Thursday, March 31, 2005

A Government Gets It Right

Too bad it's Canada. They're considering giving people the option of buying their government-owned housing, which is currently all dilapidated because the tenants don't own it and therefore don't care about it. I hope they actually go through with their plan and give power to the people rather than the bureaucrats (um... "chiefs").

The most telling quote is: "These chiefs believe the solution is more money for housing from the Federal Government." If the government listens to the chiefs instead of to themselves, it certainly wouldn't be the first time a government tried (and failed) to solve a problem by throwing money at it!

One day to go!

As GeographicallyChallenged noted in the comments down below, ONE DAY TO GO! I'm packed; let's do this thing! Oh wait. I need to work today....

Wednesday, March 30, 2005

Cigarettes? Suicide.

Carbon Monoxide, Nitrogen Oxide, Hydrogen Cyanide, Formaldehyde, Ammonia, Hydrazine, Vinyl Chloride, Urethane, Nickel, Arsenic, Cadmium, Polonium, Acrolein, Acetaldehyde, Hydrazine, Nitropropane, Quinoline, Benzopyrene, Dibenzanthracene, Benzofluoranthene, Dibenzopyrene, Indenopyrene, Benzophenanthrene, Benzanthracene, Chrysene, Methylchrysene, Methylfluoranthene, Dibenzacridine, Dibenzocarbazole, Methylnaphtalene, Methylindole, Dichlorostilbene, Catechol, Methycatechol, Ethycatechol, Propylcatechol, Nitrosodimethylamine, Nitrosoethymethylamine, Nitrosodiethylamine, Nitrosodipropylamine, Nitrosodibutylamine, Nitrosopyrolidine, Nitrosopiperidine, Nirtosomorpholine, Nitrosonornicotine, Nitrosoanabasine, Nitrosoanatabine, Nitrohydrocarbons, Amines, and Other Bad Stuff.

“You want to go home and rethink your life.” - Obi-Wan Kenobi

Visit the U.S. while you still can!

Because the Koran says we're going to be destroyed by tsunamis in 2007.

Elections

Depending on your point of view, this quote could apply to Iraq, Kyrgyzstan, the last couple U.S. presidential races, or the Washington State governor's race. Despite your attitudes toward any of those elections, this quote is still true.

"In the midst of these pleasing ideas we should be unfaithful to ourselves if we should ever lose sight of the danger to our liberties if anything partial or extraneous should infect the purity of our free, fair, virtuous, and independent elections. If an election is to be determined by a majority of a single vote, and that can be procured by a party through artifice or corruption, the Government may be the choice of a party for its own ends, not of the nation for the national good." - John Adams

Fighting over imaginary toys

Do you remember playing "pretend" as a kid? Nowadays, people don't have to use their imaginations quite so much, what with computers and all. But that doesn't mean that two men weren't fighting over imaginary toys when one of them killed his friend.

Two days!

Two days to go. Two days to GO.

(-:

Tuesday, March 29, 2005

Star Wars Tickets $2000

...or only $500, if you're feeling cheap.

You can see Star Wars III a week before everyone else if you shell out the big bucks. To make you feel better, the money goes to a good cause. Ten locations around the country, apparently.

Cinerama, May 12, 5 pm. Be there.

Don't forget: Proper attire is "Classy Casual or Alien Chic."

Time to go!!

Time to go! Time to go! Time to go! Time to go!

... Okay, well not really. Three days left. But I really really want to leave now!!

Antsy antsy antsy.

This work stuff can wait for three weeks, can't it? Sure it can! No problem. And if not, my coworkers can take care of it. So what difference would three more days make? None! So let me go now!

Time to go! Time to go! Time to go!!!!

Monday, March 28, 2005

Last October - photo test

Shi Shi Beach

Leash Laws

Copied from the Norwescon 28 guidebook:

IF YOU ARE WEARING (OR CARRYING) A LEASH...

One owner -- one leash. More than one has been known to cause traffic problems.

