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Monday, July 1, 2002
Linky Bits
Well, this
should be interesting. I suppose the positive side to all of this is with all
of these on-line advertisers/etc., flinging crap at eachother, they've got plenty of
ammo. Course, I'd like to invite all of them over to my house about
sunset for the next couple of days... Assuming, of course, that they have blood.
I smell a trademark suit coming down the pike for Arizona. Mrs. Potato Head is quite pissed, and all the little Spuds aren't likely to take this lying down... I'd be careful if I lived in Arizona - odds are pretty good that you'll be picking french-fries out of your anatomy before long...
Yeah, I'd guess I'd be having health problems, too. Whaddya mean, I gotta pay back HOW MUCH?
"Beige. I think I'll paint the ceiling beige". Sheesh. Otherwise known as "really, Really, REALLY REALLY Slow news day."
Really really.
An Office With Character(s)
For those of you worrying that I've buried Ann in the back yard to
fertilize the garden, never fear. I sleep too soundly and the woman has
a vast knowledge of things historical (which is a nice way of saying she
loves to collect little tidbits on crime scenes on shows like CSI - why,
I have no idea. Well, I have suspicions, but they don't hold up in a
court of law. Which might explain some of my difficulty in
sleeping...). My lovely bride moved, finally, today, into her new
office, overlooking an airport and the river downtown.
Now she's quite happy, as she has a cube with windows. I, having had both an office and a cube with windows for the better part of the last three years, am now faced with ... well, fugly white-and-gray-splotched wallpaper. That's "fugly" as in "your favorite adjective starting with 'f' + 'ugly". Yeah, that bad.
So anyway, for those eight of you who regularly visit (it apparently used to be twelve, but with herself gone all sporadic with the posting lately, I've lost a full third of "our" readership. Clearly, computers and testosterone do little to amuse her readers - what, you're suggesting I lack in testosterone? Right. Think of me as Yoda - I use a cane when I need it, but when I don't, boy, look out, I'm more annoying than most mosquitoes... Which, come to think of it, is probably an unflattering comparison, but there, I'm stuck with it now), she is still struggling with those horrible things that come from moving offices. You know, new furniture, great views, inability to find the important things like the supply cabinet, the printer, your desk...
My office, meanwhile, has "character". Well, characters, actually. I'm in a big suburban office complex, and apparently there are some employers in this building who failed to perform even the most rudimentary of employee screenings.
For example, today whilst in the ... well, I'll just say it - bathroom, I was buckling my belt when the stall next to mine became occupied. Mind you, I had already formed a somewhat ungracious opinion of this fellow, as he'd already attempted to enter my already-tightly-closed and locked cell - er, stall. "oh, sorry." I'm sure he was, given the force at which he hit the door. And, given the fact that the doors are all hung to swing in, not closed, when unoccupied, it makes even less sense.
So, as I was singing Happy Birthday to myself while washing my hands (ever since seeing Harlan Ellison on an early episode of Politically Incorrect talking about chasing some man through an airport yelling "hey, you, king of the pig people, wash your f****** hands!" I've been haunted by the spectre of it), the man behind threw me off by starting to whistle the Liberty Bell March (also alternately better known as the theme from the Monty Python show). This fellow, however, used a variant on the old Victor Borge audible punctuation technique to keep the beat going.
As he was whistling the tune, and I was hearing audible ... well, clues as to the beat, I'm going to leave to your imagination the methods which the fellow used to create his tempo. I'll just say he wasn't hitting anything, and leave it at that.
I can tell you that as a drummer of some small skill, I'm quite able to tell if a tempo is off - slowing, speeding, or otherwise in variance. This fellow, however, maintained a steady tempo throughout the limited performance, until ending it in true Pythonesque fashion. After which I hightailed it out of there, wet hands and all. No need to stick around for the grande, if you could call it that, finale, should it be pending. I think I'll be using the third-floor bathroom from now on.
All I can say is that I hope he survives this episode, and mends his evil dietary ways. I also pity this man's co-workers. I keep thinking of the line in "seventy-six trombones"...
"thundering, thundering, louder than before."
Pledge Redux
Gee. I guess I'm not the only one who
sees it that way.
Of course, we're all amoral libertine philistines, according to some. So be it. See you at the next virgin sacrifice, eh?
Heat Index
In my ongoing effort to educate those of you fortunate enough not to
live in a climate where your temperature varies as much as 150 degrees
in any six-month period (forty-five below zero to one hundred five above
are, I believe, the all-time high and low for the area), this month's
nasty weather term is "heat index".
