tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-231279592024-03-13T03:40:11.571-05:00SumwunThoughts about my experience of living in American culture with occasional commentary on world events, science and rational thinking.Sumwunhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06514335603469979248noreply@blogger.comBlogger116125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23127959.post-54904211339127813132011-11-29T13:43:00.001-05:002011-11-29T13:58:54.770-05:00Under Cover LadiesDear Saudi Arabia,<br />
<br />
I want to suggest a different way of looking at the issue of women and their place in society.<br />
<br />
In the West it's easy for us to say that causing women to be covered head to toe is repressive of and insulting them.<br />
<br />
It is our presumption that both genders share equal status and stature in society and that our society is fuller, more interesting, and benefits more fully from its human resources than other cultures when we include everyone.<br />
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You need only look at World War II, where American women built weapons to supply the war effort, to understand a possible natural advantage of freeing women to do as they can and as they will.<br />
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I also want to point out that causing women to be covered and repressed is insulting to men.<br />
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In my culture, I can see women at work, at holiday destinations, at night clubs or restaurants. I must cope with a the natural reaction I have to the attractiveness of women and I can do so. I must be professional with a woman whose only reason for speaking to me might be work related. Not every contact between genders must have our natural desires be the focal point. Men and probably women too, deal with how these natural impulses influence how they feel. I think it can be both a little stressful and a little stress mitigating to see women in and have self control over my own reaction to those situations.<br />
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I can handle it! So can you! Respect yourself enough to believe that.<br />
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A society where the desires of women are met might be a happier one for both genders.<br />
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Think of the advantages to your country and the region of freeing, fully educating and allowing full participation of women in your society. Something like Islamic Science should not sound like an oxymoron. Once, some of the best science of the world was developed and recorded by Middle Eastern cultures. Think what you can do if you double your effective capability by freeing women.<br />
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Modernity is not just one way of life...it's the idea that by exploring what is possible we could discover new solutions. Maybe the world needs some of your society's best thinking on the way forward. Giving proper dignity and freedom to all members of your society will help the world overcome obstacles to understanding what your society has to offer.<br />
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Let's not forget the benefits of free thought and freedom of religion. One thing at a time then.<br />
<br />
Thank You,<br />
Sumwun<br />
<br />
=swSumwunhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06514335603469979248noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23127959.post-9587986022064568792011-05-10T14:51:00.006-05:002011-05-10T15:37:21.554-05:00Slut Walk Starts DiscussionsWhether or not one thinks it is a good name, the name "Slut Walk" draws controversy which brings a lot of focus to the subject of rampant rape in many societies world wide.<br /> <br />Nothing a victim does makes someone rape her. The solution is for perpetrators not to victimize others. The solution is for men not to rape women.<br /><br />Is it a male issue? Yes. It needs to be seen that way.<br /><br />With due respect to the set of victims that do not fall into the definition of male against female rape, it is generally a discussion about why men rape women and what should be done about it.<br /><br />In a theoretical way, to make my stance clear and as a kind of boiler plate against critics who don't read as carefully, I think a woman should be able to walk around nude and behaving seductively and not be raped. <br /><br />I also think that as much as men should respect women, women should respect male nature. Aroused passions are a natural response to females. Women share the public space with men. That means that I do think women make a better civic choice when they dress and behave more modestly. A self respecting woman may enjoy her sexuality without making it a public display. This has nothing to do with the choices and actions of violent criminals.<br /><br />Modesty is a value.<br /><br />That said, no rape or assault is invited by how any woman may choose to dress. Rape is an attack from another person. It really should not matter how the victim behaves, when considering what causes the crime. Whether a woman's modesty or lack of it is socially acceptable is a different question with its own merits.<br /><br />The way human beings evolved comes from a complex history of male and female partner choice, and possibly from a history of institutionalized rape, like the "Divine Right of Kings" to a first night with any subject's new bride. Military raids and conquests often if not always involved rape throughout history. It is a form of genetic propagation that does not involve female mate selection. Truly the kind of person who rapes may have been likely to reproduce his genes.<br /><br />Rape existed before pornography, before modern law and society. The definition of rape even varies around the world and in people's personal perceptions.<br /><br />I am not sure we know the cause of rape as well as we should. Some say it is violence and not sexual. My intuition is that in a society where people's social, family and sexual needs have a healthy way of being fulfilled perhaps rape perpetrators are only found among the extreme elements of society and maybe the mentally ill.<br /><br />There is something to be said about practical advice. Some people will steal a car that is locked and secured in a garage. Others may steal a car because it is left unlocked and running at a convenience store. It is true that theft prevention efforts prevent some theft. Is it the fault of the victim of theft if their belongings were not secured or cared for? Not really, the thief is to blame for the theft. But it's hard to argue that we shouldn't study who gets raped where and when and try to prevent future suffering by advising people of what reduces their risk. This does not get at the root of the issue or solve the problem of the original criminal behavior.<br /><br />We need to address the cause of male behavior and construct a society that is organized to reduce these behaviors to a minimum.<br /><br />A society without rape is a society that loves, cares for and is concerned for both its men and women. It is a society where the needs and nature of each is respected. It is a society where traditional breeding rituals... the need to be able to "display the goods" and "show interest in the goods"...are natural and healthy ways of encouraging mate selection that are not condemned as "invitations to violent assault" as if anyone would desire that. I don't think repressing women's dress styles is the right goal or any kind of solution.<br /><br />I do know that people should be able to live, love, partner consensually in peace and remain unmolested.<br /><br />=SWSumwunhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06514335603469979248noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23127959.post-48727020134257218042010-11-16T22:58:00.008-05:002011-05-10T14:51:35.686-05:00A ComparisonWhy not designate the "No Go" areas of Pakistan UN administered areas and send in the troops?<br /><br />The Pakistan government appears to no longer have any power or authority over some areas, so they truly are not under their governed territory.<br /><br />It gets tiring to hear that we cannot stop non-state actors because we are allies with their state of residence.<br /><br />I suppose, as much as I might hate the behaviors of some American extremist fringe groups, I would not want other countries to send in the drones. Still, our allies have to do a better job at being sovereign in their own lands!<br /><br />Even our own super power has to face the shame of impotent regulation of Wall Street greed, as a comparison to say Yemen's lack of enforcement against terrorist groups.<br /><br />Our freedom to innovate, imagine and raise capital to invent new things in an environment of the rule of law is what made us great. The rampant abuse of that system is a terrible threat to our greatness.<br /><br />Still, it's not an equivalent comparison. Sub-state actors in other countries are not just extremists acting in their own country, they threaten us directly and by name. I think we are justified when responding to such threats.<br /><br />Consider that it's a consciously employed technique to put a friendly government up as a shield to allow terrorist groups to flourish. Could Pakistan be purposely defending home-grown terror by telling us what we want to hear at the diplomatic level?<br />What is the motive? May I suggest the possibility that some Muslims hold aspirations we would call totalitarian with regard to Islam forming a future world government? <br /><br />I expect the liberal American response would be to insult me as culturally biased, even "racist" for suggesting such a thing.<br />I am certainly not a racist nor am I opposed to anyone's private, personal worship practices, but even the core, central interpretation of Islam is as an all consuming lifestyle that does not exclude governmental aspirations which are not just aspirations, but facts in many countries.<br /><br />I am biased with regard to how we are governed. I think a dogmatic religious government which is inescapably based in irrational beliefs is dangerous and inferior to our free, democratic government system, even with its imperfections.<br /><br />Our western religious "inquisition" is long gone, but horrific things still exist in many places in the world and let's not be blind to the aspirations of those bases of power to rule over us as well.<br /><br />=swSumwunhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06514335603469979248noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23127959.post-5049416202454222872010-05-17T11:49:00.003-05:002010-05-17T11:56:46.314-05:00Draw Mohammed DayThe point of drawing mohammed is to insist that people are free to speak, criticize and satirize without the fear of death threats. <br /><br />Although, I must say that I think a video response to "Draw Mohammed Day" that emphasizes the good things people believe about their prophet IS an appropriate response.<br /><br />It is just not right to equate a cartoon with hatred. Everyone who is offended takes that offense actively and is responsible for it. <br />I don't think it's polite to be mocking or insulting of people's cherished beliefs, until they try to impose their values on others through coercion, threats, violence or rage.<br /><br />I think Islam needs some feedback. Allowing people to depict mohammed could lead to understanding and sharing in addition to the mocking cartoons.<br />Christians also have written in their scriptures "Thou shalt make no graven images" and "worship no idols". It's probably the same source material for both the Bible and the Koran.<br /><br />Christians have come to interpret that advice spiritually, not literally. You can make a picture or statue of your god, but you worship the god not the symbol itself. It can also be interpreted to mean that religious believers should not idolize material things or non-spiritual ideas.<br /><br />Eventually Muslims will come around, but what everyone else is telling them is that certain reactions are not appropriate, proportional or acceptable. Lashing out violently over drawings is not socially acceptable. Assault is unlawful. <br /><br />That Muslims are insulted by drawings of Muhammad and will be vocal about that is something non-muslims can understand and accept. <br /><br />Murder, violence, death threats, assaults, property destruction and the like we do not have to accept. <br /><br />Over the centuries I can only hope people cling to good principals of social behavior instead of dogma. The dogma's have a great risk of being wrong and persisting uncorrected. <br /><br />In some ways the rage people feel about religious "offense" hides the fear and doubt every person must feel from time to time with our analytical pre-frontal cortex needing evidence and seeking a consistent reality.<br />Religion can be a form of denial and can lead to unhealthy circular and cognitively dissonant thought patterns.