Midnight Disclosure

Dead Language? I think not. My Letter to EVGA.

2009-12-18T21:04:00.000-08:00

DIES LUNÆ A.D. VIII KAL. DEC. MMDCCLXII A.U.C. (December 7, 2009)
Joe Darwin, EVGA Head Of Marketing
3230 East Imperial Highway Suite 116
Brea, CA 92821

Salve! M.Joeus Darwinus,
I am writing this letter to inform you of a unique opportunity that I believe can be extremely beneficial to your company. I have purchased many EVGA cards in the past and have been very pleased by the quality and service I have received. There is no other company I would choose for my video graphic acceleration needs. However, I have noticed a rather disturbing fact about your company that I wish to rectify.
Despite having Polish, German, Dutch, French and Russian representatives, I was dismayed to find that you lack a representative in the Latin language!
While you may look at the statistics and find that it may not be financially effective to have a representative in the Latin Language, I urge you to read on and discover how useful such a position would be.
First of all, as you very well may know, the Vatican City currently employs Latin as its official state language. With the rise of abortion, outer space exploration, genetic engineering and other pressing theological issues to deal with, this small country, along with the Catholic Holy Elite, is sure to be one of the most stressed out states in the world.
I often use your video cards for enjoyment and stress relief. I am sure that popes, cardinals, and flying nuns would feel the same way. Imagine the untapped market available by reaching out to the international Catholic seminary!
However, I understand that catholic priests are a shrinking lot, and that much of their possible computer playing time is taken up by playing with much more exciting little boys, so this may not be the best strategy to increase current sales at this time.
So, I advise you, look to the future by remembering the past!
I need not remind you that for centuries the Roman Empire was at the pinnacle of technological advancements and cultural progressiveness. Latin was spoken throughout most of the known world, and for more than a thousand years later, any speech or documentation was spoken or written in none other language than Latin.
Now, considering Einstein's Special Theory of Relativity and the theorem regarding the speed of light and the possible speed of interstellar travel, it would make most sense that any extraterrestrial would have had its first exposure to human behavior and civilization in the Language of Latin, whether it be the peak of Roman society, the Byzantine era, the dark ages, or the medieval period.
Imagine the possibilities. An Alien race with the technology to reach our planet from light-years away comes to Earth, and EVGA, with its Latin Language Consultant already established, is instantly able to share and learn from the new visitors, with no communication issues at all. You would have the complete upper hand on any competitor trying to capitalize on this Close Encounter of the Fifth Kind. The potential is literally out of this world!
I have several years in classroom Latin learning, and would be perfect to serve as EVGA’s personal Latin Language consultant. It would not be necessary to keep me on payroll or recognize me as an employee or outside consultant. I would not need any special recognition or any official documentation with your company. Just know that, when the time comes, I will be ready to serve. At that time I will expect payment for services rendered.
I hope this letter has enlightened you, and it was as much for you pleasure to read as it was for me to write.
For a Latin translation of this letter please email: amanthewinner@gmail.com

Vale,

Aman Birk

P.S. I have been attempting to purchase two EVGA Nvidia GTX 275’s for quite along time now. I wish to use them in SLI for a new computer build. The problem is, my currency is being rejected from all resellers of your material. I hope that you see to fix this problem of the impudence and ungratefulness of the retailers for your goods. According to Emperor Diocletan’s “Edict of Prices” issued in 301 AD my salt is worth 100 denarii’s per liter as official currency. The generally accepted exchange rate to US dollars is about 26 dollars to the denarii. I have included ¼ of a liter of salt, to an amount equivalent to USD 560 dollars. I hope this covers the amount as well as shipping. Thank you for assisting me in this matter. The salt is iodized, if that is to any use.

[I have yet to receive a response or compensation for my salt. My substanstial private investment in a backyard salt mine has been rendered useless upon stumbling upon Sodium Chloride in my local market, for a much lower value than I had been informed. Donations to help recoup these losses would be greatly appreciated! ]

Views on Free Markets

2008-10-15T17:03:00.000-07:00

In times of great productivity and success, many people speak out and call for a free market. That is, a market that has no interference from the government. The population sees cash flowing in, but then the government is taking a slice they don't deserve. However, then the going gets rough, or even, heaven forbid, really rough, and the same populace screams "Help, Help! Save me!" Make your mind up! Everyone wants what is the best for them at the time. No one thinks of the future! Even when times are bad, though, I think, the free market is the way to go, despite how much someone may lose, because if the free market remains free, then it will not die, and it will pick it self up. However, with regulation at both best and worst times, inevitably a point will be reached where that government force inadvertently causes an irrevocable failure.

There are several reasons for this. The first is bureaucracy. Although the least of the several reasons, it makes the most immediate sense. I mean, take our congress, for example. Can you imagine them running a business? Putting everything to a vote? Splitting every decision 50-50? Debating on every little thing? I can imagine it now.

