Main Page
My House Blog
My Flickr Photos
Questionable Content
XKCD
Penny Arcade
Saturday Morning
A Softer World
Least I Could Do
Misfile
Sinfest
Overheard
One Sentence
FMyLife
November 2003
December 2003
January 2004
February 2004
March 2004
April 2004
May 2004
June 2004
July 2004
August 2004
September 2004
October 2004
November 2004
December 2004
January 2005
February 2005
March 2005
April 2005
May 2005
June 2005
July 2005
August 2005
September 2005
October 2005
November 2005
December 2005
January 2006
February 2006
March 2006
April 2006
May 2006
June 2006
July 2006
August 2006
September 2006
October 2006
November 2006
December 2006
January 2007
February 2007
March 2007
April 2007
May 2007
June 2007
July 2007
August 2007
September 2007
October 2007
November 2007
December 2007
January 2008
February 2008
March 2008
April 2008
May 2008
June 2008
July 2008
August 2008
September 2008
October 2008
November 2008
December 2008
January 2009
February 2009
March 2009
April 2009
May 2009
June 2009
July 2009
|
|
|
Sunday, October 31
Happy Halloween!
I think I've found a great way to meet the neighbors . . .
Posted at 3:46:00 AM. |
| Permalink
to this post.
Friday, October 29
There's No Place Like Home
I've given it a week to make sure nothing fell through, but I haven't heard from any of the parties so I'm assuming it's a done deal. I bought a house last Sunday. :) It was a yo-yo day, with an offer and two counter-offers (there was another buyer), 6 phone conversations with my real estate agent in a 3-hour period and some last minute paper-signing at 7 p.m. Bleh, talk about stress (I was a ball of nerves all day). The sellers dropped the price $15,000 on Thursday, my agent called me on Friday, I looked at it on Saturday and made an offer on Saturday night (which didn't actually go through until, by some great stroke of chance, my lender approved it when he happened to stop into his office on Sunday morning). At this point I've swapped the "Oh no, I'm not going to get it!" panic with the "Ack! What did I just do?!" panic (it's considerably more than I was expecting to spend, so I'm going to be living on Ramen for the next 5 years, and I think I'll just set the heat at 38 to keep the pipes from freezing and wear really thick sweaters . . .).
This was the first house I looked at that I really liked. It even has a turret-thingy. :) It's all brick with hardwood floors and a fireplace (those of you who have heard me talk about my house hunting know that those were on my list; oh, that's a mirror above the fireplace, not an alcove) and has a finished basement (that desperately needs repainted). The second floor is an attic at the moment, but down the road (after I've sold enough of my internal organs to afford it) I'm going to convert it into the master bedroom. It's in the Country Club area, which is just gorgeous (block after block of brick houses built in the thirties).
Next year I'm having a Halloween party. :)
More pictures here.
Posted at 2:11:00 PM. |
| Permalink
to this post.
Thursday, October 28
More Democracy in Action
I voted today. Go me. I was somewhat annoyed at how little information I could find on the candidates/issues on the ballot (with the obvious exception of the presidential race and the gambling amendments, which both suffer from information overload). I spent about half an hour trying to find info on the lesser-known issues/candidates using the online edition of the World-Herald and came up short on most of them. I'm hoping the World-Herald will publish a voting guide just before the main election (which doesn't really help me). It rather dismayed me to know that a politically aware citizen (like myself) who actually takes the time to try to figure out the things on the ballot and make an informed decision still comes away frustrated; I can only imagine how uninformed citizens who go to the polling places with no research decide which boxes to check on these lesser-known issues. Democracy is in trouble.
Posted at 6:10:00 AM. |
| Permalink
to this post.
Wednesday, October 27
Seen in a Document
"The Trustee shall not be required to make payment of any Bond until such Bond shall be presented to the Trustee for appropriate endorsement or for cancellation if frilly paid." Labels: proofreading
Posted at 9:07:00 PM. |
| Permalink
to this post.
Fantasia in 3D
I saw a television article on a medical condition called " synethesia" in my doctor's office yesterday. It's a condition where a person experiences a secondary sensation when experiencing a primary sensation, such as tasting chocolate when hearing a specific name or seeing the "beeps" of a truck backing up as red dots in the air. It's caused when the nerves that control the senses don't fully separate (as they do for most people) during early development. Although it's of medical interest, it's not considered a "disorder" and most people who have it are happy to have it (imagine hearing music and seeing a display of colors in the air right out of Fantasia). Other examples include seeing printed words and letters/numbers in specific colors (one man could instantly pick out a single "2" on a printed page filled with a jumble of "5"s because "it's a different color") and such odd abstract concepts as "chicken that tastes pointy." Interestingly, people with this condition are primarily female (5:1 ratio) and left-handed, and the condition appears most often in artists, poets and the like. This is another example of the intracacies of the human mind (which I talked about in a post some months back, where I made up a person who saw the sun in a different color to illustrate a point, not knowing at the time that such people could actually exist).
