tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-350646762023-11-16T06:03:46.185-05:00Confessions of a Concept JunkieI'm often told "You sure do think about that a lot", or even "You think too much". I can't help it. The best thing I can do is try to capture and organize some of it and write it down, since it finds its way out one way or another.ConceptJunkiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07574983838533038839noreply@blogger.comBlogger40125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35064676.post-19124592201052819532014-04-08T09:04:00.001-04:002014-04-08T09:07:17.612-04:00My Open Letter to Mozilla<p>
Mozilla offers a feedback page for Firefox. You are given two choices: "Firefox made me happy" and "Firefox made me sad". I chose "Firefox made me happy". Here is what I wrote:
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Firefox makes me happy. I've been using it since around Phoenix 0.4. I stuck with it through the bad years when it was big, bloated and slow. I've been running Nightly for about 5 years now because the Firefox Nightly alphas are as stable as most production software. I love using Firefox and have always recommended it to friends.
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However, Mozilla the company has made me very sad. Your recent behavior with Brendan Eich is appalling. But the straw that broke this camel's back was when the new CEO came out and said that Mozilla is committed to diversity, free speech and employees being open about their beliefs. This is pure Orwellian hogwash, and is utterly contradicted by your behavior.
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I love this browser and switching away from it will be an enormous hassle to me, but I cannot support a company that behaves in this manner, especially when it then touts its behavior as being exactly the opposite of what it truly is.
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You'll probably hear the word "liar" a lot. Get used to it. You've earned it.
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This is a watershed event Mozilla. You might not be significant in the large picture, but you have precipitated a tipping point in the culture war. That war has been building slowly for decades, but you and your supporters have
made it very hot.
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You have now politicized your browser, and that is incredibly unfortunate, because it will no longer stand or fall solely on its technology or merits, and it has a lot of merit. But you had to force your politics into the equation, so I must reluctantly choose a different product, because I don't agree with forcing morals down people's throats.
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I could tolerate your advocacy of same-sex "marriage", even though I do not support the concept. Everyone has a right to an opinion, and that alone would not have caused me to stop supporting your products, but since you will
not tolerate Brendan Eich as your CEO, I can no longer tolerate supporting your company. I'm just doing the same thing you are. It's only fair and appropriate.
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By making his beliefs your enemy, rather than just your opposition, you have made me your enemy, and it's really, really tragic that you have chosen to do this and makes me very sad. But to excuse this behavior because I really like your product would only encourage more of it.
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I could support you while disagreeing with you, but that wasn't enough for you. You had to declare war in order to force your beliefs on others. The ironic thing about all of this is that the kinds of people who would most often quote the criticism of not forcing morality on others are often the most guilty of it. Welcome to the club.
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You'll probably hear the word "hypocrite" a lot. Get used to it. You've earned it.
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You've turned a perfectly fine product into an ideology that is entirely orthogonal to what the product is. I wouldn't like that if it were an ideology I agree with, because there is too much politicizing going on already.
However, I definitely can't support it when it's an ideology I don't agree with and you have handled yourselves in such a, for lack of a better word, fascist manner.
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It's a brave new world you are opening up here, and not the one you think you are creating. This is a genie that isn't going back into the bottle and your punishment of Brendan Eich for his thoughtcrime was a very evil act, totally out of proportion with his minor support of a state referendum that passed by a majority of voters. This isn't about the whole gay "marriage" issue any more. It is now much more sinister.
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You've established a precedent. You and your supporters must seek out and attack anyone in public life who doesn't agree with your politics and try to hound them out of their positions if you don't want to be accused of holding a double standard.
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You'll probably hear the words "witch hunt" a lot. Get used to it. You've earned it.
ConceptJunkiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07574983838533038839noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35064676.post-35085049753720557332012-04-12T11:16:00.001-04:002012-04-12T11:16:41.035-04:00A "right" to health care?There's a reason the Founding Fathers enumerated very few "inalienable" rights, because there are only a few, no matter how fundamental they are to our society, and civilization in general.<br /><br />More specifically, no material right can be inalienable by definition. This is something very few people seem to understand and yet the foundation of "liberal" policy assumes the very opposite. You cannot have an inalienable right to a finite resource, because it's always possible for there to simply not be enough of that resource.<br /><br />So, do you have a right to have access to health care? Sure.<br /><br />Reasonably priced health care? Yes, whenever possible. You have the right in general not to be extorted. Therefore you have the right to be charged a fair amount for services and products. What's fair? That's another can of worms, but let's move on.<br /><br />Free health care? Absolutely not. This is not a right and cannot be a right, even a non-inalienable right. It's literally impossible to provide it so how could it be considered a "right", especially given the extremely vague nature of the concept of "health care", which today is considered to comprise a much broader range of products and services than what is literally needed to cure sickness (as opposed to maintain health... it's an important distinction).<br /><br />If you do have some form of health care that you do not pay for directly, it's a privilege. It's arguable that to grant everyone this privilege is a good idea and an attainable goal (although I don't think it is), but we are not talking about rights.<br /><br />We are decades too far into this debate to still have this much trouble defining our terms.ConceptJunkiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07574983838533038839noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35064676.post-37158596794203498392012-02-21T14:18:00.003-05:002012-02-21T14:34:51.244-05:00Half-mast, but a full jokeSo I read that Gov. Christie is defending the fact that he flew the flags in New Jersey at half-mast for Whitney Houston. <br /><br />This is a travesty. Period. <br /><br />I have nothing against Ms. Houston, and I know she has provided a lot of entertainment and joy to her many fans, and I am saddened by her sudden (but sadly predictable) death. However, even if I were a resident of New Jersey, I could not care less about this incident, except for the sadness I would feel for any person who succumbs to drugs or other evils. <br /><br />It was a tragedy on a human level. That Ms. Houston was an extremely talented and popular entertainer adds no solemnity nor moral significance to her untimely passing. Her death was not heroic. Her life was not given in the service to others, nor for reasons that were most likely anything but selfish. Her story is repeated by tens of thousands of people every year. <br /><br />Regardless, the half-mast treatment is wholly inappropriate. Flying flags at half-mast has become so common as to be a complete joke. It seems I see some flags, certainly not all at any given time, at half-mast at least once a month and generally have no idea why, nor could I.<br /><br />Our flags stand for America and our unity as citizens of this great Republic and of the great States that comprise it, and their lowering for anything less than a real and significant tragedy of national scope cheapens our symbols of unity. <br /><br />There are more appropriate ways to express our condolences for people like Ms. Houston, and I'm sure those will be exercised appropriately in the coming weeks and months. I would add that Sony's raising the price on electronic versions of her great hits compilation within 30 minutes of the news breaking of her passing is most assuredly not appropriate, but I guess it shows where their true sympathies lie.<br /><br />If you ask me the American Flag should be flown at half-mast for nothing less than the death of a President, another national symbol of our national unity, or a significant national tragedy like 9/11, where we as a nation were truly united in mourning. A State flag should be flown at half mast, for the same reason, and perhaps the death of a chief executive. Anything more makes a mockery of the flags and what they stand for. <br /><br />At this rate, how long will be it until we become a nation that is perpetually in mourning, and what does this say about us and our country?<br /><br />On second thought, perhaps it's actually appropriate.ConceptJunkiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07574983838533038839noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35064676.post-70253618847944526312012-02-21T12:13:00.003-05:002012-02-21T12:32:18.135-05:00An open letter to MuslimsDear Muslim friends:<br /><br />You know, I'm getting a little tired of your co-religionists constantly complaining about people desecrating the Koran. I'm tired of hearing about it because it doesn't need to happen. It's kind of a vicious circle. Some Muslims keep saying if people desecrate your book they're going to get very, very angry. So, people desecrate your book. And they get very, very angry. It's a shame, and it shouldn't happen. But let's be honest. They're kind of asking for it. Pavlov couldn't get a more predictable response with his bell, if you know what I mean.<br /><br />Anyone who's ever known a rebellious teenager knows that the worst thing you can say to them is "If you do X, I'm going to get very, very angry." I know that many of you are familiar with rebellious teenagers, as am I. Making someone lose his temper is a good show that's a lot cheaper than cable. Some people have nothing better to do than try to cheese others off. The mature and effective response is to ignore them and not give them the satisfaction.<br /><br />Look, I think it's a shame that people desecrate your holy book. Maybe it has something to do with the whole "kill everyone who doesn't submit to Allah" bits, or maybe it's the whole "women are chattel" thing. Or maybe they just don't like the color green. Needless to say, people shouldn't do it because it's unnecessarily disrespectful. <br /><br />I would never do it. I would much rather see people read the Koran instead of burning it. And we should try to settle our differences with logic, rhetoric, tolerance and understanding, not by burning books, or worse, being violent to each other. Jesus didn't burn books or murder people, nor did He condone these behaviors, and a lot of us find Him to be very persuasive. We all can gain a lot from following His example.