This is where the nice weather people sit down, combine the heat and humidity, and come up with yet another weather number. You're familiar, by now, with dewpoint, which is the temperature at which dew forms - mid-seventy-degree dewpoints like we had last weekend being termed "very tropical" - and why this is a bad thing (if your skin temperature is seventy five, you have condensation on you - and it DOES NOT EVAPORATE TO COOL YOU - again, simple experiment - wrap head in soaking wet towel, put in oven, and breath. When towel feels slightest bit dry, exchange for another wet towel).
Heat Index, on the other hand, is severe weather arcana. This is arrived at by factoring in all sorts of things - wind speed, air temps, humidity, price of corn futures, and the occasional raw random number to get the "jay-sus, feels like 'X' out here..." number.
Today's "you're not gonna like this crap at all" forecast (first thing in the morning, when the young fellow apparently feels the need to make you thrilled at over-riding your common sense and not climbing back into bed after all) stated we could see a heat index between 105 and 110 by 3 pm. Which is a small step down from yesterday's 113 that one station was reporting.
Which is a bit like saying "sure, slap me again with the rotted haddock, please".
Do-Over
Looks like I'm going to have to start again.
It's been a few years, but last week I decided to struggle again through Thuycidies' "The Peloponnesian War". Sheer masochism, I assure you. But now I'm going to have to hurry to get done before this starts affecting my mental picture of Athens.
One-liners
I look at the picture with
this article and all I can think of is "would you buy a used car
from this man?"
Actually, one other thought occurred. "Duuuuude. Yer gettin' a Dell."
Getting Lucky
No, not like that.
I caught part of "Encounter At Farpoint Station" tonight on TNN. Nice to see Dee Kelley one more time.
Of course, I managed to talk Ann into ID4 Special Edition as well as Patton on DVD today. So there will be some significant explosioning and whatnot going on this week.
Whoo and hoo.
Tuesday, July 2, 2002
Wrong Way
I hear tell the Oscars will be handed out earlier each year starting
in 2004.
Wrong way, bozos. Rather than having the films "fresh in everyone's minds" let's just move them to October or so, and to qualify, the film has to have been released in the previous calendar year. The voting shouldn't start until July 1 - which means that you'd really have had to do a hell of a job to stand out in that sort of crowd.
Oh well. Made sense to me.
Improving Outlook
One of the reasons I went to St. John's University was because it was
where my dad worked. Seemed a pretty convenient thing at the time, and
unfortunately, until now, seemed a lousy way to choose a school.
If you read this I think you'll understand why reading it made me feel better. This section explains what's being done about monks "on restriction", while this section is about as clear as I could ask for.
Victims are not asked to sign an agreement requiring silence about the fact or nature of the abuse or exploitation that they may have suffered. They are not asked to protect the anonymity of the accused monk. If a victim accepts financial assistance for counseling or a financial settlement, he or she is asked to sign a statement that keeps the amount confidential and acknowledges that the settlement is not an admission of legal wrongdoing that can be used in a subsequent legal action. Such a statement is standard practice recommended by legal counsel and commonly used for settlements of any kind.
I think that says a heck of a lot about those men out there.
They know there's a problem. They also know that waiting for someone else to solve it, approve a procedure or plan, or give direction isn't going to work. They put together a plan, put it in place, put it in effect, and are now looking to let everyone know how it works, so that they don't get the wrong idea.
I was educated by an uncommon institution. It wasn't until now that I realized just how uncommon they, and common sense, have become.
Linky Bits
I'm hoping that this
article has a typo in it. when I saw it, the fifth paragraph said
Spam-wearing subscribers will be invited to sign-up to the free blocking service from October.
Clearly, people wearing the meat product Spam would not be advised to go out in public with the same outfit repeatedly. While Spam (the food) has a shelf-life approaching that of certain radioactive materials, I'm equally certain that once un-packaged, it'll eventually spoil.
Any why block the messsages "from October"? I'd rather block them from spammers to my cell phone, thanks...
As to what the offenders should get or deserve, I'm thinking execution.
I suspect the quote should have been <AMERICAN_ENGLISH>Spam-Weary subscribers will be invited to sign up for the free blocking service starting in October.</AMERICAN_ENGLISH>
As Mr. Bilbrey aptly noted today, this is a prime application of Niven's law. To which I propose the following amendments - As we know Niven's first law, "Never throw shit at an armed man" and the second is "never stand next to someone throwing shit at an armed man." I propose "if you must throw shit at an armed man, make sure your gun is much bigger than his, and you're faster on the draw as well."
You know, I'm really very sorry people were killed. Granted, we did them a favor, given the fact that these slack-jawed moronic goat-herders-without-goats were firing into the air in a combat zone with air patrols over it. Imagine all the inbred little double-recessive doubly-slack-jawed moronic goat-herders-without-goats who we would have to supply with both goats AND semi-automatic weapons had that dearly departed round managed to reproduce.
