Listen to Your Cat

Always listen to your cat. The better sort of cat makes good observations and sometimes has insight into things that elude human beings.

My cat detests the computer room. He will stand in the hallway and cry until I get up and out of there. I used to dislike this behavior but now I regard it as a useful reminder not to spend too much time on the computer. The cat is right that one needs to get up, move around, and get sunlight and fresh air. People tend to overdo computer time, just like they used to overdo television time.
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by igor 04:20 4 replies by igor 09:32 0 comments

Republicans Not Enthused in 2012

I've noticed Republicans aren't too happy about the upcoming election. I get the feeling they are embarrassed about their candidate and holding their nose, even if they plan to vote for him November 6th. I'm enthused and proud about Obama and I think he is the best President we have had in a long time. However, he deals with a Congress full of partisan Republican obstructionists, so there are limits on what he can do. The key is to vote Republicans out of office and get a Democratic Congress for Obama to work with, along with Democratic Governors and Mayors across this nation. The Republican party does not have any good ideas at all. What we really need is a Liberal party to compete against the Democratic party.Post a Comment

Body Parts

I do wish the human body were more like computers insofar as being able to replace failing body parts with new and improved ones off the shelf. My computer keeps getting better, year after year, and I keep getting worse!

Mistakes

In reflecting upon mistakes one made in one's past, it is a consolation to realize that other people made bigger and stupider mistakes. My thoughts turn to former friends and the reasons they are exes. It seems wasteful to build a relationship with another human being, spending months or even years getting to know them, only to sever contact due to some trivial misunderstanding. I am mild. If they couldn't abide by me then they could not abide by an African violet or a sunset or a cat. Some people are in too much of a hurry to get wherever they think that they are going. They place a greater value on status and power than upon friendship. I do not have much status or power. I have known too many selfish and immature people (of either gender, of all sexualities) who were interested only in sex or money/status/power. They did not place value upon relationships or friendships. In the modern and mobile age, people regard other people as disposable and cycle through a number of what they regard as replaceable peasants in the hopes of finding the King or Queen who can grant their every desire. All the insight I could have offered them about their past and present is committed to dust as they start over with bright new pretty acquaintances that may not care to understand them at all. What I offered was uncommon, and what they wanted was common. They opted for copper over gold. So I have hidden my gold away from the narrow eyes of my former, faithless friends, who will never see it, or if they had once caught a glimpse and did not recognize the metal for what it was, they will see it no more. The past was nothing more than a training ground of social experiments from which I built my store of wisdom. Forget the faithless friends of the past, those who taught me what not to do. I am here for my friends of today, people good and kind. I share my gold with my friends of today. I share with them my light.

Fever

I've always enjoyed a good fever. When a virus comes along, the body is diminished, and in the silence, if one listens, it is possible to hear some notes of the song of the universe.

Three Words

Three words the dying hermit taught to Mustafa were morda, a lesser ward that can be used at will, malcipiter, a greater ward with some risk, and ooshtah, which attracts attention like a beacon in the darkness. How these words are said is important. By themselves they are mere babble, but spoken in the right manner, they achieve substance.

Mitt Romney the Rich Boy

Mitt Romney thinks that 47% of Americans do not pay taxes and do not work and will not vote for him.

Well, Romney, they don't put their ill-gotten wealth from outsourcing American jobs in overseas Swiss bank accounts like you do, so they probably do pay some taxes, after all.  I know Mitt Romney pays a smaller percentage of taxes than most anyone I know, because he has all these clever accountants working night and day to shuffle his fortune into all kinds of elaborate schemes and avoid contributing to America.

I think it's funny this rich boy who was given his fortune by Daddy flicks his thumb at poor working people and says, "They don't deserve to eat. If I'm President, I'm going to starve them all. Let the Chinese do all of the American jobs."

Daddy was a rich man, daddy was a rich man, daddy was a rich man, hey!
Romney got money, got money from daddy, and that's why he's where he is today!

Adios, Analytics

I think I'm going to remove the Google Analytics code from my blog, if I haven't already. It has been over a year since I've bothered checking my site statistics. I guess I just don't give a darn anymore about whether people are viewing or how many people are viewing. I have treated this blog since its inception as my personal playpen for opinions and ideas, my storage locker and alternative backup for technical information, and personal journal to deal with any philosophical or personal issues I might like to explore.

Surprise! Popularity was never one of my goals and to be honest, I prefer not to be popular, because popularity is pretty boring and I can't think of any celebrity I envy. The only thing about celebrity that I might envy is the money. Everything else that comes from celebrity just seems taxing, vain and mildly annoying.

I determined a long time ago that there is no money to be made with this sort of blogging or at least through my mediocre talents. I ran AdSense for a year or two as an experiment just to see how much revenue would be generated. I earned enough to buy a six-pack of cheap beer*. I never did request that check. Instead, I cancelled my account because the money was a joke and I felt bad about making my blog ugly with stupid ads for over a year. If one is going to sell out, then one should get a good price at least.

Oh by the way, Google Analytics consistently reported that a sizable chunk of my blog's readers are from Russia or nearby, which means that spambots, black hats, and related scum are frequent visitors. Russia is never good news in the server log.

* - I don't drink anymore, though. And I don't miss it.

The Economy

The Economy and jobs should have been priority #1 beginning when Bush took office. Instead, Iraq and Afghanistan became the #1 priority. This is because American leaders are mentally challenged. They are uncertain as to where they live. They do not know what time of day it is or who they are or why they are where they are. I think that Congress and the White House should be run like an assisted living center. There should be nurses, doctors and orderlies on staff to help the decision-makers distinguish reality from fiction. On a daily basis, powerful medication should be administered to improve their mental functioning and prevent breaks with reality. The cost would be insignificant compared to the cost of business as usual. I think a couple of million dollars spent on nurses and doctors would be better in the long run than trillions of dollars wasted on pointless and endless wars in faraway places.

It is about time that an American President did something about the unfair trade practices of the Chinese. The reality is that the Chinese are waging economic war against America. I am glad that Obama is doing something, but I think that something should have been done on George Bush's watch, ten years ago, or maybe even earlier.

Why Firefox is Safer

Firefox is a safer browser than IE or Chrome primarily because of two add-ons, NoScript and AdBlock. NoScript uses a whitelisting strategy so that no script can run without the user explicitly allowing access from a specific site. AdBlock simply removes ads from view, which eliminates the possibility the user will accidentally click on an ad and be deposited on a malware or spyware site. I have installed these two add-ons on all of my desktops and consider them to be standard equipment for all computers that I provision.

I do not install Chrome on any machine. There is no reason to have two tools when one is better by every measure than the other.

There should never be one-click access to IE. Typing should be required. If I see IE on a machine, I delete the icon and remove it from the Start menu. IE should only be accessed by experienced users on an as-needed basis for updating Windows and nothing else. In Windows XP on my desktops, it can be accessed by choosing to run a program and then typing in "iexplore.exe". As soon as the necessary task is completed, IE is closed.

The reason IE is bad is an old one. It was true in the 1990s and it remains true today. IE is the browser with the largest market share, so it has "target" written on its forehead in bright red letters. Another problem is that it is the default browser in Windows, so the biggest number of clueless users will be using IE. Effort is required to install Firefox, though much less effort is required to install Chrome, because these days it is included by default in tons of applications from Avast antivirus to the kitchen sink. Google is paying software vendors to include Chrome in the installers. The result is that Chrome will be grabbing more of the clueless user population. The reason elite users stick with Firefox is they like customizing their browser and they have a deeper knowledge base that allows them to do so. All of these factors make Chrome and IE the top targets for black hats, who know quite well that clueless users make easier targets.

Among my friends, I have heard of many people getting hacked while using IE exclusively. They wind up spamming all their friends, losing money, losing their credit rating, or having to reinstall Windows altogether. I have not heard of many people getting hacked that use Firefox. Maybe it is because the people that use Firefox also take other precautions, or maybe there are other reasons involved, but I am sticking with Firefox until the bitter end.

Irate Egyptian Soccer Fans / Redneck Muslims

The reason Muslims take offense at films or cartoons, rather than books is because so many of them are illiterate or even if they do understand their own language they don't read much more than is required for daily living such as traffic signs and so on.

In Libya, it seems as though Muslim rednecks killed our envoy, although we may never know what really happened.

All this blood and rage over a little movie that I never heard of and probably will never watch! I think that Muslims like to be angry, are always looking for reasons to be angry, and that their religion is a religion of hate and anger. I don't recall Christians going on a killing spree when people made fun of Jesus, or Buddhists severing heads from bodies when people made fun of Buddha. Maybe those sorts of things happened in the Middle Ages, but not in modern times. One never hears about Islam except in the context of terrorism, war, killing, torture or assassination.

I was amused recently to read some spokesman for the Syrian rebels threatening the West if it does not cough up billions of dollars in aid. Apparently the rebels are going to turn extra-fanatical and anti-Western if we don't support them against the Syrian regime. I don't know whether the spokesman ever graduated from business school, but threatening the customer is not a good way to make a sale. Never mentioned is anything about repayment or any benefit that the West might derive, other than vague and halfhearted promises to avoid extremism.