<br /><br />The thing is, people desecrate the Bible all the time. We hold our Scripture in very high regard, as do you for yours. But we also know that it's a waste of time trying to get stupid people to stop doing stupid things by constantly goading them into doing it. We simply don't throw tantrums about it, and it ends up not being a big deal.<br /><br />Just sayin'.<br /><br />Your Christian friend, RickConceptJunkiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07574983838533038839noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35064676.post-5375996453629825152010-07-26T12:48:00.003-04:002010-07-26T12:56:20.737-04:00Oppression by the ArmyAlexander Hamilton asked in Federalist 26:<br /><br /><blockquote>It has been said that the provision which limits the appropriation of money for the support of an army to the period of two years would be unavailing, because the Executive, when once possessed of a force large enough to awe the people into submission, would find resources in that very force sufficient to enable him to dispense with supplies from the acts of the legislature. But the question again recurs, upon what pretense could he be put in possession of a force of that magnitude in time of peace?</blockquote><br /><br />Although he couldn't have conceived of it at the time, because he couldn't have conceived of the utter erosion of the Constitution and its sharply-defined limits on Federal power, Mr. Hamilton missed the point. The army that the Executive is using to "awe the people into submission" is not the military army, but the army of bureaucrats and regulators that has been mustered by the Executive Branch over the past several decades, an army which has grown massively, by leaps and bounds, in the past 18 months. Thus, the Executive, aided and abetted by a compliant Congress, seeks to and is achieving its submission of the populace.<br /><br />Even when they could not foresee the future, the Founding Fathers' wisdom and prescience was formidable.ConceptJunkiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07574983838533038839noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35064676.post-6803182593953056242010-03-21T16:45:00.003-04:002010-03-21T17:54:15.385-04:00The Democrats Simply Cannot GovernCan we all agree, whatever the merits or not of this health care bill, the Democrats simply cannot govern? I mean, the Republicans screwed up pretty bad from 2000-2006, but the Democrats since then have utterly failed. They had a filibuster-proof majority for a year and couldn't pass their President's signature legislative goal. They can get the mandate and the power but are so corrupt, unrestrained, and let's face it, stupid, that they can't try for something that is not so overreaching that the majority of the country doesn't recoil in disgust.<br /><br />How many incremental reforms could they have enacted by now, so that we could have already seen whether or not they would help and then decide, based on empirical evidence, rather blind trust in empty platitudes, whether or not to let them continue? There's this old idea that you should be able to demonstrate in at least some way you can actually do the job you're trying to be hired for. <br /><br />I mean, let's say your car was working pretty consistently, but was only getting half the gas mileage it was supposed to. Would you trust a novice mechanic who says, "Sure, I can fix your problem, but I'll have to completely rebuild the engine, replace the transmission and put on monster truck tires and fuzzy dice... and you have to start paying me now but you won't get your vehicle back until 2013?"<br /><br />Of course not, but a good chunk of the country will seemingly accept an equivalently absurd claim about health care reform. Instead, of small but meaningful changes, we have a President over a year into his term who still has an empty resume, and members of Congress who could be chastised by Heidi Fleiss for giving her profession a bad name.<br /><br />There's a reason Congress' approval rating has stayed pretty consistently under twenty percent for the last two years,and pretty consistently under thirty-five percent for the last five years. Too bad it doesn't seem to matter.ConceptJunkiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07574983838533038839noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35064676.post-15267824649230157972009-11-20T09:34:00.003-05:002009-11-20T14:27:15.512-05:00Another Letter to My SenatorsDear Senator Warner/Webb:<br /><br />I feel I am once again compelled to write to demand an end to yet another insane and reckless plan about to be foisted upon us by Congress. Congress may not be competent, but you are not stupid:<br /><br />YOU KNOW this so-called reform will cost literally trillions more than you claim. Just look at Medicare and Medicaid, and frankly, everything else Congress has done in the past half century. NOTHING costs what you people claim it will cost.<br /><br />YOU KNOW this so-called reform will not do what it claims to do. NOTHING you people try to do ever works very well and it always costs an order of magnitude more than you claim it will. My favorite saying in the past several years has been, "If it weren't for unintended consequences, Congress would be of no consequence at all." You know there is much truth in that statement.<br /><br />YOU KNOW that this system is promising to magically create "free" health care out of thin air. If Congress were able to do anything that wasn't totally laden with waste, fraud and abuse, then you would have demonstrated it by reforming Medicare and Medicaid as a demonstration that you have any justification whatsoever to tinker with such a huge fraction of the total U.S. economy.<br /><br />YOU KNOW that this so-called "reform" is as much about grabbing power and further allowing yourselves to micromanage our lives in ways that are contrary in both spirit and letter to the Constitution of the United States. <br /><br />YOU KNOW that the majority of the country does not want this bill. You know that should this bill pass, you will suffer tremendously at the polls and I, and millions of others, will work to do everything I can to make sure this happens.<br /><br />YOU KNOW that it is totally irresponsible, to the point of being suicidal, to attempt such a radical transformation of America in the midst of an economic crisis that is largely the result of Congress in the first place.<br /><br />YOU KNOW that real reform could be done with precise, targeted laws that could then be benchmarked and that information could be used to plan further corrections. You know you cannot try some crazy mad-scientist (excuse me, mad-legislator) type gamble and bet the well-being of our economy and even our very lives on a long shot just to score political points with the ignorant.<br /><br />YOU KNOW that, I, and millions of others, consider in this age of terrorism and geopolitical uncertainty that the biggest dangers to this country are the CONGRESS and the WHITE HOUSE. And you know that it is largely only the radical or gullible or ignorant people who support what you are trying to do.<br /><br /><br />The free citizens of this great Republic, being familiar with and loyal to its history and the principles upon which it was founded, both of which you treat with disdain, or perhaps ignorance, demand that you start to return to these principles, and stop trying to dismantle the greatest and most successful experiment of governence on the face of this Earth:<br /><br />WE REJECT your insane dabbling in radical socialist transformations to try to correct a system that largely works fine.<br /><br />WE REJECT your claims that is necessary to demolish 100% of a system that is only a problem for less than 10% its participants.<br /><br />WE REJECT your utter contempt for the founding principles of this country and the contempt with which you treat the majority of the electorate, whom you claim to serve.<br /><br />WE REJECT your complete arrogance of setting yourselves us to be a group of elites who simultaneously insist on micromanaging every aspect of our lives while blatantly exempting yourselves from living under the odious morass of rules that you so blithely dump on everyone else.<br /><br />WE REJECT being lorded over by a group of people who are overwhelmingly corrupt, a group of people who are overwhelmingly self-serving, a group of people who are overwhelmingly inexperienced in actually creating value and wealth in society, a group of people who are overwhelmingly the complete and diametric opposite of those brave and wise men who risked their very lives to create and secure this great Republic which you so are carelessly and callously trying to destroy.<br /><br />WE REJECT this legislation and demand that you go back to the drawing board and attempt to fix actual problems instead of your usual modus operandus of creating more problems.ConceptJunkiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07574983838533038839noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35064676.post-67361196276889222212009-07-21T19:48:00.003-04:002009-07-21T20:08:20.136-04:00Pop Quiz<blockquote>CBO Director Doug Elmendorf said: "In the [health care reform] legislation that has been reported, we do not see the sort of fundamental changes that would be necessary to reduce the trajectory of federal health spending by a significant amount. And on the contrary, the legislation significantly expands the federal responsibility for health care costs." Mr. Elmendorf added, ". . . the federal budget is on an unsustainable path, because federal debt will continue to grow much faster than the economy over the long run ... under any plausible scenario." </blockquote><br /><br />Given that the CBO has a reputation for being objective and nonpartisan, what would be the choice of a sane, honest politician, attempting to act in the public interest? <br /><br />1. Reevaluate health care reform, taking into account the fact that Americans are satisfied with their healthcare in the range of anywhere from the 60%-85% range according to different surveys. Maybe things aren't so bad after all, especially since you've already run up a bigger deficit in 6 months than the last President did in 8 years. Give things a chance to settle down and hold a huge public debate how best to address the problem when recovery is well under way.<br /><br />2. Consider a piecemeal approach that would address the most chronic problems first, such as helping ensure that people who don't have coverage, but need it, and want it, can get it. Following that, implement a series of measures to rein in the tremendous amount of fraud and waste in Medicare and Medicaid. Couple increased services and entitlements with true cost-cutting reforms for a truly cost-neutral plan going forward.<br /><br />3. Take measures to decouple health coverage from employment, which would allow much more freedom of choice and would not penalize people who are laid off (COBRA is extremely expensive), or who work in a volatile industry and change jobs often. Foster other means of collective bargaining for insurance that doesn't depend on a person's employer or union to help those people who are unemployed, self-employed or who don't have the best choices in health care provided by an employer.