Ramblings of an Atheist (Libertarian) Anthropology Undergrad

Not Dead

2011-03-06T21:07:00.002-06:00

I'm not dead, just kind've forgot about blogging after life got busy. I had a bit of dusting to do - it only goes to show that an account or site can be inactive for a long while and STILL the spammers will spam.

I don't know how often I'll be blogging again, but I think I'll try to get back into the habit eventually. At any rate, quality over quantity has always been my motto on these things. The internet is full of filler and fluff, and I try not to make a habit of posting that. I intend to blog more once I finally finish college (yeah, yeah, this is my sixth year. I'm Part-Time, OK? and I'm only taking second language classes, so you can't really do them all in one semester). My plan is to get married, then teach in Japan for a year or so. We'll see how it pans out, but if I do, I'll want to blog about my daily life in a new culture. After all, I'm an anthropologist.

Now to watch the spam fly in like bugs to a zapper.

Universal Health Care

2009-07-15T10:11:00.001-06:00

An argument I hear every so often, when stating my opinion that Universal Health Care is a very bad thing for America, is that I should be for it because it will cost me less than buying my own healthcare. While I oppose UHC for other reasons, I would like to address this specific argument.

Universal Health Care would cost me less, this is true, but this comes at the cost of a higher tax burden on wealthier people and families. "But why should you care," they ask "It's not your money!" And that's exactly it. It's not my money. It is immoral for me to demand that another person should pay for my health care. I have no right to demand any money from them, either by my own use of force or coercion, or by the government using those means on my behalf. No, I'm not concerned with how much it will save ME, I'm concerned about the cost - the cost to others, and the moral cost to me.

Trying a different blogging app

2009-07-14T01:18:00.001-06:00

Sorry for the continued lack of blog posts, but I've been incredibly busy at work. Last week I nearly went overtime, even! By the time I get back home, all I want to do is sit on the porch, light a pipe, and watch videos until the sun goes down. That said, I've been posting youtube videos, and I've been twittering recently. If you care to follow me, I'm @MDerosier. Twitter is far easier to post to with any frequency, and I've also got it rigged to tweet when I post new vids on youtube.

Now, to bed.

Kids, and failures of public education

2009-05-13T20:33:00.003-06:00

Now, I'm not going to bitch about how little kids are learning from public schools, that's not really the failure I had in mind to talk about. In actuality, I'm going to talk about how I have been put into a position where I believe I have failed. Now, technically, I'm not an employee of the public education system, technically I work for a Community Education program that is associated with the local school district. So really, this is a story of how I have failed, and how I was put into a place where I felt that I was inadequate for the task I had been given to do. A story of how I was set up to fail by the way that the system runs.

Generally, I feel that I am smarter than the average person, moreso the average person my age. However, last week I was given a lesson plan that was pretty simple, but could illustrate a problem with the education system. Specifically, I was given a simple lesson plan which was a history lesson followed by some rudimentary Spanish vocabulary. "Ok", I thought, "Simple enough". As it turned out, though, the vocab was already known by every age group, including the Kindergartners. In fact, the Kindergartners were correcting my pronunciation. Past the history lesson, I was basically teaching them things which they already knew. Now, it seems to me that the number one rule for teaching something is that the teacher should know more than the students, but barring that, I'd like to comment that this points out an error that might be a bit more indicative of the failings of public education, at least as it is currently run. We, as educators, seem to not realize that the kids are smarter than we think they are. Yes, there are some who don't know Spanish, but many of them already know the numbers and phrases like "Hello", "Goodbye", etc.

What does this mean for public education? To me, it means that too much time is being spent on teaching and reteaching basic things that students already know, and that means that we are keeping the best and brightest from reaching their full potential. Our insistence on including all students, making sure that the slower ones don't fall behind, is keeping the kids at the front of the pack from continuing forwards. I know some of my problem with constantly getting grades (in elementary school) less than my intelligence would predict was that I didn't feel challenged. In fact, I got better grades in classes that actually challenged me in ways that I felt useful and enlightening. This was a pattern for me all through high school; I didn't try unless I felt the project was a challenge. I didn't do homework unless I felt that it was crucial for me to do it in order to learn. This is the mindset which kept me from applying myself, and frankly I believe that it has created a habitual mentality in me that has persisted throughout my college career. In short, dumbing down the curriculum doesn't help anyone. The mentally lesser endowed kids stay on their trail of slow, mediocre progress, while in the attitudes of the smarter students is engendered an attitude of apathy. Lowering the standard is not increasing the reward, rather it is CRIPPLING those students who would SUCCEED.

And part of me can't help but take this idea and apply to it a touch of Objectivist thought. In essence, the push to "help out" those students who are at the back of the pack is in actuality a move to stifle those at the front. It is like how socialism aims to "help out" the poor, but only cuts the wealthy down to size. Is the ideal way of things really to create equality by making everyone mediocre? Do we really despise greatness so much? Why is it so chic to hinder the progress of those who aspire to accomplish greater things?

Of course, the rationalist in me reminds me that this isn't an act of malice, these bleeding heart types just want to see everyone succeed. I cannot, however, understand how anyone can possibly not realize that some people are just not geared towards academic success. In order for there to be winners, there have to be losers. In order for success to occur, there has to be the chance of failure. In order for greatness to exist, there must be... smallness. There can't be a positive unless there is also a negative.

Thankfully, my role in this problem is not a big one, and my resolution to this problem was to eschew the lesson plan for the older kids (who would have gotten even less out of the lesson than the younger ones) in favor of taking them outside to play. Rather than increase the likelihood of fostering hatred towards education, I felt it better to allow the kids to get some fresh air, excersize, and a chance to increase social aptitude through socialization. The good kind.

I might have a chance to do some good this summer, if I get a chance to gain more control over the lesson plans I'm given.

To wrap it up, I can't say I can blame the kids for their failures as much as the education system. The way our culture treats education needs to be changed. Lesson plans are good, but scalability is key. Furthermore, it's not enough just to teach the information, connections and real world applications are crucial in making sure information is retained and sought after. Teaching times tables is boring and pointless if the kids can't see that multiplication is useful in many places of their life. I'm not just talking word problems, I'm talking multi-component real world examples, like building birdhouses, planning parties, that kind of thing.

Kind of gives me an idea for a new type of school. Note to self...

Mobile blogging, waiting for finals

2009-05-12T17:06:00.002-06:00

Blogger isn't the most cooperative thing when on a G1 phone, but I've made it work. As it stands, I have about 15 minutes befor my last final of the semester, and I've been doing nothing for the past three hours. I will take some pics of campus, and if any U of M students or alumni see them, they'll know where I've been... and not care.

Teaser

2009-04-03T19:09:00.002-06:00

More pics later.

Quiz results

2009-03-21T13:51:00.001-06:00

You Scored as Batman, the Dark Knight

As the Dark Knight of Gotham, Batman is a vigilante who deals out his own brand of justice to the criminals and corrupt of the city. He follows his own code and is often misunderstood. He has few friends or allies, but finds comfort in his cause.

Batman, the Dark Knight

83%

Indiana Jones

79%

Neo, the "One"

79%

William Wallace

71%

Captain Jack Sparrow

71%

James Bond, Agent 007

63%

Maximus

63%

Lara Croft

58%

The Terminator

50%

The Amazing Spider-Man

50%

El Zorro

21%

Gun pics

2009-03-10T11:18:00.005-06:00

So, I said I'd post pics, and though it's taken a while, I'm making good on that.

My 1911.Note the unique hammer webbing.

Other side. Maybe you'll notice my hack job of an edit, maybe not.

Feels nice, can't wait to try it out! I plan on shooting it while I'm on Spring Break in Arkansas next week. Also next week, I have a project...

I have to clean my Yugo SKS!
No cleaning kit was included, but it has everything else, so that's ok.Grenade launcher sights! I'm going to have a fun break.

Society of Jealousy and Entitlement

2009-02-20T12:51:00.005-06:00

Socialism can't work. Not in America. Not anywhere, but especially not in America. I was pondering this as I drove in to school today, and I understood why it especially can't work here. America is full of people with an entitlement mentality. America is full of a cancer - people who believe that they deserve everything, no matter what equation of additions and subtractions to the value of society their lives account for. This train of thought was brought on by a discussion on the Keith and the Girl podcast, where they were discussing tipping servers at restaurants, specifically why people don't tip as well as they should.

One reason the bad tippers give is "I work hard for my money, and I want to keep as much of it as possible". That's all well and good, and ordinarily I agree with this sentiment, but keeping your money comes at a moral cost: Not tipping a server in America is basically like stealing. Servers in America make their living off tips, and seldom do they make actual wages, or if they do it's less than minimum wage. When you go to a restaurant, you should know that part of the transaction is to pay for your server's assistance. In America, tips are not just gratuity, they are some people's income.

Now, I can't see any moral way to force anyone to tip, unless the restaurant adds gratuity to a bill automatically (as they all do in Hawaii), but I can attempt to appeal to your sense of morality. If you go out to eat, remember that the server doesn't always get paid by the restaurant, and in some cases they even get stuck with the bill from dashers. They provided a service for you, aand it is your moral imperative to compensate them for their service. It's up to you to determine how much you felt their service was worth, ultimately, but please be fair in your judgment.

Anyways, apologies for the tangent, but it needed to be said, and it links back to the topic at hand. You see, the fact that people tip badly is linked in my mind to the fact that some (I would say many) people don't feel like they need to pay for what they use. Government is not helping to change this notion by publicly bailing out failing companies, printing money to give to banks, and giving out 800 billion dollars that the government doesn't have to pay for political favors, projects that aren't necessary, et cetera. The government knows it won't have to foot that bill, it falls on us. Much in the same way, quite a few companies are spending money badly, making reckless decisions, et cetera. They know they won't have to foot the bill, it falls on their investors. Banks were making bad loans that they knew were risky. They knew they wouldn't have to foot the bill, they could sell it to Freddie Mac and Fanny Mae, who were backed by the government, meaning that once again the bill falls on us, the taxpayers.

People have lost their understanding of the meaning of money. Money is not just a thing, it is a symbol of value. It is a symbol of the value you have given to someone or some company, and it is a symbol of the value you are giving to someone or some company. It is your balance, in more ways than merely the balance of your accounts in financial terminology, it is a measure of your balance with society. If you take more value than you give, you will be in debt. If you give more value than you take, you will be wealthy. Your condition should not be a surprise. You shouldn't look at your accounts and feel that your bank balance isn't an accurate reflection of your value balance. If you do, you are either valuing yourself wrongly (too highly or too lowly) or you are allowing others to place an inaccurate value on your work (charging too much or too little), or you are misestimating the value you are taking (too much or too little). If you are suprised by a low balance, you need to ask yourself some key questions: Am I charging too little for my services? Am I paid little because my job can be done by many others? Am I spending more than I should? All of these questions, if answered honestly, are useful in self-diagnosis.

Some workers feel entitled to benefits they are not inherently entitled to. You are entitled to the fruits of your own labor, no more and no less. You are entitled to contract out your labor for others in exchange for a value determined fair by both parties. You are entitled to enter into a contract with another for an exchange of value for a service, again if judged as fair by both parties. This is the essence of the free market. You are the one who determines your worth, and the worth of your labor. You are the one responsible for determining the pay you will work for. You are the one who determines what price you will pay for goods. All this you accomplish by choosing. You choose whether or not to work for a company. You choose whether or not to pay for a good or service. You alone are responsible for your balance of value.

Entitlement is, essentially, a misestimation of one's own value and the value of others and things. Entitlement is the feeling that you earned things you have not, or services you've not paid for. Entitlement is jealousy rearing its ugly head, sloth coming along for the ride. Entitlement is the claim of the nonachiever that they deserve the fruits of labor not yet labored. It is the cry of the bad child saying "Me too" when the good child gets a reward. It is the bark of the dog who sees a trained dog get a treat for doing a trick that they don't know. It is a claim that existence is the only deed they require to lay claim on the world.

Entitlement is the reason socialism will always fail. Socialism puts the entitled-minded in a position of power over those who are morally inclined to maintain a balance of value in their favor, those who feel that the only true claim to value is to create equal value. Socialism allows the entitled-minded to lay claim to the fruits of others' labor, and backs them with the firepower and legal power to assert their claims. Socialism punishes the achiever and raises the nonachiever.

A free market, backed by laws punishing those who violate agreements, keeps the entitled-minded in check. The free market maintains proper balance of values. The law makes sure contracts are held to.

I have more to say, but no time to say it.

Edit: everything after this point was added later. Pardon the interruption, but I had to go to work.

Now, to bring this post full circle, I have to tie this culture of entitlement to my statement about socialism specifically not working in America. There are cultures in Asia (specifically Japan) whose values are based around different methods of thinking. In Japan, the individual is instilled from birth with a morality that highly values collectivism and collective success. In a culture like this, the individual does not see his success as the highest expression of value, but instead sees the success of his group as most important. In a society like this, socialism would be more likely to produce results that are positive, as members of this society would be less likely to abuse statist powers for their own personal gain. However, even in this kind of society it is probable that one group would seize power and wealth for themselves and exclude other groups from the prosperity they enjoy. Essentially, it would probably end up an ogliarchy, much like Iraq under Saddam's regime. This is an extreme result, but looking at history shows that extremes are not only possible but probable.

Socialism can't work in America because we aren't culturally geared towards the mentality of group success. We all want the best for ourselves, and most of us don't see value in helping others succeed unless we also gain from the work needed to gain another's success. We feel the need to take a cut of all success, and there's nothing wrong with this so long as we get our fair share - fair being determined objectively, not subjectively. When we defer the determination of values to the government, objectivity is lost. Instead of being able to negotiate values between buyers and sellers, betwen employees and employers, we rely on a bureaucrat to make the negotiation for us, and value becomes determined not by supply and demand, but by whichever political forces are in power. Prices fluctuate like winds in a tempest, based on the whims of politics, despite the constancy of materials or labor. Availability and costs change at rates that make it impossible for companies to operate and people to live. Materials and funds are shifted based on the needs perceived by politicians and bureaucrats, not by producers and citizens. This is like yanking the foundation out from under a building. Objective value is replaced by the subjective value of the politically powerful.

How does this tie in to entitlement? If you've not yet made the connection, I'll explain it. Politicians in America are no different from the regular citizens, you and me. They are subject to the same faults and vices as we are, among these being a sense of entitlement. When they hold the reins, they have the power to act on their desires. If we give them the ability to take value and redistribute it, we allow them to determine value objectively. Their sense of entitlement is given authority. They get to decide value independantly of market forces and objective reality. When we allow government to expand, the problem gets worse.

Now, as this post was already long enough, I'll stop myself before I make this much, much longer.

The Internet and Libertarianism

2009-01-28T12:52:00.004-06:00

I had a moment of clarity, a few seconds ago, as I asked myself why even the conservative blogs on the internet seemed Libertarian to me, and I think I came up with a reason: The internet exposes us to alternate lifestyles that we wouldn't normally encounter. This environment of repeated encounters with "the others" leads to acknowledgment and possibly acceptance of other ways of being in the world. "Traditional" conservatives - I'm talking specifically of the kind that are normally associated with shotguns, beer guts and red necks - usually suffer from groupthink due to the fact that they never have need to talk with others outside their group, and as such they foster an environment where racism and bigotry are normal, and tolerance of "the other" is not viewed as necessary or desirable. On the internet, cultures and beliefs are violently smashing into each other, forcing everyone to come to terms with the differences with others, and accept them at least in part. This meshing of cultures breaks down the barriers for cultured discourse, leading to a more accepting worldview socially, which leads to social Libertarianism. Conservative bloggers become more tolerant of gays, understanding that they aren't trying to convert, rape or subvert their culture. Former bigots and racists reach an understanding that deep down we are all, in the end, humans. The internet is a powerful tool for the spread of Libertarianism among conservatives.

The unfortunate thing is that it doesn't work the same way for liberal economics. It's hard to disillusion leftists from the view that spreading the wealth and relying on government is a good thing. That's a rant for another day.

By the way, I got my first gun yesterday. Pics up sometime this week.

Liberal Ed College Epistemology

2009-01-27T16:15:00.003-06:00

An inherent part of a Liberal Education, it seems, is the eventual faculty member's attempt to persuade their students to adopt one of any subjectivist philosophies. Today, a member of the faculty was subjecting his philosophical views on the (mostly) willing members of one of my classes - although he did so weakly and prefaced the attempt with a disclaimer that not everyone would agree.

Basically, he was making the point that there are no concretes in the universe - that rules and concretes are made in an attempt to create boundaries - "Everyone loves a cage", or something to that effect. He furthermore continued to suggest that the works of doctors and others were essentially useless, as nothing is absolutely knowable. Anything that experts say is true can not be proven, and we are merely struggling to create boxes for us to stay in to feel at ease with the world.

Needless to say, this defies all that science has striven towards. If nothing could ever be known, what's to say that any scientific work could ever bring us closer to truth? In fact, what's the point of trying to know truth, when truth is so illusive?

The only point of value to this philosophy is that it counteracts the propensity of mankind to become too rigid or immovable in their views, but I feel that this dichotomy is unnecessary, there can be a middle ground.

My epistemology falls in line with Objectivism, in that I believe that it is a bad assumption to say that we cannot know anything, or that our senses are useless to use in understanding the world. If we assume that we can't trust our senses, or that the world is unknowable, we are immediately discrediting the entirety of the human struggle for knowledge. If we claim that we already know everything, or that knowledge is unfalsifiable, again we discredit the struggle for knowledge. We can always understand things better, but we do have the ability to know things as well. A is A, and can only be A, but we could always discover something about A that changes our understanding of what A is. A remains A, our conceptions of A are the only thing that may change. That is not to say that we can never understand A, but that if we are wrong about what A is, we can alter our conceptions.

I might not have expressed that well, I'm distracted by noisy kids.

Car accident

2009-01-21T19:05:00.002-06:00

Well, it had to happen sometime, statistically speaking. I was involved in a collision. I was driving in the beginning of rush hour traffic in the rightmost lane of a busy part of a spaghetti intersection. I pulled forward to close a large gap between my car and the next one in front of me, a good four car lengths away. Because of the position of the sun and the salt on my window, I was oblivious to the fact that another driver was about to swerve into my lane, and because of the truck behind him, he couldn't see me coming. Smash. The front driver's side of my car takes a hit, pushing me into the shoulder, cracking my panel, smashing my hubcap and throwing off my alignment and probably suspension. Fortunately, neither of us are injured, and in spite of the other driver's *ahem* intense attitude (culturally Arabic, the guy was pretty cool, but a bit fidgety and impatient). We pull over to the shoulder and exchange info, and I call my mom. Mom tells me to call the cops and get a police report. They take a long time to get there. A looooong time. About 30-45 minutes. In the mean time, MNDoT and two other police cars have already come through and asked if we were OK. MNDoT is faster than the highway patrol, who were notified first. Anyways, the guy and I had time to talk. Apparently, he works at a deli in Minneapolis, and has been robbed a couple years ago. The cops took a long time then as well, he said. I brought up the second amendment, and the fact that it gives us the right to protect ourselves, and he was very agreeable about this point - he told me that his experience has proven that point to him. The cops will take forever to respond, and they will sit in their cars another 15 minutes before getting around to actually checking out the crime scene. Like I said, cool guy.

Anyways, we get our police reports, and I begin the harrowing 30 minute drive to a body shop near home. Harrowing, I say, because the crash had bent the wheel to the side, so the whole time I thought the wheel was going to fall off the damn car. I drove ten mph under the limit the entire way, always in the right lane. Adrenaline surged through my veins the whole way as I clenched my hands on the steering wheel, which itself reflected the damaged condition of the car, due to the fact that in order to drive straight, the wheel had to be turned about 80 degrees to the right.

I've not had the best of days today.

Now I have no ride to school tomorrow or friday, unless my parents rent a car for me. At very least, I'm not going to be able to attend school tomorrow, but I can get a ride into work from my mom - an hour early, no less. In the long term, however, I might end up getting a "new" car, depending on how much the repairs cost.

Sudden Realization

2009-01-21T13:21:00.003-06:00

I passed an article on Digg about something astrophysics-related that featured the word "Tweak". This, of course, led me on a trail of thought that culminated in the realization that life didn't have to exist. Life didn't have to exist at all in the universe. If a few constants of physics were altered or "tweaked", life would not have existed, and the very form of space would be significantly different. Planets and stars might not even exist - much less life, whose conditions for existence are very specific.

Life didn't have to begin, but it does. That thought amazes me, and I can't fully describe why.

Also, today is my fiance's birthday. Happy birthday, Nessa!

Resolutions, Full of Food, and Where's My Gun?

2009-01-18T20:12:00.002-06:00

Three posts in one, now isn't this fun?

I made a few resolutions on my youtube account, so I'll update you few readers as to how they're going.

1: Get a gun
Working on it. See the last third of this post.
2: Write two op-ed articles before the start of the semester.
Nope. I've had no ideas for an op-ed that would be timely. I'm working on an idea for one, so I might do it within the week, but this one's already broken.
3: Write one op-ed each month
Technically not broken yet
4: Make a voice demo before the end of summer
I'm trying to find good ad copy, and a friend who is a recording professional is going to help me.

3 out of 4 are still good...

Today, Nessa was celebrating her birthday with her family, my parents and me. For this celebration we went to Buca, which is the best Italian restaurant in the area. Everything's served "Family style", which means that each dish serves about four to six. So good. My favorite dishes there are the cheese-filled ravioli and the fettucine alfredo. Those are what is filling my belly at the moment. I fed myself as full as a foie gras duck.

The most surprising part was when my dad decided to pay for the entire meal. Seriously, my folks are pretty damn generous sometimes. I'm not saying how much the bill was, but it was kind of them - though I suppose that might be their way of paying Nessa's mom back for some of the food she's bought me over the past three years, if you want to put it in those sort of terms. Anyways, my dad knows how to make a good impression, that's for sure.

