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Time for a little break. So much going on at work, you tend to stay away from TV, movies and popular culture. But those who are blessed with a job1, however tenuously, should take a break and thank the Power-That-Be for the people responsible for these humorous asides:
Sarah Palin does a pretty credible job getting back at our old friend William Shatner. If Bill’s reaction is genuine surprise at her sudden appearance, then I am even more impressed with Bill’s acting abilities !! Someone really, really needs to get him in the Star Trek sequel quickly, before he joins Scotty and Bones in the big Starship in the Sky.
Oh, and by the way. Bill is a Canadian actor taking valuable Hollywood jobs away from US citizens. Can someone get the immigration problem in this country corrected? Too many Canadians are coming down to take our high-paying white-collar jobs in this country. Forget the Mexican border; folks down there are coming to take the lesser-paying jobs and will not affect your six-figure, professional position. It’s the Canadians that are the problem. And they look just like you and me so that they are harder to find and deport.
However, good going Conan. You are so good at this that I may start watching the Tonight Show again. I stayed away for the last 15 or so years, but I think the Show is in good, capable hands again. Can anyone tell me what happened to Triumph, the Insult Dog?2
Finally, I just have to mention this item that I read in the news about poor Tiger Woods. No more jokes, this is serious. Here’s the excerpt in the news from one of his supporters:
“One thing people don’t understand is that we’re human,” Heat guard Dwyane Wade said in Miami. “You’re not born with a menu on how not to do things wrong. You’re going to make mistakes like every human being.”
Actually Dwyane, there is a menu that you were given when you were small. It’s called The Bible. Sure it’s old and seemingly out-of-date or out-of-touch. It’s as old as Humanity, and it does seem to be in touch with the foibles and peccadillos that affect all of us, all of the time, since the beginning of time. I don’t think Mr. Woods is the first person that has ever cheated on his wife; plenty of those stories in the Bible. You may want to crack it open one of these days.
ly evil.
Lately it seems every reference to wrongdoing is now compared to Hitler or at least one of his actions. It’s especially seen on the news. People believe that their point won’t be realized unless the reader/viewer comes to terms with the following:
If you disagree with me, you are pretty much a Nazi.
and it works. “I don’t want to be like Hitler! So I agree with you!”
Hitler. The go-to bad guy, king of the unholy.
Did he set the bar or what?
Osama Bin Ladin is like “helloooo, I’m blowing things up here! Compare something to me!”
Even Satan’s sighing “You know… once everyone blamed ME for all the evil in the world.”
Dude. Hitler gased and cooked millions of innocents, wanted to take over as much of the world as possible, and got much of his country to agree with his actions. Wow!
When it came to charisma, this dude rolled an 18 for sure.
Sorry Satan, but anything short of armageddon ain’t going to outshine Hitler’s life. Stop dancing around in that lame red ensemble, drop the pitchfork and get to work.
And Osama, look at you! at least Hilter knew the importance of grooming. Hitler was married to Eva Braun. She was hot!
Come on Osama. Hanging out in caves plotting with other men day after day, does nothing for your image.
All I’m saying is, when it came to evil, Hitler turned it up to eleven.
Hitler is to bad
like
golf balls are to hail.
Without him, there’d be no decent reference.
You gotta respect a guy for giving it his all.
Like it or not. He’s immortal.
There’s been opposition to the President’s plan to broadcast a “do well in school” message to the American student body. In and of itself, the message is probably harmless and probably a good idea; who is better able to motivate our students than a good-looking, young President Obama? Why are people making a fuss and opposing the president at every turn? The problem lies in that it is being encouraged (some would say pushed) onto the American school system.
Officially, it is a voluntary program. But we remember other “voluntary” programs like prayer in schools. In that instance, any kids that refused to pray with all of the others were either ostracized or branded as atheists. So I’m sure that any kids that opt out of the President’s inspirational message will be similarly affected. I personally do not mind being branded a discontent at age 10, but it does affect your chances to get hired at the local hardware store for the summer when you turn 14. That’s a heavy burden to bear.
The President should bear in mind other efforts to inspire young people without a chance for other voices to be heard. This one-party messaging could eventually morph into something akin to Hitler’s propaganda machine. One of their weirder efforts was this coloring book exhorting the Young German to do something that was probably decent and helpful. But when a commendable exhortation turns into “obey my orders” and “kill Jewish people” then we have a little problem.1
Hitler's Coloring Book
- Just to make sure my message doesn’t get lost: Hitler was a bad man and killed a lot of innocent people. We don’t want to be like him [↩]
Race relations are a big topic this year. From the office of the Presidency to the next Supreme Court Justice to the selection of Surgeon General, race would seem to be a central factor in selection. Not that these folk are not good, smart people; they seem to be good enough to do what their positions require. But were they selected because of their overwhelming qualifications, or because they held some promise and they also advanced the color-blind American agenda? Don’t get me wrong: it’s a good agenda.
Just witness the statue of Justice; it is blindfolded, ready to go into combat with that really big sword. Another blind entity dispensing martial arts justice1.
Disclaimer: I am not a Caucasian, if that is even important. Most dwellers of the Russian Caucasus region look nothing like your typical redneck person (sic) from the Deep South. I could not pass for White, whatever that means.
