Musings { Blogasm

I don't know where this is going, I just thought I would drop a stream of consciousness all up in here.

I turn 31 next week. I am a little bummed about it, but only because I am no longer in my 20s. 30 has not been bad at all and I will miss it. For my birthday all I really want is to see my parents. So I think I will.

4 days later I travel with Nerdwife and Celesathene for 20+ hours on a road trip to Idaho for a friends wedding, then hurry back for the guy hanging sheet rock to advance completion of the 'Nerd Lair'. Both Nerdwife and I both look forward to splitting our offices so we can each have a little more room. I right now consume more than my fair share as I have a lot of bulky computer things.

My cat Muffy is getting old. She is 14 and I have had her for 13 years. She has developed a hyper-active thyroid, not uncommon in older cats, but it has required a change of diet and medication. Giving cats medication is unpleasant for all involved. Muffy especially is a wily, hyper-intelligent cat that has a supernatural ability to turn to liquid on command, she can open doors and ooze out of tight holds with the greatest of ease. Wrap her in a towel? Whomever came up with that idea for managing a tough cat can bite my ass. All it manages to do is turn the cat and towel into a feline cannon as cat grabs purchase and shoots out at warp 9.

I have been playing the game 'X3: the Reunion' a lot, it is an amazing game where you get a ship, some credits and from there the rest is up to you. I have amassed a trading flotilla and have multiple factories. I am currently engaged in exploring uncharted sectors and opening new trade routes. It is completely open ended. But it has Starforce copy protection which bites, and I didn't realize it until after I had installed the game and played for a while. I hate Starforce, but became too attached to the game to uninstall it and bring it back.

Here is my reading list:
New York Times (daily)
Coffee: A Dark History by Anthony Wild
Pirates on an Adventure with Scientists by Gideon Defoe


I have only nerded 3 times this summer.

I have put on almost 350 miles on my bike this summer in 5-12 mile trips around town.

I have not lost any weight, but I feel better.

We joined a CSA (community supported agriculture) and I have eaten more vegetables than in the last 4 summers combined.

I have been actively working to bring about change in the political arena and break this Republican stranglehold on our lives.

I have watched a lot of movies thanks to Netflix

Notable movies I've seen:
Eraserhead
Blue Velvet
Jesus is Magic
Aristocrats
Cafe Luminare
M
The Battle for Algiers
Bio Zombie

Notable movies I've seen in the theater:
none, Clerks II was good, but nothing has stood out for me since the Film Festival last year (I missed it this year).

'Snakes on a Plane' was better than I was expecting, but it was still a terrible movie, but I laughed hard and the theater was filled with people who went and did not take the movie serious, which made it a fun carnival atmosphere, much like when I saw Star Trek 10.

My best musical finds this summer:

Shiny Toy Guns
Ladytron
Yuki
Telepop


Concerts I've seen this year:
Yeah Yeah Yeahs


Plays I've seen:
none, its been a slow year for me and the theater.

Museums I've visited:
Walker Art Center
Minneapolis Institue of Art

Fishing, lots of fishing this summer. I convinced a few co-workers to go with me after work, which has been a dream of mine since I worked at Acxiom. I don't keep anything, but it is fun to be out on the water. A couple of my co-workers are fly-fishers and are willing to teach me.

Trips planned:
Idaho
LISA 2006 in Washington DC
Europe?

Podcasts I listen to:
Evil Genious Chronicles
Off the Hook by 2600
Not Your Usual Bullocks
Thing a Week
This Week in Tech
EFF Line Noise
NPR Science Friday
Rocketboom
Doctor Who: Podshock
Minnesota Stories
Ask a Ninja
Hope is Emo
Microbe World
Universe Today
Radio 360

Blogs and News:
City Pages
Alternet
BoingBoing
Wonderland
Aggro Me
The Register
Slate Magazine
Salon.com
Nuketown
Rootprompt

I can't wait for Battlestar Galactica to restart.

To quote T.S. Elliot in 'The Lovesong of J. Alfred Proofrock':

And would it have been worth it, after all,
Would it have been worth while,
After the sunsets and the dooryards and the sprinkled streets,
After the novels, after the teacups, after the skirts that trail along the floor --
And this, and so much more?--
It is impossible to say just what I mean!
But as if a magic lantern threw the nerves in patterns on a screen:
Would it have been worth while
If one, settling a pillow or throwing off a shawl,
And turning toward the window, should say:
"That is not it at all,
That is not what I meant, at all."

No! I am not Prince Hamlet, nor was meant to be;
Am an attendant lord, one that will do
To swell a progress, start a scene or two,
Advise the prince; no doubt, an easy tool,
Deferential, glad to be of use,
Politic, cautious, and meticulous;
Full of high sentence, but a bit obtuse;
At times, indeed, almost ridiculous--
Almost, at times, the Fool.

I grow old ... I grow old ...
I shall wear the bottoms of my trousers rolled.

Musings { Planet / Plantato

An interesting debate is raging as Astronomers meet for their triannual conference in Prague, it revolves around the definition of what a planet is and what properties would make a celestial body a planet. The debate was started by the astronomical troublemaker Pluto who is know for its celestial deliquency (i.e. refuses to stay beyond Neptune) and ability to talk galatic-smack (often making fun of Uranus).

Depending upon how the committee decides, we could have as little as 8 planets, or as many as 53. Various factions feel there should be 10, since the discovery of 2003 UB313 in 2003, while others feel damn near anything in the inner rings and Kuiper Belt should be considered planet or planetoid.

A draft definition that I am seeing floated about is the one where a planet is defined by an object that has sufficent gravity that it forms a sphere and whose orbit revolves around a star. That seems simple enough.

This is one of those debates that re-ignites my interest in Astronomy.

MVEMJSUNP2k3 peace out!

Musings { Before I knew it SoDak turned evil

Well not evil. But they are becoming a poster child for the Administration's idea of a conservative christian pro-life gun-toting utopia. Before when you would hear about schools teaching creationism, banning abortion, and generally all the other dogmatic principles that follow the ultra-right's agenda they would usually be in places farther away than next door, places like Florida (where a Bush rules), Texas, or various places in the deep south. But that all started to change with the fairly recent 'intelligent design' cirriculum in the Kansas school board (note that most of those on the school board that implement this policy were just defenistrated and replaced). Even Ohio has fallen. But before I knew it South Dakota has become a bastion of this new agenda. NoDak, SoDak, MN, Iowa, and WI used to be a cluster of rationalism in the upper Midwest, often fiscally conservative, but almost always socially liberal. But since the fall of farming, or rather the corporatization of agriculture, things have been changing. Here are the items I refer to in illustration of my point:

1) The hardcore pro-life legislation banning abortion (even criminalizing it).
2) The death penalty.
3) 'Shoot first' gun legislation allowing the use of deadly force in the defense of property against a fellow person, as well as conceal and carry.


I will not go back into my feelings about the apparent paradox with being 'pro-life' and pro-capital punishment, nor supporting the ability to take life in the defense of property (in my opinion nothing I own is worth another human's life). The only thing they are missing to be a full fledge member of the right-wing utopia is 'intelligent design' legislation.

What happened SoDak? Your neighbor to the east is concerned.

[Poetry] The Call of Nocturnal Chirps

Oh, tiny cricket!
Leggy bug with built in tweeters
and sensory antennae
getting signals from space
how you do holla
how do you cheep
Outside my window
Louder than the sirens of 5-Oh
Louder than the belligerent drunks using the payphone
Underneath the lake out back
In the alley of grass
You cry to deaf heaven
You change rhythm with the temperature
You wake the dead and annoy the living
Treble twangs pierce single pane glass
Yet still you go on
wings of the male making a cacophony of nature

But ah, there is silence
A pause and respite
you go quiet in the
early hours
of the morning
on the way up time's gallows
an introspection
a second thought

Back again now, you are emboldened
to chatter the conversance
of insect cocktail parties

then silent again, but fleeting moments

a blast of courage
the whisper becomes oratory
shaddup

Oh, how I wish to visit you
in neighborly habitat
with a can of hairspray and a lighter
and burn your song to a cinder

Musings { On Being Scared

There was a link to the KungFu Monkey blog in this month's Cryptogram with a commentary on being scared. I suggest you read it.

A taste:

Maybe it's just, I cast my eyes back on the last century ...

FDR: Oh, I'm sorry, was wiping out our entire Pacific fleet supposed to intimidate us? We have nothing to fear but fear itself, and right now we're coming to kick your ass with brand new destroyers riveted by waitresses. How's that going to feel?

CHURCHILL: Yeah, you keep bombing us. We'll be in the pub, flipping you off. I'm slapping Rolls-Royce engines into untested flying coffins to knock you out of the skies, and then I'm sending angry Welshmen to burn your country from the Rhine to the Polish border.

US. NOW: BE AFRAID!! Oh God, the Brown Bad people could strike any moment! They could strike ... NOW!! AHHHH. Okay, how about .. NOW!! AAGAGAHAHAHHAG! Quick, do whatever we tell you, and believe whatever we tell you, or YOU WILL BE KILLED BY BROWN PEOPLE!! PUT DOWN THAT SIPPY CUP!!

... and I'm just a little tired of being on the wrong side of that historical arc.

Metaphysical { My ennui will end?

This week's horoscope for me (from Free Will Astrology):

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): Of all the times in your life when you have been in captivity, this has to be one of the least arduous and frustrating ever. I'll go so far as to say that I have rarely seen a more beautiful prisoner than you; for a drudge in bondage, you're ravishing. As hard as it may be to contemplate, however, it's almost time to escape. Your dark though sexy night of the soul will soon come to an end. Don't you dare linger any longer than you have to.