<br /><br />I understand that, culturally, Muslims have lived with centuries of dogma taking the lead role in how people understand reality. I cannot expect Muslims not to feel offended when their sacred beliefs are mocked. I just want to remind them that their religious rules and beliefs have no application, authority or bearing on the rest of us and to attempt to enforce their laws upon non-muslims is at best intolerant and at worst absolutely unacceptable and will need to be countered. Hopefully the mild sting of social criticism using free speech with be enough to carry that message.<br /><br />=SWSumwunhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06514335603469979248noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23127959.post-7334180136307587082010-04-26T03:03:00.003-05:002010-04-26T03:06:10.799-05:00Muslim Responses to Free SpeechSomehow, after the insensitive cartoon has been made, and justifiably, some feelings were hurt, still the stinging indignation is pointed at the free speech rather than at the death threats and in all too many cases actual murders perpetrated by those who call themselves Muslims. The choice is whether to side with the irrational murderous rage or with the freedom to speak.<br /><br />The focus of indignation must surely be the untempered reaction of the radicals. The focus is the believer, already given to leaps beyond reason by believing in the first place, who is not able to limit his or her recourse to something fitting offended sensibilities but must make such an outcry as to place oneself above all others and invoke the right to take away human life as some kind of payment for hurt feelings. No laws, judgements, trials, sense, reason or self-control employed, just blind murderous rage. That is what is truly offensive. That is what should be the target of all our outrage. It is unacceptable to overlook the sanctity of human life before going right for the free speech as the target of anyone's indignation.<br /><br />The trouble with belief is that the ability to make great leaps without evidence leaves the door open to accepting many more irrational ideas without question. The deep ignorance of statements by Pat Robertson about the Earthquake in Haiti being some kind of punishment for a pact with an invisible evil being is one example. Plate tectonics and physics explain that, there is no need to invoke the supernatural. Infact, it does more harm to stop and pretend it was done by magic, thereby contending that further study is either impossible or unneeded. How callous the statement is to those suffering the loss of hundreds of thousands of lives.<br /><br />A Muslim Cleric in Iran tried to declare that female immodesty is causing Earthquakes via the mechanism of God's anger. <br /><br />"Many women who do not dress modestly lead young men astray and spread adultery in society which increases earthquakes" Hojatoleslam Kazem Sedighi said.<br /><br />This is absolute ignorance coupled with a brilliantly cynical use of social control mechanisms. That the people have already surrendered to belief without evidence makes it possible.<br /><br />One can never be sure of what the next leap into irrationality will be, among any religious group.<br /><br />Moderate Muslims need to turn their attention away from obscure cartoons, toward their more extreme co-religious elements and begin to criticize their behavior, if only because it is actually destructive to human life and risks defaming all those who share their faith, instead of just simply being "unkind" like a political cartoon. <br /><br />Every other faith group seems to be above taking offense to their critics or perhaps they have found constructive ways to project their own positive messages. Institutions are in need of a little ribbing from time to time to point out their injustices and faults.<br /><br />No person or group can be immune from criticism. The act of killing, making death threats or even making thinly veiled death threats is not an appropriate nor acceptable response.<br /><br />No more unjustified murders can be allowed before civilized society must act to defend civil living. People frankly have the right to offend one another and to speak their minds without being targeted for death. If the terrorist had powerful weapons they would use them. Free countries already have powerful weapons and the depth of their restraint is shown when confronting fascist radicals such as those who murdered Theo Van Gogh for making a short video against wife-beating!<br /><br />People must come to their senses and start criticizing the violent and murderous radical religious actors not the free speakers!<br /><br />=swSumwunhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06514335603469979248noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23127959.post-20666826956096138922010-04-23T10:04:00.001-05:002010-04-23T10:08:11.220-05:00Global Wha Wha?I read two articles today that both struck me as a little far fetched...at first.<br /><br />Someone pointed out that there was a Live Science article proposing that the movement of Ice Weight as water could redistribute pressures which can disrupt force balances and lead to Earthquakes. Global Warming is increasing Earthquakes, at least until the ice is all melted and the water weight is done shifting. That seems plausible.<br /><br />See the 2007 article:<br /><a href="http://www.livescience.com/environment/070830_gw_quakes.html">http://www.livescience.com/environment/070830_gw_quakes.html</a><br /><br /><br />And then there's today's article. Where a Muslim Cleric in Iran tries to declare that female immodesty is causing Earthquakes via the mechanism of God's anger. <br /><br />"Many women who do not dress modestly lead young men astray and spread adultery in society which increases earthquakes," Hojatoleslam Kazem Sedighi said.<br /><br />Is it really still the dark ages over there? I thought it through. If Global Warming causes Iranian women to uncover "some of their hair" and wear more "revealing" clothing (I presume they mean...like Ankle and Neck) then one could correlate that the same thing that is contributing to a spike in Earthquakes is also contributing to a spike in dressing lighter among Iranian women!<br /><br />Here is a the link to the BBC article about Iranian women:<br /><a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/8631775.stm">http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/8631775.stm</a><br /><br />Of course, no matter what happens it will be taken as a spur to more religious commitment:<br /><br />"What can we do to avoid being buried under the rubble? There is no other solution but to take refuge in religion and to adapt our lives to Islam's moral codes," he said.<br /><br />The Cleric's attitude is awfully insensitive to the tens of thousands of Iranian Earthquake victims and their families over the last decade. This is on its face an egregious (though that word should be used for things that are not as common as this) example of the exploitation of tragedy and the use of fear to manipulate credulous people. I find it shameful and yes, ignorant as well, by the best definition of the term.<br /><br />=swSumwunhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06514335603469979248noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23127959.post-45933871331932217662010-04-14T10:23:00.003-05:002010-04-14T10:43:08.684-05:00Just one Bible verseI am going to examine just one claim of the Creation myth in the Bible by evaluating just one verse:<br /><br /><blockquote>Genesis 1:16 And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night: he made the stars also.</blockquote><br /><br />To someone who knows about modern scientific discoveries and understanding, the passages in Genesis reveal a deeply localized pedestrian view of the Universe from the perspective and understanding of an unsophisticated observer. The emphasis on Earth its self as significant in the Universe betrays a provincial perspective. The scale of the rest of the Universe compared to the significance of the Earth and its day, night, sky, waters...is staggeringly great. It almost too much to express.<br /><br />Our Sun is an average star. Even so, it is around a million times greater in volume than the Earth. There are billions of stars in billions of galaxies in the Universe many of them larger than the Sun by orders of magnitude. To say all of that was created on the fourth day when making the Earth took more than a day is clearly a notion proceeding from the perspective of an Earth bound author with little scientific knowledge. It is to the desert religious of the bronze age as if the stars were quickly stipple painted on to the sky as an after thought.<br /><br />I understand that this is not the lynch pin of religion, of course. Though reading the myth does reveal its heavy dose of anthropic preference and inadequate description of what we now know is out there.<br /><br />The most obnoxious thing is the phrase "two great lights". Because the author, or the author's imagined god, didn't happen to know that the Moon merely reflects the Sun's light and is not a source all its own.<br /><br />When scrutinized from a perspective of truly greater light and knowledge, the Bible stories show their deep lack of understanding and real information about the Universe and they appear to be just what they are, the best effort of a quivering baffled and dazzled early man.<br /><br />=swSumwunhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06514335603469979248noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23127959.post-1832088187586913822010-02-13T01:26:00.004-05:002010-02-13T01:49:42.998-05:00Implications of Conservative ThoughtI think what is happening in Colorado Springs is really interesting. Apparently inspired by the Tea Party Movement, they are conceding to do without many public services as an experiment in lower taxation. It's funny to me that Greece is in the opposite situation. The Greeks are unable to convince and prepare the public for the austerity measures necessary to balance the budget. People in Greece are rallying at the severe reduction in government services while Colorado Springs is rallying to severely reduce government services. It will be fascinating to see how it turns out. Germany is surely not excited about bailing out Greece and had, in fact, set "no bailouts" as a condition of economic (specifically currency) union with Europe. Interesting times!<br /><br />I think the Tea Party movement imagines that private business can provide services better than governments can. This sounds good and reasonable to me actually, until you realize that the outcome will probably be that wealthy people have excellent services and poor people suffer dearly under conservative politics. And the implication is the wealthy will have to defend their wealth with weapons against the rest of the world.<br /><br />Conservatives philosophy has an inherent flaw. It's all about US, our town, our people making a good life for ourselves. The trouble is, as I have said before, for everyone in the world to live like a wealthy American we need a planet 70 times larger in land and resources. This implies, uncomfortably, that we and our ways are better and more valuable to preserve than the millions of other people out there. It means that one society has to imagine its self as more worthwhile and with higher individual value than every other society and support this claim with big guns trained on the hungry masses. <br /><br />The conservative mentality is "if it's us or them...then I think WE should win!" When the draft comes, I'll surely be fighting right beside them. However, is this the only and best way to run a planet? I'd think that normalizing wealth would be the only humane way to have a peaceful world without war. <br /><br />Studies show that wealthier societies do not have such high birth rates. What do we think we are going to do about all the new mouths to feed under the current patterns? Trust in starvation, floods, wars and other acts of "god"? A sustainable world is one where everyone is well enough off that they don't use reproduction as a weapon, but the world manages growth at or below the planet's reasonable capacity and everyone is well off. EVERYONE IS WELL OFF! That means you can't have tycoons that scorch the environment and amass wealth at the expense of other people. Earth is a finite system. <br /><br />Capitalism is a fine motivator and has been priceless to establish our society. <br />"Gather all the wood you can and we will be sure of having fire"...until there is no more forest as "tribes" compete to out-grow each other.<br /><br />In a finite world where the system is competition for resources, it makes sense to have as many children as possible, amass as much wealth as possible and dominate. The implication is...you give hunger, thirst, disease, exposure and sometimes bombs to all the other over-growing factions. Thus the Earth is won for US not them. That's the end game of conservatism. It makes perfect logical sense, but is utterly inhumane and couldn't be called christian at all (if christian still means loving one's neighbor).<br /><br />Pseudo-communistic dictatorships have been tried as well as violent fascist totalitarian systems. Somewhere there is another way that provides enough motivation while not refusing dignity and individual worth to any person.