree to be ruled by whoever wins.

However, if you believe that no one has the right to "elevate" someone to a position of power over someone else, then not voting is really the only moral choice. Otherwise, you are asserting that fifty one percent of those eligible to vote have a right to:

Confiscate property from anyone they choose and give to whomever they choose
Limit, curtail, forbid, or monitor any behavior of anyone they choose

No one has the moral right or authority to take anything of anyone else's, nor do they have the moral authority to require anyone to do (or not do) anything. (And no, I'm not saying that murder and rape can't be forbidden. Don't be retarded.)

The only things I vote for any more are spending and/or borrowing referenda. And I always vote against them. I was very pleased when my local school district's budget was defeated, and they were forced to go on an "austerity" budget (i.e., a mere four percent increase over last year's budget, rather than the requested eight percent). And I have school age children who both go to public school. I was thrilled to see the gnashing of teeth over what an unmitigated tragedy this would be. High school sports were cancelled!! Guess what happened? Fund raisers were held so that those who wanted sports could actually pay for them themselves and not require those who weren't interested to pay for them! What a novel concept. You do not own me or the fruits of my labors; you do not have the right to force me to pay for what you want!

"But what system would you live in then? Isn't democracy the best there is to offer?" Hell no. Democracy can easily elect:

Communism
Fascism
Theocracy

In fact, despite the "democratic" revolution imposed on Iraq, they appear to have just democratically approved a completely socialist, theocratic constitution. That was democratic, wasn't it? And that makes it good, right?

Under what system would I live? It really doesn't matter. Under whatever system you live, the powerful rule and try to give the ruled the illusion that they have a say in what goes on. Under whatever system you live, you are owned. So, the only way to live is to do one's best to stay under the radar, and don't disturb the hornet's nest too much. I will continue to do so until such time as the war machine decides that not enough young people are enlisting and imposes the draft. At that time, rather than allow my children to be enslaved to the all-powerful State, I will up and leave.

Till then, you and I can get along, just don't try and take my stuff, and I won't try and take yours.

I have no buddies

2005-11-03T09:44:00.000-05:00

...and this depresses me when I think about it, so I try not to.

I have my family, and they're great, but that's different.

I have a couple of "friends" at work, including one or two whom I'm "close" with. My cubicle neighbor, about whom I've written before, and I are close, and we talk a lot about life and personal stuff (she has issues), but I know that if we didn't sit next to each other, we certainly wouldn't talk as much as we currently do, so it's just really happenstance that we're as close as we are. She says that there are lots of times when she's not at work that she wishes she could talk to me, but that's generally about the "issues" that she has shared with me. She says that if one of us were to leave this job, we'd still be in touch a lot, but I've heard that before from other former coworkers whom I haven't heard from in years.

I have my bandmates, but I barely know them and don't talk to them outside of practice or exchanging emails about practice.

I don't have anyone who calls me to shoot the shit.

I don't have anyone who calls me wanting to hang out.

I've asked myself for most of my life why I wasn't popular, why I couldn't attract people who wanted to seek me out, rather than me always having to be the one to seek others out. Am I a loser? Am I boring? Am I a weirdo? Is my blinding brilliance too intimidating? I'm not a loner or anti-social -- I don't shun people if they talk to me, and I know how to hold a reasonably interesting conversation (although it has to be two-sided: I can't be the only one talking). But I've always been -- and apparently will always be -- invisible. And telling myself that I shouldn't care has only ever been partially effective.

Am I having a pity party? Yes. Too fucking bad.

Words of Wisdom

2005-11-02T08:30:00.000-05:00

Fred Reed always has something interesting to say

The virtue of vice is everywhere underestimated. Something is wrong with those who are always proper, careful, and as they should be. I would rather talk to a bourbon-swilling correspondent in a bar in Manila, with a cigarette in his hand and a barmaid on his knee, than to the cleverest chemist at Yale, tamer of ketones.