I also believe that Muslims should get over Israel and let bygones be bygones over there, because Israel provides an example for how to run a government. The barbarian nations around Israel should be taking notes and learning by example instead of attacking the one decent nation in their midst. If certain nations such as Iran would just learn to leave Israel alone and focus upon their own issues then they would be a lot better off in the long run.

The slogan "there is no god but Allah and Mohammed is his prophet" is arrogant and wrong besides, because the deity described by the legal systems of Saudi Arabia and Iran is just a crude and barbaric tyrant with no education.

Freedom of speech has offered superb gifts to the human race, such as democracy, rule of law, science and technology and culture. For the most part, at least in modern times, the only thing the Muslims have given the human race is the oil extracted by Western oil companies that happened to exist beneath their feet, to their great good fortune. Iran exists today as a populated nation due to the benevolence of the philosophical West, which opted to renounce colonialism and renounce imperialism. That is why the U.S. pays for Iraqi oil instead of taking it. That is why the U.S. economy is in the pits today, because we donated vast sums of money to help the stupid Iraqis get rid of their stupid dictator without asking for a single dime in return. I don't know how many people understand what a monumental waste of money the two recent wars were for the U.S. It seems like many people around the world think that there is some diabolic plot or method by which we are profiteering. If only. The embarrassing truth is that George Bush did not have a brain in his head.

It is difficult to find Moslem countries that are not rife with injustice and barbarism, although there may be a handful around the world. A Moslem country would never be a place to which I would choose to go. I prefer civilized regions of the world. Give me Europe, North America, South America, Australia, New Zealand, or Asia (outside the Middle bEast) any day of the week and keep the rest. The irony about killing Americans who happen to venture into the Middle East on a peace-keeping or diplomatic mission is that the victims are probably the friendliest and most open-minded Muslim sympathizers that can be found, the ones most apt to see things from the Muslim point of view. They are the ones getting killed or kidnapped. People who view Islam in the same light that I do would not set foot over there in the first place, certainly not on any mission of peace or diplomacy.

I don't think tourism to Muslim countries is going to recover for the foreseeable future. There are too many fanatics over there that think violence is the way to handle their personal shortcomings in the intellectual department. I never did understand Americans who traveled to the Middle East on pilgrimages or vacations, but I know for sure I would not go, not in today's political climate, where so many think that it is okay to kill an American in order to register their disapproval over a movie.

You know what I do when I don't like a movie? I write a critical review. That is because I am civilized. The reason I call those Egyptian rednecks "barbarians" is that they do not know how to behave in a civilized fashion. They are just a bunch of thugs without the faintest grasp of morality. Probably no one would have even heard of the movie in the first place if these stupid rednecks had not given it free publicity.

Here's the link to the full movie, "Innocence of the Muslims."

It is quite obvious to me that no one would have watched the movie if those ignoramuses over there had not made such a fuss over it. But since they have, the movie is going to be watched about a thousand times more than would otherwise have been the case.

I Sympathize with Chicago Teachers

I read an article in the Chicago Tribune about the teacher's strike. I agree that the money being offered is all right and perhaps even generous in today's lousy economy, where so many workers endure salary freezes or even salary reductions. Workers are getting the shaft all over the world due to right-wing policies which have transferred industrial production over to slave-labor countries like China. I don't know what the U.S. will be producing in the future other than internal organs for the Chinese to harvest from our otherwise useless bodies. Perhaps blood donation will become a major new career option in America under Romney's administration if he wins the election, because I know Romney's number one goal is to eliminate all jobs in America and move them over to China so that his buddies can grab more easy money. The only way the Mitt Romneys of the world know how to make money is by stealing jobs and wages from the workers. The Romneys of the world do not produce, invent, create, or build anything. They only downsize, reduce, and cutback. They are the parasites, feeding upon the working class while serving their true masters, the Chinese.

The reason I support the teacher's strike has to do with Rahm Emmanuel wanting to tie teacher salaries to student performance on standardized tests. That's wrong. Teachers have moderate influence over student performance, but that influence only goes so far. Any computer programmer knows that if your input is garbage, then your output will be garbage. Garbage in, garbage out. That's the GIGO principle. Teachers in Chicago might be the best in the world, but they can only do so much when their students are hungry and living in crime-ridden neighborhoods where people are unemployed or underemployed or working the typical McJobs for minimum wage.

Teachers should be judged based upon parent evaluations and principal evaluations. Student performance is actually a function of genetics and upbringing, and teachers have little to do with it. For my part, I learned little or nothing in school, but taught myself everything I wanted to learn. School was irrelevant to me, and I don't really care about any of the teachers I had. Some were absolute monsters, most were decent, some were boring, and some were interesting, but none were essential and none inspired me. I found inspiration in books and movies, as I'm sure most kids do today. I didn't encounter intelligent educators until I went to college. Until college, I usually knew more than the teacher, not the other way around. If I had questions about the world, I waited until I got back home and then looked up the answer in the encyclopedia or dictionary or asked my parents, because I knew for sure the teacher wouldn't know anything. However, kids with uneducated parents would not have had the same option. So again, kids with educated parents have a huge advantage.

Parents bear about 95% of the responsibility for the performance of students. Ninety per cent of the responsibility comes from birth, that is, what kind of intellectual capacity exists in the student to begin with. Many parents should not be giving birth at all. They should use birth control or else get themselves sterilized. The reason they have children is because they are irresponsible and care about no one save themselves and their own compulsive need to feel loved by a young and innocent teddy bear. Meanwhile society picks up the tab with public assistance and all kinds of tax breaks, societal approval and privileges for people who neglect to wear a condom. I think that people who volunteer to become sterilized should receive the same financial benefits as people who receive welfare and food stamps for their children. In fact, they should receive more because they demonstrate greater responsibility. Such a policy would remove the financial incentives for popping out babies. A glance at the unemployment numbers in this country makes it very clear we are not lacking in people. We are lacking in jobs for people. So any new baby is probably going to grow up to be an unemployed person with any amount of education, but no job and no profession. If the number of babies could be reduced, then that might help the overall jobs picture in the future, provided all the remaining jobs are not exported to China like Mitt Romney wants to do.

Toxoplasmosis

Toxoplasmosis is scary! Especially for cat owners like myself.

I am continually reminded by existing science and new scientific discoveries of how ignorant I am and how ignorant the human race is. We make too many assumptions. Only recently in our history have we begun--and we've only just begun--to become aware that microorganisms are our #1 predator. We are not at the top of the food chain after all. Microorganisms are. Invisible bodies are preying upon us, often without our knowledge. They influence our behavior, causing depression, anxiety, schizophrenia, aggression. For most of our history we assumed that demons and spirits were causing harmful changes in people. Now we are learning about the real demons that are invisible to the naked eye.

I do not know how cat owners are going to cope with Toxoplasmosis.

But perhaps I'm too credulous.

The media, after all, pushes alarm buttons in order to push copy. They want to grab eyeballs in order to sell advertising. That is their entire focus.

In reality, at my age, is there even a 1% chance that I am not infected with Toxoplasmosis, after having opened my home to cats every day of my life? I think not. I think it is futile to fret over Toxoplasmosis, at least for me. Younger people might have a chance of never getting infected in the first place, but it is entirely unrealistic to expect that after decades of shuffling litter boxes back and forth I have managed to remain Toxo-free. Also, most people do not appear to suffer ill effects from Toxoplasmosis. Hidden within the article is a little hint that the main sufferers are immunocompromised and elderly patients, for whom Toxo may be the least of their worries.

So I have decided not to worry about Toxoplasmosis, although I will certainly take extra precautions when disposing of cat litter. And the cats are banned permanently from the bedroom and the study.

Swiss Bank Accounts

I had no idea before reading this article that Mitt Romney hid his wealth overseas to avoid paying American taxes.

I Do Not Call for Assistance

When a new and unexpected problem arises, a worker or student may feel tempted to ask for help immediately, but that is weak and should be avoided. While asking for help is certainly a tool that one can consider when needed, pushing the "help button" straightaway bypasses another important tool, the brain. I have learned to wait, to give myself time to think. Thinking takes time and it cannot be rushed and does not have anything to do with deadlines.

I cannot tell you the number of times in my programming career that end users called me on the phone for instructions on how to do something that they could have figured out themselves if they had spent a single solitary minute thinking instead of panicking. People have a tendency to panic when confronted with anything out of the ordinary and that is weak. Computer programmers take measures, when possible, to avoid startling users, but sometimes things arise which cannot be avoided by any reasonable coding precaution, or more often, management isn't willing to devote the resources to permit the coding of very elegant software. Programmers cannot do as they like; they are told what to work on by management.

For me, I like to think first of all. I ask myself whether there is any possible way that I can fix a new problem without assistance. If the answer is no, then do you know what that means? That means that I need to think about it some more. I am hesitant to ask for help, because doing so is a mark of incompetence. It is not charming and it is not cute. It is taking time away from somebody else. I do not like to take time away from others. I would prefer my manager only hear from me when I have some good news or if there is an emergency situation.

