| Ranting
and raving,
wisdom and whimsy,
from
the mind of a Madman,
...with links.
Warning:
Poor grammar.
Adult themes.
Strange opinions.
Obscure
references.
Foul language.
Utter madness.
Okay, that's
it, you've been warned.
Archives:
February
2004
January 2004
December
2003
November 2003
October
2003
September 2003
| |
March
30, 2004
Inspiring!
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/business/national/8312158.htm
Too late to nominate this guy for President?
I'm just asking is all.
March
30, 2004
Today's music sucks!
(There
I said it.)
Here's the deal, I never wanted to become one of those people
who gets stuck in their own age, so to speak, and thinks that anything new is
bad. The most obvious problem with this idea of keeping current and being 'with
it' has been the undeniable, striking, and unalterable fact that
most of today's music really does suck. I hate to say that because
I hate to sound like my parents. I don't want to be the old guy who can't relate
saying "You kids today . . . blah, blah, blah."
That's not who I am.
On the other hand, well, here's my sample modern
punk song:
We
hate our parents
I'm mad at my father and step-dad
We have nothing to
say
nothing to say
nothing to say
We
have instruments
We don't understand
and cannot play
cannot play
cannot
play | We can only whine
About
life's most petty inequity
and sing off key
sing off key
sing off
key
Leave me alone
I don't want anything I have to earn
Don't
want to know anything I have to learn
Leave me alone
Leave me alone
Whah,
Whah, Whah
Whah, Whah, Whah
(deteriorates at this
point into ten full minutes of a baby crying.) |
Whatever,
that's what it all sounds like to me.
Well finally, here
is an article that backs me up.
(Nods to Techdirt
for the link.)
So what happens now? Well, what always happens when
you take a wrong turn? You have to go back to a point before you went wrong and
try again. The result here is that the smarter kids are going back to the roots
of Classic Rock and starting over from there. Classic Rock is undergoing a rediscovery
by today's more enlightened teens and a rebirth is sure to be right around the
corner. When it gets here I'll ready and waiting. Right here, where I've always
been, listening to Rush, Queen, Peter Gabriel and the like and anxious to hear
the new sound of neo-classic rock that these late comers are sure to bring to
the party. I look forward to such new music. Music that will require talent and
carry meaning; it will be new, fresh, and eventually, inevitably progressive.
As opposed to today's trend toward no talent, no effort, regressive, and meaningless
noise.
Now if only we could do something about modern fashion or the lack
there of? Am I the only guy who when some dirty, punk ass kid, holding up his
unwashed pants, carelessly knocks into him (or worse my wife) in the mall, without
so much as a mumbled word of apology, wants to yank his pants down, knock him
over, point and laugh?
I mean what the hell is he gonna do about it? He's
on the ground with his friggin pants around his ankles for pity's sake!
What's
that? You want to fight? Okay fine, what I'm wearing is designed to allow me maximum
range of motion and protection, you on the other hand might as well be wrapped
in a tangled bed sheet, and in my minds eye all those piercings now have
bright red target images floating over them. Plus I've been studying martial arts
longer than you've been alive, but hey that's because I'm more than twice your
age, you never know, you might get lucky.
You really want a piece of me little
man? I say . . BRING IT!
. . .
Where was I?
Oh,
right - today's music sucks, I was right all along (again), and you better
show your elders some respect because some of us can still whip your ass.
 |
March
22, 2004
The Rites of Spring
Spring
has always been my favorite season. It always makes me feel wonderful and renewed.
This effect on my spirit has been heightened by another recent 'fall of the checkered
flag' when I received some pretty good, long expected, financial news. So with
a renewed spirit I have embraced the season with full gusto.
Now in my opinion,
unless once in a while you come to work after the weekend, and your thighs are
so sore you can barely stand up straight to walk from the car to your office,
you're just not living your life right.
("Yes, thank you. No, I'm fine. Yes,
I'll take the elevator today, thank you very much.")
My extreme soreness is
the direct result of said gusto and the activities I pursued this past weekend.