Posted at 7:32:00 PM. |
| Permalink
to this post.
Tuesday, October 26
Save the Candy, Hand Out Hellfire
I read a disturbing article on Yahoo today about a new "feature" of some fundamentalist Christian churches. Fed up with the "Satanic" holiday of Halloween (despite the fact that it stems from a pagan Celtic culture that neither knew nor cared about Satan) and unhappy about being unable to eradicate such a "perverse" holiday (even though it's a completely secular holiday at this point), these churches are creating their own version of haunted houses, with one major difference from most haunted houses: instead of showing ghosts and ghouls and vampires, these "Hell Houses" show what the proprietors believe to be literal displays of Hell and all the ways you can end up there. Just imagine, panoramas of homosexuals, Muslims and other assorted "unworthies" shown dying and ending up in Hell.
The article says that there are more than 3,000 such displays in the U.S. now. I made the mistake of actually searching for one of their Web sites. It's a bastion of tolerance and goodwill, with a deep understanding of the evils of stereotyping, let me tell you. There are only sporadic comments like "See the muslim's demonic hatred for his non-muslim neighbor. Get up close and personal with the hate filled muslim and see the surprised look on his face as he meets his unexpected end. . ." and "the flames of hell shall burn brighter and hotter than they do for the whoremonger and thief [for a gay man]." And only a single page of pictures of actual car accident victims with comments like "You must hear the last few words he says before his life ends in a pool of his own blood."
Amusingly, the site contains at least one link to what was probably once a sympathetic site but has since been bought out (it currently advertises Canadian prescriptions), and its "Is Hell Real?" section contains a link to a very descriptive analysis of Hell from an accredited university, using a well-respected source . . . the fictional "The Inferno," by Dante . . .
In any case, all tastelessness and intolerance aside, this boils down, again, into an extortion scheme: "do what I say or something really bad is going to happen to you." And I still stand by my position that fear is not a good reason to believe something.
Posted at 5:30:00 AM. |
| Permalink
to this post.
Don't Mess With the Music Teacher
Congratulations to Jamie for having her letter published in the World-Herald's Public Pulse. (Second from the bottom.) :)
Posted at 5:25:00 AM. |
| Permalink
to this post.
Downhome Eats
My hometown paper carried a front-page article about the culinary endeavor being pursued by my mother and my grandmother. Stop for lunch if you ever happen to be passing through the Nebraska sand hills.
(I offered to build them a Web page, but did they take me up on it? Noooooo.)
Posted at 5:19:00 AM. |
| Permalink
to this post.
Monday, October 25
Heya Kids
It was a long weekend for me. Did I say "long"? Yeah, I thought so. I'm off to bed, but I'll have some stuff to post later. Stay tuned. (Actually, that's a metaphor that's inapplicable to this medium, since the Internet isn't tuned like a radio. Perhaps "Stay connected" or "Return to this unique I.P. location at a later point in this chronological progression." Take your pick.)
Posted at 6:58:00 AM. |
| Permalink
to this post.
Friday, October 22
"It Is Bitter . . .
. . . But I like it, because it is bitter, and because it is my heart."
Seen on Bash:
A woman has a close male friend. This means that he is probably interested in her, which is why he hangs around so much. She sees him strictly as a friend. This always starts out with "You're a great guy, but I don't like you in that way." This is roughly the equivalent of the guy going to a job interview and hearing the company say "You have a great resume, you have all the qualifications we are looking for, but we're not going to hire you. We will, however, use your resume as the basis for comparison for all other applicants. But, we're going to hire somebody who is far less qualified and is probably an alcoholic. And if he doesn't work out, we'll hire somebody else, but still not you. In fact, we will never hire you. But we will call you from time to time to complain about the person that we hired."
P.S. - Points for those who recognize the snippet in the title. :)
Posted at 10:55:00 PM. |
| Permalink
to this post.
Legal Innuendo
Headings seen in a document today:
7. Performance Standards
7.2 Failure to Perform
7.3 User Satisfaction
7.5 Measurement Tools
I wonder if being married to a lawyer involves contracts like these. "I'm sorry, you failed to abide by Section 7, Clause 4 of the Marriage Agreement, 'Minimum Duration,' so I'm forced to resort to the punishment set forth in Section 13, Clause 9(a), 'Withholding.'" Labels: proofreading
Posted at 10:39:00 PM. |
| Permalink
to this post.
Democracy in Action
I received my absentee ballot today. It has seven different presidential candidates on it. Wow.
Apparently it also has a radio tag built into it or something, because I received four political advertisements in my mailbox today as well (which is a big jump from the two a week I've been getting). And I'm abandoning my rational decision-making abilities and simply following the hypnotic messages deeply embedded within the text of the advertisements. :P Is anyone swayed by these things?
Posted at 3:59:00 AM. |
| Permalink
to this post.
Thursday, October 21
It's Funny, Dammit
I think I found my new favorite Web comic. :)
Posted at 5:46:00 AM. |
| Permalink
to this post.
