Pauls Rants and Revelations

So what did you do for a New Years Resolution…?

…

I thought as much. I didn’t think of anything either. It seems that, the older I get, the more pessimistic I get about making them. The last few I have made seemed to fail within a month, so I guess I just stopped making them.

Perhaps, in the grand scope of things, these silly attempts to better ourselves through a significant, annual event are supposed to fail. I mean, if we were really meaning to stop doing this or start doing that, wouldn’t we be motivated enough, if the cause was important enough, to just start doing it as soon as possible?

I personally, do not need an event like that to start or stop something if its important. But in the spirit of things, my New Years resolution will be to post more entries on my blog. What’s yours gong to be? Go on a diet to fit in that bikini (dudes need not respond if this is your goal)?

Will my resolution actually happen? Maybe. Possibly. Stay tuned to see if it does.

Cheers

So my friend pointed out a website called Gender Analyzer (http://www.genderanalyzer.com/). Not sure how he found it but its pretty interesting nontheless.

If you plug in my blog (linky) it says its 71% sure that its written by a man. It also worked when looking at Twitter feeds (check it). However, it can be wrong. I pluggin in Mikipedia (linky) and it said that it was a man (91%) that writes it when in fact its a chick (a hot roller derby chick at that). Strange how a chick can score higher than a dude when analyzed solely their their writing.

Anyways, check it out for a bit of fun. Or if you want to see if you write like a girl. You little girly writer you.

- Cheers

Don’t ask me what’s with the title, I just thought it sounded neat (plus I always wanted to start with a title like that, so there).

Hopefully this will be my last political rant (yay) if/when the new president does something to really get on my tits.

Its been about a week since President-Elect Obama was named. And its been a somewhat tumultous time in some parts of the country and in some homes. Mostly, I going off of what people I know are saying. And some of what they are saying is downright scary.

One fellow I know and I got into a discussion about what will happen in the coming 4 years under Obama. He had his doubts (as do a lot of people) but what irritated me was that he voiced his opinion in a short sentence:

“Well there goes the country.”, he said.

I promptly flicked him in the nose and asked him to please explain what me meant by that, seeing as he voted for Bush twice and for McCain. He said that with all the threats America is facing, we need to have a strong military and he believes that won’t happen under a Democrat. Earlier in the prez race, he said that he was  quite displeased with what Bush had done to the country and our international standing, and wanted someone strong to lead us. I pointed out to him that McCain voted mostly the same way in regards to past actions the US had taken. He said that was different because he didnt vote that way all the time.

Apparently, 10% difference is enough for him. I promptly flicked him on the nose again.

Its at this point I should mention that my friend was duct-taped to a chair, unable to move (I love college pranks). He also started spouting the standard Republican rhetoric that the GOP was saying all through the race. I was about to flick him again when a friend of mine (his girl friend) did it for me.

The point is this. I don’t mind what people believe in. I don’t mind that my friend voted differently from me. What I do mind, especially in the case of my friend, is that he was just accepting what was handed to him as the absolute truth, never venturing out in the great world of information to find out for himself if it was true or not.

Now, I’m not so different. A lot of information I get are from people I trust, so I often trust that its true. I would say about half the time I dig deeper to find out more information or to see if its accurate. The other half I usually accept until someone else says something differently or I find info that doesn’t jive with it.

What has me worried is that a number of people I know are just accepting what is handed to them as the truth. Case in point, I played a trick on my friend and emailed him a “live” broadcast (god bless Flash players) of a well known news agency saying that the worlds honey bees have all died. He’s smart and saw this as a bad thing. But instead of calling someone to confirm or even checking the link I sent him he (according to his roommate) started inventorying their pantry and told his roommate that they needed to stock up on non-perishable food for at least a year. He was totally convinced and it took me calling and two other friends going over there that this wasnt true. He then sent me an email virus (god also bless Macs immunity to windows viruses) and a short 11 word sentance on where I should put all my risting farm implements.

To make a long story short; check your facts people. Don’t be sheep. If someone says something outrageous, check it out on your own. If someone else says something innacurrate, make sure it is and confront them about it.

And, Dave, if you are reading this, I am really sorry about the duct-tape trick. So, please, give me back my iPod.

- Cheers

Windows to right of them,
Linux to left of them,
Macs behind them
Error’d and Fragment’d;
Storm’d at with line of code,
While firewall and password fell,
They that had coded so well
Came thro’ the jaws of Web
Back from the mouth of the Tubes,
All that was left of them,
Left of six admins.

When can their programming fade?
O the wild policies they made!
All the world wondered.
Honor the code they made,
Honor the Admin Brigade,
Noble six admins.

(with apologies to Lord Alfred Tennyson)

- Cheers

SO I finally updated my wordpress install from 2.1 to the latest 2.6.

At first I was like “Way Neato!”. Then I realized that all of my categories and link categories were gone. Like, really gone. The only identifying mark was the slug with was a lot of “-2″’s. So, if some posts seem to be misplaced, this is the reason. I renamed what I could (had to edit the datbase directly to do it) but its sorted now.

Well, at least its working.

