Chicken Terror
Notice: This entry contains spoilers for Michael Moore’s recent film. Additionally this entry is not for consumption by any government contractor or employee of the United States or other country. Any person described by the previous sentence that continues to read this entry is hereby notified that this entry is completely fictitious. Any person not described by the second sentence of this entry is notified to disregard the previous sentence. Any person that completely understands the previous two sentences is notified that medical help is suggested and/or you should immediately seek employment within a profession where excellent logical skills are a requirement.
There now that the legal gobbley-gook is out of the way on to the show! (Has anyone ever noticed that there is no gobbley-gook before a movie in the theatre but there is when you watch it on DVD/VHS? Why do you get screwed for taking it home, but not for spending the extra money to watch it in the theatre?)
The actual beginning:
I might be a bit of a nut job, but Strike that. I am quite a nut job, not of the planters or right wing variety. (or for that matter left wing variety.) I actually think I’m a nut job of the libertarian-open.source.communist-carefree20s-gay.pussylovin-anti.Bush variety. (no, the last two do not describe the same thing.) Okay, but does anyone else think anywhere near the same as I do or has the whole world just gone batty?
The actual beginning:
Okay. I’m so sick and tired of instructed by the government via the Homeland Security Advisory System to go into scared loon mode. Honestly does this system actually tell us any useful information? Perhaps it is intended to let us know how the chicken among us should act. Green for boneless, Blue for bone in without muscular control, Yellow for random walking about, Orange for running about frantically, Red for complete head cut off maniacism.
Now I’ve watched this thing go all the way from lifeless chicken nuggets to undercooked homemade chicken-salmonella puree, and as far as my unclassified sources tell me there isn’t a perceptible difference in terrorist attacks if that DHS pride scale is blazin red or cool blue. I think the Department of Homeland Security is just wanting something to wave about and be proud of, just like the gays of the 70s. Eventually though you have to get beyond that and produce some actual meat thats visible and verifiable.
Another piece to begin:
I find it quite telling that The National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States, besides having a name that any marketer would change in half a heartbeat, found that the only effective defense was a emergent, self organized defense by the passengers of United Airlines Flight 93. When they were able to piece together the proper information were able as a group to act. Note that all the top-down, command-and-control mechanisms failed us on that day. The only defense that worked was a bottom-up defense that depended on an abundance of information, not a controlled dearth of it.
What would the passengers of the other three flights have done if they’d read the presidential daily briefing, “Bin Laden Determined to Strike in U.S”? Don’t dismiss it outright. One of the unsung heros of information gathering is the news media. The US news media, not the government actually quickly determined the identities of the 9/11. Its anecdotal proof that the more eyes, ears, and brains you have on a problem the quicker it’ll get solved.
Come to think of it, that fellow loon, Admiral John Poindexter, supported a “Terrorism Market,” designed to utilize information in the market to predict the next terrorist attack. The key feature was utilizing information and analysis’s not in the government’s hands to determine where the next terrorist attack would be.
My final point is this. I want to be treated like an adult by the government, instead of the “I’m sorry this information is too complex and/or sensitive to let you see.” I think we’d be much safer if the intelligence agencies had to release a large majority of the raw information they gather to the public. Yes, this does mean that terrorists will know what we know, but that in and of itself can be a deterrent. Think of the extra effect that would come if you increased the number of analysis’s by an order of magnitude. I’m not saying that the CIA is dumb, but if given the choice between having three CIA analysts review the raw data and having 300 or 3,000 uninformed lay people reviewing the raw data, I’ll take the lay people any day. Just how I’ll choose an open source operating system over a closed source system.
Rome wasn’t built by one person, it was built by a community working together. To expect something great to come from a small handful of people is foolishly putting all your eggs in one basket. It takes a community to make sure at least enough eggs make it through so they can hatch.
Oh, I just realized that I forgot to put in here some of my ideas. (specifically the ones that triggered the disclaimer at the top.)
- in Fahrenheit 9/11, many officials are shown before September 11, 2001 stating that Iraq is not a threat. If we had a distributed intelligence analysis system it is more likely that the intelligence could not have been manipulated to fit a specific agenda.