Wednesday, October 20
I Hate It When This Happens
It's always embarrassing. I should leave my phone in another room . . .
Posted at 2:53:00 PM. |
| Permalink
to this post.
Tuesday, October 19
Parents Can Be Just So Mean
Our unusual name of the day goes to this poor guy, who showed up in one of my documents. And he can't even blame it on hippie or oh-my-god-I-need-a-creative-name-for-my-kid-so-he/she-can-stand-out! parents (he was born in the fifties).
Posted at 11:56:00 PM. |
| Permalink
to this post.
Shake Your . . . Um, Something
I heard two songs on the radio last night (well, actually I heard more than two, but only these two are applicable to this anecdote). The first was "1985" by Bowling for Soup, which includes the line "She was gonna shake her ass." The word "ass" was bleeped out. Immediately following that song was Meredith Brooks' "Bitch," which repeats the word "bitch" numerous times (it's in the chorus). No bleeping. Did I miss the memo about how "ass" is now a worse word than "bitch"?
Posted at 2:39:00 PM. |
| Permalink
to this post.
Monday, October 18
Living on a Balloon
Warning: Long post about geeky cosmology stuff. Skip it if you're not into that.
Amanda and I had a delightful discussion of the shape of the universe on Saturday, a topic near and dear to my heart, even though I know next to nothing about it (compared to actual scientists, anyway; I know more than 99% of average citizens). I actually have been trying to wrap my head around the intricacies of universal topology off and on for about a year now and failing miserably, a result of the difficulties inherent in three-dimensional beings attempting to visualize four-dimension space, in much the same way that we would have difficulty explaining the concept of a sphere to a two-dimensional being. Part of my problem is that we (the collective "we," including scientists) don't know what the shape of the universe is, although there are various models, including one I read about last night that posits the universe as a trumpet bell with an infinitely long spire protruding from the narrow end of the bell.
That aside, I was taught an analogy for our universe that may have tripped me up. We know that all galaxies are traveling away from each other, which seems counterintuitive: if you have a group of 10 people standing in a random pattern on a gym floor and they start moving they will have to travel closer to some people in order to travel further away from others (except for the people on the edges, but we're not counting those). It's possible, though, for all of them to move away from all the others if they stand still and the gym floor itself expands outward in all directions, which is a very rough analogy of the expansion of the universe. I learned this analogy using a balloon speckled with marker dots: as the balloon is inflated and grows larger, all of the dots (representing galaxies) travel away from each other and get farther apart. For awhile I had some vague picture of the expanding universe that troubled me because, like the people standing on the edge of the crowd in the above example, it seemed to me that there would be galaxies "out in front" of the expansion, which created the odd situation (in my mind) of a planet that had stars on only half of the night sky. That seemed intriguing but highly unlikely (especially considering I'd never heard anyone else mention it), so I gave it up and went to the balloon analogy, which I think I took too far.
With the balloon analogy, there is no galaxy "out in front" because the surface is spherical. The point of inflation aside (and not relevant to the discussion), an expanding balloon has no "singular important point," that is, all points on the balloon are as equal and important as all other points (there are no edges or "beginnings"). This is a more palatable model, although it created for me another problem: if you start at a point on the balloon and travel away from that point, in any direction, you eventually arrive back at that point. For awhile I just assumed that the model looked different in four dimensions and I wasn't visualizing it correctly. But then I read an article asking whether the universe is "multiply connected" (a term I hadn't heard before) that specifically mentions a universe with just such characteristics (although the universe is so large that it would take many times the lifetime of the universe to travel its circumference).
The article also mentioned a possible characteristic of such a universe that I hadn't considered (but that excited me - yes, cosmology excites me; are you surprised I'm single?). In such a universe (one shaped like a balloon), the light from a star would continue traveling around and around and around that universe, setting up the possibility that our universe is much smaller than it appears and all of the trillions of stars and galaxies are actually a much smaller number of stars and galaxies seen multiple times (like an object reflected in the mirrors of a fun house) during different times of their development. This creates the possibility of peering out into the night sky and seeing our own galaxy/system/planet in its earlier development. Alas, the same article says this is highly unlikely, but it's still an interesting concept (I need to work that into a book somewhere).
That underscores the point that the stars we see in the night sky aren't the way they are now; we're actually peering into the past by however many years the light from the star has been traveling before it reached us, in some cases billions and billions of years. If we could travel faster than light, we could pop out to 10 light years, peer back at Earth and see how things were 10 years ago (by "intercepting" the light traveling away from Earth). It also means that any signals we might ever receive from other planets may be from worlds that died millions of years ago. And 10 billion years from now, a planet that is currently 10 billion light years from Earth may be watching reruns of "Baywatch."