Casual Friday { Conspiracy Hour

"This short movie was an entry in the June 2006 Minneapolis 48 Hour Film Project the genre picked was Sci-Fi, the required prop was a wallet, the required line of dialog was, "Thanks for you help, thanks a lot." the required character was a DJ Frank Mooney" (note: I originally found a link to this via the 'Northern Misfit' blog and liked it so much I thought I would post it here) The '48 Hour Film Project' is a great indie film contest where filmmakers are given a prop, a phrase, a genre, and a line and have 48 hours to make a short film around it. A few years ago, an actor friend of mine Blaine Lemke starred in a film about a Morgue Tech who falls in love with a cadaver and form a relationship and have a grand day out. Very creative stuff.

[Security] The future of travel

I've placed this idea into the public domain before, and I'll do so again now.

"How long until airline travel will entail being stripped naked and sedated for the entire flight?"

My mother thinks the airlines would be nice enough to provide minimalist garments, like hospital gowns, prison jumpsuits, or those paper garments that some police departments give prostitutes. (quick aside - Japanese businessmen would often take off their pants and fly in their underwear during long international flights, at least according to someone who worked in the industry a while back)

Seriously, the potential for sexual abuse of sedated and/or naked passengers, medical complications from sedative, etc. don't make this joke suggestion at all likely, but we seem to be getting to the point where there will be no carry-on luggage at all, a near-strip search will be required of all passengers (or its terrahertz imaging equiv.), and waits to get on a plane are at least a third of the waking day.

Will bus and train travel follow up with similar rules? How long until we require passports to travel between states, much less out of the country?

How much will this end up costing us, in time, and money, and how much security would we actually gain? I for one am looking forward to hearing what Bruce Schneier has to say.

Any bets on the timetable for some of these security "enhancements"?

News { In the News and Tinfoil Hats

Top Story: The British raided and arrested 21 suspects tied to a plot to mix and detonate liquid explosives carried on to trans-atlantic flights in beverage containers and personal electronics. While this is a serious threat, it is too early for me to have an informed opinion as to what happened because all we have is some sketchy information and what I've heard has been soured because the DHS and the Administration are already starting to beat the FUD drum (some have said the 'Al-Qaeda' word) to whip up fear and concerns instead of telling us the facts in a calm an non-sensational way. MSP was like a police state this morning with increased visible and heavily armed police patrolling. All carry on luggage is banned for the time being in Britain and no beverages, makeup, toothpaste, but carry ons are still allowed on domestic flights. On flights to Britain, electronic devices are not allowed in carry on.

If this was a serious threat I thank the British authorities for disarming a potentially deadly situation.

And now for some coincidences (tinfoil hat time):

Coincidence #1 - the Oliver Stone film "World Trade Center" opens today. Time to pick at that wound. People going to see this movie should remember what happens (though I question the timing of its release) and should also think long and hard about what we've become as a people since 9/11.

Coincidence #2 - the fallout of the Lieberman unseat in the Conneticut primary is being decreed as a 'referendum on the war and on the President', Republicans are not trending well and have a chance to loose many of their seats. The only card they have to play is National security and the Fear card.

Other News: The NRA is circulating and lobbying in many states for a new "Shoot-First" bill which strengthens victim's response rights, so much so it allows for shooting people in defense of property and not of self and no longer has the clause calling for retreat if possible instead of armed response. The first instance of this bill was in Florida, it is this law that the others are being modelled after. What disturbs me is that South Dakota has this legislature and North Dakota and Minnesota are being targetted by the NRA and other firearm advocacy groups for similar legislation. My take is this is a continuation of the 'Conceal and Carry' law that was not popular in MN but was passed anyway. I question how arming society makes us safer or more peaceful.

Politics { ACLU Pizza Ad...

Funny and disturbing...according to the 'Streets of Pizza' blog, pizza delivery places have a system that while not as extreme as the ACLU ad, contain a lot of information. When we used to order pizza's from our favorite places in St Paul, they all knew our number, address, and whether we were good tippers or not (we are). A lot of information, all garnered without our knowledge and via implied consent.

http://www.aclu.org/pizza/

Musings { Dream vs Reality, part deux

My dream work day:

06:00 alarm, get up feed the pets, start a pot of coffee, shave, shower

07:00-08:00 read the paper, sip coffee, munch toast, collect myself and my portable office

08:00 catch the bus to work

08:15-09:00 check email, review my calendar, organize a daily to-do list

09:00-11:00 morning project work or break/fix

11:00-12:00 lunch, walk in the park

12:00-15:00 afternoon project work or break/fix

15:00-16:00 documentation

16:00-17:00 professional development/interest work

17:00 catch the bus home

17:15-18:30 feed the pets, start dinner

18:30-19:30 dinner w/ nerdwife

19:30-20:30 bike ride

20:30-22:30 personal time

22:30 bed

deep, refreshing sleep.


Harsh
Reality:

06:30 alarm goes off, hit snooze
06:38 alarm goes off, hit snooze
06:46 alarm goes off, hit snooze
06:54 alarm goes off, hit snooze
07:02 alarm goes off, hit snooze (for nerdwife), get up, ignore cats begging, stumble into shower, shave if remember
07:30-07:40 stare at closet deciding on what to wear while still trying to get awake, frantically get dressed
07:40-07:48 rummage for something quick for breakfast, curse self for not setting timer on coffee machine
07:48-08:05 miss bus, have to wait until 09:05 or walk in, during time assemble mental list, read front page of newspaper
08:55 catch 9am bus, because its early

09:15 sit down, unpack work laptop
09:16 priority interrupt by someone needing immediate help because they could not page the on call
09:17 see 09:16
09:18 see 09:16
09:30 after fires have been beaten down to smoking, smolderings get coffee from closest source (usually terrible) and if available something I really shouldn't be eating from the breakfast cart

09:32 priority interrupt
09:40 management looking for update on project X
09:41 (with management still in room) customer looking for update on project X
09:55 start working on project X
09:56 prioirity interrupt, production system on fire
10:20 check email
10:21 delete 90% of email due to system spam (i.e. messages from root mail that are meaningless)
10:22 send response to 5% of emails requiring one, ignore voicemail
10:25 try to remember to-do list, generate new to-do list
10:26 remember project X should be on to-do list, add it
10:27 start working on to-do list, update podcasts, start listening to music
10:28 get to the good part of song and start getting into a work groove, priority interrupt, system down (i.e. user forgot password)
10:29-10:45 take a walk to calm down/clear mind
10:45 wonder about lunch
11:25 grab quick lunch from Sodex'ho bag-n-gag kiosk
11:26-11:28 eat bag-n-gag
11:30-12:30 make progress on project X b/c everyone else is at lunch
12:55 priority interrupt, reminder that 1pm meeting is scheduled
13:00-14:30 sit in meeting where a lot is discussed and little progress made, lose morale while they discuss lack of progress made on project X

14:30 take walk, discover it is nice day, wish I could be outside, lower morale further
15:00 sit down and attempt to work on project X
15:01 priority interrupt, false alarm
15:05 priority interrupt
15:20-16:00 organize post-it notes
16:00-16:55 resume project X work
5 minutes before time to catch bus home, priority interrupt, major system down, spend next 2 hours fixing
~19:00 get home, too exhausted to cook, start quest for food/call pizza delievery
20:30 get home from quest for food, start personal time
22:30 go to bed
22:30-00:30 worry about what has not been accomplished, try to create tomorrow's mental to-do list (which will be forgotten by morning)
fall into fitful sleep
repeat.

Casual Friday { Chad Vader, Dayshift Manager (part 2)

(part 1 is here)

On Vacation { New Musical Interest

Following up on Ladytron, I have a new band that I am enjoying, Sleater Kinney. I know they are not a new band, as I've heard the name going around for years, but I never heard any of their stuff till I was journeying through YouTube tonight.

Here is their music video, 'Jumpers'.

Social { The Return of FWOS

FWOS = Flying Whirlpools of Suck, an Aces High 2 squadaron made of friends and co-workers. We flew together heavily for 2 years back in 2000-2001 and took a hiatus as we all got on with out lives. When I was back in the Cities a few weeks ago for a class, I ran into some of my old co-workers who let me know they would like to resurrect the squadron. I said hell yes! Tonight is the first squad night in 5 years.

Music/Tech { 3am iTunes

Discovered last night around 3am when I couldn't sleep that iTunes Music Store (which I only use now for music that is hard to find or I simply want a single song on a otherwise crappy CD), that it has a Beta 'May we suggest' section. My music tastes are ecclectic and varied so I spent the next hour and half seeing what it would suggest. There were a lot of duplicates and a few that made no sense (like Britany Spears), it also suggested some death metal stuff I'll pass on (H.I.M.). But in the process I learned a bit about myself.

1. I cannot be quantified. I am a markerting exec's nightmare form hell. My tastes range from the very obscure to the latest pop, and change fast.

2. My taste in music while running in veins where stuff often sounds familiar, is not really like that. The sounds of the cross-section of what I listen to ranges from accoustic folky to completely artificial euro-trash disco.

3. I like a lot of music that cannot be found in mainstream outlets (Best Buy, Target, even on occasion iTunes) and some cannot even be found at local record stores that specialize in that stuff like Electric Fetus and Deaf Ear (although Rasputin's in SF was amazingly well stocked). This stems from the local bands, obscure european, alternative japanese music that I tend to favor. Also MN is a techno wasteland, where there is no techno radio station, and only a handful of places even play techno (Kitty Cat Klub has a DJ who does techno).

4. 1993-1997 were my favorite years for music.

Global { Have you heard?

Its World War III (per Gingrich).

Truth? FUD? I find it ever increasingly hard to listen to politicans because in this age of high noise to signal in everything people seem to not be able to get attention without using shocking phrases or poking primal emotions (like fear). I would be curious to see if the suicide rate is up in this country (as well as/vs globally). Seems like the talking point last Sunday on the talk circuits was to use the words 'WWIII' (and as the Daily Show pointed out one guy even said WWIV).

