10/31/2004 #
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O, why I do not follow election news anymore? Let me count the ways.
From Slashdot:
As a slashdotter, I think we have the responsibility to actually listen to “Mosh” and act responsibly. The republicans can sink to their own filthy level of voter fraud and intimidation by themselves. There are two ways to stop them:
1) Get out the vote, and overwhelm any cheating the bad guys can do. That kind of cheating works great if the candidates are tied (which every wishful poll in the country would have you believe). The more people get out to vote for Kerry, the less chance cheating can throw the election. So don’t go to those polls alone: bring your friends, family, and anyone else you can (without forcing, kidnapping, or bribing them, of course). Give Kerry a landslide from the people those polls don’t count.
2) Join the efforts by various rights groups to help monitor and protect voting polls and voters.
Personally, I think Eminem delivered the true October surprise. He’s right too, the coming of the King of Terror began in a schoolroom, it’s reign should end there too, with the only real swing state that matters: the youth of America.
There is hope Kerry can win, and not only from sports omens. Leading Hindu astrologers [newindpress.com] and a noted Hindu mystic believe that Kerry is going to win, Bush will never again be president, and Kerry will end terrorism and bring world peace! The sun and the moon have even endorsed Kerry.
“The last hope is to fight by ourselves.”
Belebera, “Mothra 3: King Ghidora Attacks”
Yeah, you were sounding pretty sensible there until you referenced Eminem, Hindu astrologers, and a Mothra movie in the same breath.
Good freaking grief people.
10/31/2004 #
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Ben Folds + Grey Goose = Mellow
That’s my energy equation for today. Sorry, I’m still, STILL shaking off the Fundamentals of Engineering exam. I never would have thought it would stick with me this long, but it has. When I’m thinking bed at 11:30, there’s something wrong.
Screw the election. I’ve already voted. I wash my hands of it, and I’m about to plug my ears. I’m boycotting extended FNC/CNN views until election night, and late at that.
Now for the GMAT…then I think I can pretty much relax completely.
If someone offers to show you the movie “Faust: Love of the Damned,” do not take them up on it. I rented it because I’m slightly interested in the Faust legend. Yeah, big mistake. Many of the post facto reviews I read about it tonight mentioned something to the effect of “almost pornographic” (speaking of both violence and some weird nudity). I don’t know if I would go that far (I did see “House of 1000 Corpses” after all), but it was terrible. “Corpses” at least failed honorably to generate a plot.
If I had paid decent attention to “13 Conversations About One Thing” I would have something intelligent (and probably very complementary) to say about it, but I didn’t, and I just guess I will like it when I pay attention to it later this week. Pizza is just too good to look up from, and reading Slashdot is fun.
If you haven’t seen this bash.org quote, you should. Aight?
VIA (an emerging Taiwanese semiconductor company) is manufacturing circa 1GHz i386-compatible mainboards (soldered-on processor with such a low power draw it does not require a fan) for about $225. These have USB, TV-out, and even an optional on-board CompactFlash reader. If you netbooted this thing as a thin client, you’re looking at a $400 computer including a very nice, custom-size case and a keyboard and mouse.
Kicker: 2 Black, 5 colorless; Target player sacrifices a creature or loses 2 life.
No…no…let me restate that.
Kicker: The board is only 17 cm x 17 cm. That’s right. Somewhere around 30% the size of a regular ATX board. This is car stereo size. In fact, this is one of the emerging applications (hook it up to some of those nice LCDs they’re mounting in headrests now with a Bluetooth mouse and keyboard). This is called Mini ITX (the Shuttle PC’s…i.e., what I’m using now to write this blog…use this factor).
Kicker 2: The “Nano ITX” standard was just announced a few months ago. 12 cm x 12 cm. Eat that.
Alright. I’m going to bed.
10/31/2004 #
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Ok, one more. Is this a Firefox 1.0PR bug, or is this a super-crappy page layout? I got it on a random link from Blogger.
Yuck. Horizontal scrolling with teddy bears and little heart butterflies really doesn’t say 31337 to me.
10/30/2004 #
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Go Big Red!
Not like I saw the game. My brain is thorougly fried from the 8 hour FE test marathon. Now to let Boone’s Farm finish the job!
Just kidding.
10/29/2004 #
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Well, I’m glad I just saw Eminem’s political opinions on BET. Funny to see that someone who flicks off television cameras seems to have assumed the position (at least in his mind) of a political leader. The video is pretty patronizing (i.e., “Today’s Lesson” on the blackboard at the beginning of the video and the following quote from the song):
“Let me be the voice in your strength and your choice.”
Yay, democracy. Everybody put on a black hoodie and vote the way I tell you to. Sounds to me like the people we’re fighting.
Frankly, I don’t care what anyone thinks about the Iraq war. The more I learn about WMD (in my class on that subject), the more I see that chemical weapons are basically crap compared to conventional weapons. Biological weapons are another story, but they still aren’t nearly as dangerous (in their actual, mass-delivered form: they’re harder to deliver than one would think) as, say, high explosive shells. I think the debate comes down to enforcing UN resolutions: should national sovereignty be breached as a result of a broken resolution? I say yes in many cases (including Iraq), some say no (which I completely understand on a policy argument basis), and that’s okay. That’s a leadership style and a policy debate. And if you think Bush misled the American public, you are entitled to count that against him when you assess the candidates’ characters.
As for the scene in the video of the eviction of the poor Hispanic woman, I went to irs.gov and keyed in fictional information for a single mother with two children and 2 jobs (total annual income of $40000 [pretty generous at minimum wage or slightly higher], with $2000 of that going to childcare costs [low] and $1000 going to medical) and that person will pay exactly $84 in taxes. I didn’t manipulate this at all: my first run came out to $0 in taxes, so I went back and doubled the income to $40000 and lowered the child/medical deductions from a total of $6000 to $3000.
I’m not saying that poor people aren’t poor, but I am saying that poor people don’t generally pay taxes. I would honestly love to hear an argument against this, because I always wonder what the hoopla is about when it comes to “taxing the poor.” I realize that the middle class tax rate is a genuine political debate, but Eminem was suggesting low income people in his video (Are your parents worried about being evicted?).
Anyway, these “Get out the vote and vote my way” campaigns really piss me off. I don’t want people who are “informed” from an Eminem video to vote. If you have cable to see the damn video you have just the same access to CNN (or, God forbid, FNC!). :)
10/28/2004 #
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Hippies can be awesome sometimes. Proof: Download “Helplessly Hoping” by Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young.
10/26/2004 #
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Heave-ho, work’s a ho’
I’m listening to “Ohio”
By Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young,
Wondering how to get unstrung
On this dumbass egg-drop machine.
So many egg drops it’s obscene.
I’m an engineer
Drinking Killian’s Red beer.
And I just don’t care.
10/24/2004 #
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Go Sox.
I’ve watched enough South Park tonight to rot my mind through a few times over. I love marathons.
10/24/2004 #
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Oh! Is that a bandwagon I see? I’m an Eagles fan now.
10/18/2004 #
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Kernel 2.6.9 was just released, which means my Linux From Scratch system is no longer bleeding edge (Kernel 2.6.8.1). Being up-to-date ain’t easy.