Anyway, where was I? Um, yeah, shape of the universe. I dunno what it is (I guess I'll do some more reading). I've read several suggested models, but reading them and understanding them are two different things (bloody extra dimensions). Parting shot: this topic reminded me of Olbers' Paradox (something I'd read about years ago and then forgotten). Olbers' Paradox puts forth the question "if the universe contains an infinite or near-infinite number of stars, every line of site from Earth should, eventually, end on the surface of a star, causing the night sky to shine brightly; why, therefore, is it dark?" The common solution to the paradox is that, because stars didn't start forming until billions of years after the Big Bang (after the universe had expanded to a great size), many galaxies are so far away from us that the light from their stars hasn't reached us yet (which at first implied to me that eventually the night sky will be one big bright light, but I guess the more likely solution is that the stars nearer to us will die out and go dark by the time the light from the distant galaxies reaches us; this, of course, happening billions of years in the future, long after we're gone).
Wow, that was a lot of rambling. Yay for geeks. :)
Labels: quantum mechanics, science
Posted at 4:29:00 AM. |
| Permalink
to this post.
Weekend Update
Halloween is only 14 days away. I hope those costumes are coming along well . . .
I had a busy weekend for a change (busy such that I'm doing laundry now, at 3:30 a.m.; I'm sure my neighbors love that). Amanda and I celebrated her birthday on Saturday by taking in the Brigit St. Brigit production of Dracula, which was elegantly fabulous. The production, with intermissions, went 3-1/2 hours and was fairly true to the book (more so than, say, the movie with Keanu, anyway). The stage combat was incredible (far better than any other stage performance I've seen and better than most movies). The only complaint I had was that they fired an actual gun inside the theater, twice (with blanks, of course, but it still left my ears ringing both times). The program was deliciously sprinkled with historic footnotes and sidebars, including some bookplates of Hindu vampires and the always amusing Varney the Vampire. Highly recommended. Go. Really.
Before the performance Amanda and I had a nice dinner filled with appropriately geekish discourse, beginning with literature, progressing to vampire games and ending with a half-hour discussion on quantum mechanics and the shape of the universe (see next post). I also branded her soul for all eternity by giving her a plush Cthulhu. She didn't seem that distressed about it, though. Maybe the insanity had already set in.
On Sunday Jamie helped me finish scavaging parts for my Halloween costume (all but a couple of items) and then we went to the Scary Acres haunted attraction (it was the only attraction listed in the World-Herald that had a cornfield maze). Unfortunately, their cornfield maze was (a) not a cornfield maze (I think it was millet, although not being a farmer I'm not up on crop types) and (b) was really unimpressive (despite their Web site's description, there were no wandering monsters, and the maze itself was on the small side). The biggest amusement came when a group of teenagers who entered after we did started scaring each other and screaming. While we were there we decided to hit the other attractions, which were more on the scary side. The haunted castle was replete with ghouls, asylum victims, demonic clowns and an impressive Freddie Kruger, although they should really have an epilepsy warning, given all the strobe lights. They also had one of those cool-as-hell contraptions with a stationary walkway inside a rotating cylinder (the ones that make you want to fall over due to the illusion). I could really do without the chainsaw-wielding maniac, though. Once again, loud noise, bad. It's hard for me to be scared when I'm busy plugging my ears. I'll let Jamie give her own impressions ('cause she'll hurt me if I mention how she tried to rip my arm out of my socket when Leatherface showed up . . . oh, wait, oops). ;)
Posted at 3:40:00 AM. |
| Permalink
to this post.
Saturday, October 16
Happy Halloween, a Bit Early
Feel like a little scare? Before you actually watch that, though, please read the following warning:
This is somewhat scary. No blaming me, and no hurting me. :P I've had two people (you know who you are) in the last 8 months beat the hell out of my shoulder after I, in some way, intentionally or not (*cough* okay, usually intentionally *cough*) scared them. To summarize: hurting Jay, bad.
Oh, yeah, and make sure your speakers are on.
Posted at 3:21:00 PM. |
| Permalink
to this post.
Thursday, October 14
Democracy by the Numbers
I volunteered to be an "Election Official" (a title that does for "poll worker" what "Document Proofreading Specialist," my official job title, does for "proofreader") after reading an article about how the majority of poll workers are over 60 (and from a more civic-minded generation), a situation which is becoming a problem as current poll workers retire (or die) and are not replaced. I learned that Dodge County (my county) alone in Nebraska has suffered a shortage such that it has adopted a draft on the same model as jury duty (approximately 1,000 volunteers and 1,000 draftees), a move that several other counties are considering for elections in the near future. I had training today, which was just a barrel of fun. By the numbers:
15-20: Number of people I expected to show up at the training session.
300: Actual number of people who showed up.
15%: Turnout of registered voters at the primary earlier this year.
70%: Anticipated turnout for the upcoming general election (a record).
60: Number of minutes the class lasted.
56: Number of minutes elapsed before people began leaving.
14: Number of people who left before the class ended (apparently to beat traffic).
3: Number of cell phones that rang during the class.
11: Number of people I counted under 50 (democracy is in trouble).