The only time I really need to call for assistance right away is when time is limited, but time is almost never limited. Even if a customer is waiting, they can usually wait a bit longer. Few things are so urgent that they cannot wait a few minutes for my brain to engage. I can figure out most things that do not require secret knowledge that I have no way of knowing or special abilities. That is one of my advantages. If there is a way something can be done and if the way can be perceived by an ordinary person, then I will find it, even if the problem has never been seen before.

Means to an End

It is natural to compare marijuana with alcohol, because society on the one hand permits alcohol, and just recently, in the last hundred years, has made marijuana illegal. Marijuana users are persecuted by nearly every government in the modern world. New, radical laws defy thousands of years of tradition when marijuana was legal to grow, sell, and use. Neither did our Founding Fathers nor the ancient world ban marijuana. The plant was never perceived as a problem until the corrupt and racist politicians made it so. All these things that I write are well-documented and can be confirmed by those that are interested in the truth.

Today, alcohol and marijuana are among the popular drugs, although not nearly as popular as the bearers of caffeine, chocolate and coffee. Yes, caffeine too is a drug, and unlike marijuana, is toxic. Subtle substances and influences are more dangerous, because they slip beneath our awareness. We do see in this world as through a glass darkly.

Marijuana derives from a plant grown in sunshine and is the friend of living things. Almost alone among all substances, marijuana nourishes introspection and reflection. It makes a poor party drug, as can be observed by the wider popularity of alcohol for that purpose. Alcohol suits a party because of its simplicity and predictability. In small quantities, alcohol reduces social inhibition just enough to get conversation flowing. Limiting the amount consumed poses a problem, however. For many people, inhibitions are not a problem in the first place, and one wonders, why drink at all?

Alcohol may be regarded as marijuana's opposite. Alcohol derives from Death, for it is the waste product of yeast that feeds upon decaying plant matter. Alcohol kills living cells. Men are crippled and slain by the poison. The association with death is pervasive. The physical nature reflects the spiritual. Alcohol's history with mankind is long and storied. Good men are turned bad, and bad men become worse. Drinking opens a Gateway that invites Evil into our world. Things that watch in the darkness are ever eager to use humans as their vessels. Not all puppets perceive the strings that move them.

Some do concede that marijuana is less harmful than alcohol, but fear that legalizing marijuana will result in a situation where marijuana is just one more item on the recreational menu. In the first place, it already is. Millions use, whether the thing is legal or not. Prohibition transforms ordinary folk into criminals. Our United States, the powerhouse of Prohibition, imprisons more of its people than any other nation on Earth. The very first thing that the Prohibitionist wants to do is build new prisons and make them harsher than before. In this manner, men forge hells in their paradise of Earth.

Alcohol diminishes my power. One of the best presents that I ever gave myself was nourishing my resolve to abstain from alcohol. I am in general agreement with those that say Hell is found in a bottle. Even so, I would not favor a renewal of Prohibition. It never worked in the 1930s and never will work. Prohibition offends a man's sense of liberty. Let the drinkers drink, as long as they harm none. The second clause is the difficult one. Drinkers will drink and they will act accordingly. That is why religious men have tried to ban it. But banning is a simplistic solution and fraught with difficulty, because there is a need, is there not, a need for inebriation. If there is an itch, it will be scratched. I propose not banning, but replacing, and with the replacement, improving.

The marijuana user thrives in peace and calm and is immune to boredom and restlessness. Marijuana can be a superb tool for meditation, relaxation, and exploration of the mind. Both a benefit and a potential downside of marijuana is that the user tends toward passivity and inactivity. Sometimes it is best to wait rather than act. Think of the bear, hibernating through the winter. However, when action is called for, abstinence is best. Those placed in highly demanding roles will find their performance improves through abstinence. However, do not remove marijuana from the shelf. Marijuana offers an alternative remedy for alcoholism, drug addiction, anxiety and mild depression.

I consider it a blasphemy to lace marijuana with any other substance. Thankfully this has been a rare occurrence, because marijuana consumers prefer their product to be pure and unadulterated. Any case of violence associated with marijuana use must raise an immediate suspicion that adulterants or other substances were consumed. Individuals who are prone to violence either dislike marijuana or use it as a medication to suppress their violent tendencies. When used in combination, other ingredients tend to overshadow the subtle influence of marijuana. Alcohol and marijuana together produce a zombie-like state of no value to self or others, while alcohol alone diminishes the spirit and inhibits spiritual development.

Materialists of our age bristle at abstract terms. What is meant by this suspect word, "spirit?" Seldom is it defined. Spirit can be taken to be attitude and willpower, the driving force, that which determines, perceives and acts, let us hope, with compassion and love. That is what I mean. Other qualities such as gods or magic paint our lives with color, but they should not be taken seriously. After all, we are not serious creatures. We are improved apes. If gods exist, we are their joke, their prank. If magic exists, then it follows the laws of science in every respect, and the best magicians are scientists, and the best path to magic is study. I do not hold with those who study spells, follow the movement of planets and think the worst minds of the past can refute the best minds of today.

For the ancient shaman, marijuana was a holy sacrament, indispensable for seeing things that are hidden. In our modern world, those that use marijuana for the ancient and sacred purpose comprise a tiny minority of the entire population of users, and even they have other needs from time to time. Marijuana can serve as a conduit, a means to an end, a precursor to spiritual awakening. If one maintains focus upon gaining something that is worth having, then it is possible to make the acquaintance of Athena. After all, what does a human being need most but Wisdom? Compliance is not required, because we have free will, but it is advisable to accept the Counsel of Athena, if such is offered, for it is a gift. Those that heed her wisdom know bliss. Other impulses one perceives within the Gateway, such as paranoia, seem of little value but serve a purpose, like the staff of a shepherd goading sheep away from danger and toward the right path.

Athena is another suspect word, bound to offend religionists and bemuse materialists. The name of the Entity varies among cultures and is not important, nor is it necessary to conceptualize a separate entity with a gender and a personality, for the separation is an illusion. All is One, and the Oneness can be perceived. The realization is profound and transforming. There is no separation.

Many that do not use, or that used at one time and quit, have the wrong impression about the herb. See NORML for valid information concerning marijuana. At one time, NORML was almost the only source of information, as opposed to the enormous amount of lies and half-truths about the plant being generated by the misguided governments of the world, but the world is changing. One day soon, the plant will again be legal everywhere, just as it was for most of human history. Here is why I think so. Man loves knowledge, and knowledge leads him to the following conclusions. There is no valid scientific, moral or social reason for marijuana to remain illegal; none at all. Marijuana is superior to alcohol, and the human species would profit by abandoning the lesser substance, which does great harm, in favor of the gentle herb, placed upon the Earth as a gift to Man, a plant that brings peace to those that desperately need it. I concede that Abstinence is best for most, and I remain sober for long stretches of time to function at my highest level. But if a drug is to be used, on a rare occasion, then marijuana brings the least harm of all and this is irrefutable and self-evident to those who are honest with themselves. Marijuana is a potent medicine and a spiritual sacrament, and those who claim otherwise have never used it for the proper purpose.

The Weaknesses of Chrome & Firefox

The weaknesses--and some of the strengths--of Firefox, as I see it, are in the add-ons. Java and Flash are the two major annoyances. It seems at least once a month some vulnerability comes about and an update to one of the two kludges is "highly recommended," killing 10 - 15 minutes of the end user's time, per computer. For me, that amounted to about twenty minutes killed this morning updating Java on two machines. I can't count the number of times Flash has updated, but I really don't like it because I don't know anything about Adobe or what it wants to do with my computer. Do I trust Adobe? Not really. I don't know anything about the company, but its product resides on my computer, apparently necessary because so many people watch videos on the Internet these days. We are moving to an illiterate society. Sun Oracle Java, for its part, wants to install the Ask! toolbar into my browser, and if I don't remember to un-check the box during installation, it will install that worthless piece of crap into my browser, which will necessitate another lengthy uninstall process. I hate Ask with a passion.

I can certainly understand why some users have abandoned Firefox in favor of Chrome, which has flash and java built-in rather nicely and which updates those two things in a comparatively transparent and fast manner. The main thing I don't like about Chrome is that it makes too many assumptions regarding the interface, which is far too minimal for my taste. I like a few buttons and an accessible menu at the top of the screen. Computers just are not smart enough yet to make quite so many assumptions or to start with a blank screen. Chrome wants to hide everything away, and I don't like that.

I know that idealistic young computer programmers wish things were different, but the reality is computers are as stupid as the day is long. This was true twenty years ago and it remains true today, and no amount of fancy marketing or design by Google or Microsoft will change the reality. The only thing that is going to change the scene is exponential advances in hardware. Then we can talk minimalism. Okay? Until that day, give me my damn buttons and menu options.

I also don't like Chrome's lack of add-ons such as Ad Blocker, which cleans the web of so much advertising clutter. The reason I stay with Firefox has to do with its design, which I feel is just about right, and its many add-ons, and its open-source nature. I just don't trust Google or Microsoft, because they are obviously looking for some kind of advantage to accrue from their browser, and that advantage might not be to my advantage, whereas Firefox, in theory at least, intends to create the best browser, without any dependency upon a particular vendor. Perhaps Firefox does take money from certain sources such as Google, but they are not bound to Google and could change tomorrow, whereas Chrome is inextricably bound to Google. Not that I have anything against Google, of course. But Google is, after all, a company in business to make a profit. I would use Chrome if the option were between Chrome and IE, but not while Firefox is still viable, and Firefox is still viable even with the annoyances I have described above.