Now, part three: Where's my gun already? It was supposedly shipped out of Texas on Friday via USPS priority. That should've taken two to five days. I hope it gets here sometime next week, or I'm going to be very frustrated. Sure, I might not be able to go shooting until next month - I'm pretty broke right now - but still, come on! It also worries me that the seller didn't get a tracking number... I wonder if he got insurance on it either. I sure as hell am not paying for it if I don't get the damn thing, so he'd better have insurance on it for his sake.

In retrospect, maybe I should've just bought a damned Ruger mk II/45. It'd have been cheaper, and I'd have it in hand right now. Oh well, I'm not going to regret my purchase once I have it in hand... unless it turns out to not work well. At any rate, if I don't like it, I could always sell it for about as much as I paid for it - Obama might make my gun appreciate in value, after all. I could sell it off and save up for a Walther PPS if I don't like it. I hope I do like it, though, because a good 1911 for under $500 is hard to come by, especially with the features found in the American Classic II.

Tea Party

2009-01-06T12:53:00.003-06:00

There's something kind of amusing about drinking tea from my "Disappearing civil liberties" mug (A Christmas gift from my sister). It reminds me, in a sort of humorous way, of the way our countrymen's civil rights were infringed upon, and the struggle to get them back. Fortunately for me, the struggle to get the bill of rights on my mug is easy and pleasurable - I just need to drink my tea. The real struggle to keep ours today, however, is not so simple or enjoyable.

I applied for a permit to purchase a firearm today. I should get it within a week. This is good, because I have one on the way - I won an auction on Gunbroker for an "American Classic II" 1911, and I got it for less than MSRP. After shipping and other charges however, I'm basically even on it. Fine, because it has all the features I'm looking for, it's cheap, and I couldn't find it at any of the nearby gun shops. Anyways, I should have my permit before it's done shipping (hopefully), so then all I have to do is complete the transfer.

Anyone who claims that the gun laws are too loose should know this: It is a time-intensive process to get a gun legally. There's quite a bit of paperwork and driving around involved, and even if you buy direct from a dealer, you need to go through a background check, the most cursory of which would automatically find if you've been judged as unqualified to purchase a firearm - after all, if you're legally going through the process, you're disclosing all past names and convictions (where applicable). I'd go into this further, but I've got other stuff to do before work.

Let's see if I get back into the blogging habit again now that thee vacation is over.

Greek riots

2008-12-17T01:19:00.002-06:00

There are some very disturbing pics of the riots available here. Not really disturbing in terms of gory or anything, but disturbing for other reasons. The rare commenter who actually adds value to a mainstream news article's comment section left a very good gem of a comment, and I'll quote the entire thing here.

311.

Violence is the last refuge of the incompetent.

This so sad to see what Greece is reduced to. I've been telling my friends this is going to happen in Greece, but expected it to come many years later. This is beyond the corruption of their government. Their entire socialist welfare state is growing so fast it will exceed Greece's GDP before 2040; probably about the same time as France and Spain fall to the Muslim Empire.

You, Greece, have been harboring a pro-communist and pro-socialist agenda since WWII, and refuse to let it go. The KKE backed STALIN of things, and yet you legitimized them after your military junta collapsed. Shame on you.

You have deep-rooted issues to sort out.

Burning other people's property is a helpless expression of your inability to act constructively. You sold yourselves out to your government long ago, and became servants and property of it while begging it to be a welfare state and take care of you.

I'm not sure what to tell you at this point. You have to figure out what real freedom is and decide if you want that for yourselves. Good thing your leftist government gave you a holiday to berate the US, and focus your frustration in the wrong direction. While meanwhile we fork over money your way every year.

I am an American, from a cattle ranch in the midwest. Before we get more uniformed comments about "Americans" I would like to say: unlike the jealous stereotypes some of you like to perpetuate in Europe about "Americans" I have yet to meet a European who can draw a better World-map than I can, and most especially in Greece. Most Greeks cannot even pick the right city and state for the capital of the US. (50% of Greeks I've asked say New York City, and over half of those place it in Washington State if they can even guess a state).

On the other hand, I know a bit of Katharevousa/Καθαρεύουσα and demotic and a whole heck of a lot about history and economy.

I hope your people learn accountabilty before it is too late, and your system collapses. I hope you stop trusting in the fallacy of armies and police to protect you, and arm yourselves. (with more than rocks) At least your cousins in Creta have kept their guns and powder dry. (Yes, I know, I've traveled extensively there too.)

We, in the US, have many problems right now with our politicians and our corrupt banking system (sanctioned by the socialist part of our part-socialist government). We have just elected a socialist president and a very scary group of people, much like the ones whom screw Greece over. This was an extreme reaction to dislike of Bush & forgeign wars and I hope the US can survive it.

We have a few things going for us though.

1. A Constitution for We, The People.
2. A Bill of Rights. Explicit, unalienable rights.
3. The Right to Bear Arms.

You cannot have the right to Life, Liberties, and ownership of property, without having the right to defend them for yourself. If you turn over your right to defend yourself to become a ward of the police or the state, you are no better than a slave. If someone else gets to decide when and where to defend you: you are their property. Plain and simple. Property, not free.

The one underlying philosophical foundation that started the US and will keep her going, is the fact our people respect the rule of law, not the rule of men, and the majority of the US believes in supporting the Bill of Rights and our Constitution (though they both are now in taters). And, finally: we are armed. So we are free to defend our lives against corrupt politicians should we ever want to.

You can at best throw rocks and molotov cocktails. While that's cute and all, it's not going to get the job done and all you are currently doing is harming your fellow serfs but destroying their property. Which, they like you, are unarmed and helpless to defend.

Good luck, Greece.

Posted by ae December 16, 08 06:40 PM

Couldn't have said it better myself.

Quick question

2008-12-15T04:02:00.002-06:00

Is this a joke? It just seems too ridiculous to be real. If it's real, the anti-gun crowd is even more silly-goose than I had previously thought.

Whoa, this thing's still here?

2008-12-12T03:57:00.007-06:00

I've been neglecting this blog for a while. I'd like to blame school or work, but it's really just been laziness on my part. I get these kicks to do blogs every day, or once every week, but they last a month at most and then I'm back to my regular habits of ignoring the blogs I have. Well, let's catch up, shall we?

Some of you may have followed my videos on Youtube (link's on the sidebar), so if you have you'll know that I've been doing some videos on controversial topics, mostly conspiracy theories. As a rational thinker, I realize that conspiracy theories are bullshit, and I don't buy into any of them. I highly recommend my video on the North American Union for the comment section alone, in which I debate a Vietnam vet about whether or not there is, indeed, a conspiracy in place to unite Canada, the USA and Mexico under an EU like entity. A couple of posts are pretty hee-larious.

But you're not here for me to direct you to youtube, you're here to hear about me, right? If you said no, play along, ok?

Last Friday I went to an Amanda Palmer concert with my girlfriend (different title now, explanation in a paragraph or so) and her friend. Her friend works for a Minneapolis radio station, so she met us at the door to First Avenue (the venue made famous by the Prince film Purple Rain - I absolutely love First Ave). Inside, we checked our coats and got drinks. None of us had eaten much that day, so we got tipsy pretty quickly - the bartender serving us was generous with the liquor too, so that helped. It was an awesome concert, and I took some pretty good pictures considering the slow shutter speed I was using (and the drinks I'd been drinking). A few weren't as blurry as the others - although I do seem to remember the concert in a bit of a blur... And the jokes were a lot funnier at the time... Anyways, pics!

My favorite is the first one, though the third, fifth, seventh, ninth and eleventh ones are all good too (Nessa's fave is the fifth). I didn't plan for the ones I like best to be on all the odds, that's just how it happened. Anyways, all those images are copyright me, so please ask if you plan on using them anywhere.

The following Sunday, I proposed to Nessa, and she said yes. That's why I previously mentioned that there was a change in titling, as she's now my fiance. Henceforth, I shall address her as such.
I proposed to her in our favorite spot at our favorite park. It was snowing and cold, and I took her there under the guise of wanting to go take pictures at the park and take a walk with her. She took a few pictures, and before we left I got down on one knee and proposed to her in front of the ice-filled Mississippi river. After she said yes, and I put the ring on her finger, we hurried back to my car to warm up.

More's happened, but I need to go to bed.

Breaking radio silence

2008-11-16T19:12:00.002-06:00

If it seems like I've been too quiet here, that's because I've been putting most of my blogging time to use towards putting up video blogs on youtube. Today, I posted a video on climate change, yesterday I explored the naturalistic fallacy and its relation to altruism. I find it easier to click record and ramble on video than taking the time to type out my thoughts on the keyboard, and with the onset of the cold weather I find it difficult to blog outside now - what with the gloves and all. Head on over to my youtube page to see my videos. Here, I'll make it easy for you.

My latest vid as of this post

Living without happiness is not living

2008-10-30T17:44:00.000-06:00

Politics Suck

2008-10-30T17:43:00.001-06:00

In over my head here

2008-10-28T13:44:00.002-06:00

Now, I have no idea how this is wrong, I just know that it is. That aside, I've been wondering if there's a way that we could take advantage of entropy and use it as a power source - I'm talking on a universal scale way in the future, like toward the end of Asimov's "The Last Question", that period of time. Is there a theoretical way that entropy could be harnessed and used? I'd like to see an abstract written by an actual physicist that theorizes it is possible.

Frank Method

2008-10-12T19:00:00.003-06:00

Today, I discovered the Frank Method, a different method of packing a pipe. Formerly, I had been using the layer method, where you pack in quarters all the way from the bottom up. This has worked well for me, but experimentation is always good, and so I wanted to try out this alternative method of packing, and I have to say that the Frank Method lives up to the hype that surrounds it. It may take longer to light a pipe, but once it's lit it stays lit for much longer than the layer method. Also, it's faster to pack using the frank method than the layer method. This is the main benefit, I've found, as I have never had a problem keeping my pipes lit. I have to say I'm impressed with the result. Experimentation is always good.

Comfort

2008-10-07T22:23:00.002-06:00

I'm going through a bit of a rough time, psychologically and financially, and I think I'll do well to admit that to myself. I'm finding myself increasingly stressed about school and finances lately, ever since I've been ill for the better part of a month. As a result of my illness, I've missed enough of one class to seriously consider dropping it, unfortunately the class is one I have liked, but I've had a hard enough time with it without having missed so much class. This class is Russian, a language I've always considered to be one I want to learn, same with Japanese. The other stress I face is the fact that my course load prohibits me from working enough to make much headway in paying off my credit card debt. I'll admit that my spending habits are also such that I won't be able to pay off my debts until summer of next year, and even then only if I tighten my belt. Student life is hard, and I'm finally admitting to myself that it won't get any easier. The current state of the economy and American politics have done nothing to make me feel better as well.

However, taking stock of my stresses has also given rise to thoughts of the things that give me the most comfort in these times of stress. I can name three major things that give me comfort, and I'm glad that these things are fairly permanent fixtures in my life.

First and greatest of these are the love and affection I receive in great quantities from my girlfriend. Without her, I would possibly feel depressed a fair deal, and because I have her, nothing really gets me down. No matter what happens, it's nice to know that I have her love and comforting presence in my life.

Second, I'm glad to have great works of literature and philosophy to read and ponder. The knowledge that there are and have been people who think like me in the world gives me hope for a brighter future. Rational thought and intelligence exists in the world, in spite of the chaos of everyday life. It's comforting to know that there are great thinkers who, in spite of all odds, have seen great success, and perhaps I can someday reach levels of greatness as they have. If I continue to develop my ability into something useful, and if I strive to become successful, maybe I'll have the ability to reach the greatness to which I aspire.

Third, I'm glad I picked up smoking the pipe. The time I spend out on the porch, thinking about those things that I hold dearest in my heart and mind while puffing the smoke from burning ashes, is the most valuable part of my day. In spite of the chilling weather, I enjoy sitting outside at night when all is quiet, just me and my pipe. I feel like nothing can really throw me off balance as long as I have this ritual calmness at the end of the day. I have no doubt that some measure of calmness and clarity is afforded me by the physiological effects of pipe smoke. It's the final comfort that comes to my mind at the end of the day.

Perhaps soon I'll figure out what it is that I want to do in life, and this knowledge will also comfort me. At times like this, I feel like I've been far too static, and I have no solid direction that I want to travel in. Maybe if I were to figure out a goal for my life that would start me off down a path, maybe not. The only thing holding me back is myself, and I know this.

For now, I'll just go back to my pipe. Rome wasn't built in a day, and my life can't be set in motion in a night.

I called it

2008-10-04T15:12:00.004-06:00

The bailout passed, but is it going to work? No, because parasites just want more. $800 billion dollars of taxpayer money is being thrown into a fire with the hopes that this influx will smother the fire, but what's actually going to happen is that the money will burn with the banks. The entire point of the bailout was to give credit markets confidence that they could continue operating. Instead, they've continued to seize up, hoping for more money to cushion the blow they gave themselves by making bad decisions. They feel that they are entitled to our taxpayer money because we've given them precedent. They don't feel that they have to act in a responsible way, liquidating bad mortgages at a hit and going bankrupt, because they think they can hold out a little bit and let the guv'mint take care of their money problems. And we've let them operate on this basis. We've let them get away with acting irresponsibly, and we've picked up after their mess. Will they learn from this mistake? No, because what they learn is that the guv'mint is here to socialize loss when times get tough. This is not how things should be.

p.s. the tags are supposed to be arranged to read "Economics, Bailout, Billions of dollars down the drain". Stupid auto-alphabetization.

New Laptop

2008-10-01T19:22:00.002-06:00

A few things

2008-09-29T22:11:00.003-06:00

Sorry for the lack of postings, I've been ill. I'm still ill, but with any luck I'll be better by Wednesday. I've been well enough to go back to work today, and that's a start. The upsetting part of this illness is that I've not been able to try my new pipe until today - I'll post pics when I smoke it again. I also tried some new tobacco, and I wasn't impressed. I think it was a bit too dry, but then again my sense of taste might not have recovered completely. I'll have to try another blend tomorrow and see how that fares.

The one thing I've learned from this dreadful experience of sickness is just how much I love and appreciate my girlfriend. There's a reason I keep her around, and it's because she cares for me and loves me. Thanks for taking care of me when I was sick, pookie.

Anyways, the first of two more things I have to write about at the moment is this. The author of this article has the situation completely right. The bailout is worse in the long run than having those failing financial institutions declaring bankruptcy. When good money is thrown at bad handlers, it is basically like throwing filtered water into a sewer. The lenders should be the ones to pay for their fuckups, not the taxpayers. The fact is that certain (liberal) forces in the government assured lenders that taxpayer funds would back risky loans, so the banks took on more risky loans. They took on so many that it was only a matter of time before all hell would break loose. It's kind of like building a castle on quicksand, assuming that a single solid pillar extending into bedrock beneath the pit would support the castle should it become too heavy to float on the quicksand. Solid financial principles would have avoided this disaster, and as we see now those banks who stood on solid principles are doing fine, while those banks built on quicksand are sinking. The captains of these ships need to sink along with the people they screwed along the way. A bailout would simply keep their ships floating long enough for these pirate captains to gather their plunder and jump ship.

Well, these allegories have been fun to construct, but I will not continue further. This issue makes me angry. Suffice it to say that bankruptcy is the only good option for this crisis. Let the creditors take over those banks, let the bankers who made fortunes from bad policies take the hit. Economic karma should kick them in their asses.

Now, for something completely different.

I was driving home from work today and I smelled fall in the air. I love the fall. I find fall to be the prettiest of all seasons, and I have many fond memories of fall. I can't really name them all, but I just have a vague sense of nostalgia surrounding fall. I guess. Maybe it stems from the frequent fall trips north to my grandma and grandpa's house in Wahkon. I remember long car trips passing forests and fields of corn and hay in the middle of harvest. That crisp, cool air with the smell of the first wood stoves being fired up to fight back the cold from houses across the countryside. I remember hayrides pulled by tractors or horses, seats made of baled straw stacked on flatbed trailers. I remember riding through the woods and fields on the trailer hitched behind grandpa's three-wheeler. Last, I remember having potluck dinners annualy at a relative's house, where the hay would be rolled up into large wheels near the barn, and my cousin and I would jump on top of them. To us, these rolls were a hundred feet tall and we were standing like giants over the farm. We would watch the men throw knives and axes at a stump set atop a tripod - sort of like a more dangerous game of darts played with sharp tools. We would watch the women gossip and laugh near the house and the fire pit, on top of which was the large stew pot that was cooking a delicious soup made of a plethora of vegetables and no less than two types of meat. There was hot cider, hot soup and merriment all around for everyone to enjoy. Before he died, Great-grandpa John Purdes - my only great-grandpa - would sit on the back of a flatbed semi trailer with a group of musicians from the family and play bluegrass for what seemed like hours.

I don't think I really realized how much I had enjoyed this type of gathering until a long time after it had stopped. Great-grandpa John and his wife have since passed on, Grandma and grandpa have moved south, and our family lost interest in the tradition since we all spread out. If I could, I'd tell my young self to enjoy these times. I know I couldn't help but be bored then, but those were some of the events that left the biggest imprint on my recollection of my younger years.

I had something else to say about the fall, but this post is getting long. To be honest, it seems trivial after this reminiscence. Maybe not for the rest of you, but for me.

Watch this and understand how the economic crisis in America started.

2008-09-28T00:52:00.002-06:00

Writing again

2008-09-21T21:52:00.002-06:00

I've started writing again, this time it's a suspense novel. I've tabled the other one for now, since it wasn't going anywhere. I need to plot that one out further before I start on it again.

Maybe this will be my new activity for when I'm outside smoking my pipe on weekends. Feels like I actually did something today.

Video blog 2

2008-09-19T01:50:00.001-06:00

And that's why I'm getting a new laptop.

Another new pipe

2008-09-18T11:42:00.004-06:00

This first pic does it no justice...

THAT'S why I had to get it. This is a Mastercraft Radiator pipe. It's got holes in it to keep the bowl cool to touch. It's also got this metal stinger in it, kind of like a Kaywoodie Drinkless system. The problem with that little bit is that it has a tendency to collect juice in the stem. Gross. For that reason, I might not smoke it very often. We'll see. Anyways, it's a really unique pipe.

I was doing some thinking this morning. I had been on the Keith and the Girl chat, and there was a striking dichotomy of attitudes when we got to talking about politics - so striking that I had to take note of it. It wasn't just the republican/democrat dichotomy, though - I don't really consider that as a dichotomy, it's just different extremes of the same line of philosophies. No, the dichotomy I saw was that there were two schools of thought on "What is best" in regards to politics. There was a faction, of which I was a part, that believed that society is good, people are generally good, and most of us want to work at making things better. What I found bizzarre, however, was that there was a segment that seemed to want nothing but destruction. They believed society was bad, there are no absolutes - no universal right or wrong, and that the only thing "wicked" mankind deserves is its demise.

This was yet another issue I had with objectivism. I thought "Surely, there aren't people who think such an extreme philosophy could possibly be best"! As it turns out, I underestemated the stupidity of certain peoples' moral beliefs. Maybe I just saw a desire for destruction as the violent outpour of neurotic brains, not wanting to connect with the fact that there are people who honestly think that we should not be as, if I may describe us as such, dominant creatures as we are. Now I can identify with Ayn Rand's points that there are two forces at work in politics (or life in general), these forces being creation and destruction.

And wouldn't you know it, it was the more socialist-minded people who were talking about destruction as a good thing. Ayn Rand was and is right.

Ruminations on the founding fathers

2008-09-15T18:51:00.006-06:00

I have a video blog that I'll be posting in a bit, again the audio is a bit quiet. I'm working on editing it. It features my newest pipe. Pic above.

Anyways, A bug caught me to look at the wikipedia entries for two of my favorite founding fathers, Jefferson and Franklin. While I was looking at Jefferson's page, I was struck by just how much of a difference in political beliefs he had from a few of the other founders, namely Adams, Hamilton and Washington. I don't think history classes stress the importance of the Federalist/Anti-federalist struggle, and how this translates into modern American politics. The classic dichotomy of big vs. small Federal government is there, with the Federalists starting right off wanting to spread the costs of the Revolutionary war evenly across the states, Anti-federalists opposed to this policy. Jefferson didn't think that it was fair that his state, Virginia, would be forced to shoulder the burdens of the other states, as Virginia had not racked up as much debt as some of the other states.

Today, we can see that the same principles are in effect on a corporate level, with the conservatives dead-set against the socialization of debt through bail-outs and buy-outs from tanking corporate entities (such as the Fanny May/Freddie Mac buy-out, and the bail-outs for the airlines), while the liberals would have the burden of debt shouldered by the American public. The issues here are similar in effect, though the original issue of the Revolutionary debt is slightly different in that it could be said that all the states benefitted equally from the war, and as such the debt should be equally distributed. There's no such argument from this current policy of buying out tanking corporations - this current problem is different because the public gains no benefit from the socialization of these bankrupt lenders. This is a policy where profits are privatized, but losses are socialized.

Frankly, Jefferson was absolutely right in his stance that the debt shouldn't be socialized. If some states were operating under policies which would lead them into massive debt, those states should be responsible for making their debt back. Even though the entire union benefitted from this new sovereignty, that is no reason to penalize states that were handling their finances better than others. Likewise, the American public should not be responsible for covering the debts of corporations that go bankrupt, because these corporations deserve their bankruptcy for following policies of lending money to unfit borrowers. They made their bed, They need to sleep in it. They shouldn't be able to crash in the Lincoln bedroom because they done fucked up.

Furthermore, the main talking point as to why America NEEDS to do this is because these lenders are supporting at-risk families, and without these lenders, people will end up on the streets. This is true, but the fact is that these people should have never been loaned the money in the first place. The subprime crash happened because the lenders were lending to people who they KNEW couldn't pay off their debt, and their business models operated on the fact that they were keeping these people in debt, squeezing them for everything they could while skirting the fine line between breaking the borrower and letting them squeek by. When the recession hit, the lenders ended up with policies paid out to people who could no longer pay them, meaning that the lenders were ending up with piles of contracts that were now only good as kindling. The blame lies soley on the lending agencies' bad policies. Why, then, should the American public have to pay for these companies' mistakes? Why should we pay for the houses and debts of borrowers who were given money that they shouldn't have had in the first place? Is it our fault, every one of us, that these people stumbled into a bad situation by making bad choices hinging upon risky loans? Should it be up to us to help these economically ignorant, unlucky people?