Things I don't like

2005-11-01T14:58:00.000-05:00

Being responsible for the work of others
Having to relate to someone as their "boss"
Having to tell people who report to me that their work is wrong, deficient, or needs to be corrected
Having to listen to others criticize and/or make fun of people on my team
...when the criticisms are wrong
...when the criticisms are right

My bold prediction

2005-11-01T13:24:00.000-05:00

Responses to this shocking finding

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. terrorism experts Daniel Benjamin and Steven Simon have reached a stark conclusion about the war on terrorism: the United States is losing.

Liberals / Democrats: See! We told you so!

Conservatives / Republicans: What else would you expect the liberal mainstream media to say?

How tiring.

Not that you care...

2005-10-31T09:09:00.000-05:00

...but my head hurts, and I don't want to be here right now.

Further updates as events warrant.

My latest musical obsession

2005-10-28T08:22:00.000-04:00

Coheed & Cambria
Good Apollo, I'm Burning Star IV, Volume One: From Fear Through The Eyes of Madness

Upon listening to music with which I have not yet been exposed, I can have one of several reactions:

Outright dislike, which doesn't happen that often. There isn't much music that I actively dislike.
Indifference, which is what usually happens. The music goes in one ear and out the other without affecting me. I hear it, but I don't like it or dislike. I won't actively seek it out or shun it.
Moderate appreciation. I like this music somewhat. If it comes on the radio, I'll pay attention to it. I may even be tempted to buy it, but usually I'll regret it if I do, because I don't like it that much that I want to listen to it often enough to have justified the purchase.
Obsession. This is music I've fallen in love with. It gets played repeatedly, to the exclusion of almost everything else. I'll listen to something else almost reluctantly, then I'll fall back to listening to my obsession. It's usually not just one song, but a whole album. Sometimes that's a bad thing, as I'll get burned out on it.

People who have read me before may know that I am moderately obsessed with Rush. The obsession on my MP3 player for the longest time has been Vapor Trails (an album which -- to me -- keeps just getting better).

For the last several weeks, Coheed & Cambria's (I think the ampersand is required, and not the word "and") album Good Apollo, etc has become my obsession. I found it when I was checking out the latest album by The Mars Volta, Frances the Mute. It was ok, but I wasn't thrilled with it. But on the Amazon page for the album, I saw that a similar group was Co&Ca. So, ok, I checked out their samples, then went to their site, and found a video to their song "Welcome Home". Sounded pretty cool, so I decided to pick up the album. End of story. I'm hooked.

There are those who describe C&C as emo, emo-core, or pop/punk, and compare them to groups like Good Charlotte or Sum 41 (neither of whom are pop/punk in any case. Pop/punk would be Green Day, whose album American Idiot is a post-punk masterpiece). CoCa is none of those. This album is best described as progressive, prog-rock, or prog-metal. I can understand the comparisons to emo, because their overall tone (guitar tone is what I'm thinking of) is very trebly and high-end, not bass heavy, like other groups more directly identifiable as prog (in my mind, Tool and System of a Down). But, according to most definitions of progressive rock, CC clearly fit the bill.

For a history and description of the band, you could probably do no better than their Wikipedia entry. The entry also describes who "Coheed" and "Cambria" actually are (fictional characters in a sci-fi epic, whose story is told in the companion graphic novels written by C&C frontman Claudio Sanchez). All three of their albums supposedly revolve around various plot-points in these stories. Ok, whatever. I'm not a lyrics guy, so I don't really care about that.

Ok, so what gets me about this music? First, the song structure is complex. It's not your typical verse-chorus-verse-chorus-bridge-chorus structure. There are themes and motifs that appear throughout the album. Next, the orchestration (instrumental arrangement) of the songs is involved and involving. Often, the two guitars are playing different but related riffs which counterpoint each other very well. Third, these guys have chops. They know how to play their instruments. And not just in a Randy Rhoads-y show-offy kind of way. Their playing is complex and intricate but suits the songs very well.

These guys have often been compared to Rush, usually because of singer Claudio Sanchez' voice. It is high-pitched, sometimes to the point of squeakiness, so comparisons to Geddy Lee are natural. But I find that Sanchez' voice is actually more musical than Geddy's. And his phrasing is often very unusual. Yes, I can see where his voice might be grating (just like I can see where Geddy's voice might be grating), but it doesn't bother me.

