Daily Kos is apparently souring on Obama:

It looks like Obama is gun-shy after sticking by Jeremiah Wright. Now, he can’t move quickly enough to denounce his own allies. So he’s cross at Wes Clark, and he’s mighty cross at MoveOn as well! Who else will he be cross with as he kicks off “Operation Piss Off the People Supporting and Bankrolling His Campaign In Order To Prove He Hates the Dirty Fucking Hippies”. Now that the primary is over, he can turn his back on the people that brought him.

I was going to max out to him today, given I haven’t given Obama a dime yet (focusing on congressional candidates). But I changed my mind. He wants to send the message that he doesn’t need us, all the power to him. Message received. I’ll spend that $2,300 somewhere else.

I’m not entirely sure what to say about this, which is bad, seeing as the entire point of having my own blog is saying things about what I bring attention to. With that in mind, let’s see if I can force something profound and meaningful out of the morass that is my brain at this very moment.

People are starting to sour on Obama, and for good reason.  His followers are insane, doing crazy things like changing their middle names, shutting down anti-Obama blogs, and, for lack of a better word, proselytizing the Word of Obama to anyone who will listen.  This has been a problem for a while, and is a big part of the reason why his victory against Hillary was so narrow and drawn out to begin with.  Needless to say, if you can barely get half of the Democratic Party to vote for you, you’re going to have some problems in the general election, especially when the half that voted for you was the Democratic equivalent of the psychotic Chick Publications-subscribing Moral Majority folks that the Republican Party has to humor from time to time.  In other words, Obama may have picked up the support of the right half of the Democratic Party to narrowly edge out a victory against a tenacious opponent, but he got the wrong half to ride to the White House.

Fortunately, Obama is all about HopeChange… so, he’s HopeChanging himself in a way that is completely alienating the base that got him this far.  The question is, can he HopeChange himself enough to convince enough of America that he’s really not the focal point of a new youth rebellion that must be stopped at all costs while not actually alienating the youthful supporters that he relies upon to run his campaign?  By the looks of things… probably not if he’s already losing the Kossacks.

And I, for one, am well pleased.  Keep being weird, Obama.  The Republican Party is depending on it.

One of my coworkers sent this absolutely sacrilegious article my way:

A naval interceptor rocket accidentally targeted and blew up the returning Jesus Christ during a morning test over the Pacific, setting off some kind of retaliatory offensive by the host of heaven.

General Jason Gruntsworthy, head of the Anti-ballistic Missile Shield program, declined comment at first, then said “God, what a mess.”

“On our screens, Jesus looked suspiciously like a Chinese MIRV-9 nucular missile, which is frankly an easy mistake to make. The real surprise is that we actually hit something.”

Following the explosion, burning radioactive pieces of Jesus rained down over a wide area of the western seaboard, causing spot fires and random miracles. NASA has asked that the debris not be touched or collected as souvenirs.

It goes on like that.  Of course, the spelling is a little off here and there, but it’s not very often you get to see the word “eschatological” in a satire piece.  Personally, I prefer to encourage such epistemologically-conscious wordplay.

On a related note, Left Behind is still an obnoxious, pretentious pile of propaganda that should never be viewed by anyone.

That is all.

Most people don’t think about their operating systems.  When they do, it’s because something has gone horribly wrong with them - programs are crashing, the old printer isn’t working, the computer is running slow, that sort of thing.  There are a few brave souls, however, that do think about their operating systems, and view their choice of an operating system as a personal choice, an exercise in free expression.  A lot of these people buy Macs, thinking that they’re being cool, cutting-edge, avant garde, and such.

They are, but that’s besides the point.

Those of us without the means to buy a Mac, or those that just want something without some sort of fruity logo on it, travel down a different road - a road fraught with intrigue, danger, and hope.  We go into the frontier of operating systems, into a Wild West-like land of freedom and opportunity, a land with only the veneer of civilization, where nobody holds your hand and where you’re just as likely to kill as be killed.

I am, of course, talking about Linux.  BSD and Solaris folks don’t apply here - they’re sort of like the Quakers, the Shakers, the Chinese, or maybe those wacky Jehovah Witnesses or something.  They’re just weird, and should be shunned accordingly.

To help illustrate the veritable and verifiable coolness that is Linux, I present to you religiously themed operating systems:

Ubuntu Christian Edition - For those that want the Power of God to grace His Servant’s hardware.  It even comes with the WhatWouldJesusDownload toolbar!

Ubuntu Muslim Edition - Don’t let that evil Western font of technology keep you from your proper observances as a practicing Muslim!  Keep track of your prayer times with Minbar!  Peruse the Koran with Zekr!  Look at all that green!

Of course, no such compendium of open sourced religious zealotry would be complete without…

Ubuntu Satanic Edition - It’s dark.  It’s bloody.  It wants to swallow your soul… or your sole.  They hunger for fresh fish, you know.  Like real Satanic worship, though, there’s no real content - it’s just a bunch of themes so everything looks evil.

Welcome to the Wild West, everyone.  Enjoy your stay.  It’s real shiny here.

A couple of days ago, I received an e-mail from someone wondering what I knew about the Fernley Flood a while back and whether I knew who the builders out there were.  Unfortunately, I didn’t have much knowledge; I personally knew one of the attorneys that was doing a little work in the ensuing civil disputes so I sent the person their phone number, but that was about it.  In the process of the conversation, though, we began to discuss politics.  They identified as a “progressive liberal”.  I was intrigued - I hadn’t had an intelligent conversation with one before.  I think I can safely say I still haven’t.

NOTE:  This goes on for a while.  In fact, it goes on for a long while.  You’ve been warned.

Italics is my new “progressive liberal” friend.

Bold is your host.

Names have been omitted to protect the innocent.  We’re going to jump in right after I let the person know that I really didn’t know much about the Fernley Flood situation… which, well, I don’t. Sorry.

————–

Thanks, David.  My heart hurts for all those people who lost all the
owned.   Selling people property in a place they knew wasn’t safe to
build in.

Your political affiliation is?  Myself,  I’m a Progressive (Liberal).
What do you think of Assembly Speaker Barbara Buckley’s play for the
governorship in 2010?  The mining and casino industries own her like a
pair of shoes.  The three biggest TelCom’s have a piece of her as well.