"I say we put the tampon advertisements on a billboard on the highway to no where. That way it has a purpose."

"No, that's absolutely ridiculous! Do you not care about black people? These need to go on port-a-potty's on skid row. Apparently there's been a slump in sales. We can get them cheap spots."

See what I mean? This is exactly the pathetic way that congress argues. What business in their right mind commissions a highway to no where merely for the sake of it? And pork-belly spending? That method of liberal money throwing wouldn't even be tolerated at Enron! And to top it off, look at how they run their own business! Trillions of dollars of debt? Budget deficits? It's a wonder the white house hasn't been given a foreclosure notice. I can see it now.

"We're here to evict an umm.... Mr. George W. Bush? No, no, I don't care that you're giving a foreign leader a massage. I need you to leave. What? You're gonna tell Dick on me? Tell that to the bank."

Plus, the corruption and scandalous behavior that is done by our wonderful representatives on capital hill would rip a company to shreds! At least in the office it's only bosses doing their secretaries, not 65 year old men soliciting gay sex from an undercover police officer in an airport bathroom! And Elliot Spitz! He paid 85 dollars an hour to that chick? Where's the fiscal sense in that?

The second, more serious reason, is the statistical data on the track record of past governments, as well as simple economic common sense. Destruction of the free market delivers inferior products, and a lot of that is what hurts us. Our inferior products cannot compete with European and Japanese goods, seriously damaging our economy and overall GDP. The lower quality goods started with cars, and electronics, and has now spread to crappy mortgages, in a strange, twisted way. Penalties, mandates, and extra taxes force companies to take shortcuts and end up delivering those lower quality items. Germany and Japan, some of the strongest economies int he world, have governments that strictly protect the free market from interference, and their nations have profited greatly for it.

Finally, mandating and regulating the sale of certain items and business practices leave us no room for error. Free markets fall and heal; with this bailout, we won't get a second chance. Backing the wrong technologies or policies, may leave us with banks shutting down faster than we can handle, a bankrupt government. None of the security and illusions we had will be there anymore. And this time, there won't be a drop of oil left to give us a second chance.

Electoral College Analysis, September 20

2008-09-20T18:51:00.000-07:00

The key states in the election are:

Pennsylvania - Obama will have a tough time winning without PA. If PA goes McCain, I'd say there would be an 85% chance of a McCain victory.
Florida - the reverse applies here. If FL goes Obama, he'll have about an 85% chance of victory
New Mexico - the key to winning the 2008 election will most likely be in the west. In NM, Obama and McCain need to compete for the Hispanic vote.
Colorado & Nevada - Here, it's the libertarian vote that counts. Colorado is a bit harder for McCain, Nevada is a bit harder for Obama. It will depend how many "Ron Paul Republicans" vote for Obama or Barr, and not McCain
Virginia - Another important state more for Obama, if he gets it, he can afford to lose a bit in the west.

Max's Electoral College Predictions, Monday, September 15, 2008

2008-09-15T20:48:00.000-07:00

Both the conventions are over, and Sarah Palin has been picked as VP for McCain, so I've made some changes. First of all, Montana changes from "Obama-Leaning" to "Strong McCain," and Alaska, the Dakotas, and Georgia changed from "McCain-Leaning" to "Strong McCain." Palin has excited the conservative base so much that it is unlikely for Obama to have a chance at winning Georgia, and her status as an "outsider" to national politics will help McCain get more turnout, and take back some Ron Paul supporters in Montana, Alaska, and the Dakotas. However, I still consider the Ron Paul factor to be important in Nevada, because of the problems with the state Republican convention. West Virginia is still a factor in the race, I wouldn't be surprised if Obama pulls an upset there because of Biden. Although polls showed Virginia leaning more toward McCain after the convention (also because of Palin), and I was going to move it to "McCain-Leaning" a SurveyUSA poll released today shows Obama up by 4% (with a 3.7% margin of error), so for now, I'll keep it in "Obama-Leaning." The EC totals are:

Strong Obama: 197
Obama-Leaning: 95
Total Obama:292

Strong McCain: 157
McCain-Leaning: 89
Total McCain: 246

Max's Electoral College Predictions, August 23, 2008

2008-08-23T22:42:00.000-07:00

Well, Obama just picked Biden as his VP; before, I was going to put West Virginia into the "Strong McCain" category, but this should make WV a McCain-leaning swing state. I'm also tempted to move Pennsylvania into "Strong Obama," but I'm going to wait for some more polls to come out first. Here's the totals.

