Joshua's Thought Space

Working on myself...

2008-06-03T21:17:43Z

I find the every so often in my own yearly cycle of things, I come to a point where things must change. Somehow, it doesn't even matter how but I get bored with things and need something crazy to happen. Usually we move to a different apartment or, I dunno, across the country. :P

So we've been talking about moving closer to the city, buying a house, changing jobs, all kinds of things to provide some kind of stimulus to the monotony that has overcome our current situation. Granted, I love being in SoCal, surfing is wonderful, and we're building our own business on the side. So things are going well in most regards.

However, since I seem to be innately solar in my atunement to the world, I move on pretty solid yearly (and daily) cycles. This time of year I start to come alive and really work on myself. I've been spending more time in meditation and reading (as opposed to video games and whatnot), as well as starting to drum up some creative ideas for film and writing. And, of course, I've been paying closer attention to my health and diet.

All in all, I feel restless but I'm starting to work on the little things in my life to improve myself and that's ultimately a good thing. :)

Ah, some progress....

2008-05-14T02:47:13Z

So I finally have a finished and perfected DVD copy of Sins of the Father completed and ready to send out. I feel so bad that it's been this long and my actors are wondering if I died or something.

But YAY I have DVDs to send to my cast/crew and to other unsuspecting movie watchers.

In surf-related news, I'm getting so much better at my game! I'm turning into and out of waves much better and was able to hang-five today! WOOT! I'm determined to hang ten! (For those non-pacific-coasters, "hanging five" is having five toes off the front of the board's nose and "hanging ten" is, you guessed it, all ten. It's soooo cool to watch -- someone is basically perched on the edge of the board with the wave propelling them along, it's like walking on water. So cool...

I found out that 24 Hour Fitness, where a friend goes, has month to month plans. I'm considering this since I would really like to get back into lifting. I'm on about 2 straight weeks now of either surfing (good excercise - cardio AND arm work) or, if I don't surf, push-ups and crunches and that kind of stuff. Anyway, the gym is a possibility but I'm pretty busy so who knows. Either way, I'll be checking it out as a "guest" with West soon. We'll see. There's a cool boxing gym too that would be a hella-crazy workout!

Well, that's all. Back to my superhero cave...

mwa ha ha - finally!

2008-05-14T02:40:19Z

This cracks me up. What a team!

Superhero Team Quiz

LiveJournal Username

Your Primary Super Power

Cape?

Identitiy

Origin

Location of Head Quarters

Primary Costume/Uniform Colors

Why are you a Superhero?

Your Superheroic Codename

The veteran grim member of the team

myladyteri

The sexist and crass but annoyingly effective one

daylynne

The bright-eyed novice or sidekick

jcrewtim

The teammate that will eventually go evil or insan

jcrewtim

The inept yet determined/reoccurring supervillain

mamataylor

The sinister Arch-Villain and team's greatest foe

geminiflame

The perky civilian that keeps getting kidnapped

jam24

How often does your team actually 'save the day'?

44%

This Fun Quiz created by Shannon at BlogQuiz.Net

Car Videos uploaded daily at Car-Videos.Biz

Internet in Jeapordy

2008-05-12T22:54:55Z

Since I love to pull the rug out from beneath big business corruption, I thought you should all know the danger your internet is in. :)

Just want to spread the word for causes I support. Take a look at the summation of this Congressional battle and see for yourself how important it is to "save the internet" right now. :)

Say goodbye to Vitamins...

2008-05-06T08:20:02Z

Okay so I've been doing some research lately and didn't want to sound any alarms until I felt sure of this. But I'm a little afraid.

Anyone ever heard of Codex Alimentarius?

Probably not. But you should. You're eating it. :) Firstly it's latin for "food rules". It's a UN Commission started by the WHO (World Health Org) in the 60s with the purpose of protecting consumers in regards to food and food-trade standards.

Since then, however, the commission has become heavily dependent on and caters to pharmaceutical lobbyists and special interest groups in the drug world. Okay, so what?

The CAC (Codex Alimentarius Commission) has revised its policies in a really gruesome way and, upon final ratification, will go into full effect December 31, 2009. When this happens, the following will take place thanks to the mandates of the Codex.

** First and foremost, the principle law of the codex (keep in mind this is an internationally recognized set of regulations) will revert the trade allowances to a "napoleonic code". This is the opposite of our own "common law" form of legislation. Common law states that if it isn't illegal, it's allowed. Napoleonic law is the opposite. If it isn't legalized officially, you can't do it. So, if ingrediants or chemicles are not permitted by CAC, they're illegal.