I was almost late because I missed a turn and then had trouble finding a parking place (training was at a high school, which still had sports practice in session). I wasn't the only one having parking difficulties ( this being the most egregious example of "Screw it, I'm late, this will do"). The class was held in a class room that had the first example I've seen in person of a "dampening field" (to borrow a term from scifi); my cell phone lost service as soon as I entered the room, and regained it as soon as I left (yes, I know, I said three cell phones rang during the class - I guess they have quantum inhibitor counter fields or something; I've heard those come standard with Verizon).
Class itself was dull. The only noteworthy event was a wonderful interjection into the lesson by a man in his late sixties in a sweatsuit with a thick New York accent who carefully interlaced his personal indignation into a question by asking about the main phone number for the election office: "I think you guys need to look into your phones. I called that number the other night and it rang for 11 minutes with no answer! Eleven minutes! I have the cell phone record to prove it! I can show it to you right now! I was not happy." The instructor simply said "Well, we'll have people staffing the phone on Election Day." I'm sure he was thinking what I was thinking, which, in its simplest form, boils down to "Why the hell did you let it ring for 11 minutes? You couldn't figure out there wasn't anyone there after the first 10 rings?" I'd be willing to wager that he came to the class with that on his mind and was just looking for an excuse to bring it up.
I learned that, even though this is a general election, the American two-party system (that gangrenous blight upon democracy) still has its tentacles intertwined in the proceedings. The Election Workers are divided up by polling place, with equal numbers of Republicans and Democrats per station. Several of the procedures require a witness from each party. Given the highly conservative nature of this state, that means shortages of Democrats. I also learned that Independents (like me) are highly prized because we can count for either party. Go us. Election Day is a 13-hour day for the volunteers (I have to be at the polling place at 7 frelling a.m.), so it should be an interesting day. I'm going to be really grumpy with any of you people who don't vote because "it's too much work" after this. :P
Posted at 5:16:00 AM. |
| Permalink
to this post.
Wednesday, October 13
Candles and Cardboard
Happy Birthday to Amanda, who celebrates her 22nd cycle today. :) I hear an apocryphal rumor (through unnamed but reliable sources) that she's buying presents for all her friends . . . ;)
I received what can only be described as a " piece of cardboard" in the mail today. At first I thought Barnes and Noble screwed up. Then I thought maybe it was the outer cover to something and someone stole the rest of the package. Then I noticed that one part of it was slightly thicker than the rest, but I couldn't find an "open here" indication of any sort. So I carefully tore open one part (I didn't want to cut it open for fear of damaging its contents), and sure enough, inside was a manual that I ordered a month ago and forgot about. Cast into the cardboard. Barnes and Noble really needs to reconsider their packaging.
New Farscape miniseries this Sunday! Yay! That is all. Labels: birthdays
Posted at 4:09:00 AM. |
| Permalink
to this post.
Tuesday, October 12
Maizes?
Pardon the pun. Does anyone know of any cornfield mazes in the local area? I know there are some around here, but they're certainly not advertising very well.
Posted at 3:52:00 AM. |
| Permalink
to this post.
Does Your Deity Love You?
I received a flier over the weekend from one of those Christians who give other Christians a bad name. Choice excerpts on the perilous status of my soul:
"Even the most moral person is a desperate sinner on his way to Hell."
"Hell is very real. It is both eternal and consists of perpetual suffering."
"The followers of all other religions are going to Hell."
And so on and so forth. All carefully footnoted with Bible versus, completely ignoring the fact that I would have to actually believe the Bible is factual in order to be convinced by quotes from it (the person who wrote this certainly isn't going to be convinced no matter how many verses from the Koran are thrown at him). That aside, I find these sorts of attempts at persuasion to be rather on the insulting side, since the whole point of the flier is to scare me into believing. It's an appeal to fear, not intelligence or even love, and choosing to believe in a deity out of fear of the consequences of not believing is a really bad reason for believing (not to mention any omniscient god worth his/her salt should be able to pick out those people who are believing as an insurance policy instead of believing because of faith). Referencing my previous three-part post, it also saddens me that whoever wrote this is completely intolerant of other religions. No wiggle room for common understanding. I'm right. You're wrong. Go directly to Hell. Do not pass Go. Do not collect $200. Not looking at the big picture.
Posted at 3:03:00 AM. |
| Permalink
to this post.
Sunday, October 10
Happy, Um, Whatever Day It Is
I felt like I should post something so people will quit worrying about me, but I don't really feel like writing anything substantial. So you have two choices:
1. Listen to the mundane details of my boring day (now with extra dullness!), which reaches its peak somewhere between "both Wal-Mart and Target are carrying Myst IV now, the bastards" and "I went through my tea cabinet and threw away all the expired boxes, including one that expired in 1999, leaving me with five out of 18." Seriously, they should be making a made-for-tv movie out of my life.
or
2. Read the conspiracy theory that's making the rounds on political blogs about the mysterious bulge in George W. Bush's jacket (between his shoulder blades; get your mind out of the gutter) during the first debate and the suggestion that he was being "prompted" through a wireless earpiece. (On a somewhat-related topic, did anyone see the articles about how Cheney accidentally gave out the address to an anti-Bush Web site during the VP debates? Whoops.)