<br /><br />=swSumwunhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06514335603469979248noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23127959.post-57871637832375072982009-11-24T23:09:00.006-05:002009-11-25T00:00:07.595-05:00Trying to Peg EverythingSince I nearly got beat-up by the Freshman football team in high school when I was a sophomore (I talked them down, actually). I have realized that people try to peg, categorize, pigeon-hole and make clichés of others using easy to identify symbols.<br /><br />The football players shouted out "Fags" to me and my friends who were on our way to a French club party dressed, as we always did, in our long trench coats with long highlighted bangs (1985 or so?). To me, wearing a trench coat was just a way to be self expressive or at least to fit in with my small group of friends. It had nothing to do with being a gun toting punk and nothing at all to do with sexuality since we were all mormon virgins who wanted hot girls who hated us and shunned probably hot girls who were too accessible to be desired. None of us was ever gay in our lives but we sure took some abuse for that team. Enough to appreciate what actual gay people might go through, if only in some measure.<br /><br />I like to think that high school stupidity, heaping flack upon anyone different, was from youth and inexperience. Yet, somehow the attitude often carries over into adulthood.<br /><br />There are so many inane ways in which people try to identify lifestyle like McCarthy sussed out communists.<br /><br />Things I have heard that are supposed to indicate that people are "gay", "liberal", or "right-wing cowboys" or "assholes" are just way off. Maybe some people just mean "different" by those labels. Still, there is little openness to difference in some attitudes of those who even feel like they are "just kidding around" while they propagate and reinforce silly ideas. <br /><br />Popped collars? Gay? I thought maybe it just meant "Douche Bag"? Pardon me while I also make a cliché of people!<br />Cleanliness? Is it godliness or godlessness that it is closest to. I think people should make up their minds.<br />Driving a small/big car? It would be a good thing if all big tough belt buckle-wearing men were all homophobic and drove Mining-Dump-Trucks so no one would mis-read their sexual intentions. The premise is so ridiculous.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPkc43I2gmcpHC-LsAMEjg9ewBi0yihgm3HPwK9Xx4FXd1pBslRFmKxY605fGI83bvlpsSkZ1hHzxIQjWh2lK9mmHpCmJH3QDTjZITBCCxsTh08uvSgg0GKUNaAkI8YOufM8LS/s1600/driver.jpeg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPkc43I2gmcpHC-LsAMEjg9ewBi0yihgm3HPwK9Xx4FXd1pBslRFmKxY605fGI83bvlpsSkZ1hHzxIQjWh2lK9mmHpCmJH3QDTjZITBCCxsTh08uvSgg0GKUNaAkI8YOufM8LS/s320/driver.jpeg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5407899406728336866" /></a><br /><br />I hear things like that a lot. "Girl Car, boy car, old lady car, gay car, dork car, cocks-drive-this-car" etc.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYMRqCtXhEBHgKIhVco53CJKg5tPgRNs219OfMmryvzMyHuZQRYbRE0Bm7at0dQEN_ONSqS6t1_YV8yXGTM2NZGYVNkHHVSDNPVtPo_qfYOUHt62M9VhfWQs5xqI6H1DYqX-ep/s1600/jeeps.png"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 131px; height: 68px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYMRqCtXhEBHgKIhVco53CJKg5tPgRNs219OfMmryvzMyHuZQRYbRE0Bm7at0dQEN_ONSqS6t1_YV8yXGTM2NZGYVNkHHVSDNPVtPo_qfYOUHt62M9VhfWQs5xqI6H1DYqX-ep/s320/jeeps.png" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5407899846205447122" /></a><br />I saw a sticker that said "Silly boys, Jeeps are for girls".<br /><br />As a rational being I have explained to many that an automobile is an abstract device that takes feet, hands, brains and eyes to drive...the genitals are not relevant and (hopefully) not involved in controlling the vehicle.<br /><br />Maybe some of this is just women wanting to assert their touch upon a segment of the world to make it feel like they can have it as their own, not just borrow it from male-ness. That transition is acceptable I suppose, though some day we must finally be rational and accept no one else as worth more than ourselves no matter how their collar is placed or even what color the collar is.<br /><br />Anyone can drive anything. Anyone can like anything and it doesn't have to mean some secondary thing. This is what women have been fighting to tell us since the 60's. A woman who likes sex doesn't have to also be a slut etc. A mexican doesn't have to also be saddled with every cliché ever invented about Mexicans without any compelling interest in the individual.<br /><br />"You drive a girl car"... I have heard before. My Dark Blue german sedan with awesome v6 power and 5 in the floor that can cruise at 139 mph is a girl car? People are nuts. My car is also a Mexican by birth, by the way. It still doesn't like mariachi music, but if it did it would be perfectly OK.<br /> <br />It's all in good fun on one level, but in the process we really do try to impose an equally ridiculous standard of behavior on people who's diverse behavior, no matter how seemingly different or ridiculous, is really personal and not really any of our business.<br /><br />Generalizations can be destructive. 100 a day are spouted on T.V. (Especially on those daytime talk shows and guess who watches those! Don't be tempted to generalize!) Some people cause real harm trying to socially impose them.<br /><br />"Gingers have no soul" is funny to an adult, but it can be a reason for violence to children. Perhaps no one has a soul, but just because that hip guy at work is wearing a pink oxford doesn't mean he drives a jeep (or whatever nutty conclusion you'd like to draw).<br /><br />Labeling is just cruel...Not all bitches are stupid :) Not all douche bags are wealthy!<br /><br />I think you get the point. Cars are cars people. We should all stop thinking you can dissect people without getting to know them. Besides, we can't let gay people be the only ones who like beauty and dress well.<br /><br />Pop your collar at your own risk, especially in your european convertible! (Now I'm doing it too! Make it stop!)<br /><br />=swSumwunhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06514335603469979248noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23127959.post-54691515413556561062009-10-17T03:37:00.003-05:002009-11-19T03:44:27.208-05:00No WarI have been thinking about war a lot lately. <br /><br />Today, in November 2009, the United States is at war. I have written before about how we won World War II. I have always had an interest in seeing, reading and hearing all I could about the World wars. Maybe it just seemed such a fearsome prospect that I wanted to be sure I understood how it came about and came to an end if only to feel it could be avoided or to feel some sense that the world was a safe enough place for me to live in.<br /><br />I'd love to hate war. I'd love to work to end it and prevent it in all circumstances. I have run the theoretical models in my head over and over again. Repressive regime or dictator wants to control and enslave all mankind, I do not wish to be controlled or enslaved along with millions of others so I must stand up and fight. War is thus made.<br /><br />Sometimes I think the most reasonable end to war is overwhelming force. Back in the day we used incendiary and even nuclear weapons to make the point that Empires and Reichs were not going to dominate free people. To make the point stick required unhindered recourse.<br /><br />How can I hate war but call for overwhelming violence? If there must be war shouldn't it be decided as swiftly as possible? <br /><br />I really don't enjoy considering the plausibility of the theories that profiteers arrange for wars to be able to buy up wealth when prices are low or panicked and thereby own more of the world after the prices recover. What a cold rationality.<br /><br />Then again, we have had a population crises before and I think a philosopher like Nietzsche would applaud convenient solutions such as global conflict to reduce the exponential growth.<br /><br />My very religious mother likes to say "God has plagues, wars, famines and thirst to handle population growth, don't worry about it". That sounds like the least-managed outcome I can envision.<br /><br />Dr. Norman Borlaug died this year. He helped forestall what might have been a major 20th century disaster by encouraging the use of new high yield crops and by lobbying for policy changes in areas of high growth in population such as India and Pakistan. He warned that while the grain production might now be ahead of the population growth, the limit would be reached again as the population grows beyond the ability of science to produce higher yields while at the same time arable land shrinks because so many more people need to live and be housed.<br /><br />Many religious cultures would try to out grow their counterparts by overbreeding to the point of senselessness watching infrastructure fail to keep up. Attitudes like that are deeply detrimental to the future of life on earth. If the capacity of the planet is greater than the current population, we should grow cautiously and sensibly. Now it seems there is a war to flood the world with ones own culture and ethnicity.<br /><br />In a contest such as this, those who limit their reproductive rate risk being overwhelmed by the others. It reverses the logic of cautious growth. This push to maintain relevance in exponentiating throngs will bring conflict over finite land and water resources. <br /><br />I think the irrationality of religious belief often becomes the core cause of war. It is often religious people who aspire to have as many children as possible. This is also usually much more than just a personal hope, it is thought to be a moral duty to God.<br /><br />An American Physicist and Nobel Laureate said:<br /><br /><blockquote>With or without religion, you would have good people doing good things and evil people doing evil things. But for good people to do evil things, that takes religion.<br /> -Steven Weinberg</blockquote><br /><br />What is the solution to be? Is the prescription really war, famine, flood and pestilence?<br /><br />Perhaps the earth can sustain more people that I might think. Maybe a sentient culture needs many people to survive at all. Still, where ever the limit, there is one and I think the problem is not being addressed. Violent evil dictators have tried their solutions. I think there is something better.<br /><br />Can we live without war? I would like to think so, though my common sense sees a different picture.<br /><br />-sumwunSumwunhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06514335603469979248noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23127959.post-23265565046995094182009-06-01T12:16:00.007-05:002009-06-01T12:25:01.785-05:00MSI's Craptastic PhilosophyMaybe they should be called "Mac's Slow Imitator" oh yah... with gold star support for a lousy OS!<br /><br />Again I say, no one wants underpowered, less useful computers. Getting the price lower is only meaningful when performance is matched or improved upon. You can make it pretty, but a personal computer is ultimately a device valued most for what it does. The other thing is...if you want innovative design, look somewhere else. MSI's Wind is essentially a knock off of an Apple monitor design from 10 years ago. <br /><br />MSI 2009:<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigb_7-kkNaP9ebtm9DPKroV5DzndpxMFx7VawXlzNQq2R4E3ms8c4qPBdekZFvLduSaSP-tH_b-hjWNIZM6U2c9HLUsK7_4wByqKsn4D-AvtL9Rci7-DfJaZdst0jLL8ScX3w9/s1600-h/msi-neton.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 305px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigb_7-kkNaP9ebtm9DPKroV5DzndpxMFx7VawXlzNQq2R4E3ms8c4qPBdekZFvLduSaSP-tH_b-hjWNIZM6U2c9HLUsK7_4wByqKsn4D-AvtL9Rci7-DfJaZdst0jLL8ScX3w9/s320/msi-neton.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5342409616232157506" /></a><br /><br /><br />Apple 1999:<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3Q6LDAXdsmR-1hpupuwNL5qcCkJoqPY4-sV8SOQsLK7Ynd433kcwNe5S_WhAekmiwC80EnbA_rcLrC3e5QNlWyYKKSkqowoL1dQo6wtv_gc2KRfxde3kOFW3aaqGFRJYifbG3/s1600-h/22display081399.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 311px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3Q6LDAXdsmR-1hpupuwNL5qcCkJoqPY4-sV8SOQsLK7Ynd433kcwNe5S_WhAekmiwC80EnbA_rcLrC3e5QNlWyYKKSkqowoL1dQo6wtv_gc2KRfxde3kOFW3aaqGFRJYifbG3/s320/22display081399.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5342409732864760882" /></a><br /><br />Ten years is along time in the computer world.<br /><br />Yes I know, MSI made an "all in one" computer out of Apple's Cinema Display design. They also already tried to copy the new iMac's form factor, missing the boat in my opinion.<br /><br />MSI:<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVcfTVIV9eXFFuyF1rzFYYYUNccqjIYYrdLXiQ6ZvNIjtKj9GtRgqn9GvVjTkmF8GX-AAYYHVS7TIci4mthOsaMztE6E-iwjoyFrCZeUToIzc5_QgslbcfyO4-83eABX8iB7jV/s1600-h/msi-wind-neton-ap1900-all-in-one-pc.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 279px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVcfTVIV9eXFFuyF1rzFYYYUNccqjIYYrdLXiQ6ZvNIjtKj9GtRgqn9GvVjTkmF8GX-AAYYHVS7TIci4mthOsaMztE6E-iwjoyFrCZeUToIzc5_QgslbcfyO4-83eABX8iB7jV/s320/msi-wind-neton-ap1900-all-in-one-pc.