<br /><br />4. Ignore the advice, plunge wildly ahead with another 1000+ page bill that will be passed without being read by anyone voting on it. Load the bill up with all kinds of pork, guarantee huge cost overruns, completely ignore the cries of common sense or the constituents, blaspheme the Constitution, and generally treat the economy like a bunch of thugs wielding crowbars and chains beating a poor victim to death in the back alley somewhere. When the victim cries for help, whack him good, be sure to break some bones, and tell the victim you _are_ helping him. Make sure the blood doesn't splatter on your Armani. When things go exactly as expected and reform makes things worse, blame your opponents or the rich. <br /><br />If you chose 4, congratulations, you have undergone enough intellectual and moral devolution to qualify for Congress. For bonus points, make seditious comments against the military, kowtow to our enemies and steal candy from babies.ConceptJunkiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07574983838533038839noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35064676.post-70899136786083013062009-07-11T17:39:00.002-04:002009-07-11T17:55:24.448-04:00The Senators RespondWell, after my strongly worded plea to Senators Warner and Webb, I eventually received replies from both. <br /><br />I did not care for Senator Warner's reply. It was extremely generic and made it sound to me like he had every intention of voting for the Cap-and-Trade bill. He mentioned the seriousness of the so-called global warming program, and said that the science "supports" the need for "dramatic changes", but briefly mentioned that this need must be balanced with economic considerations. <br /><br />Senator Webb's response was much better in my opinion. He more strongly balanced the rhetoric for environmental concerns with mentions of the many obvious down sides to this legislation. It looks to me like the statement of someone who is seriously considering the issue, and is willing to acknowledge that there will be many, serious side-effects from this plan.<br /><br />Both may vote either way, but from these letters, I would suspect Senator Webb is more likely to vote against this horrible bill than Senator Warner.<br /><br />Of course, since the carbon-dioxide-phobics never mention the very reasonable alternative of nuclear power, which proves to me that none of them are interested in anything more than they are interested in harming the American economy. Besides, isn't water vapor a much more potent greenhouse gas than CO2? And why won't any of these flat-earthers, excuse me, _hot_-earthers acknowledge that the climate has levelled off and has been getting slightly cooler for the last decade.<br /><br />Those inconvenient truths...<br /><br />I've been following the science at sites like <a href="http://wattsupwiththat.com/">Watts Up With That</a> and there's no doubt in my mind that not only is the debate not over, it's changing rapidly and not in the direction the end-of-the-world types are so invested in.<br /><br />The day the correlation between the global warming issue and political spectrum (left vs. right) isn't almost perfect is the day I'll start considering the science has something conclusive to say.ConceptJunkiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07574983838533038839noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35064676.post-71270639569678742302009-07-03T22:20:00.007-04:002009-07-04T14:10:45.112-04:00Independence Day? Independence from What?Independence Day may have finally outlasted its legacy. Independence Day may have finally outlived its meaning. Our country may not even deserve the right to celebrate this holiday any more, this recognition of a declaration of human sovereignty, this recognition of a declaration of inalienable rights that can be granted or refused by our Almighty Creator alone, this recognition of a declaration that each and every person has a right, and a duty, to govern himself, to hold himself to a moral standard, defined by God and recognized and codified throughout the history of Western civilization, to be, in a word, independent. <br /><br />Is it hypocritical to celebrate Independence Day when our government is far more oppressive, far more restricting of our rights, far more confiscatory of our property, than the government from which our national forefathers originally fought and gained independence? <br /><br />How can the citizens of this country, in good conscience, and without hypocrisy, celebrate the founding of a Republic which no longer exists, the brilliant yet simple Constitution written by men of wisdom, based upon the eternal and objective truths, which is essentially irrelevant, the ideals of individual liberty and of a limited government with narrow enumerated powers which are mocked relentlessly by the sprawling, unholy behemoth whose existence blasphemes against the idea of a government "of the people, by the people and for the people"? <br /><br />How can this country pride itself in its recognition of the unique nature of man, who owes his will, intellect and many inalienable rights to his Creator, and yet confer personhood unto corporations, nonhuman and artificial entities which can engage in any manner of illicit or immoral behavior for which their human constituents are often as not never held to account?<br /><br />How can we citizens even consider the idea that we remain independent? How can we consider the idea that we have not, through ignorance, through neglect, and often through choice, slowly but surely parceled off our independence, our liberties, bit by bit, over the decades, but rapidly increasing in recent years and months, for security, for convenience, for "fairness"?<br /><br />This President and this Congress are a mockery of everything Independence Day stands for. This President, who if not a literal alien, is an alien to the American experience, an alien to the America ideals, an alien to everything that sets, or used to set, this country above and apart from every other... this President who was instructed at the feet of Marxists, this President who has associated with racists, terrorists, and criminals of all stripe, this President whose success, whose career, whose election had nothing to do with his merit, his accomplishments, or any other quality than his brazenness, his duplicity and his corruption. This Congress, charged with dispensing the legislation of our government, based upon and limited by the Constitution has become a marketplace of influence, buying and trading their very own power, compromising with each other how best to squander the riches they confiscate, not representing us, but using us to further their own interests, their own agenda.<br /><br />These scoundrels must hate the idea of Independence Day. These dastards must take offense at the very idea of a free citizenry. These parasites must rail and chafe against the idea that each and every person in this great nation, for which hundreds of thousands gave their lives, can and should govern themselves. These would-be tyrants should denounce Independence Day, if there were any morsel of honesty in their words. Instead, they would have us celebrate Dependence Day. They would have us recognize that we owe our well-being, our livelihood, even very existence to the State. They would hold it as self-evident that the State's inalienable rights are to determine who lives and who dies, define morality and impose it at the point of a gun, and to pursue not equal opportunity among the governed, but equal results.<br /><br />This President and this Congress do not see themselves as representatives of the citizenry, but as our superiors, our masters, our instructors. They do not see themselves as bringing the ideals of their constituents from across the land, and coming together to hash those ideals out to determine the proper way for the great men and women of this country to govern themselves. No, they see it is their duty, in fact their right, to determine for us what our ideals should be, to determine how best it is for us to live our lives, to determine ultimately how best we can serve them, so they in their benevolent wisdom can nurse us on the teat of their moral superiority, ensuring that the efforts of no one result in any greater benefit to him, than to his fellow.<br /><br />While denying the dominion, even the existence of God, these would-be saviors, these would-be overseers, these would-be nursemaids have claimed for themselves the very mantle of the Almighty. Our leaders would claim for themselves a moral authority that is His alone. They claim for themselves a superiority in kind and degree over the governed that is His alone. They claim for themselves an oblation of time, talent and treasure which is owed to Him alone. They claim for themselves all these things for the benefit of their subjects, subjects who they believe are incapable of taking care of themselves, subjects who must be forced to do those things which their leaders in their wisdom decree best. <br /><br />They claim for themselves the right, the authority and the power to nullify any consequences of a person's behavior, so that all might be made equal, in the name of fairness. They claim for themselves the duty and the privilege to determine what each person should receive, to protect each from the actions of the other, but to also protect each from the actions of himself. They claim for themselves, and will soon achieve, if we continue to let them, the power to reduce all of us from sovereign persons in the eyes of God to subhuman animals, smothered in a ever-loving, ever-caring, ever-controlling arms of Mother State.<br /><br />And we have the nerve, the gall, the stupidity to celebrate independence?ConceptJunkiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07574983838533038839noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35064676.post-54822499984836080992009-06-26T22:47:00.003-04:002009-06-28T15:16:55.824-04:00My Letter to My SenatorsSenator Warner/Webb:<br /><br />I have read with great alarm and disgust that this insane and reckless "Cap-and-Trade" Bill has passed the House. <br /><br />I cannot for the life of me understand how members of Congress can, in good conscience, vote for bills with hundreds and hundreds of pages, with thousands and thousands of items, each one of which has the potential to radically damage our rights, our economy and the very functioning of this country. <br /><br />If there is any hope for maintaining what little sanity in this country, and what little respect we citizens have left for our national legislators, and what little remains of the Constitutionality of this great country, I insist that you vote against this bill, and do everything within your power to convince your fellow Senators that this bill is utter folly and is tantamount to economic suicide.<br /><br />I have no doubts that you are aware of the frustration, anger and disgust that is unprecedented towards the reckless antics of the last few Congresses, and especially this current one, and a President who acts more like some kind of tinpot banana-republic dictator than the leader of the Free World. I feel as if you folks, as a whole, are treating this country as nothing more than a big piƱata, battering it, and us, relentlessly to see what goodies you can expose as it ruptures. The people have spoken against the bailouts and yet it did no good. The people have spoken out about the so-called stimulus and yet it did no good. The people have spoken out against earmarks and yet it did no good. Frankly, I wonder if there is anything we can do any more to stop the literal rapine of generations' worth of wealth in the support of mindless rhetoric, shameless demagoguery and outright lies coming out of our government these days.<br /><br />It seems to me that Congress, as well as this President, have abandoned all pretense of abiding by the Constitution's specific enumeration of limited powers to the federal government. I feel utterly betrayed at the brazenness of these bills, the gall of passing something that members haven't even read, that members literally could not read in the time given. If anyone else in the world were to perform his job in this way, he would be fired for negligence, but for a Congressman or Senator, this is Standard Operating Procedure. To me it is a mockery of the duties and responsibilities of such important jobs, and shows willful abandonment of the oath to protect and defend our Constitution.