Please, no public discipline. This tends to upset others in the hotel, like the hotel staff, and other non-convention guests of the hotel.

Be aware of the people around you. While it is your fantasy, other people may not wish to share it with you.

Be aware of where you are! If the leash holder is on one side of the hall, the leash wearer should be on the same side, not the opposite!

Do not apply restraints (handcuffs and such) in a manner that would restrict a person's mobility. The ability to use one's extremities in case of a fall, accident or emergency is an essential safety concern.

Be neat. Be courteous. Have fun.

Good words to live by, don't you think?

Friday, March 25, 2005

Pay Attention!

That's really all I have to say. Just, "Pay attention!" If you're driving down the freeway, pay attention to driving and not the cellphone you dropped on the passenger-side floor. If you're living in this world, pay attention to what's happening in this world.

... Just pay attention, okay?

Wednesday, March 23, 2005

Guys' Rules

This is another email that I got...

Guys' Rules

At last a guy has taken the time to write this all down... Finally, the guys' side of the story. We always hear "the rules" from the female side. Now here are the rules from the male side. These are our rules! Please note... these are all numbered "1" ON PURPOSE!

1. Learn to work the toilet seat. You're a big girl. If it's up, put it down. We need it up, you need it down. You don't hear us complaining about you leaving it down.

1. Sunday sports. It's like the full moon or the changing of the tides. Let it be.

1. Shopping is NOT a sport. And no, we are never going to think of it that way.

1. Crying is blackmail.

1. Ask for what you want. Let us be clear on this one: Subtle hints do not work! Strong hints do not work! Obvious hints do not work! Just say it!

1. Yes and No are perfectly acceptable answers to almost every question.

1. Come to us with a problem only if you want help solving it. That's what we do. Sympathy is what your girlfriends are for.

1. A headache that lasts for 17 months is a problem. See a doctor.

1. Anything we said 6 months ago is inadmissible in an argument. In fact, all comments become null and void after 7 days.

1. If you won't dress like the Victoria's Secret girls, don't expect us to act like soap opera guys.

1. If you think you're fat, you probably are. Don't ask us.

1. If something we said can be interpreted two ways and one of the ways makes you sad or angry, we meant the other one.

1. You can either ask us to do something or tell us how you want it done. Not both. If you already know best how to do it, just do it yourself.

1. Whenever possible, please say whatever you have to say during commercials.

1. Christopher Columbus did not need directions and neither do we.

1. ALL men see in only 16 colors, like Windows default settings. Peach, for example, is a fruit, not a color. Pumpkin is also a fruit. We have no idea what mauve is.

1. If it itches, it will be scratched.

1. If we ask what is wrong and you say "nothing," we will act like nothing's wrong. We know you are lying, but it is just not worth the hassle.

1. If you ask a question you don't want an answer to, expect an answer you don't want to hear.

1. When we have to go somewhere, absolutely anything you wear is fine...Really.

1. Don't ask us what we're thinking about unless you are prepared to discuss such topics as baseball, the shotgun formation, or monster trucks.

1. You have enough clothes.

1. You have too many shoes.

1. I am in shape. Round is a shape.

Thank you for reading this. Yes, I know, I have to sleep on the couch tonight; but did you know men really don't mind that? It's like camping.

Most of these are entirely true, except I don't really agree with number 1, 1, or 1. The toilet lid goes down, I know what mauve is, and I never think about monster trucks. Oh, and I'm not round.

Tuesday, March 22, 2005

Pentagons

Policy is derived by the people, not the Pentagon.

The Pentagon has a job to do: win wars.

It’s up to the rest of us to tell them what wars to win. And that’s where the elected officials come in. If we don’t like the wars that we’re fighting, we can vote in a new government and they’ll tell the Pentagon what to do.

Some countries don’t have this option. Some countries are run by the military (Pakistan, anyone?). But the U.S. military answers to the civilian government, which answers to the U.S. people.