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5342409976701058498" /></a><br /><br />Apple:<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjn6o2bMIfrCrlgt-a_uF27gWXUYNgk09_THNHz3lrBrOa2qcgOHRLCWtdqC-63H3N2Jtg-msZW2tuYRAvKrNS9-xNT3tJd7k5_jbR2BQ1SPCxIarqyMpMNndsEmT9ae_mWdU-M/s1600-h/apple-imac.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 217px; height: 250px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjn6o2bMIfrCrlgt-a_uF27gWXUYNgk09_THNHz3lrBrOa2qcgOHRLCWtdqC-63H3N2Jtg-msZW2tuYRAvKrNS9-xNT3tJd7k5_jbR2BQ1SPCxIarqyMpMNndsEmT9ae_mWdU-M/s320/apple-imac.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5342410100371754770" /></a><br /><br />I think MSI should "come orignal" (as 311 sings), and build some powerful machines instead of trying to make people happy with dumbed down, wholly inadequate machines.<br /><br />Their designs are already not only far behind Apple but also failed attempts to imitate Apple. Another sad truth about being far behind... so are their OS options.<br /><br />=swSumwunhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06514335603469979248noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23127959.post-90457992288871664132009-04-13T00:13:00.006-05:002009-04-14T09:50:25.243-05:00Thinking Back on World War III hear so much uproar about the idea that we can never stop fascism, pirates, suicide bombing and the culture of terrorism.<br /><br />They can use human shields and take hostages and threaten everyone, decapitating our citizens or soldiers with impunity. When we kill a pirate or an extremist fighter their martyrdom breeds 20 more, it's said. It's not socially acceptable or even morally right to demonize the religion they exploit to carry out whatever crime they want god to back.<br /><br />I have a kind of tongue in cheek argument against all that. I would by far prefer a peaceful co-existence of free and diverse societies to war. Though if it must be war...if Islamist, Taliban or other extremist fighters feel emboldened enough to behead their neighbors, then something is deeply out of sync with that peaceful vision.<br /><br />So I propose, mostly as a thought exercise, an alternative to feeling victimized by terror. <br /><br />Comparisons can be made of the Word II War Axis powers to the the anti-semitic, anti-western rhetoric of radical Islamic movements of today. In some ways we are even referring to governments in the Muslim world who use propaganda to educate children with rhetoric that demonizes Jews and Westerners, makes suicide bombing an ideal for living and even speaks of the annihilation of Jews, Israel and any other culture or group that aligns with the Jews. They teach children that a god turned Jews and Christians into apes and pigs and other ridiculous rhetoric. Students are shown videos of real and dramatized suicide bombing acts, to glorify these and recruit new bombers. For some reason, one needs a steady stream of new recruits to continue suicide bombing campaigns.<br /><br />Comparisons can also be made between the rise of racist, anti-semitic fascism in Germany and the rise of anti-western anti-Israeli Fascism in Iran and Pakistan. Many Palestinian, Saudi, Iranian and other Islamic populations believe in the idea of conquering the west and having a world governed by religion, specifically their Muslim Sharia law. The Taliban movement instituted that system in Afghanistan and is now trying to "Talibanize" Pakistan now that Afghanistan is occupied by coalition powers (or Allies of nations standing with the Unites States).<br /><br />Sharia law is something Muslims are trying to push into government all over the world, including large countries in Africa like Nigeria and even in England.<br /><br />Some think that the west is idling its way to being conquered, while ignoring these trends on a kind of autopilot of political correctness.<br /><br />As I promised, I wish to break the politically correct barrier and recall some of the factors that allowed us to win World War II, which was a battle against seemingly all powerful fascist, totalitarian governments that wished to conquer the world and racially targeted millions for murder.<br /><br />Studying a past victory over fascist, racist enemies should give us a hint as to how to defeat the same kind of culture in our time.<br /><br />Stalin's soviet regime bore the brunt of the Allied casualties. Stalin apparently killed many of his own people. He also had heavy losses because of Hitlers decision to break promises and breach accords and attack the Soviet Union. These facts were important in the turning of the tide, though when taken in total, the war required other efforts to succeed as well.<br /><br />There were brave, determined soldiers who simply marched into harms way, landing on beaches and throwing themselves into the fight who turned many occupied areas into reclaimed Allied or liberated lands. An example of this the Americans in North Africa, who learned hard lessons of combat and pushed to defeat the Germans there with the British pushing from the other side.<br /><br />I could cite the British Commonwealth citizens as examples. These were troops from New Zeeland and India who fought along side Polish, and American troops in Italy to slowly push back Nazi positions. I am sure I have left many nations off the list here.<br /><br />Also the British, Canadians, Americans and other Allies that pushed up onto the beaches of Normandy to break the German occupation.<br /><br />I could say that, from an allied perspective, many manufacturers took part in designing, building and deploying the needed hardware for war. Many of these allowed women and minorities to support the war effort by working on weapons or taking on varying degrees of military duty.<br /><br />Americans grew victory gardens to stem food shortages and did without or rationed many goods so soldiers could have provisions.<br /><br />Another thing that America and Britain did to push for victory against Germany and Japan was the practice of indiscriminate carpet bombing with incendiary bombs. The Nazi's started the practice during the blitz on Britain. Thermite and White Phosphorus were used to purposely ignite fires, even fire storms. These substances once alight could burn through metal.<br /><br />At least 25 German cities and many Japanese cities were bombed in this way. Dresden and Tokyo are among the stand out examples where the destruction was the most horrible. More Japanese people lost their lives in the Tokyo firestorms from American incendiary bombing than in the Nuclear strike on Nagasaki (that came after).<br /><br />Because of the terror associated with this kind of attack, they have been outlawed by the UN.<br /><br />Our modern high tech weapons try to reduce collateral damage, in what is a seemingly more humane practice of targeting closely what are deemed military assets.<br /><br />Using firebombing exacts a cost on an entire society for what their fighters are doing. It is a terror weapon, creating the fear of overwhelming, indiscriminate, random destruction. The humanity here is the intended effect that a culture can be freed from oppression for future generations, reducing, in the long run, the suffering of themselves and others under fascist regimes that institutionalize killing and hatred.<br /><br />Some say there is no terror weapon greater than the suicide bomber. I would disagree with that and insist that the fire-storm method of exacting a social cost for war-like, murderous and other terrorist behavior is an effective weapon even more frightening than suicide bombing.<br /><br />I can see the arguments people make...that bombing a poor and starving population during war is insanely cruel and it is really the evil dictator and his power structure that should be the true targets.<br /><br />Yet, pin point bombing of Nazi tanks, gun positions, planes,ships and other military assets may have slowed their war machine but the entire Nazi culture, ideals and spirit were what firebombing suppressed and defeated. It was the Allies way of saying...the cost of your evil ideology is to be paid by all of you until it is brought to an end.<br /><br />Nothing would bring terrorist warriors to change their ideology faster than the understanding that the cost was indescribably high and poignantly dear for continuing to teach, promote, indoctrinate their own people and carry out such evils.<br /><br />There are no effective human shields against indiscriminate regional bombing. <br /><br />The outcome of World War II was not reinvigorated angrier Nazi's with martyrs to inspire them, it was the total defeat of the institution and the culture that supported it. Sure there may be people who still harbor similar pathologies, but they are entirely marginalized and outlawed. Similarly, the attacks on Japan did no lead to more Bonsai charges and angry Kamikaze raids with even more emboldened killers shouting praises to the Imperial emperor. It ended the culture, the ideal and the concept of Japanese Empire. It does not mean there are no longer criminals or evil intentions in Japan, but they are no longer the main stream. A peaceful society is the main stream.<br /><br />For example, the wars between Israel and Palestine will go on forever because the Fascist palestinian terror gangs desire the complete destruction of Israel (and perhaps western culture in general). The way to end the war is to end the ideology of hatred toward Jews and the West. Then future Palestinian peoples can rejoin the world community and begin to live in peace like Germans and Japanese now do. <br /><br />Can we end that ingrained, under-educated and brainwashed militancy with peaceful means? I welcome that. I am not sure how well that would have worked against Nation Socialism or Imperial Japan.<br /><br />As it is, we tend to be apologetic far too often. It is not acceptable for people to teach hatred in their schools and religious gatherings. It is insanity, irrationality and makes such a culture not a moral equivalent for our western culture and freedom.<br /><br />We know how to defeat the most fearsome, powerful and overwhelmingly indoctrinated fascist regimes. It is was done in WWII against overwhelming odds.<br /><br />I would think we are in a much better position now to combat ignorance, Fascism, Totalitarianism and religious extremism. We must simply remember the justness of our cause, the value of our freedom and way of life and the reach of the options available to us to counter the vast and deep ignorance, hatred and violent nature of an enemy we surely don't want to have charge of our lives, our lands and our governments.<br /><br />I think we should stop cradling and apologizing to "the good people" while trying to target "the bad people" and send a message that the price will be shared by all members of an antagonistic culture until the ignorance is eradicated.<br /><br />Sometimes I am of that mind, that we should use all means to defeat the terrorists. Other times I wonder who can describe the peaceful resolution to the conflict created by radicalism and the huge obstacle of years of ignorance through indoctrination.<br /><br />Indiscriminate firebombing is a weapon against suicide bombing and terrorism. If there is a peaceful solution, it must involve showing millions of indoctrinated people how wrong they all are before the Religious government is instituted under our feet and therefore over our heads.<br /><br />I often repeat this example about what makes war so unavoidable. I truly am a peace-loving person. I do not wish to harm or kill anyone. Though, in a symbolic example that applies to nations, someone may come along and put a gun to my head and insist that my way of life is offensive and evil and that they desire to destroy me. Whether or not it can be argued that I could improve my way of life, this situation leaves me with a choice. I can die a pacifist, allowing those who would gladly commit violence to live on, reproduce and occupy the world or I can have enough strength to stand and counter that argument and choose to live on myself and fight so long as my life is threatened. <br /><br />I'd rather stand up, push back and fight to defend my way over the other way. Then people like me, who do not love war or killing, but who will defend their lives are those that live on in the world. <br /><br />I would love to be able to conceive of a peaceful, effective tactic or "weapon" against mass-ignorance, suicide bombing and terrorism. Until such time, I think the UN should lift the ban on incendiary weapons and firebomb the hell out of the war lords, perverse militants and murderous movements of the world and stop impotently messing around as if our western society isn't ultimately better, more deserving of preserving and refuse to accept any "inevitability" or purportedly "irreversible" trends.<br /><br />=swSumwunhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06514335603469979248noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23127959.post-44291706449647788142009-01-15T12:56:00.004-05:002009-01-15T14:05:05.470-05:00The Context of Israeli Military ActionOne valid argument Palestinians have made against Israeli practices is all about settlements. Israel has, over many years established "Kibbutzim" or "Clusterings or Gatherings" and other settlements all over the West Bank and Gaza. This seems to be an attempt to change the facts on the ground and perhaps expand Israeli land claims.