The CAC will implement the following (this is a nutshell and only a few):

- Identifies antioxidants and other nutrients as "toxins" which must be highly regulated. Yes... toxins. Toxins sadly...won't be permitted by CAC. Therefore illegal. That's right. Useful nutrients will be illegal.

- Mandates the increased use of pesticides and harmful sprays on any and all crops that plan to sell their food to consumers. That's all our food, unless you grow your own. Farmers are FORCED to use pesticides. (This is marketed by CAC as "consumer protection".)

- Facilitates and mandates food irradiation. Basically allow and encourage foods being zapped with various x rays and radiation to kill any living organism inside. This includes important enzymes that contribute to vital bodily functions.

- Allows the sale of GMOs (Genetically Modified Organisms) in our food. Little nasties that cause disease and poison. This is allowed through some more insidious practices. (Ex: GMOs are air-born and cross into crops which keep the GMOs in the soil.)

Now... that's all scary and ridiculous, right? How would our FDA allow such an absurd code to go into effect. Funny because it's already in the works.

In 1995, the FDA declared a provision to the national food code that we, as a free trade nation, must and will abide by any International standards above our own. Guess what... CAC is a UN commissoin and thus an "international set of standards".

To top it off, any country is allowed to show sufficient scientific evidence to the contrary of CAC regulations and institute their own. Ok, so if we know better, we do it our own way. Except CAC rules international trade on food. If you don't comply appropriately, you get heavy trade bars and your economy plummets.

SOO... not to be a huge whistle-blower-freak-out-conspiracy dude but WTF??

Like I said, I've been looking into this for a while to make sure I'm reading this correctly but it's all there in black and white. I have some links for your own research but I emplore my dear friends to look into this. It's one piece of a startling puzzle going on right now.

We definitely need to stand up for our nutritional rights. Pharmaceutical companies and medical industries stand to profit nicely from a lack of antioxidants and various vitamins in our diets. Means a lot of illness. How corrupt and ridiculous!

Let's get some discussion going here.

(There are more links but the ones below will link you to all sorts of other resources.)

Official page: http://www.codexalimentarius.net

NGO that is rallying against it: http://www.healthfreedomusa.com

An article from England on the restrictions on supplements:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2002/sep/14/medicineandhealth.lifeandhealth

wikipedia article (offers some good links)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Codex_Alimentarius#cite_note-0

"The Health Movement Against Codex Alimentarius" - article from Dr. Rath's website: http://www4.dr-rath-foundation.org/PHARMACEUTICAL_BUSINESS/health_movement_against_codex/index.htm#top

Wicked Storm swell!

2008-05-01T22:04:14Z

So we got some crazy swell from a tropical storm out at sea. The sky was grey and gruesome, and the wind was biting. But more importantly... the surf was wicked!

Storm swell is really choppy and hard to navigate, but there were some overhead breaks which aren't too common on this part of the coast.

Anyway, my friend Allen and I went out to get some of mother nature's fury! :) I have a little slide show here of pics Allen's girlfriend Jeanette took.

You can see how choppy and gnarly the water is from all the foam and white water. It was intense!

It's so ... spiritual to be out on the ocean when it's that volatile. Wonderful. :)

I'll try to get some pics of sunny days to show you. We're going to head south one day this week to La Jolla or Del Mar where the water is super blue.

Later!

http://s213.photobucket.com/albums/cc48/cynthiatrail/surfing/?albumview=slideshow&start=40

Behold the prophet...

2008-04-26T02:49:14Z

I was telling both my surfing buddies just two days ago that, for some reason, I've been suddenly having these dreams about sharks. I had, on a couple occassions just this week, dreamed of sharks in the water, one in which I was attacked.

Creepy. Especially since I'm telling them this as we're floating on our boards past the break at sunset...

So today I get up and hear some interesting and eerie news.

Despite the fact that sharks are extremely rare in the San Diego area, especially Great Whites which frequent colder waters, a 66 year old man was attacked and killed off the coast of Solana Beach (about 15 miles south of Oceanside where we live) at about 7am this morning by what they think was a Great White.

