Journal Journal: Just another sign... 2
...of the impending apocalypse. That and the general ignorance of people.
Video- "The View" co-host doesn't know if the world is round or flat
...of the impending apocalypse. That and the general ignorance of people.
Video- "The View" co-host doesn't know if the world is round or flat
The nine most terrifying words in the English language are, 'I'm from the government and I'm here to help.'
- Ronald Reagan
From the "I told you so!" department, comes an article in the LA Times that should come as no surprise. Now that Hugo Chavez is firmly ensconced as leader of Venezuela, he is seeking to remove the term limit provision from the Venezuelan constitution. He proposed adding one year to the term of the President, making it 7 years, then eliminating the 2-term limit. Thus, he would be President of Venezuela until 2013, and then be able to run perpetually. To quote the article:
"It's not that I want to enthrone myself," Chavez said. "This shouldn't surprise anyone. It's done this way in any number of countries.
"There are many lies circulating in the world, about a dictatorship in Venezuela, about a concentration of power in Venezuela," he said. "This is a transfer of power to the people."
Not unlike Hitler and his friend Fidel Castro, he's seeking to do this through legal means, to give it the veneer of legality while behind the scenes he is setting up his dictatorship-for-life. Following the pattern of the centuries, he's throwing state money at social programs, causing the people to believe that he is their champion. Give it ten years, and he will be firmly entrenched, busy stamping out all opposition while continuing to profess his love of the Venezuelan people even as he gives them no choice in how their country is run.
History repeats itself.
Well, I guess this was inevitable, though I would have thought something like this would have happened in California. Apparently, a couple in China is try to name their child '@'. At first glance this seems ridiculous, but the explanation behind it is interesting:
While the "@" simple is familiar to Chinese e-mail users, they often use the English word "at" to sound it out -- which with a drawn out "T" sounds something like "ai ta," or "love him," to Mandarin speakers.
Can you imagine this kid trying to fill out an online form? I'm thinking Prince would approve.
Ever since I lost my job last month, I find myself Slashdotting a lot less, even though I'm on the computer almost every hour looking for work. I'm beginning to think that Slashdot is a lot less attractive when you have all the time in the world to read it and respond, perhaps because there's no external pressure to type fast and make it look like you're doing actual work.
I'm hoping to shift gears in my IT career, and it would seem Linux is a good direction to go. I'm currently going to try and turn an old PC I have into an Ubuntu server so I can get some hands-on experience, but I'd really like to find a good program to become a Linux sysadmin, especially if it were something I could do on-line. Anyone have any ideas?
Imagine my shock to see Roger Waters' name on a CNN by-line, but there was a link to it on the CNN home page: Pink Floyd founder: Can you spare a dollar? I've known Roger to be attracted to causes, always a little uneasy with the wealth and fame his career has brought him and looking for a way to give back. I wasn't surprised when he joined up with his old Pink Floyd mates for Live8.
And he makes valid points. Poverty is widespread and rampant, and not only affects places like Africa, but here in the US as well. From a security standpoint, those who live in poverty and despair are a ripe recruiting ground for the disaffected, people who would like nothing better than to strike back at those they see as responsible for their plight. From a health standpoint, poverty is the breeding ground for some of the bitterest plagues of the 20th and 21st century: Ebola, AIDS, malaria, etc. From a human standpoint, how can we sleep knowing that others are suffering so?
I am not a bleeding-heart by any stretch, but I've done my fair share of suffering and spent a lot of time being poor. This is the kind of thing that touches me personally, because but for the grace of God and country, I would be amongst them...
I think this speaks for itself: Nugent: Gun-free zones are recipe for disaster. On the one hand, you have to admire his stones. On the other hand, there is a tiny kernel of truth. Frankly I don't think the answer is as simple as he makes it out to be, or as obvious as everyone thinks it is.
My wife got one of those urban legend emails from a co-worker about typing your PIN in reverse at an ATM to summon police. Of course I had to tell her it was not a reality, though reading the Snopes article, I began to wonder just why it wasn't? They sighted the fact that banks don't want the expense, that people would have a hard time transposing their PIN backwards, and that by the time police were alerted the person and perpetrator would be long gone. But then again, what if you did have the presence of mind to type in your PIN backwards, and a call did go out to the police, and by doing so you triggered a special surveillance system in the area of the ATM which took video from various angles of the whole area surrounding the ATM? It sounds like you have the potential to save lives and more importantly generate evidence of a crime that might come in handy later. It makes no sense to have some kind of universal number, since crooks would know about it and be wary of you trying to punch it in.
As an aside, xkcd.com has a funny cartoon about Snopes.com.
With all the acrimony over race and such of late, I thought the following song apropos:
Alien Shore
Counterparts (1993)
Rush
Words by Neil Peart, Music by Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson
You and I, we are strangers by one chromosome
Slave to the hormone, body and soul
In a struggle to be happy and free
Swimming in a primitive sea
You and I, we must dive below the surface
A world of red neon, and ultramarine
Shining bridges on the ocean floor
Reaching to the alien shore
For you and me --- Sex is not a competition
For you and me --- Sex is not a job description
For you and me --- We agree
You and I, we are pressed into these solitudes
Color and culture, language and race
Just variations on a theme
Islands in a much larger stream
For you and me --- Race is not a competition
For you and me --- Race is not a definition
For you and me --- We agree
Reaching for the alien shore
You and I, we reject these narrow attitudes
We add to each other, like a coral reef
Building bridges on the ocean floor
Reaching for the alien shore
For you and me --- We hold these truths to be self-evident
For you and me --- We'd elect each other president
For you and me --- We might agree
But that's just us
Reaching for the alien shore
My resistance to change, especially change I see as unnecessary, is pretty high. I successfully avoided cell phones, SUVs, MP3 players, and Paris for as long as I could, before breaking down. And now it has happened again.
I own an iPod.
Mind you, it's a Shuffle, and I got it free (I should say my wife got it free) for purchasing an obscenely large amount of furniture. And so it came to pass that an Apple product graces my life.
I'm finding it pretty decent so far -- 1 Gig, good sound, the shuffler is adequate, though not great. I have iTunes installed but do not have an actual account and have no intention of purchasing music from them; I have a pretty significant CD collection which I can use to keep my new acquisition full. I say, it beats the MP3 player on my Motorola phone, but that's not hard.
Despite the acquisition and the evidence of my eyes, I don't think I'll be turning into a Pod Person anytime soon. I can manage to walk the streets of NYC without an oblivious stare on my face and am still as vigilant as ever. I try to keep the volume down to avoid permanent hearing damage and still enable me to hear ambient noise, which can be your savior in The City.
We'll see how this works out -- god knows the kids would love to have it if I decided I didn't like it anymore.
The ideal voice for radio may be defined as showing no substance, no sex, no owner, and a message of importance for every housewife. -- Harry V. Wade