The answer to these questions is perfectly clear: NO. We should not be forced to pay off the debts of others when we gain no benefit. We should not make policies to solve others' problems made by foolishness, as that would be further foolishness on our part. You can't fix a mistake by making another mistake, that just leads to a big mountain of mistakes. The only rational way to solve this problem would be to cut our losses and focus on rebuilding the things that are good. We should take their mistakes as a collective learning experience, lest we end up in the same place as them.

But back to my original point. The founding fathers are often referred to as though they had a solitary, unifying vision of how our nation should work. To some extent, that's true, inasmuch as it can be said that the Democrats, Republicans and Libertarians have the same views about how our nation should be run. in reality, the founding fathers had very different ideas about how our nation should be constructed. There were federalists and anti-federalists, and both sides had very different ideas about how our nation should handle economics, foreign affairs, social issues, etc. Jefferson is my favorite of the founding fathers (who became president) because his policies were built on giving the most people freedom in the most ways. He did not like the idea that force should be the main means of persuasion in any matters, extending to foreign affairs. In economic policy, Jefferson would be considered among the most conservative-minded if looked at through modern eyes. He was a rational thinker, through and through.

Franklin is my favorite of all, though, because he was probably the most rational in actions of all of the fathers. He extolled the virtues of hard work, thriftiness, and he was truely the most brilliant mind of the bunch. He opposed authoritarianism, embraced science, appreciated the value of education, and most of all he practiced what he preached. If I could ever be said to have an idol in any politician, Franklin would be it.

I wish I had something witty to wrap this post up with, but I don't. Look forward to my video soon.

Abortion: The objectivist view

2008-09-15T02:38:00.003-06:00

This is the most comprehensive and sensible approach to the abortion issue I have ever read. You would all do well to read it and learn.

Ow.

2008-09-14T21:49:00.003-06:00

I was going to do a video blog today so I could show the world my unfortunate laptop hinge failure, but that plan was scrapped. Why? Because I have a whopping pain in my neck that prohibits me from moving my head too far to the left. It feels like I have a pinched nerve or pulled muscle, and no matter how I try to massage it out, I am unsuccessful in making the pain go away. It was so bad that I had to take some Tylenol 3 (with codeine, left over from having my wisdom teeth removed) to make the pain dull. It worked, but it still hurts like nothing else I've ever experienced. I'm hoping this goes away by tomorrow, otherwise I might just stay home - I don't feel like driving when I can't see things to my left for lack of being able to turn my head.

Other than that, I've had a fairly decent day. I won three estate pipes on auction. I swear these are the last until Christmas. I won't have enough disposable income after I buy a new laptop to justify buying anything else but tobacco, and even that has to be only just a bit. Anyways, two of the three I bought are rather unique, and I couldn't pass up the opportunity to buy them. When I get them, I will show them off, of course.

I'm also expecting a new pipe tomorrow, which I bought about a week ago. I'm excited about that.

Anyways, I'm planning on buying an Asus Eee PC 1000H to replace my current laptop, which is currently being held in an open position by cardboard and packing tape. Literally. The hinges broke on my current laptop, which is a three year old Dell Inspiron e1505. I won't be brushing this one aside quite yet, as it works just fine, but it's no longer as mobile as it once was. I can't exactly take it with me to school, and that leaves me with no option for killing my time on the web while waiting for classes to begin (Or while lecture is being held...). The upside to this is that I'll be getting a new computer that's actually able to sync with my zune, it's lightweight and portable, and it has a battery life far superior to my current laptop. All this at the cost of a smaller screen, slower processor, smaller hard drive and inability to play 3d games. The last of these isn't so much a concern to me anymore as I no longer game on my laptop. I'll be ordering that tomorrow, most likely.

Another pipe for my collection

2008-09-08T18:34:00.003-06:00

Peterson Aran, shape 221. Smaller pipe, but perfect for flakes. I really like the silver accent, and the cat-eye grain is different than my other pipes. Today I'm trying out Peterson University Flake tobacco.

That's what I got on Friday.

The commute's going to kill me.

2008-09-05T12:10:00.004-06:00

I really hate driving sometimes.

Thanks to a bunch of people who didn't realize that the 50mph speed limit on the new stretch of hwy 101 has been raised to 65mph, I was about 5 minutes late to my parking spot, which made me late for the shuttle bus, making me walk the last stretch of my commute, adding about 4 minutes to my walk. This meant I was about 7 minutes late to Russian class, nearly panting and sore-legged.

This is after I miss my first class for the day (only a lecture, thankfully) due to setting my alarm an hour later than I should have. I DID need the sleep, though, because I had been up until 3am doing Russian homework.

Truthfully, the only reason I was up so late was because I decided to read a few chapters of Atlas Shrugged before beginning my homework... and I ended up reading the book for over 2 hours. Whoops. That combined with a late class ending at 8pm plus a one-hour commute (with a detour at Sonic for dinner) and watching McCain's speech for a bit on TV made for a very late night. I only have myself to blame for it, but it still kind've sucked that I missed that class again. I'm getting off to a great start this year.

I resolve to get some sleep this weekend and go to lecture on Monday. After all, I do need SOME idea of what the course is about if I'm going to BS my way through it.

I love 1000 level classes. Too bad these are among the last ones I'll be taking.

As a postscript, I've been checking the tracking info on a package I've been expecting. The USPS website says that it's been delivered, and that means I'll be showing something off when I get home. I wonder if anyone can guess what I'm getting...

Chuck update

2008-08-31T20:23:00.001-06:00

He fractured his elbow. He's in a sling. This disappoints me because now I can't draw a dick on his cast. Oh well. Take it easy, Chuck.

Chuck broke his arm

2008-08-31T18:27:00.003-06:00

Kaywoodie bent author pipe. Smallest pipe I own, the first one I bought.

Chuck broke his arm. Well, he might have. I don't know for sure. I told him that I'd draw a dick on his cast if he did. He's supposed to text me after he finds out if he broke something. Apparently he fell off his skateboard and put his arm out to break his fall. He's a bit newbish. I got a laugh of of it 'cause it's so like him to do that. IM conversation:

Chuck: well, my folks are on their way
Me: ?
Chuck: i think i broke my arm
Me: lol
Chuck: dude
Chuck: be nice
Me: how would you have broken it?
Chuck: when i fell and out my hand down to stop myself
Chuck: i can't straighten it at all
Me: You never do that, dude, that's like ass to mouth
Chuck: i
Chuck: KNOW
Chuck: but i did
Chuck: never broken a bone before, freakin the fuck out
Me: I'm drawing a dick on your cast
Chuck: alright
Chuck: small though
Me: Life-sized for you, amirite?
Me: high five
Chuck: bastard-man
Me: oh wait
Chuck: i can't high five it's BROKEN!!!!!!
Me: lol
Chuck: you suck and yet that helped

I'm a good friend.

More RNC protester woes

2008-08-31T11:57:00.003-06:00

Sigh.

"Despite their actions, Ms. Gross was able to capture about 7 1/2 minutes of video and audio of the beginning of the raid, including use by deputies of a battering ram to force open the door to a upstairs theater where families were watching a film."

Really?

Really?

Was that necessary?

Was this necessary too (Sat. 30 posts)? You(MPD) didn't have a warrant, so you tell them that if they leave they will be arrested. You are blockading their property without a warrant, and when you finally get one (for the house next door) you raid.

I can only stay outraged for so long. Where is the justice? Will there be misconduct hearings? I hope so. This should not go unpunished.

Infringement of rights

2008-08-31T11:18:00.005-06:00

One way to gauge the corruption of our rights is to watch what happens to the fringe. When the fringe is pushed around and their rights are taken away, few people really care - why should they? They're the fringe! They're not the rest of us, right? What people who think like this fail to realize is that the violent withdrawal of the rights of the fringe forecast the rights that will be taken from We The People in due time. The fringe is like the canary in the proverbial coal mine. When the fringe's rights get taken away and they are somehow eliminated or silenced, a new fringe is made out of those people who weren't quite there - the new fringe is made from the old "normal". The infringement of rights doesn't stop with the fringe, that's where it starts.

I hope their lawyer is good, and he nails Ramsey PD hard. This is not a police state by design. We need to flush out the corruption that got us here.

Boy, if I were the mayor, governor, etc. I'd want the badges of whoever organized those raids. Then I'd work on getting "conspiracy to riot" dropped off the books. That's a charge designed to be used to infringe freedom of speech if ever there were one. Agree with the protesters or not, they deserve their freedom to speak, and they deserve the ability to live without fear of unwarranted search and seizure. Not to mention that the only reason those houses got searched was because they are known "hippie houses" and the po-po thought it would be good to "send a message" by sending their thugs in jackboots to shake up the place. You know who else uses tactics like that? The mob.

This shit needs to stop. In Denver, in Minneapolis, in DC, Everywhere. This was a free country at inception. What's happened that would make a move away from freedom justifiable?

Another post for Chuck

2008-08-30T18:43:00.002-06:00

Savinelli Venizia pipe.

Glad I'm voting third-party

2008-08-30T15:18:00.002-06:00

You know why I'm sick of the major parties? Because neither side listens to the other one. Their arguments against each other are made without REALLY trying to figure out what the other side stands for. There is no rational debate, just bitching and flinging insults, seeing what sticks. It's like two deaf men in an argument - neither knows what the other is saying, but sometimes they mishear a half-insult, which just makes them SO ANGRY. I thought I was going to be excited about McCain's VP pick, but how can I be when I realize that this isn't going to change the discourse away from "qualifications". How can I be when a big issue in this race is still going to be "Is a woman/black man ready to run the white house"? I can't get excited over either candidate especially when neither candidate is willing to actually say something about their plans and what makes them superior to the other's plans. Hell, I'm still waiting for Obama to actually give a summary of the changes he wants to make and how he'll make them. If his voting record is to be followed as an example, one change will be stricter gun control laws. That's not a change I'd like.

New pipe!

2008-08-29T19:14:00.002-06:00

I got my new pipe today. This is a post mainly for Chuck so I can show it off. Skoal!

First video blog

2008-08-28T23:12:00.003-06:00

The sound is awful, so you'll need to turn your speakers way up. This was just kind of a test. I'll try to be a bit more structured next time, too. Maybe I won't have to edit for length so much next time. More or less a test, really.

Argentina

2008-08-24T16:35:00.003-06:00

This is nearly unheard of for me: two blog posts in a day!

Anyways, to continue on my gushing about Atlas Shrugged...

When I started reading this book, I thought that the events occurring in Atlas Shrugged were impossible. I thought that the mass decaying of businesses and infrastructure as a result of privatizations were improbable on the scale that they were written about in the pages of the book.

Today I watched a documentary on the collapse of the Argentinean economy. I stand corrected. Halfway into this documentary, there was information on the effects of privatization of crucial infrastructure in Argentina. I am shocked that this happened so fast. The foreign interests put in charge of Argentinean infrastructure drove their respective interests into the ground so fast! The decay of the railroads made it impossible for many different regions to ship their goods, which caused the collapse of many of Argentina's profitable industries, and the tying of the peso to the dollar made it impossible for small businesses to compete. Their primary exports shifted drastically, and the businesses were hurt in this regard as well.

It's like a new world has been opened up to my view - Ayn Rand laid out one possible scenario of how a nation could collapse, and though it seems impossible for the collapse to happen so quickly, here we are with a similar example in recent history showing that this rate and speed of collapse is, indeed, possible.

The gold standard

2008-08-24T14:10:00.003-06:00

It's amazing how much Ayn Rand's novel Atlas Shrugged has affected the way I look at modern society. In the book, the great minds of the world retreated into their own little community, hidden from the world's view, and they abandoned the society which had grown to take from them what was rightfully theirs. One of their views was that the currency of the ever-increasingly socialist nation of America held no actual value, and they refused to accept the nation's currency as valid tender for their goods, instead only accepting gold and silver coins. Much in the same way, real-life America's currency has ceased to be backed by the actual gold value it once represented (as I have recently discovered, this has its roots in the T. Roosevelt administration, where Roosevelt made it illegal to "hoard" gold coins, and forced owners of gold to sell it to the nation for about a quarter of its worth, devaluing the nation's currency as a result). It is becoming apparent to many economists that the value of the dollar is decreasing at a rate which might be called "hyper-inflationism" - the net decrease of the dollar has exceeded 100% over a span of three years! It is no longer safe to consider the dollar fit for savings for this very fact - the dollar doesn't represent the same value in trade as it once did.

The lesson here is that currency is only actual wealth when the value of the currency is backed by actual, tangible goods, such as gold and silver. Gold and silver will always retain their worth, whereas the dollar is able to fluctuate. Twenty US dollars today might buy four gallons of gas, but tomorrow it might only buy three. Meanwhile, a Troy Ounce of gold will always buy four gallons, unless the supply or demand of gas changes. This is because gold is a tangible asset, and gas is a commodity. The dollar gets its value based on the willingness of the world to accept the dollar as trade currency.

What happens when the world stops accepting the dollar as trade currency? The dollar becomes worthless. The same thing happened with the first banks in England that stopped issuing currency based on the amount of gold in reserve, and the same thing continues to happen to each currency not backed with a tangible asset. Time and time again, nations make the same mistake, and time and time again, the currencies collapse.

Dagny Taggart was shocked by the fact that Hammond rented a car to a certain character for a day for the measly cost of 25 cents. She asked why Hammond should even bother charging at that price. Why not let him borrow it for free? The response she got was that in the society they had built there are no freebies, but the true response that I can give you is that in their society, 25 cents was worth more than any money Dagny had in the outside world. 25 cents in thier society was 25 cents in gold, with actual tangible value.

Seriously. Read Atlas Shrugged.

On a side note, I've recently bought a good webcam off of ebay with the intent of video blogging. I will put link to my youtube account on my sidebar as soon as I get the webcam, and you can expect to see some videos embedded on this account as I post them. I will be video blogging from the porch soon enough.

A fascinating read

2008-08-23T18:48:00.002-06:00

In defense of smokers is a fascinating read on the topic of the demonization of smoking in America, and why it is, perhaps, unearned when one looks at the facts behind many of the studies used to show that smoking is a dangerous public health issue. I've not yet read all of it, but Chapter 5 has quite a few criticisms of the methodology behind the "scientific" studies most commonly looked at when health risks are brought up. Kind of an interesting read while I smoke my newest pipe.

I'm also test-driving some Samuel Gawith Celtic Knot tobacco at the moment, and it's pretty good. Not my number one favorite taste so far, but it goes well with the cool day we've had today in the Minnesotan suburbs. Smells great, too. This is probably a good "social" tobacco due to the pleasant aroma.

Range report and musings from earlier today

2008-08-12T22:11:00.004-06:00

Well, though that title is long, it's pretty much what I have to talk about today. I've just finished my pipe while sitting here on the front porch, and I feel like blogging.

First, I'll talk about what I did on Sunday.

Part 1: Range Report

On Sunday, I went to the range with my brother in law, his dad, and one of his friends. Kinda strange, bonding with my brother in law, but I'm not going to complain when I get to shoot his guns and ammo.

We started off by driving to the outdoor range in Santiago, MN. I was excited to shoot because I hadn't since the last time I went with my dad, sister and brother in law. I had no idea how much shooting I'd actually get to do, and I got to do a lot.

When we got to the range it was very empty - we were the only ones on the rifle/handgun range, so we had the run of the range. All manner of rifles were soon arranged across about five stalls, and I started off on the Mosin-nagant. I figured I'd start off with something loud to break in my new earmuffs. Good thing they worked right, as the Mosin is a thunderous rifle. I didn't shoot it much though, as there wasn't a whole lot of ammo for it due to my brother-in-law not wanting to buy surplus ammo (which is much cheaper). After the Mosin, I got to shoot his SKS, which was very fun. Meanwhile, my brother-in-law was having a contest with his friend for who could shoot the tightest with their scoped .22 rifles. They both were putting about six bullets through the same holes, a feat which I could not hope to match with my level of inexperience. I was a good enough shot with Wayne's rifle that I could peg a snake, but I was still only hitting half inch groups at 25 feet. I need to get a rifle like theirs to practice on, I think.

When I was done with his rifle, I shot his dad's Bull-Barreled Ruger mk II a few times, practicing double-taps. I knew we'd be heading to the 15/25 foot handgun range soon enough to get rid of a few boxes of 9mm and .40 rounds, so I figured I'd practice my handgun technique where it wouldn't be so obvious that I'm not as accurate with handguns. Wayne's dad brought out his new Glock 17 and tried it on. He had never shot anything bigger than the Ruger, so his technique needed work. Wayne and I showed him how to better control the recoil on his handgun, and he was soon able to shoot much better. This is when Wayne's friend brought out his .450 Marlin revolver (which I believe to have been a Magnum Industries BFR). That thing is a cannon, and I was made to try it. I loaded one round and fired it off. They laughed because I ended up getting such a recoil off it that my arm shot up 90 degrees at the elbow. It was pretty funny, but I don't think I'll be shooting that thing again for a while. Not until I get used to controlling the recoil on other revolvers first. At least I shot it exactly where I wanted it to go - it's a very accurate revolver.

Finally we moved over to the handgun range. This is the part I had really been looking forward to. I shot the Glock again, and then I got to try one of the guns that I've been looking at buying - a Beretta 96 (.40 cal). Apparently, Wayne's friend had bought a bunch of crappy reloaded ammo at Cabelas and half the primers didn't work on the rounds. Wayne remarked that at the very least it was good practice for clearing jams. True enough, I suppose. Anyways, they were more than willing to let me shoot his gun and huge amount of (unreliable) ammo, and I was more than willing to shoot a box and a half worth of ammo. I really do like that gun, and I'm probably going to buy one, but it will not be my first. That honor is going to the 1911 I have my eyes on, and this is solidified after I got to shoot Wayne's friend's compact Para 1911. I can't say I cared for the LDA (light double action) on the one I shot, but I did like the feel of the gun and how well I shot it. I'd say I shot a better group with the 1911 than with the Beretta (then again, consistent ammo could have helped).

After a while, we returned to the rifle range and I got to try out the M4 that Wayne's friend brought. That thing was heavy, but sweet. Since it used an aimpoint, I was able to put 20 rounds in an inch and a half pattern at 50 yards. Sweet. Finally, I finished my time at the range with a magazine through the AK-47. I have to say I'm starting to see the appeal of the AR platform, even though the AK is so fun to shoot.

At this point, my arms were tired, so I just sat down and watched Wayne and his friend put holes through spent .22 brass and steel rifle casings. They were lining casings up against the targets and plinking them with a .22 rifle, seeing who could hit more with fewer shots. I don't know who won, but it was fun to watch.

It was a good way to start a day.

Later that day, Nessa and I took the kitties to my mom and dad's house, where we got a free dinner and watched the olympics on their new HD flatscreen TV. They mounted it on the wall, so it looks like you're watching a moving painting.

And that was Sunday.

Part 2: Musings

Today, I spent an hour at work reading Wikipedia articles on Objectivism.

One of the biggest things I noticed while reading these articles was that a criticism of Objectivism is that it fails to satisfactorily answer the so-called "Problem of Universals". I reject this debate as being an issue. Who in their (or perhaps "of a") rational-thinking mind would even make this into a debate? Why should there be an argument about whether or not characteristics of an object exist independant of the object?

There are two "sides" to this ridiculous debate: "Realists", who claim that attributes exist seperately from their objects, and "Nominalists", who claim that attributes are a function of the object.

What the hell? Why is this a debate? What difference does it make? Furthermore, who in their right mind would think that attributes are anything but classifications that we've created in order to group or describe objects that exist? Why should there be a debate about whether or not things exist in an imaginary plane of non-existance?

Maybe I'm misunderstanding the issue. After all, I'm only a student of philosophy in the armchair sense. All I know from what I know is that the debate seems foolish. Why should we try to make things more complicated than they are? All we need to make sense of is that which we can see and measure in some way. After all, that is the objectivist outlook on things, isn't it?

Tattoo (part 4)

2008-08-11T17:51:00.005-06:00

For those of you who have been following my blog (all three of you), I finally got my tattoo done, and so now I get to tell you about it. I'll do it in the style of a BME Ink post.

August 9th, 2008: the day I got my first tattoo.

I'd been a bit nervous all week. I've heard what it feels like - like a hot knife being dragged over your skin, or like a bee stinging you over and over again. It was too late to turn back, though, because my deposit was already in, and I wasn't about to walk away from fifty bucks. Besides, I had been looking forward to having this tattoo for over three months. Still, I wasn't about to be the first to get it done, not when my girlfriend was more than willing to go first.

Jenessa was getting a spider on a web, a design she had wanted for the longest time. We didn't know how our artist, Cerny from Steady Tattoo, would change the original design until we got there. Jenessa was kind of concerned that the spider in the source drawing looked a bit like a tick, so when we got to the studio we were glad to see that Cerny had changed the tiny, tick-like spider into a large one that demanded attention. Nessa was happy about the way it looked, I could tell. My tattoo was much simpler, so I was glad to see that he had drawn it entirely faithfully to the source image - a screenshot of the chain tattoos on the wrists of the protaganist of Bioshock. I had originally chosen that design because I loved the game and the symbolism of the chain - the chains which once made him a slave became the chains which allowed him to change his destiny and that of his former master - but I now have another reason to love the chains. Bioshock had led me to read the works of Ayn Rand, and her philosophy has changed my views on life and what is good. The chains now also remind me of Atlas Shrugged's Dagny Taggart and Hank Rearden and their struggle against those who would try to restrain their ambition by stealing the products of their hard work.