Don't get me wrong - I'm sorry these people were killed. I'm sorry that they didn't understand not to do stupid stuff. But, as the saying goes, "you, out of the gene pool!" Certainly there's some natural selection going on here. Like Dennis Miller says - "Thin the Herd."
And a DOH! Story if there ever was one. Oops, indeed. "Testing? We don't need no stinking testing..."
"Wholly inadequate"? Freaking lies, I'd say. This is why I'd make a lousy bureaucrat. I see stupidity and I sometimes have a difficult time keeping my mouth shut. This would be one of those times...
And finally, another one of those Ripley's Believe It Or Not stories.
I liked the part about "parts of the brain that are non-functional". I'm thinking we could probably go after most politicians/lawyers/judges/Microsoft_developers /insert_your_favorite_disfavored_group_here with a spoon and lift most, if not all, of the brains right out and not significantly impair functionality...
Do, Jesus
I've never met Paul Thurrott. But I certainly have a great deal of
sympathy for the poor fellow.
I signed up well over a year ago now for the Windows & .NET mailing lists to get tips/tricks, etc in daily (sometimes hourly) bites.
Rarely do I get one that has me do more than "oh, OK."
Occasionally they're quite useful.
Today, I received one that had me thinking that if Mr. Thurrott was in front of me, I'd probably be guilty of assault before too long.
Thurrott gives a fairly solid run-down of what is publicly known about Palladium (which, in case you didn't know, is the name given the giant statue of the Greek Goddess Athena who watched over Troy. Look how successful she was...), and then says "well, if Microsoft wants us to trust them, they're going to try harder."
That's a little bit like yelling at the bull in a bullfight, saying "nyah, nyah, try it again." And your legs are broken.
Microsoft wants to get the hardware folks to go along with a "super-secure" next version OS. I don't know about you, but I was pretty sure the "total focus on quality and security" that Gates tossed out there was bound to become a profit center in a year or so - and it seems that's the plan. PC makers would provide the hardware, Microsoft would provide the secure OS that would allow everyone to be more secure.
Wait a second, let me check my calendar. Yup, born on a day - it wasn't yesterday, though.
And of course, Thurrott assumes that the Palladium technology would be ported to Mac, Linux, and other OSes eventually. Right. "Here's the pointy stick. Now, shove it in your eyeball. Just like that."
I doubt the government will be able to do anything about it until afterwards, if they want to - which I'm sure they don't, given the $7-$10 per head ticket price you shell out to go to the movies, or the $20+ you pay for new DVD movies. Given that the packaging and DVD blank itself probably costs about $2 in the quantities we're talking about (including the security device), that's a healthy profit to prop up people like Fritz Hollings and other scum-sucking congresscritters who are looking to get their claws deeper into our pocketbooks.
Sheesh. The older I get, the more I'm thinking we need another Thomas Jefferson around here to kick some butt.
They Lie, I Lie
If it works for Calvin, it'll work for me.
Today got another one of those "Nigerian Con Spam" deals. I got feisty (who, me?
).
I responded with
Please, get a clue, and get a life. This thing's been done to death. E-mail me again, and I'll report you to the attorney general, because in Minnesota, this sort of thing is illegal - or did you not hear about that? That's right, illegal. Life in prison. Though next legislative session, we're hoping to see it upgraded to the death penalty... Sorry. See ya. Bye.
If they're dumb enough to think that'll work for them, then they can fall for the "death penalty for Spam" trick. It worked on the monsters under Calvin's bed...
Slowing down...
Yup, that would be me.
I'm going to reduce the amount of time I spend cranking on this project for the next couple months. No, not retire, or stop, just cut back a little. Some of it's health-related.
Odd as it sounds, I need to start taking better care of myself. Six or eight trips up and down the stairs a night just doesn't cut it - I need to exercise.
I also need to investigate my mobility/flexibility. I've noticed lately when I get up in the mornings, I'm just getting stiffer and stiffer. Now, I'd like to say "ah, it's just getting annoying" but the truth is that my father's got arthritis in his hips so badly that he needs a lift to get him up and down the stairs - and I'm really hoping to avoid that.
I also need to do something about my wrists. I'm still trying to work with the missus on finding a decent chiropractor who A) takes our insurance (yes, Keri, we've got the book), B) She's comfortable with (I'd be comfortable at this point with anyone other than Jesse V.), and C) someone who can help me (seems to be pretty much all of them). I'm not going to go under the knife for CTS when I know a combination of stretching, exercise, and ergonomics will improve the situation. No way.