————–

Thus it begins…

————–

I lean libertarian, myself.  I’ll have to admit, building homes next to a 100 year old dirt irrigation ditch was probably not the smartest idea in the free world.  Then again, neither was neglecting to purchase flood insurance when you’re living next to a 100 year old dirt irrigation ditch.  I suspect there was a lot of blame to go around, between whoever was responsible for maintaining the ditch, the people that approved the building of the homes by the ditch, those that built the homes, and those that bought homes next to an active, ancient irrigation ditch and didn’t think that might be worth insuring against.  I’d call it “systemic failure”, myself.

Ah, Barbara Buckley… it’ll be interesting to see how the next gubernatorial election shapes up.  I’ll have to admit, Gibbons has done a wonderful job of ruining the Republican brand as far as Nevada’s concerned.  Consequently, I’m not surprised that the two industries this state has (mining & casinos, of course) are doing what they can to curry favor with the “leading” Democratic candidate in the state.  That said, given a choice between her and Titus… oy.  I’ll have to admit, I’m not a big fan of Titus - I do live in Reno, after all, and she knows full well that we’ve done her no favors.  I suppose that, if I had to vote Democrat, I could probably vote for Derby without too many problems, but she seems rather fixated on Congress at the moment.  Can’t say I blame her.

————–

I was curious to see how well this person would react to that e-mail.  I touched on the concept of personal responsibility and seemed lukewarm on Democratic gubernatorial candidates.  The “progressive liberal” actually handled it reasonably well… at first.

————–

12 years of Repug failures (Guinn being a bigger failure than Gibbons)
should make voting Dem your only logical choice.  Looks like you’re have
an open field in 2016.  Obama’s natural choice for VP (Sebelius) will be
too old.

————–

Some interesting notes right about here:

1. Interesting that this person assumes that 2012 will default towards Obama & The Democrats.  It’s good to have faith in your candidate, but still, there’s a lot that can happen in four years.  Just ask our current President.
2. Also interesting that Kathleen Sebelius is considered the natural choice for Obama’s VP.  Not that I disagree, mind you - just interesting.

So, I replied:

————–

It should, but the Dems haven’t exactly been impressing me, either.  Reid and Pelosi have done disturbingly little to clean up the wonderful wave of corruption the Republicans put into place, and the Democrats have been just as bad with ethanol subsidies and corporate corruption as their Republican counterparts as of late (Countrywide?).  Very disappointing.  As for the state, well, yeah, Guinn and Gibbons have been pretty bad.  Then again, what are they going to be replaced with?  Titus?  Her idea of “let’s balance the budget” was to try and throw the gas holiday measure in with the casino tax bill.  I don’t know if it was Truman or Eisenhower who said this, but one of them said something to the effect that if Democrats try to out-Republican Republicans, people are just going to vote for Republicans.  The inverse, of course, is also true.

I wouldn’t be so sure about Obama making it through two terms.  Heck, McCain is a lot closer in the polls than he really has any right to be right now, which means that Obama may be getting elected not on the strength of his positions or his platform but simply because he’s not a Republican.  Ask Carter what kind of a domestic mandate that gives you.  Don’t get me wrong, I don’t see any Reagans hiding in the shadows, but if Obama overplays his hand, the Republicans might not need one.  I don’t think I’ve been so underwhelmed during a presidential election before, and that includes Bush-Kerry.  That’s saying something right there.

————–

Now, when I mentioned “no more Reagans”, I meant that there weren’t any obviously charismatic Republicans waiting in the wings to become President that people would actually get excited about.  Simply put, there aren’t any interesting Republicans in the pipes at the moment, which is why I’m one of those that would rather vote for McCain and have a nominally fiscally conservative President than vote for Obama with the idea that it’ll teach anyone anything.  The Republican Party got lucky - they had a candidate in 1980 that was charismatic and had a wildly different platform than the Rockefeller Republicans that preceded him, which was more than enough to wipe the taint of Nixon and Ford out of everyone’s mouths.  Throw in an absolutely incompetent Carter administration and you had the perfect storm.  The Republicans aren’t going to have that in 2012, and people need to wake up and realize that.

The “progressive liberal”, meanwhile, responded.

————–

What this state needs is a GRT/B&OT — or whatever name you stick to it
but mining and casino’s need to be taxed accordingly.  That free ride
going on since forever would end with a governor doing their j-o-b.

Guinn moved Hell and high water to prevent that from happening.  Between
those two entities alone we could see our way out of this [fiscal]
darkness in short order.

Obama couldn’t loss this if Larry Sinclair had video of his allegations.
His election is a forgone conclusion and the repubs know it. Unless of
course the Bradley affect takes hold ‘bigtime.’

————–

Now, I’m not entirely up on tax & spend code, but I’m suspecting that GRT means “Gross Revenue Tax”.  I’m lost on B&OT, though.  Either way, this person’s solution towards Nevada’s fiscal ills is to increase taxes across the board, which is definitely a curious direction in the middle of an inflationary recession.  Nothing says, “Re-elect me!” like voting for something that increases further the price of goods and services, hinders job growth, and shows that the government isn’t exercising the same kind of fiscal restraint that its citizens are obliged to.

Larry Sinclair, meanwhile, has been the center of a story interesting enough to grant a Doonesbury cartoon.  Whether any of it is true or not, I don’t know.  I also don’t particularly care - if Obama’s on drugs or engaging in homosexual activities, it’s not a big deal in my book.  Besides, as the “progressive liberal” pointed out, proof is in the pudding, and, so far, no “pudding” on this “scandal” has been found.  I have bigger issues with his policies and his absolutely bizarre followers.  Of course, the idea that someone would fail to vote for Obama because they don’t agree with him is probably a foreign concept to some people, but whatever.

It’s my turn to respond:

————–

Perhaps - then again, if we set up a tax system dependent on our two biggest industries, it would only be a matter of time before one of them experienced some economic hardship and we’d be right back to where we are right now.  Besides, Nevada’s two primary methods of taxation are property taxes, which casinos and mines pay (except in downtown Reno, for various political reasons), and sales taxes, which gives us money from the tourists that visit the casinos.  All increasing taxes on casinos would do is cause them to tighten their odds, which would reduce the amount of spending money that tourists have, which, in turn, would just cause our sales taxes to drop.  That’s the problem with taxing businesses - they just pass the tax on to their customers and keep the same net profit margins.