But I have to take issue with the case of the alleged discriminatory Swim Club in Pennsylvania. Much has been made as to how a daycare class of minority students was run out of the club by just-awful white racists. I think that the swim club is being harassed unfairly, by a day-care practicioner that has a chip on her shoulder. Look at the facts, in a color-blind way: Was the group large? Yes. Did the group create a crowd that is unusual for the club? Yes. Did the crowding enhance the ability to swim laps in the pool or to enjoy a quiet swim? No. Just for those reasons, I would have ended my contract with the daycare program: our facility is just too small to accommodate you. There were 2 other groups that received the same reasoning for termination of contract; they are not making any waves (sorry, I could not resist) about it.
Cute kids, ugly situation, flawed decisions.
But this one person decided that the swim club was too exclusive to be allowed to exist. Exclusivity being defined as having the need to swim in a calm environment without 65 kids jumping into the pool. Trust me, I have small kids, it gets very loud. So she took the comments of some of her students and decided to bring a lawsuit against the club. Allegedly, some daycare kids heard others at the swim club make derogatory remarks, eg:watch the dark skinned kids or they’ll steal your towel and don’t they ruin a perfectly good pool outing. Although I never automatically take a kid’s word above a trusted adult, this is what this unknown person did. And now the swim club may have to close, since it cannot afford to mount a legal defense.
Did the swim club err? Yes. They should have kept their contracts and notified members that certain swim periods would be crowded, since the club was assisting daycare groups that no longer had access to a regular swimming pool. Did club members have the right to complain? Yes. They had paid their dues and expected access to a swimming pool that was normally uncrowded. Did they have the right to make racists remarks? No. The club leadership should have used this opportunity to educate their members about life in the 20th, er, 21st Century. Should they have used the words “[the kids] changed the atmosphere and complexion of the club?” No. These are perfectly good English words, but they do sound like the color of the kids’ skin had something to do with the decision. Stupid word choice.
Solution? Have the swim club institute racial sensitivity classes for members (including its President); apparently they need them. Have the daycare come back to use the pool and drop its legal case. Contact between the swim club members and the general population is a good thing and would foster understanding between people. But now that the news shows have shown the swim club as a “bad” place and placard-wearing losers are using this as an opportunity to appear on those news shows (don’t they have jobs?), this mess will move to its sad conclusion: the swim club will close and those very stereotypes that should be destroyed will be reinforced. Oh yes, everyone out of the pool !!!
PS> The daycare is seeking punitive damages against the swim club. I’d hate to think that the daycare program is trying to shake down the swim club for money over this incident. A lot of good daycare programs are receiving reduced funds nowaways, and this may be a tragic way to raise money. I will continue to think that it’s only the sad interaction between flawed people that has gotten us to this point. That, and the eagerness of a lawyer to get some cash from (maybe) affluent people.
- remember the TV show Kung Fu? [↩]
One is a prominent Latina female. The other is trying to get into the Supreme Court. You be the judge as to who will have a longer lasting effect on the American people.
VS. 
My vote is with Zoe. She is from the Dominican Republic and is a living embodiment of the richness of African culture that came to the Caribbean and still influences the culture there. And she looks extremely hot in the Starfleet issue miniskirt and booties. A worthy successor to the lovely Communications Officer, Lt. Nichelle Nichols, and I believe Zoe speaks fluent Spanish.
On the other hand, we have an outspoken, intelligent Latina female, Sonia Sotomayor. She has been called a “racist” by the right-wing but I do not concur. From her isolated comments, I make her out to be more of a mysandrist1 But she is going into a Supreme Court slot that is being vacated by another liberal-leaner, Justice Souter, so her positions2 should not make much of a difference in upcoming court decisions. She will be outspoken, though, so it will be nice to hear a strident counterpoint to the pontificating statements of conservative Justice Scalia.
My score:
Zoe Saldana (1) for a fantastic Star Trek franchise debut.
Sonia Sotomayor (-1) for inflamatory statements that were issued when she was not open to micro-scrutiny as she is now. Once she gets coronated as a Justice, I’ll reset her at (0). I’ll give her (+2) rightaway if she trounces Scalia at the weekly Supreme Court Poker game. 3
The spotlight on Tom Daschle, Nancy Killefer, Charles Rangel, and Timothy Geithner has finally answered the question, “Why aren’t Democrats doing more to lower taxes?” Because they don’t pay them!
Well, now that I have your attention let me soften up a little here. Any Presidential Inaugural in the United States should be an occassion of joy. In what other part of the world would you see the reins of government for such a powerful nation change hands so smoothly?? Bush is out and Obama is in, and not a single person has been incarcerated or worse.
Well, maybe I’m premature. Given the low temperatures at the Inaugural and the fact that you have limited bathroom access and seating, you may yet see a few casualties of the new government. A word of advice to our older readers: don’t go. This standing around for 6 hours in freezing cold is for the young.
And it is the young that should be celebrating; they are the ones that put Obama over the top and elected him President. In their excited fugue state, they are going to go and throw a fantastic party next Tuesday to celebrate the first African-American President of the United States. But I’m here to throw a little cold water on your party, a little dose of reality on the Change Band-Wagon that rolled so smoothly over the remains of the GOP ticket last November. You voted for change but what you’ve been getting is pragmatism: your new President has limited options in the face of a melting economy. You voted to punish the rich, but it seems that we still need the rich to kick-start the economic engine from its current stupor. You voted yourselves a ticket to the opening of a cornucopia of endless green energy and bio-fuels, but instead you are standing in the soup line with the rest of us. Better get out of the line and get behind the serving table: we are going to need all the help we can get.
