Meth or Math

In what may be a sign of aging, I misread this headline:



I thought it said "math ring," and I thought students were cheating on the SAT or GRE somehow. When I discovered it was meth, I lost interest. Boring. Math is the more interesting subject by far. Meth rhymes with death for a reason.

If the above article holds no interest for me, at least it jogged my thoughts on the subject of test-taking. My score on the SAT was not great. I made a 1200 on the second attempt, after months of practicing. Meanwhile, some of my friends scored in the 1300s. I even heard of a neighbor who scored pretty close to 1600, which used to be the perfect score, although the test has changed over time. On the strength of his SAT score, he went on to win a four-year scholarship to an Ivy League college, complete with a stipend to cover living expenses.

Although my score was high enough to allow entry into a state college, it precluded the Ivy League and any kind of scholarship. After a period of disappointment, I moved on. We can't choose our fate. Besides, brains aren't everything. Then, too, I thought about the majority of people who scored less than 1200. Did my score make me any better than them? If that were so, then my score also made me less than all those people who scored higher. So I put the number out of my thoughts.

When I was in middle school, I took a test in order to get into the gifted program. I squeaked by with a 89.7% score, where the cutoff was 89.5%. My best friend failed to get in, because he only scored an 89.3%. This was a huge disappointment for him, because he had ambition like I have philosophy. However, it was not as great a matter as he feared at the time. Thirty years later, he had established a successful career in law and is now a millionaire.

Concerning Iran

This cartoon by Mark Fiores concerning the election in Iran is great.

Tepid Support for Afghanistan

Is it just me, or is this a tepid endorsement of the war? I can't imagine how the writer could have made a less persuasive case. Almost every paragraph contains the seed of doubt. This may be a case of British sarcasm deceiving American credulity. If so, my bad.

The Universe as a Body

I've been reading Hesiod's "Theogony", and after a chapter on gods and the origin of things, I got to thinking about theology. I decided to write a new theology. Behold the theology of "Omni". Remember that in theology, logic is unnecessary. Theology only explains. It does not need to make sense.

What if each human being is a part of a collective body that includes all things? The Universe, instead of being an assembly of particles, may be a vast, single, living, conscious and self-aware organism. I may be unaware of the greater entity, just as a cell in my body is unaware of me. The individual cell serves the perceived interest of the greater entity even to the detriment of its own interest. "E pluribus unum."

The Universe operates in an environment larger than the one we have seen. We see only its body. As within ourselves, irrationality is in the core nature of the Universe, which explains the bizarre effects noted in quantum theory.

If the greater unit were perfect, then we, the smaller components, would also be perfect, but we are not, and the Universe, which comprises us and everything else, is not, either. The being suffers from its own peculiar species of ailments, just as we do. This leads to disturbances such as black holes. The Universe is neither omnipotent nor omniscient. As we suffer, so does the Universe suffer from problems for which it has no solutions. There is a plan, which evolves as do plans within the human mind, but this plan is not infallible.

A Tale of Two Stories

Two stories are making the rounds in the media. Both concern individuals who claim, with different degrees of validity, that they were attacked because they are gay. Which receives the most coverage? Guess.





The former Survivor celebrity garners the most media attention by a ratio of 50:1.

The Braggart

I remember the Braggart with amusement. He was taller than me and certainly stronger due to his weightlifting. He had close-cropped hair and walked with a military bearing, chest out. Much of what he said was either boastful or designed to make another person look inferior, which is why I came to think of him as the Braggart. He would only smile if another was in distress. Never was he pleased if others were doing well, unless the other was his supervisor. He paid close attention to his supervisor and tried to please him.

With me, he waged psychological warfare. To anything I said, he would have an acid remark. For instance, when I considered donating to the company blood drive, he expressed his hope that the nurse would rip up my veins with the needle. Upon suspecting I was gay, he remarked to a colleague, "homosexuality is sick--what's next, incest and bestiality?" while looking straight into my eyes. I refused to be baited.

Another time, the Braggart planted the seed of suspicion in our supervisor's mind that I had stolen from our supervisor's desk a book. I did not make a denial, because I was not accused outright. The rumor made the rounds, but nothing more came of it. To this day, I am of the opinion that the Braggart stole the book and blamed me for the theft. But no matter. Sometimes, small matters appear large due to their proximity to us.

Another time, the Braggart hid in ambush for me behind a cubicle wall, and as I walked past, he jumped out and barked like a dog, laughing at my surprise. To this, I said in a loud voice, "What are you trying to do, give me a heart attack here?" Others poked their heads above the cubicle walls to look. Embarrassed, the Braggart never tried that particular trick again.

