November 25, 2003
Weird Wishlist
- Would like a garment bag designed for 3XLT shirts sizes. Probably means I need something designed for women's dresses.This looks kewl.
- a bigger, better computer
- ALSO 10:59AM MP3 mixing software
November 24, 2003
How Well Do You Know Me?
Take my Quiz on QuizYourFriends.com!
Not Starting Anything New
Trying to wrap up little things. Don't want to do anything major. After all, should it break on Thursday (Thanksgiving) it would suck to have to fix it.
Spent all weekend trying not to start more things that would remain uncompleted. Finished watching movies or series on DVD I had started. Worked on finishing books I have been reading.
So why did the genius that is me pick up Heinlein's Stranger in a Strange Land at lunch? And why did I pay retail? Could have gotten it off eBay for $4 or so.
November 21, 2003
Huitième Anniversaire
Don't remember the EXACT date I first used the Internet. Nor do I remember the exact date, I first sat down in a chat room. Do know that it was not too long before Thanksgiving, back in 1995.
Some friends were playing on the computers at the university library where I worked. Was sucked into the dark world of online chatting. Pseudo-debauchery, hacker wannabees, and interesting people. At one point, I spent every hour possible on a computer typing.
Probably it was an addiction. No one should spend so much time interacting with people that do not exist. Was it worse than an addiction to drugs? Probably not.
Don't chat nearly as much as I used to chat. Maybe get in 4-5 hours a week and mostly with people I've met and maintained something of a relationship. In a way, I miss it. Probably that is just my addiction trying to become strong again.
November 20, 2003
LotR: Two Towers
Yeah, the Extended version of Two Towers is awesome. Think I like it better than the Theatrical version.
Some of the things I wished were in the movie when I saw it in theatres was in the extended. For instance:
- More ents and the entwives.
- More Eowyn
- More Faramir
Very glad I waited! :)
Service Provider Spam
Got a text message from my service provider on my cell. It was an advertisement. Bastards.
November 18, 2003
Adult Science Center
Adults-Only Science Center Opens Doors in London - because adults need centers to deal with their issues.
November 17, 2003
Sick Bastard
The passion in my life is learning. No, really! No joke.
Learning is what gets me up in the morning. My raison d'etre. Things that are new to me and somehow seem to make clear the world are my fascination.
On the otherhand, I've been getting back into an old, not so good groove. Playing on the computer more than I should. Tetris occupies way too much of my time. Cal it TV for the computer. Mindnumbingly little thought goes into playing. Kind of an anti-thinking game? Find a zone and just do not think at all.
How can learning excite me so much and shutting off my brain relax me so much?
Clothes Horse
Wondered this weekeend after buying 3 more dress shirts, do I have too many clothes? Thinking, yeah, I do.
Dress Clothes: I have 11 good / 10 okay dress shirts and 8 pairs of slacks. Have over a dozen pairs of dress socks.
Casual: I have 17 polos, 4 crews, lots of teeshirts, and lots of shorts.
This gives me about 3 weeks worth of clothes for work, play, etc. Of course, I have a huge 9' long closet and even now only 1/2 way fill it.
My grandmother has the closet in her room full and at least 2 other bedrooms full of clothes. Have a great aunt that filled the closets of more than one house.
Find that I don't really understand what I am buying. Do not often buy clothes I never wear. More often, I buy clothes I wear until I find that I like another type better. The better type gets bought until I have a decent amount of them.
What makes it hard is there are only 1 stores in town that carry clothes large enough to fit me. I take that back... one has slacks large enough for me; one has polos large enough. Neither have dress shirts. Wear a 20" neck, 37" sleeve, and a 54" chest. Another store is just a few minutes out of town. So I end up doing a lot of my shopping in catalogs or out of town. Bigger cities typically have items we do not get. Someone once suggested I go to a place where they custom make everything. Can't afford it bucko.
November 14, 2003
My Creation Of The Day
Had to receive assistance from my assistant to figure out how to watermark a PowerPoint document. It is official... I am getting old and dementia is taking hold. :(
Religious Persecution
Just read about Judge Moore losing his office because he refused to remove a Ten Commandments monument from his courthouse.
Doubt those who chose this method of resolving the situation really wanted to pull him out of the office. After all, everyone knows it will galvanize his supporters. More such activities will take place with even more fervor to ensure the godless do not take away their religion. Some religious people see themselves as being under attack.
Does this have a solid basis? Don't really think it does.
Schools do not teach Judae-Christian-Islamic Divine Creation theory nor do they teach Pythagorean or any of the hundreds of Creation theories for some odd reason except Evolution and The Big Bang. Most people when they go to Sunday school don't tell the teacher when discussing Genesis, "My mommy told me I don't have to listen to this because I know it is wrong." So why do it in a public school? In science class, you generally discuss topics of science and not religion. Should scientists have found strong evidence that pointed to God created the Universe literally as described in the Bible, then the theories would reflect it.