I think you’re right - it’s definitely Obama’s race to lose.  People are nervous about the economy, the Republicans are completely confused, and Obama is extremely charismatic.  Obama would have to make a lot of very serious mistakes to lose this one.  That said, his numbers aren’t as strong as they should be at this point.  They might improve after the nomination and after the aftereffects of Hillary wear off, but we’ll see.

————–

Now, I’ll point out that, at this point, I’m being very civil.  At least, I think I am.  I’m trying to see this person’s side of the argument.  I’m even conceding bits and pieces of it.  Apparently, though, I hit a nerve, which is good because, otherwise, I would have had absolutely nothing to write about today.

————–

Ah, they say under ever Libertarian is a fiscal conservative.  Nice try,
but no cigar.  Surly you didn’t think you could sneak that ‘Norquistian
nonsense’ pass a tax and spend Liberal like myself.  Not a snowballs
chance in the VIP section of Hell you peddling that shit as truth here,
slick.  And next you’ll tell me pancakes grow on trees.

Neither pays their way, you know, and I know it.  A GRT is ‘long
overdue’ for both players.  When you partly blamed the homeowners for
buying there [Fernley] it gave away your mentality of indifference.  And
the ‘there’s no reagan” schtick.  May his worthless soul burn for all
eternity in that VIP section.  What was that ’stupidity’ you babbled
about the porr casino’s — talk about inventive silliness?   They’ll
just tighten the odds and pass it on?

Ok, I would say this has been informative but I’d be lying.  Your ilk of
politicos is why our republic is going to Hell in a hand basket.

Milton, why post a website about Fernley in the first place and you know
‘nothing’ outside of what’s in the public domain.

Idiot grow up, you’d probably make a fine adult if you thought further
out than your own [fiscal] bottom line.   You plan to run for President
– of what?

————–

I’ll just let my response speak for itself.

————–

Some fairly quick thoughts:
- My web site is not about Fernley.  I posted a couple of blog postings on it over six months ago because I have some friends that live out there.  I post about all kinds of things, of which the Fernley Flood was one of them.
- The whole “running for President” gag is a gag.  I was originally making fun of the rather lengthy primary process and it’s “declare for the Presidency a full two years in advance” routine by getting a jump on the process in a very tongue-in-cheek sort of way.  Whether you caught that or not, I’ll never know.
- Seeing as one of the biggest precepts of Libertarianism is, in fact, fiscal conservatism, it should not be surprising that I am, in fact, fiscally conservative.  It’s kind of hard to call yourself a Libertarian when you advocate taxing everyone and spending their money for them.  In fact, that would be the antithesis of Libertarianism.
- Nevada can pay its way one of two ways:  Raises taxes or buy less.  I’d prefer for Nevada’s legislature to make fewer spending promises.  You prefer that Nevada raises taxes.  Both approaches hurt, but in wildly different ways.  Considering how a lot of new industries are moving into Nevada precisely because of our tax-friendly environment, and considering how I’d actually like Nevada to have more than two industries to draw revenue from, I’d prefer to keep our tax-friendly environment in place.  Perhaps you feel we’re farther along in our economic diversification efforts.
- Yep, I’m generally indifferent of people that don’t bother to take steps to protect themselves against problems that they can’t afford out-of-pocket.  That’s the point of insurance, and it’s because too many people think short-term that it’s now legally mandatory that I and every other driver in every state other than Iowa has to have car insurance.  I’m not saying it’s the homeowner’s fault for buying in a flood plain, but it is their fault for not insuring themselves against the possibility that the flood plain might actually, y’know, flood.  Flood plains are funny like that.  Besides, when you buy a house next to something that carries substantial amounts of water, wouldn’t you kind of have to assume that, at some point, that something might find itself carrying more water than it was originally designed to carry?  Besides, we get floods of some sort in this area about once every three or four years, so it’s not like flooding is unprecedented.
- Pancakes do not, in fact, grow on trees.  The delicious syrup that I eat with them, however, does.
- It’s good to see that, under every “progressive liberal” is a condescending, arrogant ass (donkey?) who immediately goes towards personal insults and ad hominem attacks when pushed.  Comforting.

At this point, I suspect we can mutually agree that this conversation isn’t going anywhere - it seems neither of us is particularly convincing.  Consequently, I won’t be particularly responsive from here on out.

————–

I know I was probably a bit more of an ass towards the Fernley homeowners than I should have been, though I do really, truly think that flood insurance is a really, really good idea, even in a desert.  Too many people seem to think that, because we live in a desert, it never floods.  Quite the opposite is true - because it rarely rains, it doesn’t take anywhere near as much for the ground to get saturated and turn a cute little storm into a house eater.  I also hold true to my pro-maple syrup stance because it’s incredibly delicious and tasty.

So, there you go - I have conversed with the other side and now we are all richer for the experience.

Oh, and because it’s obligatory:

What, you thought I was going to post this?

Not that I’ve been keeping particularly close attention to the state budget proceedings or anything, but I think it’s worth noting that the special session for the Nevada budget has ended.  Some of the highlights:

1. The RGJ’s coverage of the Special Session is abhorrent.  I’m not kidding - I’d expect the kind of spotty, poorly written coverage I’m seeing from them from the Sagebrush, not a professional newspaper.  If you want a fighting chance of figuring out what’s going on, the Las Vegas Review-Journal has an ongoing series, and the Nevada Appeal is doing a pretty solid job of covering the proceedings as well.
2. The 4% COLA for state employees has been maintained.  There was almost no political will to do anything about this, which wasn’t particularly surprising.
3. The Nevada State Prison lives on.  This is actually a little surprising, to be honest.  It’s definitely long in the tooth and in a relatively urban area, as compared to the facilities in Ely and Lovelock.  It looks like the Las Vegas representatives were concerned that the state was just going to start holding most of its prisoners in the south.
4. The biggest cut?  Textbooks - an idea generated to prevent cuts in teacher pay.  Clark County loves this idea, coincidentally, which is curious considering they need textbooks more than any other district in the state.
5. The casinos may finally get to avoid taxes on comped meals; the Nevada Senate failed to “clarify” their position on taxation of comped meals, which means this issue will almost certainly go back to the Nevada Supreme Court.  There was some chicanery on both sides of the aisle on this one; Titus’ attempted amendment on a possible gas tax holiday reminded me quite nicely why Gibbons ended up becoming governor.  Interestingly, if the federal government decides to hold a “gas tax holiday”, the state immediately jacks the state gas taxes up to make up the difference; Titus wanted to end that.  Considering the state of our roads at the moment, I’m going to go against her on this one, especially since a federal gas tax holiday would almost certainly mean less federal road funding in the future.
6. To the Review-Journal’s credit, they’re the one paper in the state to actually provide an itemized list of the changes in the state budget this year.  I’m generally not fond of our neighbors to the south, much less their news sources, but it’s either them or crap like this.