I've also entered the dreaded "now until first frost" hell that is my natural medicated state. Yes, the demon pollen has risen far earlier this time (why is it when I lived next to five acres of nothing but goldenrod barfing out pollen 24 hours a day 7 days a week, I could hold out until late July or August, but now when there's not a stalk of goldenrod to be found within sight of this place, I've got little people looking to drill out from just below the surface of my face?), and I'm going to have to fall for the medication again. This time we're going with Zyrtec, doctor (non-advertising) recommended. I checked with my friend, the doctor of pharmacology, Ph.D., first, before talking to the doctor. She doesn't work for the Zyrtec people - she works for another company, in fact.
What sucks is that if Zyrtec fails me, we're looking at massive doses of benadryl - like six tablets at a time, every 3-4 hours. Me Zombie Man.
And, finally, yes, I've got another project which, Deus Volent and the Crick Don't Rise (™ RAH) will see the light of day someday - and yes, I'll give a fair number of you the opportunity to beat me around the head and shoulders with the rotted haddock if you'd like.
You have been warned...
Wednesday, July 3, 2002
Oh No, Not Again
Well, I didn't think the fellow was squeaky-clean, but then again, if this
is true we've got another stinking pile of mess on our hands in the Oval Office. I had
some doubts about it earlier today, but CNN has
now picked up the story, so I guess this thing might reach the yawn stage for most
people. And it certainly doesn't help that the Democrats are getting quoted already.
As usual, there will be some (and I know who you are already) who will point to this as a liberal smear campaign. Okay. So maybe it is. Is it true, though? If Bush violated SEC rules - the very rules he appointed a man who some say hahss questionable abilities in that area to oversee and now revise - then we have yet another serious problem. Yes, Whitewater, Cigar-gate, Blow-job-gate, whatever (My personal favorite is "Starr-Gate" - no disrespect to the TV show or movie intended). The bottom line is, once again, we have an individual in the highest elected office in the land that's apparently breaking the rules.
Frankly, for my money, I'd rather have Clinton back there. Yes, it was damned difficult explaining to my children why he got in trouble with Monica Lewinsky (who still has my favorite anagram of a name - "moan licky wenis"), but that was a different order of magnitude. Yes, there was the perjury, which Clinton will pay for, for the rest of his life (yes - he's barred from the job he trained to do. Now he can travel and give speeches, which is a lousy way to live, if you ask me. I'd rather be home with my wife, watching grass grow, woodworking and relaxing, but that's me). But in this case, we might have a guilty man selecting the people who will make and enforce the rules on the economy - and let's not forget his buddy "Kenny-Boy" Lay and all the other CEOs and big shots that Bush knows; do you really think he's going to put the hammer down on the people he needs to fund his re-election campaign, and those of his party's candidates?
I'm beginning to think that we need to empower a "special master" to handle certain things. I think we need to start by stating that those who seek, and hold, elected office are going to have to comply with a higher ethical and moral standard than the rest of us. Why? Well, gee, I dunno, something about elected LEADERSHIP which is supposed to LEAD to BETTER THINGS, not deeper into the manure heap. Sure, it's unfair. So's life. You don't like it, get a career as a spammer. Behave your self, conduct yourself as above reproach, and you've nothing to worry about. If you are good, and people accuse you, the denials won't come from you alone, but from anyone that knows you. If you are ... well, bad, for lack of a stronger word, we don't need that sort of thing in a position of leadership.
So - we establish that these people are held to a higher standard. What does that mean? Well, let's say that someone didn't follow the rules in grade school or high school. We give them a dirty look and then let them go on with their business. Mistakes are allowed. Certainly.
But when you reach college age, certain mistakes are no longer allowed. And once you get into business, some of those mistakes are what make you a businessman or ... well, something else. Now, given the fact that the SEC required "prompt disclosure of insider sales", taking 34 weeks to disclose something (and 34 weeks from today would be February 26, 2003) isn't prompt. It's not even slow. It's pretty much thumbing your nose at the regulations.
So, let's say that someone breaks the rules. Especially rules they're trying to enforce. What do we do with them? Well, I'm of the opinion that the special master should be empowered to remove that individual from office. Either they leave voluntarily, or toes-up.
Think of it. With such a system, Nixon would have died in the late 1950s, with his damned dog. Carter wouldn't have seen the mid-term elections (you do remember the HUD scandals, don't you?). Reagan would have made it into his second term, if that (mostly because the investigative reports were in California, covering OJ). Papa Bush might have survived an entire term, for I can't think of anything offhand that he did that rises to the level of the stink test like the others (other than barfing in a guest's lap, but hey, I've wanted to on occasion, too). Bubba Clinton wouldn't have made it to the first election. And our present nitwit, well...
