I learned a few weeks ago that Haloscan is shutting down and I'm going to lose all of my comments from the last seven years (so if you want to go back and reread them, now is the time). Today I learned that Blogger is shutting down FTP publishing (the system whereby my blog posts are hosted on my own site instead of Blogger's), which means this blog is going to cease to function in about a month. I'm going to hold off posting here until I figure out what to do about it. I may just archive this blog and start a new one.
I noticed some cracking/blistering plaster in the living room (just inside the entry hall) from a water leak last week and took a day off of work to spend several hours crouching on rafters in cramped, dusty crawl spaces and on a ladder outside in order to clean, paint, seal and shoot full of foam any possible gap I could identify. It rained today. It's still leaking. Bloody hell. I'm going to give it one more shot this weekend to see if I can identify and seal the leak; if that fails, I'll have to admit defeat and call a roofer. Ouch.
Posted at 11:46:00 PM. |
| Permalink
to this post.
Sunday, July 19
Yay Science Standards!
This week is the 40th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing, an event that became a symbol of the pursuit of knowledge in general and science in particular (not to mention a feather in the cap of the U.S. during the heyday of Cold War brinksmanship). To celebrate this monumental achievement in human knowledge and progress, Yahoo is linking photos from the Apollo 11 mission from its home page, including this photo of the Earth as taken from space, highlighting "most of Africa and portions of Europe and Asia."
Posted at 12:04:00 AM. |
| Permalink
to this post.
Tuesday, July 14
Putting the Art in Disheartening
I'm glad to see I'm not the only person discouraged and annoyed by the amount of airplay this group is getting. I don't expect references to Helen Keller to be glowing and reverent by default, but suggesting her inability to speak is an admirable trait that more women should follow, even in a joking manner, is something that should, in a rational world, preclude the band from having female fans of any level of self-respect. I'll be happy when their star fades.
Posted at 10:38:00 PM. |
| Permalink
to this post.
Monday, July 13
This and That
- I was approached twice over the weekend in two different stores by other shoppers who assumed (incorrectly) that I worked there. I could vaguely see the Target incident; I was wearing work clothes that superficially resembled Target's color scheme. But the other one just has me baffled. I was holding a shopping basket and actually *shopping* (reading labels and crossing items off a list), and yet the woman in the motorized shopping cart looked not only surprised but actually disbelieving and possibly offended when I responded to her request that I page someone to help her in the paint section with a sheepish "I'm sorry, I don't work here." Maybe I need to reevaluate my attire.
- I've been more annoyed than usual lately at the oncoming drivers waiting to turn left on green who actually start to turn as I'm entering the intersection, assuming my course and speed will remain constant and they'll just miss the back of my car. If I were more confrontational, I'd play "chicken" by intentionally slowing down to dispel their assumption and force them stop, but (a) that would disrupt traffic and (b) sooner or later I'd lose, neither of which is a good outcome. So I'll just swear at them as I leave the intersection instead.
An excerpt from my hometown newspaper's Letters to the Editor section this week:
Friday morning my 10-month-old puggle was hit by a pickup. I just want to know how someone can . . . not be aware of dogs that may be known to be on the road. [Followed by three paragraphs about how careless the driver was.]
After acknowledging the unfortunate circumstances for the pet, my next immediately reaction is to question why someone who admits her pet "means the world to her" and is her "everything" is allowing her dog to roam freely on such a frequency that she expects the rest of the county to take it into consideration when driving near her house. I'm not aware of the pet laws in my hometown, but my current location has some fairly strict leash laws (with civil and monetary penalties) and a Humane Society that collects free-roaming animals (and given that the in memoriam picture accompanying the article in the paper shows a puppy clearly not wearing a collar, the owner would have racked up some considerable fines here). Maybe it's a rural thing to let your animals have free-run of the area, but that seems a calculated risk to me that isn't really the fault of passing motorists.
If you really do love your pets that much, perhaps you should treat them like you do instead of neglecting them and then blaming someone else when something goes wrong.