<br /><br />Our President and this Congress are systematically dismantling everything that made this country great, that made this country unique in the history of the world, that has allowed this country to become the most free, most productive and richest country in the history of Mankind. We are witnessing the end of our Republic as it has existed for 230 years, but which in the past decades has become further and further distanced from every idea upon which it was founded.<br /><br />If our Founding Fathers knew what this country had become they would be ashamed and disgusted, too. They would especially be ashamed at the degeneration and devolution of their successors to the high offices of the Republic who have let politics and greed become the defining ideals of the United States. They would be shamed at the flagrant violation of each and every item in the Bill of Rights, with the exception of the Third Amendment, with the ease at which Congress rationalizes every power grab, every clear disregard for the intent of the Constitution, every show of contempt for the sacred ideals of limited government, of the people, by the people and for the people, confident in the knowledge that nothing will stand in their way.<br /><br />Please vote against this legislation and do everything you can to convince your fellow Senators to reject this Bill. It will do nothing to help the environment, but do practically everything possible to ruin our economy, and thus, this country.<br /><br />Rick Gutleber<br />Leesburg, VAConceptJunkiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07574983838533038839noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35064676.post-70588039071712786722009-06-19T13:58:00.007-04:002009-06-19T16:41:29.912-04:00Hypocrisy in the Age of "Sacrifice"Of all all these rich liberals who support Obama and his ilk, why is it none of them ever offers additional money to the government, and I would suspect, tend to engage in every tactic possible to avoid, at least legally, paying taxes?<br /><br />Many of these liberals support charitable causes and are generous with their money, often doing many admirable things to help others. However, they are never more generous to the government they vocally adore, or the President whom they treat, sometimes literally, as a deity, than they need to be. We can be sure of this because no self-respecting liberal in the public eye would contribute in such a way without using it as an example, or even as a means of self-aggrandizement, especially if the person is a politician.<br /><br />And yet, in a time when the President and Congress are growing our government at a rate faster than any time except perhaps World War II, why are none of the supporters of these overreaching statists setting a good example and demonstrating their obvious faith in the government by making contributions to it? Why don't they put their money where there mouths are? If it's good enough for Joe the Plumber, why isn't it good enough for Barbra Streisand? Can't you imagine the fanfare of some great would-be philoanthropist personally handing a giant check for, say, one million dollars to a Senator or Congressman, or (gasp!) even the President himself, to be deposited into the general treasury? What a photo op that would be! <br /><br />Is it because, they, like every good American, know that it's largely a waste? Is it possible that even in their minds, sodden as they are with visions of the Omnipotent, Omnibenevolent State, they acknowledge the universal truth that the Federal government is largely incompetent, wasteful and even corrupt? <br /><br />I respect the idea of people of any political mien sharing their money with any cause they deem appropriate, because that is their right, even duty. Many liberals support causes such as the environment, education, and eliminating poverty, causes that transcend politics and support of which does much good. But none of them, so far as I've ever heard, are willing to turn over their largesse to the coffers of government. Why do these folks get to pick how their money is spent, but want everyone else, especially the rich, to have no say? Sure, they might contribute to building a playground, or a clinic, or a nature preserve, all admirable causes, but isn't the government also an admirable cause? And if not, why not?<br /><br />Of course, charity is not always prevalent among these kinds of people. Why are people like the Obamas and the Bidens, who, though rich, contributing almost nothing to charity, while constantly lecturing us, even preaching to us, about how we must sacrifice, sacrifice, sacrifice, for the good of others? <br /><br />Hasn't anyone in Washington ever learned one of the most basic lessons of life that you sway more people by actions than words? I mean even if the likes of President George W. Bush, who contributes far more than any recent Democrat president, are giving charity solely for appearance's sake, they're still doing it. Appearance is everything in politics, we are led to believe, so wouldn't even the appearance of caring for others be worth enough to contribute generously, regardless of the actual effect or intent?<br /><br />Are these politicians really that dense? Do they really not care? Are they truly the hypocrites they appear to be? Is there any other conceivable explanation?ConceptJunkiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07574983838533038839noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35064676.post-86059381211864578232009-04-29T12:42:00.003-04:002009-04-29T13:00:09.274-04:00The Republicans in the Era of ObamaSo it seems the Republicans are now beating the Democrats in one of those generic (i.e., meaningless) Rasmussen polls. Huh. How about that? The Bible the President was sworn in on isn't even cool yet, and things are already trending to the Other Guys. The President has the lowest approval rating of any President in the last 40 years, except Clinton, at the proverbial "100 Days" mark and people are starting to look back to the opposition party they just got through tossing out of office. Wow. Short attention span much?<br /><br />My first reaction is, "The Republicans? Are they even still around?" How many times are we going to play this stupid game? The Democrats spent decades running up spending and bloating the government, so we kick them out and vote in the Republicans, who will save us from the incompetent Democrats. The Republicans proceed to, er, run up spending and bloat the government, so we kick _them_ out and vote the Democrats back in, to save us from the corrupt Republicans. Oh, yeah, now we remember why we hated the Democrats. They're incompetent. Say... those Republicans are looking pretty good right now. <br /><br />Does anyone else see a pattern here? It's the Battered Wife Syndrome. Conservatives keep going back to the Republicans based on the promise, true decades ago, but no longer, that they will help reform government and possibly rescue it from teetering on the brink of bankruptcy. Then we get kicked in the nadgers. But we keep coming back, because, gosh!, where else are we going to go?<br /><br />When will this country get a proper conservative, small-government, individual freedom/responsibility party, because I watched the Republicans from 2000 to 2006 and they certainly weren't that party? They essentially took a dive in 2008 by running yet another candidate whose heart wasn't in the race (shades of Bush 1 and Dole), and elected a total enabler for the worst Congress in the history of the Republic. Remind me again why they deserve anyone's support? Because they oppose the President's seemingly deliberate economic sabotage and surrender-monkey foreign policy? Sorry, that's not enough. Not nearly enough.<br /><br />Right now, the Republicans track record is abysmal on almost every issue except National Security. There is no one at the national level that inspires any kind of confidence and support from the beleaguered true conservatives, who keep hanging in there, doing their jobs, obeying the law, raising moral families and being productive citizens. The few that were there have sold themselves out so thoroughly even True Believers have given up hope, seemingly being less capable of doublethink and more immune to self-deception than the Obama worshippers. <br /><br />There are some good possibilities for the future from the state level, Governors Palin, Jindal, Perry and Sanford, but since the Chairman of the RNC apparently, like our President, was picked for his skin color as opposed to having anything to offer to the job, the Republican Party at the national level is, as far as I'm concerned, moribund. The Zombie Party won't save us from the Cult of Personality and its army of Useful Idiots. "Night of the Living Dead" didn't have so much aimless shambling around.<br /><br />It's going to take a lot more than agreeing that Obama is bad for this country in order to save it.ConceptJunkiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07574983838533038839noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35064676.post-524435003570569862009-02-04T12:11:00.002-05:002009-02-04T12:26:12.089-05:00The Perfect Rock BalladAnd now for something completely different... I wrote this back in September 2003, but wanted to post it (with a little editing) for some friends to read. It regards a song from Spock's Beard's "Feel Euphoria" release from that summer.<br /><br />----<br /><br />Rick's Top Ten Reasons Why "Shining Star" is the Perfect Rock Ballad<br /><br />First off, I'm generally not a big fan of rock ballads. I think the form was generally perfected by Justin Hayward's and John Lodge's laments of unrequited love in the mid 70's and has generally been beat to an undignified death in the intervening years. However, that doesn't mean that there aren't numerous good examples still being produced, usually in non-obvious places. <br /><br />Here's my list of 10 reasons why this is, in my opinion the perfect rock love song, in no particular order.<br /><br />1. Nick's vocals are clean, clear and emotive. He doesn't have that raspy, limited range singing that plagues most rock balladeers, nor does he beat us senseless with brutal and shrill vocal gymnastics like Whitney Houston or Mariah Carey, etc. He just sings the song, does it well, and does a superb job of displaying the affection he feels for Tiffany.<br /><br />2. This is no wimpy song even if it is mellow. It is definitely crankable, thanks to excellent production, Nick's tasty, groovy, understated drums, Al's great guitar, and especially Dave's smoov, sexy bass playing. The song has real mass behind it. Plus, it would be great to dance to.<br /><br />3. Tambourine. 'Nuff said.<br /><br />4. The refrain takes a different direction. Just like "Carie", the song takes a few unpredictable turns, which keep it from being a just a boring, old MoR radio staple, but a really cool piece of music. The ending is even better because being rather abrupt it leaves you wanting just a bit more.<br /><br />5. The lyrics. First we know it's a real song about real people, which is a big plus, because we have all heard Tiffany talk about Nick and see that they seem to have that story book romance. The tactile references in the beginning are very evocative ("wind flows over me", "blood rush to my skin") and contrast neatly with the spiritual overtones ("You're there to open a door", "Shine your light on me" "the love that lights my way") highlighting the emotional/intellectual aspect with the physical/sensual aspect of deep, abiding romantic love. Very powerful, when you really start to think about it.<br /><br />6. Like any good love song, there is an element of longing... we know the particulars: Nick is on the road for weeks at a time, and that absence is a hardship even as it paradoxically contributes to the strength of a relationship.