Over time, my general policy of avoidance paid dividends. The Braggart attacked me less and less, because I was not fun sport. He could expect little or no reaction from me. His attacks seemed ineffectual and sometimes earned an admonishment from others. Therefore, he relaxed over time and no longer thought of me as his enemy. Meanwhile, my competence became clearer to others, including our supervisor, as I completed numerous and varied work assignments. As time passed, he came to ask me questions and ask for my advice, which pleased me. I must admit, I was not quite as helpful to him as I could have been, say, with a colleague that I respected. But there were other times that I did come to his rescue, just for the satisfaction of hearing him thank me within earshot of our supervisor.

I knew that, besides being an oaf, the Braggart was a lousy programmer. My competence was like a knife twisting in his side. He could not be happy in this job that we were doing. One day a senior programmer who had been around forever and knew everything about everything exploded in the Braggart's face. He yelled at the Braggart that he was stupid as hell, besides being a damned fool. After the old man had left, the Braggart complained to our supervisor over the harsh words he had been dealt.

The Braggart survived much longer than I expected, thriving upon the sympathy of higher-ups, but he did not out-survive me. My supervisors found one excuse or another to transfer him to another department. He did not perform well in the new position either. Later he left the company. I understand that his marriage fell apart as well due to his marital infidelity, leaving him with a substantial monthly alimony bill.

The moral of the story is that it is not necessary to confront every belligerent. Sometimes, if one steps aside, they will continue on their path until they careen straight over a precipice.

James Buchanan, First Gay President?

After watching the History Channel's "Presidents" miniseries of shows, I'm persuaded that James Buchanan, our 15th U.S. President, was gay.

A lifelong bachelor, he lived with a man for many years, and the two of them were referred to as "Aunt Nancies." They hobnobbed with a group of other dandies. No conclusive evidence, I grant, but one is unlikely to find conclusive evidence; had there been any, he would have been denied the Presidency.

It is possible that Buchanan went along with slavery in part due to blackmail by those Washington insiders who knew incriminating details about his personal life. This leads me to the following observation.

In societies where homosexuality is not tolerated, gays are subject to blackmail. This offers another argument in favor of toleration. Gays will always be with us. If they can be open about their sexuality, then they are just as safe from blackmail as their heterosexual counterparts. To bring this issue home, gays serving in the U.S. military are subject to blackmail at this time due to the so-called "Don't Ask / Don't Tell" policy. It would be wise to eliminate that policy along with all of the other policies that seek to meddle in the sex lives of our troops. Otherwise, blackmail remains a potent risk.

Getting back to the issue of James Buchanan, I do not believe that he was our first gay President, as the show suggested. He was our second.

Profitability

Profitability has long been a dominant force in the world. Men do what makes money, not necessarily what is good for all.

If a means could be found to harness the power of fusion energy, and energy became so abundant as to be almost free of cost, then the system of commerce might become obsolete. Imagine a world that is fully automated, with all tasks being performed by robots that manufacture and repair themselves. What need would humans then have to sell their labor? Instead, we could each do the work that we love to do, or not as the case may be, without ever a thought of profit. This flies in the face of the assumption made by many, that greed is a necessary component of human nature. Is it?

Computer Problems Can Be Life or Death

This article on CNN demonstrates that computer problems can make the difference between life and death.

What was the precise nature of the "computer problems" in this legal case? It would be interesting to know. Other professionals could then take measures to prevent a similar scenario from arising in the future. Too often the mainstream media makes the assumption that nobody cares about the technical details. Details matter a great deal in this technological world of ours.

I'm reminded of the media's handling of scientific research papers. Often they provide just the conclusions of the researchers. Such conclusions may go too far. In order to evaluate scientific research, readers require additional information about the experiments performed. Not all research is created equal, and just because a new scientific finding issues forth from a prestigious institution does not make it golden.

The New York Times has superior writing than any television-oriented company like CNN, where I found the article above. This is why I prefer to click on articles that are from newspapers, rather than television. I'm not sure why newspapers make their content available free of charge on the web, but I'm glad that they do. I hope that a system can be developed whereby quality newspapers like the NYT can survive and be profitable.

The History Channel's "Evolve" Series

I've been watching the History Channel's 11-part "Evolve" series, each of which covers a different aspect of evolution--size, flight, skin, sex, and so on. I liked the concept of the show and had high hopes for it.