So if you don’t like what the Pentagon is doing, don’t blame them. Don’t blame the administration. Blame all the Americans who voted them in.

And when you’re screaming at the woman in the car with the Bush/Cheney bumper-sticker, don’t forget: Love thy neighbor.

Monday, March 21, 2005

For

If you want to get anything done in this world, you can't just sit back and talk. You actually have to get off your bum and do something about it. If you're not actively working for what you care about, then no one will.

At the ex-servicemen panel discussion last week, one of the ex-marines made a good point: Don't be against something. Be for something. It's easy to sit in the back row and take potshots at the guy on stage, but it's much harder to stand up and say, "I have an idea. Let's do this."

Around Seattle, you can still see "No Iraq War" bumper stickers everywhere. (At least they’ve finally taken down the yard signs!) Bush is talking about spreading democracy and freedom and all these positive things, and all the liberals can respond with is "No!" It's no wonder the Democrats lost the last election. No one is going to vote for a whiny little kid. "No!" They're going to vote for someone with convictions, with ideas, with a plan for the future--even if they don't entirely agree with all of those ideas or plans.

Lots of liberals these days want to call themselves "progressives," but how progressive can they be if all they can say is "No!"? A true progressive would be championing causes, presenting plans, and generally coming up with ideas for how to fix the problems at hand rather than just shouting down everyone else’s ideas.

As for me: I am for lower taxes; I am for proportional representation; I am for states' rights; I am for people taking responsibility of their own actions; I am for people taking responsibility for their own lives; I am for construction; I am for preservation; I am for human colonization of Mars; I am for the Utes to win it all, baby!

Some People Don't Want to Listen

Last week, I went to a panel discussion of three former U.S. servicemen (with differing opinions, of course, or else how could it be interesting?). Despite the hecklers ("You’re a rapist!"), it was an intelligent and interesting discourse.

The moderate of the three servicemen got famous in the movie "Control Room"--which he thought was just a student film when he talked to them in Qatar. But then, a year later, he got a call on his answering machine that said something like, "I just saw your movie at Sundance. It was great! Can we set up an interview?" The ex-marine said that he had to listen to it several times just to make sure he heard it right. And then he googled his own name to see if there was another guy with the same name who had a movie. But then he found "Control Room" and it all started to come together in his mind.

Apparently, in that film, there are several short clips of conversation between this marine (who was the HQ PR man at the time) and an al-Jazeera reporter. Over the course of the movie (which covers the whole Iraq war), it looks like the marine is gradually changing his position to agree with the reporter. But actually, it was just one 90-minute interview and the filmmakers just clipped and snipped and edited themselves a story. But anyway, this guy has now been touring the U.S. giving talks about his experience.

As I said, he's a moderate, so in conservative areas, he's derided as a liberal; and in liberal areas, he's derided as a conservative. He said something that I think a lot of people need to take to heart: Just because Bush does something doesn't make it automatically right, and just because Bush does something doesn't automatically make it wrong. (This is, of course, when a heckler yelled something incomprehensible.)

Tuesday, March 15, 2005

ERA

"Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of sex."

Do you remember the Equal Rights Ammendment from the '70s? Yeah, I don't. They didn't talk about it on Sesame Street. Anyway... Apparently,
some people are dredging this back up and are trying to get it passed in a few more states.

But what are the legal ramifications? How many laws do we have that deal differently for the sexes?

The laws defining marriage are definitely included in that group. If the government is forced to treat any man the same as any woman, then any man could put his name down on the "bride" line of the certificate.

How about nudity laws? Would I not be allowed to take off my shirt in public? Or would women be allowed to go topless? Hm... I guess the legislatures would have to sort that sort of thing out. Let's just hope they make the law less restrictive rather than more restrictive, if you know what I mean.

And of course we'd have to get rid of those "Men" and "Women" labels on
restroom doors.

And how about alimony and child custody? And no more separate prisons for women and men. And randomly-selected college housing: guess who's your freshman-year roommate!


