[Musings] The Distributed Life, part next

I've been doing The Distriubted Life (tm) as I call it now for about 2 months. It sucks on many levels, but it does have it's bright points. For example, I spend half of my time in the luxurious (compared to my cube) office, where I have easy access to coffee, a snack, a fish tank with entrancing tropical fish and most importantly, my office helpers, my cats. Not to sound like a crazy pet person, but I really love my cats. When I am having a tough day dealing with all things *nix, my cat will hop in my lap and start purring. Instant stress relief. I think what makes pets so theraputic is the fact that they are so interactive. You give them love or attention, and they give it back, instant satisfaction. They help remind you that there is more in life than work.

[DVD] Super Size Me

I will never go to McDonalds again.

[Books] Post your reading list!

My [Ramblings] of a little while ago where I posted my reading list, and recommendation from AC made me decide, please post your reading lists! It will be a great way to exchange reading ideas.

My list at the moment (note it is a little different as I have finished a few books):


The Corporation: The Pathological Pursuit of Power and Profit by Joel Bakan
Manufacturing Consent by Noam Chomsky and Edward Herman
Star Wars - Heir to the Empire by Timothy Zahn (4th rereading)
Imperial Hubris by Anonymous
The 9/11 Commision Report by the 9/11 Commission (very enlightening)

[Review] Star Wars Battlefront

Rating: T for Teen (which like PG-13, which is a red flag for me with movies, but games are different)

Synopsis: Battlefield 1942 with Wookies.

What worked/What I liked:

- you get to shoot gungans, a lot of gungans
- you get to shoot ewoks, a lot of ewoks
- the sounds was phenominal
- the graphics were liquid smooth on my computer
- you get to drive AT-ATs
- Wookie Smugglers + Ammo driod = teh win
- the republic gunship is the shit, a flying tank and one of the easier craft to fly

What didn't work/What I didn't like:

- maps were too small, especially the ones where you could fly stuff
- TIE Fighters and Xwings are not atmospheric ships in my book
- the bot AI while not impressive was better than bf1942's, but it was still limited
- historical campaigns didn't let you choose a side, while it was fun shooting gungans as part of the droid army, I would have preferred to play the Empire on the Endor mission
- bf1942 like mouse controlled flying

What I haven't tried yet:

- multiplayer online (just haven't had time), but I really hope it isn't like bf1942, where my online experience was ruined by people who were able to snipe me from across the far side of the map right as I spawned. Battlefront's sniper weapons aren't one-shot kill weapons so this may be better. Now I may just spawn in front of an AT-AT. :-)

[Politics] Educated Voters = good for democracy

Because informed voters are the backbone of a healthy democracy I felt I would post a few links from Wikipedia that I found to be helpful to understand the U.S. electoral process.

Description of the US Electoral College

Description of the two-party system

The Spoiler Effect

Gerrymandering

Instant run-off voting, an option against deadlocks or ties

Condorcet Voting, another good alternative

Duverger's Law, a discussion of how first-past-the-post fosters two-party systems

Factcheck.org, a non-partisan political fact-checking site

Yes my posting seems biased towards options to the two party system and they are. I feel that the two parties have become so monolithic it is hard for them to represent the ideaologies and feelings of all their members. I have spoken to many people who do not like the two options they are given as they are neither Republican or Democrat, yet share beliefs in common with elements of each party. Since the Democrat shunning of the Green Party in 2000, the two-party system has further widened the divisions and feelings, the only counter-balance this election, in my opinion, is the liberal fear of 4 more years of a Bush Administration. We, as a free peoples, with a high level of literacy and education should have more than two parties and we should be able to figure out a way to more effectively express everyone's beliefs and play nicely in the sandbox that is America's politics.

[Ramblings] Slow week

I know I have not posted much lately. Been busy with the 'Distributed Life (tm)' and the toil that I call work. So I guess I am just wasting everyone who bothers to read this time.