<br /><br />7. How could I not mention Al's guitar... dreamy, expressive yet subtle, the solo is short, sweet, and perfect for the moment. The steel guitar-style sound in the beginning complements the fretless bass in an awesome way to create a warm, fuzzy safe feeling that perfectly echoes the mood of the words... and the little volume-control bits remind me of another perfect rock ballad "Walking on Air" from King Crimson's "Thrak", a song that has a lot of similar elements.<br /><br />8. The first few notes at the beginning of the song, when the guitar kicks in, reminds me very strongly of the beginning of the old Tempations' classic "My Girl". I don't know if that's on purpose, an accident or a product of my weird brain wiring, but it's cool nonetheless.<br /><br />9. This was originally a personal reference to one of the members of the mailing list that would be utterly out of context and pointless here. Instead I will add the Ryo's very understated keyboards, especially his organ playing, don't stand out and grab you, but the song would be much diminished if they weren't there. This is the mark of a good artist and a superb ensemble performance.<br /><br />10. The production, like that of all of Spock's Beard music, is excellent. The beginning is very clean and simple, but the refrain is lush, without sounding mushy or muffled. Just perfect. Rich Mouser's work should be required studying for anyone in the music production business, many of whom seem to have completely forgotten how to make a record sound good.<br /><br />Along with "Walking On Air" and a list of other songs I will perhaps one day compile, this is something I would have liked to have been able to play at my wedding.ConceptJunkiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07574983838533038839noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35064676.post-32962307296370577002008-07-08T20:29:00.002-04:002009-01-29T08:41:12.564-05:00The End of America?We are living in strange times. As the most successful, most free, most productive country in the world, you would think the citizens and government of the United States of America would cherish and protect and nurture such a treasure, but we are steadily, systematically, and irrevocably dismantling this country, and everything upon which it was founded at an alarming rate.<br /><br />We have turned immigration from wellspring of creativity and drive, spurring the greatest successes experienced in American history to a program of importing an overwhelmingly large population that is disinterested, if not wholly contemptuous of everything that sets America apart from, and above, every other nation in history.<br /><br />There's nothing special about the newest immigrants. The vast majority of them are like all immigrants to our great Republic, just looking for a better lives for themselves and their families, but our country is being run by people who simply hate themselves and hate America. The people running our country are completely ignorant, or worse, completely disregarding of what it takes to properly nurture the "Grand Experiment" created by a group of men, each more wise than every single person in the entire Federal Government. The people running our government are happy (or oblivious) to squandering the greatest natural resource in history, the American people, by allowing their dilution and corruption, through abandonment of the rule of law, a complete abdication of proper education and abandonment of the wisdom of the likes of Moses, Aristotle, and Washington for the mores of Croesus, Bacchus and Eros.<br /><br />Our officials don't want to "force" our values on immigrants (values that made the United States singular in the history of the world as the greatest political expression of liberty and the dignity of man, values that nurtured the greatest source of technological and economic innovations in history) and are doing everything they can to accommodate these immigrants and require nothing of them. And of course, if you simply give something to someone without requiring anything of them, it is human nature will that they usually hold it, and the giver in contempt. After all, what kind of chump country would do something so stupid as let itself be overrun and dismantled from within? Of course, this translates eventually into arrogance and open hatred, and that is what the immigrants are learning: The United States government is a complete sucker, and suckers deserve to be taken for everything you can beg, borrow or steal. After all, these immigrants are only valued as a new underclass to be exploited for cheap labor and easily swayed votes, not as enriching and contributing members of the traditional American "melting pot".<br /><br />The darkest days of our country, and perhaps its end as something unique in history, are coming closer and closer. Our elections are becoming pointless choices between increasingly indistinguishably dismal and pandering shysters. Our latest Presidential election hinged on a bizarre and obscene cult of personality demonstrating a total lack of reflection, of critical thinking in a blind rush to elect someone different (how wasn't important) from our previous leader, who in many ways earned his historically low approval rating. Corporations are running riot over our laws and rights. Congress is nothing but the proverbial "parliament of whores" and officially has only single-digit approval ratings, despite being elected in to fix the rampant (but hardly unprecedented) corruption of recent years. The irony is that there are 10%-15% of the population that are simply too stupid and ignorant to realize Congress could possibly do something wrong and even a lot of those idiots realize Congress is nothing but a great big ripe slice of FAIL. Our populace is grotesquely ignorant of our history, and indeed the history of Western civilization, and are becoming increasingly misinformed and illiterate thanks to an education system designed by socialists to produce mindless factory workers suitable for the 19th century not the 21st. Campaigning by our national candidates is nothing but naked bribery and appeals to our most base emotions. People are more and more buying into the false promises of socialism and even Marxism, due in large part to collective amnesia of ravages of humanity these utterly failed philosophies have wrought in the past 150 years.<br /><br />There are a few principled politicians, but they are far outweighed by those whose principles have been sold out to money, to power, to perversion, to literally every moral, intellectual and philosophical bankruptcy in these modern times. Our elected representatives exhibit every kind of corruption and depravity known to man. They themselves are largely ignorant, incompetent and capable only of gaming the system to their own gain or the gain of their moneyed benefactors, and pay only lip service to any proper notions of governance or even civilization.<br /><br />It has been said that democracy will only work until it occurs to the electorate to simply vote themselves the largess of the state, and indeed we are in that time. The current bailouts elicit equal reactions of incredulousness and disgust as our leaders preach, against all logic, that the only way to get ourselves out of the hole we have dug ourselves into is to keep digging down.<br /><br />So it's not the immigrants who have really changed. It's the country. America is rapidly heading in a direction and towards a point where it will no longer merit its unique distinction as the greatest country in history.ConceptJunkiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07574983838533038839noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35064676.post-58531797709816582008-06-29T01:39:00.003-04:002008-06-29T01:56:31.845-04:00Liberal Judges, So Stupid They're SmartSo it seems that Supreme Court, or the liberal half of it, has ruled that you can't execute someone for raping a child, based on some goofy notion that most people don't think that crime rises to the punishment. Frankly, even though I'm opposed to capital punishment, for a number of reasons, one of which is <span style="font-weight:bold;">not</span> that there's no moral justification for it, abusing a child this way would put someone at the top of the list of people needing a one-way trip to Slabville. From everything I've heard and read, and the story of Jeffrey Dahmer is a perfect example, even convicts have a special contempt for people who hurt children this way.<br /><br />So the end result is that the Supreme Court has ruled that clean, painless execution is too good for these people. Rather they would lock them up for life (presumably that long, although who knows these days) where the rest of the prisoners will simply mete out more appropriate justice with a shank in the back, saving all the millions of dollars and decades usually wasted on appeals.<br /><br />Thanks, Supreme Court, for reminding us that hardened killers have a stronger moral center than liberal judges.ConceptJunkiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07574983838533038839noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35064676.post-23751696178196414952008-06-25T10:25:00.006-04:002008-06-25T16:45:28.687-04:00Becoming Microsoft free...Well, having run Linux on and off on my main machine (which has been a laptop since about 2003) and having run Linux on my desktop machines for several years, I've decided to switch back to Ubuntu on my primary machine, Pigmeyer, an HP Pavilion dv2000 which shipped with Vista, that unlike Gertrude, the low-end, but decent Gateway I bought Provazolezec, could actually run it at a usable, if not snappy, speed. However, after a couple months of utter annoyance and frustration at having to change so many ways of doing things to accomodate Vista's arbitrary and caprious restrictions I finally broke down and bought another XP license (Microsoft wins again by selling two licenses for one computer). Migrating from Windows 3.1 to Windows 95 was never that kind of hassle. Migrating to NT 3.51 a couple months later when I realized how worthless 95 was wasn't a hassle. Nor was migrating to NT 4, 2000 or XP, but Vista was just an unending stream of little annoyances, frustrations and plain old pains-in-the-butt. The camel-breaking straw came when I needed to reboot after a single update and it took 7 minutes for Vista to start up. 7 minutes while I had to sit there like a moron, waiting to log on to an online session with friends. I don't think I've ever seen a computer take so long to start up.<br /><br />I'd run Ubuntu before on this machine, but having a 64-bit AMD processor, I'd installed the 64-bit version of the OS. Unfortunately, certain pieces of software don't work too well on the 64-bit version (yes, I'm talking to you, <a href="http://ask.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=05/10/19/1959200">Adobe</a>). Wireless, which has always been a bit of an issue with Linux was also a real problem for me, thanks in large part to the manufacturers who insist on keeping their drivers closed-source for reasons that benefit no one, especially them. I also had a lot of trouble with Java, but I don't know if that's because of using the 64-bit version of the OS, or because everything having to do with Java is like working with a Soviet-style bureaucracy. I can't imagine why anyone would want to develop under such a grotesquely byzantine platform. At the AOL developer's conference I attended while working there, I attended a presentation on some of the allegedly neat Java stuff they were doing, and why it's so easy and fun to get things done with Java. I went into the presentation rather optimistically only to be totally and utterly turned off by anything to do with Java (except ant... which seems like a really cool make tool). Most of the presentation consisted of the insane amount of hoops they needed to jump through just to get everything configured correctly, and we're not talking configuration scripts here. We're talking using some kind of hideous-looking IDE (including the long and tedious story of finding just the right version of the IDE that was actually compatible with the libraries and tools they wanted to use), with an utterly ridiculous string of cookbook "drag-and-drop" procedures needed to get everything set up correctly. "Write-once-run-everywhere" is clearly a joke from all my experience with Java. I've seen Java software that won't even run unless you had the exact same version of the JRE that it's expecting. Who knows what you're supposed to do if you're already running something newer, which at the time I was? And of course, after 10 years, it would be nice to see a Java program (besides Azureus) that doesn't look like XWindows circa 1994 (i.e., butt-ugly and primitive).