However, I find other comparisons to Rush more appropriate. Their chops, their way of utilizing riffs, and their song structures are what make them seem comparable in my opinion.

I'm hoping that CoCa's earlier albums are of a similar quality to their latest offering, because they are on my wish-list now.

It's not often that I find music that I consider worthy of repeated listening. I'm glad I found these guys, and I look forward to their future releases.

Quotable quotes, edition XLVIII

2005-10-26T11:10:00.000-04:00

I would rather be exposed to the inconveniences attending too much liberty than to those attending too small a degree of it

Thomas Jefferson, to Archibald Stuart, 1791

More on tribalism

2005-10-25T09:02:00.000-04:00

From Mike Rogers, writing at Lew Rockwell:

Why do Americans care when two of their soldiers are killed in a foreign country? But when tens of thousands of innocents – in their own homes – in their own country – are bombed and murdered by us, it is not even reported in American news? Why do the brainwashed cry when one or two soldiers are killed fighting in a country – a country that they had no business being in the first place – but don’t care for the innocent children murdered by those soldiers at the same time? Why do people care about someone whose only relationship to them actually is a government issued passport? Why don’t people shed a tear for 10,000 dead in an earthquake in that foreign land? Could it really be because of a passport? Is it really just because of brainwashing and indoctrination we have all received since the day we were born?

End Times Are Nigh

2005-10-24T09:55:00.000-04:00

Or not. Global warming, global cooling, global disasters, what's going on with Planet Earth? Are things getting worse? Says Bob Carroll in the latest newsletter from The Skeptic's Dictionary:

The smart money says that nothing special is going on. You are on the planet Earth. It's cooling down from its formation several billion years ago. Earthquakes, tsunamis, floods, volcanoes, mudslides, hurricanes, tornadoes, lightning fires, and the like are common fare on this planet. If these things weren't happening, it's likely the planet would not be habitable. When none of these things occurs any more, the planet will be dead. It will become a nice place to visit, though, like Mars.

By the way, The Skeptic's Dictionary is a wonderful resource. If you have read anything that smacks a bit of supernatural nonsense, chances are good that there's an article on the site about it.

Likewise, for those unfamiliar with it, Snopes.com is a great resource to check up on those e-mail rumors you get telling you about hypodermic syringes found in coke cans and e-mails that swear you can earn $10,000 just by forwarding that self-same e-mail to all your closest friends. My favorite recent rumor to tell people they were wrong about was that Mars would be passing so close to the Earth in its orbit that it would look "as large as the full moon to the naked eye".

Harriet Miers confirmation hearing imagined

2005-10-11T20:06:00.000-04:00

Catallarchy links to a clairvoyant who has foreseen the Harriet Miers confirmation hearing:

Harriet Miers walks into the Senate Judiciary Committee’s confirmation hearings. Arlen Specter asks her, “Ms. Miers, how would you describe your approach to interpreting the Constitution?”

Miers, visibly excited, says, “I’m glad you asked. My approach is really quite interesting. I think you’ll like it.”

“Well then,” Specter says. “Let’s hear it.”

Miers launches into an explanation: “Well, first thing I do is find a fairly quiet room with a clean desk. I put the Constitution on one side of the desk, and a Bible on the other. I then completely disrobe, as to be completely unfettered for the job at hand.”

“Uh, Ms. Miers, I’m not sure that—”

“I then take the Constitution and stick it all the way up my ass. This is fairly difficult, because I like to use a large, leather-bound version, but I’ve gotten much better at it. It’s usually just the gold-plated index tabs that hurt.”

It gets better...

See here for the inspiration for the posting...

Comment spam

2005-10-09T18:48:00.000-04:00

Comment spam sucks. Just within the past couple of weeks, I started receiving more spam comments than real comments. Blogger would let me add one of those "enter the word you see graphically represented above here" thingies to my comment page, but I am very loath to put any kind of obstruction in front of any of the very few people who post real comments here. So I suppose I'll just put up with the spam for now, at least until such time as the spam becomes truly onerous...