I suspect the problem most prevalent in political action these days is the overriding perception that everyone is dirty. They aren't. A higher-than-average number are, but that's only because between the money and the ideology, people are driven to do things that are just plain dumb. And then they decide to deny, hide, evade, or otherwise cover the issue up. And since most people who might otherwise be attracted to public service would rather submit to a proctological exam administered by an elephant, because reporters and others know that they'll find dirt on everyone if they look hard enough, that leaves only the truly committed or the truly pathological. Unfortunately, the first are rather thin on the ground, which leaves, of course, the second - a growing population if there ever was one.
It's a sad, sad commentary on our times and our government when an appreciable number of elected officials at every level are indicted, tried, and convicted for various crimes. And this is what passes for leadership in this country.
Gee. What a pleasant segue into July 4th this year.
Speeding Downhill
Oh, LOVELY.
</Sarcasm>.
A movie. Lovely. Even my son is into these girls. Which is somewhat convenient, if a bit skewed. I'd like him to know girls can kick his ass before he has some girls who have to kick his ass, but I tell you three times that eventually, that DVD will enter my house, where I will have to tolerate it.
And it just gets even better - A Dexter's cartoon beforehand. Great. And the reviewer calls it "art". Great. Just Great. Obviously she never looked at anything out of, oh, say, even a National Geographic? The Power Puff Girls are no more art than the moles on my back are - oops, sorry, TMI, tmi.
I've seen some good, and interesting, stuff on the Cartoon Network. Samurai Jack is occasionally interesting, but if I have to see the Robot Invaders episode one more time, that'll make a thousand, and then I'll have to go leap off a cliff or something.
Oh well. I'd better lay off, or the kids will think I'm Mojo Jojo.
Linky Bits
Nice
idea. Should, however, you need to be printing barcodes for later
lamination, make sure the label you print on can stand the heat.
</School_of_Experience>.
Hey, it could have been worse. They could have caught flame or something...
If you find this fascinating, remember to yell the lodge greeting. "Hey, Nerd!" Although it's nice to see PC clock chips have improved. Back in the early 90s, I ran a couple of tests on some decent hardware of the time, and found over the course of two weeks, the PCs would average dropping up to 30 seconds in that period. Over the course of a year, that would make you almost a half-hour late for everything. Which wouldn't be so bad if it was a status meeting...
Speaking of clocks, I hear the clock ticking, and not in a good way.
When I was a kid, "playing Army" had a whole different meaning. It also didn't involve my butt much - well, other than as a more-than-ample target... I know, TMI, twice in one day.
Gee. If she'd sold her stock the day after the news broke about imclone, she might have lost a couple of thousand, maybe a hundred thousand or so. Now? Boy, talk about boo-boos. Aside from the stock loss, she's got to hire people to explain this away. Gee. Sounds an awful lot like politics...
Speaking of Brokers, I'm sure "but honey, it's in the job description" didn't stop the frying pan from flying... Sure wouldn't in this house. I wonder. Do they get to write that off?
Ah, Norway.
Best I just shut up after that. 
What else to follow that story but one about clothing?
Tell you what, Dell. You give me the money, I promise I'll buy a computer... Even if I have to go to a mall to do it.
Obviously, "It's dead, Jim" would be a tasteless joke here. But one I'm willing to stoop for, just to hear the groans. Never let it be said I left the low-hanging fruit for others...
Speaking of tasteless, I can't imagine this show would be a hit in most demographics (but I can think of one or two).
Yeah, what a surprise. Carly's empire, indeed.
This is a disease. It's called "Stupidity."
Obviously, I'm a clueless American but I see idiots here all the time going like bats out of hell. So now it's a record. Sheesh.
A simple reminder for tomorrow. Light, throw. Do not count. Especially if you're still looking for your fingers...
Yes,
Mr. Beland has been informed, and his representatives have informed me that he only
likes the green ones. Now what was it again about the green ones? Oh. Never mind.
Sorry. 
Well, that's ... odd. But what else would one expect?