<br /><br />Ironically, I've found that one of the things Microsoft used to excel at is something almost everyone now does better than they: playing videos. The Windows Media Player, which spent about 6 years getting nothing but bigger, uglier and harder to use now utterly fails at so many video formats that it's not even worth having any more. On Windows, using Media Player Classic is the only way to watch movies without getting that useless "Codec not found" error (that doesn't tell you which one it needs), and a message asking if WMP should look for a codec. Has that ever actually worked? I've been using Windows Media Player since it first came out and I've never seen it actually find a codec it was missing. I suspect it only looks for Microsoft stuff, which is almost certainly already installed on any Windows system. The fact that it can't play MPEG-2 out of the box is beyond ridiculous. Or at least it wouldn't for me, and there's no point in trying to "fix" WMP since it's confusing and frustrating (and seldom worth the effort) to do and MPC "just works" right out of the box... including QuickTime and Real with the "Alternative" packages. (Why, oh, why does Real still exist? They are possibly the only company that hates their customers more than Microsoft and are far more incompetent.)<br /><br />Anyhow, I noticed recently that Windows XP is showing little thumbnails of videos in Explorer, a very nice new feature (that KDE has had forever under Linux) which seems to have been part of SP3, because it only showed up recently. However, shortly afterwards, I started finding that Explorer (possibly the buggiest mainstream application in the history of software for 13 years running, no wait, that would be Word on the Mac, or possibly IE5, or IE6...) started crashing every time it would try to show a thumbnail of H.264-encoded movies. I only found this out by loading it into the debugger because all you would see is a crash dialog for "Explorer" and clicking on anything would restart Explorer, even though Explorer itself would continue working just fine, except you had this System Modal dialog box you couldn't get rid of. It turns out what was crashing was an ActiveX control that had something to do with H.264, according to its name. Smooth move, Microsoft. I wonder if that could even be fixed without reinstalling the OS.<br /><br />Anyhow, I knew that the only way to eliminate this ridiculous problem would be to either use an Explorer replacement (practically anything is better) or just give up saddling myself with the stink of Microsoft's hatred and failure and just move over to Linux again, now knowing that sticking to a 32-bit distro would make life a lot easier. <br /><br />Now of course, lots of people will point out correctly that Linux has its own shares of hassles, and I'm not going to deny it. There are plenty of pains, problems and utter stupidities in the Linux world, too. But given that most open-source software is developed not by one of the largest, richest and most powerful companies in the world with ten figures of capital and tens of thousands of employees to throw at any problem, but rather by small groups of dedicated people who are interested in making software that works and is useful, as opposed to locking users in a software prison. Also, when you have a weird problem under Linux, you can almost always find the exact solution you need with Google. The software discussion forums and documentation for various Open Source software are almost always 10 times more useful and informative than anything Microsoft provides.<br /><br />Microsoft's utter arrogance and contempt for users by releasing Vista, after 5 years of development, long before it should have seen the light of day, and then prematurely killing XP, even though there is still a huge demand for it is a primary reason why I don't want to do business with them. Microsoft's biggest competitor for XP for years was Windows 2000, and the biggest competitor for Vista has always been XP. Being true to their monopolistic nature, since they can't, or won't, compete with XP (or anything else) on quality and performance, they will simply kill the competition. Fortunately for them, they don't even need to break the law to do it this time (for a change). Of course, customer demand and satisfaction never enter the equation. Watcha gonna do? Buy a MAC?! HAW HAW HAW! (I would recommend it. Macs are quite good.)<br /><br />Meanwhile, Windows 7 is being hyped (albeit a lot less hyperbolically than Longhorn-cum-Vista was) and is now set to be released in 2010. Since every advanced feature Vista was supposed to contain was removed before it was released, and the only improvements were more ham-fisted security improvements (basically either disabling things, or making the user responsible for every tiny security decision, not so much to put more control in his hands, but to shift the blame), Vista offers nothing over XP except perhaps minor usability improvements and a bunch of meaningless (and ugly, IMO) eye candy. All this at a massive performance hit. I think the biggest reason for Vista's whole existence is to set the stage for ever more arbitrary and capricious control over what the users can and cannot do with their computers. Microsoft knew Vista was a total boat anchor, but since they have completely given up on competing on features, performance and usability, they have to devote all their energies into locking users in to their vicious cycle of upgrades and further restrict their ability to consider alternatives by their heinous refusal to open their document standards (ironically by releasing said standards which are so hideously and deliberately complex and equivocal that Microsoft themselves cannot implement them correctly or consistently) and interoperating with other systems by rarely implementing any standards without compatibility-breaking "extensions".<br /><br />Regardless of the quality of Microsoft software, and I've consistently said that XP was overall a decent product, it's getting harder and harder to justify dealing with a company, however tangentially, that has never played fair, and is increasingly being forced, by sheer inertia, to rely exclusively on unfair practices to maintain its very existence.<br /><br />And besides, Linux is really cool.ConceptJunkiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07574983838533038839noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35064676.post-12591331503588930042008-04-22T23:18:00.006-04:002008-04-23T00:26:25.405-04:00Microsoft Just Needs to DieNo, I am not going to write another piece describing the train wreck that is Vista. This is about an experience I had with Internet Explorer. The current pre-release version of Firefox I'm using was giving me trouble on ebay.com, and I had launched Internet Explorer 7 so I could make some adjustments to some bids I've been watching. <br /><br />Some time later, I wanted to look up codes for my RCA programmable remote because at some point it "forgot" its settings and I needed to program it. I have a PDF copy of the instruction manual, but I needed the list of codes to use with it, so I went to an open browser window, not realizing (or caring) that it was IE rather than Firefox. <br /><br />I typed "rca rcr860 instructions" into the search query box, and picked the third link on the MSN search results which said "RCA UNIVERSAL REMOTE CODES". The next thing I know, my browser was pointed at "pornotube20008.com" trying (unsuccessfully, thank God) to play videos, and I couldn't even close the window because I was being deluged with message boxes telling me my computer was infected and that "Microsoft" suggests I install some kind of virus protection and that I needed to click to install the software, etc, etc. This was probably all Javascript code trying to get me to let it install botnet software. I literally couldn't make the message boxes go away so I could close the tab. I had to kill the whole browser to get rid of that stuff, and I was half afraid my computer had been compromised. A subsequent virus check showed everything was clean, no thanks to Microsoft.<br /><br />So this is the vaunted IE7 that I've been hearing so much about. I've been using Firefox since it was called Phoenix, around version 0.4, which was about 4 or 5 years ago. I spend a <span style="font-style:italic;">lot</span> of time browsing and I explore all kinds of interesting stuff, and in all those years I have never seen <span style="font-style:italic;">anything</span> like what I saw doing a simple search and clicking one link on Internet Explorer. I never got hijacked to a porn site, and I never had to kill the browser because some website was abusing it so badly. This is what Microsoft has to show for the last 6 years or so of browser development? I was utterly astonished that anything like that was even possible with IE any more. I would have given Microsoft far more credit than that until reality showed me that in Microsoft-land, it's still 1998. Between Firefox, AdBlock Plus, NoScript and FlashBlock, I had literally forgotten that that kind of garbage could even happen any more. <br /><br />It is my honest opinion that Microsoft literally has nothing to contribute to the software industry and the Internet as a whole. They are hopelessly behind the curve in software development, and falling further behind daily. They are drowning in their own corruption, far more beholden to maintaining their illicit monopoly through deceit, extortion and any other means, illegal or not, to avoid having to fairly compete in a market they can no longer dominate through quality and superior product... if they ever could. <br /><br />After seeing a perfectly nice low-end Gateway laptop reduced to the slowest computer I've used in over 20 years (and that counts my floppy-based Amiga 500), because it was shipped with Vista installed, only to perform very reasonably when I "upgraded" it to XP, and seeing my own high end machine take 7 minutes to boot Vista after installing a single Microsoft update... read that again... seven minutes... I'm convinced that Microsoft simply has nothing constructive to offer the world. It was sad to see Explorer, after 13 years is still the buggiest piece of mainstream software on the planet. It was pathetic to get blue screens from a Microsoft OS installed by the OEM on hardware provided by the OEM, something I've never seen with XP. It was utterly insane having to navigate <span style="font-style:italic;">multiple</span> security warnings just to rename an icon on the desktop! The sooner that horrible company and its belligerent, arrogant, chair-throwing President are removed from the world of software the better. I do still run XP on my laptop simply because of the Windows software I want to be able to run (PSP9, Multi-edit, which don't work in WINE, and a few games), but I run Ubuntu on my desktop machine and server, and will probably put Ubuntu back on my lappy as well just to be rid of the stench of failure on my hardware and in my life. Linux is not without its problems, but comparing Linux to Windows is like comparing Google, the company, with the old Soviet government.