Random updates, like the proverbial box of chocolates:
- I finally started the wedding DVD projects for my appropriate siblings (sorry, Haley, yours will be a long way off). Jeff and Shandra's is 90% done and I've even burned a test DVD to make sure it actually plays. Linde and Justin's is 75% done. I need to buy printable DVDs for the final product and then do the trial-and-error of learning how to burn a disc image and then make multiple DVDs from that (as opposed to waiting 5 hours for a DVD to render and burn, as the test DVD did) and then I should be done. All told, learning iMovie and iDVD, uploading about 5 hours of video, whittling it down to about 3 hours of video, making it into clips with transitions, composing the DVD menus and figuring out how to convert the PowerPoint slide shows into videos took around 17 hours. I'll be glad when they're done, mostly because they're way overdue, but partially so I can get my 65GB of hard drive space back (and I thought high-res pictures took up a lot of space). This should cover Christmas presents to my siblings for the next, oh, five years or so . . .
- I cooked fish for the first time last week. Although I'm not a huge fan of fish, I'm going to make an effort to incorporate it into my diet. I dug my George Foreman grill out of the oubliette into which it was tossed long ago (I don't think I've even plugged it in since I bought my house, given my non-meat-eating habits), dusted the fillets with olive oil and seasoned bread crumbs, grilled them for about 5 minutes and then flavored them with a honey glaze I made from honey, teriyaki sauce and seasoned pepper. When added to the steamed edamame and jicama and steamed brown rice I made on the side, it was probably the healthiest meal I've ever made.
- My route to work has been fraught with peril lately. Earlier in the week I spotted several soda cans rolling across the lanes in front of me. My initial impression was that one of the recycling trucks had lost a bag, a guess disproved when I caught up with the Mountain Dew truck one block ahead that had jettisoned several cases of soda from an unfortunately unsecured door while attempting to turn into a gas station. Today I was nearly in an auto accident when the person just ahead and to the left of my lane suddenly decided to have lunch at the Burger King on my right and entered my lane to make the turn without looking or signaling. A hard brake (and some swearing) on my part left a gap of less than a foot. Yay for adrenaline to prime you for work.
- My beloved iMac has been giving me fits. It has for awhile been randomly deciding not to wake up from sleep, a condition Lane has dubbed a "Mac coma." I've reset the system controller and PRAM, disabled Awaken and Weatherbug and pored over the console logs, with no luck. At the same time my Soundsticks have been failing (cutting out when anything else suddenly draws power, necessitating unplugging and plugging them back in, crackling when they kick in after not being used for awhile and humming very loudly when they're not plugged into the computer), which according to the oracle that is the Internet heralds a failed capacitor and the end of their lifespan. With any luck, the two are connected, and the replacement speakers that should be showing up any day now will solve both problems.
- Speaking of computers, I spent most of an hour on the phone with my mother last night walking her through the diagnostic and remediation steps of an A360 virus infection on her PC. I think we got a handle on it (although not being able to actually see the screen means I can't be sure). As much as my iMac is annoying me at the moment, I'm still trying to move my family to the Mac so as to avoid these sorts of inconveniences.
Posted at 12:20:00 PM. |
| Permalink
to this post.
Tuesday, March 17
Putting the "Alien" in "Alienating Your Core Audience"
This is just the dumbest thing I've heard all day. I can't even pronounce that phonetically without wincing.
It's probably no coincidence that the amount of time I've spent watching the SciFi Channel over the last 5 years has been inversely proportional to the amount of non-scifi nonsense they've incorporated in their effort to "broaden the target audience" (as this rebranding is supposed to do). I stopped watching the channel almost completely when they started showing, of all things, *professional wrestling,* and I've been completely done with it since the season finale of "Atlantis" (which the brain trust at SciFi decided not to renew, two years after also not renewing "SG-1," despite being the highest-rated shows on their channel).
I understand that Top Chef is a reality show. Despite this nefarious moniker, I've felt that the show stood apart from the banal, neuron-killing sludge that percolates through MTV, Fox and the rest of Bravo by making it a food show that happens to be reality rather than a reality show that happens to have food. While there is craziness on the show (some of the contestants are just plain nuts; go Andrew), traditionally the producers have allowed the personalities and the pressure of the show itself to be the sources of the drama.
This season's talent is not on par with the previous seasons, and to make up for that the producers have used more of the "traditional" reality show fare. The camera crews now peek in the windows to secretly spy on the contestants in their apartment, put contestants on the spot about cheating on their significant others and open shows by staring down a contestant's shirt for 10 seconds while listening to her voice-over about how much she loves cooking. I'm sure there are a lot of viewers who like this direction. I find it distracting from the thrust of the show (promising young chefs looking for recognition for their creativity and skills).