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2ZgDMBtqcoFzpKwgezDgwA8nnWi8zTydiuzfM9o-R3GSB181sS9Tt_vXtNW_t8gOZnke2_QMpYLWfeHS5hkUNYUW82IKSDfR8PQchXwcO7Wz2pLWCSwZkdBxTaTOu2FQCMaDg/s1600-h/israel-map.gif"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 246px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2ZgDMBtqcoFzpKwgezDgwA8nnWi8zTydiuzfM9o-R3GSB181sS9Tt_vXtNW_t8gOZnke2_QMpYLWfeHS5hkUNYUW82IKSDfR8PQchXwcO7Wz2pLWCSwZkdBxTaTOu2FQCMaDg/s320/israel-map.gif" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5291582574602500162" /></a><br /><br />For there to be peace, the right thing to do would be for Israel to unilaterally halt settlement expansion and even withdraw from existing settlements. This would be a painful and dramatic process, removing Jews from their adopted homes and forcibly returning them to Israeli lands.<br /><br />This moving process was begun in the Gaza strip. Israeli soldiers, in their largest Peace-time operation, gathered settlers and removed them from their homes, lands, greenhouses, neighborhoods, gardens and synagogues. This web site shows the process:<br /><br /><a href="http://www.tomgrossmedia.com/ExodusFromGaza.html">Israeli Exodus from Gaza</a><br /><br />This was a painful, humbling process which was the right thing to do. The removal of Israelis from Gaza by their own military was carried out with love, concern and patience but with a determination to reverse the settlement trend in this first test case.<br /><br />Once Israel had conceded that they should leave settlements as part of the peace process, how did the Palestinians respond? By allowing a foreign (Syrian) terror gang to take over and begin to fire rockets into Israel.<br /><br />With this as a result, Israel cannot progress to the next logical step, which would be an exodus from the West Bank settlements. Israel is compelled to close crossings and invade Gaza to put a stop to the madness of Hamas rocket attacks.<br /><br />Palestine will never become a state (comprised of the West Bank and Gaza) while the insanity of Hamas continues. Hamas militants bring down death and destruction upon their own people, their own families, by firing Rockets or participating in suicide bombing. That is all they are achieving. They are not accomplishing even a step toward a Palestinian state. Israel has to fight their ideology, there is no other reasonable choice. Although, Hamas can prevent more harm.<br /><br />Wise Palestinian leaders could turn back the Israeli tanks and shells with a short declaration. It is not even that much. <br /><br />Simply express a desire to have a viable Palestinian state, recognize Israel's right to peace and security and claim that right for yourselves by abandoning violence. <br /><br />Teach your children to love their neighbors and they will have a future. <br /><br />Turn your anger and indignation against radical militants among you. See that they are the cause of the suffering. When a militant fires a rocket from near a school, he is designing the death of your children as a feeble attempt to discredit the just actions against them. Israel would never fire weapons on Gaza were it not for militants firing rockets. <br /><br />Hamas are not heroes loyal to the Palestinian people. They are the enemy of a Palestinian state and the enemies of Palestinian peace and prosperity because, in their minds, Israel should not exist. <br /><br />Militants will never have their unjust desires fulfilled. Their attitude only leads to more pain, more suffering and the destruction of their own people. Eventually Hamas and other radical militants will be put down. If not by Israel, but Israel's allies. Even the Arab countries must concede Israel did the right and noble thing withdrawing from Gaza and they are justified in stopping the rocket attacks.<br /><br />Palestinians and Arab nations that can influence events in the region must actively reverse the culture of suicide bombing and rocket attacks. Teaching violence and hatred to generation after generation is no way to get peace.<br /><br />If the best we can get from Palestinians is rockets, suicide attacks and an endless culture of hatred and irrationality then what is so bad about Israeli settlements? They may even change the character of the lands enough to stop the madness.<br /><br />Eventually, civilized nations will reluctantly exercise the power needed to end the evil ideologies of Hamas as they have against other evil ideologies in the past. It is possible to put an end to evil cultures, designs and ambitions, no matter how insurmountable Hamas may seem, they can be absolutely and utterly defeated should that be the only way to stop their attacks. The Nazi Third Reich and the Japanese Empire seemed utterly insurmountable and had conquered vast regions of the world. Their ideologies were utterly defeated, though not their peoples.<br /><br />Just as a peace loving Germany and Japan are welcomed and embraced by the world after the defeat of their former regimes, it is not Palestinians that need to be defeated. They are long over due for having a Peaceful, stable status. It is the ideas of the militants that must be defeated.<br /> <br />=swSumwunhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06514335603469979248noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23127959.post-48857149579027907942009-01-08T13:35:00.005-05:002009-01-08T13:47:17.560-05:00CNN video problematicShifting in a lurching way from serious international conflict to domestic internet annoyances, I have to complain about CNN video.<br /><br />They deploy an HD-shaped window on their site then proceed to STRETCH content that has a Standard Definition aspect ratio (4:3) to the 16:9 shape of their window.<br /><br />I have complained about televisions doing this, but this is a web site... there is absolutely no excuse for this kind of stupidity in visual rendering.<br /><br />I believe it calls their journalistic integrity into question. It would be offensive if they animated mustaches onto faces or digitally altered images to include animated digital hats or logos. What they actually do is distort every single pixel of the image, stretching it out of reality.<br /><br />Here is a captured image from their site:<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3-eK3Np1YW6y2kFOuaUuLlvQa1QM0BV5o5lBlCSIRgBq7cc0OdF6rR4VdPwObCiPD6CtbAQTg_cdU_xYZIb1Z38M2hRaxnRc0jYSiHrPUH6cZrAPK1IBNu1VHwed6yp4SWFjK/s1600-h/cnn_captured.png"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 181px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3-eK3Np1YW6y2kFOuaUuLlvQa1QM0BV5o5lBlCSIRgBq7cc0OdF6rR4VdPwObCiPD6CtbAQTg_cdU_xYZIb1Z38M2hRaxnRc0jYSiHrPUH6cZrAPK1IBNu1VHwed6yp4SWFjK/s320/cnn_captured.png" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5288994760741772290" /></a><br /><br />Here is my digitally corrected version, restoring the real inherent aspect ratio of the video content:<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDOjQMEDebppCaynR2mkcLg2TtEYcPGNAd30kHx8k7VvLYVVn45kP8wq74xaXj78Ol6vCJTzGL-pM9cbvmE2rQzf9YWzUTNH9jDJVllNFYAcBnKke69QZZ0FkPjK3LVoELv9dg/s1600-h/cnn_fixed.png"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDOjQMEDebppCaynR2mkcLg2TtEYcPGNAd30kHx8k7VvLYVVn45kP8wq74xaXj78Ol6vCJTzGL-pM9cbvmE2rQzf9YWzUTNH9jDJVllNFYAcBnKke69QZZ0FkPjK3LVoELv9dg/s320/cnn_fixed.png" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5288994986480572402" /></a><br /><br />It's clear that the corrected image is far more true to life and real than the stretched one. This lovely woman's face is stretched to pancakoid by CNN's flawed video deployment.<br /><br />Try opening those two images into separate browser windows to their native resolutions and comparing the look and sizing of them.<br /><br />I doubt they do it on purpose, it's just that they don't care enough to deliver the best. They are just too lazy to care.<br /><br />That is a shame, since their business is producing video content and deploying it!<br /><br />I hope they "find the side bars" for their non HD content and stop stretching the truth.<br /><br />=swSumwunhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06514335603469979248noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23127959.post-23007789591939230832009-01-05T01:35:00.007-05:002009-01-15T13:05:25.345-05:00About Israel in Gaza<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHPmCFh3uu5IajxcgcA68TfmWHHm22Xl4OaWpo93y6omnunx-dzO2c1-k9Kg51D2WMuaiJdpEY3VmeCUj7YutVisAUj22cHsUBHwNABlZfMpaLwJC2kJV27V6YNBbUlTV07QSj/s1600-h/israel.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 227px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHPmCFh3uu5IajxcgcA68TfmWHHm22Xl4OaWpo93y6omnunx-dzO2c1-k9Kg51D2WMuaiJdpEY3VmeCUj7YutVisAUj22cHsUBHwNABlZfMpaLwJC2kJV27V6YNBbUlTV07QSj/s320/israel.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5287694929362357586" /></a><br /><br />I think it can be seen by everyone that Israel's air strikes and invasion of Gaza appear to be disproportional to the amount of death and destruction caused by the thousands of rockets fired into their territory in recent months by the Hamas "defacto" authority in Gaza.<br /><br />Looking at this conflict as it is in one moment is not adequate. On the face of it Israel is killing many more people with its response to the scourge of rocket attacks than the rocket attacks killed. First, numbers are not the best way to see this and secondly, Israel is fighting something much more serious that is only represented by the rocket attacks.<br /><br />To my first point, every life is valuable. The quality of those lives is valuable in a way that cannot be counted. I feel the pain of the losses on both sides. I don't blame the children who are killed in Gaza for the politics that led to their deaths. Every Israeli life is precious as well. The Israeli people must also live in constant anxiety from rocket attacks.<br /><br />Secondly, Israel is not fighting a legitimate group. They are fighting a bunch of thugs and terrorist gangsters who, no matter how organized, how religiously faithful to their beliefs or how elaborate their clothing and weapons, are just like their counterparts in Lebanon (Hezbollah), an illegitimate, violent, hate-fueled band of bully-thugs whose only goal is the destruction of the tiny minority of Jews in the world and the negating of Israel in its entirety. <br /><br />Jews aren't just any group. They have been conquered and pressed like olives to make oil over thousands of years. These are they who suffered at the hands of the tyrannical racist Nazi regime a holocaust of death greater than the entire population of Palestinians living in the Palestinian territories. Those lands only seem exclusively "Palestinian" because of an insult to Jews by the Roman Empire where upon conquering the Jewish lands renamed the whole area "Palestine". Note how remarkably Roman the symbol of the Palestinian Authority appears:<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgm-NwaygWMl5qnoAsCUxplXuYSOeVREb79ElmTK3_4DXpZv8uTTaLN3qzcpD5FIPscO-0GhVKR320YdTFroljJI9xD_TpP3bZ_BW40V6Z5Hjo1vh0okYMx6NyKKMxZEMASe_an/s1600-h/Picture+3.png"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 152px; height: 206px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgm-NwaygWMl5qnoAsCUxplXuYSOeVREb79ElmTK3_4DXpZv8uTTaLN3qzcpD5FIPscO-0GhVKR320YdTFroljJI9xD_TpP3bZ_BW40V6Z5Hjo1vh0okYMx6NyKKMxZEMASe_an/s320/Picture+3.png" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5287699270970176274" /></a><br /><br />The Palestinian Authority is, by the way, the group that should be in charge in Gaza and be well on its way to being a state that peacefully co-exists with Israel.<br /><br />Suppose a violent race-based gang took over a populous county in the United States. How long would we let that stand before the military was sent in to stop the nonsense? That's exactly what's happening in Gaza. A violent gang has wrangled control and is attacking Israel, inciting violence and calling for Israel's destruction.<br /><br />The British defeated the Ottoman Empire in World War I and therefore took control of those lands. They wisely preserved one of the traditional and few places that can be called a Jewish homeland. The response of a number of the Palestinians living there at the time (already among many Jewish settlements) was to be a bad xenophobic neighbor. <br /><br />America welcomes thousands of refugees from war torn countries. Imagine if I turned on the new arrivals and spat venom and hatred about them and even attacked them in the streets. In the case of Israel, Jews fought back and empowered themselves to preserve the new nation the UN mandated for them and the Jews weren't all refugees. Some Palestinian "bad neighbors" who didn't have to lose their homes under the treaty, responded to the circumstances ignorantly and with xenophobic rage and not a little Islamic pride and made war with the Jews instead of living in peace.<br /><br />There are still Palestinians living inside the borders of Israel. It's not impossible for people of different faiths to live in peace even inside the Jewish state.