He was swimming a good 150 yards off shore (that's F-ing far out there, by the way, way past the surf break...crazy old fart), practicing for a triatholon with some friends when this beast of a fish burst up from beneath him and nearly tore off his legs. Most of the experts agree that the shark mistook him for a seal (some were found in the area) since great whites never attack something unless they intend to eat it. And they don't have a taste for humans. In fact, they say it was possibly due to the murkiness of the water (see previous post about poo) and that this may have thrown off the shark's senses.

Hmm.

Pretty crazy considering there hasn't been a shark attack in the San Diego area since 1994. It's such a freak thing so people aren't worried. These types of sharks only pass through our area on their migration route.

None the less, they closed all the beaches south of us (not ours) for 72 hours and the Coast Guard has been looking for the ugly thing.

So crazy.

I'm not scared out of the water or anything, though I might give it a few days before I trudge back out past the break.

I guess the most important thing to garner from this experience is that if I dream of bear attacks, I won't be planning a camping trip.

But is it breathable?

2008-04-25T00:56:59Z

This is incredibly funny and timely, considering Cynthia and I just finished watching the animated movie SURF'S UP about 20 minutes ago and then I stumble onto this article.

In sum: Biologists at San Francisco Zoo helped out a 25 year old penquin (old fart) who had lost his hind feathers (this is what keeps them warm) and so he couldn't go in the water. They made him a mini wetsuit!!

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080424/ap_on_fe_st/odd_penguin_wetsuit;_ylt=AlMMW.mEzv8oS1JVohPtNAIuQE4F

Too funny!

I want to see that old fool on a surf board!

A little surf in the poo water...

2008-04-24T18:41:22Z

Rain in southern california doesn't just bum me out because, well... it's SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA, Damnit! I want my sunshine! But it has another side effect that I'm none too fond of...

Poop.

Lots of it.

Most of it Mexican.

That's right, whenever it rains anywhere along the coast, all the gross nasties that lay in city gutters and pipelines all get on the bandwagon and go vacationing in the ocean. Mexico, just about 75 miles south of us, is infamous for bad piping and all of their sewage goes coastal whenever there's enough water moving it along. Of course, our own crud goes into the water too, we just try to hide it better.

So anyway, the water has been great lately. Until today. It was pretty gross. Not as bad as when we were getting all the storms in February but definitely noticable in its brown, yucky, poopiness. I didn't stay in it for long...

:(

But it will clear up soon, even throughout the day with the sun beating down on the little poopicles (that's short for "poop particles" if you were wondering) and killing them off.

Anyway, in the meantime, I've taken a few good pics lately. I'd post them, but I can't figure out how... :(

Ah, LJ you mystery...

Out of Bag Space...

2008-04-15T05:56:12Z

Of all the ways I wish life was more like World of Warcraft, I think I'd most like to see the realization of "trash vendors".

In the game, every bit of junk you pilfer off your enemy's carcass can be sold to a vendor in the city. So simple. So wonderful.

So I kill an evil mountain lion, loot his spleen and an old pair of pants and I merrily cart them off to the local bread merchant who happily pays me 12 copper for the spleen and 21 silver for the pants. Can no one see the Divine nature of this exchange?

Why oh why won't the local Walmart buy back the unused pieces of my entertainment center or the computer wires that no longer find use with my new system? There's at least SOME value in everything isn't there?

Granted, I don't know exactly what Walmart would do with a broken broom handle but I'd happily take ten cents for it. If I could cash in ALL my old junk, I might have enough for some NEW junk!

Blizzard, why aren't you God?

My turn for the MOVIE GAME

2008-03-31T02:48:13Z

Okay, same with Cynthia's: Guess the movie. Unlike hers, I won't be updating the answers so everyone gets a shot at guessing em all. (Don't read the replies until you've guessed on your own!) :)

(I tried to use quotes from my favorite movies.)

And per the rules, I only used a movie once.

----------------------------------------------

1. Great shot, kid! That was one in a million!

2. The Batman Soundtrack? Throw it!

3. You know that point in your life when you realize that the house that you grew up in isn't really your home anymore? All of the sudden even though you have some place where you can put your stuff that idea of home is gone.

4. There is another organism on this planet that follows the same pattern. Do you know what it is? A virus. Human beings are a disease, a cancer of this planet. You're a plague and we are the cure.

5. It was one of those days when it's a minute away from snowing and there's this electricity in the air, you can almost hear it. And this bag was, like, dancing with me.