Listened to a guy the other night rail on and on about how Christians are under attack the Humanists. The part I don't get is what Humanists are running the schools? The local K-12 superintendents, principals, and teachers all seem to be Christian. Yes, a few do seem towards agnostic and atheist, but the overwhelming majority would be highly offended to be called anti-Christian when they go to church every Sunday. Have met a few university scientists that sound agnostic or atheist. They are not the overwhelming majority of the university's faculty nor even of the chemisty, biology, or physics departments.
Of course, would a Baptist parent want a Catholic teacher explaining how the morals of the Bible? Would think studying the Bible is not appropriate for public schools. Whereas a Baptist Sunday school probably found a Baptist to teach the kids those morals. So when we recommend that we teach religious morals in schools, I would think we would have just as much contention over which to choose. Do we identify what the majority of people are and just have that class? How do you deal with 40% Baptist, 35% Methodist, and 25% other? Go with the one 60% are not?
Public schools have to be all things to all people. Do we water down the religious moral education by picking out only those things that are pretty much common to every Christian religion? Do we water it down even further so that it also includes the commonalties with Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, and Buddism?
This being all things to all people is why schools are not all they could be. Ideally schools would be exactly what each child needs. Instead we have a mishmash. Our schools try not to screw up the kids any worse than the parents have while increasing the knowledge kids can recognize (note not recall). Since most kids are pretty resilient physically, mentally, socially, and morally, we probably don't really screw many up too horribly. Instead they manage to get by despite our efforts.
To say Science is out to "get" Religion is a farce. The Bible has been used by archaeologists and historians for centuries to locate lost cities and artifacts. Anthropologists and sociologists have used it to understand past civilization's cultures and gain meaning of artifacts from ancient civilisations in the region. Early Western philosophy is the pre-cursor to science and was highly based on theology. Have not seen anything in Science that can prove God does not exist. Have not seen anything in any religion that readily disproves any scientific law. (Yeah, I consider the Divine Creation in Genesis to be a story and not literal, factual representation of the events as they unfolded.) The conflicts are trivial and blown up to be these huge problems where most people reconcile these conflicts everyday.
Too often religious laws and scientific laws are in sync.For instance, many of the social rules in the Bible are the same rules epidemiologists use to help prevent the spreading of disease. Greek theological musings resulted in theories very reminiscent of atomic theories.
In the end, I think Judge Moore was much maligned to be yanked out of his office. His desire to proclaim the Ten Commandments is an expression of freedom of speech and religion. However, to use one's office to do it creates a kind of conflict. Though, in the right contexts, how do any of us not do this? Our actions are the biggest proclamation as to how great is our faith. By being the best person that I can be, I show how great is my love of God. A big ole monument shows that I can spend my way. :)
November 12, 2003
Resume
Tweaked my resume yesterday evening.
Not really looking for a job. Just saw someone else's thought it had a good way of expressing the computer skills list.
It does need some new areas... Certifications, Publications & Presentations, etc.
November 07, 2003
Ezra == Geek?
Liking a site called Tribe.net. Better than Friendster.
Anyway, did a search for people with a first name of Ezra. What did I find?
- Software Engineerer
- Pixel Pusher
November 05, 2003
Bad Sleep
Smoke detector alarm went off while I was asleep. Assumed my roommate burned something yet again. Was confused because normally, I smell the smoke from the burnt food before the smoke detector is triggered. It stopped after a few seconds.
Then it went off again and again and again. In my obvious delerium, I thought, "Why doesn't he just turn the damn thing off? It is too early to get up now."
Seems that nothing was burning. This is apparently a new smoke detector. The last one made an annoying chirp when the battery got low. This one does the full on ear-drum ripping alarm. Apparently I am the only one that heard it.
Oops.
November 04, 2003
Voting
Once, a long time ago, I succumbed to employer pressure. I voted because my boss told me I had to vote. My boss' spouse was a political figure so voting was extremely important. I agree voting is important. Probably even extremely important. Anyone that neglects to vote is a horrible citizen!
Choosing to not vote is not the same a neglecting not to vote. There are many reasons both justifiable and pure fantasy as to why someone should not vote. Untrustable voting processes, lack of candidates, and lack of knowledge about the candidates.
My understanding is there are elections going on all over the country. However, I did not see hardly anyone at the election poll place this morning while driving into work. Think there were fewer cars there than normal. So I had a doubt they were even taking place today.
Before I vote, I want to know something about these candidates. Do not get a local city newspaper nor have I seen anything about the candidates in the other media which I do view. Voting blindly for anyone means voting on just maybe name recognition. That seems to me worse than not voting. Voting in a state of ignorance about the candidates at best is throwing away the vote. At worst, it could be giving a mandate to someone who is for everything of which I disapprove.
November 01, 2003
Winding... Doooowwwwn
It will soon be 5 AM. Looks like LAN Party Night 1 is winding down. Fewer people are interesting in playing games. More are interested in surfing, talking and whatever. Maybe it is time for rest? Be back at 6 PM? Or earlier.