Arming our Enemies?

Stories like this one about Pakistan lead me to believe we are making a monumental mistake by giving money to Pakistan, which seems to be the enemy of truth, justice and all that is good. If it is true that the people of Pakistan would kill a person for simply saying not to kill people for "blasphemy," then the people of Pakistan are bloodthirsty savages, no better than animals, and considerably worse than some animals, such as bonobos. I think that Pakistan should be paying the United States tribute in return for its continued survival and in exchange for elementary education on such issues as philosophy and morality. Otherwise India should be permitted to annex Pakistan and take over the substantial task of the education of its people. I would not envy India in such a scenario.

That all the above is mere fantasy on my part points to the depressing reality, which is that our leaders and our elite in America, ever since the fateful day of 9-11-2001, have ignored everything else in their single-minded quest for vengeance--and really the entire debacle in Afghanistan is nothing more than mere vengeance.

If I could make a wish, it would be as follows. Instead of giving to Pakistan, we should be taking from. Instead of investing in Afghanistan, we should be investing in America. Instead of investing in Iraq, we should be investing in America. Instead of placing fools in power, we should place the most capable in power. With all the problems in this country today, it is indefensible to spend even a solitary penny on faraway lands.

Whenever I think of Afghanistan and Iraq, I think of President Bush, the redneck President. I cannot believe that anyone seriously thinks a guy like Mitt Romney, who is Bush #3, should be the President. I don't think Romney is a redneck like Bush, or not quite. He is nothing more than a salesman. He will say and appear to do whatever his clientele want, within reason and to a limited extent, in order to close the deal, and then do what he wants to do, which is quite limited really. He wants to strut. He would be recognized, adored, and enjoy all the perks, privileges, and prestige of executive power. That is Romney's real agenda and always has been and always will be. Plug in whatever ideology you want, but he is in it for his ego, and this is quite obvious to anyone with a pair of eyes to see. The nation has real problems that need to be fixed but unfortunately Romney's just not a "fixer-upper" type of guy. He's not an engineer and doesn't understand how to solve tough problems. He's a salesman. Period.

Obama has some good engineering qualities. I like his caution, prudence, pragmatism, and willingness to concede mistakes. These are all qualities of a good engineer, and Bush did not have them.

Work Wasted?

This morning I thought about a web site that is now gone. I had breathed good life into its bones. Is it true that many thousands of hours of work were wasted? Is it true that all of the hours invested in coding, designing and refining the web site will be of no practical value, that is to say of no importance to any employer? I think that these conclusions are all true. All of that work was completely wasted. Probably it is true I could have been in coma and achieved the same result of nothing or close to nothing.

Work as an end to itself is a difficult concept to grasp. I often feel dismay about mountains of work that I have performed with no apparent reward and no trace of the work ever having been performed, a depressing outcome for an ego that looks for rewards.

So then I call upon my guide No-Ego, which apprises me of the view from up in the watchtower. I see over the horizon a future (or is it the past?) in which humanity does not exist (or does not exist yet), and it chills me, the thought not only of my own extinction but of my entire species, but it is also a sobering observation. It seems that all human accomplishments are doomed, because that is the nature of human accomplishments. Not only the things that I do, but even the works of kings and the fabulous artifacts of genius are temporary. Every song, story, building, machine and artwork pass from all recollection. Our planet is doomed according to the current thinking of astrophysicists. We are, all of us, building castles in the sand before the tide--a consolation for anyone who has watched some of his castles be devoured by an early tide.

Living in a finite existence, one grows accustomed to thinking in terms of time, of beginnings and endings, alpha and omega, but the cycle does not end. There is no end and no beginning, so what will come will be followed. Better, worse, greater, smaller, weaker, stronger, different, same, all are manifestations of the one. I cannot and I will not be more specific than that, because I am an ant crawling on a mound of mud on an island in an archipelago--about as aware of what is going on as that.

The Bank Teller

I had a funny dream last night. I was at the bank, waiting to cash a check, and one of the tellers, a man about my age, made a snappy comment about me. I don't recall what he said. Unfortunately, my recall of dreams has always been spotty at best. The minute I wake up, about 75% of the details are gone, leaving only the skeleton. At any rate, the teller had a mustache and unkempt hair with cowlicks going in every direction. I thought that was odd, as bank tellers tend to be neat and conservative in their appearance as a rule. He made a snappy remark, and I retorted with something like, "Why don't you comb your hair?" and the other bank tellers laughed at him. He made no reply. Then I went over to the little table set aside for customers to sign checks, and I signed a check that someone had written to me for $500. I did not recognize the signature, but it was someone from New York, judging by the address in the top left corner. I went to the same cashier, let's call him Mr. Clown, and he performed his job in a professional manner without making any further remark.

I started having a bad feeling about the check, because I did not know where it came from. Was it a forgery of some kind? Since I didn't have any recall of the check's origin, I decided that it must indeed be fraudulent. I told Mr. Clown to give me the check back, that I had changed my mind about cashing it. He smiled and said I had made the right decision, because he had doubts about the check's authenticity as well. I took out one of my own personal checks and wrote myself a check for $500, withdrawing from my own account.

That was the end of the dream. The only basis the dream has in reality is that I recently withdrew $500 from my checking account--via the ATM, not a personal check. I have not been inside my bank in several months and have never had anything but a pleasant experience with bank tellers. However, I have had an increased rate of forgetfulness due to adopting a new schedule with many new tasks and duties and many new risks and potential problems. I think the theme of the dream is "Vigilance is Required," because it was vigilance and caution that moved me to halt the cashing of the suspicious check. I think that the bank teller was actually another copy of myself, because my hair has a tendency to stand up, and each morning I have to apply a wet comb to keep it down. I like to use humor to offset anxiety and lighten otherwise tedious or stressful situations, so Mr. Clown was me serving as the butt of a mild self-deprecatory joke. I'm not sure why the check was from New York, but I have given some thought in the past to the idea of moving to New York and perhaps some day I will.

No-Ego

The ego believes in win and lose, life and death, success and failure, and is centered upon the self. All things to the ego revolve around self and are only judged by their relation to self. It is impossible to perceive truth as long as an ego stands in the way, because the ego distorts reality by centering reality around the self. This is like looking into a concave mirror.
 
No-ego does not perceive reality as revolving around self, but observes the self in its proper place, as a small part of the whole. No-ego is concerned with the whole, with all things, although there may be a focus upon human society because of its seeming importance. Entering the zone of no-ego, one can see for miles... Insight expands, uncertainty declines. Connections are made with the whole, so that there is not a separation between the observer and the observed, but the observer feels and senses what the observed perceive.

Dwell in the ego because you must, because of the animal-nature which requires selfishness in order to survive and prosper, but build watchtowers of no-ego for the purpose of expanding the vision beyond the short-term and the trivial.

Circumcision

An interesting article on male circumcision popped up recently in the daily news.

I don't have a strong opinion on it one way or the other. However, when I read that circumcision helps lowers the rate of HPV, HIV, herpes, and urinary tract infections, that is something I can't ignore. Personally I don't think circumcision really matters on an aesthetic or sexual level. If you love someone, then you will get used to whatever they have in the genital department; of if they love you, then vice versa.

However, if I were to be a father (unimaginable now) then I would probably decline the procedure for my newborn for the simple reason that I don't feel like I should intrude my own opinion or belief onto another human being in a way that will unalterably change their body for life. They might resent it later, and besides, new scientific research is always coming out and one never knows what next year's study might indicate. Just for the sake of human rights and all that jazz, I would rather each boy decide for himself once he becomes emancipated from his parents.

At any rate, if circumcision is indeed a human rights violation then surely it is a trivial one in comparison to all the others.

ImgBurn is a Virus

ImgBurn is malware. After I installed it, without warning it replaced my home page and search engine and attempted to install an unknown add-on in Firefox. I immediately uninstalled ImgBurn. As far as I'm concerned it is no different than any other virus. I just wish my anti-virus program, Avast, had stopped it in time.

I think I have eliminated all of the changes it made. What an idiotic thing that Ask search engine is. I would never in a million years use such a search engine that behaves in such an obnoxious, intrusive manner. Not only did I remove it from the default search engine, I deleted it altogether from the list of search engine options, and if I ever see it on someone's computer, I definitely will recommend removing it. Ask is a search engine created by virus-writers.

Depression

CNN posted a decent article on Depression along with many online resources. I think that young people should get help fast from professionals when they need it, rather than parents going into denial mode and thinking everything is okay or that Junior just needs to buckle down and study more. The reality is that no amount of extra studying and no amount of extra discipline is going to alleviate depression (such strategies might actually make it worse). If the depression is not treated by someone competent it will get worse. Unfortunately there are some incompetent or misinformed psychologists and psychiatrists out there in the wild. I would say that a good shrink works wonders and that is the one to select. Only word of mouth recommendations by forthright and candid current or former patients or their parents can help find a competent mental health professional, which by the way is also the best way to find a good mechanic, carpenter or air conditioning repairman. Also, not every shrink is suitable for every patient, because personalities, personal limitations and preferences do come into play, coloring the professional's judgment and reasoning at times.