6. God damn it, an entire generation pumping gas, waiting tables; slaves with white collars. Advertising has us chasing cars and clothes, working jobs we hate so we can buy shit we don't need. We're the middle children of history, man. No purpose or place. We have no Great War. No Great Depression. Our Great War's a spiritual war... our Great Depression is our lives. We've all been raised on television to believe that one day we'd all be millionaires, and movie gods, and rock stars. But we won't. And we're slowly learning that fact. And we're very, very pissed off.

7. What? We're live? Right now? ... I don't believe you.

8. I don't know if you're aware of this, Josephine, but African parrots, in their native home of the Congo, they speak only French.

9. We get caught laundering money, we're not going to white-collar resort prison. No, no, no. We're going to federal POUND ME IN THE ASS prison.

10. Mom! Meatloaf!! Fuck!

11. No, a vigilante is just a man lost in the scramble for his own gratification. He can be destroyed, or locked up. But if you make yourself more than just a man, if you devote yourself to an ideal, and if they can't stop you, you become something else entirely.

12. You see, before he came down here, it never snowed. And afterwards, it did. If he weren't up there now... I don't think it would be snowing. Sometimes you can still catch me dancing in it.

13. Um, I'm kind of having a medical situation. I don't have a belly button.

14. I am not a pirate. It just so happens that I am a lawyer.

15. Well, it's one louder, isn't it? It's not ten. You see, most blokes, you know, will be playing at ten. You're on ten here, all the way up, all the way up, all the way up, you're on ten on your guitar. Where can you go from there? Where? Nowhere. Exactly. What we do is, if we need that extra push over the cliff, you know what we do? Eleven. Exactly. One louder.

16.It's the sense of touch. In any real city, you walk, you know? You brush past people, people bump into you. In L.A., nobody touches you. We're always behind this metal and glass.

17. He will come in one of the pre-chosen forms. During the rectification of the Vuldrini, the traveler came as a large and moving Torg! Then, during the third reconciliation of the last of the McKetrick supplicants, they chose a new form for him: that of a giant Slor! Many Shuvs and Zuuls knew what it was to be roasted in the depths of the Slor that day, I can tell you!

18. You don't speak because of Frederick Nietsche?

19. Imagine you're a deer. You're prancing along. You get thirsty. You spot a little brook. You put your little deer lips down to the cool, clear water - BAM. A fuckin' bullet rips off part of your head. Your brains are lying on the ground in little bloody pieces. Now I ask ya, would you give a fuck what kind of pants the son-of-a-bitch who shot you was wearing?

20. Because they know all they sold ya was a guaranteed piece of shit. That's all it is, isn't it? Hey, if you want me to take a dump in a box and mark it guaranteed, I will. I got spare time.

I'd like to hear some thoughts...

2008-03-12T21:22:04Z

A friend at work sent me to this particular documentary because it really got him going, even made him a little paranoid about the world (which, as you'll see, is a little contradictory to the message of the doc). It's on YOUTUBE.COM in 13 parts (not sure where you can find the full uncut version) and works out to about 2 hours (full length doc). It's called THE ESOTERIC AGENDA.

WARNING: I'm asking you to take a look because it poses some ideas that, for me, require some further investigation before I get too interested. But it also underscores some things I've already felt and known for some time. Basically, it's a conspiracy theory that kinda goes all over the place so don't quit in the middle because there are lots of different "veins" of information and speculation in this piece that all (kind of) comes together in the end. (My personal opinion is they don't tie things together very well ultimately, but the concepts are interesting).

Anyway, I'd love some discussion. (And I'll be doing some further research).

Again, go to www.youtube.com and search for The Esoteric Agenda (13 parts, each about 10 minutes).

Peace

Finally !

2008-03-11T06:35:05Z

http://movies.yahoo.com/slideshows/generic/watchmen.html

They released pics of the WATCHMEN film adaptation! SO COOL!

(I should have been the one to direct but still... :) )

joshfrogg @ 2008-03-10T23:33:00

2008-03-11T06:32:07Z

92 words

Speed test

This is my second try since I kinda messed up the first one. First one was 86. :)

How many journalists does it take to change a president?

2008-03-05T03:44:03Z

This intense election year brings up an interesting question to ponder.

Russia just held its own presidential election as Putin steps down (or "aside" to Prime Minister). But the election is mostly a farce, considering the way the government pressured its voters and its media to ensure a win for Putin's protege, Medvedev. It was more like Med. was "appointed" since the election was so skewed.