They've now eliminated all of the contestants I liked, so I'm kind of ambivalent about who wins. I know Cris still has a favorite, so I hope he gets his wish. :)
I read an article on some of the practical consequences of quantum mechanics today. Consciousness is a common example, but in addition the article discussed how the antioxidants in green tea may use quantum tunneling to eliminate free radicals. The most interesting example to me, though, was the suggestion that photosynthesis may utilize quantum mechanics to achieve 95% efficiency when transmitting collected solar power from the surface to the inner cells (in comparison to our own power transmission methods, which lose 20%).
Then came the revelation: Instead of haphazardly moving from one connective channel to the next, as might be seen in classical physics, energy traveled in several directions at the same time. The researchers theorized that only when the energy had reached the end of the series of connections could an efficient pathway retroactively be found. At that point, the quantum process collapsed, and the electrons' energy followed that single, most effective path.
I actually blinked after reading that paragraph and said "Holy crap" out loud at Cici's. To clarify, the paragraph suggests that a plant or bacteria collects solar energy at the surface and then sends that energy in terms of "probability" down every *possible* path at the same time to the core cells, and once the most efficient route is determined, it drops all of the inefficient routes and *all* of the power goes the most efficient route, as if the organism knew the most efficient route to begin with and the less-efficient routes were never even considered. This is *phenomenal.* As an analogy, imagine if you could drive every single possible route to work each morning, determine which one took you the least amount of time and then go back in time and drive *only* that route.
One post of annoyance:
As I was finishing reading this article, I heard a crash and was suddenly splashed with a shower of pink lemonade (which splattered my pants, my magazine, my table, my glasses and the wall behind me), caused by a small girl knocking her glass off the table across the aisle and one booth back from me. It was an accident. Things happen. But the parents' reaction? Complete apathy as they continued to watch the Super Bowl on one of the wall-mounted televisions. They ignored the staff member who came to mop it up and never said a word to me. My god. I wish I could revoke parenting rights.
News articles like this one tend to engender strong, and polarized, emotions in people. A good portion (perhaps the majority) will react with "Awwwww" and a warm tingle at the heart-warming story that's destined for the Lifetime movie-of-the-week. Others, including me, blanch involuntarily (and not just because the mother claims it was a "miracle," despite voluntarily using science-based fertility treatments).
There are arguments that can be made against having excessively large families on the personal level (the distribution of resources, including attention, among more children, the greater risk to each child from gestating multiples, etc.), but these tend to be visceral and opinion-based. Moving on.
The concept of personal liberty and reproductive freedom is unquestionable on the personal level. The concept of responsibility on the global scale, on the other hand, is not. For 99% of its 200,000-year history, the human species experienced very slow population growth (we didn't crack 5 million people until the Bronze Age). A hunter-gatherer existence surrounded by predators and an inconsistent food supply meant that multiple offspring were offset by high mortality rates, and even into the modern historical periods population growth was still slow (800 million people worldwide in 1750, less than the population of India today). The evolutionary nudge toward large families was maintained as necessity in agrarian societies (where large numbers of children were, in addition to bundles of joy, free labor on farms using hand-powered technology), and extended into tradition today even when no longer necessary (my own family, descended from proud farming stock on both sides, spans four generations and more than 50 people, not counting spouses).
This is where harsh mathematics comes in. The current population of the world is about 6.75 billion. This is a fourfold increase in a hundred years and nearly a doubling since I was born. Numbers are projected to level out around 9 billion once the majority of the third world "catches up" with the first world. In stark contrast, the scientific consensus on the maximum long-term sustainable population of the planet, based on its resources and "recharge rate," is a paltry 2 billion, a number we've long ago passed. That number is based on an assortment of limiting factors, such as the rate aquifers recharge, top soil regenerates and ocean fish levels replenish, plus the rate of depletion of non-renewable resources such as fossil fuels that are a one-shot supply the planet won't produce again. Our current population is sustaining itself only through depleting a stockpile of resources (much like spending the capital in your retirement fund instead of living off the interest). This is a bad plan (both in the world of finance and in population dynamics).
The human species, then, has three options:
1. Ignore the situation and allow the population to build to 10+ billion, at which point natural population control measures will kick in (in a decidedly non-pretty way, likely through escalating mass famines and regional/global wars over limited resources).