Last weekend my wife and I went to go see the movie 'Shaun of the Dead', I have to say best zombie movie I have seen in a while. Very cheeky and well done. I would rank my favorite zombie movies as:

1) Dawn of the Dead (original 1960s version)
2) Shaun of the Dead
3) Bad Taste
4) Dead Alive
5) Evil Dead series

People have told me I should see 'Bio Zombie' and a few have recommended 'Chopper Chicks from Zombietown'. My wife says I am obsessed with zombie movies. I just like them is all. I also like dystopia/alternate reality movies and my top 5 of them are:

1) Clockwork Orange
2) 1984
3) Brazil
4) Matrix (first movie)
5) THX-1138

[Multimedia] Star Wars Trilogy DVD / THX-1138 Director's Cut

I purchased the Star Wars Trilogy DVD and received THX-1138 DVD for cheap when buying they as a package deal. Here is my review:

THX-1138: I loved it. I enjoy dystopia movies and I felt this movie was adequately creepy, depressing and technically well done. Robert Duval did an excellent acting job.

Star Wars DVD: Eventhough I have accused Lucas of raping my childhood, in deep and serious reflections, Star Wars was a large part of my life since watching it for the first time at the Kanabec County Fair in the Mora fairgrounds back in 1981. I remember fondly when my Grandmother took me to see Return of the Jedi at Har Mar theaters in 1983. To the christmas of 1982 when I received the Millenium Falcon as a Xmas gift. I was an introverted child who lived in the middle of no where, my friends were often the action figures I played with. Star Wars is a deep part of my nerd-meme as much as Star Trek, Dr Who and Blake 7. I feel the DVDs were worth the purchase because they really have been redone with better effects, crisper images and improved sound. Some criticisms remain:

1) Han and Greedo shoot at the same time now. While not as cool as when he shoots first and in cold blood, it is better than Greedo shooting first.

2) The Jabba scene looks a little better than the 1997 version, but they should have done him as either a hologram or kept that scene out. He still looks CGI (as do the Gungans).

3) The 'Weeeesaaaa Freeeeee!' scene of Naboo during the celebration scene in Jedi wasn't really needed. Seriously, less Gungans = better.

4) The original theatrical movies with the set would have been nice. But after reflection I will give Lucas his dues, they are his intellectual property, he owns them, if this is really the penultimate of his artistic vision for Star Wars so be it. Just apologize for the damn Gungans and we can call it good.

What I liked:

1) The hours and hours of production footage, cut scenes and such in the documentaries. But I love this stuff, I watched the 12 hours of the LotR documentaries too. I wish they would have put in the Ice Creature in the Hoth base scene or the Anchorhead meeting of Luke and Biggs, that would have been cool.

2) Sound is much, much improved. And the digital clarity has allowed me to appreciate even more some of the minuatae to detail.

3) Episode 3 preview was interesting, even though short on details. I am waiting to see how he fixes (if he fixes) the continuity issues between EP 1-3 and 4-6.

Oh well. I know one person is chomping at the bit to flame me for having purchased this set.

[Politics] State Constitutional Amendment for private corporate funding?

MPR Coverage of the "Itasaca Project" which will raise the gas tax, create a metro sales tax, raise license tab fees, and setup toll roads to pay for the redesign of Twin Cities poorly designed roadway infrastructure. I am all for unknotting the roadways in the Twin Cities because the frequent 3 lanes to 1 lane interchanges are annoying and time consuming. But making a Constitutional Amendment to call for taxes to pay private coporations seems very wrong (even insidious). The constitutional amendment approach is allow Gov Pawlenty to save face with his 'no increase/no new taxes' promise which is costing this state dearly in terms of the standard of living, public services, and education.

[Esoterica] An observation on science

We percieve the world about us through its interaction with our nervous system. Every perception is defined by duration, intensity, frequency and modality (or quality). It's the modality of perception that I find most interesting- it's one of the most complex features of sensation. Our sensory modalities are the ones you learned in kindergarten- visual, olfactory, auditory, somatosensory (pain, touch and balance), and taste. These modalities are highly specific and somewhat narrow in nature, however. The range of visible light is only a small fraction of the spectrum; our chemical perceptions (such as smell and taste) are limited; we can only accurately sense changes in temperature from about 5-45°C, and so on.