Posted at 6:22:00 AM. |
| Permalink
to this post.
Wednesday, October 6
The Dying Dream of Humanity, Part III: "Us vs. Them"
Parts I and II of our 3-part series put me in kind of a funk today. I felt, once again, what little faith in the human species to which I still desperately cling come under assault, withering like smoke before a hurricane. I felt dismayed that, of the random sampling of Americans I saw today, my choices for "average citizen" were limited to a pair of law-bending, politically disenfranchised gun nuts and someone who reduces the complexities of political awareness to her dislike for one candidate's physical appearance.
The VP debate did little to cheer me up. Instead, I found myself irritated and despondent over the limited, narrow vision of the "us vs. them" mentality that pervades this campaign, this country, this planet. The candidates talked about other countries, but only within the context of what those countries can do for (or against) the U.S. Who will invade us. Who will cost us money. Who will provide us with cheap outsourced labor. Nothing about what we can do for the world. No mention of protecting the environment, fighting AIDS and poverty in Africa, combating the overpopulation that threatens the planet. This campaign likes to ask "Are you better off now than you were four years ago?" A better question would be "Is the Earth better off now than it was four years ago?" The debate question that really killed me was one about "What to do about terrorism." Both candidates answered, essentially, "we hunt them down and kill them." More money for the military, more money for intelligence, more money for death. A solution . . . for a generation. Until the killing of this generation leads to resentment and hard feelings of the next generation, and a whole new generation of terrorists. No money for education and tolerance and reaching out and solving the wedges that drive us apart. No mention of solving the underlying problems that lead to terrorism or of working toward a more open, more tolerant society in general, not only for the U.S. but for the world. I feel sad at the tattered patchwork of disparate nations that cover the globe, each driven by base emotions. Fear, of invasion, terrorism, economic uncertainty. Greed, for limited natural resources, money, power. Intolerance, of the ideas and beliefs of those "different."
The human race is capable of so much more than this. "Capable," in this case, meaning "on one of the infinite Earths of the multiverse they achieved global peace; on all the other billions they killed themselves." Our species is going to destroy itself because too few of us are guided by our higher emotions and too many of us are ruled by our baser emotions. I read an article on Yahoo two days ago about a poll that revealed that 25% of Americans have negative views of Muslims in general. Base, ignorant, immediate reaction. No effort to look beyond, at what our species is capable of at its best. No admission that we are all one species, regardless of appearances or beliefs, a species that can't see beyond "us vs. them."
I saw an episode of Farscape lately that drove this concept home, at least for me. In this scifi series, the main character (Crichton) has been lost in another part of the galaxy for years, traipsing about in alien cultures and conflicts that involve hundreds of worlds. In this particular episode, Crichton finally returns to Earth with his handful of alien friends and their ship, and after the initial shock the politicians on Earth settle down into deciding what to do with the alien technology. Crichton's father and the political administration are of the opinion that the United States should keep the technology to itself. The show actually references September 11 (a bold move). The relevant lines go like so:
Jack: "Every nation's demanding equal access to the aliens and all the information we get from them."
John: "Of course they are. We're going to give it to 'em."
Jack: "I don't see why. Why should we give them access to technology they can use against us?"
John: "Cause it's the right thing to do."
Jack: "Now you're being naive, son. The best and safest thing to do is keep it to ourselves."
John: "Space travel was your dream to unite mankind. When did that change?"
Jack: "September the eleventh. This isn't the same world you left four years ago son. People don't dream like they used to. It's about survival now."
John: "Who's survival?"
Jack: "Our family's survival. Imagine them blown up by a suicide bomb or coughing up blood from a poison gas attack. This country is under siege. You just don't understand the global situation. You're not lookin at the bigger picture here."
John: "You don't see the big picture. You can't conceive of it. Earth has to work together on this."
Jack: "Yah? Well, you're asking the impossible on that one."
John: "Impossible. 'Impossible is not in our vocabulary.' Who said that? You. You did. Four days before you set foot on the moon. You taught me to believe that. That belief kept me alive. Please tell me you still believe it."
Humans are lost in the details of the small picture, the petty squabbles and intolerances on such a tiny blue dot, ignoring the big picture, the grand cosmic scale, the possibilities and potential of the human species as a unified entity.
And now it's an hour past my bedtime and I'm going to bed. Maybe I'll feel better tomorrow.
Posted at 5:07:00 AM. |
| Permalink
to this post.
The Dying Dream of Humanity, Part II: Into the Lion's Den
My thoughts on the VP debates:
- Edwards seemed very polished and animated, a result of his experience presenting cases before juries. He constantly smiled and seemed almost eager.