The euphoria I expect to see next Tuesday reminds me of a fantastic wedding day put together for a couple that never gave much thought to what is needed to form a long-lasting marriage. The couple was so focused on having a great time at the wedding that they did not plan out the rudiments of a real marriage: a firm financial and emotional foundation for the life-long effort that lay ahead.
I have heard so much about the menus for the different Inaugural celebrations being held but not much about how folks are going to pay for the meal and the entertainment. Is this money disposable income or is it coming from your unemployment benefits? Is it worth spending a piece of your future to get a short-lived high?
This is akin to the feeling you get when your team wins a game. For a few moments life seems wonderful, but it is a feeling that is built on a meaningless event. Roger Ebert has a great article on the feeling of elevation and how you get it at the movies: it is a great sensation but it is built on something less than reality. When the movie is over, so is the feeling of elation. It take a little extra effort to turn the memory of that moment into action that lasts a lifetime. I can only hope that that is what will happen on Inauguration Tuesday. Go get your jollies that day, but don’t lay the weight of the future on Mr. Obama; only you and the hard work of a few million others can make it as bright as you are expecting it to be.
Paul Bogan writes angrily yet eloquently about California passing Proposition 8, which bans same-sex marriages. One of his points is that Californians could not possibly have misunderstood the clear wording of the bill.
This is East Coast Thinking, which I understand because I spent more time there than here. On the east coast, when someone cuts you off on the parkway, you think, “What an asshole!” But when you get to California, everyone seems so nice. In short order, your perception of your fellow residents changes. Then, when someone cuts you off on the freeway, you think, “What an idiot!” I’ve spoken with a lot of California transplants on this exact issue and it’s pretty unanimous.
This election, I voted no on darn near every prop1, and I did this because I actually took the better part of a day to research them all. However, I think most people do research at the voting booth. They skim and make a gut reaction.
That’s why we voted for a $10B down payment on a train to San Francisco. Yes, people, it’s a down payment! It will cost way more - maybe 2-3 times that! Can’t we start with decent local public transportation first? JetBlue is already doing a fine job flying us to SF. I want a train that takes me from Huntington Beach to the Santa Monica Promenade, Hollywood and Highland, and Old Town Pasadena.2 If you insist on building a bullet train to somewhere cool, make it Las Vegas. San Fran is perhaps the coolest city in America, but it’s crazy expensive. Even with gambling and strip clubs, Vegas is downright cheap in comparison.3
Ignorance and misguided compassion is also why we voted for $980M for children’s hospitals when we just allotted $750M in 2004. Newsflash: we still have $350M of that yet to grant, under the same rules as this prop. This is akin to taking a huge cash advance on our credit card when we’re already knee deep in debt and we don’t even need the money!
I understand how Paul - who is obviously so wise in the way of (political) science - might think Californians could not possibly be dumb enough to vote incorrectly on Prop 8. However, the commercials that called for no on 8 were vague on what you were voting against. They made it clear you were voting against discrimination, but never said of what. I think a lot of people heard prop 8 was the gay marriage bill and thought, “Why, I think Gay Bill’s a swell guy. He should totally have the right to get married. Yes on 8!” OK, maybe not that bad, but just yesterday I heard a guy call into Headline news4 to say that he was not gay, and that he “really, really loves the ladies”, but he thought gays should have the right to get married. Unfortunately, the drafters of said proposition used “confusing language” and he accidentally voted yes when he meant no. Is he the exception that proves the rule? Maaaaaaybe. But I’m often reminded of a quote from the late, great George Carlin:
“Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that.”
Of course, he also said:
“In America, anyone can become president. That’s the problem.”
- Yes on 11 and 12, if you must know. [↩]
- Yes, I realize that in 5 years, through the wonders of “gentrification”, they’ll all be the same place. Like when I discovered that San Diego’s Gaslamp District was a carbon copy of Old Town Pasadena (or vice-versa). Now, the Promenade is slowly remaking itself into the image of The Grove. SoCal is becoming one big homogenized crap factory. [↩]
- Probably because because SF has better, more expensive strip clubs. [↩]
- Why they accept phone calls now I cannot fathom. It’s not news; hell, it’s barely opinions. HLN: If you need more filler, just show your sexy female news anchors shooting coy looks at the camera, maybe biting their lip a little. On slow days, licking a lollipop or sensuously eating a banana. Ratings will skyrocket. [↩]
Tags: california, prop 8
Now that Obama is on his way to America’s throne, (note throne/toilet double-meaning) I wish him the best of luck with the turd Bush left for him. I personally did not vote this year because I did not like either choice. Playing eenie-meenie-mynee-moe at the booth is nonsense.
I have nothing against Obama, it’s just that I’ve never heard of the guy until the “bandwagon” effect started rolling, and yes I do follow politics. On the other hand I’m not voting for a Bush-clone either.
The fact is, Obama’s intelligent, well spoken, educated…. and black. Don’t try to correct me about his race. The community defines your race, not your blood-line. So as long as the black community emraces him as one of their own… he’s black.