Most, if not all, of science is devoted to development of new or extended perceptive modalities. For example, we use instruments to observe things too small or too far away for vision and to quantitate energy at a molecular level. We enlarge normal cellular processes to a size and scope perceptible by our eyes; we make computers to listen to the noise of stars; we measure the magnetic properties of molecules to determine their structure and interactions. We constantly desire to know what we do not, and cannot, determine directly- we seek a deeper level of interaction through perception of the world around us. This is the drive of science.

But what then? If every modality was within our grasp, how would we use it? Will the day come when we have observed all? This, I think, is the eternal conflict of scientists: you must have unerring faith in your ability to detect something novel, to invent a modality to make an observation no one else has been able to percieve; you must also have absolute confidence that tomorrow you will observe something anew, that the mystery is unending. We seek all perceptions, confident that we will not find the end.

[Newspaper] The Onion moves to the Twin Cities.

The Onion has moved its publishing to the Twin Cities! I am so happy. When they moved to New York in 2001 it became hard to find it here. I was surprised to start seeing it everywhere again and it makes me happy. Always a funny and often a witty read.

In the 12 years I have lived in the Twin Cities, I have found quite a few free publications that are good reads:

Twin Cities Reader (defunct, bought by a large media conglomerate and closed to reduce competition)

City Pages (hasn't been quite the same since being bought from an out of town large media conglomerate, but still decent)

The Pulse (a lot like the Twin Cities Reader, but on a smaller scale, still locally owned, politically active and has a good scope on music)

Citizen Herald (defunct, I haven't found a copy for years, was like the Onion, but locally published)

the Rake (a monthly magazine, very good)

MN Daily (U of MN newspaper, has suffered considerably from budget cuts, in 1993 it was declared one of the best college newspapers in the country, it is a shell of its former self)

Avenues (monthly newspaper of arts, food, etc. for the Twin Cities, I am not sure if it has a website)

Computer User (I do not see it around as much anymore, always a good read and a good place to find deals on hardware in the TC)

The big media newspapers in town such as the Pioneer Press and Star Tribune are almost unreadable anymore since they were each purchased by giant media conglomerates (all of the Twin Cities newspapers were purchased within a year or so of each other in the mid-90s shortly after the deregulation of media ownership by the FCC, Twin Cities' newspapers and publications have suffered considerably. While allowing them to survive, a lot of them have lost their edge because of distant corporate ownership) and now are inoffensive, homogenized, 8th grade reading level pieces of recycling. If I had to choose, I would pick the Star Tribune over the Pioneer Press since it is a bit better read than the PP.

[Url] memepool.com

http://www.memepool.com/

I recommend it. I've been reading it since its start and you can usually find some very interesting things to read.

[Politics] Things that make you go, WTF?!?!

Rumsfeld recently confused Saddam for Bin Laden.

Wow, I mean wow. How do confuse a dictator of a oil-rich country who was your nemesis, whom you've captured. With the leader of a radical, well-organized, terrorist organization?

Did someone forget his medicine?

I dearly hope this is a case of senility and not a case of transference. The liberal media has been a buzz over the Bush administration's re-surfacing of the rumors about Iraq harboring/helping al-Qaeda. These rumors were proved false by the 9/11 Commission Report (section 10.3, page 334).

Yet another reason to have a regime change in November. Be sure to VOTE!!!

[Reflection] In Remembrance of Sept 11th, 2001

I won't forget where I was when I heard the first plane had crashed into the first tower of the WTC. I was driving into to work listening to NPR and it was a perfect fall day. Things became much worse quickly after that.

To those who died 3 years ago today, and to those who died in the fallout of the years following it: rest in peace and may we know peace soon.



Links:
Web Archive of 9/11
911 Report

[Sci-Fi] Let Star Trek die...please!

I was reading this nytimes article and it made me reflect that perhaps the Star Trek franchise should go the way of the Dodo.