Thursday, July 4, 2002
Independence Day
WHEN in the Course of human Events,it becomes necessary for one People to dissolve the Political Bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the Powers of the Earth, the separate and equal Station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent Respect to the Opinions of Mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the Separation. WE hold these Truths to be self-evident, that all Men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness -- That to secure these Rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just Powers from the Consent of the Governed, that whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these Ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its Foundation on such Principles, and organizing its Powers in such Form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient Causes; and accordingly all Experience hath shewn, that Mankind are more disposed to suffer, while Evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the Forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long Train of Abuses and Usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object, evinces a Design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their Right, it is their Duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future Security. Such has been the patient Sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the Necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The History of the present King of Great- Britain is a History of repeated Injuries and Usurpations, all having in direct Object the Establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid World. HE has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public Good. HE has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing Importance, unless suspended in their Operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them. HE has refused to pass other Laws for the Accommodation of large Districts of People, unless those People would relinquish the Right of Representation in the Legislature, a Right inestimable to them, and formidable to Tyrants only. HE has called together Legislative Bodies at Places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the Depository of their public Records, for the sole Purpose of fatiguing them into Compliance with his Measures. HE has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly Firmness his Invasions on the Rights of the People. HE has refused for a long Time, after such Dissolutions, to cause others to be elected; whereby the Legislative Powers, incapable of the Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the Dangers of Invasion from without, and the Convulsions within. HE has endeavoured to prevent the Population of these States; for that Purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their Migrations hither, and raising the Conditions of new Appropriations of Lands. HE has obstructed the Administration of Justice, by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary Powers. HE has made Judges dependent on his Will alone, for the Tenure of their Offices, and the Amount and Payment of their Salaries. HE has erected a Multitude of new Offices, and sent hither Swarms of Officers to harrass our People, and eat out their Substance. HE has kept among us, in Times of Peace, Standing Armies, without the consent of our Legislatures. HE has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil Power. HE has combined with others to subject us to a Jurisdiction foreign to our Constitution, and unacknowledged by our Laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation: FOR quartering large Bodies of Armed Troops among us; FOR protecting them, by a mock Trial, from Punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States: FOR cutting off our Trade with all Parts of the World: FOR imposing Taxes on us without our Consent: FOR depriving us, in many Cases, of the Benefits of Trial by Jury: FOR transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended Offences: FOR abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an arbitrary Government, and enlarging its Boundaries, so as to render it at once an Example and fit Instrument for introducing the same absolute Rules into these Colonies: FOR taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws, and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments: FOR suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with Power to legislate for us in all Cases whatsoever. HE has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us. HE has plundered our Seas, ravaged our Coasts, burnt our Towns, and destroyed the Lives of our People. HE is, at this Time, transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the Works of Death, Desolation, and Tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty and Perfidy, scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous Ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized Nation. HE has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the Executioners of their Friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands. HE has excited domestic Insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the Inhabitants of our Frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages, whose known Rule of Warfare, is an undistinguished Destruction, of all Ages, Sexes and Conditions. IN every stage of these Oppressions we have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble Terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated Injury. A Prince, whose Character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the Ruler of a free People. NOR have we been wanting in Attentions to our British Brethren. We have warned them from Time to Time of Attempts by their Legislature to extend an unwarrantable Jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the Circumstances of our Emigration and Settlement here. We have appealed to their native Justice and Magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the Ties of our common Kindred to disavow these Usurpations, which, would inevitably interrupt our Connections and Correspondence. They too have been deaf to the Voice of Justice and of Consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the Necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of Mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace, Friends. WE, therefore, the Representatives of the UNITED STATED OF AMERICA, in GENERAL CONGRESS, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the World for the Rectitude of our Intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly Publish and Declare, That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be, FREE AND INDEPENDENT STATES; that they are absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political Connection between them and the State of Great-Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as FREE AND INDEPENDENT STATES, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which INDEPENDENT STATES may of right do. And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm Reliance on the Protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor. |
Emphasis above is mine. Think about it. Government by the consent of the governed. Remember Florida? Destructive of these ends. Gee. I wonder how many million things I can come up with that the government does that are destructive to those ends? And does anyone really believe that we could, starting today, abolish and create a new government of these United States?
I'd like to sit and ponder those words those men signed their lives, fortunes, and sacred honors to, just two hundred twenty-six years ago. But when I think of that, and when I think of the buffoons who have followed, I find myself less and less confident that this country will continue to survive.
As a child, I saw the Bicentennial. Admittedly, my biggest disappointment was in the delay of the Viking 1 lander to not actually land on Mars on July 4, 1976, but I understood, better than most people at the picnic my parents held, the reasons why they couldn't.
But I'm nearly certain that my children and grandchildren will be exceedingly fortunate to see the quarter-millennium of this country, let alone the tricentennial.
Unless, of course, "this country" continues down the same roads we have been, in which case the name might remain, as would the history. And the loss of liberty, life, and the inability to pursue happiness.
Busy Day. We got up around 9:30, got moving, I took my citizenship test and passed (yeah, I know, I was born here, but it was in the papers, and after finishing it (I had like 97% - I missed the question about which amendments concerned voting - got the nineteenth, missed the fourteenth and fifteenth. Sorry), hit the farmer's market (hey, it's a holiday, and farmers need to eat, too - so yeah, the farmer's market was going), hit the grocery store (more pseudo-freedom - we now have non-exploding, non-flying fireworks which are LEGAL right next to our 3.2 beer. Gee. Fun. That'll distract us).