<br /><br />The gangster war-makers must be shown that their methods are madness. The Nazi's were defeated for the same reason and it was awfully violent and required overwhelming force exerted from all sides. 20 million enemy Germans died. Their losses numbered greater than the Jews they killed. The same lesson is in place now. It's not the small numbers of deaths caused by Hamas rockets that should be the focal point. It is the evil of their ideology that must be defeated and their losses will be far greater until their world view is fundamentally defeated.<br /><br />It's not so much how they wish to worship, though their predominant religion is exploited and intertwined in their hateful message, it's their attitude that "the Jews don't deserve to exist and have a state". That's what puts the Palestinians on a losing side, no matter their over-breeding to compensate for their losses.<br /><br />I can think of almost no level of Jewish aggression that is too high when their survival as a people and their sole refuge in the world, that they can call their own, is threatened. The death toll on the Palestinian side is as individually tragic as that of every Nazi father lost to his children fighting for a flawed ideology. I feel all the human losses, but there is no doubt that the internationally recognized sovereign state of Israel is justified in this conflict while Hamas is a criminal organization on a mission of genocide. It is only lucky their rockets are not bigger and more deadly, because they would surely use them.<br /><br />If it were up to me, Lebanon, Syria and the Palestinian territories would become vassals to another more powerful nation who would rebuild their culture to be residents, not refugees and reconstruct proper education, political institutions and economies. I know some would say that these militant gangs take on this role in the absence of stronger leadership, though I know that they behave more like children having a tantrum. Children with access to explosives.<br /><br />The militant gangs like Hamas and Hezbollah are wrong and must get their crying done and comply with civil living. They will only hurt themselves banging their childish heads against a wall and fretting over what they think they are due. Meanwhile, they miss out and grow poorer and suffer, behaving like victims. They are truly victims of their own violent hateful ideals. The moment Palestinians become good neighbors, their lives can begin to be rebuilt and improve. I know of no rogue Jewish gangs firing missiles into the civilian neighborhoods of the Palestinian Territories. All the Jews want is to control their own peace. <br /><br />Every dead child, parent, sibling or loved one in Gaza and Israel must be placed at the feet of the ignorant and futile ambitions of Hamas (and Hezbollah, to say nothing of their probable backers in Iran). They are the cause of the suffering. When a child is hurting himself and others, he first must be made to stop. Hamas is like that child.<br /><br />=swSumwunhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06514335603469979248noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23127959.post-22486006698348336452008-12-23T17:41:00.004-05:002008-12-23T18:34:39.913-05:00Population ArgumentsI have been reading some population debates online and it has caused me to reflect on it yet again.<br /><br />So many people like to shout about "getting yourself fixed" or "not having children in this climate" or "stopping breeding" or how responsible it is not to reproduce.<br /><br />There have also been comparisons to bacteria in a petri dish exponentially expanding their numbers blissfully uninterested in the finite nature their "sugary-gell" resources.<br /><br />In that model, where we are a bacteria and the Earth is the dish of finite resources, our population is ultimately limited. It will not grow exponentially forever, as the Earth's resources are not infinite, even though one can see that human population can grow at an exponential rate (while the resources are not yet exhausted).<br /><br />So, at some point the growth curve will round off. I just finished reading Carl Sagan (and Ann Druyan)'s book "Billions and Billions" from which some of my thoughts on this are derived.<br /><br />The point is this: an individual deciding not to breed will never limit or reduce the potential population of the Earth. The population will march forward so long as even 2 people and their offspring breed exponentially. Their descendants will eventually fill the whole earth. So the only thing to stop it is a die off due to failing resources. We can become more efficient and try to become more just in the sharing of resources, but ultimately that upper limit is where the population cannot grow any more because of hunger, thirst and exposure.<br /><br />The only decision those who choose not to reproduce are deciding is, how many of the future Earthlings will be their descendants. <br /><br />To control population we must get everyone on board...EVERYONE. If we can disable reproductive powers and hand them out at a controlled rate we can then control the future balance. It's like polio, you must vaccinate everyone or you have not solved the problem.<br /><br />Right now, it is a contest between you and me as to how many of the future humans will resemble me or you. The end of expansion will come in all cases, all you can do is lay hold on more resources. This is how many people are thinking who try to out-breed others.<br /><br />Groups are conscientiously using Natalism to compete for the Earth's limited resources and space. The Palestinians are breeding with wreckless abandon to try to "outnumber" the already small (in a planet wide sense) group of Jews.<br /><br />Mormons have a culture of pushing breeding to try to out strip the world population growth rate. Although they are noticeably failing to increase the Mormon percentage of the Earth's population. They are being strongly out done by the other groups. Making Mormons a smaller and smaller percentage of Earth's population even with their growth rates and missionary efforts.<br /><br />You can't stop Central Americans from breeding at ages far closer to the onset of fertility than is culturally acceptable in the United States, so in that sense, the future will be more of them and less of us. Their time-span for a "Generation" could be half that of ours. That's a "survival of the fittest" strategy where they are winning. Not to mention the highly successful Asians.<br /><br />Even if many humans die off at an alarming rate when the "sugary-gel" (Earth's life sustaining resources) vanishes, those left will resemble the current proportions of groups that had both wealth and large numbers of offspring.<br /><br />So, is it irresponsible to reproduce? The upper limit is already set to stop our exponential growth. That limit is set by the finite availability of food, shelter, water, warmth and wealth. Choosing not to reproduce, even if MOST of us chose the same thing, is only a way to subtract your genetic heritage from history and quit the contest. It will not reduce the march upward, it will happen as fast as it can with or without your genes. All you are deciding is how many of the left over humans will be like you.<br /><br />All it takes is one non-compliant group and over a few generations they will exponentially fill the space you leave by not having children. Self-selecting your own unfitness to propagate seems remarkably self-defeating.<br /><br />If we disable reproduction and manage it, allowing a balanced mix of people to procreate, then we can control the future by our actions. Until such a freedom limiting method is instituted by an awful sounding regime, individual choice will not reduce the world population. Others will just grow more.<br /><br />=swSumwunhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06514335603469979248noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23127959.post-83078499347765218182008-12-11T11:19:00.004-05:002008-12-23T17:41:21.685-05:00OnStar and Freedom of Movement<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghYjXnrAYp5s365rsF7QplwyJLc1Rh7WBmSGo1EUZMRKp25q7_HnSfWeRgRmu6QWS3Av0250FhAMiCuLvnCMVwopv_UtklpeOxDwv-RxnfWmyKD8nLCCHe69RrZ2UfnCpPQWYZ/s1600-h/onstar-logo1.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 319px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghYjXnrAYp5s365rsF7QplwyJLc1Rh7WBmSGo1EUZMRKp25q7_HnSfWeRgRmu6QWS3Av0250FhAMiCuLvnCMVwopv_UtklpeOxDwv-RxnfWmyKD8nLCCHe69RrZ2UfnCpPQWYZ/s320/onstar-logo1.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5278573156050949202" /></a><br />In the current economic situation we are in, I would like to think I could plan to buy an American car the next time I go shopping. Maybe in a year or so. Shopping for a new car is always a year away somehow.<br /><br />I would not want a vehicle with OnStar. All the wonderful features it provides cannot overcome the one troubling drawback. The actual prospect that a networked car can be disabled.<br /><br />I don't believe it's a conspiracy. It's just a potential opportunity for corruption that trouble me. One of the things dictators do is inhibit freedom of movement. This is something that, intentionally done, hacked or abused is possible in a car that is on the grid the way an OnStar vehicle is.<br /><br />My car has a governor that means its speed is limited to 135mph. It doesn't cut out, it just doesn't accelerate any more beyond that speed (don't ask me how I know). This never limits my movements. I don't have a need to drive that fast anyway. <br /><br />OnStar is capable of slowing a vehicle to 5mph or less. This is very nice when someone has stolen a car and is causing a high speed chase to take place. Peoples lives are put in danger by high speed chases. The lives of my fellow citizens are important to me, though I still think I should be the one to log in and kill the car with my own credentials. I don't think someone else should ever be sitting behind a kill switch on my own car.<br /><br />In the wrong hands, this is a tool of dictatorship.<br /><br />What did we think would never happen that has surely happened? The current American government has given itself the power to declare anyone an enemy and to detain the person without charge or habeas corpus rights (the right to seek relief for unlawful detention).<br /><br />I find networked cars unnecessary for law abiding citizens. Accident detection and communication are helpful. Remote access to a kill switch (or even a "slow down" switch) is not acceptable to me. It will deter me from buying a GM product.<br /><br />=swSumwunhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06514335603469979248noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23127959.post-73116726402802105242008-11-05T10:55:00.007-05:002008-11-05T12:38:27.535-05:00How I ChoseWhen I saw the woman at a McCain rally step to the mic and say "The Lord says care for the poor". I knew where my vote should go.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxOBBFhreuR2yP-5DQj71EJEfIdiOuuG59ohmM-04m3onRKlMqVLrj4CjKn0MpFyZMbokxBE3Lr-_bxfoBtDe0hlz3Aa-zboGf0BEPmI7PkvVJiaduH_ecaGr1WZQsDfqnmQpL/s1600-h/Obama+Button.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 193px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxOBBFhreuR2yP-5DQj71EJEfIdiOuuG59ohmM-04m3onRKlMqVLrj4CjKn0MpFyZMbokxBE3Lr-_bxfoBtDe0hlz3Aa-zboGf0BEPmI7PkvVJiaduH_ecaGr1WZQsDfqnmQpL/s320/Obama+Button.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5265215938914870930" /></a><br /><br />It struck me as entirely inappropriate for her to speak as if in church, when at a political rally in America. I respect her freedom to do so, It just made me concerned that some people don't understand the separation of church and state doctrine that keeps claims about unseen beings from directing our public and civic policy.<br /><br />Even my right wing christian friends agree with all this so long as the unseen being is not their unseen being.<br /><br />I realize I voted for a church going christian. But I also voted for an eloquent rational thinker.<br /><br />While thinking about who I wanted to vote for,I saw the movie Religulous and I watched Bill Maher on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno on NBC October 7, 2008.<br /><br /><object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/boJ0s0Ey5YE&hl=en&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/boJ0s0Ey5YE&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object><br /><br />He used scathing wit and humor to totally trounce the irrational right and mock their appeals to ignorance and bigotry.<br /><br />He also reflected many of my beliefs and values on his own show in his New Rules segment. He said, "You can't be president if you practice a violent middle eastern religion and worship a genecidal desert god, which is why Sarah Palin cannot be president".<br /><br />Funny then sobering...<br /><object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/Kv8foTk-C2Y&hl=en&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/Kv8foTk-C2Y&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object><br /><br />I saw Sarah Palin's crass jingoistic comments about there being "a patriotic" part of America as a comment that appeals to credulous people driven by emotion to believe whatever best conforms to the majority and fears diversity. She used the phrase "those that are fighting our wars for us" to refer to her small town America constituents. That says it all about right wing elitism.