Anyways, there it is - the state is losing money and there have been some cuts.  Revenue projections indicate things are only going to get worse, which isn’t particularly surprising seeing as Nevada’s entire tax structure is based on property taxes (going down for obvious reasons) and sales taxes (i.e. tax the tourists - guess what high gas prices does to tourism spending?).  Of course, the lack of a state income tax is one of the big selling points to this place for a lot of people, and raising taxes during a recession is almost always a bad idea, so I’m certainly not going to advocate for that; that said, it may be time to get some of the uncertainty out of the state budget.  The trouble with its current structure is that, when times are good, the budget looks really good; when times are bad, the budget looks really bad.  Since it’s almost impossible to actually expect the legislature or the governor to put enough in the Rainy Day Fund to make up the difference, we may need to come up with other, more even revenue flows for the state so that state funding isn’t all over the map every year.  Doing that without a state income tax would require a bit of effort, to put it gently.

I finally begin to see how much of a disservice I experienced by going to high school in Pahrump.

I’m, of course, referring to Russian cheerleaders.

Don’t get me wrong - I’m not dumping the ESO for one or anything.  I mean, I don’t trust anything that lives in communist countries for seven days and doesn’t die.  Besides, I couldn’t stand teenage girls when I was a teenager; I somehow doubt Russian ones are more sane and levelheaded than their evil, soul-sucking American counterparts.  Even so, I can still appreciate the allure of kneepads, right?

Right?

Via Dr. Melissa Clouthier - Democrats Gear Up For Denver:

DENVER — As the Mile High City gears up to host a Democratic bash for 50,000, organizers are discovering the perils of trying to stage a political spectacle that’s also politically correct.

Consider the fanny packs.

Okay, wait… fanny packs? Are we seriously going to trust the operation of the greatest country in the free world to people that wear fanny packs? Think about it for a second.  You have a choice…

This:

Or this…

Yeah, that’s what I thought.

But wait… it gets worse!

But Matt Burns, a spokesman for the Republican convention, looks on with undisguised glee at some of the Democrats’ efforts — such as the “lean ‘n’ green” catering guidelines.

Among them: No fried food. And, on the theory that nutritious food is more vibrant, each meal should include “at least three of the following colors: red, green, yellow, blue/purple, and white.” (Garnishes don’t count.) At least 70% of ingredients should be organic or grown locally, to minimize emissions from fuel burned during transportation. “One would think,” says Mr. Burns, “that the Democrats in Denver have bigger fish to bake — they have ruled out frying already — than mandating color-coordinated pretzel platters.”

Democrats say the point is to build habits that will endure long after the convention. To that end, the city has staged “greening workshops” attended by hundreds of caterers, restaurant owners and hotel managers. “It’s the new patriotism,” Mayor Hickenlooper says.

That’s right - when you attend the Democratic Convention, they want you to build habits that will endure long after you leave.  Sounds sort of like church, doesn’t it?  You go to a building where the rules of reality no longer really apply, you get lectured for a while, people claim the food and drink does strange and unusual things, and that you’re only supposed to eat and drink certain things, and then you go home.  With any luck, after the Convention, you’ll be ready to dive into dumpsters when somebody puts plastics in the aluminum bin, buy only unionized organic cotton clothing that’s made in the USA, eat locally grown food, and, for the love of Gore, if you’re colorblind, well, that’s the affliction of Bushsatan right there.

But wait!  An old foe is attempting to repent!  They’re embracing the message.  They’re playing along.  They want to do what’s right.  What do you do?

But it’s almost inevitable that principles, politics and profit will conflict. To wit: Coors Brewing Co., in Golden, Colo., will donate biofuel made from beer waste to power the convention’s fleet of flex-fuel vehicles. A green star for the convention — but it has rankled die-hard liberals, who boycotted Coors in the 1960s and ’70s to protest hiring practices that they said discriminated against blacks, Latinos, women and gays. Heirs to the Coors fortune have long been active in conservative causes and Republican politics.

Oh yes - because of a forty year old grudge, some people are upset that Coors has the gall to turn their beer waste into biofuel and actually donate it to the DNC. How dare they provide free fuel when they were oppressing my grandparents’ gay black Mariachi-singing girlfriends? Remember - these are the same people that think they know how to handle the Middle East better than Bush.  I suppose they do get the dynamics of pointless multigenerational blood feuds, though, right?

Look, I’m not trying to claim that Republicans are perfect.  However, it’s becoming increasingly clear that the Democratic Party is being taken hostage by a bunch of psychotic ex-hippies who are doing everything possible to relive their adolescence in some sort of wacky midlife crisis.  At some point, we need to ask ourselves which way our country should go - down the path of endless rules, forever chasing the organic, local, unionized dream where we bury balloons in compost piles to make sure they’re environmentally kosher?  Or, do we dare to run screaming from the Environmentalian Orthodoxy and decide that the Earth will still orbit the Sun if we happen to get a cheap DVD player from China?

I know which way my vote is going - I can’t afford organic unionized local products, thank you very much.  I prefer my products to be cheap, inorganic and very much not unionized (I do have strong holdings in Confederated Slave Bonds, after all).