2. Institute mandatory population control measures as China and India have done (with varying degrees of success). These are severe violations of personal liberty and lead to civil unrest.
3. Encourage global responsibility on a personal level. Which means not having 14 children. (It actually means not having more children than necessary to maintain the sustainable population, which in a balanced ecology would be enough to replace the previous generation.)
Unpleasant facts, I know. Our planet just isn't as forgiving as we tend to think it is.
Just to freak out the squeamish. This is the third problem donation I've had with this arm (following the incident where the tech poked the needle clear through the vein and out the other side and the follow-up where the tech had to "wiggle" the needle in different directions for 30 seconds to get the flow started). I'm sure that just convinced half of my friends never to donate.
Because Sounding Right Is More Important Than the Truth
Overheard in the office:
Secretary 1 (about a popular e-mail forward): Isn't that just a wonderful article? Secretary 2: Oh, yes. Did Letterman really write it? Secretary 1: Who cares? It's right on point. Secretary 2: Oh, I know, but whenever I forward one of these I get people e-mailing me back saying "Oh, that's not true, la la la, whatever." Secretary 1: I know, I get that, too. It's really annoying. I just ignore them. And then they link to snopes.com, but you know, that site is just totally biased and liberal. I don't believe anything they say.
You know what else is really annoying? Getting e-mail forwards that aren't true from gullible people who get upset when you point out* that they're perpetuating a culture that believes critical thinking is a *bad* thing.
_________ *Just to clarify, I don't e-mail people back and tell them they're wrong. It's kind of an arrogant thing to do. I just blog about it here. Is that more or less arrogant? I dunno.
It's all fun and games until someone loses an . . . income source?
Obnoxious fellow in line ahead of me at Taco Bell: "Slow night?" Woman behind counter: "Oh, it's a bit slow now. It'll pick up again soon." Obnoxious guy: "Better hope so." Woman: *blank stare* Obnoxious guy: "They might start having layoffs!" *laughing and looking around to see who is laughing with him* Rest of the room (which is just me): *not laughing* Oblivious obnoxious guy: "You might have to find another job, and who else is hiring?" *still laughing* Woman behind counter: "That will be $4.37."
Posted at 12:25:00 PM. |
| Permalink
to this post.
Tuesday, September 16
Editorial Review
Yahoo's front-page news had this wonderful gem as a "featured article" today. Your car may be covered in bacteria? Guess what, *everything* is covered in bacteria, and most of it is harmless (or even beneficial). My god. There are more bacterial cells than human cells in your body and 40 *million* cells in a gram of soil. Bacteria make up an enormous percentage of the world's biomass. We've been coexisting with them for hundreds of thousands of years; I highly doubt you're suddenly going to catch some fatal bacterial infection from your dashboard in your lifetime. Why bother scaring people with figures they're not going to understand out of context?
And just to add insult to injury:
". . . a study finding the typical car has 283 different types of bacteria present in every square centimeter (square inch)."
Yeah, one square centimeter is 0.155 square inches. So not only do we think people aren't smart enough to know what a centimeter is (which is actually possible), we also "help" them out with incorrect information. Go science and math standards in the U.S.! Yay!
Posted at 11:19:00 PM. |
| Permalink
to this post.
Friday, May 30
Smooth Criminal
Smoothies have a prominent place in the great pantheon of foodstuffs that constitutes my diet. I buy bulk bags of frozen mangoes from Sam's Club that make my car's suspension protest in agony and I'm rarely without at least four (and often six or more) kinds of fruit on death row in my kitchen. My appreciation of the smoothie as a concoction of ambrosial value, therefore, is not in question, and in fact I've become something of a snob when it comes to restaurant-produced versions. I'm well aware that most of these lesser amalgams contain sugar (in one form or another) as a unique ingredient (as opposed to the fructose occurring naturally in the fruit), although I still expect them to be primarily fruit-based.