Nessa went first. Here she is getting hers done.
Here's a closer look, and Cerny.
And here's the final product. I really liked the shading on it, and Nessa was happy with it.Next, I got on the chair. I was really nervous, but seeing Nessa go through the process calmed me down. I got the sensation of a hot knife dragged over my skin, and it was really painful over the tendons, but after a while I kind of got a bit more used to it. Here's a picture of me getting it done where I'm not making a wierd face due to the pain. I did cringe a lot during the outlining, this must have been when he was filling it in.
Another detail shot with CernyI'm not going to lie, I nearly passed out during the second one. I have a problem with needles. Whenever I get blood drawn, I can get about a vial and a half done before I get stars in front of my eyes, my body feels sweaty, and I have to lie down. I didn't need to lie down this time, but I came close to passing out. I think what happened is that I forgot to breathe properly due to the pain I felt while getting the spot over my tendon filled in. I got sweaty and lightheaded, and I was just able to tell him that I needed a break before I slumped over a bit and became unresponsive. I was fully aware of what was going on, but I didn't say anything more for a few seconds until I regained my vision a bit. I was offered sugar, but I didn't take any - I knew it wasn't a blood sugar problem, I just suck around needles. I took a drink of water, rubbed a damp paper towel on my head, then waited about five minutes for the feeling to recover in my fingertips. Once this was done, I told him I was ready to finish. I told him that this always happens with me around needles, and he said that it was surprising to him that I didn't pass out in the first 5 minutes like most people who pass out do. I guess that because I know it'll happen I can control it better, I told him.

After all this, I got bandaged up, which made me look like an attempted suicide victim. The rest of the day Jenessa and her friend Tina kept asking me "Are you gonna be OK?" every time they seperated from me. It was pretty funny.
Here's how they looked once I got my bandages off.I am quite happy with them, and I was very happy that I chose Cerny. He did a really good job on both our tattoos.

Heh, I guess I can consider this my first gamer tattoo.

Photo time!

2008-08-08T18:17:00.004-06:00

Finally got pics for the ol' blog. First off, me and my pipe.

I finally got the hang of it and started to "break in" my briar pipe. This picture (aside from the t-shirt and wristband) makes me look like an author. I need to live up to this. Maybe on sunday I'll turn on my typewriter again and write the short story I have in my mind. I've got a bottle of wine waiting to be opened. Anyways, I smoke when the kitties go outside, which brings me to my next photos.

The kitties turned one last month (7/7/07), and we got them a tower thing. They loved to play in the "house" part at the bottom, but they quickly got bored of it.Later, they discovered the "nest" on top, and they haven't left that part alone since.
Pearly has gotten huge, Mandalei has stayed thin. This is because Pearly doesn't move a lot, but Lei-lei is a spaz, and she ends up running around the basement and in the ceiling a lot.That's Nessa's cat, and she's a shit.This is my per-hee. She's adorable, but big. She likes to sleep a lot, and she likes to eat a lot. This pic was taken at the end of winter, when she was littler. She loves to look out the window.

First Smoke

2008-07-30T21:38:00.002-06:00

I got my pipes and tobacco today, and so after a particularly stressful day at work, I was able to relax outside with the cats and a new corncob pipe full of Samuel Gawith Virginia Full Flake tobacco. Nessa took a few pics of me trying to light and smoke the pipe, and I'll post them later.

Aside from the aftertaste lingering long after I've smoked, I did enjoy the experience. The tobacco has a distinct cherry nose, and the taste is kind of like a combination of cherry, cedar and beef jerky. I've never smoked before, and the sensation was not unlike sitting downwind of a campfire, but the smoke itself did not burn the lungs (when I accidentally inhaled) like that of wood. I could also feel the pleasure receptors in my brain being stimulated, and the stress of the previous nine hours melted away. My head felt light, kind of like it does when I drink a few drinks, but without the sluggishness in the rest of my body.

Smoking a pipe takes a bit of getting used to, and it would seem that there are a couple tricks to lighting the pipe correctly and keeping it lit. My first revelation was that in order to light the pipe correctly, the match must be moved over the bowl in a circular fashion, so as to ensure an even lighting. Second, there is a particular way one must move the air through your mouth in order to keep the pipe lit properly. Blowing out through the pipe can cause the burning to move upwards, away from the tobacco, and blowing smoke out the pipe causes the embers to die quickly. Care must be taken to ensure proper aeration of the tobacco, and the embers should be encouraged to burn downwards.

The only other thing, aside from the aftertaste, that will take getting used to is the lingering smell of smoke in my hair.

I will admit, I used half a matchbox today, but I only re-lit two times after I finally got it lit. I'd say that's pretty good for a first time.

Next post: Kitties and Pipe pics.

Pipe Smoking

2008-07-21T17:45:00.003-06:00

I am thinking about taking up smoking the pipe. Nessa suggested it, and I think it might be fun to give it a try. I came across this article which suggests that pipe smoking persons are not at the same risk as cigarette smokers in terms of early mortality, in fact pipe smokers are said to live longer because of the stress relieving capacity of smoking the pipe.

I'm going to be going to a smoke shop within the week to pick up a pipe and some tobacco, and then I'm going to have a go at it. If I like it, I'll stick with it. I'm hoping that it'll make a good supplement to writing, much like drinking is.

I haven't written much lately because I'm hesitant to drink on nights before I have to work. I'm always afraid that drinking will make me more tired and less likely to wake with my alarm in the morning. I know it's unfounded, but there it is.

I've also decided to shave my beard this week. We'll see if I go through with it. My beard is getting to be too warm for the heat. I might also get a haircut this weekend, as well as an oil change.

Oh, by the way, my previous post was #100. Hooray! I'd be over 200 if I had stuck to posting every day like I originally intended. Oh well. Happy 100 to me! To celebrate, I'm doing nothing. Nyah nyah.

Many things.

2008-07-19T20:23:00.003-06:00

The kitties turned 1 on 07/07/08, and I'll post pics when I feel like it. Sorry, but I don't feel like finding pics from my girlfriend's facebook and linking them here. Anyways, we got them a tower thing with a little house on the bottom, and they love sitting in the "nest" on top. They often fight over the privilege to lie in it. They have also given me two new scratches recently. One is on between my ring and middle fingers on the ring side, which I got because I tried to move a pillow when Pearly was playing with the tag. Ouch.

Nessa and I are going to be tattooed in less than a month, and I don't know for sure if she's realized that. The reality of this fact has only recently begun to sink in for me. I am going to try to finish Atlas Shrugged before our appointment, but at the rate I'm going it probably isn't going to happen.

I'm liking Atlas Shrugged more and more as I read it, in spite of the myriad sexual fetishes Ayn Rand seems to display vicariously through Dagny, the unbridled hatred for all things communist that also comes out in her work (through such concepts as the Equality in Opportunity act and the anti-dog-eat-dog measures), and the psychological problems of the lead cast. The only character that seems human to me is Fransisco, and that's because he is the only one who seems to have human emotions, desires, etc. Maybe that's just me imprinting myself into the character, but it's hard not to when the character acts so closely to the way I would. It's yet to be seen whether or not I finish the book liking it as much as I have liked it to this point, but it has gotten me to critically consider my own views on the role of government in business, and I realize now that I tend to favor a more hands-off approach. My philosophy, as I believe I've stated before, is that the free market is the most effective way to control corporations. If the public believes strongly in buying green alternatives, the market will go green (as is the case today). When the government steps in, they eliminate choice from the people, and that's a restriction on freedom, which I object to.

I am such a libertarian now. I don't believe in God, I don't believe in government. I only believe in freedom.

Heller vs. DC, guns and sickness

2008-06-27T21:44:00.004-06:00

First off, I was extremely glad that the Heller vs. DC case went the way it did (though I find it slightly disturbing that four of the nine justices can't read and/or interpret plain English - there's nothing ambiguous about the second amendment). To celebrate, I... did nothing. I don't have the money to buy a gun yet, and I promised Nessa that I would only buy a gun after I bought her engagement ring. When I have a grand in my account, though, I'm buying both of 'em.

While keeping on the subject of guns, I'm considering buying a Kel-Tec p-11, but I need to try one out first. One of these weekends I have got to go to a range and test out the guns I like on paper. It might be an expensive range trip, but I'd rather spend $50 on rental fees and ammo than $500 on a gun that doesn't work for me.

Ok, enough with guns for now. This next section is about how much sickness sucks. I lost out on 4 hours of work today because I felt like complete crap. I still feel like crap, but not completely.

That's one of the perils of working with kids. They are full of germs and disease, and before you know it, you've got the virus equivalent of the Tsar Bomba. Well, it may be not that bad, but I haven't been sick like this in a while, and I'd rather be getting my headache from the screaming kids and getting paid than getting it from screaming kids along with a sore throat, fever and dizziness, along with the nasal congestion and runny nose.

On the bright side, I soldiered through my 9 hour shift yesterday, and I was able to do a two hour shift this morning (before I realized how sick I was), so since I got 6 more hours this week than I usually get, I still got 2 extra hours worth of work this week. Sure hope no one thinks I was flaking out on them, though.

I've changed...

2008-06-24T03:00:00.004-06:00

I never thought I'd do this, but...

I joined the NRA today. Technically yesterday.

I also took the side of the free market controlling itself, unregulated.

If my high school self would have known someone like I am today... I don't think he'd have understood the rationale behind the change in my attitudes. Well, not until I debated with him on the issues for a bit. I've always been very willing to change my opinions based on facts.

At any rate, I never thought I'd join the NRA because I don't really like the way they meet their ends. Their PR sucks after school shootings, etc. but I feel the need to be a member of the NRA because the NRA is unfortunately the best lobbying group in defense of second amendment rights. I don't approve of their political rating system (they list McCain as a gun-friendly candidate, and his record speaks otherwise) nor do I approve of the concessions they make regarding certain restrictions. I don't feel it fair to ask gun owners to compromise their liberties for the illusion of safety, and the NRA occasionally gives in when it shouldn't.

However, membership in the NRA gives good benefits, and it has been shown that when NRA membership is down, more anti-gun legislation gets pushed. I'm against that, so I feel obligated to do what I can to prevent that. I joined the ranks of the largest pro-gun lobby in America.

Now I just need to join GOA and JPFO to balance me out.

More gun rights stuff

2008-06-23T03:02:00.004-06:00

I'm liking the Gun Owners of America more and more as an organization. They aren't like the NRA in their approach to gun rights, they are less willing to give gun-grabbers an inch, which lessens their ability to take a mile.

I was reading an article that they had on their (very outdated in visual style) website regarding the March supreme court hearing on the DC gun ban. In this article, their columnist describes their position on how the gun rights groups (such as the NRA) are unwittingly giving the gun-control lobby an inch.

Justice John Paul Stevens asked Alan Gura, the attorney for Dick Heller, if it would be proper to say that the right protected in the Second Amendment shall not be "unreasonably infringed"?
To our shock and horror, Gura answered "yes." He did qualify his answer somewhat by saying "we don't know" exactly what this "unreasonable standard looks like." But he conceded a significant amount of ground with his answer, because any ban would be "reasonable" to Chuck Schumer and Sarah Brady.

The article goes on to remind us all that the second amendment does not say anything about allowing "reasonable" infringement, nor does it say anything about the right to bear arms not being "unreasonably" infringed. No, it plainly says that "... The right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed." Bold added, of course, for emphasis.

There is a quote at the bottom of the page that I really liked, given to USA Today by the GOA lawyers Herbert Titus and William Olson.

No government deprives its citizens of rights without asserting that its actions are "reasonable" and "necessary" for high-sounding reasons such as "public safety." A right that can be regulated is no right at all, only a temporary privilege dependent upon the good will of the very government officials that such right is designed to constrain.

Couldn't have said it better myself. When a right is regulated, it ceases to be a right. The right to unrestricted travel ceased to be a right when driver's licensing took effect, the right to free speech is not a right in countries where "hate speech" is illegal (such as Canada or the UK), and the right to bear arms ceases to be a right when gun control is enacted.

New job

2008-06-12T10:39:00.002-06:00

Well, I'm back.

I've written 17 pages of my book, which is turning out to be more Kinky Friedman-esque than I had originally intended, but I'm not against the direction I've taken it.

More importantly, I've started my new job.

I'm doing summer childcare with a young autistic boy.

Not exactly what I had in mind, but it pays well, so I'm not complaining yet.

I got to use my typewriter last night

2008-05-29T18:34:00.004-06:00

I bought an IBM Selectric typewriter recently, and last night was the first time I was able to use it to write, on account of my not having ribbons for it until yesterday. It's a bit heavy, a bit large, and it vibrates quite a bit, but I love the tactile sensation of the clicking keys and the thumping ball element. I've written four and a half pages of my dark comedy sort of novel thing. I don't really know where I'm going with this one, but it'll be interesting as an exercise in writing. I wrote the first four pages while tipsy, so it was amusing to re-read what I had written, and I'm going to have to edit things, but that's the biggest reason I'm writing on a typewriter.

You see, with a computer, I don't feel like re-reading my writing. It's too easy for me to just look at one page at a time, search for keywords, etc. and not really take a good look at what I've actually written. The end result is a continuing progression of little tweaks and changes without actually going through and thoroughly critiquing the things that I have written. Sure, it works a lot of the time, but if I'm writing a book, I want it to be good. I want it to be something interesting and engaging, and most of all, I want it to be something that other people want to read. It has to make sense, and it has to be interesting.

Yet, the thing about this book is that I want it to be as unedited as possible in the first draft. I want everything that I've typed to remain in the text, and I've put small asides in the draft to tell myself what I was thinking at the time. Basically, I'm trying to type as much in a stream-of-consciousness manner as I possibly can, because I want to avoid all the constant tweaks. Typing things out in permanent ink serves two purposes for me. One, I can't delete anything I write. Typos are all left in place (though covered in small "x"es), if I write a line that I don't like, it's there for me to look back at later, and maybe re-work into the text in a better place. The other duty it serves is to make me re-read what I have written. When text is on paper, you can't search for a specific word, you have to interact with the text. You have to flip through pages and read the words on each page. In order to do a revised draft, you have to re-read the page you are revising and actively work with the text. There is no such thing as copy/paste on a Selectric typewriter.

Also, the typewriter is just damn cool looking. I'll post pics later, but it's a model 72 Selectric, and it's green with grey keys.

Oh, and another good thing about typewriters is that there isn't a wavy red line underneath every time I write the word "grey". It's a correct fucking spelling, and I've spelled the word like that since I was in 3rd grade. That's how the Brits spell it, that's how I spell it.

And ANOTHER thing...

NO FUCKING PAPERCLIP. Not that I ever use Word, but OpenOffice has a similar auto-correct feature that's equally as annoying. Sometimes I intentionally don't capitalize after periods. There are some places where periods don't denote the end of a sentence, such as where an abbreviation is involved. I don't want to have to retype my goddamn lowercase letters because of a stupid auto-correct feature, OK?

So yeah, I'm writing again. I'm also not working yet. I've had little news about the child-care job I interviewed for, and supposedly there was a staff meeting today, so maybe I'll get word about it tomorrow. As for tonight, I've got a bottle of '05 Sauvignon Blanc that I was thinking about starting. I like what I write when I drink wine... at least, I like to write things when I drink wine... That's kind of the same thing, right?

Tattoo part 3 (and some other laundry)

2008-05-20T02:33:00.003-06:00

Before I get on the subject of tattoos, I have a grievance to air.

Stop calling a candidate "The next president of the united states". You are fucking presumptuous motherfuckers. You don't know who the next president will be, you just hope they will be. For all you know, Charles fucking Manson is going to be the next fucking president.

You know, I'm going to make people introduce me as "The next president of the united states". It means nothing, and it's ludicrous to be introduced by a future job title when the title hasn't been given to you.

Now, I'd like to be able to only blame the supporters, but the candidates accept these accolades. I haven't heard a candidate once even giving acknowledgment to the fact that this is presumptuous. They smile and accept the title. All I'm asking for is one to say "I HOPE to be the next president of the united states". But no, these shitheads all smile and nod, like there's no way they could lose. Fuck you, McCain, Fuck you Obama, and Fuck you Hillary. Fuck you for allowing this shit.

Basically, I take issue with this because it exemplifies the sort of attitude these people have. They want power, and they aren't afraid of showing that. And you know what the saying is? Those who would want above all else to lead are seldom fit to lead.

At least, that's my saying.

Of course, I think I'd make a pretty good leader, myself...

Anyways. Now for the tattoo update.

So, last Friday I was scheduled to go consult the artist who was going to be doing my tattoo, but he called in sick, so I had to reschedule. Not a problem, as I was deep into finals, and I used the time on paper preparation. I rescheduled for the next Thursday, and I made arrangements to bring Nessa with to get a consultation on her tattoo, also.

We got into Minneapolis at about 8-8:30pm, and we walked around campus. I had a couple books to drop off at the library, so I did that first. Then, we still had half an hour to kill, so we went to the Dairy Queen next door so I could get some food. I hadn't eaten since lunch, so I was starving. Unfortunately, it took forever to get a damn chicken sandwich and onion rings done. When I finally got the food, my caramel shake was half gone and we were 15 minutes away from appointment time. I hurriedly ate the tasty sandwich (which was well worth the wait, I was pleasantly surprised to find) and we went upstairs to meet with the artist. He was waiting for us at the desk, and we started right away with the appointment. Nessa and I gave him our drawings, he said something along the lines of "wow, this'll be basically no work for me", and then gave us our prices. Mine's quoted at about $120, hers will be about $100. I had to put up our deposit, which was $50 apiece (ouch, I was hoping more like $20 up front) and we made our appointment for August 2nd.

Yeah, two and a half months from now.

Two and a half months to save up $95 or so bucks to pay the rest plus tip. Two and a half months to get nervous, second-guess myself, get impatient, dread the day, get excited for the day...

And I'm impatient enough for my typewriter to come by next week.

Well, at least I have work to look forward to, and less of it than during the school year - that is, I don't have night classes to attend and papers to do. Woo fucking hoo.

The Second Amendment

2008-05-17T15:26:00.002-06:00

I just had a breakthrough about how the second amendment is meant to be interpreted.

"A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed."

You see, what the second amendment is trying to say is that, in order to regulate the militia, the people of the united states shall have the right to keep and bear arms. The second amendment was written right after a two year war with an oppressive army - one which spent a lot of effort upon removing the weapons of the citizens and rebels. When the war was over, the founding fathers knew that a similar battle could be fought in the future. They wanted the people - US - to be able to fight back against an oppressive government militia (which is what they called an army back then).

So, a more modern version of the same wording would read:

"In order to keep the power of the army and government in check, when it is necessary to ensure freedom and liberty, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed".

This doesn't mean that people only get weapons during war - during war, people will get weapons quickly enough if they ally themselves with countries who would like to see the oppressing nation fall (thus our collusion with the French during the revolutionary war). Arms deals are pretty easily done in cases of rebellion. No, this amendment preserves the right of the people to hold onto their weapons so that they'll have them when the fighting starts. After all, this is what the founding fathers would have liked for their war at the beginning.

Furthermore, the founding fathers didn't like the idea of a standing, professional army. Professional armies lead to continual fighting, because the people of a country with a standing army wants to see its tax money used for fighting, not for slacking. Also, a professional army tends to lead to more ambivalence about war, because the army is made of volunteers who know that they are getting into the business of war. If the army was a draft army, it would take a much larger deal to get us to go to war, because the average civilian doesn't want to fight.

Therefore, the founding fathers wanted the average citizen armed so that they could defend the country against both outside forces and corruption within. It's really quite simple.

Tattoo (part 2.5)

2008-05-09T00:44:00.004-06:00

I told my mom about my intent to get a tattoo. Surprisingly, she didn't seem to care all that much. She doesn't understand why one would go through that kind of pain, but she seemed to understand the concept behind my chain tattoo. I can either pull the chain, or I can allow the chain to pull me.

I have my appointment tomorrow. I sure hope these tattoos are cheaper than I think they'll be, but I'm expecting them to be 高い.

Yeah, I just slipped in a Japanese adjective. What of it?

Part of me is glad I decided to schedule the appointment when I did because it forces me to stay away from home and focus on writing my 15 page paper (!!!) on the evolution of the rhythmic sense in humans. I have a solid block of 90 minutes in which I will have no interruptions by the adorable munchkin cats, and no reason to do anything but type my long-assed paper. Unfortunately, I know I'm going to be preoccupied thinking about my appointment, so... yeah. I'm going to try to get two more pages typed tomorrow, and I'm going to email the Music Therapy professor if I can think up some questions to ask him. I also have to call back Community Ed about setting up a time to interview. I hope I get that job. I need the money for my tattoo and sound equipment.

Feels like right now I'm being pulled. I have to do what I have to do. One day I'll be able to do the pulling.

What do I want right now?

2008-05-07T23:21:00.002-06:00

What would I like right now?

An IBM Selectric (II or III) typewriter.

They are the shit. Hunter S. Thompson wrote on one. P J O'Rourke writes on one.

Fuck yeah. Nothing like 60's era high tech.

Tattoo 2: Electric Boogaloo

2008-05-04T02:49:00.004-06:00

This is going to be brief, as there isn't a LOT to say, but what I will say is an important indicator that I truly am serious about getting my body (what is in most cases) permanently emblazoned with a tattoo.

It's exciting, and I'm also a bit nervous. I mean, I've been reading many horror stories about tattoos gone wrong, and it makes me a bit apprehensive to get my own done, but the fact that I've picked an artist who has been doing tattoos for a while (and has a good-looking portfolio) is reassuring.

On Friday, the 2nd of April 2008, I set up an appointment to consult with the tattoo artist I have chosen. The appointment is on Friday, and it will be with Cerny of Steady Tattoo in Minneapolis.

I have to admit, I'm a bit apprehensive for other reasons, too. I mean, I'm going to have these done in a very visible place in black ink, so a cover-up would need to be very bold if I don't like the way it turns out. Also, the nagging thought in the back of my mind is "what if I don't like it in the future"? I have come to tell myself that I won't, with the reasoning that as long as it's what I want now, it will always have a meaning for me that is positive. Furthermore, it's not going to impede my job prospects. After all, it is going to barely be noticeable even if my wrists are bare... Not that it matters, given the type of careers I'm really interested in getting into.