My brain is feeling moderately zombified today and there’s nothing good on the Internet right now, so I’m just going to kind of freestyle it…

First, a rather hilarious “interview” of Serj Tankian:

Next up… things that make me want to scream:

1. Politicians that pander on issues that truly matter.  Think Obama and his “tar sands” or McCain and his battery.  First off, batteries may not be the best way to move a car - BMW has been doing some incredible work with capacitors.  Secondly, is it really less environmentally friendly to pull oil out of some tar about a thousand miles north of us and pipe it down than it is to pull it out of the Middle East and ship it across the world?  How much longer are the American people going to find this environmentalist kneecapping of our gas prices tolerable?  People are environmentalists when they’re rich.  When they’re not, they tend to have a “I’m looking out for number one” policy.  The sickest part is that this pandering actually works - if it didn’t, they wouldn’t do it.
2. 9/11.
3. I need to get to bed earlier.
4. 9…
5. I don’t know if it’s the mild sleep deprivation or an actual problem, but it certainly seems like parts of my job are becoming increasingly complicated.  There used to be a time when it actually seemed that software writers were trying to make administrators’ lives easier.  Whether they were getting there or not, who knows?  But, it at least looked like they were trying.  However, as of late, I’ve seen weird package after annoying package that just jumps the level of needless complexity up a notch.  I don’t know why they’re doing it.  I don’t know who’s telling them it’s a good idea.  All I know is that, if somebody actually starts making some easy-to-use software that doesn’t throw around random roadblocks and call them “features”, they’re going to make a lot of money.
6. 11!
7. That’s all I have.

With that… I am done.

Found this via Slashdot - Oil Price Fallout:  Jobs Coming Home?

The rise in transportation costs are fueling what some economists are calling “reverse globalization.” For instance, DESA, a company that makes heaters to keep football players warm, is moving all its production back to Kentucky after years of having them made in China.

“Cheap labor in China doesn’t help you when you gotta pay so much to bring the goods over,” says economist Jeff Rubin.

Some local manufacturers have suddenly found themselves in the thick of boom times.

“In December, we had three employees here. We were just getting set up. Now it’s 14,” says Casey Hearn, who owns a furniture manufacturing business in North Carolina.

We actually have pretty decent conditions for a manufacturing boom in this country.  The dollar is weak, meaning our products will look increasingly attractive overseas.  Our infrastructure, albeit not in the best condition, is still better than most countries our size.  Transportation costs within the USA are cheap compared to most countries due to lower than average fuel prices.  We have plenty of trained and educated laborers, few of which are unionized at least compared to Europe.  Best of all, we’re the best customer on Earth.  Nobody buys more stuff per capita than the United States, and it’s going to be a long, long time before that changes.

In order for a recession to change, there has to be another segment of the economy that can take off, experience growth, and propel the economy forward.  The 1992 recession ended in part thanks to some strength from the technology sector.  2001 ended thanks to the housing and real estate bubble.  The trouble right now is that there isn’t anything immediately obvious that would help us domestically.  The energy industry is taking off, of course, but we’re not in an ideal regulatory position to take advantage of that.  There’s not a whole lot of excitement in the tech industry at the moment, at least no more so than usual.  Construction and real estate are collapsing, which means we need something to absorb some of that blue-collar labor.  Manufacturing would certainly fit the bill, as would the increased jobs in intrastate transportation (trucks, trains, road maintenance, etc.) were such a boom to occur.

Either way… here’s hoping this isn’t a fluke.

He is apparently a cocaine dealer in Tampa.

TAMPA, Fla. - Police said a man named God was arrested near a Tampa church for selling cocaine.

Authorities began investigating God Lucky Howard in April, and he was arrested on Saturday. Police said he sold the cocaine to undercover detectives in his neighborhood. When officers searched his home, they reported finding 22 grams more of cocaine and a scale.

Let’s just hope He doesn’t have a Son… otherwise, today is going to get a wee bit more apocalyptic than usual.

You have a Victory Garden.  It’s growing things.  Things you want to keep.  What do you do?  Fresh food has the nasty tendency to spoil, even in our relatively dry, microbe-free desert environment (i.e. if you’re reading this in Reno).

The solution:  Canning!  As always, Cardoza shows us the way.

The highlights:

1. Know how to properly can.  There’s a reason botulism is frequently spread through canned goods.  Don’t let yours fall to the same fate.
2. Heat + salt + vacuum = Will probably work.
3. The USDA gives tips and hints and, to be fair, probably has since the Wilson administration.
4. I’m addicted to italics.  I need help.

You can do this!  Just remember - WWJD?  What Would John Do… look, it’s not my fault his initials are the same as a certain carpenter.  I didn’t name him.  I just hope he doesn’t die for our sins or anything, otherwise I’ll never know how to properly maintain my Victory Garden!

(Teach a man to pick a vegetable and you’ll feed him for a day.  Teach a man to garden and you’ll feed him for a lifetime?)

That’s probably because it is:

GLOUCESTER, Mass. — The city’s mayor said Monday there is no evidence a group of young girls made a pact to get pregnant and raise their babies together, seeking to dispel an explosive theory put forth by the high school principal.

“Any planned blood-oath bond to become pregnant - there is absolutely no evidence of,” Mayor Carolyn Kirk said Monday after a closed-door meeting with city, school and health leaders.

That’s right - the same story that I and so many others dealt with recently is probably a hoax, all perpetrated by someone who wanted to make a point about teenage pregnancy.

There’s an old and often repeated saying that I’ve heard time and again:

Do not attribute to malice that which can be easily explained by stupidity.

In short, it’s possible that the girls had a pact before they got pregnant in some sort of Lifetime Channel-style American Pie-esque virginity pact.  It’s also entirely possible that a lot of the girls got pregnant at roughly the same time (intentionally or otherwise) and one or two of their friends might have been disappointed that they couldn’t join in the “fun”.  Of course, the end result is the same, but, without the story of the pact, there wouldn’t be anywhere near the kind of media speculation that we’re seeing today.

Now, are pregnancy rates at that school higher than usual?  Sure:

Kirk cited privacy concerns in refusing to answer many questions about the 17 girls who became pregnant this school year - more than quadruple the number who generally become pregnant as the school.

The key fact to keep in mind, though, is that, when 17 is quadruple the number who generally become pregnant in a year, that means that the normal number is no more than four, which is a pretty small number, unless this particular high school has ten students per grade or something.  That would be like me saying that I got drunk twice as much this month as normal without detailing how many times I get drunk a month.  If I only get drunk once a month, getting drunk twice as much isn’t a sign of a burgeoning drinking problem.  On the other hand, if I’m normally drunk ten times a month, well, that’s a different story - that means I’m now getting drunk 2/3 of the month.

In short, the signal-to-noise ratio on this story is off, and the latest on this story is only helping to drive that point home.

From a web site that doesn’t think all men are evil, stupid beings that don’t know their asses from holes in the ground, I give to you the 6 Most Annoying Coworkers:

1. The Naysayer.
2. The Spotlight Stealer.
3. The Buzzwordsmith.
4. The Inconsiderate Emailer.
5. The Interrupter.
6. The Stick in the Mud.

