Told you this mac is pretty cool. The pictures are not near as sharp in a video, but you will get the idea.
Wednesday, August 15, 2007
Monday, August 13, 2007
The Holy Grail
I am born again geek, Ladies and Germs (get it...Germs=Gentlemen...damn I crack myself up). Anyhoo, got a MacBook Pro. MMMmmMMM good, Baby! Not only is the underlying OS based upon FreeBSD--my fav opensource OS--with Parallels I can run Windows almost completely transparently at the same time. So...not only can I, say, compile nmap and have a ports collection manager for all the opensource goodness out there, I can run the mandatory Windows crap, watch a movie, surf the web, make a documentary out of my photos, all at the same time. Phucking rocks!
Anyway, now I know why so many people gush about these things. Now I get to be one of those Mac snobs. And unapologetically so.
Anyway, now I know why so many people gush about these things. Now I get to be one of those Mac snobs. And unapologetically so.
Thursday, August 9, 2007
Hillarah
Damn Hillarah. I can't believe that so many Democrats are so damn stupid. She's lapping the field in the polls, according to this site. Aren't we sick of the Bushes *and* the Clintons? She's about as genuine as a stripper's affection for you during a table dance. Isn't it obvious!?
D's, if you have just one chance--one chance--to lose this election *and* get the GOP band back together...it's Hillarah. People will come out of the woodwork to get politically active for nothing more than stopping her and Bill from getting back in there. And it will be the bad old days all over again. Right wing radio, Newt Gingrich, D's and GOP's spitting venom at each other, talk of "change for a better tomorrow" (or your other favorite cliche) while really more boring wonk bill after boring wonk bill gets debated as if it will destroy America if we don't choose correctly.
GAH! Wasn't Kerry lesson enough?
D's, if you have just one chance--one chance--to lose this election *and* get the GOP band back together...it's Hillarah. People will come out of the woodwork to get politically active for nothing more than stopping her and Bill from getting back in there. And it will be the bad old days all over again. Right wing radio, Newt Gingrich, D's and GOP's spitting venom at each other, talk of "change for a better tomorrow" (or your other favorite cliche) while really more boring wonk bill after boring wonk bill gets debated as if it will destroy America if we don't choose correctly.
GAH! Wasn't Kerry lesson enough?
Wednesday, August 1, 2007
Thought for the day
Cave ab homine unius libri - Beware of anyone who has just one book. (Latin Epigram)
Monday, July 30, 2007
Friday, July 27, 2007
Just about right
Andrew Sullivan lets a reader opine about the D's and Hillarah here. It is very well done, so I won't add/sully much, but first, one criticism: he forgot about Kerry.
Secondly, The D's are still in the periphery. They have not had a compelling ideology since the Great Society--and that proved to have quite a few flaws.
Third, Clinton was a pretty good D President, overall, but his major domestic achievements (welfare reform, balancing a budget, limiting government, free trade) were done despite Democratic opposition. It took GOP support to push that through--a lot of it, in fact. So........it begs the question. "D's, when will you give up on the old time religion of the Great Society and, much more importantly, when will you give Americans a reason to vote for you other than 'Well, at least I'm not that dude?'"
Secondly, The D's are still in the periphery. They have not had a compelling ideology since the Great Society--and that proved to have quite a few flaws.
Third, Clinton was a pretty good D President, overall, but his major domestic achievements (welfare reform, balancing a budget, limiting government, free trade) were done despite Democratic opposition. It took GOP support to push that through--a lot of it, in fact. So........it begs the question. "D's, when will you give up on the old time religion of the Great Society and, much more importantly, when will you give Americans a reason to vote for you other than 'Well, at least I'm not that dude?'"
Strange Fruit
If you listen to the lyrics, yes, she's talking about human beings and lynchings in the South. It's a chilling title and an even more chilling performance. May I present none other than Lady Day, Ms. Billie Holiday:
Thursday, July 26, 2007
Thanks Hitch
I never knew about this poem or this poet until I started reading and listening to him. I'm the gladder for it even more now.
I don't normally like poetry much, in truth--but kissing Christopher Hitchens' ass a bit more--he put it about right when he said (paraphrasing), 'I turn to poetry when philosophy fails.' (Hitch's books can be found here).