In addition to being a mental problem, depression is a medical and physical problem affecting the brain and the body. It is not "all in the head" or imagined, it is real and causes real changes in the brain and the body.

Obama in 2012

I support Obama in 2012 because he has been a much better President than Bush. He hasn't gotten us tangled up in any foreign war. He has tried to offer relief to working Americans, though blocked at many points by Republicans, which points to the urgent need to elect more Democrats to Congress. I intend to vote straight-ticket Democrat, because Republicans in almost every instance vote against the interests of working Americans. Obama has better foreign policy, better domestic policy, better economic policy, better science and technology policy, and is better on all social issues. Gays can serve openly in the U.S. military now because of President Obama, and that is a big step forward. I am also pleased that Obama has announced that he supports gay marriage, because gay marriage is extremely important for gays to aspire to the same level of stability, happiness, and security that straights do. There may be areas where I disagree on one point or another but overall the choice between Obama and Romney is a very dramatic and clear-cut one, requiring all of two seconds.

Romney does not seem much different than Bush, although he has shown a surprising degree of flexibility on many issues, changing his positions to suit his electorate. I think Romney would involve the U.S. in additional wars. To finance the new wars, he would drastically increase the national debt, just like Bush. I think he would reduce funding for education in the U.S., because the more educated the electorate is, the less likely Republicans will be voted into office. He would certainly be amenable to cutting Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security, the "big three" government programs, as well as food stamps, mortgage relief and anything else that helps ordinary people.

Romney claims to want to turn back the clock on gay rights and abortion rights, but I don't really know how far he would go in that direction, because some wealthy donors to the Republican Party don't share the enthusiasm of the religious right for gay-bashing. I'm sure the Republicans would attempt some kind of mischief to hurt gay people, but it would probably be symbolic or temporary rather than permanent. However, I would vote against Romney on the gay issue alone, if for no other reason, because there is a real chance he could hurt gays with his foolish pandering to the hateful. Romney lacks charisma and intelligence, and so he will feel great pressure to pander and give in to pressure groups on the right wing. At risk are gays, women's reproductive rights, and minorities of every kind, but everybody will feel the pinch of his pro-war, anti-working class agenda. The only people Romney truly represents are the wealthiest 1%, while everybody else is dispensable in his view and only necessary to win an election or two. That is where all the new talk against gay marriage and abortion comes from, Romney's tacit acknowledgment that he needs to fire up the religious right in order to win the election. The religious right is less concerned about Romney's real agenda (more money for his cronies) and much more concerned about gays and abortion.

When I see polls indicating that Obama is only ahead by a small margin, I am really puzzled. I do not see any reason at all for anyone except a selfish billionaire to vote for Romney. The only way I can explain Obama being only slightly ahead in the polls is that many liberals are dissatisfied with his policies on various issues ranging the gamut, from foreign policy to the economy to gay rights and marijuana decriminalization. One of my friends has even announced she is not going to vote for Obama but is going to vote for the Green Party candidate, whoever that is. I would like to remind liberals that the choice is not between Obama and your ideal. The choice is between Obama and Bush #3. And that is a very easy choice to make.

Regrets

Regrets are not helpful if they are not solvable. If one can do something about something, fine. But there's no point "crying over spilt milk." (Yes, Blogger, spilt is spelt correctly.)

One of the difficult life lessons I have acquired is to stop fretting over things that can't be changed. For instance, I feel that I could have risen higher than I have if I had chosen the right career, lawyer or doctor, at the age of twenty instead of indecisiveness, followed by the adoption of a path, the easiest one for me at that time, that led to quick but modest rewards, computer programming. Today, in the U.S., if you do not have two years of experience already in a specific programming language in high demand, you are locked out. You will not be able to find a job anywhere, because ten years of experience in an old language is worth nothing. People that do not program computers do not realize this. People who are already in the field do. I have abandoned computer programming as a profession due to the inability to find a job anywhere in the computer field.

Being perfectionist can lead to depression when one detects various oversights and errors in judgment made in the past. The very nature of the past is that it cannot be changed. Only the present can be changed and only a little. The future is the most fluid of all time frames. The only thing the past can provide is wisdom by way of little stories that illustrate possible outcomes for behavior, choices and beliefs.

Another tool for overcoming regret is being mindful of the limited amount of time permitted in a human life. Sure, if we had eons, we could learn what to do and what not to do, without relying in robot-like fashion upon the instructions of others but using direct experience and observation to achieve a state of being close to perfection. We have very little time and that is the chief problem of human existence along with a limited intellect and fragile body.

I often like to imagine nonexistence and think about the impending leave, that is, what the world will be like in my absence. Better? Worse? I foresee it would be little changed with the exception of those nearest and dearest to me, so that is a powerful motive for remaining in the world as a benevolent, helping and healing influence, but it also informs me that whatever I do or don't do is not going to make any big waves in society and that's all right by me. My goal is to act in such a way that things around me are improved to the limited extent I can improve them.

My Max Power Draw is 45W

I am proud to say I do not own a CPU or APU with a power draw greater than 45W. I think that in 2012 anyone who does is paying too much in electrical costs to maintain their computer--unless they have special needs or play some new-fangled video game. The trend in computers is to use less power, not more. I say that time and time again. Old school hackers don't believe me. Back in the day, the only thing that mattered was speed, because computers were too slow, and human beings hate to wait for a machine. Anyone who has been paying attention to processors knows that the situation has changed. Today's processors are fast enough for most tasks and in fact much processor potential goes wasted, with the primary exception of video games. If you don't play the latest video games--and I don't--then go green, ignore the "fastest processor" hype, and buy a motherboard/processor combination optimized for HTPC. Some of them today have a total power draw of 18W or less, which is extremely impressive. Processor power draws are getting down into Compact Fluorescent Light Bulb territory! What this means is that not only will we save money running our computers, we will also save on air conditioning costs (less power=less heat dissipation=less cooling costs) and enjoy quieter machines (cpu fans become optional with passive cooling becoming a possibility).

The chief disappointment I have encountered in shopping for HTPC motherboards is that motherboard manufacturers do not know what time of the day it is. They always include a parallel port and serial port without fail, both of which are completely useless to most users today. I disable these "features" on the BIOS of every motherboard I have. Typically, they cut the PCI expansion slot in favor of an unnecessary PCI Express expansion slot, ignoring the fact that their apu-provisioned motherboards do not require separate video cards (the usual consumer of a PCI Express slot). Also, most motherboards I have seen have Stone Age sound. They lack a SPDIF optical connection and suitable hardware HD sound support for a high-end surround-sound stereo system. Most motherboards also seem fixated upon HDMI, which I don't use--and I don't understand why anyone would use it unless they have a monstrously high-resolution monitor, in which case a little bitty green HTPC might not be indicated for their purpose.

Right Path

How can a fellow know that he is on the right path? For me it is a simple feeling of well-being, that things are moving in the right direction. Restlessness, boredom, anxiety, anger or depression are signs that one is not on the right path or that something is amiss in the environment and calls for a change in behavior, either individual or collective.

OpenELEC

I really admire OpenElec, but it's not for me. I like my computer to be able to do a wide variety of tasks and don't want any "one-note Charlie" that is only good for playing videos or music. However, even though OpenElec isn't for me, that doesn't mean I don't like it. I like the OpenElec concept for an important reason--my Mother. I think it would be great for her as an HTPC because it is easy to use and won't present any demands in terms of maintenance. So I am keeping OpenElec in mind as a potential solution for users with somewhat less technical knowledge than myself.

Official Breakfast of Glorious Igor

My daily breakfast:

3/4 cup of dry oatmeal (either "old-fashioned" or "1 minute quick cooking" is fine)
1 to 2 tbsp of ground brown flaxseed (Red Mill's is a good brand)
1 tbsp of cocoa nibs
2 tbsp of dry roasted sunflower seeds

Add enough water. The precise quantity is unimportant. Experience will serve as a guide. If too little water is added, more can be added later. If too much water is added, simply cook for a longer period of time. Microwave for 80 - 99 seconds, but no longer than 99 seconds. The only purpose of cooking is to make the concoction palatable. There should be no risk of contamination with these fresh, dry ingredients. The absolute minimum amount of cooking is always preferred. Too much cooking destroys vitamins. After heating, make appropriate adjustments to the water level if the oatmeal is too dry.

Now add the following and mix it in with a spoon:

5 dried apricots
juice of 1/2 a lemon (put the juice of the other half in your cold or warm, not hot, tea)

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Rationale:

Oatmeal provides carbs, fiber and a suitable base. Flaxseed provides Omega-3 fatty acids and additional fiber. Cocoa nibs are an effective antidepressant, are rich in minerals and provide additional protein, carbs, and beneficial fat. Sunflower seeds offer a cheap source of protein, vitamins, and minerals. Apricots contribute vitamin A, and lemon juice contributes vitamin C. Lemon is superior to lime due to higher concentration of vitamin C.