Heh… yeah, I could do this.  It wouldn’t be hard.  I would simply need to be proactive about engaging the paradigm of narcissism, outlining the risks of projected courses of action, communicating with all possible active parties the facts of any situation, actionably providing my opinion proactively instead of reactively handing it out, and behaving professionally and maintaining a healthy work-humor divide.

I told you it wasn’t that hard.

I heard about this a while ago when it first came out on MSNBC, but, after Rachel’s article on it, I think I’ve finally figured out what I want to say about it.

Back story:  Some teenagers in Massachussets thought it would be cool to have a “pregnancy pact”.  At least one of them slept with a homeless guy to make it happen.  They were largely successful, created a nice little media storm, and generally made asses of themselves.

Way to go.

Naturally, the supposed problems are all over the place.  They’re being oversexualized.  It’s all Paris Hilton’s fault.  The Spears family makes being a slut look so gosh darned cute. Their parents didn’t teach them sense.  The community thinks they need access to birth control (I’m with Rachel on this one:  Pregnancy Pact + Birth Control = You’re kidding, right?).  The list goes on and on and on.

They’re all wrong.

Look, I’m sure there are some cultural factors at play here.  However, oversexualized teenagers were around when I was a teenager, and that was ten years ago.  I mean, does anybody remember The Crush?  Heck, every single Nightmare on Elm Street movie started with a couple of teenagers getting frisky.  Teenagers have been sexualized since, oh, I don’t know, puberty. Besides, we didn’t see this sort of thing happening when Britney Spears was still in her prime.  Oh, I know, teenage stars weren’t always this slutty, but, let’s get real here - before we had open sluts to lust after, everyone just went after Farrah Fawcett or something.  Point being, it really doesn’t take much for teenagers to feel frisky and decide it’s okay to act on that.

Friskiness, however, is not what this is about.  Girls don’t have babies when they’re feeling frisky - oh sure, they’ll do things that lead to having babies, but they’re not going to intentionally impregnate themselves.  This is something very different.

The trouble is that the girls had absolutely zero concept of what responsibility over a living thing entails.  Consequently, they thought, being the usual strain of narcissistic bitch that most teenage girls are, that this new being that would take over their lives in under nine months would exist merely for their personal amusement.  This could have been solved any number of ways:

1. Buy a dog and make them take care of it.
2. Tell them to get a job.  Then start cutting off their food supply until they make rent.
3. Give them a little sibling so they can see how much work a small child is - this kept me celibate through high school, by the way.  Thanks, Mom.
4. Make them babysit obnoxious family members.
5. Buy them a dildo so they can stop thinking with their dick-equivalents.  I’m betting that, if female masturbation was encouraged, fewer teenage girls would feel the need to entertain the sloppy desires of teenage boys.  I could be wrong, though.

Look, nobody - that’s right, nobody - that has direct experience with children says, “Boy, I should go lose my virginity to that homeless guy so I can have one of those.”  I guarantee you that, even if your daughter watches nothing but Tila Tequila reruns and the porn you leave in the DVD player, nothing will keep her legs shut faster than having to deal with the consequences through someone else’s child.  If, after being around a child, your daughter says, “Boy, I want one of those,” what you should conclude is that she clearly hasn’t spent enough time around them.  The solution to this is to give them night duty over an infant, make sure they lose desired freedoms while you use them as your personal babysitting slaves, that sort of thing.  Make it inconvenient to take care of the children (y’know, like real ones) and they’ll pull their heads out of their vaginas before you can say, “Stop letting your teenage daughter live with college-age boys, Mrs. Spears!“  Yeah.

That’s a David Colborne Guarantee.  You can take these to the bank.

John Cardoza has a rather interesting idea about how to make it through the period of high gas prices and the impending spike in food prices due to the weather in Iowa - victory gardens.  He even gets the topic started off with a little World War 2 propaganda, just to spice things up a bit.

This isn’t a particularly new idea, of course.  Slate recently had an author that’s part of the “urban farming movement” that detailed her experiences with raising poultry.  As the article puts it:

There’s been a lot of ink spilled lately (in the New York Times, among other publications) on city chickens and the urban farming movement. Yes, movement. Whether they’re screw-you-ing the chicken or the egg industries (or, of course, both), next-gen farmers seem to have read Michael Pollan very carefully. They are hip, young, smart, liberal-arts-college graduates, green in many senses of the word, wearing stiff new overalls and chewing on only organic, free-range, locally grown straw, racing outside to move their tractors for street-sweeping. They are locavores, homesteaders, part of a revolution. They are saving the environment, making a statement. And if they eat their own, they tend to see the killing as an unpleasant downside—a tradeoff for the clear conscience that comes with cage-free, hormone-free, factory-free gumbo.

If some of this sounds familiar, well, it kind of should…

“One sometimes gets the impression that the mere words ‘Socialism’ and ‘Communism’ draw towards them with magnetic force every fruit-juice drinker, nudist, sandal-wearer, sex-maniac, Quaker, ‘Nature Cure’ quack, pacifist, and feminist in England.”

Or, if you will, precisely the kind of people that have been involved with the “urban farming movement”… until now.  You see, John is not hip.  He’s young (just turned 30), but you wouldn’t know it by looking at him - he has a handlebar mustache, for Christ’ sake.  He is smart, and he does have a Masters in Music Composition, but that’s where the left-leaning wackiness ends.  Past that, it’s nothing but Reagan-praising conservativism, with strong Catholic Republican roots.  Point being, he’s precisely the kind of person that isn’t being described as part of this “revolution”.  He’s not doing this to save the environment - indeed, becoming an urban farmer in a desert city like Reno is probably worse for the local environment than just letting the food get shipped in.  He’s not doing this to grow organic food - in fact, I’m willing to bet he’d spray DDT on his garden in an instant if he could get a hold of it.  I can also guarantee you that killing his own meat would not be considered an unpleasant downside - on the contrary, it would be one of the rewarding parts of the experience of raising his own animals for human consumption.

This is why this man is a visionary.  He is showing us another way - a new philosophical path to embrace the concept of locally grown, or, if you will, revealing a well-worn old path, one with deep ruts from many ages of use, and dark, tall trees, planted eons ago to shade travelers past.  This man isn’t telling you anything you didn’t already know - he’s simply reminding you that which you already know so well.  His first, best destiny is to tell you how to grow green beans.  Anything else is a waste of fertilizer.