Strong Obama: 196
Obama-Leaning: 99
Total Obama: 295

Strong McCain: 129
McCain-Leaning: 114
Total McCain: 243

2008-08-13T22:42:00.000-07:00

So, Russia is invading Georgia, while the rest of the world just sits still. It's sad. Let's take a look at the hypocrisy that's going around in the United States and the world right now. First of all, right now, the United States refuses to trade with Cuba, because of the communist government, but we have no sanctions directed at Russia, even though their invading a sovereign nation. Secondly, the media is spending more time covering the John Edwards' affair which took place TWO YEARS AGO, instead of covering hard, serious news that will have a huge effect on the world. If Russia is allowed to proceed unchecked, they'll see no reason why they shouldn't just go invade the Belarus, Azerbaijan, the Ukraine, or any one of the central Asian countries. I don't think military action is necessary yet, but an invasion, even at this point, would not be like the second Iraq or the Vietnam war, it would be comparable to the war in Afghanistan or the first Gulf War. Right now, though, we need to go for harsh economic sanctions, and only consider a military operation if that doesn't work.

Congress Apologizes for Slavery

2008-07-31T20:31:00.000-07:00

So, on July 29, Congress issued a statement apologizing for slavery and Jim Crow laws that the nation had previously used. Slavery, and Jim Crow laws were horrible things that our nation did in the past. However,

Is this really what congress needs to be doing now? Look at the state that our nation is in. We're in the worst recession our nation has ever had since the Great Depression in 1929. Sure, slavery was horrible, but we need to be fixing our current problems first. It's no wonder that Congress has such low approval ratings. It's because they aren't doing anything useful.

About gun control.

2008-07-31T10:28:00.000-07:00

I'm of the opinion to suspect that the average American would not have the guts to shoot someone with their gun that they're allowed to have as stated by the Constitution. Even in self defence, people neurologically have a difficult time taking another human life. Let's take a proverbial man named Bob. Bob lives in Detroit, and today he's standing on his porch watching as a dude in a ski mask with a black car is driving up to his house. Now let's put a gun in Bob's hand. The man in the ski mask pulls his car into Bob's driveway, and lifts up the garage door. He doesn't see Bob standing there, holding a gun pointed at the dude's head. Bob's hand is trembling because he's never killed someone before, but his three year old daughter is inside the house sleeping, so he pulls the trigger. The bullet rips through the burgler's left thigh, by any means a completely survivable injury. The burgler drops the garage door and falls to the ground in agony, and pulls out his own gun which he bought legally at a gun store (he had no criminal record, and turned to burglary because he'd lost his job and was desperate for money so that he wouldn't have to live in his car). Meanwhile the neighbors call the cops because they hear gunshots. Bob, feeling relieved that the man isn't dead, because this means his conscience is clear of the guilt that tends to come along with killing a man, is now faced with the possibility of being shot himself as the burgler is now holding his gun at Bob. The burgler has never killed anyone before either, and is using the gun in hopes of scaring Bob into not killing him, because the burgler doesn't want to die any more than Bob does. Bob, scared out of his wits, pulls the trigger and plugs the burgler square in the chest. This is a fatal wound this time, but in the moment before death the burgler pulls the trigger, more from the shock of the impact than intent to kill, but the damage is done and Bob dies as well. The police arrive to find two dead men on a driveway clutching pistols, with a three year old child screaming in the house. Had neither of the men had guns the scenario would have ended most likely with a high speed chace as the burgler tries to escape with the stuff he stole from Bob's house. He would have been caught, since he wasn't evil, just desperate, and eventually realizes that escape is futile. Bob is badly shaken, but otherwise he's fine.

And as to the use of guns to protect the populace from the government, I feel this is a useless pursuit because the army, especially after having its ranks swelled out of proportion by the heavy recruitment and new technology from the iraq war, could not exactly be stopped by a few civilians with handguns. It takes more than your neigborhood firearms dealer to bring down a tank.

I think gun control is the correct avenue to take in this moral conflict.

My thoughts on the Supreme Court's decision to allow guns individually

2008-07-01T22:13:00.000-07:00

Recently, the United States Supreme Court ruled 5-4 that the Second Amendment of the United States allows individuals to keep firearms. I've generally been in favor of gun control, but lately, I've been getting increasingly cynical, and I'm wondering whether it's such a good idea after all. Here's why.

No matter how much, and how strict of gun control we have, someone who is determined to kill someone will still be able to get their hands on a gun.
If people were properly trained about how to use guns defensively, they would be able to kill someone who went on a shooting spree.
People would be less likely to assault someone because of the consequences.

However, even I can't get myself to accept these facts. The thought of everyone being armed scares me. There's just too many irrational people in the world. It seems like there's no solution to this problem. And when you throw in that we need an armed population to keep our government in check...

There's just no right answer.

Obama clinches the Democratic nomination

2008-06-03T18:17:00.000-07:00

Well, even Faux News has announced it now, following MSNBC and CNN - Obama has clinched the Democratic Party nomination, with the exit polls showing that Obama will get at least enough delegates in South Dakota to clinch the nomination, even though Clinton will win South Dakota.