The overall flavor of this combination is excellent. The recipe is very flexible allowing the reduction or increase of ingredients based on taste or caloric needs, as well as the addition of other ingredients such as raisins, almonds, and ground pepper and other herbs. Note: avoid adding anything on a regular basis, such as chocolate chips, that will raise the amount of sugar, because sugar causes inflammation! Once in a while is all right but not every day!

Lime

I have introduced a new additive to my daily breakfast of oatmeal--lime, squeezed into my cup of tea. It tastes great, but I am doing it for a cheap source of vitamin C. It is difficult to obtain adequate amounts of Vitamin C through diet, but I am persuaded that C may be one of the most important vitamins. Vitamin pills have had such a bad rap in the media lately that I'm reducing my dependence on them.

Only after I bought the limes did I discover that lemons actually have far more vitamin C than limes. Oopsy-daisy! Well, next time I'll buy lemons. My purchase was influenced by the history of the British Navy, which provisioned its ships with limes sometime in the 18th or 19th century in order to counter scurvy among sailors, which was causing massive amounts of casualties, wounds and leaving sailors vulnerable to infections and tooth loss. After limes were introduced into their daily diet, British sailors began to be called "limeys." Limes may have been cheaper then. Today, the cost difference is negligible, so I think I will opt for lemons, which are superior in nutrition content.

I no longer trust juice for sale in the grocery store. Juice tends to be concentrate and water  with vitamin C injected into the mix. One might as well pop a pill rather than drink that sort of juice, because it is nothing more than liquid vitamin pill. Solid pills are cheaper and take up no space in the refrigerator. Lemons and limes keep better in a refrigerator than an open bottle of juice and are easier to use--just cut in half and squeeze one or both halves over a cup of tea or water. I think that freshness is a good thing. I also think juice is a bad deal if it costs even as little as $2 a half-gallon, because for that price I can buy 8 lemons, which is enough for 16 servings, and the lemons will last longer in the refrigerator and taste better.

Competition

I'm pretty good at competition--that is to say, in an academic or professional setting. Among all people of all ages I would guess I am in the top twenty per cent, which means I have plenty of company--good company--but also that I function at a level higher than many. But I don't think of myself as better, and I have decided also that I must not think of myself as worse, because either self-image is exaggerated and mistaken. In reality we are to function at the best of our abilities, within the limitations of our environment. There is no other option. If someone achieves better grades or better status than me, that is okay. If someone achieves lesser grades or lower status than me, that is also okay and does not mean I am to see them as inferior. I think that many people involved in competition lose sight of our shared mortality and shared humanity. A judgmental and Darwinist attitude can develop over time. It is most interesting to see this in people who are not high performers, but merely mediocre, and they are the precise ones most apt to look down upon those that achieve less. I observe such egotism and what immediately occurs to me is, hey, you're no Albert Einstein, and I don't think you invented the steam engine either. The truth of the matter is we are all mental midgets working in the shadow of just a few titans of science and the arts. I have no patience for egotism and can't find any room for it in my own mind. I know my limitations and as I get older I find that I am reminded of them more often. Perhaps it is young people who tend toward egotism the most, because so much is handed to young people on a silver platter at birth (particularly the ones from well-to-do families), and they have not encountered quite as many dead-ends, insurmountable obstacles, defeats and reversals.

Organized Religion

I have no problem with religion or to be specific with Christians. In fact I feel much more benevolent now than when I was younger and less experienced and more rebellious. However, it does rankle when theists presume a monopoly on morality or think that going to church or praying in public or chatting about their faith makes them better than others from an ethical or spiritual or psychological perspective.

Everybody is different, and some of us thrive upon a different path due to our background, experiences, personality, limitations, abilities, and preferences. I have always felt that religion is a personal and private matter, and it seems distasteful to cheapen it with public displays of religiosity. The words that are said and the things that are done in church have often irritated me and distanced me from organized religion because they are seldom based upon reason or upon right but instead upon the common orthodoxy about some matter to which no one gave any original thought of their own. Today we see mainstream Protestant organizations wrestling with a moral issue that seems a completely obvious and clear-cut good thing, gay marriage. The fact that they have had to dicker with it for so many years points out the limited scope of their ethical (or spiritual) development, and we need say nothing of the Catholic church or for that matter Islam, Hinduism or orthodox Judaism.

Only once in my life have I ever heard a sermon that inspired me, and it was delivered in 1963 by the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., but it was more a political speech than a sermon. Really his speech was a masterpiece not equaled in the 21st century. I can't speak for other centuries but I never heard a better speech in my life. That is not to say it is perfect. There are some minor imperfections, almost unnoticeable, but they don't matter. Could he have given a better delivery? Yes, but one must consider the moment, a hot sweltering day outdoors among thousands of people, and the equipment--microphones and speakers from 1963--and the fact that there was no possibility of repeating the speech, and the fact that King used no teleprompter, but spoke entirely from memory. It is a masterpiece pure and simple by a human being and could scarcely have been equaled by a human being at that place and that time.

Syria's Resistance Army

So far, I'm not surprised by supposed atrocities (or desecration of corpses) by untrained civilians in the Free Syrian Army against regime snipers or the bloodthirsty shabbiha, who have themselves committed so many unpunished atrocities against unarmed civilians. One cannot with any degree of realism expect the same standards experienced in peaceful, comfortable and democratic Western countries to apply in the Syrian conflict. A civilian population that has been brutalized, watched their own wives and children tortured and mutilated, and seen their people reduced to the status of animals can be expected to act out what they know, feel, and perceive. Although there was a possibility of a better resolution in earlier times, at this point, Assad's regime cannot expect much in the way of leniency. The Assad regime respected not the smallest shred of morality, and so their enemy may be expected to conform and behave in like manner. The regime appears to have locked itself into a genocidal conflict, which reflects a grave strategic error at the highest level of their leadership. It would have been far better to compromise, to offer the opposition a seat at the table and break bread with them. Fear is only an effective tool in controlling the weak, and even there it has severe limitations.

Assad may have been educated in a medical profession (although I am skeptical of how much he really understands even in that field), but he is a fool and a discredit to his university, because he did not understand even the rudiments of morality. There is an ancient problem with evil and a very good reason that wise men reject evil ways. He who renders evil unto others is liable to be repaid in like coin.

Creed

As I was driving home today, I worked upon composing a personal creed. I liked the following:

I am a soldier of the light.
I am sworn to the light.
I am joined to the light.
So there is no end to me and no beginning.
Life and death are not serious alternatives.
There were others before me and will be others after me.
Though this single instance that I represent diminishes, the light does not.
There is light in the darkness and it renews all things.
So there is no end and no beginning.

Covering Up His Own Incompetence

This article makes the case that Attorney General Eric Holder authorized the raids on legal medicinal pot dispensaries in order to distract attention from his own bungling of the "Fast and Furious" scheme, in which assault rifles wound up in the hands of Mexican drug cartels.

Holder is incompetent and should be removed from his position on that basis alone. House Republicans were correct to hold him in contempt. The fact that he was appointed by Obama does make me wonder about Obama's judgment.

Divorce

This afternoon, I watched a documentary--BBC's Storyville, episode one--that amounted to a reality show covering a legal proceeding in rural China between two poor and poorly educated Chinese. In watching them, I was reminded that the American South does not have any monopoly on rednecks, who are distributed all over the world, it seems, clustering around rural towns and villages. Only cultural strength defeats the redneck mentality. Human beings default to a level just above savage animals. I was also impressed with the Chinese legal system, at least in regard to domestic disputes. The judge seemed quite reasonable and moderate, not at all draconian or authoritarian. In fact the court proceedings were quite casual and informal, a bit more so than I would prefer. I think that court proceedings should be imbued with dignity and gravitas, and outbursts or threats of violence should not be permitted. When the husband threatened the wife in court, I thought to myself that in an American court, that husband would have been sentenced to time in jail for contempt of court, if not assault. The Chinese judge mildly rebuked him, which puzzled me. I think that women have lower status in China.

I was also reminded of a scene from my childhood, when my mother wanted to divorce my father. Dad cleverly manipulated me in order to dissuade her from leaving him. I remember when she was at the front door, suitcases in hand, and I flung my arms around her and begged her not to go. I succeeded, but I was wrong. I see that now. I was motivated by selfishness and an inability to understand the issues between them other than at the most superficial level. So she remained in a dismal marriage for love of us. Only later did I come to understand his ways. He is not evil, but his thinking is confused, his perceptions distorted. He is a prisoner to his destiny. Now I am of the opinion that she should have divorced him a long, long time ago and been done with it. I feel resentment for having been manipulated by him at a tender age when I did not know any better. He was motivated by base cowardice, a fear of being left alone with no one, which became in later years his actual destiny, because he drove people away with his resentments and disputes. I think that we all would have been better off if she had left him when she wanted to leave him, and I think that she should have moved far, far away. But perhaps we are all prisoners of our flaws and limitations to some degree. Who has the strength to always take the best path? Such a human being has never existed.