(John - good enough plug for you?)

I had an epiphany this morning - this happens usually between that cloudy period of rolling out of the bed and when the last bit of coffee gets from my coffee pot and into my belly.  What was this epiphany, you ask?  I’m glad you did…

People that think that high gas prices are good for society because it causes people to drive less are just like those that think that the HPV vaccine shouldn’t exist because it encourages promiscuity.

What any person that says anything like this is saying is, “I don’t care how convenient or more pleasant life would be for most people if we had cheap gas/a vaccine for HPV/whatever - my beliefs are far more important than the happiness of a few million people.”  Rising food prices and increased poverty?  Small potatoes - we’re talking about the environment! Cervical cancer and unpleasant sexually transmitted diseases?  Not important - we’re talking about everybody’s eternal soul here!

What’s the common thread?  Religious fervor. My beliefs are more important than yours.  All I have to do to prove it is to require you to adhere to my beliefs, whether you want to or not.  Does this sound familiar?  It should.  It’s a message that’s as old as humanity itself.  It’s a message that carried Communism through Russia - if everybody is forced to be a Communist, we’ll see that it’s superior!  It’s a message that spread Wahabism through the Middle East - if everybody is forced to live with Sharia Law, we’ll see that it’s superior!  It’s a message that carried the message of Islam from Persia to Spain, carried Nazism from France to Stalingrad, carried the Khmer Rouge throughout Cambodia, and has, without a shadow of doubt, carried every single authoritarian bastard that thought he knew better than everyone else to power.

Just something to think about while you read this.

If a woman walks into a bar full of guys and starts talking to them halfway knowledgeably about football, all of the guys will ask for her number, assuming she’s not completely unattractive.  Conversely, if a man walks into a bar full of women and starts talking to them halfway intelligently about Sex In The City, all of the women will claim that they wish there were more sensitive guys like him, but none of them will give him their numbers, even when asked.

This means something… this is important.

If there’s one thing you can count on from the Elko Daily Free Press, it’s that it’ll point you in the general direction of something really annoying…

RENO (AP) - NAACP and American Civil Liberties Union officials have expressed concern over tougher admission standards at Nevada’s two universities, citing a report that shows they have caused a drop in minority enrollment.

Lucille Adin, president of the Reno-Sparks National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, said a further increase in the minimum grade point average from 2.75 to 3.0 this fall could discourage minority students from getting a higher education.

“We try to get these kids to go to college, and they make it so difficult by raising the grade point average and the tuition,” Adin told the Reno Gazette-Journal.

First off, let me begin by noting that, yes, this is an AP article, and I suppose that, as a blogger, I’m supposed to be boycotting them or something.  That’s nice. Unfortunately, noting this requires me to go on a tangent that I probably should save for another time, but, as the French say, c’est la vie.

I’m not into ideological purity.  I don’t care if it’s free software, Libertarianism, or whatever - I don’t believe that any single ideology can or should define my personal behaviors.  Life is far too complicated to be properly covered by a finite set of rules and regulations.  That’s not to say that a person shouldn’t have a broad, defining philosophy to guide their actions; failing to have one is a good way to drift around aimlessly.  However, attempting to be a “good” insert movement of choice here, whether that’s Christian, Atheist, Muslim, or conservative blogger, is a pointlessly limiting exercise.  In short, don’t add more rules and requirements in your life than you need in order to live your life productively without compromising somebody else’s ability to do the same.  This is why I’m not too concerned about the AP boycott - if they feel like calling me up and saying, “Hey, stop quoting our material,” fine, I’ll honor that.  Until then, I do think it’s unfortunate that the AP is being difficult with certain bloggers, and it’s unfortunate that they’re encouraging Estate 4.1 to use a different media service to meet their editorial needs, but, if that’s the choice they wish to make, well, it’s certainly within their rights to do so.

Back to the article at hand, though…

I can see how increased tuition would be unpleasant for everyone involved.  I was a college student in the University of Nevada system, and, though it was quite affordable (roughly $1800/semester for tuition for 15+ credits each semester I went there, not including books), I can definitely relate with the fact that a minor tuition increase is felt very sensitively against many college students there.  Since it’s a public university system, especially not a particularly well-renown one, many students there are self-supporting; put another way, you’re not seeing a whole lot of students whose parents are footing the bill.  That said, a 3.0 in high school is not too much to ask in order to attend a university.  If you can’t pull off a 3.0 in high school, you probably shouldn’t be going to college. Heck, I had a 3.7 in high school and, without getting into specifics, let’s just say my college GPA was not that high.  There are a lot of distractions once you go to college - nobody’s forcing you to show up to class, you probably have to do something on the side to pay for your existence, there’s minimal parental supervision, and there are a lot more social events.  If you’re doing such a poor job of handling the pressures of high school that you can’t even pull off a 3.0 there, well, how well do you think you’re going to handle college, hmm?

This brings me to Ms. Adin’s statement regarding the effect a higher GPA requirement affects minority enrollment:  Which is better for our minorities - letting them slip into college without sufficient preparation, so they’re up to their noses in student loan debt with nothing to show for it, or telling them that, sorry, they’re not prepared for college yet?  As someone with far more than I should have in student loan debt, I can tell you straight up that encouraging people to amass the kind of debt many poor students would need to accrue to successfully handle the financial pressures of college when they’re nowhere near ready or, at that time, capable of finishing a college education is morally bankrupt.  You’re staring someone in the eyes and saying, “Don’t worry about high school - you’ll be fine in college, regardless of whether your past experience has encouraged you in your abilities to handle further schooling.  It’s not like you’ll be saddled with crippling debt or waste years of your life that would have been better spent in a vocational program or anything.”  In short, if a student, minority or otherwise, can’t handle the educational pressures of high school, why should our publicly funded universities pay for that student’s education, in whole or in part?  It’s not a good investment for the student and it’s not a good investment for the state.

Besides, it’s not like the numbers for minorities are that bad:

The University of Nevada, Reno, reported a 35 percent increase in black students and a 10.6 percent decrease in Hispanic students.

Remember, folks, according to the new math, an increase in the number of a minority group’s enrollment is a sign that their ability to enroll is being threatened.  This, of course, is probably a shining example of the kind of logic one learns when you go to college without proper preparation beforehand.