We waste our time on a pointless war and on pointless and meaningless distraction issues (bickering over flag burning, the phantom threat of gay marriage) while the real threats approach to consume us (and by this I do not mean the big bad boogey man terrorist or North Korea, or Iran, alone, increasing poverty, lack of health care, rising debt is as deadly).

I don't know whether to play 'Sunday, Bloody Sunday' (U2), 'Its the End of the World as we know it (and I feel fine)' (REM), 'Clint Eastwood' (Gorillaz) or 'Float On' (Modest Mouse).

Fact is fiction now, and for most TV is reality.

It has started with an earthquake, there are bombs, snakes and aeroplanes.

I am happy and I'm feeling fine, don't know if I have sunshine in a bag.

Perhaps we'll float on ok and we'll all be ok.

Maybe I should play 'Ocean Breathes Salty' (MM)...have we wasted life? Will we waste the afterlife?

Make love not war, with yourself if you have to (love the one your with). Swords into plowshares. Stop, listen, and hear. We have only fear itself to fear (borrowing a quote). We can end this if we want to, its never too late.

Weather { The Heavens opened up...

...and unleashed a torrent of rain, wind, and hail on Rochester this morning. This morning (9am) went to work and it was partly cloudy, mild with a little sun. 10:30am the sky was as dark as night, winds over 60mph, lightning like the wrath of Zeus all around, rain so hard it turned the streets into the canals of Venice and hail. Now its 11am and the weather is still raining and still some lightning, but the hail has stopped and the wind has decreased to 20-30mph.

We need the rain, its been very hot and while humid, very dry. Everything is scorched brown, usually something you don't see until August. (I blame Global Warming) It would be nice if we could have a constant soft-medium rain for about six hours or so to soak the ground, with rain this hard and fast, most just runs off the dry top before it can soak in.

We took a break from work to watch the show, Nature has the best stuff. Waiting to hear if anywhere needs help. SW Rochester reported tree damaging winds and hail so severe it looked like it snowed.

Tech { How the Internet Works

"Dumptruck/tubes"

Jon Stewart and the Net Neutrality arguement in the Senate...the recordings of the Senator from Alaska illustrate why these guys are not qualified to govern and legislate technology...they have no clue.



(and slightly related, here is the Daily Show take on the G8 Summmit)

[Politics] Minnesota AG race

Wow, Matt Entenza bows out of the race for Minnesota Attorney General.

Updated: Looks like Steve Kelley is in and David Lillehaug is not.

Update 2: Bill Luther is in too. Mike Freeman is also looking likely, according to MNPublius.

Update 3: Mike Freeman not so much per Centrisity.

Musings { Because its that kind of day

"Now that we know for sure they're telling lies when they say no one gets hurt and therefore nobody dies. You know its hard to believe anything that you hear. They say the world is round. The world is round?" - Garbage, "Metal Heart"

Music { Latest musical interest

First heard: 89.3 FM 'Minnesota Public Radio's The Current', evening program hosted by Mark Wheat (We love Mark Wheat ever since his days on Revolution Radio 105 through Radio K)
Current favorite song: "Destroy Everything You Touch" from the album 'Witching Hour'

Film { "A Scanner Darkly"

Film: A Scanner Darkly
Location of Viewing: Landmark Uptown Theater
Saw with: Nerdwife, AlexV
Post-Screening: Zeno Coffee and Dessert Bar

"A Scanner Darkly" is based off the novel by Philip K Dick. In a word, amazing. The film was shot live action and then animated and this mehtod works to help create the atmosphere of surreality that permeates the story. All the main characters suffer from substance abuse and paranoia, and the animation help to greate underscore the shifting faces of reality that they experience. The corporate and governmental overtones of the film strike chillingly close to home, except in this movie the US has escalated the war on drugs (as opposed to the war on terror) to the next level, fighting globally with the military on destroying the organic component of 'Substance D' while waging an unprecedented internal surviellance program (everyone is watched and everyone is encouraged to report suspicious behavior on everyone else). Over 20% of the US population is addicted to Substance D. There exists rehabilitation and salvation, offered by only one corporation (via an exclusive contract with the gov't) called 'New Path', which by way of its contract with the gov't operates outside the bounds of law (i.e. no oversight and no observation), and they are more than what they seem and harbor a dark secret while profiting on the misery of everyone.

By the end of the movie truth/fiction, reality/surreality have become so intertwined you are left wondering if it all exists or is merely a fantasy of the protagonist/victim.

Performances by the actors (who themselves have all had experiences with drugs) were superb.

Overall I gvie the movie an 'A' and highly recommend it to everyone. This movie may require a second viewing to reap the full experience.

[Health] Summer colds suck

Summer infections of the viral kind really suck. Hacking cough, stuffed up, burned out nasal passages, headaches, 10 kilograms of cement strapped to your chest.

Called in sick Tuesday, went in Wednesday and Thursday morning, should have called in sick those days too. Coworkers had to tell me to go home yesterday after I sounded like death warmed over. Had the good sense to call in sick today. Probably infected half the office and set back my recovery a day or two. I think my cello teacher probably thought I was drunk on Monday evening (it is very hard to read sheet music and play the cello when you are sick). The human immune system is very good, but it requires that one does not overexert oneself. If I had simply convalesced instead of trying to push, push, work, I'd probably be feeling a bit better. I read a great book a while back called How to Be Idle, which had a good chapter about how people don't even know how to be sick anymore. We're always too busy, trying to tough things out instead of relaxing and letting things take care of themselves.

My brother, sister-in-law, and niece are in town this weekend and I probably won't get to see them for more than a minute or so for fear of infecting my 9 month old niece with something she probably already had.

Apparently half the people I know had gotten or know someone who has gotten this nasty cold. Worst rumor I heard is that this one hangs on for two, even three weeks. Come on immune system! I'm not working. I'm giving you lots of gatorade! Regular does of the real, working sudafed (approved by methheads everywhere), and ibuprofen. Plenty of sleep. I'm even back on a little coffee to fight the caffeine withdrawl headaches. Adapt! Kill those nasty little viruses!

Work { V880 internal FCAL drive + Solaris 10 6/06 (Update 2) woes

Project due next Monday to provide a Solaris 10 development environment for electronic timekeeping. V880s rank up their with E420Rs on my list of "Least liked Sun Microsystem Hardware" as they are big, clunky, and consume an immense amount of power for their size. But I digress. They come with up to 12 internal FCAL loop attached 72GB disk drives and they have an add on option where you can install another FCAL controller (and a small cable) to make them mutlipathed to the disks incase one controller fails you can still access them. Useful for some situations, a waste of money for others. The patient in question did not have the multipathing option installed.

Solaris 10 is shaping up to be one of the best Solaris Operating Systems SUN has, but it was not ready for production use (in my opinion) until 01/06 (Update 1, side note to any 3/05 users may want to upgrade to at least 01/06 as the Java Desktop has greatly enhanced performance in 01/06 (JDS is rides on top of Gnome)).

In Solaris 10 Solaris disk multipathing (aka MPXIO) is enabled by default, which is a good thing. However on the V880 I installed, on first reboot after jumpstart, I received an error that it could not mount the root (/) partition...that's bad. I brought the system back down to the 'ok' prompt and boot into single user mode via the network. Once in single user mode I mounted up /dev/dsk/c1t0d0s0 (the / partition) and editted the /kernel/drv/fp.conf file and set 'mpxio-disable="yes";', to disable MPXIO and rebooted, the system was able to come fully online and the partitions mounted properly. But this disabled Solaris multipathing for all storage attached, this was bad as I had LUNs presented from SAN storage that I did want to be under MPXIO, so I tried to search through SunSolve, a once great resource that has now become almost, but not quite useless (content is locked away unless you have a support contract, which I do and even then a lot of stuff you used to have access to like bug IDs are not locked away) with vague reference to what I already tried, but no help. So I opened a ticket via the online support center...that was 48 hours ago with no response. So I escalated to my local SAM and SSE, they were able to help me with a few stmsboot commands, but these didn't work, as in they produced no output when I ran the commands. So I opend up the /kernel/drv/fp.conf file again and started reading:

--tail fp.conf---
# You can also enable or disable MPxIO on a per port basis.
# Per port settings override the global setting for the specified ports.
# To disable MPxIO on port 0 whose parent is /pci@8,600000/SUNW,qlc@4 set:
# name="fp" parent="/pci@8,600000/SUNW,qlc@4" port=0 mpxio-disable="yes";
#
# NOTE: If you just want to enable or disable MPxIO on all fp ports, it is
# better to use stmsboot(1M) as it also updates /etc/vfstab.
#
mpxio-disable="no";
---end fp.conf---

Aha! This is exactly what I want, to disable on a per port basis. So I modified the file to read:

--tail fp.conf---
# You can also enable or disable MPxIO on a per port basis.
# Per port settings override the global setting for the specified ports.
# To disable MPxIO on port 0 whose parent is /pci@8,600000/SUNW,qlc@4 set:
# name="fp" parent="/pci@8,600000/SUNW,qlc@4" port=0 mpxio-disable="yes";
#
# NOTE: If you just want to enable or disable MPxIO on all fp ports, it is
# better to use stmsboot(1M) as it also updates /etc/vfstab.
#
name="fp" parent="/pci@8,600000/SUNW,qlc@2" port=0 mpxio-disable="yes";
mpxio-disable="no";
---end fp.conf---

and rebooted...error came back. I was perplexed, and pondered it over and realized that I may have the order wrong, so I did the net-boot/edit /kernel/drv/fp.conf again and changed it to read:

--tail fp.conf---
# You can also enable or disable MPxIO on a per port basis.
# Per port settings override the global setting for the specified ports.
# To disable MPxIO on port 0 whose parent is /pci@8,600000/SUNW,qlc@4 set:
# name="fp" parent="/pci@8,600000/SUNW,qlc@4" port=0 mpxio-disable="yes";
#
# NOTE: If you just want to enable or disable MPxIO on all fp ports, it is
# better to use stmsboot(1M) as it also updates /etc/vfstab.
#
mpxio-disable="no";
name="fp" parent="/pci@8,600000/SUNW,qlc@2" port=0 mpxio-disable="yes";
---end fp.conf---

and Viola! It now does what I want it to, disable only the internal FCAL loop, but not the HBA fabric attached SAN storage.

time spent on problem: lots
number of small furry animals sacrificed to the machine god: moderate
number of admins rejoicing: 1

Casual Friday { (early) The real hidden rulers of the world

Saw this on BoingBoing and had to pass it on.