This is an important day in American history. This is the closest we've ever came to ever having a non-white person be elected president in this historically European-dominated country. This is making headlines all around the world, since, let's face it, it's the most progress we've made since Reconstruction and the Civil War. It's hard to believe that we've progressed all this way.

Not Bush Again...

2008-05-15T21:20:00.000-07:00

Recently, America has gone down into the dumps, the
abysse of abysmalness. The world turned upside down...
For those less mentally inclined, I am saying that
something must be done about this country NOW. Yes,
now. We are facing a major problem, worse that
terrorism, worse than we have ever thought possible.
We are facing a threat more difficult to deal with,
more compellingly simple to execute... It is none
other than the President Bush. That's right, the
President Bush. You see, we are facing not only a man
of "great moral integrity" but of fervent pro-war
"Uprighteousness". We might as well call his party the
Rat-publicans. It is the whole filthy den of them; all
of them.

To further expand upon the fact that Rat-publicans are
useless, please analyze Senator McCain. He is just
like Bush, an old wrinkly, hokey-pokey geezer who
can't even lift his arms up. Is it my problem that the
government then got involved into a usless war? Isn't
it his problem that he did not use his brain for what
he has got and figure out, even by finger counting
that it is simply unwise to fight for a loosing cost.
George Bush may MISUSE the military - that's enough
already - but McCain will ABUSE military. Yes, that
man is a maniac, a lunatic, a complete gum ball. He
has no sense of direction and trying to denounce Bush
only makes him appear poor and hopeless.

And returning to the ever present topic of how to rid
this country of such a leader, we need to make a
contrast and do it civily by following the following
steps:
1)Turn 18 (if you aren't skip to step 6)
2)Await the general election
3)Elect Obama, preferably, although Hillary would do
fine.
4)Ask everyone else to do the same, use force if
neccesary.
5)Wait
6)Organize massive strikes, pickets, and anti-Bush
riots. (it will work)
7)Under only dire situations, respond with anarchy,
chaos, and all that happy Jazz. Only in the most
NEEDED hour. If Bush is quiet, just simply laugh at
him; it will do no harm.
8)Excercise your right to Press and Speach

Thank you for your attention, and prepare the Champain
glasses. MAY OBAMA WIN!!!
(Or Hillary if you really say so. I am trying to be
fair)

Shockpen officially joins Blog

2008-05-07T22:00:00.000-07:00

Shockpen is part of the team now.

(author of "can't we all just get along?" and "Irvine: statistically the most dangerous city in America")

Now you can try Linux on your hard drive without any risk

2008-05-05T21:04:00.000-07:00

I've toyed around with Linux in the past, including using several versions of Puppy Linux, a live-distribution which takes up only 60 MB on a CD, and installing Xubuntu on an older computer, but haven't ever set up my computer to dual-boot, because I didn't want to risk losing data while repartitioning.

Until now.
While browsing the net, I discovered this program, Wubi, which is a Windows-based program that can install Ubuntu Linux onto a disk image on your hard drive, without the need to partition, and without any risk to your data. The only drawbacks are that Hibernation mode doesn't work, and data (on the Linux disk image only) is at a slightly higher risk of corruption if you don't shut down your computer properly, and other than that, it's the same thing as if it was installed onto its own partition. You should try it, I'm sure you'll use Ubuntu at least part of the time.
And if you don't like it, you can even uninstall it with the Add/Remove Programs section of the Control Panel in Windows. It's that simple.

Chairman Obama

2008-05-03T18:50:00.001-07:00

This morning I was in a hearty discussion with a close friend over the value and use of outdated products. A strange and seemingly useless topic for an argument, yes, but we were merely attempting to pass time. Without warning, an acquaintance briefly interjected the conversation with a statement intended to bolster my already strong position.

“Obama says that change is good. In fact, sometimes everyone needs change.”

A simple pair of sentences, yes, yet ones that were meant to have great meaning. However, instead of using my friends words to my advantage, I stopped, and realized what the naive friend had just done. Obviously one under the spell of Obama’s charismatic personality, powerful speeches, and driving message, he had done something I had hoped would never come to America.

Barack Obama, with his books and speeches, has imprinted his message of hope and change on many of the youth of this nation. In this, he has joined a special elite group of men across history. However, it isn’t the group of men you would of thought. Obama is slowly joining the ranks of Lenin, Stalin, and Mao Zedong, but not for any obvious reasons. These leaders all ingrained their doctrine into the minds of the population, and created a way of life from their words. See my point? For example, depending on my location in time and place, my same friend could of just as easily said;

“Chairman Mao says that change is good. The anti-communists must be gotten rid of.”

Or

“Comrade Stalin says that change is good. It is our responsibility to move forward and match the west.”

However, now that I think about it, this country does need a little cultural revolution, and what better to do it than two consecutive 4 year plans?