On an entirely unrelated note, teens driving into a deer is newsworthy.  The more you know…

Let’s throw down some kid-themed stupidity today, shall we?

Where to start… high-heeled shoes for babies (because it’s never too early to become a sodomizing whore!), or the latest exercise in overkill inspired by brainless zero-tolerance policies?  Let’s go with…

High heeled shoes for tots!

U.S. designers have launched a range of high heeled shoes designed specifically for babies.

The tiny stilettos, called Heelarious, are intended for babies up to six months and come in hot pink, black and leopard print.

You want pictures?  Of course you want pictures.  You’re a sick pervert that way, aren’t you?  Yes you are.

Yep.  I was just telling the ESO last night, “Hey, honey, you know what I was thinking?  Girls don’t look like hookers soon enough in life.  I mean, three, maybe four years old… anybody can do that.  I mean, they’re almost old enough to start experimenting with their bodies at that point and actually vaguely realize what’s sort of going on.  We need to step it up a notch.  We need to get them at birth.”  Real conversation, I swear!  I mean, if “No means no”, then the solution is to find someone that can’t say no…

(That, folks, is, without a shadow of a doubt, one of the most disturbing paragraphs I have ever written.  Moving on…)

Meanwhile, in Oregon City…

OREGON CITY, Ore. - An Oregon City fourth grader missed her last day of school Friday because she shared a lip cream with two classmates.

[…]

She found a medicated, over the counter, lip cream called “abreva” in her desk. It’s a cold sore medication and can numb up an area.

A classmate asked her what it was and wanted Madison to share. She did and the classmate put some on her lips then passed it to a friend. Madison says a short time later the two classmates didn’t feel well and told the teacher.

OMGTHEYREDOINGDRUGSEVERYBODYPANIC!!!

District Superintendent Roger Rada defends the move.

“We’re there to protect the kids,” said Rada.

Because, if you stop and think about it, nothing protects kids quite as well as suspending them for sharing medicated lip cream.  I mean, you know what other dangerous medicated lip creams exist out there?  That’s right - I’m talking about this:

Dear sweet Jesus, we must protect our precious snowflakes from the evils of medicated lip cream, lest they start doing lines of the shit or something!  I mean, they might start, y’know, having less chapped lips if this continues!

Look, I kind of get what they’re going after here - they don’t want children sharing their medication.  Fine.  I get that and totally understand that - some kids have different allergies than others and the last thing you want is for your kid to take a medication from a friend that knocks them into a hospital or a morgue.  Totally understandable.  That said, suspension? On the last day of school?  Am I the only one thinking that’s a little overkill?  I’m thinking someone tapped into the rush of power over the little ‘uns and decided to give them a bit o’ th’ what for.

Sadly, I don’t even remember how I found this… but I did take it.  The questions were… interesting, to put it mildly.  The results were… entertaining.  Yes.

The Loverboy Random Gentle Love Master (RGLM) FACT:You embody the German principle of Konstantzusammenschaft, which is best described in English (without using the obscure English word “sammenschaft”) as “eternal togethermanship”. Well-liked. Well-established. You are The Loverboy. Loverboys thrive in committed, steady relationships—as opposed to, say, Playboys, who want sex without too much attachment. You’ve had many relationships and nearly all of them have been successful. You’re a nice guy, you know the ropes, and even if you can be a little hasty with decisions, most girls think of you as a total catch. Your hastiness comes off as spontaneity most of the time anyhow, making you especially popular in your circle of friends, too. You know not to make the typical Loverboy mistake of choosing someone who appreciates your good humor and popularity, but who offers nothing in return. You belong with someone outgoing, independent, and creative. Otherwise, you’ll get bored. And then instead of surprising her with flowers or a practical joke, you’ll surprise her by leaving. Your exact male opposite: The Billy Goat Deliberate Brutal Sex Dreamer Always avoid: The Nymph (DBSD) Consider: The Window Shopper (RGLD), The Peach (RGLM)

Link: The Online Dating Persona Test | OkCupid - personals | Dating

Or, I’m really tired of people ramming my truck.

Now that the ESO’s car is finally fixed, I’m back to driving my Dakota.  However, for reasons that completely escape me, it seems that people confuse it with the surrounding desert dirt (it is beige, after all).  At least, that’s my explanation for why, yesterday afternoon, somebody felt compelled to ram my truck in the middle of Carson City.

This would be the second time someone has rear-ended me in as many years.  I had never been rear-ended until I got that truck.

The best part, of course, was that, after pulling into a parking lot to talk to the lady that rammed me, I asked for her insurance card… and that’s when the waterworks hit.  Apparently, it was her dad’s car, she was a single mother, she just got divorced… in other words, Umm… I’m probably not insured and probably shouldn’t be driving this car.  Please let me go so the cops don’t arrest my sorry ass.  If you try to report this to an insurance agency, don’t be surprised if they laugh at you and you have to take me to court.

Great.

So, I looked at the damage.  It was a low speed collision (5-10 MPH, maybe) - the bumper was bent to hell but the frame was fine.  One of the nicer things about my Dakota is that you can literally see where the bumper bolts on to the frame; this means that, if I put my mind to it, I could probably replace the bumper with one from the junkyard in under an hour.  The bad news, though, is that, if I tried to report this to my insurance agency and took it to a body shop, the cost of repairing it would be under my deductible… which meant it wasn’t worth reporting, seeing as the likelihood I’d ever see a dime from Miss Uninsured Single Mother Driving Her Dad’s Pontiac was next to nil.

Naturally, “her” Pontiac was fine… apparently, the Grand Prix is a surprisingly durable car.  It definitely fared better than the Honda Accord that rammed into me on the freeway last year.  As an aside, the driver of the Accord provided her insurance paperwork promptly, and, seeing as the damage was about the same, no, I didn’t report her, either.

This brings up a point - if women drivers are so safe, how come both people that rammed into me in traffic were both women? Sorry, ladies - you’re at least as inattentive as the men out there.  In fact, based on my personal, anecdotal experience, I’d say my truck would have a much lower chance of getting slammed into if everybody with more estrogen than testosterone got off of my f—ing road.

There.  I said it.  Women can’t drive.  When they stop ramming the back of my truck, I’ll stop being bitterly mysogenistic about this.  Until then, deal.