Cheney seemed . . . tired. He slumped in his seat and spoke in a monotone voice that at times was almost difficult to hear. At one point the narrator actually inquired "Mr. Vice President?" in a concerned voice when Cheney didn't respond after being asked a question. I'm sure frantic officials were fearing an on-air heart attack.
- Both men became repetitive caricatures at points, constantly repeating themselves. In Edwards' case, he started almost every talk with "First, let me say . . ." or some variation thereof, and would gesture with a closed fist in front of him. This is perhaps the first time I've actually heard someone speak in bullet points; Edwards seems incapable of using just one example or statistic, instead ladling them on in well-emphasized clusters (complete with pauses between each one) until they all blurred together.
Cheney, on the other hand, repeated the phrase "That fact of the matter is . . ." like a mantra, clutching at it as though it would make the sometimes-ludicrous statements that came after true.
- Each candidate was allotted uninterrupted speaking time, varying in length between statements and rebuttals. In many cases, this wasn't enough for the candidates, and both men constantly returned to previous questions when asked a new question, inserting incongruous comments on healthcare into questions about political experience with such innocuous lines as "I'll answer that in a moment, but first, I'd like to comment on our last question again." This really annoyed me. In places, Cheney didn't answer the question presented to him at all, spending his entire allotted time talking about something completely unrelated. Conversely, I was surprised that Cheney completely passed on some of his rebuttal periods, simply saying "I have no more comment" or "Go on to the next question, please." If nothing else, I'd have expected him to babble about how cool the president is or something.
- Both candidates hawked their running mates to no end. Edwards repeated John Kerry's name so often that he seemed almost incapable of thinking of himself as an independent entity, existing in some sort of Borg hive-mind. One question specifically prohibited the mention of the candidates' running mates in order to force the candidates to talk about themselves; Edwards broke that rule twice within 90 seconds, each time being chastised by the host. Cheney more or less said that he has no opinions of his own and will support whatever the president does.
- Cheney's constant attempts to link everything to Iraq only highlighted the administration's failure to justify its policy. I actually laughed out loud when, during a question about Israel, Cheney said that the suicide bombers in Palestine are the direct fault of Saddam Hussein and we'll see less of them now that Saddam is out of power. He simply didn't respond when Edwards challenged his statement that we had been attacked with "Yes, but not by Iraq."
- Both candidates wasted no time in bringing their families on stage after the debate ended for a quick photo op. I also noticed both candidates wore red ties; I wonder if that's a new "fashion tip."
Overall, I was horribly unimpressed with Cheney (big surprise there, I know). He was almost sullen and arrogant, and I found nothing persuasive in any of his arguments. I wasn't bowled over by Edwards, but he came off as far more polished and knowledgeable. I wasn't the target demographic of the debate, though. The big question is "how many undecideds did the debate sway?" Unofficial Yahoo polls after the debate were giving it to Edwards at a nearly 2-to-1 ratio; we'll see what the official polls next month say.
Posted at 3:40:00 AM. |
| Permalink
to this post.
The Dying Dream of Humanity, Part I: A Slice of America
A One-Act Play Entitled "Jay Is Stuck With 3 Strangers in a Pizza Restaurant"
Scene: A small waiting lobby in a carry-out pizza restaurant in downtown Omaha just after 7 p.m. Jay has just arrived at said lobby, where "Stranger 1" is already waiting. Stranger 1 is male, late-twenties, in torn sweatpants and a t-shirt. As Jay is inquiring about his pizza, "Stranger 2" arrives. Stranger 2 is male, late-twenties, athletic. The two strangers begin talking about Stranger 2's dog, which is visible in his pickup-truck.
Stranger 2: He's good during hunting season. You ever go hunting?
Stranger 1: Now and then. You?
Stranger 2: Deer season is coming up. I'm looking forward to it.
Stranger 1: I don't have to get a permit for it.
Stranger 2: Oh? Why?
Stranger 1: I'm enough Native to qualify. I can hunt pretty much whatever I want. I usually kill 2 or 3 a year. And anyway I have a friend with some private land and he lets people "skip" the permits.
*shared chuckle*
Stranger 2: As long as you don't get caught. *insider wink*
Stranger 1: He likes to hunt with his AK-47. Banana clip and everything.
Stranger 2: Sweet. I have a friend with an M-16. Boy is it light. My SKS is really heavy compared to it. We go out and let 'er rip on weekends sometimes. You should see the pieces fly when we hit something.
Stranger 1: I bet.
[Continue talk about hunting and assault weapons.]
[Enter "Stranger 3," an early-thirty-something woman, and her four-year-old daughter.]
Stranger 3: Wow, are all of you waiting?
Stranger 2: Yeah, I think it's the opening of the baseball playoffs.
Jay: It's also the Vice Presidential debate.
Stranger 3: Oh, that's right.
Stranger 1: Bah, why would you watch that? It's pointless. We know who is going to win.
Stranger 3 (bristling): We do?
Stranger 1: In this state, yeah. Bush is going to win. What's the point of voting?