- Our current set of terrorists are in reality pretty lame at achieving their goals. While admittedly they were successful at fostering terror during the end of 2001 and beginning of 2002 for the most part things are business as usual. If they wanted to create terror they’d have a distributed attack on 20+ sites distributed throughout the country on the same day and time. After this follow up with attacks every 7 to 10 days. Like any marketer would tell you, its not just the initial push, but a continued presence that makes any communication effort successful. (And yes, terrorism is a method of communication.)
- We’re buffoons for allowing ourselves to be manipulated how we have been. If we wanted actual change, someone would’ve forced the issue long ago.
The 8 am Regime
I hate getting up early. I’ve always been a late morning/late night guy. (i.e. In bed late night, out of bed late morning)
I’ve been having to be at work at 8 am last week and this week because I’m going through a training class to work on a different product, and we start bright and early at 8 am. There is one thing I’ve learned during the past week. The feeling of being in high school isn’t just the atmosphere, its the sleep deprivation.
Don’t get me wrong other periods are marked by sleep deprivation: exam week in college, show production weeks, moving to a new home, being sick, etc.. But the 8 am start time sleep deprivation feels different.
I’m a night rat, I admit that. I’m at my best when I wake up about 9 or 10 am and go to bed about 1 or 2 am. If given no structure I actually migrate to a third shift schedule. Its been years since I’ve done that voluntarily but I’m sure that if I didn’t have any commitments to meet I’d be going to bed about 6 am and waking up about 4 pm.
An evening schedule is natural for me. My habits, my mind, and my body are well adjusted for that schedule. They all balk at being forced into a morning schedule.
Here is the thing… Show me a high school that has classes starting at 11 am. I know you can do it in college or get a job where you start at 11 am, but find a regular high paying office job with an 11 am start time.. They don’t exist. (or are much rarer.)
Its a little wacky, but I believe it is discrimination to have such a rigid society built on the 8 am start time. I know I would’ve done better in high school with an 11 am start time. Thats just part of who I am. I know people who are “not morning people” who’ve been working the 8 am shift for a long time and it still wears them down really hard, so its not just a matter of getting into a routine.
Like any innate factor (race, sexual attraction, gender, height, etc) one group has declared itself superior and righteous and proceeded to establish a system where the lesser group is looked down upon for who they innately are, which is the definition of discrimination.
I know this sounds wacky, but if you accept that maximum societal productivity is a shared goal, then you would want every member functioning at their best; for that to happen The 8 am Regime needs to be defrocked.
Apathy? Procrastination?
I’d be pissed at myself if the me of 2002 or so saw the me of today. Not for everything, but because I’ve just been well seemingly apathetic about personal political issues such as gay marriage, the role of religion in government, and sending my peers to die to ensure that Iraq is a failed nation state.
I used to scream, scathingly demean, and organize against political positions that I feel are unjust or just plain idiotic.
Sigh. Well that little horizontal rule signifies about two days of procrastination on this entry, if not more. I’m really good at procrastination.
Here I think I need a few more of them.
There. Now back to the topic at hand.
I dunno, part of what I had to force myself to do back in 2003 with Jo was to be self focused. I was so out caring about everything but myself and I got to the point where there was nothing that was me to care about.
Its not that I don’t want to care about these things. I mean GLBT rights are, well, personal. But I can’t pour myself into just doing that. I have a life to live and goals to meet. I’d love to be able to commit myself full time to GLBT rights, but at the moment I don’t have a position that would allow me to do that, and have a reasonably wage to live on.
I want to keep this short and to the point. I’m too tired to just wander on and on philosophically working through all the permutations, but rest assured I have.
Lets talk about Sex…
Things have been interesting in the Citi lately.. Somehow I’ve become the gay poster boy in my department. (Mind you there are much cuter poster boys in other departments, but I digress…)
Lets back up quickly. I’m out at work. I always have been out, there never was any question or choice about not being out. That said, I don’t make a point of being out to everyone all the time, when the appropriate subject comes up, I’m out; If its nowhere near the subject at hand it doesn’t matter. (Really, if we’re discussing a new procedure does it really matter that I make a point of being out?)