I detest it when people say, words to the effect, that poetry somehow reveals a deeper truth than other literature. That's complete BS. I will compare Dostoevsky's or Conrad's "truth revealing" to any poet out there--even Shakespeare. Truth isn't revealed in writing, it's stated and explained. And poets don't know more than us, they just sometimes know how to state it better, I suppose. Mrs. Nelson's poem seems to exemplify that.
I don't normally like poetry much, in truth--but kissing Christopher Hitchens' ass a bit more--he put it about right when he said (paraphrasing), 'I turn to poetry when philosophy fails.' (Hitch's books can be found here).
I detest it when people say, words to the effect, that poetry somehow reveals a deeper truth than other literature. That's complete BS. I will compare Dostoevsky's or Conrad's "truth revealing" to any poet out there--even Shakespeare. Truth isn't revealed in writing, it's stated and explained. And poets don't know more than us, they just sometimes know how to state it better, I suppose. Mrs. Nelson's poem seems to exemplify that.
New Word
cerebrate: From the words cerebral and masturbate. def. To engage in self-absorbed conversation, normally rhetorical and rarely clever, that is strictly for the pleasure of the speaker.
Update on Homoerotica
Had a couple people comment that there aren't exactly written rules for displaying affection for another man if one is gay either. Fine, I know what you are saying, as there are no written rules period and people can be complicated (believe me, got a big dose of that--and saw it in myself--very recently).
My point--if I even had one--was that it's just strange to me. The whole locker room/homoerotica/insult thing. Just don't know where it comes from (though it can be fun to engage in from time to time, I suppose--the banter that is).
My point--if I even had one--was that it's just strange to me. The whole locker room/homoerotica/insult thing. Just don't know where it comes from (though it can be fun to engage in from time to time, I suppose--the banter that is).
Homoerotica
That ought to grab a bit of attention.
There is so much pseudo male fellatio going on in this ditship company I work for. What is it? I think some men (perhaps many) can only display affection if it involves, at least in part, sex. Sorry to sound like a woman, but affection is quite possible without sex. Though I suppose I should give the guys I'm talking about a bit of a break. There are no written rules about how to display affection for another man when one is a heterosexual man. So, many resort to misogynistic or homoerotic references to break things up a bit--get past it almost. (And yes, I've done it too).
It makes some sense, but sometimes I want to say "Enough! Why don't you just go down on him and get it over with!" Anyway, back to my Brad Pitt photo album...DELISH!
There is so much pseudo male fellatio going on in this ditship company I work for. What is it? I think some men (perhaps many) can only display affection if it involves, at least in part, sex. Sorry to sound like a woman, but affection is quite possible without sex. Though I suppose I should give the guys I'm talking about a bit of a break. There are no written rules about how to display affection for another man when one is a heterosexual man. So, many resort to misogynistic or homoerotic references to break things up a bit--get past it almost. (And yes, I've done it too).
It makes some sense, but sometimes I want to say "Enough! Why don't you just go down on him and get it over with!" Anyway, back to my Brad Pitt photo album...DELISH!
Wednesday, July 25, 2007
The Curse of Phoenix
This is still killing me. The story of Tim Donaghy, the corrupt NBA ref, is old news by now of course, but I still can't get it out of my head. A ref very possibly--even likely--robbed the Phoenix Suns of a Championship. Literally, literally cheated out of one. You want to think the refs are stupid, biased, emotional, whatever, but bought off just seems like a line you can't cross--at least in the NBA. But not anymore, Baby.
If there is a bright spot to all of this it is that David Stern looks like a gargantuan asshole in all this. Fans, owners, players, writers, everybody wanted major overhauls with NBA refereeing and Stern kept saying 'no, my refs are beyond reproach.' Couldn't say a nasty word about them in public, couldn't even question them if you were an owner or a coach.
Stern, of course, took that line because he is a poor leader and wanted an easy way to deal with things. The easiest thing in the world to do is take the tact he did: "refs are always right, I won't discuss it." Reviewing tapes, evaluating performance, listening to owners, all those things that he should do, weren't done. Now a championship is even more tarnished than it was before and, quite frankly, we don't know how many more have been--though probably more than just this one.