I have been engaged in my own personal rites of the season. Don't worry I'm not
talking about any Pagan rituals or some such, I am nothing if not devout in my
atheism. No, I'm talking about changing the CD's in the car. (Yes! I still
listen to CD's, goddamn it! I bought them, they still sound fine to me, and I
see no reason to move over to MP3s just yet.) In any case changing the CD's,
a little spring cleaning, some romance, and of course paintball.
Starting
with the CD's, I recently have been listening to the new "Rupi's Dance" by Ian
Anderson of Jethro Tull fame. Actually, it's not that new, a friend overseas recommended
it a while ago, but I made a game of trying to find a store that had it in stock
here in the US.
"May I help you sir?" The surly, meticulously unkempt, store
clerk would eventually ask after watching me look around in open disgust for awhile.
"Yes, I wonder if you have the new album by Ian Anderson?" I would always
begin amiably.
"Who?" He would invariably ask.
"Anderson, Ian Anderson."
I would repeat. After a few moments of the blank (and slightly contemptuous) stare
I would try and help by spelling it out for him. "A-N-D-E-R . . . "
"I know
how to spell 'Anderson' Sir." He would declare before I could finish. I love when
they call me "Sir". Makes me want to rip their arms out of their socket
like an enraged Wookiee who has just lost his third straight game of Correlian
holo-chess.
Outwardly unperturbed I press on.
"Ian Anderson formerly of
Jethro Tull. He has a new solo album and I was wondering if you had it in stock?"
I would ask patiently.
"Let me check the computer," he would always say at
this point, in a deft attempt to keep from having to ask "Who?" again.
(I am quite convinced of this.)
I would follow him to the computer with a
helpful smile, which never failed to enrage them. Because while it was, in and
of itself, nothing you could actually take offence at it also made it clear that
I was willing to patiently endure their stunning musical and professional ignorance.
Eventually, after silently trying to remember how to spell 'Anderson' (again I
am convinced), they would begrudgingly acknowledge that there was indeed such
an album, by such a person, who also was clearly (as the computer would never
fail to point out) part of a band called Jethro Tull at some point in pre-history.
"Yes Sir, we carry that," they would say.
"Really," I would reply, allowing
a slight, false tone of hope to creep into my voice.
"Yeah, I can order it
for you and have it here in a few days." They would finish.
"Ah, I see." I
would reply darkly. "So you don't actually have it here, in stock then, do you?"
This little exercise was repeated countless time over the past few weeks as
opportunities presented themselves.
One must do something to pass the time
you understand.
In any case, I finally gave in and ordered the album on line
myself. I have, since then, been listening to it and enjoying it in the car. This
past weekend however "the change of the season was enough of a reason" to want
to shake things up. So into the car went Max Webster's - 'A Million Vacations',
Dave Lee Roth's 'Skyscraper' and 'Eat 'Em and Smile' and the old
Go West album "Indian Summer" which Gina and I fell in love to. (This is
a great romantic album guys. If a slow dance to track seven doesn't move your
lover I strongly suggest you check her pulse.)
Cutting to the chase.
The
ritual playing of 'Research at beach resorts', etc., and a bit of Spring-cleaning
being done, Sunday was paintball day. It was a sort of birthday party for one
of my very good friends and a lot of the old 'Integrity' folks showed up
and it was really good to see everyone together again. Especially since it was
my first outing to the paintball fields of honor with the new rig that some of
these same friends pitched in together to buy me. I must say that playing the
game with a non-rental weapon is a completely different experience. I woke quite
early, got suited up and, looking a bit like I just stepped off of the set of
SG-1, went to meet my friends at the field. Now two of my friends have been working
at this particular field as refs, so I was more than happy to hang back and let
them be the team leaders. This left me free to just play and have fun. Much fun
was had too. The high point of the day for me was an eight-man game of 'Last Man
Standing', where I not only personally took out three other players, but also
actually won the game.
These kids today, no patience, no respect for tactics,
no sense of military history, or samurai-like patience. This old warrior showed
them the way it should be done though make no mistake. Of course, the lesson would
have had more of an effect had I not lost the second game of 'Last Man Standing'
by accidentally running out of bounds and getting shot but, us old warriors, we
tire and confuse easily. At least in the second game I was the next to Last Man
Standing and the guy who took me out was none other than my old friend Hawk, who
cut his teeth playing laser tag against me back in the glory days of the 'Integrity'.