The hidden rulers of the world.

Yes I am being derivative.

[Gripe] Good Taste and Ephemera of Manufactured Products

Never seems to fail.

1) Find a product I actually like.
2) Fail to purchase item in a timely manner or purchase a consumable product in insufficient quantity.
3) Item is discontinued (good taste is rarely popular).
4) Find product again on vintage or auction site for 4X what it cost in the first place.
5) Pay small fortune for product I actually like.

I have a rather well-honed gift of being able to go into any catalog or store, find the one thing that I'd actually like to own, it will be the most expensive thing offered, and will be discontinued in short order.

On the upside, I have learned from this cycle of events that I should know what I want and be unafraid to jump when I find it. Also, that having some extra cash stashed away for when such items actually come around is a good thing.

If I were smarter, I'd being hoarding really good stuff early on so I don't run out.

Summer { A walk around Como

Last night, I had an excellent dinner with my grandparents. I don't see them as much as I would like since we've moved to Rochester. It was the longest time I've spent with them in a single sitting in years.

It was a beautiful night. I drove to Como park and took a walk. It is a little over a mile around the lake. The temperature was great and there was a free concert and I listened for a little bit.

I miss living in the Cities. I can't believe I never did these things when I lived there.

Activism { "An Inconvient Truth"

See this movie.

R.I.P. { Jim Baen

Jim Baen is a founder of a publishing company that is ubitqueous for Sci-Fi readers. I have read many, many, many books that were published by Baen Books. Not all of them were good, but Baen published a wide variety. He was also progressive in his approach to media, releasing books freely in electronic form feeling that it will boost printed sales.

RIP

[Religion] And now for something truly inflammatory

I have been listening to this interview with Sam Harris, an author (and current neuroscience graduate student) talking about his new book 'The End of Faith: Religion, Terror, and the Future of Reason.' (It's about 1/4th way into the podcast.) He proposes secular people practice a form of religious intolernace, an intellectual intolerance of the ideas that found religions and the pervasive idea that without religion our society would be savage.

The point I like the most is how religion has been given an intellectual carte blanche. We cannot question the rationality or validity of these beliefs, but in every other sector of thought we have the freedom to question other ideas. Faith is off limits and has consequently set back society.

Harris has some interesting ideas and interpretations. I just may take his book to Paris.

[Denial] Death is ugly

And we are hideous.

We have morphed capital punishment into a medical procedure, clean, efficient, precise. The changes certainly aren't for the condemned, they die, they are for us. Somehow it must quiet the guilt. A set up for self-induced cognitive dissonance. A man dying peacefully surely can't be state sanctioned murder.

Nerd { Curly Brace Syntax

Was the switch to category--curly brace--subject a subtle developer touch, or a more subtle jab at my consideration of picking up Python as my first real programming language? ;}

Politics { 1st District Voters of MN

Read this article about Tim Walz, who is running opposite Gil "I'm Bush's Toady" Gutkneckt for the First District House Seat in MN.

Gil needs to go. Like the rest of the Republican delegation in this state, he is a puppet for Bush.

Future { No one knows what the future holds

Still in a pensive mood. Decided I am going to lay off the news for a while. Not because I don't want to know what is going on in the world, but in an effort to buoy what I have left of a mental state of mind. The more I hear and read the more I feel helpless and that what I am doing and what I am believing doesn't matter, things will not change and I will have to continue to eat the shit sandwich I have been eating for a long time.

I also realize I have made myself too public, both here and in real life. I need to reel some of this back in and return to my quiet state. This with the fact that I have a summer to-do list as long as I am tall, I will be going on hiatus for the summer. I will still post, just not as frequent for the remainder of the summer. It depends on how the spirit moves me.

[Politics] Why I like Barack Obama

Read this Alternet article to find out.

[Sadness] "Iraq's War Porn"

I suggest every American read this article on Alternet.org.

This is the ugly truth of the Iraq War. A war started on lies. A war that was not part of the 'War on Terror', but is now. A war that has made us less safe. A war that is costing us our souls. A war that is bankrupting us both fiscally and morally for generations to come. A war that is costing us our liberties and freedoms. Iraq did not threaten us. Iraq did not bomb us. Iraq did not take these things from us, we took them from ourselves. Blood for oil. Blood for profit. Blood for jingoism.

[Food] My Big Fat Greek Eat Club

My turn was last night again. Greek theme.


Courses:

salad - Greek salad

main - gyros

dessert - baklava

Tzatziki:
2 cups lowfat plain yogurt
2 medium cucumbers diced and then squeezed to remove excess water
1 sprig of mint, chopped
2 large pinches of Dmitri's seasoning (a greek seasoning from one of my local greasy spoons, a shout out to Mac's cafe!)
3 turns of the salt grinder
2 splurts of vinegar
2 splurts of olive oil

mix, let cool in refridgerator 1.5 hours before serving

Greek Salad:
1 medium cucumber sliced
1/2 very large red onion
1 head of red lettuce
1 green pepper, sliced
3-5 kalamata olives per serving
3 peppercini's per serving
Feta cheese crumbles (I used part of a block of Feta from the local greek restaurant, shout out to Zorba's!)
1 tomato cubed per serving

dressing:
1/3 cup water
1/2 cup vinegar
1/2 cup olive oil
3/4 cup sugar
2 tblsp Dmitri's seasoning
mix well, adjust sugar and seasoning to taste

Gyros:
fixings
1/2 red onion sliced
cherry tomatoes
1 medium cucumber sliced
(doh forgot the parsly)
2lbs (should have only had 1lb though) of excellent Gyro meat from Zorbas (no one in town carried gyro meat and I did not have time to make it myself)
Pita bread (multiple)

Baklava:
1lb Fillio bread (frozen)
1/2lb butter (two sticks, unsalted)
3 cups crushed pecans
1 cup sugar
1 tblsp cinnamon
1 tsp lemon finely shaved lemon zest
sauce
1 1/3 cup sugar
1 1/3 cup water
1/3 cup honey (US Grade A Fancy)
1 tblsp lemon juice
rough shaving lemon zest of 1 whole lemon
13"x9" baking pan

butter the bottom and sides of the baking pan
melt 2 sticks of butter on low heat
pre-heat oven to 325F

place 2 sheets of fillio in pan, brush melted butter on top sheet
place 2 sheets of fillio in pan, brush melted butter on top sheet
place 2 sheets of fillio in pan, brush melted butter on top sheet
cover top sheet with 1/2 of the crushed nuts and 1/2 of the sugar-cinnamon-lemon zest mixture
place 2 sheets of fillio in pan, brush melted butter on top sheet
place 2 sheets of fillio in pan, brush melted butter on top sheet
place 2 sheets of fillio in pan, brush melted butter on top sheet
cover top sheet with remaining crushed nuts and sugar mixture
place 2 sheets of fillio in pan, brush melted butter on top sheet
place 2 sheets of fillio in pan, brush melted butter on top sheet
place 2 sheets of fillio in pan, brush melted butter on top sheet
cover top sheet with remaining melted butter
cut into 2" diamonds or squares (won't be able to do this after baking as it will be too fragile)
place in oven at 325F for 30 minutes
reduce heat to 300F bake for 40-60 minutes or until top layer is a nice golden brown
20 minutes before you finish baking, make the sause:

place sugar, honey, water, lemon zest into a saucepan and bring to gentle boil, reduce heat and let simmer uncovered until baking is complete.

Remove pan from oven, while still hot, evenly pour the sauce over the top. Let cool for 4 hours or until you can't stand it anymore.

Beverage:
Mythos Lager (a greek imported Hellenic Lager, very light colored with mild taste, great for hot days)

[Food] A vaguely asian eat club

The glove slap had been issued: a classmate had the gall to express certain doubts about my culinary prowess. To such challenge, only one response would suffice. I made the menu in question, served it at a dinner party (to which said classmate was not invited) and presented him with the leftovers as proof. Problem solved: I'm the one with garlic press triumphantly aloft.

Spring rolls:
4 oz thin rice noodles
1 tb rice vinegar
1 tb soy sauce
2 tb toasted sesame oil
dash mirin
Basil, chopped
Mint, also chopped
1 Cucumber, in small chunks or batons
1 handful chopped scallions
shredded carrots
crushed peanuts
bean sprouts
spring roll wrappers

Cook and drain the noodles according to package directions, then season with the vinegar, soy and oil. Soak the wrappers in hot water, then arrange a generous pinch of noodles, herbs, cucumber, carrot, etc. as desired in the center of the wrapper. Fold over one half then roll it up neatly. Slice to serve.


Soba noodles:
1/3 cup white sesame seeds
salt
8 oz soba noodles
2 tsp rice vinegar
5 tsp soy sauce
2-3 tsp honey (to taste)
2 tsp sesame oil
7 scallions
2 tsp crushed red pepper (optional)

Cook the noodles per package instructions, making sure to wash them twice in cold water after cooking. Drain thoroughly and allow the noodles to cool. Mix the remaining ingredients and add to the noodles; serve lightly chilled or at room temperature.

Squash and bean salad:
2 med acorn squash
2 med zucchini
olive oil
1 pkg frozen snap peas
9 oz fresh green beans
salt and pepper
about 3 tsp lemon juice
dried basil

thyme
parsley

Quarter the acorn squash and chop the zucchini into bite-sized bits. Douse with the olive oil and roast in a 400-degree oven for 45 minutes, or until acorn squash is very tender. Peel the rind off the acorn squash and chop as needed for presentation. Cook the beans and peas briefly in boiling water- they should retain their snap. Let the squashes, peas and beans cool to room temp, then toss with the remaining ingredients. Serve immediately.