Texan Attempts to Cash 360 Billion Dollar Check

2008-05-02T17:50:00.000-07:00

Okay. People can be pretty stupid. However, this pushes it to the max. Charles Ray Fuller of Ft. Worth, Texas walked into a bank and asked to cash a check from his girlfriend's mother. The number on the check was 360 billion dollars. Obviously, even without looking at the TEN zeros on the check, bank staff could see the forgery. You must wonder, what did this man expect to achieve this? Walk out of the bank with more cash than the equivalent of the top five richest men in the world's money combined? Apparently, he did, and was planning to start a new record company. Thank god the bank officials weren't as stupid as him. He was also found with a pistol in his pocket and a small amount of cannabis. As a side note, what does this say about Texans...

Zero Chance For Texan who tries to cash cheque for 360 Bn Dollars

Max's Presidential Election 2008 predictions, April 28

2008-04-28T20:01:00.000-07:00

This is my prediction of how the election will play out this year, as of April 2008, 2008, assuming Barack Obama wins the democratic primary. Click on the image to enlarge it

Democrats: 282
Republicans: 256

Torture given legality by the US Justice Department

2008-04-26T20:56:00.000-07:00

According to the New York Times, the Justice Department has given legality to the CIA to violate international law, and torture people to prevent terrorism.

Now, let's face the facts.

Torture is unreliable. It just makes the tortured person say what they think we want to hear, not necessarily the truth.
WATERBOARDING IS TORTURE! I doubt who thinks that any of the "advanced interrogation techniques," banned by international law, that the CIA uses, would be OK if they were subjected to one themselves.
TORTURE IS TORTURE, NO MATTER THE CIRCUMSTANCE! Brian Benczkowski from the Justice Department stated that "The fact that an act is undertaken to prevent a threatened terrorist attack, rather than for the purpose of humiliation or abuse, would be relevant to a reasonable observer in measuring the outrageousness of the act." That is complete @#$%.

When the United States, which is supposed to embrace freedom, compromises on the values of the constitution, all we are doing is LETTING THE TERRORISTS WIN. When our government begins to rule through fear, we are just as bad as the terrorists. We can't take this @#$% that the executive branch is giving us anymore!

Can't We All Just Get Along?

2008-04-23T19:30:00.001-07:00

By Shockpen

(A response to a really terrible political video I saw, about Islamic extremism)

I saw a video today (I’m not going to say which because it was really, excessively inflammatory, and graphic) but it made me see things differently, though not the way the maker intended.

The video was about radical Islam, and the intent of the video was to make me think that it is taking over the world, and thus convince me that the Iraq war is justified. So, I asked the question: what is the purpose of the Iraq war? It is (to momentarily put aside the corruption involved, such as the heavy tie-ins with the oil industry) to stamp out radical Islam, because it was the fear of radical Islam that drove people to applaud the war in the first place. Well, why do we want to stamp out radical Islam? That’s obvious: because it endangers our lives, which are precious to us, more precious to us than anything else in the world, and I have to add that they are rightfully so because our lives are the most valuable thing we own.

We are protecting our own lives by taking the lives of other people, people who deserve their own lives as much as we do. Whether those people would or would not kill us given the chance is incredibly beside the point, as I will explain later. The point here is that we are doing the same thing that radical Islam is doing, only to a greater extent in that we have killed more people than they have. While the radical Islamists want to eradicate Westerners, we Westerners want to eradicate the radical Islamists, because we both think we’re right.

As I pondered this, the questions kept coming, ones that all seemed to answer themselves at first, but not really. It is pretty obvious to me that there is no way to get rid of radical Islam through violent or passive means, and it is also true that radical Islam is spreading, not as rapidly as the video would have me believe, but still at a decently alarming rate. The problem I have with the video telling people such information in such an inflammatory format in such an arbitrary way is that it distances them from their own ideals, which are generally peaceful as a whole. When you convince someone that they are in imminent danger and that there is no way out but to fight, it doesn’t matter how rational a person they are, because they will still fight. And when they fight, people on both sides get killed, people who all deserve their own lives no matter what they do with them.

The sad fact of this matter, before I move on to the true issue at hand, is that America has already become distanced from its ideals. We want to stop the radical Islamists because they want to kill us. Or at least, that’s the way we’ve thought of it this entire time. The blunt of it though, is that we want to stop the radical Islamists so that we can stop the fighting, even though we don’t know that this is our motive. But it is, because the terrorism we want to stop is the radical Islamist version of war, and we are fighting them to stop that war. But here’s the punch-line: it takes two to start a war. We wanted to prevent the deaths of more Americans, so what did we do? We sent a whole bunch of our fellow citizens to the war in Iraq where they all got shot in the face and died in bloody heaps on the dusty streets of Baghdad. Those Americans may have gone there of their own free will, but it was because they were caught up in sensationalism, with exhibit A being the propaganda video I saw. The radical Islamists don’t value their lives, so no matter how many of them we murder, it is still a victory for them when a single American soldier dies in the process. By invading their country, we are fighting their war for them. Now, I have one more question before we get down to business: Why are you reading this? Well, for that one I have to say that it is because somehow I have subliminally made you think that I’m going to put forth some sort of solution in this article. If I’m wrong about that then pay me no mind, but if I hit the nail on the head then there is something you need to realize: by rushing in to find a solution to this, you are part of the problem. This is why:

Every war ever fought, every conflict that has ever erupted out of the volatility of man, was started as an attempt at solving some sort of problem. But I can’t just stand up and say “Don’t try to fix things people! Problems are good, so we should leave things the way they are and ignore the outside world!” A statement like that will always draw the same predictable reaction: problems are bad (obviously, it’s in their definition) so we should get rid of them. However, earlier in this article I was able to prove that war is also a problem, because people die in wars. The wars people die in are often wars fought to save lives, which is what really slams the irony in my face. So do we fight a war to end all wars? A war is a way of solving a problem, and wars are our problem, so it’s a perfectly fine idea, right? The answer is a resounding NO, because a war like that would only ever be over if everyone dies, because otherwise we might still have wars afterwards, right?

I answered every question in the paragraph above, except the last one, which asked basically, in “true or false” format, whether or not the only way to end war is by everyone dying, because otherwise we will always fight. And I will answer this one now, and it will take up the rest of the article, because this is the heart of the problem: can people get along? What a question! Can people really, really get along?

This paragraph needs to “have impact on the reader” and the only way to do that is for me to completely ignore trying to make it flow with the last paragraph, so here goes nothing….

We need to educate the world. Fighting solves nothing, because it is the problem not the solution. This simple truth is what makes humanity so complex in our minds. How do you solve a problem when it is its only solution? You can’t, but who ever said anything about war being the only way to stop war? Education is the only way to allow humans to coexist with themselves. If we teach people that they can live in peace, that they should live in peace, that fighting is bad, that everyone on earth is their equal, and that they need to value their own lives as well as the lives of everyone else in the world more than anything else, and they believe it and live by it, then we have a perfect world right there, as perfect as it could ever be. Easier said than done, of course, but so is everything in life. If we could just show the people of the world that to coexist is the only useful thing they could ever do, that anything other than peace is wrong, because it is simply lowers the quality of life for everyone, we could achieve this. What we need is for everyone in the world to realize something: they need to realize that their own existence is something that they’re experiencing against a-million-to-one odds. They need to realize that the fact that they were even born at all was something that they should take as an unbelievably lucky miracle. Because it was. Even though humans don’t live very long, a hundred years at the most, we shouldn’t take that as something depressing and limiting. Instead of a life that ended too soon, a life that was too unfairly short, we should see eighty years that we should never in eternity have ever hoped to experience. Those eighty years are eighty years won at incredibly sheer odds, eighty years that we shouldn’t waste fighting the other people who just so happen to also be alive, for that brief yet beautiful span of years. What we really all need to do is simple: we all need to realize that our fellow humans, all seven billion of us, are all brothers and sisters, united by our shared experience of the only world we’ll ever know. Instead of bombing each other, we should all sit back and watch the sunset together, knowing it will rise over somewhere else in the world, where there are more people who are your brothers and sisters, and as it sets again yet more of your brothers and sisters will rise to it as a new dawn. But no matter how far away from you they are, they are still your brothers and sisters, and truly they aren’t very far from you at all, because the earth is just a little blue marble in the infinite vastness of space.

All we really need is a little understanding, and a little bit of hope, so to the makers of those propaganda videos, try a little inspiration in place of damnation, because we’re a lot closer to world peace then we’d ever know, and all we have to do is just stop and listen to each other.

Ron Paul wins 16% of the vote in Pennsylvania

2008-04-22T21:15:00.000-07:00

Well, I heard this on the Rollye James Show , but had to confirm it by looking into the detailed results at MSNBC. The results are: McCain - 79%, Paul - 16%, Huckabee - 11%. Ron Paul came in second place, and the mainstream media is barely giving it a thought. Now I don't agree with everything that Ron Paul says, but I support him because I think he's the most above the corruption of government of any of the candidates. It's ridiculous how low the mainstream media has gone. This is news. He came in above Huckabee, and almost nobody cares...