Then we consider our own election. Since no one really has any doubts about McCain's victory, all eyes have been on the Democratic Primary. And of course, the media has its favorite. Not that I'm complaining because I'm an Obama guy through and through, but it's been noted lately how obvious it is that the media is pushing Obama much harder than Clinton. She recently spoke out against this, citing a pretty funny SNL skit that made fun of this very issue. Basically, the media and news orgs have been vamping up the scrutiny on her and the negatives, while playing nice with Obama's image.

(Both of these can be found in recent Washington Post articles.)

My concern is... Is this how democracy really works in the modern age??

The media has such a strangle-hold on the American people that SURE they pick the winner! We all remember a fateful 2000 election that was "confused" by some media gun-jumpers who declared Bush the winner before tallies had been counted, surging him into the spotlight so much so that even by the time the recount came back in favor of Gore, the country had crowned Bush and Gore had already been forced to concede loss.

It's sick the way our "election" system works, it always has been. I just find it interesting that Western/European media groups are criticizing Russia's "show election" and the corruption therein, when our own is so obviously skewed in similar ways!

Plato denonounced democracy based on its "mob rule" factor and went on to criticize it for its ability to separate those with power from those without before anyone in the powerless category realized it. This is exactly where we find ourselves in modern America. Big media companies (run by rich white republicans and special interest lobbyists) decide the outcome of elections because the ignorant masses listen to them instead of weighing the decision themselves.

I don't know what I'm really getting at here but perhaps we should make a bigger deal out of our poorly run election process (with its pregnant chads and multi-million dollar campaigns that allow only the upper crust to even RUN for office) than we do the trivial issues constantly before our short public attention.

I'm Baaack!

2008-02-20T18:29:13Z

So I've taken some time away. LJ and I had some... issues to work out. (She has control problems and I felt trapped.) But I'm back and *waving* to all!

Here's my piece of zen for the day...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7254078.stm

Can you say... FLIPPIN' SWEET!! Matrix, here we come!

(Oh and they say "dongle" in the article.)

----------------------
Peace n' Chicken Wings

Recruiting bites

2007-09-25T04:53:37Z

The absolute worst thing about my job is recruiting people to do a survey. I don't mind when people say no if they're nice about it but to the point... it's just those few jerks who are rude. Although I must say there are some more interesting turn-downs on occassion.
I get some doosies.

Me: "Can I get your opinion on a movie preview?"

Them:

"Sorry, I'm from Michigan."

"I don't go see movies. Where's theater 14?"

"No, my movie starts in like fifteen-- erm THREE minutes!"

"Sorry, I work in finance."

The ever popular: "What do I get out of it? ... Nothing? Then no!"

And my personal favorite: "Fuck off."

Sigh. People...

joshfrogg @ 2007-09-23T16:06:00

2007-09-23T21:06:06Z

If you had the superpower to shoot something out of your eyes, what would it be?

What if it were the ability to percieve something with your eyes, what would it be?

The meaning of politics...

2007-09-23T02:23:46Z

I was intrigued by something Teri posted recently. She noted her realization that she's become more "liberal" after living in Chicago. I thought about this because I have always been very liberal in thinking, and called as much.

But... what does that mean exactly? It is this I ponder today.

Here is how dictionary.com defines the word LIBERAL:

1. favorable to progress or reform, as in political or religious affairs.
2. (often initial capital letter) noting or pertaining to a political party advocating measures of progressive political reform.
3. of, pertaining to, based on, or advocating liberalism.
4. favorable to or in accord with concepts of maximum individual freedom possible, esp. as guaranteed by law and secured by governmental protection of civil liberties.
5. favoring or permitting freedom of action, esp. with respect to matters of personal belief or expression: a liberal policy toward dissident artists and writers.
6. of or pertaining to representational forms of government rather than aristocracies and monarchies.
7. free from prejudice or bigotry; tolerant: a liberal attitude toward foreigners.
8. open-minded or tolerant, esp. free of or not bound by traditional or conventional ideas, values, etc.
9. characterized by generosity and willingness to give in large amounts: a liberal donor.
10. given freely or abundantly; generous: a liberal donation.
11. not strict or rigorous; free; not literal: a liberal interpretation of a rule.
12. of, pertaining to, or based on the liberal arts.
13. of, pertaining to, or befitting a freeman.
–noun 14. a person of liberal principles or views, esp. in politics or religion.
15. (often initial capital letter) a member of a liberal party in politics, esp. of the Liberal party in Great Britain.