I mean, I read the documentation changes for the most part but didnt see any part about your categories fucking getting axed from the update.

Anyways, should you be upgrading, take a snapshot of the data in your wp_categories. This will be invaluable as you can map the IDs so you can rename the items in wp_terms (the new table) so that your categories are correct.

OK. Back to the digital salt mines.

-Cheers

You know why I like Ron Paul?

Well, I’ll tell you why. Because he does not scare the shit out of me whenever he speaks. Because he is a likable guy (so likable that I just donated another $5, which isn’t a lot but its the only time I ever gave money to a candidate).

Because when I checked out his track record, which is freely available on his site as well as other sources, he actually seemed like a politician who takes his job seriously. Who actually works for the betterment of the USA, not just to make a buck from his office.

And because when compared to the other candidates that are bidding for the presidency, I see him telling America as a whole about the things that have to be done to fix this country, not about how he alone would fix them if he were president, but what any president has to do. To me he is saying “Here is what has to be done and if no one else is going to do it then I will”.

Now I am not to most politically minded person on the planet. I, in point of fact, hate politics with the fire of a thousand suns. So if you have a problem with what I say or what I believe (*cough* personallimburgbaby *cough*) then feel free to correct me on it.

-Cheers

My wife and I just filed our taxes today. Damn, was it ever a chore. I mean, we had like 3 W2 forms and a thing from the daycare. After logging into the H&R Block site we had to keep hitting next for like…3 minutes.

Sure, it importing all our info from last year saved some time, but we had to fill in the new amounts for stuff which took like 10 minutes. Then another 10 minutes finding a check so that the government could direct deposit out phat 5 figure return into our accounts in the Caymen Islands.

What a hassle.

Not to mention the fact that it took like over an hour after we were done with the HR Block site to tell us our returns were transmitted and accepted. On a Saturday no less.  I’m just upset that I missed almost half an episode of Stargate to do our taxes, so sorry if I sound a little annoyed.

And if you believed even a word of what I just said, I have a whole barn full of unicorns I’ll sell you for only 30 pieces of leprechaun’s gold. You could probably make it tax deductible if you try.

-Cheers

Thats about the only thing I feel at the moment. Since this big project I’m working on is almost done the lack of sleep is starting to take its toll.

However, there are some bright spots.

…

I can’t name any at the moment, but I’m sure they’re there.

If you can think of any let me know.

-Cheers

A few days ago I saw a guy sitting in a car with a bluetooth headset on. He seemed a normal middle aged dude. Just sitting there. Not talking that I could see, just sitting outside a Hollywood video waiting for someone inside.

I think see someone exit the store as I approach, also with a headset. This person, a younger man, seemed to be talking to his companion but it may be that he was chatting about something to someone on the phone. This is not the first time this phenomenon has come across my path.

In this ever increasing world of connected-ness to technology and the pressure to stay informed, it seems that we have, as a technological society, come to want to mimic air traffic controllers in our everyday lives. The number of folks young and old I see walking around with these things is only going up, whether they actually use them or not.

Some people would be greatly assisted by these annoying devices; such as those in a busy office or a driving job where communication is key. Or, as previously stated, if one was an air traffic controller. But for the rest of you who spend upwards of $200 for this bit of techno-bling, you forgot to ask yourselves the very basic question; Will my vapid existence be given new light if I only appear to be an on-the-go techno-enthusiast?

The answer, if you have not already guessed, is no. No, it won’t. I don’t care if Paris Hilton has a diamond encrusted Motorola jobbie, if you are already too lazy to reach into your pocket or purse to pick up the phone, then you are probably too lazy to lift your hand to your ear to puch the on button.

And while I’m on the subject of girls sporting these ear obscenities, here is a tip: unless you are working in a club as the glory-hole chick and simultaneously working as a phone sex operator, you do not need one of these. Save those dollars for your next terms college tuition.

And guys, and you know who you are, you are no exception to the above statement. There are few jobs that require you to have a wireless headset. And if you really need one, your work will provide one to you. Unless you are really that unsure of yourself in this techno world. In that eventuallity, I’m having a 2-for-1 sale in my eBay store on headsets.

-Cheers

So I was one of the millions of people who weren’t lucky enough to be able to go to Macworld. As such, I was constantly hitting the refresh button on my browser so I could get the latest of what was happening from those who were posting blow by blow commentary.

At the tail end of the hour long keynote address, Steve Jobs reveals the newest Macbook, the Macbook Air. Touted as the thinest Laptop in the world, it is certainly impressive to look at. However, once past that, things start to get a little drab.

Aside from the rather puny processor, and lack of external ports (only 1 USB), and lack of HDD space, it is really not a great machine. Oh, I would not say no if I was presented with one, but I would certainly not spend $1800 just for the novelty of putting my precious mac into an envelope.

You can get the news and highlights and video on these other sites. Apples newest creation can be found here if you want to check it out.

Personally, though, I won’t be pining for this one. Mostly because my Macbook Pro totally kicks that ones ass. The Time Capsule, on the other hand, I would take in a heartbeat (right after I upgrade to Leopard that is).

-Cheers