When someone says...

2005-10-09T14:47:00.000-04:00

When someone says that he or she is crazy, as in, "Oh, don't mind me, you know I'm crazy," I am inevitably *not* thinking that he or she is crazy, rather I am thinking that he or she is simply annoying.

Jabberwocky... just cuz

2005-10-07T00:10:00.000-04:00

'Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
   Did gyre and gimble in the wabe:
All mimsy were the borogoves,
   And the mome raths outgrabe.

"Beware the Jabberwock, my son!
   The jaws that bite, the claws that catch!
Beware the Jubjub bird, and shun
   The frumious Bandersnatch!"

He took his vorpal sword in hand:
   Long time the manxome foe he sought --
So rested he by the Tumtum tree,
   And stood awhile in thought.

And, as in uffish thought he stood,
   The Jabberwock, with eyes of flame,
Came whiffling through the tulgey wood,
   And burbled as it came!

One, two! One, two! And through and through
   The vorpal blade went snicker-snack!
He left it dead, and with its head
   He went galumphing back.

"And, has thou slain the Jabberwock?
   Come to my arms, my beamish boy!
O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!'
   He chortled in his joy.

'Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
   Did gyre and gimble in the wabe;
All mimsy were the borogoves,
   And the mome raths outgrabe.

eBay listing: Handknit Mermaid Scarf

2005-10-01T13:38:00.000-04:00

A friend of a friend asked me to mention this eBay listing. It's a "Mermaid Scarf" that his wife knit by hand. You can see the listing here.

Pretty cute, no? Worth a bid or two I'd say...

And you may quote me

2005-09-21T09:28:00.000-04:00

I like to quote quotes worth quoting. This one is mine; I coined it today. You are free to use it with (of course) appropriate attribution:

Sometimes laughter is not a choice, it's the only viable option before firearms come into play.

Hit and Run

2005-09-20T09:50:00.000-04:00

From a comment on Reason's Hit and Run:

If we're going to have a serious war on drugs, we need to start with the opiate of the people.

AgnostoLibertarianTechnoGeek

Do not vote!

My new favorite ejaculation

Things I've leared from Penn

Firefly + Serenity

Twofer

Yawn

Quotes worth repeating, volume XVLIII

Widely applicable quotes, episode XVIII

Things are going well

Which do you care more about?

It's not that I don't believe, it's that I don't care

Exit singer

My Kind of Menu

Rush several songs into new album

Reasonable questions

If you're reading this post, it is not directed at you

Sometimes...

A project for the industrious

Yawn

A night at CBGB

I've left the ecosystem

The Call Me The Seeker

Yay for Google! Again!

Crossing the threshold

Thank goodness we liberated them

Is it the most well-known club in the world?

Hey Anthony Gregory!

Just a few minutes late

Drama

Well, natch

Important notice from the Department of Duh

Meme of Fours

Because sometimes you just have to do something like this...

Calling Paracelsus

A failure to communicate

Puzzled children of low moral character

Managing sucks

This one time, in band camp...

War is a scam

I have seldom seen such nonsense

Man, the universe is pretty, um, big

Help Steve Kubby

Justifications to follow

Following a good lead

I'm the New York Times

The world is surreal

Vital traffic statistics

The grammar police

Un-unpopular

Welcome

Why does anyone watch The Bachelor?

What a horrible world when parents have to actually, well, parent

My new faith

Think you can pull the wool over my eyes? Nope.

How dare he look into my soul?

I shouldn't be surprised

Freedom's just another word for nothing left to lose

On the other hand

I "Snopesed" it

Hey asshole

It's not both

The Constitution. "Just a goddamned piece of paper"

To once again quote myself

Ok, not gone

Spare me your "emanations" and "penumbras"

Business jargon mantra

Good news

Whew, I was *really* worried

I don't get it

I'm a modern man

One fewer interesting blog

As Our Droog Alex Said

Libertarianism or Freedom?

Then you need to meet some more people

Mentioned without (much) further comment

Am I a Spoil Sport?

3 1/2 days

Our new game

Be careful what you wish for

Whew, I was really worried