Organ Donation

I do suffer from absent-mindedness on occasion, but that is because I have always been a daydreamer even from the earliest ages. My brain just gets bored with the modest demands of the present and likes to escape on independent, unscripted vacations.

While driving home from work, I was fascinated by another idea for a short story in which a young man in prime physical condition, for an as yet undetermined motive, decides to end his life, which is a similar plot to so many of the horrible stories we have read about recently in the media. However, my plot twist is that the young man, unlike the serial murderers, is highly ethical and benevolent, desiring to perform the maximum amount of good for the world that he loves even by his act of suicide, so he researches the hospitals of the country, finds one with a very high demand for organ transplants, arrives at a precise time when he knows (from espionage) that many skilled surgeons will be on site, and informs the charge nurse of his plans, handing the nurse his Organ Donation papers and then quite calmly terminating his life in a safe and controlled manner that minimizes damage to organs.

Possible plot twists further down the road might be that the young man was hired by a millionaire who needed an excellent body part right away and wanted to obtain it through legal and above-board channels. The money for services rendered would go toward a life-saving operation required by the young man's partner.

Profile of the Typical Republican

A typical Republican was profiled in the Los Angeles Times recently.

The Sickness of Amok

The recent senseless and vile shooting by a white supremacist at a Sikh temple is another symptom that points to a sickness in our people, a collective mental illness, a derangement involving a fascination with firearms and the idea that firearms somehow equate to an empowering masculinity, a large and dominating penis, an idea that appeals to pathetic and unstable white men. I think this illness has been long in existence, judging by our history which is stained with the blood of so many people from various races and various places.

White supremacists are ignorant of all science, reason, logic, morality, and philosophy; stupid, crazy and therefore dangerous, and I hope that they are being watched by law enforcement agencies. If they are not being watched, then the government is guilty of gross negligence.

No race is superior to any other, due to the simple, obvious and self-evident fact that human beings are individuals rather than collective racial organisms. Period. End of discussion.

Two suggestions that I would put forward to remedy the problem of amok would be to reduce alcohol consumption through a tax of five dollars per fluid ounce of pure alcohol, which should greatly reduce alcohol consumption among the poor, and tax guns at a rate that reflects their ultimate cost to society. Firearms other than low-caliber variety with less than seven rounds per chamber or clip should be taxed at the rate of a thousand dollars, while any weapon that can be converted to automatic, or any weapon with a firepower greater than the average .45 should be illegal. Bullets should be taxed at $1 per round with the exception of very low-caliber, ordinary (non-hollow point) ammunition, which being less deadly, should be exempt. Derringers and other "lady's purse" weapons should be exempt as they are primarily for the defense of women and other vulnerable people. The tax money should be reserved for shoring up Medicaid, Medicare and other government programs that are being taxed by the widespread prevalence of firearms and mentally unstable gun owners in American society.

Football and Mindless Militarism

I am continually perplexed by the enduring popularity of football and the fanaticism of a vocal minority of college students for football teams, stadiums, and lavish expenditures for a program that does not produce any benefits for students or society. Indeed in the case of Penn State, the cost of the football program was much more than anybody could have anticipated!

I admit football annoys me, because it devours so much of public funds. Always the football fans are taking away from other students and other citizens to finance their mindless addiction. Never do they pay for their dirty little habit themselves. Always they are expecting the government to pay their way. A new stadium, another team, more and more gifts to the team, more and more scholarships, and enormous salaries for stupid football coaches.

Football, like chess, is essentially a war game. I feel that football's popularity has to do with the fact that our people were always at war throughout history. War is in our blood. One can't escape the calling of the blood. The people who like football will serve society as cannon fodder just as their ancestors did. If only football fans would confine themselves to football, and not have the wars, then their addiction could be justifiable as a lesser expense, but no, they must have both the wars and the football.

I love chess just as much, or rather more than, others like football, and chess is just as militaristic, drawing upon the same skills that are so essential on the battlefield. In fact football is useless as a preparation for modern war, while chess is the single best method of training. In modern warfare, thinking and planning is more to the point than physical reflexes and physical ability. Perhaps the popularity of football helps to explain why the United States has not won a war since Korea, and why it now engages in wars that cannot be won by any means.

Based on the history of wars, I would estimate that the average general, if he turned his mind to the game of chess and studied it for his entire life, would achieve an ELO ranking of 1200. The exceptional generals, the really good ones, might rate about 1400.

Human Missions?

Humans are ill-prepared for space exploration. Until we create a new species that is better adapted for space travel, all missions should be of the robotic variety if they are to be cost-effective and efficient, rather than mere shows put on for public entertainment. Humans are only well-adapted to Earth. Putting a human into a hostile environment like space requires too many innovations and creates difficulty where weight and cargo space are at a premium. It is also extremely dangerous to the humans involved, although they are more than willing to risk their lives.

A space-traveling race would be small and lightweight, about the size of a mouse, with low requirements for food and respiration, requiring a smaller vessel in order to escape Earth. It might very well photosynthesize in order to supplement its diet. It would be highly resistant to radiation, gravity, and the absence of gravity. Its sole function would be to pilot a craft and react quickly to emerging opportunities and hazards in its immediate environment, eliminating the need for long-distance communication to ground control on Earth. Actual exploration and mining activity would be conducted by robotic units remotely controlled by the pilot.

I may be conservative in thinking that an intelligent species would need to be mouse-size. It is possible, though unlikely, that a species with our intelligence, or even more, could be the size of an ant, although I do not understand how except through some kind quantum mechanics hocus-pocus communication with a larger being on Earth.

I may also be mistaken in thinking that a body is needed for an intelligent species. The only advantage organic life has over computers is that we are are more effective at general tasks and general learning. The self-aware computer may exist right now in a laboratory, and no one should discount that possibility, but it is certainly not capable of translating its will into reality, while humans with their bodies do have that capability. Yet it is possible that a robot could do everything that a living organism could do and better. I don't like the idea, but it would be naive to dismiss it. Already, ordinary desktop computers with nothing special in the way of a processor or memory can very easily beat 99.99% of all chessplayers. That is enough for me to respect artificial intelligence and accept the fact that we are, all of us, obsolete to a large extent, and we are simply waiting until the next generation of technology replaces every single human profession under the sun.

AMD's APU

The best thing I've seen in computers lately has to be AMD's motherboard/apu combos. For about a hundred dollars, a consumer has an easy upgrade solution to replace both cpu and motherboard. This deal is sweet: an apu not only is the cpu, but also functions as the video card, one that is significantly better than most on-board video controllers. Better can be interpreted as faster and also more conservative in power consumption.

The APUs are much underpowered in comparison to the latest and greatest and most expensive processors from Intel and AMD. But the only folks who need mighty cpus are gamers, mostly. The rest of us get by just fine with a basic, below average processor. The sweetest part of the deal is that apus are green in comparison to other cpus. An APU might draw as much as 36W, while most cpus begin at 65 W and can go up to 125 W or more.


Now I have a system that runs 24/7, and while the difference in annual operating costs between a 36W apu and a 65W cpu could be substantial, my primary motivation for upgrading (or downgrading, actually, in terms of raw computing power) is that my old motherboard seems to have occasional, intermittent problems communicating with my modem. Such occasional, intermittent hardware glitches are the bane of computer technology and nobody really wants to deal with them. The easiest solution by far is to replace the hardware.

Chicfila

Anybody that has walked into a chic-fil-a in the past five years knows they have sworn their souls to Satan just like most fast-food chains. The chain didn't exactly make a secret of their right-wing affiliations, either, and I don't see how anybody can be surprised by the latest brouhaha over gay marriage. They are risking probably nothing based on their average customer profile. They've been anti-gay since back in the day, in the same category as Cracker Barrel, but the only difference now is that suddenly a bunch of people have become aware of it.

Chicfila buys from the chicken farms that torture chickens and shoot them full of antibiotics and growth hormones. I didn't eat at Chicfila or any other fast food restaurant before, and I'm not going to be eating there now, but not because of the boycott or because they are against gay marriage. I'm thinking about my health, and you know what else, there are more flavors in the world than butter and grease, in case you tortured-chicken eaters didn't know. For a fast food chain to make claims to some kind of ethical high horse is just laughable, but to make things worse, Chicfila picked the side of evil.

Climate Change

I do worry about climate change, because it seems like the world will experience serious effects before I disintegrate into my constituent atoms. Beneath all the hubbub about the ailing world economy is the consistent and dreadful drumbeat about irreversible global climate change, which indicates that things won't get better but will instead get much worse. Like all our problems, the new problems just won't get solved because the politicians and the people who vote for them just aren't clever enough. A glance at the U.S. Congress is all one needs to know that the United States is in no position to solve any problem facing the world. We create new problems and exacerbate old ones rather than solving any problems.

Goodbye, Gore Vidal

It is with sadness I mark the passing of Gore Vidal, one of my favorite writers. However, he had a long, prosperous and successful life, so one mustn't be too sad. I liked the quote from his partner, "Didn't it go by awfully fast?" I often feel that way too. Life does go by awfully fast.

Gore Vidal will live forever, or survive his death for a longer time than most, due to his voluminous writings, which many will still read far into the future when many other writers are long forgotten. Many of his works are insightful and prophetic. He knew things.