I have loved Star Trek since my father first showed it to me when I was very young. I was/am a Sci-Fi geek who loves Dr Who (Tom Baker years mainly), Blake 7, Star Trek (TNG + DS9 over ToS and Voyager), and Star Wars (thank you for raping my childhood Lucas with ep1 and 2, but they are your films and it is your perogative). I have watched every Star Trek movie, but after such bombs as Nemesis and with Berman's dellusions of grandeur with 'Enterprise' I really think it is time to let things die off for 10-20 years if not for good.

Viacom has announced that a MMORPG is in the works, but I think my friend put it best:

(09:54:37) Kionel: Wee! I get to be a red shirt!
(09:55:02) Kionel: And I'm not taking orders from some 45 hour-per-week-player-loser.
(09:55:06) Kionel: Fuck that.
(09:55:11) Kionel: Fuck it right in the ear.

Power corrupts and 45-hours-per-week corrupts absolutely.

[blog] Call Center Purgatory (a shout out)

http://callcenterpurgatory.blogspot.com/

In my younger years before I became dedicated to all things that end in NIX, I spent 4 years as a Help Desk operator and it felt like purgatory.

Please read AC's site, for enlightenment regarding that which is known as, Call Center Purgatory.

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to be a stud press here


13
Oranjestad, Aruba, po b 1200
Go and get my kitten, please, Jellia, and we'll hear what she has to say
about it Rob Loses His Treasures Our young adventurer had intended to
pass the night in the little bed at his hotel, but the atmosphere of
Paris proved so hot and disagreeable that he decided it would be more
enjoyable to sleep while journeying through the cooler air that lay far
above the earth's surface

[Politics] RNC

I don't really know what to say other than we as a people and the world can not have four more years of Bush and his administration. We need to fix taxation in this country, we need to fix the environmental regulations, we need to fix tolerance in this country or we will not have a country in the very near future. We need to break down the striations of the class structures so that we are all a bit closer. We need to do something about health care in this country (be it private or public, we all need it).

Geez why can't we all just get a long anymore?

Is this what the death of a Super Power looks like?

[Musings] Hello? Is this thing on?

Please tell me if my blog sucks.

[Musings] Cutting the cord, cancelling cable.

I just cancelled cable. Wow it felt good. But it didn't come without reservations. For the most part cable is a cesspool of poor programming. But I had the channels I liked (Science Channel, BBC America, Sci-Fi, Comedy Central, Bravo, Cartoon Network). However living the distributed lifestyle, we no longer have much time for TV. After a week without it, we realized that suddenly we had gaps in our day that felt empty. That is when we realized that this is where we would normally watch TV. When we tallied up the hours we found TV really took too much of our time. Since we would only be able to see cable 50% of the time or less, the $60/month expense is not worth it. Which was the other reason for the cancellation. We originally purchased cable when it was $40/month and the service was provided by AT&T. AT&T sold the service to Comcast and within six months our price went from $40/month to $58/month, and we received a letter from Comcast that said basically even though our municipality wasn't raising Francise Fees, the law says we can, so we will. That left a bad taste in my mouth. Plus Comcast's purchase of G4 and TechTV kind of ruined TechTV.

Cest'la Vie. I will miss Morgan Webb, South Park and the BBC, but not much else.

We will be better for having cut the cord with the TV. We read more, we walk more, I surf the internet more. In otherwords I feel like I am living better.

PS - Discovery and Learning Channels, how about putting science shows and educational stuff back on? I am tired of home improvements (aka house pr0n).

[Musings] Culture Jamming, shifting the paradigms

I became hooked on Ad Busters one day when I was waiting in line at my local Co-Op waiting to buy food. It immediately appealed to my repressed counter-culture side. What I love about it though is that it strives to work within the system, change from within. It strives to educate the masses on the power of advertising and it warns us how we need to be an informed consumer and that we need to break the power of the brand. I agree with a lot of what they say. Americans especially need to know the total cost of a product, know that everything we buy costs more than just what is listed on the price tag. Being one of the richest countries on the planet with one of the highest standards of living (which is changing, we are slowly losing it), we need to know how we impact the rest of the world, the environment, and each other.

I am not saying we need to stop buying now, just that we need to be smarter about it. Invest in America, invest in sustainable practices, invest in the now and the future.

PS - I plan to get a pair of blackspot sneakers as soon as they come out!