The show plays more like a music video than a science documentary. On the hypothesis that their audience suffers from ADD, "Evolve" does not allow any one human being to speak for more than thirty seconds. The show zips from clip to clip, possibly because the producers are terrified that their audience will get bored with the science. Well, the science is not boring, but their writing is. They are forever stating the obvious. For instance, in the "Flight" episode, they define what it means to fly. Ever seen a bird before? All right then. Also, there is distracting muzak playing in the background. I found myself listening to the muzak rather than the narrative and soon became lost. Finally, the producers employ a number of fancy tricks using digital technology, which better suits music videos. It seems to me that their graphic technicians are showing off just for the sake of showing off. Technology has its place, but should be used in moderation.

Call me old-fashioned, but I prefer a documentary with a learned host, like David Attenborough. Gray hair is a plus. A host functions like a teacher, which is how most of us got our education in the first place. A teacher is a good thing. Don't discard the teacher! Nothing is better than a good teacher!

"Evolve" is by no means alone. Many of the latest science documentaries have this tawdry music video flavor about them. If this keeps up, it could prove a boon for the book market.

The Gay Travel Agency

Once upon a time, I was browsing through a gay newspaper when I saw a big, splashy ad for a sweepstakes for a free one-week vacation for two to the Carribean. I entered and won. As the official winner, my name was printed in the paper in another advertisement.

The terms of the sweepstakes were that I could choose to take the vacation anytime. All I had to do was call them up and book the trip. So I did. The travel agent asked me when I wanted to take my vacation. I said, "Whenever. Anytime at all that is available, how about that?"

"Fred handles the sweepstakes, but I'm afraid he's not in the office right at the moment. He'll call you back as soon as he gets in." Thus began a game of phone tag that persisted for weeks.

The travel agency was located a good fifty miles away, but I drove out there to speak to the gentlemen in person. Once again, Fred wasn't in the office, as luck would have it, but I had taken the day off from work and wasn't leaving until some sort of arrangement was worked out. When I made my position clear, that's when the story changed. "Oh, you waited too long to redeem your vacation prize. Sorry, but the offer has expired."

This is one reason that I no longer make a point of patronizing gay-owned businesses. All it takes is getting ripped off once to realize that all the talk about keeping dollars within the community is just self-serving propaganda for the gay business owner. Good for them, but not necessarily good for the gay customer.

At any rate, in what might have been a case of poetic justice, the travel agency went bust about three years later. I imagine their philosophy about how to treat people came back to haunt them later.

Save Money on Air Conditioning Costs

In a July 21st, 2009 interview on The Daily Show, Secretary of Energy Steven Chu offered a practical suggestion that people can use today in order to reduce energy costs. Choose white tiles for a roof, instead of black. The cost is nil, while the energy savings amount to at least five per cent, because the white tiles reflect solar energy back into space, saving on air conditioning costs.

Is Government Too Incompetent?

If government is too incompetent to run health care, as Republicans claim, then surely it cannot wage war, which is a vastly more complicated business. To be consistent, Republicans must oppose all foreign engagements and demand the instant withdrawal of U.S. troops. Because government is just too wasteful, isn't it? Besides, the military is a socialist institution, and socialism is bad. What we need is a private army funded by Republican donors--the same armchair generals that get excited over the prospect of killing foreigners.

Kodak Easyshare and Backups

Kodak Easyshare has a backup option, but it will not allow you to backup to any other than a local drive. However, not every PC contains multiple drives. In fact, most don't. I prefer to backup to a networked drive, but Kodak won't let me:



When creating a backup, it is essential to store data on a separate and distinct PC. This is because a computer can be destroyed or stolen. A virus or other computer glitch can eradicate the entire file system. If you are backing up files to the same PC, it is not without value; but it carries greater risk than backing up to a different PC.

To preserve my photo album from destruction, I developed a method for backing up a photo album myself, which is a simple batch file that supports networked drives. This works on Windows XP, but I cannot vouch for any other version. If you wish to use this batch, you will have to customize it for your system.

---

cls
c:

@For /F "tokens=2,3,4 delims=/ " %%A in ('Date /t') do @(
Set Month=%%A
Set Day=%%B
Set Year=%%C
)

@echo DAY = %Day%
@echo Month = %Month%
@echo Year = %Year%

@echo This utility will backup the contents of c:\art\%Year%

pause

if not exist c:\art\%Year% goto err_msg
if not exist \\GLORIOUSIGOR\kodak\%Year% md \\GLORIOUSIGOR\kodak\%Year%

Set source=c:\art\%Year%\*.*
set dest=\\GLORIOUSIGOR\kodak\%Year%

xcopy %source% %dest% /D /S /Y
pause
exit

err_msg:
echo Year has not been created on source computer yet!
pause
exit

---

Notes:

• Day and Month are unused, but I left them in there, because you may find useful this method of extracting the current system day, month, and year, if you like to write your own batches. I forget where I nicked this snippet of code.