Enter, then, Taco Bell's Frutista Freeze, the newest (and most pushed in recent weeks by uninspired-yet-interested-in-staying-employed drive-through employees) product on the summer menu. In a bit of devious slight-of-hand, the chain incorporated "fruit" into the name of the drink (phonetically, if not in exact spelling) and serves it with strawberries on top (not to mention the advertisements are festooned with whole strawberries rolling around the cup), implying some sort of fruit-based blend. While waiting in the drive-through line the other night, however, I noticed the colorful cardboard placard near my car admitted in small letters in the corner that the Frutista Freeze "contains no fruit juice." Out of curiosity, then, I checked up on the product on Taco Bell's Web site. Sure enough, the freeze is essentially a fruit-flavored Icee with a strawberry "mixture" (likely containing as much sugar as strawberries) on top. Its nutritional content is disappointing, with a 16-oz. Freeze containing almost 100 calories and 20 grams of sugar (about one-and-a-half tablespoons) more than a can of soda. Normally I'd write this off as a "treat" (the way my occasional Coke Icee is) and forget about it, but I'm concerned (and annoyed) that the marketing angle will trick people into thinking they're actually consuming something semi-healthy (and more importantly that parents will buy them for their kids thinking they're better than soda). Grrr.
For the record, my smoothie recipe is very easy (and healthy). One cup low-fat or non-fat yogurt. One handful of frozen mango cubes as a base (rather than ice). Another handful of the fruit of your choice (I usually have fresh strawberries or bananas or frozen blueberries or blackberries on hand, and last week I used the kiwi that wasn't ripe enough to eat by itself). Enough orange juice to make it blend. Maybe a dash of vanilla if I'm feeling adventurous. No extra sugar or ice. Blend until smooth. The end.
I've come to expect very little from science reporting in mainstream news, but occasionally I'm particularly repulsed. This little tidbit of front-page Yahoo! information, complete with standard-fare kitschy 1960s Star Trek puns that scientifically illiterate journalists still think are creative, induced waves of bile-tainted frustration. "Distant galaxies"? Please. Just because it has the cool word "antimatter" in the article? Did we bother to do any research at all? A matter-antimatter engine (no, not science fiction) is extremely efficient and far, far faster than our chemical-based rockets. It is *not*, however, capable of anything even remotely close to the speed of light. So we can slash the time it takes to reach Mars from a year to a month. That's hardly "distant galaxies" material. Our own galaxy is 100,000 light years in diameter. At the speed of light (something this engine can't even come anywhere near), it would take, yes, 100,000 years to travel across it. It would take another 2.5 million years to reach the nearest major galaxy (the Andromeda Galaxy), again, at the speed of light, and the trip to the most distant galaxies we've detected? Thirteen billion light years.
Science reporters should be required to take some science classes. My god.
Just a quick update, mostly for my mother's benefit.
I've been in a less-than-optimal mood since my last post. Nothing catastrophic or calamitous in origin, mind you. Just a pyramid made of bricks of minor annoyances. Lack of sleep. Pulled muscles. Biting my lip hard enough to draw blood (twice). Car problems. Logistical issues with art projects. House issues. Headaches. Rude people. Time. Grover Cleveland stealing my Doritos.
It's a hard-knock life. Hopefully without a rap overlay.
This "water in the basement" thing is becoming something of an annoying recurrence. The weather is supposed to be nice this weekend, so I imagine some new silicone caulking and gutter cleaning is in order, along with some surveying to see if pouring a small patch of concrete "sidewalk" along the northwest corner will (a) fix the problem and (b) not be a tremendous hassle. It probably wouldn't be *quite* the annoyance (since I don't have carpet in the basement and the water just puddles until I push it into the not-quite-as-low-as-the-lowest-spot-in-the-floor drain), except that my first warning of it every time is when I stumble into the basement to take my shower and step on the soaking wet and very cold door mat at the foot of the stairs (that and the fact that years of this have pretty severely damaged the plaster walls it "flows under" to get from the wall behind my furnace all the way to the lowest point of the floor).
To cheer me up in advance (as if he knew my basement was going to be wet today . . .), Cris sent me this.
Posted at 11:18:00 AM. |
| Permalink
to this post.
Thursday, March 20
Dirty Tricks 101
Because winning fairly just isn't as much fun . . .
In recent weeks, conservative talk radio stars Rush Limbaugh and Laura Ingraham have urged loyal listeners to vote for the much-despised Clinton in open Democratic primaries so as to prevent Obama from sealing the nomination, and there are some indications that their calls have already been heeded in states like Texas and Mississippi . . . [T]here are signs that some Republicans are going so far as to switch their party registration by the March 24 deadline to participate in what Limbaugh has dubbed "Operation Chaos."