The 3 preceding recipes were originally devised in a rather more anglo-saxon palate by my favorite British chef, Nigella Lawson. I've taken a few liberties with her ideas to suit my midwestern tastes.

Meatful and meatless skewers:
2/3 cup fresh orange juice
1/3 cup soy sauce
1/4 c sesame oil
1 clove garlic, crushed
1/2" ginger, finely grated
2 tb mirin
2 tb brown rice syrup
pinch red pepper

chicken breast, sliced into 1" cubes
Portabella mushrooms, cut into 2" pieces
Bell peppers, chopped into 1-2" pieces
Onion, coarsely chopped
Cherry tomatoes

Combine first 7 ingredients, and adjust the marinade to taste. Marinate the chicken for 2-24 hours; separately marinate the mushrooms for about 1 hour. Thread the marinated chicken onto skewers with the peppers and onion, using the tomatoes to the cap the ends of the skewers. Repeat with the mushrooms. Cook thoroughly on the grill.

[Politics] 2006 Minnesota State DFL Convention

Well, I'm back from my three days or so down in lovely Rochester. Thanks to GeistX and Nerdwife for letting me crash in their guest room. I'll be picking cat hair off my suits for a week, but friends and food and a feeling of homey-ness is far better than hotel life.

Day 1 started Friday morning. I was exhausted to say the least, having been up late Thursday night. It was going to be a long day. I'd also assumed that it was going to be a boring day for me, since I was only an alternate, but an individual who was the delegate was not going to make it to the convention at all, so I was upgraded to a full delegate status and I suddenly had something to do all weekend. The credentials committee really pooched the process for alternates. We couldn't get onto the floor to tell our delegation chairs we were there to be upgraded, and we couldn't get onto the floor without the badges the delegation chairs had. Delegates who arrived late had to wait in a similar fashion, some up to an hour.

The major business of day 1 was to vote on platform resolutions (important to me, since I like the party to stand for something and also because I had served on the State Platform Commission for a couple years a while back) and to endorse the candidate for U.S. Senate. Since it was a cakewalk for Amy Klobuchar, this was not too trying a day, aside from my major need of an antacid. It was a good full day of dealing with speeches and such, but not too stressful.

Day 2 was the biggie, the endorsement process for governor. I won't go into the details of the voting, which took 9 hours, but suffice to say I was a Becky Lourey supporter and after her withdrawl, I switched to Steve Kelley in hopes of defeating the endorsement of Mike Hatch. After it was clear that Mike Hatch would get the endorsement, our entire delegation of Kelley/Lourey supporters were looking like they were going to vote "No Endorsement" as a sign of protest, but Kelley withdrew before that vote. I left the hall in disgust, not even waiting to hear Mike Hatch's speech. I plan on voting for Lourey in the primary. I just don't want Mike Hatch in the governor's office, although if he wins the primary (and goodness knows he has a ton of money for the campaign) I'll support him in the general election. For those of you at the convention, I was the young man in the bowtie.

Day 3 was a breeze. Two quick non-contested seats (Rebecca Otto for State Auditor and Matt Entenza for Attorney General), the platform report (about what I expected), and a single vote in a contested election for Secretary of State. I supported Christian Sande, but I also knew he just didn't have the votes on the floor to get the endorsement, and the vote showed that clearly. Mark Ritchie took the endorsement after Sande conceded gracefully. He wasn't my preferred candidate, but he'll make a fine Sec State, and certainly better than Mary Kiffmeyer.

It was a long but neccesary three days of politiking at the 2006 Minnesota State DFL Convention. Overall I was pretty happy with the outcome, with the major exception of the gubernatorial endorsement.

More details of the convention on a by-the-minute basis can be read at Power Liberal, a fellow Democrat who was live blogging the convention.

[Bitch] I escalate my opinion of Ann Coulter

From mildy hostile to SHE IS AN OUTRIGHT, UNCARING, HATEFUL, BITCH!

Ann Coulter, I do not truly 'hate' many people, but you've made the list (along with Karl Rove and the kid who used to pick on me in 7th grade, at least in his case we reconcilled at my 10 year class reunion). I hope you live a long lonely life and die forgotten and unloved.

Why do I feel this way? Because she is unapologetic about what she said about those who lost loved ones in the 9/11 attacks. Way to exploit them in the way you say in your book they exploited the situation. You have never had love or someone who loved you have you? I know you're a lawyer, but even lawyers often have a small tiny spark of humanity left. You have none.

[Health] AIDS 25 years later

I know this is a little late as the 25th anniversary was June 5th. I remember when we first heard about AIDS in school, the fear, the uncertainty, the ignorance. I remember learning that is was a 'gay' disease. Major national effort (and money) was put into research and a lot of drug and biotech advances were made, and some of them even for HIV/AIDS research. I remember the PSAs. A person with AIDS can now live longer than ever before, though some argue about the quality of life as the drug cocktails are very specific and expensive. If you are in other parts of the world your treatment can be cheaper (Brazil, Inida) or devestatingly expensive (most of Africa). Somewhere along the road we lost focus on this major health concern. I recall the false hopes of vaccines that were announced on more than one occasion, but did not pan out. Generations of people are still dying of this epidemic, because American has lost focus on it, does not mean that it is gone.

I wish I could do something. I donate to the AIDS Walk and other foundations, I help dispell the myth that AIDS is a 'gay' disease. It affects us all, we are on starship Earth together. I weep.

[Activism] DIY Impeachment

Freaking awesome!

Do-It-Yourself Impeachment...

Impeach for Peace, a Minnesota-based impeachment group, has researched a method for impeaching the president using a little known and rarely used part of the Rules of the House of Representatives ("Jefferson’s Manual"). This document actually empowers individual citizens to initiate the impeachment process themselves.

The "Jefferson's Manual" is an interpretive guide to parliamentary procedure, and is included (along with the Constitution) in the bound volumes of the Rules of the House of Representatives. The section covering impeachment lists the acceptable vehicles for bringing impeachment motions to the floor of the House.


Before the House Judiciary Committee can put together the Articles of Impeachment, someone must initiate the impeachment procedure. Most often, this occurs when members of the House pass a resolution. Another method outlined in the manual, however, is for individual citizens to submit a memorial for impeachment.


After learning this information, Minnesotan and Impeach for Peace member (Jodin Morey) found precedent in an 1826 memorial by Luke Edward Lawless which had been successful in initiating the impeachment of Federal Judge James H. Peck. Impeach for Peace then used this as a template for their "Do-It-Yourself Impeachment." Now any citizen can download the DIY Impeachment Memorial and submit it, making it possible for Americans to do what our representatives have been unwilling to do. The idea is for so many people to submit the Memorial that it cannot be ignored.

Feel free to download it, print out TWO copies, fill in your relevant information in the blanks (name, State, etc.), and send in two letters today (One to the Speaker of the House, and the other to John Conyers of the House Judiciary).


Hold on to the other copy of the two letters until October 12th when we're having everyone send them in.

That's right — to make a big impact, we're having everyone send it in on the same date. We hope to flood the Judiciary Committee and John Conyers office with sacks of mail and cause a newsworthy event to further pressure the Congress to act on the memorials. Although, it's important to keep in mind that in the 1826 precedent, impeachment resulted as a result of a single memorial. Yours might be the one.

[Something Completely Different] Hot Chicks in Leather

[People] Ann Coulter, crazy/mean and hurtful

She is, I wanted to also say 'BITCH' in the title, but I will try and stay semi-civil (hah!) read here.

She's not faking this, she is spouting this hate for propaganda and personal gain ($$$), and she says she believes it.

Excerpt from the interview about her new book 'Godless':

LAUER: Do you believe everything in the book or do you put some things in there just to cater to your base?

ANN: No, of course I believe everything.

Painful to watch. Everytime I watch an interview with her, or Bush or Cheney I feel things take a turn for the surreal.

Then again I can see why people like her can make money or even acknowledged, here is a blog in support of Coulter and her viewpoints.

At least there still is this site.

[Politics] Mark Kennedy and the line-item veto

Listening to MPR in the shower this morning (ooooh sexy!). The GOP in MN had its state convention last week, there was much chest thumping, much jingoism, much 'stay the course'blah blah blah. There were formal party endorsements, among them Mark Kennedy, who despite his recent spin-doctoring voted in line with the Administration's agenda 90+% of the time. In the piece they mention his many stances on issues:

* staying the course in Iraq
* push for more tax cuts (probably for his wealthy corporate overlords)
* line item veto for Bush

wait...

line-item veto for Bush? I seem to remember about 10 years ago when Clinton had line-item veto power, Congress got its undies in a knot. Oh wait that's right, the Congress back then was Republican majority and Clinton was a Democrat. I can't understand why line-item veto power for Bush is on the agenda again unless the Republicans are scared that they will be losing a majority in one or both Houses of Congress. I can see a lot legislation contray to what the Administration wants in that scenario and since Bush up until this point has not vetoed anything (but many many a 'signing statement', a little thing that allows the President to ignore pieces of law) may now want the power to veto out pieces of law he (or more likely Cheney) do not like. Speculation on my part yes, but it seems strange that discussion of line-item veto is coming up again.

[Activisim] Emergency Alert! Stop the SIRA bill!

Read this alert at the EFF immediately and call your Representative ASAP!!!! The SIRA bill is wrong.

The entertainment industry has sneaked language into an obscure copyright bill that could smash Internet fair use. The law implies that licenses from copyright holders are needed for every digital copy made in the transmission of digital media -- including cached copies on servers or on your hard drive, and even temporary copies in RAM. The wording is being debated in a House Judiciary subcommittee on Wednesday. Don't let the music industry turn your cache into their cash. Check below to see if your representative is on the right committee, and call them now!