We're home now, getting ready to roll out of here again in a little bit for the regular "let's get together and picnic" thing with some friends tonight, make our annual offering to the non-neighborhood mosquitoes (I'm thinking this year Jack might finally be of sufficient size and juiciness that they can take him and leave the rest of us alone - if not, then I'm going to have to make the annual sacrifice of 40% of my bodily fluids. Where's the beer?), shoot off "legal" fireworks (he's a cop now, so we can't do that stupid stuff any more), and then come home.
Tomorrow, yard work, running in the sprinkler, perhaps, and other fun and foolishness. And some serious work - deciding what to barbecue Friday, and what to wait and barbecue Saturday. So far, it seems I've got steaks AND burgers down to a science. I'd like to repeat the barbecue performance, as well as expand my repertoire. The sooner I improve to a real grill-master, the sooner I can convince herself that I really really need a new grill or two (I'm thinking one bigger charcoal grill, and then a second gas grill. I might even look at making my own charcoal grill with the help of a friend of mine... But that'll wait until later).
Enjoy your fourth...
Friday, July 5, 2002
Oops. See Tomorrow.
Saturday, July 6, 2002
Yes, I know. Oopsed, I did.
We got home from a picnic at friends after midnight. I should note that he, a St. Paul Reserve police officer, had far more (all legal) fireworks than I'd seen anywhere outside of a store display. It took nearly 45 minutes to set them all off.
For future reference, fountains are the most fun of the legally allowed fireworks in this state. You light, they shoot stuff up, and that's that. In order to make the display safer and more ... viewable, it's a good idea to shoot them off on a concrete or asphalt surface, preferably on top of some concrete blocks. This worked well.
I, of course, stood by with the hose and bucket of water, just in case. Not needed, fortunately.
So then, yesterday, we arose quite late, after 11 am, mostly, and then the fun started. I had a computer to attend to, and didn't quite get it done in the allotted time. Then we had to run out to get cat food (oops, they were closed), gas (good deal, the price on the sign was 1.329, we paid 1.299), and a limited amount of shopping at the drug store.
Then, back home to grill some pork chops, some brats and hot dogs, and do our own remaining fireworks (took about ten minutes). A bonfire, then to bed.
Today, out to the Farmer's market, over to a bread store, off to make two stops to get bubble stuff for the kids, and back home - to hide in the basement.
Truth be told, we watched the ID4 stuff again while I napped, then Ann started the grill and we did one of the pork Tenderloins.
The longer I go here, the less I'm finding I like certain kids of pork. Couldn't tell you why, but sausage, ham, and bacon's fine. Chops, tenderloins, etc., just don't seem to agree with me.
That, and of course, today, we had temps outside near 100F - which is, frankly, too damned hot. Period.
I'm going to bed now, three hours or so earlier than the last couple of nights. Must get back to a normal cycle... ;-)
Sunday, July 7, 2002
Random Thoughts
1. If Thucydides knew about corn during the Peloponnesian war, why was corn such a surprise to England in the 1600s when found in what became America? Or do I have a bum translation of The Peloponnesian War? Ah, college texts...
2. As I understand it, expenses are funds paid for items which are not counted as assets. Asset Tracking Systems are pretty much a required thing in most larger companies. Why is it that WorldCom was able to mis-classify nearly four billion dollars worth of expenses as asset purchases without the corresponding changes in their asset tracking system? (which, of course, presumes then that there was a much bigger conspiracy than first thought, I'd guess)
3. In Star Wars, Attack of The Clones, the clones are of Jango Fett, who appeared to be an associate of Count Dooku. Yet they end up fighting on the side of the Republic. How'd that happen? Was it planned that way? Was that part of the plan? Or was that a sucker-punch that Palpatine/Sidious will have to recover from?
Yeah, I know. Too much time in the shower. I might cultivate other pasttimes, but then again, I'm Catholic. I'm not allowed to do that.
The Pledge, Again
I see Dr. Pournelle's still ruminating about the pledge. (I'll link once
he rolls over).
As I recall, the whole three-branches-of-government thing was supposed to be set up much like the old Rock-Paper-Scissors game. You know - Rock breaks scissors, but is covered by paper. Paper is cut by scissors. You have one leg which can be beat by one, and beat another. They balance out.
I was under the impression that the courts were the resource of last refuge - if the laws conflicted, if you were harmed by others under the law, or if the laws were unclear, you went through the court system.