So, I guess I'm really excited for this. I need to print a picture I have of the tattoo out for the artist, and I'll have to swallow my pride as I get looked at funny for asking to have the same tattoos as a video game character.

I just really like the design of the tattoos, and how they can be seen as meaning different things at different times. Besides, it just looks cool to hold a shotgun and see chain tattoos on your wrists, know what I mean? Do you? Well, I don't. Could you explain it to me?

Oh, and I bought a copy of the orange box for xbox 360. I had it for PC already, but I was dissatisfied with the performance I was getting from my old PC and my newer laptop. Neither really has the chops for the source engine, so I figured I'd get the games for Xbox, and let me say this: I really think that these games are BETTER on the xbox, especially Team Fortress 2 and Portal. They run so much smoother on the Xbox than on my lackluster PCs. It really makes a difference when you are running games on a dedicated gaming machine.

On Hell

2008-05-02T01:42:00.002-06:00

Hell does not exist anywhere but in the collective mind of certain aspects of humanity. I recently have asked myself why the concept of hell is so prevalent in (at least) western culture, and so far I have thought of two reasons - discipline and revenge.

Religious (and quasi-religious) people use the concept of hell as a means by which to scare people into being virtuous and following the rules of their religion. Often, the threat of hell is expanded further to encompass crimes that were never mentioned in the religion. Hell is a convenient tale to use to whip errant people into shape.

Religious (and quasi-religious) people also use the concept of hell as a way to let go of the transgressions acted upon them. The thought "They'll get theirs in hell" seems to be fairly common among the jilted, the wronged, and the downtrodden. It's a way for those who have been done wrong to feel like they'll have the last laugh.

Now, I have a problem with both reasons for hell. Of course I do, I have problems with most things religious. My problems are as follows, corresponding with the above reasons in a paragraph-by-paragraph fashion. I'm sure you'll be able to figure it out.

There is a serious backlash involved with using hell as a means of keeping people in line: When you use hell on children, it can terrorize them worse than any under-the-bed monster - far worse. There are more than a few adults who can lay claim to emotional trauma due to the concept of hell being drilled into them at a young age. To a child, hell is a very real place where they will go if they fuck up even once, and the only way to avoid going to hell is to do absolutely nothing wrong. This could lead to neuroses, OCD, all sorts of bad things. Children aside, the tactic of hell only really works on adults the same way that jail works - it works on some, but not on others, and those who are afraid of jail and hell are generally good people anyways. They're generally people who are concerned with the opinions other people have about them, and they're not inclined to commit large infractions against their friends and neighbors. Hell is basically useless in this regard.

As for the other reason hell is used, I find this "revenge" use to be altogether sad. Good people hold back because they feel that the person who wronged them will have something horrible coming to them. Sometimes the people who were wronged stop their campaign for justice because they feel like the wrongdoer will get his in hell. I don't feel this is an effective way to obtain closure, because unless the offender is made to answer for their crimes here, what assurance is there that the offender will be punished in the supposed hereafter? Until that person finally DID go to hell, what's teaching the wrongdoer that their crimes will not be tolerated? It's sad to me to think that there is justice that has been left undone because the wronged felt like they need not pursue justice due to the wrongdoer's assured place in hell. I feel that since there is no guarantee that there is anything else, if you want justice you need to get it while the getting's good. That's the only way you can be sure that the bad guy gets what he has coming.

So yeah. Hell is a concept that does more harm than good - if it could ever really be said to have done any sort of good at all.

The End of Everything

2008-04-30T10:49:00.003-06:00

Interesting Article Here.

I have always been fascinated by this stuff.

The comments below the article piss me off though.

"Nice imagined story. It's like talking about nothingness in billion years. But the thing is that the principle of change is infinite, the "I", the "self" will always be eternal. Nothingness is nothingness, that's all. It cannot exist because it's nothingness. "Existence", "something" are eternal. If universe collapses and is dead, there will be another thing, which we don't what it is, and is beyond our imagination."

Right away, I can see that the writer is a dumbass. "Nice imagined story". It's not imagined, it's predicted based on the current laws of physics. Furthermore, "Nothingness" CAN exist, but it currently doesn't. It existed before, it will exist again eventually. Just because we can't comprehend it doesn't mean it's impossible. Also, the paragraph was hard to read because the guy is not very clear in expressing his dumb mind.

"Agreed Jeff. The author says it's "arrogant" to think that humans can avoid going extinct like every other species. Maybe, but isn't it also arrogant for scientists to believe they can actually predict what's going to take place in the universe over the next 10^100 years? Pullease, they need to contemplate questions down here on Earth they might actually have a shot at answering."

Is it arrogant? NO, you ignorant fuck! We know enough about physics to predict what will happen unless some new scenario appears - WHICH IS OUTSIDE OF THE SCOPE OF THE SCENARIO IN QUESTION. No one claimed that this would be an accurate prognostication about the actual fate of the universe, it is merely A prediction about what will happen, provided things continue the way they are right now. If you can't understand that, you're missing the point.

"

There are general predictions that people can make with laws of physics when the number of significant variables is limited. A scientist can predict the time of the next solar eclipse to the exact second at a given location on earth but fail to predict tomorrow's weather. That does not mean that the scientist cannot predict any event beyond one day. Looking at entropy, for example, it is logical that since the entropy of the universe continuously increases and yet there is a limit, there will come a time when that limit is reached. There simply is no other path.

To say that one should only focus his or her energy on the consideration of issues in every day life is what impedes scientific discovery and innovation, which requires thought that is beyond the present. Several hundreds of years ago when people were slaughtering one another with swords and arrows atop castles they never thought that one day they would send objects into space, yet scientists progressed in their thought (ahead of the requirements of their time) and today we are using a multitude of communication methods based on satellites. Hence perhaps the examination of the future of the universe isn't so absurd after all."

*Applause*

"Funny how, despite the serious problems with standard model physics (dark energy, gravitons, Higgs boson), people still feel free to make apocalyptic predictions based on it. It's an amusing conceit. "There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio - er Fraser, Than are dreamt of in your philosophy.""

Problems? SERIOUS problems? I see no serious problems, just things we haven't directly observed yet. Guess what? THAT'S SCIENCE! We can't see EVERYTHING. We can't show every step of the way in the evolution from fish to dinosaurs, but we can predict that there were steps because of genetic evidence. Similarly, we can predict the existence of the Higgs boson through EVIDENCE. There is no conceit. There is only what we know we know, and what we know we don't. THIS IS BASED ON WHAT WE KNOW. FUCK YOU.

"Surely god will press the Reset button if that happens."

Hurr Hurr. I guess since there's no price on it it's free? Go fuck yourself.

"Another "doom and gloom for the human race" article. Yes it's true that's most species on earth have gone extinct and the rest most certainly will in the future. However, the author failed to realize two distinct facts about the human race. First, of all the species that have evolved on this planet, we are the first that are in a good position to "buck the system". Our unique evolution has given us the skills and knowledge to help us escape many of the disasters that have wiped out the species from this planet's past. Not all, but our odds increase as we develop new technologies and new advances in science. Right now scientists are working very hard to come up with a planetary defense system that will protect us from large asteroid impacts. And second, we are the only species on earth that will likely populate other planets (unless we take other species with us). By spreading out beyond the boundaries of Earth, or even our solar system, we will increase the likely hood that the human race will live on far beyond the expectations of any flat calculation. Simply put, the human race doesn't fit the same profile as other species on earth. If you're going to calculate the end of the human race, you need to factor in its artificial and self-made evolution - which is moving very quickly."

DID YOU READ WHAT THE ARTICLE IS ABOUT? THE FUCKING END OF THE UNIVERSE! NOT THE FUCKING END OF HUMANITY, ALTHOUGH THAT'S PRETTY MUCH INCLUDED WHEN YOU TALK ABOUT THE END OF THE FUCKING UNIVERSE! ALSO, I DEFY YOU TO DEVELOP SOMETHING TO REVERSE THE FUNDAMENTAL LAW OF PHYSICS WE CALL ENTROPY. I DOUBLE FUCKING DARE YOU. FUCK YOURSEEEEEEEEEELF.

"If we treated the planet better we wouldn't have to worry about all the doom and gloom. In the end its the greed of the world that will do us in, much sooner before the sun burns out."

READ THE FUCKING ARTICLE, SHITBAG.
Edit: Also, it's people like you - you fucks with defeatist, cynical attitudes about humanity - who are part of the reason that there exists so much cynicism in the world. If people like you would try to form solutions to the problems that you constantly bitch about instead of saying "Well, it's never going to get better, so why try?" then maybe things WOULD get better.

"A key question is whether the amount of dark energy is constant, as Einstein thought, or whether it will grow or decay over time. According to physicist and author Paul Davies, of Macquarie University's Australian Centre for Astrobiology, dark energy is linked to the quantum vacuum. Space may appear to be a vacuum, but on the subatomic level nothing is ever empty: quantum particles can spontaneously appear out of and vanish into nothingness. The amount of antigravity generated in a quantum vacuum may be minuscule, but multiply it by the size of the universe and you have a fair bit."

Now that's an interesting point that I hadn't really thought about. If "dark energy" can change in amount, maybe the "universe speeding up" thing will reverse eventually. This would slow down, maybe even stop the expansion of the universe. That could potentially push the date of the heat-death of the universe back for quite a while. Unless the universe collapses on itself, however, the heat-death will still happen.

"All of these predictions ignore the place of intelligence. Granted, entropy doesn't seem likely to be able to be reversed (but who knows), but it's perfectly within the realm of physics to lengthen the life of a star, or move the Earth into a wider orbit. Humanity may very well survive for billions of years. We may no longer be meatbags (those robotic bodies he mentioned sound nice) but humanity need not die off any time soon."

Fine, I'll give you this one, but I'm pretty sure that entropy is irreversible. No ifs ands or buts. Also, I think I missed the mention of "robotic bodies" in the article.

" We don't have space-ships, either. Getting to the moon was a great feat, but this does not make us "space-faring". Your trust in our technology is adorable, but you have to remember that we are not capable of seriously impacting anything in this planet. (Aside from blowing up all the available nuclear warheads, that is.) Even a relatively tiny asteroid could mean the end of us; and we haven't talked about other threats, like a supernova in our neighborhood. The chances are low, I give you that - but given enough time, it's just a matter of when. And let me tell you: we can't do anything.

And as for the futility of trying to predict the future based on our incomplete knowledge, I can just ask one thing. Why bother with anything, then? We know precious little about how the human body works, yet I suspect you all are running to the doctor if you get sick. We work what we have. When we know more we'll change these models. That's it."

Fuck yes.

"i will be in heaven"

Sure you will.

"A very entertaining assertion based on 99.9 % rumours and 0.1 % fact. However the story unfolds depends, not on facts, but on the hyper-extrapolations of the scientists. Under such circumstances, many scientists actually begin to think like lawyers and politicians.

Thirty years ago, the learned physics teacher taught that the universe was expanding but will one day come home to roost. Today's physics teachers are teaching that the expanding universe is accelerating remorsely. Thirty years is a short short time for the universe. Do expect that a similar essay written by another scientist with 99.8% rumours and 0.2 % facts, thirty years from now, will tell another story."

And evolution isn't a fact because clades change all the time because we keep finding new evidence and doing more research on various animals. You know what? Fuck you. You go ahead and keep pulling bullshit percentages out your ass. It'll give me more room to shove my fucking foot up there. Ooh, did poor baby fail physics because he wasn't paying attention and now he's pissed? STFU.

"Your fatalism seems a little misplaced, angryrat. Basic technology that we take for granted today would seem like impossible magic five hundred years ago. If we manage to overcome a few technological hurdles in the here and now then there's really no limit to what humanity could achieve in the next five hundred, thousand, or six-thousand years."

Oh, there's quite a few limits to what we can do. Namely, we can't do things that are impossible, like halt entropy. There might be a way to create a new big bang, but that's not stopping entropy, that's starting a new cycle. I can't quite remember where I read the idea behind what I'm alluding to, but it involves bubbles in hyperspace popping and creating micro-universes, and were we able to create and pop one of these bubbles, we could make another universe. This is pretty advanced shit, however, and so I'm not going to say that we'll ever do it, or even live to do it. All that aside, the post to which he refers is only fatalistic, it seems, to the same extent that it is fatalistic to say that we all will one day die. It's hardly fatalism to state cold, hard facts.

Now, I must bathe and do some homework before work.

No title

2008-04-21T12:05:00.002-06:00

I just don't feel like it's a good use of our time on this world to be stuck in classes until we're 22-25 years old. I mean, we only live, what, 80-90 years on average? If we're lucky? That means a third of our expected lives are spent learning things, a third is spent on working and raising kids, and the rest is either working or being retired. I don't want to waste any time that I could be using on the productive third of my life. I want to take this risk now so I don't regret not doing it sooner afterwards. That previous sentence is obtuse, but it makes sense grammatically.

Sickness

2008-04-17T16:04:00.003-06:00

I hate being sick. It puts me in a bad mood. I can't work, I can't go to class, I can just feel sick and type.

Being sick only exacerbates my current displeasure at my current situation. I am thinking that it would be a good idea to leave college.

This isn't something I just thought about recently. No, it's something I've thought about for about a year, but all that shit you hear about staying in school being important had previously kept me on the college track. Recently, however, I have been failing classes, skipping classes, and in general just getting fed up with the educational establishment. I don't like being guided in my learning anymore, and furthermore, I have no reason to get an anthropology degree. I don't plan on using a degree when I get out into the "real world" anyways. I want to be a voice actor and a writer. I have wanted to be those since before high school, but I never saw that as being possible.
However, recently one of my friends has moved back home to work on his vision. I gave him a pep talk a while back about how he should quit his job at a Christian radio station in Ohio to start up a venue in Minnesota, because that's what he wanted to do. I don't know if my talking to him had any more than a slight effect on his course of action, but I like to think it did. Now that I see him pursuing his dream, I think I need to pursue mine, and I can't do that while attending college.

College has been sapping my creativity. I go to Minneapolis for 12 hours many days, taking three hours worth of classes and working four hours, with two hours worth of commute and a two hour break in the middle. By the time I get home, All I want to do is sleep and spend time with my girlfriend. I don't spend any time writing, and I don't make enough to buy recording equipment that I need for my voice acting pursuits. When I do get time and energy to write, I have to spend that time and creativity on papers for classes, as there is always a paper due in a class of mine. Right now I need to finish a five-pager for my Evolution of Language class, but I have no drive. College is exhausting me, and I am not made for it.

Furthermore, I feel that the academic establishment, as it is today, is bullshit. You spend too much time reading outside of class learning things you should be able to learn in class, or you have to buy expensive books which say exactly what the lecturer says within class. Take, for example, the first class I failed. The class had something to do with film and animation during and after WWII regarding Japan. It seemed like an interesting course, but there was a problem: The class itself was an hour of lecture, an hour of watching film, and a book a week. I never had time to read the book, and I thought I could get by with the info from lecture, but the lectures were worthless. Then, when the papers were assigned, you had to cite text from the books you were supposed to read, and the paper was due in full a week after they were assigned. 5 page papers, due a week after they were assigned, for a non-writing-intensive course.

I simply didn't turn in my last paper, and I failed the class.

The next class I failed was chem, because the tests were too damn hard. I aced labs, but the tests required heavy memorization of formulas and shit. No thanks.

Basically, College isn't for me anymore. I tried it, but I don't think it's for me.

Getting a Tattoo: Part 1

2008-04-13T16:55:00.002-06:00

Ok, my girlfriend and I have been talking about getting tattoos for about a year now, maybe longer, but we've been putting off actually doing it for a while. I've recently figured out the first tattoo I want to get, so now I've got the motivation to get it done within the next few months. This is the beginning of my latest obsession: Looking at the tattoo experience writeups on www.bmeink.com.

It started as part of a requirement I had set for myself - never get a tattoo from a place that isn't highly regarded. Look at the artists' portfolios and look for reviews before you get inked. I was specifically trying to decide between Uptown and Steady, and I still really haven't, but that's not the point here. I have now found myself looking at the stories of people who have gotten tattoos (especially those who just got their first) for about an hour, and I think it's going to be something I will keep doing for a while.

Oh, and the reason this is "part one" is because I'm going to blog my own experience. This part is a view into my research and the decision of what tattoo I want done. The former I have done, the latter is coming.

The tattoo I want to get is of a five-link chain design on the wrists like that of the protagonist of Bioshock. There are a few reasons I like this design, including the fact that the game was pretty awesome (I've come to terms with the ending. It was a bit of a letdown at the time, but in retrospect it makes sense. The ending itself would have been better if it ended as you killed Ryan, but that wouldn't have given you the whole story). the other reasons are that the chain represents many different things depending on how one chooses to interpret it. It could be a symbol of being enslaved by something or tied to something. It could be the chain of an anchor or the chain of a machine. It could mean anything depending on how I choose to interpret it, and that means that it will never lose meaning. Right now I choose to see the tattoo as a reminder that we are all tied to this world, and we are slaves to those who we let make us slaves. However, since we are all tied by the same chain, we can use our chains to do the pulling, and then the slaves become the masters.

Maybe that doesn't make sense to anyone else, but it doesn't have to. It's my tattoo.

The second one I want to have done is lightning bolts on my left hand done in blacklight sensitive ink, so it's only visible in blacklight. Again, a bioshock reference, but I've wanted a blacklight tattoo since I found out about them, and I had never had an idea for what I would want it of. I had thought of doing an "X-ray" type one where you could see the outlines of bones, but then I decided that lightning was cooler.

The third one I plan to have done is the propaganda slogan "No gods or kings, Only Man." done in an art deco font (because art deco is cool). Again, from Bioshock, but this line has a different meaning to me than that of the Objectivist philosophy represented in Andrew Ryan. To me, this message means that men should not allow themselves to be ruled by things they don't believe in. I am an atheist, so I don't believe in god. I am a libertarian, so I don't want to be ruled by any "great men". The only rule I see fit to follow is that of myself. I can weigh the consequences and rewards of my own actions, and make better decisions for myself than anyone else could, so I refuse to just willingly allow myself to be ruled.

There are a couple more I plan to get done, but I think that I've gone on about ideas long enough.

I chose the simplest and most open to interpretation symbol as my first because it's less likely that I will regret having it done. Furthermore, that third one might be one that I'll decide I don't want after a while. I like it now, but I still need to think longer about whether or not I want it permanently embedded on my skin.

So, I'll keep you all updated (all three of you) during this process, and when the tattoo is done and healed, there will be pics. It'll be a bit. I need to save the money up first.

Asperger's quiz

2008-04-02T11:45:00.002-06:00

According to the Asperger's quiz (as featured on the Keith and the Girl podcast), here is a graph of me:

Your neurodiversity (Aspie) score: 99 of 200
Your neurotypical (non-autistic) score: 106 of 200
You seem to have both Aspie (neurodiversity) and neurotypical traits

Diagnostic prediction for	Score	Prediction
ADD/ADHD (Attention Deficit Disorder)	112	You will probably be able to receive the diagnosis
Social phobia	95	You might be able to receive the diagnosis
Asperger/HFA/PDD	83	This isn't a primary diagnosis you should seek
OCD	78	This isn't a primary diagnosis you should seek
Dyslexia	65	This isn't a primary diagnosis you should seek

So, yeah. I don't think I have ADHD or social phobia, but of the tested conditions they are the ones I would most closely fit.

The test, for those of you who might want to take it, is at http://www.rdos.net/eng/Aspie-quiz.php

Now that I've killed half an hour procrastinating, maybe I should finally get to the homework I should be doing.

That was fun

2008-04-01T23:10:00.002-06:00

Looks like I got only one of you. Unfortunately, I already have a C average, due to some unfortunate academic missteps (sigh, and my inability to do chemistry right), but that's neither here nor there, guy who fell for my bit (or so I would be lead to believe).

That was, as the three people who commented first knew, an April Fool's joke. I am still an atheist. To dissect my ploy, notice the fact that I did not once state a reason for becoming religious - it is because I couldn't think of one at the time I designed my "joke". I know too much about the natural world to be able to ignore the power of evolution, and why it means that it is far less likely for there to be an ultimate creator. Furthermore, I'm far too much of a skeptic to believe that there are supernatural phenomena that cannot be explained by science and logic. There is little short of seeing the "face" of God (it)self that would be able to convert me, and I'd only be able to believe it was God if I had it independently verified by at least two unbiased experts (which doesn't count clergy or theologians). Basically, while I'm open to argue the point, there is little that could convince me that supernatural beings exist given our current knowledge of the universe and how it works.

I know that to the casual theist this seems closed minded, but in all reality it isn't. If there were something that was truly unexplainable, I would be open to attributing it to a higher power or supernatural being, but the fact of the matter is that there is little in existence that cannot be explained by scientific explanation. Most of all, I will not attribute a phenomenon to a supernatural entity that hasn't been fully researched yet, because that isn't productive. There will always be things we don't know, and it is our duty to find these things and explain them so that we might better understand our universe. When most of our forebears were claiming that the movement of the planets (around our earth) was due to an "unmoved mover", a few rejected that explanation and came to conclude that the earth revolved around the sun. When the church stated that the world was flat because the bible referred to the four corners of the earth, a few rejected the current paradigm and proved that the world was round by collecting observational data which disproved the prevailing theory (in plain English, they went around the world).

We must follow the method of the innovators and challenge the dominant ideas when they seem to not represent the data correctly. Religion does not match up with the data we now have, so it doesn't make sense to follow religion when there are better explanations of how things work.

So, that said, April Fools.

I'll be back later with another post about shotguns and politics and religion and stuff. Speaking of which, for some reason, I really like watching youtube videos of girls shooting rifles and shotguns for the first time. It makes me laugh.

Renouncing my atheism

2008-04-01T03:58:00.003-06:00

Sometimes God reveals himself to us in strange and mysterious ways - ways that defy reason, ways that defy logic, ways that will convince even the most staunch unbeliever. I don't want to go into detail, but I am no longer an atheist. I can't look outside and ignore the reality of God's creation. He created such a beautiful world for us, and to deny that He is the reason we are all here, and it is for His service that we all exist... well, it's just irresponsible. There is a place for unbelievers such as I was, and it is a very real place where the damned get thrown into everlasting flame to spend all eternity, wallowing and weeping, sorry too late for their sins.