Now here’s my request: Please for the love of humanity, stupid, racist, KKK, Nazi, skinhead, rednecks, leave this one alone. You don’t have to love him, but please just leave him be. My biggest fear is what would happen to America if he was assassinated by one of these kooks.
It will push race relations back 50 years. Riots will break out in every major city. We finally live in a time where whites don’t feel the need to feel sorry for errors of past generations, but this will all be erased if anything happens to Obama. It doesn’t help much that the (to be) Vice President is about as gringo as they come. People will start conspiracy theories about how this was the plan all along.
The fact that 60% percent of Obama’s voters were white will not help our cause. Another black hero dies, and it would probably be a long time before another gets to the same position.
So please gripe all you want if his performance gives you a reason to, but either way lets leave violent racism in the 20th century.
note to FBI/CIA: You’ve probably received some automated alarms related to some key wording I’ve used in this rant, so just to be clear: Neither I, nor anyone I know, is connected in any way to plots, designs, meetings or individuals with intent to bring harm upon any public figure.
But I have been sharing privileged information concerning Roswell.
Suck on that.
Yes, Presidential Election Year 2008 seems to be over. Or is it?? Read on.
With most polls placing Democratic candidate Obama 10+ points over Republican candidate McCain, it would seem to be a routine slide to November 4th this year. However, I like to keep things interesting, so here are my top predictions for an Obama presidency:
Item 1: Obama wins. Duh.
But he does not win by the 10+ margin that the polls predict. I believe that the contest will be a lot closer on Nov. 4th. There will be a lot of Republicans kicking themselves in the butt for not voting. Shame on you; all Americans should vote on this Election Day. The unexpected vote numbers will possibly be blamed on the Bradley Effect witnessed in the California Gubernatorial election of 1982 :folks did not admit to the pollsters that they would not vote for a black candidate. When the election took place, the true numbers came out. But this disparity in reporting vs. reality will result in……
Item 2: Media backlash.
All of us are aware that the media was in bed with candidate Obama, eg: Saturday Night Live lampooned this phenomenum when they showed reporters asking candidate Obama if he needed a pillow or if it should be fluffed some more. Candidate Hillary Clinton alluded to this “Obama Effect” during her own candidacy. I believe the American people will not tolerate 4 more years of this whore-pimp situation and will strike back against the media by NOT WATCHING. Expect higher viewing numbers for reality-television shows and Entertainment-Tonight-type programs as news viewership declines. Same for newspapers, unless they print sale-coupons or cents-off coupons for food. Which brings us to…..
Item 3: Economy in the toilet.
Despite Obama’s “efficiencies” and his research into extracting sunlight from cucumbers1 the economy will continue its slide into crumminess or at best, into stagnation. There will be an initial bump upwards, due to the change-is-coming effect, but this will quickly be replaced by the cold truth of reality. Useless investment in ocean wind farms and solar panel cities will not trickle down to other sectors of the economy. They will not produce enough energy to fuel an economic resurgence, but they will make for an exciting IMAX film coming to your neighborhood soon !!! 2 Which easily leads to…..
Item 4: Blame it on Bush.
Blaming anything and everything on Bush has become such a popular pastime that I don’t think it will stop. Obama got elected by blaming the Bush Presidency and I don’t think he will stop. Blaming the continuing crisis on 8 Bush years will get pretty old, though, and soon. The Economic Crisis got him elected, but it will also bring Obama down in popularity and job acceptance poll-numbers. There will be books written on this period of economic distress, which is why I find it so curious that none will be written about……
Item 5: Big Conspiracy.
I always connect a big event with the people that most benefit from that big event. This crisis got Obama elected, ergo, the Democratic Party is behind it. Now wait. Before you consign this thought to the rubbish bin section of your brain, consider this: the crisis was bound to happen, the bad home loans were in place, the banks were running on vapor; but what made it happen just NOW?? Why did it not happen months ago, or on November 5th? Why was it so fortuitously timed for a particular person to benefit?? Just the timing of it makes my conspiracy-theory-minded Spidey sense tingle. And trust me, I am not the only person making this kind of fantastical leap: most reporters got their reputations by developing that investigative-hunch-bone that makes them uneasy when things “just happen.” But the lack of investigative reporting makes me wonder about how far this conspiracy reaches. Could it be that not only the Democrats but also the Republicans have something to hide in this mess, and they have both managed to keep the press at bay?? Newshounds know that you can’t piss both sides of the political process, or you end up with 4 years of reporting on Libertarian and Green Party issues. But they can still redeem themselves and avoid Item 2. It just may not be possible to do so. Just look at the finger that pushed the first domino in the chain of bank failures, that’s were the fault lies.
And bonus Item 6:
Obama’s ethanol initiative will pollute the environment in a big way and turn environmentalists against him. Again. But nobody cares about this, so please ignore.
Afterthought Item 7: Sarah Palin runs for Presidency 2012. This year shows that inexperience is not a detractor to the Presidency if you are popular enough. After discarding the McCain deadweight (sorry John!!), Palin will reject public funding for campaigns and go on to raise prodigious amounts of cash that will take her to the Presidency. But watch out: her run will encourage Hillary Clinton to also run in 2012, capitalizing on her opposition to Obama since the very start; she will find an understanding American public. That’s the campaign *I* want to see made into a movie!!3
- ”Gulliver’s Travels”, Jonathan Swift [↩]
- As an engineer, I am actually intrigued by these new power systems; they
will look pretty cool but will not produce the scale of energy needed by a country the size of the USA [↩] - NOTE to Spike Lee: we don’t want an inspirational Obama film starring Denzel Washington, unless Obama is running a secret war against extraterrestrials on the Dark Side of the moon, with lots of special effects explosions and USA space troopers launching out of the Capitol building [↩]
Quite a title for this article, but it really makes sense. Trust me.