Get that HPV Vaccine

I remember a couple years ago some right-wing Internet yahoo wrote that I was "a lazy race-baiting homosexual with warts."

I was surprised first of all that he had bothered to read enough of my blog to make these observations. You know, I'm glad when the opposition reads my blog. I didn't mind the homosexual bit. I'm gay, big deal. As for lazy, well, I know I'm not, and people that know me know I'm not, so that just bounces right off. Race-baiting, I don't know where he got that from. Maybe somewhere I didn't toe the party line on a sensitive racial issue exactly as he expected me to do. More likely, he misinterpreted a complicated sentence due to lack of basic reading comprehension. I don't know, but I thought that was the strangest part of his little critique.

As for the warts, they're gone now, although I did have them at one time and probably still carry the HPV virus like millions of other people. That is one reason I recommend that young people get the HPV vaccine. I wish I had. But having had warts doesn't really bother me, although it does raise my risk for cancer. Is there a stigma to warts? Maybe, but it can't be greater than the stigma attached to herpes. At any rate I've gotten past stigmas for the most part. Stigmas are stupid, a shortcut for people who don't like to think for themselves.

Moral of this little story is for people, especially the younger generation, who are or intend to be sexually active to get the HPV vaccine. It's cheap and not only will protect against warts but also certain forms of cancer. The vaccine is not just for girls either. Every young person should get it.

Forgiveness

Sometimes I don't know whether to forgive people that have done me wrong or not. I've always erred on the side of forgiveness because I detest getting involved in drama. Drama is fun to watch on television but not so fun in real life. I think that drama by activating the emotions obscures truth, which is best viewed with cold and sober eyes. Emotions are dangerous things, the relics of our primitive nature, steeped in superstition and irrational thoughts and ideas. With icy dispassion one can see direct into the heart of things. That is my strongest belief. By references to ice and cold, I do not mean cruel or vicious or inhumane, but principled, based upon reason and logic, and with the best intentions. Emotions that are hot dwell upon vengeance, egotism, vanity, and are subject to every kind of delusion. I have been most deluded of all when my emotions were aroused, and most level-headed when they were kept in check, so I prefer that my emotions be kept in check in general and feel that emotions are dangerous things, esteemed by the foolish.

I take the view that once a wrong has been done, punishment of the perpetrator doesn't make things right (although in criminal cases an argument can sometimes be made that punishment is necessary to prevent further crimes against others). I feel that those who do wrong also suffer themselves from the same mind that leads them into evil, because they are disconnected from the community of good people. I prefer to live my life in relative peace and would continue to do so until such time that I perceive no hope, no future, no opportunities, and no satisfaction, and then and only then I might entertain an alternative strategy. Life is an opportunity to learn, to grow, to inspire others, to help others build a better world. Only when such opportunities shrivel and disappear does one need to look for right angles.

Few people are absolutely evil. Sometimes people start out good, or mostly good, and then their minds decay until they turn. I have seen this happen. One should recall the good years, the good times, and weigh the present with the past. Sometimes good people have lapses which they, too, regret, unfortunate episodes that should be considered in the context of their entire experience, not in isolation. If a man does a person wrong, perhaps in one instance or several, but in many other instances far outnumbering those other ones has done good, then is he still a villain? I think rather he is a human being, for who among us is perfect?

When my emotions engage, that is when I thirst for justice, that elusive and unpredictable dragon that is known to breathe fire upon the seeker and sometimes even upon unintended parties. Usually I perceive the risks, if there are risks, and disengage if the risks outweigh the benefits. Justice can wait, is my view. Justice is the luxury of the rich and the powerful. Such a humble person as I must endure a life with substantially less justice than the proud. It is the common state of working people all over the world and to believe otherwise is to dwell in a fantasy land.

There is also a fatalistic view I have that we are all equal no matter what because everyone lives under a death sentence. In a matter of years we are all dust.

If I avoid wicked things then that is certainly better than some, although it is a modest goal and insufficient in my estimation. If I live in a manner that inspires, pleases or enlightens others to whatever extent, or at least avoids the opposite outcomes, then that is enough for me. I do not need to be great or strong, successful or renown for anything. It may be that some people I knew and cared about were disloyal, unappreciative or acted with misunderstanding or duplicity. I rather count my losses and think it a good bargain to lose only vanity or material assets, rather than anything truly important. It is a welcome relief to me when others strive for material or out of pure vanity, but are willing to live and let live otherwise. Because I prefer to be left in peace to think, to wonder, and to help the people that I care about. I will leave the treasure for the orcs to grab with their dirty claws, while I content myself with old books written by marvelous people I should have liked to know. All I want is time to read, time to think, and time to care. Let the fighters fight over spoils. I will fight if cornered, like any beast, and I think that I would fight very well indeed, but otherwise am inclined to go my way.

I don't mind leaving everything just as it is, because it gives me satisfaction to reflect on my accomplishments, modest though they may be, and on the esteem that others have for me, and on my good experiences in life. It is all right to have modest accomplishments when one's talents are modest. It is a mistake to judge oneself in comparison to one's superiors, and there are many people who will have more talent in one area, many areas, or even all areas, because talent is not distributed evenly.

Voting for a Republican

I vote for a Republican in special situations, such as the Republican primary, or when the Democrat has no chance and I particularly like a specific Republican, or when it is a contest between one right-winger and another (even if the other is a Democrat). In such cases one prefers the better of two alternatives.

I support one local Republican because he used to own a newspaper that I read every now and then. He was conservative and his editorials reflected that, but he did something that was very un-Republican. He allowed a liberal to write a column on a weekly basis. And he didn't hide the column on page 44-F in small print, either, but put the column in the main section, A, in regular print, along with a photo of the author, who wasn't some nutcase intended to discredit liberals but a decent guy who understood things fairly well.

One day, somebody wrote a letter to the editor claiming that the writer was a socialist, as if that disqualified him from being considered by any reasonable person. That is what I remember to this day, and that is why I vote for that particular Republican over all his Republican rivals, because he had a heart big enough to tolerate a voice from the other side. And his rivals are trying to tear up him right now six ways to Sunday, and I know they are, and their attempts are transparent, and I just feel like they are lying about him, just like Republicans love to lie to get ahead, because getting ahead is the only thing that matters to so many of them. I just don't care what they say because I perceive in my own way that the guy has an open mind and believes in debate and discussion. If so many of his fellow Republicans are out to get him, then he must be even better than I thought, so I am more inclined than ever to support him.

The Religious Right and Paganism

Some of the beliefs of the religious right, such as speaking in tongues, demonic possession and the notion that Satan inserts demons or magic spells into people and things in order to wage war against God's Chosen, smack of paganism and earlier beliefs. There is an attempt to explain the world in simplistic terms for child-like adults who can't understand science or much of anything else, while inserting absolute moral rules, such as "rock and roll is bad and drugs are bad, because these are the tools of Satan." By seeing superstitious reasons for everything, a religious righter doesn't have to bother debating or evaluating. Much thinking is rendered unnecessary. Such a primitive religion may be beneficial for the simple, if it gets them off hard drugs or keeps them from robbing and killing people. Often I hear a religious righter tell me she used to be a prostitute, or killed someone, or robbed, or used heroin or crack "before turning to Jesus." It would never occur to me to do any of those things.

Perhaps religious righters are throwbacks to an earlier point in evolution. I think if religious righters were the only human beings around, then we would still be hunched around campfires in the wilderness with animal furs on our backs.

Bush and Phillip II

Bush was the Phillip II for our time. Phillip II took a first-rate nation, Spain, which enjoyed a dominant position in Europe and the Americas, and reduced it to a second-rate nation through mismanagement and pointless wars. Bush took a booming economy and thriving people and reduced us to unemployment, debt, and the scorn of the world. I think that Bush could have given Al-Qaeda lessons.

The Republicans are a hundred times more effective at destroying America than Al-Qaeda ever was. The terrorists only had one day, 9-11, whereas the Republicans were operating every day of the year doing everything in their power to outsource jobs to foreign countries, commit our tax money to foreign wars and loot the treasury for their rich cronies. Republicans and corruption go hand-in-glove. Republicans despise America, and their fondest desire is for all American workers to be unemployed or dead. The type of worker Republicans prefer can be found in other countries: poorly educated, paid very little, with little or no medical or other benefits, and kept in line by thugs, police or soldiers, with any dissenters silenced. That is what the Republicans want here in America.

Iran

One never hears about Iran except in the context of crazy. They are always doing something stupid and evil.

Syria

Comes as no surprise to me that the opposition is gaining ground in Syria. The regime behaved like brutal thugs. You know what, if you kill someone's grandmother, then you have created a whole family of enemies who will be willing to die in order to kill you. That's what Assad failed to comprehend, the principle that people are willing to die in order to avenge the death of a loved one. All the money and the bullets in the world won't defend him against blood-vengeance. I'm going to drink a toast when Assad is toast. He betrayed the oath of his profession, to "do no harm."

George Pill

I'm always amused by how George Will is introduced as "the intelligent conservative," like here's an elephant that can sing.

He's about as smart as he sounds.