Hm... At first I thought this was a silly and unnecessary idea, but maybe I can get behind this thing after all.

Friday, March 11, 2005

Slacker

Wow. I haven't posted anything since Monday? My Tuesday deadline slid into a Wednesday deadline and next thing you know I'm leaving early on Thursday and have a bunch of stuff to do anyway... And then my mind is thinking about my vacation in April and my trip this weekend and... Somehow I just forget to come up with anything to blog. Back burner. But not quite as back burner as my book. Bummer.

Monday, March 07, 2005

Pedestrians

Here in Seattle, I've noticed an ever-increasing trend of pedestrians walking or running in the middle of the street. There's a perfectly good sidwalk just on the other side of those parked cars, but these people would rather be out with the moving vehicles.

Can anyone give me any possible answer? I just don't understand these people.

Friday, March 04, 2005

Don't Charge the Checkpoints!

That's all I had to say. Don't charge the checkpoints. You might get shot.

Thursday, March 03, 2005

I Can't Read Your Handwriting

I have found that a lot of people have a hard time reading my handwriting, even if I'm trying to write neatly. What they don't know (or don't believe) is that I often have an equally-hard time reading their handwriting. Especially old people. It's like we're using a completely different alphabet. An eighty-year-old can barely read my handwriting and has a hard time reading the writing of a fifty-year-old. I can barely read the handwriting of the eighty-year-old and have occasional problems with the writing of fifty-year-olds. The fifty-year-old can probably read the eighty-year-old's writing and mine just about equally, even though the two are completely different. But I can read other "sloppy" handwriting of people my own age just fine and I'm sure two eighty-year-olds wouldn't bat an eyelash at each other's scrawls.

You can't blame computers for my handwriting style, since it wasn't until junior high for me that word processing got started and not until college that it was required for projects. (Of course, now that computers are deep in the schools, I wonder if handwriting is being given its proper time.) So it must just be teaching styles changing through the decades. At least that's the only answer I've come up with.

So all you old farts better be glad that this is typed, or you'd have no clue what I was saying. Then again, maybe it'd be better that way.

Wednesday, March 02, 2005

my life is undulating...

New in my inbox...

From: TIBETAN PERSONALITY TEST

Take your time with this test and you will be amazed. I did this last year when this came around and a spiritual wish I made did happen - in fact all year long.

The Dalai Lama suggests you read it to see if it works for you. Very Interesting. [Dalai Lama, yeah right. - Soto]

Just 4 questions and the answers will surprise you.

Be honest and do not cheat by looking up the answers. The mind is like a parachute, it works best when it is opened. This is fun to do, but you have to follow the instructions very closely. Do not cheat.

MAKE A WISH BEFORE BEGINNING THE TEST!

A warning! Answer the questions as you go along. There are only 4 questions and if you see them all before finishing, you will not have honest results.

Go down slowly, and complete each exercise as you scroll down.

Don't look ahead. Get pencil and paper to write your answers as you go along. You will need it at the end. This is an honest questionnaire which will tell you a lot about your true self. Give an answer for each item. The first thing that comes to mind is usually your best answer. Remember - no one sees this but you.

(1) Put the following 5 animals in the order of your preference: Cow, Tiger, Sheep, Horse, Pig

(2) Write one word that describes each one of the following: Dog, Cat, Rat, Coffee, Sea.

(3) Think of someone, who also knows you and is important to you, which you can relate them to the following colors. Do not repeat your answer twice. Name just one person for each color: Yellow, Orange, Red, White, Green.

(4) Finally, write down your favorite number, and your favorite day of the week.

FINISHED? Please be sure that your answers are what you REALLY WANT.

Look at the interpretations [in my first comment], but first before continuing, REPEAT your wish.

Tuesday, March 01, 2005

TUONG ot SRIRACHA

TUONG ot SRIRACHA thom cay dac biet, chi can them mot it vao mi, pho, hay cac loai thit, qui vi se hai long voi, bua an that ngon mieng.

Ya know?