After the games we put Foreman, the birthday boy, about forty feet away and formed
a special birthday firing squad taking one shot each. Then we went back to his
house for food and drink and rest. All in all it was great time.
Lastly there
was the sex. Springtime always make me even more libidinous than usual, if you
can imagine such a thing. Now being a gentleman, I cannot say too much about this,
but let it be understood that the rest of the weekend, unless I was asleep, I
was engaged in the most pleasurable, romantic distractions with my lovely wife.
Sometimes quietly, sometimes passionately and sometimes bone jarring, teeth rattling,
"kids go to your rooms and play the stereo as loud as you want" -etly. In any
case, you get the idea. All in all, a great weekend for starting the new season.
 |
March 16, 2004 This
past weekend's photo shoot This
past weekend Gina and I went down to the final photo shoot for Revelations. (I
had my hair cut when we got back on Sunday, that's how final it all was.) It was
a lot of fun and they got some great shots of us, (Nods here to Sarah our photographer,
and Lorna, our make up expert, who made us look so good.) but this one picture
of Shane and I really drove the girls wild. Shane has edited in the text to make
it look more like a TV guide ad for some new show. Everyone agreed that it looked
like that, and many discussions ensued over what kind of show it would have to
be and from cop show to soap opera the suggestions were flying.
With apologies
to CBS my favorite idea is:
"Cade and Declan - Paranormal Investigations
Inc."
Cade is a PI and Ex-LA Cop with a penchant for fast cars and risk
taking. Declan is a millionaire author, physicist, and paranormal debunker with
a love of logic puzzles and the martial arts. When an old, unsolved murder investigation
Cade is working on, spills over into a legitimate looking alien encounter that
Declan has been asked to debunk, they meet, clash, and eventually decide to join
forces. They work together, sometimes unwillingly, to investigate a new spate
of seemingly real paranormal events happening in the central east coast area.
Tune in every week for ghost, demons, aliens and of course lots of young, hot,
sexy extras.
You know I wrote this up as a joke, but I still think it's
better than most of the junk on actual TV these days. Anyway check out the Revelations
page for updates, when they're available, and meanwhile click the picture for
the larger version.
 |
March
15, 2004
Greetings from Planet 10
Space.com
has the latest on this new planetoid. http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/new_object_040315.html
It's important to remember how little we know about what's really out there.
This kind of thing serves to remind us that while we've seen a lot we still have
a long way to go even in the exploration of our own solar system.
 |
March
9, 2004
Are we Republicans or Americans?
When
exactly is enough, enough? Since when are we, as Americans, so willing to live
in fear? Let me pose the question another way, imagine that the current administration
were a foreign power forcing these changes on us, would we just accept it, or
would we fight it? Is the greater loyalty to follow orders blindly, or to stand
up for the principles and ideals this country was founded on?
Does anyone
remember the phrase " . . . with Liberty, and Justice, for ALL"
or " . . . among these rights are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness"
I'm just wondering? Are we all so driven by fear that we just abandon these precepts
when they become inconvenient? In order for the laws of this country function
properly, to apply to anyone, isn't vital that they apply to everyone equally?
What about this " . . .to secure these rights, governments are instituted
among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed." How
many of us honestly feel that we are represented by the current administration,
that they have our best interest at heart, or that they're being as honest as
they can be with us?
I'm just one guy. I represent no one, except myself,
but I have had enough. It's time to speak out. No one should be above the law.
No one should be below the law. I question what this administration has done,
is doing, and is trying to do! I question their ethics. I question their intentions.
I question their loyalty to this country and I, for one, refuse to live in fear
anymore.
Check out and share these links and remember to VOTE!
http://www.moveon.org/
http://www.bushin30seconds.org/
|
March
8, 2004
Changes changing change.
In
the news today we see more and more evidence of how our growing rapid exchange
of information is causing an overall accelerating rate of change that is sweeping
us all along. On the social / political front, more and more mayors are stepping
up and saying yes to Gay marriage. This is a good example of how drastic, dramatic,
social change is happening almost over night. The naysayers may stand by their
opposition, but in the end gay and various types of group marriages will become
the norm. A few legal knuckleheads in Washington may not like it, but they will
be too slow to really do anything about it. So much the better, says I. I disapprove
of the state telling people how to live or whom they should love.