• The Xcopy command is instructed through the optional switches to not copy files which have already been copied, to copy subdirectories, and to go ahead and overwrite already existing files.


• This batch expects that each year has its own directory, such that all photos from 2009 are stored in a directory named "2009". Otherwise, it can be a chore to locate specific dates, because Kodak defaults to storing photos in directories with a MM-DD-YYYY naming convention, dropping the leading zeroes. In past versions of Easyshare, there was an option for changing the naming convention, but I have not found it in the new version. The optimal naming convention is YYYY-MM-DD, without dropping leading zeroes. When sorted alphabetically, such a directory begins with the earliest and ends with the latest, which makes finding specific dates a breeze.


• This batch can be adapted for multiple uses.

Sen. Webb's Humanitarian Mission

Sen. Webb (D) has secured the release of an American imprisoned by the Burmese military dictatorship.

A certain amount of dialogue with totalitarian governments can be beneficial, even at the risk of appearing to condone them. In the absence of communication, there are few other viable options available.

The American prisoner, a man who went to Burma uninvited and visited Suu Kyi, implicating her in a so-called crime, was guilty of naivety and foolishness. What he did was a very American thing to do. Since the World Wars, Americans have had a crusader mentality which sometimes exceeds the bounds of reason. Probably he was in love with Suu Kyi, because she is an attractive and eloquent woman, besides being the leader of the democratic opposition. Unfortunately, the Burmese government has used this debacle as an excuse to extend Suu Kyi's confinement, which is a terrible outcome. The desire to help foreigners must be counter-balanced by an appreciation for the consequences.

We hear little about Burma, also called Myanmar, in the news, other than reports of repression and brutality directed toward the poor and toward Buddhist monks. China supports the military government in Burma, which is unethical. It is true that in the past, the U.S. has supported military dictatorships, such as the one that existed in Iran prior to the revolution. However, just because the U.S. has erred in the past does not mean it is all right for everyone to do the same. Follow what is good, not what is bad. Our support of the Shah in Iran proved to be counter-productive in the long run. China may one day discover that their support for Burma's military dictatorship is counter-productive, as well, because people have a long memory.

The Gay Christian Network

I found an interesting online article in the Washington Post's web site about the Gay Christian Network. Some of the comments are as good as the article itself. I am pleased to read articles like this. They were rare in my day. I grew up thinking that I was the "the only gay in the village," like Daffyd in the comedy show, "Little Britain."

When Jesus spoke of helping others and avoiding harming others, that was the message, alpha and omega. Dilution occurred when men placed their personal prejudices into religious theory and practice. This is why there is conflict today in certain religious communities over the issue of homosexuality. Sexual orientation is not a moral issue and never was. Men want to put themselves above others and think that they are better than others. This has always been the case, whether the matter is religion or something else, like ideology.

Religion does not have a monopoly on intolerance. Ideology can prove just as homophobic if not more so. In Communist Russia, homosexuality was considered a capitalist decadence and was grounds for imprisonment. Hitler murdered his close associate, Roehm, officially on the grounds of homosexuality. The Nazis placed homosexuals in concentration camps along with other minorities. Ayn Rand, the atheist behind the Objectivist movement, thought that gays should be treated psychologically just for being gay. So I do not believe that religion is the enemy of homosexuality. The cause of homophobia goes deeper within the human psyche than any belief system.

A common assumption is that those who are different are therefore bad, sick, or wrong. But this is not true. They are different, yes. Not bad. A simple concept, but even intelligent minds have difficulty with this simple concept. Intelligence is insufficient when uninformed by empathy for others. The same mistake that leads to racism also leads to homophobia.

Religion need not be the enemy of homosexuality. Neither must homosexuality be the enemy of religion. Gays can be as religious as any other group, have been in the past, and are today. This is an important point to consider for those religious communities that take issue with homosexuality. By being intolerant, a religious community bleeds numbers and influence and discredits their cause. It is counter-productive and begins a pointless battle that cannot be won.

If you believe in God, then that is all right. If you say, do not harm others, then that is something people will support. You may even make the world a better place! But if you say, I don't approve of your sexuality, then you have created an artificial conflict that must persist into perpetuity, because gays will continue to be born, even within the families of the faithful.

Avoid Stating the Obvious

A good rule of thumb for writers is to avoid stating the obvious. This is sometimes easier said than done, because what is obvious to one person may not be quite so obvious to another.