I must turn in my Atheist cap, for I serve the Lord now.

The path of the righteous man is beset on all sides by the iniquities of the selfish and the tyranny of evil men. Blessed is he, who in the name of charity and good will, shepherds the weak through the valley of darkness, for he is truly his brother's keeper and the finder of lost children. And I will strike down upon thee with great vengeance and furious anger those who would attempt to poison and destroy my brothers. And you will know my name is the Lord when I lay my vengeance upon thee.

Ezekiel 25:17

Mike Gravel is now a Libertarian

2008-03-26T11:23:00.003-06:00

I might yet have a candidate to vote for who I actually WANT to vote for. Mike Gravel, not finding an audience within the Democratic party, has switched parties to my favorite party, the Libertarian party. Considering he's already been campaigning for the presidency for a while, I'm sure the Libertarians would be thrilled to put him up as their candidate for president - at least I hope so. What'd really be fun is a Gravel/Paul ticket under the Libertarian name. That would be a "spoiler" I could get behind - 'cause Fuck Nader. If you have Libertarian leanings, PLEASE vote Libertarian this election. If we get Clinton, McCain OR Obama, we get more big government and more of the same bullshit.

Using profanity right now reminds me of something I learned about myself yesterday - I really enjoy when profanity is used in an academic thought, statement or argument. I don't remember exactly what the topic was, but the discussion leader was referring to a large amount of something, and he described it as a "fucking shitload" of the subject. This pleases me.

Another thing I was thinking of yesterday was how I view economics, and exactly how I could explain it. I believe in the free market, and I believe in little regulation (except those which protect the safety of the consumer, such as FDA standards, etc.) and I don't particularly believe in socialism, however when it comes to taxes, I believe that everyone should pay the same percent of every dollar as everyone else. Driving home the other day, I realized what it was that made me think like this. The socialism I believe in is that of socialized infrastructure, socialized defense, and socialized healthcare. Prevailing wisdom from conservative-minded people is that the rich pay so much more taxes (in dollars) than the poor, so they need more breaks than the middle class in order to help keep their businesses and other ventures afloat. I disagree with this assessment because, in my ideal society, we all have to pay a percent of each dollar we earn as a fee for the government's services, kind of like an agent.

Think of it this way. There is a shipping company, VFS, who is run by a guy named George. George makes several million dollars off his company every year, and has to pay a few thousand in taxes, which is X percent of his yearly earnings (no exact numbers because this is just a hypothetical). VFS also employs Bob, a trucker, who makes around $15,000 a year (hypothetical, I don't know what truckers make) and pays his X percent, which comes out as somewhere under a thousand bucks. For the sake of our new simple tax scheme, let's assume that there are no deductions and no exemptions. Because this is a shipping company, both George and Bob are using federal roadways to do their business, and both George and Bob are making their money, in part, due to the infrastructure provided by the government. George made more money, but he also utilized the roads to a larger extent, as his nationwide business uses thousands of trucks on thousands of highway miles, therefore it's fair that he pays more (in dollars) in taxes. Bob, however, only used a single truck on a few hundred highway miles, therefore it is also fair that he pays a smaller amount (in dollars) in taxes.

Now, you might ask about Carol, the receptionist at the VFS building. She made Y dollars and paid X percent, even though she barely ever uses the highway. Why does she have to pay the same percent? She pays the same percent because she would not have a job if not for the infrastructure provided by the government. Her livelihood is based on the existence of roads, just like everyone else's, so it is fair, then, that she pays the same percent of her dollars in taxes. In this modern society, I dare you to find a single example of someone who does not rely on the services provided by our government (who also has a source of income). You will not find one.

Because I think about taxation in this way, it is logical to take socialization a bit further, extending it to healthcare, utilities, etc., yet there are certain places I believe the free market works best for infrastructure. I am wary of socialized healthcare because I believe America is more prone to become a nanny state courtesy of the bleeding-heart liberals (some economists now realize that issues such as obesity and lung cancer due to vices are cheaper in the long run than keeping everyone healthy to an old age, when they can collect social security while also needing to use the medical system to great extent), but I realize that of all the things that could be socialized, the medical system would be the least screwed up by the transition (you can't break it any worse!). As for telephone companies, cable companies, power companies, I say that it needs to be evaluated on a case-by-case basis. In regions where there is no competition, I'd say that it would do no harm for the government to nationalize utilities, but if there is competition in the market, the free market could handle the utilities better. In regions where more utilities are nationalized, taxes will be higher, but the higher taxes would still cost the average person as much as the utility bills would normally cost.

Now, obviously I'm no economist, so I could be completely off base with this plan, but I personally like it. It makes government fair for the big guy and the little guy, and to that end no one would be able to complain about how much money the government takes (and be right to do so). In a perfectly ideal world, there'd be no need for taxes at all (or government, for that matter) as the free market would see a demand, pursue it and monetize it, but this is not a perfect world. Because it's not perfect, we have to accept some degree of socialization, and I say that socializing infrastructure and taxing everyone the same percent would be the fairest way to provide for the common good. Everything beyond infrastructure and safety should be left open to the market, in my opinion, because government control is seldom ever used for the good of the public.

I have more to say on this subject, but I need to work soon, so I'm going to stop writing now.

3 year anniversary

2008-03-25T11:38:00.002-06:00

If you don't want to read about my relationship with my girlfriend, then skip this post.

My girlfriend and I have been together for three years (and two weeks or so by now) and I'm very happy about that. I found someone who can stand me and my quirks, and someone whose eccentricities do not irritate the hell out of me. This is not a post to brag, it's just a statement of fact. I am in love with a great girl, and no matter how many times I tell her that, I don't feel like it's enough. I don't think I could be quite as happy with anyone else. She plays video games, she likes to watch me play them, she likes many of the same things as me, and we always have a great time together.

I'm very glad I found her. I've had quite a few rough spots over the past three years, and I don't think I'd have been able to handle them as well without her. I love her very much for sticking with me three years - I doubt I've made it easy.

Bioshock and Objectivism

2008-03-24T11:41:00.002-06:00

I've had some ideas for posts kicking around in my head for a while, but I haven't actually sat down and written them out, so a lot of them get lost in the back of my head. I'm going to try to draw them out by just typing right now, so bear with me if this post seems even more unstructured than usual.

I just finished Bioshock last night, and I must say that I liked the game. My only issue is that the ending was a bit of a letdown. For those of you who haven't played the game yet and don't want any spoilers whatsoever, stop reading.

I don't really even know if I'm going to be putting any spoilers in, as I could probably manage to avoid them altogether. Anyways, I saved all the little sisters, and got the good ending, and although I did like the concept, the ending cinematic was a bit jarring. I wanted to have a "escape from the dying city" endgame, and to cut me off at the end of the big boss battle was like having the ice cream fall of the cone. That, and I felt the end boss was WAY too easy. I had stocked up like the apocalypse was coming, and I only had to defeat him three times? I didn't even exhaust one of my weapons' ammo. I didn't have to fire a single plasmid. I wanted a long, protracted boss battle where I have to use all my weapons and barely scrape by for health. I think I had seven medkits left, and that's too many. Heck, my first Big Daddy fight was harder. What would have made me very happy is a long fight with several parts to it - a shootout at the beginning, a middle part where I have to use plasmids to solve a simple puzzlish situation under stress, and a final fight where the boss pulls out his trump card (whatever it might be) and youhave to use a combination of force and cunning to bring him down. Upon defeat, I wanted him to, say, land on a self-destruct button, activating a "timed" (wouldn't necessarily have to actually be timed, but just seem like it) escape/shutdown mini-mission, with an end scene showing you saving the day and escaping in a bathysphere just in the knick of time. I do love load-bearing bosses, and for a character with the name "Atlas" it's fitting for him to be a load-bearer. A spoiler and a pun in one sentence. I guess I was just looking for something more substantial after all the build-up and superb narrative that preceded the final battle. I mean, the rest of the game was simply amazing, and it's SO unfortunate for such a great game to leave such a bad taste in my mouth at the end. I mean, it was fitting for Atlas to fall the way he did, and the "now he has a family" thing was a great sentiment, but it really felt like the game ended with a whisper, not a bang.

What's great about Bioshock is that it provides a scenario that isn't often explored when one looks at discourse on objectivism. Here we have a city that was supposed to be a haven for intellectuals, artists and hard working people of all types - an escape for the creators of the world. A place for those who believe that everyone deserves what they get, and gets what they earn. No taxes, no restrictions, just free market capitalism. No Gods or kings, only men. The only laws are there to protect ownership. It should be, according to proponents of objectivism, utopia. The reality of Rapture, however, couldn't be farther from the ideal. Because of the works of a few "bad eggs", the place goes to hell. Or is that true? Was it really just a few bad people, or is objectivism inherently flawed?

Under ideal situations, every philosophy and structure of society works flawlessly, and everyone is happy living under their system. In reality, there are no ideal situations, and every system has its weaknesses. Objectivism's weakness is that it devalues common people - the middle and lower classes are viewed as second-rate citizens who have little going for them, and without a social safety net many people fall behind. Objectivism would have you believe that the common man is nothing more than a leech on the backs of the great, and that the common man doesn't appreciate what the upper classes do for them. If this can be said to be true, then it is refreshing to see that the writers of Bioshock and I share the opinion that this is true in the opposite direction. Because the "greats" of Rapture ignored the struggles of the "common" man, a rabble-rouser was able to ignite a class struggle between the wealthy and the have-nots. While the leader may or may not have had his own reasons for starting a war, the war was already brewing when the janitors and laborers of Rapture realized how unfair and how disparate the quality of life that the classes had were. A small spark was added to the kindling, and the war flared up. The situation was made worse when the leader of Rapture went against the principles on which the city was built, enacted a series of laws with draconian consequences, and basically increased the level of hatred towards the ruling class tenfold. Had Andrew Ryan stuck to his principles, Fontaine would have merely continued smuggling contraband into Rapture, and Ryan could have just imprisoned him on the grounds of being a security threat. Instead, Ryan used brutal force, and the civil war had its cause.

Basically, Objectivism's greatest flaw is that there is little chance for upward mobility, and the entire philosophy is based around the fact that the producers feel like they aren't appreciated enough. Poor them. There are parts of objectivism I like, but for the most part it feels like the whining of rich people about how they have to pay for other people. They feel like altruism is to be avoided. I say that altruism is one of the better aspects of humanity. To each their own, I guess.

Anyways, I'm going to go eat now.

Because I'm sick of midterms

2008-02-21T23:36:00.003-06:00

Here's a top ten list of things Rick Astley will never do to you:
1: Give you up
2: Let you down
3: Run around
4: Desert you
5: Make you cry
6: Say goodbye
7: Tell a lie
8: Hurt you
9: Give, never gonna give (give you up)
10: Give, never gonna give (give you up)
Don't be a stranger, now

Consider Dubai

2008-02-12T12:17:00.001-06:00

These anthropology classes always make me think of interesting things. For instance, my "rise of civilization" class is currently covering ancient Egypt, and a one-off comment about how the chief industry of the late Egyptian culture was basically the burial of the king (which entailed, of course, the pyramids) made me think... about Dubai.

You see, one of the major themes in anthropology is that of Monumental Architecture (capitalized for Emphasis!), and it is safe to say that there exists no other city on earth at the moment which exhibits such a concentration of monumental architecture as the city of Dubai. This makes me wonder: What will future anthropologists think of Dubai? Will they see it as a world capital, or will they see it as a huge waste of resources and manpower?

Personally, I see Dubai as filling a need that doesn't exist. Rich people and companies building tall structures which no one needs yet in the middle of the desert. It's nonsense, in my opinion.

That is all. Fuck Dubai.

Back

2008-02-08T00:22:00.000-06:00

I've been neglecting to post for a while, but I was inspired by a former neighbor's blog. His stuff can be found here. He doesn't post often, and his grammar and spelling aren't quite as accurate as mine, but he posts about far more interesting things than I do, in my opinion. He's an amateur travel writer slash photographer currently living in India, and his accounts of life in India are quite detailed and colourful. Granted, the subjects aren't always pleasant.

For instance, the most recent post is about having to carry a drowned Indian from the beach to the road, where an "ambulance" could pick him up. I use the quotation marks because Indian ambulances can really only loosely be called such. The man died, and he describes in vivid detail the experience of carrying the dead weight up a hill... I don't feel I'd do it any justice by describing it. You really just need to read his post. It's great.

Anyways, back to me.

Quite a few things have happened since my last post.

Pearly has gotten a bit chubby, Mandalei is still an alley-cat.
I've tried quite a few more types of drink (being 21 is awesome), and now Nessa is 21, so we can go out and drink together if we ever wanted to. I've discovered that I like Gin and Southern Comfort (in general, that is. I wouldn't think they'd go well together...), and I've started a wine log to keep track of wines I've liked.
I got sick on Sunday, and I'm just now recovering.
I got a loan from my parents to relieve me of my credit card debt as well as pay for books, so that pressure's off. That's nice. Now I get to repay them at no interest instead of the credit card company at 20% APR.
I've become re-inspired, and I've decided to begin writing my novel again. I'm trying to finish this one before the start of next semester. I think I can do it.
I bought an Amazon Kindle, and it should be here around the 11th. i justified this by saying that I'll use it for school. I will, but it's mostly for recreational reading. I'm also going to be saving money from each check in the coming months to make back the money I spent on it. It's going to be worth it.
Mom and I got new phones. They're slidey and cool. I also got a bluetooth headset, which Nessa says makes me a yuppie asshole. I'd rather be that than fumble with a phone, steering wheel and stick shift.

So that's me.

Now, on to issues that I care about right now.

One- Primaries

I'm pissed that Ron Paul got such a piss-poor turnout in all the primaries. I mean, only NEVADA got out the vote for him, and he placed SECOND there with virtually none of the vote. I'm glad that Rudy and Romney have left the race, but I'm disappointed that Fred Thompson didn't stay in longer. He didn't really even try. As for the Dems, I don't care who wins. Kucinich dropped out, and Gravel doesn't have a chance.

The problem this year is that the average American electorate is so pissed at the Religious Right wing of the Republican party (which, granted, is a large wing. THAT fucking pisses me off. Eisenhower is rolling in his grave) that they won't even consider looking at a candidate running under the Republican banner, in spite of the fact that he has the most reasonable stance on the issues of any candidate available. What further pisses me off is this whole story that the media is putting forth this year: "Who will it be, the woman or the black man?"

BUT WHAT ARE THE ISSUES?

Holy fuck! Issues? You mean, politics is about ISSUES?

YES. POLITICS IS ABOUT ISSUES. POLITICS IS SERIOUS BUSINESS.
Take a look at the media and you'd think it was just a contest: "Who is America ready for?"

I'm ready for a GOOD FUCKING LEADER. I don't see anything I like in any of the candidates being put forward right now. I despise Huckabee's fundamentalism - I'm an atheist. I despise McCain's war policy - I'm a humanist, I'm in favor of non-interventionist foreign policy, and I'm in favor of a smaller budget. I despise Clinton - She's in the pocket of special interest groups, and she's a gun grabber. I'm a gun nut who believes that the President shouldn't make money off their job. Furthermore, I don't feel she'll relinquish any of the power that Bush grabbed for the office of President. I don't like Obama. He's a gun grabber, and I've yet to hear any solid plans come from him. I don't care for rhetoric without substance. Furthermore, from all the candidates I don't hear any solid plans on how to get out of this war. This is my strongest issue, and no candidate who has a chance to get nominated is making the right plans to get my vote.

Anyways. I'm hoping Michael Bloomberg is going to run. At least it'd be interesting.

Two- Anonymous vs. Scientology

The Internet Hate Machine is at war with Scientology. This pleases me. I am watching this with great interest. I can't wait to see how much news coverage this upcoming protest receives. Also, I hope FOX does another amusing segment on Anonymous involving explanations of online slang and video footage of exploding vans. Maybe a few scantily clad women, too - this IS FOX, y'know?

I hope that anonymous has the drive to continue protesting against Scientology for as long as it takes to get their tax exempt status revoked. Scientology is a sinister organization, and they must be stopped. For more information as to why I would say this, go to www.xenu.net and look around for a bit.

Get outraged.

In general, that's what I have to say to America. Get outraged. If you are lazy, you will lose your freedom. It doesn't take much to do something if you don't like the way things are going, it's only a minor inconvenience to pay attention. Furthermore, it's our duty as citizens to make sure that the government is listening to us - that's what it's there for.

A government of the people, for the people. What a novel concept.

Anyways, I'm tired. Time for a nap.

Happy Holidays

2007-12-31T02:26:00.000-06:00

You know, I don't really have a problem with celebrating Christmas for many reasons, the greatest being that it is a holiday based on pagan tradition that is celebrated the world over by many people regardless of whether they are Christian or not. That said, happy belated Christmas to you all, I hope you all had a good one.

I spent mine, as always, with my beloved Nessa. We didn't really do anything Christmas day, but Christmas eve was spent traveling to northern Minnesota (Kerrick, for those keeping score) and back in order to go to one of her family gatherings, then one of mine. my presents were many DVD sets, a few video games (including Super Mario Galaxy and Hogan's Alley on the NES... awesome) while Nessa got a metric fuckton of books, which she liked.

Anyways, My brother-in-law gave me some 10 year old whiskey and some cognac to taste, and I must say that I liked the cognac better. I guess it's just another old man thing I like, right up there with Gin and Tonic and shaving with a double edge razor and a badger hair shave brush.

I really felt like posting today because I went to the gun range in North Minneapolis and tried shooting some handguns. My dad got a 9mm CZ for Christmas, so he had to break it in, and I got to try that one out. Nice little gun, pretty damn accurate, and it had just the right amount of weight to it. After that, dad brought out his revolver (he was loading .357 magnums, for those interested) and I got to take a crack at that. I was doing pretty good with it, but one got loose and I clipped the string that conveys the target clips (I'm sure there's a name for the thing, but I don't know it), which was not appreciated.
It was bizarre, because until that point all of my shots were on target. I must have twitched before I shot, or otherwise I was at just the right angle to clip the line at the back of the range. Rather embarrassing, and therefore I must share the experience with the internet.

After that incident, I stopped shooting the revolver and dad and I moved lanes. I had wanted to try the Glock 22 (full size .40), so we rented one for me to try. I really liked how little the gun kicked compared to the revolver, and it was just heavy enough to feel good in the hand, but light enough so it didn't tire my arms. In short, I'm considering getting one eventually (though I want to try the compact version too before I buy). The only problem is that the ammo is more expensive, so I might end up getting a 9mm. I also still need to try a Beretta 92FS just for the sake of trying it out. Not that I'm going to get a gun just yet, mind you. I've got no money to spend on guns and ammo right now, so I have to wait until I get some money before I buy.

My Brother-in-law also let me shoot his AK-47. I want one. So nice. I know there are some people who prefer the AR-10, but I don't care. I like the AK-47.

That said, it was a fun day for me today. I did manly things. I shot guns, changed oil and drank beer at lunchtime. It was a good day.

If I don't write again before midnight, have a happy New Year's celebration, everyone!

10 reasons not to vote for Huckabee

2007-12-16T16:37:00.000-06:00

I don't need to say anything more than go to this link

Course Evaluations

2007-12-10T13:40:00.000-06:00

It's that time of the semester again... just before finals... Yes, I speak of the course evaluations (if you read the title, you are probably saying "Well, duh. That's what the title said". To you, I say lay off me, I needed a lead-in sentence, and that's all I had. If you have a problem with that, I have a Dick Cheney quote in mind for you - "Go fuck yourself".

Anyways, after the initial annoyment (yes, I make words here. Again, Cheney.), I learned the course evaluations can be fun. Why, you ask? Well, I'm glad you did! Evaluations are the perfect venue for showing off foreign language skill. Take, for instance, the comment section of the evaluation I did for my chem class:

"Instructor provided review sections, which were helpful. Ich habe eine kleine Katze. Sie ist eine gute Katze. Io mangio una pizza. 私はいぬがいませんよ。でも、ねこがいます。"

For those of you who can't read simple German, Italian and Japanese, the foreign text is nothing important or useful. The German section reads "I have a cat. She is a good cat". The Italian is "I eat a pizza", and the Japanese reads "I have no dog, but I have a cat".

I did the same for one of my Japanese instructors, but less so. On that one I wrote "Mein Bier ist kalt, aber meine Kuh ist warm". (However, I misspelled "Kuh". Boo.)

The point here? Course evaluations suck. Except for the seething one I wrote about my math prof. I have no good things to say when your classroom management skills are sub-par.

There is nothing worse than a rapist...

2007-12-05T13:45:00.000-06:00

Except for a man who lets a rapist walk free. If you've been paying attention, you might know that I'm talking about Mike Huckabee, GOP Presidential candidate. I've been reading the Huffington Post a lot recently, and this is a more recent article that caught my eye.
Now, recently my girlfriend has expressed discontent with Huckabee's lame ploy to gain ground by using Chuck Norris as an advertising tool (I have some choice things to say about that douchebag, too - after all, he has said many things about atheism that piss me off, but I digress), but my beef with Huckabee is that he's horribly corrupt and a liar. He let the rapist go, and then blamed it on Clinton. Now why would a republican governor give in to a democrat's pressuring to release a convicted felon? After all, don't the new republicans pride themselves on their strong stance on prosecuting criminals? Why would a good republican decide to commute this rapist's sentence at the behest of a weak, pansy-ass liberal? Because he thought that the man might be innocent. He wrote it in his book "From Hope to Higher Ground". Now, I've never read this book, nor would I be caught dead doing so - I can only stand so much inanity - but others have, and they pulled the relevant info. From the above article:

In the book, he wrote that he was moved to act on Dumond's behalf because he believed Dumond might have been wrongly convicted. Ashley Stevens and Fletcher Long confirmed in interviews for this story that when they met with then-Gov. Huckabee, he insisted to them that Dumond might be innocent.