Stranger 3 (relaxing): We can only hope Bush wins.
Stranger 2: No kidding.
Stranger 1: I don't really keep up with it. I'm registered Democrat, but I don't vote.
Stranger 3: We're big Bush supporters.
Stranger 1: I don't really like either candidate. Bush is as bad as the other one. He just cares about making the rich richer and the poor poorer.
Stranger 3 (bristling): We just bought our first house and we're not rich. Besides, I don't want to look at Gomer Pyle on the T.V. for the next four years.
Stranger 1: You know who I liked? Clinton.
Stranger 3: You and Monica both. Bush is a much better president.
[Continue talk about politics as Jay takes his pizza and leaves.]
Posted at 2:42:00 AM. |
| Permalink
to this post.
Tuesday, October 5
Did You Miss Me?Continuing our staccato cadence of odds and ends (you weren't actually interested in long posts this week, were you?): Amazon, that stellar example of customer psychometry, e-mailed me to let me know that the next entry in the Barbie(tm) line of PC games is out. In this case I actually know why they e-mailed me (I bought Lane a Barbie(tm) ice skating game that I actually played for an hour or so), but as enticing as the thought of dressing Barbie in a unique and visually stunning assortment of clothing is, I think I'm going to pass on this one. I saw a television commercial for some new breakfast-wrap-something-or-other tonight that included a scene where a woman in the factory that makes said breakfast item looked into the camera and announced: "The eggs come from real chickens, the cheese comes from real cows and the sausage comes from Jimmy Dean." Ah! Cannibalism! Bad! Not to mention I don't think they're going to get too many wraps from him. He's kind of skinny. I want a house, preferably by winter, so I can make cool Calvin-and-Hobbes-esque works of arctic artistry!
Posted at 4:16:00 AM. |
| Permalink
to this post.
Monday, October 4
How Far Does Your Head Twist?
Jamie and I saw "The Exorcist" (the original) at the Dundee on Saturday night. I'd never been to the Dundee (go ahead, get your "Never?"s out of the way here), but it was an enjoyable trip. I'd never been to a movie where the audience participates, and I'm dubious about most of the audience being old enough to get into an R-rated movie, but it was fun. I didn't find the movie itself that scary. Maybe I've been desensitized by modern horror movies, but there were long stretches of the movie that weren't frightening at all, and the handful of really scary parts were few and far between. It wasn't bad, but I didn't turn on all the lights and check my closets when I got home. Jamie found it scarier than I did (and didn't seem all that impressed with my comments about the demon that lives in her closet on the drive back . . .; I admit, that wasn't very nice of me).
I had to go to two more stores to find Myst IV because frelling Target didn't carry it either. A new release in one of the biggest selling game franchises of all time, and neither Wal-Mart or Target is carrying it? Surely there was enough room on the shelf (next to 19 other games I'd never heard of) to put one more box . . . I finally found it at Best Buy, but I had a little trouble paying for it. I had a $50 pre-paid Visa giftcard from last year that expires next month that I was trying to use. The cashier said there wasn't enough money on it to pay for the $43 game. Turns out, after I called the number on the card, that they "start deducting $2.50 a month in administrative fees after the seventh month." Nice of them to tell me. :P I've decided never to give gift certificates, ever. "Just like cash . . . but not as useful." (No, I haven't started Myst IV yet. Be amazed at the self-restraint.)
Yay for Farscape marathons!
Hope everyone had a good weekend. :)
Posted at 5:58:00 AM. |
| Permalink
to this post.
Saturday, October 2
More Quick Tidbits
1. I saw a license plate on Thursday that said "THX 1138." Bonus points to anyone who understands why I thought that was funny.
2. I also saw a license plate that read " ENFP." Maybe I should get a plate that says " ISTJ." Although I retook the test last week and scored as an INTJ, so either I've changed since I took the official test 8 years ago, or the test was off. Or else Amanda infected me.
3. The theater commonly abbreviates the names of movies on the board at the ticket booth and on the electronic marquees above the individual theater doors. This week, they're playing " FIRST DAUG."
4. Why do they make me go to computer training classes for programs I've already been using for two months? Gah. An hour-and-a-half of "how to resize the viewing pane" and "The Client e-mail folder is anticipated to be used for client e-mail." (That last one was an exact quote.)
Posted at 11:46:00 AM. |
| Permalink
to this post.
Friday, October 1
The Plight of the Undead American
Quick tidbits before I crash:
1) "Shaun of the Dead" is really funny. If you don't mind a little gore mixed in with your romantic comedy, go see it. There are a couple of places where the combination accent/slang (it's a British film) lost me, but all in all it's a funny little movie.
2) SciFi is starting an 11-day, 88-episode marathon of "Farscape" leading up to the premiere of "Farscape: The Peacekeeper Wars." Yay! No more watching stupid informercials at night (not for two weeks, anyway).
Off to dreamland. I hope everyone is well.
Posted at 6:08:00 AM. |
| Permalink
to this post.
|
|
|