FLDS kids being transfered into foster care

2008-04-22T20:57:00.000-07:00

MSNBC has reported that the kids formerly in the custody of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints are being sent into foster care now. This is excellent news. Even though we may not have the best foster care system, almost anything would be better than the kids returning to that ranch. Every girl has been or will eventually be abused by the cult, and every boy will either be exiled abruptly (the Lost Boys), or eventually be trained to abuse other girls, which I think is just as bad as being abused. This is a major step forward by the government of Texas to help save people from this horrible cult

Civil Liberties Concerns
There is just one thing about this case that bothers me, though. The state is conducting DNA testing (and fingerprinting) on the kids and parents to find out their families. This is a good idea, but there's just one problem - I haven't heard anything about them destroying the DNA once the investigation is over, and the fingerprinting is ridiculous. That is personal information, and it could be potentially misused later on in the lifetime of these kids. The kids ARE NOT criminals, yet we are only supposed to collect DNA from CONVICTED CRIMINALS. I hope that this doesn't come back to harm these kids later on in their life.

So we've been in space 50 years now, and...

2008-04-13T21:24:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was the 50th anniversary of Yuri Gagarin's flight into orbit, becoming the first man in space. We've made achievements since then in space exploration. The first dual-manned flight came on 11 August 1962. On 18 March 1965, the first spacewalk was conducted. In December 1968, humans orbited the moon. And on 21 July 1969, the first humans walked on the moon.

And not much has happened since then. The last people left the moon on December 14, 1972, and it's been 35 years since someone has walked on the moon, or any other celestial body. Instead, NASA spent all their money on a space shuttle which has killed 14 astronauts, and does nothing other than act as a ferry between the ISS and earth. There were no deaths of astronauts in the Apollo program (excluding the Apollo 1 training fire, which was not part of an actual mission), and it's accomplished a lot more for us. Instead of trying to build the new Orion spacecraft, let's just restart the Apollo program. It's safe, reliable, and works better than anything else we've tried.

Third Graders Plotted to Kill Teacher

2008-04-01T21:58:00.000-07:00

No, this isn't an April Fool's joke. Unless the whole internet is conspiring against me.
At an elementary school in Waycross, Georgia, about nine third-grade students plotted to kill their teacher. A bag was found at the school containing items such as a steak knife and duct tape, after a girl tipped off staff members about a weapon on school. Three of the students were have thought to have led the plot, the others in the group apparently didn't think they were seriously.

If even third-graders are thinking of going to measures this extreme, that shows something about our society. I don't support any kind of censorship, but I do agree that the media likes to glorify violence, and it's affecting 9-year olds! I don't know what we can do about this... It seems like no one can strike a middle ground anymore. Most people have become god-worshiping extremist evangelicals, or people who don't care about a shred of decency at all.

Why Ethanol Sucks

2008-03-30T21:37:00.000-07:00

I'm a big believer in alternative energy. However, ethanol is not a good idea. It just won't work. Here are some reasons why

We just can't produce enough ethanol to meet our energy needs. Estimates have came out that "if every bushel of U.S. corn, wheat, rice, and soybean were used to produce ethanol, it would only cover about 4% of U.S. energy needs on a net basis."
Producing ethanol will just drive food prices up. People are already sick of food prices increasing just because of transportation costs. If we start subsidizing ethanol, the amount of crops for food produced will dramatically drop, and when supply drops and demand remains the same, prices WILL rise
We don't even know if the energy required to produce ethanol, including the production of fertilizer and the land use change, will even be less than the amount of energy output by the ethanol. If that is the case, then the use of ethanol will produce even more greenhouses gases

As you can see, ethanol just won't work. And besides, there are so many more good sources of clean energy, such as hydroelectric, solar, wind, and tidal power plants, and we can use clean-coal plants as a short-term solution while phasing in truly clean energy. Don't believe the lies, and "just say no" to ethanol

Incredible Stupidity

2008-03-08T19:09:00.000-08:00

Okay. I was hoping to be a voice of reason on this blog, but my hopes have been crushed in the wake of reading about so many things showing man's stupidity. I am beginning to think that the only way Man can truly be the dominant force on this planet is outside help, dues to our overwhelming physical weaknesses compared to over species. I mean, half of the population has some sort of disease, whether it be a physically debilitating ailment, or one of those dreaded mental disorders, such as ADD, ADHD, OCD, and I'm sure many are to come. Now, I will state my case for extraterrestrial interference with this world. And after I do that, I'm gonna prove how we're gonna all be killed by them after they realized they made a huge mistake. Then I'm gonna decide black is white and get my self killed at the next pedestrian crossing. But until then...the big eyed green skinned little men beckon for me.

Irvine: Statistically the Most Dangerous City in the World

2008-03-05T09:40:00.000-08:00

By Shockpen

I woke up one Monday morning, looked out my window, and saw something that sucked: Irvine. I rose groggily from bed and opened the shutters, looking out over the safest city in America. There are no power lines, no alleys, no dumpsters, not even hobos. There is one thing it does have though, and that’s safety.

Irvine is statistically the safest city in America. Why does this suck? There’s a multitude of reasons, and they’re all more or less completely qualified and capable of single-handedly screwing up my day. I’ve thought long and hard on the subject, and I believe that I speak for the masses when I say that perhaps a little too much of a good thing is a bad thing when regarding Irvine’s security. After living here for a few years and meditating on it for a few hours, I managed to gather up a few of the more significant reasons why Irvine sucks, and why too much safety is bad for you. Here, my fellow Irvinians, are some of the reasons why Irvine is the most dangerous city in America.