Huckabee also wrote in "From Hope to Higher Ground" that he moved to act on Dumond's behalf out of compassion. He said on numerous other occasions that he felt sympathy for Dumond because Dumond was allegedly castrated while awaiting trial for raping Ashley Stevens. Dumond had claimed that unknown assailants wearing masks broke into his home, hogtied him, and then surgically removed his testicles.

To those of you who might have sympathy for this devil, I quote the article further:

Evidence has since come to light indicating that Dumond might not have been attacked but engaged in an act of self-mutilation. A physician who treated Dumond after his alleged attack told police, according to state police records, that Dumond's own wife asked him "if it was possible for Dumond to have inflicted the wound himself." The Forest City Times Herald, which published a series of articles about the Dumond controversy in 1996, quoted experts on sexual predators as saying it was not uncommon for them to engage in acts of self-mutilation to garner sympathy or because they feel guilt for what they have done.

So don't feel sorry for this bastard. Besides, there are many of his victims alive to be able to accurately pick him out in a line-up. I don't think that there is a rape victim alive who has forgotten the face of their assailant, save for those who were blindfolded or raped by masked men - but I doubt that's very common.

If Huckabee wins the nomination, I will lose what little faith I have ever had in the GOP. If he wins the presidency, then I say goodbye to America. I can understand Bush winning twice - the people around him were very shrewd, and Karl Rove was VERY good at his job (at the time), but if Huckabee wins, then the electorate is full of idiots, and there's nothing that can be done with this barren soil until the peanut crop is pulled. That was a very farmerly metaphor.

Fall of the Roman Empire

2007-12-04T02:02:00.001-06:00

Here's an interesting article from the Huffington post: Ten Steps to Close Down an Open Society. Yes, I linked to it twice, because it's that good.

Basically, the gist of it is this: America is barreling down the same path as Mussolini's Italy and Hitler's Germany, and destroying the very democracy that our president claims to want for Iraq.

If you look at history, you can see that there is essentially a blueprint for turning an open society into a dictatorship. That blueprint has been used again and again in more and less bloody, more and less terrifying ways. But it is always effective. It is very difficult and arduous to create and sustain a democracy - but history shows that closing one down is much simpler. You simply have to be willing to take the 10 steps.
As difficult as this is to contemplate, it is clear, if you are willing to look, that each of these 10 steps has already been initiated today in the United States by the Bush administration.

The article then lists the ten steps that historically signaled the end of freedom for a nation. The fact that nine of ten of these steps have already occurred means this: WE ARE A STONE'S THROW AWAY FROM A FASCIST STATE. It is imperative that things change, or else the mighty USA will fall. I don't want this to happen any more than the next patriotic individual, but it seems that very few people (outside of history and politics junkies like myself) understand just how close our nation is to turning into a fascist state. What's it going to take to make people in this country wake up?

This quote is getting a lot of use lately, and deservedly so:

Those who would give up Essential Liberty to purchase a little Temporary Safety deserve neither Liberty nor Safety.

The terrorists are winning, but I'm not talking about Al Qaeda.

I find myself ever more looking to Thomas Jefferson as a model for what our country could be. Jefferson's America is that of true rugged individualism. States would have more control over their own politics, church and state have restraining orders on each other, and the media does not act as the government's propaganda machine. Reason rules supreme in Jefferson's America, as it should. Jefferson's America is a Libertarian's dream, and an Atheist's heaven (you know, if atheists believed in heaven). I feel like I should write a book on Thomas Jefferson because of how relevant he is to modern American politics today, and how his views on America could help to get our country back on track, were we to listen to them.

Anyways, I've been rambling. I finally got back to what this blog is about - ramblings. I'll undoubtedly rant and rave more, as things that piss me off seem to make me want to write more than things that make me happy.

I've been reading about CONELRAD recently. Interesting stuff. I really get fascinated by the cold war era, especially on the civil defense front. I find it amazing that, in spite of the huge looming threat of nuclear annihilation from a superpower with might to match our own, we didn't restrict civilian freedoms that much at all, especially when viewed through the lenses of current events. I guess we just had better leaders back then - leaders who gave the public more credit than today's leaders give us. I think that America was at its best during the cold war in many ways. yes, there was McCarthy, but people didn't buy into his crap too long before kicking his junk politics to the curb. When one looks at the leadership we had during the cold war, one sees arguably the best presidents since the founding fathers themselves. Truman, Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson... Well, I guess Johnson was kind of a turning point for me. I don't think Johnson was a great president, he was only "good". He failed to see that the Vietnam war wasn't winnable, and as a result he threw many more men into the fire. That aside, his policies on the home front weren't horrible... He did try to help the poor by creating medicare, increasing education spending, and working on the transportation system. Unfortunately, the Vietnam war grabbed funding from all of these programs - many of which were New Deal programs that didn't get implemented at first, so it could be said that Johnson shouldn't get credit for them anyways - so in all, that makes him a "good" president only. After that, we had Nixon, Ford, Carter (who doesn't get enough credit for the good things he DID do in office), Reagan, Bush I, Clinton (who was again, merely a "good" president), aaaaaaaaand... Bush II (AKA Nixon II, Electric Boogaloo). What a shitty run, huh? I'd gladly take the looming threat of atomic death if I could have a cold-war era president in office. Instead, I just get the looming threat of atomic death and the threat of being sent to Guantanamo (Or some country where they send political prisoners to be beaten and tortured) for speaking out against the current administration.

Anyways, I'm tired. I only hope that I can finish my last couple years in college before I feel like I have to move away from here before our iron curtain goes up. Kind of feels like the punchline in a Russian Reversal joke.

In Soviet America, Fucked are you!

Continued from last week

2007-12-03T14:43:00.000-06:00

My math prof is about to do it again. Someone just had a text message received notification on their cell, and he has just threatened to stop the lecture.

Pro-fess-ion-al.

An open letter to "Prof. Z.",

How about you do what the rest of the profs do around here and simply say "Please silence your phones, thank you", then continue. If this interruption were an everyday occurrence, then maybe I could understand your anger, but this is only the second time this has happened in as many weeks. Prior to these two events, the class has gone without incident. Now, I understand matrix operations very well, thank you, but as a kindness to those who didn't take this class in high school, I would ask that you would perhaps do your job like a professional. That means not suspending the lecture after one slight interruption. This is pre-calc II. That means that most of us here are science or math majors, and we want to know this boring shit. Do what we pay you for, and teach. I'd personally rather have what little notes I can glean off of your broken-English rambling lectures than no notes at all, and I really appreciate the examples you do on the board - I learn better when I can see the steps being done in front of me. I know I'm not the only one who learns like me in this 45-60 (depends on the day) pupil-strong class, so it is important that you lecture. Don't walk out just because one of us forgot to silence their phone - statistically speaking, at least (i would venture a guess of) two of us has to have forgotten to turn off our phones.

Sincerely,

One of your students.

Now, since I like to double up on post subjects, here's another topic: I love biking at the U of M in December. When everyone else is cramming onto the buses, I've got empty bike lanes. That said, it pisses me off that pedestrians forget that the bike lanes are there when they're covered in snow. To the guy on the Washington Avenue Bridge, walking in the westbound bike lane: FUCK YOU. The lane is icy, the pedestrian portion is clear. Hell, there's an entire side reserved for you guys, along with a fucking COVERED, ENCLOSED WALKWAY! We get five feet for both lanes, possibly less, depending on how well they plow the bridge. Get the FUCK out of my lane. I shouldn't have to go into the oncoming lane to avoid your stupid ass. Would you walk on the road underneath the bridge? The one that all the buses drive on? No.

Guess I should've entitled this post "Things that piss me off".

Also, because I've received some complaints (from her), I'm going to use this final portion to write a note to my girlfriend (if you are not her, you can skip it):

I miss you, honey. I'm bored, I'm not entirely enthused about going to work and being bored there (possibly - either bored or hella busy, depends on whether or not we're shipping more books back to the publishers), and I wish I could come home and have a cuddle with you. I'm very tired because Mandalei kept waking me up after 8. So basically I got 2 hours of sleep last night. I love you, and I'll be home at 7:30ish. I'll probably call you at 6ish.

Cops and Bad Professors

2007-11-26T15:19:00.000-06:00

Two things happened in this past hour to make me a little peeved.

First, I came across a post on digg linking to a police forum post where the "cops" on the board were (allegedly - I didn't get to the post before the digg effect brought the board down) laughing about a tazer death story and saying how it was OK for the cop to taze the guy without charging him or reading his rights.

The story in question is regarding a cop tazing a guy because he wouldn't sign a speeding ticket, and I'm already against the use of tazers in most situations, so I am on the side of Joe Public for the purposes of this story, and if the forum post is as bad as the claims which have been made against them suggest, I'm, again, on the "Oh, heavens me! How dreadfully horrid! I do declare, I have caught a touch of the vapors!" side.

However, I absolutely hate the fact that the typical response from the digg community is to demonize police as a whole. Somewhere along the lines, (I would guess about the 60's) it became normal to think of the police as faceless, soulless automatons whose only goal is to kill civilians, bully them, and in general act like dicks. Joe Public has forgotten that police are, like the rest of us, human - and therefore they are inclined to err just as much as any of us. Like the rest of us, each cop has his/her own temperament, and some aren't cut out for the job. That doesn't warrant such statements as:

"Cops are the reason we should all be carrying guns...."

Cops are some of the biggest criminals around. I'm not talking about corruption. I'm talking about when they're carrying out their so-called duties. Read this and dream of the day these people have to go get honest jobs doing something productive instead of sucking up tax dollars to just bully people around.

I respond:

Do you really just think that all they do is "bully people around"? How about, oh, I don't know, arresting rapists, muderers, thieves and crack-pushers? How about responding to domestic disturbance calls? How about risking life and limb to keep people safe? How easy it is to forget about that when you only come into contact with police when you get pulled over.

I don't expect an answer. Few people who take the mindset of "All cops are bad" listen to reason, fewer are swayed by it. What few are swayed will probably forget that I had changed their mind, anyways. Such is the effect of the dreaded confirmation bias.

Anyways, I have to go to my next topic quick, as my laptop is low on battery, and I have to work soon.

My math prof is... how you say... not so good.

Foreign accent and slow speech aside, today he all but stormed off in a huff all because he thought someone was whistling in class. i didn't really hear, so I can't say whether or not it happened, but the guy ends up stopping the class, staring down the side of the room he thinks the incident happened on, then goes back to the front of the class and writes down a few chapter numbers and says "Read these chapters tonight on your own", then leaves the room.

This is only slightly more severe than his usual efforts at class management. Ususally he just stops class for a minute, then continues to lecture.

My battery is near dead, so I will edit this later. Off to work I go.

How the hell...

2007-11-09T19:37:00.000-06:00

Did I become such a Republican?

Well, I'm not, but it sure as hell feels like it at times... Like right now. At this moment, I am looking at a gun webpage (Glock) and a beer webpage (Rolling Rock - I like the way those rhyme) at the same time. Also, I am thinking about registering as a republican so I can vote for Ron Paul in the MN primaries. I probably won't, 'cause I'm too lazy.

I'm glad I can remember my atheist and libertarian tendencies when confronted with such a realization - the realization that I am now someone who my young self would've hated (that young liberal lad... I didn't know any better).

Short post for the moment, maybe more later. I have a jewelry commission to work on this weekend, so I'm happy about that. 30 extra bucks for me this month. I also got a few more bucks in my check this week, so that's nice. Maybe I'll get a bit ahead this month. That'd be good, considering Christmas is coming. I'm probably going to make jewelry for my mother and sister for presents, which will cut down on my expenditures greatly (a savings of 60 bucks!), so that just leaves dad, Nessa, and Nessa's mom. I have no idea what to get the first and last two. I hope I get the TSA job so I can buy them all something nice and not worry about where the money's coming from.

I think I'll make my sister's pendant in the shape of her rabbit. She'd probably like that.

I'm older.

2007-11-06T18:27:00.000-06:00

This is not news, as such, considering that I am older even now than when I began writing this sentence. The title of this post, then, should be taken to indicate that I am now 21. I am now legally able to buy and drink alcoholic beverages in the US. To celebrate, I picked up a 12 pack of Killian's, a bottle of Maker's Mark, and a bottle of Mount Gay eclipse rum. So far, in the three days I've been able to drink, I've only had six drinks. Such is the life of a poor college student who only makes minimum wage, works only 6 hours a week, and drives in to campus each day.

on a side note, I'm pretty close to solving that problem - I'm hoping to get notice from the TSA that I am in the "ready pool" and as such might get notice of a job opening I might be able to fill. If I get the job, money will become less of a concern.

Anyways, I had a pretty good weekend. The 3rd was my birthday, and the first thing I did was go to the bank and cash some birthday checks. After that, I took my first trip to the liquor store. Later, mom took me out to lunch at Buffalo Wild Wings. It was pretty good. I'm not going to argue with free food. After that, Nessa and I went to Coon Rapids. She went to archivers, then we went to gamestop and she bought me my present - We <3 Katamari ! I had been looking for that game everywhere, and until then had not been able to find it. Finally, to end the night, I had a friend over to knock back a few and play Guitar Hero with. I had two Killian's and he had a couple Mike's (which I personally find disgusting). I also tried a bit of Maker's Mark straight, and it wasn't a good idea.

On Sunday, Nessa had to work, so I went to the bar at Buffalo Wild Wings with the same friend from the previous night. I had a Rolling Rock and some popcorn shrimp, he had buffalo wings and a Jack and coke (which he drank half of before giving up and pawning it off on me - and he had been the one who was previously extolling the virtues of Jack). Since I only had half of it, I combine that with the Maker's Mark in my legal drink total as one drink. That plus four Killian's and one Rolling Rock make 6 from Saturday to Monday. Obviously, I didn't overdo it at all. Never went over three drinks in a three hour period. In other words, it was pretty uneventful.

However, I did learn that I really like the taste of beer.

Jobs and a weird dream

2007-10-26T12:34:00.001-06:00

Well, I just got a call from the TSA, and I'm scheduled for my final pre-employment health check, so I passed my background check. Yay. That also means I will have no problems getting a gun if I ever do. Also, I'd probably pass a check to get on the police reserves, so there's that.

My friend also told me that he can get me some info on a few people who can get me cheap studio time so I can record a demo CD for voice work. Great. Sign me up. He also knows some people in the biz, so that's a plus.

I hope one of these pans out quickly, I'm sinking into debt, and I don't like it. Unless I get an influx of cash soon, I'm not going to be able to get anyone (except Nessa) a christmas present. That would be sad.

Speaking of sad, I had a rather weird dream this morning, and I was kind of upset by how it ended. It was one of those dreams that makes you think things are different when you wake up. The type that disorients you and makes you wonder "What the fuck? How did I get here?".

Basically, what I can remember of it is that it started at the house I live in right now. For some reason, Nessa's mom decided that Nessa and I were too dependant on each other, and so she decided to pack them up and move to Malaysia (Of all places! I must have been thinking about the events in Malaysia recently, because that wouldn't have been something my mind would have normally thought of). I ended up driving to a city - not Minneapolis, not St. Paul, but more like St. Cloud only less windy. Anyways, for some reason I won around $50,000 in the lottery somehow, but before I could collect it, I somehow saw an asian girl in her car who had won $20,000. There was no info on the ticket as to how she could claim it, so I called over a police officer. He came by, and I don't think he ever answered the question, because for some reason he ended up in the driver's seat, and I ended up in the back seat. The girl and a friend of hers were in the front passenger seat. The cop turned out to be her dad, and he drove like a maniac into their garage. I ended up going inside, and the house was laid out in a completely foreign manner, but for some reason I thought it was Nessa's house (the one I live in right now). Apparently the girl and her dad had kept Asta, as I called her by name and she knew her name. I looked around the house and found mementos of my previous relationship with Nessa. Apparently, they didn't redecorate the house, and Nessa and her mom left without taking anything with them. Anyways, I don't recognize any of the items that I saw, but apparently they made me nostalgic, and I had to leave. That and the fact that the girl's dad didn't want me to stay. Apparently now I was dating her or something, but I missed Nessa. The dream ended with me in my car again, and then I woke up. I looked to my left and thought "What? I thought she was in Malaysia... Thank goodness it was a dream". I would have lain there a bit longer, but when I looked at my clock, I noticed it read "10:58". I should have gotten up at 10. I quickly gathered my clothes and got in the shower. I had to be gone by 11:10. I was out the door at 11:20, and I needed to mildly speed to get to class on time (an average increase of 5mph over the limit would make up for the lateness). I made it with four minutes to spare. Glad I did all my homework last night.

So, that was my morning.

By the way:

2007-10-22T12:07:00.001-06:00

You Scored an A

You got 10/10 questions correct.

It's pretty obvious that you don't make basic grammatical errors.
If anything, you're annoyed when people make simple mistakes on their blogs.
As far as people with bad grammar go, you know they're only human.
And it's humanity and its current condition that truly disturb you sometimes.

The It's Its There Their They're Quiz

I hate the U of M buses sometimes

2007-10-22T11:43:00.001-06:00

Five minutes my ass. I was waiting at a stop that serves three routes - the connector, the limited stop connector and the circulator. I can take either the limited or regular connector, and one of either normally comes by every two minutes.

Not today.

No, today I was waiting for ten effing minutes for a bus. I was late enough where I just had to say to hell with it and skip my first class of the day - the ONLY class I have today where attendance counts.

I guess I have to leave half an hour earlier so I don't get held up by the fucking bus anymore. I'm sick of being at campus on time and having my timing ruined by the unreliable bus schedule.

It's not all bad, though. Due to this, I was able to study a bit earlier for the oral exam. I'm nervous - I'm not that good at one-on-one exchanges where a language barrier exists. It makes it worse when a grade is involved. Guess I just gotta suck it up and make the best of it. I just need to remember that しゅまつ is "weekend" and どようび is Saturday. I often forget those. Actually, I might want to once-over frequency adverbs again before I interview. Better do that.

Oh, and last night I carved pumpkins with Nessa. She did a star, I did the NLO onion logo. Pics:

And yes, the "NLO" IS being projected out the back of the pumpkin, thank you for noticing that detail. I've never done a carving this detailed before, and I'm more than satisfied with how it turned out. Well, gotta get back to studying.

じゃあ、また。

More kitties!

2007-10-21T00:01:00.000-06:00

We've been letting the kitties out of their room now. They like to run around, and so we let them have the run of the top floor. We gate off the stairs so they don't run off and get attacked by the dog.

Mandalei likes to play in cabinets.

They also like to watch ladybugs flying around the light fixture. To the left...

To the right...

Mandalei likes to peek over my laptop.

But more often you'll find her sitting in the window.

Recently we even let them outside (on one of the few days it WASN'T cold and rainy). Pearl was reluctant to leave the porch at first.

Eventually they both wandered off far enough away from the porch to warrant leashes, so they got leashes. Mandalei decided to roll on the cement (which was something Nessa's old cat Puddy used to do - Mandalei is a lot like her old cat in many ways).

Pearl, however, decided to bat at a leaf left on a shrub.

Here I am petting Mandalei on the grass while pearl plays with the shrub.

And here I am bringing them back inside in a clothes basket so the dog can't get at them.

Tatty is finally getting used to them being around, and she hardly ever hisses at them anymore. She doesn't like them being all hyper, but she's ok around them now.

So, that's what's been new with the kitties lately... Of course, now they've been in the basement a couple of times, but I don't have pictures of that yet. In fact, they're down in the basement with us right now, cuddling with Nessa on the couch. They're getting used to the new parts of the house pretty quickly, and they keep trying to get into places that we don't expect them to (or want them to... like the kitchen - the dog's domain).

Anyways, there's a post. You can bet there'll be more later.

おやすみなさい。

Friendship

2007-10-17T02:03:00.000-06:00

A friend of mine from high school wrote a message to all her Facebook friends, and I felt compelled to launch into a long-winded diatribe about it. Upon its completion, I decided that it'd make an interesting post, and as such I am here. I promise that I will have more kitten pics eventually, but I'm too lazy to do it now. Sorry. Anyways, here's her original post:

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How, and why do we make friends?

I suppose this may come off as a self-pitying bid for attention to my friendlessness, but it is more of a legitimate question from a mind that is painfully restless.

Is every reason we make friends and relationships completely arbitrary?

It seems that most of the time, we make friends with people just because they're there. Because they happen to be in our classroom or office.

Thinking of the millions of people... the thousands of places I could meet them, the fact that outside of the small circle of what I call my friends, there are possibilities of so many people who are exactly the same, it drives me nuts.

What drives me more nuts is the possibility that perhaps even if I were to format and attempt to track down the perfect friends for myself, they wouldn't exist, anywhere. What limited contact with people I have is the best I'm going to get, unless I just suck it up and make more of it.

It makes more sense to me now- why people believe in things like fate, or a "divine plan". Makes it a lot more reassuring that your life and your loved ones are right for you.

There are too many people in the world. How am I supposed to figure out which of them to befriend?

~~(No, this is not a prelude to creation of an S.O.S-Brigade.)~~

I wonder if finding friends through arbitrary means and struggling to develop (Or sometimes make up what isn't there) further connections with people just because you've snatched them through that small shallow reason. I look at all the subcultures and interest groups I could join and it just seems impossible to imagine how I could find any meaningful relationships.

But then again, as far as text-based friendships go, I've met some of the most amazing people I know through a community based on -cartoons- for krissakes, and perhaps ironically, that is one of the subjects we talk the least about. Do we just need these groups to provide an opening line and mold eachother and ourselves into friends from that starting point?

---------------------------------------------------------------

I responded:

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What you are thinking of here is actually a quite interesting by-product of the information age - biologically speaking, we are hard-wired to form cliques with those around us, as our ancestors never really lived in groups larger than 30-50. Group survival depended on the individuals' willingness to cooperate in order to ensure that those close to them had their needs met. This is called altruism, and modern psychology and genetics agree that the altruistic instinct developed because groups who worked together thrived, whereas individuals failed.