I’ve had at least two experiences in the past week of young women at work wanting to know well anything and everything. The first was from someone who was in my training class and has been on my team as long as I’ve been on my team. For the most part this was your standard “I’ve never met a real live gay person, I’ve got tons of questions…” event. Lots of probing questions rooted in an honest sense of curiosity. For the most part I obliged and answered her questions, equality and understanding comes one person at a time, you’ve gotta work on it at that level, or ya might as well just bite your foot off.
The second experience happened yesterday. This has likely been one of the most uncomfortable “tell, and don’t shows” I’ve had. Her argumentative line included a few beliefs that I had a hard time responding to.
The first was a general underlying theme of “where did things go wrong with you?” Ultimately this took several forms within the argument: “God made man and woman to reproduce” (and when I informed her I would not have an argument on religious grounds) “Man and woman were made to reproduce.” I made generally unsuccessful arguments that well if man and woman’s only purpose was to reproduce after this purpose was fulfilled or not an option (i.e. Children are self supportive, or no children were had) we should just go and kill ourselves, because we’ve fulfilled the only purpose we were here for. (Mind you this would reduce taxes as well as a host of other benefits…) I couldn’t get this argument or anything similar to stick.
The second was the definition of sex, err of “normal sex.” She attempted to limit it just to coitus. (i.e. Penile->Vaginal Sex) I made multiple attempts at debunking the whole argument of “normal” but I failed again. (For the record every dictionary I checked (only two dictionaries, but they were so similar I felt any further searching would be futile.) included both coitus and other genital contact within their definitions.)
So what is the point here?
- You can’t win em all
- I need to develop some stronger arguments to replace my failed arguments above
- Arguing with a brick wall isn’t something thats likely to be successful.
Nothing to Fear, but the Government
So, first of all, let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself — nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance. – Franklin D. Roosevelt in his Inaugural Address
The truckers, who haul hazardous material across 48 states, explained how easy it is to spot “Islamics” on the road: just look for their turbans. Quite a few of them are truck drivers, says William Westfall of Van Buren, Ark. “I’ll be honest. They know they’re not welcome at truck stops. There’s still a lot of animosity toward Islamics.” Eddie Dean of Fort Smith, Ark., also has little doubt about his ability to identify Muslims: “You can tell where they’re from. You can hear their accents. They’re not real clean people.” – Time via Boing boing
Perhaps I’m a real strange one, but I try to actively suppress my worries. That isn’t to say I don’t have them, but I find obsessing about them does as much good as walking into a wall repeatedly. (I’ve tried both, so I know.)
I might be a little weird, but on 9/11/01 I actually did my best to apply this. I somehow managed to be unaware of the events until about 2 pm that day. (I slept in because I was exhausted from Jenni’s wedding the day before, and when I woke up I went directly to watching stored television on my TiVO, only getting to CNN about two hours later.) I admittedly spent about two hours shell shocked in fear and awe. I called Jenni and some family, and then said to myself “I have to go about my normal business.” This was not a callous disregard for what had happened, but a conscious attempt to restore life to as normal as possible, as quickly as possible.
I re-assembled my tux from its menagerie of pieces, hopped in the car and started to drive north, toward Wright State and by association Wright-Patt Airforce Base, one of the largest strategic targets in the area (if you’re looking for one) On the way I listened to WYSO‘s NPR coverage of what was happening. At one point I remember breaking down in tears from fear while driving. I got to the mall where I needed to return my tux, and it was closed.
I was at a loss for what to do. (This was supposed to be a day off anyways, so I didn’t have a plan to begin with.) I remember I did manage to make it to Wright State and buy food and a special edition newspaper at the cafeteria, I called work and offered to work if needed, and wandered to my new dorm room.
Its a jumble from there but I remember spending a good few hours in the dorm lounge watching television writing down facts and figures attempting to make sense of what had been happening, and attempting to predict what the future held.
I lost the battle against fear that day. Mind you, in the end I was in about as much danger as any other day.