It's one thing to decide, based on your own opinions, to change parties and vote for a candidate you like. It's quite another to intentionally attempt to interfere with the voting of a group to which you don't belong (and have no interest in belonging) because someone else told you to. The latter is intellectually dishonest and shows a callous disregard for the concept of democracy in general. I see little distinction between this selfishness and actual instances of voter fraud; both dilute the vote of actual, honest voters and skew elections, and are essentially admissions of doubt as to whether your group can win based on merit.
Don't leave a comment on one of my pictures asking me to "hook you up" with the model in the photo. I don't know you, and if this is your method of meeting people I probably don't want to know you (and I can guaranty my model doesn't want to know you). I'm not an escort service.
Don't include personal questions about the model in the comment. Feel free to ask me all the questions you want about the photo, but asking what the model does for a living and whether I have any more pictures of her to send you is out of bounds.
If you ignore these points and leave a link to your own Flickr photos, make sure they don't consist in their entirety of pictures of your penis.
If you ignore all of the above, don't be surprised when I delete your comment and block you from my account.
You know it's going to be a long day when you're awakened two hours early by guys shoveling gravel out of the back of a truck by your house, followed by the discovery of a large puddle of water on your basement floor from the previous night's heavy rain, followed by an e-mail from Norton announcing a $55 subscription autorenewal for a program you don't even have installed anymore. I still maintain my ire at Norton (it's not "customer convenience" if I don't want the renewal, guys . . .), but at least we got a bit of rain.
Into every life a little rain must fall. Stripped of outrage and seething, commentary on annoyances may even be therapeutic, or perhaps yet petty but with a pretty pink ribbon.
- I like to believe I have at least as much patience as the average person, and averages being what they are I hope it's somewhat more; still, there's something in the audacity of a person who makes the entire line in the drive-through as well as the teenager on the other end of the speaker wait for 20 seconds while she finishes her cell phone call before placing her order that strikes me as worthy of condescension. A collective eye-rolling, perhaps, or a suitably prepared oubliette.
- I'm continually amazed at the lack of understanding of probability in the lay public. A dearth of interesting programming at 2 a.m. led me to a brief observation of "Deal or No Deal," wherein a mathematics teacher (who should have known better) let his family pressure him into passing up the chance to walk away with first $180,000 and then $261,000, despite the fact that the odds of winning more were less than 50%. He finally bailed after losing almost $200,000 off his top offer and spent the post-game interview moping. I suppose the emotional centers of the brain overrode common sense in the past for evolutionary reasons, so perhaps its not entirely incomprehensible, but it still saddens me to see people who can't afford it throwing away money on lotteries and casinos when common sense dictates that for those entities to make money the vast majority of the people have to lose money a vast majority of the time.
- Also while flipping channels I came across a movie that caught my attention because one of the characters was describing temporal lobe epilepsy (which uses some specific terms that you don't often hear in other settings). I was then dismayed and irritated to hear the character state the following: "An epileptic is one of the most dangerous creatures on earth. Treat him as you would treat a strange dog in an alley, don't talk to him, don't look him in the eye, and whatever you do, don't touch him." It turns out that, in the fanciful world of this movie, the villain's extremely violent and murderous tendencies were blamed on his epilepsy, with the ludicrous Jekyll-like suggestion that during his complex-partial seizures his personality became that of a "Jack the Ripper"-esque serial killer who would wake up with no memory of his crimes. Thank you, Hollywood, for suggesting that all epileptics are time bombs just waiting for the chance to cut prostitutes in half and murder policemen. Apparently no one bothered to tell them that even complex-partial seizures (the ones that don't result in convulsing on the ground) only last for a couple of minutes; hardly long enough for a secondary personality to carry out elaborate murder schemes.
Posted at 11:08:00 PM. |
| Permalink
to this post.
Tuesday, April 17
Public Service in Style
I saw a vehicle emblazoned with the logo of my local public power district today. Like most such vehicles I see, it was the standard white color with distinctive orange markings. Unlike most OPPD vehicles, it was a brand new PT Cruiser. Not a hybrid, as would be appropriate for a power district, or even a hybrid SUV, but a PT Cruiser in all its garish glory. I wouldn't care, except I receive a monthly bill with the same orange-and-white color scheme once a month and I'd like to see my money spent wisely.