This instinct, however, has a side effect - in-group out-group mentality. The altruistic instinct causes us to favor the group we associate ourselves with over that of others. This is part of the reason that religious and ethnic wars are so abundant in human history.

To get back to your question (after a small tangent), in modern times this instinct compels us to befriend those around us, in spite of how little we may have in common. Since family was historically the only group that one would come into regular contact with in the hunter-gatherer days, the human mind came to associate geographic closeness with interpersonal compatibility. In today's world, we come into contact with so many people that this old axiom is no longer true. Your neighbor could be a far cry away from your own lineage, but your brain is hard-wired to be helpful to those around you, so it's probable that - if you know them well - you would help them move in a heavy piece of furniture or help put out a fire in their yard. That's altruism at work.

So, basically our minds are wired to make friends with those around us because it's helpful to work with those nearby toward a common goal. We help them, they help us.

So, geography and convenience are some of the strongest reasons to make friends. Trustworthiness is a reason to keep friends. It's beneficial for everyone involved to be in a friendship with people near them, so that's helpful in the friend-making process.

Now, the information age has changed this in entirely counterintuitive ways. The internet allows people to connect over vast distances based on mutual interests, mutual ideas, etc. and engage in meaningful, thought provoking dialogue. However, in spite of the level in which we can connect, internet friends mean far less than "real" friends.

What this means is that, in spite of how similar one is to an internet friend of theirs, the value of this friendship will usually be perceived as significantly less than a relationship one has with a friend in real life. This is due to our psychological hard-wiring - we are not wired to work online, we are wired for the real world. This is one of the reasons why many people today feel less connected with each-other than ever before. We are spending less time with people in real life, finding ways to avoid face-to-face contact (like wearing headphones everywhere) and yet we have tools that allow us to connect faster than ever before. We aren't meant to work like that, and it makes us sad.

Now, to end this rant, I'm going to dispense some advice for making new friends (this is written for general consumption, so it may not all apply to you, [name omitted]).

1: Do things. Join groups that do things that interest you. Personally, I'm thinking about joining the brewers' group on campus so I can learn from their experience and maybe meet some guys in Minneapolis to hang out with (I've noticed that I am severely lacking in guy friends lately, and I'm considering expanding my group). Obviously the easiest way to connect with new people is to find a shared interest.
2: Talk to people you don't know. Take off the headphones and bluetooth earpiece and start a conversation. Who knows where you might find someone interesting? In class, In line at the bank, At a café...
3: Go places. Places you've never been. Don't get lost, but if you do don't hesitate to ask for directions. Talk with someone who seems bored. Pleasant conversation never hurts anyone.

That's all I can think of right now. Making new friends is kind of like dating, in a way. You're looking for someone to depend on. Someone who will take care of your pets when you're on vacation. Someone to kick back and watch T.V. (or knit, whatever floats your boat) with on weekends. It's a relationship, pure and simple, and if you get over the awkward humanity involved in the process of meeting someone, it's pretty easy. Just like dating, not everyone we meet is a keeper, that's just the way it is. We keep the good and leave the bad. All the while, we must remember that we are all human, and no one is perfect. The key here is to find people who we can be comfortable around 90% of the time, and to do that we have to meet people first.

But for the most part, we usually all end up with a lot of friends who we pick up for arbitrary reasons, and I personally like that fact. If it weren't for that, I wouldn't have ever been friends with [name omitted] or [name omitted] .

That's just the way life seems to be. I wouldn't worry about it too much. We all seem to find out what's best for us (or at least what's good for us).

In conclusion,

Friendship is like an ointment -
When you've been stung by fifty bees,
Wherever you rub it
You know it feels better
Because it's a topical analgesic.
--Brak
(of "The Brak Show")

Maybe that's relevant, maybe not. Such is the mystery of my 3 AM ranting.

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I don't know why I felt compelled to respond to the note, and I don't know if I told her what she wanted to hear, but I hope that it was interesting and enlightening. Failing that, I hope it was coherent. I really had no aim in mind in writing all of that, and in order to do it I had to post seven replies (damn you, character limit!). So yeah. I hope it interested someone.

Oh, and go easy on me if I got some facts wrong or if I explained altruism ineffectually and/or mildly incorrectly - the friend in question is mormon, and I don't know if evolutionary biology is a sore spot for her. I'm pretty sure it isn't, but I'm not one to upset friends over religion... anymore. Complete strangers, however...

Also, to those of you who would criticize me for implying that a discussion involving evolutionary biology would end up being a religious argument, go fuck yourselves. When I talk about evolutionary biology, especially in the case of altruism, I always end up implying that altruism is proof that humans were not created by a god, and this often leads into debate. Oh, and if anyone tries to use the Intelligent Design non-theory on me, I can't help but to roll my eyes so hard that they spin around twice. To that end, I try my best not to discuss evolutionary biology with religious friends. In the rare case that I DO talk about evolutionary biology with them, I make damn sure that they're the friends who won't get bent out of shape if the discussion DOES end up in the territory of religion.

Anyways. I'm rambling again. I should probably go to bed.

おやすみなさい。

Update on the kitties

2007-10-15T19:51:00.001-06:00

They do both have names now. The dark one, as previously mentioned, was named first - but we changed the spelling to make it slightly more feminine. Her tag says "Mandalei". Nessa's call, and I'm ok with it. The other one is named Pearl, but we call her pearly. I'll post pics a bit later, but for now I just thought I'd put that up. They've actually been named for quite a bit, but I'm a procrastinator, so I didn't mention it here (not to mention Pearly bit through my laptop's power cord, so I was out of commission for a bit). I'll be posting more about them soon.

In other news, I'm coming up on an interview for the Minneapolis TSA this Thursday. I'm a little apprehensive, but I'm optimistic. I really need the job - I need to make more than minimum wage, and more than six hours a week. I know I'll pass the vision test, I just need to ace the interview.
I've also got a decent job prospect in a cashier position at Aldi. It's closer to home here, and it's only slightly lower pay than the TSA job, so either would be good. Actually, the Aldi job would be more convenient, but I've got a bit of a theory on job applications in my life: The job that I least want will be the one I am offered first. If I like both equally, the lesser in convenience will be the one I get offered. To that end, I will more probably get the TSA job. I'm OK with that, after all, it took a lot to get this far in the application process. I can't really say too much about it - they actually tell you not to tell anyone about what the testing process entails - but I've already spent four hours filling out forms and testing, so it'd be a shame to not get offered the job.

That's all for now.

Derosier's Law

2007-10-15T14:53:00.000-06:00

In Japanese class today, I created (what I presume to be) a new corollary to Murphy's Law (and its various spinoffs). Being the egotistical guy I am, I named it after myself. Here goes:

The most likely time you will be asked a question in class is the moment you are least prepared to do so. Furthermore, it is more likely that you will be asked a question you do not know the answer to, especially when you DO know all of the other answers on the page.

The story here is that I was helping one of my classmates find the page we were on, and as such I was not reading the paragraph along with the class. I was told to continue with the reading, and I had no clue where we were. This is the most recent incident, and be assured that there are many others to point to in order to validate this statement.

Kitties and absenteeism

2007-09-19T13:45:00.001-06:00

First things first, Nessa and I got a pair of kittens yesterday. We've been playing with them quite a bit, and they're very hyper. They're sisters, and both are calico. Since they aren't big enough to brave the larger environment of the house (they were born on 7/7/07), they've been set up in the guest bedroom, and I'd say they're pretty content.

As you can see, they're adorable. Their favorite toy is hands-down the puffy ball-on-a-spring that we got at Petsmart. Whenever one of them wants to play with it, the other has to come and do the same.

They also love the throw on the rocking chair. Mostly for it's tassels.

The mostly black one is called Mandalay, and the other one has no name yet.

I'm at school right now blogging from my laptop whilst in math class, so I have to stop with the cat pictures. It's making me wish I was home a bit more than usual. Such is the life of a college student.

Anyways, it's been a while, internet. How have you been? I've been busy, and now I'm sick. I've got the flu or something, and fortunately the worst is through. Now I just need to kick this cough. Because of both these things and a lack of inspiration for yet another of my signature metaphysical musing posts, I have not posted in a long while. I'm going to try hard to get back in the habit, but I make no promises.

So, there you go. Kitty pics. Awesome comeback post. Feel free to leave cat name ideas in the comment section. The unnamed one is the half-black-half-orange faced one. Later.

Bridge collapse

2007-08-02T21:25:00.000-06:00

Yeah, so I work about 14 blocks away from the I-35w bridge, and I was on the Washington ave. bridge shortly before it happened (two bridges over from I-35w), so I didn't see it fall. I did, however, see the cops rushing the opposite direction of the way I was going. At first, I thought it was just a cop pulling someone over. I was in Minneapolis, and it was an MPD cruiser. Not uncommon. Then I saw two more cruisers burning rubber down the highway. I was thinking fire or shootout. Exciting, but not that noteworthy. I got a bit more concerned when I counted the seventh and eighth cop cars booking it down the road. I had no idea what had happened, but I knew it was big. Later, my mom, sister and girlfriend all called my cell to see if I was OK. Mom called first and I said "Yeah, I'm ok, why?" Then she told me the bridge had collapsed. My first reaction was "Really? No way, that's crazy!"

That was pretty much all I have to say about that. All this really means for me now is that traffic is going to suck for the rest of the month. After that, I get to take MN 10 and 35E to the state fair lot. Then I take the bus. Fun.

First day back at work

2007-07-31T23:10:00.000-06:00

Yes, you read that right. I'm employed again. After about a month, I got a job and am now working again.

Granted, the job is an hour's drive away and I'm still not sure what I'm getting paid yet. I sure hope it's $8/hr or over.

On the plus side, it's another bookstore - an independently owned college bookstore right off campus. The people I work with seem pretty cool, so I'm pretty psyched about it so far. However, it's a hell of a lot more work than I'm used to at the moment - since college is starting in a month, I'm getting trained in by getting thrown into the fire. I unpacked and stocked many books today, helped mail tons of books, took out the trash (and this place goes through lots of trash) and I learned how to search for which class a book is requested on the computer system.

The only drawback for today was the lack of sleep I had last night (read: I didn't sleep) and how tired my feet, arms and calves are (partially due to having to park about 10 blocks away to get free parking. Tomorrow I bike).

Well, since I work tomorrow at 10 (which means I need to leave by 8:30, 9 at latest) I better get to bed. I nap tomorrow afternoon.

Gun Control: Addendum

2007-07-28T19:19:00.000-06:00

I just came across an article that gives statistics in favor of the theory that more armed civilians = less crime. Shockingly less crime. There's a particularly telling case example from Orlando which shows how a publicized (and government assisted) increase in female gun ownership reduced the amount of rape taking place - and none of the women who were given guns even had to shoot them.

This article rules.

Gun Control

2007-07-27T00:30:00.000-06:00

So, the past two days, I've been looking at handguns online, just to kill time (and also because I have a bit of an affinity for the gun, even if I've never really fired a handgun or a rifle other than a .22) and I've finally decided my official stance on the gun control issue. For a while, I was waffling between stricter and looser gun control, and I was also debating (in my mind) the issue of "gun free" zones.

The issue really came to the front of my mind a little while ago due to the Virginia Tech shootings, and I was unimpressed with the heated discourse which took place immediately after the incident. A vicious debate over the issue was taking place on a Crown Victoria appreciator's forum at the time, and neither side was really making much sense in their arguments. There were the pro gun control people (who were admittedly few) calling, of course, for the total outlaw of firearms. There were the crazy gun nuts calling for the armament of every man, woman and child... Well, maybe not child, but their point was that the victims were more or less to blame for not protecting themselves. These were the extremes, and each camp was using the incident to bolster their arguments. I found this reprehensible, and after that incident I was not really interested in that forum anymore. I was not entirely comfortable with the way that the losses incurred by others was being used in a political debate before the bodies were even cold. It sickens me that politics are often like that. Anyways, at that time I didn't take a side because I didn't really know what I felt about human nature.

Recently, however, I was looking at guns online, as I have said, and I was finding myself in the position of having to find justification for wanting to carry a gun on my person. To be honest, the first answer I came up with was the easy one - self defense. But then I wondered to myself why I feel the need to defend myself and those around me. Why don't I trust the police to protect me? Well, that one was a little harder, but it only took a second to come up with an answer - The police aren't always going to be there, and I'd rather have to stand trial for killing someone in self-defense than be outlined in chalk.

But then again, I could just carry a knife on me, couldn't I?

Well, I often do. More out of utility than self-defense purposes, but I definitely considered self-defense purposes when I bought my knives. However, the old adage says it best - "Never bring a knife to a gunfight".

Now, this leads in to the politics of the gun. While it may be useful to have a self-defense pistol, wouldn't it be better to just outlaw the gun? After all, if no one has guns, then no one can shoot anyone, right? Right. Unfortunately, this will never be the case. Even if we outlaw all guns, criminals will buy them off the black market - after all, if we can't control the drug trade, how will we ever expect to be able to stop the black market gun trade? True, drugs are a bigger market, but I suspect that has something to do with the fact that they are outlawed. Criminals are adept at breaking the law. Bans have never worked to stop the production and trade of the items which are banned. Prohibition, war on drugs, and guns - if ever we ban them.

Another bullet point here (pardon the pun) is that of the American hunter. Hunting is a tradition in America, heralding back to the days of the settlers. It's a multi-million dollar industry, and it's not going away any time soon. While I never really understood the need to kill the deer, I understand many other types of hunting, and I can understand how it could be fun to some. I'm not a fan of killing things, personally, but to each his own. The point is, there are many hunters who would scream bloody murder if their firearms were taken away. It would not be a pretty sight. So, as long as there is hunting, there will be long arms (rifles and shotguns), and any gun can be used by criminals to kill people.

So, since we can't outlaw them, why can't we increase waiting periods? Why can't we tighten restrictions?

Well, in the case of the VT shooting, neither would have done a bit of difference. He had purchased the gun long before he ever used it to kill - I had heard a month at least - so waiting periods are worthless here. As for tighter restrictions? If you have ever seen the restrictions which would bar you from obtaining a gun, they are actually quite sensible. No felons, no crazies, no shit. The VT killer had not been committed in the past, and had no prior convictions. Nor had he a substance abuse history. His record was clean. What possible restriction could there be that would have kept him from getting a gun? There's no way the law could have seen his intent. Even if he had bought tons of ammo or a couple extra clips, that's not unusual. Tons of law-abiding citizens make the same purchases when buying a self-defense weapon (which is exactly what he bought). Usually, people who buy bulk ammo are going to practice in a range, and it's easier to reload three clips at once than refill one clip three times. There were no real red flags for the gun seller, from what I have read about the situation.

So, essentially my position on this incident is that the blame is 75% on the shooter himself for allowing himself to get to the state of mind where it is acceptable to kill innocent bystanders, and 25% on the teachers and survivors who came out after the fact saying "I always thought the kid was fucked up". The safety net failed him.

Wow. Long post. Kind of rambling. I'll get to the point.

I am now a proponent of conceal and carry laws because they allow law-abiding men and women to carry a life-saving tool on their person, and the knowledge that 1 out of every 3 citizens could be armed may in some cases be a deterrent to criminal activity. I have read the statistics that prove that conceal and carry laws help deter crime, and those are proof enough to me. Beyond that, I'd personally feel safer if everyone around me was carrying a gun and was trained in its use. This fact alone would make me confident that no shit would start near me, or if it did it would stop shortly thereafter.

Also, the issue of "gun free zones" comes into play here. Virginia Tech is a "gun free zone", and as such CCW holders are not allowed to carry guns on campus. Obviously, since the VT killer was intent on shooting people, the signs did not deter him from bringing his guns on campus with him. He was able to kill over 30 unarmed people (though few of them, if any, were probably CCW holders) and none of those law abiding citizens were able to fire back. Any one of those victims might have been able to take him down and save the rest, but none of them had a gun on them. Eventually, he took himself out, but he could have been taken out faster. Point here is that gun free zones do not make anyone safer. Criminals will bring their guns with them, and if you disarm law-abiding citizens, you make them easy prey. So, to sum this paragraph up, I oppose gun free zones.

Now, what about the children? Wouldn't all this access to guns make the risk of accidents tons higher? Well, possibly, given that some people are idiots and would leave their guns in a place where their kids could get them. However, in an ideal world, parents would teach their kids about firearm safety at a young age. Furthermore, adults who own a gun should own a locking gun safe for the guns they don't carry, and keep their carry gun on them at all times. With both of these rules followed constantly, the children should be just as safe as if the guns weren't there, maybe even moreso. I feel it's especially important to teach the children gun safety at an early age so that they follow good habits even if you aren't there to watch them - for instance, say your kid goes to a friend's house. There, they find a gun that the other kid's dad left in a shoebox under the bed. If your child knows proper gun safety, he will know not to play with it - he will treat it as a loaded weapon, and tell the other kid not to play with it. If the kid had not known gun safety, he might have tried to play cops and robbers, and it would only end in tears.

The point of all this is as follows: I want to own a gun, and my girlfriend had previously said that there was no way in hell that she would have a gun in her house. After I used some of these points, I have changed her opinion to an "Ok, maybe". Her point is really that she wants our future kids to be safe. I do too. That's why I decided that a gun safe is a really good idea.

Another point is that I oppose all these public safety measures on the grounds that they do not make anyone safer. These laws are simply the trade of freedoms for the illusion of safety. Yes, I'm a freedom nut. Why isn't all of America? Isn't this the land of the free? Sometimes it doesn't feel that way.

First Sale

2007-07-23T20:05:00.000-06:00

First off, once again I apologize for my absenteeism. I have been busy as of late, and as a result I have again slacked on the posting.

Anyways, in the event that someone still reads this blog (and I don't blame anyone who's stopped checking - it's kind of boring around here right now), I just thought I'd like to share the fact that Ossia Jewelry has sold its first pendant. I'm glad that it was my favorite one, too - the Beretta one. I had to go out today and buy some padded envelopes to ship it out in, and tomorrow I'm going to the post office. I'm very glad that I finally sold something. This has inspired me to make some more this week, and maybe I'll sell some more by the end of the week. The next few are going to be smaller, and I'm going to see if the $20 price point gets more views and/or buyers.

Also, I interviewed for an Asset Protection job at Target, and I'm waiting to see if I got the job. I should know by Wednesday. If I start making an income, I might have more thoughts to post, so it might get more interesting around here again. Cross your fingers (or don't, I doubt anyone reading this blog for my thoughts and questions regarding science/metaphysics/whatever is superstitious).

Also, since I'm already here, last night my girlfriend and I had the unique experience of officially timing out cars at the Sherburne County Fair Demolition Derby. Basically, since I have two family members on the Sherburne county fair board, I got to take Nessa up to the crow's nest, grab a stopwatch and get assigned a car to watch. If a car hadn't moved for a minute, either Nessa or I simply yelled at the announcer, and he would call out their number and tell them to pull their stick. It may not seem like much, but it greatly added to our enjoyment of the event to be able to affect the outcome of the competition. Also, in spite of our raised position, we still had a bit of dirt kicked up at us when one car totally slammed into another right in front of the crow's nest. That incident was one of my two favorites, alongside another one in which a pink car got pushed up on to a concrete barrier (which got knocked over by the impact), got stuck, freed itself and backed full speed into another car. Actually, another good part of the event was when a car with racist slogans painted all over it (driven by an asshole, so my sister - who registered him - said) was ganged up on by every driver in the ring. Serves him right for being a bigoted douchebag. And an idiot. Did he really think that people wouldn't know exactly what the SS runes meant? I mean, he might as well have just put a tilted swastika on the hood and doors of his car, it's the same damn thing.

Anyways, it was a good time. I love the county fair. I'm hoping that in the next couple of years I can get on the fair board myself. Then when I work the west gate people wouldn't try to argue with me about parking and dropping shit off, because I'll have authority. Crabby fuckers.

My sister's wedding

2007-07-08T23:38:00.000-06:00

As the title suggests, my sister got married recently (07/07/07). Not much to report on in that area, other than the fact that I think this wedding was ill-advised, but in the end it's really not my place to tell my sister how to live her life. Maybe it'll end up being good for them, but deep in the back of my mind Marvin the depressed robot is saying "It will only end in tears".

Anyways, enough about whether or not it SHOULD have happened, now on to how it DID happen.

It was a courthouse wedding, and it was a pretty brief ceremony. It really seemed like it was just a play or something. It had no air of gravitas. It was attended by only the parents of husband and wife, me and my girlfriend, the maid of honor, her husband, and two of my sister's husband's friends. I just realized that that means there were 13 in attendance... unless the photographer counts as an attendee.

Anyways, afterwards we all went to Maple Grove and ate at Buca di Beppo (I hope I got the name right. I'd hate to be proving that I learned nothing in the semester of Italian I took in college). It was a great meal, and I got the leftovers (because it was all desserts and my sister didn't want them, nor did my parents, and since they paid they got to choose what to do with the leftovers). The ravioli was great, and the tiramisu reminded me of why I like rum (Hint: it's the flavor, dummy!). If I'd have known just how terrible the wine dad picked would be, I'd have had him order me a rum and coke, but I thought that a good red would go well with the meal. The wine was highly acidic and tasted far too young. If I remembered what it was, I'd tell everyone to steer clear of it. Call me a snob, but I know what I like in a wine. That wasn't it.

Anyways, that night I finally finished polishing my jewelry and posted it on Etsy. Go there and check it out. Three guns, a grenade and a cross. (I know, some of you might ask "Why a cross?" Well, the answer is that it was the first thing that came to mind when I wanted to test my tools out, and I know it'll probably sell OK considering that everywhere I go I see women with cross necklaces.) If you see something you like, please buy it. If you don't see something that you'd buy, let me know and I'll make it for you. This concludes the begging portion of my blog.

Oh, also...

Quiz results (Because I do everything Mike from "Mike's Weekly Skeptic Rant" does):

You Are Very Skeptical

Your personal motto is: "Prove it."

While some ideas, like life after death, may seem nice...

You aren't going to believe them simply because it feels good.

You let science and facts be your guide... Even if it means you don't share the beliefs of those around you.

How Skeptical Are You?