I think though on that day we as a country entered a new battle, that of fear. Replacing the much missed previous war of fear, The Cold War.
Michael Moore makes the assertion in his new film Fahrenheit 9/11 and he also suggests in Bowling for Columbine that fear in our society is irrational, out of proportion to the actual reality, and is manipulated by many forces, especially the federal government. Additionally he makes the assertion that the Bush administration has actively utilized fear to manipulate the populace to support their goals in whatever they wanted the country to do.
But back to the Time article about the truckers spying on people in this country. (And yes it is spying!) I am all for training people to be alert and mindful of their surroundings. But this appears to be the one remaining branch of the ill fated Operation TIPS, a program to encourage America’s infrastructure workers to spy on the people they serve and report suspicious activities. It doesn’t matter though that programs like these are not indicative of a democracy; programs like these are indicative of totalitarian regimes. So while Operation TIPS wasn’t fully successful, part of it exists. If the logical lines that are being employed here prevail, children will be encouraged to spy on their parents, and George Orwell’s book will have only missed the mark by 30 years. We declared war 83,272 days ago (July 4, 1776) for our freedom from government.
I only fear one thing now. Its not terrorist attacks, being broke and poor, dying young, or being assaulted in the street; I fear for my security from the government.
The United States was goaded into a war built on fear, and started fighting for the wrong side.
Amazon’s got a sense of humor…
Okay, I think someone at Amazon has gone wacko actually.. I visited the homepage and I got a recommendation for condoms.
Why? Shaving cream.
Now I’ve seen it all…
Beauty
I was watching the Steve Jobs keynote today. (Which wasn’t broadcast live via Quicktime, BASTARDS!)
He mentioned that the Cinema Displays are beautiful. While I won’t disagree, they’re not my favorite thing of beauty.
I was also amazed at the unintended beauty of lightening striking a tree and the photo essay of daily commutes.
Beauty is a strange thing. I used to think OS X (10.1.4) was beautiful, so much so that I actually would just stare at it in awe. Now I just use it. Its not that it isn’t still beautiful (I’d argue 10.3.x is more beautiful than 10.1.4) but its something that I see every day. It has lost its charm.
Tourists are easy to spot in any big city because they all look up, and all around, taking in the inherient beauty of the place thats lost on the locals, because they see it every day.
Somethings though never lose their beauty. My cats come quickly to mind. Despite their constant presence in my life they never cease to amaze me as graceful and beautiful beings.
Burnt
I’ve been thinking about a lot lately.
I’ve also noted that I’m not writing any of my thoughts down on a regular basis like I used to.
In some ways I just feel burnt out. Work is more “worklike” than fun. (although it still is great) I’m entering my second month of unpacking and organizing. I’m desperately attempting to catch up on my magazine reading, just for the perfunctory feeling of being up to date on my magazine reading.
I need a vacation. But I’m too frugal and cognizant of my crappy financial position. Its not that I’m going to be declaring bankruptcy or stop paying my bills anytime soon, but I’m just attempting to right a badly balanced ship, and that means no extra expenses.
I’m also getting a lot of older stuff filed and orgainized which also means rehashing things. I just redid how my 401k contributions are distributed, and I’ve been waiting on checks from companies to come in. I’m far too anal retentive!
In other news my relationship with my felines is as strong as ever. At least two times this week they’ve cuddled up with me while I’ve been sleeping, and getting a lap warmer is no problem at all. Oh to be a feline…
Bush vs. Saddam
I was reading the “Stars Speak Against the Federal Marriage Amendment” in the April 27th, 2004 issue of the Advocate. (I’m a little behind okay?)
I was a little surprised at the extremely harsh words they had for George W. Bush. But after looking them a little bit I realized many of them were just being direct. One calls for GW’s impeachment, another asserts that he should “be prevented from using words like freedom and liberty.”
Oddly enough I’m actually really respectful of Saddam Hussein. Perhaps because he has made no pretenses of his leadership. I’m sure he knows he maintained power by killing his opponents and made no promises of freedom or liberty.