[Work] File under "you learn something new everyday"

Adding a boat load of packages in Solaris is a lot easier when you know about the admin file, default is /var/sadm/install/admin/default and contains:

#
# Copyright 2003 Sun Microsystems, Inc. All rights reserved.
# Use is subject to license terms.
#
#ident "@(#)default 1.5 03/06/11 SMI"
#
mail=
instance=unique
partial=ask
runlevel=ask
idepend=ask
rdepend=ask
space=ask
setuid=ask
conflict=ask
action=ask
networktimeout=60
networkretries=3
authentication=quit
keystore=/var/sadm/security
proxy=
basedir=default

chenge 'ask' to 'nocheck' and viola! Non-interactive package installs. Be warned though that it will not tell you interactively if things like dependencies are not met and it will not warn on setuid/gid settings, so know your dependencies and know what you are doing before you go forward.

To use the new admin file you can place it in /var/sadm/install/admin and call it anything but 'default'. pkgadd(1M) will look in this directory first for admin files, otherwise you can supply a full path name, example:

pkgadd -a nocheck -d . SMCgcc

[Counter-point] "Going Beyond God"

Here is a link to a salon.com article titled "Going Beyond God". I felt the need to post this since my recent posts have given the impression I am anti-religion. I am not anti-religion. I distrust organized religion, but I do not hate the people who have faith or believe in those religions. Do I feel they are misguided? Yes. Do I feel they do not see the whole picture, or choose not to see the whole picture? Yes. Am I wrong? Probably.

I feel that somewhere the organized religions got in the way of the meaning of God/the spirit/nirvana/Tao/The Great Kleenex/Etc. Spirituality became too stratified in doctrine, dogma, procedure, pomp and ceremony, especially the Christian faith of which I am most familiar.

In this interview, Karen Armstrong makes many salient points to which I very much agree, here are some excerpts from the interview:

Well, explain that. What is religion?

Religion is a search for transcendence. But transcendence isn't necessarily sited in an external god, which can be a very unspiritual, unreligious concept. The sages were all extremely concerned with transcendence, with going beyond the self and discovering a realm, a reality, that could not be defined in words. Buddhists talk about nirvana in very much the same terms as monotheists describe God.

That's fascinating. So in Buddhism, which is nontheistic, the message or the experience of nirvana is the same as the Christian God?

The experience is the same. The trouble is that we define our God too closely. In my book "A History of God," I pointed out that the most eminent Jewish, Christian and Muslim theologians all said you couldn't think about God as a simple personality, an external being. It was better to say that God did not exist because our notion of existence was far too limited to apply to God.

You're saying these ancient sages really didn't care about big metaphysical systems. They didn't care about theology.

No, none of them did. And neither did Jesus. Jesus did not spend a great deal of time discoursing about the trinity or original sin or the incarnation, which have preoccupied later Christians. He went around doing good and being compassionate. In the Quran, metaphysical speculation is regarded as self-indulgent guesswork. And it makes people, the Quran says, quarrelsome and stupidly sectarian. You can't prove these things one way or the other, so why quarrel about it? The Taoists said this kind of speculation where people pompously hold forth about their opinions was egotism. And when you're faced with the ineffable and the indescribable, they would say it's belittling to cut it down to size. Sometimes, I think the way monotheists talk about God is unreligious.

Unreligious? Like talk about a personal God?

Yes, people very often talk about him as a kind of acquaintance, whom they can second-guess. People will say God loves that, God wills that, and God despises the other. And very often, the opinions of the deity are made to coincide exactly with those of the speaker.

Yet we certainly see a personal God in various sacred texts. People aren't just making that up.

No, but the great theologians in Judaism, Christianity and Islam say you begin with the idea of a god who is personal. But God transcends personality as God transcends every other human characteristic, such as gender. If we get stuck there, this is very immature. Very often people hear about God at about the same time as they're learning about Santa Claus. And their ideas about Santa Claus mature and change in time, but their idea of God remains infantile.

...

I think these questions are tremendously important now because more and more people, especially those with a scientific bent, say we don't need religion anymore. Science has replaced religion. You know, religion used to explain all kinds of things about the world. But science for the most part does that now. And people who are not religious say they can be just as morally upright.

They can. I fully endorse that. I don't think you need to believe in an external god to obey the Golden Rule. In the Axial Age, when people started to concentrate too much on what they're transcending to -- that is, God -- and neglected what they're transcending from -- their greed, pompous egotism, cruelty -- then they lost the plot, religiously. That's why God is a difficult religious concept. I think God is often used by religious people to give egotism a sacred seal of divine approval, rather than to take you beyond the ego.

As for scientists, they can explain a tremendous amount. But they can't talk about meaning so much. If your child dies, or you witness a terrible natural catastrophe such as Hurricane Katrina, you want to have a scientific explanation of it. But that's not all human beings need. We are beings who fall very easily into despair because we're meaning-seeking creatures. And if things don't add up in some way, we can become crippled by our despondency.

...

Well, what do you say to the scientists, especially the Darwinists -- Richard Dawkins would be the obvious case -- who are quite angry about religion? They say religion is the root of much evil in the world. Wars are fought and fueled by religion. And now that we're in the 21st century, they say it's time that science replace religion.

I don't think it will. In the scientific age, we've seen a massive religious revival everywhere but Europe. And some of these people -- not all, by any means -- seem to be secular fundamentalists. They have as bigoted a view of religion as some religious fundamentalists have of secularism. We have too much dogmatism at the moment. Take Richard Dawkins, for example. He did a couple of religious programs that I was fortunate enough to miss. It was a very, very one-sided view.

Well, he hates religion.

Yeah, this is not what the Buddha would call skillful. If you're consumed by hatred -- Freud was rather the same -- then this is souring your personality and clouding your vision. What you need to do is to look appraisingly and calmly on other traditions. Because when you hate religion, it's also very easy to hate the people who practice it.

...

Because there are all kinds of inflammatory things that are said. For instance, many passages in both the Bible and the Quran exhort the faithful to kill the infidels. Sam Harris, in his book "The End of Faith," has seven very densely packed pages of nothing but quotations from the Quran with just this message. "God's curse be upon the infidels"; "slay them wherever you find them"; "fighting is obligatory for you, much as you dislike it." And Sam Harris' point is that the Muslim suicide bombings are not the aberration of Islam. They are the message of Islam.

Well, that's simply not true. He's taken parts of those texts and omitted their conclusions, which say fighting is hateful for you. You have to do it if you're attacked, as Mohammed was being attacked at the time when that verse was revealed. But forgiveness is better for you. Peace is better. But when we're living in a violent society, our religion becomes violent, too. Religion gets sucked in and becomes part of the problem. But to isolate these texts as though they expressed the whole of the tradition is very mischievous and dangerous at this time when we are in danger of polarizing people on both sides. And this kind of inflammatory talk, say about Islam, is convincing Muslims all over the world who are not extremists that the West is incurably Islamophobic and will never respect their traditions. I think it's irresponsible at this time.

I think this point needs to be emphasised:

Well, he [Richard Dawkins -ed] hates religion.

Yeah, this is not what the Buddha would call skillful. If you're consumed by hatred -- Freud was rather the same -- then this is souring your personality and clouding your vision. What you need to do is to look appraisingly and calmly on other traditions. Because when you hate religion, it's also very easy to hate the people who practice it.

So readers (if there are any) please never think that I am not without my own form of spirituality, and I apologize if I appear like I am selecting out those of faith for persecution. I am not, and I do not hate you for your beliefs (despite what my passionate reactions may indicate) but I will not stand by while their actions promulgate a doctrine of prejudice, hatred, and oppression. Even if the actions of an individual do not reflect it, the actions of the whole of which they are a part can be damning.

[Politics] The Wedgie

As the political season heats up as fast as the weather this summer, the party in power once again is forcing 'wedge' issues as opposed to confronting and dealing with real issues. I speak of this to both parties as really unless some major shake ups happen we are merely chosing the lesser of two evils (I would choose Cthuluhu, but he's not running). The economy, despite what economic analsysts on news programs says, is in the dumps, and we have inflation looming heavy on the edge just out of view. The increase in gas prices are finally starting to have a ripple effect in the economy as the cost of basic and needed goods (such as food) increases. Interest rates have been on a steady rise resulting in increased debt load to most Americans as well as an increasingly rapid deflate in the housing bubble (it will only pop in a few places). Tax breaks to the richest 1/3 of the country is insuring that the poorer 2/3s is footing the bill for everything from our failing infrastructures to a War in Iraq that we (and the Iraqis) are totally screwed. We don't have infinite wealth (hell most Americans don't even have savings) and if China decides to divest its holdings in our monetary infrastructure then we will see a rapid downward spiral of our standard of living. We are and have been for some time living on borrowed time. But I digress and now return to my issues at hand, the 'wedge' issues, or I like to call them the over-emotional issues. Let me recap the three top ones:

1. Gay Marriage (the non-threat)
2. Flag-burning (yes, this has once again been resurected)
3. Reproductive Choice (this is in fact a very important issue as it affects our rights as citizens, but too often I have seen it abused as a wedge issue to distract from other more immediate and more pressing issues such as the loss of funding to public education, or rising poverty rates)

These issues are not as important as the current party in power wants you to believe. They are hot-button, FUD (fear, uncertainty, and doubt) issues used to fire up people and whip them in a frothy frenzy so that they will be distracted from the real issues. I can see why people gravitate to these issues, it is easier to scapegoat and lash out in fear at these issues because most people think they understand them. This is the problem, people no longer understand the issues, nor do they want to try. Why? I think it is because once Americans started thinking about the real issues again we will see an unprecendented rise in depression (luckily we have drugs for this).