Our Roads Suck! I was coming to school one morning and I almost got ran over by an angry soccer mom driving a Jeep Cherokee like it was an Abrams tank. The expression on her face was that of someone who would take great pleasure in slowly squishing me under her wheels, then backing up over me and doing it again, until I was nothing but road pancake. At the intersection near Wholesome Choice, there have been a grand total of twelve traffic deaths. They were probably all committed by this one crazy devil-mom I would have to say, but the thought remains in my head that every time I cross the street Joe Stupid might run me over because he has to get to work an hour early to impress his boss, or that Misses Murderwheels might squish me so she can get her kid to school faster than the rival moms down the street.

And I still have the tire marks to prove it. Here we are, safest city in America, and crossing the street is like playing dodge ball against the U.S. marines. Perhaps that’s why there are no power lines, because Joe Stupid ran over all of them. It doesn’t particularly help that people living in Long Beach and Laguna Hills use Irvine like a giant smoggy highway; maybe at most half the people on Irvine’s roads at rush hour actually live in Irvine. This all, unfortunately, goes to show that Irvine isn’t the safest city in the country when every street is continuously waging trench warfare against the helpless pedestrians that cross them.

The News Is Boring! If you turn on the news in Irvine, you don’t get anything interesting. You don’t get: “Hey, Bob, I just received an update on the armed truck robbery currently taking place on Michelson. A startling new development just got reported from our on-the-scene reporter: as we speak police are engaged in a deadly shootout with three masked suspects with AK 47’s!” What you do get in the way of news is: “Irvine deputy charged with shoplifting a doughnut from K-mart. The man, known as Deputy Charles Boredsville, has a history of these shocking crimes, including a theft from a free-sample booth at Ralphs. However, as reporter Bored Charlesville states, he also has a record of heroic victories, including the time when he bravely risked his life heroically rescuing a cat from a tree. In other news Nameless Celebrity A, in Malibu, has received plastic surgery and…” I turn on the TV, realize that that’s what’s on, and turn it off, then proceed to entertain myself by watching the exhilarating process of paint slowly drying on a wall. I don’t want to wake up to the soothing sounds of Martha Stewart in the morning, telling me about how to make peach cobbler with only the ingredients that can be found in a federal prison cafeteria. I want Action! Grit! Blood! Exciting Dialogue!

That last one was too much to hope for, but I think a culturally suppressed Irvine isn’t necessary, and that maybe it would be a good thing for Irvine to lighten up a little.

The People Are Boring! Of all the major problems in Irvine, perhaps the worst is the mindset of its citizens. “Blending in like human wallpaper is my favorite activity! I love this exciting and vibrant city! Long live boredom! Beige house paint is cool!” I swear, if this city actually had elevators, they’d be the most awkward elevators of any elevator in the world. “Hi.” *elevator music, unfortunately it’s probably the Backstreet Boys* “So, nice weather we’re having.” “Yeah, nice.” “I like your tie.” “Yeah, you too.” “Yeah…” “So…” “Aghem.” “So, nice weather we’re having.” “Yeah, nice…” Does this sound FUN to you? Is this what you want taking up your life? (By the way, statistically, your life is about a sixth of the way over right now. If you’re 15 and you live to be 90, that’s a sixth of your life down the toilet. I don’t recommend living here after you graduate.)

This place is also the capital of the cubicle, just to remind you. I’ve seen those pictures of cubicles, and spending eight hours a day in those would be like sitting in a phone booth all day doing nothing but writing your name over and over on a piece of paper until the paper gets filled up, then taking out another sheet and getting started on it again… for eight hours… in a phone booth (and by the way the phone booth is painted grey).

It’s Irvine! You can’t shake it guys, you live in Irvine! What’s that sound? Oh that’s just the sound of merciless, grinding boredom! What’s that smell? That’s the smell of brain-washing disguised as Academic Success. This is the place where, if you walk into an honors classroom and say “Hey Kevin,” everyone will look up. This is the place where, if you go in the supermarket, all they sell is white bread. This is the place where Everyone Drives An SUV… or even worse, the Honda Odyssey, a.k.a. parent-mobile! Do you know why? It’s because this place sucks! Being around this kind of boredom continuously is like working at a nuclear waste disposal plant wearing a suit made out of asbestos, mercury, and solidified processed cancer while smoking solid uranium; it’s gonna screw you up. The safest city in America? I would say, and I think people will back me up on this, that it’s definitely the most boring city in America. And being exposed to that much suburban stupid-radiation is Bad For You. And that’s why Irvine, statistically speaking, is the most dangerous city in the world.