I was listening to the soundtrack for the Broadway show “Wicked.” It is based on the premise that the Wicked Witch of the West was really not evil, just a misunderstood soul. Wow. They are taking one of the iconic evil figures from literature and giving her a second look, an alternate-universe history that makes her, well, nice1. And that’s not right.
Taking this alarming trend to its pinnacle, could it be far behind for Hitler to make a comeback??
(NOTE: the following are satirical comments. Do not mistake them for reality; they are just an artifice to make a point. That is how satire works.)
After all, Hitler was really nice to his dogs. And he did put all of the German people back to work on that really cool roadway, the Autobahn. Did I mention that he created the Volkswagen?? That picture of Hitler and his gang of killers parading around on a convertible Wolkswagen has got to be the coolest, most disturbing image of the war. 2 So except for the 6 million people he killed, Hitler was a really nice guy. Really.
(NOTE: the satire has now ended. Back to reality.)
But we all know that the winners of a war write the history books, so they can adjust the facts to suit themselves. There are many instances of Allied atrocities in WW2 that should have been tried as war crimes. I am thinking of the conventional bombing of the German city of Dresden, or the firebombing of Japanese cities. The latter killed a whole lot more people than the atomic bombings at Hiroshima and Nagasaki (better left for some other article). But a lot of terrible things happen during a war; it’s just distasteful to try to justify them as being necessary for a greater good. It’s so much more honest to say what is really inside: the enemy is inhuman and we’re scared sh*tless; we need to kill as many of them as possible before the war ends. Afterwards, we have to go back to being human beings and play nice again. Or whatever passes for “nice” between bellicose nations.
So back to the Wicked Witch of the West. The play does a good job turning the Oz universe on its head. As with many revisionist works, there are problems with it, since it changes a couple of really key points that clash with the world that Frank L. Baum created. Similar to those Star Wars prequels that cannot exist in the same universe as the original Star Wars movies. But these are nits, and you can still enjoy the Wicked concept if you ignore them. Just don’t expect me to change my worldview: The witch is still evil. (Don’t forget, she did try to kill Dorothy. And her little dog, too.)
Time to set the record straight: whatever, whichever politician said that gas prices are not coming down was right. Offshore drilling is a good idea, but it will not bring gas prices down.
Now don’t get me wrong. I’m all for drilling for oil in our own backyards. When I first moved out to California, I was enchanted by all of those oil derricks pumping, pumping away in the beautiful hills of Huntington Beach, down along the beach paths and even on the beach dunes themselves. It made California look like the golden El Dorado that I had always imagined: golden roads lined with cool-looking cars and all of the oil we needed right under our feet. And yes, I was also expecting bikini-clad girls to pump my gas and sell me my milk from those roadside milk stands (I saw pictures of this put out by the Orange County Chamber of Commerce). I’m sure the girls and the pumping action of the derricks was some sort of Freudian juxtaposition that made me drive out to California all the faster.
So why don’t I support the drilling now?? Because once the oil is out of the ground, it is immediately put out on the international market where China can bid on it, along with every other gas-thirsty country that is finally making its way out of the Third World. We would be competing with them for our own gas. And make no mistake about it: it’s our gas. It is coming out on nationally-owned areas (offshore or the ANWR in Alaska) and the oil companies are getting a low-risk, fantastic return on investment. If that is the case, they can afford to lose a little bit of profit by selling that gas DOMESTICALLY, ONLY. Does that sound socialistic, the first hints of nationalized gas production?? You bet your sweet light-crude that it does!! But if you’re going to drill in my backyard, and I own the land and mineral rights, you have better pay me off by at least selling me the oil at a domestically-competitive price.
But I’m also realistic. Using oil to power our cars is a technological dead-end. With all of the Chinese, Indian, Polish, Russian, etc. etc. economies finally coming out of the Dark Ages and increasing the number of privately owned cars, we are going to be running out of oil soon (peak oil production). So where’s my nuclear-powered car?? If all of those Disney documentaries in the 1950’s promised plenty of energy in the future, how come I have to use my bicycle to go to the library and to the store??
The anwer of course is that we can’t trust the average person to drive a quarter of critical mass around in their engines, waiting for some terrorist to figure out that (4) times (1/4) equals (1). Boom. And I can hardly imagine the bad traffic created when the radioactive cleanup team cleans up the pieces from your average 4 accidents per freeway per day.
We need to use nuclear power to generate the electricity to provide the hydrogen to run the cars. Simple enough, please give me my new-model 2010 hydrogen-fueled SUV. In Earth-Friendly Green, of course. And feel free to stick as many oil-sucking straws in the California Offshore until then.
It would be fair for you to assume that I am going to be supporting the desire of these camel huggers to become martyrs, but no, I am instead sending you to the good book to see what Jebus has to say.