All is not lost, if you are in a discussion of politics with people this season and someone (especially a candidate), starts stumping these wedge issues, counter them with their thoughts on a real issue or two. Don't be a dink about it, do it to get them thinking about other things. Here are three good real issues, but from a local to a national level many, many, many, real and very important issues exist:

1. Medicare and the near future of health care in this country as the baby boomers retire, or just health care costs in general.
2. The economy and why most Americans have not seen the recovery, tax breaks in a time of 'war', corporate welfare, rising debt, the effect of rising gas prices, the trade imbalance.
3. The approaching energy crisis and what can be done in the form of truly renewal or bridge technologies to buffer the loss of fossil fuels (I think this will require a unified American effort on a scale larger than the Space Program to achieve).

Resist and counter. But be civil.

[Worst] Bumper sticker

There it was, yellow letters on a red strip. Give War a Chance. I couldn't believe what I had read, so I did some very skillful maneuvering to get a better look. How could anyone display a bumper sticker like that? Second look it still read, give war a chance.

I'm all for irony, camp, satire. In context I can easily see how that phrase would work, but on a bumper sticker? There is no set up. Plus it was a crappy teenager car driven by crappy teenagers.

I was really offended. And I can't remember the last time I felt this way.

[More Casual Friday] Yuki - Melancholinista

[Casual Friday] Star Trek Cribs - The Director's Cut

Enjoy.

[Politics] "War is Swell" OpEd piece on Salon

I recommend a read of Sydney Blumenthal's opinion piece on Salon.

Here is a teaser:

In the beginning, the elements of the war paradigm appeared to be expediencies, conceived as a series of emergency measures in the struggle against al-Qaida. But, in fact, their precepts were developed in law review articles before Sept. 11 by John Yoo, promoted to deputy assistant attorney general in the Office of Legal Counsel at the Department of Justice, where Vice President Cheney's office assigned him to write key secret memos on torture, surveillance and executive power. Once Bush approved them, the clerisy of neoconservative lawyers, at least as tightly knit as Opus Dei, put them into effect. The war paradigm is Bush's "Da Vinci Code," the difference being that its high priests acknowledge in private that it is real.

[Food] White Trash-tastic

I had to counter, and fast! Chana Masala bequeathed me with a certain sophistication I was ready to shed (previous Eat Club). I called my ma (Hey ma! Get off the dang roof!) and unearthed a favorite of mine from growin' up in rural MN. It's one part casserole one part terrible for you. Perfect.

Pizza Pop-Up
1lb ground beef, browned (the higher the fat content, the better)
1 can pizza sauce (stay away from Chef Boyardee sauce)
1 onion, sliced
1 pepper, sliced
1 can black olives, sliced
1 large package mozzarella cheese (again, don't skimp on the fat)

Mix together

Place mixture on top of 1 can biscuits, cut into quarters

Bake for ~45min at 375F

Add freshly grated parmesan cheese for classy touch

Meatless works just as well. Last night I decided to substitute in some cherry tomatoes for my vegitariat friend.

Bad Mother Bars (hereafter known as Ridiculous Bars)
K thru 12 I went to school with a set of female fraternal twins. One was lovely and perfect, the other relatively normal. Their mother was a total bitch to the non-perfect one. Awful, awful mother. Makes good bars.

Make some rice crispie bars (on box)
Melt 1 can of sweetened condensed milk with 1 bag of caramels
Pour mixture onto RCBs
Make some more RCBs
Place on top of RCB/caramel goo
Melt chocolate chips
Top 'er off

Many thanks to GeistX and Nerdwife for the libations and entertaining company. I'm glad you've been enjoying the culinary trip 'round the world. I have a proposition: I think we should spice up Eat Club with a rotating 4th. Maybe people we always intended on getting to know but just didn't get around to it? Wandering bums on the street? Starving friends?

[ITMFA] I reiterate...

What does it take to impeach this guy?

Sunday article on the Boston Globe indicates that Cheney's legal aide reviews legislation to help remove provisions that would limit Presidential power.

WASHINGTON -- The office of Vice President Dick Cheney routinely reviews pieces of legislation before they reach the president's desk, searching for provisions that Cheney believes would infringe on presidential power, according to former White House and Justice Department officials.

...

The Bush-Cheney administration has used such statements to claim for itself the option of bypassing a ban on torture, oversight provisions in the USA Patriot Act, and numerous requirements that they provide certain information to Congress, among other laws.

Previous vice presidents have had neither the authority nor the interest in reviewing legislation. But Cheney has used his power over the administration's legal team to promote an expansive theory of presidential authority. Using signing statements, the administration has challenged more laws than all previous administrations combined.

[Required Reading] "Tyranny of the Christian Right"

I strongly recommend everyone read this post on AlterNet, "Tyranny of the Christian Right". Despite the hot-button title, it is actually quite full of a rational approach to what I feel is becoming a major concern in America. This article has managed to manifest in terms far more thorough as well as elegant than me, my viewpoints (though I do not agree with all parts of the article, but overall I agree with most of it). Here is an excerpt:

America's ragged divides

Those who want to fight Christian nationalism will need a long-term and multifaceted strategy. I see it as having three parts -- electoral reform to give urban areas fair representation in the federal government, grassroots organizing to help people fight Christian nationalism on the ground and a media campaign to raise public awareness about the movement's real agenda.

My ideas are not about reconciliation or healing. It would be good if a leader stepped forward who could recognize the grievances of both sides, broker some sort of truce, and mend America's ragged divides. The anxieties that underlay Christian nationalism's appeal -- fears about social breakdown, marital instability and cultural decline -- are real. They should be acknowledged and, whenever possible, addressed. But as long as the movement aims at the destruction of secular society and the political enforcement of its theology, it has to be battled, not comforted and appeased.

...

According to Steven Hill of the Center for Voting and Democracy, the combined populations of Montana, Wyoming, Nevada, North and South Dakota, Colorado, Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma, Arizona, and Alaska equal that of New York and Massachusetts, but the former states have a total of nine more votes in the Electoral College (as well as over five times the votes in the Senate). In America, conservatives literally count for more.

Liberals should work to abolish the Electoral College and to even out the composition of the Senate, perhaps by splitting some of the country's larger states.(A campaign for statehood for New York City might be a place to start.) It will be a grueling, Herculean job. With conservatives already indulging in fantasies of victimization at the hands of a maniacal Northeastern elite, it will take a monumental movement to wrest power away from them. Such a movement will come into being only when enough people in the blue states stop internalizing right-wing jeers about how out of touch they are with "real Americans" and start getting angry at being ruled by reactionaries who are out of touch with them.

After all, the heartland has no claim to moral authority. The states whose voters are most obsessed with "moral values" have the highest divorce and teen pregnancy rates. The country's highest murder rates are in the South and the lowest are in New England. The five states with the best-ranked public schools in the country -- Massachusetts, Connecticut, Vermont, New Jersey and Wisconsin -- are all progressive redoubts. The five states with the worst -- New Mexico, Nevada, Arizona, Mississippi and Louisiana -- all went for Bush.

The canard that the culture wars are a fight between "elites" versus "regular Americans" belies a profound split between different kinds of ordinary Americans, all feeling threatened by the others' baffling and alien values. Ironically, however, by buying into right-wing elite-baiting, liberals start thinking like out-of-touch elites. Rather than reflecting on what kind of policies would make their own lives better, what kind of country they want to live in, and who they want to represent them -- and then figuring out how to win others to their vision -- progressives flail about for ideas and symbols that they hope will appeal to some imaginary heartland rube. That is condescending.

[Question] IT, PS2, and working at the liberry

How can I play connect my PS2 to my weaponized laptop? I could use some GTA at the liberry.

[Work] Its 8pm on a Friday and...

I'm at work. Singing the on call blues. The Netbackup environment post-switch firmware update. On a reconfiguration reboot of a media manager the tapes reassigned themselves to new /dev/rmt/X assignments, which I guess is not unexpected as we are using the dynamic qlogic drivers. The version of Netbackup we are using likes to know that tape drive /dev/rmt/Xcbn is a certain assignment, so me (and a co-worker) are re-doing the links. After a few hours of detective work I have whipped up a script to match the physical device assignment to the correct /dev/rmt/X* link. Here is my script:

#!/bin/ksh -x

# mk-tape_links.sh ##
#
#
###

###
# variables
###
TAPEOPTS="b bn c cb cbn cn h hb hbn hn l lb lbn ln m mb mbn mn n u ub ubn un"
TAPEDIR=/dev/rmt
TAPES=/var/tmp/tape-nums.txt
TAPEDRVS="0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12"
PATH=/usr/bin:/usr/sbin

export PATH TAPEOPTS TAPEDIR HATAPEDRVS

# for links to work correctly, must be in /dev/rmt
cd ${TAPEDIR}

# loop through all the tape drives to be defined
# the numbers correspond to /dev/rmt/X* links.
for x in ${TAPEDRVS}
do
# pull the drive physical path out of definition file
DEVICE=`/usr/bin/grep "^${x} " ${TAPES} | /usr/bin/awk '{print $2}'`
export DEVICE
/usr/bin/ln -s ${DEVICE}: ${x}
# loop through and create all the options
for y in ${TAPEOPTS}
do
/usr/bin/ln -s ${DEVICE}:${y} ${x}${y}
done
done

/var/tmp/tapes-num.txt is formated like this:

0 ../../devices/pci@23d,700000/SUNW,qlc@1,1/fp@0,0/st@w500104f000771e2a,0
1 ../../devices/pci@23d,700000/SUNW,qlc@1,1/fp@0,0/st@w500104f000771d4c,0
2 ../../devices/pci@23d,700000/SUNW,qlc@1,1/fp@0,0/st@w500104f000771e45,0
...

Probably an easier way to do it, but it works and is recreateable as I feel this will happen again.