Posted at 12:08:00 PM. |
| Permalink
to this post.
Wednesday, April 11
Paved With Good Intentions
Lisa pointed out this article in the Saturday World-Herald, which corresponds with a billboard I saw two weekends ago advertising the same event. There is much to criticize here, and the science on the subject is only the most accessible; the idea that one can change orientation through desire ignores the commonly accepted biological stance that orientation is, at least partially, genetic (evidenced by numerous twin studies and the observation of homosexuality in hundreds of animal species). One might as well desire to be taller. What this program (and others like it) calls a "cure" is in reality nothing more than suppression, as evidenced by the program proponent's own words: "Over time [30+ years], Opp said, his same-sex attractions faded, although they have not gone completely." There is a willful ignorance of biology, genetics and psychology present that colors their program for anyone with any knowledge of the topic.
Once their core beliefs are exposed as little more than wishful thinking, the major topic becomes the method to their madness, the (perhaps even unintentional) insult they level at an entire group of people who take umbrage at being called "inherently flawed." An understanding of how faith works (even if I lack it myself) makes it easy to see how the progenitors of the program believe they are doing the right thing and helping lost souls avoid the pits of hellfire, and thus they are spared the ire reserved for the intentionally antagonistic, but in the end if "doing God's work" requires you to identify a group of people as inferior you should expect to be considered intolerant and summarily dismissed as unreasonable. "Good intentions," the pavement stones of the familiar phrase, are not a sufficient justification for telling a person they are "broken" without solicitation. A similar conference about how Christians are inherently flawed and will burn in hell unless they abandon their faith would be met with equal disdain and perhaps even outrage.
The nitpicks come fast and furious with even a casual reading of the article. "'If you read the Bible literally, it doesn't allow any immorality, homosexual or heterosexual,' he said." True. And if you read the Bible literally, eating shellfish is a sin, handicapped people are not allowed in church and unmarried rape victims must marry their rapists. It's pretty clear that even literal readers are picking and choosing their verses.
"For the next four years, he said, he had a lot of one-night stands. He met men in bars and in parks. He had a lot of short-term relationships . . . He said he came to realize that he was unhappy with the same-sex relationships he had been having because they were inherently flawed." 'Cause, you know, straight people never have one-night stands and short-term relationships and gay people never have steady, monogamous, happy relationships. I think this would qualify as an association fallacy.
"Opp met the woman who would become his wife. He said they became friends, and he was honest with her. 'When I started my journey, I was 100 percent attracted only to men, not to women at all,' he said. The two decided to wed." This isn't really a criticism of his position, but wow what a bad decision. I'm glad it worked out for them, but really, people, don't decide to marry someone who says he/she isn't attracted to your entire gender . . .
And finally, "The typical audience for the conference is families and friends of gay people . . ." I find this horribly sad. Being gay and coming out is extremely difficult and the last thing people in this situation need is family members and friends saying "I went to this seminar; let's go fix you 'cause you're broken." At best you end up with people like the quoted speaker who manage to suppress their orientation, but in most cases you end up with alienation between the family members and a great deal of resentment. At worst, you have homosexuals who really *want* to change due to their faith but are unable to do so and end up miserable with low self-esteem and depression, rather than accepting and embracing their difference.
Although I think the program is wrong on so many levels, one positive influence it has had is to remind me to renew my PFLAG membership. Probably not its intention, but it works for me.
Posted at 12:25:00 PM. |
| Permalink
to this post.
Monday, April 9
Heart Attack, the Sequel
I scared myself again tonight. Not from zombie dogs this time (sorry, Lane), but from my taxes. I missed a box on the W-2 section and when the program compiled my results I ended up owing $800 to the state (it basically assumed I didn't pay any taxes at all in Nebraska for 2006; whoops). Cris can attest to my sudden shift in focus from chatting to panicking. Luckily, the error was easily caught, and a recompile gives me enough of a refund to buy the iMac I want, so I'm happy. (Cris, for his part, was disgusted with the amount of my refund, but nauseous when I told him how much I pay in mortgage payments to get that much of a refund.)
The only other annoyance stemmed from the tax program actually spelling out, for the first time, what sort of furnace qualifies for the Energy Credit (everywhere else it has just said "qualifying furnace"); as I've discovered, the cut-off is 95% efficient, whereas I bought a 93% efficient furnace. Totally my fault, but still frustrating. But now that I know the requirements, I'll be watching when I replace my air conditioner.
