when you find why you
do what you do, then reasons
become excuses
Sunday, March 07, 2010
Saturday, March 06, 2010
Friday, March 05, 2010
holy shit
It's bullshit like this that makes me wish Jesus really would come back, 'cause I'm pretty sure he'd kick their asses all over the marketplace.
Wednesday, March 03, 2010
joke
The doctor asked if any of the members of my family suffer from insanity.
I said, "No. They all seem to enjoy it."
I said, "No. They all seem to enjoy it."
Monday, March 01, 2010
a question for Republicans
okay, here's a question that I'd like to ask Republicans: Why do they oppose climate change legislation so adamantly?
In strictly political terms, it doesnt seem like a very good strategy. Let's consider a couple of scenarios:
1) The climate change folks win the battle, and fifty years from now, it turns out all to have been a lot of shouting about nothing. What's the worst case outcome? We've spent a lot of money making the planet a much cleaner place, and the Democrats (the ones who actually listen to their base, that is) look like a bunch of big-spending Chicken Littles.
2) Republicans and other climate change skeptics/deniers win the battle, and it turns out that the Earth actually is getting warmer. What's the worst outcome? Regardless of the reason for the global temperature increase, Republicans are known as the party that not only did nothing to change things, but actively battled to not try to change things. As coasts drown, crops wither and mighty storms take a greater toll, people look around for someone to blame. Think they'll choose Al Gore for not warning folks urgently enough?
Really, I can only think of one reason to oppose the various things that need to be done to attempt to alleviate the threat of global warming.
Money.
Certainly there is no other threat from turning to greener energy sources. It's good for the air, it's good for jobs growth, and it gives America a chance to regain our scientific prowess from Indian and Chinese incursion. It also makes us less dependent on (and vulnerable to) that moneypit (and life-pit) we call the Middle East.
That's all. I have no coherent thought about how to stop these mammon-worshipers. The answer is obvious and simple - just dont vote for them - and yet they keep getting elected anyhow. How does one address so obviously a suicidal impulse, just for the gathering of more filthy lucre? Especially when their death-wish takes others with them?
I guess the only thing a thinking person can do at this point is take names. The ass kicking will have to come later. At least there's a high chance that they'll deserve it.
In strictly political terms, it doesnt seem like a very good strategy. Let's consider a couple of scenarios:
1) The climate change folks win the battle, and fifty years from now, it turns out all to have been a lot of shouting about nothing. What's the worst case outcome? We've spent a lot of money making the planet a much cleaner place, and the Democrats (the ones who actually listen to their base, that is) look like a bunch of big-spending Chicken Littles.
2) Republicans and other climate change skeptics/deniers win the battle, and it turns out that the Earth actually is getting warmer. What's the worst outcome? Regardless of the reason for the global temperature increase, Republicans are known as the party that not only did nothing to change things, but actively battled to not try to change things. As coasts drown, crops wither and mighty storms take a greater toll, people look around for someone to blame. Think they'll choose Al Gore for not warning folks urgently enough?
Really, I can only think of one reason to oppose the various things that need to be done to attempt to alleviate the threat of global warming.
Money.
Certainly there is no other threat from turning to greener energy sources. It's good for the air, it's good for jobs growth, and it gives America a chance to regain our scientific prowess from Indian and Chinese incursion. It also makes us less dependent on (and vulnerable to) that moneypit (and life-pit) we call the Middle East.
That's all. I have no coherent thought about how to stop these mammon-worshipers. The answer is obvious and simple - just dont vote for them - and yet they keep getting elected anyhow. How does one address so obviously a suicidal impulse, just for the gathering of more filthy lucre? Especially when their death-wish takes others with them?
I guess the only thing a thinking person can do at this point is take names. The ass kicking will have to come later. At least there's a high chance that they'll deserve it.
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
huh?
Two brains? I'd believe that, actually.
Funny the things you find while searching randomly for images.
sigh
Just read this in an article:
Rugged individualism is great, but a society, despite what conservatives like to delude themselves of, is a collective. It is a banding together of the members of that nation to improve the collective lot of all. Yes, sometimes the "undeserving" benefit from the hard work of others, but the same is true in any form of society.