Variety reports that some democratic politicians (including Hilary Clinton and Joe Biden) are again attacking the game rating entity ESRB over Manhunt 2. The game was originally Adults Only due to violence, but it made some changes and is now Mature. They cite an FTC study that shows 42% of kids under 17 can still buy Rated M games. They’re also saying that you must consider whether the game will be released on the Wii! If it is, they believe it’s actually instructing kids how to kill. Probably doesn’t affect any readers here, but an interesting viewpoint. Like the MPAA, the ESRB was created to avoid gov’t regulation. If they don’t improve enforcement, they’ll fail. Of course, considering how awful the MPAA is, maybe gov’t regulation would be an improvement. And I don’t like big government!
Paul Graham, brilliant software developer turned venture capitalist, has written a rather cogent defense of capitalism (albeit without ever using the word capitalism). While he writes plainly, some of his wording might come across as condescending if you believe in redistributing wealth. But even when my eyebrows were raised, I could find no fault with his logic or facts. He supports his arguments with examples from history, using them to explain why some people today have problems with others gathering wealth. It’s quite an interesting read.
Turns out that Brick, NJ, hometown to several Crack Team agents, is the safest city in America. Mission Viejo, CA, not far from my current residence, is also in the top 5. While neither city is particularly exciting, the country’s most dangerous city, St. Louis, MO, is no fun factory, either. Compton is also on the most dangerous list, but at least it has better weather.
Variety reports a judge has decided that it’s not ok to edit films, removing things you find offensive, then sell the edited version. Well, duh. It is ok, however, to use technology to skip over or mute stuff you don’t want to see or hear. That seems fair to me, too.
So last Monday, there was supposed to be a huge walkout/boycott. If you supported immigration, you didn’t go to work, and you didn’t buy anything. Most people understood the point of the boycott was to show the positive economic impact immigrants have. Newscasters warned you’d see major disruptions to your daily routine. Well, I’m in Orange County, which has many immigrants, legal and illegal, and I noticed no changes. For my friends who live in LA County and work in Orange, or vice versa, they did notice one drastic change they generally described thusly:
OMG did you see the traffic today? It was awesome! My commute was so short!!!
When they started to think about what it would be like without immigrants, it was a bit more positive than before. And one of my friends is an immigrant (legal, of course). He just hates his commute.
Now, there may be some confusion about the root cause. By the end of the week, people started observing a few other things:
I’ve no doubt that the boycott lowered traffic significantly, but it was probably boosted by the high gas prices rekindling commuters’ romance with public transportation.
Like most things, when it comes to immigration, I’m a very practical guy. I am sure that a population of low wage workers benefits us as a nation. It means that American companies can lower costs to compete with foreign companies, and American consumers can buy things cheaper. Here’s my take on the issues:
I know that somewhere there is a formula, perhaps some min/max calculus problem, that determines the range of low-wage illegals that benefit us. Having over a certain number will be a burden, but so will having less than a certain number. It probably needs to take into account population density, unemployment, inflation, the trade deficit, and a few other factors. But I have yet to see any scientific analysis of this problem, and I’d really like to.
Michael Crichton has an excellent op-ed piece in the NY Times about medical patents that can restrict research to fight diseases - patents that border on thought police. Very interesting how this will play out. It’s a double edged sword, of course, because the potential for revenue from patents motivates much medical research. And medical research costs a lot of money, because it’s done by doctors. So we could end up removing some financial barriers to medical research, and in doing so remove the financial incentives for that same research.
A lot of fanfare in the TV news about President Bush signing a law that forces analog broadcasters to halt transmission on 2/17/2009. It will all be digital then, and there is money to subsidize the purchase of a digital to analog (D/A) converter box for those with analog sets. Everyone on both sides are breaking their arms trying to pat themselves on the back. Digital enthusiasts should be very disappointed, however. Why?
Because previous legislation required this to happen in December of THIS year.
I just want to call attention to the fact that this is not progress, it’s a big step backwards. They are weasel-wording it by saying we are moving to a hard deadline. Did the previous law have a soft deadline? Yes. It said we’re to go digital by 12/2006, or when 85% of households contained a DTV - whichever came first. So it also had a hard deadline. That law was passed in 1997, giving broadcasters 9 years to prepare, and a lot more than that when you consider this started 43 years ago in Japan.
Kudos to this article at madison.com for not being afraid to include a little history.
Tags: hd
In honor of Dr. Martin Luther King’s birthday, I borrowed Futureman’s time spinner and took it out for a walk……
The Traveler.
I had been walking since early this morning. It’s tough to get around when you don’t have a car; I could have tried to rent one but it would have started people asking too many questions to which I didn’t really have answers. None that they would have understood, anyway.
Instead, I kept on the backroads mostly, trying not to draw too much attention. My shoes weren’t made for walking on this semi-dirt road that I was using, and I would have stood out like a sore thumb if I’d shuffled down the main highway just a few yards away. The dirt and dust had started working their way into my socks, and it really sucked.
The heat of the day was starting to get to me, and the comical hat I’d made out of discarded newspaper was not helping too much. Funny how people stopped using hats; you see them everywhere in the old films and newsreels. People even wore them to the baseball game. Strange. It would have been easier if I had been traveling up North in the Empire or Garden States. But I was now making my way down some God-forsaken road in the Peach State. Georgia was definitely in my mind. And inside of my dusty shoes and sweaty socks.