Yesterday, I wrote an article extolling the virtues of Wikipedia. I thought it was pretty good, explaining the advantages that Wikipedia has over Google and other search engines. Satisfied, I saved the piece, and then went to watch the July 14th, 2009 episode of "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart."

In his monologue, Jon dropped a reference to Wikipedia. That's when it hit me like a cast-iron safe dropped from a fifth-floor window. Wikipedia is old news. Might as well gush over how great motorized transportation is. Duh! Everybody already knows. So, I ruthlessly deleted the piece, which had taken about an hour to write. Oh well. Good writing practice, if nothing else.

Here's a little something that people might not know about Wikipedia, though. If you're interested in exploring new career options, you can input a job title in Wikipedia, and it usually provides a detailed description along with external links that provide further information.

An Overview of Dungeon Crawl Utilities

The utilities I have written for use with Dungeon Crawl Stone Soup are simple batch files, fully compatible with Windows XP at minimum.

The charm of a batch file is that the end user can easily understand all of the things that the batch file does. No compiler is required, which makes modification a simple matter (all you need is Notepad). The technological barrier for the end user is low. If you understand the basics of a command line interpreter such as MS-DOS--and many computer users do, especially if they are into crawling--then you can use and modify these utilities without too much difficulty.

A section of my desktop with shortcuts to the following three batch files.

install-new-crawl.bat - does all the work of clearing out the old version, unpacking a new version, installing it, and cleaning up all the junk afterward. The biggest drawback is that it requires WinRar in order to function. If you do not have WinRar installed, you could substitute an alternative program to unpack the Zip archive. This batch is designed to handle the zips found on the Beta (test) version site. I only use the Beta version, these days, because I like exploring new features as soon as they are developed. Note: I have added the capability of appending mods to the option files.

regen.bat - a method of preserving characters from dreaded sudden death. This is what I use to run Crawl.

Cleanslate.bat - eliminates saved games that are no longer interesting. Otherwise, such characters will persist on the welcome screen, especially if you are using regen.bat to backup your saved games. Be aware that this batch eliminates all saved games, even in the backup directories. It is essentially just three delete statements, not much more. The simplest of all my batch files.

(A reward for sharing up-to-date versions of these utilities is that I had a backup waiting for me in the cloud when my hard drive crashed last month.)

Modifying H. Sapiens

Scientists are learning more about the human genome. Here is yet another article on the insights they are gaining into our genetic traits. This is exciting stuff. Oh, to be alive a hundred years from now. I wonder what the world will be like then. Surely much different. Even the human race will be different. Everyone alive today will be regarded as primitive ancestors, much in the same way that we view our distant relatives on the evolutionary tree.

There are many traits in H. Sapiens that beg for alteration. The list is probably endless. The only thing that bothers me is that the technology could be used for evil as well as good, much like any technology, and it is likely that it will be used for evil, given our history. Governments will seek to modify the human genome in order to manufacture passive, conformist workers that never question authority. I see a world with castes, much like India, but entrenched by hard-coded racial attributes.

Iranian Hardliners Claim Psychic Ability

I am duly impressed with the ability of hardliners in Iran to read minds. How else to explain that they conclude no rapes occurred among detainees, no less than one day after the issue was raised?

If an issue like this had arisen in the U.S., we would be dissecting every detail for months, and everyone would feel free to comment on the case. How many Iranians can say the same?

Iran's Supreme Leader has a mission in life. He wants to rehabilitate the Shah's image by appearing worse than the Shah. There is no other explanation for his behavior. All the rhetoric of the Islamic revolution is belied by the present-day oppression in Iran, which has been held back in a state of perpetual retardation since the Revolution.

Khomeini was a nut. I knew the moment I saw his image on television back in the 1970s. If Islam was all people needed in order to be ethical, Iran would be the freest nation on earth. Government requires a more sophisticated design than, "Just rely on Allah for everything." Allah is a bit soft-spoken, turns out. The mullahs pretend to hear his every word, while in reality they act however they please, ascribing celestial approval for the bloodiest deeds.

There is a great irony to be found in the fact that the conservative, fundamentalist variant of Islam, as implemented in Iranian law, is obsessed with the human form and seeks to keep women's bodies completely covered up. In Iran, morality police roam the streets and beat any couple engaged in a harmless kiss. Don't even ask what happens to homosexuals, when they are detected. Meanwhile, the righteous police rape, torture, and murder prisoners. How's that for morality? How does sexual conduct relate to ethics? There is no relation. No more than diet or preferred choice of beverage. Sex is an appetite of the body, nothing more.