We have more than enough money in this country, held most in a the hands of a few (who've engineered themselves into the position of being the only ones who benefited from the Bush years), but our "leadership" is either afraid to raise their taxes or owned by them outright. Never mind that taxes have been higher during the Clinton years, or much much higher during that Golden Age that so many would like to return to, the 50's (when, I might add, Republicans tried to cut military budgets, and it was Democrats who tended to get us into wars).
Our problem, in almost every issue in America, is not a lack of money, but a lack of will to spend it in a useful manner. How many billions are spent on elective plastic surgery, pet luxuries, fancy car wheels, single-use packaging, or ridiculous prepared foods (frozen oatmeal, anyone)?
sigh.
Oh well, that's it, I'm done ranting now. I dont know why I even bother, really. There's not much point in doing it, since the only difference anymore between how we get screwed seems to be that the Republicans do it harder and faster.
I've grown disheartened by what I see our "leaders" doing. Nothing seems to be done for anyone but the richest of us, and this is all justified by the idea that it's not right to take away "their" money, as if they had earned it all by their own labor.
I'm done with this place, it's dead at the roots, replaced with the Wild West and run my mental teenagers and sociopaths. If you care about your children, urge them to move to Europe, where they actually still believe in society. They may not have our Constitution, but that just means that no one can twist it around to suit their purposes.
A small news item from Tracy, Calif., caught my eye last week. Local station CBS 13 reported: “Tracy residents will now have to pay every time they call 911 for a medical emergency. But there are a couple of options. Residents can pay a $48 voluntary fee for the year, which allows them to call 911 as many times as necessary. Or there’s the option of not signing up for the annual fee. Instead they will be charged $300 if they make a call for help.”Seriously, America is dead. If this is the future (and it is if Republican dreams come true) then we have ceased to be a society, and have become a nation of anarchists.
Rugged individualism is great, but a society, despite what conservatives like to delude themselves of, is a collective. It is a banding together of the members of that nation to improve the collective lot of all. Yes, sometimes the "undeserving" benefit from the hard work of others, but the same is true in any form of society.
We have more than enough money in this country, held most in a the hands of a few (who've engineered themselves into the position of being the only ones who benefited from the Bush years), but our "leadership" is either afraid to raise their taxes or owned by them outright. Never mind that taxes have been higher during the Clinton years, or much much higher during that Golden Age that so many would like to return to, the 50's (when, I might add, Republicans tried to cut military budgets, and it was Democrats who tended to get us into wars).
Our problem, in almost every issue in America, is not a lack of money, but a lack of will to spend it in a useful manner. How many billions are spent on elective plastic surgery, pet luxuries, fancy car wheels, single-use packaging, or ridiculous prepared foods (frozen oatmeal, anyone)?
sigh.
Oh well, that's it, I'm done ranting now. I dont know why I even bother, really. There's not much point in doing it, since the only difference anymore between how we get screwed seems to be that the Republicans do it harder and faster.
I've grown disheartened by what I see our "leaders" doing. Nothing seems to be done for anyone but the richest of us, and this is all justified by the idea that it's not right to take away "their" money, as if they had earned it all by their own labor.
I'm done with this place, it's dead at the roots, replaced with the Wild West and run my mental teenagers and sociopaths. If you care about your children, urge them to move to Europe, where they actually still believe in society. They may not have our Constitution, but that just means that no one can twist it around to suit their purposes.
Monday, February 22, 2010
plagerized
Breaking: rich people are rich, pay no taxes.
Stolen directly from Gerry Canavan, because this is important.
And while I'm at it, I'll rerun this cartoon, which I think says just about everything about the exploitation of workers and Republican claims about taxes taking "their" money.
Oh, and this one, too, what the hell.
It's always a "class war" when poor people say that the rich dont deserve their wealth, but no one ever says the same thing when a working person is denied a living wage, or has their job eliminated in order to make the company extra profit.