Up ahead I spied salvation in the form of a diner. I couldn’t miss the gorgeous curves of the roof or the efficient use of space in that old trailer that was now serving as a diner. It looked like it had just driven up the road and broken down at this spot in the woods. And now it was serving burgers and leaking all sorts of delicious smells into the air. I trudged up to the door and went inside.
The air was cool and the smells warm and inviting. This old wreck must have some primitive air conditioning unit chugging smoke out in back and I hoped that it wouldn’t break down until after I’d had some lunch. Some old coot was greasing down the grill and talking to himself. He looked like your typical movie cook and I half-expected to see an anchor tattooed on his arm. Maybe I should have called out “Cookie” to see if he turned my way. I was afraid to make him move; the ash on the cigarette dangling from his lips was pretty long and I certainly did not want it spicing up my food.
The booths were all empty as were the barstools. The old coot and this old heap of a diner should have broken down nearer to the main highway; he would have more customers that way. In any case, I sidled up to the counter, put down my backpack and started checking out the eats and drinks. First thing I noticed at once was the clean smell of PineSol; it really got my appetite going. There was a nice fresh-made apple pie under glass right in front of me, and I just knew there were ice-cold Cokes (in glass bottles!) cooling their heels in a hidden icebox, somewhere. Just waiting for me to finish that tasty burger, of course.
And then the old coot spoke.
“Hey boy, you can’t eat here.” The words were mechanical and I took a couple of seconds to parse them out. He was probably too tired to continue talking, so he half-heartedly pointed to a grungy sign on the wall: “Whites only.” I had seen pictures of this sign, and they all looked as dirty as this particular sign now in front of me. The historian in me was fascinated by this whole scenario playing out right NOW in real time in a forgotten part of the world. The good man in my should have been outraged at this injustice. The hungry man in me just wanted a piece of that pie and a cold Coke.
It must have been 30 seconds before I started thinking again. An Eternity staring at the old coot. Now I noticed that his eyes were tired and that he looked a lot like a grandfather I once had. His voice was firm but his eyes were weak and he seemed exhausted by the whole charade. I think if we’d had a chance to switch places, he would have taken that opportunity and walked out of that place. But he had his place and apparently, I had mine. I just shrugged, picked up my backpack and walked out the door.
The sun was still out but now I felt cold. It poured down on my head and neck and burned the exposed black skin on my hands. Time to go back home, if I could find a way.
The Crack Team network is so vast and embedded that no one man can know the identities of all agents. However, I feel pretty confident that John Stossel is one of them. He’s written a fascinating article on the failures of the union supported government monopoly that we call our public school system. It’s geared toward comparing us with the international community, with which we are increasingly competing due to offshoring.
I am a product of the New Jersey public school system, and I’ve done ok, but I’ve been out of the loop there. In California, at my day job at a large aerospace company, all but one of my coworkers send their kids to private school. The one who didn’t picked up and moved to an area with an acclaimed school system. It’s nice they can afford to do that, but it would be nicer if the government allowed more parents to (as Agent Renegade woud say) “vote with their feet”.
All California voters have the option to use the paper ballots over the electronic voting machines. However, some counties are telling poll workers to not inform the voters. This includes Orange County! If you - like me - don’t trust the machines, you have to specifically ask for the paper ballot. You can read more in this EFF press release.
Sean Penn, who was thoroughly skewered in Team America (along with a lot of other actors), wrote an angry letter to Matt and Trey. However, it wasn’t about his portrayal in the movie.
Apparently, he takes issue with Matt and Trey taking issue with “Sean” Piddy Comb’s “Vote or Die” campaign. They think if you’re not informed, there’s no shame in not voting.
What’s wrong with that?
Hell, in my younger, more arrogant days (Yes, even more arrogant than now. Perhaps way more.), I was all for a meritocratic democracy. In other words, a sign at the voting booth would say “You must be this intelligent to vote.” It’d weed out those too dumb to make a smart choice.
So I’ve backed off on that a bit. Frankly, there’s more than enough info to make an informed decision, even if you’re an idiot. Just think of what’s important to you, and go to one of the 3 bajillion web sites that talk about how the candidates feel about it. For me, it’s pretty easy. I care about my career. My career is currently in the Aerospace and Defense industries. Is it not obvious to even the most casual of observers who will spend more money in that area? It isn’t? Oh. Well, Kerry wants to shut down missile defense, and Bush wants to put a man on the moon. (And if that doesn’t explain it, please pay heed to the sign.) My other hope is to quit work and start a small business, and Bush looks to be the right guy for that, too. Everyone seems to be asking Kerry what he’ll do for small businesses, while leaving Bush alone on that one (his plan is to cut welfare and social security to give small businesses a 3% tax break - hurray!). I’ll take that as a sign.
If you’re gay, and you want to get married (which I think you should have every right to do), you don’t want the guy who wants to amend the Constitution (?!?) to stop you. Heck, I don’t really want him either, but my choices are limited.
So, if you didn’t already know, The DeBeers Company pretty much controls both supply and demand of diamonds to artificially inflate prices. And, they have nothing to do with beer. An article from The Straight Dope clears things up. Also, the next big threat is artificial diamonds, which are pretty much indistinguishable from the real thing, except they’re a little too perfect. Wired has a big article about that.