Now GW on the other hand has done the exact opposite. While he is likely the most recent president to pound on concepts of freedom and liberty, he’s actually likely done the most to rescind them. Even in Iraq where he direct the United States to start an Illegal war to oust Saddam Hussein’s horrendous regime, his administration is now in a major disagreement with its own selected Governing Council as to who should be the leader of Iraq’s interim government. Excuse me, this man is trumpeting bringing freedom to Iraq paid for by the lives of our young men and women, and simultaneously denying that freedom to Iraqis. Yeah thats logical.
So excuse me if I have more respect for a horrendous dictator like Saddam Hussein than the leader of the “free” world. As least Saddam Hussein made no pretenses of preserving freedom.
Oh and one final thing. I’m in support of impeaching Bush. Its a simple matter, whereas Clinton only lied about sex, GWB has suggest that the United States violate its own Constitution by amending it to be discriminatory against a specific group. Last time that happened was when it was written, and we fought a few wars over that.
Movable Type Bitch
I hate bitching, moaning, and whining.
I’ve been attempting to figure out how to write this entry without doing any of those.
I haven’t figured out how, so this will be an exercise in self loathing.
This is an entry that the geeks will follow. Others, try to tag along.
Okay, what started the whole fucking rent was when Six Apart announced its licensing scheme for Movable Type 3.0. (Its the program I use to run this eJournal, as well as my other eJournals and the Interestring Websites page.
Part of the problem is for many people it was a pretty radical change. Movable Type<=2.661 was essentially monetarily free for all non-commercial purposes. As the license for Movable Type 3.0 stands now that is no longer the case.
Some of the “geek” bloggers have been migrating to WordPress. They admittedly like it because it is GPL licensed, meaning that the license can never change on them. Lets put this right out there:
This rent isn’t as much about Movable type as it is about intellectual property in general. First off no one is forcing anyone to abandon their current license of Movable Type. Part of the current culture war is determining what the rights of consumers should be. Consumers want the right to do whatever they damn please with intellectual property. Just look at the P2P networks. I don’t blame the record companies for suing file sharers. I don’t think it a good business strategy, but they make their money from controlling intellectual property. The concern is if they exert too much control the consumers have had usage rights ripped out from under them that they previously had when they paid for the product.
An example, you used to legally have the right to make a copy of a VHS movie you purchased for backup purposes. This is one of the rights that consumers used to have. The problem was consumers abused this right, and gave away copies. The movie studios then started using Macrovision, a technology that the movie to be watched but not copied. This story goes on and on but essentially content producers keep working on novel ways to “protect” their works and consumers keep finding novel ways to circumvent those protections. Its a simple war of mutual aggression. We might as well declare WWIII now. (Assuming it hasn’t already started.)
Back to Movable Type. Us bloggers and eJournalers have enjoyed a whole bunch of free enough software. Mark Pilgrim excellently frames the issue, although he also goes on and bitches too much. It was almost free, and every version except 3.0 is still almost free. You could argue that even GPL’d software isn’t free because if you modify it you cannot license your modifications under any terms you’d want, this is the equivalent of getting a free ice cream cone at the ice cream shop, but being told that when you take a shit you’ve gotta return it to the ice cream shop to be reused by anyone who wishes to reuse it. There are specific economic costs with the GPL license, specifically you do not have the freedom to choose whichever license you like for any derivative work. (I’ll admit right up front even my entries here are not free, they’re licensed under a Creative Commons License.)
So what am I going to do as far as upgrading? I’m not going to. I’m quite happy with my almost free Movable Type. Like I commented on MetaGrrrl’s blog I’m miffed but I’ll live. I’ve considered Word Press, but quite frankly I’m not impressed with the feel of the blogs that are using it now. I still think Movable Type is a better choice. Perhaps because I’ve not been able to get Phil‘s RSS to load, and as far as I can tell it is because of how Word Press functions and the speed of his server. I’ve given up bugging him about it.
Timothy Appnel has also written an excellent piece about Movable Type and Eating, although I didn’t find anywhere to work it in.
Yeah. So thats my bitch. Movable Type, is free enough and damn it I’l stick with it.