<br /><br />It boggles the mind that the Republicans want joe sixpack to believe that the system is not set up to concentrate wealth away from him and to rob his retirement accounts for ceo mansions.<br /><br />There seems to be a rash of ignorance on the right, driven by irrational belief and fear mongering. When the stupidity of the American religious extremists reared its head, McCain actually had to correct his own party members and assure them that they need not fear an Obama presidency.<br /><br /><object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/3c-Ijky95dc&hl=en&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/3c-Ijky95dc&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object><br /><br />Obama was of course born in the United States of America (Hawaii) and raised with American cultural values.<br /><br />In this world of ever increasing enlightenment about natural law, science and knowledge, I don't want to be ruled by a whacky cult that believes in witchcraft and longs for the end of the world.<br /><br />=swSumwunhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06514335603469979248noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23127959.post-17235797471788347292008-10-27T09:50:00.004-05:002008-12-23T17:39:41.439-05:00Net Books and Smart CarsI see a silly trend. When companies run out of ideas they try to pitch something that is "less" as something "new".<br /><br />Everyone keeps trying to get rid of the personal computer platform. Because what we want is less power, less accessibility, less capability right?<br /><br />That's of course just wrong. What people are looking for in a "net book" is a small and light personal computer. That's why Apple got it mostly right. They did not try to make an incapable dumbed down machine, with the Mac Book Air. They designed a personal computer making compromises only to achieve weight and size limits.<br /><br />These stupid concepts like a "dummy terminal" or a "dumbed down" laptop called a "NetBook" are marketing ploys that are trying to mask the failure to produce a smaller size Personal Computer.<br /><br /><blockquote>No one wants a less useful machine.</blockquote><br /><br />It reminds me of the Mercedes "Smart Car" which is an idiotically small car that is supposed to be a compromise for fuel efficiency without actually providing much better gas mileage than many larger, more convenient vehicles from Honda, Toyota and even BMW.<br /><br />These things like the Smart Car and Net Book are silly marketing games being played by companies who are trying to convince you that you don't want the real thing and I think they are wrong.<br /><br />=swSumwunhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06514335603469979248noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23127959.post-37689794680295441582008-10-06T00:10:00.009-05:002009-06-01T12:40:07.174-05:00Not an AtheistThis is a little commentary on why I do not wish to be called an Atheist.<br /><br />I have some religious friends. These are people I like with whom I occasionally have philosophical discussions that usually end in agreeing to disagree.<br /><br />One of my friends likes to casually refer to me as an Atheist. I understand that when religious people come up with a 5 point test of what makes an Atheist I may qualify on all five of them, however, I do not define myself in terms of other people's perspectives.<br /><br />Atheist sounds like "Anti-something". I believe there probably isn't a God, especially that meets any of mankind's popular definitions. If we are not alone in the vast universe, there may be powerful beings we would find godlike out there, only because they are more advanced...or maybe we would realize that the difference was simply growth, know how and experience.<br /><br />I think there probably isn't a God (and I capitalize it just so christians know who I am saying probably doesn't exist). I cannot prove a negative. I can't demonstrate to you that there is no God just by showing you silent moments or unanswered prayer. In the same way faith is required to believe in God because the proof is not there.<br /><br /><blockquote>I am certainly not anti-"something I don't even believe in".</blockquote><br /><br />It's like the when I filled out the e-Harmony forms. Yes, they let me in somehow! On their form they have ethnicity choices. The closest one for me, as a caucasian, was "White (Non-hispanic)". Well pardon me, but I am not used to defining myself by how "hispanic" I am or am not. No insult to hispanics of course. It's just not a notion I am associated with. Calling me "non-hispanic" puts way too much focus on hispanics. I don't even wish to make a statement about anyone else's ethnicity or how it differs from mine when simply describing myself to someone. <br /><br />It's like considering how "Un-Australian" I am. I am not defined by what I am not. That's illogical and really awkward to me actually. <br /><br />Likewise I will never wish to be labelled by what I do not believe in. <br /><br />Imagine this unlikely introduction: "Ladies and gentlemen, the non-car thief, Mr. So and So"... With me saying, "I have never even thought about car theft much less do I want the phrase in my title!"<br /><br />Or "Mr. So and So, the Non-Santa Clause believer"...what do I say to that, "um...yah..I gave that up when I was a kid, my non-santa clause belief status is really not even a part of who I am anymore."<br /><br />In the same way I am not an Ex-believer or an Atheist. I am simply me. I am a rational thinker, a skeptic, a doubter and someone who loves knowledge, science and evidence.<br /><br />I am finally a grown up human being who wants to see his place in the Universe as it really can be known with the best knowledge available. I don't want fantasy stories or religious dogmas anymore. I find no comfort in the quaint and violent scripture myths.<br /><br />I think 1000 years from now some whacky sect will believe in "Captain Picard" as their God and will even have "real" pictures of the man (unlike the Christian faith). They will not admit to their basic misunderstanding that this was a character in a performance. While there may have been a moral to the story, it was always a story. I see the Bible in the same way. They were myths meant to inspire, socially control and politically manipulate people or challenge rulers.<br /><br />I thought the other day of the meaning of "Rational Belief" to which I lay claim. Rational is a word about a ratio. A ratio of claims to supporting evidence. If claims exceed a 1:1 ratio with evidence, you'll find me skeptical. I did not say I would automatically reject all such notions with confident authority, that's what an Atheist tries to do, also without evidence. I am far more curious and am willing to try ideas and listen to reason. The experiments, evaluation of data and conclusions are all part of the scientific method. Being skeptically curious leads to new experiments and new knowledge.<br /><br />I am not against the ideas of justice and reconciliation taught by some belief systems, nor am I anti-God. I am just me and I think religion has done incredible amounts of damage to the world.<br /><br />I just saw "Religulous", the Bill Maher documentary about religion. It was a great film that really reflected how I feel about how problematic belief can be.<br /><br />He said one great thing near the end:<br /><br /><blockquote>Religion tries to make a virtue out of not thinking. -Bill Maher</blockquote><br /><br />I agree with that and will continue to use my mind, grow my understanding and increase my knowledge while refusing to end all thought and consideration by quickly resorting to a label.<br /><br />=swSumwunhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06514335603469979248noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23127959.post-24427841845282139492008-09-29T22:01:00.009-05:002008-10-10T20:36:32.631-05:00Why I am Against the Bail OutAt first I thought a bailout would resemble socialism. Now I think it would more closely resemble a wealth grab in an economic dictatorship.<br /><br />The market leading managers and CEO's abandoned the basic rules of economics by obscuring worthlessness with complexity and then tried to abdicate all responsibility for their exploitation. They want to siphon off wealth with reckless disregard for their fellow citizens and then want tax payers to be burdened with their golden parachutes, bad debts and recapitalization of their banks and "investment/ financial institutions".<br /><br />Lincoln looks angry!<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYsHKqpel9fesaKiorOux9s_IlD6Roy4htCTLzl94TUGT1db8xXmlaST7kvaNu0UvazG7RkVsEqRw1EV0R0aWKtH-ilVExT07e51jqxPKQrX71hbOTHllb21zTTK-oc98HoaxJ/s1600-h/Picture+1.png"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYsHKqpel9fesaKiorOux9s_IlD6Roy4htCTLzl94TUGT1db8xXmlaST7kvaNu0UvazG7RkVsEqRw1EV0R0aWKtH-ilVExT07e51jqxPKQrX71hbOTHllb21zTTK-oc98HoaxJ/s320/Picture+1.png" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5251645288351536434" /></a><br /><br />Capitalism is not a dictatorship where wealthy people may irresponsibly give loans to people who can't afford them then sell those loans as commodities as if they are guaranteed valuable assets then expect everyone to reward them for their failure.<br /><br /><blockquote>In Capitalism, when people fuck up they should fail. </blockquote><br /><br />If the average citizen messes up and gets fired, they walk away with no severance pay, no help, no bail out or promises. Not even a silk parachute, or some kneepads.<br /><br />Many of these failures are of the Enron "Criminal" variety and will result in jail time. I think such prosecution should also result in the seizure and sale of the assets of these criminals. Where is your retirement? It's in some 24 million dollar Florida mansion to which some CEO will happily resort when his 2 year sentence is commuted to 6 months for time served and "good behavior". <br /><br />Or worse, it's over seas where you will never see it again.<br /><br />Will the IRS put a lien on that CEO's mansion for the taxes you owe, that you spent to heat your house while you were unemployed? No! They will come to YOU for that, as if the failure of your employers company was down to your job skills or behavior.<br /><br />Lots of work isn't worth what people are paid. Alan H. Fishman of Washington mutual did not contribute enough to the society by holding the wheel of a sinking ship for 3 weeks to earn $11 Million dollars in a "Golden Parachute". Fuck that! You fail, you get fired. Learn something, move on. Hopefully some other CEO didn't rape your 401k for his beach house.<br /><br />Maybe a better society is possible, one not based on greed and destroying wealth and resources for one's own over-consumption. I don't think any of the communist dictatorships of the world got it right either.<br /><br />Though sometimes, a more socially aware society seems like a better way. If you sew and reap you may eat. If you cannot reap but you can make something someone needs, or serve them in some way they need, you may be compensated to a reasonable proportion with food and shelter. If you are too helpless to contribute, your basic needs will be provided. <br /><br />Capitalism is sometimes so cruel and ignorant to the plight of humanity occupying a 7,926 mile diameter space ship (Earth) with limited resources. It's not all about one person having every luxury. It's about the survival of us all (arguments against over-breeding in another posting).<br /><br />The wealth of the planet belongs to all! This system of veiled theft is bad enough. We are already on the hook for 500 billion or more in bailout money for the banks and mortgage firms we plan to save. The 700 billion on top of it would just reward the crass, corrupt wealth sucking machine on Wall Street for failure. It would represent the largest imaginable burglary of tax payer, citizen wealth to private already corruptly wealthy banks, managers and CEO's.<br /><br />CEO pay is justified by returns, so it actually rewards exploitation and law-breaking if the increase is good<br /><br />What they couldn't get by gouging my 401k they'll get from the investment IRA I rolled it into, beautiful!<br /><br />Wasn't most of America's wealth already confined to a small percentage at the top before this crisis? What do they want now, the rest? <br /><br />Where will it come from?<br /><br />You and I will be working our asses off without reward for years to pay these bastards even more money from the taxes on our labors. If you ask me, It's a goddamn coup de états and we just became serfs, to one degree or another.<br /><br />=swSumwunhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06514335603469979248noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23127959.post-71279103039078256602008-09-25T10:27:00.011-05:002008-10-02T23:48:07.340-05:00A Broken IT Culture that is Doomed to FailI predict that the concept of disabling the usefulness of a computer by not allowing users to install software will become a failed IT policy.