How were those laws created? The judicial branch doesn't propose and pass legislation - that's the legislative branch. The Executive branch is a final approval of a law, unless, of course, a two-thirds majority feels the bill should be law, in which case they can override a veto (and only an idiot allows the process to be maneuvered to a point where he disagrees with two-thirds of the elected officials - and since most of you don't live in Minnesota, I would be remiss if I didn't point out that our current Governor Lame-Duck Ventura's been overridden more than any governor in history).
Dr. Pournelle makes the point that we have ALLOWED the Supreme Court the distinction of determining what is, and is not, constitutional.
Who would he propose do that? Would he rather propose that we have endless referrenda on such questions, with the decision being made by a majority of voters? Well, there's a good idea - people who may not care one way or the other, and people who did not care one way or the other, and people who have a vested interest, all combining to skew the vote. Most of the people involved, mind you, probably haven't read the constitution for a few years, if ever.
Now "gratuitous interloper" or not, if the individual who brought suit was ever required to say the Pledge of Allegiance, he himself has standing to bring suit. That he brought it in the name of his daughter is a legal fiction - and this world is full of them. My second-grade daughter hasn't evolved yet to the point where she would be offended by certain language choices; at most, she'd ask from confusion, not from a point of fact or law.
So the guy brought suit on behalf of his daughter. So it sped up the process. So be it.
I suspect that Dr. Pournelle's upset is less on the fact that the decision was made in the way it was made then in the gradual erosion of religious influence in this country.
Which is something to be concerned about, if you are religious. But then, you have two choices. You can light a candle, and make of yourself one of those people who is willing to be a religious example to the world at large, or you can curse the darkness which has brought us to the point where "under God" is declared unconstitutional.
And, frankly, it should be.
Certainly, we have a problem in this country. We have a number of them, actually, but they all boil down to the same thing - Faith. We have little enough faith in our politicians any more - look at the level of criminals - er, elected officials, whom we have to call our "leaders". I wonder if there's a statistic for elected officials from township board and dogcatcher all the way up to president - and the number of accused, and convicted, versus the population (without them) at large.
Locally, we've had Minneapolis City Councilmen plead guilty or go to trial on bribery charges in the last 12 months. We've seen our Governor use the position to which he was elected to boost himself into new, higher-paying jobs than he would have had if he'd remained an afternoon-drive-time-sports-radio-knucklehead. We've seen Presidents investigated about accusations which did not pan out, and instead they committed other offenses which did - and this President seems to be headed down the same track.
So we've lost faith in our political system. Certainly, religion is faring better than it has in a long time, but if you head into religion with the same scientific curiosity that's been prevalent for the last couple of decades, we're left with the simple premise that "it's all about faith". Sure, you can pull together a series of coincidences and call it "a sign" if you so choose - and many do. Heck, I do. But does it meet the test of scientific rigor? Hell no.
So, we've got no faith in our politicians, and little to no proof our faith brings anything from religion. Where else is there left to turn?
We could say our fellow man, but given the recent level and size of scandals rocking the business world, one must wonder. In the case of Enron, many, perhaps hundreds, of people must have known what was going on - yet only one came forth. In WorldCom, the same situation - someone had to be coding expenses as assets - and more than a few people, I'm certain. Yet they all continued to do it.
There are plenty of other companies out there that had wonderful run-ups, and are perhaps waiting for the auditor's working eye to turn on them. I'd not want to be in that position any more than I'd want to be working for them.
But the bottom line is that we, as a nation, have had a rather large crises of faith that's extended now for about 25 years - and we either need to get out of it or find a new faith. The problem is, of course, that we cannot claim "under God" to be a "one-size-fits-all" shirt for the country.
If we are a country where all faiths and creeds are welcomed with open arms and allowed to practice, then let us do away with "Under God", "In God We Trust", and all of the "So Help Me God"s in the various oaths the government administers/requires. Including "God Save This Honorable Court".
Or, we can admit that our founding fathers weren't the infallible deities we apparently believe they are (or were, as most of them have been dead for at least a century and a half, give or take a bit), and instead say "well, we need to tweak this some."
The alternative is to admit what we all know - that America is fair, mostly, but not all the time, that we're willing to give most people, but not all, an even break, and for the most part, we'll help you out, but if you turn out to be someone, or something, we don't like, well, sorry, but we were wrong, we're going to have to renege on the deal.
Not a pretty thought on a Sunday, no?
Other Than That
Quite honestly not a whole damned lot going on here. For the first time in
nearly a week we're about to eat a dinner which we neither cooked with our own
fire nor cooked with other's fire, but instead was done in a more civilized
manner (i.e. cooked inside). I may also fire up the DVD player and watch
Patton, for fun and profit, before Mrs. Beland stops by tomorrow night to pick
up the valuta heading westward to the Western Belands. Ahem. They'll
get the joke, the rest of you will snort and go "WTF?".
So be it. Enjoy your evening.
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