Hmm... with all the talk of freedom, personal rights, and (most importantly) a progressive mindset toward politics, it makes me wonder How could anyone who cares about the world NOT be liberal? Essentially, what this is saying is that a liberal person is an advocate of positive change, progression toward a better end, and freedom or "liberty". I can't think of anything more American, or intelligent.

So what's conservative then?

Again I turned to the trusy e-dictionary for CONSERVATIVE:

1. disposed to preserve existing conditions, institutions, etc., or to restore traditional ones, and to limit change.
2. cautiously moderate or purposefully low: a conservative estimate.
3. traditional in style or manner; avoiding novelty or showiness: conservative suit.
4. (often initial capital letter) of or pertaining to the Conservative party.
5. (initial capital letter) of, pertaining to, or characteristic of Conservative Jews or Conservative Judaism.
6. having the power or tendency to conserve; preservative.
7. Mathematics. (of a vector or vector function) having curl equal to zero; irrotational; lamellar.
–noun 8. a person who is conservative in principles, actions, habits, etc.
9. a supporter of conservative political policies.
10. (initial capital letter) a member of a conservative political party, esp. the Conservative party in Great Britain.
11. a preservative.

Okay, so a conservative is someone who wants things to stay the way they are ("preserve") and a liberal is someone who wants things to change. So do conservatives think the world is just fine the way it is then? I can't look at the world and see it perfect.

So shouldn't we ALL be "liberal" in the sense that we want to see things change for the better?

...Just thinking...

:)

joshfrogg @ 2007-09-02T22:44:00

2007-09-03T03:48:03Z

Your Score: Mystic Theurge

44% Combativeness, 26% Sneakiness, 76% Intellect, 66% Spirituality

Brilliant and spiritual! You are a Mystic Theurge!
Score! You have a prestige class. A prestige class can only be taken after you?ve fulfilled certain requirements. This may mean that you?re an exceptionally talented person, but it probably doesn't.
The Mystic Theurge is a combination of a cleric and a mage. They can cast both arcane and divine spells, and are good at both, making them pretty terrifying on the battlefield. They have more raw spellpower than just about any other class.
You're both intelligent and faithful, but not violent or deceitful. I guess that makes you a pretty good person.

Link: The RPG Class Test written by MFlowers on OkCupid, home of the The Dating Persona Test

Woot! :)

PRO-crastinator. PRO.

2007-09-02T04:13:29Z

I've gotten lazy.

Last week I covered for my boss who went on a week's vacation. No biggie since they've covered for me enough this summer. But I got really burnt out. All the tedious cleanup I had to do because the people who covered MY shifts dropped the ball.
Anyway, this means in the little free time I've had, I just play WOW. Love the game, totally addicted, almost to level 60... but it's so pointless. I haven't touched my book in a couple weeks. I've been using the excuse that the big west coast move is taking up a lot of my time and brain capacity (which is slightly true) along with work BUT it's no excuse for a lack of creative productivity.

It's hard to get motivated when my life is in the middle of one the biggest transitions of my life (that is getting STREEEETTCCHHEDD out for a good two months) but I find little bits of joy.

Need to get back in the habit of DOING stuff. Besides leveling my awesome Night Elf Druid and my Mage side-character. ;)

In other news, my film is almost done! Final sound mix was laid off thursday and now I just have to do the online, place the sound in beneath the color-corrected picture, and lay it off to dvd. WOO HOO!

...now there's just the matter of the 4 other films I'm responsible for seeing through to final completion. Yeah...that'll happen. Eventually.

* Stands next to Teri and rants...*

2007-08-25T20:04:36Z

So recently Teri-Beri made a post about how silly it is to have these traffic control shmucks at intersections where they don't do anything but mimic the traffic lights (which work just fine in their absense). It's a waste of our money, right?

Well, today I'm out and about doing errands for work and the traffic is HORRENDOUS! I mean, really really bad and it's not even rush hour! I'm wondering what the deal is and then I start to notice that there are traffic lights out all over town. Apparently this is left over turmoil from the terrible storm two days ago that left parts of the city in shambles, and apparently the traffic lights too. Really busy intersections have turned into a free-for-all as people "sort of" obey the stop sign system. It's a cluster-F*** for sure.