<br /><br />The policy was born of Microsoft Windows security deficiencies. Instead of demanding a properly developed and secured operating system, IT managers simply find it easier to essentially disable and handicap Windows users to help resist virus vulnerability and security flaws that are built into Windows by poor design.<br /><br />The qualifier is that no machine is invulnerable, but you don't put a horse down before it gets sick. Disallowing installation of software crimps off the innovation and flexibility blood supply of the user and I will show, could even lead to physical injury.<br /><br />Based on many real world scenarios that have come to my attention, here is short story:<br /><br />Carla wants a portable computer. It would give her new capabilities as a field rep for her company like being able to access office documents and spreadsheets, maps, contracts, pdf field manuals and up-to-date weather info etc. Also very important to her well being, it would allow her some personal access to music, email, instant messaging and entertainment sources while she is on the road. She has not been issued a computer to do her job, but having access to one would make her more capable and efficient. She plans to buy her own laptop, but mentions her plan to her boss.<br /><br />The Boss promptly sees the benefit of her vision and assures her he would gladly supply the laptop.<br /><br />One morning she heads into the main office and voila, there it is:<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgocgkjux1gw1qi5PKzmA6vz7Xb12PZtpRwZPw4PEqJvWhemNDqhDhdxnikmMaC6Tx9O8C1tQlc5IpZcVSXF-1ziZTuWkOe8qhMBVAI4dHs4P55fFrQ3uOyuNhJzjT_5ezjjCBX/s1600-h/laptop.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgocgkjux1gw1qi5PKzmA6vz7Xb12PZtpRwZPw4PEqJvWhemNDqhDhdxnikmMaC6Tx9O8C1tQlc5IpZcVSXF-1ziZTuWkOe8qhMBVAI4dHs4P55fFrQ3uOyuNhJzjT_5ezjjCBX/s320/laptop.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5249983397173463026" /></a><br /><br />A new laptop with Windows XP installed!! Woohoo! (because Vista is completely useless, but passes the "really pretty" test, sure)<br /><br />[*Note: For the purpose of my blog I photographed a Dell running Debian/ Gnome because I don't have any crappy Windows machines in my life to even take a picture of.]<br /><br /><blockquote>Aside: The new Vista commercials should be more realistic..."WOW"..at first then "WTF...???" and "SHIT!"...soon after.</blockquote><br /><br />Now she can fulfill her vision of having the benefits she sought. So she immediately seeks to install some widget software to get weather, Google Earth for her work real estate and mapping needs, Apple's iTunes for her iPod and store account to get her favorite music, movies and TV shows etc. She also likes to download her favorite I/M clients and OTR encryption tools (for security!).<br /><br />Well, she can't install any of that, and the IT (idiotic trance) department is too mortified by Windows' reputed bad security and vulnerability to malware to give her the magic "Admin access" (which on any other machine is "regular user trying to do ANYTHING useful with a computer" access).<br /><br />What can she do? Of course she could drag around 2 laptops, one for work and one for herself!<br /><br /><table><tr><td><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgocgkjux1gw1qi5PKzmA6vz7Xb12PZtpRwZPw4PEqJvWhemNDqhDhdxnikmMaC6Tx9O8C1tQlc5IpZcVSXF-1ziZTuWkOe8qhMBVAI4dHs4P55fFrQ3uOyuNhJzjT_5ezjjCBX/s1600-h/laptop.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgocgkjux1gw1qi5PKzmA6vz7Xb12PZtpRwZPw4PEqJvWhemNDqhDhdxnikmMaC6Tx9O8C1tQlc5IpZcVSXF-1ziZTuWkOe8qhMBVAI4dHs4P55fFrQ3uOyuNhJzjT_5ezjjCBX/s320/laptop.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5249983397173463026" /></a></td><br /><td><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgocgkjux1gw1qi5PKzmA6vz7Xb12PZtpRwZPw4PEqJvWhemNDqhDhdxnikmMaC6Tx9O8C1tQlc5IpZcVSXF-1ziZTuWkOe8qhMBVAI4dHs4P55fFrQ3uOyuNhJzjT_5ezjjCBX/s1600-h/laptop.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgocgkjux1gw1qi5PKzmA6vz7Xb12PZtpRwZPw4PEqJvWhemNDqhDhdxnikmMaC6Tx9O8C1tQlc5IpZcVSXF-1ziZTuWkOe8qhMBVAI4dHs4P55fFrQ3uOyuNhJzjT_5ezjjCBX/s320/laptop.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5249983397173463026" /></a></td><br /></tr></table><br /><br />That's only 10-20 pounds of machine, carrying case and accessories. She could actually physically injure herself carrying two computers around. It's a ridiculous notion.<br /><br /><blockquote>No way! That is not a solution!!</blockquote><br /><br />Oh I know, she will drive all the way to the home office every single time she even wants to evaluate any new software (or even run an update script for her third-party apps) and plead with a dense Microsoftie IT manager to please just allow her to do her job and have what she needs on the road. <br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3V-qIXHzzlHQ6duTGHcFpk9AfEyI6bV59QnY_tIM4P1Xn4bbgBWEOHksNK5rXk3wjDewtINAm-YzzGoQZV15kx3E6wjepgH4EmUkyHQFvld5mfFDF95MCU75jYPdbw9ZiQ5pt/s1600-h/tailpipe-emissions.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3V-qIXHzzlHQ6duTGHcFpk9AfEyI6bV59QnY_tIM4P1Xn4bbgBWEOHksNK5rXk3wjDewtINAm-YzzGoQZV15kx3E6wjepgH4EmUkyHQFvld5mfFDF95MCU75jYPdbw9ZiQ5pt/s320/tailpipe-emissions.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5249993667123351378" /></a><br /><br />All that driving back for every stupid thing makes Windows machines bad for global warming. Never mind the cost to the environment of the manufacture of a useless device. Now we need 2 machines made for each person because of inherent software flaws and the obtuse policies used to work around them!?<br /><br />Forget it!<br /><br />What will she do instead? Buy ONE machine that does everything she could possibly need including run Office software and if absolutely needed, emulate that one stupid app made only for Windows by idiots. And she will have a machine she can actually use, upon which she can install anything and not fear a highly unlikely virus and it will meet all her business and personal requirements with ease. Then she'll only need to carry around just that one lightweight brilliant computer:<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgibKuWw26mRVOrZMuT_NsOWZTSkRgyBd3doLsRZ3K1OTHmOXD1d94AF9UYEn8aLGVl90n4WB24LFf1BEShTpgRww3154EFURXba8VZckVKHoTgkmx9NhFFH_sSP_WWRYawJDrP/s1600-h/Mac-laptop2.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgibKuWw26mRVOrZMuT_NsOWZTSkRgyBd3doLsRZ3K1OTHmOXD1d94AF9UYEn8aLGVl90n4WB24LFf1BEShTpgRww3154EFURXba8VZckVKHoTgkmx9NhFFH_sSP_WWRYawJDrP/s320/Mac-laptop2.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5249987339928470994" /></a><br /><br />The idea that effectively disabling a computer from being used is a "good security model" will utterly fail. This will benefit Apple or Linux or any other platform with a clue. Withholding Administrator Access from a user on their own machine is a failed IT policy which is a blatant direct descendant of Microsoft software flaws. It is a losing proposition in the long run, where better computers with superior operating systems are clearly a preferable option.<br /><br />=swSumwunhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06514335603469979248noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23127959.post-76203259239502719762008-09-22T12:59:00.005-05:002008-10-03T09:30:41.016-05:00Tons of TravelI have been a lot of places lately. Here is my USA map:<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPbBvCfuTyhgbbhCTg-q0u2skR9OXsfbbuTUF3YxNJadLcK6ATuFr0UPNgiq7vW_tWezt-IjySabOFUok2rDYQkYXgtdqBb3ZbaTp3QwnFTgiiZPBJIJr8E9XEejsioDUYfAAc/s1600-h/usa_blank.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPbBvCfuTyhgbbhCTg-q0u2skR9OXsfbbuTUF3YxNJadLcK6ATuFr0UPNgiq7vW_tWezt-IjySabOFUok2rDYQkYXgtdqBb3ZbaTp3QwnFTgiiZPBJIJr8E9XEejsioDUYfAAc/s320/usa_blank.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5248907190444339746" /></a><br /><br />The cyan states are places I have been before. The orange-ish states are those I have been to this year. We are talking feet on the ground, I don't count airplane fly-over.<br /><br />I have traveled a good 6000 miles, even more if I did count flights.<br /><br />There are clearly some road trips yet to do. I want to visit Florida, New England...Minnesota and the Dakotas.<br /><br />I need to do an Elizabeth Town type road trip to Tennessee, Arkansas and Oklahoma. While I may not get to all the States this year, I could get pretty close.<br /><br />What exactly does one see in North Dakota!?<br /><br />=swSumwunhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06514335603469979248noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23127959.post-40282333632655541232008-09-22T11:51:00.006-05:002008-09-28T21:15:08.385-05:00PandoraI really enjoy Pandora, the internet streaming music service that works like a radio station keyed to a single or group of seed artists to shape a program of songs in the user's preferred style. <br /><br />It's pretty damn good and works rather well. It even digs into beloved album tracks you'd think would never get noticed. And the streaming is smart, pre-loading songs as much as possible to prevent mid-stream hiccups.<br /><br />While Pandora is in stereo on broadband, it does run in Mono on the iPhone. However, that may be necessary to fly below the 115kpbs Edge network limits. 128kps or 160kbps mp3's in stereo won't fit, so 64kbps or 80kbps mono mp3's are used...see 160 > 115 while 80 < 115 so mono streaming works well generally, depending on Edge signal quality.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_70VsP-qadzMFCICH7AmDv1e6eMg1EOk9csuXs2eLFAP0SzlC5ZNLuqrQLWA-3_qTKYHAuccZy7yAK6f47YlQKVAr8xs6Zyq8i1O1Ahc77WbEmQpuH3p6UD5k70McxNP79iug/s1600-h/pandora.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_70VsP-qadzMFCICH7AmDv1e6eMg1EOk9csuXs2eLFAP0SzlC5ZNLuqrQLWA-3_qTKYHAuccZy7yAK6f47YlQKVAr8xs6Zyq8i1O1Ahc77WbEmQpuH3p6UD5k70McxNP79iug/s320/pandora.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5248891941995516834" /></a><br /><br />I tried going for a 4 mile walk the other night with Pandora playing on my iPhone (using the dedicated Pandora app). Walking around with Pandora on the iPhone is a surreal and wholly modern experience.<br /><br /><blockquote>Walking around with Pandora on the iPhone is a surreal and wholly modern experience.</blockquote><br /><br />I realized I could not watch any marketing messages they might deliver while the iPhone was in my pocket.<br /><br />I think Pandora offers a paid service, though to support the free service I could stand a 20-30 second audio ad every 3 songs or so. I think Pandora is a great evolution from traditional radio, though its very nature creates enormous licensing costs.<br /><br />While Radio can pay one ASCAP fee for broadcasting a song to millions, Pandora is probably stuck with a fee per stream per user. There should be some middle ground license to allow Pandora's brilliant service to be more viable.<br /><br />I get into Pandora, and who knew how much 80's hair band music made into my memory when I was a teenager. I can kind of tolerate it now, amazingly.<br /><br />=swSumwunhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06514335603469979248noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23127959.post-53557331943712912252008-09-18T12:05:00.007-05:002008-09-26T09:18:35.183-05:00Captive MarketingIn Las Vegas flying US Airways I discovered that I would be hit up with credit card marketing from the gate to the plane.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgk0szOeOJGmC00cJu__c6qCL86mdA8pEpsX7yFlrs9_bTLw_kv-Z9FMhgJEKl-lAPhM3wOxuW4zoEYCQYNXwFI8zleJ1YCAxPj9r88YQBkoyvxo7UjHYJL-piD7kMXYfUdvmib/s1600-h/153237_airline_handling2.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgk0szOeOJGmC00cJu__c6qCL86mdA8pEpsX7yFlrs9_bTLw_kv-Z9FMhgJEKl-lAPhM3wOxuW4zoEYCQYNXwFI8zleJ1YCAxPj9r88YQBkoyvxo7UjHYJL-piD7kMXYfUdvmib/s320/153237_airline_handling2.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5247409690034111522" /></a><br /><br />When you pay an airline more than you would pay for a 4 star hotel room, then pay them extra for baggage and they still have to hit you up for a coke and market credit cards to you...you know they were not managed properly.<br /><br />They all want to be listed first on the travel web sites as the cheapest. Though, you quickly learn, that despite having paid hundreds to be canned up and exposed to irradiating microwave radiation from space, you still can't get even a 1/2 can of soda if you didn't bring cash!!!<br /><br />Baggage, drinks and good service should be included. Just show us the real prices for fuel and proper service!!! I predict US Airways is going to be gone or fail, if it hasn't done so already. It's a ridiculous flying experience. Maybe Delta will fix them.<br /><br />From now on, Southwest and Delta have provided a good experience for me. I hear Virgin America and Continental are good options for being treated well for your investment in travel.<br /><br />Marketing to me while I am confined to an airplane is so over and gone.<br /><br />=swSumwunhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06514335603469979248noreply@blogger.com0