One of These Days. . .

"This raises the question whether it is better to be loved or feared, or the reverse. The answer is, that one would like to be both; but since it is difficult to combine the two, it is much safer to be feared than loved, if you have to choose. For it can be said of mankind generally, that they are ungrateful, inconstant, pretenderes to virtue and concealers of vice, avoiders of danger and lovers of gain; as long as you help them they are all yours, and will offer you their blood, their property, their lives, and their children. . . provided that the crisis is a long way off; when it comes closer, they soon turn their backs on you. "
- Machiavelli

My new Deep Thought

I finally finished my new machine - one that brings me into the current generation of technology.

Directron Hydraulic case -Intel Motherboard/ DDR 667 MHZ RAM - Pentium D 3.40 GHZ Dual Processor - Geforce 6800GS 512 MB PCI-E Video Card - Soundblaster Audigy 2 Sound Card
Hitachi SATA 3.0 Hard Disk
Lite-On DVD-R
Sunbeam 20-in-1 Card Reader and Fan Control


Now its time to install Vista Rc1 for evaluation as well as Linux - probably Ubuntu.

The point of the journey is not to arrive

Here is a quote I found while reading a review of Marillion's Radiation:

The oblique "Cathedral Wall" visits one of the great romantic dilemmas, that unattainability is essential to sustaining a quest, and yet also the reason the quest can never end successfully (a Grail in hand is not the embodiment of triumph, it's an insurance headache waiting to happen)

I think it nicely sums up life, art, and the continuing epic that is Marillion's music.

Last CD purchase: Marillion - Smoke & Mirrors

Immortal Bunnies

Here's an abridged version of Highlander (30 seconds, and its acted by bunnies). Almost as good as the Fifteen Minute Hamlet.

The Truth is a Moving Target

Things Change. Times Change. It happened in 6th century Britannia when the Pagans and Christians clashed, and its happening now in a new "culture war", and in Bill O'reilly's world "IT'S BAD, REAL BAD". Unlike Letterman, I actually watch Bill and for a long time I've though that he's often misguided, al least when he's not plain wrong. But, now I think he's completely lost it. The world of FOX NEWS is to my best estimation some kind of "parallel universe", as the economy is GREAT, and the war on terror has almost been won by the omnipotent and omni-benevolent President (if only the loons on the left would let us win). The only problem left for America to overcome is apparently much worse than Bin Laden, are the Secular Progressives. Fortunately Bill and his T-warriors are here to restore Traditionalism and save us from ourselves. Bill is convinced the Traditionalist will win. Given that the average age of Factor viewers is 70, obviously his cheerleaders would be resistant to change, preferring traditional views that those of us that actually live in society might not agree with. But that age group isn’t going to be around long, and as a new generation with different ideals continues to grow those members of the previous generation will have to adapt to these new ideals. It is the nature of things. Being a progressive is not a bad thing. It is easy to be a traditionalist when you’re rich and your biggest concern is the redistribution of wealth, which I think is Bill’s real concern.

Currently at the top of his Culture War list are horror movies. Brilliantly, he picked Halloween to attack horror movies and the evils of "the Splat Pack". His guests included someone from Newsmax (an organization less reputable than Fox) and some psychotherapist that believed that everyone that goes to see horror movies has some homicidal maniac seething inside them, ready to come out slashing at any point- a very fair and balanced debate! Now, one of Bills emphasizes is responsibility and coming from an existential viewpoint, I can agree with that. But Bill doesn't think that the movie viewers are the ones who should be responsible- he thinks it’s the movie industry. As the piece pointed out movies like Saw make 100 million dollars, so obviously the public is demanding such films, and fortunately the people that don't like such things don't have to pay $9 to go see it. Apparently it the insulated cloisters of Fox News no one is going to see "Saw 3", which makes me very suspicious of the people who work there. I haven't seen any of the Saw movies and I hadn't really planned to but everywhere I go I know people who have seen it. So isn't this the same old, tiresome, empty, worn-out rhetoric that we've heard for Twenty years. Movies, Rock music, and video games turn people into raving blood-thirsty killers. Left unchecked, there will be hordes of hooligans swarming the streets and abducting every citizen in order to torture them in unspeakable ways. This kind of content must be the cause of an ultra-violent society, it couldn't possibly be a symptom of a society in which people live in poor economic conditions, have a pro-violent government, and are told what to think and what to buy in order to promote the economy that works against them. Please! I've had enough of this! If you don’t want to see it, then don’t. If you’re worried about social well-being, then teach personal responsibility and quit trying to censor content providers that provide the entertainment that many of us want. I’ve had enough of this Judeo-Christian value crap. If Bill’s Traditionalists do win this war, I may have to paint myself blue and storm the Empire’s legions.

Next stop: Netflix. Its time to put Saw I and II into my queue and then I'm off to the ernomo-omni-multiplex to see Saw III. Thanks for the motivation Bill!
Oh, and by the way, if you want to seem respectable and “above personal attacks” quit calling Al Franken “Stuart Smalley”. Everytime you do that I just want walk into the studio and bitch slap you.

Killing an Arab

So, it seems G.W., literary expert that he is , has now read Camus' The Stranger (as well as three Shakespeares!). Of Course, by the time he was interviewed about it, he had already read several more books - presumably Curious George goes Quantity Surveying and its intriguing sequels. I'm glad he has so much time to read, between ranch life and golfing and blaming his problems on the 90s. Hopefully he won't fall into the trap of becoming an existentialist (I'd have to switch to conservative facist), but he may find himself living as an existential anti-hero.

Mighty Wings

The Final F-14 Flight took place today, with the last Tomcat delivery to AMARC. The 9 remaining airframes will all be delived to museums. I think that calls for a viewing of Top Gun tonight in full 6.1 sound. [Cue Cheap Trick]

How to talk to a complete nutball (if you must)

I was going to rant about a certain conservative bitch's latest publicity stunt, but she has already received too much attention as it is . All I can say is that I hope she's the first to die in the next terrorist attack. Oh, was that insensitive and childish? I must be unintentionally learning from her tactics.

Oh Yeah!

People like Laura Ingraham and Tony and Hannity and Rush Limbaugh, they understand what's going on in the real world
-Senator George Allen

Where can I get the flavor of Kool Aid that this guy drinks?

Teen Angst

This weekend is the final performance of Hamlet at the Guthrie theater, which is the final production at the current location. Set in a vaguely 1940's time period,Dowling's vision should lend itself to a rather existential version, after all Hamlet is a "metaphor for the project of human existence." However, this version seemed neither existential nor Freudian. Hamlet is portrayed by the 23 year old Santino Fontana, giving this portrayal a very youthful indecisiveness, perhaps less contemplative and with a bit more genuine madness. Here Hamlet is more motivated by rebellion and misanthrophy, than by a search for authenticity. While I appreciate the efforts of creating a modern Hamlet, and I can even stomach the Ethan Hawke version, I still prefer a classic Medieval approach

21st Century Monsters

He who fights with monsters might take care lest he thereby become a monster.


Continuing trends in recent events call to mind the quote from Nietzsche. We spent the 20th Century figting monters of Facism through World War II and the Cold War. Hopefully, we have taken care

2006 - One Year Closer to the Future

I haven't had time to post much lately, not that anyone has missed me, but I've spent most of my time lately writing atricles for wikipedia. So I'll put a link here and I welcome anyone else who wants to contribute.