<br /><br />I look forward to the day that the talent and skill of the engineers at Microsoft can be freed from the shackles of their destructively dysfunctional management and can begin to contribute to society again. Microsoft is falling further behind Open Source Software and Apple with every passing day, and the sooner we can shovel that corpulent, putrescent carcass off of the beach of the Ocean of Innovation, the better technology in our lives will be.<br /><br />They say that you should never attribute to malice what can be adequately explained by incompetence, and I had always exercised that maxim in my judgement of Microsoft, after all they have done <span style="font-style:italic;">some</span> things pretty well over the years. However, I no longer find that incompetence adequately explains the state of Microsoft's software. What I see in 2008 can only be explained by malice.<br /><br />p.s. That garbage link did not show up on the first several pages of a Google search for the exact same terms. It seems MSN search is as horrible and useless as Internet Explorer.ConceptJunkiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07574983838533038839noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35064676.post-64208008222720751582008-03-10T08:36:00.008-04:002008-03-10T11:23:16.398-04:00Happy Birthday, Miss QT<span style="font-style:italic;">Happy Birthday, Miss QT, wherever you are.<br /><br />Love, Spectral Visionary</span><br /><br />For those of you who don't know, which would be everyone in the world minus 2, Miss QT was a college friend of mine whom I'd met because she called herself "Miss QT" on her Vax account at Virginia Tech. Most people used their real names, of course, but some of us used different names. It turns out she chose that name so her printouts would be put in the "Q" bin, which was otherwise empty, instead of the "L" bin, which was always stuffed with printouts. I was originally "Spectral Visionary" and used a couple of other names, but eventually settled on "Concept Junkie", a name that I can't take the credit for making up, but have been using for over 20 years now.<br /><br /><span style="font-style:italic;">Dear Fat Fingers, <br /><br />Here's to sine waves in the snow and Hawaiian pizza, watching the Lipizzaners but missing "Brazil".<br /><br />Modron B Prime</span><br /><br />Anyhow, the story goes that I IM'ed Miss QT (using VMS send, the 1980's equivalent of IM) and asked "G, R U really a QT?". I wish I had her exact response, because it was a classic, but it was something to the effect of, "If I said no, you'd think I was being too modest, and if I said yes, you'd think I was full of myself."<br /><br />Eventually we met in person in class in Norris 236 and we became good friends. Anyhow, I've kept up with some of my college friends, but I've lost track of Miss QT. When we lived in Alexandria, she lived nearby and we visited several times, and she even became friends with my darling Provazolezec, but eventually her husband's career in the Navy took them to far off places. I always remembered that her birthday was exactly 3 weeks before mine.<br /><br /><span style="font-style:italic;"><br />Do you remember when I tricked you into thinking I was shutting down the Vax?<br /></span><br /><br />I'd found a script that mimicked the Vax shutdown sequence, so wrote a wrapper around it that I could use to pretend I was logging on as an admin and shutting down the computer, which if it were real, would have shut out dozens of people from doing their work. Miss QT was quite panicked when she fell for my little joke and I imagine the other folks in the lab were looking at us wondering what was going on.<br /><br /><span style="font-style:italic;">Akiro would love to wish Eigen a Happy Birthday and many returns, and will celebrate by listening to music with many whining guitars.<br /><br />p.s. Blind Bill says "Hi!"<br /></span>ConceptJunkiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07574983838533038839noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35064676.post-85395727279787909882008-01-06T22:20:00.002-05:002008-01-06T23:34:06.501-05:00LOLcatsSometimes an <a href="http://www.def-logic.com/articles/what_is_a_meme.html">Internet meme</a> rolls around that is silly, pointless and even stupid, but I still think it's neat. These days it's <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lolcat">LOLcats</a>. There are a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leet">number</a> of <a href="http://www.makesmepeaceful.com/ok/limecat.html">disparate</a> <a href="http://www.thinkgeek.com/tshirts/generic/9505/">influences</a> behind this <a href="http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/business/4862013.html">phenomenon</a>, but it amounts to this: Captioning pictures of cats in a childish, misspelled style, often about the acquisition of "cheezbrgrs". <br /><br />The canonical <a href="http://icanhascheezburger.com/2007/01/15/i-made-you-a-cookie/">example</a> is a very cute kitten that looks very sad with the caption, "I made you a cookie... but I eated it." This fad has become big enough to merit <a href="http://www.businessweek.com/smallbiz/content/jul2007/sb20070713_202390.htm">mentions</a> in "<a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/21/business/21online.html?ex=1187668800&en=b63b5b4971bececb&ei=5070">legitimate</a>" <a href="http://online.wsj.com/article/SB118798557326508182.html">media</a>, and has now reached the logical <a href="http://www.lolcatbible.com/index.php?title=Genesis_1">zenith</a> of all such fads.<br /><br />I don't know why these amuse me, but they do. Here are a couple I contributed on a <a href="http://mine.icanhascheezburger.com/">site</a> with tons of amusing examples:<br /><br /><a href="http://mine.icanhascheezburger.com/View.aspx?NoFairHadda128441495718125000.jpg"><img src="http://mine.icanhascheezburger.com/completestore/NoFairHadda128441495718125000.jpg" alt="funny pictures" /></a><br /><br /><a href='http://mine.icanhascheezburger.com/View.aspx?DontlaffItk128441381068906250.jpg'><img src='http://mine.icanhascheezburger.com/completestore/DontlaffItk128441381068906250.jpg' alt='funny pictures' /></a><br /><br />And of course, it's not limited to cats:<br /><br /><a href="http://mine.icanhascheezburger.com/View.aspx?HodeYerBrefs128441371366718750.jpg"><img src="http://mine.icanhascheezburger.com/completestore/HodeYerBrefs128441371366718750.jpg" alt="funny pictures" /></a><br /><br />In fact, there's a whole sub-meme about <a href="http://icanhascheezburger.com/2007/05/04/you-hasnt-happend-to-see-mah-buckit-has-you/">walruses</a> and <a href="http://icanhascheezburger.com/2007/04/23/oh-mr-walrus/">buckets</a>. It's a strange world. Go figure.<br /><br />And yes, I looked it up later and now realize a skink is actually a kind of lizard.ConceptJunkiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07574983838533038839noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35064676.post-16843387104895989162007-11-25T13:45:00.001-05:002007-11-29T16:08:31.103-05:00Whom We ElectAs I look at the lackluster, third-string run of candidates running for President, I am certain that 2008 will be yet another year of voting for the Lesser of Two Evils... and probably not lesser by much. However, in the spirit of boundless optimism (which is sorely needed right about now), I realized that there are some pretty constant qualities in the candidates who actually win.<br /><br />Americans elect Presidents with the following qualities:<br /><br />1. Charisma - We want our President to be a nice guy who seems like someone you'd like to have dinner with. We want someone who is charming, but not to the point of seeming fake. A good President is an orator who can make you feel good, and be able to tell you a story that might bring tears to your eyes. A good President makes you want to take charge and fix problems rather than wait for someone else to do it.<br /><br />2. Likable - All the smarts in the world aren't going to win you the Oval Office if you're a jerk, or if you act like you're smarter than everyone (even if you are, which is actually a good thing). We don't want a soft or weak President, but we do want a President who can be nice. We want someone who laughs spontaneously, speaks off the cuff, make jokes and is occasionally willing to make fun of himself or herself, and yet can get up and make an inspiring speech. We do not want a President who is vindictive, easy to anger or just plain grouchy.<br /><br />3. At least one "everyman" feature - Bush likes to work on his ranch, Clinton liked fast food, Carter used to be a farmer, Reagan played cowboys in the movies, even Nixon had his dog Checkers. We want a President who has as least some aspects that he or she shares with the common man that has nothing to do with politics. It's easy to tell when someone is faking this, and that kind of patronizing is worse than arrogance. We want someone who takes his job seriously but does not take himself too seriously. We want someone who does not act like he or she is above everyone else, even if it's true.<br /><br />4. Optimistic - The U.S. President must be optimistic about America and must believe that it is the greatest country on Earth, despite its problems and flaws. The U.S. President must be willing to say about any problem, "This can be fixed and here's how we are going to do it." The U.S. President must be able to make us feel optimistic about the future, by convincing us how we can, and must, improve our country.<br /><br />5. Prior executive experience - This is absolutely an imperative in my mind. We have had many Governors and Generals as President and very few Senators. There's a reason for that. The Presidency is not an entry-level executive position and anyone who hasn't run a state, a large company, a military branch, or something equivalent, has no business even running for the Oval Office. Vice-presidents count, obviously.<br /><br />Look at every election for the past few decades and the winner always had more of these qualities than the loser. Fortunately, for the sake of the country, Hillary Clinton has _none_ of these qualities. Plus her speaking voice causes intestinal cramps, or at least it does for me. Four years of that shrill, nasal whining and we might just turn into France. And even _France_ isn't France these days.<br /><br />p.s. I actually think Ron Paul is a very principled person... in fact the only consistently principled person on the Republican side. I don't agree with everything he stands for, especially his call to immediately withdraw from Iraq, but on the other hand, he's the only candidate who actually seems to stand for what he believes and to believe in what he stands for, and makes decisions based on conservative and libertarian principles and not based on which lobbyist he has last spoken with or what he thinks his current audience wants to hear. Given the way the major candidates and the media is shutting him out, it seems they recognize it too. I'd say the same for Kucinich on the Democrat side, except that he's completely wrong about almost everything. Of course, neither one of them stand a chance.ConceptJunkiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07574983838533038839noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35064676.post-86538534870067828612007-09-08T15:43:00.001-04:002007-09-08T15:43:55.790-04:00What can I say?<a href="http://www.nerdtests.com/nt2ref.html"><br /><img src="http://www.nerdtests.com/images/badge/nt2/b06f3183bfa15d51.png" alt="NerdTests.com says I'm an Uber Cool Nerd God. What are you? Click here!"><br /></a>ConceptJunkiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07574983838533038839noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35064676.post-86489483431088247922007-08-30T00:24:00.000-04:002007-09-01T11:50:37.768-04:00Are you ready for parenthood?I have four lovely children who are a real treasure in my life and I wouldn't trade them for anything. Well, maybe some peace, quiet and sanity. Wait, that's what I traded for them in the first place. No, I really wouldn't trade them for anything. It's been the toughest job I've ever loved, and every day brings me a new wonder from these four little people (well, not so little) who have elbowed their way into my life and heart.