Stolen directly from Gerry Canavan, because this is important.
And while I'm at it, I'll rerun this cartoon, which I think says just about everything about the exploitation of workers and Republican claims about taxes taking "their" money.
Oh, and this one, too, what the hell.
It's always a "class war" when poor people say that the rich dont deserve their wealth, but no one ever says the same thing when a working person is denied a living wage, or has their job eliminated in order to make the company extra profit.
Saturday, February 20, 2010
eek
Wow, so, here's an article to invoke the paranoid in all of us. Seems a school in Pennsylvania was using the webcam on school issued laptop computers to spy on its students. This, of course, leads to the questions "who else is doing this?" and "are they doing it to me?".
Bonus Paranoia: The new iPod Nano comes with a webcam. How hard would it be to load each of those with a program that would take pictures and send them on to somewhere whenever the Nano was hooked up to the computer?
OhGodMoreParanoia Bonus: Phones almost all have cameras on them these days. Where does it end? Oh, and they can track you with them, too.
via Gerry Canavan
Okay, seriously, it seems possible that the school was not spying on the kid in his home using the webcam. Possible. If you read the comments, you'll find some from actual kids who went to the school saying that the cam-light on their computers sometimes went on at random times. True? Or runaway imaginations? It's also said that the computer in question was reported stolen, which may also be true, or not.
All that is irrelevent to the simple idea that someone can access your webcam, and take an image of you and whatever is in front of the camera. According to some of the commenters, it's a fairly simple hack, easily done, deliverable through the usual malware that infests the internet at all times.
Oh, and your antivirus and antispyware - dont count on those, because they can only alert you to the ones they know about (or are allowed to block).
Bonus Paranoia: The new iPod Nano comes with a webcam. How hard would it be to load each of those with a program that would take pictures and send them on to somewhere whenever the Nano was hooked up to the computer?OhGodMoreParanoia Bonus: Phones almost all have cameras on them these days. Where does it end? Oh, and they can track you with them, too.
via Gerry Canavan
Okay, seriously, it seems possible that the school was not spying on the kid in his home using the webcam. Possible. If you read the comments, you'll find some from actual kids who went to the school saying that the cam-light on their computers sometimes went on at random times. True? Or runaway imaginations? It's also said that the computer in question was reported stolen, which may also be true, or not.
All that is irrelevent to the simple idea that someone can access your webcam, and take an image of you and whatever is in front of the camera. According to some of the commenters, it's a fairly simple hack, easily done, deliverable through the usual malware that infests the internet at all times.
Oh, and your antivirus and antispyware - dont count on those, because they can only alert you to the ones they know about (or are allowed to block).
Friday, February 19, 2010
iPod love
Tonight, unfortunately, my iPod is dead. Well, not dead, by now it's probably fully charged, but at home. I, on the other hand, am at work, where my co-worker in this part of the plant has elected to play an oldies station, meaning I have to listen, again, to songs which I've been hearing for over thirty fucking years!!!
Have I ever expressed my disdain for commercial radio here on my blog? I hate commercial radio. I hate the djs and their idiotic patter. I hate their limited playlists calculated to please the lowest common denominator. I hate the commercials, interupting the flow and trying to sell me some sort of shit that I do not ever want.
Public radio is okay, though, especially KTX here in Dallas (or on the internet).
My favorite "radio station" is my iPod, because "they" play only songs I like, in a large variety, and there are no commercials. Alas, tonight I do not have that option.
Oh goodie. Bon Jovi. Again.
Have I ever expressed my disdain for commercial radio here on my blog? I hate commercial radio. I hate the djs and their idiotic patter. I hate their limited playlists calculated to please the lowest common denominator. I hate the commercials, interupting the flow and trying to sell me some sort of shit that I do not ever want.
Public radio is okay, though, especially KTX here in Dallas (or on the internet).
My favorite "radio station" is my iPod, because "they" play only songs I like, in a large variety, and there are no commercials. Alas, tonight I do not have that option.
Oh goodie. Bon Jovi. Again.
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