And the whole time, I'm thinking... Where are these traffic control officers NOW?! When people are doing just fine obeying the traffic lights, there they are, dressed all in yellow and waving their arms in agitation as though how DARE I not read their mind and their cryptic arm signals appropriately. But when we really NEED them because of some emergency situation... nothing...nada... nowhere to be seen.

*sigh*

Good ole taxpayer money, hard at work.

*shakes fist*

The Grass is Always Greener....

2007-08-18T03:41:47Z

So I'm officially jealous of my roommate.

The lucky bastard has the COOLEST job in the world!!

So Jim just got hired (finally, after much time in limbo) by this Private Investigating Firm. He's a SPY, a real Private Investigator with mini cameras and phone bugs and everything. I'm SO not even kidding either. He described his first day of training (riding along with another P.I.) and it consisted of:

- A high speed car chase
- A steakout where they monitored a guy from inside their tinted-windowed car
- He (Jim) went into a gym with a small camera attached to him to record a guy in the gym, meanwhile talking to the gym trainers as a distraction.
- Approached another "target" and posed as a tourist asking for directions to make sure the guy had the correct eye color (and was thus the correct target)

SO CRAZY right? He's totally a spy. haha
I thought that was such a fun job to have. He has a BA in criminology but he made it sound like they were just looking for the right kind of person with any BA (no experience needed).

Anyway... so i'll go back to my little survey job...

but ... I'll be watching you.

Technology vs. Personal Freedom

2007-08-16T21:18:04Z

So I'm ready for a big debate! haha!

I found this article talking about micro-chips in humans and it poses a really interesting ethical question. So that
you know what I'm talking about, the article is located here:

http://www.cnn.com/2007/TECH/science/08/01/chips.humans.ap/index.html

In Sum, the article talks about this huge debate that has arisen because a technology company recently implanted "scanning chips" into the forearms of 2 of its employees for security measures. Basically, like a retina scan or a fingerprint ID, the chip acts as a passcode that, upon being scanned by a computer, grants them access to high-security vaults.

Sound a little James Bond? I thought so too.

But the implications go further. The article goes on to talk about a medical technology company that is selling similar chips (like the size of 2 grains of rise) to consumers for medical emergency reasons. Imagine you are driving by yourself and you're in a car accident. You're unconscious when you arrive at the hospital and the doctor has no way of knowing who you are, who to contact, what your medical history is, or that you're allergic to a certain type of medicine that, when administered, could kill you. Now, if you have this chip in your arm, the hospital could scan it and immediately access your entire medical history, allergies, and identity before operating and then be able to contact your family.

These are the kinds of reasons why I think this is a fascinating and useful technology. You wouldn't lose the chip like if it were on a necklace or something, it would always be there. And if you're Jason Bourne and you wake up on a fishing boat with bullet holes in your back, you'll easily be able to find out who you are without all the hassle involved in finding your identity. (haha!)

Skeptics are concerned because this could lead to further and further restraints of personal freedom because they fear the government could use global positioning to track you wherever you go(not a technology we have yet anyway). (Let's not even talk about the silly folk who think its "the mark of the beast"! haha)

SO HERE'S THE BIG QUESTION:

What do you think? Does the possible detriment to your ability to be anonymous outweigh the benefits this technology postulates?

It's interesting to me the number of people who are SO afraid of this "Big Brother" stuff that this technology could lead to. (My dad literally FLIPPED OUT when I told him that I could register my bank account at Jewel (the grocery store) to my fingerprint so that I could quickly scan my print at the checkout and not have to mess with cash or checks or plastic. He HATES the idea of being identified like this.) But why?
I mean I understand the possibilities (We have technology NOW that allows the government to listen in on us and we VOTED to allow them to do so!) but if kept in check (like any other technology should be), this could be really useful.

SO WHAT'S YOUR TAKE?

Oh, the world powers...

2007-08-16T20:36:18Z

It's embarassing to be a resident of the richest most powerful country in the world, knowing that we COULD do something about the environmental problems and global warming, yet we pretend (blatantly) that it doesn't exist.

Not Russia though! Oh, no. This is how the big boys play ball...

Oh, they not only acknowledge the reality of the problem, they're preparing for it!

A russian sub recently planted a flag on the Arctic sea floor to claim it for when the caps have all melted! How insane right?

Here's the CNN article...
http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/europe/08/02/arctic.sub.reut/index.html

Ok, so I'm glad that a world power is acknowledging the problem is a real threat, but it's still a little sad that their first step is to profit from the inevitable disaster.

*shakes head in dismay*