[Game] Dawn of War: Winter Assault

I am a gamer, not hardcore, but I enjoy FPS, RTS, turn based stratedgy, and simulators. One of the better RTS games I had picked up recently (well ok, almost a year ago) was Warhammer 40k: Dawn of War. It is set in the dark and grim future where all mankind has is war. You command Imperial Space Marines, Mysterious Eldar, Barbaric Orks, or the Ruinous Powers of Chaos. In single player campagin mode, you are a Company Commander of the Blood Ravens Chapter of Space Marines. In a surprisingly interesting storyline, each mission you complete moves you a step down the story that includes twists and turns and even betrayl. It reminded me of the richness of story found in Warcraft 3. In a few missions, you fight with the Imperial Guard, humans with nothing more than guts and guns in a universe of aliens, mutants, the mystical, and the unreal. I thought it would be nice to play them and in one mission you do, but you cannot really use them more than as a stop gap against an Orkish horde. The Winter Assault expansion is different, the Imperial Guard are now the full-on playable race, with their own units, strengths and weaknesses. It focuses on having you build an overlapping, cooperative force, as without massed tactics and unit cohesion, the Guard break and run easily. The graphics, as in the first one are very well done as are the sound effects and ambient music. For anyone who remembers the game WH40k: Final Liberation (based on WH40K Epic, where you get to control Titans), DoW is similar and easily (at least for me) as much fun. I recommend it.

Other games I am currently playing:

Masters of Orion 3
Star Wars: Empire at War (with the Improved Venator mod as I love that ship)
Star Wars: Republic Commandos (for the millionth time)
Rome: Total War + Barbarian Invasion

[Mental Health] Did something just snap?

No, but I feel a bit better today. I had been having a lot of pressure lately, not that anyone could notice with my 'BattleCry' rant post. Strange, it took going on call, a usually stressful affair, to take the pressure off.

[Survey/Sci-Fi] Materialism in a post-scarcity economy

An interesting idea has been rolling around in my head the last couple days. Imagine we end up with engines of true creation: nanotechnology, matter-pattern replication, pretty much any technology which given energy and raw elements can construct a perfect copy of any physical object. Ask for platinum ingots, you get platinum ingots. Ask for an egg-salad sandwich, you get an egg-salad sandwich. Numerous science fiction versions of this have been considered. So, given that we invent the technology to create perfect replicas of anything, and have sufficient energy and resources to create such replicas (and we show the wisdom to not use such technology to destroy ourselves), name FIVE things or less that you would personally choose to have perfectly replicated for you to own (ala austere desert island list). I'll stipulate that you cannot replicate a whole person, although a set of spare replacement organs from your own genetic code is fair game. You also cannot replicate things which are unique and unreplicatable by their nature (a particular piece of land overlooking the Mississippi River, for example). Assume replication is perfect at the atomic (but not quantum) level, and can be up to the size of the Great Pyramid of Giza. Assume that you have all the basics of living provided (food, clothing, basic shelter, medical care). Alternately, name FIVE things or less that you would want to own that currently exist and are unique and you would want to prohibit from being replicated (a specific piece of real estate, a particular artwork, etc.) I'll post my own choices in the comments. What would you choose?

[Relgion] BattleCry and why it scares me

"Only a sith deals in absolutes." - Obi-Wan Kenobi, Revenge of the Sith

UPDATE (5/16/2006): Ok so I've slept on this and spoke with some friends. I don't redact what I've said. I still believe that such gatherings serve no purpose other than to promote an agenda of passive hatred and intolerance, but as a friend points out, becoming outraged over this only serves their purposes. Outraged should be saved for the real Hitler Youth, and not these gatherings. A lot of my reaction centers on my distrust of organized religion and their apparent abuse of power. I also feel frustrated that we have moved into an irrational post-modern world, where no amount of reason, evidence, or discussion can change people's minds. Two-way debate is apparently dead. How do we re-open channels to discussion, where we can agree to disagree, and accept other's views, religion, feelings, orientations, strenghts and weaknesses?

One other point I need to make. They have a right to their freedom of speech and their freedom of beliefs, just like I have my right to criticism them. That is the beauty of the rapidly evaporating Bill of Rights. It provides a framework for people with difference to co-exist, that is as long as both sides respect the other's rights and freedoms, something that is disappearing rapidly from this country. So BattleCry members, wrap yourselves in whatever blanket of comfort you need, just know that there will be those who contradict you and they are not sinners and they may not even be your enemy.

http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/20060511_battle_cry_theocracy/

Holy shit.

I mean really, holy shit.

“This is war. And Jesus invites us to get into the action, telling us that the violent—the ‘forceful’ ones—will lay hold of the kingdom.” - Ron Luce, founder BattleCry

“I will keep my eyes on the battle, submitting to Your code even when I don’t understand..." - Ron Luce, founder BattleCry

You know I was once Catholic until I was 11, then Atheist until 24, now I am quasi-Agnostic. I now have my own form of spirituality, as I found nothing in religion, science, or philosphy to classify my understanding of faith in life, the universe, and everything. I am not violent, but I have to say things like this want me to violence. To see the youth of this country so deluded and brainwashed by the mis-interpreted and twisted dogma of the extremist/fundamentalist evangelical agenda really upsets me.

When I was a Catholic, our Priest spoke of tolerance, acceptance, and love for everyone, even those who do not like you or agree with you, we were 'all God's children'.

When I was an athiest, I tried to be a decent human being. Treating others with respect and accepting different view points.

I feel to each their own, as long as their own does not interfere with my liberty or life. This interferes. This interferes in a big way.

Smoke some pot all of you BattleCry memebers, have some sex (or masturbate) and lighten the fuck up. Seriously, you guys seem like the Hitler Youth movement. Wrapped in American flags and spouting your intrepetation of the Bible and preaching your version of the 'final solution'. You are no different a religious zealot than the extremist fundamentalists of islam who see to have the rule of islam forcefully installed on the world. Have we reverted back 1000 years to the time of the Crusades?

It is not hard to imagine in a few years we have a open police state (we have a hidden one currently) where you are imprisioned without question for not towing the religious party line.

On a side note, troops to the border of Mexico??? WTF?

[Mental Mutterings] Musings on the nature of Time

Time.

The great constant, or so we perceive. Time is a prevelant defining factor of our lives. We are born, we live for a variable period of it, and we die. Between birth and death we do some other stuff, most of life attempts to extend time and cheat death in the attempt of immortality through the transmission of genetic material on to the next generation.

Time.

It is a filter that separates our souls from each other. Time and space, linked, we cannot exist in two places at two times at once. Death is a removal of this filter, we enter timelessness. Do we become one with each other and that of all there is? We are already a part of that, we are made of the stuff of stars and the universe.

Time.

Pre-destination or free-will? We experience life with a 0.5ms lag. What we sense occurs 0.5ms before our brain processes it. Our brain compensates this time lag. But still our being lives in a future from what our consciousness tells us.

Time.

We are analog entities, yet we feel the need to split time into discrete quanta. Jagged peaks that are the ticks of the clock. Solid barriers that delineate one second from the next. But this is an illusion, it only exists if we look at a clock. Without clocks life passes in a simuflow of existence. We are not mindful of age, as without clocks age is meaningless.

Time.

The great equalizer, creator, destroyer. Over time all is turned to dust and all is created.

Time.

Is relative. As we move, it changes. As you near the speed of light, time slows within your frame of reference. At the speed of light, time stops. Light exists both in time, as it can move through space over time, and beyond time, as at the speed of light time stops, faster than it and causality is reveresed.

Time.

It is an illusion, lunch time doubly so.

[Musings] American Culture...deep as a mud puddle

Just commenting on something I have noticed since cancelling cable. People here do not have much to talk about besides what happened last night on TV. How vapid. I realized this when I was in a remote class this week surrounded by other IT people. The topics that often arouse, when asked 'what did you do last night?', the answer, with 80% accuracy was, 'watched X on TV.'

Damn, come on we have better things to talk about. The top three things most discussed at an American workplace I am willing to bet is:

1. TV
2. the weather
3. sports

I care very little about all three, which means I often used to find it hard to talk to co-workers, or worse I am avoided since I do not watch TV. Or rather used to, at my new job most of my co-workers are like me and cancelled TV, or simply just don't watch it. It is kind of refreshing topics most often do not revolve around the top three. I feel lucky. We talk about politics (in small doses), books, activities, food, etc.

Wake up America, TV enslaves you, controls you, pollutes your mind. Turn it off, go outside, read a book, play a video game, take a walk.

I re-iterate that since dropping TV my mind feels clearer and cleaner. It also challenges me to figure out ways to have conversations with others that do not revolve around TV.

[Government] No Such Agency

The NSA has been attempting to keep a database of every phonecall made to, from, or entirely within the United States since at least 2001. And they are doing it with the help of AT&T, Verizon, and BellSouth.

The Bush Administration has halted the congressional investigation into illegal NSA wiretapping by refusing to grant security clearances to the Justice Department attorneys responsible for the investigation (Justice Department: "We are going to investigate you." NSA: "No you aren't, you can't, we're not going to give you clearance to know anything about what we are doing." Justice Department: "Okay." NSA: "Suck it."). The Bush administration even blocked Rep. Nancy Pelosi's attempt to find out which members of congress had been briefed on the program by classifying the list of their names (although Pelosi herself was likely briefed on much of these programs).

NSA whistleblower Russell Tice cannot blow the whistle to congress because the members of the House and Senate intelligence committees are not being given security clearance to hear his complaint.

Bush's nominee to head the CIA is the General who ran and defended all these illegal programs at NSA. The president apparently lied about it. The Attorney General may have perjured himself lied about it while not under oath before the house Judiciary committee.

Unchecked power of this kind is as great a threat to us as terrorism is. This is a an unprecedented threat to human rights. These illegal acts must cease, and the people responsible for them must be held accountable.

Oh, and some small props are due to Qwest, the only one of the major telecoms that didn't cave to the NSA.

UPDATE: BellSouth claims they didn't collude with the NSA.

UPDATE: Verizon too.