On the science
front it's fun to watch the events surrounding Mars as they unfold. I can clearly
remember just a few years ago the presence of water on Mars was hotly debated.
A number of scientists were pointing out that, while the visual evidence was compelling,
there were other forces that may have been responsible for the surface features
we could see. Not that I'm criticizing them for it, quite the contrary, we need
to be skeptical. Now, however, everyone is acting like they knew there had been
water there for ages. It's also interesting to see them slowly building a case
for life on the red planet. I see a lot of quotes that look like: "Not that there
was life there for sure, we don't know that, not yet, but if these conditions
were prevalent over a long period of time, and it certainly looks like they were,
then life as we know it could have existed there in one form or another." I can
remember when a statement like that meant the instant banishment of the scientist
making it to the intellectual nether world of pseudoscience and alien abduction
theorist.
"Go back to area fifty one, you moron."
Aside form the all too
fun scientific considerations of such a find, my question is this; once we confirm
that there is life of any kind, anywhere else in the universe, doesn't that mean
that the whole Judeo-Christian creation story thing is pretty much, uh . . . well,
wrong. It certainly seems that way to me. Of course the believers
will make the usual leap of faith but the ranks should shrink dramatically and
recruitment will become even harder. I look forward to some of the explanations
they're bound to come up with.
I'm reminded of the reference in the Hitchhikers
Guide to the Galaxy; Oolon Coluphid's trilogy of philosophical blockbusters; "Where
God Went Wrong," "Some More Of God's Mistakes, and "Who is this God Person Anyway?"
As well as the follow up book "Well that about wraps it up for God."
In still
other news we see breakthroughs in everything from artificial exoskeleton development
and hydrogen power systems, to dark energy and deep space observation. One can
hardly keep up. As I say the rate of change is accelerating. The total time from
someone saying "Hey, you know what might be cool" to 'finished product
on the market' is dropping with every passing month. Also not all of these ideas
are necessarily original, some are old ideas that were simply not practical before.
Another
side effect of our rapid exchange of information is something I call 'radical
technical convergence'. By which I mean that new, innovative techniques from any
given field, can readily be applied to any number of other fields, very quickly.
The most glaring example of this will be nanotech when it gets a little further
along, but even now you can see it in fields like LCD technology and mobile technology.
You think the music industry is facing a crisis because of technology changing
too fast? Wait until these rapid sharing and implementation techniques take hold
in fields like bioengineering, nanotechnology, robotic development and artificial
intelligence. Of course our current patent system and provincial legal infrastructures
can't even keep up now, so you can just imagine what's ahead. Fun, fun, fun!
 |
March
4, 2004
POLITACTICS
Recently I've
stayed out of the whole political scene.
I've tried to focus on space exploration,
scientific and technological advancements, the accelerating rate of change we
are currently seeing, and things like that.
However this is just too
much to ignore. http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=4500211
It's just unbelievable to me that anyone would even consider
voting for this guy and his cronies. Really,
just unfuckingbelievable!
March
2, 2004
It's official! Portions of Mars once wet and
habitable!
As I write this I'm listening live to the Nasa webcast.
There is now clear evidence that indicates that the "Opportunity" rover has landed
in an area that was once very wet and even habitable (by some form of life). More
experiments are needed to determine if the stones were "laid down by water." However
the presence of water is now clear. Also exciting in the fact that the types of
stones we are finding are exactly the kind of stones, formed in exactly the kind
of way that we would hope for, to preserve any ancient signs of life. So the search
goes on and the experiments will continue.
|
March
1, 2004
Water (and possibly Life) on Mars?
Could
it be? No one is saying for sure. They're checking (and rechecking) the data and
their findings but the chances seem to be growing that there was, and may still
be, water on Mars. The findings are being scrutinized so closely because of the
implications. You see where there is water there may also be life. So no one wants
to jump the gun on this and make any wild claims. However the buzz in definitely
on and people are beginning to speculate.
Space.com has an article about
it and what it might mean. http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/opportunity_evidence_040229.html
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