Posted at 11:14:00 PM. |
| Permalink
to this post.
Sunday, March 11
One of Those Days
I'm now the proud owner of two washers and two dryers. Of the four, only one is currently hooked up and functioning correctly, despite 4 hours of curse-punctuated work today. The hot water valve to the washer is completely stuck, so I skipped switching it out today (it still works, so it's less important than the dryer). The dryer has been a disaster. First the electrical plugs didn't match, so I had to call my dad for advice on how to rewire a dryer to fit an older 220v plug, then I spent almost 45 minutes trying to retrieve the wiring terminal screws that fell down inside the body of the dryer, and then when all of that was finally complete the dryer vent pipe came apart *inside the wall* the previous owner built around it, right where I can't get to it without tearing the wall apart. I finally gave it a rest for the day, but next weekend I think I'm just going to run a new vent pipe straight up and through the window above the dryer (I'll have to replace the glass with plywood and then run the vent through that). In the grand scheme I understand this is all very trivial and once it's running I won't care anymore, but blah anyway. What a day.
Posted at 11:41:00 PM. |
| Permalink
to this post.
Thursday, January 4
How Not To Buy Furniture
I'm sure I'll receive flak for buying furniture at Wal-Mart. I know, I know. But I like the style and even though it's cheap it will last until I can afford nicer furniture. Now, on with the show.
9:30 p.m.: Borrow Lisa's Jeep with a promise to return it by the time she gets off work at 11 p.m. 9:50 p.m.: Arrive at the biggest Wal-Mart in the area. Discover they're not even carrying that line of furniture anymore. 10:15 p.m.: Arrive at the next closest Wal-Mart. Note that you now have 45 minutes and you're all the way across town. 10:20 p.m.: Discover this Wal-Mart has all the pieces except the desk. Ask the guy at the electronics counter for help buying four pieces (including a dresser). Listen to him page for help. 10:30 p.m.: Ask him to page again. 10:35 p.m.: Decide to skip it because you're running out of time, but note that the dresser is on sale and decide to buy that piece without help. Retrieve a shopping cart. Buy the dresser and a nightstand. 10:40 p.m.: Decide since you've already purchased two pieces to make a second trip for the other two. Wait an extra three minutes because the checker closes the cash drawer without giving you your change, necessitating a call for a manager. 10:45 p.m.: Get challenged by two different Wal-Mart employees on your way out because they're suspicious that they've just seen you leave with a similar shopping cart of items (sure, *now* you notice me). Not only produce the receipt to the somewhat hostile second one, but spend a minute explaining why you're making a second trip. ("Well, you see, it's like this. You guys are incompetent.") 11:03 p.m.: Arrive back at the firm to give Lisa her Jeep, still full of furniture. Follower her back to her house so you can "re-borrow" the Jeep. 11:30 p.m.: Arrive at a *third* Wal-Mart. Find the desk (and, in fact, all of the other pieces; I should have just gone there first). Buy the desk. 11:50 p.m.: Arrive home. Realize some of the pieces are *really* heavy. Manage to unload everything by yourself. 12:30 a.m.: Return Lisa's Jeep. Retrieve your car. 1 a.m.: Arrive home. Finally eat supper.
All of the pieces are still in boxes in the basement, and are likely to remain so for awhile. Since they're "engineered wood" (read: wood fibers and glue, aka cheap furniture), they offgas formaldehyde, which is not only toxic but also permeates your clothing. I've read you can seal them with a good sealant to encapsulate the gasses, but to do that I need some nice weather so I can lay all the pieces outside to dry.
You know those days when it just didn't pay to get out of bed? Those days when you get turned down for a date and then accidentally destroy a costume you've been working on for your friend for four nights just after finishing it? *grumble* Now I have to go rebuy materials and start over (and I still don't have a date for the concert I'm going to see).
Insignificant in the grand scheme of things, I'm sure, but of great importance to me at the moment.
Posted at 11:57:00 PM. |
| Permalink
to this post.
Sunday, September 17
Cute as a Button
While the origin of the phrase in the title has apparently been lost to time, I'm going to use it anyway. I also have some relatively large videos of the twins walking which will probably be of little interest to those who haven't actually met them.