<br /><br />I've been a parent for more than 13 years and it might be a good idea to share some of my accumulated experience to you younger folks who are new to parenting, or haven't even started yet. After all, if you don't listen to your elders, you can never benefit from their experience, and they're going to keep blabbing on any way, so you might as well listen in case something useful comes out.<br /><br />Today it occurred to me that some of you might be wondering whether it's time to stop being arrested adolescents, stop living solely for your own benefit, and have something to do with your spare time other than gaze lovingly at each other over dinner out. Three times a week. At places that don't have children's menus.<br /><br />I'm talking procreation here. Cooperating with the Good Lord in the only real act of creation that still goes on, that of a new soul... or more specifically, giving it a place to live in a wrinkled little pink thing that looks like Winston Churchill and won't stop crying for anything, at least until the grandparents show up, just to make you look like an idiot.<br /><br />In other words, are you ready to have kids?<br /><br />Well, here I've created a handy checklist. You need to ask yourself, "Am I ready and willing to do all of these things?" If you are hesitant, for any reason, you should think twice about loosing your progeny upon this crazy world.<br /><br />Anyhow, these activities represent things that will undoubtedly happen to you at some time or another, so it's better to be prepared than to be caught by surprise. These are all things, or approximations of things, that have actually happened to me, so I know what of I speak. Please note, some of these get a little gross. We are talking about children here. They are hard-wired by billions of years of evolution to do some really disgusting things, often in a surprisingly large radius. You have been warned.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Rick's List of Things You Should Be Willing to Do If You Want to Be A Parent<br /></span><ol><li>Let's get it out of the way first. Take a poop on the floor. Go ahead. Drop trou, squat down and lay a nice big one on the carpet. You are not allowed to look for a nice uncluttered piece of linoleum, just go right there in the center of the room, preferably in a high-traffic area. You think that's bad? Now step in it and walk around. (I told you this would be tough.)</li><li>Take ten objects that you treasure, regardless of their value, in monetary or sentimental terms. Arrange them in a nice row in front of you. Selecting at random, do the following: Drop one in a bucket of water. Smash one into pieces, not small enough to just throw away, but too small to easily fix with glue. Throw a third in the trash. You are not allowed alternate choices.</li><li>Drop a bowl of food on the floor.<br /></li><li>Take three alarm clocks. Set them all to some time between midnight and 6 a.m., preferably different times every day. Put them in another room, so you'll have to get up to turn them off. Do this for a month straight. Take turns if you want. It's fun.<br /></li><li>On one occasion when you wake up in the middle of the night for an alarm, take a bag of flour or something else that weighs several pounds. Set the kitchen timer for 45 minutes. Walk around the house carrying the bag of flour for the whole time. You may talk to it, or sing to it. You may not use foul language. You may not give up early and make biscuits.</li><li>Stand up in the middle of church, or some other place where some decorum is observed, and start screaming for several seconds. Walk out with an embarrassed look on your face. For bonus points, throw up first.</li><li>Drop a bowl of food on the floor.<br /></li><li>Just once, drop everything you are doing at some random time, preferably when it causes real inconvenience. Rush to the emergency room. Wait around for four hours, and then watch someone get stitches. Up close. Help hold the patient down if necessary.<br /></li><li>Take some crayons and draw a nice picture. On the wall. If you mess up, just move a few feet and start over. If you're having trouble, books offer lots more room for practice.<br /></li><li>Buy three story books. Read each of them out loud once a night for a year. Try not to get bored.<br /></li><li>This one involves a friend, or your spouse, although he or she might not be a friend afterwards. Ask your friend, at some time in the next couple days, when you aren't looking, or perhaps aren't even awake, do one of the following: a.) Dump a box of wooden blocks over your head. b.) Run up out of the blue and kick you in a very tender or sensitive region. c.) Give you an uppercut to the jaw., or d.) Throw up on you.<br /></li><li>Turn on all the lights in your house. Leave them on for an entire month. You can only turn off lights in a room you are currently in. If you leave the room, you must turn them back on.</li><li>At least once, when you park your car in a public place, walk off without closing one of the doors.</li><li>Drop a bowl of food on the floor.<br /></li><li>Ask your spouse to announce suddenly one day, ten minutes before he or she needs to go somewhere important, that he or she has either no clean underwear, pants or shoes. And I mean "not clean" as in "not currently wearable, period". Improvise if necessary.</li><li>Drink a very large glass of water. Watch TV for a couple hours straight. Don't miss a second of what's on, even the commercials. You know what I mean.<br /></li><li>If you have a computer, smear jelly on your hands. Then use it. Make sure to touch the monitor repeatedly. Don't clean the gunk out of the mouse.<br /></li><li>Punch or kick a hole in the wall. Then patch it. Try to make it not noticeable when you are finished. Pretty hard, huh?<br /></li><li>Another time in the parking lot, throw your car door open with excessive force. Give yourself bonus points if you are parked next to a Mercedes. Write a nice note apologizing to the owner and leave your contact information.</li><li>Drop a bowl of food on the floor.<br /></li><li>Dump a large bucket of water on the floor. Or perhaps on a piece of furniture. Give it a few minutes to soak in before cleaning it up. Don't forget, things get moldy if they aren't thoroughly dried.</li><li>Buy a video tape or DVD of a TV show or movie. It doesn't matter which one. Play it a couple times a day for three months straight. Keep it turned up loud. Don't switch to a different one. Shows with annoying, nasal-talking puppets give bonus points, but you are by no means required to choose them.<br /></li><li>Pick a day and start throwing Hot Wheels around the room for several minutes. Do <span style="font-style: italic;">not</span> attempt to avoid walls, windows or siblings.<br /></li><li>If you live in an apartment or other high-density housing, turn up the TV unreasonably loud. Late at night. Then leave for an hour. While this isn't quite as annoying to neighbors as an extended bout of colic, it can be quite effective.</li><li>Drop a bowl of food on the floor.<br /></li></ol>OK. After looking over this list, if you aren't ready and willing to do each one of these things, sometimes more than once, then you just aren't ready for parenthood. Once you become a parent, they will be done for you. Repeatedly. You might prevent some occurrences, but you won't prevent them all.<br /><br />You have been warned.ConceptJunkiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07574983838533038839noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35064676.post-65907982728811265332007-08-30T00:16:00.000-04:002008-12-09T11:28:11.867-05:00SimpsonizedYou can go to <a href="http://simpsonizeme.com/">this site</a> upload a photo and become Simpsonized. I have to say that I am fairly impressed by how the process works. It works better for some faces than others, but it always manages to be somewhere in the ballpark. There are some non-trivial analysis algorithms going on and I have to say it's one of the neatest things I've seen online in a while.<br /><br />Of course, I had to Simpsonize all of us, and here we are:<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbywmk9dadBxeEV1uPyqX5Wo-CaiDA4NcPtsuTDw18gqTlkDXAj02X1-V0QBbHt6DkQVeXjVOveyywE9P3ZLIs_xAjqvCxRpYGQYXcp0nawavLnac_SGrE8IhInbFtctV9friFgQ/s1600-h/Gutlebers.png"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbywmk9dadBxeEV1uPyqX5Wo-CaiDA4NcPtsuTDw18gqTlkDXAj02X1-V0QBbHt6DkQVeXjVOveyywE9P3ZLIs_xAjqvCxRpYGQYXcp0nawavLnac_SGrE8IhInbFtctV9friFgQ/s400/Gutlebers.png" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5105264960845612898" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSFQpW-kdprK_gbkFnZLBqP14oObDuek56BqTsEZEufHX_clOXUmPNbF5oQ8fj-Nr6RgHHjvjBVZXWE8n32pFKTFDA1CNWsWSqnDK5xApiS2q9RcZBf1CUGc-vZjpUcyAa_OgWdg/s1600-h/Gutlebers.png"><br /></a>ConceptJunkiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07574983838533038839noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35064676.post-40006628457325151332007-07-29T23:56:00.000-04:002007-09-01T11:57:48.289-04:00A Random ThoughtHaving had worked at AOL for 15 agonizing months, I was familiarized with some of the casual dress styles among the younger set. In particular I noticed the increasing preponderance of facial hardware, which has actually been popular for quite a few years. I was reminded of this last night seeing a striking young lady (well, another one besides Provazolezec) at the movie theater with a minute little nose stud affixed to the side of her schnozz.<br /><br />Here's a note to the practitioners of piercing from someone who is older than you and whose opinion probably is of no value to you, but it will be expressed anyhow: You look ridiculous. What form of self-hatred could possibly inspire you to puncture your face and inflict it with what must surely be painful metal objects that make you look more like some kind of toolshop appliance than a human being? Trust me, to almost everyone over 30 (and probably a lot of people under 30) it's like a walking IQ test, each item dropping to the total by 10 or 20 points. If the piercing is inside your mouth, that's 50 points off the top. I'd love to see what would happen if someone fired up a big electromagnet nearby. It reminds me of a scene from "Heartbreak Ridge" where Clint Eastwood expresses his opinion of earrings in the military... ouch!<br /><br />What I find even more hilarious is those women who want to join the bandwagon with those relatively conservative little metal nose studs that are often affixed by neodymium magnets. You should certainly be commended for your restraint from self-mutilation, but I hate to break it to you ladies, instead of a nose stud, you in fact look like you have a huge blackhead on the side of your face. A blackhead that may occasionally sparkle, but the overall effect is a need for Clearasil and a good scrubbing, which is probably not the intended effect.<br /><br />Now I realize that the flows and eddies of adolescent hormonal changes lead many of us to engage in various "non-standard" or even "shocking" styles of self-expression in an attempt to establish an identity among the throngs of humanity, the rest of us see these piercings for what they are, lock-step conformity and complete silliness, and we laugh at you from behind your backs. I don't say this to mock you, just to tip you off to the truth. You look like idiots. Is it worth all the redness, swelling and infections? <br /><br />p.s. Tattoos send pretty much the same message, that is "I'm too stupid or too lazy to come up with a unique way to express myself, so I will just put graffiti on my body."<br /><br />p.p.s. We saw "The Simpsons Movie", it was great.ConceptJunkiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07574983838533038839noreply@blogger.com0