So congrats, Stern. Because of your laziness, because of your poor leadership, because of your simple-minded drivel, because you either cannot or will not think, cannot or will not make hard decisions about hard problems, cannot or will not listen to an outraged public (your very phucking fans!), the NBA is set back in ways we can only speculate on now. You need to see this one through. Then, you need to resign.
If there is a bright spot to all of this it is that David Stern looks like a gargantuan asshole in all this. Fans, owners, players, writers, everybody wanted major overhauls with NBA refereeing and Stern kept saying 'no, my refs are beyond reproach.' Couldn't say a nasty word about them in public, couldn't even question them if you were an owner or a coach.
Stern, of course, took that line because he is a poor leader and wanted an easy way to deal with things. The easiest thing in the world to do is take the tact he did: "refs are always right, I won't discuss it." Reviewing tapes, evaluating performance, listening to owners, all those things that he should do, weren't done. Now a championship is even more tarnished than it was before and, quite frankly, we don't know how many more have been--though probably more than just this one.
So congrats, Stern. Because of your laziness, because of your poor leadership, because of your simple-minded drivel, because you either cannot or will not think, cannot or will not make hard decisions about hard problems, cannot or will not listen to an outraged public (your very phucking fans!), the NBA is set back in ways we can only speculate on now. You need to see this one through. Then, you need to resign.
Friday, July 20, 2007
Wednesday, July 18, 2007
Here we go again....
So Arizona (my home state) is gonna 'get tough with them damn illegals' by cracking down on employers who hire illegal immigrants. Now some Arizona businessmen in the area are a trifle bit concerned about it. They should be.
Never mind that neither the State or Federal government gives small business (or even bigger business) a solid way of checking for fake documentation. Never mind that we don't have an immigrant worker program even close to meeting our market realities. Never mind that we have extremely low unemployment right now. We're going to stop them illegals because....some of them are in gangs, I guess. (And don't give me that "because they are breaking the law" crap. I won't hear another bar from that phucking song anymore. If they were all Scandinavian swim suit models with penchants for cocaine and public nudity--with no interest in learning English or assimilating into "the culture"--there would be noooooooooo problem. Some crimes are well tolerated--just depends on the crime and the criminal).
I'm actually glad this law is going into effect--though I have my doubts it will be carried out. The way Prohibition was finally rid of in Oklahoma was by enforcing the law in full. I actually wish this would do the same in finally forcing some reasonable action on the part of our federal government. But I have my doubts. States and towns making immigration law should be humiliating enough (and I'm not sure it's fully Constitutional, actually). Immigration is clearly the responsibility of the federal government, but they have done nothing but slather the Border Patrol with money and talk about building a wall. Nice try, dipshits, but it's not enough.
Either this law will work as designed and the economy of Arizona will be severely hurt, or it will be on the books but not really enforced. Guess where I'm putting my money.
Never mind that neither the State or Federal government gives small business (or even bigger business) a solid way of checking for fake documentation. Never mind that we don't have an immigrant worker program even close to meeting our market realities. Never mind that we have extremely low unemployment right now. We're going to stop them illegals because....some of them are in gangs, I guess. (And don't give me that "because they are breaking the law" crap. I won't hear another bar from that phucking song anymore. If they were all Scandinavian swim suit models with penchants for cocaine and public nudity--with no interest in learning English or assimilating into "the culture"--there would be noooooooooo problem. Some crimes are well tolerated--just depends on the crime and the criminal).
I'm actually glad this law is going into effect--though I have my doubts it will be carried out. The way Prohibition was finally rid of in Oklahoma was by enforcing the law in full. I actually wish this would do the same in finally forcing some reasonable action on the part of our federal government. But I have my doubts. States and towns making immigration law should be humiliating enough (and I'm not sure it's fully Constitutional, actually). Immigration is clearly the responsibility of the federal government, but they have done nothing but slather the Border Patrol with money and talk about building a wall. Nice try, dipshits, but it's not enough.
Either this law will work as designed and the economy of Arizona will be severely hurt, or it will be on the books but not really enforced. Guess where I'm putting my money.
Joe and NHOP
If you play guitar or bass, particularly jazz, this is enough to make you want to give it up.
Much practice left...
Much practice left...
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