So, if you’re trying to get out of spending a fortune for a diamond ring, you have a lot of evidence that supporting the diamond industry is akin to supporting African poverty and blood feuds. And if that fails, you should soon be able to by a cheap, flawless diamond. Spend the rest on something the whole family can use, like gambling.
Bill Cosby made a speech for the 50th anniversary of Brown vs. The Board of Education (Brown won). It was focused on the 50% dropout rate for inner city black males. Somehow, the media got a hold of it and tried to portray it as classist, which is just ridiculous. The speech itself is inspirational, funny in parts, and makes a ton of sense. There’s a lot about personal responsibility. You can find a transcript of it here.
On the 3rd anniversary of September 11th, HBO just happens to show Executive Decision. If you can’t recall what it’s about, I’ll remind you. Kurt Russell and a special forces team sneak onto a Boeing passenger jet to stop Islamic terrorist hijackers from taking it to Washington to blow it up and release nerve gas into the city. The executive decision is whether the president should allow fighters jets to shoot it down. How appropriate! How sensitive!
“Happy 9/11 from all of us at HBO!”
Wankers.
Apparently, I’m a Republican. I don’t remember signing up, but I am a huge supporter of Schwarzenegger, and I took an online test that pointed me in that direction. I guess I acted on it, because today I received a census form from the RNC.
The letter explained that it wanted my opinions, and they would count for my entire voting district. Wow! I was excited. I like having my opinions counted, mainly because they’re better than most people’s. Finally, I’d get to tell the RNC what really matters to smart Republicans:
- Personal investing over Social Security
- Alternative fuel research
- School choice
- Eliminating censorship
- Flat tax
- Higher education
- Space and defense (i.e., my paycheck)
- Eliminating the deficit
- Allowing gay marriages, as banning them violates separation of church and state, and is a real dick move to boot.
I really wanted to sound off on these issues. Tell them to be more like Arnold and less like George. Maybe they’d even have a write-in section! I was prepared to fix the party.
Alas, this was not to be the case.
All of the questions had yes/no/undecided answers, and worded so they’d be hard to say “no” to. Examples:
Do you support President Bush’s initiatives to promote the safety and security of all Americans?
Should the Inheritance or “Death Tax” be permanently repealed?
Do you support President Bush’s pro-growth policies to create more jobs and improve the economy?
Should small business be encouraged to grow and hire more workers?
Even controversial issues were worded carefully:
Do you support President Bush’s initiative to allow private religious and charitable groups to do more to help those in need?
Huh. I’m not sure about special breaks for religious groups, even though I’m a Christian. I mean, why didn’t we always do this? Was there a good reason? Was it being taken advantage of, perhaps by unscrupulous people forming religious groups to live off taxpayers. I don’t know. But I’m definitely for helping those in need, so “Yes”.
It went on like this. I could only give a definitive no to one question:
Do you support the President’s efforts to save Social Security and add a prescription drug benefit to Medicare?
See, I know Social Security needs to be fixed, not just band-aided over, and probably won’t exist by the time I retire. And the Medicare bill Congress passed is going to cost us a fortune that we don’t have. So, ok, that’s definitely a bad idea, even though it sounds like I hate old people and want them to die penniless and sick.
I have a sneaking suspicion, however, that they didn’t care about my opinions at all, and were just looking for a *gasp* donation. I don’t know, I’m probably reading into things. Why don’t you read the final question, and tell me if I’m wrong:
Will you join the Republican National Committee by making a contribution today?
o Yes, I support the RNC and am enclosing my most generous contribution of:
o $500 o $250 o $50 o $25 o Other $_________
o Yes, I support the RNC, but I am unable to participate at this time. However, I have enclosed $11 to cover the cost of tabulating my survey.
o No, I favor electing liberal Democrats over the next ten years.
All questions were copied directly from the survey. At no point did I embellish the questions or answers.
So Monster.com is publishing articles about how having a clearance can give you a big leg up in your tech job search. Searching their own ads, though, I’m not seeing it. At least not for software engineers in Southern California, and I’ve no plans to move or switch jobs. My most recent search yielded just 31 jobs for developers with any of these skills: Java, Perl, JSP, Servlets, J2EE, or ColdFusion. I tried other software technologies, too. Almost nothing. I know, if I search a 50 mile radius of DC, I’ll find a hundreds. But most who live here don’t want to move, well, anywhere.
On several other news sites (bear with me, this is related), I’ve just read about Kerry’s defense plans: expand the troops by 40,000, without increasing the budget. How will he do that? He says he’ll scrap missile defense. Now, I’m not saying this is a bad idea, we could probably use more troops than missile defenders right now. However, all the manpower of this $9 billion project will quickly be on the market, and they, too, will have (pretty darn high) clearances. And I’m guessing they’ve got a ton of software developers, as anyone who’s played Missile Command knows this requires some tricky programming.
These developers will be facing an already crowded market, which is still recovering from the Internet bust, and is now facing the offshoring boom. Their only hope (and ours) is that they live in the DC area, and don’t want to leave.
Or Bush gets re-elected. I’m just saying…
I’ve recently been made aware of the concept of “peak oil”, which says that since there is a finite amount of oil on earth, we’re eventually going to reach the top of the bell-shaped production curve. After that, prices increase dramatically, and since so much of what we need to exist is tied to oil, we return to pre-oil population levels. In other words, about 4 billion of us die off.
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